Skip to main content

Full text of "History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions"

See other formats 


HISTORY 


OF 


WEXFORD  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN 


EMBRACING 


A  Concise  Review  of  its  Early  Settlement,   Industrial   Development  and 

Present  Conditions, 


COMPILED    BY 


JOHN    H.   WHKELKR 


TO    WHICH    IS    APPENDED 


A  Comprehensive  Compendium  of  National  Biography  and  Life  Sketches  of 
Well-known  Citizens  of  the  County. 


ILLUSTRATKD 


1903 
B.   F.  BOWEN 

PUBLISHER 


PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE 


fN  PLACING  the  History  of  Wexford  County  before  the  citizens,  the  publisher 
can  conscientiously  claim  that  he  has  carried  out  in  full  every  promise  made 
in  the  Prospectus.  He  points  with  pride  to  the  elegance  of  the  binding  of 
the  volume,  and  to  the  beauty  of  its  typography,  to  the  superiority  of  the  paper  on 
which  the  work  is  printed,  and  the  truthfulness  depicted  by  its  portraits  and  the 
high  class  of  art  in  which  they  are  finished.  Every  biographical  sketch  has  been 
submitted  for  approval  and  correction,  to  the  person  for  whom  it  was  written,  and 
therefore  any  error  of  fact,  if  there  be  any,  is  solely  due  to  the  person  for  whom 
the  sketch  was  prepared.  The  publisher  would  here  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity 
to  thank  the  citizens  of  Wexford  County  for  the  uniform  kindness  with  which  they 
have  regarded  this  undertaking,  and  for  their  many  services  rendered  in  assisting 
in  the  gaining  of  necessary  information. 

Confident    that    our    efforts    to    please    will    fully    meet    the    approbation    of    the 
public,   we  are, 

Respectfully, 

B.   F.    BowEN,   Publisher. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 


fN  PREPARING  the  biogr^Lphy  of  any  prominent  person  something  of  the  scenes 
and  incidents  contemporaneous  with  the  Hfe  of  the  individual  are  deemed 
essential  to  fully  bring  out  motives  and  incentives  that  may  have  prompted 
the  doings  or  sayings  of  the  man  or  v^oman.  It  is  often  the  case  that  lives  of  the 
parents  and  even  earlier  ancestors  are  alluded  to  to  show  the  environments  surround- 
ing the  birth  and  early  life  of  the  person  and  how  they  may  have  helped  or  hindered 
in  the  early  formation  of  character. 

The  same  is  true  in  writing  the  history  of  a  city  or  community.  There  are  always 
reasons  why  people  congregate  in  one  place  rather  than  another,  in  starting  a  village 
that  may  grow  into  a  great  city,  and  these  reasons  are  always  of  interest  to  the 
reader  and  give  him  a  far  better  conception   of    the  subject  matter  that  is   to  follow. 

What  is  true  of  an  individual  or  a  city  is  equally  true  of  a  county.  There  is 
always  an  interest  in  contemplating  the  reasons  which  lead  people  to  leave  an  old 
settled  country,  where  every  facility  for  comfort  and  enjoyment  are  within  reach, 
and  emigrate  to  a  wilderness  country,  remote  from  civilization,  and  destitute  of  even 
the  most  necessary  conveniences  that  minister  to  the  comfort  of  the  individual. 

The  '* Forty-niners"  journeyed  across  a  continent  in  ten-ox  wagons  for  gold;  and 
within  the  past  few  years  we  have  seen  a  steady  stream  of  adventurous  people  mi- 
grating to  the  frozen  north-land,  drawn  thither  by  the  glitter  of  the  same  shining 
object.  The  home-seekers  in  a  new  country  are  lured  by  no  such  glittering  bauble. 
While  it  is  no  doubt  true  that  every  pioneer  to  a  new  country  expects  to  better  his 
financial  condition  by  the  change,  he  knows  that  this  betterment  must  come  slowly, 
aQd  must  be  accompanied  with  unceasing  toil  and  untold  privations. 

Bearing  in  mind  these  great  privations  and  this  continuous  toil  which  is  the  lot 
of  all  pioneers,  I  have  considered  it  important  to  devote  the  first  part  of  this  work 
to  a  review  of  some  of  the  causes  which  led  up  to  the  early  settlement,  rapid  growth 
and  wonderful  development  of  this  section  of  the  State,  including  Wexford  County, 
after  which  the  work  will  t>e  confined  entirely  to  the  county. 

The  Author. 


INDBX 


COMPENDIUM  OF  NATIONAL  BIOGRAPHY 


PAGE 

Abbott,  Lyman   144 

Adams,   Charles  Kendall 143 

Adams,   John 25 

Adams,  John  Quincy 61 

Agassiz,  Louis  J.  R 137 

Alger,   Russell  A 173 

Allison,  William   B 131 

Allston,    Washington 190 

Altgeld,  John  Peter 140 

Andrews,  Elisha  B 184 

Anthony,  Susan  B. 62 

Armour,  Philip  D 62 

Arnold,    Benedict 84 

Arthur,   Chester  Allen 168 

Astor,  John  Jacob 139 

Audubon,  John  James 166 

Bailey,  James  Montgomery...  177 

Bancroft,    George 74 

Barnard,  Frederick  A.  P 179 

Barnum,  Phineas  T 41 

Barrett,    Lawrence 156 

Barton,    Clara 209 

Bayard,  Thomas  Francis 200 

Beard,  William  H 196 

Beauregard,  Pierre  G.  T 203 

Beecher,   Henry  Ward 26 

Bell,  Alexander  Graham 96 

Bennett,  James  Gordon. 206 

Benton,  Thomas  Hart *  53 

Bergh,    Henry 160 

Bierstadt,    Albert 197 

Billings,  Josh 166 

Blaine,  James  Gillespie 22 

Bland,  Richard  Parks.. 106 


PAGE 

Boone,    Daniel 36 

Booth,    Edwin 51 

Booth,  Junius  Brutus I77 

Brice,  Calvin  S 181 

Brooks,    Phillips 130 

Brown,    John 51 

Brown,    Charles   Farrar 91 

Brush,    Charles    Francis 153 

Bryan,  William  Jennings 158 

Bryant,  William  Cullen 44 

Buchanan,  Franklin 105 

Buchanan,   James 128 

Buckner,    Simon   Boliver 188 

Burdette,  Robert  J 103 

Burr,  Aaron iii 

Butler,  Benjamin  Franklin...  24 

Calhoun,   John   Caldwell 23 

Cameron,  James   Donald 141 

Cameron,  Simon 141 

Cammack,    Addison 197 

Campbell,    Alexander 180 

Carlisle,  John  G 133 

Carnegie,    Andrew TZ 

Carpenter,  Matthew  Hale 178 

Carson,  Christopher   (Kit) ...  86 

Cass,    Lewis no 

Chase,   Salmon  Portland 65 

Childs,  George  W 83 

Choate,   Rufus 207 

Chaflin,  Horace  Brigham 107 

Clay,  Henry 21 

Clemens,   Samuel   Langhorne.  86 

Cleveland,    Grover 174 

Clews,    Henry 153 


PAGE 

Clinton,    DeWitt no 

Colfax,    Schuyler 139 

Conkling,  Alfred    3-2 

Conkling,    Roscoe    32 

Cooley,  Thomas  Mclntyre 140 

Cooper,  James  Fenimore 58 

Cooper,    Peter Z7 

Copeley,  John  Singleton 191 

Corbin,    Austin 205 

Corcoran,   W.   W 196 

Cornell,  Ezra 161 

Cramp,    William 189 

Crockett,   David    : 7(i 

Cullom,  Shelby  Moore 116 

Curtis,  George  William 144 

Cushman,  Charlotte 107 

Custer,  George  A 95 

Dana,  Charles  A 88 

"Danbury  News  Man" I77 

Davenport,    Fanny 106 

Davis,  Jefferson   24 

Debs,  Eugene  V 132 

Decatur,    Stephen loi 

Deering,   William 198 

Depew,  Chauncey  Mitchell...  209 

Dickinson,   Anna. 103 

Dickinson,   Don   M I39 

Dingley,  Nelson,  Jr 215 

Donnelly,  Ignatius 161 

Douglas,   Stephen  Arnold 53 

Douglass,    Frederick 43 

Dow,    Neal 108 

Draper,  John  William 184 


INDEX— PART   L 


PAGE 

Drexel,  Anthony  Joseph .....  124 
Dupont,   Henry 198 

Edison,    Thomas  Alva 55 

Edmunds,  George  F 201 

Ellsworth,  Oliver 168 

Ernerson,  Ralph  Waldo 57 

Ericsson,  John 127 

Evarts,  William  Maxwell....  89 

Farragut,    David    Glascoe 80 

Field,  Cyrus  West 173 

Field,  David  Dudley 126 

Field,  Marshall 59 

Field,  Stephen  Johnson 216 

Fillmore,   Millard 113 

Foote,  Andrew  Hull 176 

Foraker,  Joseph  B 143 

Forrest,   Edwin 92 

Franklin,  Benjamin 18 

Fremont,  John  Charles 29 

Fuller,  Melville  Weston 168 

Fulton,  Robert 62 

Gage,  Lyman  J 71 

Gallatin,  Albert 112 

Garfield,  James  A 163 

Barrett,  John  Work 200 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd 50 

Gates,    Horatio 70 

Gatling,  Richard  Jordan 116 

George,    Henry 203 

Gibbons,  Cardinal  James. ....  209 

Gilmore,  Patrick  Sarsfield yy 

Girard,  Stephen 137 

Gough,  John  B 131 

Gould,    Jay 52 

Gordon,  John  B 215 

Grant,   Ulysses  S 155 

Gray,  Asa 88 

Gray,  Elisha 149 

Greeley,  Adolphus  W 142 

Greeley,    Horace 20 

Greene,    Nathaniel 69 

Gresham,  Walter  Quintin   ...   183 

Hale,  Edward  Everett 79 

Hall,  Charles  Francis 167 

Hamilton,    Alexander 31 

Hamlin,    Hannibal 214 

Hampton,  Wade 192 

Hancock,  Winfield  Scott 146 

Hanna,  Marcus  Alonzo 169 

Harris,   Isham   G 214 

Harrison,  William  Henry 87 

Harrison,   Benjamin 182 

Harvard,  John, 129 

Havemeyer,  John  Craig 182 

Hawthorne,    Nathaniel 135 

Hayes,  Rutherford  Birchard. .  157 
Hendricks,  Thomas  Andrew. .  212 

Henry,  Joseph .' 105 

Henry,   Patrick 83 

Hill,  David  Bennett. 90 


PAGE 

Hobart,    Garrett    A.  . . 213 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell 206 

Hooker,  Joseph 52 

Howe,  Elias 130 

Howells,  William  Dean 104 

Houston,   Sam 120 

Hughes,  Archbishop  John....  157 

Hughitt,  Marvin 159 

Hull,  Isaac 169 

Huntington,  Collis  Potter....     94 

Ingalls,  John  James 114 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G. 85 

Irving,  Washington 2>Z 

Jackson,    Andrew    71 

Jackson,    "Stonewair'    6y 

Jackson,    Thomas    Jonathan.  .     67 

Jay,  John -. 39 

Jefferson,    Joseph 47 

Jefferson,    Thomas 34 

Johnson,   Andrew 145 

Johnson,    Eastman 202 

Johnston,   Joseph   Eccleston..     85 

Jones,  James  K 171 

Jones,  John  Paul .-•....     97 

Jones,  Samuel  Porter ^1$ 

Kane,  Elisha  Kent 125 

Kearney,    Philip 210 

Kenton,    Simon 188 

Knox,  John  Jay 134 

Lamar,  Lucius  Q.  C 201 

Landon,  Melville  D 109 

Lee,  Robert  Edward 38 

Lewis,  Charles  B 193 

Lincoln,    Abraham 135 

Livermore,  Mary  Ashton 131 

Locke,   David  Ross 172 

Logan,  John  A 26 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth   2>7 

Longstreet,    James 56 

Lowell,  James  Russell 104 

Mackay,  John  William. 148 

Madison,    James 42 

Marshall,    John ; 156 

Mather,    Cotton 164 

Mather,    Increase 163 

Maxim,  Hiram  S 194 

McClellan,    George   Brinton..     47 

McCormick,   Cyrus  Hall 172 

McDonough,  Com.  Thomas. .  167 

McKinley,    William 217 

Meade,  George  Gordon 75 

Medill,   Joseph 159 

Miles,    Nelson   A. 176 

Miller,    Cincinnatus   Heine. . .  218 

Miller,  Joaquin 218 

Mills,  Roger  Quarles 211 

Monroe,  James.. 54 

Moody,  Dwight  L. 207 

Moran,  Thomas..,.. 98  , 


PAGE 

Morgan,  John   Pierpont 208 

Morgan,   John   T 216 

Morris,    Robert    165 

Morse,   Samuel  F.  B 124 

Morton,   Levi   P 142 

Morton,  Oliver  Perry 215 

Motley,  John  Lathrop 130 

"Nye,    Biir 59 

Nye,    Edgar    Wilson 59 

O'Conor,   Charles   187 

Olney,   Richard 133 

Paine,    Thomas    147 

Palmer,   John   M 195 

Parkhurst,  Charles  Henry....    160 

"Partington,  Mrs." 202 

PeabcKly,   George    170 

Peck,   George   W 187 

Peffer,   William  A 164 

Perkins,    Eli 109 

Perry,  Oliver  Hazard 97 

Phillips,    Wendell 30 

Pierce,   Franklin 122 

Pingree,   Hazen   S 212 

Plant,   Henry   B 192 

Poe,  Edgar  Allen. .. 69 

Polk,  James  Knox 102 

Porter,   David   Dixon 68 

Porter,    Noah 93 

Prentice,  George  Denison 119 

Prescott,   William  Hickling. .     96 
Pullman,   George   Mortimer. .  121 

Quad,   M 193 

Quay,   Matthew   S 171 

Randolph,   Edmund 136 

Read,   Thomas    Buchanan 132 

Reed,  Thomas  Brackett 208 

Reid,    Whitelaw 149 

Roach,    John • 190 

Rockefeller,  John   Ravison. . .  195 

Root,  George  Frederick 218 

Rothermel,    Peter   F 113 

Rutledge,    John 57 

Sage,    Russell 211 

Schofield,  John  McAlister 199 

Schurz,    Carl 201 

Scott,  Thomas  Alexander....  204 

Scott,    Winfield 79 

Seward,   William  Henry 44 

Sharon,    William 165 

Shaw,   Henry    W 166 

Sheridan,   Phillip   Henry 40 

Sherman,  Charles  R 87 

Sherman,   John 86 

Sherman,  William  Tecumseh.    30 
Shillaber,  Benjamin  Penhallow202 

Smith,  Edmund  Kirby 114 

Sousa,  John  Philip 60 

Spreckles,  Glaus....... 159 


INDEX— PART  L 


PAGE 

Stanford,    Leland loi 

Stanton,  Edwin  McMasters. .   179 

Stanton,  Elizabeth  Cady 126 

Stephens,  Alexander  Hamilton    32 

Stephenson,  Adlai  Ewing 141 

Stewart,  Alexander  T 58 

Stewart,  William  Morris 213 

Stowe,       Harriet       Elizabeth 

Beecher    66 

Stuart,  James  E.  B 122 

Sumner,  Charles 34 

Talmage,  Thomas  DeWitt...  60 

Taney,  Roger  Brooks 129 

Taylor,    Zachary 108 

Teller,  Henry  M 127 

Tesla,    Nikola    193 

Thomas,  George  H 73 

Thomas,   Theodore    172 

Thurman,  Allen  G 90 


PAGE 

Thurston,  John  M 166 

Tilden,  Sam.uel  J 48 

Tillman,    Benjamin   Ryan....  119 

Toombs,    Robert 205 

'TT.wain,    Miark" 86 

Tyler,    John 93 

Van  Buren,  Martin 78 

Vanded>ilt,    Cornelius 35 

Vail,  Alfred 154 

Vest,  George  Graham 214 

Vilas,  William  Freeman 140 

Voorhees,  Daniel  Wolsey 95 

Waite,  Morrison  Remich 125 

Wallace,  Lewis 199 

Wallack,    Lester 121 

Wallack,  John  Lester 121 

Wanamaker,    John 89 

Ward,    "Artemus" 91 


PAGE 

Washburne,  Elihu  Benjamin. .  189 

Washington,   George 17 

Watson,  Thomas  E 178 

Watterson,    Henry ^6 

Weaver,  James  B 123 

Webster,   Daniel 19 

Webster,   Noah 49 

Weed,  Thurlow 91 

West,    Benjamin 115 

Whipple,  Henry  Benjamin. . .  161 

White,   Stephen  V 162 

Whitefield,  George 150 

Whitman,    Walt 197 

Whitney,    Eli 120 

Whitney,  William  Collins....  92 

Whittier,  John  Greenleaf 67 

Willard,  Frances  E 133 

Wilson,  William  L 180 

Winchell,  Alexander 175 

Windom,    William 138 


PORTRAITS  OF  NATIONAL  CELEBRITIES. 


PAGE 

Alger,   Russell  A 16 

Allison,  William  B 99 

Anthony,  Susan  B 62, 

Armour,   Philip  D 151 

Arthur,    Chester   A 81 

Barnum,   Phineas   T 117 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward 27 

Blaine,  James  G. 151 

Booth,    Edwin 63 

Bryan,  Wm.  J 63 

Bryant,  William  Cullen 185 

Buchanan,   James 81 

Bu'ckner,  Simoij  B 16 

Butler,  Benjamin  F 151 

Carlisle,  John  G 151 

Chase,  Salmon  P 16 

Childs,  George  W 99 

Clay,   Henry 81 

Cleveland,    Grover 45 

Cooper,    Peter 99 

Dana,   Charles  A 151 

Depew,  Chauncey  M 117 

Douglass,   Fred 62, 

Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo 27 

Evarts,  William   M 99 

Farragut,  Com.  D.  G 185 

Field,   Cyrus   W 63 


PAGE 

Field,   Marshall 117 

Franklin,   Benjamin 63 

Fremont,  Gen.  John  C 16 

Gage,  Lyman  J 151 

Garfield,  James  A 45 

Garrison,    William   Lloyd 63 

George,    Henry 117 

Gould,    Jay 99 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S 185 

Greeley,    Horace 81 

Hampton,  Wade 16 

Hancock,  Gen.  Winfield  S....   185 

Hanna,  Mark  A 117 

Harrison,    Benjamin 81 

Hayes,  R.  B 4$ 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A 81 

Holmes,  Oliver  W 151 

Hooker,  Gen.  Joseph 16 

Ingersoll,  Robert  G 117 

Irving,  Washington 27 

Jackson,    Andrew 45 

Jefferson,   Thomas 45 

Johnston,  Gen.  J.   E 16 

Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E 185 

Lincoln,    Abraham 81 

Logan,  Gen.  John  A 16 

Longfellow,  Henry  W 185 


PAGE 

Longstreet,  Gen.  James 16 

Lowell,  James  Russell. 27 

McKinley,    William 45 

Morse,  S.  F.  B 185 

Phillips,   Wendell 27 

Porter,  Com.  D.  D 185 

Pullman,  George  M 117 

Quay,  M.   S 99 

Reed,   Thomas   B 151 

Sage,  Russell 117 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfield 185 

Seward,   William   H 45 

Sherman,    John 99 

Sherman,  Gen.  W.  T 151 

Stanton,   Elizabeth   Cady 27 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher 27 

Sumner,    Charles ., . . .  45 

Talmage,    T.    DeWitt 62, 

Teller,   Henry  M 99 

Thurman,   Allen   G 81 

Tilden,  Samuel  J 117 

Van  Buren,  Martin 81 

Vanderbilt,  Commodore 99 

Webster,   Daniel 27 

Whittier,  John  G 27 

Washington,   George. 45 

Watterson,    Henry. ^3 


INDEX-HISTORICAL 


PAGE. 

Chapter         I— Michigan 219 

II — ^Kautawaubet  or  Wexford  County 22.'^ 

Ill — Arrival  of  New  Settlers  Continues 227 

IV— First  Election 232 

V— First  Railroad 239 

VI — Woman  Suffrage — State  Census — County  Elections — Bear  Trapping 244 

VII — The  County  Seat — Efforts  to  Secure  its  Removal  from  Sherman— Schemes  to  Prevent 

Removal  —Final  Result 249 

VIII — New  Judicial  Circuit — Greenback  Party 250 

IX — New  Railroad — New  Villages — New  Impetus  to  Farming  and  Lumbering 262 

X — City  and  Village  Organizations 2()9 

XI— Our  Honored  Dead  Pioneers " 299 

XII — Old  Pioneers  Who  Have  Removed  from  Our  Midst 310 


INDEX-BIOGRAPHICAL 


PAGE. 

A 

Allen,  George 480 

Anderson,  Aaron  F 546 

Anderson,  Gustave 459 

Anderson,  Johannas 551 

Auer,  Henry  C 885 

Averill,  David  B 498 

B 

Baker,  James  A 545 

Ballou,  Henry 410 

Bechtel,  Charles  J  521 

Billings,  Henry  M 556 

Blue,  George  W 860 

Bostick,  Charles  H 550 

Boyd,  Marion  B 5*25 

Boynton,  Elisha  M 345 

Bredahl,  Rasmus  P 514 

Brehm,  Edward  C 389 

Burman,  Axel  G 522 

C 

Cadillac  State  Bank 387 

Callis,  T.  Henry 461 

Carlson,  Charles  J 484 

Carnahan,  Samuel 404 

Cassety,  Samuel  J 387 

Chittenden,  Hon.  Clyde  C. . .  325 

Cobbs,  Frank  J 321 

Cobbs,  Jonathan  W 365 

Colvin,  Marvin  D .  463 

Corlett,  Thomas  A.,  M.  D. . ..  517 

Cornell,  Elon 448 

Cox,  Edward 382 

Crawford,  Ralph  W 457 

Crosby,  Thomas  W 392 

Cummer,  Jacob 327 

Cummer,  Wellington  W 338 

Curtis,  D.  W 408 

D 

Daugherty,  Chester  C 495 

Davidson,  Donald 374 

Dayhuff,  Mrs.  Cynthia 480 

Denike,  Andrew  B 400 


PAGE. 

Denike,  Thomas  P. 509 

DeVoe,  Henry  1 487 

Diggins,  Fred  A 324 

Discher,  Jacob 534 

Drury,  Charles  H 478 

Dunbar,  John 418 

Dunham,  Charles  C 473 

Dunham,  Nelson  H 524 

Dunton,  Lucius  A 453 

Dutton,  Charles  W 436 


Evitts,  John  A 496 


Fales,  Willford  D 381 

Frederick,  George  A    515 

Frederick,  Reuben  D 489 


Gasser,  Sanford 435 

Gates,  Lucas  W 553 

Gilbert,  Esedore 464 

Goldsmith,  John 438 

Goodyear,  Frank  L 476 

Graham,  George  S 549 

Gray,  Taylor  W. 481 

Gray,  William  H 508 

Guernsey,  Willis  D 858 

Gustafson,  John  A 402 

H 

Hagstrom,  Carl  E 422 

Hagstrom,  Otto 423 

Hansen,  Henry 426 

Hanthorn,  James 396 

Harger,  Ezra 537 

Harvey,  John 458 

Haskin,  John  A 399 

Haynes,  James 492 

Hector,  Frederick  W 380 

Hodgson,  Thomas 440 

Hogue,JohnR 510 

Holmberg,  Andrew 877 

Huff,  Henry  B 394   | 


PAGE. 

Huntley,  Victor  F.,  M.  D  ...  506 

Hutzler,  Horace  G 547 

J 

Jenkins,  Ira 502 

Johnson,  Andrew  519 

K 

Kaiser,  Daniel  E 456 

Kellogg,  Phillip 528 

Kelley,  William 497 

Kluss,  John 427 

Kneeland,  Dr.  Howard  S 518 

Knowlton,  Henry 342 

L 

Lake,  George  A 349 

Loveless,  William  W 376 

M 

McBrian,  Nelson 408 

McCane,  Joseph 520 

McCoy,  Daniel 467 

Mclntyre,  Donald  E 334 

McNitt,  Henry  C 450 

McNitt,  William 586 

Macey,  Lester  C 445 

Manning,  John  H 424 

Mansfield,  James  E 491 

Massey,  Richard  W 485 

Miller,  Carroll  E.,  M.  D 854 

Miller,  Humphrey  W 432 

Mitchell,  Austin  W 370 

Mitchell,  George  A 318 

Mitchell,  William  W 822 

Moffit,  Edward  G 357 

Morgan,  Edward,  M.  D 512 

Morken,  Elias 471 

N 

Neilson,  Nels 487 

Nichols,  Isaac 886 

Nichols,  John  J 505 

Nordstrom,  Nels  P 469 

Norris,  Richard  C 532 


INDEX— BIOGRAPHICAL. 


PAGE. 
O 

Olsen,  John 443 

Ostensen,  Hans 530 

Otis,  George  H 364 

P 

Parker,  John  T 368 

Parker,  Lyman  E 540 

Payne,  Henry  J 418 

Peck,  Alvah 397 

Peck,  Elwood 483 

Peterson,  Carl  B 541 

Powers,  Perry  F 362 

Prud'homme,  Rev.  L.  M 378 

R 

Reynolds.  George  A 504 

Reynolds,  Norman  A 534 

Rose,  William 351 

Rydquist,  Peter  A 416 

S 

Saunders,  William  L 331 

Sawyer,  Eugene  F 346 


PAGE. 

Seaman,  Sylvester  R 463 

Seaman,  Warren 428 

Shaver,  William  H 412 

Smith,  Albert  L 442 

Smith,  Elijah 466 

Smith,  N.  Jacob 472 

Smith,  Ward  P 527 

Southwick,  Albert  B 488 

Southwick,  W.  E 431 

Stanley,  George  S 391 

St.  Ann's  Church 379 

Starkweather,  Isaac 405 

Stewart,  Joseph 359 

Sturtevant,  Heman  B 383 

Sturtevant,  Walter  L 409 

T 

Teed,  George  C 390 

Terwilliger,  J.  M 333 

Thomas,  George  E 420 

Tibbits,  Lemuel  A 516 

Torrey,  Johns 419 


PAGE. 

Torrey,  Nelson  R 415 

Tripp,  Lewis  J 353 

Tweedie,  Ariel  W 406 

Tyler,  Cyril  H 451 

V 

Vance,  Asaph  T 477 

W 

Waddell,  Robert  M 369 

Wall,  Samuel  J 538 

Warden,  Joshua  M.,  M.  D. . .  372 

Webber,  Arthur  H 454 

Westbrook,  William  P 395 

Westover,  George  D 446 

Whaley,  James 417 

Wheeler,  John  H 317 

Wheeler,  Porter 500 

Williams,  George  F 542 

Williams,  Walter  S   554 

Wilson,  Lewis  T 367 


^I^^I^^IS^ 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHY 

.  . OF . . 

Celebrated  Americans 


"^^"^^"^^"^^ 


^3-<^.^ 


.1  _  r 


^ 
-t-^ 


|EORGE 


WASHINGTON, 

the  first  president  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  called  the  *' Father 
of  his  Country,'*  was  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  characters 
in  history.  He  was  born  Feb- 
ruary 22,  1732,  in  Washing- 
ton Parish,  Westmoreland  county,  Virginia. 
His  father,  Augustine  Washington,  first 
married  Jane  Butler,  who  bore  him  four 
children,  and  March  6,  1730,  he  •  married 
Mary  Ball.  Of  six  children  by  his  second 
marriage,  George  was  the  eldest. 

Little  is  known  of  the  early  years  of 
Washington,  beyond  the  fact  that  the  house 
in  which  he  was  born  was  burned  during  his 
early  childhood,  and  that  his  father  there- 
upon moved  to  another  farm,  inherited  from 
his  paternal  ancestors,  situated  in  Stafford 
county,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Rappahan- 
nock, and  died  there  in  1 743.  From  earliest 
childhood  George  developed  a  noble  charac- 
ter. His  education  was  somewhat  defective, 
being  confined  to  the  elementary  branches 
taught  him  by  his  mother  and  at  a  neighbor- 
ing school.  On  leaving  school  he  resided 
some  time  at  Mount  Vernon  with  his  half 


brother,  Lawrence,  who  acted  as  his  guar 
dian.      George's  inclinations  were  for  a  sea- 
faring career,   and  a  midshipman's  warrant 
was  procured  for  him;  but  through  the  oppo- 
sition of  his  mother  the  project  was  aban- 
doned, and  at  the  age  of  sixteen   he  was 
appointed  surveyor  to  the  immense  estates 
of  the  eccentric  Lord  Fairfax.     Three  years 
were  passed  by  Washington  in  a  rough  fron- 
tier life,  gaining  experience  which  afterwards 
proved   very   essential  to  him       In    175 1, 
when  the  Virginia  militia  were  put  under 
training  with  a  view  to  active  service  against 
France,  Washington,  though  only  nineteen 
years  of  age,  was  appointed  adjutant,  with 
the   rank  of    major.       In    1752   Lawrence 
Washington  died,  leaving  his  large  property 
to  an  infant  daughter.     In  his  will  George 
was  named  one  of  the  executors  and  as  an 
eventual  heir  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  by  the 
death  of  the  infant  niece,  soon  succeeded  to 
that  estate.     In   1753  George  was  commis- 
sioned   adjutant-general    of     the    Virginia 
militia,   and  performed  important  work  at 
the   outbreak   of   the    French   and   Indian 
war,  was  rapidly  promoted,  and  at  the  close  of 
that  war  we  find  him  commander-in-chief  of 


•Vnifht  1897,  by  Geo.  A.  Ogle  b  Co. 


18 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


all  the  forces  raised  in  Virginia.  A  cessation 
of  Indian  hostilities  on  the  frontier  having 
followed  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from 
the  Ohio,  he  resigned  his  commission  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Virginia  forces, 
and  then  proceeded  to  Williamsburg  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  Virginia  Assembly,  of  which 
he  had  been  elected  a  member. 

January  17,  1759,  Washington  marr'ed 
Mrs.  Martha  (Dandridge)  Curtis,  a  young 
and  beautiful  widow  of  great  wealth,  and 
devoted  himself  for  the  ensuing  fifteen  years 
to  the  quiet  pursuits  of  agriculture,  inter- 
rupted only  by  the  annual  attendance  in 
winter  upon  the  colonial  legislature  at 
Williamsburg,  until  summoned  by  his  coun- 
try to  enter  upon  that  other  arena  in  which 
his  fame  was  to  become  world-wide.  The 
war  for  independence  called  Washington 
into  service  again,  and  he  was  made  com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  colonial  forces,  and 
was  the  most  gallant  and  conspicuous  figure 
in  that  bloody  struggle,  serving  until  Eng- 
land acknowledged  the  independence  of 
each  of  the  thirteen  States,  and  negotiated 
with  them  jointly,  as  separate  sovereignties. 
December  4,  1783,  the  great  commander 
took  leave  of  his  officers  in  most  affection- 
ate and  patriotic  terms,  and  went  to  An- 
napolis, Maryland,  where  the  congress  of 
the  States  was  in  session,  and  to  that  body, 
when  peace  and  order  prevailed  everywhere, 
resigned  his  commission  and  retired  to 
Mount  Vernon. 

It  was  in  1789  that  Washington  was 
Called  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  na- 
tion. The  inauguration  took  place  April 
30,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  multi- 
tude which  had  assembled  to  witness  the  new 
and  imposing  ceremony.  In  the  manifold  de- 
tails of  his  civil  administration  Washington 
proved  himself  fully  equal  to  the  requirements 
of  his  position.     In  1 792,  at  the  second  presi- 


dential election,  Washington  was  desirous 
to  retire;  but  he  yielded  to  the  general  wish 
of  the  country,  and  was  again  chosen  presi- 
dent. At  the  third  election,  in  1796,  he 
was  again  most  urgently  entreated  to  con- 
sent to  remain  in  the  executive  chair.  This 
he  positively  refused,  and  after  March  4, 
1797,  he  again  retired  to  Mount  Vernon 
for  peace,  quiet,  and  repose. 

Of  the  call  again  made  on  this  illustrious 
chief  to  quit  his  repose  at  Mount  Ver- 
non and  take  command  of  all  the  United 
States  forces,  with  rank  of  lieutenant-gen- 
eral, when  war  was  threatened  with  France 
in  1798,  nothing  need  here  be  stated,  ex- 
cept to  note  the  fact  as  an  unmistakable 
testimonial  of  the  high  regard  in  which  he 
was  still  held  by  his  countrymen  of  all 
shades  of  political  opinion.  He  patriotic- 
ally accepted  this  trust,  but  a  treaty  of 
peace  put  a  stop  to  all  action  under  it.  He 
again  retired  to  Mount  Vernon,  where  he 
died  December  14,  1799,  in  the  sixty-eighth 
year  of  his  age.  His  remains  were  depos- 
ited in  a  family  vault  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac,  at  Mount  Vernon,  where  they  still 
lie  entombed. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  an  eminent 
American  statesman  and  scientist,  was 
born  of  poor  parentage,  January  17,  1706, 
in  Boston,  Massachusetts.  He  was  appren- 
ticed to  his  brother  James  to  learn  the  print- 
er's trade  to  prevent  his  running  away  and 
going  to  sea,  and  also  because  of  the  numer- 
ous family  his  parents  had  to  support  (there 
being  seventeen  children,  Benjamin  being 
the  fifteenth).  He  was  a  great  reader,  and 
soon  developed  a  taste  for  writing,  and  pre- 
pared a  number  of  articles  and  had  them 
published  in  the  paper  without  his  brother's 
knowledge,  and  when  the  authorship  be- 
came known  it  resulted  in  difficulty  for  the 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


n 


young  apprentice,  although  his  articles  had 
been  received  with  favor  by  the  public. 
James  was  afterwards  thrown  into  prison  for 
political  reasons,  and  young  Benjamin  con- 
ducted the  paper  alone  during  the  time.  In 
1823,  however,  he  determined  to  endure  his 
bonds  no  longer,  and  ran  away,  going  to 
Philadelphia,  where  he  arrived  with  only 
three  pence  as  his  store  of  wealth.  With 
these  »he  purchased  three  rolls,  and  ate  them 
as  he  walked  along  the  streets.  He  soon 
found  employment  as  a  journeyman  printer. 
Two  years  later  he  was  sent  to  England  by 
the  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
promised  the  public  printing,  but  did  not  get 
it.  On  his  return  to  Philadelphia  he  estab- 
lished the  *' Pennsylvania  Gazette,"  and 
soon  found  himself  a  person  of  great  popu- 
larity in  the  province,  his  ability  as  a  writer, 
philosopher,  and  politician  having  reached 
the  neighboring  colonies.  He  rapidly  grew 
in  prominence,  founded  the  Philadelphia  Li- 
brary in  1842,  and  two  years  later  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  and  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  made 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  London  in 
1775.  His  world-famous  investigations  in 
electricity  and  lightning  began  in  1746.  He 
became  postmaster-general  of  the  colonies 
in  1753,  having  devised  an  inter-colonial 
postal  system.  He  advocated  the  rights  of 
the  colonies  at  all  times,  and  procured  the 
repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766.  He  was 
elected  to  the  Continental  congress  of  1775, 
and  in  1776  was  a  signer  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  being  one  of  the  commit- 
tee appointed  to  draft  that  paper.  He  rep- 
resented the  new  nation  in  the  courts  of 
Europe,  especially  at  Paris,  where  his  simple 
dignity  and  homely  wisdom  won  him  the 
admiration  of  the  court  and  the  favor  of  the 
people.  He  was  governor  of  Pennsylvania 
Sour  years;  was  also  a  member  of  the  con- 


vention in  1787  that  drafted  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States. 

His  writings  upon  political  topics,  anti- 
slavery,  finance,  and  economics,  stamp  him 
as  one  of  the  greatest  statesmen  of  his  time, 
while  his  '*  Autobiography "  and  ''Poor 
Richard's  Almanac  "  give  him  precedence  in 
the  hterary  field.  In  early  life  he  was  an 
avowed  skeptic  in  religious  matters,  but 
later  in  life  his  utterances  on  this  subject 
were  less  extreme,  though  he  never  ex- 
pressed approval  of  any  sect  or  creed.  He 
died  in  Philadelphia  April  17,  1790. 


DANIEL   WEBSTER.— Of  world  wide 
reputation    for    statesmanship,    diplo- 
macy, and  oratory,  there  is  perhaps  no  more 
prominent  figure  in  the  history  of  our  coun- 
try in  the  interval  between   181  5    and  1861, 
than    Daniel    Webster.      He    was   born    at 
Salisbury  (now  Franklin),  New  Hampshire, 
January  18,  1782,  and   was  the  second  son 
of  Ebenezer  and  Abigail  (Eastman)  Webster. 
He  enjoyed  but   limited   educational  advan- 
tages in  childhood,  but  spent  a   few  months 
in  1797,  at   Phillip    Exeter   Academy.      He 
completed  his  preparation  for  college  in  the 
family  of  Rev.  Samuel  Wood,  at  Boscawen, 
and  entered  Dartmouth   College  in   the  fall 
of  1797.      He  supported  himself  most  of  the 
time  during  these  years  by  teaching  school 
and  graduated  in  1801,  having  the  credit  of 
being  the  foremost  scholar  of  his  class.      He 
entered  the  law  office  of  Hon.  Thomas  W. 
Thompson,  at  Salisbury.      In  1802  he  con- 
tinued his  legal  studies  at  Fryeburg,  Maine, 
where  he  was  principal  of  the  academy  and 
copyist    in   >the   office    of    the    register   of 
deeds.     In  the  office  of  Christopher  Gore, 
at    Boston,     he    completed   his   studies   in 
1804-5,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  the 
latter  year,  and  at  Boscawen  and  at  Ports- 
mouth soon  rose  to  eminence  in   his  profes^ 


20 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


sion.  He  became  known  as  a  federalist 
but  did  not  court  political  honors;  but,  at- 
tracting attention  by  his  eloquence  in  oppos- 
ing the  war  with  England,  he  was  elected 
to  congress  in  1812.  During  the  special 
session  of  May,  181 3,  he  was  appointed  on 
the  committee  on  foreign  affairs  and  made 
his  maiden  speech  June  10,  181 3.  Through- 
out this  session  (as  afterwards)  he  showed 
his  mastery  of  the  great  economic  questions 
of  the  day.  He  was  re-elected  in  18 14.  In 
1 8 16  he  removed  to  Boston  and  for  seven 
years  devoted  himself  to  his  profession, 
darning  by  his  arguments  in  the  celebrated 
''Dartmouth  College  Case"  rank  among 
the  most  distinguished  jurists  of  the  country. 
In  1820  Mr.  Webster  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  state  convention  of  Massachusetts,  to 
revise  the  constitution.  The  same  year  he 
delivered  the  famous  discourse  on  the  "  Pil- 
grim fathers,"  which  laid  the  foundation  for 
his  fame  as  an  orator.  Declining  a  nomi- 
nation for  United  States  senator,  in  1822  he 
was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  congress 
and  was  re-elected  in  1824  and  1826,  but  in 
1827  was  transferred  to  the  senate.  He 
retained  his  seat  in  the  latter  chamber  until 
1 841.  During  this  time  his  voice  was  ever 
lifted  in  defence  of  the  national  life  and 
honor  and  although  politically  opposed  to 
him  he  gave  his  support  to  the  administra- 
lian  of  President  Jackson  in  the  latter's  con- 
test with  nullification.  Through  all  these 
fears  he  was  ever  found  upon  the  side  of 
v^'ight  and  justice  and  his  speeches  upon  all 
the  great  questions  of  the  day  have  be- 
,";ome  household  words  in  almost  every 
family.  In  1841  Mr.  Webster  was  appointed 
secretary  of  state  by  President  Harrison 
and  was  continued  in  the  same  office  by 
President  Tyler.  While  an  incumbent  of 
this  office  he  showed  consummate  ability  as 
a  diplomat  in  the  negotiation  of  the  '*  Ash- 


burton  treaty  "  of  August  9,  1849,  which 
settled  many  points  of  dispute  between  the 
United  States  and  England.  In  May,  1843, 
he  resigned  his  post  and  resumed  his  pro- 
fession, and  in  December,  1845,  took  his 
place  again  in  the  senate.  He  contributed 
in  an  unofficial  way  to  the  solution  of  the 
Oregon  question  with  Great  Britain  in  1847. 
He  was  disappointed  in  1848  in  not  receiv- 
ing the  nomination  for  the  presidency.  He 
became  secretary  of  state  under  President 
Fillmore  in  1850  and  in  dealing  with  all  the 
complicated  questions  of  the  day  showed  a 
wonderful  mastery  of  the  arts  of  diplomacy. 
Being  hurt  in  an  accident  he  retired  to  his 
home  at  Marshfield,  where  he  died  Octo- 
ber 24,  1852. 

HORACE  GREELEY. —As  journalist, 
author,  statesman  and  political  leader, 
there  is  none  more  widely  known  than  the 
man  whose  name  heads  this  article.  He 
was  born  in  Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  Feb- 
ruary 3,  181 1,  and  was  reared  upon  a  farm. 
At  an  early  age  he  evinced  a  remarkable 
intelligence  and  love  of  learning,  and  at 
the  age  of  ten  had  read  every  book  he  could 
borrow  for  miles  around.  About  1821  the 
family  removed  to  Westhaven,  Vermont, 
and  for  some  years  young  Greeley  assisted 
in  carrying  on  the  farm.  In  1826  he  entered 
the  office  of  a  weekly  newspaper  at  East 
Poultney,  Vermont,  where  he  remained 
about  four  years.  On  the  discontinuance 
of  this  paper  he  followed  his  father's 
family  to  Erie  county,  Pennsylvania, 
whither  they  had  moved,  and  for  a  time 
worked  at  the  printer's  trade  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. In  1831  Horace  went  to  New 
York  City,  and  for  a  time  found  employ- 
ment as  journeyman  printer.  January, 
1833,  in  partnership  with  Francis  Story,  he 
published  the  Morning  Post^  the  first  penny 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHIC 


paper  ever  printed.  This  proved  a  failure 
and  was  discontinued  after  three  weeks. 
The  business  of  job  printing  was  carried  on, 
however,  until  the  death  of  Mr.  Story  in 
July  following.  In  company  with  Jonas 
Winchester,  March  22,  1834,  Mr.  Greeley 
commenced  the  publication  of  the  New 
Yorker,  a  weekly  paper  of  a  high  character. 
For  financial  reasons,  at  the  same  time, 
Greeley  wrote  leaders  for  other  papers,  and, 
in  1838,  took  editorial  charge  of  the  Jeffer-- 
sonian,  a  Whig  paper  published  at  Albany. 
In  1840,  on  the  discontinuance  of  that  sheet, 
he  devoted  his  energies  to  the  Log  Cabin,  a 
campaign  paper  in  the  interests  of  the  Whig 
party.  In  the  fall  of  1841  the  latter  paper 
was  consolidated  with  the  Nezu  Yorker,  un- 
der the  name  of  the  Tribune,  the  first  num- 
ber of  which  was  issued  April  10,  184 1.  At 
the  head  of  this  paper  Mr.  Greeley  remained 
until  the  day  of  his  death. 

In  1848  Horace  Greeley  was  elected  to 
the  national  house  of  representatives  to 
fill  a  vacancy,  and  was  a  member  of  that 
body  until  March  4,  1849.  In  185 1  he  went 
to  Europe  and  served  as  a  juror  at  the 
World's  Fair  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  Lon- 
don. In  1855,  he  made  a  second  visit  to 
the  old  world.  In  1859  he  crossed  the 
plains  and  received  a  public  reception  at 
San  Francisco  and  Sacramento.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Republican  national  con- 
vention, at  Chicago  in  i860,  and  assisted  in 
the  nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln  for 
President.  The  same  year  he  was  a  presi- 
dential elector  for  the  state  of  New  York, 
and  a  delegate  to  the  Loyalist  convention 
at  Philadelphia. 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  Mr. 
Greeley  became  a  strong  advocate  of  uni- 
versal amnesty  and  complete  pacification, 
and  in  pursuance  of  this  consented  to  be- 
come one   of  the    bondsmen   for   Jefierson 


Davis,  who  was  imprisoned  for  treason.  In 
1867  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  New  York 
state  convention  for  the  revision  of  the 
constitution.  In  1870  he  was  defeated  for 
congress  in  the  Sixth  New  York  district. 
At  the  Liberal  convention,  which  met  in 
Cincinnati,  in  May,  1872,  on  the  fifth  ballot 
Horace  Greeley  was  nominated  for  presi- 
dent and  July  following  was  nominated  for 
the  same  office  by  the  Democratic  conven- 
tion at  Baltimore.  He  was  defeated  by  a 
large  majority.  The  large  amount  of  work 
done  by  him  during  the  campaign,  together 
with  the  loss  of  his  wife  about  the  same 
time,  undermined  his  strong  constitution,, 
and  he  was  seized  with  inflammation  of  the 
brain,  and  died  November  29,  1872. 

In  addition  to  his  journalistic  work,  Mr. 
Greeley  was  the  author  of  several  meritori- 
ous works,  among  which  were:  **Hint<» 
toward  reform,"  *^  Glances  at  Europe/* 
* '  History  of  the  struggle  for  slavery  exten 
sion,"  '*  Overland  journey  to  San  Francis- 
co," ''The  American  conflict,"  and  **  Rec- 
ollections of  a  busy  life." 


HENRY  CLAY.— In  writing  of  this  em- 
inent  American,  Horace  Greeley  once 
said:  "He  was  a  matchless  party  chief,  an 
admirable  orator,  a  skillful  legislator,  wield- 
ing unequaled  influence,  not  only  over  his 
friends,  but  even  over  those  of  his  political 
antagonists  who  were  subjected  to  the  magic 
of  his  conversation  and  manners.  "  A  lavv^ 
yer,  legislator,  orator,  and  statesman,  few 
men  in  history  have  wielded  greater  influ- 
ence, or  occupied  so  prominent  a  place  in 
the  hearts  of  the  generation  in  which  they 
lived. 

Henry  Clay  was  born  near  Richmond, 
in  Hanover  county,  Virginia,  April  \2„ 
1777,  the  son  of  a  poor  Baptist  preacher 
who  died  when   Henry  was  but   five  years 


22 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHY, 


old.  The  mother  married  again  about  ten 
years  later  and  lemoved  to  Kentucky  leav- 
ing Henry  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Richmond. 
Soon  afterward  Henry  Clay  secured  a  posi- 
tion as  copyist  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the 
high  court  of  chancery,  and  four  years  later 
entered  the  law  office  of  Robert  Brooke, 
then  attorney  general  and  later  governor  of 
his  native  state.  In  1797  Henry  Clay  was 
licensed  as  a  lawyer  and  followed  his  mother 
to  Kentucky,  opening  an  office  at  Lexington 
and  soon  built  up  a  profitable  practice. 
Soon  afterward  Kentucky,  in  separating  from 
Virginia,  called  a  state  convention  for  the 
purpose  of  framing  a  constitution,  and  Clay 
at  that  time  took  a  prominent  part,  publicly 
urging  the  adoption  of  a  clause  providing 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  but  in  this  he 
was  overruled,  as  he  was  fifty  years  later, 
when  in  the  height  of  his  fame  he  again  ad- 
vised the  same  course  when  the  state  con- 
stitution was  revised  in  1850.  Young  Clay 
took  a  very  active  and  conspicuous  part  in 
the  presidential  campaign  in  1800,  favoring 
the  election  of  Jefferson;  and  in  1803  was 
chosen  to  represent  Fayette  county  in  the 
state  legislature.  In  1806  General  John 
Adair,  then  United  States  senator  from 
Kentucky,  resigned  and  Henry  Clay  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  by  the  legislature 
and  served  through  one  session  in  which  he 
at  once  assumed  a  prominent  place.  In 
1807  he  was  again  a  representative  in  the 
legislature  and  was  elected  speaker  of  the 
house.  At  this  time  originated  his  trouble 
with  Humphrey  Marshall.  Clay  proposed 
that  each  member  clothe  himself  and  family 
wholly  in  American  fabrics,  which  Marshall 
characterized  as  the  **  language  of  a  dema- 
gogue. *'  This  led  to  a  duel  in  which  both 
parties  were  slightly  injured.  In  1809 
Henry  Clay  was  again  elected  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy in  the  United  States  senate,  and  two 


years  later  elected  representative  in  tne  low- 
er house  of  congress,  being  chosen  speaker 
of  the  house.  About  this  time  war  was  de- 
clared against  Great  Britain,  and  Clay  took 
a  prominent  public  place  during  this  strug- 
gle and  was  later  one  of  the  commissioners 
sent  to  Europe  by  President  Madison  to  ne- 
gotiate peace,  returning  in  September,  181  5, 
having  been  re-elected  speaker  of  the 
house  during  his  absence,  and  w^as  re-elect- 
ed unanimously.  He  was  afterward  re- 
elected to  congress  and  then  became  secre- 
tary of  state  undv^r  John  Quincy  Adams. 
In  1 83 1  he  was  again  elected  senator  from 
Kentucky  and  remained  in  the  senate  most 
of  the  time  until  his  death. 

Henry  Clay  was  three  times  a  candidate 
for  the  presidency,  and  once  very  nearly 
elected.  He  was  the  unanimous  choice  of 
the  Whig  party  in  1844  for  the  presidency, 
and  a  great  effort  was  made  to  elect  him 
but  without  success,  his  opponent,  James  K. 
Polk,  carrying  both  Pennsylvania  and  New 
York  by  a  very  slender  margin,^  while  either 
of  them  alone  would  have  elected  Clay. 
Henry  Clay  died  at  Washington  Juoe  29, 
1852.  

JAMES  GILLESPIE  BLAINE  was  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  American 
statesmen  and  legislators.  He  was  born 
January  31,  1830,  in  Washington  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  received  a  thorough  edu- 
cation, graduating  at  Washington  College  in 
1847.  In  early  life  he  removed  to  Maine 
and  engaged  in  newspaper  work,  becoming 
editor  of  the  Portland  *  'Advertiser. "  While 
yet  a  young  man  he  gained  distinction  as  a 
debater  and  became  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
political  and  public  affairs.  In  1862  he  was 
elected  to  congress  on  the  Republican  ticket 
in  Maine  and  was  re-elected  five  times.  In 
March,  1869,  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


23 


house  of  representatives  and  was  re-elected 
in  1 87 1  and  again  in  1873.  In  1876  he  was 
a  representative  in  the  lower  house  of  con- 
gress and  during  that  year  was  appointed 
United  States  senator  by  the  Governor  to 
fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of 
Senator  Morrill,  who  had  been  appointed 
secretary  of  the  treasury.  Mr.  Blaine 
served  in  the  senate  until  March  5,  1881, 
when  President  Garfield  appointed  him  sec- 
retary of  state,  which  position  he  resigned 
in  December,  1881.  Mr.  Blaine  was  nom- 
inated for  the  presidency  by  the  Republic- 
ans, at  Chicago  in  June,  1884,  but  was  de- 
feated by  Grover  Cleveland  after  an  exciting 
and  spirited  campaign.  During  the  later 
years  of  his  life  Mr.  Blaine  devoted  most  of 
his  time  to  the  completion  of  his  work 
*' Twenty  Years  in  Congress,"  which  had  a 
remarkably  large  sale  throughout  the  United 
States.  Blaine  was  a  man  of  great  mental 
ability  and  force  of  character  and  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  life  was  one  of  the  most 
noted  men  of  his  time.  He  was  the  origina- 
tor of  what  is  termed  the  '*  reciprocity  idea" 
in  tariff  matters,  and  outlined  the  plan  of 
carrying  it  into  practical  effect.  In  1876 
Robert  G.  IngersoU  in  making  a  nominating 
speech  placing  Blaine's  name  as  a  candidate 
for  president  before  the  national  Republican 
convention  at  Cincinnati,  referred  to  Blaine 
as  the  '^  Plumed  Knight  "  and  this  title  clung 
to  him  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  His 
death  occurred  at  Washington,  January  27, 
1893.  

JOHN  CALDWELL  CALHOUN,  a  dis- 
J  tinguished  American  statesman,  was  a 
native  of  South  Carolina,  born  in  Abbeville 
district,  March  18,  1782.  He  was  given 
the  advantages  of  a  thorough  education, 
graduating  at  Yale  College  in  1804,  and 
adopted  the  calling  of  a  lawyer.     A  Demo-  ] 


crat  politically,  at  that  time,  he  took  a  fore- 
most part  in  the  councils  of  his   party  and 
was  elected  to  congress  in  181 1,  supporting 
the   tariff  of   18 16   and   the  establishing    of 
the  United  States  Bank.      In   18 17  he   be- 
came secretary  of  war  in  President  Monroe's 
cabinet,  and  in  1 824  was  elected  vice-president 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  ticket  with  John 
Quincy  Adams,  and  re-elected  in  1 828,  on  the 
ticket  with  General  Jackson.      Shortly  after 
this  Mr.  Calhoun  became  one  of  the  strongest 
advocates  of  free  trade  and  the  principle  of 
sovereignty  of  the  states  and   was   one   of 
the  originators  of  the  doctrine  that    **  any 
state  could  nullify   unconstitutional  laws  of 
congress."       Meanwhile    Calhoun    had  be- 
come an  aspirant   for  the   presidency,  and 
the  fact  that  General  Jackson  advanced  the 
interests  of  his  opponent.  Van   Buren,   led 
to  a  quarrel,  and  Calhoun  resigned  the  vice- 
presidency  in  1832  and  was  elected  United 
States  senator  from  South  Carolina.      It  was 
during  the  same  year  that  a  convention  was 
held  in  South  Carolina  at  which  the  ''  Nul- 
lification ordinance  "  was  adopted,  the  ob- 
ject of  which  was  to   test   the  constitution- 
ality of  the  protective  tariff  measures,  and 
to  prevent  if  possible  the  collection   of  im- 
port duties  in  that    state  which  had    been 
levied  more  for  the  purpose  of   ' '  protection  " 
than  revenue.     This  ordinance   was   to  go 
into  effect  in  February,  1833,  and  created  a 
great    deal    of    uneasiness    throughout    the 
country  as  it  was  feared   there   would  be  a 
clash  between  the  state  and  federal  authori- 
ties.     It  was    in  this    serious    condition    ot 
public  affairs  that  Henry  Clay  came  forward 
with  the  the  famous    ''tariff  compromise  '* 
of   1833,   to    which    measure    Calhoun    and 
most  of  his  followers  gave  their  support  and 
the  crisis  was   averted.     In  1843   Mr.  Cal- 
houn  was  appointed   secretary  of  state  in 
President  Tyler's  cabinet,  and   it  was  under 


24 


COMPENDIUM   OF-   BIOGRAPHT, 


his  administration  that  the  treaty  concern- 
ing the  annexation  of  Texas  was  negotiated. 
In  1845  he  was  re-elected  to  the  United 
States  senate  and  continued  in  the  senate 
tjntil  his  death,  which  occurred  in  March, 
1 850.  He  occupied  a  high  rank  as  a  scholar, 
student  and  orator,  and  it  is  conceded  that 
he  was  one  of  the  greatest  debaters  America 
has  produced.  The  famous  debate  between 
Calhoun  and  Webster,  in  1833,  is  regarded 
as  the  most  noted  for  ability  and  eloquence 
in  the  history  of  the  country. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN  BUTLER,  one 
of  America's  most  brilliant  and  pro- 
found lawyers  and  noted  public  men,  was 
a  native  of  New  England,  born  at  Deer- 
field,  New  Hampshire,  November  5,  1818. 
His  father.  Captain  John  Butler,  was  a 
prominent  man  in  his  day,  commanded  a 
company  during  the  war  of  1812,  and 
served  under  Jackson  at  New  Orleans. 
Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  given  an  excellent 
education,  graduated  at  Waterville  College, 
Maine,  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1840,  at  Lowell,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his 
profession  and  gained  a  wide  reputation  for 
his  ability  at  the  bar,  acquiring  an  extensive 
practice  and  a  fortune.  Early  in  life  he 
began  taking  an  active  interest  in  military 
affairs  and  served  in  the  state  militia  through 
all  grades  from  private  to  brigadier-general. 
In  1853  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legisla- 
ture on  the  Democratic  ticket  in  Lowell, 
and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  passage  of 
legislation  in  the  interests  of  labor.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year  he  was  a  member  of  the 
constitutional  convention,  and  in  1859  rep- 
resented his  district  in  the  Massachusetts 
senate.  When  the  Civil  war  broke  out 
General  Butler  took  the  field  and  remained 
at  the  front  most  of  the  time  during  that  I 


bloody  struggle.  Part  of  the  time  he  had 
charge  of  Fortress  Monroe,  and  in  Febru- 
ary, 1862,  took  command  of  troops  forming 
part  of  the  expedition  against  New  Orleans, 
and  later  had  charge  of  the  department  of 
the  Gulf.  He  was  a  conspicuous  figure  dur- 
ing the  continuance  of  the  war.  After  the 
close  of  hostilities  General  Butler  resumed 
his  law  practice  in  Massachusetts  and  in 
1866  was  elected  to  congress  from  the  Es- 
sex district.  In  1882  he  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Massachusetts,  and  in  1884  was  the 
nominee  of  the  **  Greenback''  party  for 
president  of  the  United  States.  He  con- 
tinued his  legal  practice,  and  maintained  his 
place  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  men  in 
New  England  until  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  January  10,  1893. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS,  an  officer,  states- 
man and  legislator  of  prominence  in 
America,  gained  the  greater  part  of  his  fame 
from  the  fact  that  he  was  president  of  the 
southern  confederacy.  Mr.  Davis  was  born 
in  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  June  3, 
1808,  and  his  early  education  and  surround- 
ings were  such  that  his  sympathies  and  in- 
clinations were  wholly  with  the  southern 
people.  He  received  a  thorough  education, 
graduated  at  West  Point  in  1828, -and  for  a 
number  of  years  served  in  the  army  at  west- 
ern posts  and  in  frontier  service,  first  as 
lieutenant  and  later  as  adjutant.  In  1835 
he  resigned  and  became  a  cotton  planter  in 
Warren  county,  Mississippi,  where  he  took 
an  active  interest  in  public  affairs  and  be- 
came a  conspicuous  figure  in  politics.  In 
1844  he  was  a  presidential  elector  from 
Mississippi  and  during  the  two  following 
years  served  as  congressman  from  his  d^'s- 
trict.  He  then  became  colonel  ot  a  Missis- 
sippi regiment  in  the  war  with  Mexico  ano 
participated  in  some  of  the  most  severe  oai- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


25 


ties,  being  seriously  wounded  at  Buena 
Vista.  Upon  his  return  to  private  life  he 
again  took  a  prominent  part  in  political  af- 
fairs and  represented  his  state  in  the  United 
States  senate  from  1847  to  1851.  He  then 
entered  President  Pierce's  cabinet  as  secre- 
tary of  war,  after  which  he  again  entered 
the  United  States  senate,  remaining  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  war.  He  then  be- 
came president  of  the  southern  confederacy 
and  served  as  such  until  captured  in  May, 
1865,  at  Irwinville,  Georgia.  He  was  held 
as  prisoner  of  war  at  Fortress  Monroe,  until 
1867,  when  he  was  released  on  bail  and 
finally  set  free  in  1868.  His  death  occurred 
December  6,  1889. 

Jefferson  Davis  was  a  man  of  excellent 
abilities  and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the 
best  organizers  of  his  day.  He  was  a 
forceful  and  fluent  speaker  and  a  ready 
writer.  He  wrote  and  published  the  *'  Rise 
and  Fall  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,"  a 
work  which  is  considered  as  authority  by 
the  southern  people. 


JOHN  ADAMS,  the  second  president  of 
the  United  States,  and  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  figures  in  the  early  struggles  of 
his  country  for  independence,  was  born  in 
the  present  town  of  Quincy,  then  a  portion 
of  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  October  30, 
1735.  He  received  a  thorough  education, 
graduating  at  Harvard  College  in  1755, 
studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1758.  He  was  well  adapted  for  this  profes- 
sion and  after  opening  an  office  in  his  native 
town  rapidly  grew  in  prominence  and  public 
favor  and  soon  was  regarded  as  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  the  country.  His  atten- 
tion was  called  to  political  affairs  by  the 
passage  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1765,  and  he 
drew  up  a  set  of  resolutions  on  the  subject 
which  were  very  popular.     In   1768  he  re- 


moved to  Boston  and  became  one  of  the 
most  courageous  and  prominent  advocates 
of  the  popular  cause  and  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  Colonial  legislature  from 
Boston.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates  that 
represented  Massachusetts  in  the  first  Con^ 
tinental  congress,  which  met  in  September, 
1774.  In  a  letter  written  at  this  crisis  he 
uttered  the  famous  words:  **The  die  is  now 
cast;  I  have  passed  the  Rubicon.  Sink  or 
swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or  perish  with  my 
country,  is  my  unalterable  determination." 
He  was  a  prominent  figure  in  congress  and 
advocated  the  movement  for  independence 
when  a  majority  of  the  members  were  in- 
clined to  temporize  and  to  petition  the  King. 
In  May,  1776,  he  presented  a  resolution  in 
congress  that  the  colonies  should  assume 
the  duty  of  self-government,  which  was 
passed.  In  June,  of  the  same  year,  a  reso- 
lution that  the  United  States  "are,  and  ol 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent,'* 
was  moved  by  Richard  H.  Lee,  seconded  by 
Mr.  Adams  and  adopted  by  a  small  majority. 
Mr.  Adams  was  a  member  of  the  committee 
of  five  appointed  June  1 1  to  prepare  a 
declaration  of  independence,  in  support  of 
which  he  made  an  eloquent  speech.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  War  in  1776  and 
in  1 778  was  sent  as  commissioner  to  France, 
but  returned  the  following  year.  In  1780 
he  went  to  Europe,  having  been  appointed 
as  minister  to  negotiate  a  treaty  of  peace 
and  commerce  with  Great  Britain.  Con- 
jointly with  Franklin  and  Jay  he  negotiated 
a  treaty  in  1782.  He  was  employed  as  a 
minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James  from 
1785  to  1788,  and  during  that  period  wrote 
his  famous  **  Defence  of  the  American  Con- 
stitutions." In  1789  he  became  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  was  re-elected 
in  1792. 

In  1796   Mr.    Adams  was  chosen  presi- 


26 


COMPENDIUM    OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


dent  of  the  United  States,  his  competitor 
being  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  became  vice- 
president.  In  1800  he  was  the  Federal 
candidate  for  president,  but  he  was  not 
cordially  supported  by  Gen.  Hamilton,  the 
favorite  leader  of  his  party,  and  was  de- 
feated by  Thomas  Jefferson. 

Mr.  Adams  then  retired  from  public  life 
to  his  large  estate  at  Quincy,  Mass.,  where 
he  died  July  4,  1826,  on  the  same  day  that 
witnessed  the  death  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
Though  his  physical  frame  began  to  give  way 
many  years  before  his  death,  his  mental 
powers  retained  their  strength  and  vigor  to 
the  last.  In  his  ninetieth  year  he  was  glad- 
dened by  .the  elevation  of  his  son,  John 
Quincy  Adams,  to  the  presidential  office. 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER,  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  American  preachers 
and  authors,  was  born  at  Litchfield,  Connec- 
ticut, June  24, 1 8 1 3.  His  father  was  Dr.  Ly- 
man Beecher,  also  an  eminent  divine.  At 
an  early  age  Henry  Ward  Beecher  had  a 
strong  predilection  for  a  sea-faring  life,  and 
it  was  practically  decided  that  he  would  fol- 
low this  inclination,  but  about  this  time,  in 
consequence  of  deep  religious  impressions 
which  he  experienced  during  a  revival,  he 
renounced  his  former  intention  and  decided 
to  enter  the  ministry.  After  having  grad- 
uated at  Amherst  College,  in  1834,  he  stud- 
ied theology  at  Lane  Seminary  under  the 
tuition  of  his  father,  who  was  then  president 
of  that  institution.  In  1847  he  became  pas- 
tor of  the  Plymouth  Congregational  church 
in  Brooklyn,  where  his  oratorical  ability  and 
original  eloquence  attracted  one  of  the  larg- 
est congregations  in  the  country.  He  con- 
tinued to  served  this  church  until  the  time 
of  his  death,  March  8,  1887.  Mr.  Beecher 
also  found  time  for  a  great  amount  of  liter- 
ary worL     For  a  number  of  years  he  was 


editor  of  the  "Independent"  and  also  the 
''  Christian  Union.  "  He  also  produced  many 
works  which  are  widely  known.  Among  his 
principal  productions  are  '  'Lectures  to  Young 
Men,"  ''Star  Papers, "  "Life  of  Christ," 
' '  Life  Thoughts, "  * '  Royal  Truths  "  (a 
novel),  "Norwood,"  "  Evolution  and  Rev- 
olution," and  "  Sermons  on  Evolution  and 
Religion. "  Mr.  Beecher  was  also  long  a 
prominent  advocate  of  anti-slavery  princi- 
ples and  temperance  reform,  and,  at  a  later 
period,  of  the  rights  of  women. 


JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  the  illustrious  states^ 
man  and  general,  was  born  in  Jackson 
county,  Illinois,  February  9,  1824.  In  his 
boyhood  days  he  received  but  a  limited  edu- 
cation in  the  schools  of  his  native  county. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  with  Mexico 
he  enlisted  in  the  First  Illinois  Volunteers 
and  became  its  quartermaster.  At  the  close 
of  hostilities  he  returned  home  and  was 
elected  clerk  of  the  courts  of  Jackson  county 
in  1849.  Determining  to  supplement  his 
education  Logan  entered  the  Louisville  Uni- 
versity, from  which  he  graduated  in  1852 
and  taking  up  the  study  of  law  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  He  attained  popularity  and  suc- 
cess in  his  chosen  profession  and  was  elected 
to  the  legislature  in  1852,  1853,  1856  and 
1857.  He  was  prosecuting  attorney  from 
1853  to  1857.  He  was  elected  to  congress 
in  1858  to  fill  a  vacancy  and  again  in  i860. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion,  Logan  re- 
signed his  office  and  entered  the  army,  and 
in  September,  1861,  was  appointed  colonel 
of  the  Thirty-first  Illinois  Infantry,  which  he 
led  in  the  battles  of  Belmont  and  Fort  Don- 
elson.  In  the  latter  engagement  he  was 
wounded.  In  March,  1862,  he  was  pro- 
moted to  be  brigadier-general  and  in  the 
foUowing  month  participated  in  the  battles 
o^  ^ittsburg  Landing.     In  November,  1862, 


COMPENDIUM    OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


29 


for  gallant  conduct  he  was  made  major-gen- 
eral. Throughout  the  Vicksburg  campaign 
he  was  in  command  of  a  division  of  the  Sev- 
enteenth Corps  and  was  distinguished  at 
Port  Gibson,  Champion  Kills  and  in  the 
siege  and  capture  of  Vicksburg.  In  October, 
1863,  he  was  placed  in  command  of  the 
Fifteenth  Corps,  which  he  led  with  great 
credit.  During  the  terrible  conflict  before 
Atlanta,  July  22,  1864,  on  the  death  of 
General  McPherson,  Logan,  assuming  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  led  it 
on  to  victory,  saving  the  day  by  his  energy 
and  ability.  He  was  shortly  after  succeeded 
by  General  O.  O.  Howard  and  returned  to 
the  command  of  his  corps.  He  remained 
in  command  until  the  presidential  election, 
when,  feeling  that  his  influence  was  needed 
at  home  he  returned  thither  and  there  re- 
mained until  the  arrival  of  Sherman  at  Sa- 
vannah, when  General  Logan  rejoined  his 
command.  In  May,  1865,  he  succeeded 
General  Howard  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee.  He  resigned  from  the  army 
in  August,  the  same  year,  and  in  November 
was  appointed  minister  to  Mexico,  but  de- 
clined the  honor.  He  served  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  fortieth  and  forty-first  con- 
gresses, and  was  elected  United  States  sena- 
tor from  his  native  state  in  1870,  1878  and 
1885.  He  was  nominated  for  the  vice-presi- 
dency in  1884  01^  the  ticket  with  Blaine,  but 
was  defeated.  General  Logan  was  the 
author  of  ''The  Great  Conspiracy,  its  origin 
and  history,"  published  in  1885.  He  died 
at  Washington,  December  26,  1886. 


JOHN  CHARLES  FREMONT,  the  first 
Republican  candidate  for  president,  was 
born  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  January  21^ 
18 1 3.  He  graduated  from  Charleston  Col- 
lege (South  Carolina)  in  1830,  and  turned  his 

attention  to  civil  engineering.  He  was  shortly 
2 


afterward  employed  in  the  department  of 
government  surveys  on  the  Mississippi,  and 
constructing  maps  of  that  region.  He  was 
made  lieutenant  of  engineers,  and  laid  be- 
fore the  war  department  a  plan  for  pene- 
trating the  Rocky  Mountain  regions,  which 
was  accepted,  and  in  1842  he  set  out  upon 
his  first  famous  exploring  expedition  and  ex- 
plored the  South  Pass.  He  also  planned  an 
expedition  to  Oregon  by  a  new  route  further 
south,  but  afterward  joined  his  expedition 
with  that  of  Wilkes  in  the  region  of  the 
Great  Salt  Lake.  He  made  a  later  expedi- 
tion which  penetrated  the  Sierra  Nevadas, 
and  the  San  Joaquin  and  Sacramento  river 
valleys,  making  maps  of  all  regions  explored. 
In  1845  he  conducted  the  great  expedi- 
tion which  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of 
California,  which  it  was  believed  the  Mexi- 
can government  was  about  to  dispose  of  to 
England.  Learning  that  the  Mexican  gov- 
ernor was  preparing  to  attack  the  American 
settlements  in  his  dominion,  Fremont  deter- 
mined to  forestall  him.  The  settlers  rallied 
to  his  camp,  and  in  June,  1846,  he  defeated 
the  Mexican  forces  at  Sonoma  Pass,  and  a 
month  later  completely  routed  the  governor 
and  his  entire  army.  The  Americans  at 
once  declared  their  independence  of  Mexico, 
and  Fremont  was  elected  governor  of  Cali- 
fornia. By  this  time  Commodore  Stockton 
had  reached  the  coast  with  instructions  from 
Washington  to  conquer  California.  Fre- 
mont at  once  joined  him  in  that  effort,  which 
resulted  in  the  annexation  of  California  with 
its  untold  mineral  wealth.  Later  Fremont 
became  involved  in  a  difficulty  with  fellow 
officers  which  resulted  in  a  court  martial, 
and  the  surrender  of  his  commission.  He 
declined  to  accept  reinstatement.  He  af- 
terward laid  out  a  great  road  from  the  Mis- 
sissippi river  to  San  Francisco,  and  became 
the  first  United  States  senator  from  Califor- 


80 


COMPENUIUM   01^    BIOGRAPHT. 


nia,  in  1849.  In  1856  he  was  nominated 
by  the  new  Republican  party  as  its  first  can- 
didate for  president  against  Buchanan,  and 
received  114  electoral  votes,  out  of  296. 

In  1 861  he  was  made  major-general  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  western  department. 
He  planned  the  reclaiming  of  the  entire 
Mississippi  valley,  and  gathered  an  army  of 
thirty  thousand  men,  with  plenty  of  artil- 
lery, and  was  ready  to  move  upon  the  con- 
federate General  Price,  when  he  was  de- 
prived of  his  command.  He  was  nominated 
for  the  presidency  at  Cincinnati  in  1 864,  but 
withdrew.  He  was  governor  of  Arizona  in 
1878,  holding  the  position  four  years.  He 
was  interested  in  an  engineering  enterprise 
looking  toward  a  great  southern  trans-con- 
tinental railroad,  and  in  his  later  years  also 
practiced  law  in  New  York.  He  died  July  1 3, 
1 890. 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS,  the  orator  and 
abolitionist,  and  a  conspicuous  figure 
in  American  history,  was  born  November 
29,  181 1,  at  Boston,  Massachusetts.  He 
received  a  good  education  at  Harvard 
College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1831, 
and  then  entered  the  Cambridge  Law  School . 
After  completing  his  course  in  that  institu- 
tion, in  1833,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
in  1834,  at  Suffolk.  He  entered  the  arena 
of  life  at  the  time  when  the  forces  of  lib- 
erty and  slavery  had  already  begun  their 
struggle  that  was  to  culminate  in  the  Civil 
war.  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  by  his  clear- 
headed, courageous  declarations  of  the  anti- 
slavery  principles,  had  done  much  to  bring 
about  this  struggle.  Mr.  Phillips  was  not  a 
man  that  could  stand  aside  and  see  a  great 
struggle  being  carried  on  in  the  interest  of 
humanity  and  look  passively  on.  He  first 
attracted  attention  as  an  orator  in  1837,  ^^ 
a  meeting  that  was  called  to  protest  against 


the  murder  of  the  Rev.  Elijah  P.  Lovejoy. 
The  meeting  would  have  ended  in  a  few 
perfunctory  resolutions  had  not  Mr.  Phillipp 
by  his  manly  eloquence  taken  the  meeting 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  few  that  were  in- 
clined to  temporize  and  avoid  radical  utter- 
ances. Having  once  started  out  in  this  ca- 
reer as  an  abolitionist  Phillips  never  swerved 
from  what  he  deemed  his  duty,  and  never 
turned  back.  He  gave  up  his  legal  practice 
and  launched  himself  heart  and  soul  in  the 
movement  for  the  liberation  of  the  slaves. 
He  was  an  orator  of  very  great  abihty  and 
by  his  earnest  efforts  and  eloquence  he  did 
much  in  arousing  public  sentiment  in  behalf 
of  the  anti-slavery  cause — possibly  more 
than  any  one  man  of  his  time.  After  the 
abolition  of  slavery  Mr.  Phillips  was,  if  pos- 
sible, even  busier  than  before  m  the  literary 
and  lecture  field.  Besides  temperance  and 
women's  rights,  he  lectured  often  and  wrote 
much  on  finance,  and  the  relations  of  labor 
and  capital,  and  his  utterances  on  whatever 
subject  always  bore  the  stamp  of  having 
emanated  from  a  master  mind.  Eminent 
Clitics  have  stated  that  it  might  fairly  be 
questioned  whether  there  has  ever  spoken 
in  America  an  orator  superior  to  Phillips. 
The  death  of  this  great  man  occurred  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1884. 


WILLIAM  TECUMSEH  SHERMAN 
was  one  of  the  greatest  generals  that 
the  world  has  ever  produced  and  won  im- 
mortal fame  by  that  strategic  and  famous 
•'  march  to  the  sea, "  in  the  war  of  the  Re- 
bellion. He  was  born  February  8,  1820,  at 
Lancaster,  Ohio,  and  was  reared  in  the 
family  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Evving,  as  his 
father  died  when  he  was  but  nine  years  of 
age.  He  entered  West  Point  in  1836,  was 
graduated  from  the  same  in  1840,  and  ap- 
pointed  a  second  lieutenant   in   the   Third 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


81 


Artillery.  He  passed  through  the  various 
grades  of  the  service  and  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  war  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
Thirteenth  Regular  Infantry.  A  full  history 
of  General  Sherman's  conspicuous  services 
would  be  to  repeat  a  history  of  the  army. 
He  commanded  a  division  at  Shiloh,  and 
was  instrumental  in  the  winning  of  that  bat- 
tle, and  was  also  present  at  the  siege  of  Vicks- 
borg.  On  July  4,  1S63,  he  was  appointed 
brigadier-general  of  the  regular  army,  and 
shared  with  Hooker  the  victory  of  Mission- 
ary Ridge.  He  was  commander  of  the  De- 
panmcnt  of  the  Tennessee  from  October 
27th  until  the  appointment  of  General 
Grant  as  lieutenant-general,  by  whom  he 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Mississippi,  which  he  as- 
sumed in  March,  1864.  He  at  once  began 
organizing  the  army  and  enlarging  his  com- 
munications preparatory  to  his  march  upon 
Atlanta,  which  he  started  the  same  time  of 
che  beginning  of  the  Richmond  campaign  by 
Grant.  He  started  on  May  6,  and  was  op- 
posed by  Johnston,  who  had  fifty  thousand 
men,  but  by  consummate  generalship,  he 
captured  Atlanta,  on  September  2,  after 
several  months  of  hard  fighting  and  a  severe 
loss  of  men.  General  Sherman  started  on 
his  famous  march  to  the  sea  November  15, 
1864,  3-f^d  by  December  10  he  was  before 
Savannah,  which  he  took  on  December  23. 
This  campaign  is  a  monument  to  the  genius 
of  General  Sherman  as  he  only  lost  567 
men  from  Atlanta  to  the  sea.  After  rest- 
ing his  army  he  moved  northward  and  occu- 
pied the  following  places:  Columbia, 
Cheraw,  Fayetteville,  Ayersboro,  Benton- 
ville,  Goldsboro,  Raleigh,  and  April  18,  he 
accepted  the  surrender  of  Johnston's  army 
on  a  basis  of  agreement  that  was  not  re- 
ceived by  the  Government  with  favor,  but 
finally  accorded  Johnston  the  same  terms  as 


Lee  was  given  by  General  Grant.  He  was 
present  at  the  grand  review  at  Washington, 
and  after  the  close  of  the  war  was  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  military  division  of 
the  Mississippi;  later  was  appointed  lieu- 
tenant-general, and  assigned  to  the  military 
division  of  the  Missouri.  When  General 
Grant  was  elected  president  Sherman  became 
general,  March  4,  1869,  and  succeeded  to 
the  command  of  the  army.  His  death  oc- 
curred February   14,  1891,  at  Washington. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  one  of  the 
most  prominent  of  the  early  American 
statesmen  and  financiers,  was  born  in  Nevis, 
an  island  of  the  West  Indies,  January  11, 
1757,  his  father  being  a  Scotchman  and  his 
mother  of  Huguenot  descent.  Owing  to  the 
death  of  his  mother  and  business  reverses 
which  came  to  his  father,  young  Hamilton 
was  sent  to  his  mother's  relatives  in  Santa 
Cruz;  a  few  years  later  was  sent  to  a  gram- 
mar school  at  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey, 
and  in  1773  entered  what  is  now  known  as 
Columbia  College.  Even  at  that  time  he 
began  taking  an  active  part  in  public  affairs 
and  his  speeches,  pamphlets,  and  newspaper 
articles  on  political  affairs  of  the  day  at- 
tracted considerable  attention.  In  1776  he 
received  a  captain's  commission  and  served 
in  Washington's  army  with  credit,  becoming 
aide-de-camp  to  Washington  with  rank  of 
lieutenant-colonel.  In  1781  he  resigned  his 
commission  because  of  a  rebuke  from  Gen- 
eral Washington.  He  next  received  com- 
mand of  a  New  York  battalion  and  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  Yorktown.  After 
this  Hamilton  studied  law,  served  several 
terms  in  congress  and  was  a  member  of  the 
convention  at  which  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion was  drawn  up.  His  work  connected 
with  '' The  Federalist  "  at  about  this  time 
attracted   much    attention.      Mr.    Hamilton 


32 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


was  chosen  as  the  first  secretary  of  the 
United  States  treasury  and  as  such  was  the 
author  of  the  funding  system  and  founder  of 
the  United  States  Bank.  In  1798  he  was 
made  inspector-general  of  the  army  with  the 
rank  of  major-general  and  was  also  for  a 
short  time  commander-in-chief.  In  1804 
Aaron  Burr,  then  candidate  for  governor  of 
New  York,  challenged  Alexander  Hamilton 
to  fight  a  duel,  Burr  attributing  his  defeat 
to  Hamilton's  opposition,  and  Hamilton, 
though  declaring  the  code  as  a  relic  of  bar- 
barism, accepted  the  challenge.  They  met 
at  Weehawken,  New  Jersey,  July  11,  1804. 
Hamilton  declined  to  fire  at  his  adversary, 
but  at  Burr's  first*fire  was  fatally  wounded 
and  died  July  12,  1804. 


ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  STEPH- 
ENS, vice-president  of  the  southern 
confederacy,  a  former  United  States  senator 
and  governor  of  Georgia,  ranks  among  the 
great  men  of  American  history.  He  was  born 
February  11,  18 12,  near  Crawfordsville, 
Georgia.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Georgia,  and  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1834.  In  1837  he  made  his  debut  in 
political  life  as  a  member  of  the  state  house 
of  representatives,  and  in  1 841  declined  the 
nomination  for  the  same  office;  but  in  1842 
he  was  chosen  by  the  same  constituency  as 
state  senator.  Mr.  Stephens  was  one  of 
the  promoters  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic 
Railroad.  In  1843  he  was  sent  by  his  dis- 
trict to  the  national  house  of  representatives, 
which  office  he  held  for  sixteen  copsec- 
utive  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
house  during  the  passing  of  the  Compromise 
Bill,  and  was  one  of  its  ablest  and  most 
active  supporters.  The  same  year  (1850) 
Mr.  Stephens  was  a  delegate  to  the  state 
convention  that  framed  the  celebrated 
**  Georgia  Platform,"  and  was  also   a  dele- 


gate to  the  convention  that  passed  the  ordi- 
nance of  secession,  though  he  bitterly  op- 
posed that  bill  by  voice  and  vote,  yet  he 
readily  acquiesced  in  their  decision  after 
it  received  the  votes  of  the  majority  of  the 
convention.  He  was  chosen  vice-president 
of  the  confederacy  without  opposition,  and 
in  1865  he  was  the  head  of  the  commis- 
sion sent  by  the  south  to  the  Hampton 
Roads  conference.  He  was  arrested  after 
the  fall  of  the  confederacy  and  was  con- 
fined in  Fort  Warren  as  a  prisoner  of  state 
but  was  released  on  his  own  parole.  Mr. 
Stephens  was  elected  to  the  forty-third, 
forty-fourth,  forty-fifth,  forty-sixth  and  for- 
ty-seventh congresses,  with  hardly  more  than 
nominal  opposition.  He  was  one  of  the 
Jeffersonian  school  of  American  politics. 
He  wrote  a  number  of  works,  principal 
among  which  are:  *' Constitutional  View 
of  the  War  between  the  States,"  and  a 
*'  Compendium  of  the  History  of  the  United 
States."  He  was  inaugurated  as  governor 
of  Georgia  November  4th,  1882,  but  died 
March  4,  1883,  before  the  completion  of 
his  term. 

ROSCOE  CONKLING  was  one  of  the 
most  noted  and  famous  of  American 
statesmen.  He  was  among  the  most  fin- 
ished, fluent  and  eloquent  orators  that  have 
ever  graced  the  halls  of  the  American  con- 
gress; ever  ready,  witty  and  bitter  in  de- 
bate he  was  at  once  admired  and  feared  by 
his  political  opponents  and  revered  by  his 
follower^.  True  to  his  friends,  loyal  to  the 
last  degree  to  those  with  whom  his  inter- 
ests were  associated,  he  was  unsparing  to  his 
foes  and  it  is  said  ''never  forgot  an  injury." 
Roscoe  Conkling  was  born  at  Albany, 
New  York,  on  the  30th  of  October,  1829, 
being  a  son  of  Alfred  Conkling.  Alfred 
Conkling  was  also   a   native  of  New  York, 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


83 


born  at  East  Hampton,  October  12,  1789, 
and  became  one  of  the  most  eminent  law- 
yers in  the  Empire  state;  pubhshed  several 
legal  works;  served  a  term  in  congress;  aft- 
erward as  United  States  district  judge  for 
Northern  New  York,  and  in  1852  was  min- 
ister to  Mexico.     Alfred   Conkling  died  in. 

1874. 

Roscoe  Conkling,  whose  name  heads 
this  article,  at  an  early  age  took  up  the 
study  of  law  and  soon  became  successful  and 
prominent  at  the  bar.  About  1846  he  re- 
moved to  Utica  and  in  1858  was  elected 
mayor  of  that  city.  He  was  elected  repre- 
sentative in  congress  from  this  district  and 
was  re-elected  three  times.  In  1867  he  was 
elected  United  States  senator  from  the  state 
of  New  York  and  was  re-elected  in  1873 
and  1879.  In  May,  1881,  he  resigned  on 
account  of  differences  with  the  president. 
In  March,  1882,  he  was  appointed  and  con- 
firmed as  associate  justice  of  the  United 
States  supreme  court  but  declined  to  serve. 
His  death  occurred  April  18,   i 


WASHINGTON  IRVING,  one  of  the 
most  eminent,  talented  and  popu- 
lar of  American  authors,  was  born  in  New 
York  City,  April  3,  1783.  His  father  was 
William  Irving,  a  merchant  and  a  native  of 
Scotland,  who  had  married  an  English  lady 
and  emigrated  to  America  some  twenty 
years  prior  to  the  birth  of  Washington. 
Two  of  the  older  sons,  William  and  Peter, 
were  partially  occupied  with  newspaper 
work  and  literary  pursuits,  and  this  fact 
naturally  inclined  Washington  to  follow 
their  example.  Washington  Irving  was  given 
the  advantages  afforded  by  the  common 
schools  until  about  sixteen  years  of  age 
when  he  began  studying  law,  but  continued 
to  acquire  his  literary  training  by  diligent 
perusal  at  home  of  the  older  English  writers. 


When  nineteen  he  made  his  first  literary 
venture  by  printing  in  the  * '  Morning  Chroni- 
cle," then  edited  by  his  brother,  Dr.  Peter 
Irving,  a  series  of  local  sketches  under  the 
nom-de-pliime  oi  **  Jonathan  Oldstyle."  In 
1804  he  began  an  extensive  trip  through 
Europe,  returned  in  1806,  quickly  com- 
pleted his  legal  studies  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  but  never  practiced  the  profession. 
In  1807  he  began  the  amusing  serial  **  Sal- 
magundi," which  had  an  immediate  suc- 
cess, and  not  only  decided  his  future 
career  but  long  determined  the  charac- 
^  ter  of  his  writings.  In  1808,  assisted  by 
his  brother  Peter,  he  wrote  *'  Knickerbock- 
er's History  of  New  York,"  and  in  18 10  an 
excellent  biography  of  Campbell,  the  poet» 
After  this,  for  some  time,  Irving's  attention 
was  occupied  by  mercantile  interests,  but 
the  commercial  house  in  which  he  was  a 
partner  failed  in  18 17.  In  18 14  he  was 
editor  of  the  Philadelphia  '^Analectic  Maga- 
zine."  About  1 81 8  appeared  his  **Sketch- 
Book, "  over  the  nom-de-plume  of  *  'Geoffrey 
Crayon,"  which  laid  the  foundation  of  Ir- 
ving's  fortune  and  permanent  fame.  This 
was  soon  followed  by  the  legends  of 
*' Sleepy  Hollow,"  and  "  Rip  Van  Winkle," 
which  at  once  took  high  rank  as  literary 
productions,  and  Irving's  reputation  was 
firmly  established  in  both  the  old  and  new 
worlds.  After  this  the  path  of  Irving  was 
smooth,  and  his  subsequent  writings  ap- 
peared with  rapidity,  including  **  Brace- 
bridge  Hall,"  *' The  Tales  of  a  Traveler,'' 
''  History  of  the  Life  and  Vo3^ages  of  Chris- 
topher Columbus,"  *'The  Conquest  of 
Granada,"  **The  Alhambra,"  ^^Tour  on 
the  Prairies,"  **  Astoria,"  ''Adventures  oi 
Captain  Bonneville,"  "Wolfert's  Roost," 
''  Mahomet  and  his  Successors,"  and  *'Life 
of  Washington,"  besides  other  works. 

Washington  Irving  was  never  married. 


34 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


He  resided  during  the  closing  years  of  his 
life  at  Sunnyside  (Tarrytown)  on  the  Hud- 
son, where  he  died  November  28,  1859^ 


CHARLES  SUMNER.— Boldly  outlined 
on  the  pages  of  our  history  stands  out 
the  rugged  figure  of  Charles  Sumner,  states- 
man, lawyer  and  writer.  A  man  of  unim- 
peachable integrity,  indomitable  will  and 
with  the  power  of  tireless  toil,  he  was  a  fit 
leader  in  troublous  times.  First  in  rank  as 
an  anti-slavery  leader  in  the  halls  of  con- 
gress, he  has  stamped  his  image  upon  the 
annals  of  his  time.  As  an  orator  he  took 
front  rank  and,  in  wealth  of  illustration, 
rhetoric  and  lofty  tone  his  eloquence  equals 
anything  to  be  found  in  history. 

Charles  Sumner  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  January  6,  181 1,  and  was 
the  son  of  Charles  P.  and  Relief  J.  Sumner. 
The  family  had  long  been  prominent  in  that 
state.  Charles  was  educated  at  the  Boston 
Public  Latin  School;  entered  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  1826,  and  graduated  therefrom  in 
1830.  In  1 83 1  he  joined  the  Harvard  Lav/ 
School,  then  under  charge  of  Judge  Story, 
and  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  law 
with  enthusiasm.  His  leisure  was  devoted 
to  contributing  to  the  American  Jurist.  Ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1834  he  was  appointed 
reporter  to  the  circuit  court  by  Judge  Story. 
He  published  several  works  about  this  time, 
and  from  1835  to  1837  and  again  in  1843 
was  lecturer  in  the  law  school.  He  had 
planned  a  lawyer's  life,  but  in  1845  he  gave 
his  attention  to  politics,  speaking  and  working 
against  the  admission  of  Texas  to  the  Union 
and  subsequently  against  the  Mexican  war. 
In  1848  he  was  defeated  for  congress  on  the 
Free  Soil  ticket.  His  stand  on  the  anti- 
slavery  question  at  that  time  alienated  both 
friends  and  clients,  but  he  never  swerved 
from  his  convictions.    In  1851  he  was  elected 


to  the  United  States  senate  and  took  his 
seat  therein  December  i  of  that  year.  From 
this  time  his  life  became  the  history  of  the 
anti-slavery  cause  in  congress.  In  August, 
1852,  he  began  his  attacks  on  slavery  by  a 
masterly  argument  for  the  repeal  of  the 
fugitive  slave  law.  On  May  22,  1856,  Pres- 
ton Brooks,  nephew  of  Senator  Butler,  of 
South  Carolina,  made  an  attack  upon  Mr. 
Sumner,  at  his  desk  in  the  senate,  striking 
him  over  the  head  with  a  heavy  cane.  The 
attack  was  quite  serious  in  its  effects  and 
kept  Mr.  Sumner  absent  from  his  seat  in  the 
senate  for  about  four  years.  In  1857,  1863 
and  1869  he  was  re-elected  to  the  office  of 
senator,  passing  some  twenty-three  years  in 
that  position,  always  advocating  the  rights 
of  freedom  and  equity.  He  died  March  11, 
1874.  

THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  the  third  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  was  born 
near  Charlottesville,  Albemarle  county,  Vir- 
ginia, April  13,  1743,  and  was  the  son  of 
Peter  and  Jane  (Randolph)  Jefferson.  He 
received  the  elements  of  a  good  education, 
and  in  1760  entered  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege. After  remaining  in  that  institution  for 
two  years  he  took  up  the  study  of  law  with 
George  Wythe,  of  Williamsburg,  Virginia, 
one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  of  his  day,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  1767.  He  ob- 
tained a  large  and  profitable  practice,  which 
he  held  for  eight  years.  The  conflict  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  the  Colonies  then 
drew  him  into  public  life,  he  having  for 
some  time  given  his  attention  to  the  study 
of  the  sources  of  law,  the  origin  of  liberty 
and  equal  rights. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  elected  to  the  Virginia 
hoHse  of  burgesses  in  1769,  and  served  in 
that  body  several  years,  a  firm  supporter  of 
liberal    measures,    and,    although    a   slave- 


COMPENDIUM    OF    BIOGRAPHY 


85 


holder  himself,  an  opponent  of  slavery. 
With  others,  he  was  a  leader  among  the  op- 
position to  the  king.  He  took  his  place  as 
a  member  of  the  Continental  congress  June 
21,  1775,  and  after  serving  on  several  com- 
mittees w^as  appointed  to  draught  a  Declara- 
tion of  Independence,  which  he  did,  some 
corrections  being  suggested  by  Dr.  Franklin 
and  John  Adams.  This  document  was  pre- 
sented to  congress  June  28,  1776,  and  after 
six  days'  debate  was  passed  and  was  signed. 
In  the  following  September  Mr.  Jefferson 
resumed  his  seat  in  the  Virginia  legislature, 
and  gave  much  time  to  the  adapting  of  laws 
of  that  state  to  the  new  condition  of  things. 
He  drew  up  the  law,  the  first  ever  passed  by 
a  legislature  or  adopted  by  a  government, 
which  secured  perfect  religious  freedom. 
June  I,  1779,  he  succeeded  Patrick  Henry 
as  governor  of  Virginia,  an  ofBce  which, 
after  co-operating  with  Washington  in  de- 
fending the  country,  he  resigned  two  years 
later.  One  of  his  own  estates  was  ravaged 
by  the  British,  and  his  house  at  Monticello 
was  held  by  Tarleton  for  several  days,  and 
Jefferson  narrowly  escaped  capture.  After 
the  death  of  his  wife,  in  1782,  he  accepted 
the  position  of  plenipotentiary  to  France, 
which  he  had  declined  in  1776.  Before 
leaving  he  served  a  short  time  in  congress 
at  Annapolis,  and  succeeded  in  carrying  a 
bill  for  establishing  our  present  decimal  sys- 
tem of  currency,  one  of  his  most  useful  pub- 
lic services.  He  remained  in  an  official  ca- 
pacity until  October,  1789,  and  was  a  most 
active  and  vigilant  minister.  Besides  the 
onerous  duties  of  his  office,  during  this  time, 
he  published  '^Notes  on  Virginia,'*  sent  to 
the  United  States  seeds,  shrubs  and  plants, 
forwarded  literary  and  scientific  news  and 
gave  useful  advice  to  some  of  the  leaders  of 
the  French  Revolution. 

Mr.  Jefferson  landed  in  Virginia  Novem- 


ber 18,  1789,  having  obtained  a  leave  of 
absence  from  his  post,  and  shortly  after  ac- 
cepted Washington's  offer  of  the  portfolio 
of  the  department  of  state  in  his  cabinet. 
He  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office  in 
March,  1791,  and  held  it  until  January  i, 
1794,  when  he  tendered  his  resignation. 
About  this  time  he  and  Alexander  Hamilton 
became  decided  and  aggressive  political  op- 
ponents, Jefferson  being  in  warm  sympathy 
with  the  people  in  the  French  revolution 
and  strongly  democratic  in  his  feelings, 
while  Hamilton  took  the  opposite  side.  In 
1796  Jefferson  was  elected  vice-president  of 
the  United  States.  In  1800  he  was  elected 
to  the  presidency  and  was  inaugurated 
March  4,  1801.  During  his  administration, 
which  lasted  for  eight  years,  he  having  been 
re-elected  in  1804,  he  waged  a  successful 
war  against  the  Tripolitan  pirates;  purchased 
Louisiana  of  Napoleon;  reduced  the  public 
debt,  and  was  the  originator  of  many  wise 
measures.  Declining  a  nomination  for  a 
third  term  he  returned  to  Monticello,  where 
he  died  July  4,  1826,  but  a  few  hours  before 
the  death  of  his  friend,  John  Adams. 

Mr.  Jefferson  was  married  January  i, 
1772,  to  Mrs.  Martha  Skelton,  a  young, 
beautiful,  and  wealthy  widow,  who  died 
September  6,  1782,  leaving  three  children, 
three  more  having  died  previous  to  her 
demise. 

CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT, known  as 
''Commodore"  Vanderbilt,  was  the 
founder  of  what  constitutes  the  present  im- 
mense fortune  of  the  Vanderbilt  family.  He 
was  born  May  27,  1794,  at  Port  Richmond, 
Staten  Island,  Richmond  county.  New 
York,  and  we  find  him  at  sixteen  years  run- 
ning a  small  vessel  between  his  home  and 
New  York  City.  The  fortifications  of  Sta- 
ten and  Long  Islands  were  just  in  course  of 


36 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


construction,  and  he  carried  the  laborers 
from  New  York  to  the  fortifications  in  his 
**perianger,  "  as  it  was  called,  in  the  day, 
and  at  night  carried  supplies  to  the  fort  on 
the  Hudson.  Later  he  removed  to  New 
York,  where  he  added  to  his  little  fleet.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was  free  from 
debt  and  was  worth  $9,000,  and  in  1817, 
with  a  partner  he  built  the  first  steamboat 
that  was  run  between  New  York  and  New 
Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  and  became  her 
captain  at  a  salary  of  $1,000  a  year.  The 
next  year  he  took  command  of  a  larger  and 
better  boat  and  by  1824  he  was  in  complete 
control  of  the  Gibbon's  Line,  as  it  was 
called,  which  he  had  brought  up  to  a  point 
where  it  paid  $40,000  a  year.  Commodore 
Vanderbilt  acquired  the  ferry  between  New 
York  and  Elizabethport,  New  Jersey,  on  a 
fourteen  years'  lease  and  conducted  this  on 
a  paying  basis.  He  severed  his  connections 
with  Gibbons  in  1829  and  engaged  in 
business  alone  and  for  twenty  years  he  was 
the  leading  steamboat  man  in  the  country, 
building  and  operating  steamboats  on  the 
Hudson  River,  Long  Island  Sound,  on  the 
Delaware  River  and  the  route  to  Boston, 
and  he  had  the  monopoly  of  trade  on  these 
routes.  In  1850  he  determined  to  broaden 
his  field  of  operation  and  accordingly  built 
the  steamship  Prometheus  and  sailed  for 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  where  he  desired  to 
make  a  personal  investigation  of  the  pros- 
pects of  the  American  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Ship  Canal  Company,  in  which  he  had  pur- 
chased a  controlling  interest.  Commodore 
Vanderbilt  planned,  as  a  result  of  this  visit, 
a  transit  route  from  Greytown  on  the  At- 
lantic coast  to  San  Juan  del  Sud  on  the  Pa- 
cific coast,  which  was  a  saving  of  700  miles 
over  the  old  route.  In  1851  he  placed  three 
steamers  on  the  Atlantic  side  and  four  on 
the  Pacific  side  to  accommodate  the  enor- 


mous traffic  occasioned  by  the  discovery  of 
gold  in  California.  The  following  year 
three  more  vessels  were  added  to  his  fleet 
and  a  branch  line  established  from  New 
Orleans  to  Greytown.  In  1853  the  Com- 
modore sold  out  hisNicarauguaTransit  Com- 
pany, which  had  netted  him  $1,000,000 
and  built  the  renowned  steam  yacht,  the 
''North  Star."  He  continued  in  the  ship- 
ping business  nine  years  longer  and  accu- 
mulated some  $10,000,000.  In  1861  he 
presented  to  the  government  his  magnifi- 
cent steamer  *'  Vanderbilt,  "  which  had  cost 
him  $800,000  and  for  which  he  received  the 
thanks  of  congress.  In  1844  he  became 
interested  in  the  railroad  business  which  he 
followed  in  later  years  and  became  one  of 
the  greatest  railroad  magnates  of  his  time. 
He  founded  the  Vanderbilt  University  at  a 
cost  of  $1,000,000.  He  died  January  4, 
1877,  leaving  a  fortune  estimated  at  over 
$100,000,000  to  his  children. 


DANIEL  BOONE  was  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  the  many  American  scouts, 
pioneers  and  hunters  which  the  early  settle- 
ment of  the  western  states  brought  into 
prominence.  Daniel  Boone  was  born  Feb- 
ruary II,  1735,  in  Bucks  county,  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  while  yet  a  young  man  removed 
to  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  married. 
In  1769,  with  five  companions,  he  pene- 
trated into  the  forests  and  wilds  of  Kentucky 
— then  uninhabited  by  white  men.  He  had 
frequent  conflicts  with  the  Indians  and  was 
captured  by  them  but  escaped  and  continued 
to  hunt  in  and  explore  that  region  for  over 
a  year,  when,  in  1771,  he  returned  \.o  his 
home.  In  the  summer  of  1773,  he  removed 
with  his  own  and  five  other  families  into 
what  was  then  the  wilderness  of  Kentucky, 
and  to  defend  his  colony  against  the  savages, 
he  built,  in  1775,  a  fort  at  Boonesborough,. 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


87 


on  the  Kentucky  river.  This  fort  was  at- 
tacked by  the  Indians  several  times  in  1777, 
but  they  were  repulsed.  The  following 
year,  however,  Boone  was  surprised  and 
captured  by  them.  They  took  him  to  De- 
troit and  treated  him  with  leniency,  but  he 
soon  escaped  and  returned  to  his  fort  which 
he  defended  with  success  against  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  Indians  in  August,  1778.  His 
son,  Enoch  Boone,  was  the  first  white  male 
child  born  in  the  state  of  Kentucky.  In 
1795  Daniel  Boone  removed  with  his  family 
to  Missouri,  locating  about  forty-five  miles 
west  of  the  present  site  of  St.  Louis,  where 
he  found  fresh  fields  for  his  favorite  pursuits 
— adventure,  hunting,  and  pioneer  life.  His 
death  occurred  September  20,  1820. 


HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFEL- 
LOW, said  to  have  been  America's 
greatest  "poet  of  the  people,"  was  born  at 
Portland,  Maine,  February  27,  1807.  He 
entered  Bowdoin  College  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen, and  graduated  in  1825.  During  his 
college  days  he  distinguished  himself  in  mod- 
ern languages,  and  wrote  several  short 
poems,  one  of  the  best  known  of  which  was 
the  **  Hymn  of  the  Moravian  Nuns."  After 
his  graduation  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
his  father,  but  the  following  year  was  offered 
the  professorship  of  modern  languages  at 
Bowdoin,  with  the  privilege  of  three  years 
study  in  Europe  to  perfect  himself  in  French, 
Spanish,  Italian  and  German.  After  the 
three  years  were  passed  he  returned  to  the 
United  States  and  entered  upon  his  profes- 
sorship in  1829.  His  first  volume  was  a 
small  essay  on  the  *' Moral  and  Devotional 
Poetry  of  Spain''  in  1833.  In  1835  he  Pub- 
lished some  prose  sketches  of  travel  under 
i:iie  title  of  • '  Outre  Mer,  a  Pilgrimage  be- 
yond the  Sea."  In  1835  he  was  elected  to 
the  chair  of  modern  languages  and  literature 


at  Harvard  University  and  spent  a  year  in 
Denmark,  Sweden  and  Switzerland,  culti- 
vating a  knowledge  of  early  Scandinavian 
literature  and  entered  upon  his  professor^ 
ship  in  1836.  Mr.  Longfellow  published  in 
1839  *  *  Hyperion,  a  Romance, "  and  *  *  Voices 
of  the  Night, "  and  his  first  volume  of  original 
verse  comprising  the  selected  poems  of 
twenty  years  work,  procured  him  immediate 
recognition  as  a  poet.  *' Ballads  and  other 
poems"  appeared  in  1842,  the  **  Spanish 
Student"  a  drama  in  three  acts,  in  1843, 
'* The  Belfry  of  Bruges  "  in  1846,  "Evan- 
geline, a  Tale  of  Acadia,"  in  1847,  which 
was  considered  his  master  piece.  In  1845 
he  published  a  large  volume  of  the  ^^Poeti? 
and  Poetry  of  Europe,"  1849  '*  Kavanagh, 
a  Tale,"  "The  Seaside  and  Fireside "  in 
1850,  * 'The  Golden  Legend  "  in  1 85 1,  ''The 
Song  of  Hiawatha  "in  1855,  **The  Court- 
ship of  Miles  Standish  "  in  1858,  **  Tales  of 
a  Wayside  Inn  "  in  1863;  *' Flower  de  Luce'' 
in  1866;"  **New  England  Tragedies"  in 
1869;  "The  Divine  Tragedy"  in  1871; 
"Three  Books  of  Song"  in  1872;  "The 
Hanging  of  the  Crane  "  in  1874.  He  also 
published  a  masterly  translation  of  Dante 
in  1867-70  and  the  "  Morituri  Salutamus," 
a  poem  read  at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
his  class  at  Bowdoin  College.  Prof.  Long- 
fellow resigned  his  chair  at  Harvard  Univer- 
sity in  1854,  but  continued  to  reside  at  Cam- 
bridge. Some  of  his  poetical  works  have 
been  translated  into  many  languages,  and 
their  popularity  rivals  that  of  the  best  mod- 
ern English  poetry.  He  died  March  24, 
1882,  but  has  left  an  imperishable  fame  as 
one  of  the  foremost  of  American  poets. 


PETER  COOPER  was  in  three  partic- 
ulars— as  a  capitalist  and  manufacturer, 
as  an  inventor,  and  as  a  philanthropist — 
connected  intimately  with  some  of  the  most 


88 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BI0GRAPH7\ 


Emportant  and  useful  accessions  to  the  in- 
.  dustrial  arts  of  America,  its  progress  in  in- 
vention and  the  promotion  of  educational 
and  benevolent  institutions  intended  for  the 
benefit  of  people  at  large.  He  was  born 
in  New  York  city,  February  12,  1791.  His 
(  life  was  one  of  labor  and  struggle,  as  it  was 
with  most  of  America's  successful  men.  In 
early  boyhood  he  commenced  to  help  his 
rather  as  a  manufacturer  of  hats.  He  at- 
tended school  only  for  half  of  each  day  for 
a  single  year,  and  beyond  this  his  acquisi- 
tions were  all  his  own.  When  seventeen 
years  old  he  was  placed  with  John  Wood- 
ward to  learn  the  trade  of  coach-making  and 
served  his  apprenticeship  so  satisfactorily 
chat  his  master  offered  to  set  him  up  in  busi- 
ness, but  this  he  declined  because  of  the 
debt  and  obligation  it  would  involve. 

The  foundation  of  Mr.  Cooper's  fortune 
was  laid  in  the  invention  of  an  improvement 
in  machines  for  shearing  cloth.  This  was 
largely  called  into  use  during  the  war  of 
18 12  with  England  when  all  importations 
of  cloth  from  that  country  were  stopped. 
The  machines  lost  their  value,  however,  on 
the  declaration  of  peace.  Mr.  Cooper  then 
turned  his  shop  into  the  manufacture  of 
cabinet  ware.  He  afterwards  went  into  the 
grocery  business  in  Mew  York  and  finally  he 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  glue  and  isin- 
glass which  he  carried  on  for  more  than 
fifty  years.  In  1830  he  erected  iron  works 
in  Canton,  near  Baltimore.  Subsequently 
he  erected  a  rolling  and  a  wire  mill  in  the 
city  of  New  York,  in  which  he  first  success- 
fully applied  anthracite  to  the  puddling  of 
iron.  In  these  works,  he  was  the  first  to 
roll  wrought-iron  beams  for  fire-proof  build- 
ings. These  works  grew  to  be  very  exten- 
sive, inciuding  mines,  blast  furnaces,  etc. 
Wnile  in  Baltimore  Mr.  Cooper  built  in 
1830,  after  his  own  designs,  the  first  loco-  i 


motive  engine  ever  constructed  on  this  con- 
tinent and  it  was  successfully  operated  on 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  He  also 
took  a  great  interest  and  invested  large  cap- 
ital in  the  extension  of  the  electric  telegraph, 
also  in  the  laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable; 
besides  interesting  himself  largely  in  the 
New  York  state  canals.  But  the  most 
cherished  object  of  Mr.  Cooper's  life  was 
the  establishment  of  an  institution  for  the 
instruction  of  the  industrial  classes,  which 
he  carried  out  on  a  magnificent  scale  in  New 
York  city,  where  the  **  Cooper  Union" 
ranks  among  the  most  important  institu- 
tions. 

In  May,  1876,  the  Independent  party 
nominated  Mr.  Cooper  for  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  at  the  election  following 
he  received  nearly  100,000  votes.  His 
death  occurred  April  4,   1883. 


GENERAL  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE, 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  Confeder- 
ate generals  during  the  Civil  war,  and  one 
of' the  ablest  military  commanders  of  mod- 
ern times,  was  born  at  Stratford  House, 
Westmoreland  county,  Virginia,  January  19, 
1807.  In  1825  he  entered  the  West  Point 
academy  and  was  graduated  second  in  his 
class  in  1829,  and  attached  to  the  army  as 
second  lieutenant  of  engineers.  For  a 
number  of  years  he  was  thus  engaged  in  en- 
gineering work,  aiding  in  establishing  the 
boundary  line  between  Ohio  and  Michigan, 
and  superintended  various  river  and  harbor 
improvements,  becoming  captain  of  engi- 
neers in  1838.  He  first  saw  field  service  in 
the  Mexican  war,  and  under  General  Scott 
performed  valuable  and  efficient  service. 
In  that  brilliant  campaign  he  was  conspicu- 
ous for  professional  ability  as  well  as  gallant 
and  meritorious  conduct,  winning  in  quick 
succession  the  brevets  of  major,  lieutenant- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHr, 


m 


colonel,  and  colonel  for  his  part  in  the  bat- 
tles of  Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  Cherubusco, 
Chapultepec,  and  in  the  capture  of  the  city 
Mexico.  At  the  close  of  that  war  he  re- 
sumed his  engineering  work  in  connection 
with  defences  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  and 
from  1852  to  1855  was  superintendent  of 
the  Military  Academy,  a  position  which  he 
gave  up  to  become  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 
Second  Cavalry.  For  several  years  there- 
after he  served  on  the  Texas  border,  but 
happening  to  be  near  Washington  at  the 
time  of  John  Brown's  raid,  October  17  to 
25.  1859,  Colonel  Lee  was  placed  in  com- 
mand of  the  Federal  forces  employed  in  its 
repression.  He  soon  returned  to  his  regi- 
ment in  Texas  where  he  remained  the 
greater  part  of  i860,  and  March  16,  1861, 
became  colonel  of  his  regiment  by  regular 
promotion.  Three  weeks  later,  April  25,  he 
resigned  upon  the  secession  of  Virginia, 
went  at  once  to  Richmond  and  tendered  his 
services  to  the  governor  of  that  state,  being 
by  acclamation  appointed  commander-in- 
chief  of  its  military  and  naval  forces,  with 
the  rank  of  major-general. 

He  at  once  set  to  work  to  organize  and 
develop  the  defensive  resources  of  his  state 
and  within  a  month  directed  the  occupation 
in  force  of  Manassas  Junction.  Meanwhile 
Virginia  having  entered  the  confederacy  and 
Richmond  become  the  capitol,  Lee  became 
one  of  the  foremost  of  its  military  officers 
and  was  closely  connected  with  Jefferson 
Davis  in  planning  the  moves  of  that  tragic 
time.  Lee  participated  in  many  of  the 
hardest  fought  battles  of  the  war  among 
which  were  Fair  Oaks,  White  Lake  Swamps, 
Cold  Harbor,  and  the  Chickahominy,  Ma- 
nassas, Cedar  Run,  Antietam,  Fredericks- 
burg, Chancellorsville,  Malvern  Hill,  Get- 
tysburg, the  battles  of  the  Wilderness  cam- 
paign, all  the  campaigns  about  Richmond, 


Petersburg,  Five  Forks,  and  others.  Lee's 
surrender  at  Appomatox  brought  the  war  to 
a  close.  It  is  said  of  General  Lee  that  but 
few  commanders  in  history  have  been  so 
quick  to  detect  the  purposes  of  an  opponent 
or  so  quick  to  act  upon  it.  Never  surpassed, 
if  ever  equaled,  in  the  art  of  w^inning  the 
passionate,  personal  love  and  admiration  of 
his  troops,  he  acquired  and  held  an  influ- 
ence over  his  army  to  the  very  last,  founded 
upon  a  supreme  trust  in  his  judgment,  pre- 
science and  skill,  coupled  with  his  cool, 
stable,  equable  courage.  A  great  writer  has 
said  of  him:  *' As  regards  the  proper  meas- 
ure of  General  Lee's  rank  among  the  sol- 
diers of  history,  seeing  what  he  wrought 
with  such  resources  as  he  had,  under  all  the 
disadvantages  that  ever  attended  his  oper- 
ations, it  is  impossible  to  measure  what  he 
might  have  achieved  in  campaigns  and  bat- 
tles with  resources  at  his  own  disposition 
equal  to  those  against  which  he  invariably 
contended." 

Left  at  the  close  of  the  war  without  es- 
tate or  profession,  he  accepted  the  presi- 
dency of  Washington  College  at  Lexington, 
Virginia,  where  he  died  October  12,  1870, 


JOHN  JAY,  first  chief-justice  of  the 
United  States,  was  born  in  New  York^ 
December  12,  1745.  He  took  up  the  study 
of  law,  graduated  from  King's  College 
(Columbia  College),  and  was  admitted  ta 
the  bar  in  1768.  He  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  committee  of  New  York  citizens  ta 
protest  against  the  enforcement  by  the 
British  government  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill, 
was  elected  to  the  Continental  congress 
which  met  in  1774,. and  was  author  of  the 
addresses  to  the  people  of  Great  Britian  and 
of  Canada  adopted  by  that  and  the  suc- 
ceeding congress.  He  was  chosen  to  the 
provincial  assembly  of   his   own  state,  and 


40 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


resigned  from  the  Continental  congress  to 
serve  in  that  body,  wrote  most  of  its  public 
papers,  including  the  constitution  of  the  new 
state,  and  was  then  made  chief-justice.  He 
was  again  chosen  as  a  member  of  the  Con- 
tinental congress  in  1778,  and  became  presi- 
dent of  that  body.  He  was  sent  to  Spain 
as  minister  in  1780,  and  his  services  there 
resulted  in  substantial  and  moral  aid  for  the 
struggling  colonists.  Jay,  Franklin,  and 
Adams  negotiated  the  treaty  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain  in  1782,  and  Jay  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  foreign  affairs  in  1784, 
and  held  the  position  until  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  constitution.  During  this  time 
he  had  contributed  strong  articles  to  the 
''Federalist"  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of 
the  constitution,  and  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  ratification  of  that 
instrument  by  his  state.  He  was  appointed 
by  Washington  as  first  chief -justice  of  the 
United  States  in  1789.  In  this  high  capac- 
ity the  great  interstate  and  international 
questions  that  arose  for  immediate  settle- 
ment came  before  him  for  treatment. 

In  1794,  at  a  time  when  the  people  in 
gratitude  for  the  aid  that  France  had  ex- 
tended to  us,  were  clamoring  for  the  privilege 
of  going  to  the  aid  of  that  nation  in  her 
struggle  with  Great  Britain  and  her  own  op- 
pressors, John  Jay  was  sent  to  England  as 
special  envoy  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with 
that  power.  The  instrument  known  as 
*' Jay's  Treaty  "  was  the  result,  and  while 
in  many  of  its  features  it  favored  our  nation, 
yet  the  neutrahty  clause  in  it  so  angered  the 
masses  that  it  was  denounced  throughout 
the  entire  country,  and  John  Jay  was  burned 
in  effigy  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The 
treaty  was  finally  ratified  by  Washington, 
and  approved,  in  August,  1795.  Having 
been  elected  governor  of  his  state  for  three 
consecutive  terms,    he    then    retired  from 


active  life,  declining  an  appointment  as 
chief-justice  o^  the  supreme  court,  made  by 
John  Adams  and  confirmed  by  the  senate. 
He  died  in  New  York  in  1829. 


PHILLIP  HENRY  SHERIDAN  was 
one  of  the  greatest  American  cavalry 
generals.  He  was  born  March  6,  1831,  at 
Somerset,  Perry  county,  Ohio,  and  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  United  States  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point,  from  which  he  graduat- 
ed and  was  assigned  to  the  First  Infantry  as 
brevet  second  lieutenant  July  i,  1853. 
After  serving  in  Texas,  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
in  Washington  and  Oregon  territories  until 
the  fall  of  1 86 1,  he  was  recalled  to  the 
states  and  assigned  to  the  army  of  south- 
west Missouri  as  chief  quartermaster  from 
the  duties  of  which  he  was  soon  relieved. 
After  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  he  was  quar- 
termaster in  the  Corinth  campaign,  and  on 
May  25  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
Second  Michigan  Cavalry.  On  July  i,  in 
command  of  a  cavalry  brigade,  he  defeated 
a  superior  force  of  the  enemy  and  was  com- 
missioned brigadier-general  of  volunteers. 
General  Sheridan  was  then  transferred  to 
the  army  of  the  Ohio,  and  commanded  a 
division  in  the  battle  of  Perrysville  and  also 
did  good  service  at  the  battle  of  Murfrees- 
boro,  where  he  was  commissioned  major- 
general  of  volunteers.  He  fought  with 
great  gallantry  at  Chickamauga,  after  which 
Rosecrans  was  succeeded  by  General  Grant, 
under  whom  Sheridan  fought  the  battle  of 
Chattanooga  and  won  additional  renown. 
Upon  the  promotion  of  Grant  to  lieutenant- 
general,  he  applied  for  the  transfer  of  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  to  the  east,  and  appointed 
him  chief  of  cavalry  in  the  army  of  the 
Potomac.  During  the  campaign  of  1864 
the  cavalry  covered  the  front  and  flanks  of 
the  infantry  until  May  8,  when  it  was  wit;^ 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


41 


drawn  and  General  Sheridan  started  on  a 
raid  against  the  Confederate  Hnes  of  com- 
munication with  Richmond  and  on  May  25 
he  rejoined  the  army,  having  destroyed  con- 
siderable of  the  confederate  stores  and  de- 
feated their  cavalry  under  General  Stuart  at 
Yellow  Tavern.  The  outer  line  of  defences 
around  Richmond  were  taken,  but  the  sec- 
ond line  was  too  strong  to  be  taken  by  as- 
sault, and  accordingly  Sheridan  crossed  the 
Chickahominy  at  Meadow  Bridge,  reaching 
James  River  May  14,  and  thence  by  White 
House  and  Hanover  Court  House  back  to 
the  army.  The  cavalry  occupied  Cold 
Harbor  May  31,  which  they  held  until  the 
arrival  of  the  infantry.  On  General  Sheri- 
dan's next  raid  he  routed  Wade  Hampton's 
cavalry,  and  August  7  was  assigned  to  the 
command  of  the  Middle  Military  division, 
and  during  the  campaign  of  the  Shenan- 
doah Valley  he  performed  the  unheard  of 
feat  of  **  destroying  an  entire  army."  He 
was  appointed  brigadier-general  of  the  reg- 
ular army  and  for  his  victory  at  Cedar  Creek 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-gen- 
eral. General  Sheridan  started  out  Febru- 
ary 27,  1865,  with  ten  thousand  cavalry 
and  destroyed  the  Virginia  Central  Railroad 
and  the  James  River  Canal  and  joined  the 
army  again  at  Petersburg  March  27.  He 
commanded  at  the  battle  of  Five  Forks,  the 
decisive  victory  which  compelled  Lee  to 
evacuate  Petersburg.  On  April  9,  Lee  tried 
to  break  through  Sheridan's  dismounted 
command  but  when  the  General  drew  aside 
his  cavalry  and  disclosed  the  deep  lines  of 
infantry  the  attempt  was  abandoned.  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  mounted  his  men  and  was  about 
tc  charge  when  a  white  flag  was  flown  at  the 
head  of  Lee's  column  which  betokened  the 
surrender  of  the  army.  After  the  war  Gen- 
eral Sheridan  had  command  of  the  army  of 
the  southwest,  of  the  sfulf  and  the  depart-  I 


ment  of  Missouri  until  he  was  appointed 
lieutenant-general  and  assigned  to  the  di- 
vision of  Missouri  with  headquarters  at  Chi- 
cago, and  assumed  supreme  command  of 
the  army  November  i,  1883,  which  post  he 
held  until  his  death,  August  5,   1888. 

PHINEAS  T.  BARNUM,  the  greatest 
showman  the  world  has  ever  seen,  was 
born  at  Danbury,  Connecticut,  July  5,  18 10. 
At  the  age  of  eighteen  years  he  began  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  He  opened  a  re- 
tail fruit  and  confectionery  house,  including 
a  barrel  of  ale,  in  one  part  of  an  old  car- 
riage house.  He  spent  fifty  dollars  in  fitting 
up  the  store  and  the  stock  cost  him  seventy 
dollars.  Three  years  later  he  put  in  a  full 
stock,  such  as  is  generally  carried  in  a 
country  store,  and  the  same  year  he  started 
a  Democratic  newspaper,  known  as  the 
*^  Herald  of  Freedom."  He  soon  found 
himself  in  jail  under  a  sixty  days'  sentence 
for  libel.  During  the  winter  of  1834-5  he 
went  to  New  York  and  began  soliciting  busi- 
ness for  several  Chatham  street  houses.     In 

1835  he  embarked  in  the  show  business  at 
Niblo's  Garden,  having  purchased  the  cele- 
brated *' Joice  Heth"  for  one  thousand  dol- 
lars. He  afterward  engaged  the  celebrated 
athlete,  Sig.  Vivalia,  and  Barnum  made  his 
*  ^  first  appearance  on  any  stage, "  acting  as  a 
*' super"  to  Sig.  Vivalia  on  his  opening 
night.  He  became  ticket  seller,  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  Aaron  Turner's  circus  in 

1836  and  traveled  with  it  about  the  country. 
His  next  venture  was  the  purchase  of  a 
steamboat  on  the  Mississippi,  and  engaged 
a  theatrical  company  to  show  in  the  princi- 
pal towns  along  that  river.  In  1840  he 
opened  Vaux  Hall  Garden,  New  York,  with 
variety  performances,  and  introduced  the 
celebrated  jig  dancer,  John  Diamond,  to  the 
public.      The   next  year  he  quit  ihe  show 


42 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


business  and  settled  down  in  New  York  as 
agent  of  Sear's  Pictorial  Illustration  of  the 
Bible,  but  a  few  months  later  again  leased 
Vaux  Hall.  In  September  of  the  same  year 
he  again  left  the  business,  and  became 
**puff  "  writer  for  the  Bowery  Amphitheater. 
In  December  he  bought  the  Scudder  Museum, 
and  a  year  later  introduced  the  celebrated 
Tom  Thumb  to  the  world,  taking  him  to 
England  in  1844,  and  remaining  there  three 
years.  He  then  returned  to  New  York,  and 
in  1849,  through  James  Hall  Wilson,  he  en- 
gaged the  **  Swedish  Nightingale,"  Jenny 
Lind,  to  come  to  this  country  and  make  a 
tour  under  his  management.  He  also  had 
sent  the  Swiss  Bell  Ringers  to  America  in 
1844.  He  became  owner  of  the  Baltimore 
Museum  and  the  Lyceum  and  Museum  at 
Philadelphia.  In  1856  he  brought  a  dozen 
elephants  from  Ceylon  to  make  a  tour  of  this 
country,  and  in  1851  sent  the  "  Bateman 
Children"  to  London.  During  185 1  and 
1852  he  traveled  as  a  temperance  lecturer, 
and  became  president  of  a  bank  at  Pequon- 
nock,  Connecticut.  In  1852  he  started  a 
weekly  pictorial  paper  known  as  the  *'  Illus- 
trated News."  In  1865  his  Museum  was 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  he  immediately  leased 
the  Winter  Garden  Theatre,  where  he  played 
his  company  until  he  opened  his  own 
Museum.  This  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1868,  and  he  then  purchased  an  interest  in 
the  George  Wood  Museum. 

After  dipping  into  politics  to  some  ex- 
tent, he  began  his  career  as  a  really  great 
showman  in  1871.  Three  years  later  he 
erected  an  immense  circular  building  in  New 
York,  in  which  he  produced  his  panoramas. 
He  has  frequently  appeared  as  a  lecturer, 
some  times  on  temperance,  and  some  times 
on  other  topics,  among  which  were  ' '  Hum- 
bugs of  the  World,"  ''Struggles  and 
Triumphs, "  etc.      He  was  owner  of  the  im- 


mense menagerie  and  circus  known  as  the 
''Greatest  Show  on  Earth,"  and  his  fame 
extended  throughout  Europe  and  America. 
He  died  in  1 891. 


JAMES  MADISON,  the  fourth  president 
of  the  United  States,  1809-17,  was 
born  at  Port  Conway,  Prince  George  coun- 
ty, Virginia,  March  16,  1751.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  wealthy  planter,  who  lived  on  a  fine 
estate  called  "  Montpelier, "  which  was  but 
twenty-five  miles  from  Monticello,  the  home 
of  Thomas  Jefferson.  Mr.  Madison  was  the 
eldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children,  all  of 
whom  attained  maturity.  He  received  his 
early  education  at  home  under  a  private 
tutor,  and  consecrated  himself  with  unusual 
vigor  to  study.  At  a  very  early  age  he  was 
a  proficient  scholar  in  Latin,  Greek,  French 
and  Spanish,  and  in  1769  he  entered  Prince- 
ton College,  New  Jersey.  He  graduated  in 
1 77 1,  but  remained  for  several  months  after 
his  graduation  to  pursue  a  course  of  study 
under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Witherspoon. 
He  permanently  injured  his  health  at  this 
time  and  returned  to  Virginia  in  1772,  and 
for  two  years  he  was  immersed  in  the  study 
of  law,  and  at  the  same  time  made  extend- 
ed researches  in  theology,  general  literature, 
and  philosophical  studies.  He  then  directed 
his  full  attention  to  the  impending  struggle 
of  the  colonies  for  independence,  and  also 
took  a  prominent  part  in  the  religious  con- 
troversy at  that  time  regarding  so  called 
persecution  of  other  religious  denominations 
by  the  Church  of  England.  Mr.  Madison 
was  elected  to  the  Virginia  assembly  in  1776 
and  in  November,  1777,  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  council  of  state.  He  took 
his  seat  in  the  continental  congress  in 
March,  1780.  He  was  made  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  and 
drafted  an  able   memoranda  for  the  use  of 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


43 


the  American  ministers  to  the  French  and 
Spanish  governments,  that  established  the 
claims  of  the  republic  to  the  territories  be- 
tween the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  the 
Mississippi  River.  He  acted  as  chairman  of 
the  ways  and  means  committee  in  1783  and 
as  a  member  of  the  Virginia  legislature  in 
1784-86  he  rendered  important  services  to 
the  state.  Mr.  Madison  represented  Vir- 
giana  in  the  national  constitutional  conven- 
tion at  Philadelphia  in  1787,  and  w^as  one  of 
the  chief  framers  of  the  constitution.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  first  four  congresses, 
1789-97,  and  gradually  became  identified 
with  the  anti-federalist  or  republican  party 
of  which  he  eventually  became  the  leader. 
He  remained  in  private  life  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  John  Adams,  and  was  secre- 
tary of  state  under  President  Jefferson.  Mr. 
Madison  administered  the  affairs  of  that 
post  with  such  great  ability  that  he  was  the 
natural  successor  of  the  chief  magistrate 
and  was  chosen  president  by  an  electoral 
vote  of  122  to  53.  He  was  inaugurated 
March  4,  1809,  at  that  critical  period  incur 
history  when  the  feelings  of  the  people  were 
embittered  with  those  of  England,  and  his 
first  term  was  passed  in  diplomatic  quarrels, 
which  finally  resulted  in  the  declaration  of 
war,  June  18,  1812.  In  the  autumn  of  that 
year  President  Madison  was  re-elected  by  a 
vote  of  128  to  89,  and  conducted  the  war 
for  three  years  with  varying  success  and 
defeat  in  Canada,  by  glorious  victories  at 
sea,  and  by  the  battle  of  New  Orleans  that 
was  fought  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had 
been  signed  at  Ghent,  December  24,  1814. 
During  this  war  the  national  capitol  at 
Washington  was  burned,  and  many  valuable 
papers  were  destroyed,  but  the  declaration 
of  independence^  was  saved  to  the  country 
by  the  bravery  and  courage  of  Mr.  Madi- 
son's illustrious  wife.      A  commercial  treaty 


was  negotiated  with  Great  Britain  in  181  5, 
and  in  April,  18 16,  a  national  bank  was  in- 
corporated by  congress.  Mr.  Madison  was 
succeeded,  March  4,  1 817,  by  James  Monroe, 
and  retired  into  private  life  on  his  estate  at 
Montpelier,    where  he  died  June  28,   1836. 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS,  a  noted 
American  character,  was  a  protege  of 
the  great  abolitionist,  William  Lloyd  Garri- 
son, by  whom  he  was  aided  in  gaining  his 
education.  Mr.  Douglass  was  born  in  Tuck- 
ahoe  county,  Maryland,  in  February,  18 17, 
his  mother  being  a  negro  woman  and  his 
father  a  white  man.  He  was  born  in  slav- 
ery and  belonged  to  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Lloyd,  under  which  name  he  went  until  he 
ran  away  from  his  master  and  changed  it  to 
Douglass.  At  the  age  of  ten  years  he  was 
sent  to  Baltimore  where  he  learned  to  read 
and  write,  and  later  his  owner  allowed  him 
to  hire  out  his  own  time  for  three  dollars  a 
week  in  a  shipyard.  In  September,  1838, 
he  fled  from  Baltimore  and  made  his  way  to 
New  York,  and  from  thence  went  to  New 
Bedford,  Massachusetts.  Here  he  was  mar- 
ried and  supported  him.self  and  family  by 
working  at  the  wharves  and  in  various  work- 
shops. In  the  summer  of  1841  he  attended 
an  anti-slavery  convention  at  Nantucket, 
and  made  a  speech  which  was  so  well  re- 
ceived that  he  was  offered  the  agency  of  the 
Massachusetts  Anti-slavery  Society.  In  this 
capacity  he  traveled  through  the  New  En- 
gland states,  and  about  the  same  time  he 
published  his  first  book  called  '*  Narrative 
of  my  Experience  in  Slavery."  Mr.  Doug- 
lass went  to  England  in  1845  and  lectured 
on  slavery  to  large  and  enthusiastic  audi- 
ences in  all  the  large  towns  of  the  country, 
and  his  friends  made  up  a  purse  of  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and  purchased  his 
freedom  in  due  form  of  law. 


44 


COMPENDIUM    OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


Mr.  Douglass  applied  himself  to  the  de- 
livery of  lyceum  lectures  after  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  in  1870  he  became  the  editor 
of  the  **  New  National  Era  "  in  Washington. 
In  1 87 1  he  was  appointed  assistant  secretary 
of  the  commission  to  San  Domingo  and  on 
his  return  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  ter- 
ritorial council  for  the  District  of  Colorado 
by  President  Grant.  He  was  elected  presi- 
dential elector-at-large  for  the  state  of  New 
York  and  was  appointed  to  carry  the  elect- 
oral vote  to  Washington.  He  was  also 
United  States  marshal  for  the  District  of 
Columbia  in  1876,  and  later  was  recorder 
of  deeds  for  the  same,  from  which  position 
he  was  removed  by  President  Cleveland  in 
1886.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  visited 
England  to  inform  the  friends  that  he  had 
made  while  there,  of  the  progress  of  the 
colored  race  in  America,  and  on  his  return 
he  was  appointed  minister  to  Hayti,  by 
President  Harrison  in  1889.  His  career  as 
a  benefactor  of  his  race  was  closed  by  his 
death  in  February,   1895,  ^^^^  Washington. 


WILLIAM  CULLEN  BRYANT.— The 
ear  for  rhythm  and  the  talent  for 
graceful  expression  are  the  gifts  of  nature, 
and  they  were  plentifully  endowed  on  the 
above  named  poet.  The  principal  charac- 
teristic of  his  poetry  is  the  thoughtfulness 
and  intellectual  process  by  which  his  ideas 
ripened  in  his  mind,  as  all  his  poems  are 
bright,  clear  and  sweet.  Mr.  Bryant  was 
born  November  3,  1794,  at  Cummington, 
Hampshire  county,  Massachusetts,  and  was 
educated  at  Williams  College,  from  which 
he  graduated,  having  entered  it  in  18 10. 
He  took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  in  181 5 
was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  after  practicing 
successfully  for  ten  years  at  Plainfield  and 
Great  Barrington,  he  removed  to  New  York 
in    1825.      The   following  year  he  became 


the  editor  of  the  "Evening  Post,"  which 
he  edited  until  his  death,  and  under  his  di- 
rection this  paper  maintained,  through  a 
long  series  of  years,  a  high  standing  by  the 
boldness  of  its  protests  against  slavery  be- 
fore the  war,  by  its  vigorous  support  of  the 
government  during  the  war,  and  by  the 
fidelity  and  ability  of  its  advocacy  of  the 
Democratic, freedom  in  trade.  Mr.  Bry- 
ant visited  Europe  in  1834,  1845,  1849  and 
1857,  and  presented  to  the  literary  world 
the  fruit  of  his  travels  in  the  series  of  ''Let- 
ters of  a  Traveler,"  and  ''Letters  from 
Spain  and  Other  Countries."  In  the  world 
of  literature  he  is  known  chiefly  as  a  poet, 
and  here  Mr.  Bryant's  name  is  illustrious, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  He  contributed 
verses  to  the  "Country  Gazette  "  before  he 
was  ten  years  of  age,  and  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  wrote  "  Thanatopsis, "  the  most  im- 
pressive and  widely  known  of  his  poems. 
The  later  outgrowth  of  his  genius  was  his 
translation  of  Homer's  "Iliad"  in  1870 
and  the  "Odyssey"  in  1871..  He  also 
made  several  speeches  and  addresses  which 
have  been  collected  in  a  comprehensive  vol- 
ume called  "  Orations  and  Addresses."  He 
was  honored  in  many  ways  by  his  fellow 
citizens,  who  delighted  to  pay  tributes  of 
respect  to  his  literary  eminence,  the  breadth 
of  his  public  spirit,  the  faithfulness  of  his 
service,  and  the  worth  of  his  private  char- 
acter. Mr.  Bryant  died  in  New  York  City 
June  12,  1878. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  SEWARD,  the 
secretary  of  state  during  one  of  the 
most  critical  times  in  the  history  of  our 
country,  and  the  right  hand  man  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln,  ranks  among  the  greatest 
statesmen  America  has  produced.  Mr. 
Seward  was  born  May  16,  1 801,  at  Florida, 
Orange  county,    New  York,    and  with  such 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHY. 


47 


facilities  as  the  place  afforded  he  fitted  him- 
self for  a  college  course.  He  attended 
Union  College  at  Schenectady,  New  York, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  took  his  degree  in 
the  regular  course,  with  signs  of  promise  in 
1820,  after  which  he  diligently  addressed 
himself  to  the  study  of  law  under  competent 
instructors,  and  started  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  1823. 

Mr.  Seward  entered  the  political  arena 
and  in  1828  we  find  him  presiding  over  a 
convention  in  New  York,  its  purpose  being 
the  nomination  of  John  Quincy  Adams  for  a 
second  term.  He  was  married  in  1824  and 
in  1830  was  elected  to  the  state  senate. 
From  1838  to  1842  he  was  governor  of  the 
state  of  New  York.  Mr.  Seward's  next  im- 
portant position  was  that  of  United  States 
senator  from  New  York. 

W.  H.  Seward  was  chosen  by  President 
Lincoln  to  fill  the  important  office  of  the 
secretary  of  state,  and  by  his  firmness  and 
diplomacy  in  the  face  of  difficulties,  he  aided 
in  piloting  the  Union  through  that  period  of 
strife,  and  won  an  everlasting  fame.  This 
great  statesman  died  at  Auburn,  New  York, 
October  10,  1872,  in  the  seventy-second 
year  of  his  eventful  life. 


JOSEPH  JEFFERSON,  a  name  as  dear 
as  it  is  familiar  to  the  theater-going 
world  in  America,  suggests  first  of  all  a  fun- 
loving,  drink-loving,  mellow  voiced,  good- 
natured  Dutchman,  and  the  name  of  **Rip 
Van  Winkle  "  suggests  the  pleasant  features 
of  Joe  Jefferson,  so  intimately  are  play  and 
player  associated  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
have  iiad  the  good  fortune  to  shed  tears  of 
laughter  and  sympathy  as  a  tribute  to  the 
greatness  of  his  art.  Joseph  Jefferson  was 
born  in  Philadelphia,  February  20,  1829. 
His  genius  was  an  inheritance,   if  there  be 

such,     as    his    great-grandfather,     Thomas 
3 


Jefferson,  was  a  manager  and  actor  in  Eng 
land.  His  grandfather,  Joseph  Jefferson, 
was  the  most  popular  comedian  of  the  New 
York  stage  in  his  time,  and  his  father,  Jos- 
eph Jefferson,  the  second,  was  a  good  actor 
also,  but  the  third  Joseph  Jefferson  out- 
shone them  all. 

At  the  age  of  three  years  Joseph  Jeffer- 
son came  on  the  stage  as  the  child  in  ''Pi- 
zarro,"  and  his  training  was  upon  the  stage 
from  childhood.  Later  on  he  lived  and 
acted  in  Chicago,  Mobile,  and  Texas.  After 
repeated  misfortunes  he  returned  to  New 
Orleans  from  Texas,  and  his  brother-in-law, 
Charles  Burke,  gave  him  money  to  reach 
Philadelphia,  where  he  joined  the  Burton 
theater  company.  Here  his  genius  soon  as- 
serted itself,  and  his  future  became  promis- 
ing and  brilliant.  His  engagements  through- 
out the  United  States  and  Australia  were 
generally  successful,  and  when  he  went  to 
England  in  1865  Mr.  Boucicault  consented 
to  make  some  important  changes  in  his 
dramatization  of  Irving's  story  of  Rip  Van 
Winkle,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  at  once  placed 
it  in  the  front  rank  as  a  comedy.  He  made 
a  fortune  out  of  it,  and  played  nothing  else 
for  many  years.  In  later  years,  however, 
Mr.  Jefferson  acquitted  himself  of  the  charge 
of  being  a  one-part  actor,  and  the  parts  of 
''Bob  Acres,"  "Caleb  Plummer"  and 
"Golightly  "  all  testify  to  the  versatility  of 
his  genius. 

GEORGE  BRINTON  McCLELLAN, 
a  noted  American  general,  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  December  3,  1826.  He 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  in  1846  from  West  Point,  and 
was  breveted  second  lieutenant  of  engineers. 
He  was  with  Scott  in  the  Mexican  war, 
taking  part  in  all  the  engagements  from 
Vera  Cruz  to  the  final  capture  of  the  Mexi- 


48 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


can  capital,  and  was  breveted  first  lieuten- 
ant and  captain  for  gallantry  displayed  on 
various  occasions.  In  1857  he  resigned  his 
commission  and  accepted  the  position  of 
chief  engineer  in  the  construction  of  the 
Illinois  Central  Railroad,  and  became  presi- 
dent of  the  St.  Louis  &  Cincinnati  Railroad 
Company.  He  was  commissioned  major- 
general  by  the  state  of  Ohio  in  1861, 
placed  in  command  of  the  department  of 
the  Ohio,  and  organized  the  first  volunteers 
called  for  from  that  state.  In  May  he  was 
appointed  major-general  in  the  United 
States  army,  and  ordered  to  disperse  the 
confederates  overrunning  West  Virginia. 
He  accomplished  this  task  promptly,  and 
received  the  thanks  of  congress.  After  the 
first  disaster  at  Bull  Run  he  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  department  of  Wash- 
ington, and  a  few  weeks  later  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  Upon  retirement 
of  General  Scott  the  command  of  the  en- 
tire United  States  army  devolved  upon  Mc- 
Clellan,  but  he  was  relieved  of  it  within  a 
few  months.  In  March,  1862,  after  elabor- 
ate preparation,  he  moved  upon  Manassas, 
only  to  find  it  deserted  by  the  Confederate 
army,  which  had  been  withdrawn  to  im- 
pregnable defenses  prepared  nearer  Rich- 
mond. He  then  embarked  his  armies  for 
Fortress  Monroe  and  after  a  long  delay  at 
Yorktown,  began  the  disastrous  Peninsular 
campaign,  which  resulted  in  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  being  cooped  up  on  the  James 
River  below  Richmond.  His  forces  were 
then  called  to  the  support  of  General  Pope, 
near  Washington,  and  he  was  left  without  an 
army.  After  Pope's  defeat  McClellan  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  troops  for  the  de- 
fense of  the  capital,  and  after  a  thorough  or- 
ganization he  followed  Lee  into  Maryland 
and  the  battles  of  Antietam  and  South  Moun- 
tain  ensued.     The   delay    which    followed 


caused  general  dissatisfaction,  and  he  was  re- 
lieved of  his  command, and  retired  from  active 
service. 

In  1864  McClellan  was  nominated  for 
the  presidency  by  the  Democrats,  and  over- 
whelmingly defeated  by  Lincoln,  three 
states  only  casting  their  electoral  votes  for 
McClellan.  On  election  day  he  resigned 
his  commission  and  a  few  months  later  went 
to  Europe  where  he  spent  several  years. 
He  wrote  a  number  of  military  text- books 
and  reports.  His  death  occurred  October 
29,  1885. 

SAMUEL  J.  TILDEN.— Among  the  great 
statesmen  whose  names  adorn  the  pages 
of  American  history  may  be  found  that  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch.  Known  as  a 
lawyer  of  highest  ability,  his  greatest  claim 
to  immortality  will  ever  lie  in  his  successful 
battle  against  the  corrupt  rings  of  his  native 
state  and  the  elevation  of  the  standard  of 
official  life. 

Samuel  J.  Tilden  was  born  in  New  Leb- 
anon, New  York,  February  9,  18 14.  He 
pursued  his  academic  studies  at  Yale  Col- 
lege and  the  University  of  New  York,  tak- 
ing the  course  of  law  at  the  latter.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1841.  His  rare 
ability  as  a  thinker  and  writer  upon  public 
topics  attracted  the  attention  of  President 
Van  Buren,  of  whose  policy  and  adminis- 
tration he  became  an  active  and  efficient 
champion.  He  made  for  himself  a  high 
place  in  his  profession  and  amassed  quite  a 
fortune  as  the  result  of  his  industry  and 
judgment.  During  the  days  of  his  greatest 
professional  labor  he  was  ever  one  of  the 
leaders  and  trusted  counsellors  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
conventions  to  revise  the  state  constitution, 
both  in  1846  and  1867,  and  served  two 
terms  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  state  leg- 


COMPENDIUM    OF    BIOGRAPHY. 


49 


islature.  He  was  one  of  the  controlling 
spirits  in  the  overthrow  of  the  notorious 
'' Tweed  rinf,^ "  and  the  reformation  of  the 
government  of  the  city  of  New  York.  In 
1874  he  was  elected  governor  of  the  state 
of  New  York.  While  in  this  position  he 
assailed  corruption  in  high  places,  success- 
fully battling  with  the  iniquitous  "canal 
ring  "  and  crushed  its  sway  over  all  depart- 
ments of  the  government.  Recognizing  his 
character  and  executive  ability  Mr.  Tilden 
was  nominated  for  president  by  the  na- 
tional Democratic  convention  in  1876.  At 
the  election  he  received  a  much  larger  popu- 
lar vote  than  his  opponent,  and  184  uncon- 
tested electoral  votes.  There  being  some 
electoral  votes  contested,  a  commission  ap- 
pointed by  congress  decided  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  electors  and  Mr.  Hayes,  the  can- 
didate of  that  party  w^as  declared  elected. 
In  1880,  the  Democratic  party,  feeling  that 
Mr.  Tilden  had  been  lawfully  elected  to  the 
presidency  tendered  the  nomination  for  the 
same  office  to  Mr.  Tilden,  but  he  declined, 
retiring  from  all  public  functions,  owing  to 
failing  health.  He  died  August  4,  1886. 
By  will  he  bequeathed  several  millions  of 
dollars  toward  the  founding  of  public  libra- 
ries in  New  York  City,  Yonkers,  etc. 


NOAH  WEBSTER.— As  a  scholar,  law- 
yer, author  and  journalist,  there  is  no 
one  who  stands  on  a  higher  plane,  or  whose 
reputation  is  better  established  than  the 
honored  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch.  He  was  a  native  of  West  Hartford, 
Connecticut,  and  was  born  October  17, 
1758.  He  came  of  an  old  New  England 
family,  his  mother  being  a  descendant  of 
Governor  William  Bradford,  of  the  Ply- 
mouth colony.  After  acquiring  a  solid  edu- 
cation in  early  life  Dr.  Webster  entered 
Yale  College,  from  which   he  graduated  in 


1778.  For  a  while  he  taught  school  in 
Hartford,  at  the  same  time  studying  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1781.  He 
taught  a  classical  school  at  Goshen,  Orange 
county.  New  York,  in  1782-83,  and  while 
there  prepared  his  spelling  book,  grammar 
and  reader,  which  was  issued  under  the  title 
of  *'A  Grammatical  Institute  of  the  English 
Language,"  in  three  parts, — so  successful  a 
work  that  up  to  1876  something  like  forty 
million  of  the  spelling  books  had  been 
sold.  In  1786  he  delivered  a  course  of  lec- 
tures on  the  English  language  in  the  seaboard 
cities  and  the  following  year  taught  an 
academy  at  Philadelphia.  From  December 
17,  1787,  until  November,  1788,  he  edited 
the  "American  Magazine, "a  periodical  that 
proved  unsuccessful.  In  1789-93  he  prac- 
ticed law  in  Hartford  having  in  the  former 
year  married  the  daughter  of  William  Green- 
leaf,  of  Boston.  He  returned  to  New  York 
and  November,  1793,  founded  a  daily  paper, 
the  ''Minerva,"  to  which  was  soon  added  a 
semi-weekly  edition  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Herald."  The  former  is  still  in  existence 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Commercial  Adver- 
tiser." In  this  paper,  over  the  signature  of 
' '  Curtius , "  he  published  a  lengthy  and  schol- 
arly defense  of   ''John  Jay's  treaty." 

In  1798,  Dr.  Webster  moved  to  New 
Haven  and  in  1807  commenced  the  prepar- 
ation of  his  great  work,  the  "American  Dic- 
tionary of  the  English  Language,"  which 
was  not  completed  and  published  until  1828. 
He  made  his  home  in  Amherst,  Massachu- 
setts, for  the  ten  years  succeeding  1812,  and 
was  instrumental  in  the  establishment  of 
Amherst  College,  of  which  institution  he  was 
the  first  president  of  the  board  of  trustees. 
During  1824-5  he  resided  in  Europe,  pursu- 
ing his  philological  studies  in  Paris.  He 
completed  his  dictionary  from  the  libraries 
of  Cambridge  University  in   1825,  and  de- 


50 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


"voted  his  leisure  for  the  remainder  of  his 
life  to  the  revision  of  that  and  his  school 
books. 

Dr.  Webster  v^as  a  member  of  the  legis- 
latures of  both  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts, was  judge  of  one  of  the  courts  of  the 
former  state  and  was  identified  with  nearly 
all  the  literary  and  scientific  societies  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Amherst  College.  He  died 
in  New  Haven,  May  28,  1843. 

Among  the  more  prominent  works  ema- 
nating from  the  fecund  pen  of  Dr.  Noah 
Webster  besides  those  mentioned  above  are 
the  following:  **  Sketches  of  American 
Policy,"  ^^Winthrop's  Journal,"  ^*  A  Brief 
History  of  Epidemics,"  **  Rights  of  Neutral 
Nations  in  time  of  War,"  "A  Philosophical 
and  Practical  Grammar  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage,'' **  Dissertations  on  the  English 
Language,"  *'A  Collection  of  Essays," 
**The  Revolution  in  France,"  ''Political 
Progress  of  Britain,"  ''Origin,  History,  and 
Connection  of  the  Languages  of  Western 
Asia  and  of  Europe ,"  and  many  others. 


WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON,  the 
great  anti-slavery  pioneer  and  leader, 
was  born  in  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 
December  12,  1804.  He  was  apprenticed 
to  the  printing  business,  and  in  1828  was  in- 
duced to  take  charge  of  the  "Journal  of  the 
Times"  at •  Bennington,  Vermont.  While 
supporting  John  Quincy  Adams  for  the  presi- 
dency he  took  occasion  in  that  paper  to  give 
expression  of  his  views  on  slavery.  These 
articles  attracted  notice,  and  a  Quaker 
named  Lundy,  editor  of  the  "Genius  of 
Emancipation,"  published  in  Baltimore,  in- 
duced him  to  enter  a  partnership  with  him 
for  the  conduct  of  his  paper.  It  soon 
transpired  that  the  views  of  the  partners 
were  not  in  harmony,  Lundy  favoring  grad- 
ual emancipation,    while    Garrison  favored 


immediate  freedom.  In  1850  Mr.  Garrison 
was  thrown  into  prison  for  libel,  not  being 
able  to  pay  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  and  costs. 
In  his  cell  he  wrote  a  number  of  poems 
which  stirred  the  entire  north,  and  a  mer- 
chant, Mr.  Tappan,  of  New  York,  paid  his 
fine  and  liberated  him,  after  seven  weeks  of 
confinement.  He  at  once  began  a  lecture 
tour  of  the  northern  cities,  denouncing 
slavery  as  a  sin  before  God,  and  demanding 
its  immediate  abolition  in  the  name  of  re- 
ligion and  humanity.  He  opposed  the  col- 
onization scheme  of  President  Monroe  and 
other  leaders,  and  declared  the  right  of 
every  slave  to  immediate  freedom. 

In  1 83 1  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Isaac  Knapp,  and  began  the  publication  of 
the  "Liberator"  at  Boston.  The  "imme- 
diate abolition  "  idea  began  to  gather  power 
in  the  north,  while  the  south  became 
alarmed  at  the  bold  utterance  of  this  jour- 
nal. The  mayor  of  Boston  was  besought 
by  southern  influence  to  interfere,  and  upon 
investigation,  reported  upon  the  insignifi- 
cance, obscurity,  and  poverty  of  the  editor 
and  his  staff,  which  report  was  widely 
published  throughout  the  country.  Re- 
wards were  offered  by  the  southern  states 
for  his  arrest  and  conviction.  Later  Garri- 
son brought  from  England,  where  an  eman- 
cipation measure  had  just  been  passed, 
some  of  the  great  advocates  to  work  for  the 
cause  in  this  country.  In  1835  a  mob 
broke  into  his  office,  broke  up  a  meeting  of 
women,  dragged  Garrison  through  the  street 
with  a  rope  around  his  body,  and  his  life 
was  saved  only  by  the  interference  of  the 
police,  who  lodged  him  in  jail.  Garrison 
declined  to  sit  in  the  World's  Anti-Slaverv 
convention  at  London  in  1840,  because 
that  body  had  refused  women  representa- 
tion. He  opposed  the  formation  of  a  p^^- 
litical  party  with  emancipation  as  its  basis. 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


51 


He  favored  a  dissolution  of  the  union,  and 
declared  the  constitution  which  bound  the 
free  states  to  the  slave  states  ''  A  covenant 
with  death  and  an  agreement  with  hell." 
In  1843  he  became  president  of  the  Amer- 
ican Anti-Slavery  society,  which  position  he 
held  until  1865,  when  slavery  was  no  more. 
During  all  this  time  the  "  Liberator  "  had 
continued  to  promulgate  anti-slavery  doc- 
trines, but  in  1865  Garrison  resigned  his 
position,  and  declared  his  work  was  com- 
pleted.     He  died  May  24,   1879. 


JOHN  BROWN  (-Brown  of  Ossawato- 
mie"),  a  noted  character  in  American 
history,  wasbornatTorrington,  Connecticut, 
May  9,  1800.  In  his  childhood  he  removed 
to  Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  tanner's 
trade.  He  married  there,  and  in  1855  set- 
tled in  Kansas.  He  lived  at  the  village  of 
Ossawatomie  in  that  state,  and  there  began 
his  fight  against  slavery.  He  advocated  im- 
mediate emancipation,  and  held  that  the 
negroes  of  the  slave  states  merely  waited 
for  a  leader  in  an  insurrection  that  would  re- 
sult in  their  freedom.  He  attended  the 
convention  called  at  Chatham,  Canada,  in 
1859,  and  was  the  leading  spirit  in  organiz- 
mg  a  raid  upon  the  United  States  arsenal  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  Virginia.  His  plans  were 
well  laid,  and  carried  out  in  great  secrecy. 
He  rented  a  farm  house  near  Harper's  Ferry 
in  the  summer  of  1859,  and  on  October 
1 6th  of  that  year,  with  about  twenty  follow- 
ers, he  surprised  and  captured  the  United 
States  arsenal,  with  all  its  supplies  and 
arms.  To  his  surprise,  the  negroes  did  not 
come  to  his  support,  and  the  next  day  he 
was  attacked  by  the  Virginia  state  militia, 
wounded  and  captured.  He  was  tried  in 
the  courts  of  the  state,  convicted,  and  was 
hanged  at  Charlestown,  December  2,  1859. 
The  raid  and  its   results  had  a  tremendous 


effect,  and  hastened  the  culmination  of  the 
troubles  between  the  north  and  south.  The 
south  had  the  advantage  in  discussing  this 
event,  claiming  that  the  sentiment  which 
inspired  this  act  of  violence  was  shared  by 
the  anti-slavery  element  of  the  country. 


EDWIN  BOOTH  had  no  peer  upon  the 
American  stage  during  his  long  career 
as  a  star  actor.  He  was  the  son  of  a  famous 
actor,  Junius  Brutus  Booth,  and  was  born 
in  1833  at  his  father's  home  at  Belair,  near 
Baltimore.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  made  his 
first  appearance  on  the  stage,  at  the  Boston 
Museum,  in  a  minor  part  in  ''Richard  III." 
It  was  while  playing  in  California  in  1851 
that  an  eminent  critic  called  general  atten- 
tion to  the  young  actor's  unusual  talent. 
However,  it  was  not  until  1863,  at  the  great 
Shakspearian  revival  at  the  Winter  Garden 
Theatre,  New  York,  that  the  brilliancy  Oi 
his  career  began.  His  Hamlet  held  the 
boards  for  100  nights  in  succession,  and 
from  that  time  forth  Booth's  reputation  was 
established.  In  1868  he  opened  his  own 
theatre  (Booth's  Theater)  in  New  York. 
Mr.  Booth  never  succeeded  as  a  manager, 
however,  but  as  an  actor  he  was  undoubted- 
ly the  most  popular  man  ow  the  American 
stage,  and  perhaps  the  most  eminent  one  in 
the  world.  In  England  he  also  won  the 
greatest  applause. 

Mr.  Booth's  work  was  confined  mostly 
to  Shakspearean  roles,  and  his  art  was 
characterized  by  intellectual  acuteness, 
fervor,  and  poetic  feeling.  His  Hamlet, 
Richard  II,  Richard  III,  and  Richelieu  gave 
play  to  his  greatest  powers.  In  1865, 
when  his  brother,  John  Wilkes  Booth, 
enacted  his  great  crime,  Edwin  Booth  re- 
solved to  retire  from  the  stage,  but  was  pur - 
suaded  to  reconsider  that  decision.  The 
odium  did   not  in    any  way  attach  to   the 


52 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


great  actor,  and  his  popularity  was  not 
affected.  In  all  his  work  Mr.  Booth  clung 
closely  to  the  legitimate  and  the  traditional 
in  drama,  making  no  experiments,  and  offer- 
ing little  encouragement  to  new  dramatic 
authors.  His  death  occurred  in  New  York, 
June  7,  1894. 


JOSEPH  HOOKER,  a  noted  American 
officer,  was  born  at  Hadley,  Massachu- 
setts, November  13,  18 14.  He  graduated 
from  West  Point  Military  Academy  in  1837, 
and  was  appointed  lieutenant  of  artillery. 
He  served  in  Florida  in  the  Seminole  war, 
and  in  garrison  until  the  outbreak  of  the 
Mexican  war.  During  the  latter  he  saw 
service  as  a  staff  officer  and  was  breveted 
captain,  major  and  lieutenant-colonel  for 
gallantry  at  Monterey,  National  Bridge  and 
Chapultepec.  Resigning  his  commission  in 
1833  he  took  up  farming  in  California,  which 
he  followed  until  1861.  During  this  time 
he  acted  as  superintendent  of  military  roads 
in  Oregon.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebel- 
lion Hooker  tendered  his  services  to  the 
government,  and,  May  17,*  1 861,  was  ap- 
pointed brigadier-general  of  volunteers.  He 
served  in  the  defence  of  Washington  and  on 
the  lower  Potomac  until  his  appointment  to 
the  command  of  a  division  in  the  Third 
Corps,  in  March,  1862.  For  gallant  con- 
duct at  the  siege  of  Yorktown  and  in  the 
battles  of  Williamsburg,  Fair  Oaks,  Fra- 
zier's  Farm  and  Malvern  Hill  he  was  made 
major-general.  At  the  head  of  his  division 
he  participated  in  the  battles  of  Manassas 
and  Chantilly.  September  6.  1862,  he  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  First  Corps,  and 
in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  An- 
tietam  acted  with  his  usual  gallantry,  being 
wounded  in  the  latter  engagement.  On  re- 
joining the  army  in  November  he  was  made 
brigadier-general  in  the  regular  army.      On 


General  Burnside  attaining  the  command  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  General  Hooker 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  center  grand 
division,  consisting  of  the  Second  and  Fifth 
Corps.  At  the  head  of  these  gallant  men 
he  participated  in  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ericksburg, December  13,  1862.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1863,  General  Hooker  assumed  com- 
mand of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  in 
May  following  fought  the  battle  of  Chan- 
cellorsville.  At  the  time  of  the  invasion  of 
Pennsylvania,  owing  to  a  dispute  with  Gen- 
eral Halleck,  Hooker  requested  to  be  re- 
lieved of  his  command,  and  June  28  was 
succeeded  by  George  G.  Meade.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1863,  General  Hooker  was  given 
command  of  the  Twentieth  Corps  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and 
distinguished  himself  at  the  battles  of  Look- 
out Mountain,  Missionary  Ridge,  and  Ring- 
gold. In  the  Atlanta  campaign  he  saw 
almost  daily  service  and  merited  his  well- 
known  nickname  of  ''  Fighting  Joe."  July 
30,  1864,  at  his  own  request,  he  was  re- 
lieved of  his  command.  He  subsequently 
was  in  command  of  several  military  depart- 
ments in  the  north,  and  in  October,  1868, 
was  retired  with  the  full  rank  of  major-gen- 
eral.    He  died  October  31,  1879. 


JAY  GOULD,  one  of  the  greatest  finan- 
ciers that  the  world  has  ever  produced, 
was  born  May  27,  1836,  at  Roxbury,  Dela- 
ware county,  New  York.  He  spent  his  early 
years  on  his  father's  farm  and  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  entered  Hobart  Academy,  New 
York,  and  kept  books  for  the  village  black- 
smith. He  acquired  a  taste  for  mathematics 
and  surveying  and  on  leaving  school  found 
employment  in  making  the  surveyor's  map 
of  Ulster  county.  He  surveyed  very  exten- 
sively in  the  state  and  accumulated  five  thou- 
sand dollars  as  the  fruits  of  his  labor.      He 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


fc)d 


was  then  stricken  with  typhoid  fever  but  re- 
covered and  m?-ae  the  acquaintance  of  one 
Zadock  Pratt,  who  sent  him  into  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  state  to  locate  a  site  for  a 
tannery.  He  chose  a  fine  hemlock  grove, 
built  a  sawmill  and  blacksmith  shop  and 
was  soon  doing  a  large  lumber  business  with 
Mr.  Pratt.  Mr.  Gould  soon  secured  control 
of  the  entire  plant,  which  he  sold  out  just 
before  the  panic  of  1857  and  in  this  year  he 
became  the  largest  stockholderinthe  Strouds- 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  bank.  Shortly  after  the 
crisis  he  bought  the  bonds  of  the  Rutland 
&  Washington  Railroad  at  ten  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  put  all  his  money  into  railroad 
securities.  For  a  long  time  he  conducted 
this  road  which  he  consolidated  with  the 
Rensselaer  &  Saratoga  Railroad.  In  1859 
he  removed  to  New  York  and  became  a 
heavy  investor  in  Erie  Railroad  stocks,  en- 
tered that  company  and  was  president  until 
its  reorganization  in  1872.  In  December, 
1880,  Mr.  Gould  was  in  control  of  ten  thou- 
sand miles  of  railroad.  In  1887  he  pur- 
chased the  controlling  interest  in  the  St. 
Louis  &  San  Francisco  Railroad  Co.,  and 
was  a  joint  owner  with  the  Atchison,  Topeka 
&  Santa  Fe  Railroad  Co.  of  the  western 
portion  of  the  Southern  Pacific  line.  Other 
lines  soon  came  under  his  control,  aggregat- 
ing thousand  of  miles,  and  he  soon  was  rec- 
ognized as  one  of  the  world's  greatest  rail- 
road magnates.  He  continued  to  hold  his 
place  as  one  of  the  master  financiers  of  the 
century  until  the  time  of  his  death  which 
occurred  December  2,  1892. 


THOMAS  HART  BENTON,  a  very 
prominent  United  States  senator  and 
statesman,  was  born  at  Hillsborough,  North 
Carolina,  March  14,  1782.  He  removed  to 
Tennessee  in  early  life,  studied  law,  and  be- 
gan   to   practice   at   Nashville  about  18 10. 


During  the  war  of  1812-1815  he  served  as 
colonel  of  a  Tennessee  regiment  under  Gen- 
eral Andrew  Jackson.  In  181 5  he  removed 
to  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  in  1820  was 
chosen  United  States  senator  for  that  state. 
Having  been  re-elected  in  1826,  he  sup- 
ported President  Jackson  in  his  opposition 
to  the  United  States  bank  and  advocated  a 
gold  and  silver  currency,  thus  gaining  the 
name  of  *'  Old  Bullion,"  by  which  he  was 
familiarly  known.  For  m.any  years  he  was 
the  most  prominent  man  in  Missouri,  and 
took  rank  among  the  greatest  statesmen  of 
his  day.  He  was  a  member  of  the  senate 
for  thirty  years  and  opposed  the  extreme 
states'  rights  policy  of  John  C.  Calhoun. 
In  1852  he  was  elected  to  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives in  which  he  opposed  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  compromise.  He  was  op- 
posed by  a  powerful  party  of  States'  Rights 
Democrats  in  Missouri,  who  defeated  him  as  a 
candidate  for  governor  of  that  state  in  1856. 
Colonel  Benton  published  a  considerable 
work  in  two  volumes  in  1854-56,  entitled 
'' Thirty  Years'  View,  or  a  History  of  the 
Working  of  the  American  Government  for 
Thirty  Years,  1820-50."  He  died  April  10, 
1858. 

STEPHEN  ARNOLD  DOUGLAS.— One 
of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  politic- 
al circles  during  the  intensely  exciting  days 
that  preceded  the  war,  and  a  leader  of  the 
Union  branch  of  the  Democratic  party  was 
the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch. 

He  was  born  at  Brandon,  Rutland  coun- 
ty, Vermont,  April  23,  1813,  of  poor  but 
respectable  parentage.  His  father,  a  prac- 
ticing physician,  died  while  our  subject  was 
but  an  infant,  and  his  mother,  with  two 
small  children  and  but  small  means,  could 
give  him  but  the  rudiments  of  an  education. 


54 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


At  the  age  of  fifteen  young  Douglas  engaged 
at  work  in  the  cabinei  making  business  to 
raise  funds  to  carry  him  through  college. 
After  a  few  years  of  labor  he  was  enabled  to 
pursue  an  academical  course,  first  at  Bran- 
don, and  later  at  Canandaigua,  New  York. 
In  the  latter  place  he  remained  until  1833, 
taking  up  the  study  of  law.  Before  he  was 
twenty,  however,  his  lunds  running  low,  he 
abandoned  all  further  attempts  at  educa- 
tion, determining  to  enter  at  once  the  battle 
of  life.  After  some  wanderings  tnrough  the 
western  states  he  took  up  his  residence  at 
Jacksonville,  Illinois,  where,  after  teaching 
school  for  three  months,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  opened  an  offi-ce  in  1834. 
Within  a  year  from  that  time,  so  rapidly  had 
he  risen  in  his  profession,  he  was  chosen 
attorney  general  of  the  state,  and  warmly 
espoused  the  principles  of  the  Democratic 
party.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  most 
popular  orators  in  Ilhnois.  It  was  at  this 
time  he  gained  the  name  of  the  **  Little 
Giant."  In  1835  he  resigned  the  position 
of  attorney  general  having  been  elected  to 
the  legislature.  In  1841  he  was  chosen 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois  which 
he  resigned  two  years  later  to  take  a  seat  in 
congress.  It  was  during  this  period  of  his 
life,  while  a  member  of  the  lower  house, 
that  he  established  his  reputation  and  took 
the  side  of  those  who  contended  that  con- 
gress had  no  constitutional  right  to  restrict 
the  extension  of  slavery  further  than  the 
agreement  between  the  states  made  in  1820. 
This,  in  spite  of  his  being  opposed  to  slav- 
ery, and  only  on  grounds  which  he  believed 
to  be  right,  favored  what  was  called  the 
Missouri  compromise.  In  1847  Mr.  Doug- 
las was  chosen  United  States  senator  for 
six  years,  and  greatly  distinguished  himself. 
In  1852  he  was  re-eiected  to  the  same  office. 
During  this  latter   term,   under  his  leader- 


ship, the  '*  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  "  was  car- 
ried in  the  senate.  In  1858,  nothwith- 
standing  the  fierce  contest  made  by  his  able 
competitor  for  the  position,  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, and  with  the  administration  of  Bu- 
chanan arrayed  against  him,  Mr.  Douglas 
was  re-elected  senator.  After  the  trouble 
in  the  Charleston  convention,  when  by  the 
withdrawal  of  several  state  delegates  with- 
out a  nomination,  the  Union  Democrats, 
in  convention  at  Baltimore,  in  i860,  nortii- 
nated  Mr.  Douglas  as  their  candidate  for 
presidency.  The  results  of  this  election  are 
well  known  and  the  great  events  of  1861 
coming  on,  Mr.  Douglas  was  spared  their 
full  development,  dying  at  Chicago,  Illinois, 
June  3,  1 861,  after  a  short  illness.  His 
last  words  to  his  children  were,  *' to  obey 
the  laws  and  support  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States." 


JAMES  MONROE,  fifth  president  of  the 
United  States,  was  born  in  Westmore- 
land county,  Virginia,  April  28,  1758.  At 
the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  William  and 
Mary  College,  but  two  years  later  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  having  been 
adopted,  he  left  college  and  hastened  to  New 
York  where  he  joined  Washington's  army  as 
a  military  cadet. 

At  the  battle  of  Trenton  Monroe  per- 
formed gallant  service  and  received  a  wound 
in  the  shoulder,  and  was  promoted  to  a 
captaincy.  He  acted  as  aide  to  Lord  Ster- 
ling at  the  battles  of  Brandy  wine,  German- 
town  and  Monmouth.  Washington  then 
sent  him  to  Virginia  to  raise  a  new  regiment 
of  which  he  was  to  be  colonel.  The  ex- 
hausted condition  of  Virginia  made  this  \m  < 
possible,  but  he  received  his  commission. 
He  next  entered  the  law  office  of  Thomas 
Jefferson  to  study  law,  as  there  was  no  open- 
ing  for  him  as  an  officer  in  the  army,     in 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


55 


1782  he  was  elected  to  the  Virginia  assem- 
bly, and  the  next  year  he  was  elected  to  the 
Continental  congress.  Realizing  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  old  articles  of  confederation, 
he  advocated  the  calling  of  a  convention  to 
consider  their  revision,  and  introduced  in 
congress  a  resolution  empowering  congress 
to  regulate  trade,  lay  import  duties,  etc. 
This  resolution  was  referred  to  a  committee, 
of  which  he  was  chairman,  and  the  report 
led  to  the  Annapolis  convention,  which 
called  a  general  convention  to  meet  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1787,  when  the  constitution  was 
drafted.  Mr.  Monroe  began  the  practice  of 
law  at  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  and  was 
soon  after  ?^icted  to  the  legislature,  and  ap- 
pointed as  one  of  the  committee  to  pass 
upon  the  adoption  of  the  constitution.  He 
opposed  it,  as  giving  too  much  power  to  the 
central  government.  He  was  elected  to  the 
'United  States  senate  in  1789,  where  he 
allied  himself  with  the  Anti-Federalists  or 
*' Republicans, "  as  they  were  sometimes 
called.  Although  his  views  as  to  neutrality 
between  France  and  England  were  directly 
opposed  to  those  of  the  president,  yet  Wash- 
ington appointed  him  minister  to  France. 
His  popularity  in  France  was  so  great  that 
the  antagonism  of  England  and  her  friends 
in  this  country  brought  about  his  recall.  He 
then  became  governor  of  Virginia.  He  was 
sent  as  envoy  to  France  in  1802;  minister 
to  England  in  1803;  and  envoy  to  Spain  in 
1805.  The  next  year  he  returned  to  his 
estate  in  Virginia,  and  with  an  ample  in- 
heritance enjoyed  a  few  years  of  repose.  He 
was  again  called  to  be  governor  of  Virginia, 
and  was  then  appointed  secretary  of  state 
by  President  Madison.  The  war  with  Eng- 
land soon  resulted,  and  when  the  capital 
was  burned  by  the  British,  Mr.  Monroe  be- 
came secretary  of  war  also,  and  planned  the 
measures  for  the  defense  of  New  Orleans. 


The  trjsasury  being  exhausted  and  credit 
gone,  he  pledged  his  own  estate,  and  thereby 
made  possible  the  victory  of  Jackson  at  New 
Orleans. 

In  1 8 17  Mr.  Monroe  became  president 
of  the  United  States,  having  been  a  candi- 
date of  the  *' Republican  "  party,  which  at 
that  time  had  begun  to  be  called  the  *  *  Demo- 
cratic"  party.  In  1820  he  was  re-elected, 
having  two  hundred  and  thirty-one  electoral 
votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-two. 
His  administration  is  known  as  the  ''Era of 
good-feeling, "  and  party  lines  were  almost 
wiped  out.  The  slavery  question  began  to 
assume  importance  at  this  time,  and  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  passed.  The 
famous  ' '  Monroe  Doctrine  "  originated  in  a 
great  state  paper  of  President  Monroe  upon 
the  rumored  interference  of  the  Holy  Alli- 
ance to  prevent  the  formation  of  free  repub- 
lics in  South  America.  President  Monroe 
acknowledged  their  independence,  and  pro- 
mulgated his  great  ''Doctrine,"  which  has 
been  held  in  reverence  since.  Mr.  Monroe's 
death  occurred  in  New  York  on  July  4,  1831. 


THOMAS  ALVA  EDISON,  the  master 
wizard  of  electrical  science  and  whose 
name  is  synonymous  with  the  subjugation 
of  electricity  to  the  service  of  man,  was 
born  in  1847  at  Milan,  Ohio,  and  it  was  at 
Port  Huron,  Michigan,  whither  his  parents 
had  moved  in  1854,  that  his  self-education 
began — for  he  never  attended  school  for 
more  than  two  months.  He  eagerly  de- 
voured every  book  he  could  lay  his  hands  on 
and  is  said  to  have  read  through  an  encyclo^ 
pedia  without  missing  a  word.  At  thirteen  he 
began  his  working  life  as  a  trainboy  upon  the 
Grand  Trunk  Railway  between  Port  Huron 
and  Detroit.  Much  of  his  time  was  now 
spent  in  Detroit,  where  he  found  increased 
facilities  for  reading  at  the    public  libraries. 


56 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHl^. 


He  was  not  content  to  be  a  newsboy,  so  he 
got  together  three  hundred  pounds  of  type 
and  started  the  issue  of  the  ''  Grand  Trunk 
Herald."  It  was  only  a  small  amateur 
weekly,  printed  on  one  side,  the  impression 
being  made  from  the  type  by  hand.  Chemi- 
cal research  was  his  next  undertaking  and 
a  laboratory  was  added  to  his  movable  pub- 
lishing house,  which,  by  the  way,  was  an 
aid  freight  car.  One  day,  however,  as  he 
was  experimenting  with  some  phosphorus, 
it  ignited  and  the  irate  conductor  threw  the 
young  seeker  after  the  truth,  chemicals  and 
all,  from  the  train.  His  office  and  laboratory 
were  then  removed  to  the  cellar  of  his  fa- 
ther's house.  As  he  grew  to  manhood  he 
decided  to  become  an  operator.  He  won 
his  opportunity  by  saving  the  life  of  a  child, 
whose  father  was  an  old  operator,  and  out  of 
gratitude  he  gave  Mr.  Edison  lessons  in  teleg- 
raphy. Five  months  later  he  was  compe- 
tent to  fill  a  position  in  the  railroad  office 
at  Port  Huron.  Hence  he  peregrinated  to 
Stratford,  Ontario,  and  thence  successively 
to  Adrian,  Fort  Wayne,  Indianapolis,  Cin- 
cumati,  Memphis,  Louisville  and  Boston, 
gradually  becoming  an  expert  operator  and 
gaming  experience  that  enabled  him  to 
evolve  many  ingenious  ideas  for  the  im- 
provement of  telegraphic  appliances.  At 
Memphis  he  constructed  an  automatic  re- 
peater, which  enabled  Louisville  and  New 
Orleans  to  communicate  direct,  and  received 
nothing  more  than  the  thanks  of  his  em- 
ployers. Mr.  Edison  came  to  New  York  in 
1870  in  search  of  an  opening  more  suitable 
to  his  capabilities  and  ambitions.  He  hap- 
pened to  be  in  the  office  of  the  Laws  Gold 
Reporting  Company  when  one  of  the  in- 
struments got  out  of  order,  and  even  the 
inventor  of  the  system  could  not  make  it 
work.  Edison  requested  to  be  allowed  to 
lat'tempt  the  task,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he 


had  overcome  the  difficulty  and  secured  an 
advantageous  engagement.  For  several 
years  he  had  a  contract  with  the  Western 
Union  and  the  Gold  Stock  companies, 
whereby  he  received  a  large  salary,  besides 
a  special  price  for  all  telegraphic  improve- 
ments he  could  suggest.  Later,  as  the 
head  of  the  Edison  General  Electric  com- 
pany, with  its  numerous  subordinate  organ- 
izations and  connections  all  over  the  civil- 
ized world,  he  became  several  times  a 
millionaire.  Mr.  Edison  invented  the  pho- 
nograph and  kinetograph  which  bear  his 
name,  the  carbon  telephone,  the  tasimeter, 
and  the  duplex  and  quadruplex  systems  of 
telegraphy. 

JAMES  LONGSTREET,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  of  the  Confederate  generals 
during  the  Civil  war,  was  born  in  1820,  in 
South  Carolina,  but  was  early  taken  by  his 
parents  to  Alabama  where  he  grew  to  man- 
hood and  received  his  early  education.  He 
graduated  at  the  United  States  military 
academy  in  1842,  entering  the  army  as 
lieutenant  and  spent  a  few  years  in  the  fron- 
tier service.  When  the  Mexican  war  broke 
out  he  was  called  to  the  front  and  partici- 
pated in  all  the  principal  battles  of  that  war 
up  to  the  storming  of  Chapultepec,  where 
he  received  severe  wounds.  For  gallant 
conduct  at  Contreras,  Cherubusco,  and  Mo- 
lino  del  Rey  he  received  the  brevets  of  cap- 
tain and  major.  After  the  close  of  the 
Mexican  war  Longstreet  served  as  adjutant 
and  captain  on  frontier  service  in  Texas  un- 
til 1858  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  staff 
as  paymaster  with  rank  of  major.  In  June, 
1 86 1,  he  resigned  to  join  the  Confederacy 
and  immediately  went  to  the  front,  com- 
manding a  brigade  at  Bull  Run  the  follow- 
ing month.  Promoted  to  be  major-general 
in   1862  he  thereafter  bore  a  conspicuous 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


5i 


part  and  rendered  valuable  service  to  the 
Confederate  cause.  He  participated  in 
many  of  the  most  severe  battles  of  the  Civil 
v^ar  including  Bull  Run  (first  and  second), 
Seven  Pines,  Gaines'  Mill,  Fraziers  Farm, 
Malvern  Hill,  Antietam,  Frederickburg, 
Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  Chickamauga, 
the  Wilderness,  Petersburg  and  most  of  the 
fighting  about  Richmond. 

When  the  war  closed  General  Long- 
street  accepted  the  result,  renewed  his  alle- 
giance to  the  government,  and  thereafter 
labored  earnestly  to  obliterate  all  traces  of 
war  and  promote  an  era  of  good  feeling  be- 
tween all  sections  of  the  country.  He  took 
up  his  residence  in  New  Orleans,  and  took 
an  active  interest  and  prominent  part  in 
public  affairs,  served  as  surveyor  of  that 
port  for  several  years;  was  commissioner  of 
engineers  for  Louisiana,  served  four  years 
as  school  commissioner,  etc.  In  1875  he 
was  appointed  supervisor  of  internal  revenue 
and  settled  in  Georgia.  After  that  time  he 
served  four  years  as  United  States  minister 
to  Turkey,  and  also  for  a  number  of  years 
was  United  States  marshal  of  Georgia,  be- 
sides having  held  other  important  official 
positions. 

JOHN  RUTLEDGE,  the  second  chief- 
justice  of  the  United  States,  was  born 
at  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  in  1739. 
He  was  a  son  of  John  Rutledge,  who  had 
left  Ireland  for  America  about  five  years 
prior  to  the  birth  of  our  subject,  and  a 
brother  of  Edward  Rutledge,  a  signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  John  Rut- 
ledge received  his  legal  education  at  the 
Temple,  London,  after  which  he  returned 
to  Charleston  and  soon  won  distinction  at 
the  bar.  He  was  elected  to  the  old  Colonial 
congress  in  1765  to  protest  against  the 
**  Stamp  Act,"  and  was  a    member  of  the 


South  Carolina  convention  of  1774,  anj  of 
the  Continental  congress  of  that  and  the 
succeeding  year.  In  1776  he  was  chairman 
of  the  committee  that  draughted  the  con- 
stitution of  his  state,  and  was  president  of 
the  congress  of  that  state.  He  was  not 
pleased  with  the  state  constitution,  how- 
ever, and  resigned.  In  1779  he  was  again 
chosen  governor  of  the  state,  and  granted 
extraordinary  powers,  and  he  at  once  took 
the  field  to  repel  the  British.  He  joined 
the  army  of  General  Gates  in  1782,  and  the 
same  year  was  elected  to  congress.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention which  framed  our  present  constitu- 
tion. In  1 789  he  was  appointed  an  associate 
justice  of  the  first  supreme  court  of  the 
United  States.  He  resigned  to  accept  the 
position  of  chief- justice  of  his  own  state. 
Upon  the  resignation  of  Judge  Jay^  he  was 
appointed  chief-justice  of  the  United  States 
in  1795.  The  appointment  was  never  con- 
firmed, for,  after  presiding  at  one  session, 
his  mind  became  deranged,  and  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Judge  Ellsworth.  He  died  at 
Charleston,  July  23,   1800. 


RALPH  WALDO  EMERSON  was  one 
of  the  most  noted  literary  men  of  his 
time.  He  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, May  25,  1803.  He  had  a  minister  for 
an  ancestor,  either  on  the  paternal  or  ma- 
ternal side,  in  every  generation  for  eight 
generations  back.  His  father,  Rev.  Will- 
iam Emerson,  was  a  native  of  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  born  May  6,  1769,  graduated 
at  Harvard,  in  1789,  became  a  Unitarian 
minister;  was  a  fine  writer  and  one  of  the 
best  orators  of  his  day;  died  in  181  r. 

Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  fitted  for 
college  at  the  public  schools  of  Boston,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  182 1,  win- 
ning about    this  time  several  prizes  for  es- 


58 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


says.  For  five  years  he  taught  school  in 
Boston;  in  1826  was  licensed  to  preach,  and 
in  1829  was  ordained  as  a  colleague  to  Rev. 
Henry  Ware  of  the  Second  Unitarian  church 
in  Boston.  In  1832  he  resigned,  making 
the  announcement  in  a  sermon  of  his  un- 
«villingness  longer  to  administer  the  rite  of 
Ae  Lord's  Supper,  after  which  he  spent 
about  a  year  in  Europe.  Upon  his  return 
he  began  his  career  as  a  lecturer  before  the 
Boston  Mechanics  Institute,  his  subject  be- 
ing "Water."  His  early  lectures  on  *'  Italy" 
and  "Relation  of  Man  to  the  Globe"  also 
attracted  considerable  attention;  as  did  also 
his  biographical  lectures  on  Michael  Angelo, 
Milton,  Luther,  George  Fox,  and  Edmund 
Burke.  After  that  time  he  gave  many 
courses  of  lectures  in  Boston  and  became 
one  of  the  best  known  lecturers  in  America. 
But  very  few  men  have  rendered  such  con- 
tinued service  in  this  field.  He  lectured  for 
forty  successive  seasons  before  the  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  Lyceum  and  also  made  re- 
peated lecturing  tours  in  this  country  and  in 
England.  In  1835  Mr.  Emerson  took  up 
his  residence  at  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  continued  to  make  his  home  until 
his  death  which  occurred  April  27,  1882. 

Mr.  Emerson's  literary  work  covered  a 
wide  scope.  He  wrote  and  published  many 
works,  essays  and  poems,  which  rank  high 
among  the  works  of  American  literary  men. 
A  few  of  the  many  which  he  produced  are 
the  following:  **  Nature;"  *'The  Method 
of  Nature;';  *' Man  Thinking;"  "The  Dial;" 
*' Essays;"  "Poems;"  "English  Traits;" 
"The  Conduct  of  Life;"  '*  May-Day  and 
other  Poems  "  and  "  Society  and  Solitude;" 
besides  many  others.  He  was  a  prominent 
member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society 
and  other  kindred  associations. 


ALEXANDER  T.  STEWART,  one  of 
the  famous  merchant  princes  of  New 
York,  was  born  near  the  city  of  Belfast,  Ire- 
land, in  1803,  and  before  he  was  eight  years 
of  age  was  left  an  orphan  without  any  near 
relatives,  save  an  aged  grandfather.  The 
grandfather  being  a  pious  Methodist  wanted 
to  make  a  minister  of  young  Stewart,  and 
accordingly  put  him  in  a  school  with  that 
end  in  view  and  he  graduated  at  Trinity  Col- 
lege, in  Dublin.  When  scarcely  twenty 
years  of  age  he  came  to  New  York.  His 
first  employment  was  that  of  a  teacher,  but 
accident  soon  made  him  a  merchant.  En- 
tering into  business  relations  with  an  ex- 
perienced man  of  his  acquaintance  he  soon 
found  himself  with  the  rent  of  a  store  on 
his  hands  and  alone  in  a  new  enterprise. 
Mr.  Stewart's  business  grew  rapidly  in  all 
directions,  but  its  founder  had  executive 
ability  sufficient  for  any  and  all  emergencies, 
and  in  time  his  house  became  one  of  the 
greatest  mercantile  establishments  of  mod- 
ern times,  and  the  name  of  Stewart  famous. 
Mr.  Stewart's  death  occurred  April  10, 
1876. 

JAMES  FENIMORE  COOPER.  —  In 
speaking  of  this  noted  American  nov- 
elist, William  Cullen  Bryant  said:  "He 
wrote  for  mankind  at  large,  hence  it  is  that 
he  has  earned  a  fame  wider  than  any  Amer- 
ican author  of  modern  times.  The  crea- 
tions of  his  genius  shall  survive  through 
centuries  to  come,  and  only  perish  with  our 
language."  Another  eminent  writer  (Pres- 
cott)  said  of  Cooper:  "  In  his  productions 
every  American  must  take  an  honest  pride; 
for  surely  no  one  has  succeeded  like  Cooper 
in  the  portraiture  of  American  character,  or 
has  given  such  glowing  and  eminently  truth- 
ful pictures  of  American  scenery." 

James  Fenimore  Cooper  was  born  Sep- 


COMPENDIUM  O5P    BIOGRAPHY, 


59 


tember  15,  1789,  at  Burlington,  New  Jer- 
sey, and  was  a  son  of  Judge  William  Cooper. 
About  a  year  after  the  birth  of  our  subject 
the  family  removed  to  Otsego  county,  New 
York,  and  founded  the  town  called  "  Coop- 
erstown."  James  Fenimore  Cooper  spent 
his  childhood  there  and  in  1802  entered 
Yale  College,  and  four  years  later  became  a 
midshipman  in  the  United  States  navy.  In 
181 1  he  was  married,  quit  the  seafaring  life, 
and  began  devoting  more  or  less  time  to  lit- 
erary pursuits.  His  first  work  was  "Pre- 
caution," a  novel  published  in  18 19,  and 
three  years  later  he  produced  ''The  Spy,  a 
Tale  of  Neutral  Ground,"  which  met  with 
g"reat  favor  and  was  a  universal  success. 
This  was  followed  by  many  other  works, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  the  foUow^- 
ing:  ' '  The  Pioneers, "  *  *  The  Pilot, "  ' '  Last 
of  the  Mohicans,"  *'The  Prairie,"  '*The 
Red  Rover,"  ''The  Manikins,"  '^Home- 
ward Bound,"  ''Home  as  Found,"  "History 
of  the  United  States  Navy,"  *'The  Path- 
finder," "Wing  and  Wing,"  "Afloat  and 
Ashore,"  "The  Chain-Bearer,"  "  Oak- 
Openings,"  etc.  J.  Fenimore  Cooper  died 
at  Cooperstown,  New  York,  September  14, 
1851. 

MARSHALL  FIELD,  one  of  the  mer- 
chant princes  of  America,  ranks  among 
the  most  successful  business  men  of  the  cen- 
tury. He  was  born  in  1835  ^-^  Conway, 
Massachusetts.  He  spent  his  early  life  on 
a  farm  and  secured  a  fair  education  in  the 
common  schools,  supplementing  this  with  a 
course  at  the  Conway  Academy.  His 
natural  bent  ran  in  the  channels  of  commer- 
cial life,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was 
given  a  position  in  a  store  at  Pittsfield, 
Massachusetts.  Mr.  Field  remained  there 
four  years  and  removed  to  Chicago  in  1856. 
He  began  his  career  in  Chicago  as   a   clerk 


in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  house  of  Cooley, 
Wadsworth  &  Company,  which  later  be- 
came Cooley,  Farwell  &  Company,  and  still 
later  John  V.  Farwell  &  Company.  He 
remained  with  them  four  years  and  exhibit- 
ed marked  ability,  in  recognition  of  which 
he  was  given  a  partnership.  In  1865  Mr. 
Field  and  L.  Z.  Leiter,  who  was  also  a 
member  of  the  firm,  withdrew  and  formed 
the  firm  of  Field,  Palmer  &  Leiter,  the 
third  partner  being  Potter  Palmer,  and  they 
continued  in  business  until  1867,  when  Mr. 
Palmer  retired  and  the  firm  became  Field, 
Leiter  &  Company.  They  ran  under  the 
latter  name  until  1881,  when  Mr.  Leiter  re- 
tired and  the  house  has  since  continued  un- 
der the  name  of  Marshall  Field  &  Company. 
The  phenomenal  success  accredited  to  the 
house  is  largely  due  to  the  marked  ability 
of  Mr.  Field,  the  house  had  become  one  of 
the  foremost  in  the  west,  with  an  annual 
sale  of  $8,000,000  in  1870.  The  total  loss 
of  the  firm  during  the  Chicago  fire  was 
$3,500,000  of  which  $2,500,000  was  re- 
covered through  the  insurance  companies. 
It  rapidly  recovered  from  the  effects  of  this 
and  to-day  the  annual  sales  amount  to  over 
$40,000,000.  Mr.  Field's  real  estate  hold- 
ings amounted  to  $10,000,000.  He  was 
one  of  the  heaviest  subscribers  to  the  Bap- 
tist University  fund  although  he  is  a  Presby- 
terian, and  gave  $1,000,000  for  the  endow- 
ment of  the  Field  Columbian  Museum — 
one  of  the  greatest  institutions  of  the  kind 
in  the  world. 

EDGAR  WILSON  NYE,  who  won  an  im- 
mense popularity  under  the  pen  name 
of  "  Bill  Nye,"  was  one  of  the  most  eccen- 
tric humorists  of  his  day.  He  was  born  Au- 
gust 25,  1850,  at  Shirley,  Piscataqua  coun- 
ty, Maine,  "at  a  very  early  age"  as  he  ex- 
presses it.      He  took  an  academic  course  'vol 


mo 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT 


River  Falls,  Wisconsin,  from  whence,  after 
his  graduation,  he  removed  to  Wyoming 
Territory.  He  studied  law  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1876.  He  began  when 
quite  young  to  contribute  humorous  sketches 
to  the  newspapers,  became  connected  with 
various  western  journals  and  achieved  a 
brilliant  success  as  a  humorist.  Mr.  Nye 
settled  later  in  New  York  City  where  he 
devoted  his  time  to  writing  funny  articles  for 
the  big  newspaper  syndicates.  He  wrote  for 
publication  in  book  form  the  following  : 
**Bill  Nye  and  the  Boomerang,"  **The 
Forty  Liars,"  *'Baled  Hay,"  ''Bill  Nye's 
Blossom  Rock,"  ''Remarks,"  etc.  His 
death  occurred  February  21,  1896,  at  Ashe- 
ville,  North  Carolina. 


THOMAS  DE  WITT  TALMAGE,  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  American  preach- 
;^rs,  was  born  January  7,  1832,  and  was  the 
youngest  of  twelve  children.  He  made  his 
preliminary  studies  at  the  grammar  school 
in  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey.  At  the  age 
xA  eighteen  he  joined  the  church  and  entered 
the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
graduated  in  May,  1853.  The  exercises 
were  held  in  Niblo's  Garden  and  his  speech 
aroused  the  audience  to  a  high  pitch  of  en- 
thusiasm. At  the  close  of  his  college  duties 
he  imagined  himself  interested  in  the  law 
and  for  three  years  studied  law.  Dr.  Tal- 
mage  then  perceived  his  mistake  and  pre- 
pared himself  for  the  ministry  at  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey.  Just 
after  his  ordination  the  young  minister  re- 
ceived two  calls,  one  from  Piermont,  New 
York,  and  the  other  from  Belleville,  New 
Jersey.  Dr.  Talmage  accepted  the  latter 
and  for  three  years  filled  that  charge,  when 
he  was  called  to  Syracuse,  New  York.  Here 
it   was   that   his   sermons  first  drew  large 


crowds  of  people  to  his  church,  and  frcni 
thence  dates  his  popularity.  Afterward  he 
became  the  pastor  of  the  Second  Reformed 
Dutch  church,  of  Philadelphia,  remaining 
seven  years,  during  which  period  he  first 
entered  upon  the  lecture  platform  and  laid 
the  foundation  for  his  future  reputation.  At 
the  end  of  this  time  he  received  three  calls, 
one  from  Chicago,  one  from  San  Francisco, 
and  one  from  the  Central  Presbyterian 
church  of  Brooklyn,  which  latter  at  that 
time  consisted  of  only  nineteen  members 
with  a  congregation  of  about  thirty-five. 
This  church  offered  him  a  salary  of  seven 
thousand  dollars  and  he  accepted  the  call. 
He  soon  induced  the  trustees  to  sell  the  old 
church  and  build  a  new  one.  They  did  so 
and  erected  the  Brooklyn  Tabernacle,  but 
it  burned  down  shortly  after  it  was  finished. 
By  prompt  sympathy  and  general  liberality 
a  new  church  was  built  and  formally  opened 
in  February,  1874.  It  contained  seats  for 
four  thousand,  six  hundred  and  fifty,  but  if 
necessary  seven  thousand  could  be  accom- 
modated. In  October,  1878,  his  salary  was 
raised  from  seven  thousand  dollars  to  twelve 
thousand  dollars,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1889 
the  second  tabernacle  was  destroyed  by  fire. 
A  third  tabernacle  was  built  and  it  was  for- 
mally dedicated  on  Easter  Sunday,   1891. 


JOHN  PHILIP  SOUSA,  conceded  as 
J  being  one  of  the  greatest  band  leaders 
in  the  world,  won  his  fame  while  leader  of 
the  United  States  Marine  Band  at  Washing- 
ton, District  of  Columbia.  He  was  not 
originally  a  band  player  but  was  a  violinist, 
and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  conduc- 
tor of  an  opera  company,  a  profession  which 
he  followed  for  several  years,  until  he  was 
offered  the  leadership  of  the  Marine  Band 
at  Washington.  The  proposition  was  re- 
pugnant to  him  at  first  but  he  accepted  the 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHIC 


61 


offer  and  then  ensued  ten  years  of  brilliant 
success  with  that  organization.  When  he 
first  took  the  Marine  Band  he  began  to 
gather  the  national  airs  of  all  the  nations 
that  have  representatives  in  Washington, 
and  compiled  a  comprehensive  volume  in- 
cluding nearly  all  the  national  songs  of  the 
different  nations.  He  composed  a  number 
of  marches,  waltzes  and  two-steps,  promi- 
nent among  which  are  the  *' Washington 
Post,"  **  Directorate,"  '*  King  Cotton," 
*' High  School  Cadets,"  *^  Belle  of  Chica- 
go," *' Liberty  Bell  March,"  *' Manhattan 
Beach,"  ^'On  Parade  March,"  **  Thunderer 
March,"  ''Gladiator  March,"  *'ElCapitan 
March,"  etc.  He  became  a  very  extensive 
composer  of  this  class  of  music. 


JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  sixth  president 
of  the  United  States,  was  born  in 
Braintree,  Massachusetts,  July  ii,  1767, 
the  son  of  John  Adams.  At  the  age  of 
eleven  he  was  sent  to  school  at  Paris,  and 
two  years  later  to  Leyden,  where  he  entered 
that  great  university.  He  returned  to  the 
United  States  in  1785,  and  graduated  from 
Harvard  in  1788.  He  then  studied  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1791.  His 
practice  brought  no  income  the  first  two 
years,  but  he  won  distinction  in  literary 
fields,  and  was  appointed  minister  to  The 
Hague  in  1794.  He  married  in  1797,  and 
went  as  minister  to  Berlin  the  same  year, 
*=^e.rving  until  1801,  when  Jefferson  became 
presmcnt.  He  was  elected  to  the  senate  in 
1S03  by  the  Federalists,  but  was  condemned 
by  that  party  for  advocating  the  Embargo 
Act  and  other  Anti-Federalist  measures.  He 
was  appointed  as  professor  of  rhetoric  at 
Harvard  in  1805,  and  in  1809  was  sent  as 
minister  to  Russia.  He  assisted  in  negotiat- 
ing the  treaty  of  peace  with  England  in 
1 8 14,  and  became  minister  to  that  power 


the  next  year.  He  served  during  Monroe's 
administration  two  terms  as  secretary  of 
state,  during  which  time  party  lines  were 
obliterated,  and  in  1824  four  candidates  for 
president  appeared,  all  of  whom  were  iden- 
tified to  some  extent  with  the  new  *•  Demo- 
cratic" party.  Mr.  Adams  received  84  elec- 
toral votes,  Jackson  99,  Crawford  41,  and 
Clay  37.  As  no  candidate  had  a  majority 
of  all  votes,  the  election  went  to  the  house 
of  representatives,  which  elected  Mr.  Adams. 
As  Clay  had  thrown  his  influence  to  Mr. 
Adams,  Clay  became  secretary  of  state,  and 
this  caused  bitter  feeling  on  the  part  of  the 
Jackson  Democrats,  who  were  joined  by 
Mr.  Crawford  and  his  following,  and  op- 
posed every  measure  of  the  administration. 
In  the  election  of  1828  Jackson  was  elected 
over  Mr.  Adams  by  a  great  majority. 

Mr.  Adams  entered  the  lower  house  of 
congress  in  1830,  elected  from  the  district 
in  which  he  was  born  and  continued  to  rep- 
resent it  for  seventeen  years.  He  was 
known  as  '*  the  old  man  eloquent,"  and  his 
work  in  congress  was  independent  of  party. 
He  opposed  slavery  extension  and  insisted 
upon  presenting  to  congress,  one  at  a  time, 
the  hundreds  of  petitions  against  the  slave 
power.  One  of  these  petitions,  presented  in 
1842,  was  signed  by  forty-five  citizens  of 
Massachusetts,  and  prayed  congress  for  a 
peaceful  dissolution  of  the  Union.  His 
enemies  seized  upon  this  as  an  opportunity 
to  crush  their  powerful  foe,  and  in  a  caucus 
meeting  determined  upon  his  expulsion  from 
congress.  Finding  they  would  not  be  able 
to  command  enough  votes  for  this,  they  de- 
cided upon  a  course  th&t  would  bring  equal 
disgrace.  They  formulated  a  resolution  to 
the  effect  that  while  he  merited  expulsion, 
the  house  would,  in  great  mercy,  substitute 
its  severest  censure.  When  it  was  read  in  the 
house  the  old  man,  then  in  his  seventy-fifth 


62 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


year,  arose  and  demanded  that  the  first  para- 
graph of  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
be  read  as  his  defense.  It  embraced  the 
famous  sentence,  *^that  whenever  any  form 
of  government  becomes  destructive  to  those 
ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or 
abolish  it,  and  to  institute  new  government, 
etc.,  etc."  After  eleven  days  of  hard  fight- 
ing his  opponents  were  defeated.  On  Febru- 
ary 21,  1848,  he  rose  to  address  the  speaker 
on  the  Oregon  question,  when  he  sluddenly 
fell  from  a  stroke  of  paralysis.  He  died 
soon  after  in  the  rotunda  of  the  capitol, 
where  he  had  been  conveyed  by  his  col- 
leagues. 

SUSAN  B.  ANTHONY  was  one  of  the 
most  famous  women  of  America.  She 
was  *born  at  South  Adams,  Massachusetts, 
February  15,  1820,  the  daughter  of  a 
Quaker.  She  received  a  good  education 
and  became  a  school  teacher,  following  that 
profession  for  fifteen  years  in  New  York. 
Beginning  with  about  1852  she  bscam.e  the 
active  leader  of  the  woman's  rights  move- 
ment and  won  a  wide  reputation  for  her 
£:eal  and  ability.  She  also  distinguished 
herself  for  her  zeal  and  eloquence  in  the 
temperance,  and  anti-slavery  causes,  and 
became  a  conspicuous  figure  during  the  war. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  she  gave  most  of 
her  labors  to  the  cause  of  woman's  suffrage. 


PHILIP  D.  ARMOUR,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  figures  in  the  mercantile 
history  of  America,  was  born  May  16,  1832, 
on  a  farm  at  Stockbridge,  Madison  county. 
New  York,  and  received  his  early  education 
in  the  common  schools  of  that  county.  He 
was  apprenticed  to  a  farmer  and  worked 
faithfully  and  well,  being  very  ambitious  and 
desiring  to  start  out  for  himself.  At  the 
age  of  twenty  he  secured  a  release  from  his 


indentures    and    set    out  overland    for   the 
gold    fields  of    California.       After   a   great 
deal  of  hard  work  he  accumulated  a  little 
money    and    then  came   east    and    settled 
in   Milwaukee,    Wisconsin.      He  went  into 
the   grain    receiving    and  warehouse    busi- 
ness and  was  fairly  successful,  and  later  on 
he  formed  a  partnership  with  John  Plankin- 
ton  in  the  pork  packing  line,  the  style  of  the 
firm  being  Plankinton  &  Armour.      Mr.  Ar- 
mour made  his  first  great  '  *  deal  "  in  selling 
pork  ''short"  on  the  New  York  market  in 
the  anticipation  of  the  fall  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, and  Mr.  Armour  is  said  to  have  made 
through  this  deal  a  million  dollars.    He  then 
established  packing  houses  in  Chicago  and 
Kansas   City,  and   in    1875   he  removed  to 
Chicago.      He  increased  his  businevSS  by  add- 
ing to  it  the  shipment  of  dressed   beef  to 
the  European  markets,  and  many  other  lines 
of  trade  and  manufacturing,  and  it  rapidly 
assumed    vast    proportions,    employing    an 
army  of  men  in  different  lines  of  the  busi- 
ness.     Mr.  Armour  successfully  conducted  a 
great  many  speculative  deals  in   pork  and 
grain  of  immense  proportions  and  also  erected 
many  large   warehouses  for  the  storage  of 
grain.      He  became  one  of  the  representative 
business  men  of  Chicago,  where  he  became 
closely  identified  with  all    enterprises   of  a 
public   nature,  but  his  fame  as  a  great  busi- 
ness man  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
He  founded  the  ''Armour  Institute  "  at  Chi- 
cago and  also  contributed  largely  to  benevo- 
lent and  charitable  institutions. 


ROBERT  FULTON.— Although  Fulton 
is  best  known  as  the  inventor  of  the 
first  successful  steamboat,  yet  his  claims  to 
distinction  do  not  rest  alone  upon  that,  for 
he  was  an  inventor  along  other  lines,  a 
painter  and  an  author.  He  was  born  at 
Litde  Britain,  Lancaster  county,  Pennsyl 


COMPENDIUM   Oi^    BIOGRAPHIC 


65 


vania,  in  1765,  of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  removed  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  there  and  in  New  York  en- 
gaged in  miniature  painting  with  success 
both  from  a  pecuniary  and  artistic  point  of 
view.  With  the  results  of  his  labors  he  pur- 
chased a  farm  for  the  support  of  his  mother. 
He  went  to  London  and  studied  under  the 
great  painter,  Benjamin  West,  and  all 
through  life  retained  his  fondness  for  art 
and  gave  evidence  of  much  ability  in  that 
line.  While  in  England  he  was  brought  in 
contact  with  the  Duke  of  Bridgewater,  the 
father  of  the  English  canal  system;  Lord 
Stanhope,  an  eminent  mechanician,  and 
James  Watt,  the  inventor  of  the  steam  en- 
gine. Their  influence  turned  his  mind  to  its 
true  field  of  labor,  that  of  mechanical  in- 
vention. Machines  for  flax  spinning, 
marble  sawing,  rope  making,  and  for  remov- 
ing earth  from  excavations,  are  among  his 
earliest  ventures.  His  *' Treatise  on  the 
Improvement  of  Canal  Navigation, "  issued 
in  1796,  and  a  series  of  essays  on  canals 
were  soon  followed  by  an  English  patent 
for  canal  improvements.  In  1797  he  went 
to  Paris,  where  he  resided  until  1806,  and 
there  invented  a  submarine  torpedo  boat  for 
maritime  defense,  but  which  was  rejected 
by  the  governments  of  France,  England  and 
the  United  States.  In  1803  he  offered  to  con- 
struct for  the  Emperor  Napoleon  a  steam- 
boat that  would  assist  in  carrying  out  the 
plan  of  invading  Great  Britain  then  medi- 
tated by  that  great  captain.  In  pursuance 
he  constructed  his  first  steamboat  on  the 
Seine,  but  it  did  not  prove  a  full,  success 
and  the  idea  was  abandoned  by  the  French 
government.  By  the  aid  of  Livingston, 
then  United  States  minister  to  France, 
Fulton  purchased,  in  1806,  an  engine  which 
he  brought  to  this  country.     After  studying 

the  defects  of  his  own  and  other  attempts  in 
4 


this  line  he  built  and  launched  in  1807  the 
Clermont,  the  first  successful  steamboat. 
This  craft  only  attained  a  speed  of  five 
miles  an  hour  while  going  up  North  river. 
His  first  patent  not  fully  covering  his  in- 
vention, Fulton  was  engaged  in  many  law 
suits  for  infringement.  He  constructed 
many  steamboats,  ferryboats,  etc.,  among 
these  being  the  United  States  steamer 
*'  Fulton  the  First,"  built  in  18 14,  the  first 
war  steamer  ever  built.  This  craft  never 
attained  any  great  speed  owing  to  some  de- 
fects in  construction  and  accidentally  blew 
up  in  1829.  Fulton  died  in  New  York,  Feb- 
ruary 21,  1815. 


SALMON  PORTLAND  CHASE,  sixth 
chief-justice  of  the  United  States,  and 
one  of  the  most  eminent  of  American  jurists, 
was  born  in  Cornish,  New  Hampshire,  Jan- 
uary 13,  1808.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  was 
left  in  poverty  by  the  death  of  his  father, 
but  means  were  found  to  educate  him.  He 
was  sent  to  his  uncle,  a  bishop,  who  con- 
ducted an  academy  near  Columbus,  Ohio, 
and  here  young  Chase  worked  on  the  farm 
and  attended  school.  At  the  age  of  fifteen 
he  returned  to  his  native  state  and  entered 
Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he  gradu- 
ated in  1 826.  He  then  went  to  Washington, 
and  engaged  in  teaching  school,  and  study- 
ing law  under  the  instruction  of  William 
Wirt.  He  was  licensed  to  practice  in  1829, 
and  went  to  Cincinnati,  where  he  had  a 
hard  struggle  for  several  years  following. 
He  had  in  the  meantime  prepared  notes  on 
the  statutes  of  Ohio,  which,  when  published, 
brought  him  into  prominence  locally.  He 
was  soon  after  appointed  solicitor  of  the 
United  States  Bank.  In  1837  he  appeared 
as  counsel  for  a  fugitive  slave  woman,  Ma- 
tilda, and  sought  by  all  the  powers  of  his 
learning  and  eloquence  to  prevent  her  owner 


m 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


from  reclaiming  her.  He  acted  in  many 
other  cases,  and  devolved  the  trite  expres- 
5;ion,  ''Slavery  is  sectional,  freedom  is  na- 
tional." He  was  employed  to  defend  Van 
Zandt  before  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States  in  1846,  which  was  one  of  the  most 
noted  cases  connected  with  the  great  strug- 
gle against  slavery.  By  this  time  Mr.  Chase 
had  become  the  recognized  leader  of  that 
element  known  as  ''  free-soilers."  He  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  senate  in  1849, 
and  was  chosen  governor  of  Ohio  in  1855 
and  re-elected  in  1857.  He  was  chosen  to 
the  United  States  senate  from  Ohio  in  1861, 
but  was  made  secretary  of  the  treasury  by 
Lincoln  and  accepted.  He  inaugurated  a 
financial  system  to  replenish  the  exhausted 
treasury  and  meet  the  demands  of  the  great- 
est war  in  history  and  at  the  same  time  to 
revive  the  industries  of  the  country.  One 
of  the  measures  which  afterward  called  for 
his  judicial  attention  was  the  issuance  of 
currency  notes  which  were  made  a  legal 
tender  in  payment  of  debts.  When  this 
question  came  before  him  as  chief-justice 
of  the  United  States  he  reversed  his  former 
action  and  declared  the  measure  unconstitu- 
tional. The  national  banking  system,  by 
which  all  notes  issued  were  to  be  based  on 
funded  government  bonds  of  equal  or  greater 
amounts,  had  its  direct  origin  with  Mr.  Chase. 
Mr.  Chase  resigned  the  treasury  port- 
folio in  1864,  and  was  appointed  the  same 
year  as  chief-justice  of  the  United  States 
supreme  court.  The  great  questions  that 
came  up  before  him  at  this  crisis  in  the  life 
of  the  nation  were  no  less  than  those  which 
confronted  the  first  chief -justice  at  the  for-  i 
mation  of  our  government.  Reconstruction,  | 
private,  state  and  national  interests,  the 
constitutionality  ot  the  acts  of  congress 
oassjed  in  tmaes  of  great  excitement,  the 
construction  and  interpretation  to  be  placed 


upon  the  several  amendments  to  the  national 
constitution, — these  were  among  the  vital 
questions  requiring  prompt  decision.  He 
received  a  paralytic  stroke  in  1870,  which 
impaired  his  health,  thcugh  his  mental 
powers  were  not  affected.  He  continued  to 
preside  at  the  opening  terms  for  two  years 
following  and  died  May  7,  1873. 


HARRIET  ELIZABETH  BEECHER 
STOWE,  a  celebrated  American  writ- 
er, was  born  June  14,  18 12,  at  Litchfield, 
Connecticut.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Lyman 
Beecher  and  a  sister  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
tvv'o  noted  divines;  was  carefully  educated, 
and  taught  school  for  several  years  at  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut.  In  1832  Miss  Beecher 
married  Professor  Stowe,  then  of  Lane  Semi- 
nary, Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  afterwards  at 
Bowdoin  College  and  Andover  Seminary. 
Mrs.  Stowe  published  in  1849  *'The  May- 
flower, or  sketches  of  the  descendants  of  the 
Pilgrims, "  and  in  1851  commenced  in  the 
* '  National  Era  "  of  Washington,  a  serial  story 
which  was  published  separately  in  1 8  5 2  under 
the  title  of  **  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin."  This 
book  attained  almost  unparalleled  success 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  and  within  ten  years 
it  had  been  translated  in  almost  every  lan- 
guage of  the  civilized  world.  Mrs.  Stowe  pub- 
lished in  1853  a  '*Keyto  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin" 
in  which  the  data  that  she  used  was  published 
and  its  truthfulness  was  corroborated.  In 
1853  she  accompanied  her  husband  and 
brother  to  Europe,,  and  on  ner  return  puD- 
lished  ''Sunny  Memories  of  Foreign  Lands  " 
in  1 054.  Mrs.  Stowe  was  for  some  time 
one  ot  the  editors  of  the  •*  Atlantic  Monthly  " 
and  the  ''  Hearth  and  Home,"  for  which 
she  had  written  a  number  of  articles. 
Among  these,  also  published  separately,  are 
*'  Dred,  a  tale  of  the  Great  Dismal  Swamp  " 
(later  published  under  the  title  of   '^  Nina 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


67 


Gordon");  '' The  Minister's  Wooing;"  ''The 
Pearl  of  Orr's  Island;"  "Agnes  of  Sorrento;" 
-Oldtown  Folks;"  ''My  Wife  and  I;"  "Bible 
Heroines,"  and  "A  Dog's  Mission."  Mrs. 
Stowe's  death  occurred  July  I,  1896,  at 
Hartford,  Connecticut. 


THOMAS  JONATHAN  JACKSON,  bet- 
ter known  as  "Stonewall"  Jackson, 
was  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the  Confeder- 
ate generals  of  the  Civil  war.  He  was  a 
soldier  by  nature,  an  incomparable  lieuten- 
ant, sure  to  execute  any  operation  entrusted 
to  him  with  marvellous  precision,  judgment 
and  courage,  and  all  his  individual  cam- 
paigns and  combats  bore  the  stamp  of  a 
masterly  capacity  for  war.  He  was  born 
January  21,  1824,  at  Clarksburg,  Harrison 
county,  West  Virginia.  He  was  early  in 
life  imbued  with  the  desire  to  be  a  soldier 
and  it  is  said  walked  from  the  mountains  of 
Virginia  to  Washington,  secured  the  aid  of 
his  congressman,  and  was  appointed  cadet 
at  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point  from  which  he  was  graduated  in 

1846.  Attached  to  the  army  as  brevet  sec- 
ond lieutenant  of  the  First  Artillery,  his  first 
service  was  as  a  subaltern  with  Magruder's 
battery  of  light  artillery  in  the  Mexican  war. 
He  participated  at  the  reduction  of  Vera 
Cruz,  and  was  noticed  for  gallantry  in  the 
battles  of  Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  Mohne 
del  Rey,  Chapultepec,  and  the  capture  of 
the  city  of  Mexico,  receiving  the  brevets  of 
captain  for  conduct  at  Contreras  and  Cher- 
ubusco  and  of  major  at  Chapultepec.  In 
the  meantime  he  had  been  advanced  by 
regular  promotion   to  be  first  lieutenant  in 

1847.  I^  1852,  the  war  having  closed,  he 
resigned  and  became  professor  of  natural 
and  experimental  philosophy  and  artillery 
instructor  at  the  Virginia  State  Military 
Institute  at  Lexington,  Virginia,  where  he 


remained  until  Virginia  declared  for  seces- 
sion, he  becoming  chiefly  noted  for  intense 
religious  sentiment  coupled  with  personal 
eccentricities.  Upon  the  breaking  out  of 
the  war  he  was  made  colonel  and  placed  in 
command  of  a  force  sent  to  sieze  Harper's 
Ferry,  which  he  accomplished  May  3,  1S61. 
Relieved  by  General  J.  E.  Johnston,  May 
23,  he  took  command  of  the  brigade  of 
Valley  Virginians,  whom  he  moulded  into 
that  brave  corps,  baptized  at  the  first 
Manassas,  and  ever  after  famous  as  the 
"  Stonewall  Brigade."  After  this  "Stone- 
wall "  Jackson  was  made  a  major-general, 
in  1 861,  and  participated  until  his  death  in 
all  the  famous  campaigns  about  Richmond 
and  in  Virginia,  and  was  a  conspicuous  fig- 
ure in  the  memorable  battles  of  that  time. 
May  2,  1863,  at  Chancellorsville,  he  was 
wounded  severely  by  his  own  troops,  two 
balls  shattering  his  left  arm  and  another 
passing  through  the  palm  of  his  right  hand. 
The  left  arm  was  amputated,  but  pneumonia 
intervened,  and,  weakened  by  the  great  loss 
of  blood,  he  died  May  10,  1863.  The  more 
his  operations  in  the  Shenandoah  valley  in 
1862  are  studied  the  more  striking  must  the 
merits  of  this  great  soldier  appear. 


TOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER.— 
vJ  Near  to  the  heart  of  the  people  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  will  ever  lie  the  verses  of 
this,  the  "Quaker  Poet."  The  author  of 
"Barclay  of  Ury,"  "Maud  Muller"  and 
"Barbara  Frietchie,"  always  pure,  fervid 
and  direct,  will  be  remembered  when  many 
a  more  ambitious  writer  has  been  forgotten. 
John  G.  Whittier  was  born  at  Haver- 
hill, Massachusetts,  December  7,  1807,  of 
Quaker  parentage.  He  had  but  a  common- 
school  education  and  passed  his  boyhood 
days  upon  a  farm.  In  early  life  he  learned 
the  trade    of    shoemaker.     At   the   age   of 


68 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


eighteen  he  began  to  write  verses  for  the 
Haverhill  *'  Gazette."  He  spent  two  years 
after  that  at  the  Haverhill  academy,  after 
which,  in  1829,  he  became  editor  of  the 
**American  Manufacturer,"  at  Boston.  In 
1830  he  succeeded  George  D.  Prentice  as 
editor  of  the  '*New  England  Weekly  Re- 
view," but  the  following  year  returned  to 
Haverhill  and  engaged  in  farming.  In  1832 
and  in  1836  he  edited  the  ''  Gazette."  In 
1835  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature, serving  two  years.  In  1836  he  became 
secretary  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society  of  Phil- 
adelphia. In  1838  and  1839  he  edited  the 
**  Pennsylvania  Freeman,"  but  in  the  latter 
year  the  office  was  sacked  and  burned  by  a 
mob.  In  1840  Whittier  settled  at  Ames- 
bury,  Massachusetts.  In  1847  he  became 
corresponding  editor  of  the  '*  National  Era," 
an  anti-slavery  paper  published  at  Washing- 
ton, and  contributed  to  its  columns  many  of 
his  anti-slavery  and  other  favorite  lyrics. 
Mr.  Whittier  lived  for  many  years  in  retire- 
ment of  Quaker  simplicity,  publishing  several 
volumes  of  poetry  which  have  raised  him  to 
a  high  place  among  American  authors  and 
brought  to  him  the  love  and  admiration  of 
his  countrymen.  In  the  electoral  colleges 
of  1 860  and  1 864  Whittier  v/as  a  member. 
Much  of  his  time  after  i8y6  was  spent  at 
Oak  Knoll,  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  but 
still  retained  his  residence  at  Amesbury. 
He  never  married.  His  death  occurred  Sep- 
tember 7,  1892. 

The  more  prominent  prose  writings  of 
John  G.  Whittier  are  as  follows:  ** Legends 
of  New  England,"  ''Justice  and  Expediency, 
or  Slavery  Considered  with  a  View  to  Its  Abo- 
lition," '*  The  Stranger  in  Lowell,"  "Super- 
naturalism  in  New  England,"  ''  Leaves  from 
Margaret  Smith's  Journal,"  ''Old  Portraits 
and  Modern  Sketches"  and  "  Literary 
Sketches. " 


DAVID  DIXON  PORTER,  illustrious  as 
admiral  of  the  United  States  navy,  and 
famous  as  one  of  the  most  able  naval  offi- 
cers of  America,  was  born  in  Pennsylvania, 
June  8,  1 8 14.  His  father  w^as  also  a  naval 
officer  of  distinction,  who  left  the  service  of 
the  United  States  to  become  commander  of 
the  naval  forces  of  Mexico  during  the  war 
between  that  country  and  Spain,  and 
through  this  fact  David  Dixon  Porter  was 
appointed  a  midshipman  in  the  Mexican 
navy.  Two  years  later  David  D.  Porter 
joined  the  United  States  navy  as  midship- 
man, rose  in  rank  and  eighteen  years  later 
as  a  lieutenant  he  is  found  actively  engaged 
in  all  the  operations  of  our  navy  along  the 
east  coast  of  Mexico.  When  the  Civil  war 
broke  out  Porter,  then  a  commander,  was 
dispatched  in  the  Povvhattan  to  the  relief  of 
Fort  Pickens,  Florida.  This  duty  accom- 
plished, he  fitted  out  a  mortar  flotilla  for 
the  reduction  of  the  forts  guarding  the  ap- 
proaches to  New  Orleans,  which  it  was  con- 
sidered of  vital  importance  for  the  govern- 
ment to  get  possession  of.  After  the  fall  of 
New  Orleans  the  mortar  flotilla  was  actively 
engaged  at  Vicksburg,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1862  Porter  was  made  a  rear-admiral  and 
placed  in  command  of  all  the  naval  forces 
on  the  western  rivers  above  New  Orleans. 
The  ability  of  the  man  was  now  con- 
spicuously manifested,  not  only  in  the  bat- 
tles in  which  he  was  engaged,  but  also  in 
the  creation  of  a  formidable  fleet  out  of 
river  steamboats,  which  he  covered  with 
such  plating  as  they  would  bear.  In  1864 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Atlantic  coast  to 
command  the  naval  forces  destined  to  oper- 
ate against  the  defences  of  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina,  and  on  Jan.  15,  1865,  the 
fall  of  Fort  Fisher  was  hailed  by  the  country 
as  a  glorious  termination  of  his  arduous  war 
service.     In  1S66  he  was  made  vice-admiral 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


6v^ 


and  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Naval 
Academy.  On  the  death  of  Farragut,  in 
1870,  he  succeeded  that  able  man  as  ad- 
miral of  the  navy.  His  death  occurred  at 
Washington,  February  13,  1891. 


NATHANIEL  GREENE  was  one  of  the 
best  known  of  the  distinguished  gen- 
erals who  led  the  Continental  soldiery 
against  the  hosts  of  Great  Britain  during 
the  Revolutionary  war.  He  was  the  son 
of  Quaker  parents,  and  was  born  at  War- 
wick, Rhode  Island,  May  27,  1742.  In 
youth  he  acquired  a  good  education,  chiefly 
by  his  own  efforts,  as  he  was  a  tireless 
reader.  In  1770  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Assembly  of  his  native  state.  The 
news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  stirred 
his  blood,  and  he  offered  his  services  to 
the  government  of  the  colonies,  receiving 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general  and  the  com- 
mand of  the  troops  from  Rhode  Island. 
He  led  them  to  the  camp  at  Cambridge, 
and  for  thus  violating  the  tenets  of  their 
faith,  he  was  cast  out  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  or  Quakers.  He  soon  won  the  es- 
teem of   General  Washington.      In  August, 

1776,  Congress  promoted  Greene  to  the 
rank  of  major-general,  and  in  the  battles  of 
Trenton  and.  Princeton  he  led  a  division. 
At  the  battle  of  Brandy  wine,  September  11, 

1777,  he  greatly  distinguished  himself,  pro- 
tecting the  retreat  of  the  Continentals  by 
his  firm  stand.  At  the  battle  of  German- 
town,  October  4,  the  same  year,  he  com- 
manded the  left  wing  of  the  army  with 
credit.  In  March,  1778,  he  reluctantly  ac- 
cepted the  office  of  quartermaster-general, 
but  only  with  the  understanding  that  his 
rank  in  the  army  would  not  be  aflected  and 
that  in  action  he  should  retain  his  command. 
On  the  bloody  field  of  Monmouth,  June  28, 

1778,  he  commanded  the  right  wing,  as  he 


did  at  the  battle  of  Tiverton  Heights.  He 
was  in  command  of  the  army  in  1780,  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  Washington,  and  was 
president  of  the  court-martial  that  tried  and 
condemned  Major  Andre.  After  General 
Gates'  defeat  at  Camden,  North  Carolina,  in 
the  summer  of  1 780,  General  Greene  w^as  ap- 
pointed to  the  command  of  the  southern  army. 
He  sent  out  a  force  under  General  Morgan 
who  defeated  General  Tarleton  at  Cowpens, 
January  17,  1781.  On  joining  his  lieuten- 
ant, in  February,  he  found  himself  out  num- 
bered by  the  British  and  retreated  in  good 
order  to  Virginia,  but  being  reinforced  re- 
turned to  North  Carolina  where  he  fought 
the  battle  of  Guilford,  and  a  few  days  later 
compelled  the  retreat  of  Lord  Cornwallis. 
The  British  were  followed  by  Greene  part 
of  the  way,  when  the  American  army 
marched  into  South  Carolina.  After  vary- 
ing success  he  fought  the  battle  of  Eutaw 
Springs,  September  8,  1781.  For  thelatter 
battle  and  its  glorious  consequences,  which 
virtually  closed  the  war  in  the  Carolinas, 
Greene  received  a  medal  from  Congress  and 
many  valuable  grants  of  land  from  the 
colonies  of  North  and  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia.  On  the  return  of  peace,  after  a 
year  spent  in  Rhode  Island,  General  Greene 
took  up  his  residence  on  his  estate  near 
Savannah,  Georgia,  where  he  died  June  19, 
1786.  

EDGAR  ALLEN  POE.— Among  the 
many  great  literary  men  whom  this 
country  has  produced,  there  is  perhaps  no 
name  more  widely  known  than  that  of  Ed- 
gar Allen  Poe.  He  was  born  at  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  February  19,  1809.  His 
parents  were  David  and  Elizabeth  (Arnold) 
Poe,  both  actors,  the  mother  said  to  have 
been  the  natural  daughter  of  Benedict  Ar- 
nold.    The  parents  died  while   Edgar  was 


70 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


still  a  child  and  he  was  adopted  by  John 
Allen,  a  wealthy  and  influential  resident  of 
Richmond,  Virginia.  Edgar  was  sent  to 
school  at  Stoke,  Newington,  England, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  thirteen 
years  old;  was  prepared  for  college  by  pri- 
vate tutors,  and  in  1826  entered  the  Virginia 
University  at  Charlottesville.  He  made 
rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished for  his  scholarship,  but  was  ex- 
pelled within  a  year  for  gambling,  after 
which  for  several  years  he  resided  with  his 
benefactor  at  Richmond.  He  then  went  to 
Baltimore,  and  in  1829  published  a  71 -page 
pamphlet  called  **A1  Aaraaf,  Tamerlane 
and  Minor  Poems,"  which,  however,  at- 
tracted no  attention  and  contained  nothing 
of  particular  merit.  In  1830  he  was  ad- 
mitted as  a  cadet  at  West  Point,  but  was 
expelled  about  a  year  later  for  irregulari- 
ties. Returning  to  the  home  of  Mr.  Allen 
he  remained  for  some  time,  and  finally 
quarrelled  with  his  benefactor  and  enlisted 
as  a  private  soldier  in  the  U.  S.  army,  but 
remained  only  a  short  time.  Soon  after 
this,  in  1833,  Poe  won  several  prizes  for 
literary  work,  and  as  a  result  secured  the 
position  of  editor  of  Irhe  '  *  Southern  Liter- 
ary Messenger,"  at  Richmond,  Virginia. 
Here  he  married  his  cousin,  Virginia 
Clemm,  who  clung  to  him  with  fond  devo- 
tion through  all  the  many  trials  that  came 
to  them  until  her  death  in  January,  1848. 
Poe  remained  with  the  ** Messenger"  for 
several  years,  writing  meanwhile  many 
tales,  reviews,  essays  and  poems.  He  aft- 
erward earned  a  precarious  living  by  his 
pen  in  New  York  for  a  time;  in  1839  be- 
came editor  of  **  Burton's  Gentleman's 
Magazine"  ;  in  1840  to  1842  was  editor  of 
**  Graham's  Magazine,"  and  drifted  around 
irom  one  place  to  another,  returning  to 
New    York   in    1844.       In    1845    his    best 


known  production,  **The  Raven, "  appeared 
in  the  *'Whig  Review,"  and  gained  him  a 
reputation  which  is  now  almost  world-wide. 
He  then  acted  as  editor  and  contributor  on 
various  magazines  and  periodicals  until  the 
death  of  his  faithful  wife  in  1848.  In  the 
summer  of  1849  he  was  engaged  to  be  mar- 
ried to  a  lady  of  fortune  in  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  day  set  for  the  wedding. 
He  started  for  New  York  to  make  prepara- 
tions for  the  event,  but,  it  is  said,  began 
drinking,  was  attacked  with  dilirium  tre- 
mens in  Baltimore  and  was  removed  to  a 
hospital,  where  he  died,  October  7,  1849. 
The  works  of  Edgar  Allen  Poe  have  been 
repeatedly  published  since  his  death,  both 
in  Europe  and  America,  and  have  attained 
an  immense  popularity. 


HORATIO  GATES,  one  of  the  prom- 
inent figures  in  the  American  war  for 
Independence,  was  not  a  native  of  the  col- 
onies but  was  born  in  England  in  1728.  In 
early  life  he  entered  the  British  army  and 
attained  the  rank  of  major.  At  the  capture 
of  Martinico  he  was  aide  to  General  Monk- 
ton  and  after  the  peace  of  Aix  la  Chapelle, 
in  1748,  he  was  among  the  first  troops  that 
landed  at  Halifax.  He  was  with  Braddock 
at  his^defeat  in  1755,  and  was  there  severe- 
ly wounded.  At  the  conclusion  of  the 
French  and  Indian  war  Gates  purchased  an 
estate  in  Virginia,  and,  resigning  from  the 
British  army,  settled  down  to  life  as  a 
planter.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary war  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
colonies  and  was  made  adjutant-general  of 
the  Continental  forces  with  the  rank  of 
brigadier-general.  He  accompanied  Wash^ 
ington  when  he  assumed  the  command  oi 
the  army.  In  June,  1776,  he  was  appoint^ 
ed  to  the  command  of  the  army  of  Canada, 
but  was  superseded  in  May  of  the  following 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHY. 


't\ 


year  by  General  Schuyler.  In  August, 
1/77,  however,  the  command  of  that  army 
was  restored  to  General  Gates  and  Septem- 
ber 19  he  fought  the  battle  of  Bemis 
Heights.  October  7,  the  same  year,  he 
won  the  battle  of  Stillwater,  or  Saratoga, 
and  October  17  received  the  surrender  of 
General  Burgoyne  and  his  army,  the  pivotal 
poinr,  of  the  war.  This  gave  him  a  brilliant 
reputation.  June  13,  1780.  General  Gates 
was  appointed  to  the  command  oi  the 
southern  military  division,  and  August  16  of 
that  year  suffered  defeat  at  the  hands  of 
Lord  Cornwallis,  at  Camden,  North  Car- 
olina. In  December  following  he  was 
superseded  in  the  command  by  General 
Nathaniel  Greene. 

On  the  signing  of  the  peace  treaty  Gen- 
eral Gates  retired  to  his  plantation  in 
Berkeley  county,  Virginia,  where  he  lived 
until  1790,  when,  emancipating  all  his 
slaves,  he  removed  to  New  York  City,  where 
he  resided  until  his  death,  April   10,  1806. 


LYMAN  J.  GAGE.— When  President  Mc- 
Kinley  selected  Lyman  J.  Gage  as  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury  he  chose  one  of  the 
most  eminent  financiers  of  the  century.  Mr. 
Gage  was  born  June  28,  1836,  at  De  Ruy- 
ter,  Madison  county.  New  York,  and  was  of 
English  descent.  He  went  to  Rome,  New 
York,  with  his  parents  when  he  was  ten 
years  old,  and  received  his  early  education 
in  the  Rome  Academy.  Mr.  Gage  gradu- 
ated from  the  same,  and  his  first  position 
was  that  of  a  clerk  in  the  post  ofBce.  When 
he  was  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was  detailed 
as  mail  agent  on  the  Rome  &  Watertown 
R.  R.  until  the  postmaster-general  appointed 
regular  agents  for  the  route.  In  1854,  when 
he  was  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  entered 
the  Oneida  Central  Bank  at  Rome  as  a 
junior  clerk  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  dol- 


lars per  year.  Being  unable  at  the  end  of 
one  year  and  a  half's  service  to  obtain  an 
increase  in  salary  he  determined  to  seek  a 
wider  field  of  labor,  Mr.  Gage  set  out  in 
the  fall  of  1855  and  arrived  in  Chicago, 
Illinois,  on  October  3,  and  soon  obtained  a 
situation  in  Nathan  Cobb's  lumber  yard  and 
planing  mill.  He  remained  there  three  years 
as  a  bookkeeper,  teamster,  etc.,  and  left  on 
account  of  change  in  the  management.  But 
not  being  able  to  find  anything  else  to  do  he 
accepted  the  position  of  night  watchman  in 
the  place  for  a  period  of  six  weeks.  He 
then  became  a  bookkeeper  for  the  Mer- 
chants Saving,  Loan  and  Trust  Company  at 
a  salary  of  five  hundred  dollars  per  year. 
He  rs.pidly  advanced  in  the  service  of  this 
company  and  in  1868  he  was  made  cashier. 
Mr.  Gage  was  next  offered  the  position  of 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  and  ac- 
cepted the  offer.  He  became  the  president 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago  Jan- 
uary 24,  1 89 1,  and  in  1897  he  was  appointed 
secretary  of  the  treasury.  Hi:^  ability  as  a 
financier  and  the  prominent  part  ne  took  in 
the  discussion  of  financial  aff--'rs  while  presi- 
dent of  the  great  Chicago  b'__:.  ave  him  a 
national  reputation. 


ANDREW  JACKSON,  the  seventh  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  was  born 
at  the  Waxhaw  settlement,  Union  county, 
North  Carolina,  March  15,  1767.  His 
parents  were  Scotch-Irish,  natives  of  Carr- 
ickfergus,  who  came  to  this  country  in  1665 
and  settled  on  Twelve-Mile  creek,  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Catawba.  His  father,  who 
was  a  poor  farm  laborer,  died  shortly  be- 
fore Andrew's  birth,  when  the  mother  re- 
moved to  Waxhaw,  where  some  relatives 
lived.  Andrew's  education  was  very  limited, 
he  showing  no  aptitude  for  study.  In  1780 
when  but  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  and    his 


72 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


brother  Robert  volunteered  to  serve  in  the 
American  partisan  troops  under  General 
Sumter,  and  witnessed  the  defeat  at  Hang- 
ing Rock.  The  following  year  the  boys 
were  both  taken  prisoners  by  the  enemy 
and  endured  brutal  treatment  from  the 
British  officers  while  confined  at  Camden. 
They  both  took  the  small  pox,  when  the 
mother  procured  their  exchange  but  Robert 
died  shortly  after.  The  mother  died  in 
Charleston  of  ship  fever,  the  same  year. 

Young  Jackson,  now  in  destitute  cir- 
cumstances, worked  for  about  six  months  in 
a  saddler's  shop,  and  then  turned  school 
master,  although  but  little  fitted  for  the 
position.  He  now  began  to  think  of  a  pro- 
fession and  at  Salisbury,  North  Carolina, 
entered  upon  the  study  of  law,  but  from  all 
accounts  gave  but  little  attention  to  his 
books,  being  one  of  the  most  roistering, 
rollicking  fellows  in  that  town,  indulging  in 
many  of  the  vices  of  his  time.  In  1786  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  in  1788  re- 
moved to  Nashville,  then  in  North  Carolina, 
with  the  appointment  of  public  prosecutor, 
then  an  office  of  little  honor  or  emolument, 
but  requiring  much  nerve,  for  which  young 
Jackson  was  already  noted.  Two  years 
later,  when  Tennessee  became  a  territory 
he  was  appointed  by  Washington  to  the 
position  of  United  States  attorney  for  that 
district.  In  1791  he  married  Mrs.  Rachel 
Robards,  a  daughter  of  Colonel  John  Don- 
elson,  who  was  supposed  at  the  time  to 
have  been  divorced  from  her  former  hus- 
band that  year  by  act  of  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, but  two  years  later,  on  finding  that 
this  divorce  was  not  legal,  and  a  new  bill  of 
separation  being  granted  by  the  courts  of 
Kentucky,  they  were  remarried  in  1793. 
This  was  used  as  a  handle  by  his  oppo- 
nents in  the  political  campaign  afterwards. 
Jackson  was  untiring  in  his  efforts  as  United 


States  attorney  and  obtained  much  influence. 
He  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  1796,  when  Tennessee 
became  a  state  and  was  its  first  represent- 
ative in  congress.      In  1797  he  was  chosen 
United  States  senator,  but  resigned  the  fol- 
lowing year  to  accept  a  seat  on  the  supreme 
court    of  Tennessee    which    he    held    until 
1804.      He   was   elected    major-general    of 
the  militia  of  that  state  in  1801.       In  1804, 
being  unsuccessful  in  obtaining  the  govern- 
orship of  Louisiana,   the  new  territory,   he 
retired  from  public    life  to    the    Hermitage, 
his  plantation.       On    the    outbreak    of   the 
war  with  Great  Britain  in  18 12  he  tendered 
his  services  to  the  government  and  went  to 
New  Orleans  with  the  Tennessee  troops  in 
January,  1813.      In  March  of  that  year  he 
was  ordered  to  disband  his  troops,  but  later 
marched  against   the  Cherokee  Indians,  de- 
feating    them     at     Talladega,      Emuckfaw 
and  Tallapoosa.       Having   now   a  national 
reputation,  he  was  appointed  major-general 
in  the   United   States   army   and   was  sent 
against   the   British    in    Florida.      He  con- 
ducted  the    defence  of    Mobile   and  seized 
Pensacola.      He  then  went  with  his  troops 
to  New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  where  he  gained 
the  famous  victory  of  January  8,  181 5.      In 
1817-18    he  conducted    a  war  against  the 
Seminoles,  and  in  1821  was  made  governor 
of  the  new  territory  of  Florida.      In  1823 
he  was  elected   United   States  senator,  but 
in  1 824  was  the  contestant  with  J.  Q.  Adams 
for  the  presidency.      Four  years  later  he 
was  elected  president,  and  served  two  terms. 
In  1832  he  took  vigorous  action  against  the 
nullifiers  of  South   Carolina,  and  the  next 
year  removed  the  public  money  from  the 
United    States   bank.       During   his  second 
term  the  national  debt  was  extinguished.    At 
the  close  of  his  administration  he  retired  to 
the  Hermitage,  where  he  died  June  8,  1845.. 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


7a 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE,  the  largest  manu- 
facturer of  pig-iron,  steel  rails  and 
coke  in  the  world,  well  deserves  a  place 
among  America's  celebrated  men.  He  was 
born  November  25,  1835,  at  Dunfermline, 
Scotland,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
with  his  father  in  1845,  settling  in  Pittsburg. 
Two  years  later  Mr.  Carnegie  began  his 
business  career  by  attending  a  small  station- 
ary engine.  This  work  did  not  suit  him  and 
he  became  a  telegraph  messenger  with  the 
Atlantic  and  Ohio  Co.,  and  later  he  became 
an  operator,  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  read 
telegraphic  signals  by  sound.  Mr.  Carnegie 
was  afterward  sent  to  the  Pittsburg  office 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Co.,  as  clerk 
to  the  superintendent  and  manager  of  the 
telegraph  lines.  While  in  this  position  he 
made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Woodruff,  the 
inventor  of  the  sleeping-car.  Mr.  Carnegie 
immediately  became  interested  and  was  one 
of  the  organizers  of  the  company  for  its  con- 
struction after  the  railroad  had  adopted  it, 
and  the  success  of  this  venturegave  him  the 
nucleus  of  his  wealth.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  superintendency  of  the  Pittsburg 
division  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and 
about  this  time  was  one  of  the  syndicate 
that  purchased  the  Storey  farm  on  Oil  Creek 
which  cost  forty  thousand  dollars  and  in  one 
year  it  yielded  over  one  million  dollars  in 
cash  dividends.  Mr.  Carnegie  later  was  as- 
sociated with  others  in  establishing  a  rolling- 
mill,  and  from  this  has  grown  the  most  ex- 
tensive and  complete  system  of  iron  and 
steel  industries  ever  controlled  by  one  indi- 
vidual, embracing  the  Edgar  Thomson 
Steel  Works;  Pittsburg  Bessemer  Steel 
Works;  Lucy  Furnaces;  Union  Iron  Mills; 
Union  Mill;  Keystone  Bridge  Works;  Hart- 
man  Steel  Works;  Frick  Coke  Co.;  Scotia 
Ore  Mines.  Besides  directing  his  immense 
iron  industries  he  owned  eighteen  English 


newspapers  which  he  ran  in  the  interest  or 
the  Radicals.  He  has  also  devoted  large 
sums  of  money  to  benevolent  and  educational 
purposes.  In  1879  he  erected  commodious 
swimming  baths  for  the  people  of  Dunferm- 
line, Scotland,  and  in  the  following  year 
gave  forty  thousand  dollars  for  a  free  library. 
Mr.  Carnegie  gave  fifty  thousand  dollars  to 
Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  College  in  1884 
to  found  what  is  now  called  '  *  Carnegie  Lab- 
oratory,"  and  in  1885  gave  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  Pittsburg  for  a  public 
library.  He  also  gave  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  for  a  music  hall  and  library 
in  Allegheny  City  in  1886,  and  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  Edinburgh,  Scot- 
land, for  a  free  library.  He  also  established 
free  libraries  at  Braddock,  Pennsylvania, 
and  other  places  for  the  benefit  of  his  em- 
ployes. He  also  published  the  following 
works,  **An  American  Four-in-hand  in 
Britain;"  *^  Round  the  World;"  **  Trium- 
phant Democracy;  or  Fifty  Years'  March  of 
the  Republic." 


GEORGE  H.  THOMAS,  the  -  Rock  of 
Chickamauga, "  one  of  the  best  known 
commanders  during  the  late  Civil  war,  was 
born  in  Southampton  county,  Virginia,  July 
31,  1 8 16,  his  parents  being  of  Welsh  and 
French  origin  respectively.  In  1836  young 
Thomas  was  appointed  a  cadet  at  the  Mili-^ 
tary  Academy,  at  West  Point,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1840,  and  was  promoted  to 
the  office  of  second  lieutenant  in  the  Third 
Artillery.  Shortly  after,  with  his  company, 
he  went  to  Florida,  where  he  served  for  two 
years  against  the  Seminole  Indians.  In 
1 84 1  he  was  bre vetted  first  lieutenant  for 
gallant  conduct.  He  remg»ined  in  garrison 
in  the  south  and  southwest  until  1845,  at 
which  date  with  the  regiment  he  joined  the 
army  under  General  Taylor,  and  participate 


74 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


ed  in  the  defense  of  Fort  Brown,  the  storm- 
ing  of  Monterey  and  the  battle  of  Buena 
Vista.  After  the  latter  event  he  remained 
in  garrison,  now  brevetted  major,  until  the 
close  of  the  Mexican  war.  After  a  year 
spent  in  Florida,  Captain  Thomas  was  or- 
dered to  West  Point,  where  he  served  as  in- 
structor until  1854.  He  then  was  trans- 
ferred to  California.  In  May,  1855,  Thom- 
as was  appointed  major  of  the  Second  Cav- 
alry, with  whom  he  spent  five  years  in  Texas. 
Although  a  southern  man,  and  surrounded 
by  brother  officers  who  all  were  afterwards 
In  the  Confederate  service,  Major  Thomas 
never  swerved  from  his  allegiance  to  the 
government.  A.  S.  Johnston  was  the  col- 
onel of  the  regiment,  R.  E.  Lee  the  lieuten- 
ant-colonel, and  W.  J.  Hardee,  senior  ma- 
jor, while  among  the  younger  officers  were 
Hood,  Fitz  Hugh  Lee,  Van  Dorn  and  Kirby 
Smith.  When  these  officers  left  the  regi- 
ment to  take  up  arms  for  the  Confederate 
cause  he  remained  with  it,  and  April  17th, 
1 86 1,  crossed  the  Potomac  into  his  native 
state,  at  its  head.  After  taking  an  active  part 
in  the  opening  scenes  of  the  war  on  the  Poto- 
mac and  Shenandoah,  in  August,  1861,  he 
was  promoted  to  be  brigadier-general  and 
transferred  to  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland. 
January  19-20,  1862,  Thomas  defeated 
Crittenden  at  Mill  Springs,  and  this  brought 
him  into  notice  and  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  fame.  He  continued  in  command  of  his 
division  until  September  20,  1862,  except 
during  the  Corinth  campaign  when  he  com- 
manded the  right  wing  of  the  Army  of  the 
Tennessee.  He  was  in  command  of  the 
latter  at  the  battle  of  Perryville,  also,  Octo- 
ber 8,  1862. 

On  the  division  of  the  Army  of  the  Cum- 
berland into  corps,  January  9,  1863,  Gen- 
eral Thomas  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  Fourteenth,  and  at  the  battle  of  Chick- 


amauga,  after  the  retreat  of  Rosecrans, 
firm.Iy  held  his  own  against  the  hosts  of  Gen- 
eral Bragg.  A  history  of  his  services  from 
that  on  would  be  a  history  of  the  war  in  the 
southwest.  On  September  27,  1864,  Gen- 
eral Thomas  was  given  command  in  Ten- 
nessee, and  after  organizing  his  army,  de- 
feated General  Hood  in  the  battle  of  Nash- 
ville, December  15  and  16,  1864.  Much 
complaint  was  made  before  this  on  account 
of  what  they  termed  Thomas'  slowness,  and 
he  was  about  to  be  superseded  because  he 
would  not  strike  until  he  got  ready,  but 
when  the  blow  was  struck  General  Grant 
was  the  first  to  place  on  record  this  vindica- 
tion of  Thomas'  judgment.  He  received  a 
vote  of  thanks  from  Congress,  and  from  the 
legislature  of  Tennessee  a  gold  medal.  Af- 
ter the  close  of  the  w^ar  General  Thomas 
had  command  of  several  of  the  military  di- 
visions, and  died  at  San  Francisco,  Cali- 
fornia, March  28,   1870. 


GEORGE  BANCROFT,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  American  historians,  was  a 
native  of  Massachusetts,  born  at  Worcester, 
October  3,  1800,  and  a  son  of  Aaron 
Bancroft,  D.  D.  The  father,  Aaron  Ban- 
croft, was  born  at  Reading,  Massachusetts, 
November  10,  1755.  He  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1778,  became  a  minister,  and  for 
half  a  century  was  rated  as  one  of  the  ablest 
preachers  in  New  England.  He  was  also  a 
prolific  writer  and  published  a  number  of 
works  among  which  was  ' '  Life  of  George 
Washington. "  Aaron  Bancroft  died  August 
19,  1839. 

The  subject  of  our  present  biography, 
George  Bancroft,  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
1 817,  and  the  following  year  entered  the 
University  of  Gottingen,  where  he  studied 
history  and  philology  under  the  most  emi- 
nent teachers,  and  in  1820  received  the  de- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Jr5 


gvee  of  doctor  of  philosophy  at  Gottingen. 
Upon  his  return  home  he  pubhshed  a  volume 
of  poems,  and  later  a  translation  of  Heeren's 
**  Reflections  on  the  Politics  of  Ancient 
Greece."  In  1834  he  produced  the  first 
volume  of  his  **  History  of  the  United 
States,"  this  being  followed  by  other  vol- 
umes at  different  intervals  later.  This  was 
his  greatest  work  and  ranks  as  the  highest 
authority,  taking  its  place  among  the  great- 
est of  American  productions. 

George  Bancroft  was  appointed  secretary 
of  the  navy  by  President  Polk  in  1845,  but 
resigned  in  1846  and  became  minister  pleni- 
potentiary to  England.  In  1849  he  retired 
from  public  life  and  took  up  his  residence  at 
Washington,  D.  C.  In  1867  he  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  minister  to  the  court  of 
Berlin  and  negotiated  the  treaty  by  which  Ger- 
mans coming  to  the  United  States  were  re- 
leased from  their  allegiance  to  the  govern- 
ment of  their  native  land.  In  1871  he  was 
minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  German  em- 
pire and  served  until  1874.  The  death  of 
George  Bancroft  occurred  January  17,  1891. 


GEORGE  GORDON  MEADE,  a  fa- 
mous  Union  general,  was  born  at 
Cadiz,  Spain,  December  30,  181 5,  his  father 
being  United  States  naval  agent  at  that 
port.  After  receiving  a  good  education  he 
entered  the  West  Point  Military  Academy 
in  1 83 1.  From  here  he  was  graduated 
June  30,  1835,  ^J^d  received  the  rank  of 
second  lieutenant  of  artillery.  He  par- 
ticipated in  the  Seminole  war,  but  resigned 
from  the  army  in  October,  1836.  He  en- 
tered upon  the  profession  of  civil  engineer, 
which  he  followed  for  several  years,  part  of 
the  time  in  the  service  of  the  government  in 
making  surveys  of  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi river.  His  report  and  results  of  some 
experiments   made  by  him  in  this   service 


gained  Meade  much  credit.  He  alsu  was 
employed  in  surveying  the  boundary  hue  of 
Texas  and  the  northeastern  boundary  line 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
In  1842  he  was  reappointed  in  the  army  to 
the  position  of  second  lieutenant  of  engineers. 
During  the  Mexican  war  he  served  with  dis- 
tinction on  the  staff  of  General  Taylor  in 
the  battles  of  Palo  Alto,  Resaca  de  la  Palma 
and  the  storming  of  Monterey.  He  received 
his  brevet  of  first  lieutenant  for  the  latter 
action.  In  1851  he  was  made  full  first 
lieutenant  in  his  corps;  a  captain  in  1856, 
and  major  soon  after.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  with  Mexico  he  was  employed  in  light- 
house construction  and  in  geodetic  surveys 
until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion,  in 
which  he  gained  great  reputation.  In 
August,  1861,  he  was  made  brigadier-general 
of  volunteers  and  placed  in  command  of  the 
second  brigade  of  the  Pennsylvania  Reserves, 
a  division  of  the  First  Corps  in  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac.  In  the  campaign  of  1862, 
under  McClellan,  Meade  took  an  active 
part,  being  present  at  the  battles  of  Mechan- 
icsville,  Gaines'  Mill  and  Glendale,  in  the 
latter  of  which  he  was  severely  wounded. 
On  rejoining  his  command  he  was  ^iven  a 
division  and  distinguished  himself  at  its  head 
in  the  battles  of  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tam.  During  the  latter,  on  the  wounding 
of  General  Hooker,  Meade  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  corps  and  was  himself 
slightly  wounded.  For  services  he  was 
promoted,  November,  1862,  to  the  rank 
of  major-general  of  volunteers.  On  the 
recovery  of  General  Hooker  General  Meade 
returned  to  his  division  and  in  December, 
1862,  at  Fredericksburg,  led  an  attack 
which  penetrated  Lee's  right  line  and  swept 
to  his  rear.  Being  outnumbered  and  un- 
supported, he  finally  was  driven  back.  The 
same    month    Meade   was   assigned  to  the 


76 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHT. 


command  of  the  Fifth  Corps,  and  at  Chan- 
cellorsville  in  May,  1863,  his  sagacity  and 
ability  so  struck  General  Hooker  that  when 
the  latter  asked  to  be  relieved  of  the  com- 
mand, in  June  of  the  same  year,  he  nomi- 
nated Meade  as  his  successor.  June  28, 
1863,  President  Lincoln  commissioned  Gen- 
eral Meade  commander-in-chief  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  then  scattered  and  moving 
hastily  through  Pennsylvania  to  the  great 
and  decisive  battlefield  at  Gettysburg,  at 
which  he  was  in  full  command.  With  the 
victory  on  those  July  days  the  name  of 
Meade  will  ever  be  associated.  From  that 
time  until  the  close  of  the  war  he  com- 
manded the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In 
1864  General  Grant,  being  placed  at  the 
head  of  all  the  armies,  took  up  his  quarters 
with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  From  that 
time  until  the  surrender  of  Lee  at  Appo- 
matox  Meade's  ability  shone  conspicuously, 
and  his  tact  in  the  delicate  position  in  lead- 
ing his  army  under  the  eye  of  his  superior 
officer  commanded  the  respect  and  esteem 
of  General  Grant.  For  services  Meade  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  and 
on  the  close  of  hostilities,  in  July,  1865, 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  military 
division  of  the  Atlantic,  with  headquarters 
at  Philadelphia.  This  post  he  held,  with 
the  exception  of  a  short  period  on  detached 
duty  in  Georgia,  until  his  death,  which  took 
place  November  6,  1872. 


DAVID  CROCKETT  was  a  noted  hunter 
and  scout,  and  also  one  of  the  earliest 
of  American  humorists.  He  was  born  Au- 
gust 17,  1786,  in  Tennessee,  and  was  one 
of  the  most  prominent  men  of  his  locality, 
serving  as  representative  in  congress  from 
1827  until  1 83 1.  He  attracted  consider- 
able notice  while  a  member  of  congress  and 
was  closely  associated  with  General  Jack- 


son, of  whom  he  was  a  personal  friend.  He 
went  to  Texas  and  enlisted  in  the  Texan 
army  at  the  time  of  the  revolt  of  Texas 
against  Mexico  and  gained  a  wide  reputa- 
tion as  a  scout.  He  was  one  of  the  famous 
one  hundred  and  forty  men  under  Colonel 
W.  B.  Travis  who  were  besieged  in  Fort 
Alamo,  near  San  Antonio,  Texas,  by  Gen- 
eral Santa  Anna  with  some  five  thousand 
Mexicans  on  February  23,  1836.  The  fort 
was  defended  for  ten  days,  frequent  assaults 
being  repelled  with  great  slaughter,  over 
one  thousand  Mexicans  being  killed  or 
wounded,  while  not  a  man  in  the  fort  was 
injured.  Finally,  on  March  6,  three  as- 
saults were  made,  and  in  the  hand-to-hand 
fight  that  followed  the  last,  the  Texans  were 
wofully  outnumbered  and  overpowered. 
They  fought  desperately  with  clubbed  mus- 
kets till  only  six  were  left  alive,  including 
W.  B.  Travis,  David  Crockett  and  James 
Bowie.  These  surrendered  under  promise 
of  protection;  but  when  they  were  brought 
before  Santa  Anna  he  ordered  them  all  to 
be  cut  to  pieces. 


HENRY  WATTERSON,  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  figures  in  the  history  of 
American  journalism,  was  born  at  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia,  February  16, 
1 840.  His  boyhood  days  were  mostly  spent 
in  the  city  of  his  birth,  where  his  father, 
Harvey  M.  Watterson,  was  editor  of  the 
** Union,"  a  well  known  journal. 

Owing  to  a  weakness  of  the  eyes,  which 
interfered  with  a  systematic  course  of  study, 
young  Watterson  was  educated  almost  en- 
tirely at  home.  A  successful  college  career 
was  out  of  the  question,  but  he  acquired  a 
good  knowledge  of  music,  literature  and  art 
from  private  tutors,  but  the  mpst  valuable 
part  of  the  training  he  received  was  by  as- 
sociating with  his  father  and  the  throng  ot^ 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


T7 


public  men  whom  he  met  in  Washington 
in  the  stirring  days  immediately  preceding 
the  Civil  war.  He  began  his  journalistic 
career  at  an  early  age  as  dramatic  and 
musical  critic,  and  in  1858,  became  editor 
of  the  **  Democratic  Review"  and  at  the 
same  time  contributed  to  the  *' States, " 
a  journal  of  liberal  opinions  published  in 
Washington.  In  this  he  remained  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  when  the 
*' States,"  opposing  the  administration,  was 
suppressed,  and  young  W^atterson  removed 
to  Tennessee.  He  next  appears  as  editor 
of  the  Nashville  *' Republican  Banner,"  the 
most  influential  paper  in  the  state  at  that 
time.  After  the  occupation  of  Nashville  by 
the  Federal  troops,  Watterson  served  as  a 
volunteer  staff  officer  in  the  Confederate 
service  until  the  close  of  the  war,  with  the 
exception  of  a  year  spent  in  editing  the 
Chattanooga  '*  Rebel."  On  the  close  of 
the  war  he  returned  to  Nashville  and  re- 
sumed his  connection  with  the  "Banner." 
After  a  trip  to  Europe  he  assumed  control 
of  the  Louisville  **  Journal,"  which  he  soon 
combined  with  the  **  Courier"  and  the 
**  Democrat"  of  that  place,  founding  the 
well-known  **  Courier-Journal,"  the  first 
number  of  which  appeared  November  8, 
1868.  Mn  Watterson  also  represented  his 
district  in  congress  for  several  years. 


PATRICK  SARSFIELD  GILMORE, 
one  of  the  most  successful  and  widely 
known  bandmasters  and  musicians  of  the 
last  half  century  in  America,  was  born  in 
Ballygar,  Ireland,  on  Christmas  day,  1829. 
He  attended  a  public  school  until  appren- 
ticed to  a  wholesale  merchant  at  Athlone, 
of  the  brass  band  of  which  town  he  soon 
became  a  member.  His  passion  fpr  music 
conflicting  with  the  duties  of  a  mercantile 
life,  his  position  as  clerk  was  exchanged  for 


that  of  musical  instructor  to  the  young  song 
of  his  employer.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he 
sailed  for  America  and  two  days  after  his 
arrival  in  Boston  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
band  instrument  department  of  a  prominent 
music  house.  In  the  interests  of  the  pub- 
lications of  this  house  he  organized  a  minstrel 
company  known  as  *'Ordway's  Eolians," 
with  which  he  first  achieved  success  as  a 
cornet  soloist.  Later  on  he  was  called  the 
best  E-flat  cornetist  in  the  United  States. 
He  became  leader,  successively,  of  the  Suf- 
folk, Boston  Brigade  and  Salem  bands. 
During  his  connection  with  the  latter  he 
inaugurated  the  famous  Fourth  of  July  con- 
certs on  Boston  Common,  since  adopted  as 
a  regular  programme  for  the  celebration  of 
Independence  Day.  In  1858  Mr.  Gilmore 
founded  the  organization  famous  thereafter 
as  Gilmore's  Band.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  war  this  band  was  attached  to  the 
Twenty-Fourth  ,  Massachusetts  Infantry. 
Later,  when  the  economical  policy  of  dis- 
pensing with  music  had  proved  a  mistake, 
Gilmore  was  entrusted  with  the  re-organiza- 
tion of  state  military  bands,  and  upon  his 
arrival  at  New  Orleans  with  his  own  band 
was  made  bandmaster-general  by  General 
Banks.  On  the  inauguration  of  Governor 
Hahn,  later  on,  in  Lafayette  square,  New 
Orleans,  ten  thousand  children,  mostly  of 
Confederate  parents,  rose  to  the  baton  of 
Gilmore  and,  accompanied  by  six  hundred 
instruments,  thirty-six  guns  and  the  united 
fire  of  three  regiments  of  infantry,  sang  the 
Star-Spangled  Banner,  America  and  other 
patriotic  Union  airs.  In  June,  1867,  Mr. 
Gilmore  conceived  a  national  musical  festi^ 
val,  which  w^as  denounced  as  a  chimerical 
undertaking,  but  he  succeeded  and  June  15, 
1869,  stepped  upon  the  stage  of  the  Boston 
Colosseum,  a  vast  structure  erected  for  the 
occasion,  and  in  the  presence  of  over  fifty. 


78 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


thousand  people  lifted  his  baton  over  an 
orchestra  of  one  thousand  and  a  chorus  of 
ten  thousand.  On  the  17th  of  June,  1872, 
he  opened  a  still  greater  festival  in  Boston, 
when,  in  addition  to  an  orchestra  of  two 
thousand  and  a  chorus  of  twenty  thousand, 
were  present  the  Band  of  the  Grenadier 
Guards,  of  London,  of  the  Garde  Repub- 
licaine,  of  Paris,  of  Kaiser  Franz,  of  Berlin, 
and  one  from  Dublin,  Ireland,  together  with 
Johann  Strauss,  Franz  Abt  and  many  other 
soloists,  vocal  and  instrumental.  Gilmore's 
death  occurred  September  24,  1892. 


MARTIN  VAN  BUREN  was  the  eighth 
president  of  the  United  States,  1837 
to  1 84 1.  He  was  of  Dutch  extraction,  and 
his  ancestors  were  among  the  earliest  set- 
tlers on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson.  He  was 
born  December  5,  1782,  at  Kinderhook, 
New  York.  Mr.  Van  Buren  took  up  the 
study  of  law  at  the  age  of  fourteen  and  took 
an  active  part  in  political  matters  before  he 
had  attained  his  majority.  He  commenced 
the  practice  of  law  in  1803  at  his  native 
town,  and  in  1809  he  removed  to  Hudson, 
Columbia  county,  New  York,  where  he 
spent  seven  years  gaining  strength  and  wis- 
dom from  his  contentions  at  the  bar  with 
some  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  profession. 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  elected  to  the  state 
senate,  and  from  181 5  until  18 19  he  was  at- 
torney-general of  the  state.  He  was  re- 
elected to  the  senate  in  18 16,  and  in  18 18 
he  was  one  of  the  famous  clique  of  politi- 
cians known  as  the  **  Albany  regency.** 
Mr.  Van  Buren  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention for  the  revision  of  the  state  consti- 
tution, in  1 82 1.  In  the  same  year  he  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  senate  and 
served  his  term  in  a  manner  that  caused  his 
re-election  to  that  body  in  1827,  but  re- 
signed the  following  year   as  he  had  been 


elected  governor  of  New  York.  Mr.  Van 
Buren  was  appointed  by  President  Jackson  as 
secretary  of  state  in  March,  1829,  but  resigned 
in  183*1,  and  during  the  recess  of  congress 
he  was  appointed  minister  to  England. 
The  senate,  however,  when  it  convened  in 
December  refused  to  ratify  the  appointment. 
In  May,  1832,  he  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  as  their  candidate  for  vice-presi- 
dent on  the  ticket  with  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  he  was  elected  in  the  following  Novem- 
ber. He  received  the  nomination  to  suc- 
ceed President  Jackson  in  1836,  as  the 
Democratic  candidate,  and  in  the  electoral 
college  he  received  one  hundred  and  seventy 
votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-three, 
and  was  inaugurated  March  4,  1837.  His 
administration  was  begun  at  a  time  of  great 
business  depression,  and  unparalled  financial 
distress,  which  caused  the  suspension  of 
specie  payments  by  the  banks.  Nearly 
every  bank  in  the  country  was  forced  to 
suspend  specie  payment,  and  no  less  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty-four  business  houses 
failed  in  New  York  in  one  week.  The 
President  urged  the  adoption  of  the  inde- 
pendent treasury  idea,  which  passed  through 
the  senate  twice  but  each  time  it  was  de- 
feated in  the  house.  However  the  measure 
ultimately  became  a  law  near  the  close  of 
President  Van  Buren's  term  of  office.  An- 
other important  measure  that  was  passed 
was  the  pre-emption  law  that  gave  the  act- 
ual settlers  preference  in  the  purchase  of 
public  lands.  The  question  of  slavery  had 
begun  to  assume  great  preponderance  dur- 
ing this  administration,  and  a  great  conflict 
was  tided  over  by  the  passage  of  a  resolu- 
tion that  prohibited  petitions  or  papers  that 
in  any  way  related  to  slavery  to  be  acted 
upon.  In  the  Democratic  convention  ot 
1840  President  Van  Buren  secured  the 
nomination  for   re-election   on   that   ticket 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


79 


without  opposition,  but  in  the  election  he 
only  received  the  votes  of  seven  states,  his 
opponent,  W.  H.  Harrisonj  being  elected 
president.  In  1848  Mr.  Van  Buren  was 
the  candidate  of  the  "  Free-Soilers,"  but 
w^as  unsuccessful.  After  this  he  retired 
from  public  life  and  spent  the  remainder  of 
his  life  on  his  estate  at  Kinderhook,  where 
he  died  July  24,  1862. 


W INFIELD  SCOTT,,  a  distinguished 
American  general,  was  born  June  13, 
1786,  near  Petersburg,  Dinwiddle  county, 
Virginia,  and  was  educated  at  the  William 
and  Mary  College.  He  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  in  1808  he  accepted 
an  appointment  as  captain  of  light  artillery, 
and  was  ordered  to  New  Orleans.     In  June, 

1 81 2,  he  was  promoted  to  be  lieutenant- 
colonel,  and  on  application  was  sent  to  the 
frontier,  and  reported  to  General  Smyth, 
near  Buffalo.  He  was  made  adjutant-gen- 
eral with  the  rank  of  a    colonel,  in  March, 

1 8 1 3,  and  the  same  month  attained  the  colo- 
nelcy of  his  regiment,  He  participated  in 
the  principal  battles  of  the  war  and  was 
wounded  many  times,  and  at  the  close  of 
the  war  he  was  voted  a  gold  medal  by  con- 
gress for  his  services.  He  was  a  writer  of 
considerable  merit  on  military  topics,  and 
he  gave  to  the  military  science,  **  General 
Regulations  of  the  Army  "  and  '*  System  of 
Infantry  and  Rifle  Practice. "  He  took  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  the  Mexican  war  he 
was  appointed  to  take  the  command  of  the 
army.  Gen.  Scott  immediately  assembled 
his  troops  at  Lobos  Island  from  which  he 
moved  by  transports  to  Vera  Cruz,  which 
he  took  March  29,  1847,  and  rapidly  fol- 
lowed up  his  first  success.  He  fought  the 
battles  of  Cerro  Gordo  and  Jalapa,  both  of 
which    he  won,  and    proceeded   to   Pueblo 


where  he  was  preceded  by  Worth's  division 
which  had  taken  the  town  and  waited  for  the 
coming  of  Scott.  The  army  was  forced  to 
wait  here  for  supplies,  and  August  7th, 
General  Scott  started  on  his  victorious 
march  to  the  city  of  Mexico  with  ten  thou- 
sand, seven  hundred  and  thirty-eight  men. 
The  battles  of  Contreras,  Cherubusco  and 
San  Antonio  were  fought  August  19-20, 
and  on  the  24th  an  armistice  was  agreed 
upon,  but  as  the  commissioners  could  not 
agree  on  the  terms  of  settlement,  the  fight- 
ing was  renewed  at  Molino  Del  Rey,  and 
the  Heights  of  Chapultepec  were  carried 
by  the  victorious  army  of  General  Scott. 
He  gave  the  enemy  no  respite,  however, 
and  vigorously  followed  up  his  advantages. 
On  September  14,  he  entered  the  City  of 
Mexico  and  dictated  the  terms  of  surrender 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 
General  Scott  was  offered  the  presidency  of 
the  Mexican  Republic,  but  declined.  Con- 
gress extended  him  a  vote  of  thanks  and 
ordered  a  gold  medal  be  struck  in  honor  of 
his  generalship  and  bravery.  He  was  can- 
didate for  the  presidency  on  the  Whig  plat- 
form  but  was  defeated.  He  was  honored  by 
having  the  title  of  lieutenant-general  con- 
ferred upon  him  in  1 8  5  5 .  At  the  beginning  of 
the  Civil  war  he  was  too  infirm  to  take  charge 
of  the  army,  but  did  signal  service  in  be- 
half of  the  government.  He  retired  from 
the  service  November  i,  1861,  and  in  1864 
he  published  his  ''Autobiography."  Gen- 
eral Scott  died  at  West  Point,  May  29,  186.6. 


CDWARD  EVERETT  HALE  for  many 
1—^  years  occupied  a  high  place  among  the 
most  honored  of  America's  citizens.  As 
a  preacher  he  ranks  among  the  foremost 
in  the  New  England  states,  but  to  the  gen-^ 
eral  public  he  is  best  known  through  his 
writings.     Born  in  Boston,   Mass.,  April  3y 


80 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


1822,  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  most 
prominent  New  England  families,  heenjo37ed 
in  his  youth  many  of  the  advantages  denied 
the  majority  of  boys.  He  received  his  pre- 
paratory schooling  at  the  Boston  Latin 
School  after  v^hich  he  finished  his  studies  at 
Harvard  v^here  he  was  graduated  with  high 
honors  in  1839.  Having  studied  theology 
at  home,  Mr.  Hale  embraced  the  ministry 
and  in  1846  became  pastor  of  a  Unitarian 
church  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  a  post 
which  he  occupied  about  ten  years.  He 
then,  in  1856,  became  pastor  of  the  South 
Congregational  church  in  Boston,  over  which 
he  presided  many  years. 

Mr.  Hale  also  found  time  to  write  a 
great  many  literary  works  of  a  high  class, 
i^mong  many  other  well-known  productions 
:>f  his  are  ''  The  Rosary,"  •*  Margaret  Per- 
ciyal  in  America,"  **  Sketches  of  Christian 
distory,"  **  Kansas  and  Nebraska,"  ''Let- 
ters on  Irish  Emigration,"  **  Ninety  Days' 
Worth  of  Europe,"  **  If,  Yes,  and  Perhaps," 
»*Ingham  Papers,"  '*  Reformation,"  "Level 
Best  and  Other  Stories, "  ' '  Ups  and  Downs, " 
* 'Christmas  Eve  and  Christmas  Day,"  "  In 
His  Name,"  '*Our  New  Crusade,"  ''Work- 
ingmen's  Homes,"  **  Boys'  Heroes,"  etc., 
etc.,  besides  many  pthers  which  might  be 
mentioned.  One  of  his  works,  '*In  His 
Name,"  has  earned  itself  enduring  fame  by 
the  good  deeds  it  has  called  forth.  The 
numerous  associations  known  as  '  'The  King's 
Daughters,"  which  has  accomplished  much 
good,  owe  their  existence  to  the  story  men- 
tioned. 

DAVID  GLASCOE  FARRAGUT  stands 
pre-^mipent  as  one  of  the  greatest  na- 
val officers  of  the  world.  He  was  born  at 
Campbell's  Station,  East  Tennessee,  July 
5,  1 801,  and  entered  the  navy  of  the  United 
States  as  a  midshipman.     He  had  the  good 


fortune  to  serve  under  Captain  David  Por- 
ter, who  commanded  the  *'  Essex,"  and  by 
whom  he  was  taught  the  ideas  of  devotion 
to  duty  from  which  he  never  swerved  dur- 
ing all  his  career.  In  1823  Mr.  Farragut 
took  part  in  a  severe  fight,  the  result  of 
which  w^as  the  suppression  of  piracy  in  the 
West  Indies.  He  then  entered  upon  the 
regular  duties  of  his  profession  which  was 
only  broken  into  by  a  year's  residence  with 
Charles  Folsom,  our  consul  at  Tunis,  who 
was  afterwards  a  distinguished  professor  at 
Harvard.  Mr.  Farragut  was  one  of  the  best 
linguists  in  the  navy.  He  had  risen  through 
the  different  grades  of  the  service  until  the 
war  of  1861-65  found  him  a  captain  resid- 
ing at  Norfolk,  Virginia.  He  removed  with 
his  family  to  Hastings,  on  the  Hudson,  and 
hastened  to  offer  his  services  to  the  Federal 
government,  and  as  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans  had  been  resolved  upon,  Farragut 
was  chosen  to  command  the  expedition. 
His  force  consisted  of  the  West  Gulf  block- 
ading squadron  and  Porter's  mortar  flotilla. 
In  January,  1862,  he  hoisted  his  pennant  at 
the  mizzen  peak  of  the  "Hartford"  at 
Hampton  roads,  set  sail  from  thence  on  the 
3rd  of  February  and  reached  Ship  Island  on 
the  20th  of  the  same  month.  A  council  of 
war  was  held  on  the  20th  of  April,  in  which 
it  was  decided  that  whatever  was  to  be  done 
must  be  done  quickly.  The  signal  was  made 
from  the  flagship  and  accordingly  the  fleet 
weighed  anchor  at  1:55  on  the  morning  of 
April  24th,  and  at  3: 30  the  whole  force  was 
under  way.  The  history  of  this  brilliant  strug- 
gle is  well  known,  and  the  glory  of  it  made  Far- 
ragut a  hero  and  also  made  him  rear  admir- 
al. In  the  summer  of  1 862  he  ran  the  batteries 
at  Vicksburg,  and  on  March  14,  1863,  he 
passed  through  the  fearful  and  destructive 
fire  from  Poit  Hudson,  and  opened  up  com- 
munication  with    Flag-officer  Porter,    who 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


88 


had  control  of  the  upper  Mississippi.  On 
May  24th  he  commenced  active  operations 
against  that  fort  in  conjunction  with  the  army 
and  it  fell  on  July  9th.  Mr.  Farragut  filled 
the  measure  of  his  fame  on  the  5th  of  Au- 
gust, 1864,  by  his  great  victory,  the  capture 
of  Mobile  Bay  and  the  destruction  of  the 
Confederate  fleet,  including  the  formidable 
ram  Tennessee.  For  this  victory  the  rank 
of  admiral  was  given  to  Mr.  Farragut.  He 
died  at  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  Au- 
gust 4,   1870. 

GEORGE  W.  GHILDS,  a  philanthropist 
whose  remarkable  personality  stood 
for  the  best  and  highest  type  of  American 
citizenship,  and  whose  whole  life  was  an 
object  lesson  in  noble  living,  was  born  in 
1829  at  Baltimore,  Maryland,  of  humble 
parents,  and  spent  his  early  life  in  unremit- 
ting toil.  He  was  a  self-made  man  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  gained  his 
great  wealth  by  his  own  efforts.  He  was  a 
man  of  very  great  influence,  and  this,  in 
conjunction  with  his  wealth,  would  have 
been,  in  the  hands  of  other  m.en,  a  means  of 
getting  them  political  preferment,  but  Mr. 
Childs  steadily  declined  any  suggestions  that 
would  bring  him  to  figure  prominently  in 
public  affairs.  He  did  not  choose  to  found 
a  financial  dynasty,  but  devoted  all  his 
powers  to  the  helping  of  others,  with  the 
most  enlightened  beneficence  and  broadest 
sympathy.  Mr.  Childs  once  remarked  that 
his  greatest  pleasure  in  life  was  in  doing 
good  to  others.  He  always  despised  mean- 
ness, and  one  of  his  objects  of  life  was  to 
prove  that  a  man  could  be  liberal  and  suc- 
cessful at  the  same  time.  Upon  these  lines 
Mr.  Childs  made  a  name  for  himself  as  the 
director  of  one  of  the  representative  news- 
papers of  America,  **The  Philadelphia  Pub- 
lic Ledger,"  which  was  owned  jointlv  by 
6 


himself  and  the  Drexel  estate,  and  which  he 
edited  for  thirty  years.  He  acquired  con- 
trol of  the  paper  at  a  time  when  it  was  be- 
ing published  at  a  heavy  loss,  set  it  upon  a 
firm  basis  of  prosperity,  and  he  made  it 
more  than  a  money-making  machine — he 
made  it  respected  as  an  exponent  of  the 
best  side  of  journalism,  and  it  stands  as  a 
monument  to  his  sound  judgment  and  up- 
right business  principles.  Mr.  Childs'  char- 
itable repute  brought  him  many  applications 
for  assistance,  and  he  never  refused  to  help 
any  one  that  was  deserving  of  aid;  and  not 
only  did  he  help  those  who  asked,  but  he 
would  by  careful  inquiry  find  those  who 
needed  aid  but  were  too  proud  to  solicit  it. 
He  was  a  considerable  employer  of  labor 
and  his  liberality  was  almost  unparalleled. 
The  death  of  this  great  and  good  man  oc- 
curred February  3d,  1894. 


PATRICK  HENRY  won  his  way  to  UU' 
dying  fame  in  the  annals  of  the  early 
history  of  the  United  States  by  introducing 
intothe  house  of  burgesses  his  famous  reso- 
lution against  the  Stamp  Act,  which  he  car- 
ried through,  after  a  stormy  debate,  by  a 
majority  of  one.  At  this  time  he  exclaimed 
''  Caesar  had  his  Brutus,  Charles  I  his  Crom- 
well and  George  HI  "  (here  he  was  inter- 
rupted by  cries  of  ''  treason  ")  "  may  profit 
by  their  example.  If  this  be  treason  make 
the  most  of  it." 

Patrick  Henry  was  born  at  Studley, 
Hanover  county,-  Virginia,  May  29,  1736, 
and  was  a  son  of  Colonel  John  Henry,  a 
magistrate  and  school  teacher  of  Aberdeen, 
Scotland,  and  a  nephew  of  Robertson,  the 
historian.  He  received  his  education  from 
his  father,  and  was  married  at  the  age  of 
eighteen.  He  was  twice  bankrupted  before 
he  had  reached  his  twenty-fourth  year,  when 
after  six  weeks  of  study  he  was  admitted  to 


84 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


the  bar.  He  worked  for  three  years  with- 
out a  case  and  finally  was  applauded  for  his 
plea  for  the  people's  rights  and  gained  im- 
mense popularity.  After  his  famous  Stamp 
Act  resolution  he  was  the  leader  of  the  pa- 
triots in  Virginia.  In  1769  he  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  the  general  courts  and  speed- 
ily won  a  fortune  by  his  distinguished  ability 
as  a  speaker.  He  was  the  first  speaker  of 
the  General  Congress  at  Philadelphia  in 
1774.  He  was  for  a  time  a  colonel  of 
militia  in  1775,  and  from  1776  to  1779  and 
1 78 1  to  1786  he  was  governor  of  Virginia. 
For  a  number  of  years  he  retired  from  pub- 
lic life  and  was  tendered  and  declined  a 
number  of  important  political  offices,  and  in 
March,  1789,  he  was  elected  state  senator 
but  aid  not  take  his  seat  on  account  of  his 
death  which  occurred  at  Red  Hill,  Charlotte 
county,  Virginia,  June  6,  1799. 


BENEDICT  ARNOLD,  an  American 
general  and  traitor  of  the  Revolution- 
ary war,  is  one  of  the  noted  characters  in 
American  history.  He  was  born  in  Nor- 
wich, Connecticut,  January  3,  1740.  He 
ran  away  and  enlisted  in  the  army  when 
young,  but  deserted  in  a  short  time.  He 
then  became  a  merchant  at  New  Haven, 
Connecticut,  but  failed.  In  1775  he  was 
commissioned  colonel  in  the  Massachusetts 
militia,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  was 
placed  in  command  of  one  thousand  men 
for  the  invasion  of  Canada.  He  marched 
his  army  through  the  forests  of  Maine  and 
joined  General  Montgomery  before  Quebec. 
Their  combined  forces  attacked  that  city  on 
December  31,  1775,  and  Montgomery  was 
killed,  and  Arnold,  severely  wounded,  was 
compelled  to  retreat  and  endure  a  rigorous 
winter  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  where  they 
were  at  the  mercy  of  the  Canadian  troops 
had  they  cared  to  attack  them.     On  his  re- 


turn he  was  raised  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general.     He  was  given  command  of  a  small 
flotilla  on  Lake  Champlain,  with  which  he 
encountered  an  immense  force,  and  though 
defeated,  performed  many  deeds  of  valor. 
He  resented  the  action  of  congress  in  pro- 
moting a  number  of  his  fellow  officers  and 
neglecting  himself.      In    1777  he  was  made 
major-general,  and  under  General  Gates  at 
Bemis  Heights  fought  valiantly.      For  some 
reason   General  Gates   found  fault  with  his 
conduct  and  ordered  him  under  arrest,  and 
he  was  kept  in  his  tent  until  the  battle  of 
Still^yater   was    waxing  hot,    when   Arnold 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  to  the  front  of 
his  old  troop,  gave  command  to  charge,  and 
rode  like  a  mad   man   into   the   thickest  of 
the  fight  and  was  not  overtaken  by  Gates* 
courier  until  he  had  routed  the  enemy  and 
fell  wounded.      Upon  his  recovery  he  was 
made  general,  and  was  placed  in  command 
at  Philadelphia.      Here  he  married,  and  his 
acts  of  rapacity  soon   resulted  in  a  court- 
martial.      He   was   sentenced   to  be   repri- 
manded   by   the    commander-in-chief,    and 
though    Washington    performed    this    duty 
with  utmost  delicacy  and  consideration,  it 
was  never  forgiven.     Arnold  obtained  com- 
mand at  West  Point,  the   most   important 
post  held  by  the  Americans,   in    1780,  and 
immediately  offered  to  surrender  it  to  Sir 
Henry  Clinton,  British  commander  at  New 
York.       Major    Andre  was  sent  to  arrange 
details  with  Arnold,  but  on  his  return  trip 
to  New  York  he  was  captured  by  Americans, 
the  plot  was  detected,  and  Andre  suffered 
the   death  penalty  as   a  spy.      Arnold    es- 
caped, and  was  paid  about  $40,000  by  the 
British  for  his  treason  and  was  made  briga- 
dier-general.    He  afterward  commanded  an 
expedition  that  plundered  a  portion  of  Vir-^ 
ginia,  and  another  that  burned   New  Lon- 
don, Connecticut,  and  captured  Fort  Trum- 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHIC 


85 


bull,  the  commandant  of  which  Arnold  mur- 
dered with  the  sword  he  had  just  surren- 
dered. He  passed  the  latter  part  of  his  life 
in  England,  universally  despised,  and  died 
in  London  June  14,  1801. 


ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL,  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  orators  that  America  has 
produced,  also  a  lawyer  of  considerable 
merit,  won  most  of  his  fame  as  a  lecturer. 
Mr.  Ingersoll  was  born  August  24,  1833, 
at  Dryden,  Gates  county.  New  York,  and 
received  his  education  in  the  common  schools. 
He  went  west  at  the  age  of  twelve,  and  for 
a  short  time  he  attended  an  academy  in 
Tennessee,  and  also  taught  school  in  that 
state.  He  began  the  practice  of  law  in  the 
southern  part  of  Illinois  in  1854.  Colonel 
Iiigersoll's  principal  fame  was  made  in 
the  lecture  room  by  his  lectures  in  which  he 
ridiculed  religious  faith  and  creeds  and  criti- 
cised the  Bible  and  the  Christian  religion. 
He  was  the  orator  of  the  day  in  the  Decora- 
tion Day  celebration  in  the  city  of  New  York 
in  1882  and  his  oration  was  widely  com- 
mended. He  first  attracted  political  notice 
in  the  convention  at  Cincinnati  in  1876  by 
his  brilliant  eulogy  on  James  G.  Blaine.  He 
practiced  law  in  Peoria,  Illinois,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  but  later  located  in  the  city  ot 
New  York.  He  published  the  follow- 
ing: **The  Gods  and  other  Lectures;"  **The 
Ghosts;"  ''Some  Mistakes  of  Moses;" 
*'What  Shall  I  Do  To  Be  Saved;"  -Inter- 
views on  Talmage  and  Presbyterian  Cate- 
chism ;"  The  ''North  American  Review 
Controversy;"  "Prose  Poems;"  "A  Vision 
of  War;"  etc. 


JOSEPH  ECCLESTON  JOHNSTON, 
a  noted  general  in  the  Confederate  army, 
was  born  in  Prince  Edward  county,  Virginia, 
in  1807.      He  graduated   from  West  Point 


and  entered  the  army  in  1829.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  his  chief  service  was  garrison 
duty.  He  saw  active  service,  however,  in 
the  Seminole  war  in  Florida,  part  of  the 
time  as  a  staff  officer  of  General  Scott.  He 
resigned  his  commission  in  1837,  but  re- 
turned to  the  army  a  year  later,  and  was 
brevetted  captain  for  gallant  services  in 
Florida.  He  was  made  first  lieutenant  of 
topographical  engineers,  and  was  engaged 
in  river  and  harbor  improvements  and  also 
in  the  survey  of  the  Texas  boundary  and 
the  northern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  until  the  beginning  of  the  war 
with  Mexico.  He  was  at  the  siege  of  Vera 
Cruz,  and  at  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo  was 
wounded  while  reconnoitering  the  enemy's 
position,  after  which  he  was  brevetted  major 
and  colonel.  He  was  in  all  the  battles  about 
the  city  of  Mexico,  and  was  again  wounded 
in  the  final  assault  upon  that  city.  After 
the  Mexican  war  closed  he  returned  to  duty 
as  captain  of  topographical  engineers,  but 
in  1855  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of 
cavalry  and  did  frontier  duty,  and  was  ap- 
pointed inspector-general  of  the  expedition 
to  Utah.  In  i860  he  was  appointed  quar- 
termaster-general with  rank  of  brigadier- 
general.  At  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  in 
1 86 1  he  resigned  his  commission  and  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  major-general  of 
the  Confederate  army.  He  held  Harper's 
Ferry,  and  later  fought  General  Patterson 
about  Winchester.  At  the  battle  of  Bull 
Run  he  declined  command  in  favor  of  Beau- 
regard, and  acted  under  that  general's  direc- 
tions. He  commanded  the  Confederates  in 
the  famous  Peninsular  campaign,  and  was 
severely  wounded  at  Fair  Oaks  and  was 
succeeded  in  command  by  General  Lee. 
Upon  his  recovery  he  was  made  lieutenant- 
general  and  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
southwestern  department.      He    attempted 


86 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHIC 


to  raise  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  was 
finally  defeated  at  Jackson,  Mississippi. 
Having  been  made  a  general  he  succeeded 
General  Bragg  in  command  of  the  army  of 
Tennessee  and  was  ordered  to  check  General 
Sherman's  advance  upon  Atlanta.  Not 
daring  to  risk  a  battle  with  the  overwhelm- 
ing forces  of  Sherman,  he  slowly  retreated 
toward  Atlanta,  and  was  relieved  of  com- 
mand by  President  Davis  and  succeeded  by 
General  Hood.  Hood  utterly  destroyed  his 
own  army  by  three  furious  attacks  upon 
Sherman.  Johnston  was  restored  to  com- 
mand in  the  Carolinas,  and  again  faced 
Sherman,  but  was  defeated  in  several  en- 
gagements and  continued  a  slow  retreat 
toward  Richmond.  Hearing  of  Lee's  sur- 
render, he  communicated  with  General 
Sherman,  and  finally  surrendered  his  army 
at  Durham,  North  Carolina,  April  26,  1865. 
General  Johnston  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  forty-sixth  congress  and  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  railroad  commis- 
sioner in  1885.  His  death  occurred  March 
21,  1891. 

SAMUEL  LANGHORNE  CLEMENS, 
known  throughout  the  civilized  world 
as  '*Mark  Twain,"  is  recognized  as  one  of 
the  greatest  humorists  America  has  pro- 
duced. He  was  born  in  Monroe  county, 
Missouri,  November  30,  1835.  Hespent  his 
boyhood  days  in  his  native  state  and  inany 
of  his  earlier  experiences  are  related  in  vari- 
.  ous  forms  in  his  later  writings.  One  of  his 
early  acquaintances,  Capt.  Isaiah  Sellers, 
at  an  early  day  furnished  river  news  for  the 
New  Orleans  **  Picayune,"  using  the  ;^^;;/- 
de-plume  oi  '^M^Lxk  Twain."  Sellers  died 
in  1863  ^nd  Clemens  took  up  his  nom-dc- 
J>iume ^nd  rmde  it  famous  throughout  the 
world  by  his  literary  work.  In  1862  Mr. 
Clemens  became  a  journalist   at  Virginia,. 


Nevada,  and  afterward  followed  the  same  pro- 
fession at  San  Francisco  and  Buffalo,  New 
York.  He  accumulated  a  fortune  from  the 
sale  of  his  many  publications,  but  in  later 
years  engaged  in  business  enterprises,  partic- 
ularly the  manufacture  of  a  typesetting  ma- 
chine, which  dissipated  his  fortune  and  re- 
duced him  almost  to  poverty,  but  with  resolute 
heart  he  at  once  again  took  up  his  pen  and 
engaged  in  literary  work  in  the  effort  to 
regain  his  lost  ground.  Among  the  best 
known  of  his  works  may  be  mentioned  the  fol- 
lowing: * '  The  Jumping  Frog, "  ' '  Tom  Saw- 
yer," *' Roughing  it,"  *' Innocents  Abroad," 
**  Huckleberry  Finn,"  ^'Gilded  Age," 
**  Prince  and  Pauper,"  ''Million  Pound 
Bank  Note,"  ''A  Yankee  in  King  Arthur's 
Court,"  etc. 

CHRISTOPHER  CARSON,  better 
known  as ''Kit  Carson;"  was  an  Amer- 
ican trapper  and  scout  who  gained  a  wide 
reputation  for  his  frontier  work.  He  was  a 
native  of  Kentucky,  born  December  24th, 
1809.  He  grew  to  manhood  there,  devel- 
oping a  natural  inclination  for  adventure  in 
the  pioneer  experiences  in  his  native  state. 
When  yet  a  young  man  he  became  quite 
well  known  on  the  frontier.  He  served  as 
a  guide  to  Gen.  Fremont  in  his  Rocky 
Mountain  explorations  and  enlisted  in  the 
army.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  United 
States  service  in  both  the  Mexican  war  and 
the  great  Civil  war,  and  in  the  latter  received 
a  brevet  of  brigadier-general  for  meritorious 
service.  His  death  occurred  May  23, 
1868. 

JOHN  SHERMAN.— Statesman,  politi- 
cian, cabinet  officer  and  senator,  the  name 
of  the  gentleman  who  heads  this  sketch  is  al- 
most a  household  word  throughout  this 
country,     Identified  with  some  of  the  most 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


87 


important  measures  adopted  by  our  Govern- 
ment since  the  close  of  the  Civil  war,  he  may 
well  be  called  one  of  the  leading  men  of  his 
day. 

John  Sherman  was  born  at  Lancaster, 
Fairfield  county,  Ohio,  May  lOth,  1823, 
the  son  of  Charles  R.  Sherman,  an  emi- 
nent lawyer  and  judge  of  the  supreme  court 
of  Ohio  and  who  died  in  1829.  The  subject 
of  this  article  received  an  academic  educa- 
tion and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1844. 
In  the  Whig  conventions  of  1844  and  1848 
he  sat  as  a  delegate.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  National  house  of  representatives, 
from  1855  to  1 86 1.  In  i860  he  was  re- 
elected to  the  same  position  but  was  chosen 
United  States  senator  before  he  took  his 
seat  in  the  lower  house.  He  was  re-elected 
senator  in  1866  and  1872  and  was  long 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  finance  and 
on  agriculture.  He  took  a  prominent  part 
in  debates  on  finance  and  on  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  and  was  one  of  the  authors  of  the 
reconstruction  measures  in  1866  and  1867, 
and  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treas- 
ury March  7th,   1877. 

Mr.  Sherman  was  re-elected  United  States 
senator  from  Ohio  January  i8th,  1881,  and 
again  in  1886  and  1892,  during  which  time 
he  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent leaders  of  the  Republican  party,  both 
in  the  senate  and  in  the  country.  He  was 
several  times  the  favorite  of  his  state  for  the 
nomination  for  president. 

On  the  formation  of  his  cabinet  in  March, 
1897,  President  McKinley  tendered  the  posi- 
tion of  secretary  of  state  to  Mr.  Sherman, 
which  was  accepted. 


WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  ninth 
president  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  in  Charles  county,  Virginia,  February 
9»    I773»    the  son   of    Governor    Benjamin 


Harrison.  He  took  a  course  in  Hampden- 
Sidney  College  with  a  view  to  the  practice 
of  medicine,  and  then  went  to  Philadelphia 
to  study  under  Dr.  Rush,  but  in  1791  he 
entered  the  army,  and  obtained  the  commis- 
sion of  ensign,  was  soon  promoted  to  the 
lieutenancy,  and  was  with  General  Wayne 
in  his  war  against  the  Indians.  For  his 
valuable  service  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  captain  and  given  command  of  Fort 
Washington,  now  Cincinnati.  He  was  ap- 
pointed secretary  of  the  Northwest  Territory 
in  1797,  and  in  1799  became  its  representa- 
tive  in  congress.  In  1801  he  was  appointed 
governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  and  held  the 
position  for  twelve  years,  during  which  time 
he  negotiated  important  treaties  with  the  In- 
dians, causing  them  to  relinquish  millions  of 
acres  of  land,  and  also  won  the  battle  of 
Tippecanoe  in  181 1.  He  succeeded  in 
obtaining  a  change  in  the  law  which  did  not 
permit  purchase  of  public  lands  in  less  tracts 
than  four  thousand  acres,  reducing  the  limit 
to  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres.  He 
became  major-general  of  Kentucky  militia 
and  brigadier-general  in  the  United  States 
army  in  18 12,  and  won  great  renown  in 
the  defense  of  Fort  Meigs,  and  his  victory 
over  the  British  and  Indians  under  Proctor 
and  Tecumseh  at  the  Thames  river,  October 
5,  1813. 

In  1 8 16  General  Harrison  was  elected  to 
congress  from  Ohio,  and  during  the  canvass 
was  accused  of  corrupt  methods  in  regard  to 
the  commissariat  of  the  army.  He  demanded 
an  investigation  after  the  election  and  was 
exonerated.  In  18 19  he  was  elected  to 
the  Ohio  state  senate,  and  in  1824  he  gave 
his  vote  as  a  presidential  elector  to  Henry 
Clay.  He  became  a  member  of  the  United 
States  senate  the  same  year.  During  the 
last  year  of  Adams*  administration  he  was 
sent  as  minister  to  Colombia,   but  was  re- 


88 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


called  by  President  Jackson  the  following 
year.  He  then  retired  to  his  estate  at  North 
Bend,  Ohio,  a  few  miles  below  Cincinnati.  In 
1836  he  was  a  candidate  for  the  presidency, 
but  as  there  were  three  other  candidates 
the  votes  were  divided,  he  receiving  seventy- 
three  electoral  votes,  a  majority  going  to 
Mr.  Van  Buren,  the  Democratic  candidate. 
Four  years  later  General  Harrison  was  again 
nominated  by  the  Whigs,  and  elected  by  a 
tremendous  majority.  The  campaign  was 
noted  for  its  novel  features,  many  of  which 
have  found  a  permanent  place  in  subsequent 
campaigns.  Those  peculiar  to  that  cam- 
paign, however,  were  the  **  log-cabin"  and 
*'  hard  cider"  watchwords,  which  produced 
great  enthusiasm  among  his  followers.  One 
month  after  his  inauguration  he  died  from 
an  attack  of  pleurisy,  April  4,  1841. 


CHARLES  A.  DANA,  the  well-known 
and  widely-read  journalist  of  New  York 
City,  a  native  of  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire, 
was  born  August  8,  18 19.  He  received 
the  elements  of  a  good  education  in  his 
youth  and  studied  for  two  years  at  Harvard 
University.  Owing  to  some  disease  of  the 
eyes  he  was  unable  to  complete  his  course 
and  graduate,  but  was  granted  the  degree  of 
A.  M.  notwithstanding.  For  some  time  he 
was  editor  of  the  '*  Harbinger,"  and  was  a 
regular  contributor  to  the  Boston  ''  Chrono- 
type."  In  1847  he  became  connected  with 
the  New  York  * '  Tribune, "  and  continued  on 
the  staff  of  that  journal  until  1858.  In  the 
latter  year  he  edited  and  compiled  * '  The 
Household  Book  of  Poetry,"  and  later,  in 
connection  with  George  Ripley,  edited  the 
*^New  American  Cyclopaedia." 

Mr.  Dana,  on  severing  his  connection 
with  the  **  Tribune  "  in  1867,  became  editor 
of  the  New  York  •^Sun,"  a  paper  with 
which  he  was  identified  for  many  years,  and 


which  he  made  one  of  the  leaders  of  thought 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States. 
He  wielded  a  forceful  pen  and  fearlessly 
attacked  whatever  was  corrupt  and  unworthy 
in  politics,  state  or  national.  The  same 
year,  1867,  Mr.  Dana  organized  the  New 
York  '*  Sun  "  Company. 

During  the  troublous  days  of  the  war, 
when  the  fate  of  the  Nation  depended  upon 
the  armies  in  the  field,  Mr.  Dana  accepted 
the  arduous  and  responsible  position  of 
assistant  secretary  of  war,  and  held  the 
position  during  the  greater  part  of  1863 
and  1864.      He  died  October  17,  1897. 


ASA  GRAY  was  recognized  throughout  the 
scientific  world  as  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  eminent  of  botanists.  He  was 
born  at  Paris,  Oneida  county.  New  York, 
November  18,  1810.  He  received  his  medi- 
cal degree  at  the  Fairfield  College  of  Physi- 
cians and  Surgeons,  in  Herkimer  county. 
New  York,  and  studied  botany  with  the  late 
Professor  Torrey,  of  New  York.  He  was 
appointed  botanist  to  the  Wilkes  expedition 
in  1834,  but  declined  the  offer  and  became 
professor  of  natural  history  in  Harvard  Uni- 
versity in  1842.  He  retired  from  the  active 
duties  of  this  post  in  1873,  and  in  1874  he 
was  the  regent  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 
Dr.  Gray  wrote  several  books  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  many  sciences  of  which  he  was 
master.  In  1836  he  published  his  *' Ele- 
ments of  Botany,"  "  Manual  of  Botany"  in 
1848;  the  unfinished  **  Flora  of  North 
America,"  by  himself  and  Dr.  Torrey,  the 
publication  of  which  commenced  in  1838. 
There  is  another  of  his  unfinished  works 
called  *' Genera  Boreali-Americana,"  pub- 
lished in  1848,  and  the  *^  Botany  of  the 
United  States  Pacific  Exploring  Expedition 
in  1854."     He  wrote  many  elaborate  papers 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


89 


on  the  botany  of  the  west  and  southwest 
that  were  published  in  the  Smithsonian  Con- 
tributions, Memoirs,  etc.,  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  of  which  in- 
stitution he  was  president  for  ten  years. 
He  was  also  the  author  of  many  of  the 
government  reports.  * '  How  Plants  Grow, " 
'*  Lessons  in  Botany,"  ^*  Structural  and  Sys- 
tematic Botany,"  are  also  works  from  his 
ready  pen. 

Dr.  Gray  published  in  1861  his  ''Free 
Examination  of  Darwin's  Treatise  "  and  his 
"  Darwiniana,"  in  1876.  Mr.  Gray  was 
elected  July  29,  1878,  to  a  membership  in 
the  Institute  of  France,  Academy  of  Sciences. 
His  death  occurred  at  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, January  30,   1889. 


WILLIAM  MAXWELL  EVARTS  was 
one  of  the  greatest  leaders  of  the 
American  bar.  He  was  born  in  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  February  6^  18 18,  and  grad- 
uated from  Yale  College  in  1837.  He  took 
up  the  study  of  law,  which  he  practiced  in 
the  city  of  New  York  and  won  great  renown 
as  an  orator  and  advocate.  He  affiliated 
with  the  Republican  party,  which  he  joined 
soon  after  its  organization.  He  was  the 
leading  counsel  employed  for  the  defense  of 
President  Johnson  in  his  trial  for  impeach- 
liijent  before  the  senate  in  April  and  May  of 
1868. 

In  July,  1868,  Mr.  Evarts  was  appointed 
attorney-general  of  the  United  States,  and 
served  until  March  4,  1869.  He  was  one 
of  the  three  lawyers  who  were  selected  by 
President  Grant  in  1871  to  defend  the  inter- 
ests of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  arbitration  which  met 
at  Geneva  in  Switzerland  to  settle  the  con- 
troversy over  the  ''  Alabama  Claims.'* 

He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  advo- 
cates in  the  United  States,  and  many  of  his 


public  addresses  have  been  preserved  and 
published.  He  was  appointed  secretary  of 
state  March  7,  1877,  by  President  Hayes, 
and  served  during  the  Hayes  administration. 
He  was  elected  senator  from  the  state  of 
New  York  January  21,  1885,  and  at  once 
took  rank  among  the  ablest  statesmen  in 
Congress,  and  the  prominent  part  he  took 
in  the  discussion  of  public  questions  gave 
him  a  national  reputation. 


JOHN  WANAMAKER.— The  life  of  this 
<J  great  merchant  demonstrates  the  fact 
that  the  great  secret  of  rising  from  the  ranks 
is,  to-day,  as  in  the  past  ages,  not  so  much  the 
ability  to  make  money,  as  to  save  it,  or  in 
other  words,  the  ability  to  live  well  within 
one's  income.  Mr.  Wanamaker  was  born  in 
Philadelphia  in  1838.  He  started  out  in 
life  working  in  a  brickyard  for  a  mere  pit- 
tance, and  left  that  position  to  work  in  a 
book  store  as  a  clerk,  where  he  earned 
the  sum  of  $5.00  per  month,  and  later  on 
was  in  the  employ  of  a  clothier  where  he 
received  twenty-five  cents  a  week  more. 
He  was  only  fifteen  years  of  age  at  that 
time,  but  was  a  "  money-getter"  by  instinct, 
and  laid  by  a  small  sum  for  a  possible  rainy 
day.  By  strict  attention  to  business,  com- 
bined with  natural  ability,  he  was  promoted 
many  times,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  he 
had  saved  $2,000.  After  several  months 
vacation  in  the  south,  he  returned  to  Phila- 
delphia and  became  a  master  brick  mason, 
but  this  was  too  tiresome  to  the  young  man, 
and  he  opened  up  the  '*  Oak  Hall  "  clothing 
store  in  April,  1861,  at  Philadelphia.  The 
capital  of  the  firm  was  rather  limited,  but 
finally,  after  many  discouragements,  they 
laid  the  foundations  of  one  of  the  largest 
business  houses  in  the  world.  The  estab- 
lishment covers  at  the  present  writing  some 
fourteen  acres  of  floor  space,  and  furnishes 


90 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


employment  for  five  thousand  persons.  Mr. 
Wanamaker  was  also  a  great  church  worker, 
and  built  a  church  that  cost  him  $60,000, 
and  he  was  superintendent  of  the  Sunday- 
school,  which  had  a  membership  of  over 
three  thousand  children.  He  steadily  re- 
fused to  run  for  mayor  or  congress  and  the 
only  public  office  that  he  ever  held  was  that 
of  postmaster-general,  under  the  Harrison 
administration,  and  here  he  exhibited  his 
extraordinary  aptitude  for  comprehending 
the  details  of  public  business. 


DAVID  BENNETT  HILL,  a  Demo- 
cratic politician  who  gained  a  na- 
tional reputation,  was  born  August  29, 
1843,  at  Havana,  New  York.  He  was 
educated  at  the  academy  of  his  native  town, 
and  removed  to  Elmira,  New  York,  in  1862, 
where  he  studied  law.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1864,  in  which  year  he  was  ap- 
pointed city  attorney.  Mr.  Hill  soon  gained 
a  considerable  practice,  becoming  prominent 
in  his  profession.  He  developed  a  taste  for 
politics  in  which  he  began  to  take  an  active 
part  in  the  different  campaigns  and  became 
the  recognized  leader  of  the  local  Democ- 
racy. In  1870  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  assembly  and  was  re-elected  in  1872. 
While  a  member  of  this  assembly  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  after- 
ward governor  of  the  state,  who  appointed 
Mr.  Hill,  W.  M.  Evarts  and  Judge  Hand 
as  a  committee  to  provide  a  uniform  charter 
for  the  different  cities  of  the  state.  The 
pressure  of  professional  engagements  com- 
pelled him  to  decline  to  serve.  In  1877 
Mr.  Hill  was  made  chairman  of  the  Demo- 
cratic state  convention  at  Albany,  his  elec- 
tion being  due  to  the  Tilden  wing  of  the 
party,  and  he  held  the  same  position  again 
m  1 88 1.  He  served  one  term  as  alderman 
in  Elmira,  at  the  expiration  of  which  term, 


in  1882,  he  was  elected  mayor  of  Elmira, 
and  in  September  of  the  same  year  was 
nominated  for  lieutenant-governor  on  the 
Democratic  state  ticket.  He  was  success- 
ful in  the  campaign  and  two  years  later, 
when  Grover  Cleveland  was  elected  to  the 
presidency,  Mr.  Hill  succeeded  to  the  gov- 
ernorship for  the  unexpired  term.  In  1885 
he  was  elected  governor  for  a  full  term  of 
three  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  re- 
elected, his  term  expiring  in  1891,  in  which 
year  he  was  elected  United  States  senator. 
In  the  senate  he  became  a  conspicuous 
figure  and  gained  a  national  reputation. 


ALLEN  G.  THURMAN.—**  The  noblest 
Roman  of  them  all "  was  the  title  by 
which  Mr.  Thurman  was  called  by  his  com- 
patriots of  the  Democracy.  He  was  the 
greatest  leader  of  the  Democratic  party  in 
his  day  and  held  the  esteem  of  all  the 
people,  regardless  of  their  political  creeds. 
Mr.  Thurman  was  born  November  13,  18 13, 
at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  where  he  remained 
until  he  had  attained  the  age  of  six  years, 
when  he  moved  to  Ohio.  He  received  an 
academic  education  and  after  graduating, 
took  up  the  study  of  law,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1835,  and  achieved  a  brilliant 
success  in  that  line.  In  political  life  he' was 
very  successful,  and  his  first  office  was  that 
of  representative  of  the  state  of  Ohio  in  the 
twenty-ninth  congress.  He  was  elected 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Ohio  in  185 1, 
and  was  chief  justice  of  the  same  from  1854 
to  1856.  In  1867  he  was  the  choice  of  the 
Democratic  party  of  his  state  for  governor, 
and  was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate 
in  1869  to  succeed  Benjamin  F.  Wade, 
and  was  re-elected  to  the  same  position  in 
1874.  He  was  a  prominent  figure  in  tho 
senate,  until  the  expiration  of  his  service  ii 
1 88 1.     Mr.  Thurman  was  also   one  of  the 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


91 


principal  presidental  possibilities  in  the 
Democratic  convention  held  at  St.  Louis  in 
1876.  In  1888  he  was  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  vice-president  on  the  ticket 
with  Grover  Cleveland,  but  was  defeated. 
Allen  Cranberry  Thurman  died  December 
12,  1895,  2Lt  Columbus,  Ohio. 


CHARLES  FARRAR  BROWNE,  better 
known  as  **  Artemus  Ward,"  was  born 
April  26,  1834,  in  the  village  of  Waterford, 
Maine.  He  was  thirteen  years  old  at  the 
time  of  his  father's  death,  and  about  a  year 
later  he  was  apprenticed  to  John  M.  Rix, 
who  published  the  **Coos  County  Dem- 
ocrat "  at  Lancaster,  New  Hampshire.  Mr. 
Browne  remained  with  him  one  year,  when, 
hearing  that  his  brother  Cyrus  was  starting 
a  paper  at  Norway,  Maine,  he  left  Mr.  Rix 
and  determined  to  get  work  on  the  new 
paper.  He  worked  for  his  brother  until  the 
failure  of  the  newspaper,  and  then  went  to 
Augusta,  Maine,  where  he  remained  a  few 
weeks  and  then  removed  to  Skowhegan, 
and  secured  a  position  on  the  **  Clarion.'' 
But  either  the  climate  or  the  work  was  not 
satisfactory  to  him,  for  one  night  he  silently 
left  the  town  and  astonished  his  good  mother 
by  appearing  unexpectedly  at  home.  Mr. 
Browne  then  received  some  letters  of  recom- 
mendation to  Messrs.  Snow  and  Wilder,  of 
Boston,  at  whose  office  Mrs.  Partington's 
(B.  P.  Shillaber)  **  Carpet  Bag  "  was  printed, 
and  he  was  engaged  and  remained  there  for 
three  years.  He  then  traveled  westward  in 
search  of  employment  and  got  as  far  as  Tif- 
fin, Ohio,  where  he  found  employment  in  the 
office  of  the  ** Advertiser,"  and  remained 
there  some  months  when  he  proceeded  to 
Toledo,  Ohio,  where  he  became  one  of  the 
staff  of  the  '* Commercial,"  which  position 
he  held  until  1857.  Mr.  Browne  ilext  went 
to  Cleveland.  Ohio,  and  became  the  local 


editor  of  the  **  Plain  Dealer,"  and  it  was  in 
the  columns  of  this  paper  that  he  published 
his  first  articles  and  signed  them  **  Artemus 
Ward."  In  i860  he  went  to  New  York  and 
became  the  editor  of  **  Vanity  Fair,"  but 
the  idea  of  lecturing  here  seized  him,  and  he 
was  fully  determined  to  make  the  trial. 
Mr.  Browne  brought  out  his  lecture,  '*  Babes 
in  the  Woods  "  at  Clinton  Hall,  December 
23,  1861,  and  in  1862  he  published  his  first 
book  entitled,  **  Artemus  Ward;  His  Book." 
He  attained  great  fame  as  a  lecturer  and  his 
lectures  were  not  confined  to  America,  for 
he  went  to  England  in  1866,  and  became 
exceedingly  popular,  both  as  a  lecturer  and 
a  contributor  to  **  Punch."  Mr.  Browne 
lectured  for  the  last  time  January  23,  1867. 
He  died  in  Southampton,  England,  March 
6,    1867. 

THURLOW  WEED,  a  noted  journalist 
and  politician,  was  born  in  Cairo,  New 
York,  November  15,  1797.  He  learned  the 
printer's  trade  at  the  age  of  twelve  years, 
and  worked  at  this  calling  for  several  years- 
in  various  villages  in  centra!  New  York.  He 
served  as  quartermaster-sergeant  during  the 
war  of  1 8 12.  In  18 18  he  established  the 
**  Agriculturist, "  at  Norwich,  New  York, 
and  became  editor  of  the  **  Anti-Masonic 
Enquirer,"  at  Rochester,  in  1826.  In  the 
same  year  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
and  re-elected  in  1830,  when  he  located  in 
Albany,  New  York,  and  there  started  the 
*'  Evening  Journal,"  and  conducted  it  in  op- 
position to  the  Jackson  administration  and 
the  nullification  doctrines  of  Calhoun.  He 
became  an  adroit  party  manager,  and  wa> 
instrumental  in  promoting  the  nominations 
of  Harrison,  Taylor  and  Scott  for  the  pres- 
idency. In  1856  and  in  i860  he  threw  his 
supfJ^rt  to  W.  H.  Seward,  but  when  defeat- 
ed in  his  object,  he  gave  cordial  support  to 


92 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


Fremont  and  Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln  pre- 
V3Ued  upon  him  to  visit  the  various  capitals 
of  Europe,  where  he  proved  a  valuable  aid 
to  the  administration  in  moulding  the  opin- 
ions of  the  statesmen  of  that  continent 
favorable  to  the  cause  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  Weed's  connection  with  the  *  *  Even- 
ing Journal  **  was  severed  in  1862,  when  he 
settled  in  New  York,  and  for  a  time  edited 
the  **  Commercial  Advertiser.'*  In  1868  he 
retired  from  active  life.  His  **  Letters  from 
Europe  and  the  West  Indies,"  published  in 
I  ?i6^y  together  with  some  interesting  * '  Rem- 
iniscences,*' published  in  the  **  Atlantic 
Monthly,*' in  1870,  an  autobiography,  and 
portions  of  an  extensive  correspondence  will 
be  of  great  value  to  writers  of  the  political 
history  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Weed 
died  in  New  York,  November  22,  1882. 


WILLIAM  COLLINS  WHITNEY, 
one  of  the  prominent  Democratic 
politicians  of  the  country  and  ex-secretary  of 
the  navy,  was  born  July  5th,  1841,  at  Con- 
way, Massachusetts,  and  received  his  edu- 
cation at  Williston  Seminary,  East  Hamp- 
ton, Massachusetts.  Later  he  attended 
Yale  College,  where  he  graduated  in  1863, 
and  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School,  which 
he  left  in  1864.  Beginning  practice  in  New 
York  city,  he  soon  gained  a  reputation  as 
an  able  lawyer.  He  made  his  first  appear- 
ance in  public  affairs  in  1871,  when  he  was 
active  in  organizing  a  young  men's  Demo- 
cratic club:  In  1872  he  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  county  Democracy  and  in  1875 
was  appointed  corporation  counsel  for  the 
city  of  New  York.  He  resigned  the  office, 
1882,  to  attend  to  personal  interests  and  on 
March  5,  1885,  he  was  appointed  secretary 
of  the  navy  by  President  Cleveland.  Under 
his  administration  the  navy  of  the  United 
States  rapidly  rose  in  rank  among  the  navies 


of  the  world.  When  he  retired  from  office 
in  1889,  the  vessels  of  the  United  States 
navy  designed  and  contracted  for  by  him 
were  five  double-turreted  monitors,  twc 
new  armor-clads,  the  dynamite  cruiser  *  'Ve- 
suvius, "  and  five  unarmored  steel  and  iron 
cruisers. 

Mr.  Whitney  was  the  leader  of  the 
Cleveland  forces  in  the  national  Democratic 
convention  of  1892. 


EDWIN  FORREST,  the  first  and  great- 
est American  tragedian,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia  in  1806.  His  father  was  a 
tradesman,  and  some  accounts  state  that  he 
had  marked  out  a  mercantile  career  for  his 
son,  Edwin,  while  others  claim  that  he  had 
intended  him  for  the  ministry.  His  wonder- 
ful memory,  his  powers  of  mimicry  and  his 
strong  musical  voice,  however,  attracted  at- 
tention before  he  was  eleven  years  old,  and 
at  that  age  he  made  his  first  appearance  on 
the  stage.  The  costume  in  which  he  appeared 
was  so  ridiculous  that  he  left  the  stage  in  a 
fit  of  anger  amid  a  roar  of  laughter  from 
the  audience.  This  did  not  discourage  him, 
however,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  after 
some  preliminary  training  in  elocution,  he 
appeared  again,  this  time  as  Young  Norvel, 
and  gave  indications  of  future  greatness. 
Up  to  1826  he  played  entirely  with  strolling 
companies  through  the  south  and  west,  but 
at  that  time  he  obtained  an  engagement  at 
the  Bowery  Theater  in  New  York.  From 
that  time  his  fortune  was  made.  His  man- 
ager paid  him  $40  per  night,  and  it  is  stated 
that  he  loaned  Forrest  to  other  houses  from 
time  to  time  at  $200  per  night.  His  great 
successes  were  Virginius,  Damon,  Othello, 
Coriolanus,  William  Tell,  Spartacus  and 
Lear.  He  made  his  first  appearance  in 
London  in  1836,  and  his  success  was  un- 
questioned from  the  start.     In  1845,  on  his 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


93 


second  appearance  in  London,  he  became 
involved  in  a  bitter  rivalry  with  the  great 
English  actor,  Macready,  who  had  visited 
America  two  years  before.  The  result  was 
that  Forrest  was  hissed  from  the  stage,  and 
it  was  charged  that  Macready  had  instigated 
the  plot.  Forrest's  resentment  was  so  bitter 
that  he  himself  openly  hissed  Macready 
from  his  box  a  few  nights  later.  In  1848 
Macready  again  visited  America  at  a  time 
when  American  admiration  and  enthusiasm 
for  Forrest  had  reached  its  height.  Macready 
undertook  to  play  at  Astor  Place  Opera 
House  in  May,  1849,  but  was  hooted  off  the 
stage.  A  few  nights  later  Macready  made  a 
second  attempt  to  play  at  the  same  house, 
this  time  under  police  protection.  The  house 
was  filled  with  Macready 's  friends,  but  the  vio- 
olence  of  the  mob  outside  stopped  the  play, 
and  the  actor  barely  escaped  with  his  life. 
Upon  reading  the  riot  act  the  police  and 
troops  were  assaulted  with  stones.  The 
troops  replied,  first  with  blank  cartridges, 
and  then  a  volley  of  lead  dispersed  the 
mob,  leaving  thirty  men  dead  or  seriously 
wounded. 

After  this  incident  Forrest's  popularity 
waned,  until  in  1855  he  retired  from  the 
stage.  He  re-appeared  in  i860,  however, 
and  probably  the  most  remunerative  period 
of  hi§  life  was  between  that  date  and  the 
close  of  the  Civil  war.  His  last  appearance 
on  the  stage  was  at  the  Globe  Theatre, 
Boston,  in  Richelieu,  in  April,  1872,  his 
death   occurring  December  1 2  of  that  year. 


NOAH  PORTER,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  was 
one  of  the  most  noted  educators,  au- 
thors and  scientific  writers  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  born  December  14,  181 1, 
at  Farmington,  Connecticut,  graduated  at 
Yale  College  in  183 1,  and  was  master  of 
Hopkins  Grammar  School  at  New  Haven  in 


1831-33-  During  1833-35  he  was  a  tutor 
at  Yale,  and  at  the  same  time  was  pursuing^ 
his  theological  studies,  and  became  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  church  at  New  Mil- 
ford,  Connecticut,  in  April,  1836.  Dr. 
Porter  removed  to  Springfield,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1843,  and  was  chosen  professor  of 
metaphysics  and  moral  philosophy  at  Yale 
in  1846.  He  spent  a  year  in  Germany  in 
the  study  of  modern  metaphysics  in  1853- 
54,  and  in  1871  he  was  elected  president  of 
Yale  College.  He  resigned  the  presidency 
in  1885,  but  still  remained  professor  of  met- 
aphysics and  moral  philosophy.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  number  of  works,  among 
which  are  the  following:  **  Historical  Es- 
say," written  in  commemorationofthe2ootb 
aniversary  of  the  settlement  of  the  town  ol 
Farmington;  •*  Educational  System  of  the 
Jesuits  Compared;'*  **The  Human  Intel- 
lect,*' with  an  introduction  upon  psychology 
and  the  soul;  **  Books  and  Reading;" 
''American  Colleges  and  the  American  Pub- 
lic;" **  Elements  of  Intellectual  Philosophy;" 
' '  The  Science  of  Nature  versus  the  Science 
of  Man;"  **  Science  and  Sentiment;"  **  Ele- 
ments of  Moral  Science."  Dr.  Porter  was 
the  principal  editor  of  the  revised  edition  of 
Webster's  Dictionary  in  1864,  and  con- 
tributed largely  to  religious  reviews  and 
periodicals.  Dr.  Porter's  death  occurred 
March  4,  1892,  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 


JOHN  TYLER,  tenth  president  of  the 
United  States,  was  born  in  Charles  City 
county,  Virginia,  March  29,  1790,  and  w^s 
the  son  of  Judge  John  Tyler,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  men  of  his  day. 

When  but  twelve  years  of  age  young 
John  Tyler  entered  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, graduating  from  there  in  1806.  He 
took  up  the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1809,  when  but  nineteen  years 


04 


COMPENDIUM    OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


of  age.  On  attaining  his  majority  in  1811 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  state  legis- 
lature, and  for  five  years  held  that  position 
by  the  almost  unanimous  vote  of  his  county. 
He  was  elected  to  congress  in  18 16,  and 
served  in  that  body  for  four  years,  after 
which  for  two  years  he  represented  his  dis- 
trict again  in  the  legislature  of  the  state. 
While  in  congress,  he  opposed  the  United 
States  bank,  the  protective  policy  and  in- 
ternal improvements  by  the  United  States 
government.  1825  saw  Mr.  Tyler  governor 
of  Virginia,  but  in  1827  he  was  chosen 
member  of  the  United  States  senate,  and 
held  that  office  for  nine  years.  He  therein 
opposed  the  administration  of  Adams  and 
the  tariff  bill  of  1828,  sympathized  with  the 
nullifers  of  South  Carolina  and  was  the 
only  senator  who  voted  against  the  Force 
bill  for  the  suppression  of  that  state's  insip- 
ient  rebellion.  He  resigned  his  position  as 
senator  on  account  of  a  disagreement  with 
the  legislature  of  his  state  in  relation  to  his 
censuring  President  Jackson.  He  retired  to 
Williamsburg,  Virginia,  but  being  regarded 
as  a  martyr  by  the  Whigs,  whom,  hereto- 
fore, he  had  always  opposed,  was  supported 
by  many  of  that  party  for  the  vice-presi- 
dency in  1836.  He  sat  in  the  Virginia  leg- 
islature as  a  Whig  in  1839-40,  and  was  a 
delegate  to  the  convention  of  that  party  in 
1 8.-9.  This  national  convention  nominated 
him  for  the  second  place  on  the  ticket  with 
General  William  H.  H.  Harrison,  and  he 
was  elected  vice-president  in  November, 
1840.  President  Harrison  dying  one  month 
after  his  inauguration,  he  was  succeeded  by 
John  Tyler.  He  retained  the  cabinet  chosen 
by  his  predecessor,  and  for  a  time  moved  in 
harmony  with  the  Whig  party.  He  finally 
instructed  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
Thomas  Ewing,  to  submit  to  congress  a  bill 
for  the  incorporation  of  a  fiscal  bank  of  the 


United  States,  which  was  passed  by  con-- 
gress,  but  vetoed  by  the  president  on  ac- 
count of  some  amendments  he  considered 
unconstitutional.  For  this  and  other  meas- 
ures he  was  accused  of  treachery  to  his 
party,  and  deserted  by  his  whole  cabinet, 
except  Daniel  Webster.  Things  grew  worse 
until  he  was  abandoned  by  the  Whig  party 
formally,  when  Mr.  Webster  resigned.  He 
was  nominated  at  Baltimore,  in  May,  1844, 
at  the  Democratic  convention,  as  their  pres- 
idential candidate,  but  withdrew  from  the 
canvass,  as  he  saw  he  had  not  succeed- 
ed in  gaining  the  confidence  of  ♦his  old 
party.  He  then  retired  from  politics  until 
February,  1861,  when  he  was  made  presi- 
dent of  .the  abortive  peace  congress,  which 
met  in  Washington.  He  shortly  after  re- 
nounced his  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
and  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Confeder- 
ate congress.  He  died  at  Richmond,  Janu- 
ary 17,  1862. 

Mr.  Tyler  married,  in  18 13,  Miss  Letitia 
Christian,  who  died  in  1842  at  Washington. 
June  26,  1844,  he  contracted  a  second  mar-^ 
riage,  with  Miss  Julia  Gardner,  of  New  York. 


COLLIS  POTTER  HUNTINGTON, 
one  of  the  great  men  of  his  time  and 
who  has  left  his  impress  upon  the  history  of 
our  national  development,  was  born  October 
22,  1 82 1,  at  Harwinton,  Connecticut. 
He  received  a  common-school  education 
and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  his  spirit  of  get- 
ting along  in  the  world  mastered  his  educa- 
tional propensities  and  his  father's  objec- 
tions  and  he  left  school.  He  went  to  Cali- 
fornia in  the  early  days  and  had  opportunities 
which  he  handled  masterfully.  Others  had 
the  same  opportunities  but  they  did  not  have 
his  brains  nor  his  energy,  and  it  was  he  who 
overcame  obstacles  and  reaped  the  reward 
of   his  genius.      Transcontinental    railways 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


U5 


were  inevitable,  but  the  realization  of  this 
masterful  achievement  would  have  been  de- 
layed to  a  much  later  day  if  there  had  been 
no  Huntington.  He  associated  himself  with 
Messrs.  Mark  Hopkins,  Leland  Stanford, 
and  Charles  Crocker,  and  they  furnished  the 
money  necessary  for  a  survey  across  the 
Sierra  Nevadas,  secured  a  charter  for  the 
road,  and  raised,  with  the  government's  aid, 
money  enough  to  construct  and  equip  that 
railway,  which  at  the  time  of  its  completion 
ivas  a  marvel  of  engineering  and  one  of  the 
wonders  of  the  world.  Mr.  Huntington  be- 
came president  of  the  Southern  Pacific  rail- 
Toad,  vice-president  of  the  Central  Pacific; 
trustee  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Telegraph 
Company,  and  a  director  of  the  Occidental 
and  Oriental  Steamship  Company,  besides 
being  identified  with  many  other  business 
enterprises  of  vast  importance. 


GEORGE  A.  CUSTER,  a  famous  In- 
dian fighter,  was  born  in  Ohio  in  1840. 
He  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1861,  an- 
served  in  the  Civil  war;  was  at  Bull  Run  id 
1861,  and  was  in  the  Peninsular  campaign, 
being  one  of  General  McClellan's  aides-de, 
camp.  He  fought  in  the  battles  of  South 
Mountain  and  Antietam  in  1863,  and  was 
with  General  Stoneman  on  his  famous 
cavalry  raid.  He  was  engaged  in  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg,  and  was  there  made  brevet- 
major.  In  1863  was  appointed  brigadier- 
general  of  volunteers.  General  Custer  was 
in  many  skirmishes  in  central  Virginia  in 
1863-64,  and  was  present  at  the  following 
battles  of  the  Richmond  campaign:  Wil- 
derness,Todd'sTavern,  Yellow  Tavern,  where 
he  was  bre  vetted  lieutenant-colonel;  Meadow 
Bridge,  Haw's  Shop,  Cold  Harbor,  Trevil- 
lian  Station.  In  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
1 864-65  he  was  brevetted  colonel  at  Opequan 
Creek,  and  at  Cedar  Creek  he  was   made 


brevet  major-general  for  gallant  conduct 
during  the  engagement.  General  Custer 
was  in  command  of  a  cavalry  division  in  the 
pursuit  ot  Lee's  army  in  1865,  and  fought 
at  Dinwiddie  Court  House,  Five  Forks, 
where  he  was  made  brevet  brigadier-general; 
Sailors  Creek  and  Appomattox,  where  he 
gained  additional  honors  and  was  made 
brevet  major-general,  and  was  given  the 
command  of  the  cavalry  in  the  military 
division  of  the  southwest  and  Gulf,  in  1865. 
After  the  establishment  of  peace  he  went 
west  on  frontier  duty  and  performed  gallant 
and  valuable  service  in  the  troubles  with  the 
Indians.  He  was  killed  in  the  massacre  on 
the  Little  Big  Horn  river.  South  Dakota, 
June  25,  1876. 


DANIEL  WOLSEY  VOORHEES,  eel- 
brated  as  *  *  The  Tall  Sycamore  of  the 
Wabash,"  was  born  September  26,  1827, 
in  Butler  county,  Ohio.  When  he  was  two 
months  old  his  parents  removed  to  Fount- 
ain county,  Indiana.  He  grew  to  manhood 
on  a  farm,  engaged  in  all  the  arduous  work 
pertaining  to  rural  life.  In  1845  he  entered 
the  Indiana  Asbury  University,  now  the  De 
Pauw,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1849. 
He  took  up  the  study  of  law  at  Crawfords- 
ville,  and  in  1851  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession  at  Covington,  Fountain  county, 
Indiana.  He  became  a  law  partner  of 
United  States  Senator  Hannegan,  of  Indi- 
ana, in  1852,  and  in  1856  he  was  an  unsuc- 
cessful candidate  for  congress.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Terre 
Haute,  Indiana.  He  was  United  States 
district  attorney  for  Indiana  from  1857  until 
1 86 1,  and  he  had  during  this  period  been 
elected  to  congress,  in  i860.  Mr.  Voorhees 
was  re-elected  to  congress  in  1862  and  1864, 
but  he  was  unsuccessful  in  the  election  of 
1866.     However,  he  was  returned  to  con-^ 


95 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


gress  in  1868,  where  he  remained  until  1874, 
having  been  re-elected  twice.  In  1877  he 
was  appointed  United  States  senator  from 
Indiana  to  fill  a  vacancy  caused  by  the  death 
of  O.  P.  Morton,  and  at  the  end  of  the  term 
was  elected  for  the  ensuing  term,  being  re- 
elected in  1885  and  in  1891  to  the  same  of- 
fice. He  served  with  distinction  on  many 
of  the  committees,  and  took  a  very  prom- 
inent part  in  the  discussion  of  all  the  im- 
portant legislation  of  his  time.  His  death 
occurred  in  August,  189  . 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL,  fa- 
mous as  one  of  the  inventors  of  the  tele- 
phone, was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
March  3rd,  1847.  He  received  his  early 
education  in  the  high  school  and  later  he 
attended  the  university,  and  was  specially 
trained  to  follow  his  grandfather's  profes- 
sion, that  of  removing  impediments  of 
speech.  He  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
in  1872,  and  introduced  into  this  country 
his  father's  invention  of  visible  speech  in  the 
institutions  for  deaf-mutes.  Later  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  vocal  physiology  in 
the  Boston  University.  He  worked  for 
many  years  during  his  leisure  hours  on  his 
telephonic  discovery,  and  finally  perfected 
it  and  exhibited  it  publicly,  before  it  had 
reached  the  high  state  of  perfection  to  which 
he  brought  it.  His  first  exhibition  of  it  was 
at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  that  was  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  1876.  Its  success  is  now 
established  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
In  1882  Prof.  Bell  received  a  diploma  and 
the  decoration  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  from 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  France. 


WILLIAM  HICKLING  PRESCOTT, 
the  justly  celebrated  historian  and 
author,  was  a  native  of  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  born  May  4,  1796.     He  was 


the  son  of  Judge  William  Prescott  and  the 
grandson  of  the  hero  of  Bunker  Hill,  Colonel 
William  Prescott. 

Our  subject  in  1808  removed  with  the 
family  to  Boston,  in  the  schools  of  which 
city  he  received  his  early  education.  He 
entered  Harvard  College  as  a  sophomore  in 
181 1,  having  been  prepared  at  the  private 
classical  college  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  S.  J.  Gardi- 
jner.  The  following  year  he  received  an  in* 
ury  in  his  left  eye  which  made  study 
through  life  a  matter  of  difficulty.  He 
graduated  in  18 14  with  high  honors  in  the 
classics  and  belle  lettres.  He  spent  several 
months  on  the  Azores  Islands, .  and  later 
visited  England,  France  and  Italy,  return- 
ing home  in  18 17.  In  June,  181 8,  he 
founded  a  social  and  literary  club  at  Boston 
for  which  he  edited  *'The  Club  Room,"  a 
periodical  doomed  to  but  a  short  life.  May 
4,  1820,  he  married  Miss  Susan  Amory. 
He  devoted  several  years  after  that  event  to 
a  thorough  study  of  ancient  and  modern 
history  and  literature.  As  the  fruits  of  his 
labors  he  published  several  well  written 
essays  upon  French  and  Italian  poetry  and 
romance  in  the  *'  North  American  Review.'" 
January  19,  1826,  he  decided  to  take  up  his 
first  great  historical  work,  the  *  *  History  of 
the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella."  To 
this  he  gave  the  labor  of  ten  years,  publish- 
ing the  same  December  25,  1837.  Although 
placed  at  the  head  of  all  American  authors, 
so  diffident  was  Prescott  of  his  literary  merit 
that  although  he  had  four  copies  of  this 
work  printed  for  his  own  convenience,  he 
hesitated  a  long  time  before  giving  it  to  the 
public,  and  it  was  only  by  the  solicitation  of 
friends,  especially  of  that  talented  Spanish 
scholar,  George  Ticknor,  that  he  was  in- 
duced to  do  so.  Soon  the  volumes  were 
translated  into  French,  Italian,  Dutch  and 
German,    and    the   work    was    recognized 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


97 


throughout  the  world  as  one  of  the  most 
meritorious  of  historical  compositions.  In 
1843  he  published  the  **  Conquest  of  Mexi- 
co," and  in  1847  the  **  Conquest  of  Peru." 
Two  years  later  there  came  from  his  pen  a 
volume  of  * '  Biographical  and  Critical  Mis- 
cellanies." Going  abroad  in  the  summer  of 
1850,  he  was  received  with  great  distinction 
in  the  literary  circles  of  London,  Edinburgh, 
Paris,  Antwerp  and  Brussels.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity conferred  the  degree  of  D.  C.  L. 
upon  him.  In  1855  he  issued  two  volumes 
of  his  **History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  the 
Second,"  and  a  third  in  1858.  In  the 
meantime  he  edited  Robertson's  **  Charles 
the  Fifth,"  adding  a  history  of  the  life  of 
that  monarch  after  his  abdication.  Death 
cut  short  his  work  on  the  remaining  volumes 
of  **  Philip  the  Second,"  coming  to  him  at 
Boston,  Massachusetts,  May  28,  1859. 


OLIVER  HAZARD  PERRY,  a  noted 
American  commodore,  was  born  in 
South  Kingston,  Rhode  Island,  August  23, 
1785.  He  saw  his  first  service  as  a  mid- 
shipman in  the  United  States  navy  in  April, 
1799.  He  cruised  with  his  father,  Captain 
Christopher  Raymond  Perry,  in  the  West  In- 
dies for  about  two  years.  In  1804  he  was 
in  the  war  against  Tripoli,  and  was  made 
lieutenant  in  1 807.  At  the  opening  of  hostili- 
ties with  Great  Britain  in  18 12  he  was  given 
command  of  a  fleet  of  gunboats  on  the  At- 
lantic coast.  At  his  request  he  was  trans- 
ferred, a  year  later,  to  Lake  Ontario,  where 
he  served  under  Commodore  Chauncey,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  attack  on  Fort 
George.  He  was  ordered  to  fit  out  a  squad- 
ron on  Lake  Erie,  which  he  did,  building 
most  of  his  vessels  from  the  forests  along 
the  shore,  and  by  the  summer  of  1 8 1 3  he  had 
a  fleet  of  nine  vessels  at  Presque  Isle,  now 
Erie,    Pennsylvania.       September    loth    he 


attacked  and  captured  the  British  fleet  near 
Put-in-Bay,  thus  clearing  the  lake  of  hostile 
ships.  His  famous  dispatch  is  part  of  his 
fame,  **  We  have  met  the  enemy,  and  they 
are  ours."  He  co-operated  with  Gen.  Har- 
rison, and  the  success  of  the  campaign  in 
the  northwest  was  largely  due  to  his  victory. 
The  next  year  he  was  transferred  to  the  Po- 
tomac, and  assisted  in  the  defense  of  Balti- 
rnore.  After  the  war  he  was  in  constant 
service  with  the  various  squadrons  in  cruising 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  He  died  of  yellow 
fever  on  the  Island  of  Trinidad,  August  23, 
1 8 19.  His  remains  were  conveyed  to  New- 
port, and  buried  there,  and  an  imposing 
obelisk  was  erected  to  his  memory  by  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island.  A  bronze  statue 
was  also  erected  in  his  honor,  the  unveiling 
taking  place  in  1885. 


JOHN  PAUL  JONES,  though  a  native 
of  Scotland,  was  one  of  America's  most 
noted  fighters  during  the  Revolutionary  war. 
He  was  born  July  6,  1747.  His  father  was 
a  gardener,  but  the  young  man  soon  be- 
came interested  in  a  seafaring  life  and  at 
the  age  of  twelve  he  was  apprenticed  to  a 
sea  captain  engaged  in  the  American  trade. 
His  first  voyage  landed  him  in  Virginia, 
where  he  had  a  brother  who  had  settled 
there  several  years  prior.  The  failure  of 
the  captain  released  young  Jones  from  his 
apprenticeship  bonds,  and  he  was  engaged 
as  third  mate  of  a  vessel  engaged  in  the 
slave  trade.  He  abandoned  this  trade  after 
a  few  years,  from  his  own  sense  of  disgrace. 
He  took  passage  from  Jamaica  for  Scotland 
in  1768,  and  on  the  voyage  both  the  captain 
and  the  mate  died  and  he  was  compelled  to 
take  command  of  the  vessel  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  voyage.  He  soon  after 
became  master  of  the  vessel.  He  returned 
to  Virginia  about  1773  to  settle  up  the  estate 


»^ 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT 


of  his  brother,  and  at  this  time  added  the 
name  **  Jones/'  having  previously  been 
known  as  John  Paul.  He  settled  down  in 
Virginia,  but  when  the  war  broke  out  in 
1775  he  offered  his  services  to  congress  and 
was  appointed  senior  lieutenant  of  the  flag- 
ship ** Alfred,"  on  which  he  hoisted  the 
American  flag  with  his  own  hands,  the  first 
vessel  that  had  ever  carried  a  flag  of  the 
new  nation.  He  was  afterward  appointed 
to  the  command  of  the  **  Alfred,"  and  later 
of  the  **  Providence, "  in  each  of  which  ves- 
sels he  did  good  service,  as  also  in  the 
**  Ranger,"  to  the  command  of  which  he 
was  later  appointed.  The  fight  that  made 
him  famous,  however,  was  that  in  which  he 
captured  the  **  Serapis,"  off  the  coast  of 
Scotland.  He  was  then  in  command  of  the 
**Bon  Homme  Richard,'' which  had  been 
fitted  out  for  him  by  the  French  government 
and  named  by  Jones  in  honor  of  Benjamin 
Franklin,  or  **  Good  Man  Richard,"  Frank- 
lin being  author  of  the  publication  known 
as  **  Poor  Richard's  Almanac."  The  fight 
between  the  ''  Richard"  and  the  *'Serapis" 
lasted  three  hours,  all  of  which  time  the 
vessels  were  at  close  range,  and  most  of  the 
time  in  actual  contact.  Jones'  vessel  was 
on  fire  several  times,  and  early  in  the  en- 
gagement two  of  his  guns  bursted,  rendering 
the  battery  useless.  Also  an  envious  officer 
of  the  Alliance,  one  of  Jones'  own  fleet, 
opened  fire  upon  the  ''Richard  "  at  a  crit- 
ical time,  completely  disabling  the  vessel. 
Jones  continued  the  fight,  in  spite  of  coun- 
sels to  surrender,  and  after  dark  the  *'  Ser- 
apis"  struck  her  colors,  and  was  hastily 
boarded  by  Jones  and  his  crew,  while  the 
♦*  Richard"  sank,  bows  first,  after  the 
wounded  had  been  taken  on  board  the 
<*Serapis."  Most  of  the  other  vessels  of 
the  fleet  of  which  the  *'  Serapis  "  was  con- 
voy, surrendered,  and  were  taken  with  the 


**  Serapis"  to  France,  where  Jones  was 
received  with  greatest  honors,  and  the  king 
presented  him  with  an  elegant  sword  and 
the  cross  of  the  Order  of  Military  Merit. 
Congress  gave  him  a  vote  of  thanks  and 
made  him  commander  of  a  new  ship,  the 
**  America,"  but  the  vessel  was  afterward 
given  to  France  and  Jones  never  saw  active 
sea  service  again.  He  came  to  America  again, 
in  1787,  after  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was 
voted  a  gold  medal  by  congress.  He  went  to 
Russia  and  was  appointed  rear-admiral  and 
rendered  service  of  value  against  the  Turks, 
but  on  account  of  personal  enmity  of  the  fav- 
orites of  the  emperor  he  was  retired  on  a  pen- 
sion. Failing  to  collect  this,  he  returned  to 
France,  where  he  died,  July  18,  1792. 


THOMAS  MORAN,  the  well-known 
painter  of  Rocky  Mountain  scenery, 
was  born  in  Lancashire,  England,  in  1837. 
He  came  to  America  when  a  child,  and 
showing  artistic  tastes,  he  was  apprenticed 
to  a  wood  engraver  in  Philadelphia.  Three 
years  later  he  began  landscape  painting,  and 
his  style  soon  began  to  exhibit  signs  of  genius. 
His  first  works  were  water-colors,  and 
though  without  an  instructor  he  began  the 
use  of  oils,  he  soon  found  it  necessary  to 
visit  Europe,  where  he  gave  particular  at- 
tention to  the  works  of  Turner.  He  joined 
the  Yellowstone  Park  exploring  expedition 
and  visited  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  1871 
and  again  in  1873,  making  numerous 
sketches  of  the  scenery.  The  most  note- 
worthy results  were  his  *  *  Grand  Canon  of 
the  Yellowstone,"  and  '*  The  Chasm  of  the 
Colorado,"  which  were  purchased  by  con- 
gress at  $10,000  each,  the  first  of  which  is 
undoubtedly  the  finest  landscape  painting 
produced  in  this  country.  Mr.  Moran  has 
subordinated  art  to  nature,  and  the  subjects 
he  has  chosen  leave  little  ground  for  fault 


COMPENDIUM    OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


101 


iinding  on  that  account.  **The  Mountain 
of  the  Holy  Cross,"  **  The  Groves  Were 
God's  First  Temples,'*  **  The  Cliffs  of  Green 
River,'*  **  The  Children  of  the  Mountain," 
**The  Ripening  of  the  Leaf,"  and  others 
have  given  him  additional  fame,  and  while 
they  do  not  equal  in  grandeur  the  first 
mentioned,  in  many  respects  from  an  artis- 
tic standpoint  they  are  superior. 


L ELAND  STANFORD  was  one  of  the 
greatest  men  of  the  Pacific  coast  and 
also  had  a  national  reputation.  He  was 
born  March  9,  1824,  in  Albany  county.  New 
York,  and  passed  his  early  life  on  his 
father's  farm.  He  attended  the  local 
schools  of  the  county  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty  began  the  study  of  law.  He 
entered  the  law  office  of  Wheaton,  Doolittle 
and  Hadley,  at  Albany,  in  1845,  ^^^  ^  f^w 
years  later  he  moved  to  Port  Washington, 
Wisconsin,  where  he  practiced  law  four 
years  with  moderate  success.  In  1852  Mr. 
Stanford  determined  to  push  further  west, 
and,  accordingly  went  to  California,  where 
three  of  his  brothers  were  established  in 
business  in  the  mining  towns.  They  took 
Leland  into  partnership,  giving  him  charge 
of  a  branch  store  at  Michigan  Bluff,  in 
Placer  county.  There  he  developed  great 
business  ability  and  four  years  later  started 
a  mercantile  house  of  his  own  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, which  soon  became  one  of  the  most 
substantial  houses  on  the  coast.  On  the 
formation  of  the  Republican  party  he  inter- 
ested himself  in  politics,  and  in  i860  was 
sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  convention  that 
nominated  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  the 
autumn  of  1861  he  was  elected,  by  an  im- 
mense majority,  governor  of  California. 
Prior  to  his  election  as  governor  he  had 
»been  chosen  president  of  the  newly-orga- 
nized  Central  Pacific    Railroad   Company, 

6 


and  after  leaving  the  executive  chair  he  de- 
voted all  of  his  time  to  the  construction  of 
the  Pacific  end  of  the  transcontinental  rail- 
way. May  10,  1869,  Mr.  Stanford  drove 
the  last  spike  of  the  Central  Pacific  road, 
thus  completing  the  route  across  the  conti- 
nent. He  was  also  president  of  the  Occi- 
dental and  Oriental  Steamship  Company. 
He  had  but  one  son,  who  died  of  typhoid 
fever,  and  as  a  monument  to  his  child  he 
founded  the  university  which  bears  his  son's 
name,  Leland  Stanford,  Junior,  University. 
Mr.  Stanford  gave  to  this  university  eighty- 
three  thousand  acres  of  land,  the  estimated 
value  of  which  is  $8,000,000,  and  the  entire 
endowment  is  $20,000,000.  In  1885  Mr. 
Stanford  was  elected  United  States  senator 
as  a  Republican,  to  succeed  J.  T.  Farley,  a 
Democrat,  and  was  re-elected  in  1891.  His 
death  occurred  June  20,  1894,  at  Palo  Alto, 
California. 

STEPHEN  DECATUR,  a  famous  com- 
modore in  the  United  States  navy,  was 
born  in  Maryland  in  1779.  He  entered  the 
naval  service  in  1798.  In  1804,  when  the 
American  vessel  Philadelphia  had  been  run 
aground  and  captured  in  the  harbor  of  Trip- 
oli, Decatur,  at  the  head  of  a  few  men, 
boarded  her  and  burned  her  in  the  face  of 
the  guns  from  the  city  defenses.  For  this 
daring  deed  he  was  made  captain.  He  was 
given  command  of  the  frigate  United  States 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  18 12,  and 
in  October  of  that  year  he  captured  the 
British  frigate  Macedonian,  and  was  re- 
warded with  a  gold  medal  by  congress.  Af- 
ter the  close  of  the  war  he  was  sent  as  com- 
mander of  a  fleet  of  ten  vessels  to  chastise 
the  dey  of  Algiers,  who  was  preying  upon 
American  commerce  with  impunity  and  de- 
manding tribute  and  ransom  for  the  release 
of  American    citizens   captured.      Decatur 


102 


COMP:e:NDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


captured  a  number  of  Algerian  vessels,  and 
compelled  the  dey  to  sue  for  peace.  He 
was  noted  for  his  daring  and  intrepidity, 
and  his  coolness  in  the  face  of  danger,  and 
helped  to  bring  the  United  States  navy  into 
favor  with  the  people  and  congress  as  a 
means  of  defense  and  offense  in  time  of 
war.  He  was  killed  in  a  duel  by  Commo- 
dore Barron,  March  12,  1820. 


JAMES  KNOX  POLK,  the  eleventh 
president  of  the  United  States,  1845  to 
1849,  was  born  November  2,  1795,  in  Meck- 
lenburg county,  North  Carolina,  and  was 
the  eldest  child  of  a  family  of  six  sons.  He 
removed  with  his  father  to  the  Valley  of  the 
Duck  River,  in  Tennessee,  in  1806.  He 
attended  the  common  schools  and  became 
very  proficient  in  the  lower  branches  of 
education,  and  supplemented  this  with 
a  course  in  the  Murfreesboro  Academy, 
which  he  entered  in  18 13  and  in  the  autumn 
of  18 1 5  he  became  a  student  in  the  sopho- 
more class  of  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina, at  Chapel  Hill,  and  was  graduated  in 
18 1 8.  He  then  spent  a  short  time  in  re- 
cuperating his  health  and  then  procee^ded  to 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  he  took  up  the 
study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Felix  Grundy. 
After  the  completion  of  his  law  studies  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  and  removed  to 
Columbia,  Maury  county,  Tennessee,  and 
started  in  the  active  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. Mr.  Polk  was  a  Jeffersonian  **  Re- 
publican ''  and  in  1823  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  of  Tennessee.  He  was  a  strict 
constructionist  and  did  not  believe  that  the 
general  government  had  the  power  to  carry 
on  internal  improvements  in  the  states,  but 
deemed  it  important  that  it  should  have  that 
power,  and  wanted  the  constitution  amended 
to  that  effect.  But  later  on  he  became 
alarmed  lest  the  general  government  might 


become  strong  enough  to  abolish  slavery 
and  therefore  gave  his  whole  support  to  the 
*'  State's  Rights'*  movement, and  endeavored 
to  check  the  centralization  of  power  in  the 
general  government.  Mr.  Polk  was  chosen 
a  member  of  congress  in  1825,  and  held  that 
office  until  1839.  He  then  withdrew,  as  he 
was  the  successful  gubernatorial  candidate 
of  his  state.  He  had  become  a  man  of 
great  influence  in  the  house,  and,  as  the 
leader  of  the  Jackson  party  in  that  body, 
weilded  great  influence  in  the  election  of 
General  Jackson  to  the  presidency.  He 
sustained  the  president  in  all  his  measures 
and  still  remained  in  the  house  after  Gen- 
eral Jackson  had  been  succeeded  by  Martin 
Van  Buren.  He  was  speaker  of  the  house 
during  five  sessions  of  congress.  He  was 
elected  governor  of  Tennessee  by  a  large 
majority  and  took  the  oath  of  office  at  Nash- 
ville, October  4,  1839.  He  was  a  candidate 
for  re-election  but  was  defeated  by  Governor 
Jones,  the  Whig  candidate.  In  1844  the 
most  prominent  question  in  the  election  was 
the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  as  Mr.  Polk 
was  the  avowed  champion  of  this  cause  he 
was  nominated  for  president  by  the  pro- 
slavery  wing  of  the  democratic  party,  was 
elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  was  inaug- 
urated March  4,  1845.  President  Polk 
formed  a  very  able  cabinet,  consisting  of 
James  Buchanan,  Robert  J.  Walker,  Will- 
iam L.  Marcy,  George  Bancroft,  Cave  John- 
son, and  John  Y.  Mason.  The  dispute  re- 
garding the  Oregon  boundary  was  settled 
during  his  term  of  office  and  a  new  depart- 
ment was  added  to  the  list  of  cabinet  po- 
sitions, that  of  the  Interior.  The  low  tariff 
bill  of  ,1846  was  carried  and  the  financial 
system  of  the  country  was  reorganized.  It 
was  also  during  President  Polk's  term  that 
the  Mexican  war  was  successfully  conducted, 
which  resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  Califor- 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


loa 


nia  and  New  Mexico.  Mr.  Polk  retired  from 
the  presidency  March  4,  1849,  after  having 
declined  a  re-nomination,  and  was  succeeded 
by  General  Zachary  Taylor,  the  hero  of  the 
Mexican  war.  Mr.  Polk  retired  to  private 
life,  to  his  home  in  Nashville,  where  he  died 
at  the  age  of  fifty-four  on  June  9,  1849. 


Dickinson  was  not  heard  of  on  the  lec- 
ture platform,  and  about  that  time  she  made 
an  attempt  to  enter  the  dramatic  profession, 
but  after  appearing  a  number  of  times  in  dif- 
ferent plays  she  was  pronounced  a  failure. 


ANNA  DICKINSON*  (Anna  Elizabeth 
Dickinson),  a  noted  lecturer  and  pub- 
lic speaker,  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Oc- 
tober 28,  1842.  Her  parents  were  Quakers, 
and  she  was  educated  at  the  Friends'  free 
schools  in  her  native  city.  She  early  man- 
ifested an  inclination  toward  elocution  and 
public  speaking,  and  when,  at  the  age  of  18, 
she  found  an  opportunity  to  appear  before 
a  national  assemblage  for  the  discussion  of 
woman's  rights,  she  at  once  established  her 
reputation  as  a  public  speaker.  From  i860 
to  the  close  of  the  war  and  during  the  ex- 
citing period  of  reconstruction,  she  was  one 
of  the  most  noted  and  influential  speakers 
before  the  American  public,  and  her  popu- 
larity was  unequaled  by  that  of  any  of  her 
sex.  A  few  weeks  after  the  defeat  and 
death  of  Colonel  Baker  at  Ball's  Bluff,  Anna 
Dickinson,  lecturing  in  New  York,  made 
the  remarkable  assertion,  **  Not  the  incom- 
petency of  Colonel  Baker,  but  the  treachery 
of  General  McClellan  caused  the  disaster  at 
Ball's  Bluff."  She  was  hissed  and  hooted 
off  the  stage.  A  year  later,  at  the  same 
hall  and  with  much  the  same  class  of  audi- 
tors, she  repeated  the  identical  words,  and 
the  applause  was  so  great  and  so  long  con- 
tinued that  it  was  impossible  to  go  on  with 
her  lecture  for  more  than  half  an  hour.  The 
change  of  sentiment  had  been  wrought  by 
the  rieverses  and  dismissal  of  McClellan  and 
his  ambition  to  succeed  Mr.  Lincoln  as  presi- 
dent. 

Ten  years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  Anna 


ROBERT  J.  BURDETTE.— Some  per- 
sonal  characteristics  of  Mr.  Burdette 
were  quaintly  given  by  himself  in  the  follow- 
ing words:  *' Politics  .»*  Republican  after 
the  strictest  sect.  Religion  }  Baptist.  Per- 
sonal appearance  }  Below  medium  height, 
and  weigh  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
pounds,  no  shillings  and  no  pence.  Rich  I 
Not  enough  to  own  a  yacht.  Favorite  read- 
ing.? Poetry  and  history — know  Longfellow 
by  heart,  almost.  Write  for  magizines  > 
Have  mo.-e  '  declined  with  thanks  '  letters 
than  would  fill  a  trunk.  Never  able  to  get 
into  a  magazine  with  a  line.  Care  about  it.^ 
Mad  as  thunder.  Think  about  starting  a 
magazine  and  rejecting  everbody's  articles 
except  my  own."  Mr.  Burdette  was  born 
at  Greensborough,  Pennsylvania,  in  1844. 
He  served  through  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
under  General  Banks  **  on  an  excursion 
ticket"  as  he  fehcitously  described  it,  **good 
both  ways,  conquering  in  one  direction  and 
running  in  the  other,  pay  going  on  just  the 
same."  He  entered  into  journalism  by  the 
gateway  of  New  York  correspondence  for 
the  **Peoria  Transcript,"  and  in  1874  went 
on  the  **  Burlington  Hawkeye"  of  which  he 
became  the  managing  editor,  and  the  work 
that  he  did  on  this  paper  made  both  him- 
self and  the  paper  famous  in  the  world  of 
humor.  Mr.  Burdette  married  in  1870, 
and  his  wife,  whom  he  called  **Her  Little 
Serene  Highness,"  was  to  him  a  guiding 
light  until  the  day  of  her  death,  and  it  was 
probably  the  unconscious  pathos  with  which 
he  described  her  in  his  work  that  broke  the 
barriers  that  had  kept  him  out  of  the  maga- 


104 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


^nes  and  secured  him  the  acceptance  of  his 
**  Confessions  "  by  Lippincott  some  years 
ago,  and  brought  him  substantial  fame  and 
recognition  in  the  literary  world. 


WILLIAM  DEAN  HOWELLS,  one 
of  the  leading  novelists  of  the  present 
century  and  author  of  a  number  of  works 
that  gained  for  him  a  place  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  was  born  March  i,  1837,  ^.t 
Martinsville,  Belmont  county,  Ohio.  At 
the  age  of  three  years  he  accompanied  his 
iather,  who  was  a  printer,  to  Hamilton, 
Ohio,  where  he  learned  the  printer's  trade. 
Later  he  was  engaged  on  the  editorial  staff 
of  the  **  Cincinnati  Gazette  "  and  the  **  Ohio 
State  Journal."  During  1861-65  he  was 
the  United  States  consul  at  Venice,  and 
from  1 87 1  to  1878  he  was  the  editor-in- 
chief  of  the  * 'Atlantic  Monthly."  As  a 
writer  he  became  one  of  the  most  fertile 
and  readable  of  authors  and  a  pleasing  poet. 
In  1885  he  became  connected  with  '*  Har- 
per's Magazine. "  Mr.  Howells  was  author 
of  the  list  of  books  that  we  give  below: 
''Venetian  Life,"  ''Italian  Journeys,"  "No 
Love  Lost,"  " Suburban  Sketches,"  "Their 
Wedding  Journey,"  "A  Chance  Acquaint- 
ance," "A  Foregone  Conclusion,"  "Dr. 
Breen's  Practice,"  "A  Modern  Instance," 
"The  Rise  of  Silas  Lapham,"  "Tuscan 
Cities,"  "Indian  Summer,"  besides  many 
others.  He  also  wrote  the  ' '  Poem  of  Two 
Friends,"  with  J.  J.  Piatt  in  i860,  and 
some  minor  dramas:  "The  Drawing 
Room  Car,"  "The  Sleeping  Car,"  etc., 
that  are  full  of  exqusite  humor  and  elegant 
dialogue. 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  was  a  son 
of  the  Rev.  Charles  Lowell,  and  was  born 
at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  February  22, 
1 8 19.      He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 


1838  as  class  poet,  and  went  to  Harvard 
Law  School,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
in  1840,  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Boston,  but  soon  gave  his  un- 
divided attention  to  Hterary  labors.  Mr. 
Lowell  printed,  in  1841,  a  small  volume  of 
poems  entitled  ' '  A  Year's  Life, "  edited  with 
Robert  Carter;  in  1843,  "  The  Pioneer, "  a 
literary  and  critical  magazine  (monthly),  and 
in  1848  another  book  of  poems,  that  con- 
tained several  directed  against  slavery.  He 
published  in  1844  a  volume  of  "Poems" 
and  in  1845  "Conversations  on  Some 
of  the  Old  Poets,"  "The  Vision  of  Sir 
Launfal,"  '^  A  Fable  for  Critics, "  and  "The 
Bigelow  Papers,"  the  latter  satirical  es- 
says in  dialect  poetry  directed  against 
slavery  and  the  war  with  Mexico.  In 
1851-52  he  traveled  in  Europe  and  re- 
sided in  Italy  for  a  considerable  time,  and 
delivered  in  1854-55  a  course  of  lectures  on 
the  British  poets,  before  the  Lowell  Insti- 
tute^ Boston.  Mr.  Lowell  succeeded  Long- 
fellow in  January,  1855,  as  professor  of 
modern  languages  and  literature  at  Harvard 
College,  and  spent  another  year  in  Europe 
qualifying  himself  for  that  post.  He  edited 
the  "  Atlantic  Monthly  "  from  1857  to  1862, 
and  the  "North  American  Review"  from 
1863  until  1872.  From  1864  to  1870  he 
published  the  following  works:  "  Fireside 
Travels,"  "  Under  the  Willows,"  "The 
Commemoration  Qde, "  in  honor  of  the 
alumni  of  Harvard  who  had  fallen  in  the 
Civil  war;  "The  Cathedral,"  two  volumes 
of  essays;  ♦*  Among  My  Books"  and  "My 
Study  Windows,"  and  in  1867  he  published 
a  new  series  of  the  "  Bigelow  Papers. "  He 
traveled  extensively  in  Europe  in  1872-74, 
and  received  in  person  the  degree  of  D.  C. 
L.  at  Oxford  and  that  of  LL.  D.  at  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  England.  He 
was  also  interested  in  political  life  and  held 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


105 


many  important  offices.  He  was  United 
States  minister  to  Spain  in  1877  and  was 
also  minister  to  England  in  1880-85.  On 
January  2,  1884,  he  was  elected  lord  rector 
of  St.  Andrew  University  in  Glasgow,  Scot- 
land, but  soon  after  he  resigned  the  same. 
Mr.  Lowell's  works  enjoy  great  popularity 
in  the  United  States  and  England.  He 
died  August  12,  1891. 


JOSEPH  HENRY,  one  of  America's 
greatest  scientists,  was  born  at  Albany, 
New  York,  December  17,  1797.  He  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  of  the  city 
and  graduated  from  the  Albany  Academy, 
where  he  became  a  professor  of  mathemat- 
ics in  1826.  In  1827  he  commenced  a 
course  of  investigation,  which  he  continued 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  the  results  pro- 
duced had  great  effect  on  the  scientific  world. 
The  first  success  was  achieved  by  producing 
the  electric  magnet,  and  he  next  proved  the 
possibility  of  exciting  magnetic  energy  at  a 
distance,  and  it  was  the  invention  of  Pro- 
fessor Henry's  intensity  magnet  that  first 
made  the  invention  of  electric  telegraph  a 
possibility.  He  made  a  statement  regarding 
the  practicability  of  applying  the  intensity 
magnet  to  telegraphic  uses,  in  his  article  to 
the  **American  Journal  of  Science  "  in  1831. 
During  the  same  year  he  produced  the  first 
mechanical  contrivance  ever  invented  for 
maintaining  continuous  motion  by  means  of 
electro-magnetism,  and  he  also  contrived  a 
machine  by  which  signals  could  be  made  at 
a  distance  by  the  use  of  his  electro-magnet, 
the  signals  being  produced  by  a  lever  strik- 
ing on  a  bell.  Some  of  his  electro-magnets 
were  of  great  power,  one  carried  over  a  ton 
and  another  not  less  than  three  thousand  six 
hundred  pounds.  In  1832  he  discovered 
that  secondary  currents  could  be  produced 
'  '  -^  long  cc-ductor  by  the  induction  of  the 


primary  current  upon  itself,  and  also  in  the 
same  year  he  produced  a  spark  by  means  of 
a  purely  magnetic  induction.  Professor 
Henry  was  elected,  in  1832,  professor  of  nat- 
ural philosophy  in  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey, and  in  his  earliest  lectures  at  Princeton, 
demonstrated  the  feasibility  of  the  electric 
telegraph.  He  visited  Europe  in  1837,  ^^id 
while  there  he  had  an  interview  with  Pro- 
fessor Wheatstone,  the  inventor  of  the 
needle  magnetic  telegraph.  In  1846  he  was 
elected  secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution, being  the  first  incumbent  in  that  office, 
which  he  held  until  his  death.  Professor 
Henry  was  elected  president  of  the  Ameri- 
can Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science,  in  1849,  and  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences.  He  was  made  chair- 
man of  the  lighthouse  board  of  the  United 
States  in  1871  and  held  that  position  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death.  He  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  doctor  of  laws  from 
Union  College  in  1829,  and  from  Harvard 
University  in  185 1,  and  his  death  occurred 
May  13,  1878.  Among  his  numerous  works 
may  be  mentioned  the  following:  *' Contri- 
butions to  Electricity  and  Magnetism," 
**  American  Philosophic  Trans, "  and  many 
articles  in  the  **  American  Journal  of 
Science,"  the  journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 
tute; the  proceedings  of  the  American  As- 
sociation for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
and  in  the  annual  reports  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution  from  its  foundation. 


FRANKLIN  BUCHANAN,  the  famous 
rear-admiral  of  the  Confederate  navy 
during  the  rebellion,  was  born  in  Baltimore, 
Maryland.  He  became  a  United  States 
midshipman  in  18 15  and  was  promoted 
through  the  various  grades  of  the  service 
and  became  a  captain  in  1855.  Mr.  Buch- 
anan resigned  his  captaincy  in  order  to  join 


106 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


the  Confederate  service  in  1861  and  later  he 
asked  to  be  reinstated,  but  his  request  was 
refused  and  he  then  entered  into  the  service 
of  the  Confederate  government.  ,  He  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  frigate  **Merri- 
mac  '*  after  she  had  been  fitted  up  as  an  iron- 
dad,  and  had  command  of  her  at  the  time 
of  the  battle  of  Hampton  Roads.  It  was 
he  who  had  command  when  the  **Merri- 
mac"  sunk  the  two  wooden  frigates,.  **  Con- 
gress'* and  **  Cumberland,"  and  was  also 
in  command  during  part  of  the  historical 
battle  of  the  **Merrimac''  and  the  **  Moni- 
tor," where  he  was  wounded  and  the  com- 
mand devolved  upon  Lieutenant  Catesby 
Jones.  He  was  created  rear-admiral  in  the 
Confederate  service  and  commanded  the 
Confederate  fleet  in  Mobile  bay,  which  was 
defeated  by  Admiral  Farragut,  August  5, 
1864.  Mr.  Buchanan  was  in  command  of 
the  **  Tennessee,"  an  ironclad,  and  during 
the  engagement  he  lost  one  of  his  legs  and 
was  taken  prisoner  in  the  end  by  the  Union 
fleet.  After  the  war  he  settled  in  Talbot 
county,  Maryland,  where  he  died  May  11, 
1874.  

RICHARD  PARKS  BLAND,  a  celebrated 
American  statesman,  frequently  called 
**the  father  of  the  house,"  because  of  his 
many  years  of  service  in  the  lower  house 
of  congress,  was  born  August  19,  1835, 
near  Hartford,  Kentucky,  where  he  received 
a  plain  academic  education.  He  moved, 
in  1855,  to  Missouri,  from  whence  he  went 
overland  to  California,  afterward  locating  in 
Virginia  City,  now  in  the  state  of  Nevada, 
but  then  part  of  the  territory  of  Utah. 
While  there  he  practiced  law,  dabbled  in 
mines  and  mining  in  Nevada  and  California 
for  several  years,  and  served  for  a  time  as 
treasurer  of  Carson  county,  Nevada.  Mr. 
Bland  returned  to  Missouri  in  1865,  where 


he  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Rolla, 
Missouri,  and  in  1869  removed  to  Lebanon, 
Missouri.  He  began  his  congressional  career 
in  1873,  when  he  was  elected  as  a  Demo- 
crat to  the  forty-third  congress,  and  he  was 
regularly  re-elected  to  every  congress  after 
that  time  up  to  the  fifty-fourth,  when  he  was 
defeated  for  re-election,  but  was  returned 
to  the  fifty-fifth  congress  as  a  Silver  Demo- 
crat. During  all  his  protracted  service, 
while  Mr.  Bland  was  always  steadfast  in  his 
support  of  democratic  measures,  yet  he  won 
his  special  renown  as  the  great  advocate  of 
silver,  being  strongly  in  favor  of  the  free 
and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  and  on  ac- 
count of  his  pronounced  views  was  one  of 
the  candidates  for  the  presidential  nomina- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party  at  Chicago  in 
1896. 

FANNY  DAVENPORT  (F.  L.  G.  Daven- 
port) was  of  British  birth,  but  she  be- 
longs to  the  American  stage.  She  was  the 
daughter  of  the  famous  actor,  E.  L.  Daven- 
port, and  was  born  in  London  in  1850. 
She  first  went  on  the  stage  as  a  child  at  the 
Howard  Athenaeum,  Boston,  and  her  entire 
life  was  spent  upon  the  stage.  She  played 
children's  parts  at  Burton's  old  theater  in 
Chambers  street,  and  then,  in  1862,  appeared 
as  the  King  of  Spain  in  *  *  Faint  Heart  Never 
Won  Fair  Lady. "  Here  she  attracted  the 
notice  of  Augustin  Daly,  the  noted  mana- 
ger, then  at  the  Fifth  Avenue  theater,  who 
offered  her  a  six  weeks'  engagement  with 
her  father  in  ** London  Assurance."  She 
afterwards  appeared  at  the  same  house  in  a 
variety  of  characters,  and  her  versatility 
was  favorably  noticed  by  the  critics.  After 
the  burning  of  the  old  Fifth  Avenue,  the 
present  theater^  of  that  name  w.as  built  at 
Twenty-eighth  street,  and  here  Miss  Daven- 
port appeared  in  a  play  written  for  her  by 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


107 


Mr.  Daly.  She  scored  a  great  success. 
She  then  starred  in  this  play  throughout  the 
country,  and  was  married  to  Mr.  Edwin  F. 
Price,  an  actor  of  her  company,  in  1880. 
In  1882  she  went  to  Paris  and  purchased 
the  right  to  produce  in  America  Sardou's 
great  emotional  play,  *' Fedora.*'  It  was 
put  on  at  the  Fourteenth  Street  theater  in 
New  York,  and  in  it  she  won  popular  favor 
and  became  one  of  the  most  famous  actresses 
of  her  time. 


HORACE  BRIGHAM  CLAFLIN,  one 
of  the  greatest  merchants  America  has 
produced,  was  born  in  Milford,  Massachu- 
setts, a  son  of  John  Clafliin,  also  a  mer- 
chant. Young  Claflin  started  his  active  life 
as  a  clerk  in  his  father's  store,  after  having 
been  offered  the  opportunity  of  a  college 
education,  but  with  the  characteristic 
promptness  that  was  one  of  his  virtues  he 
exclaimed,  *'No  law  or  medicine  for  me." 
He  had  set  his  heart  on  being  a  merchant, 
and  when  his  father  retired  he  and  his 
brother  Aaron,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Sam- 
uel Daniels,  conducted  the  business.  Mr. 
Claflin  was  not  content,  however,  to  run  a 
store  in  a  town  like  Milford,  and  accordingly 
opened  a  dry  goods  store  at  Worcester,  with 
his  brother  as  a  partner,  but  the  partnership 
was  dissolved  a  year  later  and  H.  B.  Claflin 
assumed  complete  control.  The  business 
in  Worcester  had  been  conducted  on  ortho- 
dox principles,  and  when  Mr.  Claflin  came 
there  and  introduced  advertising  as  a  means 
of  drawing  trade,  he  created  considerable 
animosity  among  the  older  merchants.  Ten 
years  later  he  was  one  of  the  most  prosper- 
ous merchants.  He  disposed  of  his  busi- 
ness in  Worcester  for  $30,000,  and  went  to 
New  York  to  search  for  a  wider  field  than 
that  of  a  shopkeeper.  Mr.  Claflin  and 
William  M.  Bulkley  started  in  the  dry  goods 


business  there  under  the  firm  name  of  Bulk- 
ley  &  Claflin,  in  1843,  and  Mr.  Bulkley  was 
connected  with  the  firm  until  185 1, when  he 
retired.  A  new  firm  was  then  formed  under 
the  name  of  Claflin,  Mellin  &  Co.  This 
firm  succeeded  in  founding  the  largest  dry 
goods  house  in  the  world,  and  after  weather- 
ing the  dangers  of  the  civil  war,  during 
which  the  house  came  very  near  going  un- 
der, and  was  saved  only  by  the  superior 
business  abilities  of  Mr.  Claflin,  continued  to 
grow.  The  sales  of  the  fifm  amounted  to 
over  $72,000,000  a  year  after  the  close  of 
the  war.  Mr.  Claflin  died  November  14, 
1885;  

CHARLOTTE  CUSHMAN  (Charlotte 
Saunders  Cushman),  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  American  actresses,  was  born  in 
Boston,  July  23,  1816.  She  was  descended 
from  one  of  the  earliest  Puritan  families. 
Her  first  attempt  at  stage  work  was  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  in  a  charitable  concert 
given  by  amateurs  in  Boston.  From  this 
time  her  advance  to  the  first  place  on  the 
American  lyric  stage  was  steady,  until,  in 
1835,  while  singing  in  New  Orleans,  she 
suddenly  lost  control  of  her  voice  so  far  as 
relates  to  singing,  and  was  compelled  to  re- 
tire. She  then  took  up  the  study  for  the 
dramatic  stage  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Barton,  the  tragedian.  She  soon  after 
made  her  debut  as  **  Lady  Macbeth."  She 
appeared  in  New  York  in  September,  1836, 
and  her  success  was  immediate.  Her 
**  Romeo"  was  almost  perfect,  and  she  is 
the  only  woman  that  has  ever  appeared  in 
the  part  of  **  Cardinal  Wolsey.'*  She  at 
different  times  acted  as  support  of  Forrest 
and  Macready.  Her  London  engagement, 
secured  in  1845,  after  many  and  great  dis- 
couragements, proved  an  unqualified  suc- 
cess. 


108 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Her  farewell  appearance  was  at  Booth's 
theater,  New  York,  November  7,  1874,  in 
the  part  of  **  Lady  Macbeth/'  and  after  that 
performance  an  Ode  by  R.  H.  Stoddard 
was  read»  and  a  body  of  citizens  went  upon 
the  stage,  and  in  their  name  the  venerable 
poet  Longfellow  presented  her  with  a  wreath 
of  laurel  with  an  inscription  to  the  effect 
that  *  *  she  who  merits  the  palm  should  bear 
it."  From  the  time  of  her  appearance  as  a 
modest  girl  in  a  charitable  entertainment 
down  to  the  time  of  final  triumph  as  a  tragic 
queen,  she  bore  herself  with  as  much  honor 
to  womanhood  as  to  the  profession  she  rep- 
resented. Her  death  occurred  in  Boston, 
February  18,  1876.  By  her  profession  she 
acquired  a  fortune  of  $600,000. 


NEAL  DOW,  one  of  the  most  prominent 
temperance  reformers  our  country  has 
known,  was  born  in  Portland,  Me.,  March  20, 
1804.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
Friends  Seminary,  at  New  Bedford,  Massa- 
chusetts, his  parents  being  members  of  that 
sect.  After  leaving  school  he  pursued  a 
mecrantile  and  manufacturing  career  for  a 
number  of  years.  He  was  active  in  the 
affairs  of  his  native  city,  and  in  1839  be- 
came chief  of  the  fire  department,  and  in 
1851  was  elected  mayor.  He  was  re-elected 
to  the  latter  office  in  1854.  Being  opposed 
to  the  liquor  traffic  he  was  a  champion  of 
the  project  of  prohibition,  first  brought  for- 
ward in  1839  by  James  Appleton.  While 
serving  his  first  term  as  mayor  he  drafted  a 
bill  for  the  *•  suppression  of  drinking  houses 
and  tippling  shops,"  which  he  took  to  the 
legislature  and  which  was  passed  without  an 
alteration.  In  1858  Mr.  Dow  was  elected 
to  the  legislature.  On  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  war  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the 
Thirteenth  Maine  Infantry  and  accompanied 
General  Butler's  expedition  to  New  Orleans. 


In  1862  he  was  made  brigadier-general.  At 
the  battle  of  Port  Hudson  May  27,  1863,  he 
was  twice  wounded,  and  taken  prisoner.  He 
was  confined  at  Libby  prison  and  Mobile 
nearly  a  year,  when,  being  exchanged,  he 
resigned,  his  health  having  given  way  under 
the  rigors  of  his  captivity.  He  made  sev- 
eral trips  to  England  in  the  interests  of 
temperance  organization,  where  he  addressed 
large  audiences.  He  was  the  candidate  of 
the  National  Prohibition  party  for  the  presi- 
dency in  1880,  receiving  about  ten  thousand 
votes.  In  1884  he  was  largely  instrumental 
in  the  amendment  of  the  constitution  of 
Maine,  adopted  by  an  overwhelming  popular 
vote,  which  forever  forbade  the  manufacture 
or  sale  of  any  intoxicating  beverages,  and 
commanding  the  legislature  to  enforce  the 
prohibition.      He  died  October  2,   1897. 


ZACHARY  TAYLOR,  twelfth  president 
of  the  United  States,  was  born  in 
Orange  county,  Virginia,  September  24, 
1784.  His  boyhood  was  spent  on  his  fath- 
er's plantation  and  his  education  was  lim- 
ited. In  1808  he  was  made  lieutenant  of 
the  Seventh  Infantry,  and  joined  his  regi- 
ment at  New  Orleans.  He  was  promoted 
to  captain  in  18 10,  and  commanded  at  Fort 
Harrison,  near  the  present  site  of  Terre 
Haute,  in  18 12,  where,  for  his  gallant  de- 
fense, he  was  brevetted  major,  attaining  full 
rank  in  18 14.  In  181 5  he  retired  to  an  es- 
tate near  Louisville.  In  18 16  here-entered 
the  army  as  major,  and  was  promoted  to 
lieutenant-colonel  and  then  to  colonel. 
Having  for  many  years  been  Indian  agent 
over  a  large  portion  of  the  western  country, 
he  was  often  required  in  Washington  to  give 
advice  and  counsel  in  matters  connected 
with  the  Indian  bureau.  He  served  through 
the  Black  Hawk  Indian  war  of  1832,  and  in 
1837  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  the 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


109 


army  in  Florida,  where  he  attacked  the  In- 
dians in  the  swamps  and  brakes,  defeated 
them  and  ended  the  war.  He  was  brevetted 
brigadier-general  and  made  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  army  in  Florida.  He  was  as- 
signed to  the  command  of  the  army  of  the 
southwest  in  1840,  but  was  soon  after  re- 
lieved of  it  at  his  request.  He  was  then 
stationed  at  posts  in  Arkansas.  In  1845  he 
was  ordered  to  prepare  to  protect  and  de- 
fend Texas  boundaries  from  invasion  by 
Mexicans  and  Indians.  On  the  annexation 
of  Texas  he  proceeded  with  one  thousand 
five  hundred  men  to  Corpus  Christi,  within 
the  disputed  territory.  After  reinforcement 
he  was  ordered  by  the  Mexican  General  Am- 
pudia  to  retire  beyond  the  Nueces  river, 
with  which  order  he  declined  to  comply. 
The  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  de  la 
Palma  followed,  and  he  crossed  the  Rio 
Grande  and  occupied  Matamoras  May  i8th. 
He  was  commissioned  major-general  for  this 
campaign,  and  in  September  he  advanced 
upon  the  city  of  Monterey  and  captured  it 
after  a  hard  fight.  Here  he  took  up  winter 
quarters,  and  when  he  was  about  to  resume 
activity  in  the  spring  he  was  ordered  to  send 
the  larger  part  of  his  army  to  reinforce 
General  Scott  at  Vera  Cruz.  After  leaving 
garrisons  at  various  points  his  army  was  re- 
duced to  about  five  thousand,  mostly  fresh 
recruits.  He  was  attacked  by  the  army  of 
Santa  Anna  at  Buena  Vista,  February  22, 
1847,  ^iid  after  a  severe  fight  completely 
routed  the  Mexicans.  He  received  the 
thanks  of  congress  and  a  gold  medal  for 
this  victory.  He  remained  in  command  of 
the  **  army  of  occupation"  until  winter, 
when  he  returned  to  the  United  States. 

In  1848  General  Taylor  was  nominated 
by  the  Whigs  for  president.  He  was  elected 
over  his  two  opponents,  Cass  and  Van 
Buren.     Great  bitterness  was  developing  in 


the  struggle  for  and  against  the  extension  of 
slavery,  and  the  newly  acquired  territory  in 
the  west,  and  the  fact  that  the  states  were 
now  equally  divided  on  that  question,  tended 
to  increase  the  feeling.  President  Taylor 
favored  immediate  admission  of  California 
with  her  constitution  prohibiting  slavery, 
and  the  admission  of  other  states  to  be 
formed  out  of  the  new  territory  as  they 
might  elect  as  they  adopted  constitutions 
from  time  to  time.  This  policy  resulted  in 
the  **  Omnibus  Bill,"  which  afterward  passed 
congress,  though  in  separate  bills;  not,  how- 
ever, until  after  the  death  of  the  soldier- 
statesman,  which  occurred  July  9,  1850. 
One  of  his  daughters  became  the  wife  of 
Jefferson  Davis. 


MELVILLE  D.  LANDON,  better  known 
as  **  Eli  Perkins,  "author,  lecturer  and 
humorist,  was  born  in  Eaton,  New  York, 
September  7,  1839.  He  was  the  son  of 
John  Landon  and  grandson  of  Rufus  Lan- 
don,  a  revolutionary  soldier  from  Litchfield 
county,  Connecticut.  Melville  was  edu- 
cated at  the  district  school  and  neighboring 
academy,  where  he  was  prepared  for  the 
sophomore  class  at  Madison  University.  He 
passed  two  years  at  the  latter,  when  he  was 
admitted  to  Union  College,  and  graduated 
in  the  class  of  1861,  receiving  the  degree  of 
A.  M.,  in  1862.  He  was,  at  once,  ap- 
pointed to  a  position  in  the  treasury  depart- 
ment at  Washington.  This  being  about  the 
time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and 
before  the  appearance  of  any  Union  troops 
at  the  capital,  he  assisted  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  **  Clay  Battalion,"  of  Washing- 
ton. Leaving  his  clerkship  some  time  later, 
he  took  up  duties  on  the  staff  of  General  A. 
L.  Chetlain,  who  was  in  command  at  Mem- 
phis. In  1 864  he  resigned  from  the  army 
and  engaged  in  cotton  planting  in  Arkansas 


110 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


and  Louisiana.  In  1867  he  went  abroad, 
making  the  tour  of  Europe,  traversing  Rus- 
sia. While  in  the  latter  country  his  old 
commander  of  the  *'  Clay  Battalion,"  Gen- 
eral Cassius  M.  Clay,  then  United  States 
minister  at  St.  Petersburg,  made  him  secre- 
tary of  legation.  In  1871,  on  returning  to 
America,  he  published  a  history  of  the 
Franco-Prussian  war,  and  followed  it  with 
numerous  humorous  writings  for  the  public 
press  under  the  name  of  **Eli  Perkins," 
which,  with  his  regular  contributions  to  the 
*•  Commercial  Advertiser,"  brought  him  into 
notice,  and  spread  his  reputation  as  a  hu- 
morist throughout  the  country.  He  also  pub- 
lished '' Saratoga  in  1891,"  **Wit,  Humor 
and  Pathos,"  '*  Wit  and  Humor  of  the  Age," 
•*  Kings  of  Platform  and  Pulpit,"  '*  Thirty 
Years  of  Wit  and  Humor,"  **  Fun  and  Fact," 
and  ''  China  and  Japan." 


LEWIS  CASS,  one  of  the  most  prom- 
inent statesman  and  party  leaders  of  his 
day,  was  born  at  Exeter,  New  Hampshire, 
October  9,  1782.  He  studied  law,  and  hav- 
ing removed  to  Zanesville,  Ohio,  commenced 
the  practice  of  that  profession  in  1802.  He 
entered  the  service  of  the  American  govern- 
ment in  1 8 12  and  was  made  a  colonel  in 
the  army  under  General  William  Hull,  and 
on  the  surrender  of  Fort  Maiden  by  that 
•officer  was  held  as  a  prisoner.  Being  re- 
leased in  18 1 3,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general  and  in  18 14  ap- 
pointed governor  of  Michigan  Territory. 
After  he  had  held  that  office  for  some 
sixteen  years,  negotiating,  in  the  meantime, 
many  treaties  with  the  Indians,  General 
Cass  was  made  secretary  of  war  in  the  cabi- 
net of  President  Jackson,  in  183 1.  He  was, 
in  1836,  appointed  minister  to  France, 
which  office  he  held  for  six  years.  In  1844 
he  -  as  elected  United  States  senator  from 


Michigan.  In  1846  General  Cass  opposed 
the  Wilmot  Proviso,  which  was  an  amend- 
ment to  a  bill  for  the  purchase  of  land  from 
Mexico,  which  provided  that  in  any  of  the 
territory  acquired  from  that  power  slavery 
should  not  exist.  For  this  and  other  reasons 
he  was  nominated  as  Democratic  candidate 
for  the  presidency  of  the  United  States  in 
1848,  but  was  defeated  by  General  Zachary 
Taylor,  the  Whig  candidate,  having  but 
one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  electoral  votes 
to  his  opponent's  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
three.  In  1 849  General  Cass  was  re-elected 
to  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  and  in 
1854  supported  Douglas'  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill.  He  became  secretary  of  state  in 
March,  1857,  under  President  Buchanan, 
but  resigned  that  office  in  December,  i860. 
He  died  June  17,  1866.  The  published 
works  of  Lewis  Cass,  while  not  numerous, 
are  well  written  and  display  much  ability. 
He  was  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  day 
in  the  political  councils  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  left  a  reputation  for  high  probity 
and  honor  behind  him. 


DEWITT  CLINTON.— Probably  there 
were  but  few  men  who  were  so  popular 
in  their  time,  or  who  have  had  so  much  in- 
fluence in  moulding  events  as  the  individual 
whose  name  honors  the  head  of  this  article. 
De  Witt  Clinton  was  the  son  of  General 
James  Clinton,  and  a  nephew  of  Governor 
George  Clinton,  who  was  the  fourth  vice- 
president  of  the  United  States.  He  was  a 
native  of  Orange  county,  New  York,  born  at 
Little  Britain,  March  2,  1769.  He  gradu- 
ated from  Columbia  College,  in  his  nativ(3 
state,  in  1796,  and  took  up  the  study  of  law. 
In  1790  he  became  private  secretary  to  his 
uncle,  then  governor  of  New  York.  He  en- 
tered public  life  as  a  Republican  or  anti- 
Federalist,  and  was  elected   to  the   lov.cr 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Ill 


house  of  the  state  assembly  in  1797,  and  the 
senate  of  that  body  in  1798.  At  that  time 
he  was  looked  on  as  **  the  most  rising  man 
in  the  Union/'  In  1801  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  senate.  In  1803  he  was 
appointed  by  the  governor  and  council 
mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  then  a 
very  important  and  powerful  office.  Hav- 
ing been  re-appointed,  he  held  the  office 
of  mayor  for  nearly  eleven  years,  and 
rendered  great  service  to  that  city.  Mr. 
Clinton  served  as  lieutenant-governor  of 
the  state  of  New  York,  1811-13,  and 
was  one  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  examine  and  survey  a  route  for  a  canal 
from  the  Hudson  river  to  Lake  Erie.  Dif- 
fering with  President  Madison,  in  relation  to 
the  war,  in  18 12,  he  was  nominated  for  the 
presidency  against  that  gentleman,  by  a 
coalition  party  called  the  Clintonians,  many 
of  whom  were  Federalists.  Clinton  received 
eight-nine  electoral  votes.  His  course  at 
this  time  impaired  his  popularity  for  a  time. 
He  was  removed  from  the  mayoralty  in 
1 8 14,  and  retired  to  private  life.  In  181 5 
he  wrote  a  powerful  argument  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  Erie  canal,  then  a  great  and 
beneficent  work  of  which  he  was  the  prin- 
cipal promoter.  This  was  in  the  shape  of 
a  memorial  to  the  legislature,  which,  in 
18 17,  passed  a  bill  authorizing  the  construc- 
tion of  that  canal.  The  same  year  he  was 
elected  governor  of  New  York,  almost  unani- 
mously, notwithstanding  the  opposition  of 
a  few  who  pronounced  the  scheme  of  the 
canal  visionary.  He  was  re-elected  governor 
in  1820.  He  was  at  this  time,  also,  presi- 
dent of  the  canal  commissioners.  He  de- 
clined a  re-election  to  the  gubernatorial 
chair  in  1822  and  was  removed  from  his 
place  on  the  canal  board  two  years  later. 
But  he  was  triumphantly  elected  to  the  of- 
fice of  governor  that  fall,  and  his  pet  project, 


the  Erie  canal,  was  finished  the  next  year. 
He  was  re-elected  governor  in  1826,  but 
died  while  holding  that  office,  February  11, 

1828. 

AARON  BURR,  one  of  the  many  brilliant 
figures  on  the  political  stage  in  the  early 
days  of  America,  was  born  at  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  February  6,  1756.  He  was  the  son 
of  Aaron  and  Esther  Burr,  the  former  the 
president  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  and 
the  latter  a  daughter  of  Jonathan  Edwards, 
who  had  been  president  of  the  same  educa- 
tional institution.  Young  Burr  graduated 
at  Princeton  in  1772.  In  1775  he  joined 
the  provincial  army  at  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts. For  a  time,  he  served  as  a  private 
soldier,  but  later  was  made  an  aide  on  the 
staff  of  the  unfortunate  General  Montgom- 
ery, in  the  Quebec  expedition.  Subse- 
quently he  was  on  the  staffs  of  Arnold,  Put- 
nam and  Washington,  the  latter  of  whom 
he  disliked.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  lieutenant-colonel  and  commanded  a 
brigade  on  Monmouth's  bloody  field.  In 
I779»  on  account  of  feeble  health.  Colonel 
Burr  resigned  from  the  army.  He  took  up 
the  practice  of  law  in  Albany,  New  York, 
but  subsequently  removed  to  New  York  City. 
In  1789  he  became  attorney-general  of  that 
state.  In  1791  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
the  state  of  New  York  in  the  United  States 
senate  and  held  that  position  for  six  years. 
In  1800  he  and  Thomas  Jefferson  were  both 
candidates  for  the  presidency,  and  there 
being  a  tie  in  the  electoral  college,  each 
having  seventy-three  votes,  the  choice  was 
left  to  congress,  who  gave  the  first  place  to 
Jefferson  and  made  Aaron  Burr  vice-presi- 
dent,  as  the  method  then  was.  In  1804  Mr, 
Burr  and  his  great  rival,  Alexander  Hamil- . 
ton,  met  in  a  duel,  which  resulted  in  the 
death  of  the  latter,  Burr  losing  thereby  con- 


112 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


siderable  political  and  social  influence.  He 
soon  embarked  in  a  wild  attempt  upon 
Mexico,  and  as  was  asserted,  upon  the 
southwestern  territories  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  tried  for  treason  at 
Richmond,  Virginia,  in  1807,  but  acquitted, 
and  to  avoid  importunate  creditors,  fled  to 
Europe.  After  a  time,  in  18 12,  he  returned 
to  New  York,  where  he  practiced  law,  and 
where  he  died,  September  14,  1836.  A  man 
of  great  ability,  brilliant  and  popular  talents, 
his  influence  was  destroyed  by  his  unscrupu- 
lous political  actions  and  immoral  private 
life.  

ALBERT  GALLATIN,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  statesmen  of  the  early 
days  of  the  republic,  was  born  at  Geneva, 
Switzerland,  January  29,  1761.  He  was 
the  son  of  Jean  de  Gallatin  and  Sophia  A. 
Rolaz  du  Rosey  Gallatin,  representatives  of 
an  old  patrician  family.  Albert  Gallatin 
was  left  an  orphan  at  an  early  age,  and  was 
educated  under  the  care  of  friends  of  his 
parents.  He  graduated  from  the  University 
of  Geneva  in  i'779,  and  declining  employ- 
ment under  one  of  the  sovereigns  of  Ger- 
many, came  to  the  struggling  colonies,  land- 
ing in  Boston  July  14,  1780.  Shortly  after 
his  arrival  he  proceeded  to  Maine,  where  he 
served  as  a  volunteer  under  Colonel  Allen. 
He  made  advances  to  the  government  for 
the  support  of  the  American  troops,  and  in 
November,  1780,  was  placed  in  command 
of  a  small  fort  at  Passamaquoddy,  defended 
by  a  force  of  militia,  volunteers  and  Indians. 
In  1783  he  was  professor  of  the  French 
language  at  Harvard  University.  A  year 
later,  having  received  his  patrimony  from 
Europe,  he  purchased  large  tracts  of  land 
in  western  Virginia,  but  was  prevented  by 
the  Indians  from  forming  the  large  settle- 
ment he  proposed,  and,  in  1786,  purchased 


a  farm  in  Fayette  county,  Pennsylvania, 
In  1789  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
to  amend  the  constitution  of  that  state,  and 
united  himself  with  the  Republican  party, 
the  head  of  which  was  Thomas  Jefferson. 
The  following  year  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  of  Pennsylvania,  to  which  he  was 
subsequently  re-elected.  In  1793  he  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  senate,  but 
could  not  take  his  seat  on  account  of  not 
having  been  a  citizen  long  enough.  In  1794 
Mr.  Gallatin  was  elected  to  the  representa- 
tive branch  of  congress,  in  which  he  served 
three  terms.  He  also  took  an  important 
position  in  the  suppression  of  the  **  whiskey 
insurrection."  In  1801,  on  the  accession  of 
Jefferson  to  the  presidency,  Mr.  Gallatia 
was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury. 
In  1809  Mr.  Madison  offered  him  the  posi- 
tion  of  secretary  of  state,  but  he  declined, 
and  continued  at  the  head  of  the  treasury 
until  1812,  a  period  of  twelve  years.  He 
exercised  a  great  influence  on  the  other  de- 
partments and  in  the  general  administration, 
especially  in  the  matter  of  financial  reform, 
and  recommended  measures  for  taxation, 
etc.,  which  were  passed  by  congress,  and  be- 
came laws  May  24,  18 1 3.  The  same  year  he 
was  sent  as  an  envoy  extraordinary  to  Rus- 
sia, which  had  offered  to  mediate  between 
this  country  and  Great  Britain,  but  the  lat- 
ter country  refusing  the  interposition  of 
another  power,  and  agreeing  to  treat  di- 
rectly with  the  United  States,  in  18 14,  at 
Ghent,  Mr.  Gallatin,  in  connection  with  his 
distinguished  colleagues,  negotiated  and 
signed  the  treaty  of  peace.  In  181 5,  in 
conjunction  with  Messrs.  Adams  and  Clay, 
he  signed,  at  London,  a  commercial  treaty 
between  the  two  countries.  In  1816,  de- 
clining his  old  post  at  the  head  of  the  treas- 
ury, Mr.  Gallatin  was  sent  as  minister  to 
France,    wh  re    he    remained    until    1823. 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


118 


After  a  year  spent  in  England  as  envoy  ex- 
traordinary, he  took  up  his  residence  in  New 
York,  and  from  that  time  held  no  public 
office.  In  1830  he  was  chosen  president  of 
the  council  of  the  University  of  New  York. 
He  was,  in  1831,  made  president  of  the 
National  bank,  which  position  he  resigned 
in  1839.      He  died  August  12,  1849. 


MILLARD  FILLMORE,  the  thirteenth 
president  of  the  United  States^  was 
born  of  New  England  parentage  in  Summer 
Hill,  Cayuga  county.  New  York,  January  7, 
1800.  His  school  education  was  very  lim- 
ited, but  he  occupied  his  leisure  hours  in 
study.  He  worked  in  youth  upon  his  fa- 
ther's farm  in  his  native  county,  and  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  was  apprenticed  to  a  wool 
carder  and  cloth  dresser.  Four  years  later 
he  was  induced  by  Judge  Wood  to  enter  his 
office  at  Montville,  New  Yprk,  and  take  up 
the  study  of  law.  This  warm  friend,  find- 
ing young  Fillmore  destitute  of  means, 
loaned  him  money,  but  the  latter,  not  wish- 
ing to  incur  a  heavy  debt,  taught  school 
during  part  of  the  time  and  in  this  and  other 
v^ays  helped  maintain  himself.  In  1822  he 
removed  to  Buffalo,  New  York,  and  the  year 
following,  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession 
at  East  Aurora,  in  the  same  state.  Here 
he  remained  until  1830,  having,  in  the 
meantime,  been  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
supreme  court,  when  he  returned  to  Buffalo, 
where  he  became  the  partner  of  S.  G. 
Haven  and  N.  K.  Hall.  He  entered  poli- 
tics and  served  in  the  state  legislature  from 
1829  to  1832.  He  was  in  congress  in  1833- 
35  and  in  1837-41,  where  he  proved  an 
active  and  useful  member,  favoring  the 
views  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  battling 
almost  alone  the  slave-holding  party  in  na- 
tional politics,  and  in  most  of  public  ques- 


tions acted  with  the  Whig  party.  While 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  ways  and 
means  he  took  a  leading  part  in  draughting 
the  tariff  bill  of  1842.  In  1844  Mr.  Fill- 
more was  the  Whig  candidate  for  governor 
of  New  York.  In  1847  he  was  chosen 
comptroller  of  the  state,  and  abandoning 
his  practice  and  profession  removed  to  Al- 
bany. In  1 848  he  was  elected  vice  presi- 
dent on  the  ticket  with  General  Zachary 
Taylor,  and  they  were  inaugurated  the  fol- 
lowing March.  On  the  death  of  the  presi- 
dent, July  9,  1850,  Mr.  Fillmore  was  in- 
ducted into  that  office.  The  great  events 
of  his  administration  were  the  passage  of 
the  famous  compromise  acts  of  1850,  and 
the  sending  out  of  the  Japan  expedition  of 
1852. 

March  4,  1853,  having  served  one  term. 
President  Fillmore  retired  from  office,  and 
in  1855  went  to  Europe,  where  he  received 
marked  attention.  On  returning  home,  in 
1856,  he  was  nominated  for  the  presidency 
by  the  Native  American  or  *  *  Know-Noth- 
ing" party,  but  was  defeated,  James  Buch- 
anan being  the  successful  candidate. 

Mr.  Fillmore  ever  afterward  lived  in  re- 
tirement. During  the  conflict  of  Civil  war 
he  was  mostly  silent.  It  was  generally  sup- 
posed, however,  that  his  sympathy  was  with 
the  southern  confederacy.  He  kept  aloof 
from  the  conflict  without  any  words  of  cheer 
to  the  one  party  or  the  other.  For  this  rea- 
son he  was  forgotten  by  both.  He  died  of 
paralysis,  in  Buffalo,  New  York,  March  8, 
1874.  

PETER  F.  ROTHERMEL,  one  of  Amer- 
ica's greatest  and  best- known  historical 
painters,  was  born  in  Luzerne  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, July  8,  1817,  and  was  of  Germaa 
ancestry.  He  received  his  earlier  educatioa 
in  his  native  county,  and  in   Philadelphia 


114 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


learned  the  profession  of  land  surveying. 
But  a  strong  bias  toward  art  drew  him  away 
and  he  soon  opened  a  studio  where  he  did 
portrait  painting.  This  soon  gave  place  to 
historical  painting,  he  having  discovered  the 
bent  of  his  genius  in  that  direction.  Be- 
sides the  two  pictures  in  the  Capitol  at 
Washington — *  *De  Soto  Discovering  the  Mis- 
sissippi" and  **  Patrick  Henry  Before  the 
Virginia  House  of  Burgesses" — Rothermel 
painted  many  others,  chief  among  which 
are:  ** Columbus  Before  Queen  Isabella," 
*•  Martyrs  of  the  Colosseum,"  ** Cromwell 
Breaking  Up  Service  in  an  English  Church, " 
and  the  famous  picture  of  the  **  Battle 
of  Gettysburg."  The  last  named  was 
painted  for  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  for 
which  Rothermel  received  the  sum  of  $25,- 
000,  and  which  it  took  him  four  years  to 
plan  and  to  paint.  It  represents  the  portion 
of  that  historic  field  held  by  the  First  corps, 
an  exclusively  Pennsylvania  body  of  men, 
and  was  selected  by  Rothermel  for  that 
reason.  For  many  years  most  of  his  time 
was  spent  in  Italy,  only  returning  for  short 
periods.  He  died  at  Philadelphia,  August 
16,  1895.  

EDMUND  KIRBY  SMITH,  one  of  the 
distinguished  leaders  upon  the  side  of  the 
south  in  the  late  Civil  war,  was  born  at  St. 
Augustine,  Florida,  in  1824.  After  receiv- 
ing the  usual  education  he  was  appointed  to 
the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1845  ^^d 
entered  the  army  as  second  lieutenant  of 
infantry.  During  the  Mexican  war  he  was 
made  first  lieutenant  and  captain  for  gallant 
conduct  at  Cerro  Gordo  and  Contreras. 
From  1849  to  1852  he  was  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  at  West  Point.  He 
was  transferred  to  the  Second  cavalry  with 
the  rank  of  captain  in  1855,  served  on  the 


frontier,  and  was  wounded  in  a  fight  with 
Comanche  Indians  in  Texas,  May  13,  1859. 
In  January,  1861,  he  became  major  of  his 
regiment,  but  resigned  April  9th  to  fol- 
low the  fortunes  of  the  southern  cause. 
He  was  appointed  brigadier-general  in  the 
Confederate  army  and  served  in  Virginia. 
At  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  July  21,  1861, 
he  arrived  on  the  field  late  in  the  day,  but 
was  soon  disabled  by  a  wound.  He  was 
made  major-general  in  1862,  and  being  trans- 
ferred to  East  Tennessee,  was  given  com-^ 
mand  of  that  department.  Under  General, 
Braxton  Bragg  he  led  the  advance  in  the 
invasion  of  Kentucky  and  defeated  the  Union 
forces  at  Richmond,  Kentucky,  August  30, 

1862,  and  advanced  to  Frankfort.  Pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  he 
was  engaged  at  the  battle  of  Perryville, 
October  10,  and  in  the  battle  of  Murfrees- 
boro,   December  31,    1862,   and  January  3, 

1863.  He  was  soon  made  general,  the 
highest  rank  in  the  service,  and  in  com- 
mand of  the  trans-Mississippi  department 
opposed  General  N.  P.  Banks  in  the  famous 
Red  River  expedition,  taking  part  in  the 
battle  of  Jenkins  Ferry,  April  30,  1864,  and 
other  engagements  of  that  eventful  cam- 
paign. He  was  the  last  to  surrender  the 
forces  under  his  command,  which  he  did 
May  26,  1865.  After  the  close  of  the  war 
he  located  in  Tennessee,  where  he  died 
March  28,  1893. 


JOHN  JAMES  INGALLS,  a  famous 
American  statesman,  was  born  Decem- 
ber 29,  1833,  at  Middleton,  Massachusetts, 
where  he  was  reared  and  received  his  early 
education.  He  went  to  Kansas  in  1858 
and  joined  the  free-soil  army,  and  a  year 
after  his  arrival  he  was  a  member  of  the  his- 
torical Wyandotte  convention,  which  drafted 
a  free-state  constitution.     In  i860  he  was 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


115 


made  secretary  of  the  territorial  council, 
and  in  1861  was  secretary  of  the  state  sen- 
ate. The  next  year  he  was  duly  elected  to 
the  legitimate  state  senate  from  Atchison, 
where  he  had  made  his  home.  From  that 
time  he  was  the  leader  of  the  radical  Re- 
publican element  in  the  state.  He  became 
the  editor  of  the  *'  Atchison  Champion  "  in 
1863,  which  was  a  **  red-hot  free-soil  Re- 
publican organ."  In  1862  he  was  the  anti- 
Lane  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor,  but 
wa§  defeated.  He  was  elected  to  the  Unit- 
ed States  senate  to  succeed  Senator  Pom- 
eroy,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  forty-third 
congress  and  served  until  the  fiftieth.  In 
the  forty-ninth  congress  he  succeeded  Sen- 
ator Sherman  as  president  pro  tem. ,  which 
position  he  held  through  the  fiftieth  con- 
gress. 

BENJAMIN  WEST,  the  greatest  of  the 
early  American  painters,  was  of  Eng- 
lish descent  and  Quaker  parentage.  He  was 
born  in  Springfield,  Pennsylvania,  in  1738. 
From  what  source  he  inherited  his  genius  it 
is  hard  to  imagine,  since  the  tenets  and 
tendencies  of  the  Quaker  faith  were  not  cal- 
culated to  encourage  the  genius  of  art,  but 
at  the  age  of  nine  years,  with  no  suggestion 
except  that  of  inspiration,  we  find  him  choos- 
ing his  model  from  life,  and  laboring  over 
his  first  work  calculated  to  attract  public 
notice.  It  was  a  representation  of  a  sleep- 
ing child  in  its  cradle.  The  brush  with 
which  he  painted  it  was  made  of  hairs 
which  he  plucked  from  the  cat's  tail,  and 
the  colors  were  obtained  from  the  war  paints 
of  friendly  Indians,  his  mother's  indigo  bag, 
and  ground  chalk  and  charcoal,  and  the  juice 
of  berries;  but  there  were  touches  in  the  rude 
production  that  he  declared  in  later  days 
were  a  credit  to  his  best  works.  The  pic- 
ture attracted    notice,    for    a   council    was 


called  at  once  to  pass  upon  the  boy's  con- 
duct in  thus  infringing  the  laws  of  the  so- 
ciety. There  were  judges  among  them  who 
saw  in  his  genius  a  rare  gift  and  their  wis- 
dom prevailed,  and  the  child  was  given  per- 
mission to  follow  his  inclination.  He  studied 
under  a  painter  named  Williams,  and  then 
spent  some  years  as  a  portrait  painter  with 
advancing  success.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
two  he  went  to  Italy,  and  not  until  he  had 
perfected  himself  by  twenty-three  years  of 
labor  in  that  paradise  of  art  was  he  satisfied 
to  turn  his  face  toward  home.  However,  he 
stopped  at  London,  and  decided  to  settle 
there,  sending  to  America  for  his  intended 
bride  to  join  him.  Though  the  Revolution- 
ary war  was  raging.  King  George  III  showed 
the  American  artist  the  highest  considera- 
tion and  regard.  His  remuneration  from 
works  for  royalty  amounted  to  five  thou- 
sand dollars  per  year  for  thirty  years. 

West's  best  known  work  in  America  is, 
perhaps,  **The  Death  of  General  Wolf." 
West  was  one  of  the  thirty-six  original  mem- 
bers of  the  Royal  academy  and  succeeded 
Joshua  Reynolds  as  president,  which  posi- 
tion he  held  until  his  death.  His  early 
works  were  his  best,  as  he  ceased  to  display 
originality  in  his  later  life,  conventionality 
having  seriously  affected  his  efforts.  He 
died  in  1820. 


SAMUEL  PORTER  JONES,  the  famous 
Georgia  evangelist,  was  born  October 
16,  1847,  in  Chambers  county,  Alabama. 
He  did  not  attend  school  regularly  during 
his  boyhood,  but  worked  on  a  farm,  and 
went  to  school  at  intervals,  on  account  of 
ill  health.  His  father  removed  to  Carters- 
ville,  Georgia,  when  Mr.  Jones  was  a  small 
boy.  He  quit  school  at  the  age  of  nineteen 
and  never  attended  college.  The  war  inter- 
fered with  his  education,  which  was  intended 


116 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


to  prepare  him  for  the  legal  profession. 
After  the  war  he  renewed  his  preparation 
for  college,  but  was  compelled  to  desist  from 
such  a  course,  as  his  health  failed  him  en- 
tirely.. Later  on,  however,  he  still  pursued 
his  legal  studies  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar.  Soon  after  this  event  he  went  to  Dal- 
las, Paulding  county,  Georgia,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession, 
and  in  a  few  months  removed  to  Cherokee 
county,  Alabama,  where  he  taught  school. 
In  1869  he  returned  to  Cartersville,  Georgia, 
and  arrived  in  time  to  see  his  father  die. 
Immediately  after  this  event  he  applied  for 
a  license  to  preach,  and  went  to  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  to  the  meeting  of  the  North  Geor- 
gia Conference  of  the  M.  E.  church  south, 
which  received  him  on  trial.  He  became 
an  evangelist  of  great  note,  and  traveled 
extensively,  delivering  his  sermons  in  an 
inimitable  style  that  made  him  very  popular 
with  the  masses,  his  methods  of  conducting 
revivals  being  unique  and  original  and  his 
preaching  practical  and  incisive. 


SHELBY  MOORE  CULLOM,  a  national 
character  in  political  affairs  and  for 
many  years  United  States  senator  from 
Illinois,  was  born  November  22,  1829,  at 
Monticello,  Kentucky.  He  came  with  his 
parents  to  Illinois  in  1830  and  spent  his  early 
years  on  a  farm ,  but  having  formed  the  purpose 
of  devoting  himself  to  the  lawyer's  profession 
he  spent  two  years  study  at  the  Rock  River 
seminary  at  Mount  Morris,  Illinois.  In  1853 
Mr.  Cullom  entered  the  law  office  of  Stuart 
and  Edwards  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  two 
years  later  he  began  the  independent  prac- 
tice of  laW  in  that  city.  He  took  an  active 
interest  in  politics  and  was  soon  elected  city 
attorney  of  Springfield.  In  1856  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Illinois  house  of 
representatives.     He  identified  himself  with 


the  newly  formed  Republican  party  and  in 
1 860  was  re-elected  to  the  legislature  of  his 
state,  in  which  he  was  chosen  speaker  of  the 
house.  In  1862  President  Lincoln  appoint- 
ed a  commission  to  pass  upon  and  examine 
the  accounts  of  the  United  States  quarter- 
masters and  disbursing  officers,  composed 
as  follows:  Shelby  M.  Cullom,  of  Illinois; 
Charles  A.  Dana,  of  New  York,  and 
Gov.  Boutwell,  of  Massachusetts.  Mr. 
Cullom  was  nominated  for  congress  in 
1864,  and  was  elected  by  a  majority  of 
1,785.  In  the  house  of  representatives  he 
became  an  active  and  aggressive  member, 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  territories 
and  served  in  congress  until  1868.  Mr. 
Cullom  was  returned  to  the  state  legislature, 
of  which  he  was  chosen  speaker  in  1872, 
and  was  re-elected  in  1874.  In  1876  he 
was  elected  governor  of  Illinois  and  at  the 
end  of  his  term  he  was  chosen  for  a  second 
term.  He  was  elected  United  States  senator 
in  1883  and  twice  re-elected. 


RICHARD  JORDAN  CATLING,  an 
Am.erican  inventor  of  much  note,  was 
born  in  Hertford  county,  North  Carolina, 
September  12,  181 8.  At  an  early  age  he 
gave  promise  of  an  inventive  genius.  The 
first  emanation  from  his  mind  was  the 
invention  of  a  screv/  for  the  propulsion  01 
water  craft,  but  on  application  for  a 
patent,  found  that  he  was  forestalled  but 
a  short  time  by  John  Ericsson.  Subse- 
quently he  invented  a  machine  for  sowing 
wheat  in  drills,  which  was  used  to  a  great 
extent  throughout  the  west.  He  then  stud- 
ied medicine,  and  in  1847-8  attended 
lectures  at  the  Indiana  Medical  College 
at  Laporte,  and  in  1848-9  at  the  Ohio 
Medical  College  at  Cincinnati.  He  later 
discovered  a  method  of  transmitting  power 
through  the  medium  of  compressed  air.     A 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


119 


•double-acting  hemp  break  was  also  invented 
by  him.  The  invention,  however,  by  which 
Dr.  Gatling  became  best  known  was  the 
famous  machine  gun  which  bears  his  name. 
This  he  brought  to  light  in  1861-62,  and  on 
the  first  trial  of  it,  in  the  spring  of  the  latter 
year,  two  hundred  shots  per  minute  were 
fired  from  it.  After  making  some  improve- 
ments which  increased  its  efficiency,  it  was 
submitted  to  severe  trials  by  our  govern- 
m'ent  at  the  arsenals  at  Frankfort,  Wash- 
ington and  Fortress  Monroe,  and  at  other 
points.  The  gun  was  finally  adopted  by 
our  government,  as  well  as  by  that  of  Great 
Britain,  Russia  and  others. 


BENJAMIN  RYAN  TILLMAN,  who  won 
a  national  fame  in  politics,  was  born 
August  II,  1847,  in  Edgefield  county,  South 
Carolina.  He  received  his  education  in  the 
Oldfield  school,  where  he  acquired  the 
rudiments  of  Latin  and  Greek,  in  addition 
to  a  good  English  education.  He  left  school 
in  1864  to  join  the  Confederate  army,  but 
was  prevented  from  doing  so  by  a  severe 
illness,  which  resulted  in  the  loss  of  an  eye. 
In  1867  he  removed  to  Florida,  but  returned 
in  1868,  when  he  was  married  and  devoted 
himself  to  farming.  He  was  chairman  of 
the  Democratic  organization  of  his  county, 
but  except  a  few  occasional  services  he  took 
no  active  part  in  politics  then.  Gradually, 
however,  his  attention  was  directed  to  the 
depressed  condition  of  the  farming  interests 
of  his  state,  and  in  August,  1885,  before  a 
joint  meeting  of  the  agricultural  society  and 
state  grange  at  Bennettsville,  he  made  a 
speech  in  which  he  set  forth  the  cause  of 
agricultural  depression  and  urged  measures^ 
of  relief.  From  his  active  interest  in  the 
farming  class  he  was  styled  the  **  Agricult- 
ural Moses."     He  advocated  an  industrial 

school  for  women  and  for  a  separate  agri- 
7 


cultural  college,  and  in  1887  he  secured  a 
modification  in  the  final  draft  of  the  will  of 
Thomas  G.  Clemson,  which  resulted  in  the 
erection  of  the  Clemson  Agricultural  Col- 
lege at  Fort  Hill.  In  1890  he  was  chosen 
governor  on  the  Democratic  ticket,  and 
carried  the  election  by  a  large  majority. 
Governor  Tillman  was  inaugurated  Decem- 
ber 4,  1890.  Mr.  Tillman  was  next  elected 
to  the  United  States  senate  from  South 
Carolina,  and  gained  a  national  reputation 
by  his  fervid  oratory. 


GEORGE  DENISON  PRENTICE.— 
No  journalist  of  America  was  so  cele- 
brated in  his  time  for  the  wit,  spice,  and 
vigor  of  his  writing,  as  the  gentleman  whose 
name  heads  this  sketch.  From  Atlantic  to 
Pacific  he  was  well  known  by  his  witticism 
as  well  as  by  strength  and  force  of  his  edi- 
torials. He  was  a  native  of  Preston,  Con- 
necticut, born  December  18,  1802.  After 
laying  the  foundation  of  a  liberal  education 
in  his  youth,  he  entered  Brown  University, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1823.  Tak- 
ing up  the  study  of  law,  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1829.  During  part  of  his  time 
he  was  editor  of  the  ''  New  England  Weekly 
Review,"  a  position  which  he  relinquished 
to  go  south  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
Greenleaf  Whittier,  the  Quaker  poet. 

On  arriving  in  Louisville,  whither  he 
had  gone  to  gather  items,  for  his  history  of 
Henry  Clay,  Mr.  Prentice  became  identified 
with  the  '*  Louisville  Journal,"  which,  under 
his  hands,  became  one  of  the  leading  Whig 
newspapers  of  the  country.  At  the  head  of 
this  he  remained  until  the  day  of  his  death. 
This  latter  event  occurred  January  22,  1870, 
and  he  was  succeeded  in  the  control  of  the 
*' Journal' 'by    Colonel    Henry  Watterson. 

Mr.  Prentice  was  an  author  of  consider- 
able celebrity,  chief  among  his  works  being 


120 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHY. 


**The  Life  of  Henry  Clay,"  and  *'  Prentice- 
ana,"  a  collection  of  wit  and  humor,  that 
passed  through  several  large  editions. 


SAM.  HOUSTON,  in  the  opinion  of  some 
critics  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 
who  ever  figured  in  American  history,  was  a 
native  of  Rockbridge  county,  Virginia,  born 
March  2,  1793.  Early  in  life  he  was  left  in 
destitute  circumstances  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  and,  with  his  mother,  removed  to 
Tennessee,  then  almost  a  boundless  wilder- 
ness. He  received  but  little  education, 
spending  the  most  of  his  time  among  the 
Cherokee  Indians.  Part  of  the  time  of  his 
residence  there  Houston  acted  as  clerk  for  a 
trader  and  also  taught  one  of  the  primitive 
schools  of  the  day.  In  181 3  he  enlisted  as 
private  in  the  United  States  army  and  was 
engaged  under  General  Jackson  in  the  war 
with  the  Creek  Indians.  When  peace  was 
made  Houston  was  a  lieutenant,  but  he  re- 
signed his  commission  and  commenced  the 
study  of  law  at  Nashville.  After  holding 
some  minor  offices  he  was  elected  member 
of  congress  from  Tennessee.  This  was  in 
1823.  He  retained  this  office  until  1827, 
when  he  was  chosen  governor  of  the  state. 
In  1829,  resigning  that  office  before  the  ex- 
piration of  his  term,  Sam  Houston  removed 
to  Arkansas,  and  made  his  home  among  the 
Cherokees,  becoming  the  agent  of  that 
tribe  and  representing  their  interests  at 
Washington.  On  a  visit  to  Texas,  just 
prior  to  the  election  of  delegates  to  a  con- 
vention called  for  the  purpose  of  drawing 
up  a  constitution  previous  to  the  admission 
of  the  state  into  the  Mexican  union,  he  was 
unanimously  chosen  a  delegate.  The  con- 
vention framed  the  constitution,  but,  it  be- 
ing rejected  by  the  government  of  Mexico, 
and  the  petition  for  admission  to  the  Con- 
federacy denied  and  the  Texans  told  by  the 


president  of  the  Mexican  union  to  give  up 
their  arms,  bred  trouble.  It  was  determined 
to  resist  this  demand.  A  military  force  was 
soon  organized,  with  General  Houston  at 
the  head  of  it.  War  was  prosecuted  with 
great  vigor,  and  with  varying  success,  but 
at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  April  21,  1836, 
the  Mexicans  were  defeated  and  their  leader 
and  president,  Santa  Anna,  captured.  Texas 
was  then  proclaimed  an  independent  repub- 
lic, and  in  October  of  the  same  year  Hous- 
ton was  inaugurated  president.  On  the  ad- 
mission of  Texas  to  the  Federal  Union,  in 
1845,  Houston  was  elected  senator,  and 
held  that  position  for  twelve  years.  Oppos- 
ing the  idea  of  secession,  he  retired  from 
political  life  in  1861,  and  died  at  Hunts-^ 
ville,  Texas,  July  25,  1863. 


ELI  WHITNEY,  the  inventor  of  the  cot- 
ton-gin, was  born  in  Westborough,  Mas- 
sachusetts, December  8,  1765.  After  his 
graduation  from  Yale  College,  he  went  to 
Georgia,  where  he  studied  law,  and  lived 
with  the  family  of  the  widow  of  General 
Nathaniel  Greene.  At  that  time  the  only 
way  known  to  separate  the  cotton  seed  from 
the  fiber  was  by  hand,  making  it  extremely 
slow  and  expensive,  and  for  this  reason  cot- 
ton was  little  cultivated  in  this  country. 
Mrs.  Greene  urged  the  inventive  Whitney 
to  devise  some  means  for  accomplishing^ 
this  work  by  machinery.  This  he  finally 
succeeded  in  doing,  but  he  was  harassed  by 
attempts  to  defraud  him  by  those  who  had 
stolen  his  ideas.  He  at  last  formed  a  part- 
nership with  a  man  named  Miller,  and  they 
began  the  manufacture  of  the  machines  at 
Washington,  Georgia,  in  1795,  The  suc- 
cess of  his  invention  was  immediate,  and  the 
legislature  of  South  Carolina  voted  the  sum 
of  $50,000  for  his  idea.  This  sum  he  had 
great  difficulty  in  collecting,  after  years  of 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHY. 


121 


litigation  and  delay.  North  Carolina  al- 
lowed him  a  royalty,  and  the  same  was 
agreed  to  by  Tennessee,  but  was  never  paid. 

While  his  fame  rests  upon  the  invention 
of  the  cotton-gin,  his  fortune  came  from  his 
improvements  in  the  manufacture  and  con- 
struction of  firearms.  In  1798  the  United 
States  government  gave  him  a  contract  for 
this  purpose,  and  he  accumulated  a  fortune 
from  it.  The  town  of  Whitneyville,  Con- 
necticut, was  founded  by  this  fortune. 
Whitney  died  at  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
January  8,  1825. 

The  cotton-gin  made  the  cultivation  of 
cotton  profitable,  and  this  led  to  rapid  in- 
troduction of  slavery  in  the  south.  His  in- 
vention thus  affected  our  national  history  in 
a  manner  little  dreamed  of  by  the  inventor. 


LESTER  WALLACK  (John  Lester  Wal- 
lack),  for  many  years  the  leading  light 
comedian  upon  the  American  stage,  was 
the  son  of  James  W.  Wallack,  the  **  Brum- 
mell  of  the  Stage."  Both  father  and  son 
were  noted  for  their  comeliness  of  feature 
and  form.  Lester  Wallack  was  born  in 
New  York,  January  i,  18 19.  He  received 
his  education  in  England,  and  made  bis  first 
appearance  on  the  stage  in  1848  at  the  New 
Broadway  theater.  New  York.  He  acted 
light  comedy  parts,  and  also  occasion- 
ally in  romantic  plays  like  Monte  Cristo, 
which  play  made  him  his  fame.  He  went 
to  England  and  played  under  management 
of  such  men  as  Hamblin  and  Burton, and  then 
returned  to  New  York  with  his  father,  who 
opened  the  first  Wallack's  theater,  at  the 
corner  of  Broome  and  Broadway,  in  1852. 
The  location  was  afterward  changed  to 
Thirteenth  and  Broadway,  in  1861,  and 
later  to  its  present  location,  Broadway  and 
Thirteenth,  in  1882.  The  elder  Wallack 
died  in   1864,   after  which  Lester  assumed 


management,  jointly  with  Theodore  Moss. 
Lester  Wallack  was  commissioned  in  the 
queen's  service  while  in  England,  and  there 
he  also  married  a  sister  to  the  famous  artist, 
the  late  John  Everett  Millais.  While  Les- 
ter Wallack  never  played  in  the  interior 
cities,  his  name  was  as  familiar  to  the  public 
as  that  of  our  greatest  stars.  He  died  Sep- 
tember 6,  1888,  at  Stamford,   Connecticut. 


GEORGE  MORTIMER  PULLMAN, 
the  palace  car  magnate,  inventor, 
multi-millionaire  and  manufacturer,  may 
well  be  classed  among  the  remarkable 
self-made  men  of  the  century.  He  was 
born  March  3,  1 831,  in  Chautauqua  county, 
New  York.  His  parents  were  poor,  and 
his  education  was  limited  to  what  he  could 
learn  of  the  rudimentary  branches  in  the 
district  school.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
went  to  work  as  clerk  for  a  country  mer- 
chant. He  kept  this  place  three  years, 
studying  at  night.  When  seventeen  he 
went  to  Albion,  New  York,  and  worked  for 
his  brother,  who  kept  a  cabinet  shop  there. 
Five  years  later  he  went  into  business  for 
himself  as  contractor  for  moving  buildings 
along  the  line  of  the  Erie  canal,  which  was 
then  being  widened  by  the  state,  and  was 
successful  in  this.  In  1858  he  removed  to 
Chicago  and  engaged  in  the  business  of 
moving  and  raising  houses.  The  work  was 
novel  there  then  and  he  was  quite  success- 
ful. About  this  time  the  discomfort  attend- 
ant on  traveling  at  night  attracted  his  at- 
tention. He  reasoned  that  the  public  would 
gladly  pay  for  comfortable  sleeping  accom- 
modations. A  few  sleeping  cars  were  in 
use  at  that  time,  but  they  were  wretchedly 
crude,  uncomlortable  affairs.  In  1859  he 
bought  two  old  day  coaches  from  the  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  road  and  remodeled  them  some« 
thing  like  the  general  plan  of  the  sleepine^" 


122 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


cars  of  the  present  day.  They  were  put 
into  service  on  the  Chicago  &  Alton  and 
became  popular  at  once.  In  1863  he  built 
the  first  sleeping-car  resembling  the  Pullman 
•cars  of  to-day.  It  cost  $18,000  and  was 
the  **  Pioneer."  After  that  the  Pullman 
Palace  Car  Company  prospered.  It  had 
shops  at  different  cities.  In  1880  the  Town 
of  Pullman  was  founded  by  Mr.  Pullman 
and  his  company,  and  this  model  manufac- 
turing community  is  known  all  over  the 
-world.    Mr.  Pullman  died  October  19,  1897.  . 


JAMES  E.  B.  STUART,  the  most  famous 
cavalry  leader  of  the  Southern  Confed- 
eracy during  the  Civil  war,  was  born  in 
Patrick  county,  Virginia,  in  1833.  On 
graduating  from  the  United  States  Military 
Academy,  West  Point,  in  1854,  he  was  as- 
signed, as  second  lieutenant,  to  a  regiment 
of  mounted  rifles,  receiving  his  commission 
in  October.  In  March,  1855,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  newly  organized  First  cavalry, 
and  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant  the 
following  December,  and  to  captain  April 
22,  1 86 1.  Taking  the  side  of  the  south. 
May  14,  1 86 1,  he  was  made  colonel  of  a 
Virginia  cavalry  regiment,  and  served  as 
such  at  Bull  Run.  In  September,  1861,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier-gen- 
erai.  and  major-general  early  in  1862.  On 
the  reorganization  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  in  June  of  the  latter  year,  when 
R.  E.  Lee  assumed  command,  General  Stu- 
art made  a  reconnoissance  with  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  cavalry  and  four  guns, 
and  in  two  days  made  the  circuit  of  McClel- 
lan's  army,  producing  much  confusion  and 
gathering  useful  information,  and  losing  but 
one  man.  August  25,  1862,  he  captured 
part  of  Pope^s  headquarters'  train,  including 
that  general's  private  baggage  and  official 
correspondence,   and  the  next  night,   in  a 


descent  upon  Manasses,  capturing  immense 
quantities  of  commissary  and  quartermaster 
store,  eight  guns,  a  number  of  locomotives 
and  a  few  hundred  prisoners.  During  the 
invasion  of  Maryland,  in  September,  1862, 
General  Stuart  acted  as  rearguard,  resisting 
the  advance  of  the  Federal  cavalry  at  South 
Mountain,  and  at  Antietam  commanded  the 
Confederate  left.  Shortly  after  he  crossed 
the  Potomac,  making  a  raid  as  far  as  Cham- 
bersburg,  Pennsylvania.  In  the  battle  of 
Fredericksburg,  December  13,  1862,  Gen- 
eral Stuart's  command  was  on  the  extreme 
right  of  the  Confederate  line.  At  Chancel- 
lorsville,  after  **  Stonewall"  Jackson's  death 
and  the  wounding  of  General  A.  P.  Hill, 
General  Stuart  assumed  command  of  Jack- 
son's corps,  which  he  led  in  the  severe  con- 
test of  May  3,  1863.  Early  in  June,  the 
same  year,  a  large  force  of  cavalry  was 
gathered  under  Stuart,  at  Culpepper,  Vir- 
ginia, which,  advancing  to  join  General  Lee 
in  his  invasion  of  Pennsylvania,  was  met  at 
Brandy  Station,  by  two  divisions  of  cavalry 
and  two  brigades  of  infantry,  under  General 
John  I.  Gregg,  and  driven  back.  During  the 
movements  of  the  Gettysburg  campaign  he 
rendered  important  services.  In  May,  1864, 
General  Stuart  succeeded,  by  a  detour,  in 
placing  himself  between  Richmond  and 
Sheridan's  advancing  column,  and  at  Yellow 
Tavern  was  attacked  in  force.  During  the 
fierce  conflict  that  ensued  General  Stuart 
was  mortally  wounded,  and  died  at  Rich- 
mond, May  II,  1864. 


FRANKLIN  PIERCE,  the  fourteenth 
president  of  the  United  States— from 
1853  until  1857 — was  born  November  23, 
1804,  at  Hillsboro,  New  Hampshire.  He 
came  of  old  revolutionary  stock  and  his 
father  was  a  governor  of  the  state.  Mr. 
Pierce  entered  Bowdoin   College  in   1820, 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


12a 


was  graduated  in  1824,  and  took  up  the 
study  of  law  in  the  ofSce  of  Judge  Wood- 
bury, and  later  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
Mr.  Pierce  practiced  his  profession  with 
varying  successes  in  his  native  town  and 
also  in  Concord.  He  was  elected  to  the 
state  legislature  in  1833  and  served  in  that 
body  until  1837,  the  last  two  years  of  his 
term  serving  as  speaker  of  the  house.  He 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate  in 
1837,  just  as  President  Van  Buren  began 
his  term  of  office.  Mr.  Pierce  served  until 
1842,  and  many  times  during  Polk's  term  he 
declined  important  public  offices.  During 
the  war  with  Mexico  Mr.  Pierce  was  ap- 
pointed brigadier-general,  and  he  embarked 
with  a  portion  of  his  troops  at  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  May  27,  1847,  ^^^d  went  with 
them  to  the  field  of  battle.  He  served 
through  the  war  and  distinguished  himself 
by  his  skill,  bravery  and  excellent  judg- 
ment. When  he  reached  his  home  in  his 
native  state  he  was  received  coldly  by  the 
opponents  of  the  war,  but  the  advocates  of 
the  war  made  up  for  his  cold  reception  by 
the  enthusiastic  welcome  which  they  ac- 
corded him.  Mr.  Pierce  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession,  and  in  the  political 
strife  that  followed  he  gave  his  support  to 
the  pro- slavery  wing  of  the  Democratic 
party.  The  Democratic  convention  met  in 
Baltimore,  June  12,  1852,  to  nominate  a 
candidate  for  the  presidency,  and  they  con- 
tinued in  session  four  days,  and  in  thirty- 
five  ballotings  ,no  one  had  secured  the  re- 
quisite two-thirds  vote.  Mr.  Pierce  had  not 
received  a  vote  as  yet,  until  the  Virginia 
delegation  brought  his  name  forward,  and 
finally  on  the  forty-ninth  ballot  Mr.  Pierce 
received  282  votes  and  all  the  other  candi- 
dates eleven.  His  opponent  on  the  Whig 
ticket  was  General  Winfield  Scott,  who 
only  received   the  electoral  votes   of   four 


states.  Mr.  Pierce  was  inaugurated  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  March  4,  1853, 
with  W.  R.  King  as  vice  president,  and  the- 
following  nagied  gentlemen  were  afterward 
chosen  to  fill  the  positions  in  the  cabinet: 
William  S.  Marcy,  James  Guthrie,  Jeffer- 
son Davis,  James  C.  Dobbin,  Robert  Mc-^ 
Clelland,  James  Campbell  and  Caleb  Gush- 
ing. During  the  administration  of  President 
Pierce  the  Missouri  compromise  law  was 
repealed,  and  all  the  territories  of  the  Union 
were  thrown  open  to  slavery,  and  the  dis- 
turbances in  Kansas  occurred.  In  1857  he 
was  succeeded  in  the  presidency  by  James 
Buchanan,  and  retired  to  his  home  in  Con- 
cord, New  Hampshire.  He  always  cherished' 
his  principles  of  slavery,  and  at  the  out- 
break of  the  rebellion  he  was  an  adherent  of 
the  cause  of  the  Confederacy.  He  died  at 
Concord,  New  Hampshire,  October  8,  1869. 


JAMES  B.  WEAVER,  well  known  as  a 
leader  of  the  Greenback  and  later  of  the 
Populist  party,  was  born  at  Dayton,  Ohio, 
June  12,  1833.  He  received  his  earlier 
education  in  the  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  entered  the  law  department  of  the  Ohio 
University,  at  Cincinnati,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1854.  Removing  to  the  grow- 
ing state  of  Iowa,  he  became  connected- 
with  **The  Iowa  Tribune,"  at  the  state 
capital,  Des  Moines,  as  one  of  its  editors. 
He  afterward  practiced  law  and  was  elected 
district  attorney  for  the  second  judicial  dis- 
trict of  Iowa,  on  the  Republican  ticket  in 
I Z66,  which  office  he  held  for  a  short  time. 
In  1867  Mr.  Weaver  was  appointed  assessor 
of  internal  revenue  for  the  first  district  of 
Iowa,  and  filled  that  position  until  some-^ 
time  in  1873.  He  was  elected  and  served 
in  the  forty-sixth  congress.  In  1880  the 
National  or  Greenback  party  in  convention 
at  Chicago,  nominated  James  B.  Weaver  as. 


124 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHl. 


its  candidate  for  the .  presidency.  By  a 
union  of  the  Democratic  and  National 
parties  in  his  district,  he  was  elected  to  the 
forty-ninth  congress,  and  re-elected  to  the 
same  office  in  the  fall  of  1886.  Mr.  Weaver 
was  conceded  to  be  a  very  fluent  speaker, 
and  quite  active  in  all  political  work.  On 
July  4,  1892,  at  the  National  convention 
of  the  People's  party,  General  James  B. 
Weaver  was  chosen  as  the  candidate  for 
president  of  that  organization,  and  during 
the  campaign  that  followed,  gained  a  na- 
tional reputation. 


ANTHONY  JOSEPH  DREXEL,  one 
of  the  leading  bankers  and  financiers  of 
the  United  States,  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1826,  and  was  the  son  of 
Francis  M.  Drexel,  who  had  established 
the  large  banking  institution  of  Drexel  & 
Co.,  so  well  known.  The  latter  was  a  native 
of  Dornbirn,  in  the  Austrian  Tyrol.  He 
studied  languages  and  fine  arts  at  Turin, 
Italy.  On  returning  to  his  mountain  home, 
in  1809,  and  finding  it  in  the  hands  of  the 
French,  he  went  to  Switzerland  and  later 
to  Paris.  In  i8i2,aftera  short  visit  home, 
he  went  to  Berlin,  where  he  studied  paint- 
ing until  18 17,  in  which  year  he  emigrated 
io  America,  and  settled  in  Philadelphia.  A 
few  years  later  he  went  to  Chili  and  Peru, 
where  he  executed  some  fine  portraits  of 
notable  people,  including  General  Simon 
Bolivar.  After  spending  some  time  in  Mex- 
ico, he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  en- 
gaged in  the  banking  business.  In  1837  he 
founded  the  house  of  Drexel  &  Co.  He 
died  in  1837,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  two 
sons,  Anthony  J.  and  Francis  A.  His  son, 
Anthony  J.  Drexel,  Jr. ,  entered  the  bank 
when  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  before  he 
was  thrpugh  with  his  schooling,  and  after 
that  the  history  of  the  banking  business  of 


which  he  was  the  head,  was  the  history  of  his 
life.  The  New  York  house  of  Drexel,  Mor- 
gan &  Co.  was  established  in  1850;  the 
Paris  house,  Drexel,  Harjes  &  Co., in  1867. 
The  Drexel  banking  houses  have  supplied 
iand  placed  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars 
n  government,  corporation,  railroad  and 
other  loans  and  securities.  The  reputation 
of  the  houses  has  always  been  held  on  the 
highest  plane.  Mr.  Drexel  founded  and 
heavily  endowed  the  Drexel  Institute,  in 
Philadelphia,  an  institution  to  furnish  better 
and  wider  avenues  of  employment  to  young 
people  of  both  sexes.  It  has  departments 
of  arts,  science,  mechanical  arts  and  domes- 
tic economy.  Mr.  Drexel, Jr., departed  this 
life  June  30,  1893. 


SAMUEL  FINLEY  BREESE  MORSE, 
inventor  of  the  recording  telegraph  in- 
strument, was  born  in  Charlestown,  Massa- 
chusetts, April  27,  1 79 1.  He  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  18 10,  and  took  up  art 
as  his  profession.  He  went  to  London  with 
the  great  American  painter,  Washington 
Allston,  and  studied  in  the  Royal  Academy 
under  Benjamin  West.  His  **  Dying  Her- 
cules," his  first  effort  in  sculpture,  took  the 
gold  medal  in  1813.  He  returned  to  Amer- 
ica in  181 5  and  continued  to  pursue  his 
profession.  He  was  greatly  interested  in 
scientific  studies,  which  he  carried  on  in 
connection  with  other  labors.  He  founded 
the  National  Academy  of  Design  and  was 
many  years  its  president.  He  returned  to 
Europe  and  spent  three  years  in  study 
in  the  art  centers,  Rome,  Florence,  Venice 
and  Paris.  In  1832  he  returned  to  America 
and  while  on  the  return  voyage  the  idea  of 
a  recording  telegraph  apparatus  occurred  to 
him,  and  he  made  a  drawing  to  represent  his 
conception.  He  was  the  first  to  occupy  the 
chair  of   fine  arts  in  the  University  of  New 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


125 


York  City,  and  in  1835  he  set  up  his  rude 
instrument  in  his  room  in  the  university. 
But  it  was  not  until  after  many  years  of 
discouragement  and  reverses  of  fortune  that 
lie  finally  was  successful  in  placing  his  inven- 
tion before  the  public.  In  1844,  by  aid  of 
the  United  States  government,  he  had  con- 
structed a  telegraph  line  forty  miles  in  length 
from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  Over  this 
line  the  test  was  made,  and  the  first  tele- 
graphic message  was  flashed  May  24,  1844, 
from  the  United  States  supreme  court  rooms 
to  Baltimore.  It  read,  *'What  hath  God 
wrought!"  His  fame  and  fortune  were  es- 
tablished in  an  instant.  Wealth  and  honors 
poured  in  upon  him  from  that  day.  The 
nations  of  Europe  vied  with  each  other 
in  honoring  the  great  inventor  with  medals, 
"titles  and  decorations,  and  the  learned 
societies  of  Europe  hastened  to  enroll  his 
name  upon  their  membership  lists  and  confer 
degrees.  In  1858  he  was  the  recipient  of  an 
honor  never  accorded  to  an  inventor  before. 
The  ten  leading  nations  of  Europe,  at  the 
suggestion  of  the  Emporer  Napoleon,  ap- 
pointed representatives  to  an  international 
congress,  which  convened  at  Paris  for  the 
special  purpose  of  expressing  gratitude  of  the 
nations,  and  they  voted  him  a  present  of 
400,000  francs. 

Professor  Morse  was  present  at  the  unveil- 
ing of  a  bronze  statue  erected  in  his  honor  in 
Central  Park,  New  York,  in  1871.  His  last 
appearance  in  public  was  at  the  unveiling 
of  the  statue  of  Benjamin  Franklin  in  New 
York  in  1872,  when  he  made  the  dedica- 
tory speech  and  unveiled  the  statue.  He 
died  April  2,  1872,  in  the  city  of  New  York. 


MORRISON  REMICHWAITE,  seventh 
chief  justice  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  at  Lym^,  Connecticut,  November  29, 
1 8 16.      He  was  a  graduate  from  Yale  Col- 


lege in  1837,  in  the  class  with  William  M. 
Evarts.  His  father  was  judge  of  the  su- 
preme court  of  errors  of  the  state  of  Con- 
necticut, and  in  his  office  young  Waite 
studied  law.  He  subsequently  removed  to 
Ohio,  and  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of 
that  state  in  1849.  He  removed  from 
Maumee  City  to  Toledo  and  became  a  prom- 
inent legal  light  in  that  state.  He  was 
nominated  as  a  candidate  for  congress  re- 
peatedly but  declined  to  run,  and  also  de- 
clined a  place  on  the  supreme  bench  of  the 
state.  He  won  great  distinction  for  his  able 
handling  of  the  Alabama  claims  at  Geneva, 
before  the  arbitration  tribunal  in  1871,  and 
was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  in  1874  on  the 
death  of  Judge  Chase.  When,  in  1876,  elec- 
toral commissioners  were  chosen  to  decide 
the  presidential  election  controversy  between 
Tilden  and  Hayes,  Judge  Waite  refused  to 
serve  on  that  commission. 

His  death  occurred  March  23,  i^ 


ELISHA  KENT  KANE  was  one  of  the 
distinguished  American  explorers  of  the 
unknown  regions  of  the  frozen  north,  and 
gave  to  the  world  a  more  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  the  Arctic  zone.  Dr.  Kane  was 
born  February  3,  1820,  at  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the 
universities  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania, 
and  took  his  medical  degree  in  1843.  He 
entered  the  service  of  the  United  States 
navy,  and  was  physician  to  the  Chinese 
embassy.  Dr.  Kane  traveled  extensively 
in  the  Levant,  Asia  and  Western  Africa, 
and  also  served  in  the  Mexican  war,  in 
which  he  was  severely  wounded.  His 
first  Arctic  expedition  was  under  De  Haven 
in  the  first  Grinnell  expedition  in  search 
of  Sir  John  Franklin  in  1850.  He  com- 
manded   the    second    Grinnell    expedition 


126 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


in  1853-55,  and  discovered  an  open  polar 
sea.  For  this  expedition  he  received  a  gold 
medal  and  other  distinctions.  He  published 
a  narrative  of  his  first  polar  expedition  in 
1853,  and  in  1856  published  two  volumes 
relating  to  his  second  polar  expedition.  He 
was  a  man  of  active,  enterprising  and  cour- 
ageous spirit.  His  health,  which  was  al- 
ways delicate,  was  impaired  by  the  hard- 
ships of  his  Arctic  expeditions,  from  which 
he  never  fully  recovered  and  from  which  he 
died  February  16,  1857,  at  Havana. 


ELIZABETH  CADY  STANTON  was  a 
daughter  of  Judge  Daniel  Cady  and 
Margaret  Livingston,  and  was  born  Novem- 
ber 12,  181  5,  at  Johnstown,  New  York.  She 
was  educated  at  the  Johnstown  Academy, 
v^'here  she  studied  with  a  class  of  boys,  and 
Was  fitted  for  college  at  the  age  of  fifteen, 
-after  which  she  pursued  her  studies  at  Mrs. 
Willard's  Seminary,  at  Troy.  Her  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  disabilities  of  her  sex 
by  her  own  educational  experiences,  and 
through  a  study  of  Blackstone,  Story,  and 
Kent.  Miss  Cady  was  married  to  Henry  B. 
Stanton  in  1840,  and  accompanied  him  to 
the  world's  anti-slavery  convention  in  Lon- 
don. While  there  she  made  the  acquain- 
tance of  Lucretia  Mott.  Mrs.  Stanton 
resided  at  Boston  until  1847,  when  the 
family  moved  to  Seneca  Falls,  New  York, 
and  she  and  Lucretia  Mott  signed  the  first 
call  for  a  woman's  rights  convention.  The 
meeting  was  held  at  her  place  of  residence 
July  19-20,  1848.  This  was  the  first  oc- 
casion of  a  formal  claim  of  suffrage  for 
women  that  was  made.  Mrs.  Stanton  ad- 
dressed the  New  York  legislature,  in  1854, 
on  the  rights  of  married  women,  and  in 
i860,  in  advocacy  of  the  granting  of  di- 
vorce for  drunkenness.  She  also  addressed 
the  legislature  and  the    constitutional  con- 


vention, and  maintained  that  during  the 
revision  of  the  constitution  the  state  was 
resolved  into  its  original  elements,  and  that 
all  citizens  had,  therefore,  a  right  to  vote 
for  the  members  of  that  convention.  After 
1869  Mrs.  Stanton  frequently  addressed 
congressional  committees  and  state  consti- 
tutional conventions,  and  she  canvassed 
Kansas,  Michigan,  and  other  states  when 
the  question  of  woman  suffrage  was  sub- 
mitted in  those  states.  Mrs.  Stanton  was 
one  of  the  editors  of  the  **  Revolution,"  and 
most  of  the  calls  and  resolutions  for  con- 
ventions have  come  from  her  pen.  She 
was  president  of  the  national  committee, 
also  of  the  Woman's  Loyal  League,  and 
of  the  National  Association,  for  many  years. 


DAVID  DUDLEY  FIELD,  a  great 
American  jurist,  was  born  in  Connecti- 
cut in  1805.  He  en^oxcia  Williams  College 
when  sixteen  years  old,  and  commenced  the 
study  of  law  in  1825.  In  1828  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  and  went  to  New  York, 
where  he  soon  came  into  prominence  be- 
fore the  bar  of  that  state.  He  entered  upon 
the  labor  of  reforming  the  practice  and 
procedure,  which  was  then  based  upon  the 
common  law  practice  of  England,  and  had 
become  extremely  complicated,  difficult  and 
uncertain  in  its  application.  His  first  paper 
on  this  subject  was  published  in  1839,  and 
after  eight  years  of  continuous  efforts  in  this 
direction,  he  was  appointed  one  of  a  com- 
mission by  New  York  to  reform  the  practice 
of  that  state.  The  result  was  embodied  in 
the  two  codes  of  procedure,  civil  and  crimi- 
nal, the  first  of  which  was  adopted  almost 
entire  by  the  state  of  New  York,  and  has 
since  been  adopted  by  more  than  half  the 
states  in  the  Union,  and  became  the  basis 
of  the  new  practice  and  procedure  in  Eng- 
land, contained  in  the  Judicature  act.      He 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


127 


was  later  appointed  chairman  of  a  new  com- 
mission to  codify  the  entire  body  of  laws. 
This  great  work  employed  many  years  in  its 
completion,  but  when  finished  it  embraced 
a  civil,  penal,  and  political  code,  covering 
the  entire  field  of  American  laws,  statutory 
and  common.  This  great  body  of  law  was 
adopted  by  California  and  Dakota  territory 
in  its  entirety,  and  many  other  states  have 
since  adopted  its  substance.  In  1867  the 
British  Association  for  Social  Science  heard 
a  proposition  from  Mr.  Field  to  prepare  an 
international  code.  This  led  to  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  *'  Draft  Outlines  of  an  Interna- 
tional Code,"  which  was  in  fact  a  complete 
body  of  international  laws,  and  introduced 
the  principle  of  arbitration.  Other  of  his 
codes  of  the  state  of  New  York  have  since 
been  adopted  by  that  state. 

In  addition  to  his  great  works  on  law, 
Mr.  Field  indulged  his  literary  tastes  by  fre- 
quent contributions  to  general  literature, 
and  his  articles  on  travels,  literature,  and 
the  political  questions  of  the  hour  gave 
him  rank  with  the  best  writers  of  his  time. 
His  father  was  the  Rev.  David  Dudley  Field, 
and  his  brothers  were  Cyrus  W.  Field,  Rev. 
Henry  Martin  Field,  and  Justice  Stephen 
J.  Field  of  the  United  States  supreme 
court.  David  Dudley  Field  died  at  New 
York,  April  13,  1894. 


HENRY  M.  TELLER,  a  celebrated 
American  politician,  and  secretary  of 
the  interior  under  President  Arthur,  was  born 
May  23,  1830,  in  Allegany  county,  New 
York.  He  was  of  Hollandish  ancestry  and 
received  an  excellent  education,  after  which 
he  took  up  the  study  of  law  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
Mr.  Teller  removed  to  Illinois  in  January, 
1858,  and  practiced  for  three  years  in  that 
state.      From  thence  he  moved  to  Colorado 


in  1 86 1  and  located  at  Central  City,  which 
was  then  one  of  the  principal  mining  towns 
in  the  state.  His  exceptional  abilities  as 
a  lawyer  soon  brought  him  into  prominence 
and  gained  for  him  a  numerous  and  profit- 
able clientage.  In  politics  he  affiliated  with 
the  Republican  party,  but  declined  to  become 
a  candidate  for  office  until  the  admission  of 
Colorado  into  the  Union  as  a  state,  when 
he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate. 
Mr.  Teller  drew  the  term  ending  March 
4,  1877,  but  was  re-elected  December  11, 
1876,  and  served  until  April  17,  1882,  when 
he  was  appointed  by  President  Arthur  as 
secretary  of  the  interior.  He  accepted  a 
cabinet  position  with  reluctance,  and  on 
March  3,  1885,  he  retired  from  the  cabinet, 
having  been  elected  to  the  senate  a  short 
time  before  to  succeed  Nathaniel  P.  Hill. 
Mr.  Teller  took  his  seat  on  March  4,  1885, 
in  the  senate,  to  which  he  was  afterward 
re-elected.  He  served  as  chairman  on  the 
committee  of  pensions,  patents,  mines  and> 
mining,  and  was  also  a  member  of  commit- 
tees on  claims,  railroads,  privileges  and 
elections  and  public  lands.  Mr.  Teller  came 
to  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  advo- 
cates of  the  silver  cause.  He  was  one  of  the 
delegates  to  the  Republican  National  conven- 
tion at  St.  Louis  in  1896,  in  which  he  took 
an  active  part  and  tried  to  have  a  silver 
plank  inserted  in  the  platform  of  the  party. 
Failing  in  this  he  felt  impelled  to  bolt  the 
convention,  which  he  did  and  joined  forces 
with  the  great  silver  movement  in  the  cam- 
paign which  followed,  being  recognized  in- 
that  campaign  as  one  of  the  most  able  and 
eminent  advocates  of  **  silver"  in  America. 


JOHN  ERICSSON,  an  eminent  inven- 
tor and  machinist,  who  won  fame  in 
America,  was  born  in  Sweden,  July  31,  1803. 
In  early  childhood  he  evinced  a  decided  in« 


128 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


clination  to  mechanical  pursuits,  and  at  the 
age  of  eleven  he  was  appointed  to  a  cadet- 
ship  in  the  engineer  corps,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy, 
in  1826  he  introduced  a  '*  flame  engine,'* 
which  he  had  invented,  and  offered  it  to 
English  capitalists,  but  it  was  found  that  it 
could  be  operated  only  by  the  use  of  wood 
for  fuel.  Shortly  after  this  he  resigned  his 
commission  in  the  army  of  Sweden,  and  de- 
voted himself  to  mechanical  pursuits.  He 
discovered  and  introduced  the  principle  of 
artificial  draughts  in  steam  boilers,  and  re- 
ceived a  prize  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars  for  his  locomotive,  the  '*  Novelty," 
which  attained  a  great  speed,  for  that  day. 
The  artificial  draught  effected  a  great  saving 
in  fuel  and  made  unnecessary  the  huge 
smoke-stacks  formerly  used,  and  the  princi- 
ple is  still  applied,  in  modified  form,  in  boil- 
ers. He  also  invented  a  steam  fire-engine, 
and  later  a  hot-air  engine,  which  he  at- 
tempted to  apply  in  the  operation  of  his 
ship,  *'EricssQn,"  but  as  it  did  not  give  the 
speed  required,  he  abandoned  it,  but  after- 
'wards  applied  it  to  machinery  for  pumping, 
hoisting,  etc. 

Ericsson  was  first  to  apply  the  screw 
propeller  to  navigation.  The  English  peo- 
ple not  receiving  this  new  departure  readily, 
Ericsson  came  to  America  in  1839,  and 
built  the  United  States  steamer,  *  *  Prince- 
ton," in  which  the  screw-propeller  was  util- 
ized, the  first  steamer  ever  built  in  which 
the  propeller  was  under  water,  out  of  range 
of  the  enemy's  shots.  The  achievement 
which  gave  him  greatest  renown,  however, 
was  the  ironclad  vessel,  the  *' Monitor,''  an 
ei.tirely  new  type  of  vessel,  which,  in  March, 
1862,  attacked  the  Confederate  monster 
ironclad  ram,  **  Virginia, "  and  after  a  fierce 
struggle,  compelled  her  to  withdraw  from 
Hampton  Roads  for  repairs.     After  the  war 


one  of  his  most  noted  inventions  was  his 
vessel,  **  Destroyer,"  with  a  submarine  gun, 
which  carried  a  projectile  torpedo.  In  1886 
the  king  of  Spain  conferred  on  him  the 
grand  cross  of  the  Order  of  Naval  Merit. 
He  died  in  March,  1889,  and  his  body  was 
transferred,  with  naval  honors,  to  the  country 
of  his  birth. 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,  the  fifteenth  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  born  in  Franklin 
county,  April  23,  1791.  He  was  of  Irish 
ancestry,  his  father  having  come  to  this 
country  in  1783,  in  quite  humble  circum- 
stances, and  settled  in  the  western  part  of 
the  Keystone  state. 

James  Buchanan  remained  in  his  se- 
cluded home  for  eight  years,  enjoying  but 
few  social  or  intellectual  advantages.  His 
parents  were  industrious  and  frugal,  and 
prospered,  and,  in  1799,  the  family  removed 
to  Mercersbur  Pennsylvania,  where  he 
was  placed  in  school.  His  progress  was 
rapid,  and  in  1801  he  entered  Dickinson 
College,  at  Carlisle,  where  he  took  his  place 
among  the  best  scholars  in  the  institution. 
In  1809  he  graduated  with  the  highest  hon- 
ors in  his  class.  He  was  then  eighteen,  tall, 
graceful  and  in  vigorous  health.  He  com- 
menced the  study  of  law  at  Lancaster,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  18 12.  He  rose 
very  rapidly  in  his  profession  and  took  a 
stand  with  the  ablest  of  his  fellow  lawyers. 
When  but  twenty-six  years  old  he  success- 
fully defended,  unaided  by  counsel,  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  state  who  was  before  the 
bar  of  the  state  senate  under  articles  of  im- 
peachment. 

During  the  war  of  18 12-15,  Mr.  Buch- 
anan sustained  the  government  with  all  his 
power,  eloquently  urging  the  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war,  and  enlisted  as  a  private 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


129 


volunteer  to  assist  in  repelling  the  British 
who  had  sacked  and  burned  the  public 
buildings  of  Washington  and  threatened 
Baltimore.  At  that  time  Buchanan  was 
a  Federalist,  but  the  opposition  of  that 
party  to  the  war  with  Great  Britain  and  the 
alien  and  sedition  laws  of  John  Adams, 
brought  that  party  into  disrepute,  and  drove 
many,  among  them  Buchanan,  into  the  Re- 
publican, or  anti-Federalist  ranks.  He  was 
elected  to  congress  in  1828.  In  .1831  he 
was  sent  as  minister  to  Russia,  and  upon 
his  return  to  this  country,  in  1833,  was  ele- 
vated to  the  United  States  senate,  and  re- 
mained in  that  position  for  twelve  years. 
Upon  the  accession  of  President  Polk  to 
office  he  made  Mr.  Buchanan  secretary  of 
state.  Four  years  later  he  retired  to  pri- 
vate life,  and  in  1853  he  was  honored  with 
the  mission  to  England.  In  1856  the  na- 
tional Democratic  convention  nominated 
him  for  the  presidency  and  he  was  elected. 
It  was  during  his  administration  that  the 
rising  tide  of  the  secession  movement  over- 
took the  country.  Mr.  Buchanan  declared 
that  the  national  constitution  gave  him  no 
power  to  do  anything  against  the  movement 
to  break  up  the  Union.  After  his  succession 
by  Abraham  Lincoln  in  i860,  Mr.  Buchanan 
retired  to  his  home  at  Wheatland,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  died  June  i,  1868. 


JOHN  HARVARD,  the  founder  of  the 
Harvard  University,  was  born  in  Eng- 
land about  the  year  1608.  He  received  his 
education  at  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge, 
and  came  to  America  in  1637,  settling  in 
Massachusetts.  He  was  a  non-conformist 
minister,  and  a  tract  of  land  was  set  aside 
for  him  in  Charlestown,  near  Boston.  He 
was  at  once  appointed  one  of  a  committee  to 
formulate  a  body  of  laws  for  the  colony. 
One  year  before  his  arrival  in  the  colony 


the  general  court  had  voted  the  sum  of  four 
hundred  pounds  toward  the  establishment  of 
a  schocl  or  college,  half  of  which  was  to  be 
paid  the  next  year  In  1637  preliminary 
plans  were  made  for  starting  the  school.  In 
1638  John  Harvard,  who  had  shown  great 
interest  in  the  new  institution  o.^  learning 
proposed,  died,  leaving  his  entire  property, 
about  twice  the  sum  originally  voted,  to  the 
school,  together  with  three  hundred  volumes 
as  a  nucleus  for  a  library.  The  institution 
was  then  given  the  name  of  Harvard,  and 
established  at  Newton  (now  Cambridge), 
Massachusetts.  It  grew  to  be  one  of  the  two 
principal  seats  of  learning  in  the  new  world, 
and  has  maintained  its  reputation  since.  It 
now  consists  of  twenty-two  separate  build- 
ings, and  its  curriculum  embraces  over  one 
hundred  and  seventy  elective  courses,  and  it 
ranks  among  the  great  universities  of  the 
world. 

ROGER  BROOKE  TANEY,  a  noted 
jurist  and  chief  justice  of  the  United 
States  supreme  court,  was  born  in  Calvert 
county,  Maryland,  March  17,  1777.  He 
graduated  fiom  Dickinson  College  at  the 
age  of  eighteen,  took  up  the  study  of  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1799.  He 
was  chosen  to  the  legislature  from  his  county, 
and  in  1801  removed  to  Frederick,  Mary- 
land. He  became  United  States  senator 
from  Maryland  in  18 16,  and  took  up  his 
permanent  residence  in  Baltimore  a  few 
years  later.  In  1824  he  became  an  ardent 
admirer  and  supporter  of  Andrew  Jackson, 
and  upon  Jackson's  election  to  the  presi- 
dency, was  appointed  attorney  general  of 
the  United  States.  Two  years  later  he  was 
appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and 
after  serving  in  that  capacity  for  nearly  one 
year,  the  senate  refused  to  confirm  the  ap- 
pointment.     In    1835,   upon    the   death  of 


ISO 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Chief-justice  Marshall,  he  was  appointed  to 
that  place,  and  a  political  change  having 
occurred  in  the  make  up  of  the  senate,  he 
was  confirmed  in  i336»  He  presided  at 
his  first  session  in  January  of  the  following 
year. 

The  case  which  suggests  itself  first  to 
the  average  reader  in  connection  with  this 
jurist  is  the  celebrated  *'  Dred  Scott  "  case, 
which  came  before  the  supreme  court  for 
decision  in  1856.  In  his  opinion,  delivered 
on  behalf  of  a  majority  of  the  court,  one 
remarkable  statement  occurs  as  a  result  of 
an  exhaustive  survey  of  the  historical 
grounds,  to  the  effect  that  **  for  more  than 
a  century  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution they  (Africans)  had  been  regarded 
so  far  inferior  that  they  had  no  rights  which 
a  white  man  was  bound  to  respect."  Judge 
Taney  retained  the  office  of  chief  justice 
until  his  death,  in  1864. 


JOHN  LOTHROP  MOTLEY.— This  gen- 
tleman had* a  world-wide  reputation  as 
an  historian,  which  placed  him  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  great  men  of  America.  He  was 
born  April  15,  18 14,  at  Dorchester,  Massa- 
chusetts, was  given  a  thorough  preparatory 
education  and  then  attended  Harvard,  from 
which  he  was  graduated  in  1831.  He  also 
studied  at  Gottingen  and  Berlin,  read  law 
and  in  1836  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  In 
1 84 1  he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the 
legation  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  1866-67 
served  as  United  States  minister  to  Austria, 
serving  \\\  the  same  capacity  during  1869 
and  1870  to  England.  In  1856,  after  long 
and  exhau  tive  research  and  preparation, he 
published  ill  London  **The  Rise  of  the 
Dutch  Repablc."  It  embraced  three  vol- 
umes and  im  iiediately  attracted  great  at- 
tention throughout  Europe  and  America  as 
a  work  of  unusual  merit.     From    1861   to 


1868  he  produced  ''The  History  of  the 
United  Netherlands,"  in  four  volumes. 
Other  works  followed,  with  equal  success, 
and  his  position  as  one  of  the  foremost  his- 
torians and  writers  of  his  day  was  firmly 
established.  His  death  occured  May  29,, 
1877.  

ELIAS  HOWE,  the  inventor  of  the  sew- 
ing machine,  well  deserves  to  be  classed' 
among  the  great  and  noted  men  of  Amer- 
ica. He  was  the  son  of  a  miller  and  farmer 
and  was  born  at  Spencer,  Massachusetts, 
July  9,  1819.  In  1835  he  went  to  Lowell 
and  worked  there,  and  later  at  Boston,  in  the 
machine  shops.  His  first  sewing  machine 
was  completed  in  1 845 ,  and  he  patented  it  in 
1846,  laboring  with  the  greatest  persistency 
in  spite  of  poverty  and  hardships,  working 
for  a  time  as  an  engine  driver  on  a  railroad 
at  pauper  wages  and  with  broken  health. 
He  then  spent  two  years  of  unsuccessful  ex- 
ertion in  England,  striving  in  vain  to  bring 
his  invention  into  public  notice  and  use. 
He  returned  to  the  United  States  in  almost 
hopeless  poverty,  to  find  that  his  patent 
had  been  violated.  At  last,  however,  he 
found  friends  who  assisted  him  financially, 
and  after  years  of  litigation  he  made  good 
his  claims  in  the  courts  in  1854.  His  inven- 
tion afterward  brought  him  a  large  fortune. 
During  the  Civil  war  he  volunteered  as  a 
private  in  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  Vol- 
unteers, and  served  for  some  time.  During 
his  life  time  he  received  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  and  many  other  medals. 
His  death  occurred  October  3,  1867,  at 
Brooklvn,  New  York. 


PHILLIPS  BROOKS,  celebrated  as  an 
eloquent  preacher  and  able  pulpit  ora- 
tor, was  born  in  Boston  on  the  13th  day  of 
December,     1835.      He   received   excellent 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


131 


educational  advantages,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1855.  Early  in  life  he  decided 
upon  the  ministry  as  his  life  work  and 
studied  theology  in  the  Episcopal  Theolog- 
ical Seminary,  at  Alexandria,  Virginia.  In 
1859  he  was  ordained  and  the  same  year 
became  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Advent, 
in  Philadelphia.  Three  years  later  he  as- 
sumed the  pastorate  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Trinity,  where  he  remained  until  1870. 
At  the  expiration  of  that  time  he  accepted 
the  pastoral  charge  of  Trinity  Church  in 
Boston,  where  his  eloquence  and  ability  at- 
tracted much  attention  and  built  up  a  pow- 
erful church  organization.  Dr.  Brooks  also 
devoted  considerable  time  to  lecturing  and 
literary  work  and  attained  prominence  in 
these  lines. 

WILLIAM  B.  ALLISON,  a  statesman 
of  national  reputation  and  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Republican  party,  was  born 
March  2,  1829,  at  Perry,  Ohio.  He  grew 
up  on  his  father's  farm,  which  he  assisted 
in  cultivating,  and  attended  the  district 
school.  When  sixteen  years  old  he  went 
to  the  academy  at  Wooster,  and  subse- 
quently spent  a  year  at  the  Allegheny  Col- 
lege, at  Meadville,  Pennsylvania.  He  next 
taught  school  and  spent  another  year  at  the 
Western  Reserve  College,  at  Hudson,  Ohio. 
Mr.  Allison  then  took  up  the  study  of  law 
at  Wooster,  where  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1851,  and  soon  obtained  a  position 
as  deputy  county  clerk.  His  political  lean- 
ings were  toward  the  old  line  Whigs,  who 
afterward  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  state 
convention  in  1856,  in  the  campaign  of 
which  he  supported  Fremont  for  president. 
Mr  Allison  removed  to  Dubuque,  Iowa, 
in  the  following  year.  He  rapidly  rose  to 
prominence  at  the  bar  and  i:i  politics.      In 


i860  he  was  chosen  as  a  delegate  to  the 
Republican  convention  held  in  Chicago,  of 
which  he  was  elected  one  of  the  secretaries. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  he  was  ap- 
pointed on  the  staff  of  the  governor.  His 
congressional  career  opened  in  1862,  when 
he  was  elected  to  the  thirty-eighth  congress; 
he  was  re-elected  three  times,  serving  from 
March  4,  1863,  to  March  3,  1871.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  ways  and  means  committee 
a  good  part  of  his  term.  His  career  in  the 
United  States  senate  began  in  1873,  and  he 
rapidly  rose  to  eminence  in  national  affairs, 
his  service  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  that 
body  being  marked  by  close  fealty  to  the 
Republican  party.  He  twice  declined  the 
portfolio  of  the  treasury  tendered  him  by 
Garfield  and  Harrison,  and  his  name  was 
prominently  mentioned  for  the  presidency 
at  several  national  Republican  conventions. 


MARY  ASHTON  LIVERMORE,  lec- 
turer and  writer,  was  born  in  Boston, 
December  19,  1821.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Timothy  Rice,  and  married  D.  P.  Liver- 
more,  a  preacher  of  the  Universalist  church. 
She  contributed  able  articles  to  many  of  the 
most  noted  periodicals  of  this  country  and 
England.  During  the  Civil  war  she  labored 
zealously  and  with  success  on  behalf  of  the 
sanitary  commission  which  played  so  impor- 
tant a  part  during  that  great  struggle.  She 
became  editor  of  the  **  Woman's  Journal,'* 
published  at  Boston  in  1870. 

She  held  a  prominent  place  as  a  public 
speaker  and  writer  on  woman's  suffrage, 
temperance,  social  and  religious  questions, 
and  her  influence  was  great  in  every  cause 
she  advocated. 


JOHN  B.    GOUGH.  a  noted  temperance 
lecturer,  who  won  his  fame  in  A-merica, 
was  born  in  the  village  of  Sandgate,  Kent^ 


182 


C  OMPENDIUM  OF   BIO  GRA  PHT, 


England,  August  22,  1 817.  He  came  to 
the  United  States  at  the  age  of  twelve. 
He  followed  the  trade  of  bookbinder,  and 
lived  in  great  poverty  on  account  of  the 
liquor  habit.  In  1843,  however,  he  re- 
formed, and  began  his  career  as  a  temper- 
ance lecturer.  He  worked  zealously  in  the 
cause  of  temperance,  and  his  lectures  and 
published  articles  revealed  great  earnestness. 
He  formed  temperance  societies  throughout 
the  entire  country,  and  labored  with  great 
success.  He  visited  England  in  the  same 
cause  about  the  year  1853  and  again  in 
1878.  He  also  lectured  upon  many  other 
topics,  in  which  he  attained  a  wide  reputa- 
tion. His  death  occurred  February  18, 
1886.  

THOMAS  BUCHANAN  READ,  author, 
sculptor  and  painter,  was  born  in  Ches- 
ter county,  Pennsylvania,  March  12,  1822. 
He  early  evinced  a  taste  for  art,  and  began 
the  study  of  sculpture  in  Cincinnati.  Later 
he  found  painting  more  to  his  liking.  He 
went  to  New  York,  where  he  followed  this 
profession,  and  later  to  Boston.  In  1846 
he  located  in  Philadelphia.  He  visited 
Italy  in  1850,  and  studied  at  Florence, 
where  he  resided  almost  continuously  for 
twenty-two  years.  He  returned  to  America 
in  1872,  and  died  in  New  York  May  11  of 
the  same  year. 

He  was  the  author  of  many  heroic 
poems,  but  the  one  giving  him  the  most  re- 
nown is  his  famous  ** Sheridan's  Ride,"  of 
which  he  has  also  left  a  Representation  in 
painting. 

EUGENE  V.  DEBS,  the  former  famous 
president  of  the  American  Railway 
Union,  and  great  labor  leader,  was  born  in 
the  city  of  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  in  1855. 
He  received   his   education   in  the    public 


schools  of  that  place  and  at  the  age  of 
sixteen  years  began  work  as  a  painter  in 
the  Vandalia  shops.  After  this,  for  some 
three  years,  he  was  employed  as  a  loco- 
motive fireman  on  the  same  road.  His 
first  appearance  in  public  life  was  in  his 
canvass  for  the  election  to  the  office  of  city 
clerk  of  Terre  Haute.  In  this  capacity  he 
served  two  terms,  and  when  twenty  six 
years  of  age  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
legislature  of  the  state  of  Indiana.  While 
a  member  of  that  body  he  secured  the 
passage  of  several  bills  in  the  interest  of 
organized  labor,  of  which  he  was  always 
a  faithful  champion.  Mr.  Debs'  speech 
nominating  Daniel  Voorhees  for  the  United 
States  senate  gave  him  a  wide  reputation  for 
oratory.  On  the  expiration  of  his  term  in 
the  legislature,  he  was  elected  grand  secre- 
tary and  treasurer  of  the  Brotherhood  of 
Locomotive  Fireman  and  filled  that  office 
for  fourteen  successive  years.  He  was 
always  an  earnest  advocate  of  confederation 
of  railroad  men  and  it  was  mainly  through 
his  efforts  that  the  United  Order  of  Railway 
Employes,  composed  of  the  Brotherhood 
of  Railway  Trainmen  and  Conductors, 
Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and 
the  Switchmen's  Mutual  Aid  Association  was 
formed,  and  he  became  a  member  of  its 
supreme  council.  The  order  was  dissolved 
by  disagreement  between  two  of  its  leading 
orders,  and  then  Mr.  Debs  conceived  the 
idea  of  the  American  Railway  Union.  He 
worked  on  the  details  and  the  union  came 
into  existence  in  Chicago,  June  20, 1 893.  For 
a  time  it  prospered  and  became  one  of  the 
largest  bodies  of  railway  men  in  the  world. 
It  won  in  a  contest  with  the  Great  Northern 
Railway.  In  the  strike  made  by  the  union 
in  sympathy  with  the  Pullman  employes 
inaugurated  in  Chicago  June  25,  1894,  and 
the  consequent  rioting,   the   Railway  Union 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


188 


lost  much  prestige  and  Mr.  Debs,  in  company 
with  others  of  the  officers,  being  held  as  in  con- 
tempt of  the  United  States  courts,  he  suffered 
a  sentence  of  six  months  in  jail  at  Wood- 
stock, McHenry  county,  Illinois.  In  1897 
Mr.  Debs,  on  the  demise  of  the  American 
Railway  Union,  organized  the  Social 
Democracy,  an  institution  founded  on  the 
best  lines  of  the  communistic  idea,  which 
was  to  provide  homes  and  employment  for 
its  members. 


JOHN  G.  CARLISLE,  famous  as  a  law- 
yer, congressman,  senator  and  cabinet 
officer,  was  born  in  Campbell  (now  Kenton) 
county,  Kentucky,  September  5,  1835,  on  a 
farm.  He  received  the  usual  education  oi 
the  time  and  began  at  an  early  age  to  teach 
school  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  study  of 
law.  Soon  opportunity  offered  and  he 
entered  an  office  in  Covington,  Kentucky, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  bar  in 
1858.  Politics  attracted  his  attention  and 
in  1859  he  was  elected  to  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives in  the  legislature  of  his  native 
state.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861, 
he  embraced  the  cause  of  the  Union  and  was 
largely  instrumental  in  preserving  Kentucky 
to  the  federal  cause.  He  resumed  his  legal 
practice  for  a  time  and  declined  a  nomina- 
tion as  presidential  elector  in  1864.  In 
1866  and  again  in  1869  Mr.  Carlisle  was 
elected  to  the  senate  of  Kentucky.  He  re- 
signed this  position  in  1871  and  was  chosen 
lieutenant  governor  of  the  state,  which  office 
he  held  until  1875.  He  was  one  of  the 
presidential  electors-at-large  for  Ken- 
tucky in  1876.  He  first  entered  congress  in 
1877,  ^^^d  soon  became  a  prominent  leader 
on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, and  continued  a  member  of 
that  body  through  the  forty-sixth,  forty- 
seventh,  forty-eighth   and  forty-ninth  con- 


gresses, and  was  speaker  of  the  house  during 
the  two  latter.  He  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  senate  to  succeed  Senator 
Blackburn,  and  remained  a  member  of  that 
branch  of  congress  until  March,  1893,  when 
he  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  treasury. 
He  performed  the  duties  of  that  high  office 
until  March  4,  1897,  throughout  the  en- 
tire second  administration  of  President 
Cleveland.  His  ability  and  many  years  of 
public  service  gave  him  a  national  reputa- 
tion. 

FRANCES  E.  WILLARD,  for  many  years 
president  of  the  'Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union,  and  a  noted  American 
lecturer  and  writer,  was  born  in  Rochester, 
New  York,  September  28,  1839.  Graduating 
from  the  Northwestern  Female  College  at  the 
age  of  nineteen  she  began  teaching  and  met 
with  great  success  in  many  cities  of  the  west. 
She  was  made  directress  of  Genesee  Wes- 
leyan  Seminary  at  Lima,  Ohio,  in  1867,  and 
four  years  later  was  elected  president  of  the 
Evanston  College  for  young  ladies,  a  branch 
of  the  Northwestern  University. 

During  the  two  years  succeeding  1869 
she  traveled  extensively  in  Europe  and  the 
east,  visiting  Egypt  and  Palestine,  and 
gathering  materials  for  a  valuable  course  of 
lectures,  which  she  delivered  at  Chicago  on 
her  return.  She  became  very  popular,  and 
won  great  influence  in  the  temperance 
cause.  Her  work  as  president  of  the  Wo- 
man's Christian  Temperance  Union  greatly 
strengthened  that  society,  and  she  made 
frequent  trips  to  Europe  in  the  mterest  of 
that  cause. 

RICHARD  OLNEY.— Among  the  promi- 
nent men  who  were  members  of  the 
cabinet  of  President  Cleveland  in  his  second 
administration,  the  gentleman  whose  nama 


184 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


heads  this  sketch  held  a  leading  place,  oc- 
cupying the  positions  of  attorney  general 
and  secretary  of  state. 

Mr.  Olney  came  from  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  honored  New  England  families; 
the  first  of  his  ancestors  to  come  from  Eng- 
land settled  in  Massachusetts  in  1635.  This 
was  Thomas  Olney.  He  was  a  friend  and 
co-religionist  of  Roger  Williams,  and  when 
the  latter  moved  to  what  is  now  Rhode 
Island,  went  with  him  and  became  one  of 
the  founders  of  Providence  Plantations. 

Richard  Olney  was  born  in  Oxford, 
Massachusetts,  in  1835,  and  received  the 
elements  of  his  earlier  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools  which  New  England  is  so  proud 
of.  He  entered  Brown  University,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1856,  and  passed  the 
Harvard  law  school  two  years  later.  He 
began  the  practice  of  his  profession  with 
Judge  B.  F.  Thomas,  a  prominent  man  of 
that  locality.  For  years  Richard  Olney  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most 
learned  lawyers  in  Massachusetts.  Twice 
he  was  offered  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  state,  but  both  times 
he  declined.  He  was  always  a  Democrat 
in  his  political  tenets,  and  for  many  years 
was  a  trusted  counsellor  of  members  of  that 
party.  In  1874  Mr.  Olney  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  legislature.  In  1876,  during 
the  heated  presidential  campaign,  to 
strengthen  the  cause  of  Mr.  Tilden  in  the 
New  England  states,  it  was  intimated  that 
in  the  event  of  that  gentleman's  election  to 
the  presidency,  Mr.  Olney  would  be  attor- 
B«y  general. 

When  Grover  Cleveland  was  elected  presi- 
d'^nt  of  the  United  States,  on  his  inaugura- 
tion in  March,  1893,  he  tendered  the  posi- 
tion of  attorney  generai  to  Richard  Olney. 
This  was  accepted,  and  that  gentleman  ful- 
filled the  duties  of  the  office  until  the  death 


of  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  in  May,  1895,  made 
vacant  the  position  of  secretary  of  state. 
This  post  was  filled  by  the  appointment  of 
Mr.  Olney.  While  occupying  the  later 
office,  Mr.  Olney  brought  himself  into  inter- 
national prominence  by  some  very  able  state 
papers. 

JOHN  JAY  KNOX,  for  many  years  comp- 
troller of  the  currency,  and  an  eminent 
financier,  was  born  in  Knoxboro,  Oneida 
county,  New  York,  May  19,  1828.  He  re- 
ceived a  good  education  and  graduated  at 
Hamilton  College  in  1849.  For  about 
thirteen  years  he  was  engaged  as  a  private 
banker,  or  in  a  position  in  a  bank,  where 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  finance.  In  1862,  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  then  secretary  of  the  treasury,  ap- 
pointed him  to  an  office  in  that  department 
of  the  government,  and  later  he  had  charge 
of  the  mint  coinage  correspondence.  In  1 867 
Mr.  Knox  was  made  deputy  comptroller 
of  the  currency,  and  in  that  capacity,  in 
1870,  he  made  two  reports  on  the  mint 
service,  with  a  codification  of  the  mint  and 
ccinage  laws  of  the  United  States,  and 
suggesting  many  important  amendments. 
These  reports  were  ordered  printed  by  reso- 
lution of  congress.  The  bill  which  he  pre- 
pared, with  some  slight  changes,  was  sub- 
sequently passed,  and  has  been  known  in 
history  as  the  ''  Coinage  Act  of  1873." 

In  1872  Mr.  Knox  was  appointed  comp- 
troller of  the  currency,  and  held  that  re- 
sponsible position  until  1884,  when  he  re- 
signed. He  then  accepted  the  position  of 
president  of  the  National  Bank  of  the  Re- 
public, of  New  York  City,  which  institution 
he  served  for  many  years.  He  was  the 
author  of  **  United  States  Notes,''  published 
in  1884.  In  the  reports  spoken  of  above,  a 
history  of  the  two  United  States   banks  is 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


135 


given,  together  with  that  of  the  state  and 
national  banking  system,  and  much  valuable 
statistical  matter  relating  to  kindred  sub- 
jects. 

NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE.— In  the 
opinion  of  many  critics  Hawthorne  is 
pronounced  the  foremost  American  novelist, 
and  in  his  peculiar  vein  of  romance  is  said 
to  be  without  a  peer.  His  reputation  is 
world-wide,  and  his  ability  as  a  writer  is 
recognized  abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 
He  was  born  July  4,  1804,  at  Salem,  Massa- 
chusetts. On  account  of  feeble  health  he 
spent  some  years  of  his  boyhood  on  a  farm 
near  Raymond,  Maine.  He  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  liberal  education  in  his  youth, 
and  entered  Bowdoin  College,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  1825  in  the  same  class  with 
H  W  Longfellow  and  John  S.  C.  Abbott. 
He  then  returned  to  Salem,  where  he  gave 
his  attention  to  literature,  publishing  several 
tales  and  other  articles  in  various  periodi- 
cals. His  first  venture  in  the  field  of  ro- 
mance, "  Fanshaw,'' proved  a  failure.  In 
1836  he  removed  to  Boston,  and  became 
editor  of  the  ''American  Magazine,"  which 
soon  passed  out  of  existence.  In  1837  he 
published  *'  Twice  Told  Tales,"  which  were 
chiefly  made  up  of  his  former  contributions 
to  magazines.  In  1838-41  he  held  a  posi- 
tion in  the  Boston  custom  house,  but  later 
took  part  in  the  *'  Brook  farm  experiment," 
a  socialistic  idea  after  the  plan  of  Fourier. 
In  1843  he  was  married  and  took  up  his 
residence  at  the  old  parsonage  at  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  which  he  immortalized  in 
his  next  work,  •♦  Mosses  From  an  Old 
Manse,"  published  in  1846.  From  the  lat- 
ter date  until  1850  he  was  surveyor  of  the 
port  of  Salem,  and  while  thus  employed 
wrote  one  of  his  strongest  works,  '  *  The 
-Scarlet  Letter."     For  the  succeeding  two 

8 


years  Lenox,  Massachusetts,  was  his  home, 
and  the  "  House  of  the  Seven  Gables"  was 
produced  there,  as  well  as  the  * '  Blithedale 
Romance."  In  1852  he  published  a  '*Life 
of  Franklin  Pierce, "  a  college  friend  whom 
he  warmly  regarded.  In  1853  he  was  ap- 
pointed United  States  consul  to  Liverpool, 
England,  where  he  remained  some  years, 
after  which  he  spent  some  time  in  Italy. 
On  returning  to  his  native  land  he  took  up 
his  residence  at  Concord,  Massachusetts. 
While  taking  a  trip  for  his  health  with  ex- 
President  Pierce,  he  died  at  Plymouth,  New 
Harnpshire,  May  19,  1864.  In  addition  to 
the  works  mentioned  above  Mr.  Hawthorne 
gave  to  the  world  the  following  books: 
*'  True  Stories  from  History,"  **The  Won- 
der Book,"  ''The  Snow  Image,"  ''Tangle- 
wood  Tales,"  "The  Marble  Faun,"  and 
' '  Our  Old  Home. "  After  his  death  appeared 
a  series  of  "Notebooks,"  edited  by  his  wife, 
Sophia  P.  Hawthorne;  "  Septimius  Felton," 
edited  by  his  daughter,  Una,  and  "Dr. 
Grimshaw's  Secret,"  put  into  shape  by  his 
talented  son,  Julian.  He  left  an  unfinished 
work  called  "  Dolliver  Romance,"  which  has 
been  published  just  as  he  left  it. 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  sixteenth  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  was  born 
February  12,  1809,  in  Larue  county  (Har- 
din county),  Kentucky,  in  a  log-cabin  near 
Hudgensville.  When  he  was  eight  years 
old  he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Indiana, 
near  the  Ohio  river,  and  a  year  later  his 
mother  died.  His  father  then  married  Mrs. 
Elizabeth  (Bush)  Johnston,  of  Elizabeth- 
town,  Kentucky,  who  proved  a  kind  of  fos- 
ter-mother to  Abraham,  and  encouraged 
him  to  study.  He  worked  as  a  farm  hand 
and  as  a  clerk  in  a  store  at  Gentryville,  and 
was  noted  for  his  athletic  feats  and  strength, 
fondness    for  debate,   a  fund  of   humorous 


136 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


anecdote,  as  well  as  the  composition  of  rude 
verses.  He  made  a  trip  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen to  New  Orleans  on  a  flat-boat,  and  set- 
tled in  Illinois  in  1830.  He  assisted  his 
father  to  build  a  log  house  and  clear  a  farm 
on  the  Sangamon  river  near  Decatur,  Illinois, 
and  split  the  rails  with  which  to  fence  it.  In 
185 1  he  was  employed  in  the  building  of  a 
flat-boat  on  the  Sangamon,  and  to  run  it  to 
New  Orleans.  The  voyage  gave  him  a  new 
insight  into  the  horrors  of  slavery  in  the 
south.  On  his  return  he  settled  at  New 
Salem  and  engaged,  first  as  a  clerk  in  a  store, 
then  as  grocer,  surveyor  and  postmaster,  and 
he  piloted  the  first  steamboat  that  as- 
cended the  Sangamon.  He  participated  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war  as  captain  of  volun- 
teers, and  after  his  return  he  studied  law, 
interested  himself  in  politics,  and  became 
prominent  locally  as  a  public  speaker.  He 
was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1834  as  a 
*•  Clay  Whig, "  and  began  at  once  to  dis- 
play a  command  of  language  and  forcible 
rhetoric  that  made  him  a  match  for  his 
more  cultured  opponents.  He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1837,  and  began  prac- 
tice at  Springfield.  He  married  a  lady  of  a 
prominent  Kentucky  family  in  1842.  He 
was  active  in  the  presidential  campaigns  of 
1840  and  1844  and  was  an  elector  on  the 
Harrison  and  Clay  tickets,  and  was  elected 
to  congress  in  1846,  over  Peter  Cartwright. 
He  voted  for  the  Wilmot  proviso  and  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, and  opposed  the  war  with  Mexico,  but 
gained  little  prominence  during  his  two 
years'  service.  He  then  returned  to  Spring- 
field and  devoted  his  attention  to  law,  tak- 
ing little  interest  in  politics,  until  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  compromise  and  the  passage 
of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  in  1854.  This 
awakened  his  interest  in  politics  again  and 
he  attacked  the  champion  of  that  measure, 


Stephen  A.  Douglas,  in  a  speech  at  Spring- 
field that  made  him  famous,  and  is  said 
by  those  who  heard  it  to  be  the  greatest 
speech  of  his  life.  Lincoln  was  selected  as 
candidate  for  the  United  States  senate,  but 
was  defeated  by  Trumbull.  Upon  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  the  Whig 
party  suddenly  went  to  pieces,  and  the  Re- 
publican party  gathered  head.  At  the 
Bloomington  Republican  convention  in  1856 
Lincoln  made  an  eflective  address  in  which 
he  first  took  a  position  antagonistic  to  the  ex- 
istence of  slavery.  He  was  a  Fremont  elector 
and  received  a  strong  support  for  nomina- 
tion as  vice-president  in  the  Philadelphia 
convention.  In  1858  he  was  the  unanimous 
choice  of  the  Republicans  for  the  United 
States  senate,  and  the  great  campaign  of  de- 
bate which  followed  resulted  in  the  election 
of  Douglas,  but  established  Lincoln's  repu- 
tation as  the  leading  exponent  of  Republican 
doctrines.  He  began  to  be  mentioned  in 
Illinois  as  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and 
a  course  of  addresses  in  the  eastern  states 
attracted  favorable  attention.  When  the 
national  convention  met  at  Chicago,  his 
rivals,  Chase,  Seward,  Bates  and  others, 
were  compelled  to  retire  before  the  western 
giant,  and  he  was  nominated,  with  Hannibal 
Hamlin  as  his  running  mate.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  had  now  been  disrupted,  and 
Lincoln's  election  assured.  He  carried 
practically  every  northern  state,  and  the 
secession  of  South  Carolina,  followed  by  a 
number  of  the  gulf  states,  took  place  before 
his  inauguration.  Lincoln  is  the  only  presi- 
dent who  was  ever  compelled  to  reach 
Washington  in  a  secret  manner.  He  es- 
caped assassination  by  avoiding  Baltimore, 
and  was  quietly  inaugurated  March  4,  1861. 
His  inaugural  address  was  firm  but  con- 
ciliatory, and  he  said  to  the  secessionists: 
"You  have    no  oath  registered  in  heaven. 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


187 


to  destroy  the  government,  while  I  have  the 
most  solemn  one  to  preserve,  protect  and 
defend  it.'  He  made  up  his  cabinet  chiefly 
of  those  political  rivals  in  his  own  party — 
Seward.  Chase,  Cameron,  Bates — and  se- 
cured the  co-operation  of  the  Douglas  Dem- 
Ov:rats.  His  ^reat  deeds,  amidst  the  heat 
and  turmoil  of  war,  were:  His  call  for 
seventy-five  thousand  volunteers,  and  the 
blockading  of  southern  ports;  calling  of  con- 
gress in  extra  session,  July  14,  1861,  and 
obtaining  four  hundred  thousand  men  and 
four  hundred  million  dollars  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war;  appointing  Stanton  secre- 
tary of  war;  issuing  the  emancipation  proc- 
lamation; calling  three  hundred  thou- 
sand volunteers;  address  at  Gettysburg 
c/metery;  commissioned  Grant  as  lieuten- 
ant-general and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
armies  of  the  United  States;  his  second 
inaugural  address;  his  visit  to  the  army  be- 
fore Richmond,  and  his  entry  into  Rich- 
mond the  day  after  its  surrender. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  shot  by  John 
Wilkes  Booth  in  a  box  in  Ford's  theater 
at  Washington  the  night  of  April  14,  1865, 
and  expired  the  following  morning.  His 
body  was  buried  at  Oak  Ridge  cemetery, 
Springfield,  Illinois,  and  a  monument  com- 
memorating his  great  work  marks  his  resting 
place. 

STEPHEN  GIRARD,  the  celebrated 
philanthropist,  was  born  in  Bordeaux, 
France,  May  24,  1750.  He  became  a  sailor 
engaged  in  the  American  coast  trade,  and 
also  made  frequent  trips  to  the  West  Indies. 
During  the  Revolutionary  war  he  was  a 
grocer  and  liquor  seller  in  Philadelphia. 
He  married  in  that  city,  and  afterward 
separated  from  his  wife.  After  the  war  he 
again  engaged  in  the  coast  and  West  India 
trade,  and  his  fortuiie  began  to  accumulate 


from  receiving  goods  from  West  Indian 
planters  during  the  insurrection  in  Hayti, 
little  of  which  was  ever  called  for  again. 
He  became  a  private  banker  in  Philadelphia 
in  18 12,  and  afterward  was  a  director  in  the 
United  Slates  Bank.  He  made  much  money 
by  leasing  property  in  the  city  in  times  of 
depression,  and  upon  the  revival  of  industry 
sub-leasing  at  enormous  profit.  He  became: 
the  wealthiest  citizen  of  the  United  States 
of  his  time. 

He  was  eccentric,  ungracious,  and  a 
freethinker.  He  had  few,  if  any,  friends  in 
his  lifetime.  However,  he  was  most  chari- 
tably disposed,  and  gave  to  charitable  in- 
stitutions and  schools  with  a  liberal  hand. 
He  did  more  than  any  one  else  to  relieve 
the  suffering  and  deprivations  during  the 
great  yellow  fever  scourge  in  Philadelphia, 
devoting  his  personal  attention  to  the  sick. 
He  endowed  and  made  a  free  institution, 
the  famous  Will's  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary 
of  Philadelphia — one  of  the  largest  institu- 
tions of  its  kind  in  the  world.  At  his  death 
practically  all  his  immense  wealth  was  be- 
queathed to  charitable  institutions,  more 
than  two  millions  of  dollars  going  to  the 
founding  of  Girard  College,  which  was  to 
be  devoted  to  the  education  and  training  of 
boys  between  the  ages  of  six  and  ten  years. 
Large  donations  were  also  made  to  institu- 
tions in  Philadelphia  and  New  Orleans. 
The  principal  building  of  Girard  College  is 
the  most  magnificent  example  of  Greek 
architecture  in  America.  Girard  died  De- 
cember 26,  1 83 1. 


LOUIS  J.  R.  AGASSIZ,  the  eminent  nat- 
uralist and  geologist,  was  born  in  the 
parish  of  Motier,  near  Lake  Neuchatel,  Swit- 
zerland, May  28,  1807,  but  attained  his 
greatest  fame  after  becoming  an  American 
citizen.     He  studied  the  medical  sciences  at 


138 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


.Zurich,  Heidelberg  and  Munich.  His  first 
work  was  a  Latin  description  of  the  fishes 
which  Martins  and  Spix  brought  from  Brazil. 
This  was  published  in  1 829-3 1 .  He  devoted 
much  time  to  the  study  of  fossil  fishes,  and 
in  1832  was  appointed  professor  of  natural 
history  at  Neuchatel.  He  greatly  increased 
his  reputation  by  a  great  work  in  French, 
entitled  ** Researches  on  Fossil  Fishes,"  in 
1832-42,  in  which  he  made  many  important 
improvements  in  the  classification  of  fishes. 
Having  passed  many  summers  among  the 
Alps  in  researches  on  glaciers,  he  propounded 
some  new  and  interesting  ideas  on  geology, 
and  the  agency  of  glaciers  in  his  **  Studies 
by  the  Glaciers."  This  was  published  in 
1840.  This  latter  work,  with  his  '*  System 
of  the  Glaciers,"  published  in  1847,  are 
among  his  principal  works. 

In  1846,  Professor  Agassiz  crossed  the 
ocean  on  a  scientific  excursion  to  the  United 
-States,  and  soon  determined  to  remain  here. 
He  accepted,  about  the  beginning  of  1848, 
the  chair  of  zoology  and  geology  at  Harvard. 
He  explored  the  natural  history  of  the 
United  States  at  different  times  and  gave  an 
impulse  to  the  study  of  nature  in  this 
country.  In  1865  he  conducted  an  expedi- 
tion to  Brazil,  and  explored  the  lower  Ama- 
zon and  its  tributaries.  In  1868  he  was 
made  non-resident  professor  of  natural  his- 
tory at  Cornell  University.  In  December, 
1 87 1,  he  accompanied  the  Hassler  expedi- 
tion, under  Professor  Pierce,  to  the  South 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans.  He  died  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  December  14, 
1873. 

Among  other  of  the  important  works  of 
Professor  Agassiz  may  be  mentioned  the  fol- 
lowing: **  Outlines  of  Comparative  Physi- 
ology," **  Journey  to  Brazil,"  and  **  Contri- 
butions to  the  Natural  History  of  the  United 
States.**      It  is  said  of  Professor  Agassiz, 


that,  perhaps,  with  the  exception  of  Hugh 
Miller,  no  one  had  so  popularized  science  in 
his  day,  or  trained  so  many  young  natural- 
ists. Many  of  the  theories  held  by  Agassiz 
are  not  supported  by  many  of  the  natural- 
ists of  these  later  days,  but  upon  many  of 
the  speculations  into  the  origin  of  species  and 
in  physics  he  has  left  the  marks  of  his  own 
strongly  marked  individuality. 


WILLIAM  WINDOM.— As  a  prominent 
and  leading  lawyer  of  the  great  north- 
west, as  a  member  of  both  houses  of  con- 
gress, and  as  the  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
the  gentleman  whose  name  heads  this  sketch 
won  for  himself  a  prominent  position  in  the 
history  of  our  country. 

Mr.  Windom  was  a  native  of  Ohio, 
born  in  Belmont  county.  May  10,  1827. 
He  received  a  good  elementary  education  m 
the  schools  of  his  native  state,  and  took  up 
the  study  of  law.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  Ohio,  where  he  remained  until 
1855.  In  the  latter  year  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  move  further  west,  and  accordingly 
went  to  Minnesota,  and  opening  an  office, 
became  identified  with  the  interests  of  that 
state,  and  the  northwest  generally.  In 
1858  he  took  his  place  in  the  Minnesota 
delegation  in  the  national  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, at  Washington,  and  continued 
to  represent  his  constituency  in  that  body 
for  ten  years.  In  1871  Mr.  Windom  was 
elected  United  States  senator  from  Min- 
nesota, and  was  re-elected  to  the  same  office 
after  fulfilling  the  duties  of  the  position  for 
a  full  term,  in  1876.  On  the  inauguration 
of  President  Garfield,  in  March,  1881,  Mr. 
Windom  became  secretary  of  the  treasury 
in  his  cabinet.  He  resigned  this  office  Oc- 
tober 27,  1 88 1,  and  was  elected  senator 
from  the  North  Star  state   to  fill  the  va^ 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


139* 


cancy  caused  by  the  resignation  of  A.  J. 
Edgerton.  Mr.  Windom  served  in  that 
chamber  until  March,  1883. 

WilHam    Windom    died   in     New    York 
City  January  29,   1891. 


DON  M.  DICKINSON,  an  American 
politician  and  lawyer,  was  born  in 
Port  Ontario,  New  York,  January  17,  1846. 
He  removed  with  his  parents  to  Michigan 
when  he  was  but  two  years  old.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Detroit 
and  at  the  University,  of  Michigan  at  Ann 
Arbor,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one.  In  1872  he  was  made 
secretary  of  the  Democratic  state  central 
committee  of  Michigan,  and  his  able  man- 
agement of  the  campaign  gave  him  a  prom- 
inent place  in  the  councils  of  his  party.  In 
1876,  during  the  Tilden  campaign,  he  acted 
as  chairman  of  the  state  central  committee. 
He  was  afterward  chosen  to  represent  his 
state  in  the  Democratic  national  committee, 
and  in  1886  he  was  appointed  postmaster- 
general  by  President  Cleveland.  After  the 
expiration  of  his  term  of  office  he  returned 
to  Detroit  and  resumed  the  practice  of  law. 
In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1896.  Mr. 
Dickinson  adhered  to  the  **  gold  wing"  of 
the  Democracy,  and  his  influence  was  felt 
in  the  national  canvass,  and  especially  in 
his  own  state. 


JOHN  JACOB  ASTOR,  the  founder  of 
the  Astor  family  and  fortunes,  while  not 
a  native  of  this  country,  was  one  of  the 
most  noted  men  of  his  time,  and  as  all  his 
wealth  and  fame  were  acquired  here,  he 
may  well  be  classed  among  America's  great 
men.  He  was  born  near  Heidelberg,  Ger- 
many, July  17,  1763,  and  when  twenty 
years  old  emigrated  to  the  United  States. 
Even  at  that   age   he  exhibited  remarkable 


business  ability  and  foresight,  and  soon  he- 
was  investing  capital  in  furs  which  he  took 
to  London  and  sold  at  a  great  profit.  He: 
next  settled  at  New  York,  and  engaged  ex- 
tensively in  the  fur  trade.  He  exported 
furs  to  Europe  in  his  own  vessels,  which  re- 
turned with  cargoes  of  foreign  commodities, 
and  thus  he  rapidly  amassed  an  immense 
fortune.  In  181 1  he  founded  Astoria  on 
the  western  coast  of  North  America,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river,  as  a  depot 
for  the  fur  trade,  for  the  promotion  of 
which  he  sent  a  number  of  expeditions  to 
the  Pacific  ocean.  He  also  purchased  a 
large  amount  of  real  estate  in  New  York, 
the  value  of  which  increased  enormously 
All  through  life  his  business  ventures  were 
a  series  of  marvelous  successes,  and  he 
ranked  as  one  of  the  most  sagacious  and 
successful  business  men  in  the  world.  He 
c'iea  March  29,  1848,  leaving  a  fortune  es- 
timated at  over  twenty  million  dollars  to 
his  children,  who  have  since  increased  it. 
John  Jacob  Astor  left  $400,000  to  found  a 
public  library  in  New  York  City,  and  his  son, 
William  B.  Astor,  who  died  in  1875,  left 
$300,000  to  add  to  his  father's  bequest. 
This  is  known  as  the  Astor  Library,  one  of 
the  largest  in  the  United  States. 


SCHUYLER  COLFAX,  an  eminent 
American  statesman,  was  born  in  New 
York  City,  March  23,  1823,  being  a  grand- 
son of  General  William  Colfax,  the  com- 
mander of  Washington's  life-guards.  In 
1836  he  removed  with  his  mother,  who  was- 
then  a  widow,  to  Indiana,  settling  at  South 
Bend.  Young  Schuyler  studied  law,  and 
in  1845  became  editor  of  the  **St.  Joseph 
Valley  Register,'*  a  Whig  paper  published' 
at  South  Bend.  He  was  a  member  of  the- 
convention  which  formed  a  new  constitu- 
tion   for  Indiana  in  1850,  and  he  opposed 


140 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHT. 


the  clause  that  prohibited  colored  men 
from  settling  in  that  state.  In  185  i  he  was 
defeated  as  the  Whig  candidate  for  congress 
but  was  elected  in  1854,  and,  being  repeat- 
edly re-elected,  continued  to  represent  that 
district  in  congress  until  1869.  He  became 
one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influential 
.members  of  the  house  of  representatives, 
and  served  three  terms  as  speaker.  During 
the  Civil  war  he  was  an  active  participant 
in  all  public  measures,  of  importance,  and 
was  a  confidential  friend  and  adviser  of 
President  Lincoln.  In  May,  1868,  Mr. 
Colfax  was  nominated  for  vice-president  on 
the  ticket  with  General  Grant,  and  was 
elected.  After  the  close  of  his  term  he  re- 
tired from  office,  and  for  the  remainder  of 
his  life  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  lectur- 
ing and  literary  pursuits.  His  death  oc- 
curred January  23,  1885.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  in  America, 
and  that  order  erected  a  bronze  statue  to 
his  memory  in  University  Park,  Indianapo- 
lis, Indiana,  which  was  unveiled  in  May, 
1887.  

WILLIAM  FREEMAN  VILAS,  who  at- 
tained a  national  reputation  as  an  able 
lawyer,  statesman,  and  cabinet  officer,  was 
born  at  Chelsea,  Vermont,  July  9,  1840. 
His  parents  removed  to  Wisconsin  when 
our  subject  was  but  eleven  years  of  age, 
and  there  with  the  early  settlers  endured  all 
the  hardships  and  trials  incident  to  pioneer 
life.  William  F.  Vilas  was  given  all  the 
advantages  found  in  the  common  schools, 
and  supplemented  this  by  a  course  of  study 
in  the  Wisconsin  State  University,  after 
which  he  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  and  began  practicing  at  Madison. 
Shortly  afterward  the  Civil  war  broke  out 
;and  Mr.  Vilas  enlisted  and  became  colonel 


of  the  Twenty-third  regiment  of  Wisconsin 
Volunteers,  serving  throughout  the  war  with 
distinction.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  re- 
turned to  Wisconsin,  resumed  his  law  prac- 
tice, and  rapidly  rose  to  eminence  in  this 
profession.  In  1885  he  was  selected  by 
President  Cleveland  for  postmaster-general 
and  at  the  close  of  his  term  again  returned 
to  Madison,  Wisconsin,  to  resume  the  prac- 
tice of  law. 

THOMAS  McINTYRE  COOLEY,  an  em- 
inent American  jurist  and  law  writer, 
was  born  in  Attica,  New  York,  January  6, 
1 824.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1 846, 
and  four  years  later  was  appointed  reporter 
of  the  supreme  court  of  Michigan,  which 
office  he  continued  to  hold  for  seven  years. 
In  the  meantime,  in  1859,  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  the  law  department  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Michigan,  and  soon  afterward  was 
made  dean  of  the  faculty  of  that  depart- 
ment. In  1864  he  was  elected  justice  of 
the  supreme  court  of  Michigan,  in  1867  be- 
came chief  justice  of  that  court,  and  in 
1869  was  re-elected  for  a  term  of  eight 
years.  In  1881  he  again  joined  the  faculty 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  assuming  the 
professorship  of  constitutional  and  adminis- 
trative law.  His  works  on  these  branches 
have  become  standard,  and  he  is  recog- 
nized as  authority  on  this  and  related  sub- 
jects. Upon  the  passage  of  the  inter-state 
commerce  law  in  1887  he  became  chairman 
of  the  commission  and  served  in  that  capac- 
ity four  years. 


JOHN  PETER  ALTGELD,  a  noted 
kJ  American  politician  and  writer  on  social 
questions,  was  born  in  Germany,  December 
30,  1847.  He  came  to  America  with  his 
parents  and  settled  in  Ohio  when  two  years 
old.     In  1864  he  entered  the  Union  army 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


141 


and  served  till  the  close  of  the  war,  after 
which  he  settled  in  Chicago,  Illinois.  He 
was  elected  judge  of  the  superior  court  of 
Cook  county,  Illinois,  in  1886,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  until  elected  governor  of 
Illinois  in  1892,  as  a  Democrat.  During 
the  first  year  of  his  term  as  governor  he  at- 
tracted national  attention  by  his  pardon  of 
the  anarchists  convicted  of  the  Haymarket 
murder  in  Chicago,  and  again  in  1894  by 
his  denunciation  of  President  Cleveland  for 
calling  out  federal  troops  to  suppress  the 
rioting  in  connection  with  the  great  Pull- 
man strike  in  Chicago.  At  the  national 
convention  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Chi- 
cago, in  July,  1896,  he  is  said  to  have  in- 
spired the  clause  in  the  platform  denuncia- 
tory of  interference  by  federal  authorities  in 
local  affairs,  and  **  government  by  injunc- 
tion." He  was  gubernatorial  candidate  for 
re-election  on  the  Democratic  ticket  in  1896, 
but  was  defeated  by  John  R.  Tanner,  Re- 
publican. Mr.  Altgeld  published  two  vol- 
umes of  essays  on  **  Live  Questions,"  evinc- 
ing radical  views  on  social  matters. 


ADLAI  EWING  STEVENSON,  an  Amer- 
ican statesman  and  politician,  was  born 
in  Christian  county,  Kentucky,  October  23, 
1835,  a^d  removed  with  the  family  to 
Bloomington,  Illinois,  in  1852.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1858,  and  set- 
tled in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  Metamora,  Illinois.  In  1861  he  was 
made  master  in  chancery  of  Woodford 
county,  and  in  1864  was  elected  state's  at- 
torney. In  1868  he  returned  to  Blooming- 
ton  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with 
James  S.  Ewing.  He  had  served  as  a  pres- 
idential elector  in  1864,  and  in  1868  was 
elected  to  congress  as  a  Democrat,  receiv- 
ing a  majority  vote  from  every  county  in  his 
district.     He     became    prominent    in    his 


party,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  national 
convention  in  1884.  On  the  election  of 
Cleveland  to  the  presidency  Mr.  Stevenson 
was  appointed  first  assistant  postmaster- 
general.  After  the  expiration  of  his  term 
he  continued  to  exert  a  controlling  influence 
in  the  politics  of  his  state,  and  in  1892  was 
elected  vice-president  of  the  United  States 
on  the  ticket  with  Grover  Cleveland.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  office  he  re- 
sumed the  practice  of  law  at  Bloomington, 
Illinois. 

SIMON  CAMERON,  whose  name  is 
prominently  identified  with  the  history 
of  the  United  States  as  a  political  leadef 
and  statesman,  was  born  in  Lancaster  coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania,  March  8,  1799.  He  grew 
to  manhood  in  his  native  county,  receiving 
good  educational  advantages,  and  develop- 
mg  a  natural  inclination  for  political  life. 
He  rapidly  rose  in  prominence  and  became 
the  most  influential  Democrat  in  PennsyJ^ 
vania,  and  in  1845  was  elected  by  that  party 
to  the  United  States  senate.  Upon  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party  he  was 
one  of  the  first  to  declare  his  allegiance  to 
it,  and  in  1856  was  re-elected  United  States 
senator  from  Pennsylvania  as  a  Republican. 
In  March,  1 861,  he  was  appointed  secretary 
of  war  by  President  Lincoln,  and  served 
until  early  in  1862,  when  he  was  sent  as 
minister  to  Russia,  returning  in  1863.  In 
1866  he  was  again  elected  United  States 
senator  and  served  until  1877,  when  he  re- 
signed and  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  James 
Donald  Cameron.  He  continued  to  exert  a 
powerful  influence  in  political  affairs  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  June  26,  1889. 

James  Donald  Cameron  was  the  eld- 
est son  of  Simon  Cameron,  and  also 
attained  a  high  rank  among  American 
statesmen.     He  was    born  at  Harrisburg, 


142, 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Pennsylvania,  May  14,  1833,  and  received  an 
excellent  education,  graduating  at  Princeton 
College  in  1852.  He  rapidly  developed  into 
one  of  the  most  able  and  successful  business 
men  of  the  country  and  v^as  largely  inter- 
ested in  and  identified  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  coal,  iron,  lumber  and  manu- 
facturing interests  of  his  native  state.  He 
served  as  cashier  and  afterward  president  of 
the  Middletown  bank,  and  in  186 1  was  made 
vice-president,  and  in  1863  president  of 
the  Northern  Central  railroad,  holding  this 
position  until  1874,  when  he  resigned  and 
was  succeeded  by  Thomas  A.  Scott.  This 
road  was  of  great  service  to  the  government 
during  the  war  as  a  means  of  communica- 
tion between  Pennsylvania  and  the  national 
capital,  via  Baltimore.  Mr.  Cameron  also 
took  an  active  part  in  political  affairs, 
always  as  a  Republican,  In  May,  1876, 
he  was  appointed  secretary  of  war  in  Pres- 
ident Grant's  cabinet,  and  in  1877  suc- 
ceeded his  father  in  the  United  States 
senate.  He  was  re-elected  in  1885,  and 
again  in  1891,  serving  until  1896,  and  was 
recognized  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
influential  members  of  that  body. 


ADOLPHUS  W.  GREELEY,  a  famous 
American  arctic  explorer,  was  born  at 
Newburyport,  Massachusetts,  March  27, 
1844.  He  graduated  from  Brown  High 
School  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  a  year 
later  enlisted  in  Company  B,  Nineteenth 
Massachusetts  Infantry,  and  was  made  first 
sergeant.  In  1863  he  was  promoted  to 
second  lieutenant.  After  the  war  he  was 
assigned  to  the  Fifth  United  States  Cavalry, 
and  became  first  lieutenant  in  1873.  He 
was  assigned  to  duty  in  the  United  States 
signal  service  shortly  after  the  close  of  the 
war.  An  expedition  was  fitted  out  by  the 
United   States    government     in    1881,    un- 


der auspices  of  the  weather  bureau,  and 
Lieutenant  Greeley  placed  in  command. 
They  set  sail  from  St.  Johns  the  first  week 
in  July,  and  after  nine  days  landed  in  Green- 
land, where  they  secured  the  services  of  two 
natives,  together  with  sledges,  dogs,  furs 
and  equipment.  They  encountered  an  ice 
pack  early  in  August,  and  on  the  28th  of 
that  month  freezing  weather  set  in.  Two 
of  his  party.  Lieutenant  Lockwood  and  Ser- 
geant Brainard,  added  to  the  known  maps 
about  forty  miles  of  coast  survey,  and 
reached  the  highest  point  yet  attained  by 
man,  eighty-three  degrees  and  twenty-four 
minutes  north,  longitude,  forty-four  degrees 
and  five  minutes  west.  On  their  return  to 
Fort  Conger,  Lieutenant  Greeley  set  out 
for  the  south  on  August  9,  1883.  He 
reached  Baird  Inlet  twenty  days  later  with 
his  entire  party.  Here  they  were  compelled 
to  abandon  their  boats,  and  drifted  on  an 
ice-floe  for  one  month.  They  then  went 
into  camp  at  Cape  Sabine,  where  they  suf- 
fered untold  hardships,  and  eighteen  of  the 
party  succumbed  to  cold  and  hunger,  and 
had  relief  been  delayed  two  days  longer 
none  would  have  been  found  alive.  They 
were  picked  up  by  the  relief  expedition, 
under  Captain  Schley,  June  22,  1884.  The 
dead  were  taken  to  New  York  for  burial. 
Many  sensational  stories  were  published 
concerning  the  expedition,  and  Lieutenant 
Greeley  prepared  an  exhaustive  account 
of  his  explorations  and  experiences. 


LEVI  P.  MORTON,  the  millionaire  poli- 
tician,  was  born  in  Shoreham,  Ver- 
mont, May  16,  1824,  and  his  early  educa- 
tion consisted  of  the  rudiments  which  he 
obtained  in  the  common  school  up  to  the 
age  of  fourteen,  and  after  that  time  what 
knowledge  he  gained  was  wrested  from  the 
hard  school  of  experience.     He  removed  to 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


14B 


Hanover,  Vermont,  then  Concord,  Vermont, 
and  afterwards  to  Boston.  He  had  worked 
in  a  store  at  Shoreham,  his  native  village, 
and  on  going  to  Hanover  he  established  a 
store  and  went  into  business  for  himself. 
In  Boston  he  clerked  in  a  dry  goods  store, 
and  then  opened  a  business  of  his  own  in 
the  same  line  in  New  York.  After  a  short 
career  he  failed,  and  was  compelled  to  set- 
tle with  his  creditors  at  only  fifty  cents  on 
the  dollar.  He  began  the  struggle  anew, 
and  when  the  war  began  he  established  a 
banking  house  in  New  York,  with  Junius 
Morgan  as  a  partner.  Through  his  firm 
and  connections  the  great  government  war 
loans  were  floated,  and  it  resulted  in  im- 
mense profits  to  his  house.  When  he  was 
again  thoroughly  established  he  invited  his 
former  creditors  to  a  banquet,  and  under 
each  guest's  plate  was  found  a  check  cover- 
ing the  amount  of  loss  sustained  respec- 
tively, with  interest  to  date. 

President  Garfield  appointed  Mr.  Mor- 
ton as  minister  to  France,  after  he  had  de- 
clined the  secretaryship  of  the  navy,  and  in 
1888  he  was  nominated  as  candidate  for 
vice-president,  with  Harrison,  and  elected. 
In  1894  he  was  elected  governor  of  New 
York  over  David  B.  Hill,  and  served  one 
term. 

CHARLES  KENDALL  ADAMS,  one 
of  the  most  talented  and  prominent 
educators  this  country  has  known,  was  born 
January  24,  1835,  '^^  Derby,  Vermont.  He 
received  an  elementary  education  in  the 
common  schools,  and  studied  two  terms  in 
the  Derby  Academy.  Mr.  Adams  moved 
with  his  parents  to  Iowa  in  1856.  He  was 
very  anxious  to  pursue  a  collegiate  course, 
but  this  was  impossible  until  he  had  attained 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  In  the  autumn  of 
1856  he  began  the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek 


at  Denmark  Academy,  and  in  September, 
1857,  he  was  admitted  to  the  University  of 
Michigan.  Mr.  Adams  was  wholly  depend- 
ent upon  himself  for  the  means  of  his  edu- 
cation. During  his  third  and  fourth  year 
he  became  deeply  interested  in  historical 
studies,  was  assistant  librarian  of  the  uni- 
versity, and  determined  to  pursue  a  post- 
graduate course.  In  1864  he  was  appointed 
instructor  of  history  and  Latin  and  was  ad- 
vanced to  an  assistant  professorship  in  1865, 
and  in  1867,  on  the  resignation  oi  Professoi 
White  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Cornell, 
he  was  appointed  to  fill  the  chair  of  profes- 
sor of  history.  This  he  accepted  on  con- 
dition of  his  being  allowed  to  spend  a  year 
for  special  study  in  Germany,  France  and 
Italy.  Mr.  Adams  returned  in  1868,  and 
assumed  the  duties  of  his  professorship. 
He  introduced  the  German  system  for  the 
instruction  of  advanced  history  classes,  and 
his  lectures  were  largely  attended.  In  1885,. 
on  the  resignation  of  President  White  at: 
Cornell,  he  was  elected  his  successor  and 
held  the  office  for  seven  years,  and  on  Jan- 
uary 17,  1893,  he  was  inaugurated  presi- 
dent of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  Pres- 
ident Adams  was  prominently  connected 
with  numerous  scientific  and  literary  organ^ 
izations  and  a  frequent  contributor  to  the 
historical  and  educational  data  in  the  peri- 
odicals and  journals  of  the  country.  He 
was  the  author  of  the  following:  *'  Dem- 
ocracy and  Monarchy  in  France,"  ''  Manuals 
of  Historical  Literature,"  **  A  Plea  for  Sci- 
entific Agriculture,"  **  Higher  Education  in 
Germany." 

JOSEPH  B.  FORAKER,  a  prominent  po- 
litical leader  and  ex-governor  of  Ohio, 
was  born  near  Rainsboro,  Highland  county, 
Ohio,  July  5,  1846.  His  parents  operated 
a  small  farm,  with  a  grist  and  sawmill,  hav- 


144 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


Jng  emigrated  hither  from  Virginia  and 
Delaware  on  account  of  their  distaste  for 
slavery. 

Joseph  was  reared  upon  a  farm  until 
1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Eighty -ninth 
Ohio  Infantry.  Later  he  was  made  ser- 
geant, and  in  1864  commissioned  first  lieu- 
tenant. The  next  year  he  was  brevetted 
captain.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was 
mustered  out  of  the  army  after  a  brilliant 
service,  part  of  the  time  being  on  the  staff 
of  General  Slocum.  He  participated  in  the 
battles  of  Missionary  Ridge,  Lookout  Mount- 
ain and  Kenesa.w  Mountain  and  in  Sher- 
man's march  to  the  sea. 

For  two  years  subsequent  to  the  war 
young  Foraker  was  studying  at  the  Ohio 
Wesleyan  University  at  Delaware,  but  later 
went  to  Cornell  University,  at  Unity,  New 
York,  from  which  he  graduated  July  i, 
J 869.  He  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  In  1879  Mr.  Foraker  was  elected 
judge  of  the  superior  court  of  Cincinnati 
and  held  the  office  for  three  years.  In  1883 
he  was  defeated  in  the  contest  for  the  gov- 
ernorship with  Judge  Hoadly.  In  1885, 
however,  being  again  nominated  for  the 
same  office,  he  was  elected  and  served  two 
terms.  In  1889,  in  running  for  governor 
again,  this  time  against  James  E.  Camp- 
bell, he  was  defeated.  Two  years  later  his 
career  in  the  United  States  senate  began. 
Mr.  Foraker  was  always  a  prominent  figure 
at  all  national  meetings  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  a  strong  power,  politically,  in  his 
native  state. 


T  YMAN  ABBOTT,  an  eminent  American 
1—/  preacher  and  writer  on  religious  sub- 
jects, came  of  a  noted  New  England 
family.  His  father,  Rev.  Jacob  Abbott,  was 
a  prolific  and  popular  writer,  and  his  uncle, 
Rev.    John   S.    C,    Abbott,  was    ^    noted 


preacher  and  author.  Lyman  Abbott  was 
born  December  18,  1835,  i^  Roxbury, 
Massachusetts.  He  graduated  at  the  New 
York  University,  in  1853,  studied  law,  and 
practiced  for  a  time  at  the  bar,  after  which 
he  studied  theology  with  his  uncle.  Rev. 
John  S.  C.  Abbott,  and  in  i860  was  settled 
in  the  ministry  at  Terre  Haute,  Indiana,  re- 
maining there  until  after  the  close  of  the 
war.  He  then  became  connected  with  the 
Freedmen's  Commission,  continuing  this 
until  1868,  when  he  accepted  the  pastorate 
of  the  New  England  Congregational  church, 
in  New  York  City.  A  few  years  later  he  re- 
signed, to  devote  his  time  principally  to  lit- 
erary pursuits.  For  a  number  of  years  he 
edited  for  the  American  Tract  Society,  its 
*' Illustrated  Christian  Weekly,"  also  the 
New  York  '*  Christian  Union-."  He  pro- 
duced many  works,  which  had  a  wide  circu- 
lation, among  which  may  be  mentioned  the 
following:  ''Jesus  of  Nazareth,  His  Life  and 
Teachings,"  **01d  Testament  Shadows  of 
New  Testament  Truths,"  "Morning  and 
Evening  Exercises,  Selected  from  Writings 
of  Henry  Ward  Beecher,"  "Laicus,  or  the 
Experiences  of  a  Layman  in  a  Country 
Parish,"  ''Popular  Religious  Dictionary," 
and  "Commentaries  on  Matthew,  Mark, 
Luke,  John  and  Acts. " 


GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS.— The 
well-known  author,  orator  and  journal- 
ist whose  name  heads  this  sketch,  was  born 
at  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  February  24, 
1824.  Having  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
most  excellent  education  in  his  native  land, 
he  went  to  Europe  and  studied  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin.  He  made  an  extensive 
tour  throughout  the  Levant,  from  which  he 
returned  home  in  1850.  At  that  early  age 
literature  became  his  field  of  labor,  and  in 
1851  he  published  his  first  important  work, 


^1 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


145 


-**  Nile  Notes  of  a  Howadji."  In  1852  two 
works  issued  from  his  facile  pen,  *'The 
Howadji  in  Syria,"  and  '*  Lotus-Eating. " 
Later  on  he  was  the  author  of  the  well- 
known  ''Potiphar  Papers,"  **  Prue  and  I," 
and  * 'Trumps."  He  greatly  distinguished 
himself  throughout  this  land  as  a  lecturer 
on  many  subjects,  and  as  an  orator  had  but 
few  peers.  He  was  also  well  known  as  one 
•of  the  most  fluent  speakers  on  the  stump, 
making  many  political  speeches  in  favor  of 
the  Republican  party.  In  recognition  of 
his  valuable  services,  Mr.  Curtis  was  ap- 
pointed by  President  Grant,  chairman  of 
the  advisory  board  of  the  civil  service.  Al- 
though a  life-long  Republican,  Mr.  Curtis 
refused  to  support  Blaine  for  the  presidency 
in  1884,  because  of  his  ideas  on  civil  ser- 
vice and  other  reforms.  For  his  memorable 
and  magnificent  eulogy  on  Wendell  Phillips, 
delivered  in  Boston,  in  1884,  that  city  pre- 
sented Mr.  Curtis  with  a  gold  medal. 

George  W.  Curtis,  however,  is  best 
known  to  the  reading  public  of  the  United 
States  by  his  connection  with  the  Harper 
Brothers,  having  been  editor  of  the  **  Har- 
per's Weekly, "  and  of  the  '*Easy  Chair," 
in  **  Harper's  Monthly  Magazine, "for many 
years,  in  fact  retaining  that  position  until 
the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  August 
31,  1892.  

ANDREW  JOHNSON,  the  seventeenth 
president  of  the  United  States,  served 
from  1865  to  1869.  He  was  born  Decem- 
ber 8,  1808,  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina, 
and  was  left  an  orphan  at  the  age  of  four 
years.  He  never  attended  school,  and  was 
apprenticed  to  a  tailor.  While  serving  his 
apprenticeship  he  suddenly  acquired  a  pas- 
sion for  knowledge,  and  learned  to  read. 
From  that  time  on  he  spent  all  his  spare 
time  in  reading,  and   after  working  for  two 


years  as  a  journeyman  tailor  at  Lauren's 
Court  House,  South  Carolina,  he  removed 
to  Greenville,  Tennessee,  where  he  worked 
at  his  trade  and  was  married.  Under  his 
wife's  instruction  he  made  rapid  progress  in 
his  studies  and  manifested  such  an  interest 
in  local  politics  as  to  be  elected  as  **work- 
ingmen's  candidate  "  alderman  in  1828,  and 
in  1830  to  the  mayoralty,  and  was  twice 
re-elected  to  each  office.  Mr.  Johnson 
utilized  this  time  in  cultivating  his  talents 
as  a  public  speaker,  by  taking  part  in  a  de- 
bating society.  He  was  elected  in  1835  to 
the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  was  re- 
elected in  1839  a^s  a  Diemocrat,  and  in 
1 84 1  was  elected  state  senator.  Mr.  John- 
son was  elected  representative  in  congress 
in  1843  and  was  re-elected  four  times  in 
succession  until  1853,  when  he  was  the  suc- 
cessful candidate  for  the  gubernatorial  chair 
of  Tennessee.  He  was  re-elected  in  1855 
and  in  1857  he  entered  the  United  States 
senate.  In  i860  he  was  supported  by  the 
Tennessee  delegation  to  the  Democratic 
convention  for  the  presidential  nomination, 
and  lent  his  influence  to  the  Breckinridge 
wing  of  the  party.  At  the  election  of  Lin- 
coln, which  brought  about  the  first  attempt 
at  secession  in  December,  i860,  Mr.  John- 
son took  a  firm  attitude  in  the.  senate  for 
the  Union.  He  was  the  leader  of  the  loy- 
alists in  East  Tennessee.  By  the  course 
that  Mr.  Johnson  pursued  in  this  crisis  he 
was  brought  prominently  before  the  north- 
ern people,  and  when,  in  March,  1862,  he 
was  appointed  military  governor  of  Ten- 
nessee with  the  rank  of  brigadier-general, 
he  increased  his  popularity  by  the  vigorous 
manner  in  which  he  labored  to  restore 
order.  In  the  campaign  of  1864  he  was 
elected  vice-president  on  the  ticket  with 
President  Lincoln,  and  upon  the  assassi- 
nation of  the   latter   he  succeeded   to  the 


146 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


presidency,  April  15,  1865.  He  retained 
the  cabinet  of  President  Lincoln,  and  at 
first  exhibited  considerable  severity  towards 
the  former  Confederates,  but  he  soon  inau- 
gurated a  policy  of  reconstruction,  pro- 
claimed a  general  amnesty  to  the  late  Con- 
federates, and  established  provisional  gov- 
ernments in  the  southern  states.  These 
states  claimed  representation  in  congress  in 
the  following  December,  and  then  arose  the 
momentous  question  as  to  what  should  be 
the  policy  of  the  victorious  Union  against 
their  late  enemies.  The  Republican  ma- 
jority in  congress  had  an  apprehension  that 
the  President  would  undo  the  results  of  the 
war,  and  consequently  passed  two  bills  over 
the  executive  veto,  and  the  two  highest 
branches  of  the  government  were  in  open 
antagonism.  The  cabinet  was  reconstructed 
in  July,  and  Messrs.  Randall,  Stanbury  and 
Browning  superseded  Messrs.  Denison, 
Speed  and  Harlan.  In  August,  1867,  Pres- 
ident Johnson  removed  the  secretary  of  war 
and  replaced  him  with  General  Grant,  but 
when  congress  met  in  December  it  refused 
to  ratify  the  removal  of  Stanton,  who  re- 
sumed the  functions  of  his  office.  In  1868 
the  president  again  attempted  to  remove 
Stanton,  who  refused  to  vacate  his  post 
and  was  sustained  by  the  senate.  Presi- 
dent Johnson  was  accused  by  congress  of 
high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,  but  the  trial 
resulted  in  his  acquittal.  Later  he  was  Uni- 
ted States  senator  from  Tennessee,  and 
died  July  31,  1875. 


EDMUND  RANDOLPH,  first  attorney- 
general  of  the  United  States,  was  born 
in  Virginia,  August  10,  1753.  His  father, 
John  Randolph,  was  attorney-general  of 
Virginia,  and  lived  and  died  a  royalist.  Ed- 
mund was  educated  in  the  law.  but  joined 
the  army  as  aide-de-camp  to    Washington 


in  1775,  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He- 
was  elected  to  the  Virginia  convention  in 
1776,  and  attorney-general  of  the  state  the 
same  year.  In  1779  he  was  elected  to  the 
Continental  congress,  and  served  four  years 
in  that  body.  He  was  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention in  1787  that  framed  the  constitu- 
tion. In  that  convention  he  proposed  what 
was  known  as  the  '*  Virginia  plan"  of  con- 
federation, but  it  was  rejected.  He  advo- 
cated the  ratification  of  the  constitution  in 
ttie  Virginia  convention,  although  he  had  re- 
fused to  sign  it.  He  became  governor  of 
Virginia  in  1788,  and  the  next  year  Wash- 
ington appointed  him  to  the  office  of  at- 
torney-general of  the  United  States  upon 
the  organization  of  the  government  under 
the  constitution.  He  was  appointed  secre- 
tary of  state  to  succeed  Jefferson  during 
Washington's  second  term,  but  resigned  a 
year  later  on  account  of  differences  in  the 
cabinet  concerning  the  policy  pursued  to- 
ward the  new  French  republic.  He  died 
September  12,  181 3. 


W INFIELD  SCOTT  HANCOCK  was 
born  in  Montgomery  county,  Penn- 
sylvania, February  14,  1824.  He  received 
his  early  education  at  the  Norristown 
Academy,  in  his  native  county,  and,  in  1840, 
was  appointed  a  cadet  in  the  United  States 
Military  Academy,  at  West  Point.  He  was 
graduated  from  the  latter  in  1844,  and  brev- 
etted  as  second  lieutenant  of  infantry.  In 
1853  he  was  made  first  lieutenant,  and  two 
years  later  transferred  to  the  quartermaster's 
department,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  and 
in  1863  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major.  He 
served  on  the  frontier,  and  in  the  war  with 
Mexico,  displaying  conspicuous  gallantry  dur- 
ing the  latter.  He  also  took  a  part  in  the 
Seminole  war,  and  in  the  troubles  in  Kan- 
sas, in  1857,  and  in  California,  at  the  out- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


14T 


break  of  the  Civil  war,  as  chief  quarter- 
master of  the  Southern  district,  he  exerted 
a  powerful  influence.  In  1861  he  applied 
for  active  duty  in  the  field,  and  was  assigned 
to  the  department  of  Kentucky  as  chief 
quartermaster,  but  before  entering  upon  that 
duty,  was  appointed  brigadier-general  of 
volunteers.  His  subsequent  history  during 
the  war  was  substantially  that  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac.  He  participated  in  the 
campaign,  under  McClellan,  and  led  the 
gallant  charge,  which  captured  Fort  Magru- 
der,  won  the  day  at  the  battle  of  Wil- 
liamsburg, and  by  services  rendered  at 
Savage's  Station  and  other  engagements, 
won  several  grades  in  the  regular  service, 
iand  was  recommended  by  McClellan  for 
major-general  of  volunteers.  He  was  a  con- 
spicuous figure  at  South  Mountain  and  An- 
tietam.  He  was  commissioned  major-gen- 
eral of  volunteers,  November  29,  1862,  and 
made  commander  of  the  First  Division  of 
the  Second  Corps,  which  he  led  at  Fred- 
ricksburg  and  at  Chancellorsville.  He  was 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Second 
Corps  in  June,  1863,  and  at  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg,  July  i,  2  and  3,  of  that  year, 
took  an  important  part.  On  his  arrival  on 
the  field  he  found  part  of  the  forces  then 
in  retreat,  but  stayed  the  retrograde 
movement,  checked  the  enemy,  and  on  the 
following  day  commanded  the  left  center, 
repulsed,  on  the  third,  the  grand  assault  of 
General  Lee's  army,  and  was  severely 
wounded.  For  his  services  on  that  field 
General  Hancock  received  the  thanks  of 
congress.  On  recovering  from  his  wound, 
he  was  detailed  to  go  north  to  stimulate  re- 
cruiting and  fill  up  the  diminished  corps,  and 
was  the  recipient  of  many  public  receptions 
and  ovations.  In  March,  1864,  he  returned 
to  his  command,  and  in  the  Wilderness  and 
at  Spottsylvania  led  large   bodies  of   men 


successfully  and  conspicuously.  From  that 
on  to  the  close  of  the  campaign  he  was  a 
prominent  figure.  In  November,  1864,  he 
was  detailed  to  organize  the  First  Veteran 
Reserve  Corps,  and  at  the  close  of  hostilities 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  Mid- 
dle Military  Division.  In  July,  1866,  he 
was  made  major-general  of  the  regular 
service.  He  was  at  the  head  of  various 
military  departments  until  1872,  when  he 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Atlantic,  which  post  he  held 
until  his  death.  In  1869  he  declined  the 
nomination  for  governor  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  the  nominee  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  president,  in  1880,  and  was  de- 
feated by  General  Garfield,  who  had  a  popu- 
lar majority  of  seven  thousand  and  eighteen 
and  an  electoral  majority^'of  fifty-nine.  Gen- 
eral Hancock  died  February  9,  1886. 


THOMAS  PAINE,  the  most  noted  polit- 
ical and  deistical  writer  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary period,  was  born  in  England,  Jan- 
uary 29,  1737,  of  Quaker  parents.  His  edu- 
cation was. obtained  in  the  grammar  schools 
of  Thetford,  his  native  town,  and  supple- 
mented by  hard  private  study  while  working 
at  his  trade  of  stay-maker  at  London  and 
other  cities  of  England.  He  was  for  a  time 
a  dissenting  preacher,  although  he  did  not 
relinquish  his  employment.  He  married  a 
revenue  official's  daughter,  and  was  employed 
in  the  revenue  service  for  some  time.  He 
then  became  a  grocer  and  during  all  this  time 
he  was  reading  and  cultivating  his  literary 
tastes,  and  had  developed  a  clear  and  forci- 
ble style  of  composition.  He  was  chosen  to 
represent  the  interests  of  the  excisemen, 
and  published  a  pamphlet  that  brought 
him  considerable  notice.  He  was  soon  after- 
ward introduced  to  Benjamin  Franklin,  and 
having  been  dismissed  from  the  service  on  a 


148 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


tiharge  of  smuggling,  his  resentment  led  him 
to  accept  the  advice  of  that  statesman  to 
come  to  America,  in  1774.  He  became 
editor  of  the  •  *  Pennsylvania  Magazine,  '*  and 
the  next  year  published  his  *  *  Serious 
Thoughts  upon  Slavery  "  in  the  *  *  Penn- 
sylvania Journal."  His  greatest  political 
work,  however,  was  written  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  Dr.  Rush,  and  entitled  **  Common 
Sense."  It  was  the  most  popular  pamphlet 
written  during  the  period  and  he  received 
two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  from  the 
state  of  Pennsylvania  in  recognition  of  its 
value.  His  periodical,  the  **  Crisis,"  began 
in  1776,  and  its  distribution  among  the 
soldiers  did  a  great  deal  to  keep  up  the  spirit 
of  revolution.  He  was  made  secretary  of 
the  committee  of  foreign  affairs,  but  was  dis- 
missed for  revealing  diplomatic  secrets  in 
one  of  his  controversies  with  Silas  Deane. 
He  was  originator  and  promoter  of  a  sub- 
scription to  relieve  the  distress  of  the  soldiers 
near  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  sent  to 
France  with  Henry  Laurens  to  negotiate  the 
treaty  with  France,  and  was  granted  three 
thousand  dollars  by  congress  for  his  services 
there,  and  an  estate  at  New  Rochelle,  by  the 
state  of  New  York. 

In  1787,  after  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  he  went  to  France,  and  a  few 
years  later  published  his  **  Rights  of  Man," 
defending  the  French  revolution,  which 
gave  him  great  popularity  in  France.  He 
was  made  a  citizen  and  elected  to  the  na- 
tional convention  at  Calais.  He  favored 
banishment  of  the  king  to  America,  and 
opposed  his  execution.  He  was  imprisoned 
for  about  ten  months  during  1 794  by  the 
Robespierre  party,  during  which  time  he 
Wrote  the  **  Age  of  Reason,"  his  great  deis- 
tical  work.  He  was  in  danger  of  the  guillo- 
tine for  several  months.  He  took  up  his 
residence  with  the  family  of  James  Monroe, 


then  minister  to  France  and  was  chosen: 
again  to  the  convention.  He  returned 
to  the  United  States  in  1802,  and  was 
cordially  received  throughout  the  coun- 
try except  at  Trenton,  where  he  was  insulted 
by  Federalists.  He  retired  to  his  estate  at 
New  Rochelle,  and  his  death  occurred  June 
8,  1809.  

JOHN  WILLIAM  MACKAY  was  one  of 
America's  noted  men,  both  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  western  coast  and  the 
building  of  the  Mackay  and  Bennett  cable. 
He  was  born  in  1831  at  Dublin,  Ireland; 
came  to  New  York  in  1840  and  his  boyhood 
days  were  spent  in  Park  Row.  He  went 
to  California  some  time  after  the  argonauts 
of  1849  and  took  to  the  primitive  methods 
of  mining — lost  and  won  and  finally  drifted 
into  Nevada  about  1 860.  The  bonanza  dis- 
coveries which  were  to  have  such  a  potent 
influence  on  the  finance  and  statesmanship- 
of  the  day  came  in  1872.  Mr.  Mackay 
founded  the  Nevada  Bank  in  1878.  He  is 
said  to  have  taken  one  hundred  and 
fifty  million  dollars  in  bullion  out  of 
the  Big  Bonanza  mine.  There  were  as- 
sociated with  him  in  this  enterprise  James 
G.  Fair,  senator  from  Nevada;  William 
O'Brien  and  James  C.  Flood.  When 
vast  wealth  came  to  Mr.  Mackay  he  be- 
lieved it  his  duty  to  do  his  country  some 
service,  and  he  agitated  in  his  mind  the 
building  of  an  American  steamship  line, 
and  while  brooding  over  this  his  attention 
was  called  to  the  cable  relations  between 
America  and  Europe.  The  financial  man- 
agement of  the  cable  was  selfish  and  ex- 
travagant, and  the  capital  was  heavy  with 
accretions  of  financial  **  water''  and  to  pay 
even  an  apparent  dividend  upon  the  sums 
which  represented  the  nominal  value  of  the 
cables,  it  was  necessary  to  hold   the   rates 


COMPENDIUM    OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


149 


at  an  exorbitant  figure.  And,  moreover, 
the  cables  were  foreign;  in  one  the  influence 
of  France  being  paramount  and  in  the  other 
that  of  England;  and  in  the  matter  of  intel- 
ligence, so  necessary  in  case  of  war,  we 
would  be  at  the  mercy  of  our  enemies.  This 
train  of  thought  brought  Mr.  Mackay  into  re- 
lation with  James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  ^*  New  York  Herald."  The 
result  of  their  intercourse  was  that  Mr.  Mac- 
kay so  far  entered  into  the  enthusiasm  of 
Mr.  Bennett  over  an  independent  cable, 
that  he  offered  to  assist  the  enterprise  with 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars.  This  was  the 
inception  of  the  Commercial  Cable  Com- 
pany, or  of  what  has  been  known  for  years 
as  the   Mackav-Bennett  cable. 


ELISHA  GRAY,  the  great  inventor  and 
electrician,  was  born  August  2,  1835* 
at  Barnesville,  Belmont  county,  Ohio.  He 
was,  as  a  child,  greatly  interested  in  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  and  read  with  avidity 
all  the  books  he  could  obtain,  relating  to 
this  subject.  He  was  apprenticed  to  various 
trades  during  his  boyhood,  but  his  insatiable 
thirst  for  knowledge  dominated  his  life  and 
he  found  time  to  study  at  odd  intervals. 
Supporting  himself  by  working  at  his  trade, 
he  found  time  to  pursue  a  course  at  Oberlin 
College,  where  he  particularly  devoted  him- 
self to  the  study  of  physicial  science.  Mr. 
Gray  secured  his  first  patent  for  electrical 
or  telegraph  apparatus  on  Octx^ber  i,  1867. 
His  attention  was  first  attracted  to  tele- 
phonic transmission  during  this  year  and  he 
saw  in  it  a  way  of  transmitting  signals  for 
telegraph  purposes,  and  conceived  the  idea 
of  electro-tones,  tuned  to  different  tones  in 
the  scale.  He  did  not  then  realize  the  im- 
portance of  his  invention,  his  thoughts  being 
employed  on  the  capacity  of  the  apparatus 
for  transmitting  musical  tones  through  an 


electric  circuit,  and  it  was  not  until  1874 
that  he  was  again  called  to  consider  the  re- 
production of  electrically-transmitted  vibra* 
tions  through  the  medium  of  animal  tissue. 
He  continued  experimenting  with  various 
results,  which  finally  culminated  in  his 
taking  out  a  patent  for  his  speaking  tele- 
phone on  February  14,  1876.  He  took  out 
fifty  additional  patents  in  the  course  of 
eleven  years,  among  which  were,  telegraph 
switch,  telegraph  repeater,  telegraph  annun- 
ciator and  typewriting  telegraph.  From 
1869  until  1873  he  was  employed  in  the 
manufacture  of  telegraph  apparatus  in  Cleve- 
land and  Chicago,  and  filled  the  office  of 
electrician  to  the  Western  Electric  Com- 
pany. He  was  awarded  the  degree  of  D. 
S. ,  and  in  1874  he  went  abroad  to  perfect 
himself  in  acoustics.  Mr.  Gray's  latest  in- 
vention was  known  as  the  telautograph  or 
long  distance  writing  machine.  Mr.  Gray 
wrote  and  published  several  works  on  scien- 
tific subjects,  among  which  were:  **  Tele- 
graphy and  Telephony,"  and  **  Experi- 
mental Research  in  Electro-Harmonic  Tele- 
graphy and  Telephony." 


WHITELAW  REID.— Among  the  many 
men  who  have  adorned  the  field  of 
journalism  in  the  United  States,  few  stand 
out  with  more  prominence  than  the  scholar, 
author  and  editor  whose  name  heads  this  ar- 
ticle. Born  at  Xenia,  Greene  county,  Ohio, 
October  27,  1837,  he  graduated  at  Miami 
University  in  1856.  For  about  a  year  he 
was  superintendent  of  the  graded  schools  of 
South  Charleston,  Ohio,  after  which  he  pur- 
chased the  **  Xenia  News,"  which  he  edited 
for  about  two  years.  This  paper  was  the 
first  one  outside  of  IlHnois  to  advocate  the 
nomination  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  Mr.  Reid 
having  been  a  Republican  since  the  birth  of 
that  party  in  1856.      Mter  taking  an  active 


150 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


part  in  the  campaign,  in  the  winter  of  1 860- 
61,  he  went  to  the  state  capital  as  corres- 
pondent of  three  daily  papers.  At  the  close 
of  the  session  of  the  legislature  he  became 
city  editor  of  the  '*  Cincinnati  Gazette," 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  went  to 
the  front  as  a  correspondent  for  that  journal. 
For  a  time  he  served  on  the  staff  of  General 
Morris  in  West  Virginia,  with  the  rank  of 
captain.  Shortly  after  he  was  on  the  staff 
of  General  Rosecrans,  and,  under  the  name 
of  **  Agate, "  wrote  most  graphic  descrip- 
tions of  the  movements  in  the  field,  espe- 
cially that  of  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing. In  the  spring  of  1862  Mr.  Reid  went 
to  Washington  and  was  appointed  librarian 
to  the  house  of  representatives,  and  acted  as 
correspondent  of  the  ''  Cincinnati  Gazette." 
His  description  of  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
written  on  the  field,  gained  him  added 
reputation.  In  1865  he  accompanied  Chief 
Justice  Chase  on  a  southern  tour,  and  pub- 
lished *' After  the  War;  a  Southern  Tour." 
During  the  next  two  years  he  was  engaged 
in  cotton  planting  in  Louisiana  and  Ala- 
bama, and  published  '*Ohio  in  the  War." 
In  1868  he  returned  to  the  **  Cincinnati  Ga- 
zette," becoming  one  of  its  leading  editors. 
The  same  year  he  accepted  the  invitation  of 
Horace  Greeley  and  became  one  of  the  staff 
on  the  **  New  York  Tribune."  Upon  the 
death  of  Mr.  Greeley  in  1872,  Mr.  Reid  be- 
came editor  and  chief  proprietor  of  that 
paper.  In  1878  he  was  tendered  the  United 
States  mission  to  Berlin,  but  declined.  The 
offer  was  again  made  by  the  Garfield  ad- 
ministration, but  again  he  declined.  In 
1878  he  was  elected  by  the  New  York  legis- 
lature regent  of  the  university,  to  succeed 
General  John  A.  Dix.  Under  the  Harrison 
administration  he  served  as  United  States 
minister  to  France,  and  in  1892  was  the 
Republican  nominee  for  the  vice-presidency 


of  the  United  States.  Among  other  works 
published  by  him  were  the  **  Schools  of 
Journalism,"  '*The  Scholar  in  Politics," 
''Some  Newspaper  Tendencies,"  and 
*  *  Town-Hall  Suggestions. " 


GEORGE  WHITEFIELD  was  one  of 
the  most  powerful  and  effective  preach- 
er? the  world  has  ever  produced,  swaying 
his  hearers  and  touching  the  hearts  of  im- 
mense audiences  in  a  manner  that  has  rarely 
been  equalled  and  never  surpassed.  While 
not  a  native  of  America,  yet  much  of  his 
labor  was  spent  in  this  country.  He  wielded 
a  great  influence  in  the  United  States  in 
early  days,  and  his  death  occurred  here;  so 
that  he  well  deserves  a  place  in  this  volume 
as  one  of  the  most  celebrated  men  America 
has  known. 

George  Whitefield  was  born  in  the  Bull 
Inn,  at  Gloucester,  England,  December  16, 
1 7 14.  He  acquired  the  rudiments  of  learn- 
ing in  St.  Mary's  grammar  school.  Later 
he  attended  Oxford  University  for  a  time, 
where  he  became  intimate  with  the  Oxford 
Methodists,  and  resolved  to  devote  himself 
to  the  ministry.  He  was  ordained  in  the 
Gloucester  Cathedral  June  20,  1836,  and 
the  following  day  preached  his  first  sermon 
in  the  same  church.  On  that  day  there 
commenced  a  new  era  in  Whitefield's  life. 
He  went  to  London  and  began  to  preach  at 
Bishopsgate  church,  his  fame  soon  spread- 
ing over  the  city,  and  shortly  he  was  en- 
gaged four  times  on  a  single  Sunday  in  ad- 
dressing audiences  of  enormous  magnitude, 
and  he  preached  in  various  parts  of  his  native 
country,  the  people  crowding  in  multitudes 
to  hear  him  and  hanging  upon  the  rails  and 
rafters  of  the  churches  and  approaches  there- 
to. He  finally  sailed  for  America,  landing 
in  Georgia,  where  he  stirred  the  people  to 
great  enthusiasm.     During  the  balance  of 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


158 


his  life  he  divided  his  time  between  Great 
Britain  and  America,  and  it  is  recorded  that 
he  crossed  the  Atlantic  thirteen  times.  He 
came  to  America  for  the  seventh  time  in 
1770.  He  preached  every  day  at  Boston 
from  the  17th  to  the  20th  of  September, 
1770,  then  traveled  to  Newburyport,  preach- 
ing at  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  September 
29,  on  the  way.  That  evening  he  went  to 
Newburyport,  where  he  died  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  September  30,  1770. 

*  *  Whitefield's  dramatic  power  was  amaz- 
ing,"  says  an  eminent  writer  in  describing 
him.  *'  His  voice  was  marvelously  varied, 
and  he  ever  had  it  at  command — an  organ, 
a  flute,  a  harp,  all  in  one.  His  intellectual 
powers  were  not  of  a  high  order,  but  he  had 
an  abundance  of  that  ready  talent  and  that 
wonderful  magnetism  which  makes  the  pop- 
ular preacher;  and  beyond  all  natural  en- 
dowments, there  was  in  his  ministry  the 
power  of  evangelical  truth,  and,  as  his  con- 
verts believed,  the  presence  of  the  spirit  of 
•God."  

CHARLES  FRANCIS  BRUSH,  one  of 
America's  prominent  men  in  the  devel- 
opment of  electrical  science,  was  born  March 
17,  1849,  near  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  spent 
•his  early  life  on  his  father's  farm.  From 
the  district  school  at  WickHffe,  Ohio,  he 
passed  to  the  Shaw  Academy  at  Collamer, 
and  then  entered  the  high  school  at  Cleve- 
land. His  interest  in  chemistry,  physics 
and  engineering  was  already  marked,  and 
during  his  senior  year  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  chemical  and  physical  appar- 
atus. During  these  years  he  devised  a  plan 
for  lighting  street  lamps,  constructed  tele- 
scopes, and  his  first  electric  arc  lamp,  also 
.an  electric  motor.  In  September,  1867,  he 
entered  the  engineering  department  of  the 
iUniversity   of    Michigan    and  graduated  in 


1869,  which  was  a  year  in  advance  of  his 
class,  with  the  degree  of  M.  E.  He  therl 
returned  to  Cleveland,  and  for  three  years 
was  engaged  as  an  analytical  chemist  and 
for  four  years  in  the  iron  business.  In 
1875  Mr.  Brush  became  interested  in  elec- 
tric lighting,  and  in  1876,  after  four  months' 
experimenting,  he  completed  the  dynamo- 
electric  machine  that  has  made  his  name 
famous,  and  in  a  shorter  time  produced  the 
series  arc  lamps.  These  were  both  patent- 
ed in  the  United  States  in  1876,  and  he 
afterward  obtained  fifty  patents  on  his  later 
inventions,  including  the  fundamental  stor- 
age battery,  the  compound  series,  shunt- 
winding  for  dynamo-electric  machines,  and 
the  automatic  cut-out  for  arc  lamps.  His 
patents,  two-thirds  of  which  have  already 
been  profitable,  are  held  by  the  Brush 
Electric  Company,  of  Cleveland,  while  his 
foreign  patents  are  controlled  by  the  Anglo- 
American  Brush  Electric  Light  Company, 
of  London.  In  1880  the  Western  Reserve 
University  conferred  upon  Mr.  Brush  the 
degree  of  Ph.  D.,  and  in  1881  the  French 
government  decorated  him  as  a  chevalier  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor. 


HENRY  CLEWS,  of  Wall-street  fame, 
was  one  of  the  noted  old-time  opera- 
tors on  that  famous  street,  and  was  also  an 
author  of  some  repute.  Mr.  Clews  was 
born  in  Staffordshiire,  England,  August  14, 
1840.  His  father  had  him  educated  with 
the  intention  of  preparing  him  for  the  minis- 
try, but  on  a  visit  to  the  United  States  the 
young  man  became  interested  in  a  business 
life,  and  was  allowed  to  engage  as  a  clerk  in 
the  importing  house  of  Wilson  G.  Hunt  & 
Co.,  of  New  York.  Here  he  learned  the 
first  principles  of  business,  and  when  the  war 
broke  out  in  1861  young  Clews  saw  in  the 
needs  of  the   government  an  opportunity  to 


154 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


reap  a  golden  harvest.  He  identified  him- 
self with  the  negotiating  of  loans  for  the 
government,  and  used  his  pov^ers  of  pur- 
suasion  upon  the  great  money  powers  to 
convince  them  of  the  stability  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  value  of  its  securities.  By 
enthusiasm  and  patriotic  arguments  he  in- 
duced capitalists  to  invest  their  money  in 
government  securities,  often  against  their 
judgment,  and  his  success  was  remarkable. 
His  was  one  of  the  leading  firms  that  aided 
the  struggling  treasury  department  in  that 
critical  hour,  and  his  reward  was  great.  In 
addition  to  the  vast  wealth  it  brought. 
President  Lincoln  and  Secretary  Chase 
both  wrote  important  letters,  acknowledging 
his  valued  service.  In  1873,  by  the  repu- 
diation of  the  bonded  indebtedness  of  the 
state  of  Georgia,  Mr.  Clewu  lost  six  million 
dollars  which  he  had  invested  in  those  se- 
curities. It  is  said  that  he  is  the  only  man, 
with  one  exception,  in  Wall  street,  who 
ever  regained  great  wealth  after  utter  dis- 
aster. His  *  *  Twenty-Eight  Years  in  Wall 
Street  "  has  been  widely  read. 


ALFRED  VAIL  was  one  of  the  men  that 
gave  to  the  world  the  electric  telegraph 
and  the  names  of  Henry,  Morse  and  Vail 
will  forever  remain  linked  as  the  prime  fac- 
tors in  that  great  achievement.  Mr.  Vail 
was  born  September  25,  1807,  ^^  Morris- 
town,  New  Jersey,  and  was  a  son  of  Stephen 
Vail,  the  proprietor  of  the  Speedwell  Iron 
Works,  near  Morristown.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen,  after  he  had  completed  his  stud- 
ies at  the  Morristown  Academy,  Alfred  Vail 
went  into  the  Speedwell  Iron  Works  and 
contented  himself  with  the  duties  of  his 
position  until  he  reached  his  majority.  He 
then  determined  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
ministry,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty- five  he 
entered  the  University  of  the   City  of  New 


York,  where  he  was  graduated  in  1836.  His 
health  becoming  impaired  he  labored  for  a 
time  under  much  uncertainty  as  to  his  future 
course.  Professor  S.  F.  B.  Morse  had  come 
to  the  university  in  1835  ^s  professor  of  lit- 
erature and  fine  arts,  and  about  this  time, 

1837,  Professor  Gale,  occupying  the  chair 
of  chemistry,  invited  Morse  to  exhibit  his 
apparatus  for  the  benefit  of  the  students. 
On  Saturday,  September  2,  1837,  the  exhi- 
bition took  place  and  Vail  was  asked  to  at- 
tend, and  with  his  inherited  taste  for  me- 
chanics and  knowledge  of  their  construction, 
he  saw  a  great  future  for  the  crude  mechan- 
ism used  by  Morse  in  giving  and  recording 
signals.  Mr.  Vail  interested  his  father  in 
the  invention,  and  Morse  was  invited  to 
Speedwell  and  the  elder  Vail  promised  to 
help  him.  It  was  stipulated  that  Alfred 
Vail  should  construct  the  required  apparatus 
and  exhibit  before  a  committee  of  congress 
the  telegraph  instrument,  and  was  to  receive 
a  quarter  interest  in  the  invention.  Morse 
had  devised  a  series  of  ten  numbered  leaden 
types,  which  were  to  be  operated  in  giving 
the  signal.  This  was  not  satisfactory  to 
Vail,  so  he  devised  an  entirely  new  instru- 
ment, involving  a  lever,  or  ''point,"  on  a 
radically  different  principle,  which,  when 
tested,  produced  dots  and  dashes,  and  de- 
vised the  famous  dot-and-dash  alphabet, 
misnamed  the '*  Morse."  At  last  the  ma- 
chine was  in  working  order,  on  January  6, 

1838.  The  machine  was  taken  to  Wash- 
ington, where  it  caused  not  only  wonder, 
but  excitement.  Vail  continued  his  experi- 
ments and  devised  the  lever  and  roller. 
When  the  line  between  Baltimore  and! 
Washington  was  completed,  Vail  was  sta- 
tioned at  the  Baltimore  end  and  received^ 
the  famous  first  message.  It  is  a  remarka- 
ble fact  that  not  a  single  feature  of  the. 
original  invention  of   Morse,  as  formulated^ 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


155* 


by  his  caveat  and  repeated  in  his  original 
patent,  is  to  be  found  in  Vail's  apparatus. 
From  1837  to  1844  it  was  a  combination  of 
the  inventions  of  Morse,  Henry  and  Vail, 
but  the  work  of  Morse  fell  gradually  into 
desuetude,  while  Vail's  conception  of  an 
alphabet  has  remained  unchanged  for  half  a 
century.  Mr.  Vail  published  but  one  work, 
*' American  Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph," 
in  1845,  ^"d  died  at  Morristown  at  the  com- 
paratively early  age  of  fifty-one,  on  January 
I9»   1859.  

ULYSSES  S.  GRANT,  the  eighteenth 
president  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  April  27,  1822,  at  Point  Pleasant,  Cler- 
mont county,  Ohio.  At  the  age  of  seven- 
teen he  entered  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  June,  1843,  ^^^^  was  given  his 
brevet  as  second  lieutenant  and  assigned  to 
the  Fourth  Infantry.  He  remained  in  the 
service  eleven  years,  in  which  time  he 
was  engaged  in  the  Mexican  war  with  gal- 
lantry, and  was  thrice  brevetted  for  conduct 
in  the  field.  In  1848  he  married  Miss  Julia 
Dent,  and  in  1854,  having  reached  the 
grade  of  captain,  he  resigned  and  engaged 
in  farming  near  St.  Louis.  In  i860  he  en- 
tered the  leather  business  with  his  father  at 
Galena,  Illinois. 

On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  in  1861, 
he  commenced  to  drill  a  company  at  Ga- 
lena, and  at  the  same  time  offered  his  serv- 
ices to  the  adjutant-general  of  the  army, 
but  he  had  few  influential  friends,  so  re- 
ceived no  answer.  He  was  employed  by 
the  governor  of  Illinois  in  the  organization 
of  the  various  volunteer  regiments,  and  at 
the  end  of  a  few  weeks  was  given  the 
colonelcy  of  the  Twenty-first  Infantry,  from 
that  state.  His  military  training  and  knowl- 
edge soon  attracted  the  attention  of  his  su- 


perior officers,  and  on  reporting  to  General 
Pope  in  Missouri,  the  latter  put  him  in 
the  way  of  advancement.  August  7,  1861, 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  brigadier- 
general  of  volunteers,  and  for  a  few  weeks 
was  occupied  in  watching  the  movements  of 
partisan  forces  in  Missouri.  September  i, 
the  same  year,  he  was  placed  in  command 
of  the  Department  of  Southeast  Missouri, 
with  headquarters  at  Cairo,  and  on  the  6th 
of  the  month,  without  orders,  seized  Padu- 
cah,  which  commanded  the  channel  of  the 
Ohio  and  Tennessee  rivers,  by  which  he  se- 
cured Kentucky  for  the  Union.  He  now 
received  orders  to  make  a  demonstration  on 
Belmont,  which  he  did,  and  with  about  three 
thousand  raw  recruits  held  his  own  against 
the  Confederates  some  seven  thousand 
strong,  bringing  back  about  two  hundred 
prisoners  and  two  guns.  In  February,)  1862, 
he  moved  up  the  Tennessee  river  with 
the  naval  fleet  under  Commodore  Foote. 
The  latter  soon  silenced  Fort  Henry,  and 
Grant  advanced  against  Fort  Donelson  and 
took  their  fortress  and  its  garrison.  His- 
prize  here  consisted  of  sixty-five  cannon, 
seventeen  /thousand  six  hundred  stand  of 
arms,  and  fourteen  thousand  six  hundred 
and  twenty-three  prisoners.  This  was  the 
first  important  success  won  by  the  Union 
forces.  Grant  was  immediately  made  a 
major-general  and  placed  in  command  of 
the  district  of  West  Tennessee.  In  April, 
1862,  he  fought  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, and  after  the  evacuation  of  Corinth  by 
the  enemy  Grant  became  commander  of  the 
Department  of  the  Tennessee.  He  now 
made  his  first  demonstration  toward  Vicks-- 
burg,  but  owing  to  the  incapacity  of  subor- 
dinate officers,  was  unsuccessful.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1863,  he  took  command  of  all  the 
troops  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  devoted, 
several  months  to  the  siege  of  Vicksburg,. 


156 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


^hich  was  finally  taken  possession  of  by  him 
July  4,  with  thirty-one  thousand  six  hundred 
prisoners  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-two 
cannon,  thus  throwing  the  Mississippi  river 
open  to  the  Federals.  He  was  now  raised 
to  the  rank  of  major-general  in  the  regular 
army.  October  following,  at  the  head  of 
the  Department  of  the  Mississippi,  General 
Grant  went  to  Chattanooga,  where  he  over- 
threw the  enemy,  and  united  with  the  Army 
of  the  Cumberland.  The  remarkable  suc- 
cesses achieved  by  him  pointed  Grant  out 
for  an  appropriate  commander  of  all  na- 
tional troops,  and  in  February,  1864,  the 
rank  of  lieutenant-general  was  made  for  him 
by  act  of  congress.  Sending  Sherman  into 
Georgia,  Sigel  into  the  Valley  of  West  Vir- 
ginia and  Butler  to  attempt  the  capture  of 
Richmond  he  fought  his  way  through  the 
Wilderness  to  the  James  and  pressed  the 
siege  of  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy. 
After  the  fall  of  the  latter  Grant  pressed 
the  Confederate  army  so  hard  that  their 
commander  surrendered  at  Appomattox 
Court  House,  April  9,  1865.  This  virtually 
ended  the  war. 

After  the  war  the  rank  of  general  was 
conferred  upon  U.  S.  Grant,  and  in  1868  he 
was  elected  president  of  the  United  States, 
and  re-elected  his  own  successor  in  1872. 
After  the  expiration  of  the  latter  term  he 
made  his  famous  tour  of  the  world.  He  died 
at  Mt.  McGregor,  near  Saratoga,  New  York, 
July  23,  1885,  and  was  buried  at  Riverside 
Park,  New  York,  where  a  magnificent  tomb 
has  been  erected  to  hold  the  ashes  of  the 
nation's  hero. 


JOHN  MARSHALL,  the  fourth  chief  jus- 
tice  of  the  United  States  supreme  court, 
was  born  in  Germantown^  Virginia,  Septem- 
ber 24,  175  s  His  father,  Colonel  Thomas 
J^arshall,  served  with  distinction  in  the  Rev- 


olutionary war,  while  he  also  served  from 
the  beginning  of  the  war  until  1779,  where 
he  became  noted  in  the  field  and  courts 
martial.  While  on  detached  service  he  at- 
tended a  course  of  law  lectures  at  William 
and  Mary  College,  delivered  by  Mr.  Wythe, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  The  next  year 
he  resigned  his  commission  and  began  his 
career  as  a  lawyer.  He  was  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  convention  called  in  Virginia 
to  ratify  the  Federal  constitution.  He  was 
tendered  the  attorney-generalship  of  the 
United  States,  and  also  a  place  on  the  su- 
preme bench,  besides  other  places  of  less 
honor,  all  of  which  he  declined.  He 
went  to  France  as  special  envoy  in  1798, 
and  the  next  year  was  elected  to  congress. 
He  served  one  year  and  was  appointed,  first, 
secretary  of  war,  and  then  secretary  of  state, 
and  in  1801  was  made  chief  justice  of  the 
United  States.  He  held  this  high  office  un- 
til his  death,  in  1835. 

Chief  Justice  Marshall's  early  education 
was  neglected,  and  his  opinions,  the  most 
valuable  in  existence,  are  noted  for  depth 
of  wisdom,  clear  and  comprehensive  reason- 
ing, justice,  and  permanency,  rather  than  for 
wide  learning  and  scholarly  construction. 
His  decisions  and  rulings  are  resorted  to 
constantly  by  our  greatest  lawyers,  and  his 
renown  as  a  just  judge  and  profound  jurist 
was  world  wide. 


LAWRENCE  BARRETT  is  perhaps 
known  more  widely  as  a  producer  of 
new  plays  than  as  a  great  actor.  He  was 
born  in  Paterson,  New  Jersey,  in  1838,  and 
educated  himself  as  best  he  could,  and  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  years  became  salesman 
for  a  Detroit  dry  goods  house.  He  after- 
wards began  to  go  upon  the  stage  as  a 
supernumerary,  and  his  ambition  was  soon 
rewarded  by  thp  notice  of  the  management. 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


157 


During  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  he  was  a 
soldier,  and  after  valiant  service  for  his 
country  he  returned  to  the  stage.  He  went 
to  Europe  and  appeared  in  Liverpool,  and 
returning  in  1869,  he  began  playing  at 
Booth's  theater,  with  Mr.  Booth.  He  was 
afterward  associated  with  John  McCullough 
in  the  management  of  the  California 
theater.  Probably  the  most  noted  period 
of  his  work  was  during  his  connection  with 
Edwin  Booth  as  manager  of  that  great 
actor,  and  supporting  him  upon  the  stage. 
Mr.  Barrett  was  possessed  of  the  crea- 
tive instinct,  and,  unlike  Mr.  Booth,  he 
sought  new  fields  for  the  display  of  his 
genius,  and  only  resorted  to  traditional 
drama  in  response  to  popular  demand.  He 
preferred  new  plays,  and  believed  in  the 
encouragement  of  modern  dramatic  writers, 
and  was  the  only  actor  of  prominence  in  his 
time  that  ventured  to  put  upon  the  stage 
new  American  plays,  which  he  did  at  his 
own  expense,  and  the  success  of  his  experi- 
ments proved  the  quality  of  his  judgment. 
He  died  March  21,  1891. 


ARCHBISHOP  JOHN  HUGHES,  a  cel- 
ebrated Catholic  clergyman,  was  born 
at  Annaboghan,  Tyrone  county,  Ireland, 
June  24,  1797,  and  emigrated  to  America 
when  twenty  years  of  age,  engaging  for 
some  time  as  a  gardener  and  nurseryman. 
In  1 8 19  he  entered  St.  Mary's  College, 
where  he  secured  an  education,  paying  his 
way  by  caring  for  the  college  garden.  In 
1825  he  was  ordained  a  deacon  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  church,  and  in  the  same  year, 
a  priest.  Until  1 838  he  had  pastoral  charges 
in  Philadelphia,  where  he  founded  St.  John's 
Asylum  in  1829,  and  a  few  years  later  es- 
tablished the  ^* Catholic  Herald."  In  1838 
he  was  made  bishop  of  Basileopolis  in  parti- 
bus    and   coadjutor   to    Bishop  Dubois,   of 


New  York,  and  in  1842  became  bishop  of 
New  York.  In  1839  he  founded  St.  John's 
College,  at  Fordham.  In  1850  he  was 
made  archbishop  of  New  York.  In  186 1-2 
he  was  a  special  agent  of  the  United  States 
in  Europe,  after  which  he  returned  to  this 
country  and  remained  until  his  death,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1864.  Archbishop  Hughes  early 
attracted  much  attention  by  his  controver- 
sial correspondence  with  Rev.  John  Breck- 
inridge in  1833-35.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
ability,  a  fluent  and  forceful  writer  and  an 
able  preacher. 

RUTHERFORD  BIRCHARD  HAYES 
was  the  nineteenth  president  of  the 
United  States  and  served  from  1877  to  1881. 
He  was  born  October  4,  1822,  at  Delaware, 
Ohio,  and  his  ancestry  can  be  traced  back 
as  far  as  1280,  when  Hayes  and  Rutherford 
were  two  Scottish  chieftans  fighting  side  by 
side  with  Baliol,  William  Wallace  and 
Robert  Bruce.  The  Hayes  family  had  for 
a  coat  of  arms,  a  shield,  barred  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  flying  eagle.  There  was  a 
circle  of  stars  about  the  eagle,  while  on  a 
scroll  underneath  was  their  motto,  ''Recte." 
Misfortune  overtook  the  family  and  in  1680 
George  Hayes,  the  progenitor  of  the  Ameri- 
can family,  came  to  Connecticut  and  settled 
at  Windsor.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  was 
a  very  delicate  child  at  his  birth  and  was 
not  expected  to  live,  but  he  lived  in  spite  of 
all  and  remained  at  home  until  he  was 
seven  years  old,  when  he  was  placed  in 
school.  He  was  a  very  tractable  pupil,  being 
always  very  studious,  and  in  1838  entered 
Kenyon  College,  graduating  from  the  same 
in  1842.  He  then  took  up  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  Thomas  Sparrow  at  Colum- 
bus, but  in  a  short  time  he  decided  to  enter 
a  law  school  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts, 
where  for  two  years  he  was  immersed  in  the 


158 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHT. 


study  of  law.  Mr.  Hayes  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1845  ^^  Marietta,  Ohio,  and  very 
soon  entered  upon  the  active  practice  of  his 
profession  with  Ralph  P.  Buckland,  of 
Fremont,  Ohio.  He  remained  there  three 
years,  and  in  1849  removed  to  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  where  his  ambition  found  a  new 
stimulus.  Two  events  occurred  at  this 
period  that  had  a  powerful  influence  on  his 
afterlife.  One  was  his  marriage  to  Miss 
Lucy  Ware  Webb,  and  the  other  w^as  his 
introduction  to  a  Cincinnati  literary  club, 
a  body  embracing  such  men  as  Salmon  P. 
Chase,  John  Pope,  and  Edward  F.  Noyes. 
In  1856  he  was  nominated  for  judge  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas,  but  declined,  and 
two  years  later  he  was  appointed  city 
solicitor.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Rebellion 
Mr.  Hayes  was  appointed  major  of  the 
Twenty-third  Ohio  Infantry,  June  7,  1861, 
and  in  July  the  regiment  was  ordered  to 
Virginia,  and  October  15,  1861,  saw  him 
promoted  to  the  lieutenant-colonelcy  of  his 
regiment.  He  was  made  colonel  of  the 
Seventy-ninth  Ohio  Infantry,  but  refused  to 
leave  his  old  comrades;  and  in  the  battle  of 
South  Mountain  he  was  wounded  very 
severely  and  was  unable  to  rejoin  his  regi- 
ment until  November  30,  1862.  He  had 
been  promoted  to  the  colonelcy  of  the 
regiment  on  October  15,  1862.  In  the 
following  December  he  was  appointed  to 
command  the  Kanawa  division  and  was 
given  the  rank  of  brigadier-general  for 
meritorious  services  in  several  battles,  and 
in  1864  he  was  brevetted  major-general  for 
distinguished  services  in  1864,  during 
which  campaign  he  was  wounded  several 
times  and  five  horses  had  been  shot  under 
him.  Mr.  Hayes'  first  venture  in  politics 
was  as  a  Whig,  and  later  he  was  one  of  the 
>first  to  unite  with  the  Republican  party.  In 
1864  he  was  elected  from  the  Second  Ohio 


district  to  congress,  re-elected  in  1866, 
and  in  1867  was  elected  governor  of  Ohio 
over  Allen  G.  Thurman,  and  was  re-elected 
in  1869.  Mr.  Hayes  was  elected  to  the 
presidency  in  1876,  for  the  term  of  four 
years,  and  at  its  close  retired  to  private  life, 
and  went  to  his  home  in  Fremont,  Ohio, 
where  he  died  on  January  17,  1893. 


WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN  became 
a  celebrated  character  as  the  nominee 
of  the  Democratic  and  Populist  parties  for 
president  of  the  United  States  in  1896.  He 
was  born  March  19,  i860,  at  Salem,  Illi- 
nois. He  received  his  early  education  in 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  county,  and 
later  on  he  attended  the  Whipple  Academy 
at  Jacksonville.  He  also  took  a  course  in 
Illinois  College,  and  after  his  graduation 
from  the  same  went  to  Chicago  to  study 
law,  and  entered  the  Union  College  of  Law 
a<=  a  student.  He  was  associated  with  the 
late  Lyman  Trumbull,  of  Chicago,  during 
his  law  studies,  and  devoted  considerable 
time  to  the  questions  of  government.  He 
graduated  from  the  college,  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  went  to  Jacksonville,  Illinois, 
where  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Eliza- 
beth Baird.  In  1887  Mr.  Bryan  removed 
to  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  and  formed  a  law 
partnership  with  Adolphus  R.  Talbot.  He 
entered  the  field  of  politics,  and  in  1888 
was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  state  con- 
vention, which  was  to  choose  delegates  to 
the  national  convention,  during  which  he 
made  a  speech  which  immediately  won  him 
a  high  rank  in  political  affairs.  He  declined, 
in  the  next  state  convention,  a  nomination 
for  lieutenant-governor,  and  in  1 890  he  was 
elected  congressman  from  the  First  district 
of  Nebraska,  and  was  the  youngest  member 
of  the  fifty-second  congress.  He  cham- 
pioned the  Wilson  tariff  bill,   and  served 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


159 


three  terms  in  the  house  of  representatives. 
He  next  ran  for  senator,  but  was  defeated 
by  John  M.  Thurston,  and  in  1896  he  was 
selected  by  the  Democratic  and  PopuHst 
parties  as  their  nominee  for  the  presidency, 
being  defeated  by  William  McKinley. 


MARVIN  HUGHITT,  one  of  America's 
famous  railroad  men,  was  born  in 
Genoa,  New  York,  and  entered  the  railway 
service  in  1856  as  superintendent  of  tele- 
graph and  trainmaster  of  the  St.  Louis,  Al- 
ton &  Chicago,  now  Chicago  &  Alton  Rail- 
road. Mr.  Hughitt  was  superintendent  of 
the  southern  division  of  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  from  1862  until  1864,  and  was,  later 
on,  the  general  superintendent  of  the  road 
until  1870.  He  was  then  connected  with 
the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Rail- 
road as  assistant  general  manager,  and  re- 
tained this  position  until  1871,  when  he  be- 
came the  general  manager  of  Pullman's 
Palace  Car  Company.  In  1872  he  was  made 
general  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  & 
Northwestern  Railroad.  He  served  during 
1876  and  up  to  1880  as  general  manager, 
and  from  1880  until  1887  as  vice-presi- 
dent and  general  manager.  He  was  elected 
president  of  the  road  in  1887,  in  recog- 
nition of  his  ability  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  road.  He  was  also  chosen 
president  of  the  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
apolis &  Omaha  Railway;  the  Fremont,  Elk- 
horn  &  Missouri  Valley  Railroad,  and  the 
Milwaukee,  Lake  Shore  &  Western  Railroad, 
and  his  services  in  these  capacities  stamped 
him  as  one  of  the  most  able  railroad  mana- 
gers of  his  day. 


JOSEPH  MEDILL,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  of  American  journalists,  was 
born  in  New  Brunswick,  Canada,  April  6, 
1823.     In  1 83 1  his  father  moved  to  Stark 


county,  Ohio,  and  until  1841  Joseph  Medill 
worked  on  his  father's  farm.  Later  he 
studied  law,  and  began  the  practice  of  that 
profession  in  1846  at  New  Philadelphia, 
Ohio.  But  the  newspaper  field  was  more 
attractive  to  Mr.  Medill,  and  three  years 
later  he  founded  a  free-soil  Whig  paper  at 
Coshocton,  Ohio,  and  after  that  time  jour- 
nalism received  all  his  abilities.  **The 
Leader, "  another  free-soil  Whig  paper,  was 
founded  by  Mr.  Medill  at  Cleveland  in  1852. 
In  that  city  he  also  became  one  of  the  first 
organizers  of  the  Republican  party.  Shortly 
after  that  event  he  removed  to  Chicago  and 
in  1855,  with  two  partners,  he  purchased 
the  *'  Chicago  Tribune."  In  the  contest  for 
the  nomination  for  the  presidency  in  i860, 
Mr.  Medill  worked  with  unflagging  zeal  for 
Mr.  Lincoln,  his  warm  personal  friend,  and 
was  one  of  the  president's  stanchest  sup- 
porters during  the  war.  Mr.  Medill  was  a 
member  of  the  Illinois  Constitutional  con- 
vention  in  1870.  President  Grant,  in  1871, 
appointed  the  editor  a  member  of  the  firs^ 
United  States  civil  service  commission,  and 
the  following  year,  after  the  fire,  he  was 
elected  mayor  of  Chicago  by  a  great  ma- 
jority. During  1873  and  1874  Mr.  Medill 
spent  a  year  in  Europe.  Upon  his  return 
he  purchased  a  controlling  interest  in  the 
•*  Chicago  Tribune." 


CLAUS  SPRECKELS,  the  great  '*  sugar 
baron,"  and  one  of  the  most  famous 
representatives  of  commercial  life  in  Amer- 
ica, was  born  in  Hanover,  Germany,  and 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1840, 
locating  in  New  York.  He  very  soon  be- 
came the  proprietor  of  a  small  retail  gro- 
cery store  on  Church  street,  and  embarked 
on  a  career  that  has  since  astonished  the 
world.  He  sold  out  his  busmess  and  went 
to  California  with  the  argonauts  of  1849, 


160 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


not  as  a  prospector,  but  as  a  trader,  and  for 
years  after  his  arrival  on  the  coast  he  was 
still  engaged  as  a  grocer.  At  length,  after  a 
quarter  of  a  century  of  fairly  prosperous 
business  life,  he  found  himself  in  a  position 
where  an  ordinary  man  would  have  retired, 
but  Mr.  Spreckles  did  not  retire;  he  had 
merely  been  gathering  capital  for  the  real 
work  of  his  life.  His  brothers  had  followed 
him  to  California,  and  in  combination  with 
them  he  purchased  for  forty  thousand  dollars 
an  interest  in  the  Albany  Brewery  in  San 
Francisco.  But  the  field  was  not  extensive 
enough  for  the  development  of  his  business 
abilities,  so  Mr.  Sprecklas  branched  out 
extensively  in  the  sugar  business.  He  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  the  entire  output  of 
sugar  that  was  produced  on  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  and  after  1885  was  known  as 
the  ''Sugar  King  of  Sandwich  Islands." 
He  controlled  absolutely  the  sugar  trade  of 
the  Pacific  coast  which  was  known  to  be 
not  less  than  ten  million  dollars  a  year. 


CHARLES  HENRY  PARKHURST, 
famous  as  a  clergyman,  and  for  many 
years  president  of  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Crime,  was  born  April  17, 
1842,  at  Framingham,  Massachusetts,  of 
English  descent.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  was  pupil  in  the  grammar  school  at 
Clinton,  Massachusetts,  and  for  the  ensu- 
ing two  years  was  a  clerk  in  a  dry  goods 
store,  which  position  he  gave  up  to  prepare 
himself  for  college  at  Lancaster  academy. 
Mr.  Parkhurst  went  to  Amherst  in  1862, 
and  after  taking  a  thorough  course  he  gradu- 
ated in  1866,  and  in  1867  became  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  Amherst  High  School.  He  re- 
tained this  position  until  1870,  when  he 
visited  Germany  with  the  intention  of  tak- 
ing a  course  in  philosophy  and  theology, 
but  was  forced  to  abandon  this  intention  on 


account  of  illness  in  the  family  causing*  his 
early  return  from  Europe.  He  accepted  the 
chair  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Williston  Semi- 
nary, Easthampton,  Massachusetts,  and  re- 
mained there  two  years.  He  then  accom- 
panied his  wife  to  Europe,  and  devoted  two 
years  to  study  in  Halle,  Leipsic  and  Bonn. 
Upon  his  return  home  he  spent  considerable 
time  in  the  study  of  Sanscrit,  and  in  1874 
he  became  the  pastor  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Lenox,  Massachusetts.  He 
gained  here  his  reputation  as  a  pulpit  ora- 
tor, and  on  March  9,  1880,  he  became  the 
pastor  of  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian 
church  of  New  York.  He  was,  in  1890, 
made  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the  Pre- 
vention of  Crime,  and  the  same  year  be- 
came its  president.  He  delivered  a  sermon 
in  1892  on  municipal  corruption,  for  which 
he  was  brought  before  the  grand  jury,  which 
body  declared  his  charges  to  be  without  suffi- 
cient foundation.  But  the  matter  did  not  end 
here,  for  he  immediately  went  to  work  on  a 
second  sermon  in  which  he  substantiated  his 
former  sermon  and  wound  up  by  saying, 
**I  know,  for  I  have  seen."  He  was  again 
summoned  before  that  august  body,  and  as 
a  result  of  his  testimony  and  of  the  investi- 
gation of  the  jurors  themselves,  the  police 
authorities  were  charged  with  incompetency 
and  corruption.  Dr.  Parkhurst  was  the 
author  of  the  following  works:  *  *  The  Forms 
of  the  Latin  Verb,  Illustrated  by  Sanscrit, '*^ 
**The  Blind  Man's  Creed  and  Other  Ser- 
mons," **The  Pattern  on  the  Mount,"  and 
•*  Three  Gates  on  a  Side." 


HENRY  BERGH,  although  a  writer, 
diplomatist  and  government  official, 
was  noted  as  a  philanthropist — the  founder 
of  the  American  Society  for  the  Prevention 
of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  On  his  labors  for 
the   dumb   creation   alone    rests  his  fame- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


161 


Alone,  in  the  face  of  indifference,  opposition 
and  ridicule,  he  began  the  reform  which  is 
now  recognized  as  one  of  the  beneficent 
movements  of  the  age.  Through  his  exer- 
tions as  a  speaker  and  lecturer,  but  above 
all  as  a  bold  worker,  in  the  street,  in  the 
court  room,  before  the  legislature,  the  cause 
he  adopted  gained  friends  and  rapidly  in- 
creased in  power  until  it  has  reached  im- 
mense proportions  and  influence.  The  work 
of  the  society  covers  all  cases  of  cruelty  to 
all  sorts  of  animals,  employs  every  moral 
agency,  social,  legislative  and  personal,  and 
touches  points  of  vital  concern  to  health  as 
well  as  humanity. 

Henry  Bergh  was  born  in  New  York 
City  in  1823,  and  was  educated  at  Colum- 
bia College.  In  1863  he  was  made  secre- 
tary of  the  legation  to  Russia  and  also 
served  as  vice-consul  there.  He  also  de- 
voted some  time  to  literary  pursuits  and  was 
the  author  of  *' Love's  Alternative,"  a 
drama;  •*  Married  Off,"  a  poem;  **'The 
Portentous  Telegram, "  **The  Ocean  Para- 
gon;" ^'The  Streets  of  New  York,"  tales 
and  sketches. 


HENRY  BENJAMIN  WHIPPLE,  one 
of  the  most  eminent  of  American  di- 
vines, was  born  in  Adams,  Jefferson  county, 
New  York,  February  15,  1822.  He  was 
brought  up  in  the  mercantile  business,  and 
1  early  in  life  took  an  active  interest  in  polit- 
ical affairs.  In  1847  he  became  a  candidate 
for  holy  orders  and  pursued  theological 
studies  with  Rev.  W.  D.  Wilson,  D.  D., 
afterward  professor  in  Cornell  University. 
He  was  ordained  deacon  in  1849,  i^  Trinity 
church,  Geneva,  New  York,  by  Rt.  Rev. 
W.  H.  De  Lancey,  D.  D.,  and  took  charge 
of  Zion  church,  Rome,  New  York,  Decem- 
ber I,  1849.  In  1850,  our  subject  was  or- 
dained priest   by   Bishop  De    Lancey.     In 


1857  he  became  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Communion,  Chicago.  On  the  30th 
of  June,  1859,  he  was  chosen  bishop  of 
Minnesota,  and  took  charge  of  the  interests 
of  the  Episcopal  church  in  that  state,  being 
located  at  Faribault.  In  i860  Bishop 
Whipple,  with  Revs.  I.  L.  Breck,  S.  W. 
Mauncey  and  E.  S.  Peake,  organized  the 
Bishop  Seabury  Mission,  out  of  which  has 
grown  the  Cathedral  of  Our  Merciful  Savior, 
the  Seabury  Divinity  School,  Shattuck 
School  and  St.  Mary's  Hall,  which  have 
made  Faribault  City  one  of  the  greatest 
educational  centers  of  the  northwest.  Bishop 
Whipple  also  became  noted  as  the  friend: 
and  defender  of  the  North  American  In- 
dians and  planted  a  number  of  successful 
missions  among  them. 


EZRA  CORNELL  was  one  of  the  greatest 
philanthropists  and  friends  of  education' 
the  country  has  known.  He  was  born  at 
Westchester  Landing,  New  York,  January 
II,  1807.  He  grew  to  manhood  in  his  na« 
tive  state  and  became  a  prominent  figure  m 
business  circles  as  a  successful  and  self-made 
man.  Soon  after  the  invention  of  the  elec- 
tric telegraph,  he  devoted  his  attention  to 
that  enterprise,  and  accumulated  an  im- 
mense fortune.  In  1865,  by  a  gift  of  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  he  made  possible 
the  founding  of  Cornell  University,  which 
was  named  in  his  honor.  He  afterward 
made  additional  bequests  amounting  to  many 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  His  death  oc- 
curred at  Ithaca,  New  York,  December  9> 
1874.  

IGNATIUS  DONNELLY,  widely  knowu 
1  as  an  author  and  politician,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  November  3, 
1 83 1.  He  was  educated  at  the  public: 
schools  of  that  city,  and  graduated  from  the 


162 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


Central  High  School  in  1849.  He  studied 
law  in  the  office  of  Judge  B.  H.  Brewster, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1852.  In 
the  spring  of  1856,  Mr.  Donnelly  emigrated 
to  Minnesota,  then  a  new  territory,  and,  at 
Hastings,  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in 
partnership  with  A.  M.  Hayes.  In  1857, 
and  again  in  1858,  he  was  defeated  for  state 
senator,  but  in  1859  he  was  elected  by  the 
Republicans  as  lieutenant-governor,  and  re- 
elected in  1 86 1.  In  1862  he  was  elected  to 
represent  the  Second  district  of  Minnesota 
in  congress.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  same 
office  in  1864  and  in  1866.  He  was  an 
abolitionist  and  warmly  supported  President 
Lincoln's  administration,  but  was  strongly 
in  favor  of  leniency  toward  the  people  of 
the  south,  after  the  war.  In  many  ways  he 
'was  identified  with  some  of  the  best  meas- 
ures brought  before  the  house  during  his 
presence  there.  In  the  spring  of  1868,  at 
the  request  of  the  Republican  national  com- 
mittee, he  canvassed  New  Hampshire  and 
Connecticut  in  the  interests  of  that  party. 
E.  B.  Washburne  about  this  time  made  an 
attack  on  Donnelly  in  one  of  the  papers  of 
Minnesota,  which  was  replied  to  on  the  floor 
'of  the  house  by  a  fierce  phillipic  that  will 
long  be  remembered.  Through  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Washburne  interests  Mr.  Don- 
nelly failed  of  a  re-election  in  1870.  In 
1 873  he  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  from 
Dakota  county,  and  continuously  re-elected 
Hintil  1878.  In  1886  he  was  elected  mem- 
ber of  the  house  for  two  years.  In  later 
years  he  identified  himself  with  the  Popu- 
list party. 

In  1882,  Mr.  Donnelly  became  known  as 
an  author,  publishing  his  first  literary  work, 
** Atlantis,  the  Antediluvian  World,''  which 
passed  through  over  twenty-two  editions  in 
America,  several  in  England,  and  was  trans- 
lated into  French.     This  was  followed  by 


**Ragnarok,  the  Age  of  Fire  and  Gravel," 
which  attained  nearly  as  much  celebrity  as 
the  first,  and  these  two,  in  the  opinion  of 
scientific  critics,  are  sufficient  to  stamp  the 
author  as  a  most  capable  and  painstaking 
student  of  the  facts  he  has  collated  in  them. 
The  work  by  which  he  gained  the  greatest 
notoriety,  however,  was  *'The  Great  Cryp- 
togram, or  Francis  Bacon's  Cipher  in  the 
Shakespeare  Plays."  ** Caesar's  Column," 
*'  Dr.  Huguet,"  and  other  works  were  pub- 
lished subsequently. 


STEVEN  V.  WHITE,  a  speculator  of 
Wall  Street  of  national  reputation,  was 
born  in  Chatham  county.  North  Carolina, 
August  I,  1 83 1,  and  soon  afterward  re- 
moved to  Illinois.  His  home  was  a  log 
cabin,  and  until  his  eighteenth  year  he 
worked  on  the  farm.  Then  after  several 
years  of  struggle  with  poverty  he  graduated 
from  Knox  College,  and  went  to  St.  Louis, 
where  he  entered  a  wholesale  boot  and  shoe 
house  as  bookkeeper.  He  then  studied  law 
and  worked  as  a  reporter  for  the  '*  Missouri 
Democrat."  After  his  admission  to  the  bar 
he  went  to  New  York,  in  1865,  and  became 
a  member  of  the  banking  house  of  Marvin 
&  White.  Mr.  White  enjoyed  the  reputa- 
tion of  having  engineered  the  only  corner 
in  Wall  Street  since  Commodore  Vander- 
bilt's  time.  This  was  the  famous  Lacka- 
wanna deal  in  1883,  in  which  he  made  a 
profit  of  two  million  dollars.  He  was  some- 
times called  **  Deacon"  White,  and,  though 
a  member  for  many  years  of  the  Plymouth 
church,  he  never  held  that  office.  Mr. 
White  was  one  of  the  most  noted  characters 
of  the  street,  and  has  been  called  an  orator, 
poet,  philanthropist,  linguist,  abolitionist, 
astronomer,  schoolmaster,  plowboy,  and 
trapper.  He  was  a  lawyer,  ex-congress- 
man, expert  accountant,  art  critic  andtheo- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


i6S 


logian.  He  laid  the  foundation  for  a 
**Home  for  Colored  People/'  in  Chatham 
county,  North  Carolina,  where  the  greater 
part  of  his  father's  life  was  spent,  and  in 
whose  memory  the  work  was  undertaken. 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD,  the  twentieth 
president  of  the  United  States,  was  born 
November  19,  1831,  in  Cuyahoga  county, 
Ohio,  and  was  the  son  of  Abram  and  Eliza 
(Ballou)  Garfield.  In  1833  the  father,  an 
industrious  pioneer  farmer,  died,  and  the 
care  of  the  family  devolved  upon  Thomas, 
to  whom  James  became  deeply  indebted  for 
educational  and  other  advantages.  As  James 
grew  up  he  was  industrious  and  worked  on 
the  farm,  at  carpentering,  at  chopping  wood, 
or  anything  else  he  found  to  do,  and  in  the 
meantime  made  the  most  of  his  books. 

Until  he  was  about  sixteen,  James'  high- 
est ambition  was  to  become  a  sea  captain. 
On  attaining  that  age  he  walked  to 
Cleveland,  and,  not  being  able  to  find  work, 
he  engaged  as  a  driver  on  the  Ohio  &  Penn- 
sylvania canal,  but  quit  this  after  a  short 
time.  He  attended  the  seminary  at  Ches- 
ter for  about  three  years,  after  which  he 
entered  Hiram  Institute,  a  school  started  by 
the  Disciples  of  Christ  in  1850.  In  order 
to  pay  his  way  he  assumed  the  duties  of 
janitor  and  at  times  taught  school.  After 
completing  his  course  at  the  last  named  edu- 
cational institution  he  entered  Williams  Col- 
lege, from  which  he  graduated  in  1856.  He 
afterward  returned  to  Hiram  College  as  its 
president.  He  studied  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1859.  November  11,  1858. 
Mr.  Garfield  and  Lucretia  Rudolph  were 
married. 

In  1859  Mr.  Garfield  made  his  first  polit- 
ical speeches,  at  Hiram  and  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. The  same  year  he  was  elected  to  the 
-State  senate. 


On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  in  186 1, 
he  became  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Forty 
second  Ohio  Infantry,  and,  while  but  a  ne^A' 
soldier,  was  given  command  of  four  regi- 
ments of  infantry  and  eight  companies  of 
cavalry,  with  which  he  drove  the  Confeder^ 
ates  under  Humphrey  Marshall  out  of  Ken 
tucky.  January  11,  1862,  he  was  commis- 
sioned brigadier-general.  He  participated 
with  General  Buell  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh 
and  the  operations  around  Corinth,  and  was 
then  detailed  as  a  member  of  the  Fitz  John 
Porter  court-martial.  Reporting  to  General 
Rosecrans,  he  was  assigned  to  the  position 
of  chief  of  staff,  and  resigned  his  position, 
with  the  rank  of  major-general,  when  his 
immediate  superior  was  superseded.  In 
the  fall  of  1862  Mr.  Garfield  was  elected  to 
congress  and  remained  in  that  body,  either 
in  the  house  or  senate,  until  1880. 

June  8,  1880,  at  the  national  Republican 
convention,  held  in  Chicago,  General  Gar- 
field was  nominated  for  the  presidency,  and 
was  elected,  He  was  inaugurated  March 
4,  1 88 1,  but,  July  2,  following,  he  was  shot 
and  fatally  wounded  by  Charles  Guiteau  for 
some  fancied  political  slight,  and  died  Sep- 
tember 19,   1 88 1. 


INCREASE  MATHER  was  one  of  the 
1  most  prominent  preachers,  educators  and 
authors  of  early  times  in  the  New  England 
states.  He  was  born  at  Dorchester,  Massa- 
chusetts, June  21,  1639,  and  was  g*iven  an 
excellent  education,  graduating  at  Harvard 
in  1656,  and  at  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
two  years  later.  He  was  ordained  a  min- 
ister, and  preached  in  England  and  America, 
and  in  1664  became  pastor  of  the  North 
church,  in  Boston.  In  1685  he  became 
president  of  Harvard  University,  serving 
until  1 70 1.  In  1692  he  received  the  first 
doctorate  in  divinity   conferred  in  English 


164 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


speaking  America.  The  same  year  he  pro- 
cured in  England  a  new  charter  for  Massa- 
chusetts, which  conferred  upon  himself  the 
power  of  naming  the  governor,  lieutenant- 
governor  and  council.  He  opposed  the 
severe  punishment  of  witchcraft,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  all  public  affairs  of  his 
day.  He  was  a  prolific  writer,  and  became 
the  author  of  nearly  one  hundred  publica- 
tions, large  and  small.  His  death  occurred 
August  23,  1723,  at  Boston. 


COTTON  MATHER,  a  celebrated  minis- 
ter in  the  **  Puritan  times"  of  New 
England,  was  born  at  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, February  12,  1663,  being  a  son  of 
Rev.  Increase  Mather,  and  a  grandson  of 
John  Cotton.  A  biography  of  his  father 
will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 
Cotton  Mather  received  his  early  education 
in  his  native  city,  was  trained  by  Ezekiel 
Cheever,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1678;  became  a  teacher,  and  in  1684 
was  ordained  as  associate  pastor  of  North 
church,  Boston,  with  his  father,  having  by 
persistent  effort  overcome  an  impediment  in 
his  speech.  He  labored  with  great  zeal  as 
a  pastor,  endeavoring  also,  to  establish  the 
ascendancy  of  the  church  and  ministry  in 
civil  affairs,  and  in  the  putting  down  of 
witchcraft  by  legal  sentences,  a  work  in 
which  he  took  an  active  part  and  through 
which  he  is  best  known  in  history.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  D.  D.  in  17 10,  con- 
ferred by  the  University  of  Glasgow,  and 
F.  R.  S.  in  171 3.  His  death  occurred  at 
Boston,  February  13,  1728.  He  was  the 
author  of  many  publications,  among  which 
were  **  Memorable  Providences  Relating  to 
Witchcraft,'*  **  Wonders  of  the  Invisible 
World,"  *»  Essays  to  Do  Good,"  **Mag- 
nalia  Christi  Americana,"  and  **  Illustra- 
tions of  the  Sacred  Scriptures."     Some  of 


these  works  are  quaint  and  curious,  full  of 
learning,  piety  and  prejudice.  A  well- 
known  writer,  in  summing  up  the  life  and 
character  of  Cotton  Mather,  says:  ' '  Mather, 
with  all  the  faults  of  his  early  years,  was  3 
man  of  great  excellence  of  character.  He 
labored  zealously  for  the  benefit  of  the 
poor,  for  mariners,  slaves,  criminals  and 
Indians.  His  cruelty  and  credulity  were 
the  faults  of  his  age,  while  his  philanthro- 
phy  was  far  more  rare  in  that  age  than  in 
the  present." 

WILLIAM  A.  PEFFER.  who  won  a 
national  reputation  during  the  time 
he  was  in  the  United  States  senate,  was 
born  on  a  farm  in  Cumberland  county, 
Pennsylvania,  September  10,  1831.  He 
drew  his  education  from  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  state  and  at  the  age  of  f.fteen 
taught  school  in  winter,  working  on  a  farm 
in  the  summer.  In  June,  1853,  while  yet  a 
young  man,  he  removed  to  Indiana,  and 
opened  up  a  farm  in  St.  Joseph  county. 
In  1859  he  made  his  way  to  Missouri  and 
settled  on  a  farm  in  Morgan  county,  but  on 
account  of  the  war  and  the  unsettled  state 
of  the  country,  he  moved  to  Illinois  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1862,  and  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Company  F,  Eighty-third  Illinois  Infantry, 
the  following  August.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  second  lieutenant  in 
March,  1863,  and  served  successively  as 
quartermaster,  adjutant,  post  adjutant, 
judge  advocate  of  a  military  commission, 
and  depot  quartermaster  in  the  engineer 
department  at  Nashville.  He  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service  June  26,  1865.  He  had, 
during  his  leisure  hours  while  in  the  army, 
studied  law,  and  in  August,  1865,  he  com- 
menced the  practice  of  that  profession  at 
Clarksville,  Tennessee.  He  removed  to 
Kansas  in  1870   and   practiced  there  until 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


165 


1878,  in  the  meantime  establishing  and 
conducting  two  newspapers,  the  *'  Fredonia 
Journal  "  and  **  Coffey ville  Journal/' 

Mr.  Peffer  was  elected  to  the  state  senate 
in  1874  and  was  a  prominent  and  influential 
member  of  several  important  committees. 
He  served  as  a  presidential  elector  in  1880. 
The  year  following  he  became  editor  of  the 
**  Kansas  Farmer,"  which  he  made  a  promi- 
nent and  useful  paper.  In  1890  Mr.  Peffer 
was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate  as 
a  member  of  the  People's  party  and  took 
his  seat  March  4,  1891.  After  six  years  of 
service  Senator  Peffer  was  succeeded  in 
March,  1897,  by  William  A.  Harris. 


ROBERT  MORRIS.— The  name  of  this 
financier,  statesman  and  patriot  is 
closely  connected  with  the  early  history  of 
the  United  States.  He  was  a  native  of 
England,  born  January  20,  1734,  and  came 
to  America  with  his  father  when  thirteen 
years  old.  Until  1754  he  served  in  the 
counting  house  of  Charles  Willing,  then 
formed  a  partnership  with  that  gentleman's 
son,  which  continued  with  great  success  until 
1793.  In  1776  Mr.  Morris  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Continental  congress,  and,  although 
once  voting  against  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, signed  that  paper  on  its  adop- 
tion, and  was  several  times  thereafter  re- 
elected to  congress.  During  the  Revolu- 
tionary war  the  services  of  Robert  Morris 
in  aiding  the  government  during  its  finan- 
cial difficulties  were  of  incalculable  value;  he 
freely  pledged  his  personal  credit  for  sup- 
plies for  the  army,  at  one  time  to  the  amount 
of  about  one  and  ahalf  million  dollars,  with- 
out which  the  campaign  of  1781  would  have 
been  almost  impossible.  Mr.  Morris  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  finance  in  1781 
and  served  until  1784,  continuing  to  employ 
his  personal  credit  to  facilitate  the  needs  of 


his  department.  He  also  served  as  mem- 
ber of  the  Pennsylvania  legislature,  and 
from  1786  to  1795  was  United  States  sena- 
tor, declining  meanwhile  the  position  of  sec- 
retary of  the  treasury,  and  suggesting  the 
name  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  ap^ 
pointed  to  that  post.  During  the  latter 
part  of  his  life  Mr.  Morris  was  engaged  ex- 
tensively in  the  China  trade,  and  later  be- 
came  involved  in  land  speculations,  which 
ruined  him,  so  that  the  remaining  days  of 
this  noble  man  and  patriot  were  passed 
in  confinement  for  debt.  His  death  occurred 
at  Philadelphia,  May  8,  1806. 


WILLIAM  SHARON,  a  senator  anr* 
capitalist,  and  mine  owner  of  na 
tional  reputation,  was  born  at  Smithfield, 
Ohio,  January  9,  1821.  He  was  reared 
upon  a  farm  and  in  his  boyhood  given  excel- 
lent educational  advantages  and  in  1842 
entered  Athens  College.  He  remained  in 
that  institution  about  two  years,  after  which 
he  studied  law  with  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  at  St.  Louis  and 
commenced  practice.  His  health  failing, 
however,  he  abandoned  his  profession  and 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  at  Carrollton, 
Greene  county,  Illinois.  During  the  time 
of  the  gold  excitement  of  1849,  Mr.  Sharon 
went  to  California,  whither  so  many  went, 
and  engaged  in  business  at  Sacramento. 
The  next  year  he  removed  to  San  Francisco, 
where  he  operated  in  real  estate.  Being 
largely  interested  in  its  silver  mines,  he  re- 
moved to  Nevada,  locating  at  Virginia  City, 
and  acquired  an  immense  fortune.  He  be- 
came one  of  the  trustees-  of  the  Bank  of 
California,  and  during  the  troubles  that 
arose  on  the  death  of  William  Ralston,  the 
president  of  that  institution,  was  largely  in- 
strumental in  bringing  its  affairs  into  a  satis- 
factory shape. 


166 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


Mr.  Sharon  was  elected  to  represent  the 
state  of  Nevada  in  the  United  States  senate 
in  1875,  and  remained  a  member  of  that 
body  until  1881.  He  was  always  distin- 
guished for  close  application  to  business. 
Senator  Sharon  died  November  13,  1885. 


HENRY  W.  SHAW,  an  American  hu- 
morist who  became  celebrated  under 
the  non-de-plume  of  *^  Josh  Billings,"  gained 
his  fame  from  the  witticism  of  his  writing, 
and  peculiar  eccentricity  of  style  and  spell- 
ing. He  was  born  at  Lanesborough,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  18 1 8.  For  twenty-five  years 
he  lived  in  different  parts  of  the  western 
states,  following  various  lines  of  business^ 
including  farming  and  auctioneering,  and  in 
the  latter  capacity  settled  at  Poughkeepsie, 
New  York,  in  1858.  In  1863  he  began 
writing  humorous  sketches  for  the  news- 
papers over  the  signature  of  '  *  Josh  Bill- 
ings,*' and  became  immediately  popular 
both  as  a  writer  and  lecturer.  He  pub- 
lished a  number  of  volumes  of  comic 
sketches  and  edited  an  **  Annual  Allminax  " 
for  a  number  of  years,  which  had  a  wide  cir- 
culation. His  death  occurred  October  14, 
1885,  at  Monterey,  California. 


JOHN  M.  THURSTON,  well  known 
throughout  this  country  as  a  senator 
and  political  leader,  was  born  at  Mont- 
pelier,  Vermont,  August  21,  1847,  of  an 
old  Puritan  family  which  dated  back  their 
ancestry  in  this  country  to  1636,  and  among 
whom  were  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  and 
of  the  war  of  1812-15. 

Young  Thurston  was  brought  west  by 
the  family  in  1854,  they  settling  at  Madison, 
Wisconsin,  and  two  years  later  at  Beaver 
Dam,  where  John  M.  received  his  schooling 
in  the  public  schools  and  at  Wayland  Uni- 
versity.    His  father  enlisted  as  a  private  in 


the  First  Wisconsin  Cavalry  and  died  while 
in  the  service,  in  the  spring  of  1863. 

Young  Thurston,  thrown  on  his  own 
resources  while  attaining  an  education,  sup- 
ported himself  by  farm  work,  driving  team 
and  at  other  manual  labor.  He  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  May  21,  1869, 
and  in  October  of  the  same  year  located  in 
Omaha,  Nebraska.  He  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  city  council  in  1872,  city 
attorney  in  1874  and  a  member  of  the  Ne- 
braska legislature  in  1874.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Republican  national  convention 
of  1884  and  temporary  chairman  of  that  of 
1888.  Taking  quite  an  interest  in  the 
younger  members  of  his  party  he  was  instru- 
mental in  forming  the  Republican  League 
of  the  United  States,  of  which  he  was  presi- 
dent for  two  years.  He  was  then  elected  a 
member  of  the  United  States  senate,  in 
1895,  to  represent  the  state  of  Nebraska. 

As  an  attorney  John  M.  Thurston  occu- 
pied a  very  prominent  place,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  held  the  position  of  general 
solicitor  of  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  sys- 
tem. 

TOHN  JAMES  AUDUBON,  a  celebrated 
J  American  naturalist,  was  born  in  Louis- 
iana, May  4,  1780,  and  was  the  son  of  an 
opulent  French  naval  officer  who  owned  a 
plantation  in  the  then  French  colony.  In 
his  childhood  he  became  deeply  interested 
in  the  study  of  birds  and  their  habits.  About 
1794  he  was  sent  to  Paris,  France,  where 
he  was  partially  educated,  and  studied  de- 
signing under  the  famous  painter,  Jacques 
Louis  David.  He  returned  to  the  Unit- 
ed States  about  1798,  and  settled  on  a 
farm  his  father  gave  him,  on  the  Perkiomen 
creek  in  eastern  Pennsylvania.  He  mar- 
ried Lucy  Bakewell  in  1808,  and,  disposing 
of  his  property,  removed  to  Louisville,  Ken- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


167 


tucky,  where  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits. About  two  years  later  he  began  to 
make  extensive  excursions  through  the  pri- 
meval forests  of  the  southern  ^and  south- 
western states,  in  the  exploration  of  which 
he  passed  many  years.  He  made  colored 
drawings  of  all  the.  species  of  birds  that  he 
found.  For  several  years  he  made  his  home 
with  his  wife  and  children  at  Henderson,  on 
the  Ohio  river.  It  is  said  that  about  this 
time  he  had  failed  in  business  and  v^^as  re- 
d»uced  to  poverty,  but  kept  the  wolf  from  the 
door  by  giving  dancing  lessons  and  in  portrait 
painting.  In  1824,  at  Philadelphia,  he  met 
Charles  Lucien  Bonaparte,  who  encouraged 
him  to  publish  a  work  on  ornithology.  Two 
years  later  he  went  to  England  and  com- 
menced the  publication  of  his  great  work, 
**  The  Birds  of  America."  He  obtained  a 
large  number  of  subscribers  at  one  thousand 
dollars  a  copy.  This  work,  embracing  five 
volumes  of  letterpress  and  five  volumes  of 
beautifully  colored  plates,  was  pronounced 
by  Cuvier  **  the  most  magnificent  monument 
that  art  ever  raised  to  ornithology." 

Audubon  returned  to  Ameriqa  in  1829, 
and  explored  the  forests,  lakes  and  coast 
from  Canada  to  Florida,  collecting  material 
for  another  work.  This  was  his  "  Ornitho- 
logical Biography;  or.  An  Account  of  the 
Habits  of  the  Birds  of  the  United  States, 
Etc."  He  revisited  England  in  1831,  and 
returned  in  1839,  after  which  he  resiaed  on 
the  Hudson,  near  New  York  City,  in  which 
place  he  died  January  27,  1851.  During 
his  life  he  issued  a  cheaper  edition  of  his 
great  work,  and  was,  in  association  with 
Dr.  Bachman,  preparing  a  work  on  the 
quadrupeds  of  North  America. 


the  superior  British  squadron,  under  Com- 
modore Downie,  September  1 1,  18 14.  Com- 
modore McDonough  was  born  in  Newcastle 
county,  Delaware,  December  23,  1783,  and 
when  seventeen  years  old  entered  the 
United  States  navy  as  midshipman,  serving 
in  the  expedition  to  Tripoli,  under  Decatur, 
in  1803-4.  I^  1807  he  was  promoted  to 
lieutenant,  and  in  July,  18 13,  was  made  a 
commander.  The  following  year,  on  Lake 
Champlain,  he  gained  the  celebrated  victory 
above  referred  to,  for  which  he  was  again 
promoted;  also  received  a  gold  medal  from 
congress,  and  from  the  state  of  Vermont  an 
estate  on  Cumberfend  Head,  in  view  of  the 
scene  of  the  engagement.  His  death  oc- 
curred at  sea,  November  16,  1825,  while  he 
was  returning  from  the  command  of  the 
Mediterranean  squadron. 


COMMODORE    THOMAS    McDON- 
OUGH  gained  his  principal  fame  from 
he  celebrated  victory  which  he  gained  over 


CHARLES  FRANCIS  HALL,  one  of 
America's  most  celebrated  arctic  ex- 
plorers, was  born  in  Rochester,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  1 82 1.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by 
trade,  and  located  in  Cincinnati,  where  later 
he  became  a  journalist.  For  several  years 
he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  cal- 
orics. Becoming  interested  in  the  fate  of  the 
explorer.  Sir  John  Franklin,  he  joined  the 
expedition  fitted  out  by  Henry  Grinnell  and 
sailed  in  the  ship  *' George  Henry,"  under 
Captain  Buddington,  which  left  New  Lon- 
don, Connecticut,  in  i860.  He  returned  m 
1862,  and  two  years  later  published  his 
**  Arctic  Researches."  He  again  joined  the 
expedition  fitted  out  by  Mr.  Grinnell,  and 
sailed  in  the  ship,  **  Monticello,"  under 
Captain  Buddington,  this  time  remaining  in 
the  arctic  region  over  four  years.  On  his 
return  he  brought  back  many  evidences  of 
having  found  trace  of  Franklin. 

In  1 87 1  the  **  Polaris  "  was  fitted  out  by 
the  United  States  government,  and  Captain 


168 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Hall  again  sailed  for  the  polar  regions.  He 
died  in  Greenland  in  October,  1871,  and  the 
**  Polaris"  was  finally  abandoned  by  the 
crew,  a  portion  of  which,  under  Captain 
Tyson,  drifted  with  the  icebergs  for  one 
hundred  and  ninety-five  days,  until  picked 
up  by  the  **  Tigress,"  on  the  30th  of  April, 
1873.  The  other  portion  of  the  crew  built 
boats,  and,  after  a  perilous  voyage,  were 
picked  up  in  June,  1873,  by  a  whaling  vessel. 


OLIVER  ELLSWORTH,  the  third  chief 
justice  of  the  United  States,  was  born 
at  Windsor,  Connecticut,  April  29,  1745. 
After  graduating  from  Princeton,  he  took 
up  the  study  of  law,  and  was  licensed 
to  practice  in  177 1.  In  1777  he  was  elected 
as  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  congress. 
He  was  judge  of  the  superior  court  of  his 
state  in  1784,  and  was  chosen  as  a  delegate 
to  the  constitutional  convention  in  1787. 
He  sided  with  the  Federalists,  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  senate  in  1789,  and 
was  a  firm  supporter  of  Washington's  policy. 
He  won  great  distinction  in  that  body,  and 
was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States  by  Washington 
in  1796.  The  relations  between  this  coun- 
try and  France  having  become  violently 
strained,  he  was  sent  to  Paris  as  envoy  ex- 
traordinary in  1799,  and  was  instrumental 
in  negotiating  the  treaty  that  averted  war. 
He  resigned  the  following  year,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  His 
death  occurred  November  26,   1807. 


MELLVILLE  WESTON  FULLER,  an 
eminent  American  jurist  and  chief 
justice  of  the  United  States  supreme  court, 
was  born  in  Augusta,  Maine,  in  1833.  His 
education  was  looked  after  in  boyhood,  and 
at  the  age  of  sixteen  he  entered  Bowdoin 
College,  and  on  graduation  entered  the  law 


department  of  Harvard  University.  He  then 
entered  the  law  office  of  his  uncle  at  Ban- 
gor, Maine,  and  soon  after  opened  an  office 
for  the  practice  of  law  at  Augusta.  He  was 
an  alderman  from  his  ward,  city  attorney, 
and  editor  of  the  **  Age,"  a  rival  newspaper 
of  the  *' Journal, "  which  was  conducted  by 
James  G.  Blaine.  He  soon  decided  to  re- 
move to  Chicago,  then  springing  into  notice 
as  a  western  metropolis.  He  at  once  iden- 
tified himself  with  the  interests  of  the 
new  city,  and  by  this  means  acquired  an 
experience  that  fitted  him  for  his  future 
work.  He  devoted  himself  assiduously  to 
his  profession,  and  had  the  good  fortune  to 
connect  himself  with  the  many  suits  grow- 
ing out  of  the  prorogation  of  the  Illinois 
legislature  in  1863.  It  was  not  long  before 
he  became  one  of  the  foremost  lawyers  in 
Chicago.  He  made  a  three  days'  speech  in 
the  heresy  trial  of  Dr.  Cheney,  which  added 
to  his  fame.  He  was  appointed  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  United  States  by  President  Cleve- 
land in  1888,  the  youngest  man  who  ever 
held  that  exalted  position.  His  income  from 
his  practice  had  for  many  years  reached 
thirty  thousand  dollars  annually. 


CHESTER  ALLEN  ARTHUR,  twenty- 
first  president  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  in  Franklin  county,  Vermont,  Octo- 
ber 5,  1830.  He  was  educated  at  Union 
College,  Schenectady,  New  York,  from 
which  he  graduated  with  honor,  and  en- 
gaged in  teaching  school.  After  two  years 
he  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge  E.  D. 
Culver,  of  New  York,  as  a  student.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  an  old  room-mate,  Henry  D.  Gar- 
diner, with  the  intention  of  practicing  law 
in  the  west,  but  after  a  few  months'  search 
for  a  location,  they  returned  to  New  York 
and  opened  an  office,  and  at  once  entered 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


169 


upon  a  profitable  practice.  He  was  shortly 
afterwards  married  to  a  daughter  of  Lieu- 
tenant Herndon,  of  the  United  States  navy. 
Mrs.  Arthur  died  shortly  before  his  nomina- 
tion for  the  vice-presidency.  In  1856  a 
colored  woman  in  New  York  was  ejected 
from  a  street  car  and  retained  Mr.  Arthur 
in  a  suit  against  the  company,  and  obtained 
a  verdict  of  five  hundred  dollars.  It  result- 
ed in  a  general  order  by  all  superintendents 
of  street  railways  in  the  city  to  admit  col- 
ored people  to  the  cars. 

Mr.  Arthur  was  a  delegate  to  the  first 
Republican  national  convention,  and  was 
appointed  judge-advocate  for  the  Second 
Brigade  of  New  York,  and  then  chief  engi- 
neer of  Governor  Morgan's  staff.  At  the 
close  of  his  term  he  resumed  the  practice  of 
law  in  New  York.  In  1872  he  was  made 
collector  of  the  port  of  New  York,  which 
position  he  held  four  years.  At  the  Chi- 
cago convention  in  1880  Mr.  Arthur  was 
nominated  for  the  vice-presidency  with 
Garfield,  and  after  an  exciting  campaign 
was  elected.  Four  months  after  the  inau- 
guration President  Garfield  was  assassinated, 
and  Mr.  Arthur  was  called  to  take  the  reins 
of  government.  His  administration  of 
affairs  was  generally  satisfactory.  At  its 
close  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  New 
York.  His  death  occurred  November  18, 
1886.  

ISAAC  HULL  was  one  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous and  prominent  naval  officers  in 
the  early  history  of  America.  He  was  born 
at  Derby,  Connecticut,  March  9,  1775,  be- 
ing the  son  of  a  Revolutionary  officer.  Isaac 
Hull  early  in  life  became  a  mariner,  and 
when  nineteen  years  of  age  became  master 
of  a  merchant  ship  in  the  London  trade. 
In  1798  he  became  a  lieutenant  in  the  United 

States  navy,  and  three  years  later  was  made 
10 


first  lieutenant  of  the  frigate  ''Constitution." 
He  distinguished  himself  by  skill  and  valor 
against  the  French  on  the  coast  of  Hayti,  and 
served  with  distinction  in  the  Barbary  expe- 
ditions. July  12,  1 8 12,  he  sailed  from 
Annapolis,  in  command  of  the  ''Constitu- 
tion," and  for  three  days  was  pursued  by  a 
British  squadron  of  five  ships,  from  which 
he  escaped  by  bold  and  ingenious  seaman- 
ship. In  August  of  the  same  year  he  cap- 
tured the  frigate  "  Guerriere, "  one  of  his 
late  pursuers  and  for  this,  the  first  naval 
advantage  of  that  war,  he  received  a  gold 
medal  from  congress.  Isaac  Hull  was  later 
made  naval  commissioner  and  had  command 
of  various  navy  yards.  His  death  occurred 
February  13,  1843,  at  Philadelphia. 


MARCUS  ALONZO  HANNA,  famous 
as  a  prominent  business  man,  political 
manager  and  senator,  was  born  in  New  Lis- 
bon, Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  September 
24,  1837.  He  removed  with  his  father's 
family  to  Cleveland,  in  the  same  state,  in 
1852,  and  in  the  latter  city,  and  in  the 
Western  Reserve  College,  at  Hudson,  Ohio, 
received  his  education.  He  became  an  em- 
ploye of  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of 
Hanna,  Garrettson  &  Co. ,  his  father  being 
the  senior  member  of  the  firm.  The  latter 
died  in  1862,  and  Marcus  represented  his 
interest  until  1867,  when  the  business  was 
closed  up. 

Our  subject  then  became  a  member  of 
the  firm  of  Rhodes  &  Co.,  engaged  in  the 
iron  and  coal  business,  but  at  the  expira- 
tion of  ten  years  this  firm  was  changed  to 
that  of  M.  A.  Hanna  &  Co.  Mr.  Hanna 
was  long  identified  with  the  lake  carrying 
business,  being  interested  in  vessels  on  the 
lakes  and  in  the  construction  of  them.  As 
a  director  of  the  Globe  Ship  Manufacturing 
Company,   of   Cleveland,   president  of  the 


170 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


Union  National  Bank, of  Cleveland,  president 
of  the  Cleveland  City  Railway  Company, 
and  president  of  the  Chapin  Mining  Com- 
pany, oi  Lake  Superior,  he  became  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  business  world. 
He  was  one  of  the  government  directors  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  being  appointed 
to  that  position  in  1885  by  President  Cleve- 
land. 

Mr.  Hanna  was  a  delegate  to  the  na- 
tional Republican  convention  of  1884^  which 
was  his  first  appearance  in  the  political 
world.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
ventions of  1888  and  1896,  and  was  elect- 
ed chairman  of  the  Republican  national 
committee  the  latter  year,  and  practically 
managed  the  campaign  of  William  McKin- 
ley  for  the  presidency.  In  1897  Mr.  Hanna 
was  appointed  senator  by  Governor  Bush- 
nell,  of  Ohio,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
the  resignation  of  John  Sherman. 


GEORGE  PEABODY  was  one  of  the 
best  known  and  esteem.ed  of  ail  philan- 
thropists, whose  munificent  gifts  to  Ameri- 
can institutions  have  proven  of  so  much 
benefit  to  the  cause  of  humanity.  He  was 
born  February  18,  1795,  at  South  Danvers, 
Massachusetts,  which  is  now  called  Pea- 
body  in  honor  of  him.  He  received  but  a 
meager  education,  and  during  his  early  life 
he  was  a  mercantile- clerk  at  Thetford,  Ver- 
mont, and  Newburyport,  Massachusetts.  In 
18 14  he  became  a  partner  with  Elisha 
Riggs,  at  Georgetown,  District  of  Columbia, 
and  in  1 8 1 5  they  moved  to  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land. The  business  grew  to  great  propor- 
tions, and  they  opened  branch  houses  at 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Peabody 
made  several  voyages  to  Europe  of  com- 
mercial importance,  and  in  1829  became  the 
head  of  the  firm,  which  was  then  called 
Peabody,  Riggs  &  Co.,  and  in  1838   he  re- 


moved to  London,  England.  He  retired 
from  the  firm,  and  established  the  cele- 
brated banking  house,  in  which  he  accumu- 
lated a  large  fortune.  He  aided  Mr.  Grin- 
nell  in  fitting  out  Dr.  Kane's  Arctic  expedi- 
tion, in  1852,  and  founded  in  the  same  year 
the  Peabody  Institute,  in  his  native  town, 
which  he  afterwards  endowed  with  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Peabody  visited 
the  United  States  in  1857,  and  gave  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  for  the  establish- 
ment at  Baltimore  of  an  institute  of  science, 
literature  and  fine  arts.  In  1862  he  gave 
two  million  five  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  the  erecting  of  lodging  houses  for  the 
poor  in  London,  and  on  another  visit  to  the 
United  States  he  gave  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  establish  at  Harvard  a 
museum  and  professorship  of  American 
archaeology  and  ethnology,  an  equal  sum  for 
the  endowment  of  a  department  of  physical 
science  at  Yale,  and  gave  the  **  Southern 
Educational  Fund  "  two  million  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  besides  devoting  two  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  to  various  objects  of 
public  utility.  Mr.  Peabody  made  a  final 
visit  to  the  United  States  in  1869,  and  on 
this  occasion  he  raised  the  endowment  of 
the  Baltimore  Institute  one  million  dollars, 
created  the  Peabody  Museum,  at  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  with  a  fund  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  gave  sixty  thou- 
sand dollars  to  Washington  College,  Vir- 
ginia; fifty  thousand  dollars  for  a  **  Peabody 
Museum,  *'  at  North  Danvers,  thirty  thousand 
dollars  to  Phillips  Academy,  Andover;  twen- 
ty-five thousand  dollars  to  Kenyon  College, 
Ohio,  and  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  the 
Maryland  Historical  Society.  Mr.  Peabody 
also   endowed   an    art  school  at  Rome,   in 

1868.  He   died  in   London,  November  4, 

1869,  less  then  a  month   after  he  had   re- 
turned  from    the    United    States,    and    his. 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


171' 


remains  were  brought  to  the  United  States 
and  interred  in  his  native  town.  He  made 
several  other  bequests  in  his  will,  and  left 
his  family  about  five  million  dollars. 


MATTHEW  S.  QUAY,  a  celebrated 
public  man  and  senator,  was  born  at 
Dillsburgh,  York  county,  Pennsylvania, 
September  30,  1833,  of  an  old  Scotch-Irish 
family,  some  of  whom  had  settled  in  the 
Keystone  state  in  1715.  Matthew  received 
a  good  education,  graduating  from  the  Jef- 
ferson College  at  Canonsburg,  Pennsylvania, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen.  He  then  traveled, 
taught  school,  lectured,  and  studied  law 
under  Judge  Stcrrett.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1854,  was  appointed  a  prothon- 
otary  in  1855  and  elected  to  the  same 
office  in  1856  and  1859.  Later  he  was 
made  lieutenant  of  the  Pennsylvania  Re 
serve>,  lieutenant-colonel  and  assistant  com- 
missary-general of  the  state,  private  secre- 
tary of  the  famous  war  governor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Andrew  G.  Curtin,  colonel  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty-fourth  Pennsylva- 
nia Infantry  (nine  months  men),  military 
state  agent  and  held  other  offices  at  different 
times. 

Mr.  Quay  was  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania 
from  1865  to  1868.  He  filled  the  office  of 
secretary  of  the  commonwealth  from  1872 
to  1878,  and  the  position  of  delegate-at- 
large  to  the  Republican  national  conventions 
of  1872,  1876,  1880  and  1888.  Hewasthe 
editor  of  the  ♦*  Beaver  Radical"  and  the 
**  Philadelphia  Record  "  for  a  time,  and  held 
many  offices  in  the  state  conventions  and  on 
their  committees.  He  was  elected  secre- 
tary of  the  commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania, 
1869,  and  served  three  years,  and  in  1885 
was  chosen  state  treasurer.  In  1886  his 
great    abilities    pointed    him    out    as   the 


natural  candidate  for  United  States  senator, 
and  he  was  accordingly  elected  to  that  posi- 
tion and  re-elected  thereto  in  1892.  He 
was  always  noted  for  a  genius  for  organiza- 
tion, and  as  a  political  leader  had  but  few 
peers.  Cool,  serene,  far-seeing,  resourceful, 
holding  his  impulses  and  forces  in  hand,  he 
never  quailed  from  any  policy  he  adopted, 
and  carried  to  success  most,  if  not  all,  of 
the  political  campaigns  in  which  he  took, 
part. 

JAMES  K.  JONES,  a  noted  senator  and 
.  political  leader,  attained  national  fame 
while  chairman  of  the  national  executive 
committee  of  the  Democratic  party  in  the 
presidential  canjpaign  of  1896.  He  was  a. 
native  of  Marshall  county,  Mississippi,  and 
was  born  September  29,  1839.  His  father, 
a  well-to-do  planter,settled  in  Dallas  county, 
Arkansas,  in  1848,  and  there  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  received  a  careful  education. 
During  the  Civil  war  he  served  as  a  private 
soldier  in  the  Confederate  army.  From 
1866  to  1873  he  passed  a  quiet  life  as  a 
planter,  but  in  the  latter  year  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  and  began  the  practice  of  law. 
About  the  same  time  he  was  elected  to  the- 
Arkansas  senate  and  re-elected  in  1874.  In 
1877  he  was  made  president  of  the  senate, 
and  the  following  year  was  unsuccessful  ia 
obtaining  a  nomination  as  member  of  con- 
gress. In  1880  he  was  elected  representa- 
tive and  his  ability  at  once  placed  him  in  a 
foremost  position.  He  was  re-elected  to 
congress  in  1882  and  in  1884,  and  served  as 
an  influential  member  on  the  committee  of 
ways  and  means.  March  4,  1885,  Mr.  Jones 
took  his  seat  in  the  United  States  senate  to 
succeed  James  D.  Walker,  and  was  after- 
ward re-elected  to  the  same  office.  In  this 
branch  of  the  national  legislature  his  capa- 
bilities had  a  wider  scope,  and  he  was  rec- 


172 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


ognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  leaders  of  his 
party. 

On  the  nomination  of  William  J.  Bryan 
as  its  candidate  for  the  presidency  by  the 
national  convention  of  the  Democratic 
party,  held  in  Chicago  in  1896,  Mr.  Jones 
was  made  chairman  of  the  national  com- 
mittee. 

THEODORE  THOMAS,  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  musical  directors  America 
has  known,  was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Han- 
over in  1835,  and  received  his  musical  educa- 
tion from  his  father.  He  was  a  very  apt  scholar 
and  played  the  violin  at  public  concerts  at 
the  age  of  six  years.  He  came  with  his 
parents  to  America  in  1845,  ^^d  joined  the 
orchestra  of  the  Italian  Opera  in  New  York 
City.  He  played  the  first  violin  in  the 
orchestra  which  accompanied  Jenny  Lind 
in  her  first  American  concert.  In  1861  Mr. 
Thomas  established  the  orchestra  that  be- 
came famous  under  his  management,  and 
gave  his  first  symphony  concerts  in  New 
York  in  1864.  He  began  his  first  **  summer 
night  concerts"  in  the  same  city  in  1868, 
and  in  1869  he  started  on  his  first  tour  of 
the  principal  cities  in  the  United  States, 
which  he  made  every  year  for  many  years. 
He  was  director  of  the  College  of  Music  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  but  resigned  in  1880,  after 
having  held  the  position  for  three  years. 

Later  he  organized  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  successful  orchestras  ever  brought 
together  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  and  was 
very  prominent  in  musical  affairs  during  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition,  thereby  add- 
ing greatly  to  his  fame. 


CYRUS  HALL  McCORMICK.  the  fa- 
mous inventor  and  manufacturer,  was 
born  at  Walnut  Grove,  Virginia,  February 
15,  1809.     When  he  was  seven  years  old  his 


father  invented  a  reaping  machine.  It  was 
a  rude  contrivance  and  not  successful.  In 
1 83 1  Cyrus  made  his  invention  of  a  reaping 
machine,  and  had  it  patented  three  years 
later.  By  successive  improvements  he  was 
able  to  keep  his  machines  at  the  head  of 
its  class  during  his  life.  In  1 845  he  removed 
to  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  two  years  later 
located  in  Chicago,  where  he  amassed  a 
great  fortune  in  manufacturing  reapers  and 
harvesting  machinery.  In  1859  he  estab- 
lished the  Theological  Seminary  of  the 
Northwest  at  Chicago,  an  institution  for  pre- 
paring young  men  for  the  ministry  in  the 
Presbyterian  church,  and  he  afterward  en- 
dowed a  chair  in  the  Washington  and  Lee 
College  at  Lexington,  Virginia.  He  mani- 
fested great  interest  in  educational  and  re- 
ligious matters,  and  by  his  great  wealth  he 
was  able  to  extend  aid  and  encouragement 
to  many  charitable  causes.  His  death  oc- 
curred May  13,  1884. 


DAVID  ROSS  LOCKE.— Under  the 
pen  name  of  Petroleum  V.  Nasby,  this 
well-known  humorist  and  writer  made  for 
himself  a  household  reputation,  and  estab- 
lished a  school  that  has  many  imitators. 

The  subject  of  this  article  was  born  at 
Vestal,  Broome  county.  New  York,  Sep- 
tember 30,  1833.  After  receiving  his  edu- 
cation in  the  county  of  his  birth  he  en- 
tered the  office  of  the  '  *  Democrat, "  at  Cort- 
land, New  York,  where  he  learned  the 
printer's  trade.  He  was  successively  editor 
and  publisher  of  the  '  'Plymouth  Advertiser, " 
the  *' Mansfield  Herald,"  the  **  Bucyrus 
Journal,"  and  the  '^Findlay  Jeffersonian.'' 
Later  he  became  editor  of  the ''Toledo 
Blade."  In  i860  he  commenced  his 
"  Nasby"  articles,  several  series  of  which 
have  been  given  the  world  in  book  form. 
Under  a  mask  of  misspelling,  and  in  a  quaint 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


178 


and  humorous  style,  a  keen  political  satire 
is  couched — a  most  effective  weapon. 
Mr.  Locke  was  the  author  of  a  num- 
ber of  serious  political  pamphlets,  and 
later  on  a  more  pretentious  work,  **  The 
Morals  of  Abou  Ben  Adhem.'*  As  a  news- 
paper writer  he  gained  many  laurels  and  his 
works  are  widely  read.  Abraham  Lincoln 
is  said  to  have  been  a  warm  admirer  of  P. 
V.  Nasby,  of  **  Confedrit  X  Roads"  fame. 
Mr.  Locke  died  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  February 
IS,  1888.  

RUSSELL  A.  ALGER,  noted  as  a  sol- 
dier, governor  and  secretary  of  war, 
was  born  in  Medina  county,  Ohio,  February 
27,  1836,  and  was  the  son  of  Russell  and 
Caroline  (Moulton)  Alger.  At  the  age  of 
twelve  years  he  was  left  an  orphan  and  pen- 
niless. For  about  a  year  he  worked  for 
his  board  and  clothing,  and  attended  school 
part  of  the  time.  In  1850  he  found  a  place 
which  paid  small  wages,  and  out  of  his 
scanty  earnings  helped  his  brother  and  sister. 
While  there  working  on  a  farm  he  found 
time  to  attend  the  Richfield  Academy,  and 
by  hard  work  between  times  managed  to  get 
a  fair  education  for  that  time.  The  last 
two  years  of  his  attendance  at  this  institu- 
tion of  learning  he  taught  school  during  the 
winter  months.  In  1857  he  commenced  the 
study  of  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1859.  For  a  while  he  found  employ- 
ment in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  but  impaired 
health  induced  him  to  remove  to  Grand 
Rapids,  where  he  engaged  in  the  lumber 
business.  He  was  thus  engaged  when  the 
Civil  war  broke  out,  and,  his  business  suf- 
fering and  his  savings  swept  away,  he  en- 
listed as  a  private  in  the  Second  Michigan 
Cavalry.  He  was  promoted  to  be  captain 
the  following  month,  and  major  for  gallant 
conduct  at  Boonesville,  Mississippi,  July  i, 


1862.  October  16,  1862,  he  was  made 
lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Sixth  Michigan 
Cavalry,  and  in  February,  1863,  colonel  of 
the  Fifth  Michigan  Cavalry.  He  rendered 
excellent  service  in  the  Gettysburg  cam- 
paign. He  was  wounded  at  Boonesboro, 
Maryland,  and  on  returning  to  his  command 
took  part  with  Sherman  in  the  campaign  in 
the  Shenandoah  Valley.  For  services  ren- 
dered, that  famous  soldier  recommended 
him  for  promotion,  and  he  was  brevetted 
major-general  of  volunteers.  In  1866  Gen- 
eral Alger  took  up  his  residence  at  Detroit, 
and.  prospered  exceedingly  in  his  business, 
which  was  that  of  lumbering,  and  grew 
quite  wealthy.  In  1884  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Republican  national  convention,  and 
the  same  year  was  elected  governor  of 
Michigan.  He  declined  a  nomination  for 
re-election  to  the  latter  office,  in  1887,  ^"^ 
was  the  following  year  a  candidate  for  the 
nomination  for  president.  In  1889  he  was 
elected  commander-in-chief  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  at  different 
times  occupied  many  offices  in  other  or- 
ganizations. 

In   March,    1897,    President    McKinley 
appointed  General  Alger  secretary  of  war. 


CYRUS  WEST  FIELD,  the  father  of 
submarine  telegraphy,  was  the  son  of 
the  Rev.  David  D.  Field,  D.D.,  a  Congre- 
gational minister,  and  was  born  at  Stock- 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  November  30,  18 19. 
He  was  educated  in  his  native  town,  and  at 
the  age  of  fifteen  years  became  a  clerk  in  a 
store  in  New  York  City.  Being  gifted  with 
excellent  business  ability  Mr.  Field  pros- 
pered and  became  the  head  of  a  large  mer- 
cantile house.  In  1853  he  spent  about  six 
months  in  travel  in  South  America.  On  his 
return  he  became  interested  in  ocean  teleg- 
raphy.    Being  solicited  to  aid  in  the  cou- 


174 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


struction  of  a  land  telegraph  across  New 
Foundland  to  receive  the  news  from  a  line 
of  fast  steamers  it  was  proposed  to  run  from 
from  Ireland  to  St.  Johns,  the  idea  struck 
him  to  carry  the  line  across  the  broad  At- 
lantic. In  1850  Mr.  Field  obtained  a  con- 
cession from  the  legislature  of  Newfound- 
land, giving  him  the  sole  right  for  fifty  years 
to  land  submarine  cables  on  the  shores  of 
that  island.  In  company  with  Peter  Cooper, 
Moses  Taylor,  Marshall  O.  Roberts  and 
Chandler  White,  he  organized  a  company 
under  the  name  of  the  New  York,  New- 
foundland &  London  Telegraph  Company. 
In  two  years  the  line  from  New  York  across 
Newfoundland  was  built.  The  first  cable 
connecting  Cape  Breton  Island  with  New- 
foundland having  been  lost  in  a  storm  while 
being  laid  in  1855,  another  was  put  down  in 
1856.  In  the  latter  year  Mr.  Field  went  to 
London  and  organized  the  Atlantic  Tele- 
graph Company,  furnishing  one-fourth  of  the 
capital  himself.  Both  governments  loaned 
ships  to  carry  out  the  enterprise.  Mr.  Field 
accompanied  the  expeditions  of  1857  and 
two  in  1858.  The  first  and  second  cables 
were  failures,  and  the  third  worked  but  a 
short  time  and  then  ceased.  The  people  of 
both  continents  became  incredulous  of  the 
feasibility  of  laying  a  successful  cable  under 
so  wide  an  expanse  of  sea,  and  the  war 
breaking  out  shortly  after,  nothing  was  done 
until  1865-66.  Mr.  Field,  in  the  former 
year,  again  made  the  attempt,  and  the  Great 
Eastern  laid  some  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred miles  when  the  cable  parted  and  was 
lost.  The  following  year  the  same  vessel 
succeeded  in  laying  the  entire  cable,  and 
picked  up  the  one  lost  the  year  before,  and 
bmh  were  carried  to  America's  shore.  After 
thirteen  years  of  care  and  toil  Mr.  Field  had 
his  reward.  He  was  the  recipient  of  many 
:inedals  and  honors  from   both  home  and 


abroad.  He  gave  his  attention  after  this 
to  establishing  telegraphic  communication 
throughout  the  world  and  many  other  large 
enterprises,  notably  the  construction  of  ele- 
vated railroads  in  New  York.  Mr.  Field 
died  July  1 1,  1892.  . 


G ROVER  CLEVELAND,  the  twenty- 
second  president  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  in  Caldwell,  Essex  county.  New 
Jersey,  March  18,  1837,  ^"^  was  the  son 
of  Rev.  Richard  and  Annie  (Neale)  Cleve- 
land. The  father,  of  distinguished  New 
England  ancestry,  was  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister in  charge  of  the  church  at  Caldwell  at 
the  time. 

When  Grover  was  about  three  years  of 
age  the  family  removed  to  Fayetteville, 
Onondaga  county,  New  York,  where  he 
attended  the  district  school,  and  was  in  the 
academy  for  a  short  time.  His  father  be- 
lieving that  boys  should  early  learn  to  labor, 
Grover  entered  a  village  store  and  worked 
for  the  sum  of  fifty  dollars  for  the  first  year. 
While  he  was  thus  engaged  the  family  re- 
moved to  Clinton,  New  York,  and  there 
young  Cleveland  took  up  h's  studies  at  the 
academy.  The  death  of  his  father  dashed 
all  his  hopes  of  a  collegiate  education,  the 
family  being  left  in  straightened  circum- 
stances, and  Grover  started  out  to  battle 
for  himself.  After  acting  for  a  year  (1853- 
54)  as  assistant  teacher  and  bookkeeper  in 
the  Institution  for  the  Blind  at  New  York 
City,  he  went  to  Buffalo.  A  short  time 
after  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Rogers, 
Bowen  &  Rogers,  of  that  city,  and  after  a 
hard  struggle  with  adverse  circumstances, 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1859.  He  be- 
came confidential  and  managing 'clerk  for 
the  firm  under  whom  he  had  studied,  and 
remained  with  them  until  1863.  In  the  lat- 
ter year  he  was  appointed  district  attorney 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


175 


Oi  Erie  county.  It  was  during  his  incum- 
bency of  this  office  that,  on  being  nominated 
by  the  Democrats  for  supervisor,  he  came 
within  thirteen  votes  of  election,  although 
the  district  was  usually  Republican  by  two 
hundred  and  fifty  majority.  In  1 866  Grover 
Cleveland  formed  a  partnership  with  Isaac 
V.  Vanderpoel.  The  most  of  the  work  here 
fell  upon  the  shoulders  of  our  subject,  and 
he  soon  won  a  good  standing  at  the  bar  of 
the  state.  In  1869  Mr.  Cleveland  associated 
himself  in  business  with  A.  P.  Laning  and 
Oscar  Folsom,  and  under  the  firm  name  of 
Laning,  Cleveland  &  Folsom  soon  built  up  a 
fair  practice.  In  the  fall  of  1870  Mr.  Cleve- 
land was  elected  sheriff  of  Erie  county,  an 
office  which  he  filled  for  four  years,  after 
which  he  resumed  his  profession,  with  L.  K. 
Bass  and  Wilson  S.  Bissell  as  partners. 
This  firm  was  strong  and  popular  and 
shortly  was  in  possession  of  a  lucrative 
practice.  Mr.  Bass  retired  from  the  firm 
in  1879,  and  George  J.  Secard  was  admit- 
ted a  member  in  1881.  In  the  latter  year 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected  mayor  of  Buffalo, 
and  in  1882  he  was  chosen  governor  by 
the  enormous  majority  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  thousand  votes.  July  11,  1884, 
he  was  nominated  for  the  presidency  by  the 
Democratic  national  convention,  and  in 
November  following  was  elected. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  after  serving  one  term  as 
president  of  the  United  States,  in  1888  was 
nominated  by  his  party  to  succeed  himself, 
but  he  failed  of  the  election,  being  beaten 
by  Benjamin  Harrison.  In  1892,  however, 
being  nominated  again  in  opposition  to  the 
then  incumbent  of  the  presidency,  Mr.  Har- 
rison, Grover  Cleveland  was  elected  pres- 
ident for  the  second  time  and  served  for  the 
usual  term  of  four  years.  In  1897  Mr. 
Cleveland  retired  from  the  chair  of  the  first 
magistrate  of  the  nation,  and  in  New  York 


City  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  in  which 
city  he  had  established  himself  in  1889. 

June  2,  1886,  Grover  Cleveland  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Frances  Fol- 
som, the  daughter  of  his  former  partner. 


ALEXANDER  WINCHELL,  for  many 
years  one  of  the  greatest  of  American 
scientists,  and  one  of  the  most  noted  and 
prolific  writers  on  scientific  subjects,  was 
born  in  Duchess  county.  New  York,  Decem- 
ber 31,  1824.  He  received  a  thorough  col- 
legiate education,  and  graduated  at  the 
Wesleyan  University,  Middletown,  Connect- 
icut, in  1847.  His  mind  took  a  scientific 
turn,  which  manifested  itself  while  he  was 
yet  a  boy,  and  in  1848  he  became  teacher 
of  natural  sciences  at  the  Armenian  Semi- 
nary, in  his  native  state,  a  position  which 
he  filled  for  three  years.  In  185 1-3  he  oc- 
cupied the  same  position  in  the  Mesopo- 
tamia Female  Seminary,  in  Alabama,  after 
which  he  was  president  of  the  Masonic  Fe- 
male Seminary,  in  Alabama.  In  1853  he 
became  connected  with  the  University  of 
Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor,  at  which  institu- 
tion he  performed  the  most  important  work 
of  his  life,  and  gained  a  wide  reputation  as 
a  scientist.  He  held  many  important  posi- 
tions, among  which  were  the  following: 
Professor  of  physics  and  civil  engineering  at 
the  University  of  Michigan,  also  of  geology, 
zoology  and  botany,  and  later  professor  of 
geology  and  palaeontology  at  the  same  insti- 
tution. He  also,  for  a  time,  was  president 
of  the  Michigan  Teachers'  Association,  and 
state  geologist  of  Michigan.  Professor 
Winchell  was  a  very  prolific  writer  on  scien- 
tific subjects,  and  published  many  standard 
works,  his  most  important  and  widely  known 
being  those  devoted  to  geology.  He  also 
contributed  a  large  number  of  articles  to 
scientific  and  popular  journals. 


176 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


ANDREW  HULL  FOOTE,  of  the 
United  States  navy,  was  a  native  of 
New  England,  born  at  New  Haven,  Con- 
necticut, May  4,  1808.  He  entered  the 
navy,  as  a  midshipman,  December  4,  1822. 
He  slowly  rose  in  his  chosen  profession,  at- 
taining the  rank  of  lieutenant  in  1830,  com- 
mander in  1852  and  captain  in  1861. 
Among  the  distinguished  men  in  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  Civil  war,  but  few  stood  higher 
in  the  estimation  of  his  brother  officers  than 
Foote,  and  when,  in  the  fall  of  1861,  he 
was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  flotilla 
then  building  on  the  Mississippi,  the  act 
gave  grease  satisfaction  to  the  service. 
Although  embarrassed  by  want  of  navy 
yards  and  supplies,  Foote  threw  himself  into 
his  new  work  with  unusual  energy.  He 
overcame  all  obstacles  and  in  the  new,  and, 
until  that  time,  untried  experiment,  of  creat- 
ing and  maintaining  a  navy  on  a  river, 
achieved  a  success  beyond  the  expectations 
of  the  country.  Great  incredulity  existed  as 
to  the  possibility  of  carrying  on  hostilities 
on  a  river  where  batteries  from  the  shore 
might  bar  the  passage.  But  in  spite  of  all, 
Foote  soon  had  a  navy  on  the  great  river, 
and  by  the  heroic  qualities  of  the  crews  en- 
trusted to  him,  demonstrated  the  utility  of 
this  new  departure  in  naval  architecture. 
All  being  prepared,  February  6,  1862,  Foote 
took  Fort  Henry  after  a  hotly-contested 
action.  On  the  14th  of  the  same  month, 
for  an  hour  and  a  half  engaged  the  batteries 
of  Fort  Donelson,  with  four  ironclads  and 
two  wooden  gunboats,  thereby  dishearten- 
ing the  garrison  and  assisting  in  its  capture. 
April  7th  of  the  same  year,  after  several 
hotly-contested  actions.  Commodore  Foote 
received  the  surrender  of  Island  No.  10,  one 
of  the  great  strongholds  of  the  Confederacy 
on  the  Mississippi  river.  Foote  having  been 
wounded  at  Fort  Donelson,  and  by  neglect 


it  having  become  so  serious  as  to  endanger 
his  life,  he  was  forced  to  resign  his  command 
and  return  home.  June  16,  1862,  he  re- 
ceived the  thanks  of  congress  and  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  rear  admiral.  He  was 
appointed  chief  of  the  bureau  of  equipment 
and  recruiting.  June  4,  1863,  he  was 
ordered  to  the  fleet  off  Charleston,  to  super- 
cede Rear  Admiral  Dupont,  but  on  his  way 
to  that  destination  was  taken  sick  at  New 
York,  and  died  June  26,  1863. 


NELSON  A.  MILES,  the  well-known  sol- 
dier, was  born  at  Westminster,  Massa- 
chusetts, August  8,1839.  His  ancestors  set- 
tled in  that  state  in  1643  among  the  early 
pioneers,  and  their  descendants  were,  many 
of  them,  to  be  found  among  those  battling 
against  Great  Britain  during  Revolutionary 
times  and  during  the  war  of  18 12.  Nelson 
was  reared  on  a  farm,  received  an  academic 
education,  and  in  early  manhood  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits    in   Boston.     Early   in 

1 86 1  he  raised  a  company  and  offered  his 
services  to  the  government,  and  although 
commissioned  as  captain,  on  account  of  his 
youth  went  out  as  first  lieutenant  in  the 
Twenty-second  Massachusetts  Infantry.     In 

1862  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant-colonel 
and  colonel  of  the  Sixty-first  New  York  In- 
fantry. At  the  request  of  Generals  Grant 
and  Meade  he  was  made  a  brigadier  by 
President  Lincoln.  He  participated  in  all 
but  one  of  the  battles  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac  until  the  close  of  the  war.  During 
the  latter  part  of  the  time  he  commanded 
the  first  division  of  the  Second  Corps. 
General  Miles  was  wounded  at  the  battles 
of  Fair  Oaks,  Fredericksburg  and  Chan- 
cellorsville,  and  received  four  brevets  for 
distinguished  service.  During  the  recon- 
struction period  he  commanded  in  North 
Carolina,  and  on  the  reorganization  of  the 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT, 


17T 


regular  army  he  was  made  colonel  of  in- 
fantry. In  1880  he  was  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  in  1890  to 
that  of  major-general.  He  successfully  con- 
ducted several  campaigns  among  the  In- 
dians, and  his  name  is  known  among  the 
tribes  as  a  friend  when  they  are  peacefully 
inclined.  He  many  times  averted  war 
with  the  red  men  by  judicious  and  humane 
settlement  of  difficulties  without  the  military 
power.  In  1892  General  Miles  was  given 
command  of  the  proceedings  in  dedicating 
the  World's  Fair  at  Chicago,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1894,  during  the  great  railroad 
strike  at  the  same  city,  General  Miles,  then 
in  command  of  the  department,  had  the 
disposal  of  the  troops  sent  to  protect  the 
United  States  mails.  On  the  retirement  of 
General  J.  M.  Schofield,  in  1895,  General 
Miles  became  the  ranking  major-general  of 
the  United  States  army  and  the  head  of  its 
forces. 

JUNIUS  BRUTUS  BOOTH,  the  great 
actor,  though  born  in  London  (1796),  is 
more  intimately  connected  with  the  Amer- 
ican than  with  the  English  stage,  and  his 
popularity  in  America  was  almost  un- 
bounded, while  in  England  he  was  not  a 
prime  favorite.  He  presented  * 'Richard  III. " 
in  Richmond  on  his  first  appearance  on  the 
American  stage  in  1821.  This  was  his 
greatest  role,  and  in  it  he  has  never  had  an 
equal.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he 
appeared  in  New  York.  After  a  long  and 
successful  career  he  gave  his  final  perform- 
ance at  New  Orleans  in  1852.  He  con- 
tracted a  severe  cold,  and  for  lack  of  proper 
medical  attention,  it  resulted  in  his  death 
on  November  30th  of  that  year.  He  was, 
without  question,  one  of  the  greatest  tra- 
gedians that  ever  lived.  In  addition  to  his 
professional  art  and  genius,  he  was  skilled 


in  languages,  drawing,  painting  and  sculp- 
ture. In  his  private  life  he  was  reserved, 
and  even  eccentric.  Strange  stories  are 
related  of  his  peculiarities,  and  on  his  farm 
near  Baltimore  he  forbade  the  use  of  animal 
food,  the  taking  of  animal  Hfe,  and  even  the 
felling  of  trees,  and  brought  his  butter  and 
eggs  to  the  Baltimore  mark-ets  in  person. 

Junius  Brutus  Booth,  known  as  the  elder 
Booth,  gave  to  the  world  three  sons  of  note: 
Junius  Brutus  Booth,  Jr.,  the  husband  of 
Agnes  Booth,  the  actress;  John  Wilkes 
Booth,  the  author  of  the  greatest  tragedy 
in  the  life  of  our  nation;  Edwin  Booth,  in 
his  day  the  greatest  actor  of  America,  if  not 
of  the  world. 

JAMES  MONTGOMERY  BAILEY,  fa- 
mous  as  the  '^Danbury  News  Man," 
was  one  of  the  best  known  American  humor- 
ists, and  was  born  September  25,  1841,  at 
Albany,  N.  Y.  He  adopted  journalism  as  a 
profession  and  started  in  his  chosen  work  on 
the  **Danbury  Times,"  which  paper  he  pur- 
chased on  his  return  from  the  war.  Mr. 
Bailey  also  purchased  the  *'Jeffersonian,"" 
another  paper  of  Danbury,  and  consolidated 
them,  forming  the  ''Danbury  News,"  which 
paper  soon  acquired  a  celebrity  throughout 
the  United  States,  from  an  incessant  flow  of 
rich,  healthy,  and  original  humor,  which  the 
pen  of  the  editor  imparted  to  its  columns, 
and  he  succeeded  in  raising  the  circulation* 
of  the  paper  from  a  few  hundred  copies  a 
week  to  over  forty  thousand.  The  facilities 
of  a  country  printing  office  were  not  so  com- 
plete in  those  days  as  they  are  now,  but  Mr. 
Bailey  was  resourceful,  and  he  put  on  re- 
lays of  help  and  ran  his  presses  night  and 
day,  and  always  prepared  his  matter  a  week 
ahead  of  time.  The  * 'Danbury  News  Man" 
was  a  new  figure  in  literature,  as  his  humor 
was  so  different  from  that  of  the  newspaper 


178 


COMPENDIUM   OF    BIOGRAPHY, 


wits — who  had  preceded  him,  and  he  maybe 
called  the  pioneer  of  that  school  now  so 
familiar.  Mr.  Bailey  published  in  book 
form  ''Life  in  Danbury"  and  "The  Danbury 
News  Man's  Almanac."  One  of  his  most 
admirable  traits  was  philanthrophy,  as  he 
gave  with  unstinted  generosity  to  all  comers, 
and  died  comparatively  poor,  notwithstand- 
ing his  ownership  of  a  very  profitable  busi- 
ness which  netted  him  an  income  of  $40,000 
a  year.      He  died  March  4,  1894. 


MATTHEW  HALE  CARPENTER,  a 
famous  lawyer,  orator  and  senator, 
was  born  in  Moretown,  Vermont,  December 
22,  1824.  After  receiving  a  common-school 
education  he  entered  the  United  States 
Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  but  only 
remained  two  years.  On  returning  to  his 
home  he  commenced  the  study  of  law  with 
Paul  Dillingham,  afterwards  governor  of 
Vermont,  and  whose  daughter  he  married. 
In  1847  he  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the 
bar  in  Vermont,  but  he  went  to  Boston  and 
for  a  time  studied  with  Ruf  us  Choate.  In  1 848 
he  moved  west,  settling  at  Beloit,  Wisconsin, 
and  commencing  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion soon  obtained  a  wide  reputation  for 
:ability.  In  1856  Mr.  Carpenter  removed  to 
Milwaukee,  where  he  found  a  wider  field  for 
his  now  increasing  powers.  During  the 
Civil  war,  although  a  strong  Democrat,  he 
was  loyal  to  the  government  and  aided  the 
Union  cause  to  his  utmost.  In  1868  he 
was  counsel  for  the  government  in  a  test 
case  to  settle  the  legality  of  the  reconstruc- 
tion act  before  the  United  States  supreme 
court,  and  won  his  case  against  Jeremiah  S. 
Black.  This  gave  him  the  election  for  sen- 
ator from  Wisconsin  in  1 869,  and  he  served 
until  1875,  during  part  of  which  time  he  was 
president  pro  tempore  of  the  senate.  Failing 
of  a  re-election  Mr.  Carpenter  resumed  the 


practice  of  law,  and  when  William  W. 
Belknap,  late  secretary  of  war,  was  im- 
peached, entered  the  case  for  General 
Belknap,  and  secured  an  acquittal.  During 
the  sitting  of  the  electoral  commission  of 
1877,  Mr.  Carpenter  appeared  for  Samuel 
J.  Tilden,  although  the  Republican  man- 
agers had  intended  to  have  him  represent 
R.  B.  Hayes.  Mr.  Carpenter  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  senate  again  in  1879, 
and  remained  a  member  of  that  body  until 
the  day  of  his  death,  which  occurred  at 
Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1 88 1. 

Senator  Carpenter's  real  name  was  De- 
catur Merritt  Hammond  Carpenter  but  about 
1852  he  changed  it  to  the  one  by  which  he 
was  universally  known. 


THOMAS  E.  WATSON,  lawyer  and 
congressman,  the  well-known  Geor- 
gian, whose  name  appears  at  the  head  of 
this  sketch,  made  himself  a  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  our  country  by  his  ability,  energy 
and  fervid  oratory.  He  was  born  in  Col- 
umbia (now  McDuffie)  county,  Georgia, 
September  5,  1856.  He  had  a  common- 
school  education,  and  in  1872  entered  Mer- 
cer University,  at  Macon,  Georgia,  as  fresh- 
man, but  for  want  of  money  left  the  college 
at  the  end  of  his  sophomore  year.  He 
taught  school,  studying  law  at  the  same 
time,  until  1875,  when  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  He  %opened  an  office  and  com- 
menced practice  in  Thomson,  Georgia,  in 
November,  1876.  He  carried  on  a  success- 
ful business,  and  bought  land  and  farmed  on 
an  extensive  scale. 

Mr.  Watson  was  a  delegate  to  the  Demo- 
cratic state  convention  of  1880,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  of 
the  legislature  of  his  native  state  in  1882.. 
In  1888  he  was  an  elector-at-krge  on  the 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


179 


Cleveland  ticket,  and  in  1890  was  elected 
to  represent  his  district  in  the  fifty-second 
congress.  This  latter  election  is  said  to  have 
been  due  entirely  to  Mr.  Watson's  'Mash- 
ing display  of  ability,  eloquence  and  popular 
power.'*  In  his  later  years  he  championed 
the  alliance  principles  and  policies  until  he 
became  a  leader  in  the  movement.  In  the 
heated  campaign  of  1896,  Mr.  Watson  was 
nominated  as  the  candidate  for  vice-presi- 
dent on  the  Bryan  ticket  by  that  part  of  the 
People's  party  that  would  not  endorse  the 
nominee  for  the  same  position  made  by  the 
Democratic  party. 


FREDERICK  A.  P.  BARNARD,  mathe- 
matician, physicist  and  educator,  was 
born  in  Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  May  5 , 1 809. 
He  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1828,  and 
in  1830  became  a  tutor  in  the  same.  From 
1837  to  1848  he  was  professor  of  mathe- 
inE^tics  and  natural  philosophy  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Alabama,  and  from  1848  to  1850, 
professor  of  chemistry  and  natural  history 
in  the  same  educational  institution.  In 
1854  he  became  connected  with  the  Univer- 
sity of  Mississippi,  of  which  he  became 
president  in  1856,  and  chancellor  in  1858. 
In  1854  he  took  orders  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  church.  In  186 1  Professor  Barnard 
resigned  his  chancellorship  and  chair  in  the 
university,  and  in  1863  and  1864  was  con- 
nected with  the  United  States  coast  survey 
in  charge  of  chart  printing  and  lithography. 
In  May,  1864,  he  was  elected  president  of 
Columbia  College,  New  York  City,  which 
he  served  for  a  number  of  years. 

Professor  Barnard  received  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.  D.  from  Jeflerson  College, 
Mississippi,  in  1855,  and  from  Ya^e  College 
in  1859;  also  the  degree  of  S.  T.  D.  from 
the  University  of  Mississippi  in  1861,  and 
that  of  L.  H.  D.  from  the  regents   of   the 


University  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  1872. 
In  i860  he  was  a  member  of  the  eclipse 
party  sent  by  the  United  States  coast  sur- 
vey to  Labrador,  and  during  his  absence 
was  elected  president  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science.  la 
the  act  of  congress  establishing  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  1863,  he  was  named 
as  one  of  the  original  corporators.  In  1 867 
he  was  one  of  the  United  States  commis- 
sioners to  the  Paris  Exposition.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  associate  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and 
many  other  philosophical  and  scientific 
societies  at  home  and  abroad.  Dr.  Barnard 
was  thoroughly  identified  with  the  progress 
of  the  age  in  those  branches.  His  published 
works  relate  wholly  to  scientific  or  educa- 
tional subjects,  chief  among  which  are  the 
following :  Report  on  Collegiate  Education ; 
Art  Culture;  History  of  the  American  Coast 
Survey;  University  Education;  Undulatory 
Theory  of  Light;  Machinery  and  Processes 
of  the  Industrial  Arts,  and  Apparatus  of  the 
Exact  Sciences,  Metric  System  of  Weights 
and  Measures,  etc. 


EDWIN  McMASTERS  STANTON,  the 
secretary  of  war  during  the  great  Civil 
war,  was  recognized  as  one  of  America's 
foremost  public  men.  He  was  born  Decem- 
ber 19,  18 14,  at  Steubenville,  Ohio,  where 
he  received  his  education  and  studied  law. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1836,  and 
was  reporter  of  the  supreme  court  of  Ohio 
from  1842  until  1845.  He  removed  to 
Washington  in  1856  to  attend  to  his  prac- 
tice before  the  United  States  supreme 
court,  and  in  1858  he  went  to  California  as 
counsel  for  the  government  in  certain  land 
cases,  which  he  carried  to  a  successful 
conclusion.      Mr.    Stanton    was   appointed 


180 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHY. 


attorney-general  of  the  United  States  in 
December,  i860,  by  President  Buchanan. 
On  March  4,  1861,  Mr.  Stanton  went  with 
the  outgoing  administration  and  returned  to 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  was 
appointed  secretary  of  war  by  President 
Lincoln  January  20,  1862,  to  succeed  Simon 
Cameron.  After  the  assassination  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  and  the  accession  of  Johnson 
to  the  presidency,  Mr.  Stanton  was  still  in 
the  same  office.  He  held  it  for  three  years, 
and  by  his  strict  adherence  to  the  Repub- 
lican party,  he  antagonized  President  John- 
son, who  endeavored  to  remove  him.  On 
August  5,  1867,  the  president  requested  him 
to  resign,  and  appointed  General  Grant  to 
succeed  him,  but  when  congress  convened 
in  December  the  senate  refused  to  concur  in 
the  suspension.  Mr.  Stanton  returned  to 
his  post  until  the  president  again  removed 
him  frbm  office,'  but  was  again  foiled  by 
congress.  Soon  after,  however,  he  retired 
voluntarily  from  office  and  took  up  the 
practice  of  law,  in  which  he  engaged  until 
his  death,  on  December  24,  1869. 


ALEXANDER  CAMPBELL,  the  eminent 
theologian  and  founder  of  the  church 
known  as  Disciples  of  Christ,  was  born  in 
the  country  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  in  June, 
1788,  and  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Thomas 
Campbell,  a  Scoth-Irish  '*Seceder. "  After 
studying  at  the  University  of  Glasgow,  he, 
in  company  with  his  father,  came  to  America 
in  1808,  and  both  began  labor  in  western 
Pennsylvania  to  restore  Christianity  to 
apostolic  simplicity.  They  organized  a 
church  at  Brush  Run,  Washington  county, 
Pennsylvania,  in  181 1,  which,  however,  the 
year  following,  adopted  Baptist  views,  and 
in  1 81 3,  with  othef  cont>regations  joined  a 
Baptist  associatibh.  Somie  of  the  under- 
lying principles  and  many  practices   of  the 


Campbells  and  their  disciples  were  repug- 
nant to  the  Baptist  church  and  considerable 
friction  was  the  result,  and  1827  saw  the 
separation  of  that  church  from  the  Church 
of  Christ,  as  it  is  sometimes  called.  The 
latter  then  reorganized  themselves  anew. 
They  reject  all  creeds,  professing  to  receive 
the  Bible  as  their  only  guide.  In  most  mat- 
ters of  faith  they  are  essentially  in  accord  with 
the  other  Evangelical  Christian  churches, 
especially  in  regard  to  the  person  and  work 
of  Christ,  the  resurrection  and  judgment. 
They  celebrate  the  Lord's  Supper  weekly, 
hold  that  repentance  and  faith  should  precede 
baptism,  attaching  much  importance  to  the 
latter  ordinance.  On  all  other  points  they 
encourage  individual  liberty  of  thought.  In 
1 84 1,  Alexander  Campbell  founded  Bethany 
College,  West  Virginia,  of  which  he  was 
president  for  many  years,  and  died  March  4, 
1866. 

The  denomination  which  they  founded 
is  quite  a  large  and  important  church  body 
in  the  United  States.  They  support  quite 
a  number  of  institutions  of  learning,  among 
which  are:  Bethany  College,  West  Virginia; 
Hiram  College,  Hiram,  Ohio;  Northwestern 
Christian  University,  Indianapolis,  Indiana; 
Eureka  College,  Illinois;  Kentucky  Univer- 
sity, Lexington,  Kentucky;  Oskaloosa. 
College,  Iowa;  and  a  number  of  seminaries 
and  schools.  They  also  support  several 
monthly  and  quarterly  religious  periodicals 
and  many  papers,  both  in  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  and  her  dependencies. 


WILLIAM  L.WILSON,  the  noted  West 
Virginian,  who  was  postmaster-gener- 
al under  President  Cleveland's  second  ad- 
ministration, won  distinction  as  the  father 
of  the  famous  **  Wilson  bill,"  which  became 
a  law  under  the  same' administration.  Mr. 
Wiison  was  born   May  3,    1843^  in   Jefief- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


181 


son  county,  West  Virginia,  and  received 
a  good  education  at  the  Charlestown 
Academy,  where  he  prepared  himself  for 
college.  He  attended  the  Columbian  Col- 
lege in  the  District  of  Columbia,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  i860,  and  then 
attended  the  University  of  Virginia.  Mr. 
Wilson  served  in  the  Confederate  army  dur- 
ing the  war,  after  which  he  was  a  professor 
in  Columbian  College.  Later  he  entered 
into  the  practice  of  law  at  Charlestown. 
He  attended  the  Democratic  convention 
held  at  Cincinnati  in  1880,  as  a  delegate, 
and  later  was  chosen  as  one  of  the  electors 
for  the  state-at-large  on  the  Hancock 
ticket.  In  the  Democratic  convention  at 
Chicago  in  1892,  Mr.  Wilson  was  its  per- 
manent president.  He  was  elected  pres- 
ident of  the  West  Virginia  University  in 
1882,  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office 
on  September  6,  but  having  received  the 
nomination  for  the  forty-seventh  congress 
on  the  Democratic  ticket,  he  resigned  the 
presidency  of  the  university  in  June,  1883, 
to  take  his  seat  in  congress.  Mr.  Wil- 
son was  honored  by  the  Columbian  Uni- 
versity and  the  Hampden-Sidney  College, 
both  of  which  conferred  upon  him  the  de- 
gree of  LL.  D.  In  1884  he  was  appointed 
regent  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  at 
Washington  for  two  years,  and  at  the  end 
of  his  term  was  re-appointed.  He  was 
elected  to  the  forty -seventh,  forty-ninth, 
fiftieth,  fifty-first,  fifty-second  and  fifty- 
third  congresses,  but  was  defeated  for  re- 
election to  the  fifty-fourth  congress.  Upon 
the  resignation  of  Mr.  Bissell  from  the  office 
of  postmaster-general,  Mr.  Wilson  was  ap- 
pointed to  fill  the  vacancy  by  President 
Cleveland.  His  many  years  of  public  serv- 
ice and  the  prominent  part  he  took  in  the 
discussion  of  public  questions  gave  him  a 
-national  reputation. 


CALVIN  S.  BRICE,  a  successful  and 
noted  financier  and  politician,  was 
born  at  Denmark,  Ohio,  September  17, 
1845,  of  an  old  Maryland  family,  who  trace 
their  lineage  from  the  Bryces,  or  Bruces,  of 
Airth,  Scotland.  The  father  of  our  subject 
was  a  prominent  Presbyterian  clergyman, 
who  removed  to  Ohio  in  1812.  Calvin  S. 
Brice  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  town,  and  at  the  age  of  thir- 
teen entered  the  preparatory  department  of 
Miami  University  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  and  the 
following  year  entered  the  freshman  class. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  w^ar, 
although  but  fifteen  years  old,  he  enlisted  in 
a  company  of  three-months  men.  He  re- 
turned to  complete  !iis  college  course,  but 
re-enlisted  in  Company  A,  Eighty-sixth 
Ohio  Infantry,  and  served  in  the  Virginia 
campaign.  He  then  returned  to  college, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1863.  Ip  1864 
he  organized  Company  E,  One  Hundred 
and  Eightieth  Ohio  Infantry,  and  served 
until  the  close  of  hostilities,  in  the  western 
armies. 

On  his  return  home  Mr.  Brice  entered 
the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Michigan,  and  in  1866  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Cincinnati.  In  the  winter  of  1870- 
71  he  went  to  Europe  in  the  interests  of.  the 
Lake  Erie  &  Louisville  Railroad  and  pro,^ 
cured  a  foreign  loan.  This  road  became 
the  Lake  Erie  &  Western,  of  which,  in 
1887,  Mr.  Brice  became  president.  This 
was  the  first  railroad  in  which  he  had  a 
personal  interest.  The  conception,  build- 
ing and  sale  of  the  New  York,  Chicago,^ 
St.  Louis  Railroad,  known  as  the  '* Nickel 
Plate,"  was  largely  due  to  him.  He  was 
connected  with  many  other  railroads,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  the  following: 
Chicago  &  Atlantic;  Ohio  Central;  Ricli- 
mond  &  Danville;  Richri^ond  &  West  Poipt 


182 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


Terminal;  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  & 
Georgia;  Memphis  &  Charleston;  Mobile  & 
Birmingham;  Kentucky  Central;  Duluth, 
South  Shore  &  Atlantic,  and  the  Marquette, 
Houghton  &  Ontonagon.  In  1890  he  was 
elected  United  States  senator  from  Ohio. 
Notwithstanding  his  extensive  business  inter- 
ests. Senator  Brice  gave  a  considerable 
time  to  political  matters,  becoming  one  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  and  one 
of  the  most  widely  known  men  in  the 
country. 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON,  twenty-third 
president  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  August  20,  1833,  at  North  Bend, 
Hamilton  county,  Ohio,  in  the  house  of  his 
grandfather,  General  William  Henry  Har- 
rison, afterwards  president  of  the  United 
States.  His  great-grandfather,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  was  a  member  of  the  Continental 
congress,  signed  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  was  three  times  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  entered  Farm- 
ers College  at  an  early  age,  and  two  years 
later  entered  Miami  University,  at  Oxford, 
Ohio.  Upon  graduation  he  entered  the 
office  of  Stover  &  Gwyne,  of  Cincinnati,  as  a 
law  student.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
two  years  later,  and  having  inherited  about 
eight  hundred  dollars  worth  of  property,  he 
married  the  daughter  of  Doctor  Scott,  pres- 
ident of  a  female  school  at  Oxford,  Ohio, 
and  selected  Indianapolis,  Indiana,  to  begin 
practice.  In  i860  he  was  nominated  by 
vhe  Republicans  as  candidate  for  state 
supreme  court  reporter,  and  did  his  first 
political  speaking  in  that  campaign.  He 
was  elected,  and  after  two  years  in  that 
position  he  organized  the  Seventieth  Indi- 
ana Infantry,  of  which  he  was  made  colonel, 
and  with  his  regiment  joined  General  Sher- 


man's army.  For  bravery  displayed  at  Re- 
saca  and  Peach  Tree  Creek  he  was  made  a 
brigadier-general.  In  the  meantime  the 
office  of  supreme  court  reporter  had  been 
declared  vacant,  and  another  party  elected 
to  fill  it.  In  the  fall  of  1864,  having  been 
nominated  for  that  office.  General  Harrison 
obtained  a  thirty-day  leave  of  absence,  went 
to  Indiana,  canvassed  the  state  and  was 
elected.  As  he  was  about  to  rejoin  his 
command  he  was  stricken  down  by  an  attack 
of  fever.  After  his  recovery  he  joined 
General  Sherman's  army  and  participated  in 
the  closing  events  of  the  war. 

In  1868  General  Harrison  declined  to 
be  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  supreme 
court  reporter,  and  returned  to  the  practice 
of  the  law.  His  brilliant  campaign  for  the 
office  of  governor  of  Indiana  in  1876, 
brought  him  into  public  notice,  although  he 
was  defeated.  He  took  a  prominent  part 
in  the  presidential  canvass  of  1880,  and  was 
chosen  United  States  senator  from  Indiana, 
serving  six  years.  He  then  returned  to  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  In  1888  he  was 
selected  by  the  Republican  convention  at 
Chicago  as  candidate  for  the  presidency,  and 
after  a  heated  campaign  was  elected  over 
Cleveland.  He  was  inaugurated  March  4, 
1889,  and  signed  the  McKinley  bill  October 
I,  1890,  perhaps  the  most  distinctive  feature 
of  his  administration.  In  1892  he  was 
again  the  nominee  of  the  Republican  party 
for  president,  but  was  defeated  by  Grover 
Cleveland,  the  Democratic  candidate,  and 
again  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  Indian- 
apolis. 

JOHN  CRAIG  HAVEMEYER,  the 
celebrated  merchant  and  sugar  refiner, 
was  born  in  New  York  City  in  1833.  His 
father,  William  F.  Havemeyer,  and  grand- 
father, William  Havemeyer,  were  both  sugar 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


\m 


refiners.  The  latter  named  came  from 
Buckeburg,  Germany,  in  1799,  and  settled 
in  New  York,  establishing  one  of  the  first 
refineries  in  that  city.  William  F.  succeeded 
his  father,  and  at  an  early  age  retired  from 
business  with  a  competency.  He  was  three 
times  mayor  of  his  native  city,  New  York. 
John  C.  Havemeyer  was  educated  in 
private  schools,  and  was  prepared  for  college 
at  Columbia  College  grammar  school. 
Owing  to  failing  eyesight  he  was  unable  to 
finish  his  college  course,  and  began  his 
business  career  in  a  wholesale  grocery  store, 
where  he  remained  two  years.  In  1854, 
after  a  year's  travel  abroad,  he  assumed  the 
responsibility  of  the  office  work  in  the  sugar 
refinery  of  Havemeyer  &  Molter,  but  two 
years  later  etablished  a  refinery  of  his  ov>n 
in  Brooklyn.  TbL  ?.ft^rwards  developed  into 
the  immense  busine/.s  o^  Havemeyer  &  Elder 
The  capital  was  furnished  by  his  father, 
and,  chafing  under  the  anxiety  caused  by  the 
use  of  borrowed  money,  he  sold  out  his 
interest  and  returned  to  Havemeyer  & 
Molter.  This  firm  dissolving  the  next  year, 
John  C.  declined  an  offer  of  partnership 
from  the  successors,  not  wishing  to  use 
borrowed  money.  For  two  years  he  remain- 
ed with  the  house,  receiving  a  share  of  the 
profits  as  compensation.  For  some  years 
thereafter  he  was  engaged  in  the  commission 
business,  until  failing  health  caused  his 
retirement.  In  1871,  he  again  engaged  in 
the  sugar  refining  business  at  Greenport, 
Long  Island,  with  his  brother  and  another 
partner,  under  the  firm  name  of  Havemeyer 
Brothers  &  Co.  Here  he  remained  until 
1880,  when  his  health  again  declined. 
During  the  greater  part  of  his  life  Mr. 
Havemeyer  was  identified  with  many  benev- 
olent societies,  including  the  New  York 
Port  Society,  Missionary  Society  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  American  Bible  Society, 


New  York  Sabbath  School  Society  and 
others.  He  was  active  in  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  work  in  New  York, 
and  organized  and  was  the  first  president  ot 
an  affiliated  society  of  the  same  at  Yonkers. 
He  was  director  of  several  railroad  corpo- 
rations and  a  trustee  of  the  Continental  Trust 
Company  of  New  York. 


WALTER  QUINTIN  GRESHAM,  an 
eminent  American  statesman  and 
jurist,  was  born  March  17,  1833,  near  Cory- 
don,  Harrison  county,  Indiana.  He  ac- 
quired his  education  m  the  local  schools  of 
the  county  and  at  Bloomington  Academy, 
akhough  he  did  not  graduate.  After  leav- 
ing college  he  read  law  with  Judg-e  Porter 
at  Corydon,  and  just  beiorc  the  wa.^  >^  be- 
gan to  take  an  interest  in  politics.  Mr. 
Gresham  was  elected  to  the  legislatu^'  ^rom 
Harrison  county  as  a  Republican;  previous 
to  this  the  district  had  been  represented  by 
a  Democrat.  At  the  comrfiencement  of 
hostilities  he  was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  Thirty-eighth  Indiana  Infantry,  but 
served  in  that  regiment  only  a  short  time, 
when  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Fifty- 
third  Indiana,  and  served  under  General 
Grant  at  the  siege  of  Vicksburg  as  brigadier- 
general.  Later  he  was  under  Sherman  in 
the  famous  * 'March  to  the  Sea,'*  and  com- 
manded a  division  of  Blair's  corps  at  the 
siege  of  Atlanta  where  he  was  so  badly 
wounded  in  the  leg  that  he  was  compelled 
to  return  home.  On  his  way  home  he  was 
forced  to  stop  at  New  Albany,  where  he  re- 
mained a  year  before  he  was  able  to  leave. 
He  was  brevetted  major-general  at  the  close 
of  the  war.  While  at  New  Albany,  Mr. 
Gresham  was  appointed  state  agent,  his 
duty  being  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  state 
debt  in  New  York,  and  he  ran  twice  for 
congress    against  ex-Speaker  Kerr,  but  was 


184 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAFHT. 


defeated  in  both  cases,  although  he  greatly 
reduced  the  Democratic  majority.      He  was 
held  in  high  esteem   by    President   Grant, 
who  offered  him  the  portfolio  of  the  interior 
but    Mr.    Gresham    declined,  but   accepted 
the  appointment  of  United  States  judge  for 
Indiana    to    succeed      David      McDonald. 
Judge  Gresham  served  on  the  United  States 
district  court  bench    until    1883,   when  he 
was  appointed  postmaster-general  by  Presi- 
dent Arthur,  but  held  that  office  only  a  few 
months  when  he  was  made  secretary  of  the 
treasury.      Near    the     end     of      President 
Arthur's    term,    Judge   Gresham    was    ap- 
pointed judge  of  the  United  States  circuit 
court  of  the  district  composed   of    Indiana, 
Illinois  and  contiguous  states,  which  he  held 
until  1893.     Judge  Gresham  was  one  of  the 
presidential  possibilities  in  the  National  Re- 
publican convention  in   1888,  when  General 
Harrison  was  nominated,  and  was  also  men- 
tioned  for  president   m    1892.      Later   the 
People's  party  maae  c.  strenuous    effort    to 
induce  him  to  become    their  candidate  for 
president,  he  refusing  the    offer,    howeve'., 
and  a  few  weeks  before  the  election  he  an- 
nounced that  he  would  support  Mr.  Cleve- 
land, the  Democratic  nominee  for  president. 
Upon  the  election  of  Mr.  Cleveland  in  the 
fall  of  1892,  Judge  Gresham  was  made  the 
secretary    of  state,  and  filled  that  position 
until  his  death  on   May  28,  1895,  at  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia. 


ELISHA  B.  ANDREWS,  noted  as  an  ed- 
ucator and  college  president,  was  born 
at  Hinsdale,  New  Hampshire,  January  10, 
1844,  his  father  and  mother  being  Erastus 
and  Elmira  (Bartlett)  Andrews.  In  1861. 
he  entered  the  service  of  the  general  gov- 
ernment as  private  and  non-commissioned 
officer  in  the  First  Connecticut  Heavy  Ar- 
H:illery,  and  in    1863   was  promoted  to  the 


rank  of  second  lieutenant.  Returning  home 
he  was  prepared  for  college  at  Powers  In- 
stitute and  at  the  Wesleyan  Academy,  and 
entered  Brown  University.  From  here  he 
was  graduated  in  1870.  For  the  succeeding 
two  years  he  was  principal  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Literary  Institute  at  Suffield,  Connecticut. 
Completing  a  course  at  the  Newton  Theo- 
logical Institute,  he  was  ordained  pastor  of 
the  First  Baptist  church  at  Beverly,  Massa- 
chusetts, July  2,  1874.  The  following 
year  he  became  president  of  the  Denison 
University,  at  Granville,  Ohio.  In  1879 
he  accepted  the  professorship  of  homiletics, 
pastoral  duties  and  church  polity  at  Newton 
Theological  Institute.  In  1882  he  was 
elected  to  the  chair  of  history  and  political 
economy  at  Brown  University.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Nebraska  honored  him  with  an 
LL.  D.  in  1884,  and  the  same  year  Colby 
University  conferred  the  degree  of  D.  D. 
In  1888  he  became  professor  of  political 
economy  and  public  economy  at  Cornell 
University,  but  the  next  year  returned  to 
Brown  University  as  its  president.  From 
the  time  of  his  inauguration  the  college  work 
broadened  in  many  ways.  Many  timely 
and  generous  donations  from  friends  and 
alumni  of  the  college  were  influenced  by 
him,  and  large  additions  made  "to  the  same. 
Professor  Andrews  published,  in  1887, 
**  Institutes  of  General  History,"  and  in 
1888,  '*  Institutes  of  Economics.'* 


JOHN  WILLIAM  DRAPER,  the  subject 
of  the  present  biography,  was,  during  his 
life,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  chemists 
and  scientific  writers  in  America.  He  was 
an  Englishman  by  birth,  born  at  Liverpool, 
May  5,  181 1,  and  was  reared  in  his  native 
land,  receiving  an  excellent  education, 
graduating  at  the  University  of  London.  In 
1833   he  came  to  the  United    States,  and 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


187 


settled  first  in  Pennsylvania.  He  graduated 
in  medicine  at  the  University  of  Philadel- 
phia, in  1836,  and  for  three  years  following 
w^as  professor  of  chemistry  and  physiology 
at  Hampden-Sidney  College.  He  then  be- 
came professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Nev^  York 
University,  with  which  institution  he  was 
prominently  connected  for  many  years.  It 
is  stated  on  excellent  authority  that  Pro- 
fessor Draper,  in  1839,  took  the  first  photo- 
graphic picture  ever  taken  from  life.  He 
was  a  great  student,  and  carried  on  many 
important  and  intricate  experiments  along 
scientific  lines.  He  discovered  many  of  the 
fundamental  facts  of  spectrum  analysis, 
which  he  published.  He  published  a  number 
of  works  of  great  merit,  many  of  which  are 
recognized  as  authority  upon  the  subjects  of 
which  they  treat.  Among  his  work  were: 
*' Human  Physiology,  Statistical  and  Dyna- 
mical of  the  Conditions  and  Cause  'of  Life 
in  Man,"  *' History  of  Intellectual  Develop- 
ment of  Europe,"  *' History  of  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War,"  besides  a  number  of  works 
on  chemistry,  optics  and  mathematics.  Pro- 
fessor Draper  continued  to  hold  a  high  place 
among  the  scientific  scholars  of  America 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  January, 
1882. 

GEORGE  W.  PECK,  ex-governor  of 
the  state  of  Wisconsin  and  a  famous 
journalist  and  humorist,  was  born  in  Jeffer- 
son county,  New  York,  September  28,  1840. 
When  he  was  about  three  years  of  age  his 
parents  removed  to  Wisconsin,  settling  near 
Whitewater,  where  young  Peck  received  his 
education  at  the  public  schools.  At  fifteen 
he  entered  the  office  of  the  ** Whitewater 
Register,"  where  he  learned  the  printer's 
art.  He  helped  start  the  *  * Jefierson  County 
Republican''     later    on,    but    sold    out    his 

intere3t  therein  and  set  type  in  the  office  of 
11 


the  *' State  Journal,"  at  Madison.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  he  enlisted  in  the 
Fourth  Wisconsin  Cavalry  as  a  private,  and 
after  serving  four  years  returned  a  second 
lieutenant.  He  then  started  the  **Ripon 
Representative,"  which  he  sold  not  long 
after,  and  removing  to  New  York,  was  on 
the  staff  of  Mark  Pomeroy's  **Democrat." 
Going  to  La  Crosse,  later,  he  conducted  the 
La  Crosse  branch  paper,  a  half  interest  in 
which  he  bought  in  1874.  He  next  started 
** Peck's  Sun,"  which  four  years  later  he 
removed  to  Milwaukee.  While  in  La 
Crosse  he  was  chief  of  police  one  year,  and 
also  chief  clerk  of  the  Democratic  assembly 
in  1874.  It  was  in  1878  that  Mr.  Peck 
took  his  paper  to  Milwaukee,  and  achieved 
his  first  permanent  success,  the  circulation 
increasing  to  80,000.  For  ten  years  he  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  original,  versa- 
tile and  entertaining  writers  in  the  country, 
and  he  has  delineated  every  phase  of 
country  newspaper  life,  army  life,  domestic 
experience,  travel  and  city  adventure.  Up 
to  1890  Mr.  Peck  took  but  little  part  in 
politics,  but  in  that  year  was  elected  mayor 
of  Milwaukee  on  the  Democratic  ticket. 
The  following  August  he  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Wisconsin  by  a  large  majority, 
the  *' Bennett  School  Bill"  figuring  to  a 
large  extent  in  his  favor. 

Mr.  Peck,  besides  many  newspaper  arti- 
cles in  his  peculiar  vein  and  numerous  lect- 
ures, bubbling  over  with  fun,  is  known  to 
fame  by  the  following  books:  **  Peck's  Bad 
Boy  and  his  Pa,"  and  **The  Grocery  Man 
and  Peck's  Bad  Boy." 


CHARLES  O'CONOR,  who  was  for 
many  years  the  acknowledged  leader 
of  the  legal  profession  of  New  York  City, 
was  also  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
lawyers   America  has  produced.      He  was 


188 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


born  in  New  York  City  in  1804,  his  father 
being  an  educated  Irish  gentleman.  Charles 
received  a  common-school  education,  and 
early  took  up  the  study  of  law,  being  ad- 
mitted to  practice  in  1824.  His  close  ap- 
plication and  untiring  energy  and  industry 
soon  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
profession,  and  within  a  few  years  he  was 
handling  many  of  the  most  important  cases. 
One  of  the  first  great  cases  he  had  and  which 
gained  him  a  wide  reputation,  was  that  of 
**  Jack,  the  Fugitive  Slave,'*  in  1835,  in  which 
his  masterful  argument  before  the  supreme 
court  attracted  wide  attention  and  com- 
ment. Charles  O' Conor  was  a  Democrat 
all  his  life.  He  did  not  aspire  to  office- 
holding,  however,  and  never  held  any  office 
except  that  of  district  attorney  under  Presi- 
dent Pierce's  administration,  which  he  only 
retained  a  short  time.  He  took  an  active 
interest,  however,  in  public  questions,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  state  (New  York)  con- 
stitutional convention  in  1864.  In  1868  he 
was  nominated  for  the  presidency  by  the 
* '  Extreme  Democrats. ' '  His  death  occurred 
in  May,  1884. 

SIMON  BOLIVAR  BUCKNER,  a  noted 
American  officer  and  major-general  in 
the  Confederate  army,  was  bom  in  Ken- 
tucky in  1823.  He  graduated  from  West 
Point  Military  Academy  in  1844,  served  in 
the  United  States  infantry  and  was  later  as- 
signed to  commissary  duty  with  the  rank  of 
captain.  He  served  several  years  at  fron- 
tier posts;  and  was  assistant  professor  in  the 
military  academy  in  1846.  He  was  with 
General  Scott  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  en- 
gaged in  all  the  battles  from  Vera  Cruz  to 
the  capture  of  the  Mexican  capital.  He 
was  wounded  at  Cherubusco  and  brevetted 
first  lieutenant,  and  at  Molino  del  Rey  was 
brevetted  captain.     After  the  close  of  the 


Mexican  war  he  returned  to  West  Point  as 
assistant  instructor,  and  was  then  assigned 
to  commissary  duty  at  New  York.  He  re- 
signed in  1855  and  became  superintendent 
of  construction  of  the  Chicago  custom  house. 
He  was  made  adjutant-genenal,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel,  of  Illinois  militia,  and  was 
colonel  of  Illinois  volunteers  raised  for  the 
Utah  expedition,  but  was  not  mustered  into 
service.  In  i860  he  removed  to  Kentucky, 
where  he  settled  on  a  farm  near  Louisville 
and  became  inspector-general  in  command 
of  the  Kentucky  Home  Guards.  At  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  war  he  joined  the  Con- 
federate army,  and  was  given  command  at 
Bowling  Green,  Kentucky,  which  he  was 
compelled  to  abandon  after  the  capture  of 
Fort  Henry.  He  then  retired  to  Fort  Don-^ 
elson,  and  was  there  captured  with  sixteea 
thousand  men,  and  an  immense  store  of  pro- 
visions, by  General  Grant,  in  February, 
1862.  He  was  held  as  a  prisoner  of  war 
at  Fort  Warren  until  August  of  that  year 
He  commanded  a  division  of  Hardee's  corps 
in  Bragg's  Army  of  the  Tennessee,  and  was 
afterward  assigned  to  the  third  division  and 
participated  in  the  battles  of  Chickamauga, 
and  Murfreesboro.  He  was  with  Kirby 
Smith  when  that  general  surrendered  his 
army  to  General  Canby  in  May,  1865.  He 
was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency  on  the  Gold  Democratic  ticket 
with  Senator  John  M.  Palmer  in  1896. 


SIMON  KENTON,  one  of  the  famous  pio- 
neers and  scouts  whose  names  fill  the 
pages  of  the  early  history  of  our  country, 
was  born  in  Fauquier  county,  Virginia, 
April  3,  1755.  In  consequence  of  an  affray, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen,  young  Kenton  went 
to  Kentucky,  then  the  **Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground,'*  and  became  associated  with  Dan-- 
iel  Boone  and  other  pioneers  of  that  region. 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


.t89» 


For  a  short  time  he  acted  as  a  scout  and 
spy  for  Lord  Dunmore,  the  British  governor 
of  Virginia,  but  afterward  taking  the  side 
of  the  struggHng  colonists,  participated  in 
the  war  for  independence  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies.  In  1784  he  returned  to  Virginia, 
but  did  not  remain  there  long,  going  back 
with  his  family  to  Kentucky.  From 
that  time  until  1793  he  participated  in  all 
the  combats  and  battles  of  that  time,  and 
until  "Mad  Anthony"  Wayne  swept  the 
Valley  of  the  Ohio,  and  settled  the  suprem- 
'  acy  of  the  whites  in  that  region.  Kenton 
laid  claim  to  large  tracts  of  land  in  the  new 
country  he  had  helped  to  open  up,  but 
through  ignorance  of  law.  and  the  growing 
value  of  the  land,  lost  it  all  and  was  reduced 
to  poverty.  During  the  war  with  England 
in  I  S  12-1  5,  Kenton  took  part  in  the  inva- 
sion of  Canada  with  the  Kentucky  troops 
and  participated  in  the  battle  of  the  Thames. 
He  finally  bad  land  granted  him  by  the 
legislature  of  Kentucky,  and  received  a  pen- 
sion from  the  United  States  government. 
He  died  in  Logan  county,  Ohio,  April  29, 
1836.  

ELIHU  BENJAMIN  WASHBURNE,  an 
American  statesman  of  eminence,  was 
born  in  Livermore,  Maine,  September  23, 
1 8 16.  He  learned  the  trade  of  printer,  but 
abandoned  that  calling  at  the  age  of  eight- 
een and  entered  the  Kent's  Hill  Academy  at 
Reading,  Maine,  and  then  took  up  the  study 
of  law,  reading  in  Hallowell,  Boston,  and  at 
the  Harvard  Law  School.  He  began  prac- 
tice at  Galena,  Illinois,  in  1840.  He  was 
elected  to  congress  in  1852,  and  represented 
his  district  in  that  body  continuously  until 
March,  1869,  and  at  the  time  of  his  retire- 
ment he  had  served  a  greater  number  of 
consecutive  terms  than  any  other  member 
of  the  house.     In  1873  President  Grant  ap- 


pointed him  secretary  of  state,  which  posi- 
tion he  resigned  to  accept  that  of  minister 
to  France.  During  the  Franco- Prussian 
war,  including  the  siege  of  Paris  and  the 
reign  of  the  Commune,  Mr.  Washburne  re- 
mained at  his  post,  protecting  the  lives  and 
property  of  his  countrymen,  as  well  as  that 
of  other  foreign  residents  in  Paris,  while  the 
ministers  of  all  other  powers  abandoned 
their  posts  at  a  time  when  they  were  most 
needed.  As  far  as  possible  he  extended 
protection  to  unfortunate  German  residents, 
who  were  the  particular  objects  of  hatred  of 
the  populace,  and  his  firmness  and  the  suc- 
cess which  attended  his  efforts  won  the  ad- 
miration of  all  Europe.  Mr.  Washburne 
died  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  October  22,  1887. 


WILLIAM  CRAMP,  one  of    the   most 
extensive  shipbuilders  of  this  coun- 
try, was  born  in  Kensington,  then  a  suburb, 
now  a  part  of  Philadelphia,  in   1806.      He 
received  a  thorough  English  education,  and 
when  he  left   school    was    associated    with 
Samuel   Grice,  one   of   the    most    eminent 
naval  architects  of  his  day.      In  1830,  hav- 
ing mastered  all  the  details  of  shipbuilding, 
Mr.  Cramp  engaged  in  business  on  his  own 
account.     By  reason  of  ability  and  excel- 
lent work  he  prospered  from  the  start,  until 
now,  in  the  hands  of  his  sons,  under  the 
name  of  William  Cramp  &  Sons'  Ship  and 
Engine  Building  Company,  it  has  become  the 
most  complete  shipbuilding  plant  and  naval 
arsenal  in  the  western  hemisphere,  and  fully 
equal  to  any  in  the  world.     As  Mr.  Craniip's 
sons  attained  manhood  they  learned  their 
father's  profession,  and  were  admitted  to  a 
partnership.     In  1872  the  firm  was  incor- 
porated under  the  title  given  above.     Until 
i860  wood  was  used  in  building  vessels,  al- 
though pace  was  kept  with  all  advances  in 
the  art  of  shipbuilding.     At  the  opening  of 


190 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


the  \yar  came  an  unexpected  demand  for 
war  vessels,  which  they  promptly  met.  The 
sea-going  ironclad  **New  Ironsides''  was 
built  by  them  in  1862,  followed  by  a  num- 
ber of  formidable  ironclads  and  the  cruiser 
**  Chattanooga."  They  subsequently  built 
several  war  vessels  for  the  Russian  and 
other  governments  which  added  to  their 
reputation.  When  the  American  steamship 
line  was  established  in  1870,  the  Cramps 
were  commissioned  to  build  for  it  four  first- 
class  iron  steamships,  the  **  Pennsylvania," 
**Ohio,"  **  Indiana"  and  *^  Illinois,"  which 
they  turned  out  in  rapid  order,  some  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  the  naval  architecture  of 
their  day.  William  Cramp  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  great  company  he  had  founded 
until  his  death,  which  occurred  January  6, 

1879. 

Charles  H.  Cramp,  the  successor  of  his 
father  as  head  of  the  William  Cramp  & 
Sons'  Ship  and  Engine  Building  Company, 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  May  9,  1829,  and 
received  an  excellent  education  in  his  native 
city,  which  he  sedulously  sought  to  sup- 
plement by  close  study  until  he  became 
an  authority  on  general  subjects  and  the 
best  naval  architect  on  the  western  hemis- 
phere. Many  of  the  best  vessels  of  our 
new  navy  were  built  by  this  immense  con- 
cern. 

WASHINGTON  ALLSTON,  probably 
the  greatest  American  painter,  was 
born  in  South  Carolina  in  1779.  He  was 
sent  to  school  at  the  age  of  seven  years  at 
Newport,  Rhode  Island,  where  he  met  Ed- 
ward Malbone,  two  years  his  senior,  and 
who  later  became  a  pamter  of  note.  The 
friendship  that  sprang  up  between  them  un- 
doubtedly influenced  young  Allston  in  the 
choice  of  a  profession.  He  graduated  from 
Harvard  in  1800,  and  went  to  England  the 


following  year,  after  pursuing  his  studies  for 
a  year  under  his  friend  Malbone  at  his  home 
in  South  Carolina.  He  became  a  student 
at  the  Royal  Academy  where  the  great 
American,  Benjamin  West,  presided,  and 
who  became  his  intimate  friend.  Allston 
later  went  to  Paris,  and  then  to  Italy,  where 
four  years  were  spent,  mostly  at  Rome.  In 
1809  he  returned  to  America,  but  soon  after 
returned  to  London,  having  married  in  the 
meantime  a  sister  of  Dr.  Channing.  In 
a  short  time  his  first  great  work  appeared, 
*'The  Dead  Man  Restored  to  Life  by  the 
Bones  of  Elisha,"  which  took  the  British 
Association  prize  and  firmly  established  his 
reputation.  Other  paintings  followed  in 
quick  succession,  the  greatest  among  which 
were  * 'Uriel  in  the  Center  of  the  Sun," 
•*Saint  Peter  Liberated  by  the  Angel,"  and 
* 'Jacob's  Dream,"  supplemented  by  many 
spnaller  pieces.  Hard  work,  and  grief  at  the 
death  of  his  wife  began  to  tell  upon  his  health, 
and  he  left  London  in  181 8  for  America. 
The  same  year  he  was  elected  an  associate 
of  the  Royal  Academy.  During  the  next 
few  years  he  painted  "Jeremiah, "  "Witch 
ofEndor,"  and  "Beatrice."  In  1830  Alls- 
ton  married  a  daughter  of  Judge  Dana,  and 
went  {o  Cambridge,  which  was  his  home 
until  his  death.  Here  he  produced  the 
"Vision  of  the  Bloody  Hand,"  "Rosalie," 
and  many  less  noted  pieces,  and  had  given 
one  week  of  labor  to  his  unfinished  master- 
piece, "Belshazzar's  Feast,"  when  death 
ended  his  career  July  9,  1843. 


JOHN  ROACH,  ship  builder  and  manu- 
facturer, whose  c£^reer  was  a  marvel  o/. 
industrial  labor,  and  who  impre3sed  his  in- 
dividuality and  genius  upon  the  times  in 
which  he  lived  more,  perhaps,  than  any 
other  manufacturer  in  America.  He  was 
born    at    Mitchelstown,    County  Cork,   Ire- 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHT. 


191 


land,  December  25,  1815,  the  son  of  a 
wealthy  merchant.  He  attended  school 
until  he  was  thirteen,  when  his  father  be- 
came financially  embarrassed  and  failed 
and  shortly  after  died;  John  determined  to 
come  to  America  and  carve  out  a  fortune 
for  himself.  He  landed  in  New  York  at  the 
age  of  sixteen,  and  soon  obtained  employ- 
ment at  the  Howell  Iron  Works  in  New  Jer- 
sey, at  twenty-five  cents  a  day.  He  soon 
made  himself  a  place  in  the  world,  and  at 
the  end  of  three  years  had  saved  some 
twelve  hundred  dollars,  which  he  lost  by 
the  failure  of  his  employer,  in  whose  hands 
it  was  left.  Returning  to  New  York  he 
began  to  learn  how  to  make  castings  for 
marine  engines  and  ship  work.  Having 
again  accumulated  one  thousand  dollars,  in 
company  with  three  fellow  workmen,  he 
purchased  a  small  foundry  in  New  York, 
but  soon  became  sole  proprietor.  At  the 
end  of  four  years  he  had  saved  thirty  thou- 
sand dollars,  besides  enlarging  his  works. 
In  1856  his  works  were  destroyed  by  a 
boiler  explosion,  and  being  unable  to  collect 
the  insurance,  was  left,  after  paying  his 
debts,  without  a  dollar.  However,  his 
credit  and  reputation  for  integrity  was  good, 
and  he  built  the  Etna  Iron  Works,  giving  it 
capacity  to  construct  larger  marine  engines 
than  any  previously  built  in  this  country. 
Here  he  turned  out  immense  engines  for 
the  steam  ram  Dunderberg,  for  the  war  ves- 
sels Winooski  and  Neshaning,  and  other 
large  vessels.  To  accommodate  his  increas- 
ing business,  Mr.  Roach,  in  1869,  pur- 
chased the  Morgan  Iron  Works,  one  of  the 
largest  in  New  York,  and  shortly  after  sev- 
eral others.  In  1871  he  bought  the  Ches- 
ter ship  yards,  which  he  added  to  largely, 
erecting  a  rolling  mill  and  blast  furnace,  and 
providing  fevery  facility  for  building  a  ship 
out  of  the  ore  and  timber.     This  immense 


plant  covered  a  large  area,  was  valued  at 
several  millions  of  dollars,  and  was  known 
as  the  Delaware  River  Iron  Shipbuilding 
and  Engine  Works,  of  which  Mr.  Roach 
was  the  principal  owner.  He  built  a  large 
percentage  of  the  iron  vessels  now  flying 
the  American  flag,  the  bulk  of  his  business 
being  for  private  parties.  In  1875  he  built 
the  sectional  dry  docks  at  Pensacola.  He,, 
about  this  time,  drew  the  attention  of  the 
government  to  the  use  of  compound  marine 
engines,  and  thus  was  the  means  of  im- 
proving the  speed  and  economy  of  the  ves- 
sels of  our  new  navy.  In  1883  Mr.  Roach 
commenced  work  on  the  three  cruisers  for 
the  government,  the  ''  Chicago,"  '* Boston" 
and  '*  Atlanta,"  and  the  dispatch  boat 
'*  Dolphin."  For  some  cause  the  secretary 
of  the  navy  refused  to  receive  the  latter  and 
decided  that  Mr.  Roach's  contract  would 
not  hold.  This  embarrassed  Mr.  Roach, 
as  a  large  amount  of  his  capital  was  in- 
volved in  these  contracts,  and  for  the  pro- 
tection of  bondsmen  and  creditors,  July  18, 
1885,  he  made  an  assignment,  but  the 
financial  trouble  broke  down  his  strong  con- 
stitution, and  January  10,  1887,  he  died. 
His  son,  John  B.  Roach,  succeeded  to  the 
shipbuilding  interests,  while  Stephen  W. 
Roach  inherited  the  Morgan  Iron  Works  at 
New  York. 

JOHN  SINGLETON  COPLEY,  one  of 
the  two  great  painters  who  laid  the 
foundation  of  true  American  art,  was  born 
in  Boston  in  1737,  one  year  earlier  than  his 
great  contemporary,  Benjamin  West.  His 
education  was  limited  to  the  common  schools 
of  that  time,  and  his  training  in  art  he  ob- 
tained by  his  own  observation  and  experi- 
ments solely.  When  he  was  about  seven- 
teen years  old  he  had  mapped  out  his  future, 
however,  by  choosing  painting  as  his  pro- 


192 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


fession.  If  he  ever  studied  under  any 
teacher  in  his  early  efforts,  we  have  no  au- 
thentic account  of  it,  and  tradition  credits 
the  young  artist's  wonderful  success  en- 
tirely to  his  own  talent  and  untiring  effort. 
It  is  almost  incredible  that  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three  years  his  income  from  his 
works  aggregated  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
per  annum,  a  very  great  sum  in  those  days. 
In  1774  he  went  to  Europe  in  search  of  ma- 
terial for  study,  which  was  so  rare  in  his 
native  land.  After  some  time  spent  in  Italy 
he  finally  took  up  his  permanent  residence 
in  England.  In  1783  he  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  later  his 
son  had  the  high  honor  of  becoming  lord 
chancellor  of  England  and  Lord  Lyndhurst. 
Many  specimens  of  Copley's  work  are  to 
be  found  in  the  Memorial  Hall  at  Harvard 
and  in  the  Boston  Museum,  as  well  as  a  few 
of  the  works  upon  which  he  modeled  his 
style.  Copley  was  essentially  a  portrait 
painter,  though  his  historical  paintings  at- 
tained great  celebrity,  his  masterpiece 
being  his  **  Death  of  Major  Pierson,''  though 
that  distinction  has  by  some  been  given  to 
his  **  Death  of  Chatham."  It  is  said  that 
he  never  saw  a  good  picture  until  he  was 
thirty-five  years  old,  yet  his  portraits  prior 
to  that  period  are  regarded  as  rare  speci- 
mens.     He  died  in  181 5. 


HENRY  B.  PLANT,  one  of  the  greatest 
railroad  men  of  the  country,  became 
famous  as  president  of  the  Plant  system  of 
railway  and  steamer  lines,  and  also  the 
Southern  &  Texas  Express  Co.  He  was 
bom  in  October,  18 19,  at  Branford, 
Connecticut,  and  entered  the  railroad  serv- 
ice in  1844,  serving  as  express  messenger 
on  the  Hartford  &  New  Haven  Railroad  until 
1853,  during  which  time  he  had  entire 
charge  of  the  expr<».s»  -business  of  that  road. 


He  went  south  in  1853  and  established  ex- 
press lines  on  various  southern  railways,  and 
in  1 86 1  organized  the  Southern  Express 
Co.,  and  became  its  president.  In  1879  he 
purchased,  with  others,  the  Atlantic  &  Gulf 
Railroad  of  Georgia,  and  later  reorganized 
the  Savannah,  Florida  &  Western  Railroad, 
of  which  he  became  president.  He  pur- 
chased and  rebuilt,  in  1880,  the  Savannah 
&  Charleston  Railroad,  now  Charleston  & 
Savannah.  Not  long  after  this  he  organ- 
ized the  Plant  Investment  Co.,  to  control 
these  railroads  and  advance  their  interests 
generally,  and  later  established  a  steamboat 
line  on  the  St.  John's  river,  in  Florida. 
From  1853  until  i860  he  was  general 
superintendent  of  the  southern  division  of 
the  Adams  Express  Co.,  and  in  1867  be- 
came president  of  the  Texas  Express  Co. 
The  * 'Plant  system"  of  railway,  steamer 
and  steamship  lines  is  one  of  the  greatest 
business  corporations  of  the  southern  states. 


WADE  HAMPTON,  a  noted  Confeder- 
ate officer,  was  born  at  Columbia, 
South  Carolina,  in  18 18.  He  graduated 
from  the  South  Carolina  College,  took  an 
active  part  in  politics,  and  was  twice  elected 
to  the  legislature  of  his  state.  In  1861  he 
joined  the  Confederate  army,  and  command- 
ed the  **  Hampton  Legion  "  at  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Bull  Run,  in  July,  1861.  He  did 
meritorious  service,  was  wounded,  and  pro- 
moted to  brigadier-general.  He  command- 
ed a  brigade  at  Seven  Pines,  in  1862,  and 
was  again  wounded.  He  was  engaged  in 
the  battle  of  Antietam  in  September  of  the 
same  year,  and  participated  in  the  raid  into 
Pennsylvania  in  October.  In  1863  he  was 
with  Lee  at  Gettysburg,  where  he  was 
wounded  for  the  third  time.  He  was  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general,  and 
commanded   a  troop   of   cavalry  in   Lee's 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY, 


193 


army  during  1864,  and  was  in  numerous  en- 
gagements. In  1865  he  was  in  South  Car- 
olina, and  commanded  the  cavalry  rear 
guard  of  the  Confederate  army  in  its  stub- 
born retreat  before  General  Sherman  on  his 
advance  toward  Richmond. 

After  the  war  Hampton  took  ari  active 
part  in  politics,  and  was  a  prominent  figure 
at  the  Democratic  national  convention  in 
1868,  which  nominated  Seymour  and  Blair 
for  president  and  vice-president.  He  was 
governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  United  States  senate  in  1879, 
where  he  became  a  conspicuous  figure  in 
national  affairs. 


NIKOLA  TESLA,  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated electricians  America  has  known, 
was  born  in  1857,  at  Smiljau,  Lika,  Servia. 
He  descended  from  an  old  and  representative 
family  of  that  country.  His  father  was  a 
a  minister  of  the  Greek  church,  of  high  rank, 
while  his  mother  was  a  woman  of  remarka- 
ble skill  in  the  construction  of  looms,  churns 
and  the  machinery  required  in  a  rural  home. 
Nikola  received  early  education  in  the 
public  schools  of  Gospich,  when  he  was 
sent  to  the  higher  **Real  Schule"  at  Karl- 
stadt,  where,  after  a  three  years'  course, 
he  graduated  in  1873.  He  devoted  him- 
self to  experiments  in  electricity  and 
magnetism,  to  the  chagrin  of  his  father, 
who  had  destined  him  for  the  ministry, 
but  giving  way  to  the  boy's  evident  genius 
he  was  allowed  to  continue  his  studies  in 
the  polytechnic  school  at  Gratz.  He  in- 
herited a  wonderful  intuition  which  enabled 
him  to  see  through  the  intricacies  of  ma- 
chinery, and  despite  his  instructor's  demon- 
stration that  a  dynamo  could  not  be  oper- 
ated without  commutators  or  brushes, 
began  experiments  which  finally  resulted  in 
his  rotating  field  motors.     After  the  study 


of  languages  at  Prague  and  Buda-Pesth,  he 
became  associated  with  M.  Puskas,  who 
had  introduced  the  telephone  into  Hungary. 
He  invented  several  improvements,  but 
being  unable  to  reap  the  necessary  benefit 
from  them,  he,  in  search  of  a  wider  field, 
went  to  Paris,  where  he  found  employment 
with  one  of  the  electric  lighting  companies 
as  electrical  engineer.  Soon  he  set  his  face 
westward,  and  coming  to  the  United  States 
for  a  time  found  congenial  employment  w?th 
Thomas  A.  Edison.  Finding  it  impossible, 
overshadowed  as  he  was,  to  carry  out  his 
own  ideas  he  left  the  Edison  works  to  join 
a  company  formed  to  place  his  own  inven- 
tions on  the  market.  He  perfected  his 
rotary  field  principle,  adapting  it  to  circuits 
then  in  operation.  It  is  said  of  him  that 
some  of  his  proved  theories  will  change  the 
entire  electrical  science.  It  would,  in  an 
article  of  this  length,  be  impossible  to  ex- 
plain all  that  Tesla  accomplished  for  the 
practical  side  of  electrical  engineering. 
His  discoveries  formed  the  basis  of  the  at- 
tempt to  utilize  the  water  power  of  Niagara 
Falls.  His  work  ranges  far  beyond  the 
vast  department  of  polyphase  currents  and 
high  potential  lighting  and  includes  many 
inventions  in  arc  lighting,  transformers, 
pyro  and  thermo-magnetic  motors,  new 
forms  of  incandescent  lamps,  unipolar  dyna- 
mos and  many  others. 


CHARLES  B.  LEWIS  won  fame  as  an 
American  humorist  under  the  name  of 
**M.  Quad."  It  is  said  he  owes  his 
celebrity  originally  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
once  mixed  up  in  a  boiler  explosion  on  the 
Ohio  river,  and  the  impressions  he  received 
from  the  event  he  set  up  from  his  case  when 
he  was  in  the  composing  room  of  an  ob- 
scure Michigan  papen  Hds  style  possesses  a 
peculiar  quaintness,  and  there  runs  through 


194 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


it  a  vein  of  philosophy.  Mr.  Lewis  was 
born  in  1844,  near  a  town  called  Liverpool, 
Ohio.  He  was,  however,  raised  in  Lansing, 
Michigan,  where  he  spent  a  year  in  an  agri- 
cultural college,  going  from  there  to  the 
composing  room  of  the  **  Lansing  Demo- 
crat." At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  en- 
listed in  the  service,  remained  during  the 
entire  war,  and  then  returned  to  Lansing. 
The  explosion  of  the  boiler  that  '*blew  him 
into  fame,"  took  place  two  years  later,  while 
he  was  on  his  way  south.  When  he  re- 
covered physically,  he  brought  suit  for  dam- 
ages against  the  steamboat  company,  which 
he  gained,  and  was  awarded  a  verdict  of 
twelve  thousand  dollars  for  injuries  re- 
ceived. It  was  while  he  was  employed  by 
the  "  Jacksonian"  of  Pontiac,  Mich., that  he 
set  up  his  account  of  how  he  felt  while  being 
blown  up.  He  says  that  he  signed  it  ' '  M 
Quad,"  because  **a  bourgeoise  em  quad  is 
useless  except  in  its  own  line — it  won't 
justify  with  any  other  type."  Soon  after, 
because  of  the  celebrity  he  attained  by  this 
screed,  Mr.  Lewis  secured  a  place  on  the 
staff  of  the  *'  Detroit  Free  Press,"  and  made 
for  that  paper  a  wide  reputation.  His 
sketches  of  the  **Lime  Kiln  Club"  and 
**  Brudder  Gardner  "  are  perhaps  the  best 
known  of  his  humorous  writings. 


HIRAM  S.  MAXIM,  the  famous  inventor, 
was  born  in  Sangersville,  Maine, 
February  5,  1840,  the  son  of  Isaac  W. 
and  Harriet  B.  Maxim.  The  town  of  his 
birth  was  but  a  small  place,  in  the 
woods,  on  the  confines  of  civilization, 
and  the  family  endured  many  hardships. 
They  were  without  means  and  entirely 
dependent  on  themselves  to  make  out  of 
raw  materials  all  they  needed.  The  mother 
was  an  expert  spinner,  weaver,  dyer  and 
seamstress  and  the  father  a  trapper,  tanner, 


miller,   blacksmith,  carpenter,    mason   and 
farmer.     Amid  such     surroundings     young 
Maxim  gave   early   promise   of  remarkable 
aptitude.     With  the  universal  Yankee  jack- 
knife  the  products    of  his  skill   excited    the 
wonder  and   interest  of  the  locality.      His 
parents  did  not  encourage  his  latent  genius 
but   apprenticed    him    to  a   coach   builder. 
Four  years  he  labored    at    this  uncongenial 
trade  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  he  forsook 
it  and  entered  a  machine  shop  at  Fitchburg, 
Massachusetts.      Soon  mastering  the  details 
of   that  business    and  that    of    mechanical 
drawing,  he  went  to  Boston  as  the  foreman 
of  the  philosophical  instrument  manufactory. 
From  thence  he  went  to  New  York  and  with 
the  Novelty  Iron  Works  Shipbuilding   Co. 
he  gained  experience  in   those    trades.      His 
inventions    up    to  this    time    consisted    of 
improvements    in    steam    engines,    and   an 
automatic   gas    machine,   which  came   into 
general  use.     In  1877  he  turned  his  attention 
to    electricity,   and    in    1878   produced    an 
incandescent  lamp,  that  would  burn  1,000 
hours.     He  was  the  first  to  design  a  process 
for  flashing  electric  carbons,    and   the    first 
to  ^^standardize"   carbons  for  electric  light- 
ing.    In  1880  he  visited  Europe  and  exhibit- 
ing, at  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1881,  a  self- 
regulating  machine,  was  decorated  with  the 
Legion  of  Honor.     In  1883  he  returned  to 
London  as  the  European  representative  of  the 
United  States  Electric  Light  Co.  An  incident 
of  his  boyhood,  in  which  the  recoil  of  a  rifle 
was  noticed  by  him,  and  the   apparent    loss 
of  power  shown,  in  188 1-2   prompted  the 
invention  of  a  gun  which  utilizes  the  recoil  to 
automatically  load   and  fire  seven  hundred 
and  seventy  shots  per  minute.    The  Maxim- 
Nordenfelt  Gun  Co. ,  with  a  capital  of  nine 
million  dollars,  grew  from  this.     In  1883  he 
patented  his  electric  training  gear  for  large 
guns.     And  later  turned  his  attention  to  fly- 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


195 


ing  machines,  which  he  claimed  were  not  an 
impossibility.  He  took  out  over  one  hundred 
patents  for  smokeless  gunpowder,  and  for  pe- 
troleum and  other  motors  and  autocycles. 


JOHN  DAVISON  ROCKEFELLER, 
one  of  America's  very  greatest  financiers 
and  philanthropists,  was  born  in  Richford, 
Tioga  county.  New  York,  July  8,  1839.  He 
received  a  common-school  education  in  his 
native  place,  and  in  1853,  when  his  parents 
removed  to  Cleveland,  Ohio,  he  entered  the 
high  school  of  that  city.  After  a  two-years' 
course  of  diligent  work,  he  entered  the  com- 
mission and  forwarding  house  of  Hewitt  & 
Tuttle,  of  Cleveland,  remaining  with  the 
firm  some  years,  and  then  began  business 
for  himself,  forming  a  partnership  with 
Morris  B.  Clark.  Mr.  Rockefeller  was  then 
but  nineteen  years  of  age,  and  during  the 
year  i860,  in  connection  with  others,  they 
started  the  oil  refining  business,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Andrews,  Clark  &  Co.  Mr. 
Rockefeller  and  Mr.  Andrews  purchased  the 
interest  of  their  associates,  and,  after  taking 
William  Rockefeller  into  the  firm,  established 
offices  in  Cleveland  under  the  name  of 
William  Rockefeller  &  Co.  Shortly  after 
this  the  house  of  Rockefeller  &  Co.  was  es- 
tablished in  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
finding  a  market  for  their  products,. and  two 
years  later  all  the  refining  companies  were 
consolidated  under  the  firm  name  of  Rocke- 
feller, Andrews  &  Flagler.  This  firm  was 
f^^ucceeded  in  1870  by  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  of  Ohio,  said  to  be  the  most 
gigantic  business  corporation  of  modern 
times.  John  D.  Rockefeller's  fortune  has 
been  variously  estimated  at  from  one  hun- 
dred million  to  two  hundred  million  dollars. 
Mr.  Rockefeller's  philanthropy  mani- 
fested itself  principally  through  the  American 
Baptist  Educational  Society.     He  donated 


the  building  for  the  Spelman  Institute  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  a  school  for  the  instruction 
of  negroes.  His  other  gifts  were  to  the 
University  of  Rochester,  Cook  Academy, 
Peddie  Institute,  and  Vassar  College,  be- 
sides smaller  gifts  -to  many  institutions 
throughout  the  country.  His  princely  do- 
nations, however,  were  to  the  University  of 
Chicago.  His  first  gift  to  this  institution 
was  a  conditional  offer  of  six  hundred  thou« 
sand  dollars  in  1889,  and  when  this  amount 
was  paid  he  added  one  million  more.  Dur- 
ing 1892  he  made  it  two  gifts  of  one  million 
each,  and  all  told,  his  donations  to  this  one 
institution  aggregated  between  seven  and 
eight  millions  of  dollars. 


JOHN  M.  PALMER.— For  over  a  third 
of  a  century  this  gentleman  occupied  a 
prominent  place  in  the  political  world,  both 
in  the  state  of  Illinois  and  on  the  broader 
platform  of  national  issues. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  born  at  Eagle  Creek,. 
Scott  county,  Kentucky,  September  13^ 
18 17.  The  family  subsequently  removed 
to  Christian  county,  in  the  same  state,  where 
he  acquired  a  common-school  education,  and 
made  his  home  until  1831.  His  father  was 
opposed  to  slavery,  and  in  the  latter  year 
removed  to  Illinois  and  settled  near  Alton. 
In  1834  John  entered  Alton  College,  or- 
ganized on  the  manual-labor  plan,  but  his 
funds  failing,  abandoned  it  and  entered  a. 
cooper  shop.  He  subsequently  was  en- 
gaged in  peddling,  and  teaching  a  district 
school  near  Canton.  In  1838  he  began  the 
study  of  law,  and  the  following  year  re- 
moved to  Carlinville,  where,  in  December  of 
that  year,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He 
was  shortly  after  defeated  for  county  clerk. 
In  1843  he  was  elected  probate  judge.  In 
the  constitutional  convention  of  1847,  Mr. 
Palmer  was  a  delegate,  and  from  1849  ^^ 


^196 


COMPENDIUM  OF    BIOGRAPHT. 


1851  he  was  county  judge.  In  1852  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  state  senate,  but  not 
being  with  his  party  on  the  slavery  question 
he  resigned  that  office  in  1854.  In  1856 
Mr.  Palmer  was  chairman  of  the  first  Re- 
pnbHcan  state  convention  held  in  Illinois, 
and  the  same  year  was  a  delegate  to  the 
national  convention.  In  i860  he  was  an 
elector  on  the  Lincoln  ticket,  and  on  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  entered  the  service 
as  colonel  of  the  Fourteenth  Illinois  Infan- 
try, but  was  shortly  after  brevetted  brigadier- 
general.  In  August,  1862,  he  organized 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-second  Illi- 
nois Infantry,  but  in  September  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  first  division  of 
the  Army  of  the  Mississippi,  afterward  was 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  major-general.  In 
1865  he  was  assigned  to  the  military  ad- 
ministration in  Kentucky.  In  1867  General 
Palmer  was  elected  governor  of  Illinois  and 
s-^rved  four  years.  In  1872  he  went  with 
the  Liberal  Republicans,  who  supported 
Horace  Greeley,  after  which  time  he  was 
identified  with  the  Democratic  party.  In 
1890  he  was  elected  United  States  senator 
from  Illinois,  and  served  as  such  for  six 
years.  In  1896,  on  the  adoption  of  the  sil- 
ver plank  in  the  platform  of  the  Democratic 
party.  General  Palmer  consented  to  lead, 
as  presidential  candidate,  the  National  Dem- 
ocrats, or  Gold  Democracy. 


WILLIAM  H.  BEARD,  the  humorist 
among  American  painters,  was  born 
at  Painesville,  Ohio,  in  1821.  His  father, 
James  H.  Beard,  was  also  a  painter  of  na- 
tional reputation.  William  H.  Beard  be- 
gan his  career  as  a  traveling  portrait 
painter.  He  pursued  his  studies  in  New 
York,  and  later  removed  to  Buffalo,  where 
he  achieved  reputation.     He  then   went  to 


Italy  and  after  a  short  stay  returned  to  New 
York  and  opened  a  studio.  One  of  his 
earliest  paintings  was  a  small  picture  called 
**Cat  and  Kittens,"  which  was  placed  in 
the  National  Academy  on  exhibition.  Among 
his  best  productions  are  **  Raining  Cats  and 
Dogs,"  '*The  Dance  of  Silenus,"  * 'Bears 
on  a  Bender,"  ''Bulls  and  Bears,"  "  Whoo!" 
"  Grimalkin's  Dream,"  "  Little  Red  Riding 
Hood,"  "The  Guardian  of  the  Flag."  His 
animal  pictures  convey  the  most  ludicrous 
and  satirical  ideas,  and  the  intelligent, 
human  expression  in  their  faces  is  most 
comical.  Some  artists  and  critics  have  re- 
fused to  give  Mr.  Beard  a  place  among  the 
lirst  circles  in  art,  solely  on  account  of  the 
class  of  subjects  he  has  chosen. 


WW.  CORCORAN,  the  noted  philan- 
throphist,  was  born  at  Georgetown, 
District  of  Columbia.  December  27,  1798. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-five  he  entered  the 
banking  business  in  Washington,  and  in 
time  became  very  wealthy.  He  was 
noted  for  his  magnificent  donations  to  char- 
ity. Oak  Hill  cemetery  was  donated  to 
Georgetown  in  1847,  and  ten  years  later  the 
Corcoran  Art  Gallery,  Temple  of  Art,  was 
presented  to  the  city  of  Washington.  The 
uncompleted  building  was  utilized  by  the 
government  as  quartermaster's  headquar- 
ters during  the  war.  The  building  was 
completed  after  the  war  at  a  cost  of  a  mil- 
lion and  a  half  dollars,  all  the  gift  of  Mr. 
Corcoran.  The  Louise  Home  for  Women 
is  another  noble  charity  to  his  credit.  Its 
object  is  the  care  of  women  of  gentle  breed- 
ing who  in  declining  years  are  without 
means  of  support.  In  addition  to  this  he 
gave  liberally  to  many  worthy  institutions 
of  learning  and  charity.  He  died  at  Wash- 
ington February  24,  1888. 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


JOT 


ALBERT  BIERSTADT,  the  noted  paint- 
er of  American  landscape,  was  born  in 
Dusseldorf,  Germany,  in  1829,  and  was 
brought  to  America  by  his  parents  at  the 
age  of  two  years.  He  received  his  early 
education  here,  but  returned  to  Dusseldorf 
to  study  painting,  and  also  went  to  Rome. 
On  his  return  to  America  he  accompanied 
Lander's  expedition  across  the  continent,  in 
1858,  and  soon  after  produced  his  most 
popular  work,  *'The  Rocky  Mountains — 
Lander's  Peak. "  Its  boldness  and  grandeur 
were  so  unusual  that  it  made  him  famous. 
The  picture  sold  for  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars.  In  1867  Mr.  Bierstadt  went  to 
Europe,  with  a  government  commission, 
and  gathered  materials  for  his  great  historic- 
al work,  ''Discovery  of  the  North  River 
by  Hendrik  Hudson."  Others  of  his  great 
works  were  **  Storm  in  the  Rocky  Mount- 
ains," •*  Valley  of  the  Yosemite,"  ''North 
Fork  of  the  Platte,"  "Diamond  Pool," 
"Mount  Hood,"  "Mount  Rosalie,"  and 
"The  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains."  His 
"Estes  Park''  sold  for  fifteen  thousand 
dollars,  and  "Mount  Rosalie"  brought 
thirty-five  thousand  dollars.  His  smaller 
Rocky  mountain  scenes,  however,  are  vast- 
ly superior  to  his  larger  works  in  execution 
and  coloring. 


ADDISON  CAMMACK,  a  famous  mill- 
ionaire Wall  street  speculator,  was 
torn  in  Kentucky.  When  sixteen  years  old 
he  ran  away  from  home  and  went  to  New 
Orleans,  where  he  went  to  work  in  a  ship- 
ping house.  He  outlived  and  outworked 
all  the  partners,  and  became  the  head  of  the 
firm  before  the  opening  of  the  war.  At 
that  time  he  fitted  out  small  vessels  and  en- 
gaged in  running  the  blockade  of  southern 
ports  and  carrymg  ammunition,  merchan- 
dise, etc.,  to  the   southern   people.     This 


made  him  a  fortune.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  quit  business  and  went  to  New 
York.  For  two  years  he  did  not  enter  any 
active  business,  but  seemed  to  be  simply  an 
on-looker  in  the  great  speculative  center  of 
America.  He  was  observing  keenly  the 
methods  and  financial  machinery,  however, 
and  when,  in  1867,  he  formed  a  partnership 
with  the  popular  Charles  J.  Osborne,  the 
firm  began  to  prosper.  He  never  had  an 
office  on  the  street,  but  wandered  into  the 
various  brokers'  offices  and  placed  his  orders 
as  he  saw  fit.  In  1873  he  dissolved  his 
partnership  with  Osborne  and  operated 
alone.  He  joined  a  band  of  speculative 
conspirators  known  as  the  "Twenty-third 
party,"  and  was  the  ruling  spirit  in  that  or- 
ganization for  the  control  of  the  stock  mar- 
ket. He  was  always  on  the  * '  bear  "  side  and 
the  only  serious  obstacle  he  ever  encoun« 
tered  was  the  persistent  boom  in  industrial 
stocks,  particularly  sugar,  engineered  by 
James  R.  Keane.  Mr.  Cammack  fought 
Keane  for  two  years,  and  during  the  time  is 
said  to  have  lost  no  less  than  two  million 
dollars  before  he  abandoned  the  fight. 


WALT.  WHITMAN.— Foremost  among 
the  lesser  poets  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  gentleman  whose 
name  adorns  the  head  of  this  article  takes 
a  conspicuous  place. 

Whitman  was  born  at  West  Hills,  Long 
Island,  New  York,  May  13,  1809.  In  the 
schools  of  Brooklyn  he  laid  the  foundation 
of  his  education,  and  early  in  life  learned  the 
printer's  trade.  For  a  time  he  taught  coun- 
try schools  in  his  native  state.  In  1846-7 
he  was  editor  of  the  **  Brooklyn  Eagle," 
but  in  1848-9  was  on  the  editorial  staff  of 
the  "Crescent,"  of  New  Orleans.  He 
made  an  extended  tour  throughout  the 
United  States  and  Canada,  and  returned  to 


/98 


'  COMPEiNDIUM   OF   BIOGRAFHT, 


Brooklyn,  where,  in  1850,  he  published  the 
**  Freeman.  "  For  some  years  succeeding 
ybis  he  was  engaged  as  carpenter  and  builder. 
During  the  Civil  war,  Whitman  acted  as 
a  volunteer  nurse  in  the  hospitals  at 
Washington  and  vicinity  and  from  the  close 
of  hostilities  until  1873  he  was  employed 
in  various  clerkships  in  the  government 
offices  in  the  nation's  capital.  In  the  latter 
year  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis  as  a 
result  of  his  labors  in  the  hospital,  it  is 
said,  and  being  partially  disabled  lived  for 
many  years  at  Camden,   New  Jersey. 

The  first  edition  of  the  work  which  was 
to  bring  him  fame,  * 'Leaves  of  Grass,"  was 
published  in  1855  and  was  but  a  small 
volume  of  about  ninety-four  pages.  Seven 
or  eight  editions  of  ''Leaves  of  Grass"  have 
been  issued,  each  enlarged  and  enriched  with 
new  poems.  ''Drum  Taps,"  at  first  a 
separate  publication,  has  been  incorporated 
with  the  others.  This  volume  and  one 
prose  writing  entitled  '  *  Specimen  Days  and 
Collect,"  constituted  his  whole  work. 

Walt.  Whitman  died  at  Camden,  New 
Jersey,  March  26,  1892. 


HENRY  DUPONT,  who  became  cele- 
brated as  America's  greatest  manufact- 
urer of  gunpowder,  was  a  native  of  Dela- 
ware, born  August  8,  18 12.  He  received 
his  education  in  its  higher  branches  at  the 
United  States  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point,  from  which  he  graduated  and  entered 
the  army  as  second  lieutenant  of  artillery  in 
1833.  I^  1834  he  resigned  and  became 
proprietor  of  the  extensive  gunpowder 
manufacturing  plant  that  bears  his  name, 
near  Wilmington,  Delaware.  His  large 
business  interests  interfered  with  his  tak- 
ing any  active  participation  in  political 
life,  although  for  tnany  years  he  served 
as  adjutant-general  of  his  native  state,  and 


during  the  war  as  major-genetal  command- 
ing the  Home  Guards.  He  died  August  8, 
1889.  His  son,  Henry  A.  Dupont,  also  was. 
a  native  of  Delaware,  and  was  born  July  30, 
1838.  After  graduating  from  West  Point 
in  1 86 1,  he  entered  the  army  as  second 
lieutenant  of  engineers.  Shortly  after  he 
was  transferred  to  the  Fifth  Artillery  as  first 
lieutenant.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  captain  in  1864,  serving  in  camp  and 
garrison  most  of  the  time.  He  was  in  com- 
mand  of  a  battery  in  the  campaign  of 
1863-4.  As  chief  of  artillery  of  the  army  of 
West  Virginia,  he  figured  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  being  in  the  battles  of  Opequan, 
Fisher's  Hill  and  Cedar  Creek,  besides 
many  minor  engagements.  He  afterward 
acted  as  instructor  in  the  artillery  school  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  on  special  duty  at 
West  Point.  He  resigned  from  the  army 
March  i,  1875. 


WILLIAM  DEERING,  one  of  the  fa- 
mous manufacturers  of  America,  and 
also  a  philanthropist  and  patron  of  educa- 
tion, was  born  in  Maine  in  1826.  His  an- 
cestors were  English,  having  settled  in  New 
England  in  1634.  Early  in  life  it  was  Will- 
iam's intention  to  become  a  pbysician,  and 
after  completing  his  common-school  educa- 
tion, when  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  he 
began  an  apprenticeship  with  a  physician. 
A  short  time  later,  however,  at  the  request 
of  his  father,  he  took  charge  of  his  father's 
business  interests,  which  included  a  woolen 
mill,  retail  store  and  grist  mill,  after  which 
he  became  agent  for  a  dry  goods  commission 
house  in  Portland,  where  he  was  married. 
Later  he  became  partner  in  the  firm,  and 
removed  to  New  York.  The  business  pros- 
pered, and  after  a  number  of  years,  on  ac- 
count of  failing  health,  Mn  Deering  sold  his 
interest  to  his  partner,  a  Mr.  Milner.     The 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


199 


business  has  since  made  Mr.  Milner  a  nnill- 
ionaire  many  times  over.  A  few  years 
later  Mr.  Deering  located  in  Chicago.  His 
beginning  in  the  manufacture  of  reapers, 
which  has  since  made  his  name  famous, 
was  somewhat  of  an  accident.  He  had 
loaned  money  to  a  man  in  that  business, 
and  in  1878  was  compelled  to  buy  out  the 
business  to  protect  his  interests.  The  busi- 
ness developed  rapidly  and  grew  to  immense 
proportions.  The  factories  now  cover  sixty- 
two  acres  of  ground  and  employ  many  thou- 
sands of  men. 


JOHN  McAllister  schofield,  an 
American  general,  was  born  in  Chautau- 
qua county.  New  York,  September  29,  1831. 
He  graduated  at  West  Point  in  1853,  and 
was  for  five  years  assistant  professor  of  nat- 
ural philosophy  in  that  institution.  In  186 1 
he  entered  the  volunteer  service  as  major  of 
the  First  Missouri  Volunteers,  and  was  ap- 
pointed chief  of  staff  by  General  Lyon,  under 
whom  he  fought  at  the  battle  of  Wilson's 
Creek.  In  November,  i86r,  he  was  ap- 
pointed brigadier-general  of  volunteers,  and 
was  placed  in  command  of  the  Missouri 
militia  until  November,  1862,  and  of  the 
army  of  the  frontier  from  that  time  until 
1863.  In  1862  he  was  ^nade  major-general 
of  volunteers,  and  was  placed  in  command  of 
the  Department  of  the  Missouri,  and  in  1864 
of  the  Department  of  the  Ohio.  During  the 
campaign  through  Georgia  General  Scho- 
field was  in  command  of  the  Twenty-third 
Army  Corps,  and  was  engaged  in  most  of  the 
fighting  of  that  famous  campaign.  Novem- 
ber 30,  1864,  he  defeated  Hood's  army  at 
Franklin,  Tennessee,  and  then  joined  Gen- 
eral Thomas  at  Nashville.  He  took  part  in 
the  battle  of*  Nashville,  where  Hood's  army 
was  destroyed.  In  January,  1865,  he  led 
his   corps   into    North    Carolina,    captured 


Wilmington,  fought  the  battle  of  Kingston, 
and  joined  General  Sherman  at  Goldsboro 
March  22,  1865.  He  executed  the  details 
of  the  capitulation  of  General  Johnston  to 
Sherman,  which  practically  closed  the  war. 
In  June,  1868,  General  Schofield  suc- 
ceeded Edwin  M.  Stanton  as  secretary  of 
war,  but  was  the  next  year  appointed  major- 
general  of  the  United  States  army,  and  order- 
ed to  the  Department  of  the  Missouri.  From 
1870  to  1876  he  was  in  command  of  the  De- 
partment of  the  Pacific;  from  1876  to  1881 
superintendent  of  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy;  in  1883  he  was  in  charge  of  the 
Department  of  the  Missouri,  and  in  1886  of 
the  division  of  the  Atlantic.  In  1888  he 
became  general-in-chief  of  the  United  States 
army,  and  in  February,  1895,  was  appoint- 
ed lieutenant-general  by  President  Cleve- 
land, that  rank  having  been  revived  by  con- 
gress. In  September,  1895,  he  was  retired 
from  active  service. 


LEWIS  WALLACE,  an  American  gen- 
eral and  famous  author,  was  born  in 
Brookville,  Indiana,  April  10,  1827.  He 
served  in  the  Mexican  war  as  first  lieutenant 
of  a  company  of  Indiana  Volunteers.  After 
his  return  from  Mexico  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  and  practiced  law  in  Covington  and 
Crawfordsville,  Indiana,  until  1861.  At  the 
opening  of  the  war  he  was  appointed  ad- 
jutant-general of  Indiana,  and  soon  after  be- 
came colonel  of  the  Eleventh  Indiana  VoIt 
unteers.  He  defeated  a  force  of  Confeder- 
ates at  Romney,  West  Virginia,  and  was 
made  brigadier-general  in  September,  1861. 
At  the  capture  of  Fort  Donelson  in  1862  he 
commanded  a  division,  and  was  engaged  in 
the  second  day's  fight  at  Sbiloh.  In  1863 
his  defenses  about  Cincinnati  saved  that  city 
from  capture  by  Kirby  Smith.  At  Monoc- 
acy  in  July,    1864,   he   was  defeated,   but 


200 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


his  resistance  delayed  the  advance  of  Gen- 
eral Early  and  thus  saved  Washington  from 
capture. 

General  Wallace  was  a  member  of  the 
court  that  tried  the  assassins  of  President 
Lincoln,  and  also  of  that  before  whom  Cap- 
tain Henry  Wirtz,  who  had  charge  of  the 
Andersonville  prison,  was  tried.  In  1881 
General  Wallace  was  sent  as  minister  to 
Turkey.  When  not  in  official  service  he 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  literature. 
Among  his  better  known  works  are  his 
•*Fair  God,''  **  Ben  Hur,"  **  Prince  of 
India/'  and  a  **  Life  of  Benjamin  Harrison." 


THOMAS  FRANCIS  BAYARD,  an  Ameri- 
can statesman  and  diplomat,  was  born 
at  Wilmington,  Delaware,  October  29,  1828. 
He  obtained  his  education  at  an  Episcopal 
academy  at  Flushing,  Long  Island,  and 
after  a  short  service  in  a  mercantile  house  in 
New  York,  he  returned  to  Wilmington  and 
entered  his  father's  law  office  to  prepare 
himself  for  the  practice  of  that  profession. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1851.  He 
was  appointed  to  the  office  of  United  States 
district  attorney  for  the  state  of  Delaware, 
serving  one  year.  In  1 869  he  was  elected  to 
the  United  States  senate,  and  continuously 
represented  his  state  in  that  body  until  1885, 
and  in  1881,  when  Chester  A.  Arthur  entered 
the  presidential  chair,  Mr.  Bayard  was 
chosen  president  pro  tempore  of  the  senate. 
He  had  also  served  on  the  famous  electoral 
commission  that  decided  the  Hayes-Tilden 
contest  in  \^y6-y.  In  1885  President  Cleve- 
land appointed  Mr.  Bayard  secretary  of 
state.  At  the  beginning  of  Cleveland's  sec- 
ond term,  in  1893,  Mr.  Bayard  was  selected 
for  the  post  of  ambassador  at  the  court  of 
St.  James,  London,  and  was  the  first  to  hold 
that  rank  in  American  diplomacy,  serving 
until  the  beginning  of  the  McKinley  admin- 


istration. The  questions  for  adjustment  at 
that  time  between  the  two  governments 
were  the  Behring  Sea  controversy  and  the 
Venezuelan  boundary  question.  He  was 
very  popular  in  England  because  of  his 
tariff  views,  and  because  of  his  criticism  of 
the  protective  policy  of  the  United  States 
in  his  public  speeches  delivered  in  London, 
Edinburgh  and  other  places,  he  received,  in 
March,  1896,  a  vote  of  censure  in  the  lower 
house  of  congress. 


JOHN  WORK  GARRETT,  for  so  many 
years  at  the  head  of  the  great  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  railroad  system,  was  born  in  Balti- 
more, Maryland,  July  31,  1820.  His  father, 
Robert  Garrett,  an  enterprising  merchant, 
had  amassed  a  large  fortune  from  a  small 
beginning.  The  son  entered  Lafayette  Col- 
lege in  1834,  but  left  the  following  year  and 
entered  his  father's  counting  room,  and  in 
1839  became  a  partner.  John  W.  Gar- 
rett took  a  great  interest  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad.  He 
was  elected  one  of  the  directors  in  1857, 
and  was  its  president  from  1858  until  his 
death.  When  he  took  charge  of  the  road 
it  was  in  an  embarrassed  condition,  but 
within  a  year,  for  the  first  time  in  its  exist- 
ence, it  paid  a  dividend,  the  increase  in  its 
net  gains  being  $725,385.  After  the  war, 
during  which  the  road  suffered  much  damage 
from  the  Confederates,  numerous  branches 
and  connecting  roads  were  built  or  acquired, 
until  it  reached  colossal  proportions.  Mr. 
Garrett  was  also  active  in  securing  a  regular 
line  of  steamers  between  Baltimore  and 
Bremen,  and  between  the  same  port  and 
Liverpool.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active 
trustees  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  and  a 
liberal  contributor  to  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Baltimore.  He 
died  September  26,  1884. 


COMPENDIUM  OF  BIOGRAPHT. 


201 


Robert  Garrett,  the  son  of  John  W. 
Garrett,  was  born  in  Baltimore  April  9, 
1847,  and  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1867. 
He  received  a  business  education  in  the 
banking  house  of  his  father,  and  in  1871 
became  president  of  the  Valley  Railroad  of 
Virginia.  He  was  made  third  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  in 
1879,  and  first  vice-president  in  1881.  He 
succeeded  his  father  as  president  in  1884. 
Robert  Garrett  died  July  29,  1896. 


CARL  SCHURZ,  a  noted  German-Ameri- 
can statesman,  was  born  in  Liblar,  Prus- 
sia, March  2,  1829.  He  studied  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Bonn,  and  in  1849  was  engaged  in 
an  attempt  to  excite  an  insurrection  at  that 
place.  After  the  surrender  of  Rastadt  by 
the  revolutionists,  in  the  defense  of  which 
Schurz  took  part,  he  decided  to  emigrate  to 
America.  He  resided  in  Philadelphia  three 
years,  and  then  settled  in  Watertown,  Wis- 
consin, and  in  1859  removed  to  Milwaukee, 
where  he  practiced  law.  On  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Republican  party  he  became  a 
leader  of  the  German  element  and  entered 
the  campaign  for  Lincoln  in  i860.  He  was 
appointed  minister  to  Spain  in  1861,  but  re- 
signed in  December  of  that  year  to  enter 
the  army.  He  was  appointed  brigadier- 
general  in  1862,  and  participated  in  the 
second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  also  at 
Chancellorsville.  At  Gettysburg  he  had 
temporary  command  of  the  Eleventh  Army 
Corps,  and  also  took  part  in  the  battle  of 
Chattanooga. 

After  the  war  he  located  at  St.  Louis, 
and  in  1869  was  elected  United  States  sena- 
tor from  Missouri.  He  supported  Horace 
Greeley  for  the  presidency  in  1872,  and  in 
the  campaign  of  1876,  having  removed  to 
New  York,  he  supported  Hayes  and  the  Re- 
publican ticket,  and   was   appointed  secre- 


tary of  the  interior  in  1877.  In  1881  he 
became  editor  of  the  ''New  York  Evening 
Post,"  and  in  1884  was  prominent  in  his 
opposition  to  James  G.  Blaine,  and  became 
a  leader  of  the  ''Mugwumps,"  thus  assist- 
ing in  the  election  of  Cleveland.  In  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1896  his  forcible 
speeches  in  the  interest  of  sound  money 
wielded  an  immense  influence.  Mr.  Schurz 
wrote  a  "Life  of  Henry  Clay,"  said  to  be 
the  best  biography  ever  published  of  that 
eminent  statesman. 


GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS,  an  American 
statesman  of  national  reputation,  was 
born  in  Richmond,  Vermont,  February  i, 
1828.  His  education  was  obtained  in  the 
public  schools  and  from  the  instructions  of 
a  private  tutor.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  practiced  law,  and  served  in  the  state 
legislature  from  1854  to  1859,  during  three 
years  of  that  time  being  speaker  of  the  lower 
house.  He  was  elected  to  the  state  senate 
and  acted  as  president  pro  tempore  of  that 
body  in  1861  and  1862.  He  became  promi- 
nent for  his  activity  in  the  impeachment 
proceedings  against  President  Johnson,  and 
was  appointed  to  the  United  States  senate 
to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Solomon 
Foot,  entering  that  body  in  1866.  He  was. 
re-elected  to  the  senate  four  times,  and 
served  on  the  electoral  commission  in  1877. 
He  became  president  pro  tempore  of  the 
senate  after  the  death  of  President  Garfield, 
and  was  the  author  of  the  bill  which  put  an 
end  to  the  practice  of  polygamy  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Utah.  In  November,  1891,  owing 
to  impaired  health,  he  retired  from  the  sen- 
ate and  again  resumed  the  practice  of  law, 


LUCIUS   Q.    C.    LAMAR,    a   prominent 
political  leader,   statesman    and  jurist,, 
was  born  in  Putnam  county,  Georgia,  Sep- 


'202 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


tember  17,1825.  He  graduated  from  Emory 
College  in  1845,  studied  l^w  at  Macon  under 
Hon.  A.  H.  Chappell,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  1847.  He  moved  to  Oxford, 
Mississippi,  in  1849,  ^i^d  was  elected  to  a 
professorship  in  the  State  University.  He 
resigned  the  next  year  and  returned  to  Cov- 
ington, Georgia,  and  resumed  the  practice 
of  law.  In  1853  he  was  elected  to  the 
Georgia  Legislature,  and  in  1854  he  removed 
to  his  plantation  in  Lafayette  county,  Mis- 
sissippi, and  was  elected  to  represent  his 
district  in  the  thirty-fifth  and  thirty-sixth 
congresses.  He  resigned  in  i860,  and  was 
sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  secession  conven- 
tion of  the  state.  He  entered  the  Confed- 
erate service  in  1861  as  lieutenant-colonel 
of  the  Nineteenth  Regiment,  and  was  soon 
after  made  colonel.  In  1863  President 
Davis  appointed  him  to  an  important  diplo- 
matic mission  to  Russia.  In  1866  he  was 
elected  professor  of  political  economy  and 
social  science  in  the  State  University,  and 
was  soon  afterward  transferred  to  the  pro- 
fessorship of  the  law  department.  He  rep- 
resented his  district  in  the  forty-third  and 
forty-fourth  congresses,  and  was  elected 
United  States  senator  from  Mississippi  in 
1877,  and  re-elected  in  1882.  In  1885,  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  his  term,  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Cleveland  as  secre- 
tary of  the  interior,  which  position  he  held 
until  his  appointment  as  associate  justice  of 
the  United  States  supreme  court,  in  1888, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  until  his  death, 
January  23,  1894. 


BENJAMIN  PENHALLOW  SHILLA- 
BER  won  fame  in  the  world  of 
humorists  under  the  name  of  **Mrs.  Parting- 
ton. *'  He  was  born  in  1841  at  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  and  started  out  in  life  as  a 
printer.     Mr.     Shillaber    went    to    Dover, 


where  he  secured  employment  in  a  printing 
office,  and  from  there  he  went  to  Demerara, 
Guiana,  where  he  was  employed  as  a  com- 
positor in  1835-37.  In  1840  he  became 
connected  with  the  **Boston  Post,"  and 
acquired  quite  a  reputation  as  'a  humorist 
by  his  ''Sayings  of  Mrs.  Partington."  He 
remained  as  editor  of  the  paper  until  1850, 
when  he  printed  and  edited  a  paper  of  his 
own  called  the  ''Pathfinder,"  which  he  con- 
tinued until  1852.  Mr.  Shillaber  be- 
came editor  and  proprietor  of  the  "Carpet 
Bag,"  which  he  conducted  during  1850-52, 
and  then  returned  to  the  "Boston  Post," 
with  which  he  was  connected  until  1856. 
During  the  same  time  he  was  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  "Saturday  Evening  Gazette," 
and  continued  in  this  line  after  he  severed 
his  connection  with  the  "Post,"  for  ten 
years.  After  1866  Mr.  Shillaber  wrote  for 
various  newspapers  and  periodicals,  and 
during  his  life  published  the  following 
books:  '  'Rhymes  with  Reason  and  Without, " 
"Poems,"  "Life  and  Sayings  of  Mrs.  Part- 
ington," "Knitting  Work,"  and  others. 
His  death  occurred  at  Chelsea,  Massachu- 
setts, November  25,  1890. 


EASTMAN  JOHNSON  stands  first  among 
painters  of  American  country  life.  He 
was  born  in  Lovell,  Maine,  in  1824,  and  be- 
gan his  work  in  drawing  at  the  age  of  eight- 
een years.  His  first  works  were  portraits, 
and,  as  he  took  up  his  residence  in  Wash- 
ington, the  most  famous  men  of  the  nation 
were  his  subjects.  In  1846  he  went  to  Bos- 
ton, and  there  made  crayon  portraits  of 
Longfellow,  Emerson,  Sumner,  Hawthorne 
and  other  noted  men.  In  1849  he  went  to 
Europe.  He  studied  at  Dusseldorf,  Ger- 
many; spent  a  year  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
and  thence  to  The  Hague,  where  he  spent 
four  years,  producing  there  his  first  pictures 


COMPENDIUM  OE   BIOGRAPHT, 


208 


of  consequence,  '*The  Card -Players  "  and 
**The  Savoyard."  He  then  went  to  Paris, 
but  was  called  home,  after  an  absence  from 
America  of  six  years.  He  lived  some  time 
in  Washington,  and  then  spent  two  years 
among  the  Indians  of  Lake  Superior.  In 
1858  he  produced  his  famous  picture,  ''The 
Old  Kentucky  Home."  He  took  up  his 
permanent  residence  at  New  York  at  that 
time.  His  ''Sunday  Morning  in  Virginia" 
is  a  work  of  equal  merit.  He  was  espe- 
cially successful  in  coloring,  a  master  of 
drawing,  and  the  expression  conveys  with 
precision  the  thought  of  the  artist.  His 
portrayal  of  family  life  and  child  life  is  un- 
equalled. Among  his  other  great  works  are 
*'The  Confab,"  "Crossing  a  Stream,' 
**  Chimney  Sweep,"  "Old  Stage  Coach," 
"  The  New  Bonnet,"  "The  Drummer  Boy," 
**  Childhood  of  Lincoln,"  and  a  great  vari- 
ety of  equally  familiar  subjects. 


PIERCE  GUSTAVE  TOUTANT  BEAU- 
REGARD, one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished generals  in  the  Confederate  army, 
was  born  near  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 
May  28,  1 81 8.  He  graduated  from  West 
Point  Military  Academy  in  1838,  and  v/as 
made  second  lieutenant  of  engineers.  He 
was  with  General  Scott  in  Mexico,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  at  Vera  Cruz,  Cerro 
Gordo,  and  the  battles  near  the  City  of 
Mexico,  for  which  he  was  twice  brevetted. 
After  the  Mexican  war  closed  he  was  placed 
in  charge  of  defenses  about  New  Orleans, 
and  in  i860  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point.  He  held  this  position  but  a 
few  months,  when  he  resigned  February  20, 
1 86 1,  and  accepted  a  commission  of  briga- 
dier-general in  the  Confederate  army.  He 
•directed  the    attack   on    Fort    Sumter,  the 

first  engagement  of  the  Civil  war.     He  was 
12 


in  command  of  the  Confederates  at  the  first 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  for  this  victory  was 
made  general.  In  1862  he  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  planned  the  attack  upon  General  Grant 
at  Shiloh,  and  upon  the  death  of  General 
Johnston  he  took  command  of  the  army 
and  was  only  defeated  by  the  timely  arrival 
of  General  Buell  with  reinforcements.  He 
commanded  at  Charleston  and  successfully 
defended  that  city  against  the  combined  at- 
tack by  land  and  sea  in  1863.  In  1864  he 
was  in  command  in  Virginia,  defeating  Gen- 
eral Butler,  and  resisting  Grant's  attack 
upon  Petersburg  until  reinforced  from  Rich- 
mond. During  the  long  siege  which  fol- 
lowed he  was  sent  to  check  General  Sher- 
man's march  to  the  sea,  and  was  with  Gen- 
eral Joseph  E.  Johnston  when  that  general 
surrendered  in  1865.  After  the  close  of  the 
war  he  was  largely  interested  in  railroad 
management.  In  1866  he  was  offered  chief 
command  of  the  Army  of  Roumania,  and  in 
1869,  that  of  the  Army  of  Egypt.  He  de- 
clined these  offers.  His  death  occurred 
February  20,  1893. 


HENRY  GEORGE,  one  of  America's 
most  celebrated  political  economists, 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania, 
September  2,  1839.  He  received  acommon- 
school  education  and  entered  the  high 
school  in  1853,  and  then  went  into  a  mer- 
cantile office.  He  made  several  voyages  on 
the  sea,  and  settled  in  California  in  1858. 
He  then  worked  at  the  printer's  trade  for  a 
number  of  years,  which  he  left  to  follow  the 
editorial  profession.  He  edited  in  succession 
several  daily  newspapers,  and  attracted  at- 
tention by  a  number  of  strong  essays  and 
speeches  on  political  and  social  questions. 
In  1 87 1  he  edited  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Oui 
Land  and  Pohcy,"  in  which  he  outlined  a 


204 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


theory,  which  has  since  made  him  so  widely 
known.  This  was  developed  in  *'  Progress 
and  Poverty,"  a  book  which  soon  attained  a 
large  circulation  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, which  has  been  extensively  translated. 
In  1880  Mr.  George* located  in  New  York, 
where  he  made  his  home,  though  he  fre- 
quently addressed  audiences  in  Great  Britain, 
Ireland,  Australia,  and  throughout  the 
United  States.  In  1886  he  was  nominated 
by  the  labor  organizations  for  mayor  of  New 
York,  and  made  a  campaign  notable  for  its 
development  of  unexpected  power.  In  1887  he 
was  candidate  of  the  Union  Labor  party  for 
secretary  of  state  of  New  York.  These  cam- 
paigns served  to  formulate  the  idea  of  a  single 
tax  and  popularize  the  Australian  ballot  sys- 
tem. Mr.  George  became  a  free  trader  in 
1888,  and  in  1892  supported  the  election  of 
Grover  Cleveland.  His  political  and  eco- 
nomic ideas,  known  as  the  '* single  tax," 
have  a  large  and  growing  support,  but  are 
not  confined  to  this  country  alone.  He 
wrote  numerous  miscellaneous  articles  in 
support  of  his  principles,  and  also  published : 
**The  Land  Question,"  **  Social  Problems," 
**  Protection  or  Free  Trade,"  **The  Condi- 
tion of  Labor,  an  Open  Letter  to  Pope  Leo 
XIIL,"  and  *^  Perplexed  Philosopher." 


THOMAS  ALEXANDER  SCOTT.  —This 
name  is  indissolubly  connected  with 
the  history  and  development  of  the  railway 
systems  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Scott 
was  born  December  28,  1823,  at  London, 
Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  first 
regularly  employed  by  Major  James  Patton, 
the  collector  of  tolls  on  the  state  road  be- 
tween Philadelphia  and  Columbia,  Penn- 
sylvania. He  entered  into  the  employ  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  in  1850, 
and  went  through  all  the  different  branches 
of  work  until  he  had  mastered  all  the  details 


of  the  office  work,  and  in  1858  he  was  ap- 
pointed general  superintendent.  Mr.  Scott 
was  the  next  year  chosen  vice-president  of 
the  road.  This  position  at  once  brought 
him  before  the  public,  and  the  enterprise 
and  ability  displayed  by  him  in  its  manage- 
ment marked  him  as  a  leader  among  the 
railroad  men  of  the  country.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  rebellion  in  1861,  Mr.  Scott 
was  selected  by  Governor  Curtin  as  a  mem- 
ber of  his  staff,  and  placed  in  charge  of  the 
equipment  and  forwarding  of  the  state  troops 
to  the  seat  of  war.  On  April  27,  1861,  the 
secretary  of  war  desired  to  establish  a  new 
line  of  road  between  the  national  capital 
and  Philadelphia,  for  the  more  expeditious 
transportation  of  troops.  He  called  upon 
Mr.  Scott  to  direct  this  work,  and  the  road 
by  the  way  of  Annapolis  and  Perryville  was 
completed  in  a  marvelously  short  space  of 
time.  On  May  3,  1861,  he  was  commis- 
sioned colonel  of  volunteers,  and  on  the  23d 
of  the  same  month  the  government  railroads 
and  telegraph  lines  were  placed  in  his  charge. 
Mr.  Scott  was  the  first  assistant  secretary 
of  war  ever  appointed,  and  he  took  charge 
of  this  new  post  August  i,  1861.  In  Janu- 
ary, 1862,  he  was  directed  to  organize 
transportation  in  the  northwest,  and  in 
March  he  performed  the  same  service  on 
the  western  rivers.  He  resigned  June  i, 
1862,  and  resumed  his  direction  of  affairs  on 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  Colonel  Scott 
directed  the  policy  that  secured  to  his  road 
the  control  of  the  western  roads,  and  be- 
came the  president  of  the  new  company  to 
operate  these  lines  in  1871.  For  one  year, 
from  March,  1 871,  he  was  president  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  and  in  1874  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  presidency  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Company.  He  projected  the  Texas 
Pacific  Railroad  and  was  for  many  years  its 
president.     Colonel    Scott*s    health    failed 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


205^ 


him  and  he  resigned  the  presidency  of  the 
road  June  i,  1880,  and  died  at  his  home  in 
D  irby,  Pennsylvania,  May  21,  1881. 


ROBERT  TOOMBS,  an  American  states- 
man of  note,  was  born  in  Wilkes  coun- 
ty, Georgia,  July  2,  18 10.  He  attended 
the  University  c  f  Georgia,  and  graduated 
from  Union  College,  Schenectady,  New 
York,  and  then  took  a  law  course  at  the 
University  of  Virginia.  In  1830,  before  he 
had  attained  his  majority,  he  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  by  special  act  of  the  legislature, 
and  rose  rapidly  in  his  profession,  attracting 
the  attention  of  the  leading  statesmen  and 
judges  of  that  time.  He  raised  a  volunteer 
company  for  the  Creek  war,  and  served  as 
captain  to  the  close.  He  was  elected  to  the 
state  legislature  in  1837,  re-elected  in  1842, 
and  in  1844  was  elected  to  congress.  He 
had  been  brought  up  as  a  Jeffersonian 
Democrat,  but  voted  for  Harrison  in  1840 
and  for  Clay  in  1844.  He  made  his  first 
speech  in  congress  on  the  Oregon  question, 
and  immediately  took  rank  with  the  greatest 
debaters  of  that  body.  In  1853  he  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  senate,  and 
again  in  1859,  but  when  his  native  state 
seceded  he  resigned  his  seat  in  the  senate 
and  was  elected  to  the  Confederate  con- 
gress. It  is  stated  on  the  best  authority 
that  had  it  not  been  for  a  misunderstanding 
which  could  not  be  explained  till  too  late  he 
would  have  been  elected  president  of  the 
Confederacy.  He  was  appointed  secretary 
of  state  by  President  Davis,  but  resigned 
after  a  few  months  and  was  commissioned 
brigadier-general  in  the  Confederate  army. 
He  won  distinction  at  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run  and  at  Sharpsburg,  but  resigned 
his  commission  soon  after  and  returned  to 
Georgia.  He  organized  the  militia  of 
Georgia  to  resist  Sherman,   and  was  made 


brigadier-general  of  the  state  troops.  He 
left  the  country  at  the  close  of  the  war  and 
did  not  return  until  1867.  He  died  Decem- 
ber 15,   1885. 

AUSTIN  CORBIN,  one  of  the  greatest 
railway  magnates  of  the  United  States, 
was  born  July  ir,  1827,  at  Newport,  New 
Hampshire.  He  studied  law  with  Chief 
Justice  Gushing  and  Governor  Ralph  Met- 
calf,  and  later  took  a  course  in  the  Harvard 
Law  School,  where  he  graduated  in  1849. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  practiced 
law,  with  Governor  Metcalf  as  his  partner, 
until  October  12,  185 1.  Mr.  Corbin  then 
removed  to  Davenport,  Iowa,  where  he  re- 
mained until  1865.  In  1854  he  was  a  part- 
ner in  the  banking  firm  of  Macklot  &  Cor- 
bin, and  later  he  organized  the  First  Na^ 
tional  bank  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  which 
commenced  business  June  29,  1863,  and 
which  was  the  first  national  bank  op.  n  for 
business  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Corbin 
sold  out  his  business  in  the  Davenport  bank, 
and  removed  to  New  York  in  1865  and  com- 
menced business  with  partners  under  the 
style  of  Corbin  Banking  Company.  Soon 
after  his  removal  to  New  York  he  became 
interested  in  railroads,  and  became  one  of 
the  leading  railroad  men  of  the  country. 
The  development  of  the  west  half  of  Coney 
Island  as  a  summer  resort  first  brought  him 
into  general  prominence.  He  built  a  rail- 
road from  New  York  to  the  island,  and 
built  great  hotels  on  its  ocean  front.  He 
next  turned  his  attention  to  Long  Island, 
and  secured  all  the  railroads  and  consoli- 
dated them  under  one  management,  became 
president  of  the  system,  and  under  his  con- 
trol Long  Island  became  the  great  ocean 
suburb  of  New  York.  His  latest  public 
achievement  was  the  rehabilitation  of  the 
Reading   Railroad,    of    Pennsylvania,     and 


206 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


during  the  same  time  he  and  his  iriends 
purchased  the  controlling  interest  of  the 
New  Jersey  Central  Railroad.  He  took  it 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  receiver,  and  in 
three  years  had  it  on  a  dividend-paying 
basis.  Mr.  Corbin's  death  occurred  June 
4,  1896.  ; 

JAMES  GORDON  BENNETT,  Sr., 
was  one  of  the  greatest  journalists  of 
America  in  his  day.  He  was  born  Septem- 
ber I,  1795,  at  New  Mill,  near  Keith,  Scot- 
land. At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  sent 
to  Aberdeen  to  study  for  the  priesthood, 
but,  convinced  that  he  was  mistaken  in  his 
vocation,  he  determined  to  emigrate.  He 
landed  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  in  18 19, 
where  he  attempted  to  earn  a  living  by 
teaching  bookkeeping.  Failing  in  this  he 
went  to  Boston  and  found  employment  as  a 
proof  reader.  Mr.  Bennett  went  to  New 
York  about  1822  and  wrote  for  the  news- 
papers. Later  on  he  became  assistant 
editor  in  the  office  of  the  ''Charleston 
Courier, "but  returned  to  New  York  in  1824 
and  endeavored  to  start  a  commercial 
school,  but  was  unsuccessful  in  this,  and 
again  returned  to  newspaper  work.  He 
continued  in  newspaper  work  with  varying 
success  until,  at  his  suggestion,  the  * 'En- 
quirer" was  consolidated  with  another 
paper,  and  became  the  ''Courier  and  En- 
quirer," with  James  Watson  Webb  as 
editor  and  Mr.  Bennett  for  assistant.  At 
this  time  this  was  the  leading  American 
newspaper.  He,  however,  severed  his  con- 
nection with  this  newspaper  and  tried, 
without  success, "other  ventures  in  the  line 
of  journalism  until  May  6,  1835,  when  he 
issued  the  first  number  of  the  "New  York 
Herald. "  Mr.  Bennett  wrote  the  entire 
paper,  and  made  up  for  lack  of  news  by  his 
own  imagination.     The  paper  became  popu- 


lar, and  in  1838  he  engaged  European  jour- 
nalists as  regular  correspondents.  In  1841 
the  income  derived  from  his  paper  was  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Dur- 
ing the  Civil  war  the  "  Herald  "  had  on  its 
stafi  sixty-three  war  correspondents  and  the 
circulation  was  doubled.  Mr.  Bennett  was 
interested  with  John  W.  Mackay  in  that  great 
enterprise  which  is  now  known  as  the  Mac- 
kay-Bennett  Cable.  He  had  collected  for  use 
in  his  paper  over  fifty  thousand  biographies, 
sketches  and  all  manner  of  information  re- 
garding every  well-known  man,  which  are 
still  kept  in  the  archives  of  the  "Herald" 
office.  He  died  in  the  city  of  New  York  in 
1872,  and  left  to  his  son,  James  Gordon, 
Jr. ,  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  profitable 
journals  in  the  United  States,  or  even  in  the 
world. 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES,  a 
noted  American,  won  distinction  in  the 
field  of  literature,  in  which  he  attained  a 
world-wide  reputation.  He  was  born  at 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  August  29,  1809. 
He  received  a  collegiate  education  and  grad- 
uated from  Harvard  in  1829,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  and  took  up  the  study  of  law  and 
later  studied  medicine.  Dr.  Holmes  at- 
tended several  years  in  the  hospitals  of 
Europe  and  received  his  degree  in  1836. 
He  became  professor  of  anatomy  and  phys- 
iology in  Dartmouth  in  1838,  and  re- 
mained there  until  1847,  when  he  was 
called  to  the  Massachusetts  Medical  School 
at  Boston  to  occupy  the  same  chair,  which 
position  he  resigned  in  1882.  The  first 
collected  edition  of  his  poems  appeared  in 
1836,  and  his  *'Phi  Beta  Kappa  Poems," 
"Poetry,"  in  1836;  "Terpsichore,''  in  1843; 
"Urania,"  in  1846, .and  "Astraea,"  won  for 
him  many  fresh  laurels.  His  series  of 
papers   in  the   "Atlantic    Monthly,"    were: 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


207 


**Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table,"  *^Pro- 
fessor  at  the  Breakfast  Table,"  *'Poet  at 
the  Breakfast  Table,"  and  are  a  series  of 
masterly  wit,  humor  and  pathos.  Among 
his  medical  papers  and  addresses,  are :  "Cur- 
rents and  Counter-currents  in  the  Medical 
Science,"  and  ''Borderland  in  Some  Prov- 
inces of  Medical  Science.'*  Mr.  Holmes 
edited  quite  a  number  of  works,  of  which 
we  quote  the  following:  '*Else  Venner, " 
* 'Songs  in  Many  Keys,"  "Soundings  from 
the  Atlantic,"  "Humorous  Poems,"  "The 
Guardian  Angel,"  "Mechanism  in  Thoughts 
and  Morals,"  "Songs  of  Many  Seasons," 
"John  L.  Motley" — a  memoir,  "The  Iron 
Gate  and  Other  Poems,"  ''Ralph  Waldo 
Emerson,"  "A  Moral  Antipathy."  Dr. 
Holmes  visited  England  for  the  second  time, 
and  while  there  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  University 
of  Edinburgh.  His  death  occurred  October 
7,  1894.  

RUFUS  CHOATE,  one  of  the  most  em- 
inent of  America's  great  lawyers,  was 
born  October  i,  1799,  at  Essex,  Massachu- 
setts. He  entered  Dartmouth  in  181 5, 
and  after  taking  his  degree  he  remained  as 
a  teacher  in  the  college  for  one  year.  He 
took  up  the  study  of  law  in  Cambridge,  and 
subsequently  studied  under  the  distinguished 
lawyer,  Mr.  Wirt,  who  was  then  United 
States  attorney-general  at  Washington.  Mr. 
Choatebegan  the  practice  of  law  in  Danvers, 
Massachusetts,  and  from  there  he  went  to 
Salem,  ^nd  afterwards  to  Boston,  Massa- 
chusetts. While  living  at  Salem  he  was 
elected  to  congress  in  1832,  and  later,  in 
1 84 1,  he  was  chosen  United  States  senator 
to  succeed  Daniel  Webster,  Mr.  Webster 
having  been  appointed  secretary  of  state 
under  William  Henry  Harrison. 

After  the  death  of  Webster.  Mr-  Choate 


was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts bar,  and  was  looked  upon  by  the 
younger  members  of  the  profession  with  an 
affection  that  almost  amounted  to  a  rever- 
ence. Mr.  Choate's  powers  as  an  orator 
were  of  the  rarest'  order,  and  his  genius 
made  it  possible  for  him  to  enchant  and  in- 
terest his  listeners,  even  while  discussing  the 
most  ordinary  theme.  He  was  not  merely 
eloquent  on  the  subjects  that  were  calculated 
to  touch  the  feelings  and  stir  the  passions 
of  his  audience  in  themselves,  but  could  at 
all  times  command  their  attention.  He  re- 
tired from  active  life  in  1858,  and  was  on 
his  way  to  Europe,  his  physician  having 
ordered  a  sea  voyage  for  his  health,  but  had 
only  reached  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  when 
he  died,  July   13,  1858. 


D WIGHT  L.  MOODY,  one  of  the  most: 
noted  and  effective  pulpit  orators  and 
evangelists  America  has  produced,  was  born 
in  Northfield,  Franklin  county,  Massachu- 
setts, February  5,  1837.  He  received  but 
a  meager  education  and  worked  on  a  far  mi 
until  seventeen  years  of  age,  when  he  be- 
came clerk  in  a  boot  and  shoe  store  in 
Boston.  Soon  after  this  he  joined  the  Con- 
gregational church  and  went  to  Chicago, 
where  he  zealously  engaged  in  missionary 
work  among  the  poor  classes.  He  met 
with  great  success,  and  in  less  than  a  year 
he  built  up  a  Sunday-school  which  numbered 
over  one  thousand  children.  When  the^ 
war  broke  out  he  became  connected  with 
what  was  known  as  the  "Christian  Com- 
mission," and  later  became  city  missionary^ 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  at 
Chicago.  A  church  was  built  there  for  his 
converts  and  he  became  its  unordained  pas- 
tor. In  the  Chicago  fire  of  1871  the  church 
and  Mr.  Moody's  house  and  furniture,  which 
bad  been  jgiven  him,  were  destroyed.     The: 


20S 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


church  edifice  was  afterward  replaced  by  a 
new  church  erected  on .  the  site  of  the  old 
one.  In  1873,  accompanied  by  Ira  D. 
Sankey,  Mr.  Moody  went  to  Europe  and 
excited  great  religious  awakenings  through- 
out England,  Ireland  and  Scotland.  In 
1875  ^hey  returned  to  America  and  held 
large  meetings  in  various  cities.  They 
afterward  made  another  visit  to  Great 
Britain  for  the  same  purpose,  meeting  with 
great  success,  returning  to  the  United  States 
in  1884.  Mr.  Moody  afterward  continued 
his  evangelistic  work,  meeting  everywhere 
with  a  warm  reception  and  success.  Mr. 
Moody  produced  a  number  of  works,  some 
of  which  had  a  wide  circulation. 


JOHN  PIERPONT  MORGAN,  a  financier 
of  world-wide  reputation,  and  famous 
as  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  banking 
houses  in  the  world,  was  born  April  17, 
1837,  at  Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  re- 
ceived his  early  education  in  the  English 
high  school,  in  Boston,  and  later  supple- 
mented this  with  a  course  in  the  University 
of  Gbttingen,  Germany.  He  returned  to 
the  United  States,  in  1857,  and  entered  the 
banking  firm  of  Duncan,  Sherman  &  Co., 
of  New  York,  and,  in  i860,  he  became 
agent  and  attorney,  in  the  United  States,  for 
George  Peabody  &  Co.,  of  London.  He 
became  the  junior  partner  in  the  banking 
firm  of  Dabney,  Morgan  &  Co.,  in  1864, 
and  that  of  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.,  in  1871. 
This  house  was  among  the  chief  negotiators 
of  railroad  bonds,  and  was  active  in  the  re- 
organization of  the  West  Shore  Railroad, 
and  its  absorption  by  the  New  York  Central 
Railroad.  It  was  conspicuous  in  the  re- 
organization of  the  Philadelphia  &  Read- 
ing Railroad,  in  1887,  which  a  syndicate  of 
capitalists,  formed  by  Mr.  Morgan,  placed 
on  a  sound  financial  basis.     After  that  time 


many  other  lines  of  railroad  and  gigantic 
financial  enterprises  were  brought  under  Mr. 
Morgan's  control,  and  in  some  respects  it 
maybe  said  he  became  the  foremost  financier 
of  the  century. 


THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED,  one  of 
the  most  eminent  of  American  states- 
men, was  born  October  18,  1839,  at  Port- 
land, Maine,  where  he  received  his  early 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  the 
city,  and  prepared  himself  for  college.  Mr. 
Reed  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College  in 
i860,  and  won  one  of  the  highest  honors  of 
the  college,  the  prize  for  excellence  in  Eng- 
lish composition.  The  following  four  years 
were  spent  by  him  in  teaching  and  in  the 
study  of  law.  Before  his  admission  to  the 
bar,  however,  he  was  acting  assistant  pay- 
master in  the  United  States  navy,  and 
served  on  the  *' tin-clad"  Sybil,  which  pa- 
trolled the  Tennessee,  Cumberland  and 
Mississippi  rivers.  After  his  discharge  in 
1865,  he  returned  to  Portland,  was  admit- 
ted to  the  bar,  and  began  the  practice  of  his 
profession.  He  entered  into  political  life, 
and  in  1868  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
of  Maine  as  a  Republican,  and  in  1869  he 
was  re-elected  to  the  house,  and  in  1870 
was  made  state  senator,  from  which  he 
passed  to  attorney-general  of  the  state. 
He  retired  from  this  office  in  1873,  and 
until  1877  he  was  solicitor  for  the  city 
of  Portland.  In  1876  he  was  elected  to 
the  forty-fifth  congress,  which  assembled 
in  1877.  Mr.  Reed  sprung  into  prominence 
in  that  body  by  one  of  the  first  speeches 
which  he  delivered,  and  his  long  service  in 
congress,  coupled  with  his  ability,  gave  him 
a  national  reputation.  His  influence  each 
year  became  more  strongly  marked,  and  the 
leadership  of  his  party  was  finally  conceded 
to  him,  and  in  the  forty-ninth  and  fiftieth 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAFHT. 


2^^ 


congresses  the  complimentary  nomination 
tor  the  speakership  was  tendered  him  by  the 
Republicans.  That  party  having  obtained 
the  ascendency  in  the  fifty-first  congress  he 
was  elected  speaker  on'  the  first  ballot,  and 
he  was  again  chosen  speaker  of  the  fifty- 
fourth  and  fifth-fifth  congresses.  As  a 
writer,  Mr.  Reed  contributed  largely  to  the 
magazines  and  periodicals,  and  his  book 
upon  parliamentary  rules  is  generally  rec- 
ognized as  authority  on  that  subject. 


CLARA  BARTON  is  a  celebrated  char- 
acter among  what  might  be  termed  as 
the  highest  grade  of  philanthropists  Amer- 
ica has  produced.  She  was  born  on  a  farm 
at  Oxford,  Massachusetts,  a  daughter  of 
Captain  Stephen  Barton,  and  was  educated 
at  Clinton,  New  York.  She  engaged  in 
teaching  early  in  life,  and  founded  a  free 
school  at  Bordentown,  the  first  in  New  Jer- 
sey. She  opened  with  six  pupils,  but  the 
attendance  had  grown  to  six  hundred  up  to 
1854,  when  she  went  to  Washington.  She 
was  appointed  clerk  in  the  patent  depart- 
ment, and  remained  there  until  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  war,  when  she  resigned 
her  position  and  devoted  herself  to  the  al- 
leviation of  the  sufferings  of  the  soldiers, 
serving,  not  in  the  hospitals,  but  on  the  bat- 
tle field.  She  was  present  at  a  number  of 
battles,  and  after  the  war  closed  she  origi- 
nated, and  for  some  time  carried  on  at  her 
own  expense,  the  search  for  missing  soldiers. 
She  then  for  several  years  devoted  her  time 
to  lecturing  on  '*  Incidents  of  the  War." 
About  1868  she  went  to  Europe  for  her 
health,  and  settled  in  Switzerland,  but  on  the 
outbreak  of  the  Franco-German  war  she  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  the  grand  duchess 
of  Baden  to  aid  in  the  establishment  of  her 
hospitals,  and  Miss  Barton  afterward  fol- 
lowed the  German  army      She  was  deco- 


rated with  the  golden  cross  Dy  rhe  grancr 
duke  of  Baden,  and  with  the  iron  cross  by 
the  emperor  of  Germany.  She  also  served 
for  many  years  as  president  of  the  famous 
Red  Cross  Society  and  attamed  a  world- 
wide reputation. 


CARDINAL  JAMES  GIBBONS,  one  01 
the  most  eminent  Catholic  clergymen 
in  America,  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, July  23,  1834.  He  was  given  s. 
thorough  education,  graduated  at  St.  Charles 
College,  Maryland,  in  1857,  and  studied 
theology  in  St.  Mary's  Seminary,  Baltimore, 
Maryland.  In  1861  he  became  pastor  of 
St.  Bridget's  church  in  Baltimore,  and  in 
1868  was  consecrated  vicar  apostolic  of 
North  Carolina.  In  1872  our  subject  be- 
came bishop  of  Richmond,  V'irginia,  and 
five  years  later  was  made  archbishop  of  Bal- 
timore. On  the  30th  of  June,  1886,  he 
was  admitted  to  the  full  degree  of  cardinal 
and  primate  of  the  American  Catholic 
church.  He  was  a  fluent  writer,  and  his 
book,  **  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,''  had  a  wide 
circulation. 

CHAUNCEY  MITCHELL  DEPEW.— 
This  name  is,  without  doubt,  one  of 
the  most  widely  known  in  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Depew  was  born  April  23,  1834,  at 
Peekskill,  New  York,  the  home  of  the  Depew 
family  for  two  hundred  years.  He  attended 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  place, 
where  he  prepared  himself  to  enter  college. 
He  began  his  collegiate  course  at  Yale  at 
the  age  of  eighteen  and  graduated  in  1856. 
He  early  took  an  active  interest  in  politics 
and  joined  the  Republican  party  at  its  for- 
mation. He  then  took  up  the  study  of  law 
and  went  into  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Will- 
iam Nelson,  of  Peekskill,  for  that  purpose, 
and  in  1858  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 


210 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHY. 


He  was  sent  as  a  delegate  by  the  new  party 
to  the  Republican  state  convention  of  that 
year.  He  began  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  1859,  but  though  he  was  a  good 
worker,  his  attention  was  detracted  by  the 
campaign  of  i860,  in  which  he  took  an  act- 
ive part.  During  this  campaign  he  gained 
his  first  laurels  as  a  public  speaker.  Mr. 
Depew  was  elected  assemblyman  in  1862 
from  a  Democratic  district.  In  1863  he  se- 
cured the  nomination  for  secretary  of  state, 
and  gained  that  post  by  a  majority  of  thirty 
thousand.  In  1866  he  left  the  field  of  pol- 
itics and  entered  into  the  active  practice 
of  his  law  business  as  attorney  for  the 
New  York  &  Harlem  Railroad  Company, 
and  in  1869  when  this  road  was  consoli- 
dated with  the  New  York  Central,  and 
called  the  New  York  Central  &  Hudson 
River  Railroad,  he  was  appointed  the  attor- 
ney for  the  new  road.  His  rise  in  the  rail- 
road business  was  rapid,  and  ten  years  after 
his  entrance  into  the  Vanderbilt  system  as 
attorney  for  a  single  line,  he  was  the  gen- 
eral counsel  for  one  of  the  largest  railroad 
systems  in  the  world.  He  was  also  a 
director  in  the  Lake  Shore  &  Michigan 
Southern,  Michigan  Central,  Chicago  & 
Northwestern,  St.  P^ul  &  Omaha,  West 
Shore,  and  Nickel  Plate  railroad  companies. 
In  1874  Mr.  Depew  was  made  regent  of 
the  State  University,  and  a  member  of  the 
commission  appointed  to  superintend  the 
erection  of  the  capitol  at  Albany.  In  1882, 
on  the  resignation  of  W.  H.  Vanderbilt 
from  the  presidency  of  the  New  York  Cen- 
tral and  the  accession  to  that  office  by 
James  H.  Rutter,  Mr.  Depew  was  made 
second  vice-president,  and  held  that  posi- 
tion until  the  death  of  Mr.  Rutter  in  1885. 
In  this  year  Mr.  Depew  became  the  execu 
tive  head  of  this  great  corporation.  Mr. 
Depew's  greatest  fame  grew  from  his  ability 


and  eloquence  as  an  orator  and  '  *  after-din- 
ner speaker,"  and  it  has  been  said  by  emi- 
nent critics  that  this  country  has  never  pro- 
duced his  equal  in  wit,  fluency  and  eloquence. 


PHILIP  KEARNEY.— Among  the  most 
dashing  and  brilliant  commanders  in 
the  United  States  service,  few  have  outshone 
the  talented  officer  whose  name  heads  this 
sketch.  He  was  born  in  New  York  City, 
June  2,  181c;,  and  was  of  Irish  ancestry  and 
imbued  witli  all  the  dash  and  bravery  of  the 
Celtic  race.  He  graduated  from  Columbia 
College  and  studied  law,  out  in  1837  ac- 
cepted a  commission  as  lieutenant  in  the 
First  United  States  Dragoons,  of  which  hi?, 
uncle,  Stephen  W.  Kearney,  was  then  colo- 
nel. He  was  sent  by  the  government^ 
soon  after,  to  Europe  to  examine  and  report 
upon  the  tactics  of  the  French  cavalry. 
There  he  attended  the  Polytechnic  School, 
at  Samur,  and  subsequently  served  as  a  vol- 
unteer in  Algiers,  winning  the  cross  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor.  He  returned  to  the 
United  States  in  1840,-  and  on  the  staff  of 
General  Scott,  in  the  Mexican  war,  served 
with  great  gallantry.  He  was  made  a  cap- 
tain of  dragoons  in  1846  and  made  major 
for  services  at  Contreras  and  Cherubusco. 
In  the  final  assault  on  the  City  of  Mexico, 
at  the  San  Antonio  Gate,  Kearney  lost  an 
arm.  He  subsequently  served  in  California 
and  the  Pacific  coast.  In  i8u  he  resigned 
his  commission  and  went  to  Europe,  where 
he  resumed  his  military  studies.  In  the 
Italian  war,  in  1859,  he  served  as  a  volun- 
teer on  the  staff  of  General  Maurier,  of  the 
French  army,  and  took  part  in  the  battles 
of  Solferino  and  Magenta,  and  for  bravery 
was,  for  the  second  time,  decorated  with 
the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  On  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  war  he  hastened  home, 
and;  ofiering  his  services  to  the  general  gov- 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


211 


eminent,  was  made  brigadier- general  of 
volunteers  and  placed  in  command  of  a  bri- 
gade of  New  Jersey  troops.  In  the  cam- 
paign under  McClellan  he  commanded  a  di- 
vision, and  at  Williamsburg  and  Fair  Oaks 
his  services  were  valuable  and  brilliant,  as 
well  as  in  subsequent  engagements.  At 
Harrison's  Landing  he  was  made  major-gen- 
eral of  volunteers.  In  the  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run  he  was  conspicuous,  and  at  the 
battie  of  Chantilly,  September  i,  1862, 
while  leading  in  advance  of  his  troops,  Gen- 
eral Kearney  was  shot  and  killed. 


RUSSELL  SAGE,  one  of  the  financial 
giants  of  the  present  century  and  for 
more  than  an  average  generation  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  and  celebrated  of  Ameri- 
cans, was  born  in  a  frontier  hamlet  in  cen- 
tral New  York  in  August,  18 16.  While  Rus- 
sell was  still  a  boy  an  elder  brother,  Henry 
Risley  Sage,  established  a  small  grocery 
store  at  Troy,  New  York,  and  here  Russell 
found  his  first  employment,  as  errand  boy. 
He  served  a  five-years  apprenticeship,  and 
then  joined  another  brother,  Elisha  M.  Sage, 
in  a  new  venture  in  the  same  line,  which 
proved  profitable,  at  least  for  Russell,  who 
soon  became  its  sole  owner.  Next  he 
formed  the  partnership  of  Sage  &  Bates, 
and  greatly  extended  his  field  of  operations. 
At  twenty-five  he  had,  by  his  own  exertions, 
amassed  what  was,  in  those  days,  a  consid- 
erable fortune,  being  worth  about  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars.  He  had  acquired  an 
influence  in  local  politics,  and  four  years 
fater  his  party,  the  Whigs,  elected  him  to 
the  aldermanic  board  of  Troy  and  to  the 
treasuryship  of  Rensselaer  county.  In  1 848 
he  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  New 
York  delegation  to  the  Whig  convention  at 
Philadelphia,  casting  his  first  votes  for  Henry 
Clay,  but  joining  the    **  stampede"  which 


nominated  Zachary  Taylor.  In  1850  the 
Whigs  of  Troy  nominated  him  for  congress, 
but  he  was  not  elected — a  failure  which  he 
retrieved  two  years  later,  and  in  1854  he 
was  re-elected  by  a  sweeping  majority.  At 
Washington  he  ranked  high  in  influence  and 
ability.  Fame  as  a  speaker  and  as  a  polit- 
ical leader  was  within  his  grasp,  when  he 
gave  up  public  life,  declined  a  renominatiort 
to  congress,  and  went  back  to  Troy  to  de- 
vote himself  to  his  private  business.  Six 
years  later,  in  1863,  he  removed  to  New 
York  and  plunged  into  the  arena  of  Wall 
street.  A  man  of  boundless  energy  and 
tireless  pertinacity,  with  wonderful  judg- 
ment of  men  and  things,  he  soon  took  his 
place  as  a  king  in  finance,  and,  it  is  said, 
during  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  con- 
trolled more  ready  money  than  any  other 
single  individual  on  this  continent. 


ROGER  QUARLES  MILLS,  a  noted 
United  States  senator  and  famous  as  the 
father  of  the  **  Mills  tariff  bill,  "was  born 
in  Todd  county,  Kentucky,  March  30,  1832. 
He  received  a  liberal  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  removed  to  Palestine, 
Texas,  in  1849.  He  took  up  the  study  of 
law,  and  supported  himself  by  serving  as  an 
assistant  in  the  post-office,  and  in  the  offices 
of  the  court  clerks.  In  1850  he  was  elected 
engrossing  clerk  of  the  Texas  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, and  in  1852  was  admitted  to 
the  bar,  while  still  a  minor,  by  special  act 
of  the  legislature.  He  then  settled  at  Cor- 
sicana,  Texas,  and  began  the  active  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  He  was  elected  to 
the  state  legislature  in  1859,  and  in  1872  he 
was  elected  to  congress  from  the  state  at 
large,  as  a  Democrat.  After  his  first  elec- 
tion he  was  continuously  returned  to  con- 
gress until  he  resigned  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion of  United  States  senator,  to  which  he 


212 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


was  elected  March  23,  1892,  to  succeed 
Hon.  Horace  Chilton.  He  took  his  seat  in 
the  senate  March  30,  1892;  was  afterward 
re-elected  and  ranked  among  the  most  use- 
ful and  prominent  members  of  that  body. 
In  1876  he  opposed  the  creation  of  the  elec- 
toral commission,  and  in  1887  canvassed 
the  state  of  Texas  against  the  adoption  of 
a  prohibition  amendment  to  its  constitution, 
which  was  defeated.  He  introduced  into 
the  house  of  representatives  the  bill  that  was 
known  as  the  *' Mills  Bill,"  reducing  duties 
on  imports,  and  extending  the  free  list. 
The  bill  passed  the  house  on  July  21,  1888, 
and  made  the  name  of  **  Mills"  famous 
throughout  the  entire  country. 


HAZEN  S.  PINGREE,  the  celebrated 
Michigan  political  leader,  was  born  in 
Maine  in  1842.  Up  to  fourteen  years  of 
age  he  worked  hard  on  the  stony  ground  of 
his  father's  small  farm.  Attending  school 
in  the  winter,  he  gained  a  fair  education, 
and  when  not  laboring  on  the  farm,  he 
found  employment  in  the  cotton  mills  in  the 
vicinity.  He  resolved  to  find  more  steady 
work,  and  accordingly  went  to  Hopkinton, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  entered  a  shoe  fac- 
tory, but  on  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  en- 
listed at  once  and  was  enrolled  in  the  First 
Massachusetts  Heavy  Artillery.  He  partici- 
pated in  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  which  was 
his  initial  fight,  and  served  creditably  his 
early  term  of  service,  at  the  expiration  of 
which  he  re-enlisted.  He  fought  in  the 
battles  of  Fredricksburg,  Harris  Farm, 
Spottsylvania  Court  House  and  Cold  Har- 
bor In  1864  he  was  captured  by  Mosby, 
and  spent  five  months  at  Andersonville, 
Georgia,  as  a  prisoner,  but  escaped  at  the 
end  of  that  time.  He  re-entered  the  service 
and  participated  in  the  battles  of  Fort 
Fisher,  Boyden,    and   Sailor's   Creek.     He 


was  honorably  mustered  out  of  service,  and 
in  1866  went  to  Detroit,  Michigan,  where 
he  made  use  of  his  former  experience  in  a 
shoe  factory,  and  found  work.  Later  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  another  workman 
and  started  a  small  factory,  which  has  since 
become  a  large  establishment.  Mr.  Pin- 
gree  made  his  entrance  into  politics  in  1889, 
in  which  year  he  was  elected  by  a  surpris- 
ingly large  majority  as  a  Republican  to  the 
mayoralty  of  Detroit,  in  which  office  he  was 
the  incumbent  during  four  consecutive  terms. 
In  November,  1896,  he  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  the  state  of  Michigan.  While 
mayor  of  Detroit,  Mr.  Pingree  originated 
and  put  into  execution  the  idea  of  allowing 
the  poor  people  of  the  city  the  use  of  va- 
cant city  lands  and  lots  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  potatoes.  The  idea  was  enthusiast- 
ically adopted  by  thousandsof  poor  families, 
attracted  wide  attention,  and  gave  its  author 
a  national  reputation  as  '*Potato-patch  Pin- 
gree."   

THOMAS  ANDREW  HENDRICKS,  an 
eminent  American  statesman  and  a 
Democratic  politician  of  national  fame,  was 
born  in  Muskingum  county,  Ohio,  Septem- 
ber 7,  18 19.  In  1822  he  removed,  with  his 
father,  to  Shelby  county,  Indiana.  He 
graduated  from  the  South  Hanover  College 
in  1 841,  and  two  years  later  was  admitted 
to  the  bar.  In  1851  he  was  chosen  a  mem- 
ber of  the  state  constitutional  convention, 
and  took  a  leading  part  in  the  deliberations 
of  that  body.  He  was  elected  to  congress 
in  185 1,  and  after  serving  two  terms  was 
appointed  commissioner  of  the  United  States 
general  land-office.  In  1863  he  was  elected 
to  the  United  States  senate,  where  his  dis- 
tinguished services  commanded  the  respect 
of  all  parties.  He  was  elected  governor  of 
Indiana  in   1872,  serving  four  years,  and  in 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


218 


1876  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  as 
candidate  for  the  vice-presidency  with  Til- 
den.  The  returns  in  a  number  of  states 
were  contested,  and  resulted  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  famous  electoral  commission, 
which  decided  in  favor  of  the  Republican 
candidates.  In  1884  Mr.  Hendricks  was 
again  nominated  as  candidate  for  the  vice- 
presidency,  by  the  Democratic  party,  on  the 
ticket  with  Grover  Cleveland,  was  elected, 
and  served  about  six  months.  He  died  at 
Indianapolis,  November  25,  1885.  He  was 
regarded  as  one  of  the  brainiest  men  in  the 
party,  and  his  integrity  was  never  ques- 
tioned, even  by  his  political  opponents. 


GARRETT  A.  HOBART,  one  of  the 
many  able  men  who  have  held  the 
high  office  of  vice-president  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  June  3,  1844,  i^  Mon- 
mouth county.  New  Jersey,  and  in  i860  en- 
tered the  sophomore  class  at  Rutgers  Col- 
lege, from  which  he  graduated  in  1863  at 
the  age  of  nineteen.  He  then  taught 
school  until  he  entered  the  law  office  of 
Socrates  Tuttle,  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey, 
with  whom  he  studied  law,  and  in  1869 
was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  immediately 
began  the  active  practice  of  his  profession 
in  the  office  of  the  above  named  gentleman. 
He  became  interested  in  political  life,  and 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Republican  party, 
and  in  1865  held  his  first  office,  serving  as 
clerk  for  the  grand  jury.  He  was  also  city 
counsel  of  Paterson  in  1871,  and  in  May, 
1872,  was  elected  counsel  for  the  board  of 
chosen  freeholders.  He  entered  the  state 
legislature  in  1873,  and  was  re-elected  to 
the  assembly  in  1874.  Mr.  Hobart  was 
made  speaker  of  the  assembly  in  1876,  and 
and  in  1879  was  elected  to  the  state  senate. 
After  serving  three  years  in  the  same,  he 
was  elected  president  of  that  body  in  1881, 


and  the  following  year  was  re-elected  to 
that  office.  He  was  a  delegate-af -large  to 
the  Republican  national  convention  m  1876 
and  1880,  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
national  committee  in  1884,  which  posHion 
he  occupied  continuously  until  1896.  He 
was  then  nominated  for  vice-president  by 
the  Republican  national  convention,  anc^ 
was  elected  to  that  office  in  the  fall  of  1896 
on  the  ticket  with  William  McKinley. 


WILLIAM  MORRIS  STEWART,  noted 
as  a  political  leader  and  senator,  was 
born  in  Lyons,  Wayne  county.  New  York, 
August  9,  1827,  and  removed  with  his  par- 
ents while  still  a  small  child  to  Mesopota- 
mia township,  Trumbull  county,  Ohio.  He 
attended  the  Lyons  Union  school  and  Farm- 
ington  Academy,  where  he  obtained  his  ed- 
ucation. Later  he  taught  mathematics  in 
the  former  school,  while  yet  a  pupil,  and 
with  the  little  money  thus  earned  and  the 
assistance  of  James  C.  Smith,  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  supreme  court  of  New  York^ 
he  entered  Yale  College.  He  remained 
there  until  the  winter  of  1849-50,  when,  at- 
tracted by  the  gold  discoveries  in  California 
he  wended  his  way  thither.  He  arrived  at 
San  Francisco  in  May,  1850,  and  later  en- 
gaged in  mining  with  pick  and  shovel  in  Ne- 
vada county.  In  this  way  he  accumulated 
some  money,  and  in  the  spring  of  1852  he 
took  up  the  study  of  law  under  John  R. 
McConnell.  The  following  December  he 
was  appointed  district  attorney,  to  which 
office  he  was  chosen  at  the  general  election 
of  the  next  year.  In  1854  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney-general  of  California,  and 
in  i860  he  removed  to  Virginia  City,  Ne- 
vada, where  he  largely  engaged  in  early 
mining  litigation.  Mr.  Stewart  was  also  in- 
terested in  the  development  of  the  **Com- 
stock   lode,"    and   in    1861    was   chosen   a 


214 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


member  of  the  territorial  council.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  constitutional  con- 
vention in  1863,  and  was  elected  United 
States  senator  in  1864,  and  re-elected  in 
1869.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  in 
1875,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in 
Nevada,  California,  and  the  Pacific  coast 
generally.  He  was  thus  engaged  when  he 
was  elected  again  to  the  United  States  sen- 
ate as  a  Republican  in  1887  to  succeed  the 
late  Jamfes  G.  Fair,  a  Democrat,  and  took 
his  seat  March  4,  1887.  On  the  expiration 
of  his  term  he  was  again  re-elected  and  be- 
came one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party  in  con- 
gress. His  ability  as  an  orator,  and  the 
prominent  part  he  took  in  the  discussion  of 
public  questions,  gained  him  a  national  rep- 
utation. 

GEORGE  GRAHAM  VEST,  for  many 
years  a  prominent  member  of  the 
United  States  senate,  was  born  in  Frank- 
fort, Kentucky,  December  6,  1848.  He 
graduated  from  Center  College  in  1868,  and 
from  the  law  department  of  the  Transyl- 
vania University  of  Lexington,  Kentucky, 
in  1853.  In  the  same  year  he  removed  to 
Missouri  and  began  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. In  i860  he  was  an  elector  on  the 
Democratic  ticket,  and  was  a  member  of 
the  lower  house  of  the  Missouri  legislature 
in  1860-61.  He  was  elected  to  the  Con- 
federate congress,  serving  two  years  in  the 
lower  house  and  one  in  the  senate.  He 
then  resumed  the  practice  of  law,  and  in 
1879  was  elected  to  the  senate  of  the  United 
States  to  succeed  James  Shields.  He  was 
re-elected  in  1885,  and  again  in  1891  and 
1897.  His  many  years  of  service  in  the 
National  congress,  coupled  with  his  ability 
as  a  speaker  and  the  active  part  he  took  in 
the  discussion  of  public  questions,  gave  him 
a  wide  reputation. 


HANNIBAL  HAMLIN,  a  noted  American 
statesman,  whose  name  is  indissolubly 
connected  with  the  history  of  this  country, 
was  born  in  Paris,  Maine,  August  27,  1809. 
He  learned  the  printer's  trade  and  followed 
that  calling  for  several  years.  He  then 
studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  1833.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
of  the  state  of  Maine,  where  he  was  several 
times  chosen  speaker  of  the  lower  house. 
He  was  elected  to  congress  by  the  Demo- 
crats in  1843,  and  re-elected  in  1845.  I" 
1848  he  was  chosen  to  the  United  States 
senate  and  served  in  that  body  until  1861. 
He  was  elected  governor  of  Maine  in  1857 
on  the  Republican  ticket,  but  resigned  when 
re-elected  to  the  United  States  senate 
the  same  year.  He  was  elected  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  on  the  ticket  with 
Lincoln  in  i860,  and  inaugurated  in  March, 
1 86 1.  In  1865  he  was  appointed  collector 
of  the  port  of  Boston.  Beginning  with 
1869  he  served  two  six-year  terms  in  the 
United  States  senate,  and  was  then  ap- 
pointed by  President  Garfield  as  minister  to 
Spain  in  1881.  His  death  occurred  July  4, 
1891.  

I  SHAM  G.  HARRIS,  famous  as  Confed- 
erate war  governor  of  Tennessee,  and 
distinguished  by  his  twenty  years  of  service 
in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  in  Franklin  county,  Tennessee,  and 
educated  at  the  Academy  of  Winchester. 
He  then  took  up  the  study  of  law,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  and  commenced  practice 
at  Paris,  Tennessee,  in  1841.  He  was 
elected  to  the  state  legislature  in  1847,  was 
a  candidate  for  presidential  elector  on  the 
Democratic  ticket  in  1848,  and  the  next 
year  was  elected  to  congress  from  his  dis- 
trict and  re-elected  in  185*1.  In  1853  he 
was  renominated  by  the   Democrats  of  his 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


215 


district,  but  declined,  and  removed  to  Mem- 
phis, where  he  took  up  the  practice  of  law. 
He  was  a  presidential  elector-at -large  from 
Tennessee  in  1856,  and  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  the  state  the  next  year,  and  again 
in  1859,  and  in  1861.  He  was  driven  from 
Nashville  by  the  advance  of  the  Union 
armies,  and  for  the  last  three  years  of  the 
war  acted  as  aid  upon  the  staff  of  the  com- 
manding general  of  the  Confederate  army 
of  Tennessee.  After  the  war  he  went  to 
Liverpool,  England,  where  he  became  a 
merchant,  but  returned  to  Memphis  in  1867, 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  law.  In  1877 
he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  senate, 
to  which  position  he  was  successively  re- 
elected until  his  death  in  1897. 


NELSON  DINGLEY,  Jr.,  for  nearly  a 
quarter  of  a  century  one  of  the  leaders 
in  congress  and  framer  of  the  famous 
**Dingley  tarifl  bill,"  was  born  in  Durham, 
Maine,  in  1832.  His  father  as  well  as  all 
his  ancestors,  were  farmers,  merchants  and 
mechanics  and  of  English  descent.  Young 
Dingley  was  given  the  advantages  first  of 
the  common  schools  and  in  vacations  helped 
his  father  in  the  store  and  on  the  farm. 
When  twelve  years  of  age  he  attended  high 
school  and  at  seventeen  was  teaching  in  a 
country  school  district  and  preparing  him- 
self for  college.  The  following  year  he  en- 
tered Waterville  Academy  and  in  185 1  en- 
tered Colby  University.  After  a  year  and  a 
half  in  this  institution  he  entered  Dart- 
mouth College  and  was  graduated  in  1855 
with  high  rank  as  a  scholar,  debater  and 
writer.  He  next  studied  law  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1856.  But  instead  of 
practicing  his  profession  he  purchased  the 
**Lewistown  (Me.)  Journal/*  which  be- 
came famous  throughout  the  New  England 
states  as  a  leader  in  the  advocacy  of  Repub- 


lican principles.  About  the  same  time  Mr. 
Dingley  began  his  political  career,  although 
ever  after  continuing  at  the  head  of  the 
newspaper.  He  was  soon  elected  to  the 
state  legislature  and  afterward  to  the  lower 
house  of  congress,  where  he  became  a 
prominent  national  character.  He  also 
served  two  terms  as  governor  of  Maine. 


OLIVER  PERRY  MORTON,  a  distin- 
guished American  statesman,  was  born 
in  Wayne  county,  Indiana,  August  4,  1823. 
His  early  education  was  by  private  teaching 
and  a  course  at  the  Wayne  County  Seminary. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  years  he  entered  the 
Miami  University  at  Oxford,  Ohio,  ar^d  at 
the  end  of  two  years  quit  the  college,  began 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  John  New- 
man, of  Centerville,  Indiana,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1847. 

Mr.  Morton  was  elected  judge  on  the 
Democratic  ticket,  in  1852,  but  on  thi 
passage  of  the  *' Kansas-Nebraska  Bill"  he 
severed  his  connection  with  that  party,  and 
soon  became  a  prominent  leader  of  the  Re- 
publicans. He  was  elected  governor  of  In- 
diana in  1 86 1,  and  as  war  governor  became 
well  known  throughout  the  country.  He 
received  a  paralytic  stroke  in  1865,  which 
partially  deprived  him  of  the  use  of  his 
limbs.  He  wa^  chosen  to  the  United  States 
senate  from  Indiana,  in  1867,  and  wielded 
great  influence  in  that  body  until  the  time 
of  his  death,  November  i,  1877. 


JOHN  B.  GORDON,  a  brilliant  Confeder- 
ate  officer  and  noted  senator  of  the  United 
States,  was  born  in  Upson  county,  Georgia, 
February  6,  1832.  He  graduated  from  the 
State  University,  studied  law,  and  took  up 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  war  he  entered  the  Confederate 
service  as  captain  of  infantry,  and  rapidly 


216 


COMPENDIUM  OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


rose  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general, 
commanding^  one  wing  of  the  Confederate 
army  at  the  close  of  the  war.  In  1868  he 
was  Democratic  candidate  for  governor  of 
Georgia,  and  it  is  said  was  elected  by  a  large 
majority,  but  his  opponent  was  given  the 
office.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  national 
Democratic  conventions  in  1868  and  1872, 
and  a  presidential  elector  both  years.  In 
1873  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States 
senate.  In  1886  he  was  elected  governor 
of  Georgia,  and  re-elected  in  1888.  He 
was  again  elected  to  the  United  States 
senate  in  1890,  serving  until  1897,  when  he 
was  succeeded  by  A.  S.  Clay.  He  was 
regarded  as  a  leader  of  the  southern  Democ- 
racy, and  noted  for  his  fiery  eloquence. 


STEPHEN  JOHNSON  FIELD,  an  illus- 
trious associate  justice  of  the  supreme 
court  of  the  United  States,  was  born  at 
Haddam,  Connecticut,  November  4,  18 16, 
being  one  of  the  noted  sons  of  Rev.  D. 
D.  Field.  He  graduated  from  Williams 
College  in  1837,  took  up  the  study  of  law 
with  his  brother,  David  Dudley  Field,  be- 
coming his  partner  upon  admission  to  the 
bar.  He  went  to  California  in  1849,  and  at 
once  began  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
political  affairs  of  that  state;  He  was 
elected  alcalde  of  Marysville,  in  1850,  and 
in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year  was  elected 
to  the  state  legislature.  In  1857  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  the 
state,  and  two  years  afterwards  became  its 
chief  justice.  In  1863  he  was  appointed  by 
President  Lincoln  as  associate  justice  of  the 
supreme  court  of  the  United  States.  During 
his  incumbency,  in  1873,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  governor  of  California  one  of  a  com- 
mission to  examine  the  codes  of  the  state 
and  for  the  preparation  of  amendments  to 
the  same  for  submission  to  the  legislature. 


In  1877  he  was  one  of  the  famous  electoral 
commission  of  fifteen  members,  and  voted 
as  one  of  the  seven  favoring  the  election  of 
Tilden  to  the  presidency.  In  1880  a  large 
portion  of  the  Democratic  party  favored  his 
nomination  as  candidate  for  the  presidency. 
He  retired  in  the  fall  of  1897,  having 
served  a  greater  number  of  years  on  the 
supreme  bench  than  any  of  his  associates  or 
predecessors,  Chief  Justice  Marshall  coming 
next  in  length  of  service. 


JOHN  T.  MORGAN,  whose  services  in 
the  United  States  senate  brought  him 
into  national  prominence,  was  born  in 
Athens,  Tennessee,  June  20,  1824.  At  the 
age  of  nine  years  he  emigrated  to  Alabama, 
where  he  made  his  permanent  home,  and 
where  he  received  an  academic  education. 
He  then  took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1845.  He  took  a 
leading  part  in  local  politics,  was  a  presi- 
dential elector  in  i860,  casting  his  ballot 
for  Breckenridge  and  Lane,  and  in  1861 
was  a  delegate  to  the  state  convention  which 
passed  the  ordinance  of  secession.  In  May, 
of  the  same  year,  he  joined  the  Confederate 
army  as  a  private  in  Company  I,  Cahawba 
Rifles,  and  was  soon  after  made  major  and 
then  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  Fifth  Regiment. 
In  1862  he  was  commissioned  colonel,  and 
soon  after  made  brigadier-general  and  as- 
signed to  the  command  of  a  brigade  in  Vir- 
ginia. He  resigned  to  join  his  old  regiment 
whose  colonel  had  been  killed.  He  was 
soon  afterward  again  made  brigadier-gen- 
eral and  given  command  of  the  brigade  that 
included  his  regiment. 

After  the  war  he  returned  to  the  prac- 
tice of  law,  and  continued  it  up  to  the  time 
of  his  election  to  the  United  States  senate,  \xt 
1 877.    He  was  a  presidential  elector  in  1 876 
and  cast  his  vote  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks 


COMPENDIUM   OF   BIOGRAPHT, 


217 


He  was  re-elected  to  the  senate  in  1883^ 
and  again  in  1889,  and  1895.  His  speeches 
and  the  measures  he  introduced,  marked 
as  they  were  by  an  intense  Americanism, 
brought   him   into  national  prominence. 


WILLIAM  Mckinley, the  twenty-fifth 
president  of  the  United  States,  was 
born  at  Niles,  Trumbull  county,  Ohio,  Jan- 
uary 29,  1844.  He  was  of  Scotch-Irish 
ancestry,  and  received  his  early  education 
in  a  Methodist  academy  in  the  small  village 
of  Poland,  Ohio.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  Mr.  McKinley  was  teaching  school, 
earning  twenty-five  dollars  per  month.  As 
soon  as  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  he  en- 
listed in  a  company  that  was  formed  in 
Poland,  which  was  inspected  and  mustered 
in  by  General  John  C.  Fremont,  who  at 
first  objected  to  Mr.  McKinley,  as  being  too 
young,  but  upon  examination  he  was  finally 
accepted.  Mr.  McKinley  was  seventeen 
when  the  war  broke  out  but  did  not  look  his 
age.  He  served  in  the  Twenty-third  Ohio 
Infantry  throughout  the  war,  was  promoted 
from  sergeant  to  captain,  for  good  conduct 
on  the  field,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
for  meritorious  services,  he  w^as  brevetted 
major.  After  leaving  the  army  Major  Mc- 
Kinley took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  in  1869  he  took 
his  initiation  into  politics,  being  elected  pros- 
ecuting attorney  of  his  county  as  a  Republi- 
can, although  the  district  was  usually  Demo- 
cratic. In  1876  he  was  elected  to  congress, 
and  in  a  call  upon  the  President-elect,  Mr. 
Hayes,  to  whom  he  went  for  advice  upon  the 
way  he  should  shape  his  career,  he  was 
told  that  to  achieve  fame  and  success  he 
must  take  one  special  line  and  stick  to  it. 
Mr.  McKinley  chose  tariff  legislation  and 
he  became  an  authority  in  regard  to  import 
duties.     He  was  a  member  of  congress  for 


many  years,  became  chairman  of  the  ways 
and  means  committee,  and  later  he  advo- 
cated the  famous  tariff  bill  that  bore  his 
name,  which  was  passed  in  1890.  In  the 
next  election  the  Republican  party  was 
overwhelmingly  defeated  through  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Democrats  secured  more  than 
a  two  thirds  majority  in  the  lower  house, 
and  also  had  control  of  the  senate,  Mr. 
McKinley  being  defeated  in  his  own  district 
by  a  small  majority.  He  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Ohio  in  1 89 1  by  a  plurality  of 
twenty-one  thousand,  five  hundred  and 
eleven,  and  two  years  later  he  was  re-elected 
by  the  still  greater  plurality  of  eighty  thou- 
sand, nine  hundred  and  ninety-five.  He  was 
a  delegate-at-large  to  the  Minneapolis  Re^ 
publican  convention  in  1892,  and  was  in- 
structed to  support  the  nomination  of  Mr. 
Harrison.  He  was  chairman  of  the  con-, 
vention,  and  was  the  only  man  from  Ohio 
to  vote  for  Mr.  Harrison  upon  the  roll  call. 
In  November,  1892,  a  number  of  prominent 
politicians  gathered  in  New  York  to  discuss 
the  political  situation,  and  decided  that  the 
result  of  the  election  had  put  an  end  to  Mc- 
Kinley and  McKinleyism.  But  in  less  than 
four  years  from  that  date  Mr.  McKinley  was 
nominated  for  the  presidency  against  the 
combined  opposition  of  half  a  dozen  rival 
candidates.  Much  of  the  credit  for  his  suc- 
cess was  due  to  Mark  A.  Hanna,  of  Cleve- 
land, afterward  chairman  of  the  Republican 
national  committee.  At  the  election  which 
occurred  in  November,  1896,  Mr.  McKinley 
was  elected  president  of  the  United  States 
by  an  enormous  majority,  on  a  gold  stand- 
ard and  protective  tariff  platform.  He  was 
inaugurated  on  the  4th  of  March,  1897, 
and  called  a  special  session  of  congress,  to 
which  was  submitted  a  bill  for  tariff  reform, 
which  was  passed  in  the  latter  part  of  July 
of  that  year. 


218 


COMPENDIUM    OF   BIOGRAPHT. 


CINCINNATUS  HEINE  MILLER, 
known  in  the  literary  world  as  Joaquin 
Miller,  **the  poet  of  the  Sierras,"  was  born 
at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  in  1841.  When  only 
.about  thirteen  years  of  age  he  ran  away 
from  home  and  went  to  the  mining  regions 
in  California  and  along  the  Pacific  coast. 
Some  time  afterward  he  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Modoc  Indians  and  lived  with  them 
for  five  years.  He  learned  their  language 
and  gained  great  influence  with  them,  fight- 
ing in  their  wars,  and  in  all  modes  of  living 
became  as  one  of  them.  In  1858  he  left 
the  Indians  and  went  to  San  Francisco, 
where  he  studied  law,  and  in  i860  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Oregon.  In  1866  he 
was  elected  a  county  judge  in  Oregon  and 
served  four  years.  Early  in  the  seventies 
he  began  devoting  a  good  deal  of  time  to 
literary  pursuits,  and  about  1874  he  settled 
in  Washington,  D.  C.  He  wrote  many 
poems  and  dramas  that  attracted  consider- 
able attention  and  won  him  an  extended 
reputation.  Among  his  productions  may  be 
mentioned  •*  Pacific  Poems,"  **  Songs  of  the 
Sierras,"  **  Songs  of  the  Sun  Lands," 
**  Ships  in  the  Desert,"  **  Adrianne,aDream 
of  Italy,"  *^  Danites,"  '^Unwritten  History," 
**  First  Families  of  the  Sierras  "  (a  novel), 
**  One  Fair  Woman  "  (a  novel),  **  Songs  of 
Italy,"  ** Shadows  of  Shasta,"  *^The  Gold- 
Seekers  of  the  Sierras,"  and  a  number  of 
others. 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  ROOT,  a 
noted  music  publisher  and  composer, 
was  born  in  Sheffield,  Berkshire  county, 
Massachusetts,  on  August  30,  1820.  While 
working  on  his  father's  farm  he  found  time 
to  learn,  unaided,  several  musical  instru- 
ments, and  in  his  eighteenth  year  he  went 
to  Boston,  where  he  soon  found  employ- 
ment as  a  teacher  of  music.     From   1839 


until  1 844  he  gave  instructions  in  music  in 
the  public  schools  of  that  city,  and  was  also 
director  of  music  in  two  churches.  Mr. 
Root  then  went  to  New  York  and  taught 
music  in  the  various  educational  institutions 
of  the  city.  He  went  to  Paris  in  1850  and 
spent  one  year  there  in  study,  and  on  his  re- 
turn he  published  his  first  song,  **  Hazel 
Dell."  It  appeared  as  the  work  of  **  Wur- 
zel,"  which  was  the  German  equivalent  of 
his  name.  He  was  the  originator  of  the 
normal  musical  institutions,  and  when  the 
first  one  was  started  in  New  York  he 
was  one  of  the  faculty.  He  removed  to 
Chicago,  Illinois,  in  i860,  and  established 
the  firm  of  Root  &  Cady,  and  engaged  in 
the  publication  of  music.  He  received,  in 
1872,  the  degree  of  ''Doctor  of  Music" 
from  the  University  of  Chicago.  After  the 
war  the  firm  became  George  F.  Root  &  Co., 
of  Cincinnati  and  Chicago.  Mr.  Root  did 
much  to  elevate  the  standard  of  music  in  this 
country  by  his  compositions  and  work  as  a 
teacher.  Besides  his  numerous  songs  he 
wrote  a  great  deal  of  sacred  music  and  pub- 
lished many  collections  of  vocal  and  instru- 
mental music.  For  many  years  he  was  the 
most  popular  song  writer  in  America,  and 
was  one  of  the  greatest  song  writers  of  the 
war.  He  is  also  well-known  as  an  author, 
and  his  work  in  that  line  comprises:  *  *  Meth- 
ods for  the  Piano  and  Organ,"  **  Hand- 
book on  Harmony  Teaching, "  and  innumer- 
able articles  for  the  musical  press.  Among 
his  many  and  most  popular  songs  of  the 
war  time  are :  ' '  Rosalie,  the  Prairie-flower, " 
•*  Battle  Cry  of  Freedom,"  *'  Just  Before  the 
Battle,"  '*  Tramp,  Tramp,  Tramp,  the  Boys 
are  Marching,"  '*  The  Old  Folks  are  Gone," 
'*A  Hundred  Years  Ago,"  *'01d  Potomac 
Shore, "  and  **  There's  Music  in  the  Air."  Mr. 
Root's  cantatas  include  *  *  The  Flower  Queen" 
and  **The  Haymakers."     He  died  in  1896- 


HISTORY 


OF 


WEXFORD  COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


CHAPTER  I. 


MICHIGAN. 


Michigan  is  a  part  of  that  almost  un- 
known quantity  designated  at  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century  as  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory. In  1805  a  part  of  this  great  territory 
was  set  ofif  and  given  the  name  of  "Michi- 
gan lerritory."  The  lines  describing  tliis 
territory  were  not  the  same  as  those  now 
defining  the  boundaries  of  the  state  of  Mich- 
igan, for  it  is  said  that  owing  to  some  dis- 
pute as  to  the  southern  boundary  line,  con- 
gress, to  appease  the  desire  of  the  Michigan 
representatives  for  more  land,  ''threw  in" 
the  portion,  of  the  state  now  known  as  the 
Upper  Peninsula,  which  has  proven  to  be  the 
depository  of  untold  mineral  wealth,  placing 
Michigan  well  in  the  front  rank  of  mineral^ 
producing  states  of  the  Union. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  in  those  days  all 
inland  transportation  and  travel  was  by 
wagon  and  stage  coach,  settlements  remote 
from  the  lake  shore  were  for  many  years 
very  few  and  were  usually  found  along  such 
rivers  as  were  navigable,    and  these  grew 


very  slowly.  The  lack  of  transportation  fa- 
cilities was  not  the  only  retarding  element 
in  the  settlement  of  the  state.  The  ague  had 
full  sway  throughout  nearly  the  whole 
southern  part  of  the  state,  and  it  soon  be- 
came known  everywhere  that  to  go  to  Mich- 
igan meant  to  be  shaken  with  the  ague  for 
a  year  or  more,  with  accompanying  doctor 
and  drug  bills,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that 
the  fear  of  the  ague  diverted  many  of  those 
who  were  constantly  joining  in  the  ''west- 
ward march  of  empire"  from  the  fertile 
lands  of  Michigan  to  more  distant  homes  in 
the  still  newer  "West."*  In  this  age  of  rapid 
transit  and  rapid  development,  when  vil- 
lages and  even  cities  spring  up  almost  in  a 
day,  it  looks  strange  that  it  should  have  tak- 
en over  thirty  years  for  the  territory  of  Mich- 
igan   to     have    arrived     at     the    age    of 


*  "West"  was  the  designation  given  by  eastern  people  to  all 
the  country  lying  west  of  the  state  of  New  York.  The  author  well 
remembers  that  when  his  grandfather  moved  from  Cattaraugus 
county,  New  York,  to  Oakland  county,  Michigan,  they  called 
it  "  going  way  out  west." 


220 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


statehood ;  but  when  we  go  back  to  that  peri- 
od and  in  our  mind's  eye  see  conditions  as 
they  then  existed  we  almost  wonder  that 
enough  people  could  have  been  induced  to 
find  homes  within  the  lx)unds  of  the  state  to 
entitle  it  to  admission  into  the  Union. 

In  June,  1836,  congress  passed  an  en- 
abling act  to  admit  Michigan  to  the  Union, 
but  there  were  certain  conditions  contained 
in  the  act  which  had  to  be  complied  with  on 
the  part  of  the  state.  In  due  course  of  time 
these  stipulations  were  carried  out  and  on 
January  26,  1837,  a  supplemental  act  was 
passed  by  congress  by  which  Michigan  was 
declared  to  be  ''one  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  and  admitted  into  the  Union  on 
an  equal  footing  with  the  original  states,  in 
all  respects  whatever.'' 

At  that  time  there  was  not  a  mile  of  rail- 
road in  Michigan  except  what  was  known 
as  the  Erie  &  Kalamazoo,  which  had  been 
built  from  the  town  of  Port  Lawrence 
(which  name  was  later  changed  to  Toledo) 
to  Adrian,  a  distance  of  twenty-three  miles. 
This  was  what  was  knowl^  in  those  days  as 
a  "strap"  railroad,  the  rails  being  made  of 
wood  and  covered  with  a  wide  bar  or  strap 
of  wrought  iron.  The  cars  on  this  line  had 
been  drawn  by  horses  up  to  within  six  days 
of  the  time  Michigan  became  a  state,  but 
on  January  20,  1837,  the  owners  of  this  line 
put  on  a  steam  locomotive,  which  was  the 
first  locomotive  ever  used  in  the  state. 

Previous  to  this  time  there  had  been 
much  talk  alx)ut  railroads,  and  as  early  as 
1830  a  company  was  organized  to  build 
what  was  to  be  called  the  Detroit 
&  St.  Joseph  Railroad.  The  name 
was  changed  later  to  the  Michigan  Central. 
After  the  company  had  expended  about  one 
hundred   and  tw^enty-five  thousand  dollars 


and  within  tv/o  months  after  the  state  had 
started  in  to  do  business  for  itself,  an  act  was 
passed  by  the  legislature  authorizing  the 
purchase  of  this  road  by  the  state  and  pro- 
viding for  its  early  completion.  The  work 
was  taken  hold  of  on  the  part  of  the  state, 
money  being  raised  on  state  bonds  to  pay 
for  the  work,  and  within  a  year  from  its 
birth  the  state  had  completed  its  railroad 
from  Detroit  to  Dearborn,  a  distance  of  ten 
miles.  At  this  rate  it  would  have  taken 
twenty  years  and  more  to  have  completed 
the  road,  but  the  state  kept  on  issuing  its 
bonds  and  trying  to  build  its  railroad  until 
finally  it  was  forced  to  call  a  halt,  as  the 
continual  process  of  issuing  bonds  had  so 
injured  the  credit  of  the  state  that  an  issue 
of  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  bonds  were  sold 
in  New  York  in  1845  for  eighteen  cents  on 
the  dollar.  This  condition  of  things  created 
a  strong  desire  on  the  part  of  the  state  to 
sell  its  "elephant,"  and  negotiations  were 
forthwith  authorized  with  that  end  in  view. 
After  many  months  of  delay  the  sale  was  at 
last  made,  and  on  September  23,  1846,  the 
road  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Michigan 
Central  Railroad  Company.  So  anxious  had 
been  the  state  to  get  the  road  off  its  hands 
that  the  company  drove  a  remarkably  good 
bargain,  one  which  has  caused  the  state  a 
good  deal  of  annoyance  since. 

During  this  time  the  state  had  had  a 
somewhat  similar  experience  with  the  Mich- 
igan Southern  Railroad,  now  known  as  the 
Lake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  Railroad. 
The  state  had  paid  out  nearly  a  million  dol- 
lars in  the  construction  of  this  road,  and 
upon  its  sale  to  the  Southern  Michigan 
Railroad  Company,  in  December,  1846,  it 
could  only  realize  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  from  its  investment. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


221 


While  these  ventures  in  railroad  build- 
ing were  not  a  source  of  profit  to  the  state 
in  a  financial  way,  they  attracted  public  at- 
tention to  Michigan,  and  the  people  along 
their  lines,  no  doubt,  came  into  the  enjoy- 
ment of  railroad  privileges  much  earlier 
than  they  would  have  done  had  railroad 
Iniilding  been  confined  to  private  enter- 
prise. 

With  the  building  of  railroads  came  new 
settlers  in  increased  numbers,  until  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  present  consti- 
tution in  1850,  the  census  reports  show  a 
population  of  three  hundred  and  ninety-five 
thousand  and  seventy-one,  as  compared  with 
about  one  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand 
when  the  state  was  admitted.  This  growth, 
however,  had  been  confined  almost  entirely 
to  that  portion  of  the  state  lying  south  of 
the  center  line  of  the  Lower  Peninsula.  In 
many  of  the  northern  counties  not  even 
township  lines  had  been  surveyed  when  the 
territory  became  a  state  in  1837.  It  is  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  the  whole  of  this 
northern  end  of  the  Low^er  Peninsula  should 
have  been  looked  upon  by  those  living  in 
the  southern  counties  as  a  valueless  wilder- 
ness. At  that  tiir^e  there  were  the  remnants 
of  several  tribes  of  Indians  living  in  what 
now  constitutes  the  counties  of  Antrim, 
Charlevoix,  Emmet,  Kalkaska,  Grand  Trav- 
erse and  Leelenau,  and  as  early  as  May, 
1839,  two  evangelical  missionaries  located 
at  what  is  now  known  as  Old  Mission,  in 
Grand  Traverse  county,  with  the  purpose 
in  view  of  teaching  and  Christianizing  the 
Indians.  They  were  well  received  and  their 
work  bore  good  fruit.  Three  years  later 
the  result  of  the  work  of  the  missionaries 
was  shown  by  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians  to  raise  something  more  than  corn 


for  food,  consequently  a  barrel  of  wheat  was 
brought  by  them  from  Green  Bay,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  sown  under  instructions  of  the  mis- 
sionaries. This  was  probably  the  first  wheat 
sown  in  northern  Michigan,  certainly  the 
first  of  which  we  can  find  any  authentic  rec- 
ord. 

Little  by  little  civilization  kept  encroach-  , 
ing  upon  savagery  and  more  white  people 
were  getting  a  knowledge  of  the  natural  ad- 
vantages offered  by  this  hitherto  unknown 
part  of  the  state,  and  in  the  year  1847  ^ 
hardy  homeseeker  by  the  name  of  Board- 
man  took  up  his  residence  where  Traverse 
City  now  stands.  He  built  the  first  house 
that  was  put  up  on  the  present  site  of  Trav- 
erse City,  and  from  him  the  river,  empty- 
ing into  the  bay  at  that  point,  and  the  lake 
a  short  distance  up  the  river,  received  their 
name.  He  also  built  a  small  saw-mill,  op- 
erated by  water  power  on  a  creek  which 
enters  Boardman  river  about  a  mile  from 
its  mouth.  When  this  mill  was  erected  there 
was  not  another  saw-mill  within  a  hundred 
miles  in  any  direction. 

In  185 1  the  firm  of  Hannah,  Lay  & 
Company  located  at  what  is  now  known  as 
Traverse  City  and  started  upon  a  business 
career  which  proved  wonderfully  successful. 
Mr.  Hannah  had  previously  visited  that  lo- 
cality and  ascertained  by  personal  examina- 
tion the  great  quantity  of  pine  timber  along 
the  Boardman  river,  and,  having  had  consid- 
erable experience  in  the  lumber  business,  saw* 
at  once  that  there  was  a  grand  opening  for 
a  lucrative  business.  The  firm  bought  a 
large  quantity  of  pine  land  that  cost  them 
only  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre.  I'hey 
started  in  in  a  moderate  way,  for  in  those 
days  markets  wxre  limited,  prices  were  low, 
and  transportation   facilities  were  confined 


222 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


exclusively  to  sailing  vessels  on  the  lakes 
and  it  took  from  six  to  nine  days  to  land  a 
small  cargo  of  lumber  in  Chicago  from  Tra- 
verse Bay.  Their  first  saw-mill  W2is  the  one 
heretofore  mentioned  as  having  been  built  by 
Mr.  Boardman  and  which  they  purchased 
of  him.  This  w^as  what  was  known  as  a 
**muley  mill/'  having  but  one  upright  saw, 
which  under  the  most  favorable  circumstan- 
ces would  not  cut  more  than  two  and  a  half 
or  three  thousand  feet  of  lumber  in  twelve 
hours.  This  proved  to  be  altogether  too 
slow  a  process  even  for  those  slow  times  and 
accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1852,  they 
commenced  the  construction  of  the  first 
steam  saw-mill  ever  built  in  northern  'Michi- 
gan. Having  already  cleared  out  the  Board- 
man  river  far  enough  to  reach  the  first  or 
nearest  of  their  pine  lands,  they  were  in  po- 
sition to  do  what  was  then  considered  a  ''big 
lumber  business." 

The  advent  of  Hannah,  Lay  &  Company 
was  the  ''dawning  of  the  morning"  in  the 
settlement  and  development  of  the  whole 
Grand  Traverse  region.  They  furnished 
work  for  all  applicants.  They  supplied  the 
wants  of  all  newcomers,  and  by  their  liberal 
and  honorable  dealings  did  much  to  encour- 
age those  seeking  homes.  But  the  home 
seekers  were  not  numerous  for  the  first  few 
years.  The  vast  unbroken  forest  that 
stretched  back  from  the  little  opening  made 
at  Traverse  City  to  a  seemingly  unlimited 
distance  was  not  very  inviting  to  those  who 
had  lived  in  an  old  settled  country.  So  the 
'fifties  passed  by  and  the  total  population  in 
Grand  Traverse  county  (Indians  excepted) 
was  twelve  hundred  and  eighty-six.  This 
included  the  people  who  were  connected 
with  the  mill,  the  boarding  house,  the  lufn- 
ber  camps    and    those   who    had  been  bold 


enough  to  strike  out  into  the  forests  to  make 
homes  for  themselves. 

Then  came  the  great,  cruel  war,  and  for 
four  weary,  woeful  years  hund'  eds  of  thous- 
ands of  "the  flower  of  manhood"  had  to  face 
far  more  dangers  and  difficulties  than  a 
Michigan  wilderness  offered,  and  the 
thoughts  of  seeking  new  homes  in  the"west" 
gave  way  to  thoughts  of  how  to  economize 
and  care  for  the  little  ones  at  home  while 
the  husbands  and  fathers  were  fighting  the 
battles  for  the  Union  on  southern  fields,  lan- 
guishing in  pestilential  prison  pens,  or  sleep- 
ing the  last  long  sleep  in  unknown  graves  in 
the  blood-stained  "sunny  South."  But  in 
spite  of  all  this  strife  and  carnage  in  one  sec- 
tion of  our  coimtry  there  w^as  still  a  steady 
increase  in  the  population  around  Traverse 
Bay,  the  census  of  1864  showing  two  thous- 
and and  twenty-six,  or  an  increase  of  only 
sevtn  hundred  and  forty  in  four  years.  In 
the  spring  of  1865  the  war  ended  and  thous- 
ands upon  thousands  of  the  boys  in  blue  re- 
turned to  their  former  homes.  The  spirit  of 
adventure  aroused  by  army  service  would 
not  permit  many  of  the  returning  soldiers  to 
settle  down  to  the  humdrum  routine  to  which 
they  had  been  accustomed  before  enlisting, 
and  the  westward  stream  of  adventurous 
homeseekers  grew  into  a  mighty  river  and 
such  a  growth  and  development  as  the  new 
states  and  territories  of  the  west  witnessed  in 
the  next  ten  years  has  never  had  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  One  important 
factor  in  this  great  stride  of  advancement 
was  the  building  of  the  trans-continental 
railroad.  This,  in  addition  to  the  passage 
of  the  homestead  law,  giving  every  head  of 
a  family  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land,  by  the  payment  of  a  nominal  sum  and 
living  on  the  land  for  five  years,  soon  peo- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


228 


pled  a  vast  area  of  country  which  otherwise 
would  have  continued  to  remain  in  its  pri- 
meval state  for  an  indefinite  length  of 
time. 

This  great  western  movement  of  popu- 
lation came  at  a  time  when  northern  Michi- 
gan was  ripe  to  receive  it,  and  the  tide  surged 
back  from  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes,  and 
particularly   from   Traverse   Bay,   until  the 


bounds  of  one  county  were  too  limited  to 
receive  and  contain  it,  and  it  soon  began  to 
lap  over  into  adjacent  counties  as  if  deter- 
mined that  the  time  had  come  when  the  giant 
forests  which  for  centuries  had  held  full 
sway  throughout  this  whole  section  of  the 
state  should  yield  its  scepter  to  man,  the  lord 
of  creation,  and  henceforth  administer  to  his 
desires  and  demands. 


CHAPTER  II. 


KAUTAWAUBET    OR  WEXFORD  COUNTY. 


During  the  years  1836  and  1837  the  Uni- 
ted States  surveyors  had  reached  the  terri- 
tory now  known  as  Wexford  county,  in 
their  preliminary  or  township  line  survey, 
but  it  was  not  until  the  year  1840  that  a 
name  was  given  to  that  part  of  the  state 
known  as  townships  2],  22,  23  and  24  north 
of  ranges  9,  10,  11  and  12  west.  The  first 
name  to  this  territory  was  Kautawaubet, 
supposed  to  hcive  been  an  Indian  name,  but 
it  was  afterwards  discovered  that  the  name 
had  no  particular  significance  and  in  1843 
the  name  was  changed  to  Wexford.  There 
must  have  been  some  one  around  from  the 
''Emerald  Isle"  when  this  change  of  name 
was  suggested,  as  it  is  only  in  Ireland  that 
w^e  find  the  name  Wexford  applied  to  a  lo- 
cality previous  to  its  having  been  used  to 
designate  a  part  of  the.  wilderness  of  north- 
ern Michigan. 


It  was  some  twelve  or  fifteen  years  af- 
ter the  township  lines  had  been  established 
before  the  government  found  time  to  divide 
the  townships  up  into  sections.  This  work 
would  doubtless  have  been  done  soon- 
er had  there  been  any  demand  for 
the  land,  but  no  one  then  would 
have  taken  land  in  Wexford  county 
as  a  gift,  while  on  the  prairies,  in  states  far- 
ther west,  it  was  difficult  to  make  surveys 
fast  enough  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  con- 
stantly flowing  stream  of  people  from  the 
east.  Soon  after  the  section  lines  had  been 
run  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  the  build- 
ing of  a  state  road  through  from  Muske- 
gon or  Newaygo  counties  (the  settlements 
in  these  counties  being  then  the  most  nor- 
therly on  the  south  side  of  the  ''Big 
Woods")  to  the  new  settlement  opening  up 
around  the  shores  of  the  Grand  Traverse 


224 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


bay.  This  effort  was  crowned  with  success 
when  the  legislature  of  1857  passed  an  act 
authorizing  the  construction  of  a  state  road 
to  be  called  the  Muskegon,  Grand  Traverse 
and  Northport  State  Road.  This  name  was 
afterwards  changed  and  when  the  road  was 
finally  built  it  was  known  as  the  Newaygo 
and  Northport  State  Road.  Not  much  was 
done  toward  the  construction  of  this  road 
until  i860. 

In  this  connection  the  author  feels  con- 
fident that  his  readers  will  be  interested  in 
a  letter  from  the  pen  of  the  Hon.  Perry 
Hannah,  written  in  response  to  a  request  for 
some  reminiscences  of  his  early  experience 
in  northern  Michigan  that  might  interest 
the  readers  of  a  history  of  Wexford  county. 
We  do  this  the  more  readily  because  in  the 
early  years  of  the  county's  existence  all  the 
business  of  the  new  settlers  was  done  in 
^Traverse  City/'  and  largely  with  the  firm 
of  Hannah,  Lay  &  Company,  managed  by 
Mr.  Hannah,  and  all  the  early  settlers  were 
well  acquainted  with  him.  The  letter  is  here 
given  complete: 

Traverse  City,  Michigan,  Jan.  22,  1003. 
J.  H.  Wheeler,  Esq.: 

1  have  your  request  to  write  some  early  facts  of  my 
experience  in  the  Grand  Traverse  country  that  you 
might  incorporate  in  your  history  of  Wexford  county. 
This  would  be  more  of  a  tax  on  my  time  than  I  could 
well  devote  to  it,  besides  it  would  take  a  book  too  large 
for  your  history  to  put  only  a  part  of  it  in.  1  should  be 
willing  to  give  you  an  item  or  two  of  my  experience  that 
has  some  connection  with  the  affairs  of  your  county. 

In  the  winter  of  1853  and  1854  I  made  my  first  trip 
to  the  *  *  outside  ' '  world  on  snow  shoes.  Soon  after  the 
first  of  January,  1854,  I  left  Traverse  City,  when  there 
was  not  a  single  house  outside  the  limits  of  the  city,  for 
Grand  Rapids.  The  snow  was  plump  three  feet  deep, 
light  as  feathers,  and  not  a  single  step  could  be  taken 
without  the  Indian  snow  shoes.  I  furnished  myself  with 
two  Indian  packers  for  carrying  supplies.  It  took  six 
days  to  make  the  trip  from  here  to  Grand  Rapids.  The 
first  settlement  we  reached  was  Big  Rapids,  some  five  or 
six  miles  this  side  of  the  forks  of  the  Muskegon  river. 


The  wolves  got  on  our  track  before  the  first  night's 
camping.  They  were  not  troublesome  to  us  in  the  least 
until  we  had  made  our  camp  fires  in  the  evening,  then  a 
tremendous  howl  was  set  up  and  continued  during  the 
whole  night.  We  were  not  in  the  least  troubled  as  to 
their  contact  with  us,  but  they  broke  up  our  sleep.  As 
soon  as  we  left  our  camp  in  the  morning  they  followed 
us  and  picked  up  any  scraps  that  might  be  left.  They 
continued  with  us  till  we  were  out  of  the  woods. 

There  was  not  a  single  sign  of  a  trail  of  any  kind  to 
travel  by,  which  compelled  us  to  constantly  use  our 
compass,  as  very  little  sunshine  can  be  seen  at  that 
season  of  the  year  beneath  the  thick  timber  that  then 
shrouded  the  whole  country.  This  was  the  most  tedious 
journey  I  ever  experienced  in  the  early  days  of  Grand 
Traverse. 

In  the  winter  of  1850-7  I  was  a  member  of  the  state 
legislature.  When  the  legislature  adjourned,  early  in 
the  spring,  some  of  the  members  came  and  shook  hands 
with  me  and  said,  "I  suppose  you  have  to  go  to  your 
home  all  the  way  by  stage."  This  was  very  amusing  to 
me,  coming  from  state  legislators,  when  I  knew  that  my 
trip  had  to  be  made  "afoot  and  alone"  through  the 
long  woods. 

In  1857  I  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  assist  in  the  work  of  laying  out  a  state  road  to  be 
called  the  Muskegon,  Grand  Traverse  and  Northport 
State  Road.  Before  we  started  the  survey  on  the  line, 
I  concluded  it  would  be  a  good  move  to  have  the  route 
looked  out,  so  I  engaged  a  hardy  old  pioneer  and  hunter 
to  go  from  Traverse  City  south  and  look  over  the  line 
through  Wexford  county.  After  being  absent  for  some 
ten  days  he  returned,  and  in  answer  to  my  questions 
regarding  the  feasibility  of  the  line  his  reply  was,  "First 
rate;  it  could  not  be  better.  I  tell  you,  Mr.  Hannah,  if 
we  get  a  settler  through  to  Grand  Traverse  on  that  line 
we  will  be  sure  of  him.  By  golly!  them  hills,  they  be 
awful  big,  and  they  all  slope  this  way,  and  the  settler 
that  gets  here  will  never  go  back  over  those  hills." 
While  the  hilk  over  the  state  road  are  pretty  "  tall."  the 
old  hunter  got  a  pretty  poor  impression  on  his  first  trip 
from  the  state-road  point  of  view.  Today  we  consider 
that  Wexford  county  is  not  all  hills,  but  is,  much  of  it, 
the  best  land  we  have  in  the  state. 

Next  is  a  little  incident  in  building  our  bridge  over 
the  Manistee  river.  George  W.  Bryant,  who  lived  in 
our  village,  had  located  the  land  where  the  bridge  was 
to  cross  the  river.  I  had  let  the  contract  to  Godfrey 
Greilick,  a  sturdy  old  German,  to  build  the  bridge.  Mr. 
Bryant  notified  Mr.  Greilick  that  in  building  the  bridge 
over  the  Manistee  river  he  must  not  cut  a  single  tree  on 
his  land.  The  old  German,  meeting  him  on  the  street 
of  our  village  one  day,  told  Mr.  Bryant,  in  very  emphatic 
language,   "  If  you  come  where  we  do  make  dot  bridge, 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


225 


and  I  see  one  tree  grow  on  top  your  heat,  py  golly!  I  cut 
him  off."  It  is  needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Bryant's  land 
furnished  all  the  timber  for  that  bridge. 

What  a  wonderful  change  in  the  last  fifty  years  in 
Grand  Traverse  and  Wexford  counties.  Traverse  City 
today  has  a  population  of  twelve  thousand,  and  the 
Newaygo  and  Northport  state  road  is  lined  with  many 
beautiful  farms.  Yours  respectfully, 

*  Perry  Hannah. 

This  letter  will  give  something  of  an 
idea  of  the  condition  of  Wexford  county 
less  than  half  a  century  ago,  for  it  should 
be  remembered  that  the  bridge  here  spoken 
of  was  built  in  1864,  only  thirty-nine  years 
ago. 

The  making  of  this  state  road  progressed 
very  slowly  and  its  final  completion  was  not 
until  a  goodly  number  of  people  had  settled 
in  Wexford  county.  Its  commencement, 
however,  w^as  doubtless  the  direct  cause  of* 
the  migration  of  the  first  settler  to  the  coun- 
ty. This  person  w^as  B.  W.  Hall,  whose 
home  for  several  years  prior  to  1863  had 
been  in  Newaygo  county,  who  having  heard 
something  about  the  Grand  Traverse  coun- 
try, and  knowing  of  the  project  of  building 
a  state  road  through  to  it,  made  up  his  mind 
to  take  a  trip  north  and  see  for  himself  if 
the  country  was  as  desirable  as  it  was  rec- 
ommended to  be.  It  w^as  in  September, 
1862,  that  he  started  on  this  trip,  having 
supplied  himself  with  provisions  enough  to 
last  five  or  six  days,  for  traveling  through 
the  forests  in  those  days,  even  in  the  summer 
time,  was  no  easy  task.  The  ground 
throughout  nearly  all  the  forest  was  covered 
with  a  mat  of  what  the  early  settlers  called 
''shin  tangle,"  a  growth  of  vine,  or  ground 
hemlock,  which  grew  from  three  to 
six  feet  in  length,  but  by  reason  of  the 
weight  of  the  snow^s  of  many  winters  it  took 
nearly  a  horizontal  position  except  at  tUc 
ends,  which  turned  nearly  to  the  perpendicu- 


lar, somewhat  after  the  manner  of  heavy 
clover  when  it  lodges  from  excessive  growth. 
Indeed,  it  was  often  called  ''Michigan  clov- 
er," for  in  the  late  autumn  and  early  winter 
stock  would  almost  entirely  subsist  upon  it, 
so  much  so  that  the  milk  and  butter  would 
taste  so  bitter  as  to  be  very  unpalatable. 

When  Mr.  Hall  reached  the  plateau 
about  half  a  mile  north  of  the  Manistee 
river  and  one  and  a  half  miles  north  of  the 
present  village  of  Sherman  he  found  a  piece 
of  land  that  just  suited  him.  He  continued 
on  his  journey  to  Traverse  City,  where  the 
United  States  land  office  w^as  then  located, 
and  entered  the  northwest  quarter  of  section 
30  in  town  24,  north  of  range  11  wxst,  un- 
der the  pre-emption  law,  wdiich  held  the  land 
for  an  individual  for  six  months,  at  the  end 
of  which  time  he  must  pay  the  government 
price  of  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre  or 
lose  his  claim.  The  homestead  law  had  not 
then  been  enacted,  and  all  had  to  pay  "Uncle 
Sam"  the  same  price  for  his  land.  After 
cutting  down  the  trees  on  a  small  piece  of 
his  land  as  a  notice  to  all  that  the  land  was 
taken,  he  retraced  his  steps  over  the  "trail" 
and  began  to  make  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions for  an  early  removal  to  his  new  posses- 
sions in  the  spring. 

As  soon  as  the  snow  had  melted  away 
in  the  spring  of  1863,  wdiich  in  those  days 
was  not  until  well  into  May,  w^ith  such  of 
his  worldly  possessions  as  he  could  convey 
in  a  one  horse-wagon,  Mr.  Hall,  with  his 
wife,  a  cow,  some  pigs  and  some  chickens, 
started  over  what  is  now  called  the  old 
State  road.  Fallen  tree  trunks,  tangled  un- 
derbrush and  bridgeless  streams  he  had  to 
encounter  and  overcome,  but  no  obstacles 
were  sufficient  to  baffle  his  determination  to 
make  for  himself  a  home  in  Wexford  coun- 


226 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


ty.  For  three  full  weeks  he  battled  with  con- 
stantly recurring  difficulties,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  he  reached  the  Manistee  river. 
Not  a  soul  had  they  seen  since  starting  on 
their  trip,  for  there  was  not  a  dwelling  be- 
tween Big  Prairie  on  the  south  till  the  Mon- 
roe settlement  in  Grand  Traverse  county 
was  reached.  Arriving  at  the  river,  the  next 
thing  was  how  to  cross  it.  Some  two  miles 
up  the  river  from  the  line  of  the  state  road 
was  what  was  known  as  the  ''  pony  jam,'' 
where  the  Indians  were  in  the  habit  of  cross- 
ing with  their  ponies  on  their  hunting  or 
migratory  trips.  About  eighty  rods  down 
the  river  was  another  jam  which  afforded 
easy  crossing  on  foot  but  was  not  very  safe 
for  four-footed  animals.  These  *'jams" 
were  made  of  the  trunks  of  trees  which  had 
been  torn  from  the  banks  by  the  ever-chang- 
ing channel  of  the  river  and  carried  down 
stream  until  arrested  by  some  projecting 
point  of  land.  Thus  for  ages  and  ages  had 
these  accumulations  increased  until  in  some 
cases,  like  that  of  the  "pony  jam,"  they  had 
entirely  covered  the  river.  To  see  the  Manis- 
tee river  today  one  would  almost  think  this 
statement  was  a  fairy  tale,  but  it  is  never- 
theless true,  as  a  number  of  people  yet  liv- 
ing in  Wexford  county  can  testify  from  ac- 
tual and  personal  knowledge.  While  Mr. 
Hall  was  inspecting  the  jam  below  the  state 
road  with  a  view  of  making  such  additions  to 
the  nearly  perfect  natural  bridge  as  would 
enable  him  to  move  his  belongings  to  the 
north  bank  of  the  river,  he  was  agreeably 
surprised  to  find  that  another  adventurous 
person  like  himself  was  camped  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river,  bent  on  getting  his  mova- 
bles to  the  south  bank  of  the  river.  Both 
having  the  one  desire  of  crossing  the  river 
in  view,  the  task  was  much  more  easily  ac- 
complished than  either  had  supposed,  and  it 


was  not  Jong  before  the  crossing  was  com- 
pleted and  each  went  on  his  way  rejoicing. 
This  second  settler  was  Dr.  John  Perry,  who 
was  the  first  settler  in  the  county  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Manistee  river. 

The  homestead  law  was  an  important 
factor  in  the  settlement  of  Wexford  as  well 
as  all  the  other  counties  in  northern  Michi- 
gan, and  before  the  close  of  navigation  in 
1864  nearly  every  available  piece  of  govern- 
ment land  along  the  line  of  the  state  road 
for  seven  miles  from  the  north  line  of  the 
county  had  been  taken.  This  did  not  mean 
that  the  new  settlers  were  very  numerous, 
as  each  homesteader  was  entitled  to  a  piece 
of  land  half  a  mile  square,  so  it  took  only 
four  families  to  locate  a  whole  section  of 
land,  and  as  every  alternate  section  had 
been  set  apart  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in 
the  building  of  a  railroad,  the  settlers  were 
necessarily  widely  separated.  Notwith- 
standing this  fact  everybody  was  every- 
body's neighbor,  for,  as  Will  Carleton  very 
aptly  puts  it  in  his  "First  Settler's  Story," 
"Neighbors  meant  counties  in  those  days." 
People  would  go  three  or  four  miles  to  a  so- 
cial gathering,  or  to  assist  a  "neighbor"  in 
raising  a  log  house,  or  join  in  a  "logging 
bee"  to  enable  him  to  get  a  small  patch  of 
land  ready  to  raise  a  little  something  for 
himself  and  family  to  eat.  Thus  during  the 
summer  of  1864  log  cabins  and  small  clear- 
ings made  their  appearance  in  quite  a  num- 
ber of  places  in  Wexford  county  where  pre- 
viously, for  unnumbered  centuries,  the  pri- 
maeval forest  had  reigned  supreme,  inidis- 
turbed  by  naught  save  the  wild  denizens 
who  found  homes  beneath  its  sheltering 
branches  and  in  its  tangled  jungles,  and  the 
almost  equally  wild  Indians  who  roamed  at 
will  through  its  majestic  solitudes  or  fought 
each  other  to  the  death  in  its  shadows. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ARRIVAL  OF  NEW  SETTLERS  CONTINUES. 


As  vSooii  as  the  snow  was  gone  and  navi- 
gation opened  in  the  spring  of  1864,  the  tide 
of  emigration  to  the  Grand  Traverse  region 
set  in  with  renewed  vigor,  and  Wexford 
county  got  its  full  share  of  the  newcomers. 
These  later  arrivals  were  forced  to  take 
lands  farther  back  from  the  state  road,  and 
consequently  had  to  make. roads  for  them- 
selves from  the  state  road  back  to  their  re- 
spective homesteads.  There  was  no  high- 
way commissioner  to  lay  out  roads,  and  no 
way  to  raise  funds  by  tax  to  open  them, 
therefore  the  roads  or  ''blazed  trails''  were 
not  made  on  section  lines,  neither  did  they 
follow  any  particular  point  of  the  compass. 
They  usually  took  the  shortest  route  to  the 
settler's  home  except  where  hills  or  swamps 
intervened,  in  which  case  they  would  pass 
around  the  obstruction.  It  was  no  easy  mat- 
ter to  follow  these  trails  by  those  unaccus- 
tomed to  "woods  lore,"  and  especially  was 
it  difficult  in  the  twilight  or  after  dark, 
which  often  occurred  with  those  who  were 
forced  to  work  out  a  part  of  the  time  to 
earn  something  to  support  their  families,  or 
in  returning  from  house  raisings  or  logging 
l)ees. 

An  amusing  incident  was  related  to  the 
writer  by  a  Mr.  Durbin,  who  lived  only  half 


a  mile  from  the  state  road,  which  fully  illus- 
trates these  difficulties.  He  had  been  away 
from  home  at  work  and,  supper  being  a  lit- 
tle late,  it  was  quite  dark  by  the  time  he 
reached  the  point  where  he  had  to  leave  the 
state  road.  About  half  way  to  his  house  a 
tree  had  blown  down,  the  top  falling  di- 
rectly in  the  path.  When  he  reached  this 
tree-top  he  thought  he  could  pick  his  way 
around  it  and  tell  when  he  struck  the  path 
again,  as  every  one  familiar  with  such  mat- 
ters knows  that  there  is  no  sound 
of  breaking  twigs  or  crushing  leaves  in  a 
wellbeaten  path.  He  confidently  started 
around  the  tree  top,  but  did  not  find  the 
path.  He  kq^t  on  going,  however,  and  soon 
found  himself  back  to  the  state  road.  He 
soon  found  where  his  path  turned  into  the 
woods  again  and  started  for  home.  When 
he  reached  the  fallen  tree-top  he  resolved 
to  take  extra  caution  this  time  and  find  the 
path  on  the  other  side.  He  moved  very 
carefully  and  listened  intently  for  the  lack 
of  snapping  and  crunching  which  would  in- 
indicate  the  finding  of  the  path,  but,  not  find- 
ing it,  kept  on  going,  hoping  he  might  see 
the  light  in  his  home,  when,  to  his  great 
surprise,  he  finally  reached  the  state  road 
again.     He  was  thoroughly  baffled  and  not 


228 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN. 


a  little  frightened  at  this  turn  of  events,  but 
finally  decided  to  try  it  once  more.  This 
time  when  he  reached  the  fallen  tree-top  he 
crawled  through  it,  over  the  limbs  and  under 
the  brush,  never  losing  touch  of  the  beaten 
path  and  of  course  got  home  all  right  that 
time. 

When  the  summer  of  1864  closed  there 
w^ere  some  twenty  families  in  the  county. 
These  were  nearly  all  on  the  line  of  the  state 
road  or  within  two  miles  of  it.  In  the  spring 
of  1865  the  settlement  received  numerous 
additions,  some  coming  by  boat  and  some 
overland.  During  the  summer  of  1865  an 
arrangement  was  made  by  which  Jacob  York, 
one  of  the  newcomers  who  had  a  horse  and 
wagon,  made  weekly  trips  to  Traverse  City 
to  take  out  and  bring  in  the  mail  for  the  set- 
tlement, and  also  to  do  such  errands  and 
bring  in  such  light  articles  of  merchandise 
or  freight  as  he  could  in  his  light  wagon. 
By  common  consent  the  house  of  William 
Masters,  on  the  state  road,  was  chosen  as 
the  place  for  leaving  and  receiving  letters 
and  parcels,  and  his  house  soon  came  to  be 
called  the  'Tostoflice."  Later  in  the  year 
Mr.  Masters  was  appointed  postmaster  and 
a  mail  sack  was  furnished  in  which  to  carry 
the  mail,  but  the  settlers  had  to  pay  Mr. 
York  for  his  services  for  a  year  before  the 
postoffice  department  would  consent  to  es- 
tablish a  mail  route  to  the  new  settlement. 

The  first  school  house  built  in  Wexford 
cJ^pty  was  made  of  logs  and  was  situated 
near  the  county  line  between  Wexford  and 
Grand  Traverse  counties.  It  was  put  up  by 
volunteer  work  on  the  part  of  those  interested 
in  having  a  school,  and  the  first  teacher, 
Zylphia  Harper,  was  paid  under  the  old  sys- 
tem of  rate  bill,  for  as  yet  there  was  not  even 
a  township  or  school  district  organization 


in  the  county.  This  school  house  was,  a  few 
years  later,  the  scene  of  the  first  law  suit  ever 
held  in  Wexford  county.  It  was  a  case  of 
assault  and  battery  between  Jay  J  Copley 
and  Myron  Baldwin  and  grew  out  of  the 
holding  of  the  second  caucus  in  Wexford 
county.  The  case  was  presided  over  by  I.  U. 
Davis,  one  of  the  justices  of  the  peace 
elected  at  the  first  township  election  held  in 
the  county.  The  writer  had  charge  of  the 
jury  after  the  final  pleas  were  made  on  each 
side,  and  there  being  but  one  room  to  the 
school  house,  and  no  other  building  w,it]iin 
lialf  a  mile,  he  had  to  turn  tlie  spectators, 
lawyers  and  even  the  ''court"  out  into  the 
street  so  that  the  jury  could  deliberate  in 
seclusion. 

Among  the  arrivals  in  the  fall  of  1865 
was  J.  H.  Wheeler,  from  western  New  York, 
who  had  heard  of  the  wonders  of  Wexford 
county  through  a  brother  of  B.  W.  Hall, 
the  first  settler  in  the  county.  Being  some- 
what familiar  with  the  saw-mill  business,  he 
came  with  the  intent  of  building  a  saw-mill 
with  which  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  new 
settlers  in  the  way  of  lumber.  It  should  be 
remarked  here  that  nearly  every  house  in 
the  settlement  had  thus  far  been  built  prac- 
tically without  a  foot  of  lumber,  for  lum- 
ber was  very  high  priced  and,  besides,  it 
would  cost  thirty  to  forty  dollars  per  one 
thousand  feet  to  hire  it  hauled  from  Trav- 
erse City,  the  nearest  place  where  a  board 
could  be  found.  After  the  settler  had  got 
the  ^'body"  of  his  house  up,  he  would  hew 
out  some  poles  for  rafters,  split  out  some 
'*ribs"  and  nail  then  to  the  rafters,  from  six 
inches  to  one  foot  apart  (according  to 
whether  he  intended  to  use  ^'shakes"  or 
shingles),  and  nail  the  shingles  or  ^'shakes'' 
to  these  'Vibs.''    By  setting  up  other  hewed 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


229 


poles  in  the  gable  ends  of  the  house  from 
the  top  log  to  the  rafters  and  nailing  ''ribs" 
and  ''shakes"  to  them,  the  same  as  for  the 
roof,  he  soon  had  his  house  enclosed.  The 
floor  was  usually  made  of  thin  slabs  of  elm 
or  bass-wood  split  out  and  hewed  straight 
on  the  edges  and  then  fitted  to  the  sleepers 
on  the  lower  sides,  after  which  they  could 
be  lined  and  hewed  to  make  them  as  even 
as  possible  on  the  upper  surface.  Some- 
times roofs  were  made  of  bark  and  occa- 
sionally an  entire  "shanty"  was  built  of  that 
material.  Mr.  Hall  lived  a  year  in  a  bark 
"shanty"  when  he  first  settled  in  the  county. 
We  can  yet  see,  occasionally,  a  log  house 
that  was  built  thirty  or  thirty-five  years  ago 
as  a  home  for  some  homesteader  when  he 
first  became  a  resident  of  the  county. 

The  whole  settlement  were  anxious  to 
have  a  saw-mill  built  and  readily  subscribed 
a  liberal  amount  of  work  toward  its  erection. 
Plans  were  perfected  during  the  winter  and 
work  commenced  the  following  spring,  but 
owing  to  unforseen  obstacles  encountered  in 
building  the  dam  the  work  was  delayed  un- 
til the  summer  of  1867,  when  the  mill  was 
started,  much  to  the  gratification  of  the 
community,  as  well  as  the  owner.  This 
was  the  first  saw-mill  built  in  Wexford 
county.  It  was  an  old  fashioned  "muley" 
mill,  something  like  the  one  heretofore  de- 
scribed as  the  first  mill  in  northern  Michi- 
gan, but  it  performed  an  important  part  in 
the  early  development  of  the  county.  It  was 
built  on  what  for  many  years  was  known 
as  the  Wheeler  creek,  which  empties  into 
the  Manistee  river  about  a  mile  north  of  the 
present  village  of  Sherman.  A  mill  still  oc- 
cupies the  same  site,  though  two  structures 
on  the  same  site  have  been  destroyed  by 
fire.     Mr.  Wheeler  also  built  a  frame  house 


in  the  summer  of  1867,  which  was  the  first 
frame  house  built  in  the  county. 

I  had  almost  forgotten  to  describe  the 
manner  of  wintering  the  stock  in  those 
early  days.  Hay  there  was  none  for  the  first 
two  years  on  the  homestead,  and  straw 
was  very  scarce,  so  some  other  food 
must  be  substituted.  After  it  was  too 
late  in  the  spring  to  plant  ordinary 
crops  the  settler  would  clear  off  a  patch 
for  turnips  or  rutabagas,  even  sometimes 
sowing  the  seed  among  the  logs  after  the 
brush  had  1)een  burned  away,  not  having 
time  to  entirely  clear  the  land.  This  crop 
could  be  put  out  as  late  as  the  20th  of  July 
with  good  results  and  needed  no  care  from 
seed  time  until  late  in  the  fall,  when  they 
were  pulled  and  put  into  pits  for  the  winter 
use.  When  the  snow  got  so  deep  that  the 
cattle  could  no  longer  subsist  on  the  "Michi- 
gan clover,"  heretofore  referred  to,  the  set- 
tler would  start  in  on  his  winter's  job  of 
felling  trees  upon  which  to  browse  his 
stock.  The  cattle  soon  began  to  relish  and 
even  thrive  upon  the  fine  twigs  of  the  ma- 
ples, and  this,  with  a  liberal  feeding  of  the 
turnips  or  rutabagas,  brought  them  through 
the  winter  apparently  in  as  good  condition 
as  if  they  had  been  wintered  upon  the  best 
quality  of  hay.  At  the  same  time  necessity 
on  the  part  of  the  settler  to  provide  for  his 
stock  was  really  a  virtue  in  another  direc- 
tion, for  the  more  timber  he  was  obliged 
to  cut  in  the  winter  the  more  acres  he  could 
clear  off  in  the  summer. 

Judge  Chubb,  one  of  the  first  settlers  in 
the  township  of  Cleon,  once  forming  a  part 
of  Wexford  county,  and  who  still  resides  at 
Copemish  in  that  township,  often  relates 
his  experience  in  getting  through  his  stock 
the  first  winter  after  his  arrival.     Among 


230 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


the  other  animals  he  brought  with  him  were 
some  pigs,  never  dreaming  of  the  difficulty 
of  getting  them  through  the  winter,  thirty 
miles  from  the  nearest  point  where  feed 
could  be  had,  and  with  roads — such  as  they 
were — made  impassible  by  four  feet  of  snow. 
When  he  had  fed  out  the  last  of  what  he  had 
provided  for  them,  and  with  no  possible 
way  of  getting  more  food,  he  was  in  de- 
spair and  was  sure  they  would  die.  If  they 
liad  been  in  condition  to  make  pork,  he  says, 
he  would  have  killed  them  and  got  some  ben- 
efit from  them  in  that  way,  but  to  put  off 
the  evil  day  as  long  as  possible  in  the  hope 
that  the  snow  might  settle  so  that  he  could 
get  out  to  Traverse  City  for  supplies,  the 
rations  to  the  pigs  had  been  curtailed  al- 
most to  the  starvation  point  so  that  there 
was  not  much  left  of  the  pigs,  as  he  puts 
it,  but  their  "squeal.''  As  a  last  resort,  and 
entirely  as  an  experiment,  having  never 
heard  of  the  like  before,  he  drove  his  pigs 
to  the  woods  one  morning  with  the  rest  of 
the  stock  and,  to  his  utter  amazement,  they 
took  right  hold  of  the  "browse,"  and  from 
that  day  on  to  spring  they  followed  the 
cattle  every  morning  to  the  woods  and  he 
actually  kept  them  the  remainder  of  that 
winter  on  "browse." 

In  1867  Oren  Fletcher  settled  in  Wex- 
ford county  and  being  a  miller  by  trade,  and 
seeing  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  grist-mill, 
he  interested  the  people  in  the  matter,  and 
through  the  encouragements  received  and 
donations  offered,  at  once  commenced  the 
construction  of  the  first  grist-mill  in  the 
county.  The  work  was  pushed  vigorously 
and  before  winter  set  in  the  settlers  had  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they  could  get 
their  gristing  done  witiiout  having  to  go 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  to  Traverse  City 


for  it,  as  had  hitherto  been  the  case.  This 
mill  was  built  on  the  creek  ever  since  known 
as  Fletcher  creek  *arid  for  some  ten  years 
was  the  only  grist-mill  in  the  county. 

It  was  also  during  the  summer  of  1867 
that  the  work  of  putting  the  state  road  in 
passable  shape  for  travel  was  completed. 
While  a  goodly  number  of  settlers  had  al- 
ready arrived  in  the  county  over  "the  trail," 
it  was,  as  the  word  indicates,  only  a  "trail" 
in  many  places  and  far  from  being  in  a  suit- 
able condition  for  travel.  However,  steps 
had  been  taken  for  an  overland  mail  route 
and  the  first  thing  to  be  done  w^as  to  put  the 
state  road  in  shape  for  travel.  This  being 
done,  the  mail  route  was  established,  and  di- 
rect intercourse  with  the  "outside"  during 
the  whole  year  w^as  henceforth  to  be  a  real- 
ity. Hitherto  the  only  means  by  which  a 
person  could  leave  the  Grand  Traverse  re- 
gion during  the  winter  was  on  foot  with  the 
aid  of  snow  shoes.  Those  were  long  win- 
ters indeed  to  many,  wdio  were  strangers 
among  strangers,  and  especially  to  those 
who  were  inclined  to  be  at  all  "homesick," 
for  with  the  slow  way  of  getting  mail  to  and 
from  Traverse  City,  and  the  fact  that  all 
mail  had  to  be  carried  on  foot  or  on  horse 
back  over  an  Indian  trail  from  Traverse 
Cit}^  to  Manistee  or  Muskegon,  it  took  from 
three  to  four  weeks  for  a  letter  to  go  and  an 
ansvVer  to  return  from  any  outside  point. 

Everybody  in  the  Grand  Traverse  re- 
gion had  been  up  to  this  time  dependent 
upon  Traverse  City  for  provisions,  and  as 
Hannah,  Lay  &  Company  were  the  princi- 
pal firm  at  that  place  it  was  necessary  for 
them  to  anticipate  the  needs  of  the  entire 
region  from  November,  when  navigation 
closed,  until  May,  when  the  first  boat  could 
be  expected.     The  influx  of  settlers  some- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


281 


times  exceeded  calculation,  and  consequently 
provisions  at  the  company's  store  would 
run  pretty  low  before  navigation  opened. 
The  winter  of  1866-7  witnessed  such  a  heavy 
drain  upon  their  stock  of  suppHes  that  it 
became  necessary  for  them  to  adopt  the 
plan  of  selling  only  fifty  pounds  of  flour 
and  ten  or  fifteen  pounds  of  pork  to  one 
person,  in  order  to  piece  the  supply  out  and 
make  it  last  until  the  first  boat  should  ar- 
rive. 

As  soon  as  the  state  road  w^as  suffi- 
ciently improved  to  permit  of  it  a  mail  route 
was  established,  at  first  with  only  weekly 
trij^s,  but  very  soon  the  service  was  increased 
to  six  times  a  w-eek.  It  required  two  and  a 
half  days  to  make  the  trip  from  Traverse 
City  to  Cedar  Springs,  the  then  northern 
terminus  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana 
Railroad.  At  this  period  George  W.  Bry- 
ant, of  Traverse  City,  erected  quite  a  large 
two-story  building  just  south  of  the  old 
state  road  bridge  over  the  Manistee  river, 
intending  it  for  a  sort  of  hotel  and  grocery 
store  combined.  The  work  was  done  by 
Lewis  J.  Clark,  who  for  some  time  acted 
as  salesman  for  Mr.  Bryant  and  also  as  as- 
sistant postmaster  for  the  second  postoffice 
established  in  the  county.  The  name 
given  to  this  postoffice  w^as  Sherman,  we 
suppose  in  honor  of  General  Sherman,  as 
it  was  quite  the  custom  in  those  days  to  name 
towns,  cities,  villages  and  postoffices  after 
some  noted  general  of  the  late  war.  This 
name,  Sherman,  attached  itself  to  the  hud- 
dle of  houses  that  w^ere  put  up  wdien  the 
county  w^as  organized  and  the  county  seat 
estal)lishe(l,  and  is  still  retained  l)y  the  pros- 
perous village  near  the  Manistee  river  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  county.  Mr.  Bry- 
ant's object  in  building  nearly  a  mile  north 


of  the  present  location  of  the  village  of 
Sherman  developed  a  little  later  when 
the  legislature  passed  ,  an  act  organi- 
zing the  county  of  Wexford.  The  post- 
master at  this  second  postoffice  was 
Dr.  John  Perry,  heretofore  spoken  of  as 
the  first  settler  on  the  south  side  of 
Manistee  river.  New  settlers  in  search  of 
homestead  locations  had  kept  going  farther 
and  farther  east  of  the  state  road  until  some 
of  them  were  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant 
from  the  new  postoffice  and  it  was  a  decided 
relief  to  them  to  be  able  to  post  a  letter, 
buy  a  pound  of  soda,  tea  or  tobacco  or 
twenty-five  pounds  of  flour  w^ithout  having 
to  go  four  miles  farther  north  to  the  little 
grocery  kept  by  Mr.  Masters,  the  first  post- 
master in  the  county. 

Mr.  Clark  used  to  tell  an  amusing  story 
of  a  settler  living  eight  miles  east  of  the 
postoffice  coming  in  one  day  for  some  gro- 
ceries. Among  other  things  he  wanted  a 
hundred  pounds  of  flour,  and  when  asked 
by  Mr.  Clark  how  he  was  going  to  get  the 
things  home,  re])lied,  ''On  my  back."  Upon 
being  told  by  Mr.  Clark  that  his  supply  of 
flour  was  quite  low,  and  that  it  would  be 
several  days  before  he  received  a  new  sup- 
ply, and  that  consequently  he  could  only 
spare  him  twenty- five  pounds,  in  order  that 
he  might  have  some  left  to  supply  the  wants 
of  other  needy  customers,  the  man  replied, 
''Huh!  that  would  not  make  biscuit  for 
breakfast  for  my  family.''  It  may  seem 
strange  to  state  that  a  man  would  think  of 
carrying  a  hundred  pounds  of  flour  besides 
other  small  groceries  a  distance  of  eight 
mile*^  on  his  back,  but  backing,  or  "packing," 
as  it  was  then  called,  was  a  common  way  for 
the  settler  to  get  his  provisions  home.  There 
is  a  man  living  in  the  county  today  who  on 


232 


Vl^EXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


more  than  one  occasion  carried  a  hundred 
pounds  of  flour  and  several  packages  of 
small  groceries  from  Traverse  City  to  his 
home  in  what  in  now  Wexford  township, 
a  distance  of  twenty-eight  miles  and  would 
do  it  between  sunrise  and  sunset.  This  man's 
name  is  R.  W.  Updike,  a  man  whose  repu- 
tation for  truth  and  veracity  was  never  ques- 
tioned by  those  who  knew  him. 

Thus  will  be  seen  some  of  the  difficul- 
ties surrounding  the  new  settlers.  Most  of 
them  were  from  the  common  walks  of  life, 
and  not  one  in  ten  of  them  was  able  to  pro- 
vide himself  with  a  team  as  one  of  the  nec- 
essary things  to  take  with  him  into  a  new 
wilderness  country.  Consequently  ''pack- 
ing'' was  a  very  common  thing,  and  clearing 
land  by  hard  labor  about  as  common.  The 
first  crop  was  always  sown  without  plow- 
ing the  land,  and  frequently  the  second  crop 
would  be  put  in  the  same  way,  it  being  im- 


possible to  get  team  work  to  do  more  than 
harrow  in  the  seed.  Corn  was  frequently 
and  potatoes  nearly  always  planted  just  as 
the  fire  left  the  land,  without  the  aid  of 
either  plow  or  harrow.  This  cumpulsory 
manner  of  farming  did  not  bring  the  results 
that  a  better  system  would  have  done,  but 
it  was  the  best  many  could  do  and  sufticed 
to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  until  such 
time  as  team  work  would  be  more  plentiful. 
For  three  or  four  years  there  was  but  one 
horse  team  in  the  county  and  but  three  or 
four  ox  teams,  and  in  drawing  supplies 
from  Traverse  City,  hauling  together  the 
logs  for  the  houses  of  the  new  settlers,  at- 
tending logging  bees  to  enable  some  new 
comer  to  get  in  a  few^  potatoes  or  a  small 
patch  of  winter  wheat,  they  had  all  they 
could  possibly  do  without  drawing  the 
plow. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


FIRST   ELECTIONS. 


Wexford  county,  up  to  the  year  1866, 
was  attached  to  the  township  of  Brown,  of 
Manistee  county,  for  assessment  and  judi- 
cial purposes.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
board  of  supervisors  of  Manistee  county  in 
1866  the  whole  county  of  Wexford  was  or- 
ganized into  a  new  township,  to  be  known 
by  the  name  of  Wexford.     It  was  ordered 


that  the  first  election  should  be  held  on  the 
first  Monday  of  April  in  1867,  when  a  full 
set  of  township  officers  should  be  elected. 
Previous  to  this  time  none  of  the 
nvmierous  voters  in  the  county  had 
cast  a  ballot  since  he  had  resided 
in  the  county.  One  could  have  voted 
if    he    wanted    to    do    so    bad    enough  to 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


283 


tramp  throiigb  the  woods  a  distance  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  to  the  poHing 
place  in  the  township  of  Brown  in  Manistee 
county,  but  no  one  had  availed  himself  of 
that  privilege. 

Just  a  day  or  two  before  town  meeting 
day,  a  couple  of  families  got  together  one 
evening  and  made  up  a  ticket  for  the  com- 
ing election.  The  head  of  one  family  was 
put  on  for  supervisor  and  one  of  the  justices 
of  the  peace  and  his  son  for  tow^nship  clerk, 
while  the  head  of  the  other  family  was  not 
forgotten,  being  allotted  one  of  the  high- 
way commissionerships,  there  being  three 
for  each  township  in  those  days.  There  was 
quite  a  little  gathering  at  the  polling  place — 
being  the  first  school  house  heretofore  re- 
ferred to — and,  being  shown  the  tickets, 
which  had  been  written  out  for  the  occasion, 
they  began  to  inquire  where  and  when  the 
caucus  was  held  that  selected  these  candi- 
dates. The  nominee  for  supervisor,  Hiram 
Copley,  made  the  remark  that  if  they  did 
not  like  the  ticket  they  could  go  around  back 
of  the  school  house  and  hold  another  cau- 
cus and  put  up  another  ticket.  This  was 
said  in  a  manner  that  indicated  that  he  w^as 
sure  of  his  election,  no  matter  what  was 
done,  as  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Republi- 
can ticket  and  nearly  all  of  the  voters  were 
Republicans.  However,  a  majority  of  those 
present  took  him  at  his  word.  They  got 
together  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  school 
house,  for  it  was  a  raw^  April  day  with  lots 
of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  made  up  a  ticket 
and  then  went  in  and  elected  it.  We  are 
unable  to  give  the  exact  number  of  votes 
polled  at  that  election,  but  from  the  best 
recollection  of  the  writer,  who  was  there 
and  stayed  until  the  votes  were  counted, 
there  were  not  to  exceed  thirty  votes  cast. 


As  soon  as  possible  after  this  election 
the  highway  commissioners  commenced  the 
work  of  laying  out  such  roads  as  were  nec- 
essary, and  the  school  inspectors,  acting  in 
conjunction  with  those  in  the  adjoining 
township  of  Grand  Traverse  county,  organ- 
ized a  fractional  school  district,  comprising 
territory  on  either  side  of  the  county  line 
between  the  two  counties.  The  site  of  the 
school  house  was  in  Wexford  county,  thus 
making  this  the  first  duly  organized  school 
district  in  the  county.  At  the  first  election, 
Lewis  C.  Dunham  was  elected  supervisor 
and  George  A.  Smalley  tow^nship  clerk. 

At  the  next  township  meeting  there  w^as 
also  a  ''bolt''  from  the  nominees  of  the  Re- 
publican caucus.  The  *'old"  settlers  had 
planned  to  nominate  Gibbs  Dodge,  a  bright 
young  man  who  lived  on  section  29  in  Wex- 
ford township,  as  it  now  exists,  for  super- 
visor, while  the  ''new"  settlers  who  had  re- 
cently settled  in  the  township  now  known  as 
Colfax  wished  to  nominate  E.  C.  Dayhufi', 
one  of  their  neighbors,  to  that  office.  This 
feeling  in  favor  of  Mr.  Dayhuff  was  un- 
known to  the  friends  of  Mr.  Dodge,  con- 
sequently no  effort  was  made  to  get  the  vot- 
ers out  to  the  caucus.  But  when  caucus  day 
arrived  it  proved  that  Mr.  Dayhufif's  friends 
outnumbered  those  of  Mr.  Dodge  and  the 
nomination  went  to  Mr.  Dayhufif.  This  so 
exasperated  the  "old"  settlers  that  they  went 
to  work  and  put  up  a  Union  ticket  in  oppo- 
sition to  what  they  called  the  Dayhufif  ticket. 
Between  the  time  of  holding  the  caucus  and 
the  first  Monday  in  April  there  was  a  very 
heavy  fall  of  snow  and  when  election  day 
dawned  it  was  found  that  the  roads  leading 
to  the  eastern  settlements  were  impassible 
and  no  one  from  that  direction  got  to  the 
polls.      The  result  was  that  Mr.   Dayhufif 


284 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


was  defeated  and  Mr.  Dunham  was  re- 
elected supervisor.  So  sure  was  Mr.  Day- 
huff  that  he  would  be  elected  that  he  had 
written  his  friends  '^outside''  to  direct  their 
letters  to  him  as  supervisor,  and  letters  ac- 
tually came  to  the  postofifice  directed  to  *'E. 
C.  Dayhuft',  Supervisor  of  Wexford  Town- 
ship.'' 

In  the  Manistee  county  convention  in 
1868,  called  for  the  selection  of  delegates 
to  the  state  convention,  w^hich  chose  dele- 
gates to  the  presidential  convention,  Gibbs 
Dodge  was  chosen  to  represent  Wexford, 
which  thus  contributed  its  mite  to  that  over- 
whelming tide  of  popular  sentiment  which 
resulted  in  placing  the  hero  of  Appomattox 
in  the  presidential  chair. 

During  this  political  campaign  it  be- 
came apparent  to  the  settlers  in  the  new- 
county  that  the  time  had  come  when  we  were 
entitled  to  a  county  organization.  Accord- 
ingly at  the  next  session  of  the  legislature, 
which  convened  in  January,  an  act  for  the 
organization  of  the  county  was  passed.  The 
terms  of  this  act  disclose  the  handiwork  of 
Mr.  Bryant,  and  show  why  he  had  put  up 
his  store  building  and  made  a  little  clear- 
ing on  the  bank  of  the  Manistee  river  near 
the  state  road  bridge.  After  providing  for 
time  and  manner  of  organization,  the  act 
provided  for  the  location  of  a  county  seat. 
It  stipulated  that  the  county  seat  should  be 
located  on  section  36,  in  town  24,  north  of 
range  12  west,  ''  At  or  near  the  Manistee 
bridge,''  and  appointing  H.  I.  Devoe,  I.  N. 
Davis  and  E.  C.  Dayhuff  as  commissioners 
to  decide  the  particular  spot  where  it  should 
be.  After  looking  the  situation  over  care- 
fully and  learning  something  of  Mr.  Bry- 
ant's parsimony,  and  fearing  that  a  village 


would  not  thrive  where  he  owned  all  the 
available  building  sites,  they  determined  to 
exercise  all  the  discretion  given  them  by  the 
act  and  accordingly  located  the  county  seat 
within  four  hundred  feet  of  the  southeast 
corner  of  section  36,  nearly  three-fourths  of 
a  mile  from  Mr.  Bryant's  intended  site  on 
the  bank  of  the  M.anistee  river. 

The  act  of  organization  divided  the 
county  into  four  townships,  and  attached 
Missaukee  county  to  Wexford  county  for 
judicial  purposes.  The  names  and  dimen- 
sions of  the  townships  were  as  follows: 
Wexford,  comprising  the  same  territory  as 
now,  viz:  six  miles  square;  Springville, 
comprised  of  six  surveyed  townships,  viz : 
towns  21,  22  and  23  north  of  ranges  11  and 
12  west;  Hanover,  of  seven  surveyed  town- 
ships, viz :  Township  24  north  of  ranges  5, 
6,  7,  8,  9,  10  and  11  west,  and  Colfax,  of 
townships  21,  22  and  23  north  of  ranges 
5,  6,  7,  8,  9  and  10  west,  or  eighteen  sur- 
veyed townships. 

The  Republicans  and  Democrats  each 
nominated  candidates  for  the  different  of- 
fices and  the  Republicans  carried  the  day  on 
their  entire  ticket  with  the  exception  of 
judge  of  probate.  This  candidate's  name 
was  Solomon  C.  Worth  and  in  one  town 
the  tickets  were  written  S.  C.  Worth  and 
by  throwing  this  town  out,  or  in  other  words, 
counting  it  as  if  for  a  different  person,  gave 
the  Democratic  candidate,  I.  N.  Carpenter, 
more  votes  than  for  either  Solomon  C. 
Worth  or  S.  C.  Worth.  The  new  officers 
were  as  follows :  Sheriff,  Harrison  H.  Skin- 
ner; treasurer,  John  H.  V/heeler;  county 
clerk  and  register  of  deeds,  Leroy  P.  Chani- 
penois;  judge  of  probate,  Isaac  N.  Carpen- 
ter; superintendent  of  schools,  C.  L.  North- 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


285 


rup ;  surveyor,  R.  S.  McClain.  The  highest 
number  of  votes  cast  for  any  candidate  was 
one  hundred  and  twenty-nine. 

At  this  election,  which  was  held  on  the 
day  designated  by  law  for  holding  the  annu- 
al township  meetings,  a  full  set  of  town- 
ship officers  for  each  of  the  new  townships 
were  elected,  the  supervisors  of  the  several 
towns  being  as  follows:  Colfax,  R.  S.  Mc- 
Clain; Hanover,  L.  C.  Northrup;  Spring- 
ville,  William  Thomas;  Wexford,  H.  I.  De- 
voe.  The  first  meeting  of  the  board  of  su- 
pervisors of  Wexford  county  was  a  special 
meeting  held  on  the  first  day  of  May,  1869, 
at  the  home  of  Sylvester  Clark,  at  which 
meeting  H.  I.  Devoe  was  elected  chairman 
of  the  board.  The  board  at  this  meeting 
appointed  Lewis  Cornell,  William  Thomas 
and  Erasmus  Abbott  as  superintendents  of 
poor  and  took  action  looking  to  a  settle- 
ment with  Manistee  county.  It  also  fixed 
the  salaries  of  the  new  county  officers,  giv- 
ing the  sheriff  and  treasurer  each  four  hun- 
dred dollars  per  year,  the  clerk  three  hun- 
dred dollars  and  the  judge  of  probate  two 
hundred  dollars.* 

There  being  no  newspaper  printed  in  the 
county,  the  Traverse  Bay  Eagle  was  selected 
to  do  the  county  printing.  The  board  also 
authorized  its  chairman  to  select  a  suitable 
place  for  holding  the  circuit  court  for  the 
county.  As  there  was  no  lawyer  in  the 
county,  a  petition  for  the  appointment  of 
O.  H.  Mills,  of  Traverse  City,  as  prosecut- 
ing attorney  was  forwarded  to  Hon.  J.  G. 
Ramsdell,  judge  of  the  circuit  to  which  Wex- 
ford county  belonged,  and  Mr.   Mills  was 


*  At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  resolution  fixing  these  salaries 
as  above  stated  was  rescinded  and  the  salaries  fixed  at  one  hun- 
dred dollars  for  the  sheriff,  seventy-five  dollars  for  the  treasurer, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  the  clerk  and  one  hundred  dollars 
for  the  judge  of  probate. 
14 


accordingly  made  the  first  prosecuting  at- 
torney of  Wexford  county. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  of 
supervisors,  in  October,  1869,  the  county 
treasurer's  report  showed  the  total  receipts 
to  have  been  six  hundred  and  fourteen  dol- 
lars and  twenty-nine  cents  and  the  expen- 
ditures four  hundred  and  forty  dollars  and 
nineteen  cents^  leaving  a  balance  in  the  treas- 
ury of  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  dol- 
lars and  ten  cents.  At  this  first  annual 
meeting  of  the  board,  the  valuation  of  the 
several  townships  was  as  follows: 

TOWNSHIPS.  REAL   EST.         PERSONAL.  TOTAL. 

Colfax $558,839.72  $  8,071.67  1566,911.39 

Hanover 216,751.00  10,528.68  227,279.68 

Springville 97,468.29  8,225.00  105,693.29 

Wexford 22,304.60  19,090.00  41,394.60 

Total  .1895,363.61     $45,915,35     $941,278.96 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  total 
covers  the  valuation  of  the  entire  county  of 
Missaukee  as  well  as  Wexford  county,  and 
it  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  tax 
law  at  that  time  exempted  homesteads  from 
taxation,  but  provided  that  the  improve- 
ments on  homesteads  should  be  assessed  as 
personal  property.  This  accounts  for  the 
comparatively  large  proportion  of  personal 
property  on  the  tax  rolls. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  of  su- 
pervisors held  in  January,  1870,  the  matter 
of  building  a  court  house  was  decided  upon, 
and  a  building  committee  appointed  whose 
duty  it  was  to  advertise  for  sealed  bids  for 
the  erection  of  a  court  house  in  accordance 
with  plans  and  specifications  prepared  by 
William  Holdsworth,  Sr.,  of  Traverse  City, 
the  cost  not  to  exceed  five  thousand  dollars, 
exclusive  of  the  foundation,  which  was  un- 
der a  separate  contract.  J.  H.  Wheeler  was 
the  successful  bidder  for  the  court  house 


236 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


job  and  the  preparatory  work  was  entered 
upon  at  once.  One  great  reason  why  the 
work  of  building  a  court  house  was  begun 
so  soon  after  the  county  was  organised  was 
the  fact  that  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana 
Railroad  was  pushing  its  road  northward 
which  it  was  feared  that  when  it  went 
through  Wexford  county  there  would 
be  some  point  on  its  line  where  a 
town  would  spring  up  and  would  be 
desirous  of  having  the  county  seat,  and 
it  was  thought  that  the  building  of  a 
court  house  would  tend  to  prevent  the 
removal  of  the  county  seat.  To  further 
strengthen  this  feature  of  the  situation, 
when  the  deed  was  drawn  to  the  county 
for  the  site  of  the  court  house  it  was  made 
for  so  long  as  the  property  was  used  for 
county  seat  purposes.  Surely  this,  it  was 
thought,  would  hold  the  county  seat,  for 
when  the  voters  understood  that  by  a  removal 
of  the  county  seat  the  county  would  lose  five 
or  six  thousand  dollars  which  it  had  put 
into  a  court  house  and  jail,  it  would  cause 
them  to  vote  against  removal.  How  little 
such  reasoning  amounted  to  will  be  seen 
later  when-  the  fight  over  the  county  seat 
really  got  warmed  up. 

As  there  were  no  rooms  that  could  be 
rented  for  county  offices,  the  officers  held 
their  respective  offices  at  their  residences. 
The  first  session  of  the  circuit  court  was  held 
in  the  little  log  hotel  kept  by  Sylvester  Clark. 
The  only  thing  for  the  "court''  to  do  was  to 
give  suggestions  to  the  new  sheriff  and  oth- 
er officers  regarding  the  duties  they  might 
be  called  upon  to  perform,  and  to  instruct 
the  county  clerk  as  to  what  books  it  would 
be  necessary  to  have  for  court  work. 

When  the  location  of  the  county  seat 
had  been  definitely  settled  Mr.  Henry  Clark, 


who  had  been  very  active  in  securing  the 
site  for  the  county  buildings,  contributing 
four  hundred  dollars  in  cash  for  that  pur- 
pose, besides  donating  about  three  acres  of 
land,  induced  E.  G.  Maqueston,  of  Big 
Rapids,  to  come  to  Sherman  and  build  a 
store  building  and  engage  in  a  general  mer- 
cantile business.  Mr.  Maqueston  had  never 
done  anything  in  that  line,  but  his  brother, 
I.  H.  Maqueston,  of  New  York,  was  some- 
what familiar  with  the  mercantile  business 
and  it  was  not  long  before  the  two  brothers 
had  decided  to  embark  in  business  in  the 
new  county  of  Wexford.  They  commenced 
at  once  the  construction  of  a  large  store 
building,  twenty-two  by  sixty  feet  in  size 
and  two  stories  high.  This  was  completed 
about  the  first  of  September,  1869,  and  was 
quite  an  imposing  structure,  being  the  sec- 
ond frame  building  put  up  in  what  is  now: 
known  as  the  village  of  Sherman.  The  build- 
ing still  stands  and  during  all  these  years  has 
been  used  as  a  general  store.  The  second 
story  of  this  building  was  left  for  a  hall 
which  could  be  used  for  court  room,  danc- 
ing hall  or  church  services,  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  was  used  at  different  times  for  all 
these  purposes.  It  was  in  this  hall  that  the 
first  preaching  services  wxre  held  in  Sher- 
man, and,  so  far  as  any  record  can  be  found, 
in  the  county,  except  one  or  two  funeral 
services  which  had  been  previously  held. 
This  first  preaching  service  was  on  the  last 
Sunday  in  December,  1869,  conducted  by 
Rev.  A.  K.  Herrington,  who  had  settled  on 
a  homestead  in  Wexford  township. 

In  the  fall  of  1869  T.  A.  Ferguson,  a 
recent  graduate  from  the  law  department  of 
the  university  at  Ann  Arbor,  having  seen  a 
notice  of  the  organization  of  the  new  county 
of  Wexford,  made  a  visit  to  the  county  seat 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


287 


with  a  view  of  getting  the  position  of  prose- 
cuting attorney  for  the  county.  He  found 
the  prospect  so  favorable  that  he  decided 
to  remain  and  at  once  began  building  a 
house  in  the  village  and  before  winter  set 
in  he  with  his  young  wife  commenced  their 
first  housekeqoing  at  the  new  county  seat. 
The  county  now  having  a  resident  lawyer, 
there  was  no  trouble  in  having  the  circuit 
judge  appoint  him  as  prosecuting  attorney 
and  he  thus  became  the  county's  first  resi- 
dent prosecuting  attorney.  Later  in  the  fall 
came  H.  B.  Sturtevant,  a  brother-in-law  of 
Mr.  Ferguson,  and  commenced  that  business 
career  which  made  him  one  of  the  most  in- 
fluential residents  in  the  county  until  his 
very  recent  removal  to  Owasso.  He  was 
not  only  active  and  influential  in  business, 
but  was  a  natural  politician  and  for  thirty- 
five  years  has  had  an  active  interest  in  the 
political  affairs  of  the  county. 

Mr.  Ferguson  and  Mr.  Sturtevant,  com- 
ing fresh  from  the  constant  political  strife 
which  ever  holds  sway  in  old  settled  com- 
munities, began  at  once  to  lay  plans  for  their 
own  political  advancement,  and  when  the 
time  approached  for  a  convention  to  nomi- 
nate candidates  for  the  second  county  elec- 
tion, they  had  done  their  work  so  quietly 
and  so  well  that  they  secured  control  of, 
the  Republican  county  convention.  As 
there  were  only  five  townships  to  send  dele- 
gates, the  work  was  not  so  very  difficult. 
In  one  township  the  caucus  was  called  to 
order  an  hour  before  the  time  named  in  the 
notice,  delegates  elected,  and  caucus  ad- 
journed before  the  proper  time  had  arrived 
for  calling  it  and  before  the  majority  of  the 
voters  reached  the  voting  place.  In  another 
town  enough  Democrats  attended  and  voted 


to  out-vote  the  Republicans  who  were  op- 
posed to  a  change  in  the  county  officers. 

Contesting  delegates  were  elected  in  the 
towns  which  were  so  grossly  manipulated, 
but  the  managers  of  the  scheme  knew  some- 
thing of  the  science  of  politics,  while  the 
'^other  fellows"  were  as  green  as  pumpkins 
in  that  line.  It  was  therefore  an  easy  matter 
to  get  the  right  chairman,  and  an  easy  thing 
to  have  the  chairman  appoint  the  right  com- 
mittee on  credentials,  and  the  contesting  del- 
egates were  disposed  of  in  short  order,  and 
the  convention  did  the  work  laid  out  for  it 
by  nominating  an  entire  new  set  of  officers, 
except  surveyor  and  judge  of  probate.  I. 
N.  Carpenter,  a  Democrat,  being  renomi- 
nated, the  reason  therefor  having  been  gen- 
erally believed  to  have  been  in  recognition 
.of  the  help  given  by  the  Democrats  in  the 
caucuses.  The  officers  as  nominated  by  that 
convention  were  as  follows :  Sheriff,  Jos- 
eph Sturr;  clerk  and  register,  H.  B.  Sturte- 
vant; treasurer,  William  Masters;  prose- 
cuting attorney  and  circuit  court  commis- 
sioner, T.  A.  Ferguson;  judge  of  probate, 
I.  N.  Carpenter;  surveyor,  R.  S.  McClain. 
The  new  treasurer  was  not  selected  because 
of  his  fitness,  but  because  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  have  a  deputy  to  do  the  work,  and 
Mr.  Ferguson  wanted  to  be  deputy.  After 
election  this  was  done,  and  Mr.  Ferguson 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  prosecuting  at- 
torney, transacted  the  entire  business  of  the 
treasurer's  office  during  the  term  for  which 
Mr.  Masters  was  elected.  The  total  vote  at 
this  second  county  election  was  one  hunderd 
and  ninety-one. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  of 
supervisors,  in  October,  1870,  surveyed 
township  22,  north  of  range  10,  west,  was 


288 


WEXFORD    CO  UNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


organized  under  the  name  of  Thorp,  in  hon- 
or of  Col.  T.  J.  Thorp,  one  of  its  early  set- 
tlers. This  name  was  afterwards  changed 
to  Selma,  which  it  has  retained  ever  since. 
This  was  the  first  town  organized  by  the 
board  of  supervisors  and  the  fifth  in  the 
county.  Another  new  township  was  organ- 
ized a  few  months  later  consisting  of  town 
21,  north  of  ranges  ii  and  12  west,  and 
given  the  name  of  Henderson,  also  after 
one  of  its  earliest  settlers. 

During  the  summer  of  1870  the  frame 
of  the  court  house  was  put  up  and  enclosed, 
and  L.  P.  Champenois,  H.  B.  Sturtevant, 
J.  H.  Wheeler  and  two  or  three  others 
erected  houses  in  the  new  village,  and  L.  J. 
Clarke,  whose  little  store  building  stood  on 
the  corner  now  occupied  by  E.  Gilbert's 
large  two-story  store,  moved  his  building 
to  the  lot  now  occupied  by  the  Sherman 
bank  and  built  a  large  addition  thereto. 

In  January,  1870,  the  first  effort  looking 
to  the  organization  of  a  church  society  was 
made.  Presiding  Elder  Boynton,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  visited  Sher- 
man, accompanied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Cayton,  a 
Methodist  minister  living  in  Grand  Trav- 
erse county,  and  perfected  arrangements  for 
preaching  services  every  alternate  Sunday, 
which  were  to  be  conducted  by  Mr.  Cayton. 
At  first  these  meetings  were  held  at  the  home 
of  L.  P.  Champenois,  and  later  at  the  Ma- 
queston  hall  until  the  school  house  was 
built  in  the  fall  of  1871,  when  that  was  used 
for  church  purposes.  Soon  after  Mr.  Cay- 
ton entered  upon  his  work  the  first  sacra- 
mental service  in  Wexford  county  was  held 


at  the  home  of  H.  B.  Sturtevant,  the  only 
communicants  being  Mr.  Sturtevant,  his 
wife  Rhoda  and  T.  A.  Ferguson.  At  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  conference  held  in  the 
fall  of  1870,  Rev.  A.  L.  Thurston,  who  had 
located  a  homestead  in  Thorp  (now  Selma) 
township,  was  designated  as  ''supply''  for 
the  church  work  at  Sherman  and  held  regu- 
lar meetings  there,  unless  prevented  by  the 
inclemency  of  the  weather.  His  home  was 
about  sixteen  miles  from  Sherman  and  it 
was  no  easy  task  to  cover  the  distance  upon 
such  roads  or  trails  as  existed  at  that  time, 
especially  in  the  winter  months. 

It  almost  seems  like  a  stretch  of  the  im- 
agination to  recall  those  early  religious 
gatherings.  There  was  not  a  church  bell  or 
even  school  house  bell  to  call  the  people  to- 
gether, not  a  piano,  organ  or  any  kind  of  in- 
strument to  assist  in  the  singing,  and  not 
even  a  choir  to  take  charge  of  it.  Sometimes 
some  one  with  a  "tuning  fork"  might  be 
present  to  ''pitch"  the  tunes  in  the  proper 
key,  but  more  generally  the  tunes  would  be 
started  by  some  one  bold  enough  to  take 
the  initiatory,  often  so  high  that  the  soprano 
voices  could  hardly  reach  the  high  strains, 
and  sometimes  necessitating  an  absolute 
breaking  down  and  starting  over  again.  And 
yet,  through  the  distance,  it  seems  as  if 
there  was  far  more  reverence,  more  con- 
scientious worship  in  those  primitive  gath- 
erings than  in  the  present  up-to-date 
churches  with  their  upholstered  chairs,  their 
pipe-organs,  their  paid  choirs  and  their 
chiming  church  bells. 


CHAPTER  V. 


FIRST    RAILROAD. 


In  the  closing  days  of  1870  the  '^iron 
horse"  made  its  first  appearance  in  Wex- 
ford county,  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana 
Railroad  having  completed  its  line  as  far 
as  Little  Clam  lake,  some  six  miles  north- 
ward from  the  southern  boundary  of  the 
county.  The  original  survey  contemplated 
having  the  line  pass  between  Big  Cfam  lake 
and  Little  Clam  lake,*  but  through  the 
efforts  of  George. A.  Mitchell,  who  had  pur- 
chased quite  a  large  tract  of  pine  timber 
on  the  east  shore  of  the  little  lake,  and 
whose  sagacious  eye  foresaw  the  advantages 
of  having  mills  at  the  eastern  end^  of 
a  body  of  water  where  the  prevailing  west- 
erly winds  would  very  materially  assist  in 
floating  timber  to  them,  the  railroad  com- 
pany was  induced  to  swing  eastward  from 
its  orignal  survey  and  pass  around  the  east 
end  of  the  lake.  The  advantages  that  have 
resulted  from  this  change  of  course  can 
hardly  be  realized  by  one  not  familiar  with 
lumbering  operations,  but  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  there  would  have  been  no  city 
of  Cadillac  in  Wexford  county  if  the  rail- 


*  These  lakes  have  just  been  re-christened,  and  the  smaller 
one  will  hereafter  be  known  as  Lake  Cadillac,  and  the  larger  one 
as  Lake  Mitchell. 


road  had  passed,  as  first  intended,  between 
the  lakes. 

With  the  advent  .  of  railroads  came  a 
complete  change  in  the  base  of  business  for 
the  whole  county.  As  soon  as  regular  trains 
could  be  run  the  mail  route  was  changed 
and  the  daily  stage  coaches,  which  had  been 
running  over  the  old  state  road,  first  to 
Cedar  Springs,  then  to  Morley,  and  then 
to  Big  Rapids,  from  Traverse  City,  were 
started  on  the  new  route  to  Clam  Lake,  as 
it  was  then  called.  Merchants  began  to 
have  their  goods  shipped  to  the  new  rail- 
road terminal,  and  business  with  Traverse 
City  from  that  day  almost  entirely  ceased. 

During  the  winter  of  1871  fire 
destroyed  the  saw-mill  of  J.  H.  Wheeler, 
causing  much  inconvenience  and  delay  in 
getting  out  the  material  with  which  to  com- 
plete the  court  house.  The  work  of  re- 
building was  begun  at  once  and  when  spring 
opened  it  was  again  in  running  order. 
Another  serious  difficulty  encountered  in 
the  building  of  the  court  house,  as  well  as 
all  matters  of  public  nature,  was  the  slow 
process  of  getting  returns  from  taxes  lev- 
ied. Far  the  larger  share  of  the  real  estate 
in  the  county  was  owned  by  non-residents, 


?40 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  paying  their 
taxes  at  the  auditor  general's  office  in  Lan- 
sing and  who  for  several  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  county  followed  the 
same  practice.  In  those  days  there  was 
only  a  yearly  settlement  with  the  state,  in- 
stead of  quarterly  as  at  present,  and  so  the 
taxes  assessed  in  any  given  year  were  re- 
turned to  the  county  treasurer  in  March  of 
the  next  year,  if  not  paid,  and  in  the  Oc- 
tober following  the  county  treasurer  would 
have  to  make  a  trip  to  the  capital  to  settle 
with  the  auditor-general  and  bring  back  the 
money  that  belonged  to  the  county  and  the 
townships.  As  a  result  of  this  process  all 
public  improvements  were  paid  for  with 
orders  drawn  on  the  proper  township  or 
county  funds  and  the  jobber  would  sell 
them  at  the  stores  for  whatever  price  he 
could  get.  So  low  had  the  county's  credit 
got  before  the  court  house  was  completed 
that  the  contractor  sold  a  one  thousand  dol- 
lar county  order  for  eight  hundred  dollars 
and  had  to  take  half  of  that  amount  in 
''store  pay."  Township  and  highway  or- 
ders were  often  sold  at  still  greater  dis- 
counts. 

During  the  summer  of  1871  the  con- 
tinued expansion  of  the  lumbering  interests 
of  Manistee  had  pushed  their  way  up  the 
Manistee  river  until  they  had  invaded  Wex- 
ford county.  Before  logs  could  be  floated 
to  Manistee  it  became  necessary  to  cut  off 
the  great  number  of  sweepers  (fallen  trees 
projecting  into  the  river)  and  clear  away 
the  many  jams  of  flood  wood  reaching  en- 
tirely across  the  river.  This  required  a 
large  force  of  men,  with  axes  and  saws,  and 
long  lines  of  rope,  with  heavy  two,  three 
and    four-shieve    tackle    blocks,    and    even 


with  all  the  necessary  appliances  the  work 
at  times  progressed  very  slowly. 

The  county  of  Missaukee,  which  had  up 
to  this  time  been  a  part  of  Wexford  coun- 
ty since  its  organization  in  1869,  was  or- 
ganized into  a  separate  county  by  the  leg- 
islature of  1 87 1,  and  held  its  first  election 
on  the  first  Monday  in  April  of  that  year. 
This  greatly  reduced  the  aggregate  value  of 
taxable  property  in  the  county,  as  shown  by 
the  equalization  as  fixed  by  the  board  of 
supervisors  at  their  annual  session  in  that 
year,  the  total  valuation  of  the  county  for 
that  year  having  been  fixed  at  $498,861.86, 
including  $35,826.00  of  personal  property. 

In  the  fall  of  1871  Mr.  Ferguson  started 
to  remove  his  home,  which  occupied  the 
present  site  of  the  Sherman  House,  pre- 
paratory to  erecting  a  commodious  hotel. 
It  was  during  the  very  dry  time  in  the  fall 
of  that  year,  which  witnessed  such  vast,  de- 
structive forest  fires  in  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin, as  well  as  the  great  Chicago  fire. 
After  the  first  day's  efforts  in  the  work  of 
moving  the  task  w^as  but  half  accomplished, 
and  the  house  was  left  in  the  street  when 
night  came  on.  About  midnight  a  cry  of 
*Tire''  awoke  the  villagers  and  this  house 
was  found  to  be  in  flames.  Forest  fires 
were  raging  not  more  than  one  hundred 
rods  away,  but  whether  sparks  from  these 
fires  or  the  hand  of  an  incendiary  caused 
the  destruction  of  this  house  was  never 
known.  Many  believed  it  was  the  latter, 
as  Mr.  Ferguson,  in  his  capacity  of  pros- 
ecuting attorney,  had  in  several  cases  been 
instrumental  in  causing  just  punishment  to 
be  meted  out  to  violators  of  the  prohibitory 
liquor  law  which  was  then  upon  the  statute 
books  of  Michigan,  and  it  was  thought  that 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


241 


the  building  was  set  on  fire  as  an  act  of  re- 
venge, but  if  so,  the  guilty  party  was  never 
known. 

In  November,  1871,  Mr.  Ferguson  com- 
menced the  work  of  building  a  hotel,  the  lit- 
tle log  hotel — the  only  hotel  then  at  the 
county  seat — not  being  sufficient  to  accom- 
modate the  growing  needs  of  the  public. 
The  work  was  pushed  along  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  but  in  those  days  every  foot  of 
flooring,  ceiling,  siding  or  finishing  lumber 
had  to  be  dressed  by  hand,  there  being  no 
planing-mill  nearer  than  Traverse  City,  and 
it  would  cost  as  much  to  draw  the  luml>er 
there  and  back  as  it  would  to  hire  the  work 
done  by  hand.  The  hotel  was  finished  some 
time  in  January,  1872,  and  E.  Gilbert,  now 
a  prosperous  merchant  at  Sherman,  was  in- 
stalled as  its  first  landlord.  A  large  school 
house  was  also  put  up  in  the  county  seat 
town  during  the  fall  of  1871  and  was  ready 
for  use  in  December  of  that  year.  Previ- 
ous to  this  there  had  been  no  public  school 
in  the  new  village,  although  a  private  school 
had  been  taught  a  part  of  the  time,  Mrs. 
Gilbert  and  H.  B.  Sturtevant  having  at 
diflierent  times  been   in  charge  as  teacher. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  of 
supervisors  in  1871  a  resolution  was  passed 
authorizing  the  superintendents  of  poor  to 
purchase  a  poor  farm  on  section  16,  in 
what  is  now  Antioch  township.  This  was 
done  and  the  following  summer  a  large 
two-story  building  was  erected  in  which  to 
care  for  such  unfortunates  as  might  be- 
come a  county  charge. 

In  the  early  days  of  1872  there 
came  to  the  county  seat  town  two  young 
and  energetic  men  from  Howell,  Liv- 
ingston county,  to  see  what  encourage- 
ment they  could  get  toward  the  establish- 


ment of  a  newspaper.  Everybody  was  anx- 
ious to  have  a  newspaper  started  and  it  did 
not  take  long  to  secure  pledges  enough  to 
warrant  the  venture,  and  on  the  first  day 
of  May,  1872,  the  first  issue  of  the  Wex- 
ford County  Pioneer  was  printed.  The 
publishers  were  Charles  E.  Cooper,  late  ed- 
itor of  the  Manton  Tribune,  and  A.  W. 
Tucker.  This  was  the  first  newspaper  ven- 
ture in  the  county. 

During  the  year  1872  three  new  town- 
ships were  organized  by  the  board  of  su- 
pervisors, viz :  Clam  Lake,  Cedar  Creek 
and  Antioch.  Quite  a  village  had  sprung 
up  where  now  stands  the  city  of  Cadillac, 
and  it  was  not  long  until  it  became  ap- 
parent that  an  effort  would  be  made  to  se- 
cure the  removal  of  the  county  seat  from 
Sherman  to  the  new  village  of  Clam  Lake. 
The  inauguration,  development  and  success 
of  this  effort  will  be  treated  in  a  separate 
chapter  in  order  to  give  the  details  in  a 
more  connected  manner  than  occasional  ref- 
erence thereto  with  contemporaneous  his- 
tory. The  court  house  was  completed  in 
1872  and  also  a  county  jail,  thus  giving  the 
county  ample  room  for  its  officers  and 
courts,  its  prisoners  and  its  paupers. 

In  the  spring  of  1872  Rev.  Jonas  Den- 
ton, a  Congregational  minister,  located  at 
the  county  seat  and  through  his  efforts  a 
Congregational  church  society  was  organ- 
ized with  the  following  membership,  viz : 
H.  I.  Devoe  and  wife,  C.  L.  Northrup  and 
wife,  A.  Anderson  and  wife  and  Gifford 
Northrup.  Services  were  held  in  the  vil- 
lage school  house  once  in  two  weeks,  al- 
ternating with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
services. 

The  new  county  had  its  first  gen- 
uine experience  with  politics  in  1872.     In 


242 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


that  year  was  held  the  first  presidential 
election  since  the  organization  of  the  coun- 
ty. That  election  witnessed  probably  the 
greatest  number  of  presidential  candidates 
in  the  history  of  the  country.  There  were 
seven  in  all,  as  follows :  Gen.  U.  S.  Grant, 
renominated  by  the  Republican  party; 
Horace  Greeley,  nominated  by  the  Lib- 
eral Republicans  and  endorsed  by  one  wing 
of  the  Democratic  party;  Charles  O'Con- 
nor, nominated  by  the  "straight-out"  Dem- 
ocrats; James  R.  Black,  by  the  Prohibition- 
ists; W.  vS.  Groesbeck,  by  the  Revenue  Re- 
formers; David  Davis,  by  the  Labor  Re- 
form party,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams,  by 
the  Anti-Secret  Society  party. 

During  this  memorable  campaign  the 
first  political  club  ever  known  in  Wexford 
county  was  organized  at  the  county  seat. 
As  a  matter  deemed  worthy  of  historical 
preservation,  the  names  of  the  members  of 
;  Wexford  county's  first  political  club  are  here 
given  as  follows :  W.  J.  Austin,  II  P. 
Champenois,  E.  Gilbert,  J.  H.  Alberts,  E. 
S.  Carpenter,  S.  Gasser,  Harvey  Burt,  E.  J. 
Copley,  N.  L.  Hanna,  J.  P.  Barney,  Jonas 
Denton,  Isaac  Johnson,  Moses  Cole,  Mar- 
tin Daniels,  T.  H.  Lyman,  Charles  E. 
Cooper,  Charles  Fancher,  C.  McClintock, 
William  Cole,  A.  Finch,  William  McClin- 
tock, H.  J.  Carpenter,  T.  A.  Ferguson, 
William  Mears,  Arthur  Morrell,  Nathan  E. 
Soles,  B.  Woods,  C.  L.  Northrup,  H.  B. 
Sturtevant,  J.  S.  Walling,  J.  L.  Newberry, 
Stephen  Snyder,  S.  C.  Worth,  J.  B.  Paul, 
A.  E.  Smith,  George  W.  Wheeler,  James 
Seaton,  A.  W.  Tucker,  J.  S.  York,  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  forty.  It  was  called  the  Grant 
and  Wilson  Club  and  of  its  forty  members 
at  least  one-half  are  still  living,  and  al- 
though a  few  have  drifted  into  other  po- 


litical organizations,  nearly  all  of  the  sur- 
viving members  are  still  true  to  the  party 
whose  principles  they  subscribed  to  over 
thirty  years  ago. 

We  had  few  speeches,  no  torch-light 
processions,  no  barbecues,  no  bonfires;  in- 
deed, there  was  no  occasion  for  such  things, 
for  Wexford  county  politics  in  those  days 
was  somewhat  like  the  handle  to  a  jug — 
wonderfully  one-sided.  The  total  vote  for 
presidential  electors  was  three  hundred  and 
fifty-one,  of  which  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-seven were  in  favor  of  U.  S.  Grant 
and  seventy-four  for  Horace  Greeley. 
Neither  of  the  other  five  candidates  re- 
ceived a  vote  in  Wexford  county.  At  the 
November  election  in  1872  the  following 
county  officers  were  elected,  all  Republi- 
cans: Sherifl:',  E.  D.  Abbott;  clerk,  and 
register,  H.  B.  Sturtevant;  treasurer,  Ezra 
Harger;  prosecuting  attorney  and  circuit 
court  commissioner,  S.  S.  Fallass;  judge  of 
probate,  William  Mears;  surveyor,  A.  K. 
Herrington. 

In  this  election  Hon.  T.  A.  Ferguson 
was  elected  representative  in  the  state  leg- 
islature for  the  district  to  which  Wex- 
ford county  was  attached.  The  bill  intro- 
duced by  him,  and  which  his  efforts  secured 
the  passage  of,  which  most  largely  inter- 
ested his  constituents  and  gained  for  him 
their  united  praise  was  the  act  taxing  rail- 
road lands.  The  railroad  company  claimed 
that  their  lands  should  not  be  taxed  until 
five  years  after  the  issuing  of  the  patents 
therefor,  and  even  after  the  passage  of  this 
bill  introduced  by  Mr.  Ferguson  they  re- 
fused to  pay  the  first  tax  levied  against 
their  lands,  claiming  the  law  to  be  unconsti- 
tutional. They  took  the  case  to  the  su- 
preme court,  got  beaten  and  thereafter  their 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


243 


lands  helped  to  pay  the  burden  lx)me  by  the 
pubHc  for  the  support  of  government. 

During  the  summer  of  1872  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  was  pushed  on 
through  the  county  and  as  a  result  another 
new  village  came  into  existence.  It  was  at 
first  called  Cedar  Creek,  after  the  township 
in  which  it  was  located,  but  later  the  name 
was  changed  to  Manton.  This  shortened 
the  distance  from  the  county  seat  to  the 
railroad  by  nearly  one-half  and  enabled  the 
making  of  a  round  trip  in  a  day  instead  of 
taking  two  days,  as  before.  The  mail  route 
was  soon  changed  and  all  railroad  business 
was  thereafter  transferred  to  the  new  sta- 
tion. 

A  second  newspaper  was  started  in  the 
county  in  1872,  its  first  issue  appearing 
June  1st.  It  was  given  the  name  of  the 
Clam  Lake  News,  and  was  published  by  C. 
L.  Frazier  for  a  few  months,  but  in  No- 
vember of  that  year  its  management  was 
assumed  by  S.  S.  Fallass,  the  new  prose- 
cuting attorney-elect. 

The  year  1872  witnessed  the  inau- 
guration of  the  stupendous  lumbering 
operations,  which  has  at  last  swept 
away  nearly  the  last  vestige  of  the  large 
tracts  of  pine  timber  which  the  county  then 
possessed.  In  addition  to  the  heavy  opera- 
tions along  the  Manistee  river,  the  new  vil- 
lage of  Clam  Lake  was  a  genuine  lumbering 
town.  As  early  as  June,  1872,  there  had 
been  two  saw-mills,  each  with  a  capacity  of 
twenty-five  thousand  feet  per  day,  put  in 
operation,  and  a  few  months  later  two  oth- 
ers were  started,  with  a  capacity  of  forty 
and  sixty  thousand  feet  per  day,  respective- 
ly. These  four  mills  manufactured  about 
four  million  feet  of  lumber  per  month,  or 
nearly  fifty  million  per  year. 

If  one  stops  a  moment  to  contemplate 


the  work  of  these  mills,  and  those  built  soon 
afterward  at  Haring,  Long  Lake,  Bond's 
Mills,  McCoy's  Siding  and  on  the  shores  of 
Clam  lake,  and  their  constant  operation  for 
ten,  fifteen  and  twenty  years  each,  he  can 
get  some  idea  of  the  vast  wealth  in  the  pine 
forests  in  Wexford  county  at  that  early 
day. 

During  the  legislative  session  of  1873  ^^^ 
act  was  passed  detaching  the  township  of* 
Cleon  from  Manistee  county  and  attach- 
ing it  to  Wexford  county.  The  act  was 
thought  to  be  unconstitutional,  as  it  changed 
the  boundaries  of  legislative  and  judicial 
districts  in  effect,  though  not  specifically 
providing  for  such  changes,  consequently  it 
had  to  be  re-enacted  at  the  next  session  of 
the  legislature.  This  town  remained  a  part 
of  Wexford  county  until  the  year  1881, 
when,  by  act  of  the  legislature,  it  was  set 
back  into  Manistee  county.  While  it  re- 
mained in  Wexford  county,  Alonzo  Chubb, 
one  of  its  most  prominent  citizens,  was 
elected  judge  of  probate  for  Wexford  coun- 
ty and  served  a  four-year  term. 

Two  new  townships  were  organized  by 
the  legislature  of  1873,  ^^^  •  Haring  and 
Greenwood,  the  former  consisting  of  town- 
ship 22  north  of  range  9  west,  and  the  lat- 
ter of  town  24  north  of  ranges  9  and  10 
west,  making  thirteen  towlnships  in  the  coun-^ 
ty.  The  first  agricultural  society  in  the  coun- 
ty was  organized  in  October,  1873,  ^^^^^^ 
Alonzo  Chubb  as  president;  A.  M.  Lamb,  of 
Clam  Lake,  T.  A.  Ferguson,  of  Hanover, 
and  Warren  Seaman,  of  Cedar  Creek,  vice- 
presidents;  George  Manton,  of  Colfax,  as 
secretary,  and  C.  J.  Mankletow,  of  Selma, 
as  treasurer. 

Rev.  R.  Rideoff  succeeded  Mr.  Denton 
as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  at 
Sherman  in  April,   1873,  and  through  his 


244 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


efforts  the  vSociety  built  a  church  building 
during  the  summer,  which  was  dedicated 
October  1 1  of  that  year.  This  was  the  first 
church  building  erected  at  the  county  seat 
and  the  second  in  the  county,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  society  of  Clam  Lake  having  got- 
ten their  church  edifice  in  condition  for  oc- 
cupancy in  July  of  that  year. 


As  a  result  of  the  taxation  of  the  rail- 
road company's  lands,  the  aggregate  valu- 
ation of  the  county,  as  equalized  by  the 
board  of  supervisors  in  October,  1873,  was 
$1,423,416.63,  greatly  reducing  the  rate  of 
taxation  and  thereby  relieving  a  part  of  the 
burden  which  had  hitherto  been  borne  by 
the  people  of  the  county. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


WOMAN  SUFFRAGE- 


STATE  CENSUS— COUNTY  ELECTIONS- 
BEAR   TRAPPING. 


To  show  that  Wexford  county  was 
still  quite  a  wilderness  in  1874,  two  local 
trappers,  by  the  name  of  Walter  and  Jesse 
Mesick,  caught  twenty-four  bears  in  the 
spring  of  that  year,  besides  the  capture  of 
several  others  by  other  residents  of  the 
county.  Deer  were  also  very  numerous  and 
many  a  settler  saved  a  considerable  portion 
of  his  meat  bill  by  eating  venison;  in  fact, 
many  of  them  were  without  the  necessary 
means  to  purchase  meat,  and  wild  meat  was 
all  they  had.  Many  a  saddle  of  venison 
was  left  at  the  door  of  needy  settlers  by  the 
Mesick  brothers,  with  no  thought  of  re- 
ward. 

It  must  I)e  borne  in  mind  that  the  early 
settlers  in  this  county,  as  in  all  new  coun- 
ties, were  of  limited  means,  and  by  the  time 
they  had  paid  for  moving  their  families  and 
household  goods  thirty  to  fifty  miles  to  their 


homesteads  and  had  gotten  up  a  little  house 
to  shelter  them,  their  money  in  many  in- 
stances was  about  exhausted.  One  of  to- 
day's prosperous  men  in  Wexford  county 
had  to  work  out  by  day's  work  to  earn  the 
money  to  pay  the  freight  on  his  goods  aft- 
er their  arrival  at  Traverse  City.  It  was  no 
uncommon  occurrence  that  people  would 
sometimes  live  for  days  and  weeks  upon 
potatoes  and  salt.  Even  leeks  were  resorted 
to  as  an  article  of  diet  by  some,  and  there 
are  merchants  and  ex-postmasters  still  liv- 
ing in  the  county  who  can  well  remember 
the  odor  brought  into  their  places  of  busi- 
ness by  those  who  resorted  to  this  produc- 
tion of  nature  to  eke  out  their  scanty  supply 
of  food.  It  may  be  said  that  these  men 
might  have  gone  out  and  worked  for  others 
and  earned  enough  to  have  lived  more  com- 
fortably, but  let  any  such  imagine  a  man 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


245 


with  a  family  going  twenty-five  miles  from 
the  nearest  trading  point,  through  a  dense 
forest,  and  starting  in  to  make  a  home.  No 
team,  no  cow,  nothing  but  his  hands  with 
which  to  fell  and  clear  away  the  monarchs 
of  the  forest  and  erect  a  log  house  to  live  in. 
His  neighbors  were  few  and,  for  the  most 
part,  in  like  circumstances  as  himself. 
When  such  conditions  are  realized,  one  can 
see  that  the  result  must  have  been  privation. 
Of  course  these  pioneers  had  to  work  out 
some  of  the  time,  but  they  had  the  courage 
and  fortitude  to  suffer  privation  for  a  time, 
that  they  might  the  sooner  be  in  a  position 
to  raise  the  necessaries  of  life  upon  their 
own  land. 

The  census  of  1874  showed  a  popula- 
tion of  thirty-one  hundred  and  twenty-five, 
as  compared  with  six  hundred  and  seventy 
in  1870,  a  gain  of  over  four  hundred  and 
fifty  per  cait.  This  is  the  most  rapid 
growth  in  the  history  of  the  county  and  was 
the  direct  result  of  the  building  of  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  and  the 
advent  of  newspapers  in  the  county.  Many 
a  settler  was  induced  to  come  to  the  coun- 
ty from  reading  about  it  in  the  papers  pub- 
lished in  the  county. 

The  legislature  of  1873  passed  a  resolu- 
tion submitting  to  the  people  a  constitu- 
tional amendment  granting  to  women  the 
right  of  suft'rage,  the  vote  on  its  adoption 
to  be  taken  at  the  general  election  in  No- 
vember, 1874.  There  was  an  animated  dis- 
cussion of  the  question  in  the  county  dur- 
ing the  summer,  but  of  course  the  amend- 
ment was  defeated.  The  public  mind  was 
not  ripe  for  such  a  movement  at  that  early 
date.  It  might  not  be  amiss  to  reproduce  a 
prediction  made  by  "Zelma,"  a  correspond- 
ent of  the  Wexford  County  Pioneer  dur- 


ing that  canvass :  ''But  with  all  the  oppo- 
sition men  can  ofifer,  this  measure  will  be- 
come a  law  all  over  the  United  States. 
Tis  just  as  certain  to  l^e  as  the  sun  is  to  rise. 
It  will  probably  be  years  before  it  becomes 
general,  but,  like  the  eels,  they'll  like  it  when 
they  get  used  to  it."  This  prophecy  of  near- 
ly thirty  years  ago  has,  in  part,  been  ful- 
filled already,  and  who  shall  say  the  time 
will  not  come  when  it  will  be  true  entirely? 

The  township  of  Liberty  was  organized 
by  the  board  of  supervisors  in  October, 
1874,  making  fourteen  organized  townships 
in  the  county.  The  county  campaign  of 
1874  was  really  the  first  hotly  contested  one 
had  in  the  county.  Both  parties  put  up 
strong  tickets,  and  a  vigorous  fight  was 
made  by  each.  The  opposing  tickets  were 
as  follows :  Sheriff,  J.  Shackleton,  Repub- 
lican, J.  E.  Culver,  Democrat;  treasur- 
er, E.  Harger,  Rep.,  I.  H.  Maqueston,  Dem. ; 
clerk  and  register,  H.  B.  Sturtevant,  Rep. : 
clerk,  E.  Shay,  Dem. ;  register,  I.  N. 
Carpenter,  Dem. ;  prosecuting  attorney  and 
circuit  court  commissioner,  D.  A.  Rice, 
Rep.,  E.  F.  Sawyer,  Dem. ;  surveyor,  C.  J. 
Mankleton,  Rep.,  S.  H.  Beardsley,  Dem. ; 
superintendent  of  schools,  A.  K.  Harring- 
ton, Rep.,  William  L.  Tilden,  Dem.;  coro- 
ners, H.  N.  Green  and  George  Roth,  Reps., 
H.  B.  Wilcox  and  William  E.  Dean,  Dems. 

The  Republicans  elected  their  entire 
ticket  except  the  surveyor,  though  some  of 
the  majorities  were  quite  small.  Sheriff 
Shackleton  had  226  majority;  H.  B.  Sturt- 
evant had  113  majority  for  clerk  and  80  for 
register;  E.  Harger  had  22y  majority  for 
treasurer;  S.  H.  Beardsley  (Dem.),  39  ma- 
jority for  surveyor;  D.  A.  Rice  had  483 
majority  for  prosecuting  attorney,  and  cir- 
cuit court  commissioner,  Mr.  Sawyer  having 


246 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


withdrawn  from  the  contest;  A.  K.  Har- 
rington had  223  majority  for  superintend- 
ent of  schools ;  and  H.  N.  Green  and  George 
Roth  had  214  and  8,  respectively,  for  cor- 
oners. 

Hon.  T.  A.  Ferguson  was  renominated 
for  representative  in  the  state  legislature, 
his  opponent  being  a  Mr.  Holbrook,  of 
Clam  Lake.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Ferguson  in  his  first  term  had  secured  the 
passage  of  the  bill  annexing  Cleon  to  Wex- 
ford county,  and  the  further  fact  that  it  was 
thought  to  be  necessary  to  do  the  work  over 
again  to  make  it  entirely  legal,  and  also  to 
the  fact  that  the  people  of  Clam  Lake  did 
not  want  the  town  to  remain  in  Wexford 
county,  as  it  tended  to  prevent  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  to  that  village,  the  Clam 
Lake  News,  a  Republican  journal,  espoused 
the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Holbrook,  the  nomi- 
nee of  the  Democratic  party,  and  did  all  in 
its  power  to  secure  his  election.  Notwith- 
standing this,  Mr.  Ferguson  was  elected  by 
nearly  five  hundred  majority  in  the  district. 

The  first  agricultural  fair  in  Wexford 
county  was  held  in  October,  1874.  A  very 
good  display  was  made  in  the  various  de- 
partments, but,  owing  to  the  newness  of  the 
country,  the  only  fruit  shown  was  a  plate  of 
grapes  grown  by  H.  J.  Carpenter.  C.  L. 
Northrup,  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  the 
county,  having  taken  up  the  study  of  the 
law  in  the  office  of  T.  A.  Ferguson,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  the  summer  of  1874  and 
commenced  practicing  with  Mr.  Ferguson, 
the  name  of  the  new  firm  being  Ferguson  & 
Nortrup. 

As  previously  stated,  the  Grand  Rap- 
ids &  Indiana  Railroad  Company  took  the 
case  of  the  taxation  of  their  lands  to  the  su- 
preme court,  and  in  March,  1875,  ^  decision 


was  reached  upholding  the  law  and  requir- 
ing the  company  to  pay  taxes  that  had  been 
assessed  aginst  its  lands.  As  a  result  of  this 
decision,  there  was  paid  into  the  treasury 
of  Wexford  county  in  the  spring  of  1875 
the  sum  of  $33,207.08,  which  should  have 
been  paid  during  the  two  preceding  years. 
A  large  portion  of  the  money — in  fact,  near- 
ly all  of  it — went  back  to  the  townships, 
consequently  the  latter  were  enabled  to  make 
great  improvements  in  roads  and  school 
houses  and  to  pay  up  indebtedness  caused 
by  the  refusal  of  the  railroad  company  to 
pay  their  taxes  when  they  were  due. 

At  the  spring  election  in  1875  Harrison 
H.  Wheeler  was  elected  judge  of  the  cir- 
cuit to  which  Wexford  county  belonged, 
over's.  W.  Fowler,  of  Manistee,  his  Dem- 
ocratic opponent.  Judge  Wheeler  had  previ- 
ously served  the  circuit  some  time,  having 
been  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  Judge  White.  So  well 
was  Judge  Wheeler  liked  that  he  received 
almost  the  solid  vote  of  Wexford  county 
and  in  several  townships  in  the  county  there 
was  not  a  vote  cast  for  his  opponent. 

In  those  days  there  was  no  limit  to  the 
number  of  special  meetings  the  board  of 
supervisors  could  have  during  a  year,  and 
such  meetings  were  sometimes  very  fre- 
quent. To  such  an  extent  were  these  special 
meetings  indulged  in  that  it  came  to  be  re- 
marked, when  the  notice  of  a  special  meet- 
ing was  seen,  ''It  must  be  that  the  super- 
visors are  getting  out  of  pork  again."  Two 
of  these  special  sessions  of  the  board  were 
held  during  the  summer  of  1875,  ^^  both 
of  which  a  petition  for  the  organization  of  a 
township,  to  be  called  the  township  of  Sum- 
mit, was  presented.  Action  on  these  peti- 
tions was  frustrated  at  both  of  these  meet- 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


247 


ings,  principally  because  of  the  bearing  the 
organization  of  this  town  would  have  on  the 
county  seat  question,  but  at  the  annual  ses- 
sion of  the  board  the  matter  was  again 
brought  up  under  a  new  petition,  asking 
that  the  same  territory  be  organized  into  a 
township  to  be  called  Boon.  This  effort 
was  successful  and  another  township  was 
added  to  the  roll  of  townships  in  the 
county. 

The  Colorado  potato  beetle,  a  few  spec- 
imens of  which  had  been  noticed  in  1874, 
became  quite  numerous  in  1875.  Many 
ways  of  destroying  them  were  suggested 
and  tried,  but  nothing  except  the  poison 
method  succeeded.  Much  was  said  at  the 
time  against  the  use  of  paris  green,  it  be- 
ing claimed  that  the  plant  would  absorb  the 
poison  and  convey  it  to  the  tubers  and  thus 
injure  those  who  ate  them,  but  experience 
has  proved  the  fallacy  of  such  reasoning. 
Much  was  written  about  the  new  pest,  and 
the  general  belief  was  that  it  would  not  re- 
main long,  but  pass  away  like  the  Jocusts, 
Subsequent  experience,  however,  has 
shown  this  little  beetle  to  have  the  great- 
est staying  qualities  of  anything  known  to 
the  nineteenth  century.  It  seems  a  little 
strange  that  this  destructive  beetle  should 
have  remained  in  its  native  haunts  and  let 
potatoes  grow  for  two  or  three  hundred 
years  unmolested,  and  then  suddenly  swoop 
down  upon  the  whole  land  in  numbers  suf- 
ficient to  destroy  the  entire  crop,  if  let  alone. 
Perhaps  the  rapaciousness  of  its  appetite 
can  be  partially  accounted  for  by  these  long 
years  of  waiting  for  its  favorite  dish  of  po- 
tatoes. 

The  most  destructive  June  frost  ever  ex- 
perienced in  the  county  occurred  on  June 
12,    1875.      Winter    wheat    and    rye   had 


headed  out  and  were  thus  ruined  by  the 
frost.  A  few  settlers  tried  the  experiment 
of  mowing  down  the  growth  already  made, 
and  those  w4io  did  so  were  rewarded  with 
a  second  growth,  which  yielded  ten  or 
twelve  bushels  to  the  acre,  but  the  fields 
that  were  left  uncut  proved  almost  an  utter 
failure.  The  frost  was  so  severe  that  it 
killed  the  new  growth  on  the  beech  tree 
branches  and  the  leaves  as  well.  It  did  no 
injury  to  fruit,  for  the  very  good  reason 
that  there  had  been  no  fruit  trees  planted 
long  enough  to  bud  or  blossom.  The  usual 
early  snow  falls  did  not  occur  in  the  fall 
of  1875  and  the  year  closed  with  the  mild- 
est weather  for  the.  season  ever  before 
known  since  the  first  settlement  of  the  coun- 
ty. Games  of  base  ball  were  played  the 
first  day  of  the  year  1876  in  Sherman,  and 
it  was  not  until  near  the  close  of  January 
that  sufficient  snow  fell  to  make  good 
sleighing. 

An  effort  was  made  early  in  1876  to 
organize  a  company  to  be  known  as  The 
Manistee  River  Navigation  Company,  with 
a  capital  stock  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  the 
object  being  to  put  a  boat  on  the  river  to 
run  between  Manistee  and  Sherman,  but  the 
project  was  abandoned  as  sufficient  sub- 
scription for  stock  could  not  be  secured. 

The  first  mowing  machine  brought  into 
Wexford  county  was  purchased  by  Jerome 
Bartley  in  the  summer  of  1876.  Previous 
to  this  time  all  hay  and  grain  raised  in  the 
county  had  been  cut  with  the  scythe  and 
the  cradle.  At  the  election  of  November, 
1876,  the  county  cast  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-eight  votes  for  president,  six  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  for  Hayes  and  Wheeler, 
three  hundred  and  eighteen  for  Tilden  and 
Hendricks,  one  for  Peter  Cooper   (Green- 


248 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


back)  and  "one  for  the  Prohibition  candi- 
date. The  new  county  officers  were  all  Re- 
publican, thongh  one  of  them,  Alonzo 
Chubb,  judge  of  probate,  was  elected  on  an 
''independent"  ticket,  defeating  the  Repub- 
lican nominee  for  that  office.  Rev.  A.  L. 
Thurston. 

As  a  general,  rather  than  a  local,  his- 
toric fact,  it  might  be  well  to  mention  the 
first  effort  toward  the  resumption  of  specie 
payment  by  the  government.  Congress  had 
provided  for  the  coinage  of  twenty-six  mil- 
lions of  silver  bullion  into  minor  coins  with 
which  to  redeem  the  fractional  paper  cur- 
rency that  had  served  the  people  for 
''change"  since  1863.  It  was  a  novel  thing 
to  many  of  the  younger  people  to  see  "hard" 
money  instead  of  "soft"  money  in  circula- 
tion, as  no  one  under  eighteen  years  of  age 
could  remember  to  have  seen  the  like  before. 
It  was  not  long  until  the  great  volume  of 
"shin  plasters"  had  entirely  disappeared  and 
their  place  filled  by  the  minor  silver  coins. 

This  was  a  wonderful  help  in  paving 
the  way  for  a  complete  resumption  of  specie 
payment,  which  was  brought  about  only  a 
few  years  later.  The  legislature  of  1877 
passed  a  law  granting  a  city  charter  to  the 
village  of  Clam  Lake,  though  under  a  new 
name,  Cadillac.  It  is  quite  doubtbul  if  this 
little  town  would  have  thought  of  being 
made  a  city,  much  less  to  change  its  name, 
had  it  not  been  for  its  desire  to  become  the 
county  seat.  A  bill  of  this  kind  would  have 
met  with  strenuous  objections  from  other 
sections  of  the  county  had  not  its  origin  and 
pathway  through  the  legislature  been 
shielded  by  a  new  and  mysterious  name. 
So  completely  did  this  name  hide  the  object 
of  the  bill  that  no  one  except  those  on  the 
"inside"  were  aware  of  the  object  sought 


until  it  had  passed  both  houses  and  been 
signed  by  the  governor. 

This  act  provided  for  dividing  the  city 
into  three  wards  and  giving  to  each  ward 
a  supervisor,  who,  of  course,  was  a  member 
of  the  board  of  supervisors,  thus  giving  to 
the  township  of  Clam  Lake  a  representa- 
tion of  four  on  the  board,  one  from  the  town 
and  three  from  the  city,  that  was  within 
the  limits  of  the  town,  except  a  little  strip 
that  was  taken  from  the  township  of  Rar- 
ing. There  were  only  about  six  or  seven 
hundred  people  in  the  new  city,  the  school 
census  for  the  previous  year  showing  but 
three  hundred  and  fifty  children  of  school 
age  in  the  entire  township  of  Clam  Lake, 
including  the  village .  The  number  of 
school  children  in  the  other  townships  of 
the  county  at  that  time  was  as  follows : 
Antioch,  90;  Cedar  Creek,  119;  Cherry 
Grove,  25;  Cleon,  23;  Colfax,  92;  Green- 
wood, 8;  Hanover,  58;  Haring,  10;  Hen- 
derson, 4:  Liberty,  13;  Selma,  51;  Spring- 
ville,  20;  Wexford,  100;  total  for  the  coun- 
ty, 958.  Another  new  township  by  the 
name  of  Sherman,  was  organized  in  1877, 
consisting  of  section  i  in  town  23,  north  of 
range  12  west,  section  6  in  town  23,  north 
of  range  it  west,  section  31  in  town  24, 
north  of  range  11  west,  and  section  36  in 
town  24,  north  of  range  12  west. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1877 
a  company  was  organized  with  the  object 
in  view  of  building  a  narrow  gauge  rail- 
road from  Sherman  to  Cadillac.  A  pre- 
liminary survey  was  made  of  the  proposed 
road  and  the  route  pronounced  feasible,  but 
the  promoters  were  not  able  to  interest  cap- 
italists with  sufficient  means  to  warrant  the 
building  of  the  road  and  nothing  further 
was  ever  done  in  the  matter. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


THE  COUNTY  SEAT— EFFORTS  TO  SECURE  ITS  REMOVAL  FROM  SHER- 
MAN—SCHEMES TO    PREVENT    REMOVAL— FINAL  RESULT. 


The  first  efifort  made  for  the  removal  of 
the  county  seat  from  Sherman  was  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  board  of  supervisors 
in  1872.  Mr.  Hollister,  supervisor  from 
Clam  Lake  township,  introduced  the  reso- 
lution, and  the  place  designated  for  the  pro- 
posed location  was  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake.  This  resolution  was  defeated  by  a 
vote  of  four  yeas  to  five  nays.  Not  daunted 
by  this  defeat,  Mr.  Hollister  renewed  his 
efforts  at  the  January  meeting  of  the  board 
in  1873,  but  the  result  was  more  disastrous 
than  before,  there  being  but  three  votes  for 
the  resolution  to  six  against.  During  the 
legislative  session  of  1873  the  township  of 
Cleon,  as  before  stated,  was  attached  to 
Wexford  county,  which  was  a  purely  coun- 
ty-seat move.  The  legislature  had  some 
scruples  against  taking  this  town  away 
from  Manistee  county  and  placing  it  in 
Wexford  county,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
secure  a  petition  signed  by  residents  of 
Manistee  county,  outside  of  the  township 
of  Cleon,  as  well  as  those  in  that  township, 
who  favored  the  proposition.  According- 
ly a  messenger  was  sent  to  Manistee  vil- 
lage with  a  properly  drawn  petition  and  a 


long  list  of  names  was  secured.  To  show 
how  easily  one  can  get  names  signed  to  al- 
most any  kind  of  a  petition,  this  messenger 
reported  that  he  would  go  ino  a  s'aloon,  call 
up  all  hands  for  a  drink,  pull  out  his  petition, 
and  nine  out  of  ten  would  sign  it  without 
reading  it  or  hearing  it  read.  To  look  at 
the  petition  w^hen  it  came  back  one  would 
think  that  every  last  resident  of  Manistee 
wanted  Cleon  to  go,  and  would  almost  be 
willing  to  pay  something  if  she  would  go. 
\^^ith  petitions  by  the  yard  from  Wex- 
ford county,  the  names  upon  which  were 
too  often  fictitious,  and  such  a  formidable 
petition  from  Manistee  county,  it  was  not 
very  hard  to  convince  the  legislature  that 
Wexford  county  ought  to  have  Cleon.  One 
of  the  strong  arguments  used  was  the  de- 
scription of  an  almost  impenetrable  swamp 
adjoining  Cleon  on  the  west  and  south 
which  made  it  almost  impossible  to  get  to 
Manistee,  twenty-five  miles  away,  while  the 
distance  to  Sherman,  the  county  seat  of 
Wexford  county,  was  only  six  to  eight 
miles,  with  comparatively  good  roads.  The 
arguments  and  petitions  did  their  work  and 
Cleon  come  into  Wexford  county  and  re- 


250 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


mained  with  us  until  1881.  With  five  su- 
pervisors that  could  be  depended  upon  to 
vote  against  removal,  the  question  was  not 
again  brought  before  the  board  of  supervis- 
ors until  June,  1876,  although  it  frequently 
cropped  out  in  the  newspapers  and  once 
again  in  the  legislature,  in  1875,  when  the 
Cleon  bill  had  to  be  re-enacted,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  first  bill  was  thought  to  be  un- 
constitutional. 

On  the  T4th  of  June,  1876,  two  resolu- 
tions for  removal  were  introduced  at  a 
special  meeting  of  the  board  of  supervisors, 
one  by  Warren  Seaman,  of  Cedar  Creek 
township,  for  removal  to  Manton  village, 
which  had  by  this  time  become  an  aspirant 
for  county-seat  honors,  and  the  other  by 
William  Kelley,  of  Clam  Lake  township,  to 
remove  to  the  village  of  Clam  Lake.  On 
each  of  these  resolutions  the  votes  stood, 
yeas,  eight,  and  nays,  eight. 

At  a  special  meeting  of  the  board  held 
January  11,  1877,  a  resolution  was  intro- 
duced by  R.  D.  Cuddeback,  supervisor  of 
Haring  township,  to  remove  the  county  seat 
to  section  5,  in  town  2;^,  north  of  range  9 
west,  the  vote  on  which  resolution  was  six 
yeas  and  nine  nays. 

When  it  became  known,  some  time  in 
March,  1877,  that  the  village  of  Clam  Lake 
had  been  transformed  into  a  city  under  the 
name  of  Cadillac,  and  that  after  the  first 
Monday  in  April  she  would  have  three 
members  on  the  board  of  supervisors,  steps 
were  xit  once  taken  to  checkmate  this  new 
scheme  for  the  removal  of  the  county  seat. 
Plans  were  devised  for  the  organization  of 
four  new  townships  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  county,  in  order  to  hold  the  balance  of 
power  on  the  board  of  supervisors.  One  of 
these  new  townships  was  to  consist  of  that 


part  of  Cedar  Creek  township  lying  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana 
Railroad,  and  was  to  be  called  Westside. 
Another  was  to  consist  of  the  north  half  of 
the  township  of  Colfax  and  to  be  called 
Wheatland.  The  third  was  to  consist  of 
town  22,  north  of  range  12  west,  together 
with  the  southern  tier  of  sections  from  town 
23,  north  of  range  12  west,  which  were  put 
in,  in  order  to  have  voters  enough  to  hold 
the  offices,  and  was  to  be  christened  Dover, 
and  the  fourth  was  the  township  of  Sher- 
man, heretofore  described.  In  order  to  get 
these  towns  organized  and  officers  elected  in 
time  to  prevent  any  mischief  which  might 
be  done  by  the  addition  of  the  three  new 
supervisors  from  the  city^  of  Cadillac,  a 
special  m.eeting  of  the  board  was  called  for 
March  30th.  For  fear  that  dilatory  tactics 
would  be  resorted  to  in  this  work,  a  rule 
was  adopted  as  soon  as  the  board  was  called 
to  order,  which  provided  that  no  member 
should  speak  more  than  once  on  any  sub- 
ject without  the  consent  of  the  board  and 
should  not  have  more  than  fifteen  minutes 
time  without  such  consent. 

Lender  this  '^gag  rule''  the  resolutions 
organizing  these  towns  were  passed.  The 
board  took  a  recess  until  seven  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  and  the  supervisors  from  the 
northeast  part  of  the  county  requested  a 
conference  at  the  house  of  H.  B.  Sturte- 
vant  with  the  supervisors  from  the  north- 
west part  of  the  county  before  the  board 
should  re-assemble.  The  object  of  this  con- 
ference was  kept  an  entire  secret  until  all 
were  present,  when  the  subject  of  a  vote  to 
remove  the  county  seat  to  Manton  was 
broached.  The  writer  was  a  member  of  that 
conference,  and  when  this  proposition  was 
made   the    Sherman   supervisors,    as    those 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


261 


from  the  northwest  part  of  the  county  were 
designated,  protested  and  argued  that  the 
question  of  removal  had  not  been  consid- 
ered in  the  preHminary  work  of  making 
these  four  towns,  only  so  far  as  it  would 
offset  the  advantage  that  Cadillac  had 
gained  by  the  city  charter.  The  supervisors 
from  Manton  were  obstinate  and  when  the 
Sherman  supervisors  would  not  yield,  they 
declared  that  •  they  would  have  the  resolu- 
tions organizing  the  new  towns  reconsid- 
ered if  they  could  not  secure  the  passage  of 
a  resolution  to  remove  the  county  seat  to 
Manton.  This  open  threat  was  too  much 
for  the  Sherman  supervisors  and  they 
''bolted"  the  conference. 

When  the  evening  session  of  the  board 
convened  the  Manton  members,  true  to  their 
threat,  moved  to  reconsider  one  after  an- 
other of  these  organization  resolutions  and 
lay  them  upon  the  table,  the  Cadillac  su- 
pervisors being  only  too  glad  to  assist  in 
this  work.  A  halt  was  called  when  the 
Sherman  resolution  was  reached  and  then 
it  began  to  dawn  upon  the  members  from 
M^anton  that  they  were  playing  with  dan- 
gerous weapons,  and  an  effort  was  made  to 
take  these  resolutions  from  the  table,  but  a 
motion  was  immediately  made  to  adjourn, 
and,  in  explaining  his  vote  on  this  motion, 
S.  S.  F'allass,  of  Clam  Lake,  took  the  floor 
and  made  a  lengthy  speech,  reading  copi- 
ous extracts  from  the  statutes  of  the  state 
and  the  constitution  to  consume  time.  He 
was  called  to  order  time  and  again,  but  the 
chairman  ruled  that  he  was  not  out  of  or- 
der, and  when  an  appeal  was  taken  and  a 
majority  voted  against  the  ruling  of  the 
chair,  the  chairman  boldly  asserted  that  it 
took  a  two-thirds  vote  to  overrule  the  de- 


cision of  the  chair,  and  thus  Mr.  Fallass  was 
allowed  to  continue  his  random,  time-con- 
suming speech,  and  openly  declared  he 
would  talk  the  session  into  Sunday  before 
he  would  yield  the  floor  for  any  motion  ex- 
cept to  adjourn.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to 
send  over  to  the  hotel  about  ten  o'clock  for 
a  lunch  and  ate  his  lunch  during  the  inter- 
vals in  his  speech,  until  finally  the  board, 
becoming  convinced  that  they  were  power- 
less to  do  business  under  the  decision  of  the 
chair,  adjourned,  leaving  the  one  township 
of  Sherman  saved  out  of  the  wreck.  This 
was  practically  the  turning  point  in  the 
county-seat  struggle,  for  had  the  resolu- 
tions organizing  these  other  towns  re- 
mained as  originally  passed,  Sherman 
would  have  held  the  key  to  the  county-seat 
situation  and  would  doubtless  still  have  re- 
tained the  county  seat.  The  supervisor 
from  the  new  township  of  Sherman  was,, 
for  a  long  time,  denied  a  seat  upon  the 
board  of  supervisors,  through  another  ar- 
bitrary act  of  the  clerk  in  refusing  to  call 
his  name,  it  being  claimed  that  the  organi- 
zation of  the  town  was  illegal.  The  matter 
was  taken  to  the  courts,  where  the  organiza- 
tion was  sustained,  after  which  the  super- 
visor was  accorded  his  rights  upon  the 
board. 

At  this  March  meeting  of  the  board 
of  supervisors  another  resolution  for  the  re- 
moval of  the  county  seat  was  offered,  this 
time  to  section  32,  in  Colfax  township. 
This  point  was  very  nearly  the  geograph- 
ical center  of  the  county  and  on  the  shore  of 
Dayhuff  lake,  quite  a  pretty  sheet  of  water 
at  that  time,  but  which,  through  the  clear- 
ing up  of  the  surrounding  lands,  is  gradu- 
ally drying  up.    This  resolution  was  tabled, 


15 


252 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


pending  the  passage  of  the  resolutions  to 
organize  the  new  townships  and,  Hke  those 
resohitions,  laid  on  the  table  and  died. 

The  broaching  of  this  subject  of  mov- 
ing the  county  seat  to  the  center  of  the 
county  was  to  form  a  combination  to  secure 
all  the  votes  possible  in  favor  of  removal 
to  some  place.  The  insincerity  of  the  talk 
of  the  supervisors  about  the  county  seat  go- 
ing to  the  center  of  the  county,  where  it 
would  be  as  far  from  a  railroad  as  it  was 
from  Sherman  to  the  railroad,  was  so  trans- 
parent that  it  deceived  no  one,  although  it 
might  have  had  some  little  influence  occa- 
sionally with  the  supervisor  of  that  town, 
Colfax.  However  we  find  that  on  the  i6th 
day  of  April,  1877,  ^  resolution  was  offered 
by  S.  S.  Fallass,  supervisor  of  the  second 
ward  of  Cadillac,  to  remove  the  county  seat 
to  this  same  point  on  the  Dayhuff  lake. 
This  resolution  was  killed  on  a  tie  vote, 
nine  to  nine,  as  was  a  similar  resolution  of- 
fered by  R.  S.  McClain  on  May  31,  1877. 
On  this  last-named  date  Mr.  Fallass  offered 
a  resolution  of  removal  to  Cadillac,  which 
received  ten  yeas  to  eight  nays,  but  not  hav- 
ing the  requisite  two-thirds  of  the  board,  as 
provided  for  in  the  statutes.  On  neither  of 
these  questions  was  the  supervisor  from 
Sherman  allowed  to  vote,  although  pres- 
ent at  every  meeting  of  the  board.  June 
i,  1877,  Mr.  Fallass  again  offered  a  reso- 
lution of  removal  to  the  center  of  the  coun- 
ty, which,  like  all  its  predecessors,  failed  to 
pass,  the  vote  being  nine  to  nine.  June  12, 
1877,  W.  P.  Smith,  supervisor  of  Cedar 
Creek  township,  offered  a  resolution  to  re- 
move the  county  seat  to  the  village  of  Man- 
ton,  but  it  was  killed  on  a  tie  vote,  nine  to 
nine.  The  same  day  William  Kelley,  of 
Cadillac,  introduced    a    resolution    to    re- 


move the  county  seat  to  Cadillac,  but  there 
is  no  record  of  a  vote  being  taken  on  this 
resolution. 

The  matter  was  then  allowed  to  rest  un- 
til the  January  meeting  in  1878.  There 
were  three  resolutions  for  removal  offered 
at  this  meeting,  one  by  S.  S.  Fallass,  to  re- 
move the  county  seat  to  Cadillac,  one  by 
Supervisor  Dayhuff,  to  remove  to  the  cen- 
ter of  the  county,  and  one  by  H.  C.  Mc- 
Farlan,  supervisor  of  Cedar  Creek,  to  re- 
move to  Manton.  Mr.  Dayhuff's  resolution 
was  lost,  the  vote  standing  ten  yeas  and  nine 
nays.  The  next  vote  was  upon  the  resolu- 
tion to  remove  to  Manton  and  this  received 
the  necessary  two-thirds  of  the  votes,  the 
result  being  thirteen  yeas  to  six  nays.  This 
resolution  having  been  adopted,  of  course 
the  one  introduced  by  Mr.  Fallass  was  not 
voted  upon.  The  resolution  to  remove  the 
county  seat  to  Manton  provided  that  the 
popular  vote  should  be  on  the  first  Monday 
in  April,  1879,  ^^^  ^he  Manton  people  were 
quite  elated  at  the  prospect  of  that  town  be- 
ing the  seat  of  justice  for  the  county,  for 
they  confidently  believed  that  the  proposi- 
tion would  be  ratified  by  the  people,  but 
when  the  vote  upon  the  question  was  can- 
vassed there  proved  to  be  only  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety  for  removal  and  nine  hun- 
dred and  seventy-one  against,  so  the  coun- 
ty seat  still  remained  at  Sherman. 

The  sixteenth  resolution  for  removal 
was  offered  March  5,  1880,  by  S.  S.  Fallass, 
the  place  designated  in  the  resolution  be- 
ing at  the  center  of  the  county,  but  his  res- 
olution was  defeated  by  a  vote  of  seven  yeas 
to  ten  nays.  By  this  time  the  Cadillac  side 
of  the  fight,  under  the  leadership  of  Col. 
T.  J.  Thorp,  who  was  then  county  clerk 
j  and  register  of  deeds,  came  to  the  conclu- 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


263 


sion  that  it  would  be  better  to  get  the  coun- 
ty seat  away  from  Sherman,  even  if  it 
went  to  Manton,  and  trust  to  the  future  to 
get  it  to  Cadillac.  They  were  aware  of  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  tacit  understanding 
between  the  Manton  and  Sherman  interests 
whereby  Sherman  would  have  to  favor 
Manton  whenever  a  resolution  favoring  the 
latter  place  came  before  the  board,  as  it  was 
feared  that  otherwise  Manton  would  join 
hands  with  Cadillac  to  spite  Sherman. 

Banking  on  these  conditions,  they  said 
to  Manton,  "You  introduce  another  reso- 
lution to  remove  the  county  seat  to  Manton, 
and  test  the  good  faith  of  the  Sherman 
people,  and  you  will  find  that  we  will  be  as 
loyal  to  you  as  Sherman  will.''  According- 
ly, on  the  13th  of  October,  1881,  Supervisor 
McFarlan,  of  Cedar  Creek,  introduced  the 
seventeenth  resolution  for  the  removal  of 
the  county  seat,  and  designated  the  village 
of  Manton  as  the  proposed  new  location. 
When  the  roll  was  called  upon  the  question 
of  adopting  the  resolution  it  was  found  that 
sixteen  supervisors  had  voted  in  the  affirm- 
ative and  only  two  in  the  negative. 

Many  thought  that  while  the  supervis- 
ors from  the  city  of  Cadillac  and  surround- 
ing towns  had  voted  that  the  county  seat 
should  go  to  Manton,  their  constituents 
would  not  do  likewise  when  called  upon  to 
ratify  or  reject  the  proposition,  but  this 
time,  as  before  stated,  the  people  of  Cadillac 
had  determined  to  get  the  prize  on  the  wing 
and  try  and  prevent  it  from  getting  much 
of  a  foothold  until  it  was  landed  in  Cadillac. 
Sherman,  too,  must  needs  give  a  good  vote 
in  favor  of  Manton,  else  Manton,  failing 
to  get  it,  would  accuse  Sherman  of  bad 
faith,  and  these  two  localities  would  then 
be  at  odds.     Therefore  it  is  not  surprising 


that  a  heavy  vote  in  favor  of  Mantpn  Wc^s 
polled.  Had  the  people  of  Sherman  known 
just  what  the  plans  of  the  Cadillac  people 
were,  the  vote  would  have  been  somewhat 
different,  but  the  result  showed  that  if 
every  vote  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  coun- 
ty had  been  cast  against  removal,  it  would 
still  have  carried  by  a  large  majority,  as 
Manton  and  Cadillac  gave  practically  a  sol- 
id vote  in  favor  of  the  proposition.  The 
total  vote  on  this  question  was  twelve  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five,  of  which  eleven  hundred 
and  nine  were  in  favor  of  removal  and  one. 
hundred  and  forty-six  against.  Thus,  aft- 
er a  struggle  of  nearly  nine  years,  Sherman 
at  last  had  to  part  with'  the  county  seat. 

The  agitation  was  not  to  stop  here,  how- 
ever, and  even  before  the  county  property 
had  been  conveyed  to  its  new  home,  Mr. 
Fallass,  a  supervisor  from  Cadillac,  on  the 
27th  day  of  April,  1881,  introduced  the 
eighteenth  resolution  on  this  subject,  which 
was  referred  to  the  committee  on  towns  and 
counties  and  never  reported  out.  During 
the  summer  of  1881  the  people  of  Cadillac, 
profiting  by  the  scheme  resorted  to  by  the 
northern  part  of  the  county, — splitting  up 
townships  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
membership  of  the  board  of  supervisors, — 
formulated  a  plan  to  organize  six  new  town- 
ships. To  carry  out  this  plan,  a  special 
meeting  of  the  board  was  called  in  August, 
at  which  the  petitions  for  organizing  these 
six  townships  were  presented  and  granted 
by  the  board.  It  should  be  here  stated  that 
Henry  F.  May,  of  Cadillac,  was  elected  as 
representative  to  the  state  legislature  in 
1880  and  during  the  session  of  that  body, 
in  the  winter  of  1881,  succeeded  in  getting 
a  bill  passed  setting  Cleon  back  into  Manis- 
tee county,  and  another  disorganizing  the 


254 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


township  of  Sherman.  Before  these  bills 
took  effect  and  while  a  majority  of  the 
board  of  supervisors  were  opposed  to  the 
county  seat  going  to  Cadillac,  the  township 
of  Concord  w^as  organized,  consisting  of  the 
east  half  of  the  former  township  of  Sher- 
man and  section  5,  in  Antioch,  and  section 
22,  in  Hanover.  This  organization  was  de- 
clared by  the  courts  to  be  illegal,  and  thus 
the  number  of  supervisors  opposed  to  an- 
other removal  of  the  county  seat  was  di- 
minished by  two,  giving  the  Cadillac  inter- 
ests a  majority  of  the  board,  but  not  the 
requisite  two-thirds  to  secure  the  long- 
wished-for  prize.  The  object  in  organiz- 
ing these  six  new  townships  was  to  secure 
this  two-thirds  vote.  Of  these  six  town- 
ships, five  of  them  were  made  by  splitting 
up  the  township  of  Haring,  which  was  then 
the  scene  of  active  lumbering  operations, 
having  a  saw-mill  at  Haring  station,  an- 
other at  McCoy's  siding,  another  at  Bond's 
Mills  and  still  another  at  Long  Lake.  These 
five  townships  were  named  Copley.  Kysor, 
Garfield,  Lindon  and  Long  Lake.  The 
sixth  new  town  was  made  from  the  north 
half  of  Cherry  Grove  and  was  called  Nel- 
son. The  vote  on  the  organization  of  these 
townships  is  recorded  as  ten  yeas  and  one 
nay,  there  being  nothing  to  show  whether 
the  rest  of  the  board  of  supervisors  were 
present  or  not. 

The  first  election  for  these  new  town- 
ships was  fixed  for  the  first  Monday  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1882,  and  a  set  of  township  officers 
was  at  that  time  duly  elected  for  each  of 
them.  Another  special  meeting  of  the 
board  of  supervisors  was  called  for  Febru- 
ary 14th,  at  which  all  of  these  new  town- 
ships were  represented  on  the  board.  The 
right  of  these  representatives  from  the  new 


townships  to  seats  on  the  board  was  ques- 
tioned and  the  matter  was  referred  to  a 
special  committee  for  investigation.  Pend- 
ing the  report  of  this  committee.  Supervis- 
or J.  R.  Bishop,  of  the  second  ward  of  Cad- 
illac, offered  the  nineteenth  and  final  reso- 
lution, to  date,  for  the  removal  of  the  coun- 
ty seat  from  Manton  to  Cadillac.  Without 
the  six  new  townships,  the  Cadillac  con- 
tingent must  gain  one  vote  from  the  oppo- 
sition in  order  to  have  this  resolution 
adopted,  while  with  the  new  towns  they  had 
votes  to  spare.  What  inducements  were 
held  out  to  gain  this  one  vote  from  the 
enemy  was  not,  aiid  perhaps  never  will  be, 
known,  but  the  vote  on  the  resolution  was 
taken  before  the  report  of  the  committee 
above  referred  to  was  made,  and  it  dis- 
closed a  startling  fact  to  the  people  of  Man- 
ton.  The  supervisor  from  Liberty,  a  town- 
ship adjoining  that  in  which  Manton  vil- 
lage was  located,  had  voted  for  the  resolu- 
tion, giving  it  exactly  the  two-thirds  re- 
quired for  its  passage — twelve  yeas  and 
six  nays.  The  object  sought  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  six  new  townships  having  been 
accomplished  without  their  actual  partici- 
pation therein,  the  committee  reported  that 
they  found  the  organization  of  the  new 
townships  "fatally  defective,  and  that  the 
said  townships  have  no  legal  existence,  and 
that  to  avoid  all  complications  that  might 
otherwise  arise,  we  recommend  that  the  su- 
pervisors from  the  said  townships  be  de- 
clared not  entitled  to  seats  on  this  board." 
This  report  was  adopted  and  thus  the  mush- 
room townships  of  a  few  months'  growth 
died  a  natural  death,  without  a  pang  or  a 
struggle.  They  had  wrought  the  desired 
work,  however,  by  showing  what  could  be 
done,  and  thus  influencing  one  man  to  vote 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


255 


against  his  constituents,  against  the  inter- 
ests of  his  section  of  the  county,  and  prob- 
ably against  his  own  conscience. 

The  question  of  removal,  having  thus 
been  placed  before  the  people  again  to  be 
voted  upon,  at  the  ensuing  April  election, 
was  carried  by  a  vote  of  thirteen  hundred 
and  sixty-three  for  removal  to  six  hundred 
and  thirty-six  against,  and  at  daybreak  the 
morning  after  the  vote  was  taken  the  peo- 
ple of  Manton  were  aroused  by  the  toot  of 
a  special  train  which  had  come  up  from 
Cadillac  for  the  county  property.  They  ral- 
lied out  suflficient  force  to  baffle  for  the  time 
being  the  efforts  to  take  the  county's 
property  on  board  the  cars,  and  the  train 
went  back  to  Cadillac  with  only  part  of  its 
object  carried  out.  A  call  was  made  for 
volunteers  to  go  back  to  Manton  for  the  rest 
of  the  public  property,  which  was  responded 
to  by  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  mill  men 
and  campmen,  many  of  them  taking  along 
a  bottle  or  two  of  ''fire  water,''  and  by  the 
time  they  reached  Manton  tbey  were  ready 
for  any  undertaking.  Under  such  circum- 
stances it  is  quite  needless  to  say  that  be- 
fore noon  all  the  county  property  was  safe- 
ly housed  in  Cadillac. 

The  reason  for  this  unseemly  haste 
in  taking  the  county  property  to  Cadillac 
was  to  prevent  the  delay  and  expense  of  in- 
junction proceedings,  which  had  been 
threatened  in  case  the  popular  vote  was  in 
favor  of  Cadillac.  Such  proceedings  would 
have  been  dragged  out  at  as  great  a  length 
as  possible  to  enable  Manton  to  hold  on  to 
the  prize  that  much  longer,  even  if  she  had 
to  let  it  slip  in  the  end.  This  brought  the 
county  seat  warfare  to  a  final  end.  At  times 
it  had  been  very  bitter,  and  its  inner  history 
would  reveal  a  vast  deal  more  of  corruption 


than  it  is  worth  while  here  to  portray.  One 
or  two  incidents  will  suffice  to  show  to  what 
lengths  such  things  will  sometimes  run. 
There  were  several  times  in  the  history  of 
this  struggle  w^hen  the  change  of  one  vote 
would  mean  the  passage  of  a  resolution  for 
removal.  On  one  of  these  occasions  one 
supervisor  had  been  approached  and  offered 
ten  dollars  to  vote  for  a  resolution  to  remove 
the  county  seat  to  Clam  Lake.  He  told  the 
party  he  would  do  it,  and  received  the 
money,  but  when  his  name  was  called  to 
vote  upon  the  resolution  he  revealed  the 
whole  transaction,  told  who  had  given  him 
the  money,  and  then  voted  against  the  reso- 
lution. There  was  much  confusion  among 
the  friends  of  removal  at  this  turn  in  affairs 
and  considerable  talk  of  arrests  for  at- 
tempted bribery,  but  nothing  was  done  in 
the  matter. 

At  another  time  three  hundred  dollars 
was  paid  to  a  supervisor  living  near  Sher- 
man and  an  agreement  made  to  buy  his 
farm  at  a  good  price  and  give  him  a  house 
and  lot  in  Clam  Lake,  in  consideration  for 
which  he  was  to  vote  for  a  resolution  to  re- 
move the  county  seat  to  that  village.  He 
was  to  be  furnished  protection  from  violence 
from  the  people  of  Sherman,  whom  he 
would  thus  have  betrayed  and  whose  wrath 
he  expected  the  act  would  have  merited,  and 
would  undoubtedly  have  voted  for  the  reso- 
lution when  the  board  met  had  he  not,  in  an 
unguarded  moment,  made  a  confidant  of  a 
fellow  workman,  who  laid  the  matter  before 
H.  B.  Sturtevant,  who  was  then  clerk  and 
register,  largely  through  whose  efforts  the 
scheme  miscarried.  When  the  board  con- 
vened there  were  a  score  or  more  of  people 
at  Sherman  from  Clam  Lake,  besides  the 
supervisor,    and    arrangements    had    been 


256 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN.  , 


made  by  the  Sherman  people  with  William 
McCHntock,  who  was  running  a  lumber 
camp  four  miles  east  of  Sherman,  to  be  on 
hand  with  a  large  number  of  his  men  to  see 
that  no  one  was  molested  after  the  vote  was 
taken.  Odds  of  two  to  one  were  offered 
by  the  Clam  Lake  sympathizers  that  the 
resolution  would  pass,  so  confident  were 
they  that  the  arrangement  would  be  carried 
out.  Even  George  A.  Mitchell,  the  one  who 
had  platted  and  fostered  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake,  was  present  to  witness,  as  he  sup- 
posed, the  end  of  his  efforts  to  secure  the 
cotmty  seat.  The  excitement  was  intense 
until  the  announcement  of  the  vote  deciding 
the  resolution  lost,  when  a  great  shout  went 
up  from  the  people  of  Sherman  over  the  de- 
feat of  their  enemies  and  a  corresponding 
look  of  dismay  was  displayed  by  the  friends 
of   the   resolution.      The    Sherman    people 


were  so  sure  that  they  would  come  out  ahead 
that  they  had  prepared  to  celebrate  their 
victory  by  the  firing  of  anvils,  and  had 
already  commenced  this  work  when  Mr. 
Mitchell  came  along  on  horseback,  having 
started  on  his  return  home,  and  begged  the 
boys  to  desist  until  he  could  get  by  with  his 
horse.  This  request  was  cheerfully  com- 
plied with  and  after  he  had  ridden  past  he 
was  given  a  parting  salute. 

For  many  years  following  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  from  Manton  to  Cadillac 
there  remained  a  bitter  feeling  on  the  part 
of  those  who  had  *'loved  and  lost,"  and  even 
yet  there  occasionally  crops  out  a  tinge  of 
this  bitterness,  but  nearly  all  parts  of  the 
county  have  come  to  realize  that  the  present 
location  is  the"  proper  one  and  the  most  con- 
venient for  the  majority  of  those  whose 
business  calls  them  to  the  county  seat. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


NEW  JUDICIAL  CIRCUIT— GREENBACK  PARTY. 


Taking  up  the  thread  of  our  history 
where  we  left  off  to  narrate  the  events  con- 
nected with  the  county-seat  struggle,  we 
commence  with  the  year  1878.  As  yet  there 
had  been  very  little  agitation  of  the  Green- 
back question  in  Wexford  county,  but  the 
county  had  arrived  at  that  stage  where  there 
were  a  good  many  more  aspirants  for  office 
than  there  were  offices  to  fill,  and  it  fre- 


quently occurred  that  there  were  defeated 
candidates  in  the  ranks  of  both  the  old  par- 
ties who,  holding  spoils  above  principle, 
were  ready  to  do  almost  anything  that  they 
thought  would  land  themselves  in  a  good 
office. 

In  the  meantime  the  question  of  the  re- 
sumption of  specie  payment  by  the  govern- 
ment was  being  agitated  and  as  a  condition 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


257 


precedent  to  such  action  the  volume  of 
greenbacks  was  gradually  reduced.  This  in 
a  measure  caused  a  contraction  of  the  cir- 
culating medium,  and  this  was  taken  up  by 
those  who  were  anxious  to  have  a  new  party 
organized,  that  they  might  have  a  chance 
to  once  more  get  a  taste  of  the  '^loaves  and 
fishes,''  and  accordingly  the  new  party 
started  out  with  an  active  and  schooled 
leadership.  Many  speakers  were  employed 
throughout  the  state,  and  in  Wexford 
county  a  thorough  canvass  was  made.  The 
new  party  wanted  an  "organ"  in  the  county, 
and  as  both  the  county  papers  were  Repub- 
lican they  tried  to  get  control  of  one  of 
them — the  Pioneer — and  make  it  a  Green- 
back paper. 

H.  F.  Campbell,  who  had  been  working 
on  the  paper  for  about  a  year,  had  secured 
an  option  to  purchase  it  at  a  stated  price  by 
paying  one  hundred  dollars  down  and  the 
balance  in  one  year.  As  the  time  approached 
for  making  this  payment  Mr.  Campbell  saw 
he  was  going  to  be  unable  to  meet  it,  and  a 
consultation  was  had  among  the  Republican 
candidates  on  the  county  ticket  and  other 
Republicans  at  the  county  seat,  the  result 
being  that  J.  H.  Wheeler  furnished  the  one 
hundred  dollars  to  make  the  payment  agreed 
upon,  and  became  a  half  owner  of  the  paper. 
The  former  owner  was  so  anxious  to  get 
the  paper  back  that  he  refused  to  take  the 
money  offered  him,  and  a  legal  tender  had 
to  be  made,  and  he  was  obliged  in  the  end 
to  take  it. 

The  campaign  was  waged  with  the  ut- 
most vigor,  the  Democrats  and  Greenback- 
ers  having  ''fused"  on  the  county  ticket,  and 
through  their  untiring  efforts  they  suc- 
ceeded in  electing  one  of  their  candidates, 
the  treasurer,  by  a  small  majority,     The 


candidates  and  the  votes  each  polled  were  as 
follows:  Sheriff,  William  Kelley,  Rep., 
407;  William  Marin,  Dem.,  355.  Clerk  and 
register,  C.  J.  Manlelow,  Rep.,  559;  A.  J. 
Teed,  Dem.,  518.  Treasurer,  R.  D.  Cudde- 
back.  Rep.,  399;  E.  Shay,  Dem.,  499.  Prose- 
cuting attorney,  D.  A.  Rice,  Rep.,  537;  E.  F. 
Sawyer,  Dem.,  521.  Circuit  court  commis- 
sioner, D.  E.  Mclntyre,  Rep.,  544;  E.  F. 
Sawyer,  Dem.,  523. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  largest  ma- 
jority any  candidate  on  the  Republican 
ticket  received  was  fifty-two  for  Sheriff 
Kelley.  Mr.  Kelley  died  before  the  time 
arrived  for  him  to  assume  the  duties  of  his 
office,  January  i,  1879,  and  a  special  election 
was  held  on  the  first  Monday  of  April  to 
fill  the  vacancy,  at  which  election  Charles 
C.  Dunham  w^as  elected,  receiving  five  hun- 
dred and  seventy-nine  votes  to  four  hundred 
and  four  cast  for  E.  Harger  and  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  for  Frank  Weaver. 

On  the  5th  of  August,  1878,  George  A. 
Mitchell,  the  founder  of  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  (now  city  of  Cadillac),  met  with  a 
fatal  accident  on  the  streets  of  that  village. 
The  village  was  yet  in  its  infancy  and  the 
main  streets  were  incumbered  with  the 
stumps  from  which  the  pine  trees  had  been 
cut.  Mr.  Mitchell  had  a  shingle  mill  at 
that  time  on  Pine  street,  and  while  return- 
ing to  his  home  from  the  mill  he  was  thrown 
from  his  buggy,  his  head  striking  against 
a  stump  by  the  roadside,  rendering  him  un- 
conscious, from  which  state  he  never  fully 
recovered.  He  died  August  8,  and  his  death 
was  a  sev^ere  blow  to  the  community.  He 
was  a  very  public-spirited  mail,  having  do- 
nated sites  for  the  different  churches  in  the 
village  and  giving  liberally  of  his  means 
toward   the   erection  of  church   buildings. 


258 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


When  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  commenced 
he  was  given  the  appointment  of  paymaster. 
He  proved  such  a  competent  and  energetic 
official  that  when  the  war  closed  he  had 
risen  to  the  rank  of  brevet  lieutenant-colonel. 
During  his  services  in  this  position  he  re- 
ceived and  paid  out  millions  of  dollars  for 
the  government,  and  it  was  said  of  him  that 
his  accounts  always  balanced  to  a  cent.  It 
had  been  one  of  his  greater  desires  to  see 
the  county  seat  located  in  Clam  Lake  and 
he  had  reserved  block  "F"  of  the  original 
plat  for  such  purpose,  but  his  death  came 
nearly  four  years  before  its  arrival. 

About  this  time  E.  Shay,  mentioned 
heretofore  as  having  been  elected  county 
treasurer  in  the  fall  of  1878,  invented  a 
logging  engine  which  practically  revolu- 
tionized logging  operations.  Hitherto  all 
logging  had  been  done  with  teams  and 
sleighs  in  the  winter  and  with  "big  wheels" 
with  occasional  *'tram,''  or  "pole,''  roads  in 
the  summer.  With  this  new  invention  it 
was  possible  to  haul  long  trains  of  log  cars 
over  considerable  grades  and  at  much  less 
expense  than  with  teams,  and  to  extend 
lumbering  operations  to  a  much  greater  dis- 
tance from  the  mills,  or  water  courses,  with 
profit,  than  could  possibly  be  done  by 
handling  the  logs  with  teams.  With  the  aid 
of  this  new  means  of  conveying  forest  prod- 
ucts to  the  mills,  the  mill  owners  of  Cadillac 
began  to  enlarge  their  holdings  of  timber  by 
purchasing  tracts  in  adjoining  counties,  and 
thus  the  lumljering  business,  which  it  was 
thought  could  not  last  more  than  eight  or 
ten  years,  has  continued  until  the  present 
time,  with  timber  enough  still  in  sight  to 
keep  the  mills  of  Cadillac  busy  for  the  next 
fifteen  or  twenty  years.  It  was  not  long 
after  the  inauguration  of  the  narrow-gauge 


railroad  logging  that  it  was  found  practica- 
ble to  move  logs  on  the  standard  railroads, 
and  this  business  has  now  grown  to  such  gi- 
gantic proportions  that  the  railroads  find  it 
almost  impossible  to  furnish  cars  enough  to 
supply  the  demand  and  logs  are  often  car- 
ried a  hundred  miles  to  be  manufactured. 

The  extension  of  one  of  these  logging 
railroads,  running  northeasterly  from  Cad- 
illac, gave  Lake  City,  in  Missaukee  county, 
her  first  railroad  connection  with  the  out- 
side world.  This  was  known  as  the  Cadillac 
&  Northeastern  Railroad,  and  for  several 
years  it  ran  regular  passenger  trains  to  Lake 
City.  The  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Rail- 
road finally  extended  its  Long  Lake  branch 
to  Lake  City,  and  the  Cadillac  &  Northeast- 
ern discontinued  its  passenger  trains,  but 
was  still  used  for  logging  purposes  until  the 
summer  of  1901,  when,  having  exhausted 
the  supply  of  timber  through  which  it  ran,  it 
was  abandoned  and  its  rails  and  rolling 
stock  were  used  in  building  and  equipping 
a  similar  road  which  is  now  penetrating  the 
forests  in  a  northwesterly  direction  from 
the  city  of  Cadillac,  supplying  the  mills  and 
chemical  plant  of  Cummer,  Diggins  &  Com- 
pany with  the  necessary  material  to  keep 
them  in  constant  operation. 

The  Greenback  heresy  had  somewhat 
lost  its  hold  upon  the  people  in  1880  and  as 
a  result  the  Republican  county  ticket  nomi- 
nated that  year  was  elected  by  old-time  ma- 
jorities, except  the  treasurer,  for  which 
office  the  vote  was  quite  evenly  divided,  and 
also  on  prosecuting  attorney,  for  which 
office  there  were  three  candidates,  D.  A. 
Rice  running  as  an  independent  candidate. 
The  candidates  and  the  vote  for  each  is  here- 
with given: 

Judge  of  probate,  H.  N.  Green,  Rep., 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


259 


926;  I.  N.  Carpenter,  Dem.,  707.  Sheriff, 
C.  C.  Dunham,  Rep.,  1190;  W.  H.  Gushing, 
Dem.,  404.  County  clerk,  T.  J.  Thorp, 
Rep.,  852;  J.  Crowley,  Dem.,  495;  C.  J. 
Mankleton,  Ind.,  301.  Register  of  deeds, 
T.  J.  Thorp,  Rep.,  774;  J.  Crowley,  Dem., 
502;  C.  J.  Mankleton,  Ind.,  300.  Treas- 
urerr,  John  Mansfield,  Rep.,  878;  H.  C.  Mc- 
Farlan,  Dem.,  755.  Prosecuting  attorney, 
S.  J.  Wall,  Rep.,  738;  J.  B.  Rosevelt,  Dem., 
292;  D.  A.  Rice,  Ind.,  600. 

The  legislature  which  convened  in  Janu- 
ary, 1 88 1,  passed  an  act  creating  the  twenty - 
eighth  judicial  circuit,  composed  of  Benzie, 
Kalkaska,  Missaukee,  Roscommon  and 
Wexford  counties.  The  first  judge  of  the 
new  circuit  was  John  M.  Rice,  who  was 
appointed  soon  after  the  act  creating  the 
circuit  took  effect,  but  resigned  in  April, 
1882.  His  successor  was  Silas  S.  Fallass, 
then  living  in  Cadillac,  who  served  out  the 
balance  of  the  term  for  which  Judge  Rice 
was  appointed  and  the  next  full  term  of  six 
years.  Wexford  county  has  been  honored 
by  furnishing  a  judge  for  the  twenty-eighth 
judicial  circuit  ever  since  its  first  organiza- 
tion until  the  present  time.  The  several  in- 
cumbents have  been  John  M.  Rice,  Silas  S. 
Fallass,  Fred  H.  Aldrich  and  Clyde  C.  Chit- 
tenden, who  is  now  serving  his  third  year 
on  the  bench. 

Great  improvements  had  been  made  in 
the  county  for  the  first  ten  years  of  its  ex- 
istence as  a  county,  as  shown  by  the  census 
of  1880,  which  showed  a  population  of 
sixty-eight  hundred  and  fifteen,  compared 
with  thirty-one  hundred  and  ninety-four  at 
the  state  census  of  1874  and  seven  hundred 
and  eighty  in  1870.  Many  pieces  of  land 
were  purchased  by  new  settlers  from  the 
railroad  company,  and  from  the  state,  which 


had  reserved  several  thousand  acres  of  the 
farming  lands  in  the  county,  under  an  act 
authorizing  the  reservation  of  a  large 
quantity  of  land  for  the  support  of  an  agri- 
cultural college.  This  last  class  of  lands 
could  be  purchased  then  for  three  dollars 
per  acre,  and  only  one-quarter  of  this  was 
required  at  the  time  of  purchase,  the  balance 
to  run  as  long  as  the  purchaser  chose  to  let 
it  run,  by  paying  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven 
per  cent,  per  annum.  The  railroad  lands 
were  for  a  long  time  sold  on  one-quarter 
payment  at  time  of  purchase  and  balance  in 
four  or  five  annual  payments.  The  price 
of  the  railroad  lands  varied  according  to 
location,  but  none  were  sold  for  less  than 
six  dollars  per  acre. 

Many  people  have  thought  that  the 
land-grant  system  was  a  great  injury  to  the 
county,  but  in  the  light  of  experience  this 
claim  will  hardly  stand  close  scrutiny.  Had 
all  the  land  in  the  county  been  subject  to 
homestead  entry  the  timber  would  largely 
have  disappeared,  as  farming  would  have 
been  the  chief  industry,  and  the  vast  forests 
of  hardwood  would  have  been  swept  away 
to  enable  the  homesteaders  to  raise  the 
necessaries  of  life.  In  looking  over  the 
county  at  the  present  time  one  may  see  hun- 
dreds of  farms  upon  which  once  stood  a 
splendid  growth  of  hardwood,  nearly  all  of 
which  disappeared  long  before  it  had  any 
commercial  value.  By  occasionally  raising 
the  price  of  their  lands  the  state  and  the 
railroad  company  had  to  keep  most  of  their 
lands  until  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  utiliza- 
tion of  the  hardwoods  and  hemlock  with 
which  they  were  principally  covered,  and 
this  paved  the  way  for  the  present  most 
prosperous  times  the  county  has  ever  seen, 
when  hemlock  and  hardwood  lumbering  dis- 


260 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


tributes  more  money  throughout  the  county 
and  furnishes  a  better  market  for  the  prod- 
ucts of  the  farm  than  did  the  pine  lumbering 
in  its  palmiest  days. 

*'The  poor  ye  have  always  with  you," 
and  consequently  all  counties  have  to  take 
care  of  such  indigent  persons  as  live  within 
their  borders.  The  county  had  erected  a 
commodious  poor  house,  as  heretofore 
noted,  but  the  location  did  not  suit  those 
who  were  bent  on  moving  the  county  seat 
to  Cadillac.  It  happened  that  the  superin- 
tendents of  the  poor  were  obliged  to  take 
care  of  a  family  by  the  name  of  Root,  in 
consequence  of  the  husband  and  father  hav- 
ing been  sentenced  to  the  state  prison  for 
quite  a  long  term  of  years.  The  family  con- 
sisted of  the  mother  and  six  or  seven  chil- 
dren, ranging  from  one  to  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen years  of  age.  The  superintendents  de- 
cided that  the  county  should  be  reimbursed 
for  the  cost  it  might  be  put  to  in  caring  for 
the  family,  so  they  took  a  mortgage  on  the 
farm,  subject  to  a  mortgage  that  had  already 
been  given.  The  result  was  that  the  county 
had  to  foreclose  its  mortgage  and  take  care 
of  the  first  mortgage,  and  thus  it  was  that 
the  county  came  into  possession  of  the  pres- 
ent poor  farm.  As  early  as  1880  an  effort 
was  made  to  have  the  old  county  farm  sold 
and  make  a  poor  farm  out  of  the  "Root 
farm,'*  but  without  success.  At  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  board  of  supervisors  in  1881 
a  resolution  was  adopted  making  the  chair- 
man of  the  board  a  committee  of  one  to 
receive  proposals  for  the  sale  of  the  poor 
farm.  A  sale  was  effected  as  the  outgrowth 
of  this  action,  the  price  agreed  upon  being 
nineteen  hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars, 
less  than  the  buildings' had  cost,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  hundreds  of  dollars  that  had  been 


expended  in  clearing  and  fencing  the  land. 
Of  this  amount  one  thousand  dollars  was 
paid  in  cash  and  a  mortgage  given  for  the 
balance.  The  county  was  obliged  to  fore- 
close the  mortgage  and  several  years  later 
sold  the  farm  again  for  eighteen  hundred 
dollars. 

At  the  same  session  of  the  board  which 
took  action  to  sell  the  old  poor  farm  pfovis- 
ion  was  made  for  putting  the  buildings  on 
the  Root  farm  in  condition  to  care  for  such 
paupers  as  might  have  to  be  permanently 
supported  by  the  county,  and  the  next  year 
a  large  and  well-equipped  building  was 
erected  and  furnished  for  this  purpose. 
Hitherto  all  expenses  for  the  support  of  the 
poor  had  been  borne  by  the  county  at  large, 
but  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  board  of 
supervisors  a  resolution  was  passed  reviving 
the  distinction  between  town  and  county 
poor.  Under  this  arrangement  each  town 
had  to  support  its^  own  poor,  and  only 
transient  poor  were  cared  for  by  the  county. 
The  towns  could  send  their  paupers  to  the 
county  house  and  have  them  cared  for  there 
by  the  week,  or  could  hire  them  supported 
elsewhere  if  they  preferred.  As  it  took  a 
year  to  gain  a  residence  in  the  county  to 
make  the  expense  of  an  indigent  person 
chargeable  to  any  town  or  city,  and  as  the 
support  of  such  had  to  be  borne  by  the 
county  at  large  in  the  meantime,  and  the 
towns  had  to  bear  their  share  of  this  ex- 
pense, as  well  as  the  expense  of  caring  for 
their  own  poor,  the  arrangement  was  not 
very  satisfactory  and  only  remained  in  force 
a  couple  of  years  before  the  distinction  was 
abolished,  since  which  all  poor  expenses 
have  been  borne  by  the  county. 

The  valuation  of  the  county  as  fixed  hy 
the  board  of  supervisors  at  its  annual  meet- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


261 


ing  in  1882  was  $3,676,739.25.  This  was 
a  fine  showing  for  the  county  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  thousands  of  acres  of  pine  land 
had  been  denuded  of  its  forests,  and  the  ktm- 
ber  had  been  shipped  out  of  the  county  dur- 
ing the  preceding  ten  years,  and  augured 
well  for  the  future  greatness  of  the  county 
as  an  agricultural  community. 

At  this  meeting  of  the  board  a  resolution 
was  also  passed  to  submit  to  a  vote  of  the 
people  at  the  April  election  of  1883  the  ques- 
tion of  bonding  the  county  for  five  thousand 
dollars  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  county 
jail  at  Cadillac.  The  proposition  was  car- 
ried by  a  vote  of  eight  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  to  six  hundred  and  sixty-nine,  but  a 
question  arising  as  to  the  legality  of  the 
passage  of  the  resolution  of  the  board,  the 
matter  was  again  placed  before  the  people 
at  the  spring  election  in  1884  and  was  again 
carried  by  a  vote  of  eleven  hundred  and  nine 
to  nine  hundred  and  five,  but  the  bonds  were 
never  issued. 

When  the  county  seat  was  removed  to 
Cadillac  the  second  story  of  the  building 
then  owned  by  Fred  S.  Kieldsen  was  rented 
for  county  offices  and  court  room.  This 
building  stood  on  the  site  now  occupied  by 
the  city  hall.  The  county  continued  to  oc- 
cupy the  second  floor  until  1887,  when  it 
rented  the  second  floor  of  the  Laber  & 
Cornwell  building,  which  it  occupied  for 
several  years.  When  the  Masonic  fraternity 
decided  to  erect  a  temple  in  Cadillac  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  confer  with  the 
board  of  supervisors  with  a  view  to  having 
the  second  story  of  their  proposed  building 
fitted  especially  for  the  use  of  the  county, 
provided  the  county  would  contract  to  rent 


it  for  a  period  of  ten  years  at  a  rental  to  te 
agreed  upon  between  the  contracting  par- 
ties. This  arrangement  w^as  carried  out,  and 
in  March,  1890,  the  county  moved  into  its 
new  quarters,  where  it  has  remained  until 
the  present  time.  The  new  quarters  con- 
sisted of  a  large  court  room,  a  commodious 
supervisor's  room,  a  suite  of  three  rooms 
for  the  clerk  and  register  of  deeds,  two 
rooms  for  the  prosecuting  attorney  and  one 
each  for  the  judge  of  probate,  sheriflf,  treas- 
urer and  superintendent  of  the  poor.  One 
or  two  attempts  have  been  made  to  have  the 
board  of  supervisors  pass  a  resolution  sub- 
mitting to  the  people  the  question  of  bonding 
the  county  for  the  purpose  of  building  a 
court  house,  but  without  success. 

At  the  election  in  1882  the  ^Republican 
party  was  again  successful  on  its  entire 
ticket  except  prosecuting  attorney,  the  can- 
didates of  the  two  parties  and  the  vote  given 
for  each  being  as  follows:  Sheriflf,  David 
C.  Cook,  Rep.,  726;  Horton  Crandall,  Dem., 
288;  F.  Weaver,  Ind.,  427.  County  clerk, 
T.  J.  Thorp,  Rep.,  881 ;  James  Crowley, 
Dem.,  566.  Register  of  deeds,  T.  J.  Thorp. 
Rep.,  887;  James  Crowley,  Dem.,  568. 
Treasurer,  John  Mansfield,  Rep.,  1079;  C. 
T.  Chapin,  Dem.,  352.  Prosecuting  attor- 
ney, E.  F.  Sawyer,  Rep.,  562;  J.  B.  Rose- 
velt,  Dem.,  32;  D.  E.  Mclntyre,  Ind.,  689. 

The  salary  of  the  prosecuting  attorney 
was  raised  to  twelve  hundred  dollars  at  the 
October  session  of  the  board  of  supervisors, 
which  induced  Mr.  Mclntyre  to  enter  the 
race  for  that  office  as  an  independent  can- 
didate, and  so  strenuous  did  he  wage  his 
campaign  that  he  won  by  more  than  a  hun- 
dred plurality. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


NEW  RAILROAD- 


NEW  VILLAGES— NEW  IMPETUS  TO  FARMING 
AND  LUMBERING. 


The  one  great  hindrance  to  the  rapid 
development  of  the  county  was  the  lack  of 
facihties  for  reaching  a  market.  The  whole 
western  half  of  the  county  had  to  drive 
either  to  Cadillac  or  Manton,  on  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad,  to  reach  a 
market  for  a  load  of  potatoes  or  any  other 
farm  product.  To  some  the  distance  was 
over  twenty  miles,  necessitating  a  two-days 
trip.  The  roads  were  rough  and  the  hills 
sandy,  and  thirty  or  thirty-five  bushels  of 
potatoes  was  all  a  team  could  draw.  By  the 
time  the  farmer  had  paid  for  his  expenses  at 
the  hotel  over  night  he  would  not  have  much 
left  out  of  his  load  of  potatoes  unless  they 
brought  more  than,  twenty-five  or  thirty 
cents  per  bushel.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  is  not  strange  that  there  was  a  lack  of 
"push''  on  the  part  of  the  farmers. 
About  the  only  farm  product  that  there  was 
any  money  in  was  hay.  The  close  proximity 
of  the  lumbering  camps  afforded  a  ready  sale 
for  all  the  hay  the  farmers  could  spare, 
at  a  good  price,  sometimes  running  as  high 
as  twenty  dollars  per  ton.  The  fact  that 
hay  always  found  a  ready  sale  caused  many 
farmers  to  keep  their  land  seeded  to  grass 


so  much  that  it  greatly  impoverished  the 
soil  and  thus  retarded  future  farming,  as  a 
light  soil  once  run  down  is  very  hard  to 
again  put  into  condition  to  raise  good  crops. 
During  the  winter  of  1883-4  the  survey- 
ors of  the  Chicago  &  West  Michigan  Rail- 
road visited  northern  Michigan,  taking  ob- 
servations as  to  the  most  desirable  route  for 
the  extension  of  their  road.  They  visited 
Sherman  and  looked  up  the  approaches  to 
the  Manistee  river  from  the  north  and 
south,  and  expressed  themselves  as  well 
satisfied  with  the  feasibility  of  crossing  at 
that  point  and  following  the  valley  of  the 
Wheeler  creek  northward,  running  a  little 
east  of  Wexford  Corners  and  then  drop- 
ping over  into  the  Boardman  river  valley, 
thus  making  an  easy  grade  into  Traverse 
City.  The  people  in  the  western  part  of  the 
county  were  greatly  elated  over  the  pros- 
pects of  having  a  railroad  near  their  farms, 
but  railroads  have  queer  ways  and  their 
building  is  accompanied  often  with  vex- 
atious delays,  and  so  it  happened  that  when 
the  Chicago  &  West  Michigan  Railroad  was 
built  several  years  later  it  took  an  entirely 
new    route    and    did    not    touch    Wexford 


PV  EX  FORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


268 


county ;  in  fact,  it  was  run  so  far  west  as  to 
be  of  very  little  practical  benefit  to  the  farm- 
ers of  the  county. 

In  the  meantime  the  Toledo,  Ann  Arbor 
&  North  Michigan  Railroad  Company  had 
been  organized  and  had  started  in  to  build 
a  road  to  some  point  on  the  eastern  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan.  The  projectors  of  this  un- 
dertaking were  the  Ashleys,  of  Toledo — 
father  and  two  sons,  Harry  and  James,  or 
*'Jim,"  as  he  was  familiarly  called.  Neither 
of  these  parties  had  much  money  of  their 
own,  but  they  had  enterprise  and  push, 
especially  "J™/'  ^^'^^  could  overcome  more 
difficulties  and  surmount  more  obstacles 
than  half  a  dozen  ordinary  business  men, 
and  it  was  largely  through  these  qualities 
that  the  road  was  completed,  though  its 
building  covered  a  period  of  several  years, 
and  more  than  once  it  was  said,  "The  Ash- 
leys have  got  to  the  end  of  their  rope  and 
the  road  will  never  go  any  farther ;"  but  still 
the  next  year  would  witness  another  exten- 
sion, and  so,  little  by  little,  the  work  pro- 
gressed. In  the  summer  of  1886,  through 
the  promise  of  thirty-five  thousand  dollars 
on  the  part  of  the  city  of  Cadillac,  the  work 
of  extending  the  road  from  Mt.  Pleasant, 
its  then  terminus,  to  Cadillac  was  under- 
taken. A  large  force  of  men  were  put  to 
work  at  various  points  along  the  line  and 
before  September  the  laying  of  rails  was 
commenced.  This  work  progressed  from 
both  ends  of  this  section,  the  rails  being 
brought  to  Cadillac  over  the  Grand  Rapids 
&  Indiana  Railroad  to  use  in  laying  the 
northern  end  of  the  section.  Winter  set  in 
before  the  last  rail  was  laid,  and  some  of 
the  grading  and  several  miles  of  track  lay- 
ing was  done  when  the  snow  covered  the 


ground  to  a  depth  of  several  inches.  But 
notwithstanding  the  cold  and  the  snow  the 
first  train  over  the  new  extension  reached 
Cadillac  within  the  time  agreed  upon,  Janu- 
ary I,  1887,  and  its  arrival  marked  a  new 
era  in  the  county's  history. 

To  fittingly  celebrate  this  event  the  rail- 
road company  gave  a  free  excursion  to 
Alma  and  a  free  dinner  at  the  celebrated 
Wright  Hotel  at  that  place,  inviting  many 
of  the  prominent  men  of  the  city  and  the 
county  at  large,  and  the  city  arranged  for 
a  grand  banquet  at  the  Hotel  McKinnon 
when  the  party,  including  railroad  officials 
and  the  railroad  commissioner  of  the  state, 
should  return  in  the  evening. 

The  night  preceding  the  day  fixed  for 
the  excursion  a  heavy  snow  storm  set  in, 
accompanied  with  a  gale  of  wind,  and  when 
morning  dawned  the  streets  and  sidewalks 
in  Cadillac  were  piled  so  full  of  snow  that 
it  was  impossible  for  ladies  to  get  to  the 
train,  and  a  number  of  the  gentlemen  who 
otherwise  would  have  taken  the  trip  staid 
at  home  an  account  of  the  drifts.  As  the 
road  ran  nearly  all  the  way  to  Farwell 
through  the  woods,  there  was  not  much  diffi- 
culty experienced  in  making  the  run  to 
Alma,  but  the  storm  continued  all  day  and 
it  was  not  without  some  misgivings  that  the 
return  journey  was  begun.  A  delay  of  over 
two  hours  in  starting  was  caused  by  a  wreck 
on  a  branch  of  the  D.  L.  &  N.  Railroad, 
which  crossed  the  Toledo,  Ann  Arbor  & 
Northern  Michigan  Railroad  just  north  of 
the  station  at  Alma,  by  which  a  freight  car 
was  thrown  upon  the  track  just  where  the 
two  roads  intersected  each  other,  and  it  had 
to  be  removed  before  the  excursion  train 
could  start.    Some  of  the  excursionists  were 


264 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


wise  enough  to  return  to  the  village,  a  half 
mile  distant,  and  purchase  a  lunch,  fearing 
they  would  be  late  at  the  banquet  in  Cadillac. 
At  last,  just  as  it  had  begun  to  grow 
dark,  the  train  pulled  out.  By  the  time 
it  had  reached  Clare,  on  the  Flint  &  Pere 
Marquette  Railroad,  those  who  had  not 
provided  themselves  with  a  lunch  at  Alma 
made  a  rush  for  the  lunch  room  kept 
at  that  station,  and  soon  had  purchased 
everything  eatable  in  sight.  Here  a  tele- 
gram was  sent  to  those  in  charge  of  the 
banquet  at  Cadillac  that  the  train  would 
arrive  there  about  nine  o'clock.  Soon 
after  leaving  Farwell  the  train  ran  into  a 
snow  bank  and  came  to  a  dead  stop.  Half 
a  hundred  men  jumped  out  in  the  snow, 
tore  boards  from  the  fence  beside  the  track, 
and  by  dint  of  stamping  and  pushing  away 
the  snow  from  the  engine,  the  train  was 
soon"  started  again.  All  went  well  while  on 
a  down  grade  to  the  crossing  of  the  Mus- 
kegon river,  though  progress  was  slow  ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  eight  or  ten  inches  of 
snow  had  fallen  during  the  day  and  there 
having  as  yet  been  no  freight  trains  over  the 
new  road  the  engine  had  to  push  its  way 
through  this  fresh  snow  all  the  way.  After 
crossing  the  Muskegon  river  there  was  a 
long  up-grade  to  make,  and  while  using  all 
the  steam  possible  to  push  through  the  snow 
and  make  the  grade,  the  train  suddenly  came 
to  a  stop.  Investigation  disclosed  the  fact 
that  the  rails  had  spread  and  the  engine  was 
off  the  track.  All  the  balance  of  the  night 
the  trainmen  worked  to  get  the  engine  on 
the  rails  again.  The  tall  form  of  ^'J^"^ ' 
Ashley  could  be  seen  directing  the  work  and 
assisting  the  men  in  their  efforts  to  fix  the 
track  and  right  the  engine.  The  accident 
was  caused  by  the  carelessness  or  negligence 


of  the  track  layers,  who  had  failed  to  prop- 
erly spike  the  rails  to  the  ties,  and  in  the  ex- 
tra pressure  caused  by  the  resistance  of  the 
snow  the  engine  had  found  a  weak  spot  and 
left  the  rails.  The  train  was  going  at  such  a 
slow  rate  that  there  was  hardly  a  jar  felt  by 
those  on  board,  and  at  first  they  would 
hardly  believe  it  could  be  so.  When  it  was 
realized  that  a  long  time  would  be  required 
to  get  under  way  again,  all  hope  of  getting 
a  taste  of  the  banquet  at  the  Hotel  McKin- 
non  was  banished  and  those  who  were  for- 
tunate enough  to  have  provided  themselves 
with  crackers  and  cheese  proceeded  to  satisfy 
their  appetites  for  the  time  being,  hoping 
that  Cadillac  would  be  reached  in  time  for 
breakfast.  As  before  stated,  it  was  long- 
after  daylight  when  everything  had  been 
gotten  ready  for  a  start,  but  by  this  time  the 
engine's  supply  of  water  and  coal  was  nearly 
exhausted  and  a  trip  must  be  made  to  Cadil- 
lac for  a  supply  before  it  could  haul  the  train 
in.  It  should  be  stated  that  as  yet  there  was 
no  telegraph  line  erected  along  the  road, 
and  as  the  accident  occurred  about  half  way 
between  Farwell  and  Cadillac,  in  a  dense 
forest  devoid  of  roads  or  settlers,  it  was 
therefore  impossible  to  communicate  with 
any  one.  If  it  had  been  thought  that  it 
would  take  all  night  to  get  started,  a  mes- 
senger could  have  been  dispatched  to  Cadil- 
lac and  another  engine  and  better  appliances 
could  have  been  sent  to  the  rescue;  but  of 
course  it  was  expected  that  it  would  not  take 
more  than  an  hour  or  two  to  get  under  way 
again,  but  hour  after  hour  went  by  without 
witnessing  sticcess  on  the  part  of  the  work- 
ers. 

The  engine  found  great  difficulty  in 
reaching  Cadillac,  and  by  the  time  it  had 
received  its  supply  of  coal  and  water,  re- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


265 


turned  to  the  train  and  hauled  it  to  the  city, 
it  was  considerably  after  noon,  and  those 
of  us  who  lived  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  county  had  just  time  to  eat  a  hasty 
meal  before  taking  the  train  on  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  for  home.  The 
managers  of  the  banquet  at  Cadillac,  after 
waiting  until  after  ten  o'clock  p.  m.  with- 
out hearing  from  the  train,  proceeded  with 
the  programme  so  far  as  they  could  without 
the  expected  guests,  but  it  is  said  to  have 
been  a  very  dull  affair,  caused  in  part  by  the 
absence  of  the  railroad  officials  and  partly 
by  the  thought  which  filled  all  minds  that 
a  dreadful  accident  had  happened  to  the 
train.  All  in  all  it  was  an  eventful  trip,  but 
notwithstanding  the  night  spent  in  the 
woods  everybody  was  in  good  spirits  on  the 
train  except  the  trainmen  and  road  officials, 
who  were  so  vexed  at  the  mishap  that  none 
of  them  would  '^crack  a  smile.'' 

During  the  summer  of  1887  the  road 
was  completed  as  far  as  Marietta  and  graded 
some  distance  west  of  that  place,  and  the 
following  year  it  passed  on  through  Wex- 
ford county,  reaching  Frankfort  in  the  fall 
of  1899.  The  Ashleys  bought  a  piece  of 
land  and  platted  the  village  of  Marietta  in 
1888,  the  name  being  a  combination  made 
from  Marry  Ashley  and  the  name  of  his  in- 
tended wife,  Henrietta  Burt.  The  village 
of  Boon  was  platted  about  the  same  time, 
and  the  next  year  witnessed  the  platting  of 
the  village  of  Mesick.  A  year  or  two  after 
this  the  village  of  Yuma  was  platted,  mak- 
ing four  villages  as  the  direct  result  of  the 
building  of  the  Toledo,  Ann  Arbor  &  North- 
ern Michigan  Railroad,  as  it  was  called,  but 
now  known  as  the  Ann  Arbor  Railroad. 
This  road,  penetrating  as  it  did  one  of  the 
best  farming  sections  of  the  county,  gave  a 


new  impetus  to  the  farming  industry,  and 
since  its  coming  a  marked  and  steady 
growth  of  that  industry  has  been  noticeable. 
Not  only  did  it  open  up  a  more  direct  and 
less  expensive  market  for  the  shipment  of 
farm  products  but  it  stimulated  the  lumber- 
ing business  to  such  an  extent  that  the  de- 
mand for  the  products  of  the  farm  for  the 
mills  and  camps  greatly  increased  the  home 
market  and  correspondingly  the  prices  re- 
ceived for  such  products.  The  lumbering 
operations  growing  out  of  the  building  of 
this  road  being  largely  confined  to  the  hard- 
wood of  the  county,  resulted  in  causing  the 
clearing  of  thousands  of  acres  of  land  and 
transforming  them  into  productive  farms, 
as  every  acre  of  hardwood  land,  when  once 
cleared,  makes  good  farming  land. 

In  taking  up  the  political  history  we  find 
that  quite  a  change  occurred  in  political 
supremacy  in  the  county  in  1884.  The  re- 
verses to  the  Republican  party  in  that  elec- 
tion were  not  entirely  political  but  were 
more  the  result  of  personal  and  sectional 
matters  than  of  party  feelings.  The  Wex- 
ford County  Pioneer,  owned  by  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  had  always  been  very  strenuous 
in  its  efforts  to  prevent  the  removal  of  the 
county  seat  from  Sherman,  but  when  it  was 
taken  to  Manton  by  a  combination  between 
Manton  and  Cadillac,  it  declined  to  further 
fight  against  what  it  deemed  to  be  the  in- 
evitable sequence — its  final  removal  to  Cad- 
illac. For  this  reason  its  editor  stood  in 
great  disfavor  among  the  people  who  wished 
to  have  the  county  seat  always  remain  in 
Manton.  The  editor'^  position,  that  the 
removal  to  Manton  was  only  a  stepping 
stone  on  the  way  to  Cadillac,  was  amply 
proven  by  subsequent  events  as  narrated  in 
the   county-seat   chapter   elsewhere   herein, 


266 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


but  nevertheless  it  cost  him  several  hundred 
votes  in  the  fall  election  of  1884,  causing  his 
defeat  for  the  office  of  county  treasurer. 

Personal  reasons  also  entered  into  the 
defeat  of  Col.  T.  J.  Thorp  for  clerk  and 
register.  It  was  largely  through  his  leader- 
ship that  the  county  seat  went  to  Manton, 
and  it  was  under  his  generalship  that  the 
records  and  property  of  the  county  were  re- 
moved from  Manton  the  morning  after  the 
vote  on  the  question  of  removal  to  Cadillac 
had  been  taken,  thus  preventing  injunction 
proceedings.  This  was  enough  to  cause 
party  allegiance  to  give  way  to  personal 
prejudice,  and  it  thus  transpired  that  the 
Republicans  only  elected  one  candidate  on 
their  entire  county  ticket  by  an  actual  ma- 
jority, though  some  others  were  elected  by 
pluralities.  The  following  is  a  list  of  candi- 
dates, with  the  vote  given  for  each :  Judge 
of  probate,  H.  M.  Dunham,  Rep.,  835 ;  W. 
P.  Smith,  Dem.,  740;  J.  Crowley,  Ind.,  682. 
Sheriff,  C.  C.  Dunham,  Rep.,  1,034;  E.  I. 
Bowen,  Dem.,  716;  E.  George,  Ind.,  487. 
County  clerk,  T.  J.  Thorp,  Rep.,  1,075;  G. 
A.  Cummer,  Dem.,  1,160.  Register  of 
deeds,  T.  J.  Thorp,  Rep.,  1,048;  G.  A.  Cum- 
mer, Dem.,  1,160.  Treasurer,  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  Rep.,  778;  James  Haynes,  Dem., 
1,470.  Prosecuting  attorney,  D.  A.  Rice, 
Rep.,  8to;  J.  B.  Rosevelt,  Dem.,  678;  D. 
Mclntyre,  Ind.,  726.  Circuit  court  com- 
missioner, C.  C.  Chittenden,  Rep.,  1,576; 
J.  R.  Bishop,  Dem.,  639. 

During  the  two  years  which  succeeded 
this  election  sectional  feeling  had  become 
somewhat  allayed,  and  in  consequence  the 
Republican  ticket,  with  one  exception,  was 
elected  at  the  November  election  of  1886. 
This  exception  was  for  the  office  of  clerk 
and    register,    the    incumbent,    George   A. 


Cummer,  defeating  the  Republican  nomi- 
nee, S.  J.  Wall,  by  one  hundred  and  forty- 
nine  votes.  The  election  was  confined 
entirely  to  the  two  parties.  Republican  and 
Democratic,  though  the  Democrats  had 
placed  a  Republican  on  their  ticket  for 
prosecuting  attorney.  The  candidates  of 
each  party  and  vote  received  by  each  were 
as  follows:  Sheriff,  C.  C.  Dunham,  Rep., 
1,318;  W.  Geibert,  Dem.,  578.  County 
clerk,  S.  J.  Wall,  Rep.,  888;  George  A. 
Cummer,  Dem.,  1,029.  Register  of  deeds, 
S.  J.  Wall,  Rep.,  884;  George  A.  Cummer, 
Dem.,  1,010.  Treasurer,  E.  Harger,  Rep., 
1,045;  E.  J.  Haynes,  Dem.,  874.  Prose- 
cuting attorney,  C.  C.  Chittenden,  Rep., 
1,051 ;  D.  A.  Rice,  Dem.,  904.  Circuit  court 
commissioner,  C.  S.  Marr,  Rep.,  1,049;  J- 
R.  Bishop,  Dem.,  839. 

A  much  larger  vote  was  polled  in  1888, 
it  being  a  presidential  election,  and  great 
efforts  were  put  forth  by  both  parties  to  win, 
if  possible.  The  Republicans  went  outside 
of  the  city  for  the  first  time  in  six  years  for 
a  candidate  for  sheriff,  nominating  W.  L. 
Sturtevant,  of  Sherman,  and  the  Democrats, 
to  checkmate  this  move  to  solidify  the  rural 
vote  for  a  rural  candidate,  nominated  B. 
Woods,  also  of  Sherman,  and  a  boon  com- 
panion of  the  Republican  nominee,  as  their 
candidate  for  that  office.  The  vote  was 
large,  as  the  canvass  had  been  waged  with 
great  spirit  on  both  sides,  but  the  Republi- 
cans came  out  victors  on  their  entire  ticket, 
as  follows :  Judge  of  probate,  H.  M.  Dun- 
ham, Rep.,  1,460;  H.  B.  Sturtevant,  Dem., 
1,035.  Sheriff,  W.  L.  Sturtevant,  Rep., 
1,392;  B.  Woods,  Dem.,  1,140.  Clerk  and 
register,  S.  J.  Wall,  Rep.,  1,283;  George  A. 
Cummer,  Dem.,  1,266.  Treasurer,  E.  Har- 
ger,   Rep.,    1,501;    C.    E.    Haynes,    Dem., 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


267 


1,038.  Prosecuting  attorney,  C.  C.  Chit- 
tenden, Rep.,  1,588;  D.  A.  Rice,  Dem.,  598. 
Circuit  court  commissioner,  E.  E.  Haskins, 
Rep.,  1,526;  J.  R.  Bishop,  Dem.,  1,085. 

After  the  county  seat  was  removed  to 
Cadillac  efforts  were  soon  made  to  have  the 
county  buy  a  lot  and  build  a  jail,  and  twice 
had  the  matter  been  brought  before  the  elect- 
ors in  the  form  of  a  proposition  to  bond  the 
county  for  that  purpose,  but  the  bitterness 
resulting  from  the  two  removals  of  the 
county  seat  was  for  a  time  so  great  that  the 
matter  was  finally  compromised  by  the 
county  agreeing  to  rent  a  jail  and  sheriff's 
residence  if  one  was  erected  according  to 
plans  and  specifications  to  be  furnished  by 
the  county.  That  was  done  and  the  matter 
remained  in  statu  quo  until  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  board  of  supervisors  in  1887, 
when  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  board 
providing  for  the  purchase  of  the  jail  prop- 
erty and  providing  for  submitting  to  the 
electors  of  the  county  at  the  annual  town- 
ship meeting  in  April,  1888,  the  question  of 
raising  by  tax  the  forty-two  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  agreed  upon  as  the  purchase 
price.  The  vote  on  this  proposition  was  ten 
hundred  and  fifty-one  in  favor  of  it  and  eight 
hundred  and  forty-six  against.  So  the 
question  was  carried  and  the  county  soon 
after  became  the  owner  of  a  jail  and  sher- 
iff's residence. 

The  coming  of  the  Toledo,  Ann  Arbor 
&  Northern  Michigan  Railroad  gave  such  an 
impetus  to  the  settlement  of  the  county  that 
the  census  of  1890  disclosed  the  fact  that 
the  population  of  the  county  had  more  than 
doubled  since  1880,  the  total  being  sixteen 
thousand,  eight  hundred  and  forty-five  as 
compared  with  sixty-eight  hundred  and  fif- 
teen in  1880,  the  increase  thus  being  a  little 

16 


more  than  ten  thousand  in  ten  years,  or  an 
average  of  over  a  thousand  a  year.  Few 
new  counties  in  the  state  could  show  such 
a  wonderful  growth  at  a  corresponding 
period  of  its  history.  The  growth  was  also 
of  a  permanent  character,  as  the  transient 
lumbering  operations  along  the  Manistee 
river  had  moved  on  up  the  river  until  they 
had  passed  the  limits  of  the  county. 

The  Republican  party,  having  made  a 
clear  sweep  with  its  county  ticket  in  1888, 
has  carried  the  elections  for  every  county 
office  since  that  year  except  the  office  of 
treasurer  in  1890,  when  J.  W.  Ransom, 
Democrat,  defeated  Rinaldo  Fuller,  Repub- 
lican, by  a  plurality  of  forty-nine  votes.  The 
candidates  of  the  parties  that  year  and  votes 
cast  for  each  were  as  follows :  Sheriff,  W. 
L.  Sturtevant,  Rep.,  1,020;  F.  D.  Seeley, 
Dem.,  817.  Clerk  and  register,  S.  J.  Wall, 
Rep.,  1,005;  L.  M.  Patterson,  Dem.,  842. 
Treasurer,  R.  Fuller,  Rep.,  905;  J.  W.  Ran- 
som, Dem.,  944.  Prosecuting  attorney,  C. 
C.  Chittenden,  Rep.,  1,777;  no  Democratic 
candidate.  Circuit  court  commissioner,  R. 
F.  Tinkham,  Rep.,  1,810;  no  Democratic 
candidate. 

The  following  tables  will  show  who  were 
nominated  by  the  leading  parties.  Republi- 
can and  Democratic,  and  the  vote  given  for 
the  several  candidates  of  each  party  cover- 
ing the  period  from  1892  to  1902  inclusive: 

1892 — Judge  of  probate,  John  Mans- 
field, Rep.,  1,365  ;  C.  E.  Cooper,  Dem.,  1,199. 
Sheriff — C.  C.  Dunham,  Rep.,  1,377;  J-  P- 
Kundsen,  Dem.,  1,192.  County  clerk,  S. 
J.  Wall,  Rep.,  1,400;  Lewis  R.  Bishop, 
Dem.,  1,165.  Register  of  deeds,  S.  J. 
Wall,  Rep.,  1,400;  Lewis  R.  Bishop,  Dem., 
1,165.  Treasurer,  E.  Harger,  Rep.,  1,342; 
J.  W.  Ronsom,  Dem.,  1,207.     Prosecuting 


268 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


attorney,  D.  A.  Rice,  Rep.,  1,413;  no  Demo- 
cratic candidate.  Circuit  court  commis- 
sioner, Fred  S.  Lamb,  Rep.,  1,408;  no 
Democratic  candidate. 

1894 — Sheriff,  C.  C.  Dunham,  Rep., 
1,443;  Barton  Colvin,  Dem.,  744.  County 
clerk,  S.  J.  Wall,  Rep.,  1,411;  Charles  H. 
Bostick,  Dem.,  801.  Register  of  deeds,  S. 
J.  Wall,  Rep.,  1,442;  J.  B.  Yarnell,  Dem., 
767.  Treasurer,  E.  W.  Wheeler,  Rep., 
1,423;  William  E.  Dean,  Dem.,  442;  Will- 
iam Hoag,  Ind.,  338.  Prosecuting  attorney, 
D.  A.  Rice,  Rep.,  1,489;  I.  C.  Wheeler, 
Dem.,  516.  Circuit  court  commissioner, 
Fred  S.  Lamb,  Rep.,  1,510;  H.  B.  Sturte- 
vant,  Dem.,  470. 

1896 — Judge  of  probate,  John  Mans- 
field, Rep.,  2,019;  E.  F.  Sawyer,  Dem., 
1401.  Sheriff,  George  A.  Troy,  Rep.,  1,774; 
James  Mather,  Dem.,  1,648.  County  clerk, 
Henry  Hansen,  Rep.,  2,036;  George  S. 
Stanley,  Dem.,  1,383.  Register  of  deeds, 
P.  W.  Hinman,  Rep.,  1,995;  C.  D.  Phelps, 
Dem.,  1,436.  Treasurer,  E.  W.  Wheeler, 
Rep.,  2,074;  William  E.  Dean,  Dem.,  1,350. 
Prosecuting  attorney,  Fred  S.  Lamb,  Rep., 
2,032;  L  C.  Wheeler,  Dem.,  1,394.  Circuit 
court  commissioner,  Elwood  Peck,  Rep., 
2,044;  H.  B.  Sturtevant,  Dem.,  1,374. 

1898 — Sheriff,  George  A.  Troy,  Rep., 
1,326;  James  Mather,  Dem.,  924.  County 
clerk,  Henry  Hansen,  Rep.,  1,376;  George 
S.  Stanley,  Dem.,  869.  Register  of  deeds, 
P.  W.  Hinman,  Rep.,  1,496;  C.  H.  Bos- 
tick,.Dem.,  y2y.  Treasurer,  J.  H.  Wheeler, 
Rep.,  1,401;  James  Whaley,  Dem.,  842. 
Prosecuting  attorney,  Fred  S.  Lamb,  Rep., 
1,481;  J.  R.  Bishop,  Dem.,  748;  Circuit 
count  commissioner,  Elwood  Peck,  Rep., 
i,.495;  L  C.  Wheeler,  Dem.,  726. 

1900 — ^Judge  of  probate,  Fred  S.  Lamb, 


Rep.,  2,183;  James  R.  Bishop,  Dem.,  1,226. 
Sheriff,  Silas  W.  Huckleberry,  Dem.,  2,232; 
Herbert  Kellogg,  Dem.,  1,132.  County 
clerk,  David  F.  Garver,  Rep.,  2,162;  W.  S. 
Randall,  Dem.,  1,186.  Register  of  deeds, 
Henry  Hansen,  Rep.,  2,204;  William  H. 
Gray,  Dem.,  1,139.  Treasurer,  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  Rep.,  2,069  *'  J-  -^-  Gustafson,  Dem., 
1,277.  Prosecuting  attorney,  Fred  C. 
Wetmore,  Rep.,  2,515;  no  Democratic  can- 
didate. Circuit  court  commissioner,  D.  A. 
Rice,  Rep.,  2,504;  no  Democratic  candidate. 

1902 — Sheriff,  S.  W.  Huckleberry,  Rep., 
1,379;  M.  J.  Compton,  Dem.,  470.  County 
clerk,  D.  F.  Garver,  Rep.,  1,315;  B.  C. 
Dean,  Dem.,  537.  Register  of  deeds,  Hen- 
ry Hansen,  Rep.,  1,346;  G.  A.  Frederick, 
Dem.,  504.  Treasurer,  C.  C.  Daugherty, 
Rep.,  1,226;  J.  A.  Gustafson,  Dem.,  433. 
Prosecuting  attorney,  F.  C.  Wetmore,  Rep., 
1,397;  ^^o  Democratic  candidate.  Circuit 
court  commissioner,  J.  R.  Bishop,  Rep., 
1,374;  no  Democratic  candidate. 

By  an  amendment  to  act  No.  147,  of 
session  laws  of  1891,  made  at  the  legisla- 
tive session  of  1893,  ^^^  office  of  county 
commissioner  of  schools  was  made  elective, 
the  first  election  to  take  place  on  the  first 
Monday  of  April,  1893,  and  every  two  years 
thereafter,  and  term  of  office  to  begin  July 
first  following  the  election  and  continue  for 
two  years.  At  the  first  election  under  this 
law  George  E.  Herrick,  of  Cadillac,  was 
elected  by  a  vote  of  1,108  to  787  for  J.  E. 
Wood,  at  that  time  principal  of  the  Sherman 
schools.  ' 

In  1895  H.  C.  Foxworthy  was  elected 
to  this  office  over  L.  A.  Tibbitts,  the  vote 
being  1,076  for  Mr.  Foxworthy  to  446  for 
Mr.  Tibbitts.  Mr.  Foxworthy  was  re- 
elected in  1897,  his  opponent  being  Charles 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


269 


D.  Phelps  and  the  vote  being  1,418  for  Fox- 
worthy  and  898  for  Mr.  Phelps.  He  was 
also  a  candidate  for  a  third  term  in  1899, 
but  was  defeated  in  the  convention  by  C. 
C.  Slemons,  of  Sherman,  who  received  the 
nomination  and  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  528  over  Genette  E.  Chick,  his  Demo- 
cratic opponent.  Mr.  Slemons  was  renomi- 
nated in  1 90 1  and  elected  by  a  vote  of  1,664 
to  2>7^  for  his  opponent,  Miss  Renie  Torry, 
of  Cadillac. 


At  the  Republican  county  convention  in 
1903  William  A.  Faunce  received  the  nomi- 
nation for  this  office  and  at  the  Democratic 
county  convention  Miss  Renie  Torry,  who 
had  a  few  days  previously  been  nominated 
by  the  Prohibition  county  convention,  was 
endorsed  for  this  office  and  a  strong  effort 
made  throughout  the  county  to  secure  her 
election.  The  result  was  1,204  votes  for  Mr. 
Faunce  and  1,123  for  Miss  Torry,  giving  the 
former  a  majority  of  81. 


CHAPTER  X. 


CITY  AND  VILLAGE  ORGANIZATIONS. 


SHERMAN. 

Sherman,  being  the  oldest  village  in  the 
county,  naturally  comes  first  in  historical 
order.  In  1869  San  ford  Gasser  had  that 
portion  of  the  south  half  of  the  southeast 
quarter  of  section  36,  in  town  24,  north  of 
range  12  west,  lying  east  of  the  Manistee 
river,  platted  and  gave  it  the  name  of  the 
village  of  Sherman.  The  place  at  that  time 
contained  but  one  house  and  one  business 
place,  a  grocery  kept  by  Lewis  J.  Clark. 
The  village  being  at  the  corner  of  four 
townships,  though  situated  in  only  one  of 
them,  there  was  one  other  house  near  the 
corner  of  the  village,  owned  and  occupied 


by  Dr.  John  Perry,  as  he  was  familiarly 
called,  though  it  was  a  mystery  how  he  came 
to  be  called  doctor,  unless  it  was  because  he 
owned  a  set  of  ''turn-keys"  (the  usual  in- 
strument for  pulling  teeth  in  those  days) 
and  occasionally  pulled  a  tooth  for  an  af- 
flicted pioneer.  At  all  events  he  was  the 
first  ''doctor"  in  the  county  and  also  the  first 
postmaster  at  Sherman.  He  also  built  the 
second  saw-mill  in  the  county  on  the  stream 
now  known  as  Cole's  creek,  one  mile  east  of 
the  village.  This  he  operated  for  about  a 
year,  after  which  he  sold  it  to  H.  B.  Sturt- 
evant. 

When   Sherman   was  made  the  county 
seat  by  the  act  organizing  the  county,  quite 


270 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


a  building  boom  was  inaugurated.  L.  P. 
Champenour,  the  first  county  clerk,  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  the  first  county  treasurer,  and  T. 

A.  Ferguson,  the  first  resident  prosecuting 
attorney,  each  erected  houses  in  the  summer 
of  1869.  Maqueston  Brothers  also  had  a 
large  store  building  erected,  as  elsewhere 
noted.  There  were  several  other  buildings 
erected  during  that  summer,  and  there 
began  to  be  quite  a  village  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name. 

A  change  of  postmasters  took  place  in 
1869,  L.  J.  Clark  succeeding  Mr.  Perry, 
since  which  time  the  following  persons  have 
had  the  office  in  the  order  named :  E.  W. 
Stewart,  J.  S.  Walling,  C.  E.  Cooper,  H. 

B.  Sturtevant,  H.  F.  Campbell,  J.  H.  Wheel- 
er, I.  N.  Carpenter,  E.  W.  Wheeler, 
Mabel  Ramsey,  L.  P.  Champenois  and 
the  present  incumbent,  R.  D.  Frederick,  pro- 
prietor of  the  Sherman  Pioneer.  The  office 
is  now  the  third  in  point  of  business  in  the 
county,  Cadillac  and  Manton  being  the  first 
and  second  in  the  order  named. 

It  soon  developed  that  locations  on  lands 
adjoining  the  village  plat  were  more  desir- 
able for  residence  purposes  than  those  plat- 
ted, and  the  larger  portion  of  the  village  has 
been  built  upon  unplatted  lands.  In  1882 
a  tract  of  land  in  the  northeast  corner  of  sec- 
tion I  in  Springville  township  was  platted 
as  Crippin's  addition  to  Sherman  and  nearly 
all  of  4:hese  lots  are  now  occupied.  The  vil- 
lage was  situated  on  the  Newaygo  and 
Northport  State  Road  and  near  the  Manis- 
tee river,  the  distance  to  the  river  being  less 
than  half  a  mile  in  a  western  direction  and 
a  little  more  than  three-fourths  of  a  mile  to 
the  north.  When  the  work  of  clearing  the 
river  for  running  logs  had  been  completed 
and  lumbering  operations  were  extended  up 


the  river  to  the  extensive  pine  forests  a  lit- 
tle east  of  the  village,  Sherman  was  on 
the  direct  line  between  Manistee  and  the 
lumber  camps,  and  this  fact,  coupled  with 
the  fact  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  haul 
supplies  all  the  way  from  Manistee,  gave  the 
merchants  of  Sherman  a  very  large  and  lu- 
crative trade.  Occasionally  some  jobber 
would  run'  behind  and  leave  the  sitore- 
keepers  with  bad  debts  on  their  hands,  but 
these  failures  were  very  few!  and  not  of  a 
serious  nature. 

Sherman  had  the  honor  of  having  the 
first  newspaper  published  in  the  county,  the 
Wexford  County  Pioneer,  owned  and  edited 
by  C.  E.  Cooper  and  A.  W.  Tucker.  After 
running  the  paper  together  a  few  years  Mr. 
Tucker  sold  out  his  interest  to  Mr.  Cooper, 
who  continued  in  control  until  1877,  when 
he  sold  it  to  C.  S.  Marr,  who  conducted  it 
for  a  little  more  than  a  year.  It  then  went 
into  the  hands  of  H.  F.  Campbell  and  J.  H. 
Wheeler,  where  it  remained  until  January, 
1880,  when  Mr.  Campbell  sold  his  interest 
to  Mr.  Wheeler,  who  thus  became  the  sole 
owner.  Mr.  Wheeler  published  the  paper 
for  twelve  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
time  he  sold  it  to  R.  D.  Frederick,  who  still 
retains  it.  In  politics  it  has  always  been  Re- 
publican, though  efforts  were  made  at  one 
time  to  make  it  a  Greenback  paper,  and  at 
another  to  purchase  it  and  make  it  Demo- 
cratic. 

The  first  business  venture  where  Sher- 
man now  stands  was  made  by  Lewis  J. 
Clark,  who  built  a  small  frame  building  and 
put  in  a  small  stock  of  goods  suitable  for  a 
new  country  trade.  This  building  was 
erected  in  the  summer  of  1868,  and  was  the 
first  frame  structure  of  any  kind  built  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Manistee  river  in  the  coun- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHICAN. 


271 


ty.  The  first  hotel  was  started  by  Sylvester 
Clerk  in  a  log  building  that  was  orignally 
put  up  by  the  man  who  homesteaded  the 
land  on  which  the  village  was  platted. 
When  this  land  was  first  located  as  a  home- 
stead there  was  not  even  a  highway  south  of 
the  river.  The  state  road  had  been  chopped 
out,  but  not  cleared  for  travel  and  the  roads 
made  by  the  few  settlers  on  the  south  side 
of  the  river  wound  aroimd  through  the 
woods  wherever  they  could  be  made  passi- 
ble. It  was  not  until  after  the  organization 
of  the  county  that  the  work  of  stumping  and 
grading  the  state  road  was  completed.  It 
is  not  much  wonder,  therefore,  that  the 
first  man  to  settle  on  this  piece  of  land  should 
have  got  homesick  and  abandoned  it.  Soon 
after  the  hotel  was  started  a  frame  addition 
was  put  up  and  for  at  least  two  years  it  was 
the  only  hotel  in  the  village.  The  original 
log  part  of  this  relic  of  pioneer  days  still 
stands,  though  long  since  enclosed  with  lum- 
ber to  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  frame 
building.  The  first  term  of  the  circuit 
court  for  the  county  was  held  in  this  same 
building,  as  was  also  the  first  meeting  of 
the  board  of  supervisors. 

The  first  lawyer  to  locate  in  Sherman, 
aside  from  T.  A.  Ferguson,  who  was  ap- 
pointed prosecuting  attorney  soon  after  the 
county  was  organized,  was  E.  W.  Stewart, 
who  located  in  the  village  in  1870.  The 
first  resident  preacher  was  Jonas  Denton, 
who  arrived  in  1871.  The  first  practicing 
physician  was  H.  D.  Griswold,  who  located 
in  the  village  in  1872.  Mr.  Denton  organ- 
ized the  First  Congregational  church  in 
1872  and  his  work  was  taken  up  by  Rev. 
R.  Redeoff  in  1873,  through  whose  efforts* 
a  church  edifice  was  erected  in  1874  and 
dedicated  October   11,  of  that  year.     Mr. 


Redeoff  was  pastor  of  the  church  until  1877, 
when  he  removed  to  Rockford,  Michigan, 
remaining  there  several  years.  Returning 
to  Sherman  in  1880,  he  resumed  his  pasr- 
toral  work  and  continued  to  serve  the 
church  for  seventeen  years,  making  twenty- 
one  years'  service  in  all.  During  his  ab- 
sence the  pulpit  was  filled  by  Rev.  William 
P\  Esler  the  first  year  and  by  Rev.  J.  W. 
Young  the  next  two  years.  Mr.  Young  was 
ordained  at  Sherman  July  2,  1878.  The 
present  pastor  is  Rev.  A.  Bentall,  whose 
work  commenced  in  October,  1899.  Mr. 
Bentall  was  also  ordained  in  the  Sherman 
church  in  May,  1902. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  church  socie- 
ty was  organized  in  1870  and  preaching  ser- 
vices were  held  once  in  two  weeks  by  Rev. 
Thomas  Cayton.  At  the  conference  held 
that  year  Rev.  A.  L.  Thurston  was  assigned 
this  work,  often  traveling  sixteen  miles 
through  rain  and  snow,  heat  and  cold, 
from  his  homestead  in  Selma  township,  to 
fill  his  appointments.  The  next  year  Rev. 
John  Hall  was  designated  as  "supply''  for 
the  Sherman  charge,  and  in  1872  the  socie- 
ty, secured  its  first  resident  minis-ter.  Rev. 
W.  R.  Stinchcomb.  Preaching  services 
were  held  each  alternate  Sunday  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  CongregaticttMii  it^lety,  first 
in  the  school  house  unfll  the  Congregational 
church  was  built,  then  in  the  church  part  of 
the  time  and  a  part  of  the  time  in  the  court 
house  until  the  year  1881,  when  they  built 
a  house  of  worship.  This,  was  enlarged  and 
somewhat  remodeled  in  1897,  giving  it  a 
much  greater  seating  capacity  and  greatly 
improving  its  appearance. 

When  the  village  of  Sherman  was  plat- 
ted there  was  no  road  to  the  west  leading  to 
the   Fletcher    grist-mill,    as    such    a  road 


272 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


would  require  the  bridging  of  the  Manistee 
river,  consequently  those  Hving  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river  were  obHged  to  come  to 
Sherman  and  follow  the  state  road  nearly 
two  miles  north  and  then  go  west  and  south 
to  the  mill,  making  the  trip  nearly  four 
Imiles  longer  than  it  would  be  if  they  could 
go  directly  west  from  Sherman.  In  1872 
the  board  of  supervisors  made  an  appropria- 
tion to  aid  the  construction  of  a  bridge  over 
the  river  west  of  the  village  and  the  new 
route  to  the  grist-mill  was  opened  up,  much 
to  the  gratification  of  the  settlers  living 
south  and  east  of  Sherman. 

The  constant  increase  of  settlers  in  the 
county  and  the  ever-increasing  area  of  cul- 
tivated lands  soon  taxed  the  capacity  of  the 
little  grist-mill  on  the  Fletcher  creek  beyond 
its  limit,  and  large  quantities  of  grain  had 
to  be  sent  to  Traverse  City  for  milling. 
Several  efforts  were  made  by  the  people  of 
Sherman  to  induce  some  one  to  put  up  a 
good  gristing  mill  near  that  village,  and 
finally  a  couple  of  gentlemen  of  Clam  Lake, 
named  Shackleton  and  Bennett,  were  in- 
duced to  undertake  the  work.  A  suitable 
building  was  to  be  erected  by  the  citizens  of 
Sherman  and  donated  to  these  gentlemen 
on  condition  that  they  would  put  in  the  nec- 
essary machinery  and  operate  it.  The  mill 
was  built  in  the  fall  of  1876,  J.  H.  Wheeler 
having  the  contract  for  the  building  and  the 
dam  being  put  in  by  W.  E.  Dean  and  Daniel 
Baldwin.  The  machinery  was  furnished  and 
placed  in  position  by  Butterworth  &  Lowe, 
of  Grand  Rapids.  The  mill  was  forty  by 
fifty  feet  in  size  and  three  stories  high,  with 
a  capacity  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three 
hundred  bushels  of  grain  per  day.  Under 
charge  of  Mr.  Bennett,  who  was  a  practical 
miller,  having  learned  his  trade  in  Scotland, 


the  mill  proved  of  inestimable  value  to  the 
farmers,  not  only  a  large  share  of  those  in 
Wexford  county,  but  a  goodly  number  of 
those  living  in  the  southern  tier  of  town- 
ships of  Grand  Traverse  county  and  in  the 
northeastern  part  of  Manistee  county. 

Early  in  1878  the  mill  burned  down, 
which  so  discouraged  the  proprietors  that 
they  sold  the  property  to  L  H.  Maqueston, 
who  was  just  then  closing  out  his  mercantile 
business  in  the  village  preparatory  to  re- 
moving to  the  city  of  New  York.  This  pur- 
chase changed  his  whole  business  career,  as 
he  commenced  at  once  to  build  the  mill, . 
putting  up  a  better  and  more  commodious 
structure  than  the  one  burned  down  and 
equipping  it  with  the  most  improved  appli- 
ances for  a  custom  and  merchant  mill.  He 
re-stocked  his  large  store  and  was  active 
and  liberal  in  everything  that  tended  to  the 
development  of  the  village  and  the  farming 
interests  surrounding  it.  One  of  the  monu- 
ments to  his  memory  and  generosity  swings 
in  the  l>elfry  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  Sherman,  being  a  fine  bell,  costing  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  donated  by  him  to 
the  church.  An  untimely  death  overtook  him 
in  March,  1886.  It  was  on  Sunday  and  an 
alarm  of  fire  had  called  out  the  villagers,  the 
fire  being  in  a  house  near  the  center  of  the 
village.  Mr.  Maqueston  energetically 
joined  in  the  efforts  to  subdue  the  flames, 
which  attempt  in  a  short  time  proved  suc- 
cessful. He  then  went  to  his  hotel  for  din- 
ner, after  which  he  went  to  his  store,  as  was 
his  custom  Sunday  afternoons,  for  a  nap. 
An  hour  or  so  later  some  one  wishing  to  see 
him  went  to  the  store  door  and  called  to  him, 
but  without  response.  At  length  the  door 
was  forced  open  and  he  was  found  lying 
on  one  of  the  counters  dead.'    The  sad  news 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


273 


spread  through  the  village  like  wildfire  and 
a  throng  of  people  hastened  to  the  store  to 
see  for  themselves  if  the  report  was  true, 
llie  shock  w^as  great  to  the  community,  and 
the  loss  equally  so.  The  remains  were  sent 
to  New  York  for  burial,  and  as  a  mark  of 
respect  and  keen  sorrow,  nearly  the  whole 
village  followed  the  hearse  to  Manton,  six- 
teen miles  distant,  where  his  lifeless  form 
was  taken  on  its  last  journey  eastward. 

In  1887  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legis- 
lature granting  a  charter  to  the  village,  and 
the  first  village  election  was  held  on  the  5tl"i 
day  of  May,  1887.  One  of  the  principal 
objects  in  securing  the  charter  was  to  enable 
the  village  to  issue  bonds  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  Toledo,  Ann  Arbor  &  Northern 
Michigan  Railroad,  which  was  then  being 
pushed  from  Harrietta  on  to  Frankfort. 
The  lx)nds  were  issued  and  delivered  to  the 
railroad  company,  but  owing  to  a  decision 
of  the  supreme  court  of  the  state  just  prior 
to  that  time  it  found  difficulties  in  negotiat- 
ing them,  and  they  were  finally  returned  to 
the  village  authorities.  The  result  was  that 
the  proposed  ''spur"  was  never  built,  al- 
though it  has  appeared  on  the  county  atlas 
for  the  past  twelve  years.  The  failure  to 
get  this  railroad  connection  was  another  se- 
vere blow  to  Sherman,  as  it  made  possible 
the  building  up  of  another  trading  point,  the 
village  of  Mesick,  thus  dividing  the  business 
wdiich  should  have  all  gone  to  one  towai  to 
have  made  it  grow  and  prosper. 

By  a  recent  action  of  the  village  it  has 
again  voteil  to  issue  its  bonds  for  five  thou- 
sand dollars  with  which  to  grade  a  street 
through  the  village.  This  has  been  done 
in  the  interests  of  the  Manistee  &  North- 
eastern Railroad,  which  now  proposes  to 
build  a  line  running  within  the  corporate 


limits  of  the  village.  If  this  plan  succeeds 
Sherman  will  continue  to  be  the  largest 
village  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  coun- 
ty, but  will  never  be  wdiat  it  w^ould  have 
been  had  it  secured  connection  w4th  the  Ann 
Arbor  Railroad  when  that  road  first  passed 
through  the  county. 

After  the  county  seat  left  Sherman  the 
court  house  was  purchased  by  the  school  dis- 
trict and  l)y  a  few  changes  was  converted 
into  a  very  convenient  school  building.  The 
school  attendance  had  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  became  necessary  as  early  as 
1887  to  employ  three  teachers,  and  in  1896 
it  was  formally  made  a  graded  school.  The 
village  now  has  a  population  of  about  five 
Inindred,  has  three  large  general  stores, 
three  hotels,  two  hardware  stores,  two  drug 
stores,  tw^o  blacksmith  shops,  two  churches, 
one  large  floin*ing-mill,  two  grocery  stores, 
besides  a  bank,  a  millinery  store,  saw  and 
planing  mill,  saloon  and  other  necessary 
ivdjuncts  to  a  modern  village.  It  is  situated 
on  the  table  land,  some  eighty  or  a  hundred 
feet  above  the  Manistee  river,  and  is  sur- 
rounded by  one  of  the  very  best  agricultural 
districts  in  the  country. 

In  1897"  the  Ann  Arbor  Railroad  built 
a  spur  (or  rather  the  people  of  Sherman 
built  it  and  presented  it  to  the  railroad  com- 
pany) which  came  within  a  mile  of  Sherman 
to  the  w^est,  where  a  little  burg  has  sprung 
up  sometimes  called  West  Sherman,  and 
sometimes  Claggetville,  from  Claggett,  the 
name  of  the  man  in  whose  interests  the  spur 
w^as  built,  and  who  erected  a  large  stave  and 
heading  mill,  with  dry  kiln  and  storing 
sheds,  the  entire  plant  and  yards  covering 
several  acres  of  ground.  This  plant  has  al- 
ways been  operated  from  Sherman,  the  pro- 
prietors and  many  of  the  laborers  living  in 


274 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


that  village.  The  place  has  grown  to  be  a 
great  shipping  point  for  potatoes,  wheat, 
lumber  and  logs,  and  all  freight  for  Sher- 
man in  car  lots  is  unloaded  at  this  point. 
The  officials  of  the  railroad  are  now  contem- 
plating the  erection  of  a  station  on  this  spur, 
so  that  all  freight  and  railroad  business  for 
Sherman  may  be  done  there  instead  of  go- 
ing to  Mesick,  nearly  three  miles  distant. 

The  first  secret  society  organized  in 
Sherman  was  Powhattan  Tribe  No.  12,  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men.  This  was  a  be-^ 
nevolent  and  social  organization,  after- 
wards taking  up  the  life  insurance  idea  so 
prevalent  now  with  nearly  all  secret  orders. 
This  tribe  was  instituted  through  the  efforts 
of  C.  S.  Marr,  a  young  attorney  who  had 
then  just  entered  upon  the  practice  of  law 
and  had  located  in  Sherman  in  the  spring 
of  1876.  The  organization  was  perfected 
in  May  of  that  year  and  flourished  for  a 
number  of  years,  some  of  its  members  be- 
ing prominently  identified  with  the  great 
council  of  the  state  and  the  United  States. 
One  of  its  members,  J.  H.  Wheeler,  served 
one  term  as  great  sachem  of  the  great  coun- 
cil of  the  state  and  was  representative  of  the 
state  in  the  great  council  of  the  United 
States  at  three  of  its  annual  sessions,  one 
at  Philadelphia,  one  at  Atlantic  City  and 
one  at  Springfield,  Illinois. 

This  order  took  its  name  and  much  of 
its  ritualistic  work  from  the  aborigines  of  the 
country,  its  officers  being  sachem,  prophet, 
sagamore,  chief  of  records,  keeper  of  wam- 
pum, etc.,  its  candidates  for  admission, 
pale  faces,  and  its  members,  warriors.  Its 
ceremonial  work  was  unique  and  impressive, 
and  was  pronounced  by  those  competent  to 
judge  as  superior  to  that  of  many  of  the 
older  orders.     It  is  a  little  strange  that  a 


branch  of  such  an  order  should  not  have 
succeeded  in  Sherman  when  the  order  at 
large  has  been  constantly  growing  and 
counts  its  membership  in  the  United  States 
by  the  tens  of  thousands,  but  the  average 
American  is  always  looking  for  something 
new  and  novel  and  with  the  coming  of  the 
Grange,  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Masons  and 
other  secret  orders  the  old  love  was  cast  oft* 
for  the  new  in  many  instances,  and  this,  with 
the  death  and  removal  of  some  of  the  prom- 
inent workers  in  the  tribe,  caused  its  ranks 
to  grow  so  thin  that  at  last  it  resolved  to 
surrender  its  charter,  which  it  did,  in 
1888. 

The  Patrons  of  Husbandry  was  the  next 
order  to  establish  a  branch  in  Sherman, 
which  was  done  in  February,  1877.  ^'^i^ 
branch  was  known  as  Sherman  Grange  No. 
6;^2,  and  also  had  a  large  membership  and 
regular  attendance  for  a  number  of  years, 
but  at  last,  like  its  predecessor,  the  Red 
Men,  it  ^'folded  its  tents"  and  disappeared. 

Next  came  the  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  under  the  title  of  Sherman 
Lodge  No.  336,  which  was  instituted  in 
March,  1880.  This  lodge  is  still  in  a  flour- 
ishing condition,  and  now  has  its  auxiliary 
Rebekahs.  The  lodge  owns  its  own  hall  and 
has  a  good  membership. 

T.  A.  Ferguson  Post  No.  226,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  was  the  next  to  per- 
fect an  organization  in  Sherman,  the  date 
being  March  4,  1884.  The  name  has  since 
been  changed  to  ''Abram  Finch  Post,''  in 
honor  of  an  old  soldier  who  located  a  home- 
stead on  section  12,  in  Springville  township, 
and  who'  died  about  the  time  the  county  was 
organized.  As  none  but  ex-soldiers  of  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion  can  belong  to  this  order 
its  ranks  are  yearly  growing  thinner  and 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


276 


it  too  will  ere  long  be  but  a  memory.  It  has 
been  the  inspiration  of  many  observations 
of  the  beautiful  Memorial  day  exercises  of 
the  order  and  for  this  alone  its  passing  will 
sadden  the  hearts  of  the  many  who  have  wit- 
nessed these  heart-felt  tributes  to  fallen 
comrades  in  arms. 

The  work  of  instituting  a  lodge  of  Free 
and  Accepted  Masons  was  undertaken  in 
1884  and  a  dispensation  secured  as  the  pre- 
liminary step  to  organization,  which  in  due 
course  of  time  was  effected.  It  has  had  a 
steady  and  continuous  growth,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  the  charter  mem- 
bership was  that  much  tabooed  number  thir- 
teen, and  now  has  one  hundred  members  in 
good  standing.  It  owns  the  entire  second 
story  of  the  E.  Gilbert  store  building,  which 
is  divided  into  lodge  rooms,  ante  rooms, 
kitchen  and*  dining  room,  all  tastily  fitted 
and  well  furnished.  An  auxiliary  Eastern 
Star  was  organized  several  years  ago  and 
now  has  a  membership  of  eighty-one. 

As  the  years  passed  organizations  mul- 
tiplied and  there  is  now  Maqueston  Tent 
No.  654,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees;  Our 
Choice  Hive,  Ladies  of  the  Maccabees; 
Sherman  Lodge  No.  212,  Knights  of 
Pythias;  Sherman  Camp  No.  5514,  Mod- 
ern Woodmen  of  America.  For  a  number 
of  years  the  Good  Templars  kept  up  an  or- 
ganization, and  the  Woman's  Christian 
Temperance  Union  have  for  many  years 
had  an  organization  in  the  village  and  also 
a  county  organization. 

An  old  saying  that  "blessed  be  nothing" 
can  well  be  quoted  by  Sherman  just  now,  as 
it  has  no  lawyer.  While  the  county  seat  re- 
mained there  it  always  had  one,  generally 
two  and  sometimes  three  lawyers,  and  they 
all  lived,  therefore  the  people  had  to  sup- 


port them.  Since  the  county  seat  was  re- 
moved, the  village  has  been  without  a  law- 
yer most  of  the  time,  and  there  was  very  lit- 
tle litigation,  for  it  took  money  and  time  to 
go  to  Cadillac  to  see  a  lawyer,  and  the  time 
nearly  always  had  such  a  cooling  effect  on 
the  angry,  would-be  litigant,  that  his  bet- 
ter manhood  asserted  itself,  and  thus  many 
a  law-suit  was  avoided  and  much  useless  ex- 
pense prevented. 

Of  doctors  there  have  nearly  always 
been  two  for  the  past  twenty  years,  and 
sometimes  three  or  four ;  at  the  present  time 
there  are  two:  Dr.  E.  A.  McManus  and 
Dr.  D.  L.  Rose.  In  other  professional  call- 
ings may  be  found  S..  Gasser,  real  estate 
dealer;  R.  D.  Frederick,  insurance  agent; 
J.  H.  Glover,  phoitographer,  and  A.  S. 
Moreland  &  Son,  bankers. 

VILLAGE     OF     CLAM     LAKE. 

The  second  village  to  be  started  in  the 
county  was  the  village  of  Clam  Lake.  As 
previously  stated,  it  was  situated  at  the 
eastern  end  of  Little  Clam  lake,  from  which 
it  derived  its  name.  The  name  of  this  lake 
has  but  recently  been  changed  to  Lake  Cad- 
illac by  act  of  the  legislature.  The  village 
of  Clam  Lake  was  platted  in  July,  1872, 
since  which  time  there  have  been  many  addi- 
tions and  subdivisions  platted  until  now  the 
city  of  Cadillac,  a  name  adopted  when  the 
village  became  a  city,  covers  nearly  ten  times 
as  much  territory  as  did  the  orignal  plat. 
In  fact  if  the  lands  attached  to  the  city  in 
1895  ^o  enable  it  to  build  and  control  a  road 
way  or  boulevard  around  the  lake  were  tak- 
en into  consideration,  the  area  of  the  pres- 
ent city  would  be  more  than  twenty-five 
times  as  great  as  was  the  original  plat. 


276 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN. 


In  1879  an  addition  was  platted,  called 
sub-division  of  outlots  5  and  6.  Cobb  and 
Mitchell  platted  their  first  addition  in  Au- 
gust, 1880,  and  their  second  and  third  addi- 
tions in  September,  1881.  •  May  and  Mitch- 
ell's addition  was  platted  in  November,  1881, 
and  in  May  Cummer  and  Haynes  platted 
an  addition.  The  next  month  three  other 
plats  were  recorded,  viz :  A  plat  of  the 
northwest  quarter  of  section  3,  township 
21  north,  range  9  west;  a  plat  of  the  south- 
west quarter  of  section  3,  township  21 
north,  range  9  west,  and  a  plat  of  the  north- 
east quarter  of  section  33,  township  22 
north,  range  9  west. 

J.  Cummer  &  Sons  platted  their  first  ad- 
dition in  October,  1882,  and  in  November, 
1883,  an  addition  was  platted  by  Cummer 
and  Gerish.  Cobb  and  Mitchell  platted  a 
fourth  addition  in  April,  1884,  and  a  year 
from  that  time  a  plat  of  the  subdivision  of 
block  F  in  the  original  plat  was  recorded. 
This  block  F  had  been  left  entire  when  the 
village  was  first  platted  and  it  was  to  be 
donated  to  the  county,  provided  the  county 
seat  was  removed  to  Cadillac.  This  was  the 
same  block  so  often  mentioned  in  resolu- 
tions presented  to  the  board  of  supervisors, 
as  will  be  seen  by  consulting  the  proceedings 
of  that  body. 

In  1886  another  plat,  subdividing  block 
105  of  the  Cummer  and  Haynes  addition, 
was  filed.  In  July,  1888,  C.  K.  Russell 
filed  the  plat  of  the  subdivision  of  outlot  14, 
and  a  couple  of  months  later  J.  Cummer  & 
Sons  filed  a  plat  of  their  second  addition. 
In  1 89 1  Johnson's  addition  was  platted  and 
in  1892  the  plat  of  the  southeast  quarter  of 
section  33,  township  22  north,  range  9  west, 
was  filed.  In  June,  1893,  ^^e  Improvement 
addition  was  platted  and  in  August  of  the 


same  year  S.  W.  Kramer's  addition  was  re- 
corded. In  November,  1893,  another  plat 
was  recorded  called  Crawford's  subdivision 
of  block  7  of  May  and  Mitchell's  addition. 

January  30,  1894,  J.  Cummer  &  Sons 
platted  their  third  addition.  In  March, 
1899,  Pollard's  subdivision  of  parts  of 
blocks  E  and  F  of  Cobb  and  Mitchell's  sec- 
ond addition  was  platted  and  in  the  same 
month  there  was  a  plat  filed  called  ''Assess- 
ment Plat  Number  One,"  covering  a  large 
number  of  lots  that  had  been  sold  by  metes 
and  bounds,  not  being  in  any  of  the  numer- 
ous plats  theretofore  made.  The  plat  of 
Diggins'  first  addition  was  filed  in  April, 
1902,  and  in  December  of  that  year  Chit- 
tenden and  Wheeler  platted  an  addition  con- 
taining about  one  hundred  and  twenty  lots, 
making  twenty-six  additions  and  subdivis- 
ions since  the  original  plat  was  made,  be- 
sides the  addition  secured  through  the  leg- 
islature extending  the  city  limits  around  the 
lake. 

The  first  effort  to  clear  away  any  portion 
of  the  forests  which  covered  the  ground 
where  the  city  of  Cadillac  now  stands  was 
for  the  building  of  camps  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  extension  of  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad.  Col.  J.  C. 
lludnutt  was  the  railroad  company's  civil 
engineer  at  that  time  and  when  he  was  or- 
dered to  swing  around  the  eastern  end  of 
Little  Clam  lake,  instead  of  passing  between 
the  two  lakes,  as  was  first  intended,  he  con- 
cluded that  it  meant  the  building  of  a  town 
at  that  point.  With  this  idea  in  view,  he 
decided  to  buy  any  or  all  land  bordering 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake  and  for  this 
purpose  he  started  for  the  government  land 
ofiice,  then  located  at  Traverse  City,  in  the 
fall  of   1 87 1,  to  ascertain  what  there  was 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


277 


in  that  locality  that  could  be  purchased.   The 
only   road  to   Traverse  City   then   was   the 
State  road,  running  through  Sherman,  and 
as  the  stage  was  the  only  conveyance  it  took 
two  days  to  make  the  trip  from  the  northern 
end  of  the  railroad,   which   was  then   just 
this  side  of  Big  Rapids,  to  the  land  office. 
The  Colonel  stopped  over  night  in  Sher- 
man and  in  conversation  with  some  of  the 
business    men   of   that    village   casually   re~ 
marked     that     he     was     on     his     way     to 
the    United    States    land    office    ''to   buy    a 
city."      I.    H.     Mequeston,    one    of    Sher- 
man's    first     merchants,     lx)arded     at     the 
hotel  and,  overhearing  this  remark  of  the 
Colonel's,  adroitly  drew  out  the  facts  that 
the  ''city"  was  yet  in  embryo,  but  that  it 
was  to  be  built  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
Little  Clam  lake,  so  while  the  Colonel  was 
enjoying  a  much  needed  night's  rest,  Mr. 
Maqueston  started  for  Traverse  City,  where 
he  arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night.     How 
he  found  the  residence  of  the  register  of  the 
land   office  or  how   much  he  gave  him  to 
leave  his  warm  bed  and  go  to  the  land  office 
at    that   unseemly    hour   of   the   night   will 
probably  always  remain  a  mystery,  as  both 
have  been  dead  for  many  years,  but  certain 
it  is  that  wdien   Col.   Hudnutt  reached  the 
land  office  the  next  day  he  discovered  the 
fact  that  government  lots  i,  3  and  5  of  sec- 
tion 4,  in  Clam  Lake  township,  or  rather 
what  is  now  Clam  Lake  township,  had  been 
sold  to  L.  J.   Clark  and  L   H.   Maqueston, 
of  Sherman.    This  was  the  land  upon  which 
the  original  village  of  Clam  Lake  was  plat- 
ted.    The  village  has  now  become  the  city 
of  Cadillac,  so  that  Mr.  Hudnutt's  facetious 
remark  about  buying  a  city,  proved  the  truth 
of  the  old  adage  that  "many  a  truth  is  spok- 
en in  jest."     Messrs.  Clark  and  Maqueston 


sold  their  "city"  purchase  to  George  A. 
Mitchell,  who  soon  after  platted  it  into  the 
village  of  Clam  Lake. 

Even  before  the  arrival  of  the  first  regu- 
lar train,  which  w'as  on  February  20,  1872, 
and  months  Ijefore  the  village  was  platted, 
there  began  to  be  evidences  of  a  village.  Rude 
log  houses  and  hotels  were  constructed,  the 
first  hotel  being  the  Clam  Lake  House,  sit- 
uated near  where  the  Ann  Arbor  depot  now 
stands.  Another  large  log  hotel,  known  as 
the  Mason  House,  was  commenced  late  in 
the  fall  of  1 87 1  and  was  nightly  filled  with 
travelers  before  the  cracks  between  the 
logs  had  been  sufficiently  "chinked"  and 
"mossed"  to  keep  out  the  snow.  Beds  and 
even  cots  for  the  nightly  crowds  were  out 
of  the  question,  and  it  was  sometimes  hard 
to  secure  room  to  lie  on  the  floor  and  sleep. 

It  is  said  that  with  the  crowds  came  the 
saloon  and  that  the  first  establishment  of  the 
kind  consisted  of  a  barrel  of  whisky  and 
the  top  of  a  pine  stump  sawed  ofif  square  on 
which  to  set  the  glasses  and  bottles,  but 
when  it  is  remembered  that  there  was  then 
a  prohibitory  liquor  law  upon  our  statute 
books,  it  is  quite  doubtful  that  the  law  was 
so  openly  defied  as  this  would  indicate. 

The  writer  drove  over  from  Sherman  to 
make  the  first  arrests  in  the  new  burg  for 
violation  of  the  liquor  law.  This  was  early 
in  1872,  when  the  Mason  House  was  yet 
unfinished,  and  he  had  to  sleep  on  its  bare 
floor.  In  the  morning  he  looked  up  the 
two  places  complained  of,  one  of  which 
stood  on  the  ground  now  included  in  the 
city  park  and  the  other  near  the  present  site 
of  the  Michigan  Iron  Works.  He  foimd  no 
evidences  of  liquor  selling,  yet  the  parties 
were  convicted  of  the  oflfense,  the  proof 
showing  that  the  work  of  selling  had  been 


278 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


slyly  instead  of  openly  done,  which  leads 
him  to  believe  that  the  *'pine  stump  and  bar- 
rel of  whisky''  story  is  considerably  over- 
drawn. 

The  first  saw-mill  was  built  by  a  Mr. 
Yale  in  the  fall  of  1871,  the  site  being  near- 
ly *the  same  as  that  now  occupied  by  what  is 
designated  as  Cobbs  and  Mitchell's  little 
mill. 

A  postoffice  was  established  in  January, 
1872,  with  John  S.  McClain  as  postmaster. 
His  successors  have  been  as  follows,  in  the 
order  named:  H.  F.  May,  Byron  Ballou, 
J.  A.  Whitmore,  J.  Nixon,  James  Crowley, 
Byron  Ballou,  L.  J.  Law  and  S.  J.  Wall, 
who  is  now  serving  his  second  term.  The 
office  passed  into  the  presidential  class  in 
1878  and  become  a  second-class  office  in 
1 88 1.  Free  delivery  service  was  inaugu- 
rated in  1 90 1.  The  present  force  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  government  in  the  office  is  Post- 
master Wall,  Assistant  A.  V.  Harmer,  who 
fills  the  position  of  money  order  and  regis- 
try clerk,  Mailing  Clerk  Judd  Miller,  a  de- 
livery and  stamp  clerk,  an  assorting  and  sep- 
arating clerk  and  three  carriers,  besides  one 
substitute  carrier  whose  work  depends  upon 
the  sickness  or  disability  of  the  regular  car- 
riers. The  salaries  paid  are  as  follows: 
Postmaster,  $2,400,  assistant  postmaster, 
$1,000,  mailing  clerk,  $900,  delivery  and 
separating  clerks,  $700  each,  carriers,  $850 
each,  making  a  total  of  $8,250,  besides,  the 
extra  compensation  to  the  substitute  car- 
rier. The  total  receipts  of  the  office  for  the 
quarter  ending  March  31,  1903,  was  $3,- 
890.56.  Under  directions  from  the  post- 
office  department,  all  mails  received  and  dis- 
patched for  seventy  days  ending  May  12, 
1903,  were  weighed,  the  total  weight  for 
that  time  being  67,947  pounds,  which  did 


not  include  the  mail  deposited  for  local  de- 
livery or  that  sent  out  on  the  daily  and  tri- 
weekly star  routes  which  run  out  from  the 
city  in  three  different  directions. 

In  giving  the  history  of  the  early  days 
of  Clam  Lake  (now  Cadillac)  no  more  re- 
liable source  of  information  can  be  found 
than  the  files  of  the  local  newspaper,  there- 
fore we  shall  quote  liberally  from  the  first 
issue  of  the  Clam  Lake  News,  the  first  news- 
paper to  be  published  in  the  village.  The 
paper  was  founded  in  1872  by  C.  L.  Frazier. 
Later  S.  S.  Fallass  became  interested  finan- 
cially in  the  paper  and  was  an  editorial  con- 
tributor. It  was  afterwards  sold  to  J.  A. 
&  O.  Whittemore.  In  1878  it  was  under 
the  management  of  Rice  &  Chapin  and  in 
1 88 1  Mr.  Terwilliger  took  Mr.  Rice's  place 
as  one  of  the  managers  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  that  year  it  was  entirely  under  the  man- 
agement of  Mr.  Chapin.  In  1882  J.  W. 
Giddings  succeeded  to  the  management  of 
the  paper.  Mr.  Giddings  having  been 
elected  to  the  state  senate,  the  ownership  of 
the  News  went  into  the  hands  of  the  News 
Publishing  Company.  C.  T.  Chapin,  after 
severing  his  connection  w,ith  Ithe  News, 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Sill  and 
started  the  Saturday  Express,  the  first  num- 
ber appearing  in  December,  1886.  In  the 
following  May  this  paper  consolidated  with 
the  News  and  the  paper  was  thenceforth 
known  as  the  News  and  Express.  The  new 
paper  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  News 
Publishing  Company  until  December  i, 
1897,  when  the  present  publisher,  Hon. 
Perry  F.  Powers,  became  the  owner.  It 
was  started  as  a  six-column  folio,  later  en- 
larged to  a  six-column  quarto  and  is  now  a 
seven-column  quarto  and  has  a  daily  edi- 
tion in  its  second  volume.     It  has  always 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  All  CHI  CAN. 


279 


been  a  strong  advocate  of  Republican  prin- 
ciples and  a  supporter  of  Republican  candi- 
dates, except  on  one  occasion  when  it  sup- 
ported the  nominee  of  the  Demo-Greenback 
party  for  member  of  the  house  of  represent- 
atives in  the  state  legislature,  but  as  this  was 
solely  on  account  of  county-seat  matters, 
the  candidate  being  a  resident  of  the  village 
of  Clam  L.ake,  it  had  some  excuse  for  the 
position  it  took  in  that  campaign. 

It  may  be  well  in  this  connection  to 
briefly  note  the  other  newspaper  ventures 
that  have  been  started  in  the  village  and  city 
since  the  starting  of  the  News  in  1872.  The 
first  to  make  its  appearance  was  the  Daily 
Enterprise,  launched  in  the  summer  of 
1880.  It  had  not  much  excuse  for  an  exist- 
ence at  that  time  except  the  one  object  of 
creating  sentiment  favorable  to  the  removal 
of  the  county  seat  to  Cadillac,  but  it  soon 
found  that  a  newspaper  of  one  idea  was  a 
difficult  thing  to  interest  the  people  with 
and  consequently  it  was  not  very  long  lived. 

The  next  paper  to  make  its  appearance 
was  the  Cadillac  Weekly  Times,  which 
made  its  first  bow  to  the  people  of  Wexford 
county  in  June,  1882,  under  the  manage- 
ment of  A.  Rindge.  At  first  it  was  a  seven- 
column  folio,  but  in  a  few  months  was  en- 
larged to  a  seven-column  quarto.  The  paper 
was  soon  afterwards  merged  into  the  Mich- 
igan State  Democrat,  a  paper  that  had  been 
started  in  Detroit  by  M.  T.  Woodruff,  who 
transferred  it  to  Cadillac.  In  December, 
1 89 1,  it  was  purchased  by  its  present  owner, 
George  S.  Stanley.  As  its  name  indicates, 
it  has  always  been  Democratic  in  politics 
and  has  labored  zealously  for  its  party.  Its 
owner  has  been  nominated  for  various  coun- 
ty and  city  offices  and  was  once  elected  may- 
or of  the  city.    He  is  thoroughly  alive  to  the 


interests  of  his  home  city  and  is  an  earnest 
and  active  worker  in  everything  that  tends 
to  its  growth  and  prosperity. 

The  Wexford  County  Citizen  made  its 
appearance  in  August,  1884.  It  was.  edited 
and  published  by  H.  M.  Enos  and  printed  in 
the  job  office  of  C.  T.  Chapin.  It  only  lived 
about  nine  months  and  was  not  much  missed 
when  it  was  discontinued. 

The  Arbitaren  made  its  advent  in 
March,  1890.  It  was  a  weekly  paper  pub- 
lished exclusively  for  Scandinavian  readers 
by  C.  E.  Thornmark  and  printed  in  the 
State  Democrat  office.  After  about  four 
years  of  existence  in  Cadillac  it  was  re- 
moved to  Grand  Rapids,  .but  still  supplied 
its  Cadillac  readers  for  some  time  after  its 
removal. 

The  Cadillac  Globe  was  launched  in  the 
newspaper  field  in  September,  1898,  by  J. 
M.  Terwilliger.  Two  years  later  Mr.  Ter- 
williger  took  in  a  partner,  R.  W.  Craw- 
ford, and  the  paper  is  still  managed  by  them. 
In  the  spring  of  1901  they  started  a  daily 
edition,  which  they  continued  to  publish  for 
about  a  year,  finally  selling  their  interests 
in  the  daily  to  the  publishers  of  the  Daily 
News.  The  Globe  has  never  taken  a  very 
active  part  in  politics,  being  rather  neutral 
in  that  line,  though  leaning  to  the  Demo- 
cratic side  of  the  fence.  It  has  a  good  cir- 
culation and  a  good  advertising  patronage 
and  is  no  small  factor  in  the  upbuilding  and 
onward  progress  of  the  city. 

We  will  go  back  now  to  the  first  issue 
of  the  Clam  Lake  News,  which  was  on  the 
first  day  of  June,  1872.  The  village  was 
very  new  then,  which  may  have  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  naming  of  the  paper  the 
News,  for  there  was  not  a  superabundance 
of  matter  out  of  which  to  put  up  a  good 


280 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


newsy  paper;  nevertheless  its  first  issue  was 
a  notable  one,  being  the  initiatory  step  in  a 
career  that  has  brought  success  to  its  pub- 
lisher and  a  worthy  record  for  itself.  In 
that  first  issue  its  editor  gave  an  extended 
review  and  summary  of  the  village,  which  we 
quote  at  length : 

*'But  little  more  than  seven  months 
since,  the  place  where  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  now  stands  was  but  a  dense  forest  and 
the  voice  of  a  human  being  was  seldom 
heard.  The  site  being  on  the  Grand  Rapids 
&  Indiana  Railroad,  upon  the  banks  of  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  lakes  in  Michigan  and 
a  proper  distance  from  large  places  on 
either  side,  the  spot  was  selected  as  a  desir- 
able place  for  a  town.  George  A.  Mitchell, 
the  original  prime  mover  and  proprietor  of 
the  village  plat,  commenced  operating  here 
sometime  in  October  last.  Since  that  time 
he  has  I^een  an  earnest  and  faithful  worker 
in  the  interests  of  the  place.  The  liberal 
spirit  which  he  has  manifested  in  all  his 
dealings  has  won  for  him  many  warm 
friends.  The  village  plat  covers  about  eigh- 
ty acres  of  ground.  It  borders  on  the  west 
,  and  commands  a  beautiful  view  of  Little 
Clam  lake.  The  railroad  divides  the  town 
into  two  nearly  equal  parts  and  the  depot 
is  situated  in  the  most  central  portion. 

*'The  village  now  contains  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  families  and  a  pop- 
ulation of  upwards  of  six  hundred  actual 
settlers.  The  lakes  called  the  Little  and  Big 
Clam  cover  an  area  of  about  eight  square 
miles;  the  distance  intervening  between  the 
two  is  about  sixty  rods.  The  channel  be- 
tween the  lakes  is  from  two  to  five  feet 
deep  and  from  one  to  two  rods  wide.  The 
work  of  clearing  it  of  logs  and  old  rubbish 
is  now  progressing  and  when  opened  it  will 


be  navigable  for  steamers  of  considerable 
size  and  will  be  very  convenient  for  floating 
logs  that  may  eventually  come  from  the 
Big  Lake  and  through  this  channel  to  the 
mills.  These  lakes  abound  largely  with  ex- 
cellent varieties  of  fish  and  the  country 
around  wath  wild  game,  affording  a  grand 
field  for  hunting  and  fishing.  The  land  bor- 
dering on  these  lakes  and  for  several  miles 
around  is  covered  with  a  heavy  growth  of 
pine  that  will  be  tributary  to  them  and  here 
worked  into  lumber. 

'The  capacity  of  the  mills  now  in  opera- 
tion and  the  two  large  ones  soon  to  start  will 
be  about  four  million  feet  per  month.  At 
this  rate  it  is  estimated  that  it  will  take  fif- 
teen years  to  consume  the  pine.  Taking  this 
into  consideration,  the  pleasant  locality  for  a 
town,  and  the  excellent  farming  lands  in 
the  vicinity  that  will  be  tributary  to  the  place 
and  support  it  when  the  pine  is  gone,  you 
may  judge  for  yourself  what  the  future  of 
Clam  Lake  will  be.  We  make  mention  of 
the  following  more  important  places  of  busi- 
ness : 

''Saw^  Mills — The  mills  that  are  now  in 
successful  operation  are  those  of  J.  R.  Hale 
and  Slinger  &  Company;  the  first  named, 
the  Pioneer  mill,  has  been  running  some  five 
or  six  months.  It  is  now  being  finished  up 
in  good  shape,  some  new  and  much-needed 
machinery  has  been  added  and  is  now 
capable  of  cutting  about  twenty-five  thou- 
sand feet  per  day.  The  latter,  Slinger  & 
Company's  new  and  improved  portable  mill, 
is  doing  a  good  business,  with  a  capacity  of 
about  twenty-five  thousand  feet  per  day. 
The  above  named  mills  are  both  under  the 
management  of  Mr.  Lydle,  who  has  been 
doing  everything  in  his  power  to  supply  the 
great  demand  for  lumber. 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


281 


"The  new  mills  of  Shockleton  &  Green 
and  Harris  Brothers  are  expected  to  be 
ready  to  start  by  the  middle  of  this  month 
and  when  completed  will  be  a  credit  to  the 
town  and  to  the  builders.  The  first  named 
is  thirty  by  ninety-six  feet,  two  stories  high, 
and  a  boiler  house  fourteen  by  thirty-six 
feet.  There  are  two  boilers,  eighteen  feet 
long  and  forty-four  inciies  in  diameter.  The 
cylinder  is  fourteen  inches  in  diameter  and 
twenty-four  inch  stroke.  It  will  contain 
one  large  circular  with  top  saw  and  gang 
edger.  It  is  expected  to  be  capable  of  cut- 
ting forty  thousand  feet  per  day.  Messrs. 
Shockleton  &  Green  are  energetic  business 
men  and  every  part  of  their  mill  is  built  in 
a  substantial  and  business-like  manner. 

''Harris  Bros.'  mill,  which  is  also  expect- 
ed to  be  ready  for  operation  by  the  middle  of 
this  month,  will,  when  completed,  compare  in 
every  respect  with  any  mill  in  northern 
Michigan.  The  main  building  is  thirty-six 
by  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet,  two  stories 
high,  and  attached  to  this  is  a  boiler  house 
twenty-eight  by  fifty  feet,  which  is  to  con- 
tain three  large  boilers  twenty  feet  long  and 
four  feet  in  diameter.  The  cylinder  is 
tw^enty  inches  in  diameter  and  forty-eight 
inch  stroke.  The  capacity  of  the  engine  will 
be  one  hundred  and  fifty  horse  power  to  six- 
ty pounds  of  steam.  This  mill  will  have  one 
large  circular,  a  gang  of  forty  saws  and  one 
edger  with  three  saws.  It  will  contain  all 
the  latest  and  most  improved  labor-saving 
machinery  and  neither  time  nor  money  will 
be  spared  to  make  it  a  first-class  mill.  Capt. 
Silas  Pelton,  of  Grand  Rapids,  has  had  full 
charge  of  the  mill  from  the  beginning  and 
his  work  proves  him  to  be  a  man  of  much 
mechanical  skill  and  ingenuity. 

''Mercantile         EstablishmeInts  — 


Among  the  most  important  of  which  we 
would  make  special  note  is  that  of  Messrs. 
Holbrook  &  May,  who  keep  a  well-selected 
stock  of  everything  in  the  line  of  dry  goods, 
groceries  and  provisions.  They  are  ener- 
getic business  men  and  are  having  a  lively 
trade,  which  they  well  deserve.  The  next  of 
importance  is  the  general  hardware  store  of 
W.  li.  Hicks  &  Company.  They  keep  a 
first-class  stock  and  propose  to  sell  at  Grand 
Rapids  prices.  Mr.  Hicks  is  a  young  man 
of  energy  and  ability  and  is  deserving  of 
patronage.  Messrs.  Cornwell  &  Labor  have 
a  large  store  in  Messrs.  Mosser  &  White's 
building,  well  stocked  with  flour,  feed,  gro- 
ceries and  provisions.  They  are  having  a 
good  trade.  L.  Ballon,  on  Mason  street, 
also  dealer  in  flour,  feed  and  groceries  and 
provisions,  is  doing  a  lively  business.  He  is 
a  young  man  of  good  business  tact  and  is 
bound  to  succeed.  Mr.  Bunyen,  on  Lake 
street,  keeps  a  good  line  of  groceries  and 
provisions.  He  was  among  the  first  set- 
tlers in  the  place  and  is  deserving  of  patron- 
age. Messrs.  Sanders  &  Morrow  are  large 
dealers  in  dry  goods  and  groceries.  Messrs. 
Russell  &  White  have  opened  a  meat  market 
on  Lake  street  and  their  stock  is  new  and 
fresh  from  Grand  Rapids  every  day.  Dr. 
Leeson  has  his  drug  store  in  successful  op- 
eration. Mr.  Studley  has  opened  a  first- 
class  restaurant  on  Mason  street.  Messrs. 
Reed  &  Ferris  have  a  large  blacksmith  shop 
and  are  doing  a  prosperous  business.  D. 
F.  Duval  has  a  boot  and  shoe  shop  on  Ma- 
son street. 

"We  have  at  present  four  hotels,  all  of 
which  are  doing  a  prosperous  business.  The 
Mason  House,  so  well  known  to  the  public, 
is  being  thoroughly  overhauled.  The  rooms 
are  all  being  newly  ceiled,  papered  and  fin- 


282 


IV  EX  FORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


ished  in  the  most  comfortable  manner.  The 
walls,  which  are  now  known  to  be  made  of 
logs,  are  to  be  sided  on  the  outside  so  that 
it  will  appear  to  be  a  log  building  no  more. 
Mr.  Mason  is  a  pleasant  and  obliging  land- 
lord and  is  ready  to  do  anything  for  the 
comfort  and  entertainment  of  all  who  are 
so  fortunate  as  to  stop  with  him.  He  has 
placed  on  the  lake  for  the  entertainment  of 
his  guests  a  fine  pleasure  boat  that  is  truly 
delightful  to  ride  in.  The  tables  are  spread 
with  the  very  best  the  market  affords  and 
ever^^thing  presents  a  tidy  and  tasty  ap- 
pearance. The  American  Hotel,  on  Mitch- 
ell street,  nearly  opposite  the  depot  on  the 
east,  quite  recently  opened,  presents  a  fine 
appearance  and  is  acknowledged  by  every 
one  as  having  first-class  accommodations. 
The  building  is  thirty  by  sixty  feet  and  two 
stories  high.  Messrs.  Teller  &  Parks,  pro- 
prietors of  the  Clam  Lake  House,  are  still 
occupying  their  old  quarters  on  Lake  street. 
Their  new  building  on  Mitchell  street  is  now 
enclosed  and  will  soon  be  ready  for  occu- 
pancy. When  finished  it  will  be  the  largest 
and  decidedly  the  handsomest  building  in 
town. 

''Messrs.  Sanders  &  Walker  have  pur- 
chased the  new  building  of  Bremyer  Broth- 
ers and  are  putting  in  a  stock  of  groceries 
and  provisions.  Abbott  &  Turner  have 
opened  their  new  store  on  Mason  street, 
having  a  good  line  of  groceries  and  confec- 
tioneries. Larcom  &  Motts  have  their  new 
building  on  Lake  street  inclosed  and  when 
it  is  finished  it  is  to  be  occupied  by  them  for 
a  fruit  and  vegetable  store.  Lamb  &  Cole 
have  erected  a  new  building  on  Mitchell 
street.  They  intend  putting  in  groceries 
and  provisions.  Dr.  Dillenback  has  the 
frame  up  for  his  new  drug  store  on  Mitch- 


ell street.  Mr.  Bunyea,  on  Mitchell  street, 
is  enclosing  his  large  building  to  be  used  for 
groceries.  Mr.  Born  has  recently  purchased 
the  building  occupied  by  Mr.  Tracy  for  a 
dwelling  and  is  fitting  it  up  for  a  dry  goods, 
boot  and  shoe  store.  Mr.  Kirkbride  is  put- 
ting on  the  finishing  touch  to  his  new  fur- 
niture rooms  on  Harris  street,  in  which  you 
may  expect  to  see  a  full  line  of  furniture. 
C.  B.  Earl  is  making  ready  to  lay  the  foun- 
dation of  a  large  store  on  Mason  street  im- 
mediately east  of  the  railroad,  in  which  he 
proposes  to  keep  for  sale  sash,  doors,  blinds, 
glass,  paints,  oils,  etc.  Mr.  Vaughn  has 
purchased  of  R.  P.  Thurber  the  large  store 
and  boarding  house  block  which  is  to  be 
painted  outside  and  the  rooms  now  occupied 
for  a  boarding  house  are  to  have  a  general 
overhauling  and  to  be  fitted  up  in  the  most 
improved  manner.  The  number  of  new 
buildings  that  are  being  erected  each  week 
would  have  to  be  reckoned  by  the  dozen. 

"A  lot  has  been  selected  and  given  by 
Mr.  Mitchell  for  the  erection  of  a  school 
building.  It  covers  one  whole  block,  lying 
on  an  elevation  commanding  a  most  beau- 
tiful view  of  the  town.  The  contract  has 
been  let  for  the  building  of  a  temporary 
house  to  be  used  for  a  season,  when  a  build- 
ing is  to  be  erected  that  will  be  an  ornament 
to  the  village.  The  Presbyterian  and  Meth- 
odist societies  have  selected  lots,  which  have 
been  given  by  Mr.  Mitchell  for  church  pur- 
poses. A  movement  is  already  on  foot  to 
build  suitable  edifices  for  public  worship.'* 

This  is  indeed  a  pretty  good  showing  for 
a  village  less  than  a  year  old.  -  No  wonder 
that  the  editor  goes  into  raptures  over  the 
beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  scene.  No  one 
who  has  not  gazed  upon  a  beautiful,  mir- 
ror-like  lake,   surrounded   by  an   unbroken 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


288 


forest  of  tall  pines  and  picturesque  cedars 
and  hemlocks,  can  form  anything  like  a  cor- 
rect idea  of  the  picture  afforded  the  early 
settlers  in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake.  It 
seems  almost  sacrilege  that  such  beauty  of 
scenery  should  have  had  to  yield  before  the 
insatiable  maw  of  the  woodman's  ax  and  the 
saw-mill's  glittering  teeth,  but  the  marts  of 
commerce  have  no  sentiment  or  romance,  and 
nature's  loveliness  must  be  yielded  up  to  the 
demands  of  business,  and  the  glory  of  her 
forests  and  the  grandeur  of  its  solitudes 
must  be  laid  waste  that  man  may  reap  for- 
tunes out  of  what  it  has  taken  her  centuries 
to  produce.  If  the  denuded  lands  had  been 
turned  into  waving  wheat  fields  there  would 
have  seemed  to  be  some  recompense  for  the 
ruthless  slaughter  of  the  forests,  but  to  see 
the  vast  areas  of  lands  covered  with  noth- 
ing but  stumps  and  a  slubby  growth  of 
bushes,  makes  one  wish  that  the  task  of 
cutting  away  the  great  forests  of  pine  had 
been  much  less  rapidly  done,  so  that  the 
present  and  future  generations  could  have 
had  a  glimpse  of  their  royal  beauty  and 
sublimity.  But  how  useless  it  is  to  moralize. 
In  looking  over  the  foregoing  extract 
from  the  News  we  find  that  a  few,  a  very 
few,  of  the  names  therein  mentioned  are 
still  familiarly  known  in  Cadillac — the  city 
to  which  the  village  of  Clam  Lake  has 
grown.  Dr.  Leeson  is  still  doing  business 
in  the  city,  and,  though  not  the  owner  of  a 
drug  store,  is  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  ''Tiger  Oil,"  a  medicine  of  well  recog- 
nized merits  which  has  found  a  way  into 
nearly  every  state  in  the  Union.  The  Doc- 
tor can  boast  of  being  a  charter  member  of 
two  organizations  which  will  doubtless  re- 
main as  long  as  the  city  continues  to  exist. 
One  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  and 

17 


the  other  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  He  is  hale  and  hearty  and  may 
be  seen  almost  any  summer  day  going  to  or 
returning  from  his  farm,  situated  two  miles 
out  of  the  city.  Mr.  Cornwell,  mentioned  in 
the  items  quoted  relative  to  Cornwell  &  La- 
bar,  is  still  in  the  same  business  as  then,  the 
firm  name  now  being  J.  Cornwell  &  Sons. 
Mr.  Labar  severed  his  connection  with  the 
firm  some  eight  or  ten  years  ago,  moved  to 
the  southern  part  of  the  state  and  has  since 
gone  to  his  long  rest.  Mr.  Harris,  of  the 
firm  of  Harris  Brothers,  long  years  ago  re- 
tired from  the  mill  business  and  now  lives 
in  a  modest  home  on  the  street  bearing  his 
name.  His  bowed  form  and  whitened  locks 
are  frequently  seen  on  the  streets,  and 
though  not  engaged  in  business,  he  will  re- 
count the  struggles  and  triumphs  of  an  early 
business  life  in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake 
with  a  great  deal  of  zest  to  any  one  who 
wishes  to  question  him  about  the  early  days 
in  the  history  of  the  village.  Mr.  Born  is 
still  an  active  business  man  of  the  city,  his 
chief  occupation  being  that  of  moving  build- 
ings from  place  to  place  or  raising  them  and 
putting  under  new  foundations.  Of  the 
many  others  named  in  this  article,  some  are 
dead,  many  entirely  forgotten,  some  doing 
business  in  other  states  and  other  sections 
of  this  state,  and  one — Dr.  Dillenbeck — is 
an  inmate  of  the  Northern  Michigan  Insane 
Asykim,  where  he  has  been  for  some  twelve 
or  fifteen  years. 

At  the  conclusion  of  its  first  volume  the 
News  published  a  review  of  the  year.  In 
this  review  mention  is  made  of  the  burning 
of  the  first  brick  made  in  the  village  and 
also  of  the  erection  of  the  Haynes  planing 
mill.  This  was  built  by  the  father  of  the 
present  owners.    It  has  been  greatly  enlarged 


284 


tV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


and  capacity  increased  until  it  is  now  one 
of  the  best  equipped  mills  of  the  kind  north 
of  Grand  Rapids.  One  item  mentions  the 
fact  that  "on  the  extreme  south  of  the  vil- 
lage is  the  mill  owned  by  J.  W.  Cobbs,  a  fine 
mill  for  its  size,  and  doing  a  very  handsome 
business.  Its  capacity  is  about  thirty-five 
thousand  feet  per  day." 

Some  years  later  Mr.  Cobbs  associated 
himself  with  Mr.  Mitchell,  the  firm  being 
known  as  Cobbs  &  Mitchell.  Their  mill 
property  was  enlarged  and  later  a  second 
mill  was  erected,  the  two  having  been  in 
constant  operation  from  that  time  until  the 
present,  with  timber  enough  in  sight  to  last 
twelve  or  fifteen  years.  Their  timber  now 
comes  mostly  from  Charlevoix  county, 
where  they  have  large  tracts  of  the  finest 
hardwood  and  hemlock  lands  in  the  state, 
with  a  sprinkling  of  pine  intermixed.  Their 
output  is  now  nearly  all  hemlock  and  hard- 
wood, the  latter  being  sold  in  the  finished 
product  of  maple  flooring,  to  manufacture 
which  they  have  here  one  of  the  largest 
maple-flooring  plants  in  the  world. 

The  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  each 
erected  church  buildings  in  1873,  an  item 
in  the  News  of  June  7,  1873,  reading  as  fol- 
lows: "A  little  less  than  four  weeks  ago 
the  first  work  was  done  on  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  yet  last  Sunday's  serv- 
ices were  held  there  and  will  continue  to 
be  in  the  future."  In  September  a  new  bell 
was  put  in  the  tower  of  the  church.  It 
weighed  five  hundred  pounds  and  cost  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars.  In  1888 
the  society  commenced  the  erection  of  its 
present  brick  edifice,  and  in  December,  1889, 
the  dedicatory  services  were  held.  The  new 
structure  cost  about  eight  thousand  dollars. 
The  society  now  has  a  membership  of  about 


three  hundred,  has  a  large  Sunday  school, 
an  Epworth  League,  a  Woman's  Home  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  and  is  in  excel- 
lent condition  financially.  Its  present  pas- 
tor. Rev.  E.  A.  Armstrong,  is  serving  his 
fourth  year.  Touching  the  earlier  history 
of  this  society,  it  is  related  that  the  first  serv- 
ice held  in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake  was  in 
the  evening  of  December  10,  1871,  and  the 
society  was  organized  in  1872  by  Rev.  A. 
L.  Thurston,  the  total  membership  at  that 
time  being  seven;  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers. Dr.  J.  Leeson,  still  has  his  name  on  the 
church  books  and  is  an  active  worker  for 
the  cause  he  has  so  long  labored  for. 

The  First  Presbyterian  church  was  or- 
ganized in  1872  through  the  efforts  of  Rev. 
John  Redpath.  This  society  also  built  a 
church  in  1873.  A  recent  fire  damaged  the 
building  to  such  an  extent  that  services 
therein  have  been  discontinued  and  at  a 
recent  meeting  of  the  society  it  was  decided 
to  build  a  new  house  of  worship  this  year 
at  a  cost  of  about  twenty  thousand  dollars. 
The  growth  of  the  society  recently  had 
shown  that  a  larger  church  building  was 
needed  and  this  work  will  now  be  hastened 
in  consequence  of  the  fire.  The  present 
pastor.  Rev.  A.  W.  Johnstone,  Ph.  D.,  is 
now  serving  his  tenth  year  in  the  pulpit, 
which  is  ample  evidence  of  the  esteem  in 
which  he  is  held  by  his  parishioners.  The 
church  has  the  usual  auxiliary  societies  and 
a  well  attended  Sunday  school. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1882  that  the 
Congregationalists  made  an  effort  to  organ- 
ize a  society  in  the  village.  The  work  was 
accomplished  through  Rev.  C.  H.  Beals,  and 
in  January,  1883,  a  society  consisting  of 
thirty  members  was  organized.  The  first 
board  of  trustees  was  composed  of  Jacob 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


285 


Cummer,  N.  L.  Gerish,  J.  G.  Mosser,  E.  F. 
Sawyer  and  F.  H.  Messmore.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year  a  church  edifice  was  erected 
and  dedicated  December  14,  1883.  A  par- 
sonage was  also  built  that  year,  the  com- 
bined cost  of  the  buildings  being  eight  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars.  An  annex  was 
built  in  1884  for  kindergarten  purposes  and 
since  that  time,  through  the  liberality  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  W.  W.  Cummer,  a  free  kindergar- 
ten has  been  maintained.  The  church  now 
has  a  membership  of  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine,  has  a  large  Sunday  school,  a  Junior 
Endeavor  society,  a  Ladies  Aid  and  Home 
and  Foreign  Missionary  society.  The  pres- 
ent pastor,  Rev.  F.  M.  Hollister,  succeeded 
Rev.  N.  S.  Bradley,  wdio  had  served  the 
society  from  the  summer  of  1895  until  his 
resignation  in  1901  to  accept  a  call  from 
Saginaw. 

The  Free  Methodists  organized  a  society 
in  the  summer  of  1875,  through  the  work  of 
Rev.  L.  D.  Russell,  and  a  church  building 
was  erected  the  same  year  largely  through 
his  efforts.  There  are  now  about  fifty  mem- 
bers and  they  have  a  well-attended  Sunday 
school. 

A  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran  church 
was  organized  in  1874  and  a  church  build- 
ing started  in  1876,  but  was  not  dedicated 
until  1882.  It  has  a  very  large  membership, 
one  of  the  largest  Sunday  schools  in  the  city, 
a  Ladies  society,  the  Willing  Workers, 
composed  of  girls  under  fifteen  years  of  age, 
the  Sorosis  society,  the  Men's  Aid  society 
and  the  Little  Boys'  society.  Besides  these 
they  have  a  semi-monthly  gathering  of  all 
the  young  people  of  the  church,  at  which 
religious  and  literary  programs  of  interest 
are  rendered.  The  present  pastor.  Rev.  Carl 
A.  Tolin,  has  served  the  congregation  since 


the  summer  of  1899,  succeeding  the  Rev. 
N.  Gibson,  who  had  labored  seven  years  for 
the  society. 

A  Baptist  society  was  organized  in  1876, 
but  several  years  passed  before  a  church 
building  was  erected.  In  1883  the  Swedish 
members  of  the  society,  about  one-half  of 
the  total  membership,  withdrew  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  a  Swedish  Baptist 
church.  This  somewhat  crippled  the  parent 
church  for  a  time,  but  it  soon  recovered  the 
lost  ground  and  is  now  in  a  thriving  condi- 
tion. 

The  Swedish  Baptist  church  was  organ- 
ized on  the  23d  of  June,  1883,  with  a  mem- 
bership of  twenty-nine.  In  1888  a  church 
was  built  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Erick- 
son.  The  membership  now  numbers  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty,  with  a  largely  at- 
tended Sunday  school. 

The  St.  Ann's  Catholic  church  was  or- 
ganized in  1 88 1  and  through  the  efforts  of 
the  first  resident  priest,  Rev.  Milligan,  the 
church  building,  which  for  some  time  had 
been  in  process  of  construction,  was  com- 
pleted in  1883.  The  present  priest.  Rev. 
L.  M..  Prud'homme,  last  year  interested  his 
parishioners  in  the  matter  of  building  a  new 
brick  church  and  the  work  was  at  once  be- 
gun, and  with  systematic  effort  will  be  ac- 
complished the  present  summer,  when  they 
will  have  one  of  the  finest  houses  of  wor- 
ship in  the  city. 

The  Swedish  Mission  church  is  an  in- 
stitution of  the  fatherland,  having  been 
started  in  Sweden  some  twenty-five  years 
ago.  In  almost  every  Swedish  commun- 
ity of  any  considerable  size  in  this  country 
may  be  found  a  Swedish  Evangelical  Mis- 
sion church.  A  church  was  organized  in 
this  city  in  1880  and  in  1882  a  church  build- 


286 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


ing-  was  erected.  The  church  has  a  mem- 
bership of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty,  a 
Sunday  school  with  over  one  hundred  mem- 
bers and  is  in  a  nourishing  condition.  The 
doors  of  the  church  are  open  nearly  every 
evening  in  the  year,  where  any  one,  be  he 
resident  or  transient,  may  find  welcome  and 
friends. 

In  August,  1884,  a  German  Evangeli- 
cal Lutheran  ImmanueL  church  was  organ- 
ized. The  society  as  yet  has  no  church 
building,  but  services  are  regularly  held  at 
the  parsonage.  The  present  pastor,  Paul 
C.  Nofi^ze,  has  ministered  to  the  church  since 
1899. 

The  Seventh  Day  Adventists  had  a 
few  members  here  for  years,  and  during 
the  summer  of  1899  an  extra  effort  was 
made  to  increase  their  membership.  So 
well  did  they  succeed  that  in  the  fall  of  that 
year  they  decided  to  purchase  a  building 
for  church  purposes  and  they  now  own  the 
building  formerly  known  as  the  Salvation 
Army  barracks. 

There  are  those  who  have  religious  be- 
liefs differing  from  any  of  these  denomi- 
nations here  mentioned,  living  in  the  city, 
but  none  of  sufficient  numbers  to  be  able 
to  form  societies.  Perhaps  the  most  num- 
erous in  this  respect  are  those  who  believe 
in  the  Christian  Science  idea.  Services 
are  regularly  held  by  these  adherents  on 
the  second  floor  of  the  State  Bank  building. 
The 'Latter  Day  Saints  also  have  regular 
weekly  services. 

PUBLIC    SCHOOLS. 

The  first  school  in  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  was  in  the  spring  of  1872  in  a  build- 
ing owned  by  Mosser  &  White.     A  frac- 


tional district  had  been  organized  from  parts 
of  Clam  Lake  and  Haring  townships,  and 
in  June  of  that  same  year  a  small  building 
had  been  erected  on  the  square  donated  by 
Mr.  Mitchell  for  school  purposes.  The 
school  census  taken  in  September  of  that 
year  gave  the  number  of  children  of  school 
age — between  five  and  twenty  years —  at  one 
hundred  and  five.  The  fall  and  winter  terms 
following  were  taught  by  C.  L.  Frazier,  with 
Miss  Nettie  Brink  as  assistant.  An  addi- 
tion to  the  school  building  was  built  in  1873 
and  the  spring  term  opened  with  George 
Addison  as  principal  and  Miss  Born  as  as- 
sistant. Rev.  W.  L.  Tilden,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  pastor,  taught  the  winter  term  of 
1873-4.  In  1874  the  school  was  under  the 
management  of  VV.  A.  Fallass,  who  came 
from  Lowell,  Michigan. 

With  the  constant  increase  of  population 
the  need  of  more  school  room  became  an 
absolute  necessity  and  in  the  summer  of 
1876  a  new  building  was  erected.  This 
building  was  twenty-eight  by  sixty-two 
feet  in  size  and  two  stories  high,  each 
floor  being  divided  into  two  rooms.  The 
cost  of  the  building  above  the  foundation 
was  three  thousand  six  hundred  dollars,  ex- 
clusive of  the  seats  and  desks,  which  were 
of  the  ''Triumph"  patent,  being  the  first 
introduction  of  the  patent  seats  and  desks 
in  the  county.  The  first  term  in  the  new 
building  was  under  the  professorship  of 
PI.  S.  Groesbeck,  who  had  for  his  assistants 
Miss  Hattie  Caswell  and  Miss  Carrie  Sip- 
ley.  Mr.  Groesbeck  continued  in  charge  for 
two  years,  his  successor  being  Prof.  F.  C. 
Pifer,  who  remained  but  one  year,  being 
succeeded  by  Prof.  H.  M.  Enos. 

In  the  meantime  it  had  been  found  neces- 
sary to  make  additions  to  the  school  build- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


287 


ing,  the  original  rooms  now  becoming  so 
overcrowded  that  it  was  impossible  to  seat 
the  increasing  number  of  scholars  seeking 
admission.  The  erection  of  a  larger  school 
building  was  seen  to  be  an  absolute  necessity 
in  the  near  future  and  the  matter  was  ab- 
ruptly forced  ui)on  the  school  board  by  the 
destruction  of  the  school  building  by  fire  in 
the  winter  of  1880.  During  the  summer 
of  1 88 1  a  new  and  much  larger  building  was 
erected,  which  was  thought  to  liave  suffi- 
cient capacity  to  meet  tlie  growing  needs  of 
tlie  city  for  many  years  to  come,  but  in  a 
few  years  it  was  found  necessary  to  provide 
ward  buildings,  which  have  been  added  from 
time  to  time  until  each  ward  has  a  school 
house  of  its  own.  Fire  again  destroyed  the 
central  scliool  building  in  1890,  when  the 
present  commodious  brick  structure  was 
erected,  which  is  as  fine  a  school  building 
as  can  be  found  anywhere  north  of  Grand 
Rapids. 

Professor  Enos  was  succeeded  by  A.  A. 
Hall  in  1885  ^'^'^^  "^  Y^^^  '^^^^  Prof.  A.  S. 
Hall  was  engaged  and  continued  in  charge 
of  the  school  for  three  years.  In  the  fall 
of  1889  Prof.  E.  P.  Church  was  engaged 
and  his  services  were  so  satisfactory  that 
he  was  kept  for  four  years.  Prof.  George 
R.  Catton  succeeded  Mr.  Church  and  held 
the  position  for  three  years.  Prof.  J.  H. 
Kaye  succeded  Mr.  Catton  in  1896  and  has 
continued  in  charge  of  the  schools  until  the 
present  time. 

The  whole  number  of  children  of  school 
age  in  the  city  is  nineteen  hundred  and  thir- 
ty-one and  the  number  attending  school  for 
a  period  of  three  months  during  the  last 
school  year  was  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty. 
The  number  of  teachers  employed  the  pres- 
ent year  is  thirty-four,  not  counting  a  music 


teacher  or  Professor  Kaye.  There  was 
spread  upon  the  tax  rolls  of  the  city  last 
year  for  school  purposes  the  sum  of  $19,- 
693.00  and  the  sum  of  $5,269.50  was  re- 
ceived from  the  state  primary  school  fund. 
The  first  and  fourth  ward  school  buildings 
will  soon  be  replaced  with  new  and  larger 
ones,  as  the  buildings  are  now  overcrowded. 
At  the  commencement  exercises  in  1903 
the  graduates  numbered  twenty-nine,  which, 
with  one  exception,  was  the  largest  class 
ever  graduated,  the  exception  being  the  class 
of  1902,  which  numbered  thirty.  The  names 
of  the  graduates  are  as   follows :   Georgia 

E.  Jackson,  Olivia  May  Johnson,  Kate  Hel- 
len  Ballon,  Bessie  L.  Troutman,  Clyde  A. 
Saunders,  Frank  Morris  Hecox,  Susan  A. 
Florer,  Winnie  Alice  Kaiser,  Chas.  V.  Crom- 
well, Edna  Sayles  Law,  Amaryllis  M.  Cotey, 
Corinne  W.  Foster,  Essie  May  Bland,  Grace 
Ellen  Spencer,  Helen  Amanda  Kelley,  Doug- 
las  Campbell,   Arthur   V.    Gibson,   Audrey 

F.  Dillenbeck,  Gene  Lulu  Romig,  Henry  P. 
Grund,  Bessie  Hodges,  Elida  K.  McGillis, 
M.  Veronica  Murray,  Rosalie  L.  Kelleher, 
Maud  M.  Carpenter,  Genia  Belle  Torrey, 
Archibald  Thomson,  Oscar  Abel  Peterson 
and  William  F.  Campbell. 

The  first  one  in  the  list  graduated  from 
the  classical  and  also  from  the  Latin  courses ; 
the  next  six  from  the  Latin;  the  next  six 
from  the  scientific;  the  next  four  from  the 
English  preparatory  and  the  last  twelve 
from  the  English. 

The  first  doctor  and  druggist  in  the  vil- 
.  lage  was  Dr.  John  Leeson.  He  made  a  trip 
to  the  new  town  in  November,  1871,  but 
the  outlook  was  so  discouraging  that  he 
passed  but  one  night  in  the  place,  sleeping 
on  the  floor  at  that,  in  the  kitchen  of  the 
Clam  Lake  House,    He  returned  in  March, 


288 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


1872,  bought  a  lot  and  put  up  a  building,  in 
which  he  started  the  first  drug  store.  Be- 
fore he  had  his  building  ready  for  occu- 
pancy he  occupied  a  room  in  which  J.  S. 
McClain  kept  a  small  stock  of  groceries  and 
also  the  postoffice.  This  building  stood  on 
Mason  street. 

From  the  best  information  we  can  se- 
cure it  appears  that  Holbrook  &  May  started 
the  first  store  on  the  site  of  the  new  village. 
This  was  in  March,  1871,  and  was  in  a  little 
log  building  near  the  shore  of  the  lake.  They 
afterwards  put  up  a  two-story  store  build- 
ing on  the  corner  of  Mason  and  Mitchell 
streets,  in  which  they  did  a  thriving  busi- 
ness for  a  number  of  years. 

In  the  first  issue  of  the  Clam  Lake  News 
we  see  no  mention  of  lawyers,  but  during  the 
year  two  law  firms  were  established,  Fal- 
lass  &  Sawyer  and  Rice  &  Rice.  It  appears 
that  the  first  attorney  was  S.  S.  Fallass,  who 
came  in  the  fall  of  1872.  The  next  one  was 
D.  A.  Rice,  who  came  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  nomination  for  prosecuting  at- 
torney, but  found  that  the  convention  had 
been  held  a  few  days  before  his  arrival  and 
Mr.  Fallass  had  secured  the  nomination. 

The  members  of  the  bar  now  living  in 
the  city  are:  J.  R.  Bishop,  E.  E.  Haskins, 
Fred  S.  Lamb,  D.  E.  Mclntyre,  C.  F.  Bur- 
ton, E.  F.  Sawyer,  George  S.  Stanley,  S. 
J.  Wall,  Fred  Wetmore  and  Circuit  Judge 
C.  C.  Chittenden.  From  the  city  members 
of  the  bar  four  attorneys  have  been  raised 
to  the  circuit  court  bench  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  judicial  circuit,  viz :  Hon.  S.  S.  Fal- 
lass, Hon.  J.  M.  Rice,  Hon.  F.  H.  Aldrich 
and  the  present  judge,  Hon.  C.  C.  Chitten- 
den. For  more  than  twenty  years  in  suc- 
cession the  circuit  judge  of  the  district  to 


which  Wexford  county  belongs  has  been  a 
resident  of  Cadillac. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  in  detail 
the  vast  lumbering  operations  that  have 
built  up  and  still  largely  sustain  the  thriving 
city  by  the  lakes.  For  nearly  thirty-two 
years,  summer  and  winter,  and  many  times 
day  and  night,  has  the  work  gone  on.  Some 
idea  may  be  formed  of  the  vast  proportions 
of  this  business  from  a  present  description 
of  the  mills  and  factories.  For  years  the 
Cummer  interests  ran  two  mills,  cutting 
from  two  hundred  thousand  to  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day. 
Two  years  ago  one  of  these  mills  ceased  do- 
ing business,  for  the  reason  that  the  pine 
timber  had  become  exhausted.  The  other 
mill  runs  on  hardwood  and  hemlock,  cut- 
ting about  sixty  thousand  feet  of  the  for- 
mer or  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
feet  of  the  latter  per  day.  To  this 
firm  belongs  the  distinction  of  having 
first  replaced  their  circular  saws  with 
band  saws.  This  at  first  was  looked  upon 
as  a  foolish  experiment,  it  being  the 
universal  opinion  of  mill  men  that  the  band 
saw  could  not  stand  the  rapid  "feed''  neces- 
sary to  turn  out  such  a  large  quantity  of 
lumber  per  day,  but  the  trial  proved  a  suc- 
cess, and  revolutionized  the  mill  business 
throughout  the  country.  Not  only  could 
lumber  be  manufactured  as  rapidly  and  as 
evenly  with  the  band  saw  as  with  the  cir- 
cular or  gang  saws,  but  the  saving  of  tim- 
ber in  consequence  of  the  difference  in  the 
thickness  of  the  saws  is  nearly  enough  to 
pay  the  expense  of  manufacturing  the  lum- 
ber, and  it  was  not  long  before  all  the  larger 
mills  in  the  country  were  using  band  saws. 
This  firm  manufacture  a  large  portion  of 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


289 


their  beech  and  maple  lumber  into  flooring, 
having  a  large  planing-mill  in  connection 
with  their  plant.  They  also  have  five  pairs 
of  retorts  for  making  charcoal  out  of  the 
refuse  from  cutting  their  hardwood  lumber 
and  also  from  the  wood  they  cut  out  of  such 
timber  as  is  not  suitable  for  lumber.  They 
have  a  chemical  plant  in  connection  with 
the  charcoal  business,  which  turns  out  wood 
alcohol,  acetate  of  lime  and  coal  tar.  The 
output  of  these  per  day  is  as  follows:  Six 
hundred  gallons  of  wood  alcohol  and  ten 
thousand  pounds  of  acetate  of  lime.  The 
coal  tar  is  used  for  fuel,  consequently  no 
account  is  kept  of  that.  They  make  about 
three  thousand  bushels  of  charcoal  per  day. 

Cobbs  &  Mitchell  have  two  saw-mills 
with  a  capacity  of  one  hundred  eight  thous- 
and feet  of  hardwood  or  one  hundred  eighty 
thousand  feet  of  hemlock  per  day.  Both 
mills  were  run  entirely  on  pine  until  that 
timber  was  all  cut  out  and  now  only  hard- 
wood and  hemlock,  with  occasionally  a  little 
pine  mixed  in,  is  cut.  After  the  pine  in 
tliis  county  had  all  been  cut,  they  purchased 
one  hundred  and  fifty  million  feet  in  Grand 
Traverse  county  and  later  sixty  million  feet 
in  Kalkaska  county,  which  was  brought  here 
for  manufacture.  Since  turning  their  atten- 
tion to  hardwood  they  have  added  a  maple- 
flooring  mill  and  dry  kilns  to  their  estab- 
lishment in  this  city,  where  they  make  from 
fifty  thousand  to  sixty  thousand  feet  of 
beech  and  maple  flooring  per  day. 

The  firm  of  Murphy  &  Diggins  have  a 
saw-mill  with  a  capacity  of  about  thirty-five 
thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day,  nearly  all 
of  which  is  hemlock  and  maple.  Wilcox 
Brothers  have  a  saw-mill  capable  of  cuttijig 
some  twenty-five  thousand  feet  per  day. 
They  also  manufacture  a  patent  basket  and 


use  quite  a  large  quantity  of  timber  each 
year  for  that  purpose.  Last  year  the  firm 
of  Williams  Brothers  built  a  large  last- 
block  factory,  with  a  saw-mill  attachment. 
The  last-block  business  consumes  about  two 
hundred  thousand  feet  of  maple  timber  per 
year,  while  their  saw-mill  will  cut  forty 
thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day.  They  do 
not  expect  to  do  continuous  business  with 
the  lumber  mill,  but  use  it  to  cut  such  timber 
as  will  not  make  last-blocks.  Mitchell 
Brothers  have  a  handle  factory  which  re- 
quires about  two  million  feet  of  beech  and 
maple  timber  per  annum.  They  only  oper- 
ate a  part  of  the  year,  but  when  running- 
turn  out  about  forty  thousand  handles  per 
day.  The  Oviat  Veneer  Works  require  two 
milHon  feet  of  timber  ])er  annum  to  supply 
their  plant.  They  use  beech,  birch,  maple, 
basswood,  ash,  oak,  cherry  and  elm  timber. 
The  Cadillac  Tie  &  Shingle  Company  have 
a  plant  with  saw-mill  attachment,  capable  of 
turning  out  twemty  thousand  feet  of  lumber 
and  forty  thousand  shingles  per  day. 

A  little  computation  will  show  what  a 
large  amount  of  timber  it  requires  each  day 
to  keep  the  mills  and  factories  of  Cadillac 
in  operation,  and  the  army  of  men  given 
employment  in  the  mills  and  camps  by  the 
lumber  interests  centered  in  this  city. 

Haynes  Brothers  have  a  large  custom 
planing  mill  and  in  connection  keep  all  kinds 
of  lumber,  mouldings,  door  and  window 
frames,  also  shingles,  lath,  doors  and  win- 
dows. The  Cummer  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany do  a  large  business  in  making  ladders, 
potato  crates  and  numerous  small  articles 
for  household  and  office  use. 

The  Michigan  Iron  works  is  an  insti- 
tution that  the  city  may  well  be  proud  of. 
It  does  everything  in  the  shape  of  iron  and 


290 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  All  CHI  CAN. 


steel  working,  from  the  building  of  a  loco- 
motive down.  It  has  a  foundry  where  cast- 
ings weighing  several  tons  can  be  made. 
William  Haynes  has  a  boiler  shop  in  the 
same  block  as  the  iron  works  and  turns  out 
boilers  and  smoke  stacks  for  all  kinds  and 
sizes  of  plants,  as  well  as  locomotive  boil- 
ers. 

Another  manufacturing  business  of 
which  the  city  may  well  be  proud  is  the  City 
Flouring  Mills.  The  property  is  owned  by 
J.  Cornwell  &  Sons,  successors  to  Labor  & 
Cornwell.  The  business  is  the  outgrowth 
of  the  small  beginning  made  in  1872,  men- 
tion of  which,  under  the  name  of  Cornwell 
&  Labor,  is  heretofore  given  in  the  extract 
from  the  first  copy  of  the  Clam  Lake  News. 
It  has  grown  to  such  proportions  that  the 
firm  keep  a  man  on  the  road  constantly,  sell- 
ing its  products  at  wholesale  to  the  dealers 
along  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad 
and  Ann  Arbor  Railroad.  They  buy  wheat 
along  the  whole  northern  lines  of  these  rail- 
roads, have  an  elevator  of  their  own  at  Shep- 
ard  for  wheat,  and  besides  these  sources  of 
supply  they  receive  many  car  loads"  of  wheat 
and  all  of  their  corn  from  Chicago  and  other 
western  points.  This  firm  also  does  a  whole- 
sale and  retail  grocery  business,  having  two 
stores  in  the  city. 

The  first  system  of  water  works  was 
inaugurated  by  H.  N.  Green  in  1878.  The 
mains  laid  at  that  time  were  of  wood  bound 
with  iron,  the  largest  having  only  six  inch 
bore  for  water.  In  1893  a  franchise  was 
granted  to  W.  W.  Cummer.,  to  furnish  a 
water  supply  for  thirty  years.  The  old 
wooden  mains  were  replaced  with  iron  pipes, 
the  principal  ones  having  a  water  capacity 
of  twelve  inches  diameter.  A  stand  pipe 
wa3  built  upon  one  of  the  highest  elevations 


in  the  city  and  this  is  kept  filled  with  water 
at  all  times,  to  guard  against  any  mishap  to 
the  pumps  or  engines.  There  are  now  over 
ten  miles  of  water  mains  in  the  city  and  the 
average  daily  consumption  of  water  is  about 
a  million  and  a  quarter  gallons. 

About  the  time  that  Mr.  Cummer  secured 
the  water  franchise  he  started  in  the  electric 
lighting  business,  using  the  same  building 
that  contained  the  pumping  outfit  for  his 
dynamos.  This  branch  of  the  business  grew 
rapidly  and  it  was  not  long  before  every 
business  place  and  many  of  the  residences 
had  been  supplied  with  electric  lights.  A 
little  later  street  lights  were  put  in  place 
which  gave  the  newly  fledged  city  quite  a 
dignified  appearance. 

A  year  ago  a  gas  company  was  organ- 
ized and  gas  mains  were  laid  in  the  princi- 
pal streets  and  a  large  number  of  people 
have  substituted  gas  for  electricity,  while 
some  use  both.  Gas  is  furnished  for  heat- 
ing as  well  as  lighting  purposes,  and  the 
hardware  stores  now  have  a  good  trade  in 
gas  stoves  and  ranges. 

Cadillac,  like  all  other  cities,  is  blessed 
with  an  abundance  of  secret  societies.  The 
two  which  have  the  longest  existance  are 
Clam  Lake  Lodge  No.  231,  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,  and  Viola  Lodge  No.  259, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  which 
were  both  organized  in  the  spring  of  1875. 
The  list  that  follows  is  a  long  one,  but  we 
will  give  the  names  so  that  the  reader  can 
see  what  a  town  can  do  in  the  matter  of 
secret  orders  when  it  sets  itself  about  it. 
There  is  Cadillac  Chapter  *No.  1^03,  Royal 
Arch  Masons;  Cadillac  Chapter  No.  177, 
Order  of  the  Eastern  Star;  Cadillac  En- 
campment No.  93,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows;  Twin  Lake  Lodge  No.   198, 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


291 


Rebekahs;  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  i8i,  Anci- 
ent Order  of  United  Workmen ;  Cadillac 
Branch  No.  131,  Catholic  Knights  and  La- 
dies of  America ;  The  Ancient  Catholic  For- 
resters Association ;  Court  Lodge  No.  300, 
Independent  Order  of  Foresters ;  Com- 
panion Court  Dewey  No.  181,  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Foresters;  Ruby 
Council,  F.  A.  A. ;  Washington  Post  No. 
444,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic;  Cadillac 
Council,  Royal  and  Select  Masters;  Twin 
Lake  Camp  No.  1596,  Modern  Woodmen 
of  America ;  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  46,  Knights 
of  Pythias;  Eureka  Division  No.  67,  Loyal 
Guards;  Cadillac  Tent  No.  232,  Knights 
of  the  Moilern  Maccabees;  .  Cadillac  Hive 
No.  698,  Ladies  of  the  Modern  Maccabees ; 
Estella  D.  Hive  No.  368,  Ladies  of 
the  Modern  Maccabees ;  Cadillac  Lodge 
No.  172,  O.  M.  P.;  Cadillac  Royal 
Circle;  Gotha  Lodge  No.  5,  Swedish 
United  Sons  of  America;  Wexford  Lodge 
No.  674,  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Train- 
men, and  possibly  others  whose  names 
we  .have  been  unable  to  learn,  besides  un- 
ions of  carpenters,  clerks,  barbers,  cigar- 
makers,  masons,  etc. 

Tw^o  years  after  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  was  platted  the  question  of  having  the 
village  incorporated  was  submitted  to  the 
electors  living  in  the  territory  to  be  included 
in  the  village,  on  the  15th  of  April,  1874, 
and  was  carried  almost  unanimously,  there 
being  but  one  negative  vote  to  seventy-two 
in  favor  of  the  proposition.  This  action 
was  taken  tinder  the  provision  of  the  general 
village  incorporation  law,  and  in  accordance 
with  that  law  the  circuit  judge,  upon  being- 
notified  of  the  result  of  the  election,  made 
an  order  declaring  the  village  of  Clam  Lake 
duly  incorporated.    The  first  village  election 


was  held  on  the  nth  day  of  May,  1874. 
The  first  village  president  was  J.  Shack- 
leton  and  the  first  clerk,  David  A.  Rice.  The 
first  board  of  trustees  were  L.  O.  flarris,  F. 
W.  Hector,  Daniel  McCoy,  George  Hoi- 
brook,  A.  N.  McCarthy  and  J.  W.  Cobbs. 

It  was  only  a  couple  of  months  after  this 
election  that  the  supreme  court  declared  the 
general  village  incorporation  law  to  be  tm- 
constitutional,  and  the  new  village  officers 
were  thrown  out  of  a  job.  The  following 
winter,  however,  an  act  was  passed  by  the 
legislature  reincorporating  the  village.  The 
same  president  as  before  was  elected,  and 
some  of  the  same  trustees,  but  E.  F.  Sawyer 
was   elected   clerk. 

In  the  winter  of  1877  ^ffoi'ts  w^ere  made 
to  get  a  city  charter  under  the  name  of 
''City  of  Cadillac"  and  an  act  was  intro- 
duced in  the  state  legislature  for  that  pur- 
pose. So  skillfully  was  this  work  done  that 
Wexford  county  had  a  city  within  its  boun- 
daries before  half  a  dozen  of  the  citizens,  * 
outside  of  those  living  in  the  village  of  Clani 
Lake,  knew  it.  The  first  city  election  was 
held  on  the  first  Monday  of  April,  1877,  at 
wdiich  the  following  officers  were  elected : 
Mayor,  George  A.  Mitchell ;  marshal,  Hor- 
ton  Crandell ;  clerk,  Lorenzo  Ballou ;  treas- 
urer, D.  F.  Comstock;  collector,  Horton 
Crandell;  street  commissioner,  Charles  Cole; 
school  inspectors,  Levi  O.  Harris,  three 
years,  Jacob  Cummer,  tw^o  years,  Charles 
M.  Ayer,  one  year;  justices  of  the  peace, 
H.  N.  Green,  four  years,  E.  F.  Sawyer, 
three  years,  J.  B.  Rosevelt,  two  years,  Rob- 
ert Christensen,  one  year ;  alderman  at  large, 
M.  J.  Bond,  two  years,  D.  W.  Peck,  one 
year. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  those  who  have 
held  the  office  of  mayor  since  Mr,  MitchelFs 


292 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


second  term  in  1878,  viz:  Jacob  Cummer, 
one  year;  D.  McCoy,  four  years;  B.  Bal- 
lon, one  year;  E.  L.  Metheany,  two  years; 
F.  H.  Huntley,  one  year;  James  Haynes, 
one  year;  J.  H.  Hixon,  one  year;  James  Mc- 
Aclam,  one  year ;  W.  W.  Cummer,  one 
year;  L.  J.  Law,  one  year;  Fred  A.  Dig-gins, 
six  years;  S.  J.  Wall,  two  years;  George  S. 
Stanly,  one  year,  and  C.  C.  Donham,  who 
is  now  serving  his  second  year. 

The  city  has  a  neat  little  park,  covering 
about  a  block,  located  between  the  Ann  Ar- 
bor and  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad 
tracks,  which  commands  a  fine  view  of  the 
lake.  Last  year  a  tract  of  land  near  the 
western  end  of  Lake  Cadillac  was  purchased 
for  park  purposes.  This  will,  when  prop- 
erly fixed  up,  be  a  fine  place  for  picnics  and 
pleasure  drives,  and  from  it  a  good  view 
of  the  entire  city  will  be  afforded. 

A  driving  park  association  was  organ- 
ized last  year  and  immediately  secured  forty 
"acres  of  land  adjoining  the  city  plat,  and 
had  quite  a  large  proportion  of  it  stumped 
before  winter  set  in.  This  spring  the  work 
was  renewed  and  the  stumping  is  nearly 
all  done  and  the  grading  well  under  w^ay. 
A  contract  has  been  let  for  the  erection  of 
a  grand  stand  and  other  buildings,  and  it 
is  expected  that  the  grounds  and  track  will 
be  in  readiness  for  speed  contests  before  the 
summer  is  over. 

As  early  as  1876  a  bank  was  started 
by  D.  F.  Comstock  and  since  that  time  tlie 
city  has  had  very  good  bank  facilities,  with 
the  exception  of  a  brief  period  following  the 
failure  of  Rice  &  Mesmore,  which  occurred 
in  1883.     In  December,  1883,  ^  ^^w  bank 


was  started,  known  as  the  D.  A.  Blodgett 
&  Company  Bank,  with  D.  F.  Diggins  as 
manager.  Mr.  Diggins  retired  in  1892,  and 
Henry  Knowlton  was  selected  as  his  suc- 
cessor. In  1895  Mr.  Blodgett  decided  to 
withdraw  from  business  in  Cadillac,  and  it 
was  then  that  the  Cadillac  State  Bank  was 
organized.  The  officers  were  F.  J.  Cobbs, 
president;  S.  W.  Kramer,  vice-president, 
and  Henry  Knowlton,  cashier.  The  same 
officers  have  been  re-elected  from  year  to 
year  until  the  present  time.  In  1901  the 
stockholders  decided  to  erect  a  new  bank 
building,  more  in  keeping  with  the  times  and 
affording  better  facilities  for  the  transaction 
of  its  constantly  "increasing  busiiiess.  The 
work  of  putting  up  the  new  brick  building 
was  begun  early  in  the  summer  and  in  De- 
cember it  was  ready  for  occupancy.  The 
outside  walls  are  faced  with  yellow  brick, 
giving  the  building  a  very  attractive  ap- 
pearance. The  inside  finishings  and  fur- 
nishings are  of  elegant  design  and  modern 
in  every  particular,  and  the  stockholders  are 
justly  proud  of  their  new  banking  house. 
Mr.  Knowlton  has  several  times  had  the 
pleasure  of  showing  its  meritorious  appoint- 
ments to  parties  from  other  towns  who  were 
contemplating  building,  and  in  every  case 
the  visitors  were  much  pleased  with  the  con- 
venient arrangements  for  business  adopted 
in  its  construction.  The  new  building  oc- 
cupies the  same  site  as  the  old,  on  the  corner 
of  South  Mitchell  and  West  Cass  streets. 
Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  its  business  may 
be  had  from  its  last  financial  statement,  is- 
sued February  6,  1903,  which  was  as  fol- 
lows : 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


293 


RESOURCES. 

Loans  and  Discounts, 

Bonds,  Mortgages  and  Securities, 

Premium  paid  on  Bonds, 

Overdrafts, 

Banking  House, 

Furniture  and  Fixtures,      -        -        -        - 
U.  S.  Bonds,  -        -        -    $  20,000.00 

Due  from  Banks,  -  -  104,171.86 
U.  S.  and  Nat.  Bank  Currency,  11,244.00 
Gold  Coin,  ....  14,100.00 
Silver  Coin,  -        -        -  4,255.85 

Nickels  and  Cents  -        -  859.24 


483,759.12 

106,328.31 

775.00 

406.70 

21,239.31 

1,770.46 


Checks  and  Cash  Items, 
Total, 


I  154.630.45 
3,916.07 

$  772,825.42 


LIABILITIES. 

Capital  Stock  paid  in,  .        -         . 

Surplus  Fund, 

Undivided  Profits,  .        .        .        . 

Commercial  Deposits,  -  $  211,960.78 
Certificates  of  Deposit,  -  -  325,480.14 
Savings  Deposits,      -        -  135,877.47 


$  50,000.00 
25,000.00 
24,507.03 


Total, 


$  673,318.39 

$  772,825.42 


In  July,  1902,  the  People's  Savings 
Bank  was  organized,  with  Charles  E.  Rus- 
sell, president;  C.  H.  Drury,  vice-president, 
and  George  Chapman,  cashier.  The  capital 
stock  was  fifty  thousand  dollars,  all  paid  in. 
Its  statement  issued  May  15,  1903,  shows 
deposits  of  $123,192.70;  loans,  $137,384.- 
18,  and  total  resources,  $177,381.18.  This 
shows  a  wonderfiil  growth  of  business  for 
the  ten  months  the  bank  has  been  running. 

The  population  of  the  city  in  now  about 
seven  thousand,  having  been  4,461  in  1890 
and  5,997  in  1900.  The  last  three  years 
have  witnessed  a  more  rapid  growth  than 
any  like  period  in  the  history  of  the  town. 

At  the  last  city  election  it  was  voted  to 
bond  the  city  for  thirty-five  thousand  dol- 
lars for  public  improvements,  it  being  well 


understood  that  this  money  was  to  be  used 
in  securing  more  factories. 

A  Board  of  Trade  was  organized  early 
in  the  spring  of  1903,  the  main  object  of 
which  was  to  have  charge  of  the  matter  of 
properly  expending  the  money  raised  for 
public  improvements.  Heretofore  this  work 
had  been  looked  after  by  the  Commercial 
Club,  but  at  a  largely  attended  meeting  of 
the  business  men  of  the  city  it  was  thought 
best  to  organize  a  Board  of  Trade,  and  the 
preliminary  steps  were  then  taken  to  accom- 
plish this  object.  The  work  has  since  been 
completed  and  the  organization  duly  incor- 
porated under  the  state  law. 

With  the  impetus  which  will  be  given 
to  the  growth  of  the  city  by  the  expenditure 
of  the  money  raised  on  the  bonds  voted,  the 
city  will  more  than  likely  reach  the  ten 
thousand  mark  at  the  next  United  States 
census.  Residences  by  the  score  were  built 
during  the  year  1902  and  a  large  number 
will  be  erected  during  the  present  year. 

VILLAGE    OF    MANTON. 

We  find  it  stated  from  what  seems  to 
be  reliable  authority  that  the  village  of  Man- 
ton  was  started  in  1872,  but  the  first  plat 
to  be  recorded  was  the  Railroad  Plat  of 
1874.  Previous  to  this  there  seems  to  have' 
been  another  plat,  which  was  called  Cedar 
Creek,  but  it  was  not  recorded  until 
after  the  Railroad  Plat  had  been  recorded. 
In  September,  1881,  Seaman  &  Maqueston 
platted  an  addition  and  in  October,  1883, 
another  addition  was  platted,  known  as  the 
Dodds  addition.  Two  more  additions  were 
platted  in  1884,  one  by  Mr.  Wiles  and  one 
by  Mr.  Huff.  1885  witnessed  the  platting 
of  two  more  additions,  one  by  H.  B.  Sturte-- 


294 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


vant  and  one  by  Frank  Weaver.  Billings' 
addition  was  added  in  1886,  Sturtevant  &: 
Harger's  addition  in  1897  ^^^^^  ^^^^  Manton 
Development  Association  plat  was  made  in 
1902.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  village 
has  had  a  very  uniform  and  substantial 
growth  since  its  first  organization.  It  is 
surrounded  by  a  splendid  farming  country, 
which  affords  a  sure  and  steady  business  for 
its  merchants.  Besides  the  farming  indus- 
try it  has  always  had  a  healthy  and  remun- 
erative manufacturing  business. 

Ezra  Harger  and  George  Manton  were 
the  first  persons  to  see  the  advantage  of  hav- 
ing a  village  at  this  point,  having  reached 
tliat  point  on  a  prospecting  trip  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1872.  Mr.  Harger  purchased  twenty 
acres  of  land  and  put  up  the  first  building  in 
the  place,  which  he  filled  with  merchandise 
in  the  fall.  William  Meares  also  became  in- 
terested in  the  place  during  the  same  fall 
and  both  he  and  Mr.  Manton  put  up  store 
buildings  before  the  winter  set  in.  Mr. 
Manton  was  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  and  his 
stock  of  goods  was  mostly  in  that  line,  and 
he  also  had  a  shop  in  the  rear  end  of  the 
store  for  making  and  repairing  footwear. 
The  next  year  a  saw-mill  was  erected  and 
a  hotel. 

The  first  religious  service  held  in  the 
new  village  was  held  in  the  railroad  depot 
by  the  station  agent,  H.  Brandenburg,  in 
the  winter  of  1872-3.  Mr.  Brandenburg 
was  a  Methodist,  and  during  the  summer 
of  1873  organized  a  class  of  eighteen  mem- 
bers. He  was  appointed  local  "preacher  in 
August  of  that  year. 

The  first  school  building  in  the  village 
w^as  erected  in  1873.  ^  term  of  school  had 
previously  been  taught  in  a  private  dwelling 
house  by  Mrs.  O.  J.  Golden. 


The  village  made  a  rapid  growth  for 
the  next  two  or  three  years,  one  very  im- 
portant reason  beino:  that  as  soon  as  regular 
trains  had  commenced  running  over  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  and  a 
passable  road  could  be  made  through  to 
Sherman,  the  mail  route  w^as  changed,  and 
instead  of  running  from  Cadillac  to  Sher- 
man and  on  to  Traverse  City,  the  route  was 
from  Manton  to  Traverse  City,  via  Sher- 
man, until  the  railroad  reached  Traverse 
City,  and  then  it  w^as  simply  from  Sherman 
to  Manton.  Not  only  was  this  daily  mail 
route  a  great  help  to  Manton,  but  that  vil- 
lage was  the  only  shipping  point  for  the 
whole  country  for  six  miles  on  either  side 
of  a  line  directly  west  of  Manton  clear 
through  the  county  and  for  eight  or  ten 
miles  into  Manistee  county.  These  condi- 
tions helped  the  merchants  and  the  hotels 
of  Manton  to  a  wonderful  degree  and  con- 
tinued until  the  ))uilding  of  the  Toledo,  yVnai 
Arbor  &  Northern  Michigan  Railroad 
through  the  county  in  1889.  And  thus  it 
happened  that  we  see  the  village  spoken  of 
in  1877  as  having  three  good  hotels  and 
five  general  stores.  A  second  saw-mill  had 
been  built  previous  to  that  time,  also  a  plan- 
ing mill.  So  rapidly  had  the  village  grown 
that  the  legislature  of  1877  passed  an  act 
incorporating  the  village,  but  it  was  not  un- 
til February  11,  1878,  that  the  first  village 
election  was  held. 

The  same  year  Manton  Lodge  No.  347, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  was  orgaiiized 
with  twelve  charter  members.  A  Wom- 
an's Christian  Temperance  Union  was  or- 
ganized the  same  year.  lii  May,  1881,  Ris- 
ing Star  Lodge  No.  99,  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen,  was  organized,  but  after 
a  few  years  of  activity  went  to  pieces.     O. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


295 


P.  Morton  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Re- 
public, was  mustered  in  April  26,  1882,  and 
has  had  a  good  membership  ever  since  that 
time,  though  for  the  past  few  years  its  ranks 
have  been  perceptibly  thinned  by  death.  An 
Odd  Fellows  lodge  was  organized  as  ear- 
ly as  March,  1882,  but  with  only  six  char- 
ter members.  The  village  now  has  a  tent 
of  Knights  of  the  Modern  Maccabees,  a 
hive  of  Ladies  of  the  Modern  Maccabees, 
a  lodge  of  Modern  Woodmen  of  America 
and  a  Knights  of  Pythias  lodge. 

A  pretty  good  idea  may  be  had  of  the 
village  from  the  number  of  teachers  employ- 
ed in  its  public  schools  and  the  number  of 
pupils  in  attendance.  There  are  eight  teach- 
ers employed  and  the  pupils  number  two 
hundred  and  ninety.  The  village  has  a  fine 
school  building  and  its  schools  rank  second 
in  the  county  in  size  and  number  of  teach- 
ers employed.  The  present  officers  of  the 
village  are  Charles  H.  Bostick,  president; 
Arthur  Bulkley,  clerk;  George  M.  Brooks, 
treasurer;  N.  A.  Reynolds,  assessor;  An- 
drew J.  Bennett,  street  commissioner,  and 
Richard  Newland,  marshal.  In  1895  the 
village  inaugurated  a  water-works  system, 
and  in  1901  it  instituted  an  electric  light 
plant.  Both  of  these,  we  believe,  are  owned 
and  operated  by  the  village. 

In  the  line  of  manufacturing  industries 
we  find  the  stave  and  heading  factory  of 
Andrew  McAfee,  employing  from  thirty 
to  forty  men;  the  last-block  factory  of  the 
Williams  Brothers  Company,  turning  out 
four  thousand  five  hundred  to  five  thousand 
last  blocks  per  day  and  employing  about 
forty  men.  M.  Northrup  has  a  saw  and 
planing-mill  and  lumber  yard.  He  employs 
from  ten  to  thirty  men,  and  turns  out  about 
twenty-five  thousand  feet  of  lumber  per  day 


while  running  his  mill,  which  is  only  a  part 
of  the  year,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  in 
getting  logs  in  the  summer  time.  The  Man- 
ton  flour-mill,  ow^ned  by  Phelps  &  Baker, 
has  a  capacity  of  ninety  barrels  of  flour  and 
twenty  tons  of  feed  per  day.  They  employ 
five  to  seven  men.  The  Manton  Produce 
Company  have  a  grain  elevator  and  produce 
warehouse  and  also  a  mill  for  grinding  feed. 
They  have  storage  room  for  ten  thousand 
bushels  of  grain  and  produce,  and  employ 
from  five  to  ten  men.  The  Rotary  Seed 
Planter  Manufacturing  Company  is  of  re- 
cent origin,  and  is  composed  of  Orson  D. 
Park  and  H.  G.  Hutzler.  They  are  the 
patentees  and  are  just  commencing  to  manu- 
facture the  machines  for  the  market.  They 
are  very  sanguine  that  they  have  an  article 
that  will  find  a  ready  sale  when  once  put  on 
the  market,  and  its  merits  thoroughly  tested. 
The  Manton  Tribune  was  established  in 
October,  1879,  but  for  some  time  the  press 
work  was  done  in  Cadillac.  The  first  edi- 
tor and  publisher  was  Marshal  McLure,  • 
but  in  a  short  time  it  passed  into  the  hands 
of  A.  J.  Teed,  of  Cadillac.  Mr.  Teed  kept 
it  but  a  short  time,  selling  out  to  C.  E. 
Cooper,  formerly  owner  of  the  Wexford 
County  Pioneer,  and  a  practical  newspaper 
man,  who  soon  made  the  paper  worthy  of  a 
liberal  support,  which  the  people  of  Manton 
have  ever  since  given  it.  In  Septeiliber, 
1883,  it  was  purchased  by  H.  F.  Campbell. 
Mr.  Campbell  was  postmaster  at  that  time 
and  upon  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  of- 
fice  sold  the  paper  back  to  Mr.  Cooper,  who 
was  also  Mr.  Campbeirs  successor  as  post- 
master. Mr.  Cooper  continued  in  control  of 
the  paper  until  August,  1893,  when  he  sold 
it  to  H.  G.  Hutzler,  its  present  owner.  It 
was  started  as  a  five-column  folio,  but  has 


296 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


been  enlarged  two  or  three  times,  being  now 
a  six-column  quarto.  It  has  always  been 
Republican  in  politics  except  the  last  few 
years  it  was  in  Mr.  Cooper's  hands,  when  it 
was  Demo- Greenback,  Its  present  owner 
is  deputy  state  oil  inspector  for  the  district 
to  which  Wexford  county  belongs. 

Early  in  1873  ^  postoffice  was  estab- 
lished at  Manton  with  O.  P.  Carver  as  the 
first  postmaster.  His  successors  have  been 
H.  M.  Billings,  H.  Brandenburg,  M.  P. 
Gilbert,  H.  F.  Campbell,  C.  E.  Cooper,  Frank 
Weaver,  C.  E.  Cooper  and  V.  F.  Huntley, 
the  present  incumbent,  who  is  now  serving 
his  second  term.  The  office  passed  into  the 
presidential  class  in  February,  1899.  The 
salary  of  the  postmaster  is  fourteen  hundrerl 
dollars  per  year,  with  six  hundred  and 
twenty-six  dollars  for  his  assistant  and 
three  hundred  dollars  for  one  clerk. 

There  is  a  rural  delivery  route  starting 
from  the  office  and  covering  twenty-three 
miles  in  its  rounds.  The  carrier  is  H.  C. 
Forworthy.  This  is  the  only  rural  delivery 
route  in  the  county. 

There  has  been  considerable  agitation 
over  the  subject  of  building  a  beet-sugar 
factory  at  Manton,  but  nothing  definite  has 
yet  been  done.  Several  experiments  in  the 
matter  of  raising  sugar  beets  have  been  tried 
with  very  satisfactory  results,  and  a  beet- 
sugar  factory  for  the  village  is  more  than  a 
probability. 

IIARRIETTA   VILLAGE. 

The  village  of  Harrietta  was  platted  in 
April,  1889,  by  the  Ashleys,  who  were  build- 
ing the  Toledo  &  Ann  Arbor  Railroad. 
Gaston  and  Campbell  platted  an  addition  in 
April,  1890,  and  a  year  later  the  Ogden  ad- 


dition was  platted.  The  first  "boom"  the 
town  liad  was  upon  the  arrival  of  Gaston  and 
Campbell,  who  built  a  saw-mill  and  manu- 
facturing establishment  for  the  purpose  of 
making  novelties  from  the  hardwood  with 
which  the  village  was  surrounded.  They 
bought  expensive  machinery  and  quite  large 
tracts  of  land  and  started  out  with  every 
prospect  of  success  but  the  hard  times  over- 
took them  and  failure  followed.  Had  they 
waited  four  years  longer  their  enterprise 
would  doubtless  Imve  i)rove(l  a  success  and 
the  village  of  Harrietta  would  no  doul^t  have 
been  double  its  present  size. 

Harrietta,  like  all  villages  of  any  pre- 
tensions, had  to  have  a  newspaper,  and  one 
was  started  in  1891.  Its  life  was  of  but 
short  duration,  however,  and  in  less  than  two 
years  the  village  was  without  an  ''organ." 
Another  attempt  in  this  line  was  made  in 
1893,  ^^^^^j  1^'^^  ^'^^  fi^st  effort,  this  also  proved 
a  failure.  Sometime  in  1894,  Sam  O.  Coo- 
ley  started  a  newspaper  in  the  village,  but 
he  soon  left  the  place  for  a  more  sympathetic 
community.  Soon  after  this  John  C.  Stone 
started  the  Harrietta  News,  which  lie  con- 
tinued to  publish  until  1897,  when  he  sud- 
denly disappeared  and  of  course  the  paper 
was  discontinued. 

For  something  like  a  year  the  Harrietta 
Messenger  has  now  been  running  under  the 
management  of  Tom  R.  Campbell.  There 
is  every  indication  that  this  last  newspaper 
effort  will  be  more  successful  than  its  pred- 
ecessors, and  that  the  citizens  of  Harrietta 
and  the  surrounding  towns  will  have  a  home 
paper  that  they  can  feel  a  pride  in.  The 
local  newspaper  is  something  that  a  thriving 
village  can  ill  afford  to  be  without,  and, 
though  the  calling  is  not  a  very  lucrative  one 
in   small   villages,    there   are   always   those 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


297 


ready  and  willing  to  undertake  the  task  of 
running  a  country  paper,  and,  when  properly 
managed,  nothing  does  more  for  the  pros- 
perity of  a  village  than  the  village  newspaper. 

Soon  after  the  coming  of  the  railroad  a 
set  of  charcoal  kilns  were  built  and  a  chemi- 
cal plant  for  the  manufacture  of  wood  alco- 
hol erected,  and  for  several  years  these  were 
kept  in  active  operation,  day  and  night. 
These  were  finally  removed  to  Yuma,  six 
miles  further  north,  and  this,  too,  was  a  se- 
vere blow  to  the  village.  A  shingle  mill  was 
built  and  kept  in  operation  for  several  years 
until  the  timber  for  that  product  had  be- 
come exhausted,  when  it  moved  away. 

With  all  of  these  discouragements,  the 
village  has  still  held  its  own  and  now  it  is 
promised  a  brighter  future. 

There  is  a  fine  trout  stream,  the  Slagle 
creek,  running  through  the  edge  of  the  vil- 
lage, and  two  years  ago  the  state  fish  com- 
missioners decided  that  it  was  just  the  place 
for  a  fish  hatchery.  The  necessary  land  was 
accordingly  purchased  and  last  year  the  work 
of  clearing  out  the  stream,  building  the  nec- 
essary dams  and  chutes,  and  erecting  build- 
ings was  begun.  The  work  is  now  w^ell  un- 
der way,  the  state  having  expended  some 
five  thousand  dollars  last  year,  with  a  proba- 
ble expenditure  of  three  or  four  thousand 
dollars  the  present  year.  It  is  proposed  to 
make  this  one  of  the  best  fish  hatcheries  in 
the  state,  which  will  call  for  a  yearly  out- 
lay of  several  thousand  dollars,  all  of  which 
tends  to  brighten  the  future  prospects  of  the 
village. 

Soon  after  the  starting  of  the  village  the 
vSpringdale  postoffice,  which  for  years  had 
been  kept  at  a  private  house  about  a  male 
north  of  the  site  of  the  village,  to  accommo- 
date the  farming  community  in  that  vicin- 


ity, w^as  moved  to  the  new  village  and  its 
name  changed  to  that  of  the  village,  Harri- 
etta. 

The  village  was  incorporated  in  1891, 
under  the  name  of  Gaston.  This  so  vexed 
the  railroad  officials  that  they  threatened  to 
take  up  the  station  unless  the  name  was 
changed  back  to  Harrietta.  x\ccordingly  in 
1893  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature 
changing  the  name  to  Harrietta.  At  the  first 
election  after  the  passage  of  the  act  incor- 
porating the  village,  the  following  officers 
were  elected,  viz:  President,  John  A.  Bar- 
ry; clerk,  Thomas  H.  Jackson;  treasurer, 
J.  Stewart  Hood;  assessor,  Joseph  Z.  Stan- 
ley. The  present  village  officers  are  Will 
C.  Barry,  president;  Charles  S.  Ogden, 
clerk;  H.  J.  VanAuken,  treasurer;  John  A. 
Barry,  assessor. 

Among  the  industries  of  the  village  are 
the  following:  The  Harrietta  Stove  Com- 
pany, established  in  1891  by  Ben  F.  Craig 
as  manager,  who  has  since  become  sole  own- 
er of  the  plant.  He  pays  out  a  large  simi 
each  year  for  stock  and  in  wages,  thus  con- 
tributing in  no  smiall  degree  to  the  prosperity 
of  the  village. 

The  Fellers  Brotjiers  have  a  saw-mill  and 
also  a  stave-mill.  They  are  now  putting  a 
planer  and  matcher  in  the  mill,  something 
the  village  has  long  felt  the  need  of.  This 
concern  commenced  operations  in  1897  and 
have  run  almost  constantly  since  that  time. 
Their  pay-roll  each  month  contributes  a 
large  amount  to  the  business  volume  of  the 
village. 

The  Harrietta  Brick  Company  \vas  or- 
ganized in  1893  by  Frank  D.  Gaston  and  S. 
P.  Millard.  Mr.  Gaston  soon  after  retired 
and  Robert  Wilson,  of  Cadillac,  became  a 
member  of  the  company.    After  a  few  years 


298 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


Mr.  Millard  sold  out  to  William  Heath, 
so  that  the  firm  now  is  Wilson  &  Heath. 

The  village  has  a  lodge  of  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  No.  i86,  a  Rebekah 
Lodge,  No.  253,  a  tent  of  the  Knights  of  the 
Modern  Maccal^ees,  and  a  hive  of  the  Ladies 
of  the  Modern  Maccabees.  The  population 
of  the  village  is  nearly  six  hundred. 

The  village  of  Boon  was  platted  in  Ap- 
ril, 1889,  and  in  August,  1893,  a  plat  of 
Bennett's  addition  was  filed.  The  village 
was  never  incorporated.  It  has  two  saw- 
mills and  a  bowl  factory,  and  the  usual  places 
of  business  found  in  all  small  villages. 

In  February,  1890,  the  village  of  Mes- 
ick  was  platted.  This  village  now  has  one 
saw-mill  and  a  handle  factory.  For  sev- 
eral years  the  Williams  Brothers  operated 
a  branch  of  their  last-block  business  at  this 
point,  but  last  year  the  equipment  of  their 
plant  in  Mesick  was  moved  to  their  new^ 
scene  of  operations  in  Cadillac.  The  village 
now  has  a  weekly  newspaper,  the  Sun,  which 
is  in  the  fourth  year  of  its  existence.  One 
or  two  former  efforts  in  the  newspaper  busi- 
ness had  failed,  but  the  Sun  seems  to  l)e 
still  shining  as  invigoratingly  as  ever.  This 
place,  since  its  birth,  has  been  the  railroad 
station  at  which  has  been  done  all  the  rail- 
road business  for  the  village  of  Sherman, 
situated  two  and  a  half  miles  northeasterly 
from  the  station,  except  bulk  freight,  which 
has  been  loaded  and  unloaded  at  the  Clog- 
gett  spin*,  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  the  sta- 
tion. A  little  over  a  year  ago  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  village  petitioned  the  board  of 
supervisors  to  l>e  incorporated,  and  the  board 
granted  the  petition.  The  first  village  elec- 
tion was  held  on  the  5th  day  of  March,  1902, 
at  which  the  following  officers  were  elected, 
viz:     President,  R.  M.  Harry;  clerk,  F.  E. 


Rice;  treasurer,  W.  W.  Galloway;  assessor, 
B.  C.  Halstead.  "  The  same  officers  were 
re-elected  at  last  spring's  election,  except 
that  J.  M.  Donnelly  was  elected  treasurer  in 
place  of  W.  W.  Galloway. 

llie  village  has  a  nice,  large  school  build- 
ing, in  which  two  teachers  are  employed  for 
nine  months  of  the  year.  The  Seventh-Day 
Advent  society  have  a  good  church  build- 
ing in  which  regular  services  are  held.  There 
is  also  a  tent  of  the  Knights  of  the  Modern 
Maccabees,  a  hive  of  the  Ladies  of  the  Mod- 
ern Maccabees  and  a  camp  of  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America,  all  in  a  flourishing 
condition. 

In  June,  1893,  the  village  of  Yuma  was 
platted.  This  village  is  about  half  way  be- 
tween Harrietta  and  Mesick.  The  village 
was  the  outgrowth  of  the  removal  of  the 
Jenney  coal  kilns  an|d  chemical  plant  from 
Plarrietta  to  this  point.  The  proprietors  of 
these  plants  had  made  a  purchase  of  a  large 
tract  of  land,  heavily  timbered  with  hard- 
wood near  the  railroad  at  this  point,  and  de- 
cided that  is  would  be  cheaper  to  move  the 
plant  to  the  timber  than  the  timber  to  the 
plant.  For  a  few  years  succeeding  the  start- 
ing of  the  village  a  saw-mill  was  in  opera- 
tion, but  that  ceased  to  do  business  some 
seven  or  eight  years  ago,  since  which  time 
the  plants  above  mentioned  have  constituted 
the  only  manufacturing  business  in  the  place. 
The  lumber  camps  in  the  vicinity  and  the 
farming  interests  have  afforded  a  fairly  goad 
trade  to  the  stores  of  the  place,  and,  being 
surrounded  by  a  good  farming  country,  it 
will  always  be  a  market  and  shipping  point 
for  farm  products,  even  after  the  charcoal 
and  chemical  business,  which  brought  it  into 
existence,  ceases  to  exist. 

The  villao^e  of  Wexford  never  had  a  vil- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


299 


lage  plat.  From  time  to  time  building  lots 
were  sold  by  metes  and  bounds,  and  in  this 
way  it  has  slowly  but  surely  grown  in  busi- 
ness importance  until  it  has  become  an  in- 
despensable  trading  point  for  the  surround- 
ing community.  It  has  never  haid  any  manu- 
facturing industry  except  a  small  saw-mill 
located  al)out  half  a  mile  south  of  the  center 
of  tlie  village.  A  part  of  the  village  is  in 
Grand  Traverse  county,  the  main  street  east 
and  west  through  the  village  being  the  county 
line.  In  1878  the  Methodist  Episcopal  so- 
ciety l)uilt  a  church  building  in  which  regu- 
lar services  have  been  held  most  of  the  time 
since. 

I.  r^oust  was  the  first  merchant  in  the 
place,  having  commenced  the  grocery  busi- 
ness, in  a  small  way,  back  in  the  'seventies. 
He  kept  adding  to  his  stock  little  by  little 
until  finally  he  carried  quite  a  full  stock  of 
general  merchandise  with  his  groceries.  He 
lield  the  postoffice  for  about  twelve  years. 
He  was  quite  a  musician  and  organized  a 


martial  band  and  for  many  years  ''Foust's 
Band"  could  be  seen  at  all  the  gatherings 
where  outdoor  music  was  needed.  He  died 
about  fifteen  years  ago  and  his  son  '^Collie" 
succeeded  to  the  business.  The  place  lias 
several  secret  societies,  as  follows :  Fort- 
ney  Tent  No.  565,  Knights  of  the  Modern 
Maccabees;  Murrea  Hive  No.  263,  Ladies 
of  the  Modern  Maccabees;  Wexford  Camp 
No.  8647,  Modern  Woodmien  of  America, 
and  A.  P.  Earl  Post,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic. 

There  is  a  small  cluster  of  buildings  sev- 
en miles  south  of  Cadillac  and  it  was  given 
the  name  of  Hobart  many  years  ago,  and  is 
still  called  the  village  of  Hobart.  For  a 
good  many  years  there  was  a  custom  gri.st- 
mill  in  the  village,  but  last  year  it  ceased  to 
do  business  and  was  moved  out  of  the  county. 
There  is  at  present  no  manufacturing  indus- 
try there  and  the  only  places  of  business  are 
the  postofiice  and  a  country  store. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


OUR  HONORED   DEAD  PIONEERS. 


B.  W.  Hall,  as  heretofore  noted,  was 
the  first  settler  in  Wexford  county.  He  was 
l)orn  in  Steuben  county,  New  York.  His 
father  removed  to  Cattaraugus  county,  New 
York,  in  1856,  wdiere  he  died  soon  after 
locating  in  his  new^  home,  leaving  a  widow, 
two  sons  and  a  daughter,  the  children  all 
under  eighteen  years  of  age.     Benjamin,  the 

18 


subject  of  this  sketch,  was  of  a  roving  dis- 
position and  soon  left  home  to  seek  his  for- 
tune in  the  west.  He  settled  first  in  south- 
ern Michigan,  where  he  lived  until  after 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, and  after  the  passage  of  the  pre-emption 
law^  he  came  to  the  w^ilds  of  Wexford  coun- 
ty,  arriving  in   the  fall   of   1863.      It  was 


800 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


then  out  of  the  question  to  get  lumber  with 
which  to  build  a  house,  and  it  was  equally 
diflicult  to  build  a  log  house,  as  there  were 
not  enough  men  within  twelve  miles  of  his 
homestead  to  roll  the  logs  into  a  house,  so 
he  built  a  shanty  with  elm  bark,  where  he 
and  hi$  wife  lived  for  nearly  two  years.  His 
wife  then  ran  away  with  a  Mr.  Anise,  and 
Mr.  Hall  rented  his  farm  and  went  east  to 
visit  relatives,  where  he  remained  for  nearly 
two  years.  Soon  after  his  return  he  mar- 
ried again,  but  this  union  was  not  pleasant 
and  after  a  few  years  a  separation  was  se- 
cured through  divorce  proceedings.  A  few 
years  later  a  third  matrimonial  venture  was 
made,  which  proved  more  lasting  than  either 
of  the  others,  the  death  of  Mr.  Hall  in  1894 
alone  causing  the  separation.  Mr.  Hall, 
like  many  a  lad  of  that  period  had  meager 
opportunities  for  gaining  an  education,  yet 
in  his  later  years  he  was  honored  with  near- 
ly all  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  his  townsmen 
at  different  times.  He  was  industrious  and 
frugal,  and  left  his  family  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  eighty  of  which 
were  under  cultivation. 

Dr.  John  Perry  was  another  early  pi- 
oneer in  Wexford  county,  arriving  almost 
simultaneously  with  Mr.  Hall.  He,  like  Mr. 
Hall,  was  a  native  of  New  York  state,  and 
migrated  to  southern  Michigan  when  the  tide 
of  emigration  set  in  to  the  new  states  and 
territories  of  the  west,  a  term  given  all  the 
country  west  of  the  great  lakes.  He  lived 
a  year  or  two  in  Grand  Traverse  county 
before  coming  to  Wexford  county.  He  lo- 
cated a  homestead  in  Antioch  township,  on 
section  6j  a  part  of  which  is  now  included  in 
the  village  of  Sherman.  He  died  in  1875 
at  the  age  of  eighty-two  years. 

Robert  Myhill  was  a  son-in-law  of  Dr. 


Perry,  and  came  to  the  county  soon  after  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Hall  and  Mr. Perry.  He  set- 
tled on  section  24  in  Wexford  township, 
where  he  remained  until  his  accidental  death 
in  the  spring  of  1868.  He  had  donated  a 
site  for  a  school  house  in  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  his  farm  and  the  neighbors  had  set 
a  day  for  cutting  away  the  timber,  prepara- 
tory to  erecting  a  school-house.  At  this 
''bee"  Mr.  Myhill  was  struck  by  the  limb  of 
a  falling  tree,  crushing  his  skull,  causing 
death,  though  he  lived  for  over  twelve  hours 
after  the  injury. 

William  Masters  was  another  early  set- 
tler in  the  county,  arriving  in  the  autumn 
of  1863.  He  came  from  Steuben  county, 
New  York,  and  settled  on  section  12,  in 
what  is  now  Wexford  township.  He  was 
noted  for  his  hospitality,  and  many  an  early 
settler  found  food  and  shelter  beneath  his 
roof,  ''without  money  and  without  price." 
His  home  was  headquarters  for  mail  to  and 
from  Traverse  City,  and  when  the  postoffice 
department  was  prevailed  upon  to  establish 
the  first  postoffice  in  the  county  he  was  ap- 
pointed the  first  postmaster.  He  served  one 
term  as  county  treasurer,  and  filled  various  . 
township  offices  in  his  township.  Largely 
with  his  own  hands  he  felled  and  cleared 
the  heavy  timber  from  over  a  hundred  acres 
of  his  homestead.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  kept  a  small  grocery,  which  was  of  the 
greatest  value  to  those  of  the  settlers  who 
were  without  teams,  as  most  of  them  were, 
thus  enabling  them  to  get  the  necessaries  of 
life  near  enough  so  that  they  could  pack 
them  to  their  homes.  He  died  in  1887,  at 
the  ripe  age  of  eighty-three  years,  and  was 
sincerely  mourned  by  all  the  early  settlers  in 
the  northwest  part  of  the  county. 

William  E.  Dean  was  one  of  the  early 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


801 


pioneers  in  the  county,  coming  from  Chau- 
tauqua county,  New  York.  He  located  a 
homestead  on  section  2,  in  the  present  town- 
sliip  of  Spring ville,  in  1865.  He  was  the 
second  supervisor  from  that  township,  which 
then  consisted  of  six  surveyed  townships, 
Antiocli,  Boon,  Henderson,  Slagle  and 
South  Branch  having  been  organized  out 
of  the  territory  originally  comprising  the 
township  of  Springville.  Mr.  Dean  served 
as  supervisor  many  years  in  succession,  and 
inidou1)tedly  held  that  office  more  terms 
than  any  other  person  has  held  a  similar  of- 
fice in  the  county.  He  was  prominent  in  the 
order  of  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  when  that 
order  was  in  its  palmy  days  in  the  country. 
He  was  twice  nominated  for  the  office  of 
county  treasurer  by  the  Democratic  party, 
but  was  both  times  defeated.  His  death  oc- 
curred at  his  home  on  the  old  homestead  in 
June,  1903. 

Harmony  J.  Carpenter  came  to "  the 
county  in  1865,  and  settled  on  section  6, 
in  what  is  now  Antioch  township.  He  also 
came  from  Chautauqua  county,  New  York, 
where  he  had  lived  for  many  years.  He 
was  in  feeble  health  and  well  on  in  years 
when  he  came  to  the  county,  so  that  clear- 
ing away  the  forests  to  make  a  farm  was 
slow  work  for  him,  but  by  perseverance  he 
at  length  succeeded  in  making  a  good  sized 
clearing  on  his  homestead.  He  was  one 
of  the  early  mem1)ers  of  the  Congregational 
church  at  Sherman,  and  served  the  church 
many  years  as  deacon  and  trustee.  He  died 
in  1889  and  his  wife,  who  married  several 
years  after  his  death,  died  in  1898. 

Andrew  Anderson  came  to  Wexford 
county  from  Canada  in  1886,  settling  on 
section  10,  in  what  is  now  Hanover  town- 
shiji.     He  was  the  first  shoemaker  to  arrive 


in  the  county,  and  the  work  he  did  in  that 
line  helped  him  greatly  in  clearing  up  his 
farm.  After  the  village  of  Sherman  got 
well  started  he  removed  to  that  place  and 
worked  at  his  trade,  keping  a  few  goods 
in  his  line  on  sale,  his  wife  at  the  same  time 
running  a  little  millinery  store.  Later  he 
purchased  an  interest  in  a  saw-mill  at  Sher- 
man, which  however  burned  down  in  a  short 
time  after  his  purchase.  He  then  purchased 
an  interest  in  what  was  known  as  the  Wheel- 
er mill  in  Hanover  township,  which  he  held 
for  a  few  years.  He  also  bought  forty  acres 
of  railroad  land  adjoining  the  mill  property 
for  a  home,  the  burning  of  the  saw-mill 
having  caused  him  to  lose  his  old  home, 
obliging  him  to  start  anew.  Mr.  Anderson 
was  of  Scotch  descent  and  when  the  First 
Congregational  church  of  Sherman  was  or- 
ganized he  and  his  wife  were  charter  mem- 
l}ers.  He  represented  his  township  on  tlie 
board  of  supervisors  several  years  and  held 
various  other  township  offices  at  different 
times.  He  died  in  1895,  his  widow  sur- 
viving him  only  about  a  year  and  a  half. 

S.  C.  Worth  came  to  the  county  in  1866, 
taking  up  a  homestead  on  section  20,  in  the 
present  township  of  Hanover.  He  was  a 
candidate  for  judge  of  probate  at  the  first 
election  for  county  officers  in  the  county, 
but  from  the  fact  that  some  of  the  ballots 
were  written  (there  was  no  printing  press 
in  the  county  in  those  days)  with  the  full 
name  and  some  with  the  initials  only,  he  was 
defeated.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  to 
the  office  of  superintendent  of  the  poor,  serv- 
ing several  years.  He  also  served  a  number 
of  years  as  supervisor  and  several  terms  as 
town  treasurer  and  justice  of  the  peace.  He 
was  among  the  early  California  gold  seekers, 
and  made  the  trip  overland  before  the  trans- 


802 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


continental  railroads  were  thought  of.  Some 
seven  or  eight  years  ago  he  moved  to  Em- 
met county,  this  state,  where  he  died  in 
1901. 

Charles  Dalchow  was  a  native  of  Ber- 
lin, Prussia,  where  he  was  born  in  1825. 
He  emigrated  to  America  in  1857  in  conse- 
quence of  one  of  those  political  upheavals 
that  were  of  such  frequent  occurrence,  half 
a  century  ago,  in  some  of  those  petty  coun- 
tries that  now  constitute  the  German  em- 
pire. He  first  settled  in  St.  Joseph  county, 
this  state,  coming  to  this  county  in  1871. 
He  was  a  farmer  by  occupation,  though  fre- 
quently elected  to  different  offices.  His 
death  occurred  in  1896  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
one  years. 

H.  D.  Griswold  was  the  first  practic- 
ing physician  in  the  county.  He  was  born 
in  Jackson  county,  Michigan,  in  1840.  He 
commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  his 
native  county  soon  after  graduating  from 
the  State  University  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1865. 
For  several  years  he  was  connected  with  the 
newspaper  business,  having  been  a  reporter 
for  several  different  papers,  and  in  widely 
separated  fields,  working  in  Detroit,  St. 
Louis  and  Chicago.  He  came  to  Wexford 
county  in  1872,  and  for  many  years  was  the 
only  physician  in  the  northwestern  part  of 
the  county.  He  was  an  uncompromising 
Democrat  and  was  ahvays  one  of  the  coun- 
cilors of  his  party,  and  for  many  years  chair- 
man of  the  party's  county  committee.  His 
death  occurred  in   1899. 

Ezra  Harger  was  born  in  Portage  coun- 
ty, Ohio,  in  1838.  When  the  President 
made  the  call  for  seventy-five  thousand 
three-months  men  to  put  down  the  rebellion, 
in  April,  1861,  he  enlisted  in  the  Fourteenth 
Ohio  Infantry.      Some  three  months  after 


the  expiration  of  his  three  months  service 
he  enlisted  in  the  Fifteenth  United  States 
Infantry.  Fie  was  discharged  in  1864,  and 
soon  after  re-enlisted  for  three  years  and 
served  until  February,  1867.  He  came  to 
Wexford  county  in  1872,  locating  a  home- 
stead and  also  platting  a  piece  of  land  which 
is  now  a  part  of  the  village  of  Manton.  In 
1874  he  was  elected  county  treasurer  and 
held  that  office  for  four  terms  during  his 
life.  He  was  chairman  of  thq  Soldiers' 
Relief  Commission  several  years;  served  as 
supervisor,  clerk  and  treasurer  of  his  town- 
ship at  different  times  and  was  chairman  of 
the  Republican  county  committee  several 
years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Free  & 
Accepted  Masons  and  at  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  1899,  was  buried  under  the  aus- 
pices of  that  order. 

Isaac  N.  Carpenter,  Wexford  county's 
first  judge  of  probate,  was  born  in  Chautau- 
qua county,  New  York,  in  1838.  He  came 
to  Wexford  county  in  the  fall  of  1865,  lo- 
cating a  homestead  on  section  26,  in  what  is 
now  Wexford  township.  Besides  his  serv- 
ice as  probate  judge,  he  was  several  years 
supervisor  of  his  township,  and  also  held 
the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  many  years, 
and  township  clerk  several  times.  He  was 
appointed  postmaster  at  Sherman  during 
President  Cleveland's  first  administration, 
serving  four  years,  after  which  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  the  new  state  of  Wash- 
ington, where  he  died  several  years  ago,  the 
exact  date  of  his  death  not  being  obtaina- 
ble. 

I.  H.  Maqueston,  the  county's  first  gen- 
eral merchant,  was  born  in  Rockland  coun- 
ty. New  York,  in  1847.  He  came  to  the 
county  in  the  spring  of  1869,  soon  after  the 
county  was  organized,  remaining  a  citizen 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


803 


of  the  county  until  the  time  of  his  death,  ex- 
cept one  year  which  he  spent  in  New 
York  city.  He  was  a  successful  merchant, 
a  lover  of  fishing  and  hunting,  and  fully 
alive  to  everything  that  tended  to  benefit 
his  home  village.  He  rebuilt  the  Sherman 
grist-mill  after  its  destruction  by  fire,  and 
for  several  years  did  a  successful  milling 
business.  His  death  occurred  in  March, 
1886,  from  heart  failure,  he  being  in  the 
prime  of  life  and  apparently  in  the  best  of 
health  up  to  an  hour  or  two  before  his 
death.  He  was  somewhat  of  a  land  dealer, 
at  one  time  owning  a  part  of  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Cadillac,  and  owned  sev- 
eral hundred  acres  of  land  in  the  county  at 
the  time  of  his  death. 

Sylvester  Clark  came  to  Wexford  coun- 
ty in  the  spring  of  1869,  locating  at  Sher- 
man and  starting  the  first  hotel  in  the  coun- 
ty seat  town.  It  was  kept  in  a  log  house 
wdiich  w^as  originally  erected  for  a  dwelling 
house,  but  which  Mr.  Clark  remodeled  in- 
to a  hotel.  Soon  after  starting  this  busi- 
ness a  separation  occurred  between  him  and 
his  wafe,  which  was  follow^ed  by  divorce. 
A  few  years  later  he  married  the  widow  of 
Abram  Finch,  all  old  soldier  who  came  to 
the  county  in  1866,  and  only  lived  two  or 
three  years  after  his  arrival.  She  still 
lives  in  Sherman  and  often  at  the  reunions 
of  the  old  settlers  tells  of  being  treed  by  a 
bear,  when  she  and  her  first  husband  were 
living  on  their  homestead,  and  how  her 
little  dog  kept  nipping  at  the  bear's  hind 
feet,  thus  detracting  his  attention  and  enab- 
ling her  to  get  far  enough  up  the  tree  to  be 
out  of  reach.  After  his  second  marriage 
Mr.  Clark  took  up  farming  and  continued 
in  this  occupation  until  the  infirmity  of  age 
obliged  him  to  give  it  up.     He  then  moved 


into  Sherman  village,  and  lived  there  until 
the  winter  of  1901,  when  he  went  to  the  Pa- 
cific coast,  thinking  it  would  improve  his 
physical  condition.  In  this  he  was  disap- 
pointed, as  he  lived  but  a  few  weeks  after 
reaching  his  journey's  end. 

Lewis  J.  Clark,  though  not  a  relative  of 
Sylvester  Clark,  was  one  of  the  early  pion- 
eers of  the  county.  He  was  a  carpenter  and 
joiner  by  trade  and  came  to  the  county  in 
the  employ  of  George  W.  Bryant,  of  Trav- 
erse City,  who  owned  a  piece  of  land  at  the 
point  where  the  Newaygo  and  Northport 
state  road  crossed  the  Manistee  river.  Mr. 
Bryant  had  a  small  clearing  made  near  the 
bank  of  the  river,  and  erected  a  good  sized 
building  intended  for  a  hotel,  and  it  was 
used  for  a  short  time  for  that  purpose.  Mr. 
Clark  did  the  work  of  building  the  house 
and  rented  it  for  a  while,  putting  in  a  stock 
of  groceries.  In  1868  he  severed  his  connec- 
tion with  Mr.  Bryant  and  put  up  the  first 
frame  building  in  the  village  of  Sherman, 
moving  liis  stock  of  groceries  into  it  as  soon 
as  it  was  ready  to  occupy.  He  afterwards 
went  into  the  drug  business,  putting  up  an- 
other building  for  that  purpose  and  moving 
the  old  one  and  using  it  as  an  addition  to  the 
drug  store.  Mr.  Clark  was  a  very  obliging 
gentleman,  and  was  liked  by  every  one.  As 
an  evidence  of  this  fact,  he  was  unanimously 
recommended  for  postmaster,  though  a 
strong  Democrat,  and  was  appointed  by  a 
Republican  administration.  He  died  in  De- 
cember, 1877,  and  was  buried  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men, 
of  which  he  was  a  member,  and  was  sincerely 
mourned  by  the  entire  community. 

Frederick  S.  Kieldsen,  for  many  years 
a  prominent  merchant  in  Cadillac,  was  born 
in  Denmark  in   1849,  arriving  in  Cadillac 


304 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


in  1872.  He  was  a  shrewd  business  man, 
and  after  enlarging  his  mercantile  stock  to 
his  satisfaction  purchased  a  large  farm, 
built  a  good  farm  house  and  large  barns  and 
at  one  time  had  a  dairy  of  forty-five  cows, 
mostly  Holsteins.  He  was  a  lover  of  hors- 
es and  kept  some  fine  specimens  on  his  farm. 
He  suffered  some  severe  reverses  during  the 
panic  following  the  second  election  of  Grov- 
er  Cleveland,  and  subsequently  retired  from 
business.  He  died  quite  suddenly  in  1891, 
leaving  a  widow  and  two  children. 

John  G.  Mosser  was  born  in  Canada 
in  1840.  He  early  learned  the  carpenter 
trade  and  at  the  time  of  the  building  of  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  secur- 
ed the  position  of  foreman  of  the  bridge 
building  part  of  the  construction,  and  stayed 
with  the  company  until  the  road  reached 
Petosky.  He  then  settled  in  Cadillac  and 
engaged  in  house  building,  and  later  went 
into  the  brickmaking  business,  at  length  go- 
ing into  the  regular  contract  building  occu- 
pation and  keeping  a  stock  of  builder's  ma- 
terial. He  superintended  the  construction 
of  nearly  all  the  larger  buildings  in  the  city, 
including  churches,  school  houses,  stores,  the 
Masonic  Temple  and  many  private  residen- 
ces. He  secured  a  good  many  contracts  for 
work  in  other  counties  and  had  a  constant- 
ly increasing  business.  He  disappeared  sud- 
denly from  the  city  in  1893,  and  it  was  a 
long  time  before  any  of  his  friends  knew  of 
his  whereabouts,  and  it  w^as  at  first  sup- 
posed he  had  committed  suicide,  but  at 
length  his  wife  received  a  communication 
from  Alberta,  Canada,  in  1896,  conveying 
the  information  that  he  had  died  there  and 
had  told  his  companions  where  his  wife  and 
family  lived.  Mr.  Mosser  represented  his 
ward  for  many  years  on  the  board  of  su- 


pervisors, and  was  several  times  honored  by 
being  elected  as  chairman  of  the  board. 

James  Haynes  started  the  first  planing- 
mill  in  the  county,  coming  to  the  village 
of  Clam  Lake  (now  city  of  Cadillac)  in  1872. 
He  was  born  in  New  York  in  1825,  moving 
to  Michigan  with  his  father's  family  in 
]836.  His  mill  was  destroyed  by  fire  in 
1877,  ^^^'  ^^  showing  the  energy  with  which 
Mr.  Haynes  conducted  business,  it  is  re- 
lated that  in  just  fifty-nine  days  after  the 
fire  another  mill  had  been  erected,  the  ma- 
chinery purchased  and  placed  in  position 
and  the  mill  ready  for  business.  Some  time 
before  his  death  Mr.  Haynes  associated  his 
three  sons  with  him  in  the  business,  the  firm 
being  known  as  James  Haynes  &  Sons.  One 
of  the  sons  retired  before  the  death  of  the 
father,  the  other  two  remaining  and  suc- 
ceeding to  the  business,  which  they  still 
continue.  Mr.  Haynes  held  several  im- 
portant village  and  city  offices  and  served 
a  part  of  one  term  as  county  treasurer,  death 
overtaking  him  during  his  incumbency  of 
the  office  in  1889. 

Austin  W.  Mitchell  came  to  Wexford 
county  in  1879  and  his  first  business  venture 
was  the  purchase  of  a  tract  of  pine  land 
about  four  miles  north  of  the  city.  This 
timber  was  manufactured  by  Bond  &  Kysor 
and  quite  a  little  village  sprung  up  where 
their  mill  was  located,  the  place  being  known 
on  the  railroad  maps  as  Bond's  Mill,  bur 
not  a  vestige  of  the  place  is  left  except  the 
railroad  siding.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Mitchell  Brothers,  who  still 
do  a  heavy  lumbering  business  in  Missau- 
kee county  and  have  a  large  handle  factory 
in  Cadillac.  An  incompatible  domestic  con- 
dition evidently  preyed  upon  his  mind  to 
such  an  extent  that  his  friends  persuaded 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


805 


him  to  take  a  trip  across  the  ocean  to  see 
if  it  would  not  bring  a  change  for  the  bet- 
ter. Accordingly  he  set  sail  from  San  Fran- 
cisco in  the  spring  of  1902  in  company  with 
his  physician,  Dr.  C.  E.  Miller,  of  Cadillac. 
When  five  days  out  Mr.  Mitchell  very  sud- 
denly and  unexpectedly  leaped  over  the  side 
of  the  ship  and  almost  immediately  sank  to 
the  bottom.  It  was  a  great  blow  to  his 
friends  in  this  city  and  county,  of  whom  he 
had  a  large  circle. 

David  A.  Rice  was  one  of  the  first  at- 
torneys to  locate  in  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake.  Mr.  Rice  first  studied  medicine  with 
a  view  of  becoming  a  physician,  but  changed 
his  mind  and  took  a  law  course  at  the  uni- 
versity at  Ann  Arbor.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Oceana  county  in  1870.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion 
he  enlisted  in  the  Sixty-fifth  Illinois  Volun- 
teers'. He  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  time  of 
the  surrender  of  Harper's  Ferry,  was 
paroled  and  several  months  later  exchanged, 
when  he  again  joined  his  regiment,  serving 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  He  served  the 
county  as  prosecuting  attorney  eight  years 
in  all,  held  dififerent  offices  under  the  village 
and  city  organization,  and  also  filled  the 
office  of  supervisor  of  his  ward  one  or  two 
terms.  He  died  at  Ypsilanti,  this  state,  in 
the  fall  of  1 90 1. 

Byron  Ballon  was  one  of  the  very  first 
to  settle  in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake;  in 
fact,  he  came  several  months  before  the  vil- 
lage was  platted.  He  was  l^orn  in  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  in  1827.  He  came  with  his  fa- 
ther to  Ypsilanti,  Michigan,  in  1830,  the 
journey  being  made  with  an  ox  team,  as 
there  was  no  public  conveyance  to  be  had 
in  those  days  in  that  section  of  the  state. 
It  is  related  that  food  became  so  scarce  the 


first  year  that  they  had  to  resort  to  pound- 
ing corn  on  a  stump  preparatory  to  cooking 
it  for  the  family.  At  the  death  of  his  father 
he  went  to  live  with  an  aunt  in  Kalamazoo 
in  1839,  where  he  learned  the  trade  of  car- 
penter. His  first  business  venture  in  this 
county  was  in  the  hardware  line  with  John 
M.  Cloud,  the  firm  being  known  as  Cloud 
&  Ballou.  Mr.  Ballou  was  a  radical  Repub- 
lican and  often  took  the  stump  in  the  inter- 
ests of  his  party.  Though  not  a  gifted 
speaker,  he  could  tell  the  plain  truths  in  such 
a  matter-of-fact  way  that  they  carried  con- 
viction. He  was  for  several  years  chairman 
of  the  Republican  county  committee,  twice 
held  the  office  of  postmaster  in  Cadillac  and 
Clam  Lake  village,  and  was  once  elected 
mayor  of  the  city.  After  severing  his  con- 
nection with  Mr.  Cloud,  he  conducted  a 
flour  and  feed  store  in  the  city  for  several 
years  until  he  was  forced  to  abandon  work 
1)y  reason  of  the  infirmity  of  age.  His  death 
occurred  in  the  winter  of  1902. 

Samuel  F.  Long  was  another  early  set- 
tler in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake,  coming  in 
the  spring  of  1873.  ^^  was  born  in  Frank- 
lin county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1820.  When 
twenty-two  years  of  age  he  moved  to  Ohio, 
and  one  year  later  to  Michigan.  In  the 
summer  of  1862  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  first  serving  with  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  and  later  was  in  the 
scouting  service  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley, 
Virginia.  He  was  discharged  in  July,  1865. 
For  the  first  five  years  after  coming  to  Clam 
Lake  he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  Company.  The 
next  year  he  had  charge  of  the  H.  N.  Green 
water  works,  after  which  he  had  charge  of 
M.  H.  Bond's  grocery  business  for  about 
two  years.     He  held  the  office  of  justice  of 


306 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


the  peace  for  eight  years,  at  the  same  time 
doing  something  of  a  real  estate  and  collec- 
tion business.  He  died  in  1896^  leaving  a 
widow  and  five  children. 

Holden  N.  Green  w^as  also  an  early  pio- 
neer in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake;  in  fact,  he 
arrived  on  the  shore  of  Little  Clam  lake, 
now  Lake  Cadillac,  nearly  a  year  before  the 
village  was  platted.  He  first  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  in  1871,  and  continued  his 
operations  in  that  line  until  1878.  It  was 
during  this  latter  year  that  he  undertook 
the  work  of  supplying  the  city  wnth  water. 
His  engine  house  and  pumps  were  built  at 
the  foot  of  West  Harris  street,  nearly  or 
quite  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  steam 
laundry.  He  operated  this  plant  about 
fourteen  years,  during  which  time  the  build- 
ing was  once  destroyed  by  fire.  Judge 
Green  acquired  his  title  by  a  four-years 
term  as  probate  judge  of  Wexford  county. 
He  was  born  in  Rushville,  New  York,  in 
1827,  and  when  quite  young  he,  with  the 
rest  of  his  father's  family,  moved  west, 
which  meant  in  those  days  anywhere  west 
of  the  western  line  of  New  York  state.  He 
was  at  one  time  engaged  as  mail  carrier  to 
and  from  Chicago,  when  that  city  was  a 
mere  hamlet.  He  married  in  Chicago  and 
a  short  time  afterward  went  to  Manistee, 
and  was  there  when  that  county  was  or- 
ganized, and  became  its  first  prosecuting  at- 
torney. During  his  last  five  years'  resi- 
dence in  Cadillac  his  health  so  failed  him 
that  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  all  work  and 
remain  indoors  most  of  the  time.  Mr. 
Green  served  two  or  three  terms  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  supervisors  of  Wexford 
county,  taking  part  in  the  memorable 
county-seat  struggle  that  was  waged  for 
nearly  a  dozen  years.    During  the  latter  part 


of  1893  he  removed  to  Ypsilanti,  where  he 
remained  until  the  summons  of  death 
reached  him,  in  December,  1895. 

Henry  F.  May  was  one  of  the  early 
business  adventurers  in  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  (now  city  of  Cadillac),  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Holbrook  &  May,  who 
engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  in  the 
new  village  in  1871.  Mr.  May  was  born  in 
Plymouth,  Michigan,  in  1842,  receiving  a 
common  school  education  at  that  place. 
After  coming  to  Clam  Lake  he  was  fre- 
quently elected  to  different  offices,  serving 
as  village  treasurer,  village  trustee,  county 
superintendent  of  the  poor  and  member  of 
the  Cadillac  city  ])oard  of  education.  Ln 
1878  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  Wex- 
ford-Grand Traverse  district  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  Michigan  legislature.  A  few 
years  after  he  removed  to  Grand  Rapids, 
where  he  lived  until  1899,  when  death  put 
an  end  to  a  long  and  useful  career. 

Jonathan  W.  Cobbs  came  to  .Clam  Lake 
village  in  1872  from  Butlerville,  Indiana, 
where  he  had  been  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  hardwood  lumber  for  a  number  of 
years.  His  first  business  venture  in  the  new 
village  was  the  purchase  of  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Hall  saw-mill,  the  first  one 
built  at  Clam  Lake.  At  first  he  ran  the  mill 
in  cutting  timber  for  George  A.  Mitchell, 
but  in  1877  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
William  W.  Mitchell,  the  firm  name  from 
that  time  being  Cobbs  &  Mitchell.  The  firm 
prospered  to  a  wonderful  degree,  and  finally, 
in  1899,  ^h^  fi^i'^'^  was  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  state.  The  firm  purchased  large 
tracts  of  pine  land  soon  after  its  organiza- 
tion, and  to  give  an  idea  of  the  extent  of 
their  lumbering  operations  while  engaged  in 
cutting  pine,  we  quote  from  what  has  here- 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


807 


tofore  been  compiled  relative  to  shipment  of 
lumber  in  the  'eighties:  ''In  1880,  14,053;- 
000  feet;  1881,  21,612,000  feet;  1882,  20,- 
966,000  feet;  1883,  26,924,000  feet;  1884, 
to  June  1 ,  1 1 , 1 1 1 ,000  feet.  Lumber  in 
yards,  17,000,000  feet."  Mr.  Cobbs  died 
September  28,  1898,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine 
years,  his  son,  Frank  J.  Cobbs,  president  of 
the  Cadillac  State  Bank,  succeeding  his  fa- 
ther in. the  firm.  A  more  detailed  account 
of  their  present  lumbering  operations  will 
be  found  in  another  part  of  this  work. 

A.  M.  Lamb,  a  former  resident  of  Cad- 
illac, was  one  of  the  very  early  pioneers  in 
Wexford  county,  having  taken  up  a  home- 
stead in  1865.  At  the  death  of  his  first  wife, 
which  occurred  in  the  early  -  'seventies,  he 
came  to  what  w^as  then  the  village  of  Clam 
Lake  and  w^ent  into  business.  About  the 
same  time  he  w^as  appointed  one  of  the  coun- 
ty superintendents  of  the  poor,  which  office 
he  held  for  several  years.  He  finally  sold 
out  his  Inisiness  in  Cadillac  and  removed  to 
Grand  Rapids,  where  he  did  a  commission 
business  for  a  number  of  years.  He  then 
came  back  to  Cadillac,  and  was  engaged  in 
the  fruit  commission  business  for  some  time, 
finally  returning  to  Grand  Rapids,  wdiere  he 
died  in  1902. 

Georgiana  L  Wheeler  came  to  Wexford 
county  wdth  her  husband,  J.  H.  Wheeler,  in 
the  fall  of  1865,  their  westward  journey 
1)eing  their  wedding  trip,  as  they  started 
from  western  New  York  immediately  fol- 
lowing their  ma^Tiage  ceremony.  They 
came  by  ])oat  from  Buffalo  to  Traverse  City, 
leaving  the  lake  l)oat  at  Northport  and  mak- 
ing the  trip  up  the  Traverse  Bay  in  the  lit- 
tle ''Sunny  Side,"  the  first  boat  owned  and 
operated  by  Traverse  City  interests  on  the 
bay,  and  it  took  a  week  to  make  the  trip  at 


that  time.  They  arrived  in  Wexford  county 
the  last  day  of  October.  They  began  house- 
keeping with  one  .chair,  a  rocker,  and  one 
bed,  using  Mr.  Wheeler's  tool  chest  for  a 
table  until  he  could  make  one  of  ])ine  boards. 
He  also  soon  made  a  set  of  splint-bottom 
chairs  and  another  rocker,  and  they  were 
soon  cosily  established  in  their  new  home. 
Mrs.  Wheeler  was  a  school  teacher  and  a 
music  teacher,  and  in  later  years  took  an 
active  part  in  temperance  work  and  con- 
tributed occasionally  to  the  columns  of  the 
Wexford  County  I^ioneer  after  that  paper 
•was  established,  and  when  her  husl^and  be- 
came the  owner  of  the  paper  she  did  a  large 
amount  of  the  work  on  its  local  columns, 
besides  editing  the  Woman's  Christian  Tem- 
perance LTnion  department.  Her  untimely 
death,  in  1882,  was  a  shock  to  the  wdiole 
community  and  her  funeral  was  attended  by 
the  largest  gathering  ever,  to  that  time, 
seen  in  Sherman  on  such  occasions.  The 
following  is  taken  from  the  columns  of  the 
Pioneer  having  the  account  of  her  death : 
"Not  many  refined  and  talented  young  ladies 
of  the  present  day,  who  delight  in  social 
intercourse  and  pleasant  surroundings, 
would  think  that  they  could  go  away  back 
into  an  almost  unbroken  wilderness,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  from  the 
nearest  railroad,  wnth  six  months  of  the 
year  practically  closed  to  all  outside  com- 
munication, except  the  slow,  tedious  over- 
land mail,  which  only  enabled  a  person  to 
get  an  answer  to  a  letter  after  four  or  five 
weeks  of  anxious  waiting,  their  little  log 
house,  twelve  by  sixteen  feet  in  size,  con- 
stituting kitchen,  pantry,  bed-room,  sitting- 
room  and  parlor,  the  only  partitions  being 
imaginary  lines  on  the  puncheon  floor;  their 
nearest  neighbor  half  or  three- fourths  of  a 


808 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


mile  distant,  and  the  only  road  thereto  being 
a  hne  of  blazed  trees  through  the  dense  for- 
est. Yet  true  love  conquers  all  difficulties 
and  laughs  at  all  privations,  and  when  man's 
strong  arm  is  nerved  by  a  noble  woman's 
love,  the  densest  forest  will  melt  away; 
houses,  mills  and  work  shops  will  grow  up. 
and  the  grandeur  of  happy  homes  and  noble 
aspirations  will  so  fill  the  heart  that  their 
memory  can  never  be  effaced.  Such  the 
love,  such  the  privations,  such  the  fruition 
and  such  the  memory/' 

We  give  place  to  the  following  little 
gem,  written  a  year  after  Mrs.  Wheeler's 
death : 

I've  been  out  to  the  old  homestead  to-day,  Georgia, 

but  'twas  with  sad  and  lonely  heart 
That    I   viewed   the   scenes  of   bygone    years — their 

memory  seemed  to  dart 
Like  a  gleaming  blade  through  the  misty  shade  of  the 

half  forgotten  past, 
And  .carry  me  back  on  its  glimmering  track  to  the 

pleasures  that  could  not  last. 

I  saw  once  again  the  little  log  house  with  its  bark- 
covered' roof  as  of  yore; 

Its  one  tiny  window,  its  one  narrow  door,  its  old 
fashioned,  rude  punchc  on  floor; 

The  tall  trees  all  'round  thickly  studding  the  ground, 
so  the  sunlight  could  scarcely  creep  in, 

And  you,  my  fond  wife,  the  joy  of  my  life,  making 
sunshine  and  gladness  within. 

How  the  warmth  of  that  glorious  sunlight  'round  the 

heart's  deep  emotions  did  twine! 
Its   brightness   made   my   life   so   happy!     Its  reflex 

brought  pleasure  to  thine! 
And    life's  silv'ry  stream,    like   a   beautiful    dream, 

stretched  forth  to  our  wondering  gaze 
'Neath  the  magical   flame  that  silently  came  through 

the  glint  of  its  soul-stirring  rays. 

Oh,  those  happy  old  pioneer  days,  Georgia!     What 

pen  can  their  grandeur  recall? 
What   artist   can   paint   half  their  beauties?      What 

poetic  rapture  enthrall 
The  senses,  and  make  such  echoes  awake,  in  the  heart, 

'though  'tis  saddened  and  lone, 
Like  the  memory  of  days  we  see  through  the  haze,  of 

the  years  that  are  faded  and  gone. 


Ah,   yes,   they  have  gone  to  decay,  Georgia!     Their 

phantoms  are  all  that  remain; 
The  heart,  then  so  light  and  so  buoyant,  now  beats  to 

a  mournful  refrain; 
For  the  beauties  of  youth,  with  its  freshness,  its  truth, 

its  hope,  its  ambition,  its  trust, 
Have  perished  and  died,  and  lie  side  by  side  with  the 

forms  that  now  moulder  to  dust. 

Yet,   I   would   not   forget  those  glad  days,  Georgia, 

their  mem'ry's  too  sacred  and  dear — 
Though  they  bring  to  the  heart  keenest  anguish,  and 

moisten  the  eye  with  a  tear — 
I  cherish  them  still.     The  heart  will  e'er  thrill,  as  the 

vision  recurs  to  its  gaze. 
Of  the  joys  that   were  ours  in  those  happy  hours — 

those  blissful  old  pioneer  days. 

Rinaldo  Fuller  came  to  the  county  in 
1880,  settling  in  the  village  of  Manton, 
where  he  soon  went  into  the  drug  business. 
He  was  born  in  Canada  in  1841,  lived  sev- 
eral years  in  Ontonogan,  Michigan,  and  two 
years  in  Ingham  county.  He  then  went 
west  to  Kansas,  where  he  remained  two  and 
a  half  years.  He  served  three  or  four  terms 
as  president  of  the  village  of  Manton,  two 
terms  as  township  treasurer,  besides  various 
other  local  offices.  He  was  the  Republican 
candidate  for  county  treasurer  in  1890,  but 
was  defeated  by  James  Ransom  in  the 
Democratic  landslide  of  that  year.  Soon 
after  he  sold  out  his  business  at  Manton 
and  removed  to  Traverse  City.  He  went 
into  the  drug  business  again  at  Interlocken, 
Grand  Traverse  county,  where  he  died  a  few 
years  ago. 

James  M.  Brown  was  born  in  Chatau- 
qua  county.  New  York,  in  1825.  His  par- 
ents removed  to  Pennsylvania  'in  1835  and 
to  Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  in  1844.  He 
kept  a  hotel  at  Byron,  Kent  county,  Michi- 
gan, five  years  and  was -engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  for  several  years  before  he 
came  to  this  county  in  1873.  ^^  '^^P^  ^ 
little  hotel  at  Manton  the  first  year  after  his 


JV  EX  FORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


809 


arrival,  and  then  purchased  a  farm  one  mile 
west  of  that  village,  and  for  several  years 
led  the  dual  life  of  landlord  and  farmer.  He 
was  county  superintendent  of  the  poor  six 
years,  and  filled  the  office  of  justice  of  tlie 
peace  and  other  township  offices  for  several 
years.  His  death  occurred  in  1899  at  his 
home  in  Cedar  Creek. 

F.  A.  Jamison  was  one  of  Manton's  suc- 
cessful merchants,  having  located  in  that 
village  in  1877.  At  first  he  engaged  in  the 
grocery  business  only,  but  later  added  dry 
goods  and  boots  and  shoes.  He  was  born  in 
Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  in  1842,  and 
died  at  his  home  in  Manton  in  1891. 

Hon.  Thomas  A.  Ferguson  was  born  in 
Iosco,  Livingston  county,  Michigan,  Sep- 
tember 2,  1839.  He  enlisted  in  the  spring 
of  1864,  serving  in  the  Army  of  the  Cuni- 
berland.  Was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant, 
and  mustered  out  at  the  close  of  the  war  in 
1865.  Soon  after  his  return  from  the  arniy 
he  entered  the  law  department  of  the  Michi- 
gan University,  at  Ann  Arbor,  where  he 
was  graduated  in  1869.  He  came  to  Wex- 
ford county  in  the  summer  of  that  year, 
being  the  first  lawyer  to  settle  in  the  new 
county  just  organized.  He  was  appointed 
prosecuting  attorney  of  the  county  and  held 
the  office  until  December,  1872.  He  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  house  of  representa- 
tives, Michigan  legislature,  in  1872,  and  re- 
elected in  1874.  He  removecF  from  Sher- 
man to  Manton  in  1877,  ^^^^^  went  into  the 
lumbering  business  under  the  firm  name  of 
Brandenburg,  Backus  &  Company.  The  firm 
failed  in  a  short  time  after  he  became  inter- 
ested in  it,  and  investigation  showed  that 
it  was  on  the  verge  of  collapse  when  he  was 
induced  to  go  into  it.  He  then  commenced 
to  deal  in  pi;ie  lands,  and  was  quite  suc- 


cessful. Mr.  Ferguson  was  left  a  widower 
in  1874,  his  wife  dying  December  19th  of 
that  year,  leaving  an  infant  daughter,  now 
the  wife  of  V.  C.  Wall,  proprietor  of  the 
Wexford  County  Grist  Mill  at  Sherman. 
He  never  remarried.  Mr.  Ferguson  was  an 
active  and  shrewd  politician,  taking  part  in 
all  political  campaigns.  He  was  chairman 
of  the  Republican  county  committee  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1883. 
Leroy  P.  Champenois  was  born  April 
19,  1840,  near  Adrian,  Michigan.  His  fa- 
ther was  one  of  the  early  settlers  in  that 
part  of  the  state,  and  during  the  'fifties, 
when  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question 
was  at  its  height  and  the  Dred  Scott  decis- 
ion and  the  fugitive  slave  law  had  so 
aroused  the  anti-slavery  people  of  the 
northern  states,  he  kept  a  station  on  what 
was  called  the  "underground  railroad.'' 
Many  well-informed  people  of  today  will 
not  comprehend  what  was  meant  by  the 
'^underground  railroad."  It  was  simply 
this :  When  a  slave  managed  to  escape 
from  his  master  and  reach  the  northern 
bank  of  the  Ohio  river  he  knew,  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  just  where  he  could  find  a 
friend  who  would  shield  him  from  the 
search  of  his  master  and  would  convey  him 
or  pilot  him  to  some  other  friend  farther 
toward  Canada,  where  he  could  not  be 
reached  by  his  enraged  and  baffled  master. 
Sometimes  these  fugitives  were  carried  in 
w^agons  underneath  loads  of  hay  or  straw ; 
sometimes  in  boxes  or  barrels,  and  some- 
times they  were  piloted,  during  the  darkness 
of  the  night,  through  forests  and  fields, 
avoiding  the  public  highways  in  the  fear  of 
coming  in  contact  with  the  slave  hunter  or 
his  equally  dangerous  ally,  the  northern 
''doughfaces,"  for  be  it  known  that  the  fugi- 


810 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


tive  slave  law  made  every  sheriff  and  con- 
stable in  the  whole  country  a  slave  hunter 
and  every  northern  jail  a  slave  pen.  These 
stopping  places  for  the  poor  escaped  slave 
were  called  ^'stations,"  and  this  stealthy 
manner  of  transportation  was  called  the 
'\inderground  railroad/'  Leroy  early  im- 
bibed this  intense  anti-slavery  feeling  of  his 
father,  and  when  the  cry  of  war  sounded 
through  the  country,  at  the  firing  upon  Fort 
vSumter,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  respond 
to  Lincoln's  call  for  seventy-five  thousand 
three-months  men.  He  participated  in  the 
first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  at  the  expira- 
tion of  his  first  term  re-enlisted  for  three 
years.  When  the  matter  of  organization  of 
negro  regiments  was  undertaken  he  secured 
a  commission  as  lieutenant  and  w^as  trans- 


ferred to  one  of  those  regiments.  He  was 
severely  wounded  in  one  of  the  engagements 
near  Holly  Springs,  losing  all  of  his  right 
hand  except  the  thumb  and  index  finger, 
and  upon  his  recovery  was  assigned  to  a 
position  on  the  staff  of  General  Smith, 
where  he  served  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
He  came  to  Wexford  county  in  1866,  and 
settled  in  w^hat  is  now  Wexford  township. 
At  the  organization  of  the  county,  in  1869, 
he  was  elected  the  first  county  clerk  and 
register  of  deeds,  which  office  he  held  for 
two  years.  He  held  various  township 
ofiices,  served  two  terms  as  county  school 
examiner,  and  four  years  as  postmaster  at 
Sherman.  He  died  at  his  home  in  Sherman 
in  1902,  leaving  a  widow  who  survived  him 
but  a  few  months. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


OLD  PIONEERS  WHO  HAVE  REMOVED  FROM  OUR  MIDST. 


Thomas  J.  Thorpe  came  to  Wexford 
county  in  the  fall  of  1871,  and  took  up  a 
homestead  in  the  township  of  Selma.  It 
was  then  necessary  to  come  by  way  of  Trav- 
erse City,  and  it  took  two  full  days  to  go 
from  that  place  to  Mr.  Thorpe's  homestead. 
Mr.  Thorpe  was  born  in  Allegany  county. 
New  York,  in  1837.  From  a  sketch  of  Mr. 
Thorpe's  early  life  we  quote  the  following: 
*'At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion  he 
enlisted  in  the  Eighty-fifth  New  York  Regi- 


ment; served  with  distinction  during  the 
Peninsular  campaign;  was  wounded  twice 
during  the  -seven-days  fight  when  General 
McClellan  changed  his  base  of  operations 
from  the  Pamunky  to  the  James  river,  once 
at  Fair  Oaks  and  again  at  Malvern  Hill; 
in  1862  he  was  made  lieutenant  colonel  of 
the  One  Hundred  and  Thirtieth  New  York 
Infantry.  After  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania,  his  regiment  was  mounted 
and  afterwards  known  as  the  famous  First 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


811 


New  York  Dragoons,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  all  the  great  cavalry  battles  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  In  June,  1864,  he  was 
w^ounded  and  taken  prisoner  at  Travi  11  ion, 
Virginia.  On  tlie  Fourth  of  July  of  that 
year,  while  a  prisoner  in  the  stockade  at 
Macon,  Georgia,  Colonel  Thorpe  made  a 
Fourth  of  July  speech,  which  was  inter- 
preted as  incendiary,  and  for  which  he  was 
taken  out  of  the  stockade  to  be  hung,  but 
the  Confederate  authorities  became  con- 
vinced from  the  demonstration  made  by  the 
two  thousand  prisoners  in  the  stockade  that 
the  safety  of  the  city  of  Macon,  as  well  as 
the  lives  of  their  guard,  would  be  better  con- 
served by  returning  him  to  the  stockade, 
which  was  done  at  the  close  of  that  day.  In 
December,  1864,  1^^  was  made  a  full  colonel 
of  his  regiment  for  meritorious  conduct  on 
the  field.  July  17th  of  the  same  year  he 
was  honorably  discharged  from  the  service 
of  the  United  States,  after  a  service  of  four 
years  and  seventeen  days,  during  which  time 
he  participated  in  forty-six  engagements." 

After  a  stay  of  over  a  year  in  the  county, 
Colonel  Thorpe  w^ent  back  east,  and  for 
iive  years  he  had  charge  of  a  large  public 
school  in  the  city  of  Buffalo,  New  York.  He 
tlien  went  into  the  school  book  business 
for  the  A.  S.  Barnes  Publishing  Coni- 
pany,  of  New  York,  covering  several 
middle  and  western  states,  and  making- 
two  trips  to  the  Pacific  coast.  He  re- 
turned to  his  Wexford  county  farm  in 
1879,  and  in  1880  was  elected  clerk  and 
register  on  the  Republican  county  ticket, 
lie  was  re-elected  in  1882,  and  was  re-nomi- 
nated in  1884,  but  defeated  by  George  A. 
Cummer.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the 
struggle  which  resulted  in  tlie  removal  of 
the  countv  seat  from  Sherman  to  Cadillac 


via  Manton.  He  w^as  a  talented  speaker  and 
could  hold  an  audience,  no  matter  what  the 
sul)ject  under  discussion  might  be.  In  politi- 
cal campaigns  his  services  were  in  great  de- 
mand, Ijoth  in  his  home  county  and  in  sur- 
rounding counties.  After  his  defeat  for  a 
third  term  as  clerk  and  register  he  removed 
to  Chicago,  where  he  remained  several  years 
and  at  last  went  into  the  educational  work, 
which  was  his  delight. 

Silas  S.  Falloss  was  the  first  attorney  to 
settle  in  the  village  of  Clam  Lake,  arriving 
in  the  summer  of  1872.  He  was  elected 
prosecuting  attorney  the  same  fall.  lie 
served  one  term  as  circuit  judge  and  was  a 
member  of  the  board  of  supervisors  for  sev- 
eral years.  In  1884  lie  removed  to  Chicago 
and  resumed  the  practice  of  law  in  that  city, 
making  that  his  home  until  the  present  time. 

John  Mansfield  was  born  in  Connecticut 
in  1842.  At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
war  he  enlisted  in  the  First  New  York  Cav- 
alry and  served  to  the  end  of  the  war.  He 
came  to  Wexford  county  in  1872  and  took 
up  a  homestead  on  section  12,  in  w^hat  is 
now  Boon  township,  at  the  same  time  pur- 
cliasing  another  quarter  section  adjoining 
tlie  homestead,  later  buying  another  eighty- 
acre  piece,  making  four  hundred  acres  in  all. 
Being  a  practical  farmer  and  a  hard  worker, 
he  soon  had  sufiicient  land  cleared  to  1)egin 
to  realize  a  ])rofit  from  the  crops  he  raised. 
Being  of  Irish  descent,  he  had  great  faith  in 
potatoes,  and  devoted  a  large  part  of  his 
land  to  the  cultivation  of  that  crop,  raising 
from  five  hundred  to  four  thousand  bushels 
a  year.  Another  crop  he  found  very  profit- 
able was  hay.  Being  in  close  proximity  to 
the  lumber  camps  in  the  vicinity  of  Cadil- 
lac on  the  east  and  the  Manistee  river  on 
the  west,  he  could  start  out  on  a  winter's 


812 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


morning  with  a  load  of  hay  or  potatoes, 
dispose  of  it  at  camp  and  reacli  home  l^y 
nightfall.  He  served  his  township  several 
years  as  supervisor,  and  in  1880  was  elected 
county  treasurer,  serving  two  terms.  In 
1894  he  was  elected  judge  of  probate,  filling 
the  office  for  eight  years.  At  the  expiration 
of  this  service  he  sold  his  farm  and  removed 
to  Newaygo  county,  where  he  still  resides. 

Capt.  C.  K.  Russell  came  to  Cadillac  in 
1879,  purchasing  the  American  House, 
^\'hich  lie  managed  for  over  fifteen  years. 
He  was  a  native  of  New  York,  where  he 
was  1)orn  in  1826.  He  started  out  to  l)e  a 
sailor,  and  so  well  did  he  apply  himself  to 
the  work  that  he  became  master  of  a  vessel 
at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  after  which  he  was 
always  familiarly  known  as  '^Captain  Rus- 
sell." He  enlarged  and  improved  the  hotel 
property,  making  it  one  of  the  best  public 
houses  in  the  city,  or,  in  fact,  north  of 
Grand  Rapids.  Becoming  at  length  some- 
what tired  of  the  hotel  business,  and  having 
saved  a  nice  sum  of  money  in  the  meantime, 
he  removed  to  Grand  Rapids  in  1891,  where 
he  still  resides.  He  makes  occasional  visits 
to  Cadillac,  having  still  some  landed  inter- 
ests in  this  city  to  look  after. 

Daniel  McCoy,  formerly  a  Wexford 
county  lumberman,  and  now  state  treasurer 
of  Michigan,  was  born  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1845,  ^^^^^  lived  in  that  city 
until  1867,  when  he  came  to  Michigan,  lo- 
cating in  Macomb  county,  where  he  lived 
until  1872,  when  he  went  into  the  lumbering 
business  on  the  Manistee  river.  In  1873  he 
transferred  the  scene  of  his  operations  to 
the  village  of  Clam  Lake,  purchasing  quite 
an  extensive  tract  of  pine  land  and  erecting 
a  large  saw^-mill  about  one  mile  north  of 
the   village.      He   remained   a    resident   of 


Clam  Lake,  now  Cadillac,  until  1883,  wdien 
he  removed  to  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 
He  filled  the  offices  of  president  of  the  vil- 
lage and  mayor  of  the  city.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  Wexford  county  Republican 
committee  for  several  years,  and  only  once 
was  he  known  to  waver  in  his  support  of 
that  party.  That  was  when  Hon.  Jay  A. 
Hul)bell,  of  Houghton,  was  in  the  field  for 
the  office  of  United  States  senator  from 
Michigan.  Mr.  McCoy  was  an  ardent  Hub- 
bell  man  and  tried  hard  to  secure  the  nomi- 
nation of  a  candidate  for  representative  in 
the  legislature  who  would  support  Mr.  Hub- 
bell  for  senator.  In  the  strife  which  oc- 
curred in  the  representative  convention, 
which  lasted  two  days  and  in  which  nearly 
t\\o  hundred  ballots  were  taken,  the  coun- 
ties of  Kalkaska,  Lake  and  Missaukee,  which 
with  AVexford  county  constituted  the  rep- 
resentative district,  pooled  their  issues  and 
drew^  lots  as  to  wdiich  of  the  three  candidates 
from  those  counties  should  receive  the  nomi- 
nation. The  lot  fell  to  A.  A.  Abbott,  of 
Kalkaska,  and  he  was  accordingly  nomi- 
nated. Mr.  Abbott  was  an  anti-I-Iubbell 
man,  and  Mr.  McCoy  undertook  the  task 
of  bringing  about  his  defeat.  He  prevailed 
upon  a  friend  by  the  name  of  Bonnell,  of 
Missaukee  county,  with  Democratic  lean- 
ings, to  announce  himself  an  independent 
candidate  for  representative.  This  was  done 
and  Mr.  Bonnell  was  endorsed  by  the  Demo- 
cratic representative  convention.  This  did 
not  alarm  the  Republicans  of  the  district, 
as  it  was  normally  Republican  by  over  a 
thousand  majority,  but  wdien  the  vote  was 
canvassed  it  appeared  that  the  lumber  camps 
around  the  Clam  lakes  and  in  Missaukee 
county  had  cast  an  almost  solid  vote  for  the 
independent  candidate  and  he  was  elected 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


313 


by  a  small  majority,  and  Mr.  Bonnell  was 
one  of  the  very  small  minority  who  caused 
a  deadlock  in  the  legislature,  preventing  the 
re-election  of  T.  W.  Ferry  to  the  United 
States  senate  and  causing  the  election  of  a 
compromise  candidate.  After  removing  to 
Grand  Rapids  Mr.  McCoy  organized  the 
Edison  Light  Company,  and  in  1892  he  or- 
ganized the  State  Bank  of  Michigan,  being 
elected  president  of  both  corporations,  which 
positions  he  has  continued  to  hold  until  the 
present  time.  He  was  elected  state  treasurer 
in  1900  by  a  plurality  of  99,706,  and  a  clear 
majority  of  83,386.  He  was  re-elected  in 
igo2  by  a  plurality  of  74,335  and  a  clear 
majority  of  58,266,  on  a  vote  that  was  146,- 
944  less  than  the  vote  of  1900. 

H.  C.  Mch^arlan  was  one  of  the  success- 
ful merchants  in  Manton,  locating  in  that 
village  in  1874.  He  carried  a  full  line  of 
general  merchandise  and  did  a  very  lucra- 
tive business.  He  was  born  in  Wayne  coun- 
ty, Michigan,  in  1848,  and  in  1862,  at  the 
age  of  fourteen  years,  he  enlisted  in  the 
Twenty-seventh  Michigan  Infantry,  but 
was  soon  afterward  discharged.  He  then 
went  into  the  Sixth  Michigan  Infantry,  and 
served  until  the  end  of  the  war.  After  his 
army  service  he  led  the  life  of  a  sailor  for 
six  years  on  the  lakes.  An  estrangement 
between  him  and  his  wife  led  to  a  final  sep- 
aration some  time  in  the  early  'nineties,  and 
he  sold  out  his  business  at  Manton  and  for 
a  year  or  two  his  Wexford  county  friends 
lost  sight  of  him.  He  finally  went  into  busi- 
ness again  in  Williamsburg,  Grand  Trav- 
erse coimty,  where  he  still  resides. 

H.  F.  Campbell  was  born  in  Quincy, 
Michigan,  in  1852,  his  parents  removing  to 
Grand  Ledge,  Eaton  county,  Michigan,  in 
1861,  where  he  lived  until  he  came  to  Wex- 


ford county  in  1876.  He  had  worked  on 
the  Grand  Ledge  Independent  at  the  print- 
er's trade,  having  acquired  a  good  degree 
of  proficiency  in  that  line  before  coming  to 
Wexford  county.  His  first  work  in  the 
county  was  on  the  Cadillac  News.  After  a 
short  time  in  Cadillac  he  went  to  Sherman 
and  worked  in  the  Pioneer  office  for  some 
time,  finally  purchasing  a  half  interest  in- 
that  paper,  with  J.  H.  Wheeler  as  the  other 
half  owner,  the  company  being  known  as 
Campbell  &  Wheeler.  Mr.  Campbell  lost 
his  first  wife  by  death  some  time  before 
coming  to  this  county,  and  in  1880  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Lizzie  Cummings,  of  Conneaut, 
Ohio.  Soon  after  this  second  marriage  he 
sold  out  his  interest  in  the  Pioneer  and  re- 
moved to  Manton.  He  held  the  Sherman 
postoffice  for  two  years,  resigning  his  po- 
sition upon  his  change  of  residence.  In  1883 
he  received  the  appointment  of  postmaster 
at  Manton,  which  office  he  held  for  four 
years.  Soon  after  his  appointment  as  post- 
master he  purchased  the  Manton  Tribune, 
which  he  sold  when  he  left  the  postoffice, 
and  soon  afterward  moved  back  to  Sher- 
man. In  .1892  he  was  elected  to  the  legis- 
lature from  the  Wexford  district,  serving 
two  terms  in  that  body.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  drug  business  at  the  time  of  his  elec- 
tion and  finally  quit  that  and  for  several 
years  he  has  been  on  the  road  selling  drugs 
and  perfumes.  He  is  now  living  in  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan. 

B.  Woods  was  born  in  Albany,  New 
York,  in  1847,  h^^^  father  moving  to  Lock- 
port,  New  York,  in  1850,  where  they  lived 
until  1865.  Mr.  Woods  then  left  home  and 
went  to  Oil  City,  Pennsylvania,  which  was 
then  the  center  of  the  oil  operations  of  that 
state,  and,  in  fact,  of  the  whole  world.   Here 


314 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


he  worked  about  six  months  and  then  went 
to  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  where  he  en- 
tered the  employ  of  Cook  &  Skinner,  stage 
coach  proprietors.  In  1870  he  came  to 
Wexford  county,  driving  the  first  stage 
coach  over  the  new  mail  route  established 
on  the  Newaygo  and  Northport  state  road 
from  Cedar  Springs  to  Traverse  City.  He 
soon  quit  the  stage  and  went  into  the  hotel 
business  at  Sherman,  in  wdiich  he  remained 
until  1874.  He  then,  in  company  with  E. 
Gilbert,  secured  the  mail  route  between 
Sherman  and  Manton,  and  also  between 
Sherman  and  Traverse  City.  He  finally  pur- 
chased Mr.  Gilbert's  interest  in  the  business 
and  followed  it  until  the  routes  were  discon- 
tinued. He  engaged  in  the  drug  business, 
in  company  with  Dr.  F.  E.  Corbin,  in  1881, 
continuing  in  this  until  he  removed  to 
Helena,  Montana,  in  1886,  in  wdiich  state 
he  still  lives. 

William  Derr  w^as  born  in  Salem,  Co- 
lumbiana county,  Ohio,  in  1846.  He  came  to 
Grand  Traverse  region  in  1866,  stopping 
first  in  Grand  Traverse  county,  where  he 
worked  several  years  in  the  lumber  camps 
in  the  winter  and  on  farms  in  the.  summer. 
He  came  to  Sherman,  Wexford  county,  in 
1872,  and  took  up  the  occupation  of  stage 
driver,  the  mail  route  then  being  from  Clam 
Lake  to  Traverse  City  via  Sherman.  He 
was  engaged  in  this  work  for  six  years,  a 
part  of  the  time  as  proprietor  of  the  line  and 
part  of  the  time  as  driver  only.  In  1878  he 
went  into  I.  H.  Maqueston's  grist-mill  as 
assistant,  under  Mr.  Bennett.  After  a 
couple  of  years'  service  he  became  so  pro- 
ficient that  he  was  given  full  charge  of  the 
.^i  mill,  which  he  managed  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  his  employer  and  the  public  at  large. 
After  some  seven  or  eight  years'  work  in 


the  mill  he  bought  a  farm  in  Wexford 
township  and  turned  his  attention  again  to 
farming.  Owing  to  the  protracted  illness 
of  his  wife  he  decided  to  move  west,  think- 
ing the  change  might  improve  her  health. 
He  chose  what  was  then  the  territory  of 
Washington  as  his  future  home.  The 
change  did  not  bring  the  benefit  hoped  for 
to  his  wife,  who  died  a  few  months  after 
reaching  their  new  home.  Mr.  Derr  will 
long  l^e  remembered  by  the  residents  of  the 
county  in  those  days,  both  for  his  sturdy 
and  genial  characteristics  and  his  Jehu-like 
driving  on  the  mail  routes.  He  still  lives  in 
Washington. 

Moses  Cole  was  one  of  the  early  pio- 
neers in  Wexford  county,  settling  on  a 
homestead  in  what  is  now  Wexford  town- 
ship in  1867.  He  was  born  in  Niagara 
county.  New  York,  in  1836,  and  came  to 
Michigan  in  1857,  living  for  several  years 
near  Detroit,  and  for  three  years  having 
charge  of  a  toll-gate  on  the  Detroit  and  Erie 
plank  road  at  Conner's  Creek.  He  traded 
his  homestead  for  village  property  in  Sher- 
man, and  purchased  a  half  interest  in  the 
saw-mill  which  w^as  situated  one  and  a 
fourth  miles  east  of  Sherman  village  on  a 
stream  known  as  Cole's  creek.  He  replaced 
the  muley  saw  with  a  circular,  and  at  one 
time  had  a  shingle  mill  in  connection  with 
the  saw-mill.  He  sold  out  his  interest  in 
the  mill  in  the  early  'nineties  and  removed 
to  Grayling,  Michigan,  where  he  still  lives. 

Frank  D.  Hopkins,  a  former  merchant 
at  Sherman,  was  born  in  Livingston  county, 
Michigan,  in  1856.  He  was  a  messenger 
])oy  in  the  Michigan  state  senate  during  the 
sessions  of  1874-5  and  1877-8.  He  came  to 
Sherman,  Wexford  county^  in  1876,  and  for 
several  years  was  employed  in  driving  team 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


315 


and  driving  the  stage  frrm  Sherman  to 
Manton,  after  which  he  entered  the  employ 
of  H.  B.  Sturtevant  as  clerk  in  the  latter's 
store.  In  1881  he  went  to  Grand  Rapids 
to  take  a  commercial  course,  and  in  1883 
purchased  a  half  interest  in  Mr.  Sturte- 
vant's  store,  later  becoming  sole  owner. 
After  a  few  months  he  sold  out  and  went  on 
the  road  as  traveling  salesman  for  a  De- 
troit firm.  He  soon  after  purchased  a  drug 
store  at  Alba,  Michigan,  wdiere  he  remained 
in  business  until  fire  destroyed  his  stock  in 
1893,  after  which  he  returned  to  Sherman, 
Wexford  county,  and  entered  the  store  of 
E.  Gilbert  &  Company  as  salesman.  He  re- 
moved to  southern  Michigan  after  a  short 
stay  at  Sherman,  and  is  now  a  resident  of 
St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

L.  A.  Avery  came  to  Grand  Traverse 
county  in  1863  from  Steuben  county.  New 
York,  wdiere  he  was  born  in  1835.  ^^  ^^^^^ 
settled  near  Monroe  Center  ^n  a  homestead 
claim,  clearing  up  a  farm  and  working  at 
his  trade,  that  of  a  blacksmith,  until  1874, 
when  he  moved  to  Sherman,  Wexford 
county,  built  a  blacksmith  shop,  and  for 
nearly  twenty  years  carried  on  this  business, 
to  which  he  added  the  wagon  repairing 
Inisiness.  He  moved  to  southern  Michigan 
some  nine  or  ten  years  ago,  and  now  lives 
a  few  miles  north  of  Petoskey  on  the  Grand 
Ra])ids  &  Indiana  Railroad,  where  he  still 
works  at  his  trade. 

D.  V.  Emmons  was  born  in  Oakland 
county,  Michigan,  in  1841.  He  enlisted  in 
the  Third  Michigan  Infantry  in  June,  1861, 
serving  three  years  in  the  Army  of  the  Po- 
tomac. He  was  in  the  first  real  battle  of 
the  Civil  war  at  Bull  Run,  and  in  many  of 
the  battles  fought  by  the  eastern  army.  He 
came  to  Wexford  county  in  1878,  and  en- 

19 


gaged  in  the  drug  business  in  Sherman.  He 
continued  in  this  occupation  until  1886, 
when  he  bought  an  eighty-acre  farm  on  sec- 
tion 5  in  Antioch  and  engaged  in  the  occu- 
pation of  farming.  After  three  or  four 
years  at  this  business  he  moved  to  Allegan 
county,  Michigan,  and  later  went  to  Gales- 
burg,  Michigan,  and  purchased  a  flouring- 
mill.  He  was  still  operating  this  mill  at  last 
tidings  from  him. 

H.  H.  Skinner,  the  first  sheriff  of  Wex- 
ford county,  took  up  a  homestead  on  section 
4  in  Wexford  township  in  1865.  He  had 
.served  several  years  in  the  army  prior  to 
locating  in  Wexford  county,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  the  infirmities  brought  on  by  army 
exposure  his  health  became  so  poor  that  he 
had  to  abandon  his  farm,  and  finally,  some 
eight  years  ago,  he  was  obliged  to  accept 
the  state's  profifer  of  aid  to  the  ex-soldiers 
and  entered  the  Soldiers'  Home  at  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan. 

E.  D.  Abbott,  formerly  sheriff  of  Wex- 
ford county,  was  lx)rn  in  Sodus,  Wayne 
county,  New  York,  in  1841.  On  the  26th 
of  b^bruary,  1864,  he  enlisted  in  Company 
E,  Eirst  New^  York  Dragoons,  afterwards 
known  as  Company  C,  Nineteenth  New 
York  Cavalry.  He  served  until  June  27, 
1865,  wdien  he  received  an  honorable  dis- 
charge. Not  content  to  settle  down  to  the 
okl  life  in  the  east,  he  determined  to  take 
Horace  Greeley's  advice  to  '*Go  west,  young 
man,  go  west,"  and  in  November,  1867,  he 
reached  Wexford  county,  taking  up  a  home- 
stead five  miles  west  of  the  village  of  Man- 
ton,  although  it  was  five  years  before  that 
village  was  thought  of.  Upon  the  resigna- 
tion of  Joseph  Sturr,  who  was  elected  sher- 
iff of  Wexford  county  in  1870  and  moved 
to   southern   Michigan   soon   after  entering 


316 


PV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN. 


upon  the  duties  of  the  othce,  Mr.  Abbott 
was  appointed  to  lill  out  the  balance  of  the 
term.  At  the  following  election  in  1872 
Mr.  Abbott  was  elected  to  the  office  he  had 
acceptably  filled,  and  held  the  office  during 
the  years  1873  ^^^^^  1874.  He  then  went 
into  the  drug  store  of  M.  S.  Emmons  at 
Sherman,  and  has  made  that  business  his 
principal  occupation  since.  He  now  owns 
a  drug  store  at  Alba,  Michigan,  having  re- 
sided at  that  place  for  the  past  eight  or  ten 
years. 

Henry  Clark  came  to  Wexford  county 
in  1868,  his  occupation  at  that  time  being 
land  looker  and  timber  estimator,  and  he 
canie  in  the  interest  of  those  who  were  de- 
sirous of  getting  the  choicest  selections  of 
pine  lands,  of  which  there  were  many  thou- 
sands of  acres  in  the  county  at  that  time.  It 
was  largely  through  his  efforts,  together 
with  those  of  his  uncle,  Sylvester  Clark,  that 
the  county  seat  was  located  where  the  vil- 
lage of  Sherman  now  stands,  instead  of  a 
mile  farther  north  at  the  Manistee  river. 
It  was  also  largely  through  his  influence 
that  the  Maqueston  Brothers,  Isaac  H.  and 
E.  G.,  who  were  the  first  merchants  to  lo- 
cate in  the  county,  were  induced  to  come 
into  what  was  then  an  almost  unbroken  wil- 
derness. After  a  few  years'  residence,  dur- 
ing which  he  married  Alice  Fox,  he  went 
with  his  bride  to  live  in  Big  Rapids,  and 
after  a  short  stay  there  they  removed  to 
Grand  Rapids.  About  the  year  1880  he 
moved  to  Duluth,  where  he  lived  until  the 
death  of  his  wife,  which  occurred  in  1885. 
After  this  sad  event  he  left  Duluth  and  re- 
sumed his  old  occupation  of  timber  esti- 
mator, finally  taking  up  a  homestead  near 
Two  Harbors,  Minnesota,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  He  has  never  remarried,  his 
son  Neil  being  his  only  companion  in  their 


little  cabin  on  the  homestead  until  a  year 
ago,  when  the  latter  married  Dora,  the 
daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  Gasser,  of 
Sherman,  Wexford  county,  and  took  her 
to  the  backwoods  home  in  Minnesota. 

Alonzo  Chubb  was  born  in  Monroe 
county,  New  York,  in  1823.  His  people 
moved  to  Michigan  soon  after  the  state  was 
admitted  to  the  Union.  Mr.  Chubb  enlisted 
soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
Ohio  Volunteers,  serving  two  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  he  was  mustered  out  on  ac- 
count of  wounds  and  sickness,  having  at- 
tained the  rank  of  lieutenant.  In  1867,  he 
came  to  northern  Michigan,  settling  in  what 
is  now  the  township  of  Cleon,  Manistee 
county.  He  often  tells  of  how  he  wintered 
some  pigs  he  brought  wnth  him  when  he 
moved  into  the  woods.  The  snow  got  so 
deep  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  to  Trav- 
erse City,  the  o»ly  place  where  feed  could 
be  procured,  and  as  a  last  resort  he  drove 
them  to  the  woods  with  the  rest  of  his  stock 
to  see  if  they  would  ''browse."  To  his  utter 
surprise  they  took  right  hold  of  the  tender 
maple  twigs  and  lived  on  a  ''browse"  diet 
the  balance  of  the  winter.  Mr.  Chubb  also 
says  that  there  are  not  many  people  who  can 
truthfully  boast  of  holding  office  in  two 
counties,  living  in  two  representative  and 
two  senatorial  districts,  and  yet  never  chang- 
ing his  residence  from  the  town  he  first  set- 
tled in.  Of  course  this  state  of  affairs  came 
about  by  reason  of  the  township  of  Cleon 
having  been  attached  to  this  county  for  a 
number  of  years,  during  which  time  Mr. 
Chubb  served  a  term  of  four  years  as  judge 
of  probate  of  W^exford  county.  He  is  still 
hale  and  hearty  at  the  age  of  eighty  and  has 
a  real  estate  office  in  the  village  of  Copem- 
ish,  in  Manistee  county. 


JOHN  H.  WHEELER 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


JOHN  H.  WHEELER. 

John  H.  Wheeler  was  born  in  Cattarau- 
gus county,  New  York,  April  19,  1840.  He 
was  brought  up  on  a  farm  until  about  eigh- 
teen years  of  age,  when  he  went  to  work  at 
the  carpenter's  trade,  soon  mastering  it  so 
tliat  he  could  take  charge  of  any  ordinary 
work  in  that  line.  In  September,  1861,  he 
enlisted  in  the  Forty-fourth  Reguiient,  New 
V^ork  Volunteers,  known  as  *'The  Ellsworth 
Avengers."  He  was  mustered  out  in  Octo- 
ber, 1864,  ^t  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
enlistment.  He  took  part  in  some  of  the 
hardest  fought  battles  of  the  Civil  war, 
among  which  were  Gaine's  Mills,  Savage 
Station,  White  Oak  Swamp,  Malvern  Hill, 
(lettysburg.  Mine  Run,  the  Wilderness  and 
Spottsylvania  Court  House,  besides  numer- 
ous engagements  of  lesser  note.  He  was  on 
detached  duty  during  the  winter  of  1862-3, 
superintending  the  construction  of  barracks 
for  a  convalescent  camp  al)out  three  miles 
southwest  from  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

October  17,  1865,  Mr.  Wlieeler  was  mar- 
ried to  Georgiana  I.  Fox,  whom  he  had  met 
while  home  on  an  invalid  furlough  in  the 
summer  of  1863.  He  started  on  his  wedding 
day  for  Wexford  county,  where  he  arrived 


October  31,  severe  storms  on  the  lakes  de- 
laying the  boat  several  days  during  the 
trip.  He  took  u])  a  homestead  on  section 
30,  in  what  is  now  Hanover  township,  and 
at  once  commenced  work  on  the  construc- 
tion of  a  saw-mill.  This  mill  was  the  first 
frame  structure  erected  in  the  county,  and 
as  soon  as  it  was  started  and  the  necessary 
lumber  could  be  cut  out  Mr.  Wheeler  put 
up  the  first  frame  house  that  was  built  in 
the  county. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  the  first  treasurer  of 
the  county  and  held  the  office  for  two  years 
at  that  time,  and  was  again  elected  county 
treasurer  in  1898  and  re-elected  in  1900. 
After  running  the  saw-mill  a  few  years,  he 
resumed  his  occupation  of  builder,  and  se- 
cured the  contract  for  building  the  court 
house  at  Sherman  and  other  large  buildings, 
such  as  stores,  hotel,  school-houses  and 
many  private  dwellings.  He  was  supervisor 
of .  Sherman,  Concord  and  Antioch  town- 
sliips  for  ten  years,  diu'ing  two  of  which  he 
was  chairman  of  the  board  of  supervisors 
of  the  county.  In  the  summer  of  1878  he 
purchased  a  one-half  interest  in  the  Wex- 
ford County  Pioneer,  and  two  years  later 
l)ecame  the  sole  owner  of  that  paper,  which 
he  retained  until  January  7,  1891.     He  was 


318 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


appointed  postmaster  of  the  Sherman  post- 
office  in  January,  1880,  and  held  the  office 
nearly  live  years.  He  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  census  enumerator  in  1880  and  took 
tlie  census  of  five  towns  in  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  county,  including  the  township 
of  Cleon,  now  in  Manistee  county,  but  then 
a  part  of  Wexford  county.  He  has  filled 
the  office  of  county  siip^rintendent  of 
poor,  secretary  of  the  Republican  county 
committee,  and  served  two  years  as  great 
sachem  of  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men 
of  Michigan. 

Mrs.  Wheeler  died  October  8,  1882,  leav- 
mg  two  daughters  (two  sons  having  died  in 
their  infancy),  one  of  whom  still  lives  in  the 
county  and  the  other  at  Lansing,  Michigan. 
Two  years  later  Mr.  Wheeler  married  Ella, 
daughter  of  ex-Sheriff  W.  W.  Bartlett,  of 
Grand  Traverse  county.  For  the  past  four 
years  Mr.  Wheeler  has  been  engaged  in  buy- 
ing and  selling  timbered  lands,  in  company 
with  Judge  Chittenden,  of  Cadillac.  They 
also  are  proprietors  of  a  large  addition  to  the 

city. 

^-t-^^ 

GEORGE  A.  MITCHELL. 

1  he  name  of  this  public-spirited  and  in- 
fluential citizen  will  always  be  inseparably 
associated  wn'th  the  history  of  Cadillac,  as 
he  w^as  the  founder  of  the  city  and  for  many 
years  so  closely  identified  with  its  growth 
ancj  material  development  as  to  be  called  the 
real  father  of  the  place.  In  October,  1871, 
the  village  of  Clam  Lake  was  platted  under 
his  chrection  and  the  lots  put  upon  the  mar- 
ket and  subsequently  when  the  name  was 
changed  to  the  one  it  now  bears  he  took  a 
leading  part  in  the  transaction  and  contrib- 


uted more  perhaps  than  any  other  man  of 
his  day  to  the  wonderful  prosperity  which 
then  1)egan  to  manifest  and  which  has  since 
characterized  the  city's  growth. 

The  family  of  wdiich  George  A.  Mitchell 
\\'as  an  honorable  representative  is  traceable 
to  an  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  col- 
onies and  the  name  was  quite  prominent  in 
various  parts  of  New  England  long  l)efore 
the  American  struggle  for  independence. 
His  paternal  grandfather,  a  Revolutionary 
hero  and  an  officer  in  the  colonial  army,  w^as 
a  man  of  prominence  and  great  infiuence  and 
so  dreaded  was  he  by  the  British  that  emis- 
saries were  sent  to  effect  his  arrest  with  or- 
ders to  take  him  ''dead  or  alive."  Charles 
Mitchell,  the  subject's  father,  was  a  farmer 
by  occupation  and  is  remembered  as  a  man 
of  sterling  character  and  great  industry,  but 
by  no  means  successful  in  the  accumulation 
of  worldly  wealth.  He  married  Lydia  Brown, 
who  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Robert  Bar- 
clay, one  of  the  old  colonial  governors  of 
New  Jersey  and  a  man  whose  nam'e  is  inti- 
mately associated  with  the  early  history  of 
that  commonwealth.  To  Charles  and  Lydia 
Mitchell  were  born  twelve  children,  several 
of  whom  became  prominent  in  various  voca- 
tions, one  of  the  number,  Hon.  William 
Mitchell,  having  represented  an  Indiana  dis- 
trict in  the  congress  of  the  United  States  in 
the  early  'sixties  and  acquired  a  national 
reputation  as  a  statesman.  George  A.,  the 
youngest  member  of  the  family,  was  born 
January  8,  1824,  in  Root,  Montgomery 
county.  New  York,  and  grew  to  maturity 
on  his  father's  farm,  remtiining  at  home  un- 
til 1843,  when  he  w^ent  to  Spraker's  Basin, 
and  began  clerking  in  a  store.  Seven  years 
later  he  accepted  a  similar  position  in  a  mer- 
cantile establishment  at  Canajoharie,  and  af- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


M^ 


ter  spending  some  time  in  that  town  engaged 
in  the  tanning  business  at  Black  Lake,  New- 
York,  with  a  partner  by  the  name  of  Strong. 
Subsequently,  in  t86i,  he  disposed  of  his  in- 
terest in  this  enterprise  and  removed  to 
northern  Indiana,  settling  at  Kendallville, 
whither  his  older  brother,  William,  had  pre- 
ceded him,  the  latter  having  been  the  real 
founder  of  that  now  flourishing  western 
city. 

At  the  breaking  out  of  the  great  Re- 
bellion Mr.  Mitchell  was  appointed,  in  Aug- 
ust, 1861,  to  the  responsible  position  of  pay- 
master in  the  army,  with  headquarters  at 
St.  Louis,  Missouri.  In  that  exacting  office 
his  superior  business  ability  found  full  scope 
for  its  exercise  and  so  thorough  and  method- 
ical were  his  duties  performed,  so  accurate 
were  his  accounts  kept  and  so  noticeable  his 
power  of  organization  that  he  was  soon  pro- 
moted to  the  brevet  rank  of  lieutenant  col- 
onel. In  this  connection  the  waiter  quotes 
from  a  recently  published  biographical 
sketch  of  Mr.  Mitchell  relative  to  his  record 
while  serving  as  paymaster:  ''During  the 
remainder  of  the  Civil  war  he  had  entire 
charge  of  the  pay  department  at  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas,  and  a  part  of  the  time  also  at 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  with  additional  duties 
at  Vicksburg.  Frequently  he  had  charge  of 
from  five  to  twenty  subordinate  paymasters, 
and  millions  of  dollars  were  entrusted  to  him 
for  disbursement.  His  accounts  were 
promptly  and  accurately  rendered  to  the 
government  and  settled  satisfactorily.  After 
the  close  of  the  war  his  connection  with  the 
army  continued  until  June,  1867,  when  he 
was  mustered  out." 

Returning  to  civil  life,  Mr.  Mitchell  was 
identified  for  some  time  with  railroad  con- 
struction, having  assisted  to  build  the  Grand 


Rapids  &  Indiana  line,  now  one  of  the  lead- 
ing roads  of  the  northwest.  In  1871  he  pur- 
chased the  present  site  of  Cadillac  in  Wex- 
ford county,  Michigan,  and  the  same  year 
laid  out  the  town  of  Clam  Lake.  With  great 
faith  in  the  future  growth  of  the  plac€,  he 
at  once  threw  his  energies  into  its  develop- 
ment and  later,  1876,  moved  his  family  here 
with  the  intention  of  making  the  town  his 
permanent  home.  After  locating  here  he  en- 
gaged quite  extensively  in  lumbering,  erect- 
ing and  operating  on  a  large  scale  three  saw- 
mills, and  in  due  time  he  became  one  of  the 
most  successful  lumbermen  in  the  state.  In 
addition  to  his  private  enterprises  Mr.  .Mitch- 
ell, as  already  stated,  became  the  leading 
factor  in  the  material  growth  of  Clam  Lake, 
and  did  more  towards  its  improvement  and 
to  insure  its  future  prosperity  than  any  other 
man  of  his  time.  ''So  commendable  was  his 
public  spirit  that  he  was  justly  entitled  to  a 
permanent  place  in  the  regard  of  the  people 
and  in  the  annals  of  the  town."  Either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  he  was  connected  with 
every  enterprise  conducive  to  the  growth  of 
Cadillac,  among  his  contributions  in  a  mater- 
ial way  being  a  number  of  private  and  pub- 
lic buildings,  the  former  including  the  splen- 
did modern  dwelling  now  owned  by  W.  W. 
Cummer,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  specimens 
of  architecture  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
state 

In  early  life  Mr.  Mitchell  was  a  member 
of  the  Dutch  Reformed  church,  but  after 
coming  to  Michigan  he  united  with  the  Pres- 
byterian congregation  at  Cadillac  and  be- 
came one  of  its  most  zealous  workers  and  lib- 
eral supporters.  His  mind  was  so  broad  and 
catholic  that  he  recognized  good  in  all 
churches  and  religious  organizations  and  his 
generous  contributions  were  by  no  means 


320 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


confined  to  the  society  with  which  he  wor- 
shipped. Among  his  benefactions  were  the 
sites  for  three  church  edifices  of  as  many 
different  denominations  and  the  ground  upon 
which  the  pubHc  school  was  erected,  also 
some  thirty  acres  donated  for  cemetery  pur- 
poses. Politically  Mr.  Mitchell  was  an  ard- 
ent Republican  and  he  zealously  upheld  the 
principles  of  his  party  and  contributed  great- 
ly to  its  success  both  in  local  and  state  af- 
fairs and  upon  national  issues.  He  was  the 
first  miayor  of  Cadillac  and  made  a  splendid 
record  as  an  executive,  and  he  also  served 
for  a  number  of  terms  on  the  board  of  edu- 
cation, in  which  capacity  he  was  untiring  in 
his  efforts  to  make  the  school  system  of  the 
town  among  the  best  in  the  state.  He  studied 
deeply  the  leading  questions  of  the  day,  was 
profoundly  versed  in  politics  and  statecraft 
and  always  kept  in  touch  with  current  events 
and  with  the  trend  of  modern  thought.  By 
reason  of  valuable  services  rendered  his 
party,  he  was  given  a  place  on  the  Repub- 
lican state  committee  and  was  serving  in  that 
capacity  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  1847  Mr.  Mitchell  married  Miss  Ma- 
rietta L.  Wilkins,  who  was  born  in  Greene 
county.  New  York,  in  the  year  1827.  She 
was  five  years  old  when  his  parents  removed 
to  Schoharie  county.  New  York,  and  later 
she  changed  her  abode  to  the  town  of  Sprak- 
ers,  where  her  marriage  was  solemnized. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mitchell  became  the  parents 
of  four  children,  namely:  Sophie,  wife  of 
D.  E.  Mclntyre;  Alvin  W.,  of  Cadillac;  An- 
drew Lee,  who  resides  in  Wausau,  Wiscon- 
sin, and  Will  C,  whose  home  is  in  Cadillac. 

Personally  Mr.  Mitchell  was  a  gentle- 
m'an  of  pleasing  presence,  modest  and  un- 
assuming in  manner,  affectionate  in  disposi- 
tion, enterprising  in    his    business    affairs, 


energetic  and  progressive  in  all  of  his  under- 
takings and  public  spirited  in  all  the  term  im- 
plies. He  was  a  noted  example  of  the  suc- 
cessful self-made  man  and  almost  an  ideal 
type  of  intelligent  American  citizenship.  He 
departed  this  life  at  his  home  in  Cadillac  on 
the  8th  day  of  August,  1878,  and  his  death 
was  not  only  a  serious  blow  to  the  enterprises 
he  had  supported,  but  was  also  deeply  felt 
by  every  citizen  of  the  community  which  he 
founded  and  for  the  advancement  and  pros- 
perity of  wdiich  he  did  so  much.  Referring 
again  to  the  authority  from  which  liberal 
quotations  have  already  been  made,  we  read 
the  following:  ''At  the  timle  of  his  demise 
the  press  of  Cadillac  as  well  as  the  news- 
papers of  other  cities  paid  to  the  memory  of 
Mr.  Mitchell  many  deserved  tributes.  On 
the  day  of  his  funeral  the  business  houses 
were  closed  and  his  remains  were  borne  to 
their  last  resting  place  followed  by  a  large 
concourse  of  sorrowing  people.  Resolutions 
of  respect  were  adopted  by  the  business  men 
of  the  town,  who  alluded  to  him  fittingly,  as 
not  only  the  founder  of  the  city  but  the  one 
who  gave  life  to  its  enterprises  and  industries 
and  assisted  in  its  rapid  growth  and  develop- 
ment: whose  labors  had  ever  been  unselfish- 
ly directed  to  the  public  good,  the  advance- 
ment of  material  prosperity  and  the  moral 
and  social  elevation  of  the  people,  whose 
kind  heart  has  invariably  responded  to  the 
appeals  of  the  needy  and  afflicted  and  whose 
generous  hand  was  ever  open  to  aid  every 
charitable  mission  and  every  movement  for 
the  welfare  of  the  city  which  stands  today 
a  monument  to  his  zeal  and  vigilant  pro- 
tection.'' 

One  of  the  local  papers  in  reviewing  his 
life  and  summing  up  his  character,  did  so  in 
the  following  appropriate  sentences :    ''As  a 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


821 


business  man  Mr.  Mitchell  was  cautious,  yet 
enterprising;  forming"  his  plans  with  great 
wisdom  and  carrying  them  out  w^ith  energy 
and  persistence.  The  prosperity  of  our  town 
and  our  remarkable  exemption  from  business 
failure  are  doubtless  due  largely  to  his  pru- 
dent management  of  his  own  affairs  and  to 
his  strong  influence  over  other  business  men. 
He  was  a  good  judge  of  human  nature,  not 
easily  imposed  upon,  yet  so  generous  was  he 
tliat  he  would  often  employ  and  help  those 
whom  he  could  not  always  entirely  trust." 

In  closing  this  brief  review  suffice  it  to 
say  that  Mr.  Mitchell  was  one  of  the  notable 
men  of  his  day  and  generation.  In  every 
w^alk  of  life  he  was  easily  the  peer  of  any  of 
his  fellows  in  all  that  constituted  true,  nol)le 
manhood,  and  during  his  residence  in  Cadil- 
lac his  name  was  synonymous  with  all  that 
was  moral,  upright  and  inspiring.  Ke 
adorned  every  station  he  filled  and  for  years 
to  come  his  name  and  fame  will  be  cherished 
l^y  a  grateful  people,  whose  hearts  and  affec- 
tions constitute  his  most  enduring  monu- 
ment. 


FRANK  J.  COBBS. 


The  subject  of  this  review  is  one  of  the 
able  and  representative  young  business  men 
of  the  city  of  Cadillac,  where  he  has  passed 
the  greater  portion  of  his  life,  and  here  he 
has  to'do  with  affairs  of  broad  scope  and  im- 
portance, being  the  representative  of  his  fa- 
ther's estate  in  the  well  known  lumbering 
concern  of  Cobbs  &  Mitchell  (incorporated), 
one  of  the  most  important  in  this  section  of 
the  state,  while  he  is  also  president  of  the 
Cadillac  State  Bank,  a  popular  and  substan- 
tial financial  institution  of  the  county.     On 


other  pages  of  this  publication  appears  a 
memoir  of  his  father,  the  late  Jonathan  W. 
Cobbs,  who  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  Cadil- 
lac, where  he  took  up  his  residence  at  a  time 
wdien  the  town  still  bore  the  name  of  Clam 
Lake,  and  as  ready  index  reference  can  be 
made  to  said  sketch  it  is  not  necessary  to  re- 
peat the  family  history  at  this  point. 

Frank  J.  Col)l)s  was  born  in  Jackson 
county,  Indiana,  on  the  5th  of  November, 
1872,  and  came  as  a  child  to  Cadillac,  where 
he  secured  his  preliminary  educational  dis- 
cipline in  the  public  schools,  later  entering 
the  preparatory  department  of  Notre  Dame 
University,  at  South  Bend,  Indiana,  where 
he  continued  his  studies  for  a  time  and  then 
became  a  cadet  in  the  Orchard  Lake  Military 
Academy,  near  Pontiac,  Michigan,  and  still 
later  attended  Olivet  College,  graduating 
there  with  the  class  of  1894.  He  then  re- 
turned to  the  paternal  home  and  for  the  en- 
suing year  was  employed  as  bookkeeper  in 
the  office  of  the  firm  of  Cobbs  &  Mitchell,  of 
which  his  father  was  the  senior  member.  In 
November,  1895,  '^^  undertook  to  effect  the 
organization  of  the  Cadillac  State  Bank,  and 
through  his  well-directed  efforts  this  object 
was.  successfully  accomplished,  and  upon  the 
final  organization  and  election  of  the  execu- 
tive corps  he  was  made  president  of  the  in- 
stitution, an  incumbency  which  he  has  ever 
since  retained,  while  under  his  management 
the  bank  has  gained  high  prestige  and  popu- 
larity in  the  community  and  retains  a  repre- 
sentative support,  transacting  a  general  bank- 
ing business  and  affording  the  best  of  facil- 
ities, wdiile  the  policy  brought  to  beaj  is  pro- 
gressive and  yet  duly  conservative. 

Shortly  after  assuming  his  executive  du- 
ties as  the  head  of  this  bank  Mr.  Cobbs  found 
that  there  w^as  placed  upon  his  shoulders  a 


822 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


still  further  burden  of  responsibility,  which 
he  assumed  with  characteristic  determina- 
tion and  self-reliance.  His  father's  health 
became  quite  seriously  impaired  at  this  time 
and  it  became  necessary  for  the  subject  to 
represent  his  interests  in  the  firm  of  Cobbs 
&  Mitchell.  His  father  died  in  September, 
1898,  and  a  short  time  afterward  a  reorgani- 
zation of  the  firm  of  Cobbs  &  Mitchell  was 
effected  and  the  same  was  incorporated  un- 
der the  original  title  as  a  stock  company, 
and  the  subject  has  since  been  actively  iden- 
tified with  the  management  of  its  affairs, 
holding  the  office  of  vice-president  and 
secretary.  He  is  a  young  man  of  broad 
views  and  marked  public  spirit  and  is  ever 
ready  to  do  all  in  his  powxr  to  further  the 
prosperity  and  progress  of  his  home  city  and 
county,  while  his  personality  is  such  that  he 
has  esteem  and  respect  of  all  who  know  him. 
In  politics  he  gives  his  allegiance  to  the  Re- 
publican party. 

In  the  city  of  Charlotte,  Eaton  county, 
Michigan,  on  the  14th  of  April,  1898,  was 
solemnized  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Cobbs  to 
Miss  Maude  Louise  Belcher,  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Frank  S.  Belcher,  who  was  president 
of  the  First  National  Bank,  of  that  city. 


WILUAM  W.  MITCHELL. 

To  the  development  of  the  great  lumber- 
ing industry  made  possible  by  the  mag- 
nificent timber  preserves,  the  entire  northern 
sectioii  of  the  lower  peninsula  of  Michigan 
owes  its  original  prestige  and  its  consecu- 
tive advancement,  and  in  the  carrying  for- 
ward of  this  industry  has  been  enlisted  the 
co-operation  of  many  able  and  progressive 


business  men,  while  a  large  percentage  of 
the  numl)er  owe  their  pronounced  success 
to  the  advantages  thus  afforded.  Mr. 
Mitchell  came  into  the  pineries  of  Wexford 
county  when  a  young  man,  and  here  he  has 
l)een  actively  identified  with  the  lumber- 
ing industry  for  a  period  of  thirty  years, 
within  which  he  has  had  the  enterprise  and 
prescience  to  so  utilize  opportunity  as  to 
gain  a  place  among  the  prominent  lumber- 
men of  the  state,  while  he  has  contributed 
his  quota  to  the  substantial  upbuilding  and 
material  prosperity  of  the  attractive  city  of 
Cadillac,  to  whose  interests  he  has  ever 
been  signally  loyal,  Ijeing  one  of  the  repre- 
sentative citizens  and  business  men  of  the 
cotmty. 

William  W.  Mitchell  is  a  scion  of  one 
of  the  old  and  honored  families  of  the 
Wolverine  state,  having  been  born  in  the 
city  of  Hillsdale,  Michigan,  on  the  3d  of 
June,  1854,  and  being  the  third  in  order  of 
birth  of  six  children  of  Charles  T.  and  Har- 
riet (Wing)  Mitchell,  the  former  of  whom 
was  born  in  New  York,  and  the  latter  in 
Wayne  county,  Michigan.  The  paternal 
grandfather  of  the  subject  likewise  bore  the 
name  of  Charles  T.  Mitchell,  and  he  passed 
his  entire  life  in  the  old  Empire  state,  where 
he  died  at  an  advanced  age.  Charles  T., 
Jr.,  was  reared  and  educated  in  New  York 
state,  whence  as  a  young  man  he  came  to 
Michigan  and  became  identified,  as  a  con- 
tractor, v/ith  the  construction  of  the'Michi- 
gan  Southern  Railroad,  one  of  the  first 
built  in  the  west.  Later  he  became  a  buyer 
and  shipper  of  wheat  and  also  established 
himself  in  the  hardware  business  in  Hills- 
dale, where  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  he 
was  president  of  the  Second  National  Bank, 
being  one  of  the   honored  and   influential 


^^^^X^K^^  ^^«v2<^^X^l«j^ 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


828 


citizens  of  Hillsdale  county  and  city,  where 
he  died;  his  widow  is  still  living  at  an  ad- 
vanced ag-e.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  for  a  number 
of  years  an  active  factor  in  the  Republican 
party,  and  his  was  the  distinction  of  having 
been  a  member  of  tlie  electoral  college  which 
gave  Abraham  Lincoln  the  presidency  for 
a  second  term. 

William  W.  Mitchell  received  his  pre- 
liminary educational  discipline  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  town^  and  this  was  sup- 
plemented by  two  years  of  study  in  Hills- 
dale College.  In  1873  he  came  to  the  primi- 
tive village  of  Clam  Lake,  the  predecessor 
of  the  present  city  of  Cadillac,  the  village 
being  at  the  time  a  mere  hamlet  in  the  midst 
of  the  pine  forest,  while  his  uncle,  George 
A.  Mitchell,  was  at  the  time  'the  principal 
lumber  manufacturer  in  this  locality.  Will- 
iam W.  forthwith  identified  himself  in  a 
practical  way  with  the  industry  through 
which  he  was  eventually  to  attain  so  dis- 
tinctive success.  His  first  employment  here 
was  as  talleyman  for  his  uncle,  and  during 
the  summer  of  1874  he  held  the  position 
of  foreman  in  a  small  himber  yard  in  Clam 
Lake,  while  in  the  autumn  of  that  year  he 
initiated  his  independent  operations  by 
associating  himself  with  others  in  a  contract 
to  supply  logs  for  a  mill  on  Clam  Lake,  thus 
implying  the  work  of  getting  out  the  timber 
and  attending  to  the  various  details  of 
l)ringing  it  to  the  mill.  He  w^as  thus  en- 
gaged for  two  years,  after  which  he  became 
foreman  for  his  uncle,  having  charge  of  both 
the  logs  and  the  finished  products  of  the 
mill.  In  1877  1^^  entered  into  partnership 
with  the  late  Jonathan  W.  Cobbs,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Cobbs  &  Mitchell,  and  they 
effected  the  purcliase  of  two  hundred  and 
seventy-six    acres    of    pine    land,    while    in 


Octolier  of  the  following  year  he  also  bought 
a  half  interest  in  a  saw-mill  owned  by 
his  partner.  Afterward  they  purchased  a 
mill  at  Round  Lake  and  had  sufficient  ma- 
terial to  operate  it  for  a  period  of  seven 
years.  In  1892  they  built  and  equipped  a 
fine  modern  mill  at  Cadillac,  the  same  hav- 
ing a  capacity  of  eighty  thottsand  feet  daily. 
This  mill  is  still  in  active  operation.  In 
these  intervening  years  the  well-directed 
efforts  of  the  firm  brought  it  into  promi- 
nence as  one  of  the  leading  concerns  of  the 
sort  in  this  section  of  the  state,  and  through 
his  connection  with  the  same  Mr.  Mitchell 
laid  the  foundation  for  his  present  pros- 
perity and  independence.  Mr.  Cobbs'  death 
occurred  in  the  autumn  of  1898,  and  shortly 
afterward  Mr.  Mitchell  brought  about  a 
reorganization  of  the  business  under  the 
same  title,  the  enterprise  being  simultane- 
ously incorporated  under  the  laws  of  the 
state.  He  was  made  president  of  the  com- 
pany and  has  ever  since  continued  in  this 
ofPxe,  while  the  business  is  still  carried 
actively  forward  in  the  manufacturing  of 
lumber,  the  plant  of  the  company  being  of 
the  highest  standard.  Mr.  Mitchell  was 
also  associated  with  hiis  brother,  the  late 
Austin  W.,  under  the  firm  name  of  Mitchell 
Brothers,  and  they  conducted  extensive 
operations  in  the  manufacturing  of  lumber, 
having  owned  large  tracts  of  pine  land  in 
various  sections  of  northern  Michigan.  Mr. 
Mitchell  is  a  careful  and  discriminating  busi- 
ness man,  having  a  capacity  for  afifairs  of 
wide  scope  and  importance,  while  his  suc- 
cess stands  in  evidence  of  consecutive  ap- 
plication and  properly  directed  energy. 
He  has  ever  remained  loyal  to  Cadillac,  of 
whose  development  he  has  been  a  witness, 
while  his  influence  has  ever  been  lent  in  sup- 


824 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


port  of  all  worthy  projects  and  undertak- 
ing's for  the  general  good,  and  he  is  known 
as  a  thoroughly  public-spirited  citizen.  He 
was  one  of  those  prominently  concerned  in 
the  building  of  the  beautiful  seven-mile 
drive  around  Clam  lake,  the  same  having 
been  constructed  through  the  enterprise  of 
the  citizens  of  Cadillac,  and  adding  materi- 
ally to  the  attractiveness  of  the  city.  In 
politics  Mr.  Mitchell  exercises  his  franchise 
in  support  of  the  principles  and  policies  of- 
the  Republican  party.  His  residence  is  one 
of  the  many  beautiful  homes  of  Cadillac, 
being  of  modern  architectural  design  and 
equipment  and  standing  in  evidence  of  his 
appreciation  of  the  attractions  of  the  city  in 
which  he  has  so  long  resided. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  1876,  Mr.  Mitch- 
ell was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ella  Yost, 
who  was  born  in  W^aterloo,  New  York,  be- 
ing a  daughter  of  George  Yost,  who  re- 
moved to  Hillsdale,  Michigan,  when  Mrs. 
Mitchell  was  a  child,  and  in  the  latter  place 
she  was  reared  and  educated.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Mitchell  have  two  children,  Charles  T.  and 
Marie  Elizabeth. 


FRED  A.  DIGGINS. 


Fred  A.  Diggins  was  born  in  July,  1862, 
near  Harvard,  McHenry  county,  Illinois, 
and  there  spent  the  years  of  his  childhood 
and  early  life,  the  meanwhile  receiving  his 
educational  training  in  the  public  schools  and 
becoming  acquainted  with  the  more  practical 
phases  of  life  under  the  w^holesome  disci- 
pline of  the  farm.  Mr.  Diggins  remjained  in 
his  native  state  until  1879,  at  which  time  he 
severed  home  ties  and  started  out  to  make 
his  own  way  in  the  world,  going*  first  to 


Osceola  county,  Michigan,  and  locating  for 
a  limited  time  at  the  town  of  Hersey.  Leav- 
ing that  place  he  entered,  in  1880,  the  Grand 
Rapids  Business  College,  where  he  pursued 
his  studies  two  years,  after  which  he  accept- 
ed the  position  of  bookkeeper  w^ith  his 
brother,  Delos  F.  Diggins,  with  whom  he  re- 
mained until  the  latter  part  of  1886.  In  the 
fall  of  that  year  he  came  to  Cadillac  and  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the  private  banking  firm 
of  Delos  A.  Blodgett  &  Company,  continu- 
ing with  the  said  firm  during  the  ensuing 
two  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he 
resigned  his  position  for  the  purpose  of  en- 
gaging in  the  lumber  business,  becoming  a 
member  of  the  firm  of  F.  A.  Diggins  &  Com- 
pany, which  was  organized  at  Sunny  Side 
in  1888.  The  company  did  a  thriving  busi- 
ness for  several  years,  but  wound  up  its  af- 
fairs in  1897,  at  which  time  the  subject  be- 
came associated  with  Joseph  Murphy,  under 
the  style  of  Murphy  &  Diggins. 

As  joint  manager  of  the  large  and  far- 
reaching  enterprise  with  which  he  is  identi- 
fied, Mr.  Diggins  displays  fine  executive  abil- 
ity and,  being  familiar  with  every  detail  of 
the  great  lumber  industry,  he  prosecutes  his 
business  w^th  the  most  encouraging  finan- 
cial results.  For  a  number  of  years  Mr. 
Diggins  has  been  an  ardent  Republican,  hav- 
ing long  been  interested  in  district,  state  and 
national  issues,  and  he  has  represented  the 
people  of  Cadillac  as  a  delegate  to  many  dif- 
ferent nominating  conventions.  In  1892  he 
was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  national  Repub- 
lican convention  at  Minneapolis,  which  nom- 
inated Benjamin  Harrison  for  the  presiden- 
cy and  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year  was 
honored  by  l^eing  elected  mayor  of  Cadillac, 
entering  the  office  before  attaining  the  age 
of  thirty.     As  the  city's  chief  executive  Mr. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


825 


Diggins  proved  satisfactory  to  the  people  ir- 
respective of  party  and  so  ably  and  imparti- 
ally did  he  discharge  his  official  duties  that 
he  was  re-elected  his  own  successor  the  fol- 
lowing year.  At  the  expiration  of  his  sec- 
ond term  he  retired  from  the  office  with 
the  good  will  of  the  people,  but  after  the 
lapse  of  two  years  he  was  again  put  for- 
ward, defeating  his  opponent  and  entering 
the  office  w^ith  a  greatly  increased  majority. 
By  successive  re-elections  he  was  retained  as 
mayor  during  the  ensuing  four  years,  filling 
the  position  six  years  in  all,  his  record  dur- 
ing that  time  fully  justifying  the  people  in 
the  wisdom  of  their  choice.  He  retired 
from  the  mayoralty  in  1900,  since  which 
date  he  has  devoted  his  attention  exclusive- 
ly to  his  large  and  growing  business.  Mr. 
Diggins  is  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and  con- 
genial of  men,  the  very  embodiment  of  good 
fellowship,  and  is  in  every  respect  a  repre- 
sentative lousiness  man  and  reputable  citizen. 
Mr.  Diggins'  domestic  life  dates  from 
.1890,  in  w^hich  year  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Carrie  E.  Cummer,  whose 
father,  Jacob  Cummer,  is  one  of  the  leading- 
citizens  of  Cadillac.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Diggins 
have  a  pleasant  home,  and  are  very  fortu- 
nate in  their  social  relations,  moving  in  the 
best  society  circles  of  the  city.  They  have 
been  inHuential  in  promoting  charitable  en- 
terprises and  being  active  in  good  works  for 
the  benefit  of  their  kind,  their  lives  have  in- 
deed been  a  blessing  to  the  country. 


HON.  CLYDE  C.  CHITTENDEN. 

Occupying  a  prominent  position  among 
the  leading  members  of  the  Cadillac  bar,  with 
an  honorable  record  as  a  jurist,  a  creditaljle 
career  as  a  politician  and  much  more  than 


local  repute  as  an  official  and  business  man, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  entitled  to  specific 
mention  as  one  of  the  notable  men  of  the 
city  and  county.  Judge  Chittenden  has 
long  been  an  influential  factor  in  the  history 
of  Cadillac  and  his  activity  in  behalf  of 
every  enterprise  making  for  the  public  good, 
his  distinguished  services  in  high  official  sta- 
tion, as  well  as  his  continued  success,  have 
won  him  a  name  which  the  people  in  this  part 
of  the  state  have  not  been  slow  to  honor. 

The  history  of  the  Chittenden  family, 
of  wdiich  the  Judge  is  a  w^orthy  representa- 
tive, is  tracel)le  to  his  grandparents,  Hiram 
and  Emaline  (Payne)  Chittenden,  who  were 
born  in  New  York,  settling  in  the  county  of 
Cattaraugus.  Of  their  family  of  seven  chil- 
dren, three  sons  and  four  daughters,  Will- 
I  iam,  the  subject's  father,  was  the  oldest.  He 
I  was  born  Se])tember  5,  1835,  ^^^  Cattaraugus 
I  county.  New  York,  grew  to  maturity  on  a 
farm  and  wdien  a  young  man  decided  to  de- 
vote his  life  to  agriculture,  which  pursuit 
he  followed  in  his  native  state  until  the  year 
1888.  Meantime,  on  the  i8th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1857,  ^^^  married  Miss  Mary  J.  Wheeler, 
of  Yorkshire,  New  York,  who  bore  him  two 
sons  and  one  daughter,  namely:  Hiram  M., 
formerly  a  lieutenant  in  the  United  States 
army;  Clyde  C,  of  this  review,  and  Ida  L., 
all  living.  In  the  month  of  June,  1862,  Mr. 
Chittenden  enlisted  in  Company  D,  One 
Hundred  and  Fifty- fourth  New  York  Infan- 
try, with  which  he  served  until  discharged 
on  account  of  physical  disability,  having 
earned  an  honorable  record  as  a  soldier. 
Disposing  of  his  interests  in  New  York  in 
1888,  he  moved  his  family  to  Michigan,  set- 
tling in  Wexford  county,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  being  now  practically  retired  from 
active  life. 


826 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN. 


Clyde  C.  Chittenden  was  born  in  York- 
shire, Cattaraugus  county,  New  York,  on 
the  iQtli  day  of  August,  i860,  and  spent 
his  early  life  under  the  active  and  wholesome 
discipline  of  the  farm.  After  attending  for 
some  years  the  public  schools,  he  entered  an 
academy  not  far  from  his  home,  where  he 
pursued  the  higher  branches  of  learning 
until  completing  the  prescribed  course  in 
1 88 1,  when  he  became  a  student  of  Hamilton 
College,  near  the  city  of  Utica.  Eight 
months  of  diligent  application  in  that  in- 
stitution terminated  his  scholastic  training, 
after  which  he  began  the  study  of  law  at 
Little  Valley,  in  the  office  of  Nash  &  Lin- 
coln, well-known  attorneys  of  that  place,  con- 
tinuing under  their  direction  until  his  remo- 
val to  Michigan  in  the  fall  of  1883. 

On  coming  to  this  state  Mr.  Chittenden 
decided  to  locate  at  Cadillac  and  here  he  ap- 
plied himself  closely  to  his  legal  studies  until 
March  of  the  following  year,  when  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar.  Opening  an  office  and 
announcing  himself  a  candidate  for  a  share 
of  public  patronage,  he  soon  succeeded  in 
building  up  a  lucrative  business  and  it  was 
not  long  until  he  forged  to  the  front  as  one 
of  the  rising  members  of  the  Wexford  coun- 
ty bar.  During  the  spring  and  sumjmer  of 
1884,  he  applied  himself  closely  to  the  gener- 
al practice,  with  encouraging  success,  but  the 
the  following  fall,  at  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  his  friends,  he  entered  the  race  for  circuit 
court  commissioner,  to  which  office  he  was 
elected  by  a  very  decided  majority. 

This  may  be  termed  the  beginning  of 
Mr.  Chittenden's  public  career,  as  he  has  been 
prominently  before  the  people  from  that  year 
to  the  present  time,  fully  justifying  their  con- 
fidence in  his  ability  and  integrity  and  prov- 
ing true  to  every  trust  reposed     in     him. 


After  serving  one  term  as  court  commission- 
er, he  was  elected,  in  1886,  prosecuting  at- 
torney and  so  able  and  faithfully  did  he  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  this  exacting  office  that 
he  was  twice  re-elected,  serving  six  years  in 
all,  during  which  period  he  continually  add- 
ed to  his  reputation  as  a  sound  lawyer  and 
shrewd,  resourceful  practitioner. 

Mr.  Chittenden  is  an  influential  politician 
and  ever  since  locating  at  Cadillac  has  been 
a  wise  counsellor  and  judicious  leader  of  the 
Republican  party.  He  has  served  as  dele- 
gate to  local  and  state  conventions  and  as 
member  of  the  county  central  committee,  a 
position  he  has  held  ever  since  coming  to  the 
state,  his  efforts  contributing  greatly  to 
the  success  of  the  ticket  in  a  number  of  elec- 
tions. In  the  fall  of  1894  he  was  elected  sen- 
ator from  the  twenty-seventh  district  and  as 
a  legislator  in  the  state  councils  proved  equal 
to  the  responsibilities  intrusted  to  him.  Dur- 
ing his  incumbency  he  was  active  and  effi- 
cient in  the  discharge  of  his  every  duty, 
served  on  a  number  of  im]X)rtant  committees, 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  general  delibera- 
tions and  earned  the  reputation  of  a  wise  and 
judicious  law-maker,  meeting  the  high  ex- 
pectations of  his  friends  throughout  the  dis- 
trict by  the  interest  he  manifested  in  behalf 
of  his  constituents  and  the  state. 

Mr.  Chittenden,  in  the  year  1900,  was 
elected  judg'e  of  the  twenty-eighth  judicial 
circuit,  in  which  honorable  position  he  has 
already  acquired  a  high  reputation  for 
soundness  in  the  knowledge  of  the  law  and 
for  careful  application  of  its  principles  in  the 
investigation  and  determination  of  cases  sub- 
mitted for  his  consideration  and  disposal. 
Fortified  by  his  convictions  of  right,  his 
rulings  are  fair  and  impartial,  his  decisions 
clear,  terse,  and  embodying  a  careful  review 


^..v^-^ 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


327 


of  every  point  at  issue,  and  his  courteous 
treatment  of  the  members  of  the  bar,  hti- 
gants  and  others  having  business  in  liis  court 
has  won  him  high  esteem  as  a  man  and  pro- 
found respect  as  a  judge. 

In  addition  to  his  professional  and  official 
record,  Mr.  Chittenden  has  been  prominent 
in  the  affairs  of  Cadillac  and  Wexford  coun- 
ty in  other  capacities,  being  largely  interes- 
ted in  business  and  industrial  enterprises. 
In  1888  he  became  associated  with  George 
E.  Herrick  in  the  handling  of  lumber  and 
logs  and  in  1890,  in  partnership  with  his 
father,  he  organized  the  Chittenden  Lumber 
Company,  purchasing  Mr.  Herrick's  interest 
in  the  business.  Later,  in  July,  1894,  the 
enterprise  was  reorganized  and  incorporated 
as  the  Wexford  Lumber  Company,  wnth  a 
capital  stock  of  ninety  thousand  dollars,  un- 
der the '  following  official  managemient : 
D.  F.  Diggins,  president;  C.  C.  Chittenden, 
vice-president,  and  Henry  Knowlton,  secre- 
tary and  treasurer.  The  mills  owned  by  this 
company  were  located  at  Hoxeyville,  and  a 
railroad  w^as  built  by  tlie  company  from  Os- 
ceola to  their  plant,  knowm  as  the  Osceola 
and  Wexford  Line. 

In  the  year  1885  Mr.  Chittenden  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Grace  Guild,  a 
native  of  New^  York  and  the  daughter  of 
William  P.  Guild,  a  large  farmer  and  repre- 
sentative citizen  of  Cattaraugus  county,  that 
state,  at  whose  home  the  ceremony  was  sol- 
emnized. Three  children  have  been  born  to 
this  union,  namely :  Coy  William,  Ralph  and 
Robert  H.  Mr.  Chittenden  has  led  a  very 
active  life,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing 
JDrief  review,  and  his  career  has  been  that  of 
an  intelligent,  broad-minded,  enterprising 
American  of  today.  His  record  in  every 
relation  has  been  exceedingly  brilliant  and 


honorable  and  few  men  of  his  age  have  ac- 
comphshed  as  much  or  so  indellibly  im- 
pressed their  individuality  upon  the  public 
mind.  Possessing  great  energy  and  industry, 
he  seldom  fails  to  carry  to  successful  comple- 
tion any  undertaking  to  which  he  addresses 
himself,  being  a  man  of  decided  strength  of 
character  whom  no  obstacles  can  deter  nor 
difficulties  discourage.  As  a  lawyer  he 
stands  in  the  front  rank  of  his  contempora- 
ries, with  a  promising  future  in  which  to  win 
new  distinction  and  honor.  On  the  bench 
he  has  w^on  the  reputation  of  a  wise,  judi- 
cious judge,  to  whom  the  people  can  refer 
their  difficulties  and  misunderstandings  with 
the  consciousness  that  they  will  be  adjusted 
satisfactorily  and  according  to  the  spirit  of 
the  law ;  as  an  official  he  can  point  to  a  record 
above  the  slightest  breath  of  suspicion ;  as  a 
business  man  he  has  demonstrated  ability  to 
inaugurate  and  carry  forward  large  and  im- 
portant enterprises,  and  as  a  citizen  he  has 
been  loyal  to  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
munity and  the  state,  discharging  his  every 
duty  to  the  body  politic  in  the  spirit  be- 
speaking the  true  American  who  makes  every 
other  consideration  subordinate  to  his  coun- 
try's good. 

♦-•-♦ 

JACOB  CUMMER. 

It  requires  a  master  mind  to  rise  super- 
ior to  discouraging  environment  and  estab- 
lish and  successfully  direct  and  control  large 
and  important  industrial  enterprises.  The 
record  of  a  life  abounding  in  triumphs  over 
obstacles,  in  perseverance  in  the  face  of  dif- 
ficulties and  in  gradual  advancements  from 
modest  beginnings  to  a  place  of  honor  and 
distinction  in  the  business  worlcf,  when  im- 


828 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


printed  on  the  pages  of  history  presents  to 
the  youth  of  the  rising  generation  an  exam- 
ple worthy  of  study  and  emulation.  Such 
a  hfe  has  been  that  of  the  eminent  lousiness 
man  and  (hstinguished  citizen  to  a  brief  re- 
view of  whose  long  and  varied  career  this 
article  is  devoted. 

Jacob  Cummer,  for  many  years  one  of 
the  leading  business  men  of  Michigan,  is 
known  from  one  extremity  of  the  state  to  the 
other,  and  his  name  is  also  familiar  in  busi- 
ness circles  throughout  the  entire  country,  as 
his  operations  have  by  no  means  been  circum- 
scribed by  the  bounds  of  the  commonwealth 
in  which  he  has  conducted  his  extensive  inter- 
ests and  in  which  his  signal  financial  success- 
es have  been  achieved.  Mr.  Cummer  is  a 
native  of  Canada,  in  which  country  his  fam- 
ily settled  in  an  early  day  and  with  the  local 
history  of  certain  parts  of  which  the  name 
has  long  been  identified.  His  father,  John 
Henry  Cummer,  was  a  farmer  and  lumber- 
man, who  at  one  time  operated  several  saw- 
mills, in  addition  to  which  he  also  did  a 
flourishing  business  in  the  manufacture  of 
flour.  He  spent  all  his  life  in  Canada  and 
died  in  the  city  of  Toronto  in  the  seventy- 
fifth  year  of  his  age.  The  maiden  name  of 
Mrs.  John  H.  Cummer  was  Sarah  Lock- 
man  Smith;  she  bore  her  husband  ten  chil- 
dren and  departed  this  life  shortly  after  his 
death  at  ^^'aterdown,  being  between  sixty 
and  seventy  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  her 
demise. 

Of  the  large  family  of  children  that  once 
gathered  around  the  hearthstone  of  John  H. 
and  Sarah  (Smith)  Cummer,  Jacob,  the 
subject  of  this  review,  is  the  oldest.  He  was 
born  November  i,  1823,  in  the  city  of  Toron- 
to, but  spent  his  youthful  years  on  his  fath- 
er's farm  where  he  early  learned  those  lessons 


of  industry  and  thrift  which  had  such  a  de- 
cided influence  in  forming  his  character  and 
shaping  his  future  course  of  action.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  entered  his  father's  busi- 
ness and  after  two  years  of  hard  work  and 
steady  application  there,  went  to  Lockport, 
New  York,  where  he  received  additional  in- 
struction in  flour  making,  in  due  time  be- 
coming a  very  efficient  miller.  After  re- 
maining one  year  in  that  city  he  returned  to 
Canada  and  took  charge  of  the  home  mill, 
which  he  operated  for  his  father  one  year, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  entered 
into  an  agreement  to  run  the  business  for  a 
share  of  the  proceeds.  Leasing  the  mill,  he 
continued  its  operation  about  two  years, 
when  he  purchased  the  structure  and  as  sole 
proprietor  did  a  reasonaljly  successful  busi- 
ness until  selling  out  at  a  fair  profit  several 
years  later. 

After  disposing  of  the  mill,  the  subject, 
in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Lockman 
Cummer,  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
flour  at  Waterdown,  where  they  took  charge 
of  two  grist-mills,  in  connection  with  which 
they  also  operated  the  same  number  of  saw- 
mills and  a  foundry  and  a  machine  shop. 
When  Mr.  Cummer  went  to  Waterdown  he 
invested  all  of  his  earnings,  amounting  to 
twenty-se^^en  thousand  dollars,  in  the  above 
enterprises  and  for  a  time  things  went  favor- 
ably; the  bu5tiness  continued  to  grow  in 
volume  and  importance  until  fortune 
seemed  assured,  but  the  great  financial  panic 
of  1857  coming  on,  during  which  time  it 
was  impossible  to  make  collections,  the  busi- 
ness was  so  seriously  crippled  that  at  the  ex- 
piration of  about  seventeen  months  pay- 
ments were  suspended  and  the  doors  closed. 
This  failure  swallowed  up  the  entire  capital 
of  the  firm  and  entailed  a  loss  from  which 


M^  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


329 


the  brothers  were  a  long  time  recovering. 
Shortly  after  suspending  business  Mr.  Cum- 
mer engaged  to  conduct  a  mill  for  another 
party  at  Delaware,  Ontario,  having  been 
reccomended  for  the  position  by  certain  par- 
ties who  were  cognizant  of  his  superior 
abilities  as  a  miller.  After  operating  the 
mill  about  a  year  for  a  share  of  the  earnings 
he  gave  up  the  place  and  came  to  Michigan, 
locating  in  i860  in  Newaygo  county,  where 
he  purchased  wdiat  was  known  as  the  Brooks 
property,  consisting  of  a  lumber  and  flour- 
ing-mill,  to  which  he  subsequently  added  a 
plant  for  the  manufacture  of  staves.  Mr.  • 
Cummer  embarked  in  the  three-fold  enter- 
prise with  every  prospect  of  success,  but  the 
Civil  war  breaking  out  soon  afterwards  and 
the  cousequent  flooding  of  the  country  w^ith 
a  depreciated  and  largely  irredeemable,  or 
*Vild  cat,"  currency,  brought  on  a  season  of 
depression  which  continued  with  little  or  no 
abatement  for  three  and  a  half  years,  to  the 
great  detriment  of  all  business  enterprises, 
many  of  which  suffered  severe  losses,  while 
others  failed,  never  again  to  resume  opera- 
tions. During  this  period  Mr.  Cumimer 
tried  hard  to  keep  his  business  on  a  paying 
basis,  but  owing  to  stringency  -of  money 
matters  he  finally  succumbed  to  the  inevita- 
ble and  was  obliged  to  suspend  and  relin- 
quish the  property  on  which  he  had  already 
made  several  large  payments.  With  noth- 
ing better  in  view,  he  soon  afterwards  rented 
one  of  the  mills  and  for  a  period  of  two 
years  operated  it  with  fair  success,  giving  it 
up  at  the  end  of  that  time  and  then  rented 
for  a  term  of  years  Rice  Bros.'  mill  in  the 
town  of  Croton,  Michigan.  During  the 
three  years  in  which  he  operated  the  latter 
Mr.  Cummer  met  with  encouraging  success, 
and  it  was  while  at  Croton  that  he  began  in- 


vesting his  surplus  capital  in  pine  lands,  a 
venture  which  ultimately  proved  the  making 
of  his  fortune.  In  company  with  the  late 
Nelson  Higl)ee  and  Robert  J.  Mitchell,  both 
shrewd,  far-seeing  business  mten,  he  purchas- 
ed large  tracts  in  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, all  of  which  afterward  proved  very  prof- 
ital)le,  and  in  due  time  he  retired  from  mill- 
ing to  devote  his  entire  attention  to  the  lum- 
ber industry.  With  an  eye  to  the  future,  he 
bought,  shortly  after  leaving  Croton,  a  large 
amount  of  fine  timber  land,  which  he  subse- 
quently sold  at  profit  of  one  hundred  thous- 
and dollars,  the  meanwhile  continuing  his 
investments  until,  as  stated  in  the  preceding 
paragraph,  he  became  widely  known  as  one 
of  the  leading  lumber  dealers  in  the  state. 

Removing  from  Croton,  Mr.  Cummer 
took  up  his  residence  at  Cedar  Springs, 
Kent  county,  Michigan,  where  he  remained 
between  one  and  two  years,  devoting  his 
attention  to  buying  and  selling  luml>er  and 
assisting  his  brother,  Franklin  D.  Cum|mer, 
who  some  time  before  had  become  involved 
in  various  business  difficulties.  From  Cedar 
Springs  he  removed  to  Morley,  Michigan, 
where  he  formed  a  partnership  in  the  lum- 
ber business  with  his  son,  Wellington  W., 
erecting  a  saw-mill  which  they  operated  with 
a  large  financial  profit  until  1876,  when  the 
subject  changed  his  abode  to  Cadillac.  Here, 
in  partnership  with  his  son,  he  continued  to 
deal  extensively  in  timber  lands,  purchasing 
large  tracts  in  the  counties  of  Wexford  and 
Missaukee,  which,  like  his  previous  invest- 
ments, returned  him  liberal  profits  and  added 
greatly  to  the  already  independent  fortune  at 
that  time  in  his  possession.  Becoming 
somewhat  advanced  in  years  and  not  caring 
to  assume  any  additional  responsibilities, 
Mr.  Cumm'er,  as  soon  as  he  could  reasonably 


880 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


do  so,  gradually  turned  his  extensive  busi- 
ness interests  over  to  other  hands  and 
sought  the  quiet  shades  of  retirement  in  Cad- 
illac, where  he  has  since  lived  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  fruits  of  his  many  years  of 
strenuous  toil.  He  still  retains,  however, 
an  interest  in  the  business  which  he  formerly 
conducted  with  such  marked  success  and  in 
addition  thereto  keeps  in  touch  with  the 
trend  of  affairs  in  the  city,  manifesting  a 
lively  regard  for  everything  pertaining  to 
the  good  of  the  community  and  contributing 
to  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  his  fellow 
men. 

Mr.  Cummer's  ability  to  rise  superior 
to  obstacles  that  would  have  discouraged  the 
majority  of  men  and  to  win  success  from 
conditions  which  -would  have  meant  defeat 
to  many,  shows  him  the  possessor  of  a  re- 
sourceful mind,  a  soundness  of  judgment,  a 
clearness  of  perception  and  rare  forethought 
such  as  few  men  are  endowed  with.  His 
career  presents  much  that  is  commendable, 
not  the  least  being  his  ability  to  rally  from 
severe  financial  reverses,  to  perceive  in  the 
midst  of  discouraging  circumstances  a  way 
to  take  advantage  of  them,  and  to  create  op- 
portunities where  they  did  not  hitherto  exist. 
Jn  the  midst  of  the  thronging  cares  and  de- 
mands of  a  busy  life  he  has  never  been  un- 
mindful of  his  obligations  to  the  community 
as  a  citizen,  being  always  gracious  in  his  as- 
sociations w^ith  his  fellow  men  and  enjoying 
a  popularity  which  is  the  natural  result  of 
his  characteristics.  He  is  a  man  of  strong 
intellectuality  and  keen  discernment,  and, 
calculating  well  the  future  outcome  of  busi- 
ness transactions,  is  seldom  mistaken  in  the 
ultimate  results  of  any  of  his  undertakings. 
As  already  stated,  he  has  devoted  consider- 
able of  his  time  and  talent  to  the  improve- 


ment of  his  town  and  county  and  his  gen- 
erosity, unswerving  integrity,  public  spirit 
and  pronounced  ability  have  gained  him  a 
distinctive  position  as  one  of  the  truest  and 
best  citizens  of  CacHllac. 

llie  married  life  of  Mr.  Cummer  dates 
from  1845,  ^^^  November  6  of  which  year 
he  was  united  in  the  bonds  of  wedlock  with 
Miss  Mary  A.  Snider,  who  was  born  April 
7,  1825,  in  the  dominion  of  Canada.  Her 
parents,  Jacob  and  Rachel  (McCready)  Sni- 
der, were  natives  of  New  Brunswick,  but 
spent  much  of  their  lives  in  Canada,  and  died 
near  the  city  of  Toronto.  Their  family  con- 
sisted of  nine  children,  Mrs.  Cummer  being 
the  fifth  in  order  of  birth.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Cummer  have  been  born  six  children,  whose 
names  are  as  follows :  Wellington  W.,  a 
sketch  of  whom  will  be  found  elsewhere  in 
this  volume;  Emily  Eliza  died  in  infancy; 
Emma  Bell  also  died  young;  Harvey  E.  de- 
parted this  life  in  his  sixth  year;  Elmer  C. 
rlied  when  twenty-seven  years  old,  and  Car- 
rie E.,  who  married  Fred  A.  Diggins,  a 
])rominent  business  m^an  of  Cadillac.  Mr. 
(Summer  and  wife  have  been  zealous  mem- 
Ijers  of  the  Congregational  church  for  many 
years  and  since  coming  to  Cadillac  have 
been  active  in  all  lines  of  religious  and  beney- 
olent  work  and  to  their  efforts  and  liberal 
financial  support  the  church  in  this  city  is 
largely  indebted  for  its  material  prosperity 
and  spiritual  growth.  Since  becoming  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  the  United  States  Mr. 
Cimimer  has  acted  with  the  Republican  party 
and  while  not  a  partisan,  much  less  an  as- 
pirant for  official  honors,  he  has  been  active 
in  party  councils  and  an  influential  worker 
for  the  cause  he  espouses.  In  political  mat- 
ters as  well  as  in  business  affairs  and  in  his 
relations  with  the  world  generally  he  is  a 


PI/ EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


831 


vigorous  as  well  as  an  independent  thinker 
and  has  the  courage  of  his  convictions  upon 
all  subjects  he  investigates.  He  is  also  cos- 
mopolitan ill  his  ideas,  a  man  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  cares  little  for  conventionalism  or 
for  the  sanctity  attaching  to  person  or  place 
by  reason  of  artificial  distinction,  accident 
of  birth  or  time-honored  tradition.  In  brief, 
he  is  a  representative  type  of  the  strong, 
virile  American  manhood,  that  by  reason  of 
inherent  merit,  sound  sense  and  correct  con- 
duct commands  and  retains  the  respect  of 
the  ])eople,  and  he  stands  today,  as  he  has 
stood  in  the  past,  a  forceful  and  influential 
factor  in  business  affairs  and  an  honored 
citizen  in  the  walk  of  life. 


WILLIAM  L.  SAUNDERS. 

In  a  history  of  the  prominent  and  influ- 
ential citizens  of  Wexford  county,  William 
L.  Saunders,  of  Cadillac,  is  deserving  of  spe- 
cific notice  as  his  weli-spent  life,  his  fine  busi- 
ness accjuirements,  his  loyalty  to  every  trust 
reposed  in  him  and  his  ability  to  manage 
large  and  important  industrial  enterprises, 
as  well  as  the  honorable  and  straightforward 
course  he  has  ever  pursued,  have  gained  him 
a  high  place  in  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  his  fellow  men.  Mr.  Saunders  is  a  native 
of  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  second  in  a  family  of  six  children,  whose 
])arents  were  William  and  Mary  (Ashton) 
Saunders.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Car- 
lisle on  the  5th  day  of  September,  1858,  and 
when  fjuite  young  was  taken  to  Bloomburg, 
where  he  spent  his  early  years,  as  soon  as 
old  enough  assisting  his  father  in  a  planing- 
niill  and  at  intervals  attending  the  public 
20 


schools  of  the  town.  By  reason  of  circum- 
stances over  which  he  had  no  control  his  ed- 
ucation was  somewhat  limited,  but  he  made 
the  most  of  his  opportunities  and  in  time 
became  well  informed  in  the  common 
branches  of  learning.  Like  the  majority  of 
successful  men,  however,  his  training  was 
mostly  of  a  practical  nature,  obtained  in  the 
rugged  school  of  experience,  such  discipline 
being  of  far  greater  value  than  much  of  the 
knowledge  imparted  by  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. Mr.  Saunders'  father  was  a  lumber 
dealer,  and  he  w^as  careful  to  instruct  his 
sons  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  busi- 
ness, the  subject  coming  in  for  his  full  share 
of  this  severe  practical  training.  In  1877 
the  family  moved  to  Cadillac,  Michigan, 
where  the  elder  Saunders  established  a  plan- 
ing-mill,  William  L.  afterwards  becoming 
a  partner  in  the  enterprise,  which  for  two 
years  went  by  the  firm  name  of  Saunders  & 
vSon.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time  the  sub- 
ject withdrew  and  entered  the  employ  of 
Cummer  &  Cummer,  as  foreman  of  that 
firm's  large  business,  subsequently  being  pro- 
moted to  the  superintendency,  in  wdiich  capa- 
city he  served  about  ten  years,  becoming  dur- 
ing that  time  familiar  with  every  detail  of  the 
lumber  industry  besides  developing  great 
skill  and  elliciency  as  a  sound,  practical  busi- 
ness man.  The  firm  was  originally  known 
as  Cummer  &  Diggins,  and  it  was  with  the 
latter  partnership  that  Mr.  Saunders  became 
identified  in  the  year  1900  by  purchasing  an 
interest  in  the  business.  As  at  present  con- 
stituted the  firm  is  know^n  as  Cummer,  Dig- 
gins &  Company,  Mr.  Saunders  being  the 
practical  superintendent  of  the  enterprise,  a 
position  which  his  natural  abilities  and  pre- 
vious training  peculiarly  fit  him  to  fill. 

Whatever    success    Mr.    Saunders    has 


882 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


achieved,  and  it  is  by  no  means  inconsider- 
able, is  due  entirely  to  his  own  industry,  in- 
telHgence  and  well-directed  efforts.  In  his 
young  manhood  he  started  out  to  make  his 
own  way  in  the  world,  with  little  aid  from 
outside  sources,  and  he  has  steadjly  worked 
onward  and  upward  to  the  responsible  posi- 
tion he  now^  holds  with  one  of  the  largest 
business  firms  in  northern  Michigan.  Pos- 
sessing untiring  energy,  quick  perception 
and  sound  judgment,  he  is  well  qualified  for 
leadership  in  important  undertakings.  He 
forms  his  plans  readily,  is  determined  in 
their  execution,  and  his  close  application  to 
the  interests  of  his  firm  and  excellent  busi- 
ness management  have  brought  him  the  high 
degree  of  prosperity  which  today  is  his.  It 
is  true  that  he  became  interested  in  an  en- 
terprise already  established,  but  in  manag- 
ing, practically  controlling  and  in  no  small 
measure  enlarging  the  same,  he  has  displayed 
executive  abilities  of  a  high  order  and  dem- 
onstrated the  fact  that  success  in  such  an  un- 
dertaking is  not  the  result  of  genius  or 
fortuitous  circumstances,  but  the  outcome 
of  sound  sense,  mature  judgment  and  the 
right  kind  of  experience. 

The  domestic  chapter  of  the  life  of  Mr. 
vSaunders  bears  date  of  1879,  on  November 
9th  of  which  year  he  entered  the  marriage 
relation  with  Miss  Mary  Graham,  a  native 
of  Ontario  and  a  daughter  of  the  late  Archi- 
bald Graham,  for  many  years  a  prominent 
and  influential  business  man  of  Big  Rapids, 
this  state.  To  this  union  three  children  have 
been  born,  Clyde  A.  and  Marion,  living, 
Blanche,  the  second  in  order  of  birth,  dying 
at  the  early  age  of  five  years.  Mr.  Saunders 
has  served  several  times  in  the  common 
council  of  Cadillac  and  as  a  member  of  that 
body   labored   zealously    for   the  city's   ad- 


vancement, standing  for  all  needed  public 
improvements  and  bringing  about  much  leg- 
islation for  the  good  of  the  municipality. 
He  has  been  closely  identified  with  every 
movement  for  the  general  welfare  of  the 
community  since  becoming  a  resident  of  the 
same  and  no  worthy  enterprise  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  city's  interests,  materially 
or  otherwise,  has  been  inaugurated  and  car- 
ried forward  without  his  hearty  co-opera- 
tion and  support.  Public  spirited  in  all  the 
term  implies,  he  devotes  much  of  his  time 
and  attention  to  matters  outside  the  province 
of  his  business  affairs  and  is  ever  ready  to 
lend  a  helping  hand  when  projects  for  the 
common  weal  are  under  consideration  of 
being  pushed  to  practical  conclusion. 

Politically  Mr.  Saunders  supports  the 
Republican  party,  but  he  is  not  a  politician 
nor  has  he  any  aspiration  in  the  way  of  office 
holding,  preferring  the  active  life  he  is  now 
leading  as  a  private  citizen  to  any  honors 
or  emoluments  within  the  power  of  his  fel- 
low citizens  to  bestow.  Fraternally  he  is 
a  Mason  of  high  degree,  belonging  to  the 
lodge,  chapter  and  council  at  Cadillac,  in  all 
of  which  he  is  an  active  member  and  influ- 
ential factor,  ever  striving  to  exemplify  in 
his  daily  life  the  beautiful  teachings  and 
?ublime  precepts  of  this  ancient  and  honor- 
able order.  Mr.  Saunders  is  a  well-rounded, 
symmetrically  developed  man  of  recognized 
ability  and  unimpeachable  integrity,  and  he 
may  be  taken  as  a  splendid  example  of  broad- 
minded,  progressive  American  citizenship. 
His  influence  has  always  l>een  on  the  right 
side  of  every  moral  question,  and  under  all 
circumstances  he  has  been  true  to  his  con- 
victions of  right,  both  theoretically  and  prac- 
tically. Genial  in  manner,  kindly  in  disposi- 
tion and  cheerful  in  temperament,  he  has  the 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


S38 


warm  regard  of  all  with  whom  he  mingles, 
and  his  life  demonstrates  the  possibilities 
that  are  open  to  every  young  man  with  en- 
ergy and  ambition  to  rise  above  mere  self 
so  as  to  be  of  use  to  society  and  to  the 
world. 

4-^-#^ 

JOHN  M.  TERWILLIGER. 

Newspapers  are  powerful  agents  in  the 
development  of  every  community,  and  upon 
their  early  establishment  the- rapid  growth 
of  an  incipient  municipality  to  a  large  ex- 
tent depends,  w^hile  at  all  stages  of  advance- 
ment they  figure  as  the  pulse  indication  of 
local  thought  and  action.  The  thriving  city 
of  Cadillac  is  favored  in  having  so  ably  edit- 
ed and  conducted  a  newspaper  as  is  the  Cad- 
illac Globe,  of  which  Messrs.  John  M.  Ter- 
williger  and  Ralph  W.  Crawford  are  edi- 
tors and  publishers.  Of  this  paper,  Mr.  Ter- 
williger  was  the  founder,  and  he  has  l^een 
continuously  identified  with  the  same  to 
ihe  present  time,  being  known  as  one  of  the 
alert  and  progressive  young  business  men  of 
the  city,  while  he  holds  the  unequivocal  con- 
fidence and  regard  of  the  community. 

John  M.  Terwilliger  is  a  native  of  the 
state  of  Michigan,  having  been  born  in  Clay- 
ton, Lenawee  county,  on  the  21st  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1870,  and  being  a  son  of  Albert  E. 
and  Polly  (Forbes)  Terwilliger,  the  former 
of  whom  w^as  torn  in  Rochester  county.  New 
York,  and  the  latter  in  Lenawee  county, 
Michigan.  Albert  E.  Terwilliger  was  at- 
tending school  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Civil  war,  and  then  enlisted  in  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Thirty-eighth  New  York  In- 
fantry, being  later  transferred  to  the  Ninth 
New  York  Heavy  Artillery.    He  served  val-  j 


iantly  during  the  conflict  and  at  its  close 
went  to  Clayton,  Michigan,  where  he  resided 
until  1875,  when  he  located  at  Sylvania,  Lu- 
cas county,  Ohio.  In  1880  he  returned  to 
Michigan  and  in  1883  he  came  to  Wexford 
county  and  located  in  Antioch  township, 
where  he  turned  his  attention  to  agricultural 
pursuits,  in  which  he  here  continued  until 
the  death  of  his  loved  and  devoted  wife,  on 
the  19th  of  June,  1889,  at  which  time  she 
was  fifty-one  years  of  age.  In  the  autumn 
of  that  year  he  returned  to  Lenawee  county, 
where  he  has  since  resided.  Of  this  union 
were  born  two  children,  John  M.,  the  imme- 
diate subject  of  this  review,  and  Fred  E., 
who  is  a  farmer  in  Lenawee  county.  When 
the  subject  was  five  years  of  age  his  par- 
ents removed  to  Sylvania,  Lucas  county, 
Ohio,  where  he  prosecuted  his  studies  in  the 
public  schools  until  he  had  attained  the  age 
of  ten  years,  when  the  family  returned  to 
Lenawee  county,  locating  on  a  farm  near 
Clayton,  where  they  resided  until  their  re- 
moval to  Wexford  county,  John  M.  having 
in  the  meanwhile  continued  his  studies  in 
the  public  schools.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  he  began  teaching  in  the  district  schools 
of  Wexford  county,  successfully  continuing 
his  pedagogic  efl'orts  for  a  period  of  four 
years,  after  which  he  completed  a  business 
course  in  the  Ferris  Institute,  at  Big  Rapids. 
Mr.  Terwilhger's  identification  with  the  ''art 
preservative  of  all  arts"  dates  its  inception 
back  to  the  spring  of  1892,  when  he  came  to 
Cadillac  and  accepted  the  position  of  solici- 
tor and  reporter  on  the  Michigan  State  Dem- 
ocrat, retaining  this  incumbency  until  De- 
cember of  the  following  year,  when  he  pur- 
chased the  Fife  Lake  Monitor,  which  he 
continued  to  publish  until  July,  1898,  when 
he  disposed  of  the  plant  and  business,  having 


334 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


in  the  meanwhile  also  founded  and  conducted 
the  Roardman  River  Current,  which  was 
published  in  connection  w^ith  his  other  paper. 
On  the  1st  of  September,  1898,  he  founded 
the  Cadillac  Globe,  and  in  July  of  the  follow- 
ing year  P^alph  W.  Crawford,  an  able  young 
newspaper  man,  became  associated  with  him 
in  the  enterprise,  purchasing  a  half  interest, 
and  since  that  timie  the  business  has  been 
conducted  under  the  firm  name  of  Terwilli- 
ger  &  Crawford.  The  Globe  is  published  on 
Thursday  of  each  week,  is  a  seven-column 
quarto,  and  is  not  only  a  w^orthy  exponent 
of  local  interests  but  is  a  credit  to  the  towni 
and  also  to  its  publishers,  the  letter-press 
being  excellent  and  the  makeup  aKvays  taste- 
ful and  effective,  while  its  character  and  its 
circulation  are  such  as  to  secure  to  it  a  rep- 
resentative advertising  support,  the  business 
men  of  the  city  appreciating  its  value  in  this 
line.  The  plant  of  the  firm  is  well  equipped, 
and  the  facilities  of  the  job  department  are 
maintained  at  the  highest  standard,  so  that 
attractive  work  is  issued,  and  that  with  ex- 
pedition and  proper  care  to  details.  The 
political  policy  of  the  Globe  is  independent. 
Mr.  Terwilliger  is  personally  a  stanch  ad- 
vocate of  the  principles  of  the  Democratic 
party,  and  takes  an  active  interest  in  its 
cause.  Fraternally  he  is  identified  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  holding  membership  in 
Cadillac  Lodge  No.  46,  while  in  the  Inde- 
pendent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  he  affiliates 
with  Arbutus  Lodge  No.  359,  at  Fife  Lake. 
On  the  6th  of  December,  1895,  Mr.  Ter- 
williger w^as  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Dol- 
lie  Dutton,  of  Cadillac,  who  was  torn  in 
the  city  of  Rochester,  New  York,  being  a 
daughter  of  Charles  W.  and  Jennie  Dutton, 
concerning  whom  specific  mention  is  made 
on  other  pages  of  this  volume. 


Li  this  connection  it  may  be  consistently 
noted  that  while  residing  in  x\ntioch  town- 
ship, this  county,  Albert  E.  Terwilliger,  the 
father  of  the  subject,  w^as  active  and  influ- 
ential in  local  afTairs  of  a  public  nature,  hav- 
ing held  various  township  offices  and  having 
been  prominently  concerned  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  several  school  districts,  while  he  held 
the  confidence  and  good  w\\\  of  all  who  knew 
him,  his  removal  from  the  community  being 
much  regretted.  He  is  a  Republican  in  his 
political  proclivities,  and  is  a  zealous  mem- 
ber of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  as 
was  also  his  wife,  who  was  a  woman  of 
gentle  and  gracious  character. 


DONALD  E.  McINTYRE. 

In  point  of  continuous  residence  the  su]> 
ject  of  this  sketch  is  one  of  the  oldest  mem- 
Ijers  of  the  Cadillac  bar  and  that  he  has 
achieved  marked  success  in  his  profession  is 
attested  by  the  fact  of  his  having  been  identi- 
fied with  many  of  the  most  im[[)ortant  cases 
in  the  circuit  since  his  removal  to  Wexford 
county,  over  thirty  years  ago. 

As  the  name  indicates,  the  Mclntyre 
family  is  of  Scotch  origin,  the  subject's 
grandfather,  Donald  McLityre,  Sr.,  having 
been  born  and  reared  in  Scotland,  in  various 
parts  of  which  country  the  name  is  still  fa- 
miliar. Many  years  ago  this  ancestor  came 
to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  New 
York,  where  he  married  and  raised  a  family, 
among  his  children  being  a  son  l)y  the  name 
of  Donald,  who  became  one  of  the  leading 
lawyers  and  jurists  of  P^ulton  county.  Don- 
ald Mclntyre,  Jr.,  practiced  law  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  in  the  city  of  Johnstown,  also 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


885 


served  «^s  judge  of  his  county,  and  achieved 
honorable  (hstinction  in  his  profession  l)oth 
as  a  jurist  and  practitioner.  Somie  time  in 
the  early  'tliirties  he  came  to  Michigan  as 
representative  of  the  MetropoHtan  Bank  of 
New  York  for  tlie  purpose  of  investigating 
the  currency  of  this  state,  and  later  located 
in  Washtenaw  county,  where  he  engaged  in 
the  banking  business.  He  organized  the  Me- 
chanics Bank  at  Ann  Arbor  and  became  one 
of  its  largest  stockholders  and  for  over  fifty 
years  conducted  the  institution,  during 
which  time  he  acquired  worthy  prestige  as 
an  able  financier,  not  only  locally  but  in  busi- 
ness circles  throughout  the  state.  He  was  a 
careful  and  judicious  business  man  of  pro- 
gressi\'e  ideas,  exerted  potent  influence  in 
the  general  growth  and  development  of 
Washtenaw  county,  and  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Republican  party  was  elected 
upon  that  ticket  to  the  general  assembly,  in 
which  body  he  distinguished  himself  as  a 
capable  and  popular  legislator.  In  early  life 
he  was  an  old-line  Whig,  but  wdien  that  his- 
toric party  had  accomplished  its  mission  and 
ceased  to  exist  he  took  an  active  and  earnest 
part  in  the  organization  of  its  successor  and 
ever  afterwards  remained  a  staunch  and  un- 
compromising Re])ublican,  becoming  a  party 
leader  in  the  county  of  Washtenaw.  For 
two  terms  he  was  a  member  of  the  board 
of  regents  of  the  Michigan  University,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  served  as  treasurer 
of  the  board,  in  both  of  which  capacities  he 
was  instrumental  in  promoting  the  useful- 
ness of  the  university  and  giving  it  the  com- 
manding prestige  it  today  enjoys  among  the 
leading  educational  institutions  of  the 
United  States.  Donald  Mclntyre,  Jr.,  was 
one  of  the  notable  men  of  his  day  and  gen- 
eration in  the  county  of  Washtenaw,  and  as 


already  stated,  his  labor  and  influence  were 
not  circumscribed  within  local  bounds,  but 
bore  in  no  small  degree  upon  the  history 
of  the  state  at  large.  He  lived  a  long  and 
useful  life,  did  his  work  faithfully  and  well 
and  died  at  Ann  Arbor  in  1892,  at  the  ripe 
old  age  of  eighty-six  years. 

Idle  maiden  name  of  Mrs.  Donald  Mcln- 
tyre was  Jane  Eaker.  She  was  a  native  of 
New  York  and  died  in  the  prime  of  hfe, 
leaving  four  children,  namely :  Anna,  Mat- 
tie   v.,  Jennie  M.  and  Donald  E. 

Donald  E.  Mclntyre,  to  a  brief  epitome 
of  whose  life  and  achievements  the  residue 
of  this  article  is  devoted,  was  born  in  Wash- 
tenaw county,  Michigan,  on  the  14th  day 
of  June,  1852.  Elis  early  life  was  spent  in 
Ann  Arljor,  where  he  attended  the  public 
schools  until  completing  the  prescribed 
course,  after  which  he  entered  the  State  Uni- 
versity with  the  object  in  view  of  preparing 
himself  for  the  legal  profession.  In  due 
time  he  w^as  graduated  from  the  literary  de- 
partment of  that  institution,  the  thorough 
mental  discipline  thus  received  serving  as 
a  su])stantial  basis  for  the  severe  profes- 
sional training  to  which  he  was  afterwards 
subjected  while  fitting  himself  for  his  life 
work  as  a  lawyer. 

Mr.  Mclntyre  prosecuted  his  legal  stud- 
ies under  especially  favorable  auspices, 
among  his  preceptors  being  Judge  H.  J. 
Beaks,  w  ho  was  long  recognized  as  the  lead- 
ing member  of  the  Michigan  bar  and  whose 
name  and  fame  achieved  almost  national  re- 
pute. In  the  university  he  also  enjoyed  the 
instruction  of  some  of  the  ablest  legal  minds 
of  the  day  and  after  his  graduation,  in  1871, 
he  was  well  fortified  to  grapple  with  the  diffi- 
culties which  mark  the  beginning  of  nearly 
every  young  lawyer's  career. 


886 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Receiving  his  degree,  Mr.  Mclntyre 
opened  an  office  in  Big  Rapids,  where  he 
practiced  one  year  with  varied  success,  and 
at  the  expiration  of  that  time  selected  what 
he  supposed  to  be  and  what  has  since  proved 
to  be  a  more  favorable  field  in  the  village 
of  Clam  Lake,  at  that  time  a  small  and  to  all 
appearances  unimportant  lumber  town,  but 
to  the  ambitious  attorney  an  embryo  city 
of  certain  growth  and  great  possibilities. 
In  fact  the  place  in  the  early  'seventies  could 
hardly  be  dignified  by  the  term  village,  being 
merely  a  lumber  camp  with  a  few  indifferent 
buildings  on  the  principal  street,  but  already, 
predictions  were  rife  as  to  its  future  devel- 
opment and  it  was  not  long  until  the  prophe- 
cies began  to  be  fulfilled.  With  the  growth 
and  continual  prosperity  of  the  town  came 
business  of  a  legal  cliaracter,  in  consecfuence 
of  w^hich  the  lawyer's  services  were  much 
sought  after  and  Mr.  Mclntyre  in  due  time 
•had  no  lack  of  well-paying  clients.  From 
that  time  to  the  present  his  professional 
career  presents  a  series  of  successes,  as  he 
has  kept  in  close  touch  with  legal  matters  in 
this  part  of  the  state,  his  name  appearing  in 
connection  with  many  of  the  most  impor- 
tant cases  at  the  Cadillac  bar  since  this  town 
became  the  seat  of  justice  for  the  county  of 
Wexford.  By  close  application  to  business 
and  conmiendable  studiousness  he  gradually 
surmounted  the  obstacles  in  the  path  of  pro- 
fessional men  in  new  countries  and  won  for 
himself  an  honorable  reputation  as  a  safe, 
reliable  counsellor  and  successful  practition- 
er, his  principal  object  being  to  excel  in  his 
chosen  calling  and  prove  worthy  of  the  con- 
fidence his  clients  reposed  in  his  ability  and 
judgment.  His  position  as  one  of  the  ablest 
and  best  known  lawyers  of  the  Cadillac  bar 
has  been  honorably  earned,  in  addition  to 


which  his  reputation  has  extended  to  other 
parts  of  the  state,  he  being  frequently  re- 
tained as  counsel  in  important  litigations  in 
the  courts  of  neighboring  cities  and  counties. 
Mr.  Mclntyre  has  manifested  a  lively  in- 
terest in  the  material  prosperity  of  Cadillac, 
all  enterprises  with  this  object  in  view  meet- 
ing w^ith  his  hearty  approval,  active  co- 
operation and,  if  necessary,  his  financial  en- 
couragement. Since  1871  his  career  has  been 
so  closely  interwoven  with  the  development 
of  the  town  that  the  history  of  the  one  is 
pretty  much  the  history  of  both  and  he  stands 
today,  as  he  has  stood  in  the  past,  one  of 
the  strong,  resourceful  men  in  a  commun- 
ity which  has  steadily  forged  to  the  front 
as  an  important  commercial  and  industrial 
center,  and  which  through  such  agencies 
as  his  has  also  become  noted  for  the  high 
standard  of  its  social  and  moral  life. 

Politically  Mr.  Mclntyre  wields  an  in- 
fluence for  the  Republican  party,  but  he  can 
hardly  be  called  a  politician  in  the  sense  the 
term  is  usually  understood,  having  no  aspira- 
tions for  office  and  no  desire  whatever  for 
public  distinction.  Like  all  intelligent  citi- 
zens, however,  he  is  well  informed  relative 
to  the  leading  questions  of  the  day  and  is 
by  no  means  averse  to  expressing  his  opin- 
ions, consequently  the  people  experience  no 
difficulty  in  ascertaining  his  attitude  towards 
measures  and  issues  upon  which  men  and 
parties  differ.  At  the  present  time  he  attends 
strictly  to  his  duties  as  a  lawyer  and  in  addi- 
tion thereto  does  a  large  and  lucrative  in- 
surance business,  representing  a  number  of 
the  largest  companies  in  the  United  States. 
In  all  public  and  private  charities  his  name 
and  individual  efforts  have  been  ever  promi- 
nent, possessing  as  he  does  large  sympathies 
and  an  abounding  faith  in  humanity  which 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


887 


leads  him  to  do  many  good  deeds  for  his 
fellow  men.  In  all  the  attributes  of  honor- 
able manhood — honesty,  uprightness  of 
character  and  unimpeachable  integrity — he 
stands  a  commendable  example  of  intelli- 
gent American  citizenship  and  as  such  his 
influence  makes  for  the  general  welfare  of 
the  community  in  which  the  greater*  part  of 
his  life  work  has  been  spent. 

The  domestic  life  of  Mr.  Mclntyre  dates 
from  1885,  ii^  which  year  he  was  united  in 
the  bond  of  wedlock  with  Miss  Sophia 
Mitchell,  of  New  York,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  the  late  George  A.  Mitchell, 
who  for  a  number  of  years  was  one  of  the 
leading  business  men  and  representative  citi- 
zens of  Wexfrd  county. 


THE  CADILLAC  STATE  BANK. 

Scarcely  any  form  of  industrial  enter- 
prise is  more  generally  or  more  unostenta- 
tiously useful  in  a  community  than  a  bank 
or  banking  institution.  It  is  at  once  a  con- 
servator and  a  promoter— a  storage  bat- 
tery and  a  motive  power — the  depository  and 
safe-guard  of  the  bread-winner,  the  home- 
maker,  the  business  man  and  the  manufac- 
turer— the  vital  breath  of  trade,  the  inspira- 
tion of  commerce,  the  strong  sinew  of  pro- 
ductive enterprise.  The  history  of  the  strong 
and  conservative  banking  institution  whose 
title  appears  at  the  head  of  these  paragraphs 
dates  from  the  ist  day  of  December,  1883, 
on  which  date  D.  A.  Blodgett,  of  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan,  and  D.  F.  Diggins,  of 
Cadillac,  formed  a  private  banking  house 
under  the  name  of  D.  A.  Blodgett  &  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Diggins  assuming  the  active  man- 
agement of  the  concern.    Both  partners  were 


men  of  wide  influence  and  unquestioned 
financial  standing  and  the  banking  house  of 
D,  A.  Blodgett  &  Company  soon  commanded 
a  large  and  profitable  business.  The  busi- 
ness was  conducted  under  the  control  of  the 
gentlemen  named  until  in  June,  1892,  when 
Mr.  Diggins  withdrew  from  the  active  man- 
agement of  the  business  to  enter  the  lumber 
firm  of  Blodgett,  Cummer  &  Diggins,  and 
upon  his  retirement  Henry  Knowlton  was 
selected  for  the  position  of  cashier.  On  the 
1st  day  of  November,  1895,  the  private 
organization  was  succeeded  by  the  Cadillac 
State  Bank,  which  was  organized  under  the 
laws  of  the  state  of  Michigan,  with  a  paid-in 
capital  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  Upon  or- 
ganization the  following  officers  were  chosen 
and  have  continued  since  to  serve  in  their 
respective  capacities :  President,  F.  J. 
Cobbs;  vice-president,  S.  W.  Kramer;  cash- 
ier, Henry  Knowlton.  The  bank  has  con- 
ducted a  regular  banking  and  savings  busi- 
ness, having  by  their  efforts  to  accommo- 
date their  patrons  in  the  several  commercial 
departments  acquired  a  splendid  reputation 
as  a  relia1:)le  and  trustworthy  financial  agent. 
The  following  comparative  statement  of  the 
condition  of  the  bank  shows  a  very  satisfac- 
tory and  substantial  growth,  the  figures 
given  being  from  the  regular  statements  is- 
sued by  the  bank  and  taken  at  about  equi- 
distant periods  since  the  bank's  organization  : 
Surplus,  December  13,  .1895,  none;  Sep- 
tember 20,  1898,  $12,500.00;  September  30, 
1901,  $25,000.00;  September  15,  1902,  $25,- 
000.00.  Undivided  profits,  December  13, 
1895,  $1,026.47;  September  20,  1898, 
$2,252.03;  September  30,  1901,  $16,283.36; 
September  15,  1902,  $24,371.16.  Deposits, 
rjecember  13,  1895,  $228,842.05;  September 
20,  1898,  $403,347.32;  September  30,  1901, 


338 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


$439,858.85;  September  15,  1902,  $658,- 
440.89.  The  personnel  of  the  present  board 
of  (h rectors  is  as  follows :  F.  J.  Cobbs, 
S.  W.  Kramer,  W.  W.  Mitchell,  D.  F.  Dig- 
gins,  Fred  L.  Reed  and  Joseph  Murphy.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  pick  out  in  the  city  of 
Cadillac  another  body  of  men  equal  in  num- 
ber better  qualified  to  direct  the  affairs  of  a 
financial  institution  than  the  gentlemen  just 
mentioned.  All  are  successful  and  promi- 
nent business  men,  careful  and  conservative 
in  their  methods  and  their  names  would  add 
strength  to  any  commercial  institution  with 
which  they  might  become  connected.  The 
banking  company  owns  the  building  in  which 
the  bank  is  situated,  it  having  been  erected 
in  1 90 1.  It  is  a  handsome  and  comm'odious 
structure,  complete  in  all  of  its  ap])ointments 
and  reflects  credit  upon  the  bank  itself.  The 
interior  is  finished  with  mosaic  floors  and 
mahogany  woodwork  throughout,  the  office 
fixtures  also  being'  of  selected  mahogany. 
•  The  bank  is  equipped  with  a  heavy  steel 
burglar-proof  vault  and  two  well-arranged 
fire-proof  vaults,  in  which  to  store  the  se- 
curities, money,  books  and  supplies  and  such 
papers  as  may  be  confided  to  their  trust. 

The  unqualified  success  of  the  Cadillac 
State  Bank  has  been  in  the  main  largely  due 
to  the  careful  and  judicious  management  of 
its  officers.  Each  of  them  is  thoroughly 
versed  in  his  business  and  each  of  their  finan- 
cial careers  has  been  such  as  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence of  business  men  throughout  the  com- 
munitv. 


WELIJNGTON  W.  CUMMER. 

Wellington  W.  Cummer,  one  of  the  men 
wdiose  activities  have  had  to  do  with  the 
advancement  of  Cadillac  as  a  municipality 


and  who  has  contributed  generously  to  those 
things  wdiich  were  for  the  betterment  of  his 
home  place,  was  born  on  a  farm  near  Toron- 
to, Canada,  on  the  21st  day  of  October,  1846, 
— fifty-seven  years  ago, — his  parents  be- 
ing Jacob  and  Mary  Ann  Cummer.  His 
early  boyhood  days  until  i860,  when  the 
family  removed  from  the  farm  to  Newaygo 
village  in  Newaygo  county,  Michigan,  were 
passed  in  the  district  schools  near  his  father's 
home  and  in  Newaygo  he  continued  his  stud- 
ies in  the  village  high  school.  This  course 
was  followed  by  further  instruction  in  a 
grammar  school  in  Waterdown,  near  Ham- 
ilton, Ontario,  supplemented  by  a  commer- 
cial course  in  the  Bryant  &  Stratton  Business 
College  in  Toronto,  his  graduation  there- 
from taking  place  in  1864,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years.  Jacob  Cummer  was  a  flour- 
ing miller,  as  well  as  a  farmer,  in  Canada, 
and  he  continued  in  milling  for  several  years 
after  coming  to  Michigan,  in  conjunction 
with  timbering  and  lumbering.  In  these 
activities  he  was  assisted  by  his  son,  Well- 
ington W.  Cummer,  whose  business  career 
began  in  Newaygo,  the  latter's  aggressive 
qualities  as  a  conservative  man  of  commerce 
combining  successfully  with  his  father's 
years  of  experience.  Saw  and  stave  mills 
were  operated  by  Jacob,  assisted  by  Welling- 
ton W.  Cummer,  in  Newaygo  until  1863, 
when  they  removed  to  Croton.  In  this  vil- 
lage they  operated  a  flouring-mill  and  were 
dealers  in  camp  supplies  for  five  years.  Ce- 
dar Springs,  in  Kent  county,  followed  Cro- 
ton, and  for  two  years  the  father  and  the 
son  engaged  in  the  buying  and  selling  of 
lumber.  It  was  in  Morley,  in  Mecosta  coun- 
ty, where  the  Cummers  began  their  careers 
as  lumbermen.  Wellington  W.  Cummer  and 
his  uncle,  J.  Walter  Cummer,  built  a  mill 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


839 


ill  Morley  and  manufactured  lumber  for  Ja- 
col)  Cummer  &  Son,  a  co-partnership  com- 
posed of  Jacol^  and  Wellington  W.  Cum- 
mer, the  latter  firm  owning  the  land,  the 
stumpage  and  the  lumiber.  These  timbering 
and  luml.)ering  operations  were,  of  course, 
in  those  days,  exclusively  in  pine. 

Cadillac  became  the  home  of  the  Cum- 
mers— Jacob  and  Wellington  W. — in  1876, 
and  it  was  in  this  city  that  they  entered  upon 
that  career  which  has  carried  the  name  of 
Cummer,  synonymous  with  honesty  and  in- 
tegrity, into  nearly  every  civihzed  country 
in  the  world.  In  1876  Wellington  W.  Cum- 
mer manufactured  pine  lumber  for  Jacob 
Cummer  &  Son.  This  partnership  and 
agreement  ended  in  1892,  when  the  firm's 
timber  holdings  were  exhausted  and  Jacob 
Cummer  retired  from  active  participatioa  in 
timbering  and  lumbering.  During  several 
of  these  years,  too,  Wellington  W.  Cummer 
was  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Blodgett,  Cum- 
mer &  Diggins,  Cummer  &  Diggins  manu- 
facturing pine  for  Blodgett,  Cummer  &  Dig- 
gins. Mr.  Cummer  also  organized  the  Cum- 
mer Lumber  Company  in  1882,  the  members 
thereof  being  Wellington  W.  Cummer  and 
Harvey  J.  Hollister,  and  James  M.  Barnett, 
of  Grand  Rapids,  witli  office  headquarters 
in  Cadillac,  and  this  firm',  too,  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  pine  until  1893,  when  the 
corporation  was  dissolved.  Cummer  &  Dig- 
gins (Wellington  \\^  Cummer  and  Delos 
F.  Diggins)  were  succeeded  by  Cummer, 
Diggins  &  Company,  the  new^  partner  being 
Wililam  L.  Saunders,  and  this  firm  is  now 
operating  in  Cadillac  in  pine  and  hardwood, 
and  is  also  manufacturing  chemicals  in  one 
of  the  most  complete  chemical  plants  in  the 
United  States.  Wellington  W.  Cummer  or- 
ganized, in  1892,  the  year  when  he  began  his 


larger  operations  in  timber  and  lumber  out- 
side of  his  home  city.  The  Cummer  Com- 
j)any  and  succeeded  Lakies  &  Collins  in  Nor- 
folk, Virginia,  in  the  manufacture  of  short 
leaf  pine.  Wellington  W.  and  Jacob  Cum- 
mer, Edward  C.  Fosburgh,  who  was  for 
several  years  identified  with  the  Cummer  in- 
terests in  Cadillac,  James  M.  Barnett,  Har- 
vey J.  Hollister  and  Mac  George  Bundy 
were  the  incorporators  of  Idie  Cummer 
Company  in  Norfolk.  This  incorporation 
remained  in  existence  for  nine  years — until 
T902 — and  became  one  of  the  largest  opera- 
tors in  short  leaf  pine  in  the  southern  coun- 
try. It  was  succeeded  in  1902  by  the  Fcxs- 
burgh  Lumber  Com])any,  of  which  Mr.  Fos- 
burgh is  the  president  and  the  general  man- 
ager. In  1896,  seven  years  ago,  Mr.  Cum- 
mer, who  in  tlie  meantime  had  become  finan- 
cially interested  in  Florida  timber,  built  two 
band  (single  cutting)  saw-mills  in  the  city 
of  Jacksonville,  the  metropolis  of  the  Flower 
state,  and  entered  upon  the  manufacture  of 
lumber  under  the  firm  name  of  the  Cummer 
Fum])er  Company,  the  partners  now  loeing 
Jacob  Cummer,  Wellington  W.  Cummer, 
Arthur  G.  Cummer  and  Waldo  E.  Cummer. 
Fire  destroyed  the  Jacksonville  plant  in 
1897,  a  saw-mill,  a  planing-mill,  four  large 
dry  kilns,  lumber  sheds,  tramways,  and  six 
million  feet  of  timber,  ready  for  the  mar- 
ket, 1:)eing  wiped  out  of  existence  by  the 
flames.  It  is  estimated  that  the  value  of  the 
property  destroyed  was  one  hundred  and  six- 
ty-two thousand  dollars,  and  on  this  prop- 
erty the  insurance  w-as  one  hundred  and  ten 
thousand  dollars,  a  net  loss  of  fifty-two  thou- 
sand dollars.  Rebuilding  operations  imme- 
diately followed  the  fire  in  1897,  E.  P.  Allis, 
of  Milwaukee,  who  is  now  a  member  of  the 
Allis-Chalmers  Company,  supplying  all  the 


840 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


machiner}^  Two  (double-cutting)  band 
mills  are  included  in  the  rebuilt  plant  in 
Jacksonville,  which  now  has  a  productive 
capacity  of  forty-two  per  cent,  in  excess  of 
the  plant  destroyed  by  the  fire,  and  it  is 
probably  one  of  the  largest  lumbering  plants 
in  the  country  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon 
line. 

Mr.  Cummer's  activities  in  the  south 
have  not  been  confined  to  the  mammoth 
Jacksonville  plant,  but  have  permeated  other 
lines  of  industrial  affairs.  He  built  the  Jack- 
sonville &  Southwestern  Railway — out  of 
Jacksonville — in  1899  ^^^  the  carrying  of 
logs  and  timber  for  the  Cummer  Lumber 
Company.  This  railway  is  eighty-eight 
miles  in  length.  It  was  at  first  operated 
solely  for  the  Cummer  Lumber  Company, 
but  its  value  to  the  section  of  Florida 
through  which  its  trains  passed  necessitated 
an  equipment  for  a  passenger  business,  and 
it  is  now  operated  for  both  freight  and  pas- 
sengers. C.  W.  Chase  and  associates,  of 
Gainesville,  Florida,  became  the  owner  of 
the  Jacksonville  &  Southwestern  Railway  in 
1903,  only  a  few  weeks  ago. 

Mr.  Cummer  is  a  memter  of  The  Cum- 
mer Company,  organized  in  1903  in  Jackson- 
ville, Florida,  the  charter  of  the  Norfolk 
Company  being  dissolved,  and  W.  W.  Cum- 
mer &  Sons,  organized  in  1903,  in  Jackson- 
ville, Florida.  Jacob  Cummer  and  W.  W. 
Cummer  and  the  latter's  two  sons,  Ar- 
thur G.  and  Waldo  E.  Cummer,  are  the 
members  of  The  Cummer  Company,  and 
W.  W.  Cummer  and  his  two  sons  are 
the  partners  in  W.  W.  Cummer  &  Sons. 
Both  of  these  firms  are  heavily  inter- 
ested in  southern  timbers.  The  Cummer 
Company  owning  two  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five   million    feet    of    cypress    and    one 


hundred  million  feet  of  pine,  and  W.  W. 
Cummer  &  Sons  owning  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  million  feet  of  cypress  and  sev- 
eral large  tracts  of  pine,  all  in  Florida.  Mr. 
Cummer  has,  at  various  times,  been  finan- 
cially interested,  too,  in  co-partnership  with 
other  capitalists  in  southern  timbers  in  states 
other  than  Florida,  but  his  operations  are 
now  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  country 
tributary  to  the  Jacksonville  plant. 

Mr.  Cummer's  interests  in  Cadillac  in- 
clude his  meml^ership  in  the  firm  of  Cummer, 
Diggins  &  Company,  operating  in  hardwood 
and  in  chemicals,  and  his  ownership  of  the 
Cummer  Electric  Light  Company  and  the 
Cadillac  Water  Company  plants,  these  two 
latter  representing  an  investment  approxi- 
mating two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Mr. 
Cummer  built  the  electric  light  plant  in  1888 
and  succeeded  H.  N.  Green  in  1881  in  the 
ownership  of  the  water  plant.  Both  of  these 
plants  are  under  the  superintendency  and 
management  of  George  D.  Westover,  and 
both  are  modern  and  complete  in  equipment. 
Cummer,  Diggins  &  Company  own  and  oper- 
ate a  saw-mill,  a  planing-mill  and  a  chemical 
plant,  and  are  large  producers  of  hardwood 
lumber  and  flooring  and  chemicals. 

Mr.  Cummer  was  married,  on  the  nth 
day  of  October,  1872,  to  Miss  Ada  M.  Ger- 
rish,  the  daughter  of  Nathaniel  and  Caro- 
line Gerrish.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cummer  are  the 
parents  of  one  daughter,  Mabel  C.  Cummer, 
and  two  sons,  Arthur  G.  and  Waldo  E. 
Cummer.  Both  of  the  sons  are  interested 
with  their  father  in  his  various  business  en- 
terprises, and  both  are  capable,  successful 
and  progressive  young  business  men. 

Although  Mr.  Cummer's  life  from  boy- 
hood has  been  a  busy  one  and  his  opera- 
tions have  been  large  and  have  permeated 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


841 


nearly  all  sections  of  his  adopted  country, 
he  has  been  liberal  and  generous  in  his  con- 
tributions of  time  and  money  to  public  af- 
fairs and  charitable  and  benevolent  purposes, 
never  forgetting  that  the  highest  type  of 
citizenship  is  that  which  is  mindful  of  home, 
friend,  neighbor  and  country.  Mr.  Cum- 
mer's public  service  as  an  official  includes 
a  term  as  mayor  of  Cadillac,  several  years 
as  an  alderman,  eight  years  as  a  school  in- 
spector, as  a  presidential  elector  in  1888 
from  the  ninth  congressional  district,  his 
vote  being  cast  for  Benjamin  Harrison,  and 
six  years — from  1895  ^^  19^1 — ^^  ^  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  trustees  for  the  Northern 
Michigan  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  the  latter 
appointment  coming  from  Governor  John  T. 
Rich.  In  these  positions  Mr.  Cummer  served 
acceptably,  honorably  and  satisfactorily,  his 
business  experiences  and  his  interest  in  pub- 
lic affairs  making  him  a  valuable  servant  of 
the  people.  In  political  sympathies  Mr.  Cum- 
mer is  a  Republican,  and  the  political  party 
to  which  he  owes  allegiance  has  found  him 
a  loyal,  earnest  and  persistent  worker  in  the 
ranks,  helpful  in  counsel  and  generous  and 
willing  in  effort.  Jacksonville  became  the  le- 
gal residence  of  Mr.  Cummer  and  his  family 
in  1902,  the  plants  in  that  city,  the  Jackson- 
ville &  Southwestern  Railway  and  Mr.  Cum- 
mer's timber  interests  not  only  requiring, 
but  demanding,  his  personal  attention  and 
direction.  In  Jacksonville,  Mr.  Cummer 
identified  himself  with  public  affairs  and 
interested  himself  in  benevolences  and  char- 
ities and  all  those  things  which  contribute 
to  the  weal  and  welfare  of  a  community. 
Mr.  Cummer  is  the  vice-president  of  the 
Jacksonville  Board  of  Trade,  an  organiza- 
tion of  three  hundred  leading  business  men, 
the  strongest  organization  of  its  kind  in  all 


the  south,  and  the  organization  is  now  erect- 
ing a  building  for  itself  which  is  to  cost  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Cummer  was  also 
selected,  in  1903,  for  a  membership  on  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  Jacksonville  schools, 
a  position  of  importance  and  influence  in 
that  its  work  prepares  the  boys  and  girls 
of  today— the  men  and  women  of  tomorrow^ 
— for  citizenship  in  the  greatest  republic 
under  the  shining  sun.  He  is  also  a  trustee 
of  the  Carnegie  Library  Association  now 
erecting  a  fifty-thousand  dollar  building. 

This,  in  brief,  is  the  story  of  the  life  of 
a  successful  Cadillac  business  man,  who, 
through  all  the  changing  years  of  turmoil 
and  strife,  the  years  of  struggle  in  small 
things  and  the  years  of  triumph  in  large 
things,  has  carried  the  family  name  in  honor, 
has  retained  his  self-respect,  has  forgotten 
not  the  duties  devolving  upon  himi  as  a  citi- 
zen, as  a  husband  and  as  a  father.  Such  a 
life  as  this  is  an  inspiration  to  the  young 
men  upon  whose  shoulders  will  fall  the  bur- 
dens of  tomorrow. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cummer  have  always  in- 
terested themselves  in  worthy  beaievolences, 
and  in  Cadillac  have  established  and  main- 
tained an  institution  which  will  preserve 
the  names  in  kindly  remembrance  long 
after  the  imposing  monument  and  the  costly 
mausoleum  have  crumbled  into  dust  and 
passed  from  the  minds  of  men.  Appreciat- 
ing the  importance  of  education  and  the  fur- 
ther fact  that  its  advantages  are  necessarily 
sometimes  withheld  from  many  children, 
Mrs.  Cummer,  several  years  ago,  decided  to 
establish  a  kindergarten  in  her  home  city. 
Mrs.  Cummer  was  assisted  by  Mr.  Cummer 
in  her  plans  for  the  children  of  Cadillac,  and 
in  189s  the  school  was  opened,  with  a  corps 
of  expert  teachers  in  charge.     Mr.  and  Mrs. 


342 


WEXFORD    COUNTY ^  MICHIGAN. 


Ciininier  afterwards  built  an  addition  to  the 
First  Congregational  church  for  the  kinder- 
garten, and  supplied  it  with  a  complete  equip- 
ntent  for  the  training — manual  and  mental 
— of  the  little  l)oys  and  girls  and  their  prep- 
aration for  the  higher  studies  in  the  public 
schools'.  Three  teachers  and  one  voluntary 
assistant  are  now  employed  in  this  kinder- 
garten, and  on  the  membership  roll  are  the 
names  of  nearly  one  and  a  half  hundred  of 
children.  Instruction  in  this  school  is  with- 
out money  and  without  price  and  its  useful- 
ness in  the  city  is  recognized  and  appreciated 
l)y  all  classes  and  wuthin  its  walls  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor  and  the  rich  sit  side  by  side, 
forgetting  the  inequalities  of  social  condi- 
tions, and  receive  the  training  which  is  to 
assist  them  in  after  years  in  the  inevitable 
struggle  for  place  and  power  in  the  Ameri- 
can republic.  It  is  a  worthy  benefaction,  is 
the  free  kindergarten  established  and  main- 
tained by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cummer,  and  as  a 
monument  to  their  helpful  lives  w^ill  he  more 
enduring  than  a  shaft  of  marble  or  pyramid 
of  stone. 

Some  idea  of  Mr.  Cunumer's  present 
operations  may  be  gained  through  the  state- 
ment that  three  hundred  and  seventy-five 
men  are  on  the  Cummer,  Diggins  &  Com- 
pany payroll  in  Cadillac  and  that  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  men  are  on  the  Cummer 
Lumber  Company's  payroll  in  Jacksonville, 
Florida.  In  his  relations  with  his  employes 
Mr.  Cummer  is  kindly,  courteous,  and  in- 
terested in  their  welfare.  Their  personal 
].^lans  and  ambitions  have  always  appealed 
to  him  and  he  has  always  been  willingly 
helpful  to  them  in  whatever  they  have  en- 
tered upon  as  a  means  of  advancing  them- 
selves or  in  preparing  themselves  for  better 
things  in  life. 


HENRY  KNOWLTON. 

To  present  in  detail  the  leading  facts  of 
the  life  of  one  of  Cadillac's  enterprising  mien 
of  affairs  and  throw  light  upon  some  of  his 
more  prominent  characteristics,  is  the  task 
in  hand  in  submitting  a  brief  biography  of 
the  well-known  gentleman  whose  name  ap- 
pears above.  Though  still  in  the  prime  of 
life,  Henry  Knowlton  has  won  an  honorable 
place  in  the  business  world,  besides  impress- 
ing his  strong  personality  upon  the  commun- 
ity where  for  a  number  of  years  he  has  been 
a  forceful  factor  in  financial  circles.  Mr. 
Knowlton  is  a  worthy  representative  of  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  highly  respected  pio- 
iieer  families  of  Ottawa  county,  his  father, 
William  Knowlton,  having  settled  in  that 
part  of  the  state  when  it  was  a  wilderness, 
in  due  time  clearing  and  developing  a  fine 
farm  and  becoming  one  of  the  leading  agri- 
culturists and  representatives  of  what  is  now 
the  township  of  Chester.  On  the  old  home- 
stead in  Chester  township  the  subject  of  this 
review  first  saw^  the  light  of  day,  his  birth 
dating  from  September  17,  1861.  Reared 
in  close  touch  w^ith  nature  in  the  country,  he 
early  became  familiar  with  tlie  varied  duties 
of  farm  life,  and  grew  up  with  a  proper  ap- 
preciation of  the  dignity  of  honest  toil,  know- 
ing little  by  practical  experience  of  the  mean- 
ing of  idleness.  In  the  public  schools  of 
Ottawo  and  Kent  counties  he  obtained  a 
fair  educational  training,  and  on  attaining 
his  majority  he  came  to  Cadillac,  entering, 
in  October,  1882,  the  employ  of  H.  D.  Wal- 
lin,  Jr.,  as  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Michigan 
Iron  Works.  In  his  clerical  capacity  Mr. 
Knowlton  soon  developed  fine  aliilities  and 
became  one  of  the  useful  and  trusted  men 
connected  w^ith  the  above  enterprise,  contin- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


843 


iiing  with  the  com])any  until  1887,  in  Feb- 
ruary of  which  year  he  resigned  his  position 
for  the  purpose  of  accepting  a  more  hicrative 
post,  with  the  private  banking  firm  of  D. 
A.  Blodgett  Company.  Mr.  Knowlton  en- 
tered the  latter  concern  in  a  minor  capacity, 
but,  by  reason  of  efficiency  and  conscientious 
fidelity  to  duty,  gradually  rose  to  more  re- 
s])onsible  stations,  each  succeeding  year  add- 
ing to  his  reputation  as  an  accomplished  ac- 
countant and  able  financier.  Since  1887  he 
has  been  constantly  before  the  public  in  posi- 
tions requiring  the  highest  order  of  business 
talent,  holding  at  this  time  the  office  of  cash- 
ier in  the  Cadillac  State  Bank,  in  which  ca- 
pacity lie  has  gained  worthy  prestige  in 
financial  circles,  being  a  man  of  mature  judg- 
ment, unimpeachable  integrity,  a  hard  work- 
er, careful  in  his  methods  and  conservative 
as  well  as  eminently  successful  in  all  his 
dealings. 

As  may  be  readily  inferred  from  the 
above,  Mr.  Knowlton  occupies  no  second 
place  in  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  fel- 
lowmen,  having  won  the  responsible  posi- 
tion he  now  commands  by  loyalty  to  every 
trust  reposed  in  him  as  well  as  by  the  ability 
and  energy  displayed  in  his  peculiar  field  of 
endeavor.  He  is  a  man  of  wise  foresight, 
whose  enterprising  spirit  no  difficulties  can 
discourage,  and,  with  a  tenacity  of  purpose 
as  rare  as  it  is  admirable,  he  seems  to  pos- 
sess the  faculty  of  moulding  circuniistances  to 
suit  his  purposes,  rather  than  being  afifected 
by  them.  His  sagacity  in  matters  coming 
within  his  sphere  is  most  pronounced,  being 
rarely  mistaken  in  his  judgment  of  mjen  and 
things,  and  he  foresees  with  remarkable 
clearness  future  possibilities  relative  to  his 
business  interests  and  determines  with  a  high 


degree  of  ac(!uracy  their  probable  bearing. 
He  has  made  a  close  and  careful  study  of 
financial  questions,  is  familiar  w^ith  every  de- 
tail of  banking  and  much  of  the  success  of 
the  popular  institution  with  which  he  is 
officially  connected  is  due  to  his  able  and 
judicious  business  methods.  In  all  his  tran- 
sactions he  has  ever  manifested  a  disposition 
to  do  as  he  would  be  done  by  and  by  reason 
of  his  continued  success,  unblemished  char- 
acter and  just  and  liberal  life  he  has  nobly 
earned  the  universal  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held  l)y  his  fellow  men.  It  is  not  as  a  busi- 
ness man  only  that  Mr.  Knowlton  has  come 
prominently  to  the  notice  of  the  people,  as 
he  has  long  been  a  potential  factor  in  the  do- 
main of  politics.  Since  attaining  his  majority 
he  has  been  an  uncompromising  supporter  of 
the  Republican  party  and  as  such  his  influ- 
ence has  had  great  weight  in  local,  affairs, 
having  for  five  years  represented  the  third 
w^ard  in  the  common  council  of  Cadillac,  be- 
sides serving  one  year  as  mayor  of  the  city. 
As  a  member  of  the  council  he  was  instru- 
mental in  introducing  and  bringing  about 
much  important  municipal  legislation,  and 
it  was  during  his  incumbency  as  chief  ex- 
ecutive that  the  present  beautiful  city  hall 
w^as  planned  and  erected,  in  addition  to 
w^hich  many  other  improvements  were  pro- 
vided, including  the  system)  of  free  mail  de- 
livery. 

While  serving  in  public  capacities  Mr.. 
Knowlton  was  untiring  in  his  efTorts  to  pro- 
mote the  city's  material  welfare  and  was 
active  in  all  matters  of  municipal  reform, 
looking  carefully  after  the  people's  interests, 
using  his  influence  to  discourage  lavish  or 
injudicious  expenditures  and  by  every  means 
at  his  command  gaiarding  the  public  funds 


844 


P^EXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


and  conserving  all  available  resources.  To 
him  as  much  as  to  any  one  individual  is  Cad- 
illac indebted  for  the  prosperity  which  has 
marked  the  last  decade  of  its  history,  as  he 
has  labored  earnestly  to  beautify  the  city  and 
make  it  a  desirable  place  of  residence,  besides 
advertising  its  advantages  to  the  world  as 
a  favorable  locality  for  the  investment  of 
capital. 

Mr.  Knowlton  believes  in  progress  and 
improvement  in  all  the  terms  imply,  when 
properly  conducted,  and  he  has  long  been 
an  ardent  advocate  of  all  measures  looking 
to  the  commercial  and  industrial  advance- 
ment of  both  city  and  county,  much  of  the 
credit  for  the  present  excellent  highway  sys- 
tem being  directly  attributable  to  his  efforts 
and  influence.  Believing  the  employment  of 
labor  to  be  among  the  most  judicious  and 
effective  means  by  which  a  community  may 
become  progressive  and  prosperous,  he  has 
been  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  locate  indus- 
tries and  other  enterprises  at  Cadillac,  using 
his  best  endeavors  to  attract  capital  and  in- 
duce investments,  with  the  result  that  every 
enterprising  citizen  has  well-grounded  confi- 
dence in  the  future  prosperity  of  this  section 
of  the  state.  He  was  a  leading  spirit  in  the 
Commercial  C\uh  of  Cadillac,  which,  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1903,  was  succeeded  by  the  Cadillac 
Board  of  Trade,  holding  the  office  of  secre- 
tary at  the  present  time,  and  in  addition  to 
his  interest  in  city  affairs,  he  is  equally  active 
in  advancing  the  agricultural  and  general 
prosperity  of  Wexford  county,  throughout 
which  his  name  has  become  widely  and  fa- 
vorably known. 

Without  invidious  distinction,  it  can  be 
truthfully  said  that  Mr.  Knowlton  is  pre- 
eminently one  of  Cadillac's  most  enterpris- 


ing and  successful  men.  In  every  walk  of 
life  his  chief  aim  has  been  to  do  his  duty  and 
his  friends  feel  proud  of  him  as  a  broad- 
minded,  intelligent  citizen  and  useful  mem- 
ber of  society.  While  giving  personal  atten- 
tion to  his  private  interests  and  discharging 
conscientiously  all  the  duties  of  citizenship, 
he  finds  time  to  devote  to  the  higher  claims 
growing  out  of  man's  relations  as  a  social 
being,  hence  he  is  ever  ready  to  assist  the 
poor  and  unfortunate,  not  a  little  of  his 
means  being  dispensed  through  the  channels 
of  charity  and  benevolence. 

On  the  20th  of  January,  1886,  Mr. 
Knowdton  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Allie  Bishop,  of  Ottawa  county,  a  union 
1)lessed  with  one  child,  a  daughter  by  the 
name  of  Josephine.  The  happy  home  circle 
was  sadly  broken,  however,  by  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Knowlton,  which  occurred  on  the  28th 
of  May,  1903. 

From  the  foregoing  brief  outline  of  a 
busy  career,  it  is  not  difficult  to  arrive  at  a 
just  estimate  of  Mr.  Knowlton's  character 
or  to  fix  his  proper  standing  in  the  com- 
mtmity.  Beginning  the  struggle  of  life  in 
moderate  circumstances,  he  has  not  only  re- 
moved from  his  pathway  the  obstacles  cal- 
culated to  impede  his  progress  and  gained 
an  honorable  position  in  the  business  world, 
but  has  also  lived  to  become  a  power  for 
good  in  the  community  where  he  dwells. 
Interested  in  all  that  tends  to  benefit  his 
fellows,  materially,  educationally  and  mor- 
ally, his  influence  has  always  been  exerted 
in  the  right  direction  and  from  what  he  has 
accomplished  along  the  lines  to  which  his 
talents  have  been  devoted  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  the  world  has  been  blessed  and  made 
better  by  his  presence. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


845 


ELISIIA  M.  BOYNTON. 

A  ver)^  large  per  cent,  of  those  who  have 
attained  prominence  in  this  country  were 
l)orn  and  reared  upon  the  farm.  From  the 
woods,  the  fields  and  meadows  they  entered 
upon  careers  of  usefulness  which  in  very 
many  instances  culminated  in  placing  some 
of  them  in  the  most  exalted  positions  in 
the  nation.  Life  in  the  w^oods,  in  the  clear- 
ing and  in  the  fields  brings  the  youth  in 
much  closer  touch  wath  nature  than  does  any 
other  calling  and,  when  imbued  wnth  ambi- 
tion to  rise  above  his  surroundings,  the  les- 
sons of  industry  he  has  learned,  the  knowl- 
edge of  nature  he  acquired  and  the  self-con- 
fidence which  farm  life  gives  are  splendid 
aids  in  gratifying  his  ambition.  But  a  very 
large  majority  of  the  youths  who  are  born 
and  reared  upon  the  farm  choose  to  remain 
there,  and  although  they  may  be  charged 
with  lack  of  ambition,  and  accused  of  ''hid- 
ing their  light  under  a  bushel,"  who  shall 
say  that  their  lives  have  not  been  as  happy, 
as  worthy  or  as  useful  to  the  world  as  their 
more  aml^itious  neighbors  who  have  climbed 
well  up  the  ladder  of  faniie  and  wdiose  names 
have  emblazoned  the  pages  of  history.  The 
subject  of  this  article,  Elisha  M.  Boynton, 
of  Greenwood  township,  is  one  of  those  who 
preferred  to  continue  his  life  on  the  farm 
rather  than  engage  in  other  pursuits,  even 
though  more  profit  might  be  realized  there- 
by. He  'was  born  near  Plattsburg,  New 
York,  October  29,  1843.  His  parents  were 
Elijah  and  Polly  (Hazen)  Boynton,  he  a 
native  of  New  York  and  she  of  Vermont. 
They  settled  near  Plattsburg,  New  York, 
on  a  farm,  where  they  continued  to  reside 
until  their  death.  He  died  in  1846,  at  the 
age    of   sixty-seven   years,    while   she   died 


a  number  of  years  later,  being  seventy  years 
old  at  the  time  of  her  death.  They  were  the 
parents  of  four  children,  one  son  and  three 
daughters.  Tlie  son  is  Elisha  M.,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  who  was  the  third  child 
of  the  family.  Until  reaching  the  age  of  thir- 
teen he  resided  on  the  old  home  farm  near 
Plattsburg,  and  then  moved  to  Clinton  coun- 
ty. New  York,  where  he  remained  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion. 

In  October,  1861,  Mr.  Boynton  enlisted 
in  the  United  States  service  as  a  private  sol- 
dier, a  member  of  Company  M,  Ninth  New 
York  Cavalry.  He  served  with  his  regi« 
ment  eighteen  months,  taking  part  in  many 
important  engagements,  when  he  was  dis- 
charged and  returned  to  Clinton  county. 
After  devoting  a  few  months  to  rest  and 
recreation,  he  again  enlisted,  this  time  in 
Company  H,  Second  New  York  Veteran 
Cavalry,  and  served  with  that  regiment  until 
long  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  war.  No- 
vember 8,  1865,  he  was  mustered  out  of  the 
service  and  again  returned  to  Clinton  county, 
where  he  took  up  his  old  vocation,  that  of 
a  farmer,  and  continued  to  prosper. 

In  the  spring  of  1879,  having  been  im- 
pressed with  the  possibilities  of  a  life  in  cen- 
tral Michigan,  he  moved  to  Montcalm  coun- 
ty and  readily  secured  employment  in  the 
woods,  logging  and  lumbering.  He  fol- 
lowed this  vocation  in  Montcalm  county 
until  the  autumn  of  1884,  when  he 
came  to  Wexford  comity  and  settled  on  a 
tract  of  forty  acres  of  wild  land,  a  part  of 
section  35,  Greenwood  township.  It  is  the 
same  piece  of  land  on  which  he  now  resides, 
but  a  vast  change  has  taken  place  in  the  ap- 
pearance which  it  presented  then.  About 
thirty  of  its  acres  have  been  thoroughly 
cleared  of  wood  and  stumps  and  for  many 


346 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


years  the  farm  has  1)een  splendidly  culti- 
vated. The  land  is  fertile  and  productive 
and  each  year  the  subject  has  been  gratified 
l)y  garnering  in  satisfactory  crops.  His 
farm  Iniildings  are  all  that  could  be  desired, 
large,  substantial  and  conveniently  arranged. 
It  is  a  most  comfortal)le  home  and  the  re- 
turns from  the  little  farm,  in  stock  and  crops, 
furnish  them  each  year  a  snug  income. 

December  9,  1867,  Elisha  M.  Boynton 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Nettie  Dun- 
das,  a  native  of  New  York,  born  in  Clinton 
county.  May  4,  1845.  She  is  the  daughter 
of  James  and  Jane  (Doran)  Dundas,  resi- 
dents of  Clinton  county.  New  York.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Boynton  are  the  parents  of  ten 
children,  four  of  whom  died  early  in  life. 
Those  living  are,  Eugenie,  John,  Herbert, 
Mabel,  Harvey  and  Ada.  The  children  are 
all  intelligent,  possessed  of  a  fair  education 
and  have  been  schooled  in  habits  of  industry 
which  cannot  fail  to  make  them  capable  and 
useful.  During  his  residence  of  nineteen 
years  in  Greenwood  township  Mr.  Boynton 
has  been  actively  interested  in  all  public  af- 
fairs, particularly  those  relating  to  that  sec- 
tion of  the  county  wherein  he  resides.  He 
served  as  highway  commissioner  a  number 
of  times  and  was  school  inspector  several 
years.  At  the  present  time  he  occupies  the 
position  of  justice  of  the  ])eace  and  township 
treasurer.  While  his  life  has  been  an  ex- 
ceedingly active  one,  largely  devoted  to 
patient  toil,  it  has  been  ])y  no  means  devoid 
of  happiness.  Many  a  mian  whose  possess- 
ions are  many  fold  greater  than  his  has 
known  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  content- 
ment and  pleasure  that  has  come  to  Elisha 
M.  Boynton  during  the  various  stages  of 
his  career.  He  is  a  good  man,  who  has  lived 
a  worthy  life,  and  goodness,  equal  with  vir- 
tue, is  its  own  reward. 


EUGENE  E.  SAWYER. 

I'he  law  is  generally  conceded  to  be  the 
most  exacting  of  the  learned  professions 
and  to  achieve  distinction  therein  requires 
not  only  natural  abilities  of  a  high  order, 
but  long  years  of  patient  study  and  pains- 
taking research,  supplemented  by  a  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  such  as  the  ordinary 
mind  does  not  possess.  Whatever  else  may 
be  said  of  this  calling,  it  has  always  been 
the  great  arbiter  of  human  rights  and  it 
cannot  l)e  denied  that  members  of  the  bar 
have  been  more  active  and  influential  in 
public  affairs  as  directors  of  thought  and 
moulders  of  opinion  than  any  other  class 
of  men.  This  is  but  the  natural  result  of 
causes  that  are  manifest  and  require  no 
explanation.  The  ability  and  training  which 
qualify  one  for  the  practice  of  law  also  fit 
him  in  many  respects  for  duties  which  lie 
outside  the  strict  path  of  the  profession  and 
which  touch  and  afi:ect  the  general  interests 
of  society  and  the  state.  Hence  the  majority 
of  lawyers  are  broad-minded,  many-sided 
men,  capable  of  grasping  questions,  appreci- 
ating situations  and  controlling  conditions 
upon  which  the  well  being  of  the  body 
politic   very  largely   depends. 

Holding  marked  prestige  among  the 
leading  lawyers  of  Wexford  county  is  Eu- 
gene E.  Sawyer,  at  this  time  tlie  oldest  prac- 
ticing attorney  in  the  city  of  Cadillac  and  one 
of  the  most  successful  members  of  a  bar 
long  noted  for  the  liigh  order  of  its  legal 
talent.  Mr.  Sawyer  was  born  May  8,  1848, 
in  the  city  of  Cirand  Rapids,  being  the  son 
of  James  and  Susan  C.  (Nardin)  Sawyer, 
the  father  a  native  of  England,  the  mother 
a  descendant  of  an  old  Huguenot  family 
whose  ancestors  in  this  country  came  from 
France.     James  Sawyer  came  to  the  United 


EUGENE  F.  SAWYER. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


847 


States  as  early  as  1834,  settling  at  Grand 
Rapids  when  that  flourishing  city  was  but 
a  mere  Ijackwoods  hamlet,  the  Nardins  mov- 
ing to  the  same  place  al)out  four  years  later. 
The  subject's  parents  were  married  in 
Grand  Rapids,  and  there  reared  their 
family  and  spent  the  remainder  of  their 
days,  both  dying  a  number  of  years  ago. 

Eugene  F.  Sawyer  spent  the  years  of  his 
childhood  and  youth  in  his  native  town  and 
received  his  education  in  the  public  schools, 
graduating  in  1868  from  the  high  school  of 
Grand  Rapids,  with  a  creditable  record  as 
a  student.  During  the  early  years  of  his ' 
manhood  he  followed  farming  and  of  winter 
seasons  taught  school,  in  this  w^ay  earning 
sufficient  money  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
a  course  in  the  Michigan  University,  which 
he  entered  in  the  fall  of  1870,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preparing  himself  for  the  legal  pro- 
fession. Three  years  later  he  was  gradu- 
ated from  the  law  department  of  that  insti- 
tution and  immediately  thereafter  came  to 
Cadillac,  where  he  opened  an  office  and 
soon  took  high  rank  among  the  leading 
members  of  the  Wexford  county  bar.  For 
two  years  he  was  associated  with  S.  S. 
l^allas,  but  at  the  expiration  of  that  time 
effected  a  copartnership  with  James  R. 
Bishop,  which,  under  the  style  of  Sawyer 
&  Bishop,  has  continued  to  the  present  time, 
and  which  is  universally  conceded  to  be  one 
of  the  strongest  and  most  successful  legal 
firms  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state.  As 
a  law^yer  Mr.  Sawyer  has  always  been  a 
safe  counsellor  and  judicious  practitioner, 
being  well  grounded  in  the  fundamental 
principles  of  jurisprudence,  with  the  ability 
and  tact  to  apply  the  same  in  the  most 
obstruse  and  technical  cases.  From  the  be- 
ginning of  his  professional  career  he  has 
21 


exhibited  fine  legal  talent,  his  chief  aim  be- 
ing to  acquire  a  critical  knowledge  of  the 
law,  which,  coupled  with  the  ability  to  pre- 
sent  and   successfully   maintain    any   cause 
undertaken,  has  won  him  a  large  and  lucra- 
tive practice  in  the  courts  of  Wexford  and 
neighboring  counties.     He  is  a  close,  logical 
and  judicious  pleader,  prepares  his  papers 
with  great  skill  and  caution  so  that  when  his 
cases  come  to  trial  he  is  amply  able  to  meet 
the  issues  with  little  fear  as  to  results  at  the 
hands  of  either  court  or  jury.     His  treat- 
m.ent  of  his  cases  is  always   full,   compre- 
hensive  and   accurate,    his   analysis   of   the 
facts  clear  and  exhaustive,  and  he  sees  with 
easy  effort  the  relation  and  dependence  of 
the  facts  and  so  groups    them    as    to    en- 
able him  to  throw  their  combined  force  up- 
on  the   points   they   tend   to  elucidate   and 
prove.     In  the  trial  of  a  cause  he  is  always 
master  of  himself,  deferential  to  the  court, 
kind  and  courteous  towards  opposing  coun- 
sel,  examining  witnesses   very  thoroughly, 
but  treating 'them  w^ith  the  respect  that  sel- 
dom fails  to  gain  their  confidence  and  good 
will.     As  a  speaker  he  is  direct,  logical  and 
forcible,    presenting    his    facts    clearly    and 
concisely  and  impressing  them  with  strong 
and  eloquent  appeals  which  seldom  fail  to 
impress    juries    with    the    justness    of    his 
cause.     The  firm  of  w'hich  Mr.   Sawyer  is 
senior    member    has    been    identified    with 
nearly  all  im])ortant  litigation  at  the  Cadillac 
bar  for  many  years  past,  and  in  every  case 
of  any  prominence  the  subject   is  retained 
either   for  the  prosecution   or  defence,   his 
well-known  abilities  causing  his  services  to 
be  in  great  demand.     Aside  from  his  pro- 
fession, Mr.  Sawyer  has  been  an  influential 
factor  in  the  material  growth  and  prosperity 
of  Cadillac,  taking  an  active  interest  in  all 


848 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


public  improvements  and  spending  no  little 
of  his  time  and  money  to  make  this  city 
the  center  of  trade  and  culture  for  northern 
Michigan.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has 
been  secretary  of  the  Cadillac  Improvement 
Board,  the  objects  of  which  are  to  locate 
industries,  inaugurate  improvements  and  in 
many  other  ways  promote  the  industrial, 
commercial  and  financial  advancement  of  the 
city  and  advertise  its  advantages  to  the 
world  as  a  favorite  place  for  the  invest- 
ment of  capital  and  as  a  beautiful  and  health- 
ful locality  in  which  to  reside.  Mr.  Sawyer 
was  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  west- 
ern division  of  the  Toledo  &  Ann  Arbor 
Railroad  and  for  several  years  served  as  its 
local  attorney,  the  success  of  the  line  in  this 
part  of  the  state  being  largely  due  to  the 
interest  he  manifested  in  its  behalf.  As  an 
ardent  friend  of  popular  education  he  has 
done  much  to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the 
public  schools  of  Cadillac,  serving  for  a 
number  of  years  on  the  board  of  trustees, 
in  which  capacity  he  was  untiring  in  his 
efforts  to  improve  the  system,  by  weeding 
out  incompetent  teachers  and  securing  those 
of  a  higher  order  of  intellectual  and  pro- 
fessional training.  In  the  language  of  an- 
other, 'It  is  claimed  that  while  serving  as 
trustee,  he  was,  and  still  is,  better  acquainted 
with  the  public  schools  of  Cadillac  than  any 
other  person  in  the  city  not  engaged  in 
teaching,"  the  justness  of  which  compliment 
everybody  at  all  familiar  with  the  circum- 
stances cheerfully  concedes. 

While  prosecuting  his  legal  studies  in  the 
University  of  Michigan  Mr.  Sawyer  became 
acquainted  with  an  estimable  lady  of  varied 
culture  by  the  name  of  Miss  Kate  Sipley, 
whom  he  afterwards  married  and  with 
whom  his  life  has  sinc^  been  spent  in  the 


most  felicitous  home  relations.  Mrs.  Saw- 
yer is  the  daughter  of  John  F.  Sipley,  of 
Ann  Arbor,  and  she  has  l)orne  her  husband 
two  children,  Christobell  and  Olive,  both 
bright,  intelligent  and  popular  with  the 
social  circles  in  which  they  move. 

Politically  Mr.  Sawyer  may  be  classed  as 
an  independent,  holding  to  no  particular 
party  but  supporting  men  and  measures 
which  in  his  judgment  make  for  the  best 
interest  of  the  public  in  both  local  and  state 
affairs.  It  has  been  his  boast  that  he  has 
not  voted  a  straight  ticket  of  any  kind  since 
he  could  remember,  which  course  has  doubt- 
less prevented  his  elevation  to  high  official 
stations,  which  he  is  so  well  and  worthily 
qualified  to  hold. 

All  who  know  Mr.  Sawyer  recognize  his 
sterling  worth  as  a  lawyer  and  citizen  and 
appreciate  his  many  efforts  and  self  sacrifices 
for  public  good.  He  is  constitutionally 
honest  and  true,  with  a  high  conception  of 
the  dignity  of  manhood  and  the  genuine 
pride  of  character  that  make  it  impossible 
for  him  to  do  anything  little,  sordid  or  in 
any  way  disreputable.  He  possesses  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  moral  courage  which 
more  than  any  other  human  attribute  con- 
stitutes the  man,  the  steadfast,  reliable 
friend,  the  true  Christian  and  the  patriotic 
citizen.  Fie  is  a  man  of  deep  and  profound 
religious  convictions,  belonging,  with  his 
family,  to  the  First  Congregational  church 
of  Cadillac,  for  the  material  support  of 
which  he  contributes  liberally  of  his  means. 
He  makes  religion  a  part  of  his  every-day 
concerns,  demonstrating  by  a  life  singularly 
free  from  faults  the  pure,  simple  faith  which 
he  has  long  professed.  In  every  relation, 
Mr.  Sawyer  is  easily  the  peer  of  any  of 
his   fellows   in   all   that  constitutes   strong. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


849 


vigorous  manhood  and  during  his  long 
period  of  residence  in  Cadillac  his  name  has 
l^een  synonymous  with  all  that  is  moral  and 
upright  in  citizenship.  He  has  honored 
every  station  to  which  he  has  been  called 
and  in  years  to  come  his  name  and  fame 
will  be  cherished  by  a  people  who  look  upon 
him  as  a  lawyer  of  distinguished  ability,  a 
citizen  without  pretense,  a  public  benefactor 
whom  the  attractions  of  office  could  not 
entice,  and  as  a  man  who,  seeing  and  under- 
standing his  duty,  strove  by  all  means  within 
his  power  to  do  the  same  as  he  would  answer 
to  his  conscience  and  his  God. 


GEORGE  A.  LAKE. 

George  A.  Lake  is  now  a  well-known, 
prosperous  and  enterprising  merchant  of 
Sherman,  where  he  is  engaged  in  the  hard- 
ware and  grocery  business.  His  success  in 
all  his  undertakings  has  been  so  marked  that 
his  methods  are  of  interest  to  the  commer- 
cial world.  He  has  based  his  business  prin- 
ciples and  actions  upon  strict  adherence  to 
the  rules  which  govern  economy,  industry 
and  unswerving  integrity.  His  enterprise 
and  ])rogressive  spirit  have  made  him  a  typi- 
cal American  in  every  sense  of  the  word  and 
he  well  deserves  mention  in  this  history. 
What  he  is  today  he  has  made  himself,  for 
he  began  in  the  world  with  nothing  but  his 
own  energy  and  w^illing  hands  to  aid  him. 
By  constant  exertion,  associated  with  good 
judgment,  he  has  raised  himself  to  a  credit- 
able position  in  trade  circles,  having  the 
friendship  of  many  and  the  respect  of  all 
who  know  him. 

Mr.  Lake  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Penn 


township,  Cass  county,  Michigan,  Septem- 
ber i8,  1857,  a  son  of  George  and  Sarah 
(Gate)  Lake.  The  father  was  a  farmer  by 
occupation  and  was  killed  by  a  stroke  of 
lightning  on  his  farm,  in  April,  1866.  His 
widow  still  survives  him.  They  were  the 
parents  of  five  sons  and  a  daughter,  George 
A.  being  the  second  in  order  of  birth.  He 
was  only  about  eight  years  of  age  at  the  time 
of  his  father's  death  and  from  that  time  he 
has  made  his  own  way  in  the  world  and  he 
also  assisted  in  the  support  of  his  mother 
and  the  younger  children  of  the  family.  He 
remained  a  resident  of  his  native  county  un- 
til fourteen  years  of  age,  when  he  removed 
to  Manistee  county,  Michigan,  settling  on  a 
farm  six  and  a  half  miles  west  of  Wexford 
Corners,  in  Cleon  township,  where  he  made 
his  home  for  several  years,  although  during 
that  time  he  was  employed  at  farm  labor 
by  others  and  also  \yorked  in  the  lumber 
woods.  When  he  was  about  twenty  years  of 
age  he  began  business  on  his  own  account, 
but  fate  still  held  in  store  for  him  many 
hardships  and  difficulties,  but  he  has  met 
these  with  a  resolute  spirit  and  strong  deter- 
mination and  has  at  length  come  off  con- 
queror in  the  strife.  His  first  venture  on 
his  own  behalf  was  in  lumbering  at  Walton 
Junction,  where  he  remained  for  a  brief 
period.  He  purchased  logs  and  had  them 
sawed  into  luml^jer,  but  had  the  misfortune 
to  lose  three  carloads.  This  was  a  severe 
l)low  to  the  young  man  just  starting  out  for 
himself.  For  three  summers  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  operation  of  a  threshing  ma- 
chine in  Wexford  township  and  during  the 
winter  months  he  worked  in  the  lumber 
woods.  He  was  also  employed  by  different 
farmers  in  Wexford  township  and  operated 
rented  land  for  a  season.     About  that  time 


350 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


he  secured  the  agency  for  the  sale  of  wind- 
mills and  horse  rakes  and  was  thus  engaged 
for  a  time,  traveling  on  foot  through  the 
northwestern  part  of  Wexford  county,  but 
becoming  ill  almost  tw^o  years  passed  before 
he  was  again  able  to  w^ork.  Upon  his  re- 
covery he  walked  to  Sherman,  where  he  ar- 
rived without  money  and  was  forced  to 
pawn  his  overcoat  to  pay  for  a  week's  board, 
but  ))y  doing  various  chores  he  was  able  to 
redeem  the  garment  at  the  end  of  that  time. 
Mr.  Lake  obtained  employment  with  a  man 
who  was  buying  cattle  through  the  county 
and  after  several  weeks  spent  in  that  way  he 
worked  at  whatever  he  could  find  to  do  that 
would  yield  him  an  honest  living,  saving 
from  his  earnings  sixty  dollars,  which  he 
added  to  seventy-five  dollars  which  he  had 
made  on  the  sale  of  three  yoke  of  cattle, 
thus  becoming  the  possessor  of  a  capital  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars.  Sub- 
sequently he  sold  agricultural  implements 
for  four  or  five  years  and  at  one  time  he 
employed  six  men  to  assist  him  in  putting 
up  the  implements  and  constructing  the 
windmills.  This  was  a  period  of  prosperity, 
w^ell  merited  by  Mr.  Lake,  who  had  made 
such  a  determined  and  strong  fight  to  gain 
a  start.  His  attention  was  directed  to  the 
implement  business  through  the  summer  sea- 
sons and  in  the  winter  months  he  engaged 
in  lumbering,  taking  off  the  timber  from 
small  tracts  of  land  which  he  had  been  able 
to  purchase.  For  several  years  he  thus  fol- 
lowed lumbering,  realizing  a  fair  profit  from 
his  labors.  Purchasing  a  livery  stable,  he 
conducted  it  for  seven  or  eight  years,  at  first 
having  but  six  horses,  but  gradually  he  in- 
creased the  number  until  he  kept  from  thir- 
ty-five to  fifty  head  in  order  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  his  patronage.     Before  selling  his 


livery  stable  he  became  interested  in  mer- 
chandising in  Sherman,  entering  into  part- 
nership with  H.  B.  Sturtevant  under  the  firm 
name  of  G.  A.  Lake  &  Company,  dealers  in 
shelf,  and  heavy  hardware  and  groceries. 
They  carry  a  large  line  of  goods,  carefully 
selected  in  order  to  meet  the  wishes  of  a 
varied  class  of  patrons,  and  are  now  enjoy- 
ing a  large  trade  which  returns  to  them  a 
gratifying  income. 

Surely  this  era  of  prosperity  is  deserved 
by  Mr.  Lake,  for  he  has  had  his  share  of 
hardships  and  difficulties.  His  educational 
privileges  were  extremely  limited,  he  having 
the  privilege  of  attending  school  for  only 
four  months  after  he  was  eight  years  of  age, 
yet  he  acc[uired  much  knowledge  of  law%  and 
now  does  quite  an  extensive  law  business. 
During  tlie  first  winter  he  spent  in  Cleon 
township  he  did  shoe  repairing.  He  had 
never  learned  the  shoemaker's  trade,  but 
he  possessed  much  natural  mechanical  in- 
genuity and  as  there  was  no  shoemaker  in 
the  district  he  did  much  w^ork.  The  ob- 
stacles he  has  encountered  have  seemed  to 
serve  as  an  impetus  to  renewed  effort  and 
now  he  is  in  possession  of  a  comfortable  com- 
petence as  the  reward  of  his  perseverance 
and  untiring  industry. 

Mr.  Lake  was  married  in  Manton,  Mich- 
igan, to  Emma  Cornell,  a  daughter  of  Aus- 
tin and  Julia  (Davison)  Cornell.  Her  father 
is  now  deceased.  Mrs.  Lake  was  born  in 
vSteuben  county.  New  York,  but  was  reared 
in  Wexford  county  and  in  January,  1886, 
gave  her  hand  in  marriage  to  Mr.  Lake. 
They  have  two  living  children,  Raymond 
and  L"^rban,  and  they  lost  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter in  early  childhood.  The  family  have 
a  pleasant  home  in  Sherman,  celebrated  for 
its   gracious   hospitality.      In   addition   Mr. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


851 


Lake  owns  other  village  property  and  several 
hundrd  acres  of  land,  and  holds  large  inter- 
ests in  several  large  marble  and  clay  beds, 
and  is  making  arrangements  for  operating 
the  same  in  the  near  future.  His  possessions 
are  the  visible  evidence  of  his  life  of  tire- 
less energy  and  perseverance,  his  sound  judg- 
ment and  industry,  and  his  life  record  should 
serve  as  a  source  of  encouragement  and  in- 
spiration to  others,  showing  what  can  be 
accomplished  when  one  has  the  will  to  dare 
and  to  do  and  when  honorable  purpose 
guides  unfaltering*  effort. 

Mr.  Lake  is  one  of  the  most  public-  spir- 
ited citizens  of  the  community,  as  is  attested 
by  the  fact  that  every  enterprise  looking 
to  the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  the 
village  has  received  his  hearty  support.  He 
ooncei\'ed  the  idea  that  a  spur  line  of  rail- 
road, running  up  the  river  from  the  Ann 
Arbor  line  to  a  point  one  and  one-half  miles 
west  of  the  village,  w^ould  be  a  decided  in- 
ducement for  factories  to  locate  here.  The 
river  is  very  crooked  at  this  point  and  by 
straightening  it  the  old  channel  could  be 
used  for  the  storage  of  logs.  He  succeeded 
in  his  efforts  to  have  the  improvement  made 
and  results  have  proven  the  wisdom  of  his 
judgment,  among  the  new  enterprises  being 
one  of  the  largest  stave  and  heading  factories 
in  the  state.  Industrial  progress  at  this  point 
was  so  rapid  that  more  railroad  facilities 
soon  became  necessary  and  he  again  set 
al:)out  to  meet  tlie  demand.  He  succeeded 
in  interesting  the  Manistee  &  Northwestern 
Railroad  Company  and  induced  them  to  ex- 
tend their  line  to  this  locality.  The  survey 
for  this  line  is  now  completed  and  grading 
lias  been  done  to  within  about  four  miles. 
When  completed,  which  will  be  during  the 
present  summer   (1903)^  the  road  will  be 


about  fifty-five  miles  long  and  will  prove  in 
many  ways  a  blessing  to  the  section  of  coun- 
try through  which  it  runs.  Mr.  Lake  now 
has  capitalists  interested  and  hopes  to  be  able 
to  construct  a  dam  across  the  Manistee  river 
at  this  point  (Sherman),  which  will  furnish 
an  inexhaustible  power  for  factories,  elec- 
tric light  and  electric  railway.  If  his  success 
in  this  proves  to  be  as  fruitful  as  other  enter- 
prises to  which  his  energies  have  been  di- 
rected, it  will  be  a  great  boon  to  the  village 
as  well  as  to  a  large  area  of  country  sur- 
founding  it.  He  has  never  blundered  into 
victory,  but  won  his  battles  in  his  head  be- 
fore he  won  them  in  the  field. 


WILLIAM  ROSE. 


There  could  be  written  no  more  com- 
prehensive history  of  a  county  or  of  a  state 
and  its  people  than  that  w^hich  deals  with 
the  life-work  of  those  who  by  their  own  en- 
deavor and  indomitable  energy  have  placed 
themselves  where  they  well  deserve  the  title 
of  both  ''prominent"  and  ''progressive."  In 
this  sketch  will  be  found  the  record  of  a 
citizen  of  Wexford  county  wdiose  career  has 
been  honorable  alike  to  himself  and  his  kin- 
dred and  a  credit  to  the  community  in  which 
he  labored  and  prospered.  Born  in  a  for- 
eign land,  reared  in  Canada  to  manhood, 
the  most  useful  and  productive  part  of  his 
entire  life  has  been  spent  in  the  state  of 
Michigan,  the  last  twenty-three  years  of  it 
being  passed  as  a  resident  of  Wexford 
county. 

William  Rose,  the  subject  of  this  review, 
is  the  person  referred  to  in  the  foregoing 
paragraph.    He  is  a  native  of  Scotland,  born 


852 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


in  Aberdeenshire,  October  i,  1846.  The  first 
eig'ht  years  of  his  Hfe  were  spent  in  his  na- 
tive land.  In  1854  the  family  emigrated  to 
America,  settling*  in  Wellington  county,  On- 
tario, Canada,  where  they  resided  until  1865, 
when  they  came  to  Michigan  and  took  up 
their  residence  on  the  Grand  river,  in  Otta- 
wa county,  about  fourteen  miles  west  of 
Grand  Rapids.  The  parents  of  William 
Rose  were  James  and  Jane  (Davnie)  Rose, 
both  natives  of  Scotland.  Both  are  now 
dead,  each  being  about  seventy-three  years 
of  age  at  the  time  of  their  demise,  although 
the  mother  survived  the  father  some  ten 
years.  They  were  residents  of  Allendale,  Ot- 
tawa county,  at  the  time  of  their  death.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom 
the  subject  of  this  review  was  the  third  child. 
The  subject's  education  was  mainly  re- 
ceived in  Scotland.  On  locating  in  Ottawa 
county  he  readily  secured  employment  in  the 
woods  and  on  the  rivers,  "driving''  logs 
from  the  camps  up  in  the  northern  woods 
down  the  currents  of  the  streams  to  the 
mills  where  they  were  to  be  converted  into 
lumber.  There  are  few  callings  more  haz- 
ardous, more  laborious  or  trying  upon  the 
constitution  than  that  which  the  subject  fol- 
lowed for  years.  Had  he  not  been  a  man  of 
remarkable  physical  health  and  strength  he 
would  have  succumbed  to  the  hardships  he 
was  obliged  to  endure.  In  July,  1880,  he 
decided  to  take  up  farming  and  devote  him- 
self to  that  vocation.  Accordingly  he  moved 
to  Wexford  county,  purchased  eighty  acres 
of  land  in  section  4,  on  the  Manistee  river, 
in  Greenwood  township,  and  proceeded  to 
prepare  it  for  a  home.  He  built  a  pleasant 
home,  cleared  the  greater  part  of  his  land 
and  resided  thereon  until  the  spring  of  1899, 
when  he  moved  to  Manton.     Agricultural 


pursuits  still  occupy  the  greater  part  of  his 
time.  He  is  the  owner  of  sixty-two  acres 
of  fine  land,  all  of  which  lies  within  the  cor- 
porate limits  of  Manton.  More  than  two- 
thirds  of  it  is  clear  and  under  cultivation. 
It  is  constantly  increasing  in  value  and  as 
the  town  spreads  ont  there  is  little  doubt 
that  eventually  the  tract  will  be  laid  out  into 
lots,  each  of  which  will  certainly  com- 
mand a  good  price.  On  the  most  beautiful 
and  sightly  part  of  this  tract  the  subject  has 
erected  a  handsome  and  substantial  resi- 
dence, which  is  richly  and  tastefully  furnish- 
ed, and  this  constitutes  the  family  home — 
one  of  the  most  pleasant  homes  to  be  found 
in  all  Wexford  county. 

William  Rose  was  twice  married.  His 
first  wife  was  Miss  SUvSan  Sheridan,  a  na- 
tive of  Ireland,  born  in  1848.  The  marriage 
was  solemnized  August  6,  1870,  at  Allendale, 
Ottawa  county,  Michigan.  The  bride  was 
a  daughter  of  Thomas  and  Susan  Sheridan, 
Ix)th  natives  of  Ireland.  Immediately  after 
miarriage  the  young  couple  took  up  their  res- 
idence on  the  farm  on  Grand  river,  four- 
teen miles  from  Grand  Rapids,  where  they 
continued  to  reside  until  1880,  when  they 
moved  to  Greenwood  township,  Wexford 
county.  Eight  children  were  born  to  this 
union,  three  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  Those 
living  are:  Philip  S.,  Daisie  S.,  Colin  W., 
Katie  W.  and  Grover  D.  After  remaining  a 
widower  for  more  than  a  year,  on  April  2, 
1896,  William  Rose  was  again  united  in  mar- 
riage, his  bride  on  this  ocasion  being  Mrs. 
Chloe  J.  Winer,  a  daughter  of  Elon  and  Eliz- 
abeth Kingsley  and  widow  of  Benjamin  J. 
Winer,  who  died  in  Little  Rock,  Arkansas. 
Mrs.  Rose  is  a  nati\'e  of  New  York,  born  in 
Monroe  county,  July  2,  1851. 

The  people  of  Greenwood  township  have 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


858 


shown  their  confidence  in  Mr.  Rose's  abiH- 
lies  and  the  regard  in  which  tliey  hold  him 
as  a  man  by  electing  him,  at  different  times, 
to  every  office  there  is  in  the  township  ex- 
cept tliat  of  constable.  He  has  held  the  im- 
portant position  of  county  drainage  com- 
missioner for  a  number  of  years  and  at  the 
present  time  is  serving  as  a  member  of  the 
board  of  education  at  Manton.  He  has  al- 
ways been  deeply  interested  in  the  public  af- 
fairs of  not  only  his  township  but  of  the 
county  and  has  contril^uted  much  towards  its 
growth  and  development.  Until  the  cam- 
paign of  1900  he  always  voted  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket.  Since  then,  however,  he  has 
cast  his  political  lot  with  the  Republican 
party,  believing  that  the  best  interests  of  the 
country  w^ill  be  subserved  by  permiting  polit- 
ical po\yer  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  that 
party.  In  April,  1902,  he  was  chosen  sec- 
retary of  the  Patrons  Mutual  Fire  Insurance 
Company  for  tlie  counties  of  Wexford,  Mis- 
saukee and  Osceola.  He  is  also  secretary  of 
the  Wexford  County  Pomona  Grange  at 
Manton.  There  are  few  men  who  enjoy 
the  confidence,  respect  and  esteem  of  their 
fellow  citizens  more  implicitly  than  does 
William  Rose.  His  life  has  been  one  of 
strict  probity  and  integrity.  He  has  estab- 
lished a  reputation  in  the  cotmty  of  Wex- 
ford for  honesty  and  truth  that  is  more  to 
be  prized  than  the  richest  fortune  of  which 
he  could  be  possessed. 


LEWIS  T.  1  RIPP. 


The  complexity  of  business  life  is  con- 
tinually increasing  and  those  who  are  found 
capable  of  controlling  successfully  important 


business  interests  are  well  worthy  of  being 
termed  ''captains  of  industry.''  Such  a  man 
is  Lewis  J.  Tripp,  who  stands  at  the  head  of 
one  of  the  leading  industrial  interests  of 
Wexford  county,  being  the  proprietor  of  the 
Mesick  Turning  Works,  of  Mesick,  in  which 
he  employs  forty  workmen  in  the  manufac- 
tiu'e  of  broom  handles. 

Mr.  Tripp  is  a  native  son  of  Michigan, 
his  birtli  having  occurred  in  Kalamazoo 
cotuity,  on  the  26th  day  of  March,  1867. 
His  parents  are  Allen  C.  and  Sarah  A.  (Kil- 
gore)  Tripp,  the  former  a  native  of  Onon- 
daga county.  New  York,  and  the  latter  of 
Kalamazoo  county,  Michigan.  They  are 
still  residing  in  the  latter  county  and  their 
two  sons,  Joseph  S.  and  Lewis  J.,  are  also 
living,  so  that  the  family  ciricle  yet  remains 
unbrokcii  by  the  hand  of  death. 

Reared  under  the  parental  roof,  LewisJ. 
I'ripp  ptirsued  his  education  in  the  schools 
of  Kalamazoo  and  in  Parsons  Business  Col- 
lege, of  which  he  is  a  graduate.  On  putting 
aside  his  text-books  he  entered  upon  his 
business  career,  being  at  that  time  seventeen 
years  of  age.  He  began  bee  culture  in  Pa- 
vilion township,  Kalamazoo  county,  having 
then  but  one  swarm,  but  within  seven  years 
he  had  increased  his  apiary  to  one  hundred 
and  forty  colonies  and  his  anmial  sales  of 
honey  brought  to  him  a  goocl  financial  re- 
turn. At  the  end  of  that  time  he  sold  his 
apiary  for  nine  hundred  dollars  and  with  the 
proceeds  of  the  business  he  went  to  Jackson, 
Michigan,  where  he  purchased  an  interest  in 
the  bee  hive  and  box  factory  of  W.  D.  Soper, 
the  firm  name  of  W.  D.  Soper  &  Company 
being  adopted.  Mr.  Tripp  was  connected 
with  that  business  until  a  year  and  a  half  had 
passed,  when  he  sold  his  interest  and  came 
to   Wexford  county,   arriving  here  in   the 


854 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


spring  of  1892.  Here  he  began  the  manu- 
facture of  coiled  elm  barrel  hoops  and  soon 
afterward  added  another  department  to  his 
business — the  manufacture  of  broom)  han- 
dles. Subsequently  he  discontinued  the 
manufacture  of  barrel  hoops  and  now  gives 
his  entire  attention  to  making  broom  han- 
dles, his  industry  being  conducted  under  the 
name  of  the  Mesick  Turning  Works.  This 
has  grown  to  large  proportions,  necessitating 
the  employment  of  forty  men  in  the  factory 
and  he  annually  turns  out  six  million  broom 
handles,  his  product  finding  a  ready  sale  on 
the  market.  He  has  equipped  his  factory 
wath  the  latest  improved  machinery  needed 
in  his  line  and  now  has  a  large  and  profit- 
able business  which  adds  not  a  little  to  the 
commercial  activity  of  the  town. 

In  Jackson,  Michigan,  on  the  i6th  of 
September,  1891,  Mr.  Tripp  w^as  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Esther  Gee,  who  w^as  born 
in  Monroe  county,  this  state,  July  14,  1868, 
a  daughter  of  Luman  and  Maggie  A.  Gee. 
Two  children  have  been  born  unto  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Tripp:  Oliver  A.  and  Leo  C.  Mr. 
Tripp  is  one  of  the  leading  Republicans  of 
Springville  township,  believing  firmly  in  the 
principles  of  his  party  and  doing  everything 
in  his  power  to  promote  its  growth  and  in- 
sure its  success.  Fraternally  he  is  promi- 
nent, being  a  valued  member  of  Sherman 
Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons ;  Sherman 
Camp  No.  2240,  Modern  Woodmen  of  Amer- 
ica, and  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  680,  Benevolent 
Protective  Order  of  Elks.  A  man  of  great 
natttral  ability,  his  success  in  business  from 
the  beginning  of  his  residence  in  Wexford 
county  has  been  uniform  and  rapid.  As  has 
been  truly  remarked,  after  all  that  may  be 
done  for  a  man  in  the  way  of  giving  him 
early  opportunities,    he    must    neverthieless 


essentially  formulate,  determine  and  give 
shape  to  his  own  character,  and.  this  is  what 
Mr.  Tripp  has  done.  He  has  persevered  in 
the  pursuit  of  a  persistent  purpose  and  has 
gained  a  most  satisfactory  reward,  and  his 
business  methods,  being  in  strict  conformity 
to  the  highest  commercial  ethics,  have  gain- 
ed him  uniform  confidence  and  regard. 


CARROLL  E.  MILLER,  M.  D. 

Among  the  leading  physicians  and  sur- 
geons of  northw^estern  Michigan  the  subject 
of  this  sketch  has  long  held  a  deservedly 
conspicuous  place  and  his  distinguished 
career  since  locating  in  Cadillac  entitles  him 
to  honorable  mention  as  one  of  the  rep- 
resentati^x  ])rofessional  men  of  Wexford 
county.  The  Miller  family  is  an  old  one 
and  its  history  is  traceable  to  the  early 
Puritan  settlement  of  New  England,  the 
Doctor's  ancestors  having  been  among  the 
first  w-hite  men  to  seek  freedom  of  worship 
on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  in  1620.  On 
the  maternal  side  the  subject's  lineage  de- 
scends in  an  unbroken  line  from  the  cele- 
brated Maryland  family  of  Carrolls,  of 
which  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  inde- 
pendence, w^as  perhaps  its  most  distinguished 
representative,  and  there  is  well  established 
proof  that  that  eminent  statesman  and 
patriot  was  the  Doctor's  direct  antecedent. 
Dr.  Miller's  grandfather  w^as  a  seafaring 
man  who  commanded  a  ship  which  plied 
the  waters  of  many  oceans  and  spent  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  on  the  weaves. 
Among  his  children  w^ere  two  sons,  Charles 
Carroll  and  Judson  J.,  both  of  whom  became 


'^:^>'-:v-v    .-^"    ^'■•'      A/\'- 


cm^l  g.  ^cM. 


yc^ 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


355 


eminent  Baptist  divines,  the  latter  having 
la))ore(l  in  the  cities  of  Worcester  and  Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts,  for  upwards  of  thirty 
years,  (hu'ing  which  time  he  rose  to  stations 
of  prominence  in  the  church  and  earned 
much  more  than  local  repute  as  a  scholarly 
and  eloquent  preacher  of  the  Word.  Charles 
Carroll  Miller  w^as  born  in  Maine  and  re- 
ceived a  liberal  education  and  after  his  ordi- 
nation as  a  minister  served  as  a  pastor  ot 
different  churches  in  the  various  parts  of- 
New  England,  his  chief  field  of  labor,  how- 
ever, being  confined  to  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts. About  the  year  1853  ^^^  came 
to  Micliigan  and  for  some  time  thereafter 
ministered  to  a  congregation  in  Grand 
Rapids,  subsequently  holding  pastorates  in 
Stanton,  this  state,  and  Augusta,  Wisconsin, 
lie  is  still  actively  engaged  in  the  work  of 
his    holy    office. 

Politically  Rev.  Miller  has  long  been  an 
influential  factor  in  the  Rq^uMican  party 
and  has  frequently  appeared  on  the  hustings 
in  the  campaigns  of  more  than  ordinary  im- 
port, his  well-known  forensic  ability  caus- 
ing his  services  to  be  much  sought  after  by 
party  leaders  throughout  the  state.  For 
many  years  he  was  in  close  touch  with  the 
most  prominent  Republicans  of  Michigan, 
among  wdiom  was  Hon.  Zachariah  Chandler, 
a  man  of  national  repute,  between  wdiom  and 
himself  feelings  of  the  warmest  personal 
friendship  existed  as  long  as  the  former 
lived. 

The  maiden  name  of  Mrs.  Charles  Car- 
roll Miller  was  Miriam  C.  Dyer,  who  bore 
him  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review  being  the  oldest  of  the 
family;  the  others  are  Frank,  a  lawyer 
practicing  his  profession  in  Montcalm 
county,  this  state,  and  has  just  been  elected 


mayor  of  Stanton  for  the  fourth  time ; 
Judson,  a  resident  of  Cadillac;  Rev.  Ashley, 
a  Baptist  minister  located  in  Idaho;  Fanny, 
wife  of  Frank  Ashley,  of  Big  Rapids,  and 
Jessie,  who  is  living  with  her  parents. 

Dr.  Carroll  E.  Miller  was  born  February 
I,  1851,  in  Portland,  Maine,  and  was  a  small 
child  when  his  parents  exchanged  their  resi- 
dence in  New  England  for  a  home  in  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan.  After  attending  the 
common  and  high  schools  of  that  city  he 
entered  the  State  Agricultural  CoUegej'  at 
Lansing,  where  he  prosecuted  his  studies  un- 
till  completing  the  prescribed  course,  gradu- 
ating in  1872  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Science.  Leaving  college,  he  devoted 
some  time  to  teaching  and  subsecjuently  was 
elected  superintendent  of  the  public  schools 
of  Neillsville,  Wisconsin,  which  position  he 
held  for  a  period  of  three  years,  the  mean- 
while establishing  a  creditable  record  as  an 
efficient  educator  and  capable  manager. 
While  a  mere  youth  the  Doctor  manifested 
a  decided  preference  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession and  the  laudable  ambition  to  make 
it  his  life  work  was  ever  uppermost  in  his 
mind.  Witli  this  object  in  view  he  prose- 
cuted his  educational  work  and  as  soon  avS 
he  had  accumulated  sufficient  means  he  en- 
tered Rush  Medical  College  at  Chicago.  He 
paid  his  way  through  that  institution  by 
working  in  the  Times  office  from  two  to 
six  o'clock  every  morning,  earned  an  honor- 
able record  as  a  close  and  critical  student, 
and  was  graduated  in  1879  ^"^^^h  one  of  the* 
highest  grades  in  his  class.  He  was  elected 
president  of  the  class,  being  w^ell  qualified 
for  the  course  by  reason  of  a  well  stored 
mind  and  a  fitness  for"  the  duties  of  the  po- 
sition. The  same  year  in  which  he  finished 
his  course  Dr.   Miller  opened  an  office  in 


856 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Cadillac  and  here  he  has  since  remained,  con- 
ducting a  steadily  increasing  practice,  as  suc- 
cessful financially  as  it  has  been  profession- 
ally, and  establishing  a  reputation  which,  as 
stated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  has  won 
him  distinctive  prestige,  not  only  among 
leading  physicians  of  his  city  and  county 
but  also  among  the  most  distinguished  medi- 
cal men  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  state. 
In  addition  to  his  large  general  practice  he 
served  for  some  time  as  United  States  ex- 
amining surgeon  for  the  pension  depart- 
ment, also  held  the  post  of  assistant  surgeon 
for  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad, 
and  in  these  responsible  positions  added  very 
materially  to  his  standing  in  every  branch 
of  his  profession.  Dr.  Miller  is  one  of  the 
oldest  physicians  in  Wexford  county  and  to 
say  that  he  is  also  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful is  abundantly  demonstrated  by  the  uni- 
form advancement  which  has  characterized 
his  career  from  the  beginning  to  the  present 
time.  He  has  never  ceased  to  be  a  student 
and  availing  himself  of  every  opportunity 
to  increase  his  knowledge  and  familiarize 
himself  with  the  art  of  reducing  the  same 
to  practice,  he  has  kept  fully  abreast  the 
times  in  all  things  relating  to  medical  science 
and  stands  today  the  peer  of  any  of  his 
professional  brethren  in  a  field  where  talent 
and  skill  are  recognized  at  their  true  value. 
The  Doctor  is  essentially  a  self-made  man, 
as  he  began  life  with  no  financial  help  and 
with  nothing  in  the  way  of  social  prestige 
'  or  the  power  of  influential  friends  to  stimu- 
late him  in  his  chosen  sphere  of  endeavor. 
As  w^e  have  already  learned  he  was  obliged 
to  rely  entirely  upon  his  own  resources  for 
his  professional  training  and  to  this  perhaps 
as  much  as  to  any  other  circumstance  is 
he  indebted  for  the  sturdy  self  reliance  and 


determination  to  conquer  obstacles,  which 
are  among  his  most  pronounced  character- 
istics. He  mounted  rapidly  the  ladder  of 
success,  managed  with  consummate  skill 
that  which  he  early  set  about  to  accomplish, 
and  from  the  modest  beginning  alluded  to 
he  has  advanced  step  by  stq3  until  reaching 
the  present  proud  position  he  occupies  as 
one  of  the  eminent  medical  men  of  his  day. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  State  Medical  Society, 
in  the  deliberations  of  which  he  has  been 
much  more  than  a  passing  spectator,  and 
at  one  time  he  was  honored  by  beiing 
elected  a  member  of  the  Ninth  Inter- 
national Medical  Congress,  which  con- 
vened in  1888  in  Washington,  D.  C.  Clear 
perception,  correct  judgment,  comprehen-f 
sive  thought  and  stainless  honor  have 
marked  the  Doctor's  career  outside  his  pro- 
fession and  as  a  citizen,  deeply  interested  in 
everything  calculated  in  any  way  to  promote 
the  interests  of  the  comnumity,  he  is  easily 
the  peer  of  any  of  his  fellow  men  in  the  city 
of  his  residence. 

In  the  year  1875,  ^^^  Augusta,  Wisconsin, 
was  solemnized  tl^e  ceremony  by  which  Dr. 
Miller  and  Miss  A.lice  Turner,  a  native  of 
Auburn,  New  York,  were  united  in  the 
bonds  of  wedlock.  Mrs.  Miller  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Rev.  George  Turner,  a  leading  minis- 
ter of  the  Advent  church,  living  in  the  city 
of  Chicago,  and  she  has  borne  her  luisband 
five  children,  whose  names  are  DeVere, 
Jessie,  Carroll,  Ray.  Of  the  three  living  chil- 
dren and  Miriam.  DeVere  is  a  graduate  of 
Rush  Medical  College  and  is  the  junior 
member  of  the  firm  of  Doctors  Miller  & 
Miller;  Jessie  is  a  graduate  of  Oberlin  Col- 
lege and  married  H.  L.  Edgerton,  of 
Sharon,  Pa.,  where  she  now  lives;  Carroll 
is  a  graduate  of  the  Cadillac  high  school 


Py  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


857 


and  is  now  a  student  of  naval  engineering. 
Dr.  Miller  possesses  in  a  marked  degree 
those  traits  and  abilities  which  mark  men 
masters  of  their  own  destinies.  Great  in- 
dustry and  consecutive  effort  account  large- 
ly for  the  success  which  has  attended  him 
and  the  honors  already  won  bespeak  for  him 
a  long  and  prosperous  future  in  which  to 
])enefit  and  bless  the  world  by  ministering 
to  and  liealing  the  ills  of  suffering  humanity. 
^Vhile  attending  closely  to  his  professional 
duties,  the  Doctor  finds  time  for  the  con- 
sideration of  public  matters  and  ever  since 
locating  in  Cadillac  he  has  been  an  active 
participant  in  the  affairs  of  the  city.  In 
politics  he  is  a  staunch  Republican,  and  as 
such  has  rendered  his  party  yeoman  service, 
having  been  active  in  its  councds,  besides 
serving  at  different  times  as  a  delegate  to 
local,  district  and  state  conventions.  He  is 
an  ardent  friend  of  education  and  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  school  board  of  Cadillac  labored 
zealously  for  the  schools  of  the  city,  doing 
much  to  bring  them  up  to  their  present  high 
standard  of  efficiency.  He  is  identified  with 
several  social  and  fraternal  organizations, 
among  which  are  the  Delta  Tau  Delta,  the 
Royal  Arcanum  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias, 
holding  the  title  of  past  chancellor  in  the 
last  named  society.  He  is  also  a  Mason 
of  high  standing,  having  taken  a  numl)er 
of  degrees  in  that  ancient  and  honoral)le 
order,  including,  among  others,  that  of  Sir 

Xnight. 

-^-^^^ 

EDWARD  G.  MOFl^^IT. 

Of  the  many  influential  families  of  Wex- 
ford county  few  have  resided  there  longer, 
made  a  deeper  or  more  lasting  impression 


upon  the  history  of  the  county  or  wielded 
more  influence  for  good  than  has  the 
Moffit  family,  of  Cedar  Creek  township.  It 
is  now  nearly  a  generation  since  Edward  G. 
Moffit,  the  subject  of  this  review,  accom- 
panied by  the  accomplished  lady  who  had 
then  only  recently  become  his  wife,  came  to 
the  county  of  W^exford  to  make  it  his  home. 
It  was  the  same  year  in  which  the  county  was 
organized  (1873)  and  from  that  time  until 
the  present  they  have  been  respected  residents 
of  the  county. 

Edward  G.  Moffit  is  a  native  of  the  state 
of  Michigan,  having  been  l^orn  in  Kent  coun- 
ty, January  3,  1849.  ^^^  parents  were  E1)er 
and  Nancy  (Lindsay)  Moffit,  the  former  be- 
ing a  native  of  Ohio  and  the  latter  of  Con- 
necticut. They  came  to  Kent  county,  Mich- 
igan, in  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of 
the  state  and  continued  to  be  a  part  of  its 
population  until  their  death.  He  was,  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  about  sixty  years  old  and 
she  survived  him  a  number  of  years,  expiring 
when  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  her  age. 
Eleven  children,  nine  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters, were  born  to  them,  the  subject  being 
the  fifth  child  of  the  family. 

On  his  father's  farm  in  Kent  county,  Ed- 
ward G.  Moffit  was  reared  and  there  he  re- 
mained until  he  had  attained  the  age  of 
twenty-two  years.  He  received  a  fair  com- 
mon school  education,  such  as  the  times  and 
the  conditions  tlien  prevailing  afforded. 
Vch.  5,  1874,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Almeda  Brown,  a  lady  of  good  educa- 
tion and  fine  mental  endowments.  She  is  a 
native  of  Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  l)orn 
July'20,  1852,  her  parents  being  James  M. 
and  Diantha  L.  (Ball)  Brown,  who  were 
natives,  the  father  of  New  York  and  the 
mother  of  Michiran.     The  father  had  emi- 


358 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


grated  to  Michigan  in  an  early  day,  locating 
in  Ottawa  county.  They  later  moved  to 
Kent  county,  where  they  continued  to  reside 
until  1873,  when  they  moved  to  Wexford 
county  and  settled  in  Manton.  There  Mr. 
Brown  departed  this  life,  since  when  his 
Avidow  has  made  her  home  on  the  farm  he 
left.  He  was,  at  the  time  of  his  demise, 
sixty-nine  years  of  age.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  two  children,  the  oldest  of  whom  is 
Mrs.  Moffit,  who  was  reared  in  the  county  of 
her  birth  to  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  when 
the  family  moved  to  Byron  township,  Kent 
county,  where  she  grew  to  womanhood  and 
where  she  was  united  in  marriage  to  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review.  Four  children  were  born 
to  this  union,  one  of  whom,  Freddie,  died  in 
infancy.  The  other  children  are :  Frank  J., 
Claude  A.  and  George  S.  Frank  J.  wedded 
Lena  G.  Boyer,  and  they  have  two  children, 
Blanche  and  Beatrice;  Claude,  who  owns  a 
forty-acre  farm,  married  Maggie  Gibson,  and 
George  S.  is  at  home  and  attending  school. 

On  the  removal  of  the  family  to  Wex- 
ford county,  in  1873,  they  located  in  Man- 
ton,  where  the  subject  secured  employment 
in  a  saw-mill,  as  filer  and  sawyer.  F^or  twen- 
ty years  he  followed  this  business  at  Manton 
and  other  places  and  then  moved  to  Kalkas- 
ka, where  he  remained  nine  years,  then  re- 
turned to  Wexford  county  and  settled  in 
Cedar  Creek  township^  on  the  farm  which 
he  now  owns,  occupies  and  operates.  It 
comprises  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 
one  hundred  of  which  is  cleared  and  under 
cultivation.  It  is  a  fine  piece  of  land,  very 
productive  and  splendidly  improved.  He  is 
a  thorough  farmer,  one  who  keeps  fully 
abreast  of  the  times  in  all  that  relates  to  his 
business.  He  takes  an  active  interest  in  all 
matters   pertaining   to   the   welfare   of   his 


township  and  county,  and,  in  his  own  modest 
way,  has  done  much  to  advance  the  interest 
of  each.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moffit  are 
thinkers  of  the  advanced  school,  particularly 
on  matters  relating  to  religion,  and  are  firm 
believers  in  the  teachings  of  Christian 
Science.  They  became  interested  in  this  re- 
ligion in  1893  and  no  doctors  have  been  in 
this  home  for  thirteen  years.  They  derive 
great  pleasure  in  the  perusal  of  the  writings 
of  Mrs.  Mary  luldy  Baker  and  they  have 
effected  many  remarkable  cures.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Moffit  are  respectively  first  and  second 
readers  in  the  Christian  Science  church  at 
Manton.  Fie  was  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  for  .many  years.  The  high  esteem 
in  which  he  is  held  bears  testimony  to  the 
moral  character  and  substantial  worth  of  the 
man  and  his  life  has  been  so  filled  with  good 
deeds  that  he  finds  little  to  regret  in  the  years 
that  are  gone. 


WILLIS  D.  GUERNSEY. 

Willis  D.  Guernsey,  who  carries  on  gen- 
eral farming  on  section  16,  Cedar  Creek  town- 
ship, is  a  native  of  the  Empire  state,  his  birth 
having  occurred  upon  a  farm  in  Lewis  coun- 
ty. New  York,  on  the  i  ith  day  of  July,  1854. 
Flis  parents  were  Alonzo  and  Lorania  (Ham- 
lin) Guernsey,  and  unto  them  were  born  nine 
children,  seven  sons  and  two  daughters.  Wil- 
lis D.  Guernsey  was  the  fifth  in  order  of 
1)irth  and  was  but  two  years  of  age  when  his 
parents  left  New  York,  emigrating  w^est- 
ward  to  Michigan.  They  settled  in  Van  Bu- 
ren  county  upon  a  farm  and  there  the  sub- 
ject remained  with  his  parents  until  1865, 
when  the  father  died.  In  1868  he  went  with 
his  mother  to  Mason  county,  Michigan, 
where  he  continued  to  live  for  about  twelve 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


859 


years  and  on  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
came  to  Wexford  county,  arriving  here  in 
the  spring  of  1880. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Guernsey  had  been 
married  in  Mount  Pleasant,  Michigan,  on  the 
19th  day  of  December,  1879,  the  lady  of  his 
choice  being  Miss  Elizabeth  Osborne,  who 
was  born  in  Lewis  county.  New  York,  on  the 
1 6th  day  of  June,  1857,  ^  daughter  of  John 
and  Julia  (Parmeter)  Osborne,  in  whose 
family  were  ten  children,  four  sons  and  six 
daughters,  Mrs.  Guernsey  being  the  third  of 
the  family.  She  spent  her  early  childhood 
days  in  the  state  of  her  nativity  and  was  a 
maiden  of  eleven  summers  when  her  parents 
came  to  Michigan,  settling  in  Mason  county, 
where  she  grew  to  womanhood.  The  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guernsey  has  been 
blessed  with  three  children,  two  sons  and  a 
daughter:  Herman  W.,  of  Kidder  county. 
North  Dakota;  Charles  F.,  who  owns  a  for- 
ty-acre farm  in  Cedar  Creek  township,  and 
Charlotte  M.,  who  wedded  Clarence  E.  Tif- 
fany, of  Cedar  Creek  township. 

When  Mr.  Guernsey  arrived  in  Wexford 
county  he  turned  his  attention  to  farming  and 
was  also  employed  in  a  saw-mill  until  the  fall 
of  1882,  at  which  time  he  took  up  his  abode 
upon  the  farm  which  is  yet  his  home.  He 
has  resided  here  through  all  the  intervening 
years,  and  this  has  been  a  period  of  marked 
activity  and  energy  in  his  life.  He  has 
erected  good  buildings  upon  his  place  and  has 
cultivated  fifty  acres  of  his  eighty-acre  tract, 
so  that  the  fields  are  very  arable  and  return 
to  him  excellent  harvests.  He  possesses  good 
business  ability,  sound  judgment  and  strong 
purpose,  and  upon  this  sure  foundation  he 
has  builded  his  success,  being  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortunes.  In  public  affairs  he  is 
also  deeply  interested  and  has  co-operated  in 


many  measures'  for  the  general  good.  He 
has  served  as  constable  of  his  township  for 
many  years,  and  for  several  years  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  review  of  Cedar 
Creek  township.  His  political  support  is 
given  to  the  Republican  party  and  he  keeps 
well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day,  thus 
being  able  to  support  his  position  by  intelli- 
gent argument.  Fraternally  he  is  connected 
with  Maqueston  Tent  No.  220,  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees,  and  he  and  his  wife  are 
affiliated  with  Rosehill  Grange.  During  al- 
most his  entire  life  Mr.  Guernsey  has  re- 
sided in  Michigan  and  possesses  the  enter- 
prise so  characteristic  of  this  section  of  the 
country.  Brooking  no  obstacles  that  could 
be  overcome  by  determination  and  honorable 
effort,  he  has  steadily  progressed  on  his  path 
toward  the  goal  of  his  success. 


JOSEPH  STEWART. 

Joseph  Stewart,  who  resides  in  Clam 
township,  Wexford  county,  is  one  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Michigan  who  have  crossed  the  bor- 
der from  the  Dominion.  He  w^as  born  in 
the  county  of  Ontario,  Canada,  on  the  15th 
of  April,  1 85 1,  and  is  a  son  of  John  Stewart, 
who  died  in  that  country  when  more  than 
eighty  years  of  age.  His  mother  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Ann  Thornell,  and,  surviv- 
ing her  husband  for  a  time,  passed  away  in 
Canada  at  the  very  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
five  years.  They  were  the  parents  of  eight 
children,  of  whom  Joseph  Stewart  is  the  fifth 
in  order  of  birth. 

In  the  county  of  his  nativity  Josq)h 
Stew^art  was  reared  and  the  public  schools 
afforded    him    his    educational    privileges. 


860 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


His  training  in  business  was  received  upon 
his  father's  farm,  where  he  early  became  con- 
versant with  the  practical  methols  of  pro- 
ducing good  crops  and  caring  for  stock.  He 
has  been  connected  with  no  other  occupa- 
tion during  his  entire  hfe.  Entering  upon 
his  business  career  in  Canada,  he  there  en- 
gaged in  farming  until  his  removal  to  Wex- 
ford county,  Michigan,  which  occurred  in 
the  spring  of  1888.  On  his  arrival  here  he 
took  up  his  abode  upon  his  present  farm  in 
Clam  Lake  township,  and  now  he  has  a  val- 
uable property,  which  is  indicative  of  his 
careful  supervision  and  enterprising  spirit. 
He  has  erected  a  very  pleasant  brick  farm 
residence  a,nd  good  barns  and  all  the  other 
necessary  outhuildings,  and  he  owns  eighty 
acres  of  land,  most  of  wliich  is  cultivated. 
The  passerby  can  see  at  a  glance  that  the 
owner  is  a  man  of  practical  ideas  and  that 
neatness  and  thrift  are  characteristics  of  his 
work. 

Ere  leaving  Canada  Mr.  Stewart  was 
united  in  marriage,  in  Ontario  county,  to 
Miss  Esther  Newson,  wdio  was  born  in  that 
county,  a  daughter  of  William  New^son,  of 
Ontario,  who  is  now  deceased.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Stewart  have  become  the  parents  of 
four  children,  of  whom  the  eldest,  Anna,  is 
now  the  wife  of  Thomas  Nichols.  William 
wedded  Miss  Mabel  Nixon.  EHza  is  the  wife 
of  Victor  Gurnet,  and  Ethel  is  still  under  the 
paternal  roof.  Mr.  Stewart  and  his  family 
are  widely  and  favoral^ly  known  in  the  coun- 
ty, having  gained  many  warm  friends,  who 
hold  them  in  high  regard. 

Mr.  Stewart  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
reviews  in  Clam  Lake  township,  and  is  also 
serving  as  supervisor  of  the  Hobart  school. 
Realizing  the  value  of  education  as  a  prep- 
aration for  life's  practical  duties,  the  schools 


have  e\'er  found  in  him  a  warm  friend,  and 
he  has  put  forth  every  effort  in  his  power  to 
secure  good  teachers  and  raise  the  standard 
of  education  here.  He  and  his  wife  are  ear- 
nest, consistent  Christians,  holding  member- 
ship with  the  Baptist  church,  and  their  lives 
and  influence  have  been  potent  factors  in  its 
growth  and  progress.  Mr.  Stewart  is  deep- 
ly interested  in  the  material,  social,  intellect- 
ual and  moral  advancement  of  his  com- 
munity, tie  has  so  lived  as  to  command  the 
respect  and  good  will  of  all  with  wdiom  he 
has  come  in  contact,  and  he  is  now  classed 
among  the  leading  representatives  of  agricul- 
tural interests  here.  In  his  business  career 
he  has  placed  his  dependence,  not  upon  spec- 
ulation or  fortunate  combination  of  circum- 
stances, but  upon  perseverance,  labor  and 
sound  judgment,  and  upon  these  he  has 
builded  his  prosperity. 


GEORGE  W.  BLUE. 

The  subject  of  biography  yields  to  no 
other  in  point  of  interest  and  profit.  It  tells 
of  the  success  and  defeats  of  men,  the  diffi- 
culties they  have  encountered,  and  gives  an 
insight  into  the  methods  and  plans  which 
they  have  pursued.  The  obvious  lessons 
therein  taught  will  prove  of  great  benefit  if 
followed,  and  the  example  of  the  self-made 
man  should  certainly  encourage  others  into 
whose  cradle  smiling  fortune  has  cast  no 
glittering  crowni  to  press  forward  to  nobler 
aims  and  higher  ideals.  Such  a  man  is 
George  W-  Blue,  subject  of  this  review,  and 
in  a  1)iographicaI  compendium  of  Wex- 
ford county's  progressive  and  representa- 
tive citizens  his  name  is  deserving  of 
conspicuous    mention.      Mr.    Blue    is    one 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


361 


of  Michigan's  native  sons,  born  in  La- 
peer county,  September  2T,  1846.  His 
parents, 'John  and  Mary  (Braymer)  Bkie, 
were  early  settlers  of  Lapeer  county  and  fig- 
ured prominently  in  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  that  part  of  Michigan.  The  father 
was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  the  mother  of 
Livingston  county,  New^  York.  She  died  in 
Iowa,  Iowa,  at  the  age  of  forty-four  years, 
while  he  lived  in  Lapeer  county,  Michigan, 
until  he  reached  the  age  of  sixty-three  years, 
when  he  too  passed  to  his  eternal  rest.  They 
were  the  parents  of  a  large  family  of  chil- 
dren, of  whom  the  subject  of  this  review  was 
the  oldest. 

The  early  life  of  George  W.  Blue  was 
spent  upon  his  father's  farm  in  Lapeer  coun- 
ty. There  he  grew  to  manhood,  attending 
school  during  the  winter  months  and  devot- 
ing the  remainder  of  the  time  to  farm  work. 
When  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
years  he  moved  to  Iowa,  Iowa  county,  Iowa, 
where  he  engaged  in  farming  on  his  own 
behalf  and  where  the  next  six  years  of  his 
life  were  spent.  Then  he  tried  Kansas  for  a 
year,  but  was  by  no  means  fascinated  with 
prevalent  conditions  in  that  wind-sw^ept 
region.  About  this  time,  1873,  his  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  merits  of  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  as  a  place  of  abode  and 
the  more  he  investigated  the  better  pleased 
was  he  with  the  locality.  In  March,  1874,  he 
secured  a  part  of  section  32,  Liberty  town- 
ship, the  identical  farm  upon  which  he  still 
resides,  and  proceeded  to  fit  it  up  as  a  home 
and  farm.  The  tract  of  land  consists  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres,  one  hundred  of 
which  are  cleared  and  splendidly  improved. 

October  i,  1867,  in  Lapeer  county,  Mich- 
igan, George  W.  Blue  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Rachael  A.  Harger,  a  native  of 


Pennsylvania','  born  March  31,  1848.  She  is 
the  daughter  of  John  and  Ellen .  Maria 
(Carpenter)  Harger,  and  a  sister  of  the 
late  Ezra  Harger,  one  of  the  best  known 
and  most  highly  respected  men,  during  his 
life  time,  in  that  section  of  the  state.  To 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  W.  Blue  four  children 
have  been  born,  viz. :  Maynard,  Grace, 
Blanche  and  Gaylard.  Grace  is  the  wife  of 
George  Monger  and  Blanche  is  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Stewart.  Grace  Blue,  now  Mrs. 
George  Monger,  was  the  first  white  child 
lx)rn  in  Liberty  towmship,  Wexford  county. 
From  the  time  of  his  first  location  in 
Wexford  county,  now  nearly  thirty  years 
ago,  Mr.  Blue  has  identified  himself  with  the 
interests  of  the  county.  In  politics  he  is  a 
pronounced  Democrat,  and  has  always  act- 
ed with  that  party,  but  that  has  not  prevented 
him  from  being  elected  to  the  position  of 
supervisor  of  the  township  nor  barred  him 
from  re-election  a  number  of  times  there- 
after. He  is  an  enterprising,  public  spirited 
man,  whose  abilities  the  voters  of  his  locality 
appreciate.  One  of  the  very  first  settlers  in 
in  the  township,  he  assisted  in  its  organiza- 
tion. The  new  municipality  then  had  no 
roads — indeed  it  had  little  of  anything  other 
than  woods  and  broad,  fertile  acres.  In  all 
public  improvements  to  be  made  Mr.  Blue 
was  one  among  the  leaders  and  when  he 
was  invested  with  the  authority  of  an  offi- 
cial, as  supervisor,  he  used  all  means  in 
his  power  to  improve  conditions  in  the  lo- 
cality. He  is  a  member  of  Manton  Tent 
No.  20,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  of 
the  New  Era  Association,  of  Grand  Rapids. 
He  is  genial,  companionable  and  kind.  On 
almost  all  subjects  he  is  well  informed  and 
in  legal  affairs  and  complicated  business 
transactions  his  neighbors  frequently  avail 


362 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MtCHIGAN, 


themselves  of  his  knowledge.  He  served 
two  terms,  eight  years,  as  justice  of  the 
peace  and  made  one  of  the  most  just  and 
ca])able  judicial  officials  the  township  has 
ever  known.  Domestic  in  his  tastes  and  as- 
])irations,  his  home  has  always  been  a  most 
happy  one. 


PERRY  F.  POWERS, 

Not  only  in  the  field  of  new^spaper  enter- 
prises has  Hon.  Perry  F.  Powers  attained 
high  prestige,  but  also  he  has  gained  prec- 
edence in  connection  with  the  political 
affairs  of  the  state  of  Michigan,  being  at 
the  present  time  incumbent  of  the  office  of 
auditor  general  of  the  commonwealth. 
Effective  service  in  the  cause  of  the  Republi- 
can party,  no  less  than  recognized  eligibil- 
ity, led  to  his  being  chosen  to  this  important 
preferment.  Perry  F.  Powers  is  a  native 
of  that  state  of  which  Senator  Chauncey 
M.  Depew  spoke  in  the  following  pertinent 
metaphrase.  ''Some  men  are  born  great, 
some  achieve  greatness  and  some  are  born 
in  Ohio."  He  was  born  in  the  towai  of 
Jackson,  Jackson  county,  Ohio,  on  the  5th 
of  September,  1858,  being  a  son  of  Pierce 
and  Sarah  C.  Powers.  Pierce  Powders,  wdio 
w^as  also  more  familiarly  known  as  Perry, 
was  identified  with  the  iron-manufacturing 
industry  in  southern  Ohio  up  to  the  time 
of  the  Civil  war,  when  he  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Union.  He  received  injuries 
which  w^ere  of  such  severity  as  to  result 
in  his  death,  and  upon  the  subject  of  this 
review,  who  was  the  eldest  of  four 
children — three  sons  and  ones  daughter — 
naturally  devolved  much  of  the  responsi- 
bility   in    the    maintenance    of    the    family. 


his  mother  surviving  until  October,  1902, 
when  she  passed  away  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three  years.  The  subject  was  thrown  large- 
ly upon  his  own  resources  from  his  youth, 
but  managed  to  complete  a  partial  course 
in  the  high  school.  It  may  be  said,  how- 
ever, that  Mr.  Powers  has  gained  his  edu- 
cation through  personal  application  and 
through  active  and  intimate  association  wath 
men  and  affairs,  while  in  this  connection  w^e 
may  consonantly  revert  to  the  statement 
made  by  an  able  writer  to  the  effect  that 
the  discipline  of  a  newspaper  office  is 
equivalent  to  a  liberal  education.  He  was 
inducted  into  the  mysteries  of  the  ''art  pre- 
servative of  all  arts"  in  a  printing  office 
in  his  native  town,  and  in  1879  he  went  to 
Davenport,  Iowa,  w^here  he  secured  a  po- 
sition as  compositor  in  a  newspaper  office. 
Jn  1883  he  located  in  Cambridge,  Illinois, 
where  he  became  associated  w^ith  George 
C.  Smithe  in  the  publication  of  a  weekly 
])aper,  the  Chronicle.  In  1885  he  came  to 
Ypsilanti,  Michigan,  and  there  continued 
in  partnership  with  Mr.  Smithe  in  the 
publication  of  the  Ypsilantian,  which  they 
made  one  of  the  representative  papers  of  the 
state.  In  1887  Mr.  Powers  came  to 
Cadillac,  to  become  editor  and  publisher  of 
the  New^s  and  Express,  representing  a  con- 
solidation of  the  Cadillac  News,  which  had 
its  inception  in  1872,  and  the  Express, 
which  was  established  in  1885.  Concern- 
ing his  newspaper  career  in  Cadillac  we 
can  not  do  better  than  to  quote  from  an 
article  wlrich  appeared  in  the  trade  paper 
issued  by  the  Chicago  Newspaper  Union, 
apropos  of  his  efforts  and  standing: 
"Among  the  makers  of  Michigan  news- 
papers none  is  better  or  more  favorably 
known  than  Perry  F.  Powders,  of  Cadillac, 


PERRY  F.   POWERS. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


368 


and  his  paper,  the  News  and  Express,  is 
a  model  weekly,  printed  with  modern  equip- 
ment and  issued  from  a  model  home  of 
its  own.  The  paper  was  born  of  a  con- 
solidation. The  Cadillac  News  was  estab- 
lished in  1872,  while  yet  the  greater  part 
of  the  present  site  of  the  city  (then  known 
as  Clam  Lake)  was  covered  with  pine 
trees,  and  the  Express  w^as  established  in 
1885.  The  two  were  consolidated  in  1887, 
about  the  time  Mr.  Powers  acquired  owner- 
ship of  the  business.  Since  then  his  chief 
ambition  has  always  been  to  make  the  News 
and  Express  the  best  edited  country  paper 
in  Michigan.  He  never  permits  any  hurry 
or  rush  to  ])revent  the  preparation  each 
week  of  from  two  to  three  columns  of 
original  editorial,  and  the  political  edi- 
torials of  the  News  and  Express  are,  per- 
haps, more  widely  copied  and  quoted  than 
those  of  any  other  local  paper  in  the  state. 
Neither  is  time  nor  effort  spared  in  making 
the  report  of  local  affairs  complete,  and  the 
accounts  of  home  happenings  are  always  pre- 
pared in  the  most  readible  and  entertaining 
manner.  Powers  is  untiring  and  is  con- 
stantly striving  in  every  way  to  advance  the 
interests  of  his  town,  to  add  to  home  pride, 
helpfulness  and  contentment  and  to  make 
his  own  people,  as  well  as  the  world  out- 
side, think  that  Cadillac  is  the  best  city  in 
the  universe.  This  line  of  action,  long  con- 
tinued, has  made  the  News  and  Express  a 
profitable  property  and  an  influential  news- 
paper. Young  Powers  was  compelled  to 
begin  work  at  a  very  early  age,  to  assist 
in  the  sn])port  of  a  wndowed  mother  with 
a  family  of  three  other  children.  His  life 
has  been  one  of  hard  study  and  hard  work. 
During  his  residence  in  Michigan  he  has 
been  twice  nominated  and  elected  a  mem- 
22 


ber  of  the  Mfichigan  state  board  of  edu- 
cation, was  president  of  the  board  four 
years,  having  been  first  elected  a  member 
of  the  board  in  1888  and  re-elected  in  1894. 
For  several  years  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Cadillac  city  school  board,  and  is  very 
prominent  in  both  local  and  state  edu- 
cational circles.  He  has  served  one  term  as 
president  of  the  State  Press  Association, 
two  terms  as  president  of  the  Michigan  Re- 
publican Press  Association,  and  two  terms 
as  president  of  the  State  League  of  Republi- 
can Clubs.  He  does  considerable  campaign 
w^ork  on  the  stump,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Republican  state  central  committee,  and 
makes  many  addresses  each  year  on  edu- 
cational and  kindred  topics.'' 

It  may  be  consistently  said  that  the  Re- 
publican party  has  in  Michigan  no  more 
loyal  and  stanch  a  supporter  than  Mr. 
Powers,  and  'both  through  his  able  editorials 
and  his  efforts  as  a  public  speaker  he  has 
done  much  to  advance  the  party  cause.  He 
is  a  man  of  broad  and  exact  information, 
a  careful  student  of  the  questions  and  issues 
of  the  hour  and  ever  amply  fortified  in  his 
convictions,  being  a  distinct  individual  and 
one  who  has  so  ordered  his  course  at  all 
times  as  to  retain  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  all  who  know  him  and  have  cognizance 
of  his  sterling  qualities.  The  party  to  which 
his  allegiance  has  been  thus  unequivocally 
given  placed  him  in  nomination  for  the  of- 
fice of  auditor  general  of  the  state  in  1900, 
and  he  was  elected  by  a  gratifying  majority, 
while  his  administration  has  been  one  re- 
flecting credit  u|3on  himself  and  the  com- 
monwealth. While  the  duties  of  his  office 
demand  his  residence  in  the  capital  city  of 
the  state,  Lansing,  he  still  retains  the  general 
supervision  of  his  newspaper,  dictating  its 


364 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


policy  and  remaining  inflexibly  loyal  to  his 
home  city  of  Caidillac.  The  News  and  Ex- 
press is  stanchly  Republican  in  politics  and 
has  the  largest  circulation  of  all  papers  in 
Wexford  county.  The  office  is  modern  and 
model  in  its  equipment,  the  letter  press  be- 
ing of  the  highest  standard,  while  the  job 
department  has  the  best  of  facilities.  Were 
all  local  offices  and  papers  as  ably  conducted, 
so  called  "country  journalism"  would  be  a 
title  of  distinction. 

On  the  29th  of  January,  1889,  Mr. 
Powers  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Jessie  R.  Warren,  who  was  born  in  Monroe 
county,  being  a  daughter  of  Cyrus  A.  and 
Gelestia  D.  Warren,  and  of  this  union  have 
been  born  tw^o  sons,  Warren  and  Perry 
F.,  Jr. 


GEORGE  H.  OTIS. 

So  long  as  the  history  of  America  is  read, 
an  interesting  chapter  will  always  be  that 
regarding  the  California  gold  fever,  which 
broke  out  in  1847,  reached  its  crisis  in  1849, 
but  did  not  materially  abate  until  the  ex- 
citement wrought  up  by  the  Civil  war  almost 
completely  overshadowed  it.  While  Cali- 
fornia enriched  the  world  with  the  gold  she 
gave  up  during  that  period,  the  output  being 
about  thirteen  million  dollars  a  year,  the 
state  may  be  considered  to  have  had  the  best 
of  the  bargain,  for  the  world  enriched  her 
in  population,  material  development  and  gen- 
eral improvements.  At  the  time  of  the  first 
discovery  the  population  of  San  Francisco 
was  less  than  two  hundred  inhabitants.  In 
about  ten  years  it  had  swelled  to  more  than 
forty  thousand  people.  Nearly  every  land 
on  the  face  of  the  globe  contributed  to  the 


state's  growth  in  population.  People  w^ent 
by  every  known  route.  Caravans  tempted 
Indian  malice  and  cupidity  by  traveling 
across  the  continent  with  ox  teams;  other 
fortune  hunters  sailed  to  Panama,  crossed 
the  isthmus,  and  reached  their  destination 
by  way  of  the  Pacific,  wdiile  still  others  sailed 
around  Cape  Horn,  making  the  trip  entirely 
by  water.  The  subject  of  this  review,  George 
H.  Otis,  was  only  tw^elve  years  old  when  the 
excitement  w^as  at  its  height.  He  was  a 
lad  of  more  strength  and  manly  vigor  than 
most  youths  of  his  years  and  he  yearned  to 
be  among  the  throng  crow^ding  westward 
to  the  new  El  Dorado.  He  had  to  curb  his 
impatience,  however,  for  a  few  years.  By 
practicing  the  most  rigid  economy,  by  the 
time  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  in  1855, 
be  had  accumulated  sufficient  funds  to  en- 
able him  to  gratify  the  dream  of  his  youth- 
ful years.  Making  the  trip  by  the  Panama 
route,  he  arrived  safely  at  his  destination, 
but,  like  thousands  of  others,  he  found  that 
the  yellow  metal  was  neither  so  plentiful  or 
as  easily  gotten  as  his  brilliant  imagination 
had  pictured  it. 

George  H.  Otis  w^as  born  in  Leoni,  Jack- 
son county,  Michigan,  March  27,  1837.  His 
parents  w^ere  Joseph  H.  and  Laura  (McNall) 
Otis,  natives  of  New  York,  and  both  now 
deceased.  The  early  years  of  the  subject 
w^ere  spent  in  his  native  county,  where  he 
was  reared  and  educated.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  years  he  determined  to  try  his  for- 
tune in  the  gold  fields  of  California.  Hav- 
ing tried  his  luck  at  mining  and  finding  it 
not  nearly  so  remunerative  as  he  imagined 
it  would  be,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
more  prosaic  calling  of  a  dairyman  and 
picked  up  more  gold  in  this  way  than  he  did 
delvin^f  in  the  mines.     A  p'ood  cow  is  a  far 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


365 


better  wealth  producer  than  a  poor  gold 
mine.  Year  after  year  he  followed  this  call- 
ing until  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
war,  in  April,  1862,  when  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  First  Regiment,  Wash- 
ington Territory  Volunteer  Infantry.  The 
field  of  operations  of  this  regiment  was  most- 
ly on  the  frontier.  Their  chief  foe  was  the 
implacable  red  man,  who  knew  neither  North 
nor  South,  nor  the  cause  which  either  repre- 
sented, but  embraced  the  opportunity  given 
him  by  the  absence  of  the  regular  army  in 
the  south  to  glut  his  hate  against  every 
species  of  pale  face.  George  H.  Otis  spent 
three  years  in  military  service,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  1865,  he  received  an  hon- 
orable dicharge. 

The  years  of  life  on  the  Pacific  coast  as 
miner,  dairyman  and  soldier  made  some 
very  material  alterations  in  the  views,  opin- 
ions and  notions  of  life  entertained  by  Mr. 
Otis.  He  was  no  longer  the  romantic  youth, 
but  the  hardened  toiler,  the  seasoned  vet- 
eran, the  practical  man,  when  he  returned,  in 
1865,  to  his  native  county  of  Jackson,  Mich- 
igan. After  a  little  rest  and  recuperation 
after  his  years  of  toil,  soldiering  and  his 
long  journey  from  the  west,  he  procured  em- 
ployment in  the  state  penitentiary  at  Lansing, 
as  overseer  or  keeper.  He  held  this  position 
for  six  years,  and  until  he  voluntarily  re- 
signed it,  desiring  to  engage  in  a  calling 
more  agreeable  than  that  of  farming. 

In  Leoni,  Jackson  county,  Michigan,  on 
the  3d  day  of  February,  1869,  George  H. 
Otis  was  united  in  marirage  to  Miss  Adaline 
Tilyou,  a  native  of  Michigan,  born  July  17, 
1842,  in  Leoni,  Jackson  county.  Fler  par- 
ents were  Carlyle  and  Harriett  (Train)  Til- 
you, natives  of  New  York,  and  both  now 
deceased,     lb  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Otis  one  child 


has  been  boni,  a  daughter,  Hattie  E.,  who 
is  at  home,  and  is  being  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools. 

In  October,  1871,  the  family  moved  to 
Wexford  county,  and  settled  on  eighty  acres 
of  land,  a  part  of  section  22,  Selma  town- 
ship. They  erected  a  home,  cleared  and  im- 
])roved  the  land,  and  there  they  have  resided 
up  to  the  present  time.  Forty  acres  of  the 
original  eighty  are  well  improved  and  under 
cultivation.  There  is  a  fine  bearing  orchard 
upon  the  place  and  the  land  is  very  pro- 
ductive of  any  crop  suitable  for  this  climate. 

Politically  a  stanch  Republican,  there  are 
few  if  any  of  the  local  offices  in  Selma  town- 
ship that  have  not  been  filled  by  Mr.  Otis. 
He  has  been  the  assessor  of  school  district 
No.  6,  since  it  was  organized  twenty-three 
years  ago.  He  has  seen  a  great  deal  of  the 
world  and  has  profited  greatly,  both  in 
knowledge  and  material  wealth,  by  all  that 
has  been  brought  under  his  observation  dur- 
ing the  course  of  his  long  and  useful  life. 
He  is   a   member   of   the    Union  Veterans' 

Union. 

4^^^ 

JONATHAN  W.  COBBS. 

Few^  men  in  Wexford  county  were  as 
widely  and  favorably  known  as  was  the  late 
Jonathan  W.  Cobbs,  of  Cadillac.  He  was  one 
of  the  strong  and  influential  citizens  whose 
lives  have  become  an  essential  part  of  the 
history  of  this  section  of  the  state  and  for 
years  his  name  was  synonymous  with  all 
that  constituted  honorable  and  upright  man.- 
hood.  Tireless  energy,  keen  perception  and 
honesty  of  purpose,  combined  with  every- 
day common  sense,  were  among  his  chief 
characteristics,    and   while   advancing   indi- 


306 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


vidual  success  he  also  largely  promoted  the 
material  welfare  of  his  community. 

Jonathan  W.  Co])bs  was  a  native  son  of 
the  old  Buckeye  state,  having  been  born  at 
Westville,  Columbiana  county,  Ohio,  on  the 
25th  of  February,  1828.  He  was  a  son  of 
Joseph  and  lacy  (Walton)  Cobbs,  the 
former  of  whom  was  a  cabinetmaker  by 
trade.  They  were  both  highly  respected  in 
the  community  in  which  they  lived,  and  were 
the  parents  of  nine  children,  of  whom  the 
su))ject  w^as  the  third  in  the  order  of  birth. 
Jonathan  W.  Cobbs  passed  the  early  years 
of  his  life  in  his  native  county  and  when  old 
enough  was  employed  as  an  assistant  to  his 
father,  becoming  an  adept  in  wood  working. 
Subsecjuently  he  learned  the  trade  of  wagon- 
making,  at  which  he  was  engaged  until  he 
left  his  native  state,  going  to  Butlerville, 
Jennings  county,  Indiana,  where  he  engaged 
in  the  lumber  JDUsiness.  He  there  erected  a 
saw-mill  and  w^as  soon  doing  a  good  busi- 
ness, shipping  the  products  of  his  mill  to 
Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Feeling  that  in  Michigan 
lay  wider  opportunities  for  a  man  of  energy 
and  ambition,  he,  about  1873,  went  to  Grand 
Rapids,  where  he  remained  about  seventeen 
months,  and  in  April,  1874,  he  came  to 
Cadillac  (then  called  Clam  Lake).  He  was 
thoroughly  familiar  with  the  lumbering  busi- 
ness in  all  its  details,  having  owned  three 
saw-mills  in  Jennings  and  Jackson  counties, 
Indiana,  and  upon  coming  to  Michigan  he 
felt  that  in  that  line  of  industry  lay  the  best 
chances  for  his  future  success,  the  accuracy 
of  his  judgment  being  proven  by  his  sub- 
sequent careeer.  He  was  one  of  the  first 
men  to  engage  in  the  lumber  business  at 
Cadillac  and  remained  actively  identified 
with  it  until  wnthin  about  four  years  of  his 
death,  when  he  gave  his  interests  over  into  | 


the  charge  of  his  son,  F.  J.,  this  move  being 
necessitated   on   account   of   the   precarious 
condition   of   his   health.      He   had   always 
])een  a  strong  and  vigorous  man  and  had  de- 
voted his  entire  energy  to  the  business  in 
which  he  engaged,  the  result  being  a  success 
commensurate  with  the  untiring  efforts  put 
forth  by  him.     His  interests  were  large  and 
in   them   he   took   the   keenest   interest,   no 
detail  being  too  trivial  to  escape  his  atten- 
tion, this  fact  probably  being  the  true  secret 
of   his   success.      For   many   years   he   was 
considered  one  of  the  leading  lumbering  men 
in  this  part  of  the  state,  and  bore  a  conspic- 
uous part  in  commercial  circles  in  his  city. 
On  the  29th  of  March,  1855,  at  Butler- 
ville, Jennings  county,  Indiana,  Mr.  Cobbs 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Nancy  J. 
Preble.     She  w^as  a  native  of  Olean,  Ripley 
county,  Indiana,  born  March  21,  1833,  and 
was  a  daughter  of  Barnard  and  Elizabeth 
(Maddox)   Preble.     Her  father  was  a  car- 
l)enter  by  occupation  and  he  and  his  wife 
both  died  in  Jennings  county,  to  which  local- 
ity they  had  removed  after  the  birth  of  Mrs. 
Cobbs.     They  ^^^ere    the  parents  of  ten  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Mrs.  Cobbs  was  the  third  in 
order  of  birth.     To  the  marriage  of  the  sub- 
ject and  his  w^ife  were  born  three  children, 
as  follows :     Tacy  M.  is  the  wife  of  Isaac 
Murphy;  Fmma  is  the  wife  of  Richard  W. 
Massey;  Isabelle  is  the  wife  of  H.  W.  Mc- 
Master..  and  an  adopted  son,  Frank  J.,  who 
is  now  in  control  of  the  lumbering  business. 
Few   men   wdio   have   resided   in    Wexford 
county  have  exerted  as  wide  an  influence  in 
material  matters  and  in  things  affecting  the 
general   welfare  of   the  community  as   did 
Jonathan  VV.   Cobbs,  his  support  being  al- 
ways given  to  those  movements  which  tend- 
ed to  improve  the  condition  of  those  about 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


867 


liini  or  to  make  life's  burdens  lighter  for 
those  less  fortunately  situated  than  himself. 
He  won  many  friends  and  always  retained 
them.  His  courteous  manners,  genial  dis- 
]30sition  and  genuine  worth  earned  for  him 
the  sincere  respect  even  of  those  who  were 
not  intimate  with  him  and  his  death  w^as  sin- 
cerely mourned  by  all. 


LEWIS  T.  WILSON. 

The  surest,  most  unerring  way  of  judging 
a  man  is  by  the  estimate  placed  upon  him  by 
the  people  of  the  locality  in  which  he  has 
lived  for  years.  One  or  two  or  even  a  dozen 
transactions  with  an  individual  may  disclose 
a  very  little  of  his  real  nature.  Even  the 
most  obtuse,  liowever,  of  those  with  whom 
he  has  associated  for  a  series  of  years  have 
no  difficulty  in  forming  a  proper  estimate  of 
his  nature,  lliey  see  him  and  view  him  from 
many  different  situations,  at  his  work,  in  the 
family  circle,  at  public  meetings,  in  the 
church,  in  his  moments  of  mirth  and  enjoy- 
ment, in  his  days  of  sorrow  and  in  his  periods 
of  excitement  or  anger,  with  the  result  that 
the}^  are  able  to  know  the  man  even  better 
than  he  knows  himself.  This  being  conced- 
ed and  Lewis  T.  Wilson,  the  subject  of  this 
review,  being  judged  in  the  light  above  indi- 
cated, he  is  disclosed  to  be  a  most  worthy  and 
capable  man.  His  neighbors  and  associ- 
ates know  what  he  is  and  the  estimate  they 
place  upon  him  is  indeed  a  high  one. 

Lewis  T.  Wilson,  who  resides  on  his 
o\Y\\  farm,  which  is  a  part  of  section  31, 
Liberty  township,  and  wdio  is  the  subject  of 
this  review,  was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  coun- 
ty, N^w  York,  January  6,  1854.     His  par- 


ents w^ere  Jam/es  and  Caroline  (Thomas) 
Wilson,  he  a  native  of  Ireland  and 
she  of  New  York.  After  the  birth  of 
the  subject,  the  family  moved  to  Onon- 
daga county,  New  York,  where  they  re- 
sided a  number  of  years  and  in  the 
spring  of  ^'^77  the  family  moved  to 
Wexford  county,  Michigan,  and  settled  on  a 
farm  in  Lil^erty  township,  where  they  have 
since  continued  to  reside.  They  were  the 
parents  of  eleven  children,  seven  sons  and 
four  daughters,  the  subject  of  this  review 
1)eing  the  third  child  of  the  family.  When  a 
lad  of  only  fourteen  years  Lewis  T.  Wilson 
l)ravely  faced  the  world  with  the  firm  pur- 
pose of  providing  for  himself  thereafter.  He 
sought  and  secured  employment  in  various 
localities  in  New  York,  and  although  young 
in  years,  he  was  steady,  industrious  and  pru- 
dent w'th  his  money.  Lie  often  visited  be- 
neath the  parental  roof  and  continued  to 
look  upon  his  parents'  residence  as  his  home. 
When  the  family  arranged  to  move  to  Mich- 
igan he  was  earnestly  solicited  by  his  par- 
ents, brothers  and  sisters  not  to  remain  be- 
hind. He  acceded  to  their  wishes  and  made 
one  of  the  party  that  came  from  New  York 
that  year  to  swell  the  population  of  Wexford 
county  and  win  from  fate  a  better  fortune 
than  they  had  yet  known.  In  Michigan,  as 
in  New  York,  he  devoted  himself  to  farming. 
In  Eaton  county,  Michigan,  October  5, 
1 88 1,  Lewis  T.  Wilson  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Flora  Hall,  a  native  of  New 
York,  born  in  Orleans  county,  October  5, 
i860.  She  is  a  daughter  of  William  and 
Clarissa  Hall,  who  moved  to  Michigan  and 
settled  in  Eaton  county  in  1863.  The  father 
died  at  the  age  of  fifty-six  years,  while  the 
mother  still  survives.  They  were  the  parents 
of  eight  children,  Mrs.  Wilson  being  the  el- 


368 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


dest  child  of  the  family.  Immediately  after 
marriage  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  established 
themselves  on  a  farm,  a  part  of  section  31, 
Liberty  township,  which  they  have  made 
their  home  continually  since  that  time.  The 
farm  consists  of  forty-six  acres,  nearly  all 
clear  and  well  improved.  They  are  the  par- 
ents of  ten  children,  two  of  whom  died  in 
early  life.  Those  living  are:  Herl>ert  L., 
Ethel  F.,  Clara  M.,  Ariel  E.,  Cebert  D., 
Lulu  M.,  Mildred  E.  and  Wallace  H.  The 
children  are  all  possessed  of  much  mental 
ability  and  in  their  studies  at  school  have 
shown  an  aptitude  for  knowledge  far  above 
that  of  the  average  pupil. 

Lewis  T.  Wilson  has  always  shown  a 
keen  interest  in  public  affairs.  The  improve- 
ment and  development  of  the  township  in 
which  he  resides  absorbs  much  of  his  atten- 
tion and  every  public  enterprise  receives  his 
most  hearty  encouragement.  He  has  been 
honored  by  the  people  of  his  township  with 
the  office  of  treasurer  and  he  served  a  num- 
ber of  terms  as  school  director.  His  charac- 
ter is  abo\^e  reproach  and  no  man  stands 
higher  in  the  community  than  he  does. 

JOHN  T.  PARKER. 

Successful  farming  is  an  art  not  ac- 
quired alone  from  the  reading  of  books,  al- 
though agricultural  literature  will  always 
prove  to  be  a  most  valuable  auxiliary  in  the 
hands  of  the  reflecting  and  experimenting 
tiller  of  the  soil.  The  great  book  of  nature 
is,  however,  the  alpha  and  omega  of  the 
Avise  farmer's  true  literature,  and  the  lessons 
therein  studied  impart  the  knowledge  which 
leads  to  triumphant  mastery  of  this  oldest 
of  all  industries.  John  T.  Parker,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  is  one  who  had  the  good 


fortune  of  early  studying  and  practicing  the 
art  of  agriculture  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
secure  substantial  and  permanent  results  and 
the  story  of  his  modest  career  is  well  worthy 
of  perusal. 

John  T.  Parker,  a  resident  of  section  6, 
Selma  township,  is  a  native  of  the  state  of 
Michigan,  born  in  Sanilac  county,  September 
6,  1858.  His  parents  were  Thomas  and 
Rosana  (Surbrook)  Parker,  who  were  the 
parents  of  seven  children,  of  whom  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  the  fifth.  The  mother 
died  in  1867,  when  the  subject  was  only  nine 
years  of  age,  while  the  father  resides  in 
Sanilac  county,  and  is  a  farmer,  being  in 
politics  a  Republican. 

Li  his  native  cotuity  of  Sanilac  John  T. 
Parker  was  reared  and  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  until  he  reached  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen years.  By  that  time  he  had  become 
very  conversant  with  farm  labor  and  was 
considered  a  good  agriculturist  himself.  In 
those  days  the  terms  of  school  each  year 
were  short  and  the  seasons  of  labor  on  the 
farm  long,  so  that  while  he  gained  a  fair 
knowledge  of  books,  he  acquired  much  more 
of  plowing,  harrowing,  sowing,  planting, 
reaping  and  harvesting.  He  was  a  prudent, 
provident  youth  and,  combining  these  very 
desirable  qualities  with  industry,  he  early 
gave  promise  of  the  success  which  he  has 
since  attained. 

In  the  autumn  of  1876,  when  barely 
eighteen  years  old,  with  a  comfortable  little 
sum  of  money  in  his  pocket,  he  came  to 
Wexford  county  and  secured  employment 
for  the  fall  and  winter,  while  looking  for  a 
desirable  investment.  In  the  early  spring 
he  found  a  good  forty-acre  tract  of  land 
that  w^as  for  sale  and  bought  it,  it  being 
located  in  section  18,  Selma  township.  After 


PV EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


869 


making  some  improvements,  he  sold  it  at  a 
nice  margin  of  profit,  and  immediately  piu*- 
chased  a  tract  of  land  in  section  6,  same 
township,  erected  a  modest  home,  made 
some  other  improvements,  and  lived  there 
two  years,  when  he  disposed  of  it  also. 

About  this  time  Mr.  Parker  became  im- 
pressed with  the  notion  that  while  the  real- 
estate  business  was  profitable,  it  necessitated 
too  many  removals.  He  therefore  decided 
to  get  out  of  it,  by  buying  a  place  that  suited 
him  and  holding  it  at  such  a  figure  that  no 
one  would  care  to  buy.  Accordingly  he  pur- 
chased forty  acres  in  Boon  township  and 
later  another  forty-acre  tract  across  the  line 
in  section  6,  Selma  township,  wdiere  he  es- 
tablished his  home  and  where  he  has  since 
resided.  This  eighty-acre  farm  he  has  splen- 
didly improved,  seventy  acres  have  been 
cleared  and  are  in  a  most  desirable  state  of 
cultivation.  Good  buildings  have  been 
erected  and  the  place  has  been  supplied  with 
every  appurtenance  necessary  for  good  farm- 
ing. 

July  29,  1878,  in  Selma  township,  John 
T.  Parker  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Charlotte  L.  Frank,  a  native  of  New  York, 
]:)orn  in  Erie  county,  Jvily  28,  1862.  Her 
parents  were  Levi  and  Marietta  (Michael) 
Frank,  both  natives  of  the  Empire  state,  and 
1)oth  are  deceased.  To  John  T.  and  Char- 
lotte L.  Parker  five  children  have  been  bom. 
One  son,  Owen  F.,  died  when  about  two 
years  old,  and  the  living  children  are  Thomas 
H.,  Lulu  J.,  Erma  E.  and  Reba  M. 

The  life  of  John  T.  Parker  has  been  too 
busy  a  one  to  give  him  either  time  or  inclina- 
tion to  dabble  in  politics.  He  has  given  to 
politics,  therefore,  all  that  good  citizenship 
required  of  him  and  no  more.  He  served 
Selma  township  as  highway  comniissioner  a 


number  of  years,  and,  being  deeply  interested 
in  the  cause  of  education,  he  consented  to 
serve  as  school  moderator  and  performed 
the  duties  of  the  office  very  acceptably  sev- 
eral terms.  The  only  fraternal  order  to 
which  he  belongs  is  the  Odd  Fellows,  be- 
longing to  Harrietta  Lodge  No.  186.  He 
is  a  thorough  farmer  and  most  capable  busi- 
ness man,  and  because  of  his  many  fine  per- 
sonal qualifications  has  won  the  regard  and 
esteem  of  a   large  circle  of  acquaintances. 


ROBERT  M.  WADDELL. 

Robert  M.  VVaddell  was  born  in  North 
Mancliester,  Lidiana,  on  the  25th  day  of 
Septeml^er,  1874,  twenty-nine  years  ago. 
His  father  is  Charles  Waddell,  a  practicing 
]>hysician  in  North  Judson,  Indiana,  and  a 
veteran  of  the  Civil  war.  His  mother,  who 
died  in  1879,  was  a  member  of  the  Ohio 
Hosmer  family.  During  the  time  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  acquiring  his  educa- 
tion he  became  interested  in  newspaper  mak- 
ing, and  for  fifteen  years  has  been  connected 
in  various  capacities  with  a  half  dozen  news- 
papers in  Indiana  and  in  Michigan.  Mr. 
Waddell  came  to  Cadillac  in  the  fall  of  1898 
to  accept  a  position  in  the  editorial  and  busi- 
ness departments  of  the  Cadillac  News  and 
Express  and  the  Cadillac  Daily  News,  Perry 
F.  Powers'  two  newspapers,  and  has  since 
remained  with  Mr.  Powers.  Mr.  Waddell 
was  married  in  1895,  in  La  Grange,  Indiana, 
to  Miss  Bradford,  a  daughter  of  Captain  and 
Mrs.  Samuel  P.  Bradford.  Captain  Brad- 
ford served  nearly  five  years  as  a  soldier 
in  the  Civil  war,  was  a  lawyer,  and  for 
eig-ht  years  was  clerk  of  the  La  Grange  cir- 


870 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


cuit  court.  He  died  in  1890.  Mrs.  Waddell 
was  educated  in  the  La  Grange  schools  and 
in  St.  Mary's  of  the  Notre  Dame  University, 
near  South  Bend,  Indiana,  and  in  the  West- 
minster Academy  in  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Waddell  are  the  parents  of  one 
living  daughter,  Ruth,  who  was  born  on  the 
3d  of  June,  1902. 


AUSTIN  W.  MITCHELL. 

The  well  known  family  of  which  the 
subject  of  this  review  was  an  honored 
representative,  has  been  identified  with  the 
history  of  Michigan  in  different  capacities 
since  the  early  settlement  of  the  state,  the 
name  appearing  in  connection  with  the 
material  growth  and  development  of  vari- 
ous localities  in  which  the  Mitchells  figured 
prominently  as  pioneers.  The  descendants 
of  the  original  settlers  have  been  active  in 
carrying  forward  the  work  so  auspiciously 
begun  by  the  latter  and  for  a  number  of 
years  no  name  has  been  more  prominent  in 
business  and  industrial  circles,  or  more 
actively  identified  with  the  material  pros- 
perity of  the  different  parts  of  the  com- 
monwealth in  which,  for  several  generations, 
it  has  been  so  well  and  familiarly  known. 
Conspicuous  among  the  representatives  of 
this  old  and  highly  esteemed  family  was 
the  late  Austin  W.  Mitchell,  of  Cadillac, 
a  man  of  strong  mentality,  sound  judgment, 
ripe  business  experience  and  deep  human 
sympathies,  whose  untimely  death,  about 
one  year  ago,  under  peculiar  and  distress- 
ing circunjstances,  while  on  his  way  to 
Japan,  caused  a  cloud  of  sadness  to  settle 
over  Cadillac  and  bring  3orrpw  to  every 


home  in  the  city.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  born 
in  Hillsdale,  Michigan,  July  5,  1852,  the 
son  of  Charles  T.  and  Harriet  S.  (Wing) 
Mitchell,  the  latter  a  daughter  of  Hon. 
Austin  E.  Wing,  a  pioneer  settler  of  the 
city  of  Monroe,  and  one  of  the  states  first 
representatives  in  the  lower  house  of  the 
national  congress. 

Blessed  with  the  best  of  home  training 
and  favored  with  exceptional  advantages 
for  intellectual  improvement,  young  Mitch- 
ell, after  completing  the  usual  grade-school 
course,  was  graduated  from  the  high  school 
of  his  native  city  and  in  1870  entered  the 
University  of  Michigan  where  he  prose- 
cuted his  dutties  for  a  period  of  two  years. 
Leaving  the  latter  institution  after  finishing 
the  sophomore  year,  he  was  appointed 
deputy  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  the 
third  district  by  Harvey  B.  Rowlson,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  until  1875,  when 
he  resigned  his  position  and  for  several 
years  thereafter  devoted  his  attention  to  the 
lumber  business  in  Hillsdale. 

In  1879  Mr.  Mitchell  bought  a  section 
of  pine  land  in  Cedar  Creek  township, 
Wexford  county,  and  in  March  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  began  the  manufacture  of  lum- 
ber at  Bond's  mill,  continuing  the  business 
for  four  years,  the  meantime,  1882,  becom- 
ing senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Mitchell 
Brothers,  Avhich,  under  his  capable  direction 
and  able  management,  attained  a  growth 
and  importance  second  to  no  similar  enter- 
prise in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  state. 
The  initial  movement  of  the  firm  was  the 
purchase  of  fifty  million  feet  of  timber  at 
Jennings,  Missaukee  county,  and  the  erection 
of  a  mill  in  that  town,  and  in  addition  to 
this  and  subsequent  operations  in  the 
general  lumber  business  the  subject  became 


^UC^ 


(2.^^,.#6^^^^Z7 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


871 


interested  in  tlie  Cadillac  Handle  Factory, 
besides  buying  with  his  brother  an  exten- 
sive tract  of  valuable  timber  in  New  Mexico. 
Mr.  Mitchell's  ])usiness  experience,  which 
extended  over  a  period  of  twenty  years,  was 
eminently  successful,  as  is  attested  by  the 
fact  that  during  that  time  he  not  only  earned 
for  the  large  enterprise  of  which  he  was 
the  head  a  wide  reputation  in  commercial 
and  industrial  circles,  but  accumulated  a 
private  fortune  second  in  magnitude  to  few 
if  any  in  this  section  of  the  state.  For  a  num- 
l-er  of  years  he  devoted  his  attention  exclu- 
si\'ely  to  pine  lumber,  but  in  1S93  the  firm 
began  the  manufacturing  of  maple  flooring, 
wdiich  soon  grew  in  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance, necessitating  a  gradual  enlargement 
of  the  milling  facilities  until  in  due  season 
their  plant  covered  an  area  of  three  acres  of 
ground,  l)eing  eight  hundred  feet  long,  two 
hundred  feet  wide  and  as  w-ell  an  equipped 
mill  for  the  manufacture  of  polished  floor- 
ing as  there  is  in  the  United  States.  In  con- 
nection with  these  various  lumber  interests 
the  firm  also  constructed  many  miles  of  log- 
ging railroad  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
their  mill  with  logs,  the  supervision  of  the 
busijiess  and  the  management  of  its  different 
departments  falling  almost  entirely  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  senior  member  of  the 
company. 

Mr.  Mitchell  ever  manifested  a  pardon- 
able pride  in  the  growth  and  material  de- 
velopment of  Cadillac  and  as  long  as  he 
lived  in  the  city  was  an  influential  factor  in 
all  of  its  afi:*airs.  He  served  five  or  six 
years  as  alderman  and  in  that  capacity  was 
instrumental  in  the  interests  of  the  munic- 
ipality in  many  w'ays,  standing  at  all  times 
for  progress  and  improvement  and  proving 
a   careful,   painstaking  and   capable  public 


servant,  his  official  service  throughout  be- 
ing highly  creditable  to  himself  and  to  the 
people  to  whom  he  so  faithfully  and  effi- 
ciently served.  At  the  expiration  of  his  last 
term  in  the  city  council  he  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  education,  which  position 
he  .held  by  successive  re-elections  for  a 
number  of  years,  his  labors  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  teachers  being  influential 
in  bringing  the  school  system  up  to  the 
standard  for  which  it  has  ever  since  been 
noted. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Miss  Bertha  Spaulding  of  Greenville, 
Michigan,  the  union  being  blessed  with  two 
offspring,  Marian  and  DeWitt  C,  who 
with  their  mother  are  still  living  in  San 
Diego,  California.  By  reason  of  failing 
health,  the  result  of  long-continued  hard 
work  and  over  exertions,  Mr.  Mitchell  in 
1900  retired  temporarily  from  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Mitchell  Brothers  lumber 
operations  and  sought  the  rest  and  recreation 
of  which  he  had  so  long  stood  in  ^uch 
imperative  need.  After  spending  several 
months  in  his  boyhood  home  in  Hillsdale, 
he  joined  his  family  in  San  Diego,  Cali- 
fornia, but  the  climate  of  the  Pacific  coast 
not  producing  the  desired  results,  it  was  de- 
cided three  or  four  months  later  that  he 
should  take  an  ocean  voyage.  Dr.  Carroll 
E.  Miller,  his  family  physician,  accompanied 
him  from  San  Francisco  and  on  the  9th  of 
August,  1902,  they  took  passage  at  the  latter 
city  for  Honolulu,  the  beginning  of  a  con- 
templated tour  of  the  w^orld. 

All  of  Mr.  Mitchell's  active  life  was 
closely  devoted  to  his  business  in  its  various 
capacities  and  during  a  long  period  of  active 
endeavor  he.  attained  enviable  distinction  in 
the    w^orld    of    affairs,    while    his    whole- 


372 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


heartedness  and  eminent  social  qualities 
made  him  a  friend  to  all  with  whom  he  had 
business  or  other  relations.  In  his  life  he 
was  the  very  embodiment  of  enterprise  and 
enthusiastic  optimism  and  in  addition  to 
pushing  all  his  own  undertakings  to  suc- 
cessful completion  he  gave  a  willing. and 
hearty  support  to  every  movement  having 
for  its  object  the  material  or  social  advance- 
ment of  the  community.  Personally  he  was 
of  attractive  appearance  and  pleasing  ad- 
dress, a  fine  specimen  of  symmetrically  de- 
veloped American  manhood,  and  he  moved 
among  his  fellows  as  one  born  to  leadership 
and  who  always  made  his  presence  felt  in 
whatever  capacity  his  abilities  were  exer- 
cised. He  loved  to  mingle  with  his  fellow 
men,  regardless  of  calling,  and  was  ever*  the 
faithful  friend  and  genial  companion  of  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  people.  His  was 
a  proud,  liberal  mind,  optimistic  in  all  the 
term  implies,  but  exclusive  in  the  sense  that 
nothing  savoring  in  the  slightest  degree  of 
insincerity,  hypocrisy  or  cant  could  for  a 
moment  find  lodgement  therein.  He  was 
truly  a  manly  man,  best  liked  by  those  who 
knew^  him  most  intimately,  and,  like  a  ray 
of  sunshine,  he  often  illuminated  and  made 
bright  the  pathway  of  those  into  whose 
lives  fortune  cast  no  glittering  favors. 

We  close  this  brief  review  of  Mr. 
Mitchell  by  quoting  from  the  News  and  Ex- 
press the  following  appropriate  reference  to 
his  life  and  character,  published  upon  the 
receipt  in  Cadillac  of  the  sad  news  of  his 
death  : 

"In  Cadillac  there  is  sincere  sorrow  be- 
cause of  the  tragic  ending  of  the  life  of  Mr. 
Mitchell.  During  his  twenty  years  of 
active  participation  in  the  affairs  of  the  city, 
both  as  a  business  man  and  public  official, 


his  ideals  were  high,  his  purposes  honest 
and  his  plans  were  for  the  benefit  of  his 
fellow^  men.  He  labored  zealously  not  only 
for  himself  and  his  family,  but  also  for  his 
employes,  his  neighbors  and  his  friends.  He 
gave  of  his  wealth  to  the  poor  and  the  needy 
and  was  a  w^illing  helper  in  all  public  affairs. 
He  listened  not  only  to  the  recital  of  am- 
bitious plans  of  those  in  high  places,  but  to 
the  cry  of  the  lowly,  of  the  widow  and  the 
orphan  and  of  those  to  whom  sorrow, 
affliction  and  poverty  had  come  he  gave 
heed.  Unostentatious  in  his  charities,  un- 
assuming in  his  relations  with  men,  Austin 
W.  Mitchell  made  for  himself  an  enduring 
place  in  the  allairs  of  the  people  and  in 
nearly  every  home  in  Cadillac  the  sadden- 
ing message  from  Honolulu  carried  with 
it  a  feeling  of  personal  loss.  Through  the 
coming  changing  years,  the  memory  of  the 
man  who  sleeps  beneath  the  turbulent  waters 
of  the  Pacific  will  be  revered  by  his  neigh- 
bors and  associates  and  his  most  enduring 
monument  will  be  his  good  deeds." 


JOSHUA  M.  WARDELL,  M.  D. 

The  popular  physician  and  surgeon 
whose  life  story  is  brefly  outlined  in  this  re- 
view has  attained  an  enviable  position  in  the 
medical  world,  gaining  the  distinguished 
ruputation  which  comes  as  the  legitimate 
reward  of  rigid  mental  discipline  through 
professional  training  and  skill  and  persist- 
ent, painstaking  endeavor.  Progressive  in 
the  broadest  sense  of  the  term  and  keeping 
in  close  touch  with  all  matters  relating  to 
his  chosen  calling,  his  understanding,  ad- 
vanced methods  and  efficient  practice  have 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


878 


brought  him  not  only  eniineiit  professional 
success,  but  Hberal  financial  remuneration 
as  well.  During  a  residence  of  over  thirty 
years  in  the  city  of  Cadillac  he  has  witnessed 
the  remarkable  growth  and  development  of 
Wexford  county  along  all  lines  of  industrial, 
commercial  and  professional  activity  and  to 
the  extent  of  his  ability  he  has  contributed 
to  bring  about  the  results  that  are  now  ol)- 
tained.  His  character  has  ever  been  above 
reproach,  his  conduct  in  every  relation  of 
life  has  been  that  of  the  faithful  healer,  the 
upright  man,  the  honorable  citizen  and  to- 
day there  are  few  as  well  knowai  and  none 
stand  higher  than  he  in  the  confidence  and 
esteeim  of  the  people.  In  point  of  residence 
and  continuous  service,  he  is  the  oldest  phy- 
sician in  Cadillac,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
successful. 

Dr.  Wardell  is  a  native  of  Ontario,  Can- 
ada, and  was  born  on  a  farm  near  St. 
Thomas,  Elgin  county,  July  26,  1855.  When 
seven  years  of  age  his  parents,  Edward  and 
Melissa  (McDween)  Wardell,  moved  to  the 
above  village  and  there  the  future  physician 
received  his  literary  education,  completing 
the  high  school  course  in  1867,  immediately 
after  which  he  made  choice  of  medicine  as 
his  life  work,  and  began  his  preliminary 
study  of  the  same  under  the  direction  of  his 
uncle,  Dr.  J.  M.  Penwarden,  while  clerking 
in  the  latter's  drug  store  in  St.  Thomas.  Dr. 
Penwarden  was  a  physician  of  considerable 
note,  who  practiced  for  some  years  in  part- 
nership with  r^r.  John  Fulton,  at  that  time 
professor  of  surgery  in  Trinity  College,  To- 
ronto, and  dean  of  the  faculty.  While  at- 
tending to  his  duties  in  the  store  young 
Wardell  devoted  all  his  leisure  time  to  study 
and  under  the  efficient  instruction  of  his 
uncle  he  made  rapid  and  substantial  progress^ 


his  advantages  being  far  superior  to  those 
of  the  majority  of  students  at  the  l)eginning 
of  their  career.  After  two  years  behind  the 
counter  his  entire  time  was  given  to  his 
medical  reading,  and  at  the  end  of  one  year 
of  painstaking  research  he  entered  the  med- 
ical department  of  Michigan  University, 
where  he  remained  until  the  fall  of  1870, 
retiu*ning  to  Canada  at  the  end  of  the  session 
and  again  taking  up  his  work  with  his  form- 
er preceptor.  He  continued  his  studies  at 
home  and  in  Toronto  until  the  fall  of  1872, 
when  he  returned  to  Ann  Arbor,  and  on  the 
26th  day  of  the  ensuing  March  was  grad- 
uated at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  being  one 
of  the  youngest  persons  to  receive  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Medicine  from  the  University 
of  Michigan. 

On  the  7th  of  September  following  his 
graduation  Dr.  Wardell  opened  an  office  in 
Cadillac  and  at  once  engaged  actively  in 
ilie  practice  of  his  profession,  encountering 
at  the  outset  many  of  the  obstacles  and  eni- 
barassments  which  usually  beset  the  path- 
way of  young  physicians  ambitious  for  pro- 
fessional honors.  In  due  time,  however,  his 
abilities  were  recognized  and  he  soon  suc- 
ceeded in  building  up  a  lucrative  practice 
which,  taking  a  wide  range  and  covering  ev- 
ery branch  of  the  profession,  has  steadily 
grown  in  magnitude  to  the  present  day.  In 
1876  he  was  appointed  division  surgeon  of 
the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad,  which 
position  he  still  holds,  and  he  also  served 
four  years  as  a  member  of  the  board  of 
pension  examiners  at  Reed  City,  Michigan, 
performing  capable  and  satisfactory  service 
in  both  capacities. 

As  a  physician  and  surgeon  Dr.  Wardell 
has  few  equals  and  no  superior  in  the  Grand 
Traverse   region.        He   is   thoroughly   in- 


874 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


formed  in  all  branches  of  his  profession, 
makes  diagnosis  readily,  has  had  a  long, 
varied  and  remarkably  successful  experience 
and  the  extensive  practice  he  now  commands 
affords  the  best  evidence  of  the  high  esteem 
in  which  he  is  held  by  the  public.  In  his  pro- 
fessional duties  and  in  social  life  he  sustains 
an  admirable  character  and  in  his  business 
affairs  have  demonstrated  shrewdness  and 
capability,  having  by  close  attention  to  his 
chosen  calling  accumulated  a  sufficiency  of 
this  world's  goods  to  place  him  in  indepen- 
dent circumstances.  In  the  language  of  an- 
other, *'The  Doctor  is  a  broad-gauged,  lib- 
eral-minded man,  conversant  with  life  in 
all  its  bearings  and  thoroughly  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  of  the  present  progressive 
age.''  ''Since  boyhood  he  has  had  to  de- 
pend entirely  upon  his  own  exertions,  but, 
with  a  determination  to  succeed,  he  worked 
earnestly  and  constantly  and  now,  while  yet 
in  the  prime  of  life,  he  can  rest  free  from 
care  and  anxiety  with  the  consciousness  that 
his  present  prosperity  is  due  to  industry  and 
ability." 

Dr.  Wardell  is  a  close  and  diligent  stu- 
dent, a  critical  reader  of  the  world's  best  lit- 
erature and  his  acquaintance  with  the  same 
is  general  and  profound.  For  a  number  of 
years  he  has  made  a  special  study  of  Shakes- 
peare, and  his  deep  research  into  the  writings 
of  that  immortal  genius  has  made  him  one 
of  the  best  Shakespearian  scholars  in  this 
country.  He  has  examined  critically  every 
thing  relating  to  the  subject,  is  familiar  with 
the  ideas  of  Shakespearian  scholars  the  world 
over  and  his  own  observations,  opinions  and 
conclusions  have  elicited  the  attention  and 
praise  of  some  of  the  best  writers  and  critics 
of  the  day. 

Fraternally  the  Doctor  is  a  thirty-second- 


degree  Mason  and  his  political  views  are  in 
accord  with  the  Republican  party,  of  which 
he  has  for  years  been  an  earnest  and  en- 
thusiastic supporter.  His  domestic  life  dates 
from  1890,  on  July  21st  of  which  year  he 
was  happily  married  to  Miss  Arista  M. 
Montgomery,  a  native  of  Oberlin,  Ohio, 
and  a  lady  of  refined  tastes  and  liberal  cul- 
tnre,  who  has  borne  him  two  children,  a  son 
by  the  name  of  Montgomery  Meaure,  and  a 
daughter,  Margaret.  The  Doctor  is  pecul- 
iarly blessed  in  his  domestic  relations  and  in 
his  beautiful  home,  one  of  the  finest  resi- 
dences in  the  city  of  Cadillac,  finds  in  the 
bosom  of  his  family  or  in  the  company  of 
the.  wise  and  great  of  all  ages  through  the 
medium  of  his  well-stocked  library  the  social 
relaxation  and  mental  stimulus  which  only 
men  of  his  tastes  and  inclinations  fully  appre- 
ciate. His  life  has  been  lived  to  useful  ends 
and  his  high  ideals,  professional  and  other- 
wise, have  made  him  in  no  small  degree  a 
leader  of  thought  in  the  community.  He 
maintains  a  lively  interest  in  Cadillac,  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  promoting  its  ma- 
terial develo])ment,  and,  having  faith  in  the 
city's  future,  is  doing  all  within  his  power 
to  make  that  future  come  up  to  his  high  ex- 
pectations. 


DONALD  DAVIDSON. 

The  man  who  has  lived  to  the  age  of 
fifty-eight  years,  who  has  spent  a  part  of  the 
years  of  his  maturity  in  two  hemispheres  and 
whose  life  from  boyhood  has  been  character- 
ized by  hard  work,  has  surely  had  sufficient 
experience  to  gratify  the  desire  of  the  most 
ambitious  seekers  of  adventure  in  the  line 
of  industry.     Donald  Davidson,  the  subject 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


375 


of  this  biography,  who  resides  in  Colfax 
township,  was  ])orn,  reared  and  received  his 
eckication  in  Scotland.  When  old  enough 
and  2)ossessed  of  the  requisite  strength  he 
was  put  into  the  coal  and  iron  mines  of  his 
native  land,  and  for  ten  years  followed  that 
most  exacting  and  tiresome  calling,  mining. 
Ambitious  far  beyond  his  fellow  workmen, 
he  determined  that  if  the  blessing's  of  health 
and  strength  remained  to  him  all  the  years 
of  his  life  would  not  be  spent  benath  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  at  the  paltry  wages  accord- 
ed to  miners  in  Great  Britain  and  elsewhere. 
When  he  had  been  in  the  mines  ten  years 
and  saved  some  money,  he  went  to  farming, 
and  after  pursuing  that  avocation  a  few 
years  came  to  America  to  better  his  condition 
and  that  of  his  family. 

Donald  Davidson  was  born  in  Perth, 
Scotland,  in  1843.  His  opportunities  for  re- 
ceiving an  education  were  indeed  limited, 
for  he  was  placed  to  work  in  the  mines  quite 
early  in  life.  hTom  that  time  to  the  present 
hard  work  has  been  his  portion,  but  he  bore 
his  part  with  all  the  stoicism  of  a  philoso- 
pher and  abided  his  time  until  an  opportun- 
ity offered  to  better  his  condition.  When 
about  seventeen  years  of  age  Mr.  Davidson 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Catharine 
Hepburne,  in  Scotland,  the  native  place  of 
both,  and  there  they  continued  to  reside  for 
a  number  of  years  thereafter,  he  having 
quit  the  mines  and  dev^oted  himself  to  farm- 
ing. Two  children  wxre  born  to  them,  Dav- 
id and  Christena,  and  their  coming  inspired 
the  father  with  renewed  ambition.  He  knew 
what  his  life  had  been,  replete  W'ith  hard 
work  and  many  privations,  and  he  deter- 
mined that  his  children  should  never  experi- 
ence such  vicissitudes  as  had  fallen  to  his 
lot.     Accordingly,  having  accumulated  suffi- 


cient means  for  the  purpose,  he  procured 
transportation  and  the  family  set  out  for 
America  in  March,  1873.  After  arriving 
in  this  country,  they  took  up  their  abode 
in  Virginia,  but  remained  there  only  a  few 
months,  wdien  they  came  to  Michigan,  locat- 
ed in  Cadillac,  then  Clam  Lake,  where  they 
lived  for  two  years,  he  being  employed  by 
Green  &  Sheckston,  lumber  mills.  From 
there  they  moved  to  Manton,  where  he  was 
employed,  and  after  two  years  of  industry 
and  the  practice  of  most  comm'endable  econ- 
omy, he  was  enabled  to  purchase  the  land 
he  now  owais.  There  he  then  settled,  but  re- 
mained only  one  season,  when  he  was  in- 
duced by  Charles  Ford  to  move  to  Haring 
township  and  cultivate  a  well-improved  farm 
which  was  owned  there  by  him.  The  sub- 
ject remained  on  the  Ford  farm  six  years, 
and  so  successfully  managed  that  piece  of 
land  that  he  was  tendered  the  position  of 
superintendent  and  manager  of  the  county 
poor  farm,  which  he  accepted,  but  remained 
in  charge  only  about  fourteen  months.  He 
then  returned  to  his  own  farm  and  has  de- 
voted himself  to  its  cultivation  from  that 
time  to  the  present.  He  is  the  ownier  of 
forty  acres  of  land,  of  which  he  has  thirty- 
five  acres  under  cultivation,  and  very  pro- 
ductive. Both  his  children  are  comfortably 
settled  in  life.  David,  who  is  a  farmer  and 
resident  of  Colfax  township,  married  Miss 
Lucinda  McLean,  and  they  have  three  chil- 
dren, Mildred,  Vera  and  Verna,  while  Chris- 
tina is  the  wife  of  Perry  Leach,  and  resides 
in  Wexford  county,  he  being  engaged  in 
•lumbering,  and  they  have  one  child,  Zena. 
Mr.  Davidson  is,  like  most  of  his  country- 
men, a  person  of  the  utmost  candor  and 
sincere  frankness,  a  man  wdio  would  en- 
counter  much    for   his    friends   and   whose 


876 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


memory  is  never  so  defective  as  to  forget 
favors  extended  to  him.  Wexford  county 
was  greatly  benefited  by  his  coming  and 
that  of  his  excellent  family.  Mrs.  Davidson 
is  a  dev^out  member  of  the  Free  Methodist 
church  in  Colfax  township,  and  is  a  teacher 
in  the  Sabbath  school. 


WILLIAM  W.  LOVELESS. 

The  life  of  a  sailor  on  the  Great  Lakes 
is  a  laborious  and  hazardous  one,  and  yet 
one  that  is  not  entirely  devoid  of  fascination. 
Men  who  have  sailed  for  a  number  of  years 
fi.nd  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  content  them- 
selves on  land  and  although  their  oppor- 
tunities for  advancement  upon  the  water  are 
as  nothing  to  what  they  might  encounter 
on  shore,  their  love  for  the  fathomless  lake 
or  ocean  often  compels  them  to  sacrifice 
every  other  consideration  for  its  sake.  The 
subject  of  this  review,  William  W.  Loveless, 
followed  the  life  of  a  sailor  a  number  of 
vears  in  his  earlv  manhood,  and  like  others, 
after  having  given  it  up,  he  often  yearned 
for  the  old  life  upon  the  stormy  wave.  How- 
ever, he  seems  now  to  have  thoroughly 
w^eaned  himself  from  the  enticing  calling. 

William  W.  Loveless,  a  resident  of  sec- 
tion 19,  Haring  township,  was  born  in  Essex 
county,  Canada,  of  Canadian  parents,  April 
22,  1837.  He  w^as  reared  and  grew^  to  man- 
hood in  his  native  county,  receiving  a  fair 
education  in  the  common  branches  at  the 
public  schools.  While  yet  a  young  man  he 
became  a  sailor,  on  a  ship  engaged  in  the 
grain  trade  plying  between  Buffalo  and 
Chicago,  and  for  seven  years  devoted  himself 
exclusively  to  that  calhi^g.     In     1863     he 


took  a  position  on  a  ship  laden  with  copper 
ore  and  bound  for  Liverpool.  The  passage 
of  the  Atlantic  was  m'ade  by  this  staunch 
little  craft  in  forty-eight  days,  the  vessel  be- 
ing propelled  entirely  by  sail. 

In  Ogle  county,  Illinois,  August  10, 
1859,  William  W.  Loveless  was  married  to 
Rachael  A.  Winner,  a  native  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, born  vSeptember  14,  1837.  To  this 
union  ten  children  W'cre  born,  viz. :  Walter 
S.,  Wallace  E.,.  Williard  W.,  Wilton  W., 
Wesley  W.,  Sarah  E.,  William  W.  W.,  Vio- 
let, Daisy,  and  Evangeline,  who  died  aged 
three  years  and  seven  months.  Sarah  E. 
died  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  Violet  is 
the  wife  of  Ernest  Schram  and  Daisy  died 
in  her  twenty- fourth  year.  August  7,  1881, 
when  forty-one  years  of  age,  Mrs.  Loveless 
died  at  the  family  home  in  Haring  township, 
whence  they  had  removed  three  years  pre- 
viously. 

In  the  spring  of  1878,  desiring  to  better 
the  fortunes  of  the  family,  William  W.  Love- 
less came  to  Wexford  county  and  settled 
on  a  tract  of  land,  part  of  section  19,  Haring 
township.  Here  he  erected  a  modest  but 
comfortable  residence,  and  after  installing 
his  family  therein  proceeded  to  hew  a  farm 
out  of  the  dense  w^oods.  How  w^ell  he  has 
succeeded  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the 
tidy,  well-kept  little  farm  of  forty-eight  acres 
which  year  after  year  he  has  been  cultiv^at- 
ing  at  a  comfortable  profit. 

In  Wexford  county,  on  the  23d  day  of 
January,  1884,  William  W.  Loveless  again 
entered  into  a  matrimonial  alliance,  his  bride 
on  this  occasion  being  Mrs.  Margaret  Gib- 
son, widow  of  the  late  William  Gibson.  She 
is  a  native  of  Canada,  born  in  Victoria  coun- 
ty, Ontario,  in  October,  1837.  Her  maiden 
name  was  Margaret  Shearer  and  she  is  a 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


377 


(laughter  of  Robert  and  Janet  Shearer,  na- 
tives of  Scotland.  One  child  has  been  adopt- 
ed by  the  subject  and  his  wife,  an  intelli- 
gent, winsome  little  girl  named  May. 

In  politics  William  W.  Loveless  is  a 
Democrat  and  has  always  interested  himself 
in  the  success  of  that  party.  He  has  served 
his  tow^nship  in  various  local  offices.  He  has 
been  a  school  director  a  number  of  years, 
township  treasurer  two  years,  justice  of  the 
peace  four  years,  and  township  clerk  one 
term.  In  all  matters  relating  to  the  welfare 
of  the  township  he  has  taken  an  active  inter- 
est. He  and  wife  are  members  of  the  Bap- 
tist church  and  always  active  in  every  spe- 
cies of  religious  work.  He  is  a  member  of 
Cadillac  Tent,  No.  332,  Knights  of  the  Mac- 
abees,  of  the  Loyal  Orange  lodge  at  his  home 
in  Canada  and  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry 
of  Wexford  county.  He  began  hfe  with 
little,  and  whatever  he  has  accomplished  is 
attributable  entirely  to  his  own  exertions. 


ANDREW  HOLMBERG. 

The  substantial  development  and  con- 
tinued progress  of  the  states  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  Mississippi  valley  owe  not  a  little 
of  their  growth  to  the  efforts  of  the  sons  of 
Sweden  who  have  sought  homes  here.  To 
this  class  Andrew  Holmberg  is  a  representa- 
tive. He  now  lives  on  section  28,  Clam  Lake 
township,  w^iere  he  is  engaged  in  general 
farming.  He  was  born  in  Sweden  on  the 
19th  of  April,  1848,  and  there  spent  the  first 
twenty-four  years  of  his  life.  In  his  youth 
he  acquired  a  fair  education  and  when  quite 
young  he  learned  the  value  of  industry  and 
perseverance  as  active  factors  in  a  business 


career.  These  have  ever  been  salient  features 
in  his  work  and  have  formed  the  foundation 
upon  w^iich  he  has  builded  his  prosperity. 
In  the  spring  of  1872,  attracted  by  the  op- 
])ortunities  of  the  new  world,  he  made  ar- 
rangements for  leaving  his  native  country, 
and,  bidding  goodbye  to  his  friends  there, 
he  sailed  for  the  new  world,  landing  first  at 
Quebec,  Canada.  He  did  not  tarry  in  the 
Dominion,  however,  but  came  at  once  to 
Michigan  and  has  since  been  a  resident  of 
Wexford  county.  Here  lie  w^as  first  em- 
ployed through  one  summer  in  the  grading 
of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad, 
and  subsequently  he  was  employed  as  a 
section  hand.  For  many  years  he  was  fore- 
man of  a  gang  of  men,  working  on  the 
railroad,  and  continued  his  labors  in  that 
way  until  July,  1898,  when  he  settled  upon 
the  farm  which  is  now  his  home  and  which 
he  had  previously  purchased.  He  has  erected 
a  nice  residence  here  and  in  the  rear  stand 
a  good  barn  and  fair  outbuildings,  which 
in  tiu'u  are  surrounded  by  fields  of  waving 
grain.  He  owns  altogether  eighty  acres  of 
land,  of  which  fifty  acres  is  improved.  Pre- 
vious to  the  purchase  of  his  present  property 
he  was  the  owner  of  two  other  farms  in  Clam 
Lake  township,  but  these  he  has  sold. 

On  the  26th  of  May,  1873,  in  Big  Rapids, 
Michigan,  occurred  the  marriage  of  Mr, 
Holmberg  and  Miss  Carrie  Anderson,  a 
most  estimable  lady,  who  has  indeed  been 
a  faithful  companion  and  helpmate  to  him  on 
life's  journey.  She  was  born  in  Sweden, 
July  28,  1844,  and  in  1873  came  to  America. 
She  has  many  excellent  traits  of  character, 
including  a  kindly  disposition  and  cordial 
manner,  which  have  made  her  a  favorite 
with  many  friends.  The  home  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs,  Holmberg  has  been  blessed  with  five 


378 


PV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


children,  namely :  Emily,  who  is  the  wife 
of  Anton  Iverson;  Albert  E.,  a  salesman  at 
Lake  City,  married  Ida  Whaley;  Ellen  A. 
is  at  home;  Anna  C.  is  the  wife  of  Emil  Hec- 
tor; and  Andrew  M.,  who  completes  the 
family.  The  parents  are  active  and  devoted 
members  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church, 
and  their  Christian  faith  is  exemplified  in 
their  upright  lives.  Llonored  and  respected 
by  all,  there  are  no  people  in  the  community 
who  occupy  a  more  enviable  position  in  the 
regard  of  their  friends,  not  only  because  of 
the  success  which  they  have  won,  but  also 
because  of  the  straightforward  business 
principles  they  have  ever  followed  and  the 
upright  lives  they  have  led.  In  the  com- 
plex citizenship  of  America  there  is  no  ele- 
ment of  more  value  than  that  furnished  by 
Sweden,  and  Mr.  Holmberg  has  ever  sus- 
tained the  reputation  which  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen bear  for  loyalty,  fidelity  and  integ- 
ritv. 


REV.  L.  M.  PRUDTIOMME. 

The  fame  of  this  efficient  and  popular 
ecclesiastic,  professionally  and  personnally, 
is  widely  extended,  until  today,  in  his  thirty- 
fifth  year,  there  are  few  priests  in  the  diocese 
to  wdiich  he  belongs  as  well  and  favorably 
known.  His  labors  in  the  city  of  Cadillac 
have  greatly  endeared  him  to  his  parishioners, 
and  to  the  people,  irrespective  of  church  or 
creed,  he  stands  not  only  a  tower  of  mental 
and  moral  strength  but  a  loving  father  and 
gentle  spiritual  guide,  with  the  best  interests 
of  humanity  ever  at  heart.  Father  Prud'- 
homme  is  a  native  of  Canada,  born  Jime 
22,  1869,  in  the  city  of  Montreal.  After 
completing    the    prescribed    course    of    the 


parochial  schools  he  entered,  in  1883,  As- 
stunption  College,  near  Montreal,  where  he 
pursued  his  studies  for  a  period  of  six  years, 
taking  high  rank  as  a  student  and  making 
an  extraordinary  brilliant  record  in  the 
classics.  In  1889  Laval  University  con- 
ferred its  highest  honors  upon  him  and  he 
at  once  entered  upon  a  course  of  philosophy 
which  required  two  years  to  complete.  With 
a  mind  thoroughly  disciplined,  he  began,  in 
September,  1891,  his  ecclesiastical  training 
in  the  Grand  Seminary  of  Montreal  and 
three  years  later,  on  the  22(1  day  of  Decem- 
ber, 1894,  was  ordained  a  priest  for  the  dio- 
cese of  Grand  Rapids  by  the  Most  Rev.  E. 
C.  Eabre,  D.  D. 

Father  Prud'homme's  first  active  labors, 
in  the  ministry  were  with  St.  Francis' 
Church,  Traverse  City,  to  which  he  was  sent 
as  assistant  pastor  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  H.  J. 
Richter,  D.  D.,  bishop  of  Grand  Rapids,  im- 
mediately after  his  ordination.  His  work 
with  that  congregation  proving  satisfactory, 
he  was  soon  promoted  to  a  more  responsible 
position,  the  pastorate  of  St.  Ann's  parish, 
Cadillac,  to  which  he  w^as  transferred  in 
August  of  the  year  1895.  Since  taking 
charge  of  St.  Ann's,  the  congregation  has 
prospered  greatly  temporally  and  spiritually 
and,  as  already  stated,  the  beloved  pastor  has 
found  a  permanent  place  in  the  hearts  of  his 
people,  the  order  of  reciprocal  willingness 
and  obligation  being  the  unwritten  law  of 
the  parish. 

Father  Prud'homme  is  an  able  preacher, 
a  finished  and  erudite  scholar  and  is  held  in 
high  esteem  by  the  bishop  and  clergy  of  his 
own  (hocese  and  throughout  the  state.  In 
the  city  of  Cadillac  he  is  favorably  regarded 
by  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  alike,  for  his 
manv  noble  qualities  of  head  and  heart,  be- 


REV.   L.   M.   PRUD'HOMME. 


ST.   ANN'S   CATHOLIC   CHURCH. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


379 


ing  one  of  the  most  generous  and  manly  of 
men,  his  untiring  labors  in  the  cause  of 
Christianity  endearing  him  to  his  own  con- 
gregation and  arousing  in  others  an  admira- 
tion seldom  enjoyed  by  the  Catholic  clergy 
outside  of  the  pale  of  the  church.  Broad 
minded,  charitable  and  devout,  he  well  de- 
serves the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held,  as  his 
life  is  a  series  of  self  sacrifices  to  the  end 
that  the  kingdom  of  God  may  be  exalted 
among  men  and  souls  won  thereto.  Al- 
though a  young  man,  Father  Prud'homme 
has  already  accomplished  great  good  in  the 
noble  work  to  which  his  time  and  talent  are 
being  devoted  and  it  is  easy  to  predict  for 
him  a  long  and  promising  future  in  the  Mas- 
ter's cause  which  he  so  ably  and  worthily 
upholds. 

Father  Prucrhomme  enjoys  the  rare  priv- 
ilege of  having  built  within  eight  years 
three  churches,  namely,  at  Lake  City,  at  a 
cost  of  three  thousand  dollars,  at  Frank- 
fort, at  a  cost  of  eight  thousand  dollars  and 
at  Cadillac,  at  a  cost  of  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lars. A  fourth  one  will  be  built  this  summer 
at  Jennings.  All  these  buildings  are  free  from 
debt  and  are  a  credit  and  an  ornament  to 
their  respective  cities.  The  reverend  pastor 
of  St.  Ann's  has  many  good  words  for  all 
liis  worthy  assistants  and  for  the  citizens  of 
Cadillac,  irres])ective  of  creed  and  nation- 
alty. 


ST.  ANN'S  CHURCH. 

Previous  to  the  year  1880  the  spiritual 
w^ants  of  the  Catholics  of  Cadillac  were  at- 
tended by  priests  coming  either  from  Tra- 
verse City  or  Big  Rapids.  In  the  course  of 
1880  the  church  which  existed  until    1903 

23 


was  built  under  the  management  of  Rev. 
Father  Ziegler.  After  that  date  mass  was 
said  occasionally  in  Cadlillac  until  1882, 
wdien  Rev.  P.  M.  Uytdewilligen  took  charge 
of  St.  Ann's  parish.  The  interior  of  the 
church  was  then  finished  and  services  were 
held  quite  regularly.  In  1886  Father  Uytde- 
willigen was  replaced  by  Rev.  Louis  Barous, 
who  worked  faithfully  until  1894,  attending 
Reed  City,  Evart,  Luther,  Lake  City  and  a 
few  other  places.  During  his  pastorate  here 
the  pastoral  residence  was  purchased  and 
many  other  improvements  w^ere  made. 
Father  Barous  celebrated  the  golden  jubi- 
lee of  his  sacerdotal  ordination  in  June, 
1894,  and  shortly  afterwards  resigned  his 
charge  on  account  of  old  age.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  July  of  the  same  year  by  Rev. 
A.  Zugelder,  who  began  the  work  with  zeal 
and  success.  The  church  property  was 
greatly  beautified  under  his  care. 

In  August,  1895,  Father  Zugelder  was 
transferred  to  Provemont,  and  the  present 
pastor.  Rev.  L,  M.  Prud'homme,  assumed 
the  charge  of  this  parish.     Since  November, 

1897,  Father  Prucrhomme  has  had  an  as- 
sistant. The  first  assistant  was  Rev.  G. 
Guthausen,    who    was    succeeded    in    July, 

1898,  by  Rev.  A.  Eickelmann.  In  August, 
i8g9,  Father  Eickelmann  was  promoted  to 
the  pastorate  of  Byron  Center,  Michigan, 
and  Rev.  B.  H.  Kettmann  came  here  in  his 
place.  On  January  1,  1903,  Rev.  Father 
Kettmann  was  promoted  to  the  pastorate  of 
Remus,  Michigan,  and  his  successor  was 
Rev.  James  A.  Golden.  The  missions 
attended  from  Cadillac  are  Lake  City,  Jen- 
nings and  McBain,  Missaukee  county,  Ma- 
rion, Osceola  county,  Frankfort,  Benzie 
county,  Fife  Lake,  Grand  Traverse  county, 
and  Temple,  Clare  county.    St.  Ann's  parish 


380 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


has  grown  from  a  membership  of  forty  fam- 
ihes,  which  it  had  in  1880,  until  now  it 
has  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  families 
in  the  city  of  Cadillac  alone,  besides  several 
families  living  on  farms  in  th€  vicinity. 

The  beautiful  and  substantial  new 
church  edifice  of  brick  and  stone  will  1d€ 
dedicated  in  the  early  part  of  September, 
this  year  (1903).  The  building,  when 
finished  and  properly  furnished  and  dec- 
orated, will  cost  about  fifteen  thousand  dol- 
lors  and  will  seat  over  five  hundred  people. 
St.  Ann's  parish  has  kept  pace  with  the 
growth  of  the  prosperous  and  thriving  city 
of  Cadillac  and  its  church  accommodations 
are  now^  unsurpassed  in  Wexford  county. 


FREDERICK  W.  HECTOR. 

Frederick  W.  Hector,  wdio  is  supervisor 
of  Clam  Lake  township  and  one  of  the  lead- 
ing, progressive  and  prosperous  farmers  of 
Wexford  county,  is  a  native  of  Sweden,  born 
on  the  1 2th  of  June,  1847.  The  first  fifteen 
years  of  his  life  w^ere  passed  in  that  coun- 
try, and  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  that 
time  he  was  engaged  in  gardening.  On  leav- 
ing that  country  he  went  to  Denmark,  where 
he  followed  gardening  on  his  own  account 
for  three  years  or  until  1865,  when  attracted 
by  the  possibilities  of  the  new  world  in  a 
business  way  he  resolved  to  try  his  fortune 
in  America  and  sailed  for  New  York,  taking 
passage  on  a  westward-bound  vessel  that 
weighed  anchor  in  the  harbor  of  Copenhagefi 
in  May,  1865,  and  reached  its  destination  in 
June.  On  reaching  this  country  he  made  his 
way  to  Manistee  and  entered  the  employ  of 
the  late  John  Canfield,  for  wdiomi  he  worked 


at  scaling  logs  for  seven  years.  At  the 
Gwd  of  that  time  he  came  to  Wexford  county, 
settling  at  what  was  then  called  Clam  Lake, 
but  is  now  the  city  of  Cadillac.  This  was 
in  June,  1872,  and  for  about  three  years  after 
his  arrival  he  was  employed  at  different  oc- 
cupations, but  chiefly  at  scaling  logs  and  at 
tallying. 

About  1875  Mr.  Hector  invested  the 
money  which  he  had  earned  in  forty  acres 
of  land,  forming  the  nucleus  of  his  present 
landed  possessions.  This  tract  is  on  section 
8,  Clam  Lake  township,  and  upon  it  he  has 
since  resided.  Since  he  made  the  purchase 
he  has  given  his  time  and  attention  almost 
wdiolly  to  general  farming  and  dairying,  and 
as  his  financial  resources  have  increased  he 
has  added  to  his  land  until  he  now  has  a 
valuable  and  extensive  farm  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty  acres,  of  which  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  is  cultivated,  the  green  fields 
giving  promise  of  rich  harvests  in  the  au- 
tumn. He  has  erected  a  line  set  of  farm 
Imildings,  including  a  modern  residence,  a 
large  barn  and  sheds  for  the  shelter  of  his 
stock  and  farm  implements.  None  of  the 
equipments  of  the  model  farm  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  are  there  lacking. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1870,  in  Manistee, 
Michigan,  Mr.  Hector  w^as  married  to  Miss 
Otillie  Corcart,  a  native  of  Germany,  born 
on  the  23d  of  December,  1848.  They  now 
have  five  living  children,  as  follows :  Emil ; 
Otto ;  Theressa,  the  wife  of  Edward  J.  Smithy 
of  Cherry  Grove  township;  Albert  and  Del- 
phina.  They  have  also  lost  four  children, 
who  died  in  early  youth. 

Mr.    Hector's    oflicial    connection    wn'th 

'  Wexford  county  has  been  of  a  character  to 

I  make  him  a  valued  citizen  of  his  community. 

He  has  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


881 


and  his  decisions  were  strictly  fair  and  im- 
partial. He  was  also  township  treasurer  and 
township  supervisor,  and  in  matters  of  pub- 
lic moment  he  is  deeply  interested,  acting  for 
the  good  of  the  community  along  many  lines 
of  progress  and  substantial  upbuilding  here. 
When  the  village  of  Clam  Lake,  now  Cad- 
illac, the  county  seat,  w^as  incorporated,  he 
w^as  elected  one  of  its  trustees.  He  has  wit- 
nessed almost  the  entire  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  county  and  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  reclaiming  its  wild  lands  for  the  uses 
of  agriculture.  He  has  seen  great  advance 
along  other  business  lines  and  feels  a  justi- 
fiable pride  in  what  has  been  accomplished 
in  the  county.  That  his  own  labors  have  been 
well  directed  and  guided  by  sound  business 
judgment  is  proven  by  his  success,  for  he  is 
now  one  of  the  wealthy  farmers  of  the  coun- 
ty, with  an  attractive  home,  a  valuable  farm 
and  other  interests.  Progress  might  well  be 
termed  the  keynote  of  his  character,  in  1x)th 
public  and  business  life.  He  has  allowed  no 
obstacle  to  deter  him  from  a  course  which 
he  has  marked  out,  and  he  has  employed  only 
honorable  means  to  gain  the  ends  which  have 
been  his  g'oal.  Fraternally  he  is  a  meml^er 
of  Cadillac  Tent,  No.  2;^2,  Knights  of  the 
l\faccabees,  the  Order  of  Mutual  Protection 
and  The  New  Era. 


WIf.Lh'ORD  D.  FALES. 

A  lifetime  spent  in  the  pursuit  of  one  call- 
ing will  usually  result  in  substantial  success. 
Such  is  found  to  be  the  case  in  the  life  of 
Willford  D.  Fales,  one  of  the  substantial 
citiezns  of  section  6,  Cedar  Creek  township. 
He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Pembroke,  seven 


miles  from  Niagara  Falls,  New^  York,  Jan- 
uary 29,  1848.  His  parents  w^ere  Dexter 
and  Sarah  (Wood)  Fales,  natives  of  New- 
York,  good,  industrious  people  who  always 
merited  and  received  the  good  opinion  of 
every  community  in  which  they  lived.  The 
subject  of  this  article  was  the  second  of  a 
family  of  three  children  and  when  he  w^as 
but  an  infant  his  parents  moved  to  Pennsyl- 
vania where  they  remained  until  the  subject 
w'as  four  years  of  age.  He  was  then  taken 
to  New  York  and  for  the  next  three  years 
lived  in  Steul)en  county,  and  at  the  age  of 
nine  years  came  to  Kent  county,  Michigan, 
where  he  grew  to  manhood,  his  time  l>eing 
occupied  in  the  ordinary  lalx)r  of  the  farm. 
From  Kent  county  he  w^ent  to  Muskegon, 
where  he  resided  for  two  years,  being  en- 
gaged in  the  same  pursuit,  spending,  how^- 
ever,  his  winters  in  the  w^oods  lumbering. 
His  mother  died  in  1852  and  his  father  in 
1874. 

In  the  spring  of  1869  Mr.  Fales  came  to 
Wexford  county  and  located  upon  eighty 
acres  of  land  in  section  6,  Cedar  Creek  town- 
ship, which  he  still  owns  and  upon  which 
he  resides.  Hiis  little  farm  he  has  since 
splendidly  improved,  erected  upon  it  good, 
substantial  buildings,  set  out  an  orchard  of 
four  and  one-half  acres,  embracing  fruit 
trees  of  all  kinds  suitable  for  this  climate, 
the  greater  part,  however,  being  many  fine 
varieties  of  apple  trees.  Sixty  acres  are  now 
clear  and  in  a  splendid  state  of  cultivation, 
and  no  more  desira])le  little  farm  home  is 
to  be  found  in  the  county  of  Wexford. 

On  the  5th  day  of  April,  1871,  Willford 
D.  I^^ales  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  Ann  Blackall,  a  native  of  Kent  county. 
The  ceremony  took  place  in  the  city  of  Grand 
Rapids,  and  the  contracting  parties  imme- 


382 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


(liately  thereafter  took  up  their  abode  on  the 
subject's  farm  in  Cedar  Creek  township. 
One  child  was  born  to  this  union,  Marion 
B.,  but  the  faithful  wife  and  mother  did  not 
long*  survive,  as  she  died  in  1872  after  a  brief 
illness,  leaving  her  beloved  babe  to  the  care 
of  its  sorrowing  father.  In  Ottawa  county, 
Michigan,  on  the  3d  day  of  August,  1873, 
Willford  D.  Fales  w^as  again  married,  his 
bride  on  this  occasion  being  Miss  Julia  E. 
Gillat,  a  native  of  Ottawa  county,  where 
she  was  reared  and  educated.  They  took  up 
their  residence  soon  after  the  ceremony  on 
the  subject's  Cedar  Grove  township  farm, 
and  there  they  still  reside.  To  this  union 
four  children  were  born,  viz. :  Herman  C. ; 
Lottie  M.,  wife  of  William  Moffitt;  Ira  D. 
and  Grace  E. 

In  all  local  affairs,  particularly  contem- 
plated improvements,  Willford  D.  Fales 
takes  a  deep  interest  and  he  has  always  done 
his  full  share  toward  advancing  the  welfare 
of  the  county.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fales  are  mem- 
bers of  the  Freewill  Baptist  church,  devout 
worshippers  and  active  and  zealous  in  the 
cause  of  religion.  He  is  a  public-spirited 
enterprising  citizen  who  always  conscien- 
tiously performs  the  duties  required  of  him, 
l)oth  public  and  private,  and  his  character  in 
the  community  where  he  has  hved  so  long 
is  above  reproach.  He  is  a  Prohibitionist 
and  takes  high  ground  on  the  subject  of 
temperance. 


EDWARD  COX. 


The  true  source  of  man's  dominion  on 
earth  is  said  to  be  derived  from  the  pursuit 
of  agriculture.  The  calling  is  certainly  the 
most   independent   one   in   which   man   can 


engage.  Others  may  receive  better  remun- 
eration for  their  services  and  pile  up  bigger 
fortunes  than  does  the  agriculturist,  but  his 
calling  is  the  one  whose  success  is  absolutely 
indispensable  to  the  w^orld's  prosperity.  I'he 
subject  of  this  review,  Edw^ard  Cox,  of 
section  36,  Greenwood  township,  is  a  suc- 
cessful farmer,  and  one  who  has  devoted 
nearly  all  the  years  of  his  life  to  the  calling. 
He  has  been  contented  with  his  lot  and  tlic 
returns  from  his  labor,  without  feeling  en- 
vious of  those  in  other  hues  of  labor  wdiose 
^compensation  seems  to  be  so  great  that  it 
is  sometimes  deemed  wdiolly  disproportionate 
to  the  service  rendered. 

Edward  Cox,  the  subject  of  this  review^, 
was  born  on  a  farm  in  Summit  county,  Ohio, 
July  15,  1845,  ^^^  parents  were  Richard 
and  Philena  (Tibbet)  Cox,  both  w^ortl^y  and 
highly  respected  people  in  the  region  where 
they  lived.  Both  are  now  dead,  having 
passed  awMy  many  years  ago.  They  were 
the  parents  of  six  children,  of  whom  the 
subject  of  this  review  was  the  third.  When 
he  w\as  nine  years  of  age,  in  1854,  the  family 
moved  to  Indiana,  where  they  continued  to 
reside  until  a  short  lime  previous  to  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion,  when  they  moved  to  Otta- 
wa county,  Michigan. 

In  July,  1862,  Edward  Cox  enlisted  in 
Company  F,  Fourteenth  Regiment  Michi- 
gan Volunteer  Infantry.  The  regiment  was 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  time  of  its 
service  under  the  command  of  General  Will- 
iam T.  Sherman,  served  all  through  the  At- 
lanta campaign  and  took  part  in  most  of 
the  battles  fought  in  that  hostile  section.  He 
was  still  in  the  service  at  the  time  of  the 
surrender  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee  at  Ap- 
pomattox and  was  not  mustered  out  of  the 
service  until  after  the  close  of  the  war. 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


883 


On  his  return  from  the  scene  of  hostih- 
ties  Mr.  Cox  again  took  up  his  residence  in 
Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  and  devoted  him- 
self to  agricuUural  pursuits.  October  3, 
1865,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Alcena 
Elhs,  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Summit 
county,  July  9,  1839.  She  was  the  daughter 
of  Jesse  and  Sally  (McMullen)  Ellis,  and 
of  a  family  of  fourteen  children,  seven  sons 
and  scATU  daughters,  she  was  the  youngest 
child.  Both  ])arents  have  been  dead  many 
years.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cox  six  children 
have  been  born,  viz. :  Milton  married  Nellie 
Spears  and  resides  in  Levering,  Michigan ; 
Merton  married  Cora  Woods,  and  resides  in 
Greenwood  township;  Viola  is  the  wife  of 
Thomas  Maxurd,  of  Cadillac ;  Riley  married 
Ruth  Christian,  and  lives  in  Greenwood 
township;  Charles  married  Lillie  Gross,  and 
lives  in  Cadillac;  Paulina  is  the  wife  of 
Robert  Garrow,  of  Cadillac. 

In  the  autum'n  of  1872  the  family  moved 
from  Ottawa  to  W^exford  county,  and  set- 
tld  on  a  quarter  section  of  land  in  section 
36,  Greenwood  township,  entering  it  as  a 
homestead.  There  they  still  reside,  each 
year  adding  to  the  prosperity  wdiich  has  come 
to  them  through  industry,  and  they  are  stead- 
ily accumulating  a  competency  which  will 
be  more  than  sufficient  to  supply  them  wath 
abundance  for  their  old  age.  Seventy-five 
acres  of  the  original  homestead  has  been 
cleared  and  constitutes  a  fine,  fertile  farm, 
sufficiently  productive  to  give  them  a  very 
satisfactory  income.  Mr.  Cox  has  been  hon- 
ored by  the  voters  of  Greenwood  township, 
at  different  times,  with  the  offices  of  super- 
visor, treasurer  and  clerk.  Indeed,  there  are 
few  offices  in  the  township  which  he  has  not 
filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  satisfaction 
to  the  public,     The  only  fraternal  society 


to  which  he  belongs  is  the  Oliver  P.  Mor- 
ton Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  at 
Manton.  He  is  a  worthy  citizen  whose  serv- 
ices to  the  public  in  the  township  of  his  resi- 
dence are  highly  appreciated.  He  is  a  reg- 
ularly commissioned  correspondent  in  the 
agricultural  department  of  the  state  of  Mich- 


^* » 


HKxMAN  B.  STURTEVANT. 

From  an  early  epoch  in  the  development 
of  Wexford  county  until  a  recent  date  He- 
man  B.  Sturtevant  was  numbered  among 
its  residents  and  the  part  which  he  played  in 
its  development,  progress  and  improvement 
well  entitles  him  to  representation  among 
those  who  have  formed  its  history.  He  is 
now  living  in  Owosso.  A  native  of  New  En- 
gland, he  possesses  many  of  the  sterling 
traits  which  have  ever  been  characteristic  of 
the  ]:)eople  who  come  from  that  section  of 
the  country.  He  was  born  in  the  township 
of  Weybridge,  Addison  county,  Vermont, 
on  the  30th  of  May,  1840.  His  father,  Milo 
Sturtevant,  was  also  a  native  of  Addison 
county,  but  his  mother,  who  bore  the  maiden 
name  of  Elizabeth  Taft,  was  born  in  Pitts- 
ford,  Vermont.  The  father  devoted  his  en- 
ergies to  agricultural  pursuits  as  a  life  work 
and  thus  provided  for  his  family.  Both  he 
and  his  wife  died  in  Weyliridge,  her  demise 
occurring  when  she  was  about  forty-two 
years  of  age,  while  the  father  died  at  the  age 
of  fifty-one  years.  They  were  the  parents 
of  six  children,  five  sons  and  a  daughter. 

Of  this  family  Pieman  B.  Sturtevant  was 
the  second.  He  attended  the  common 
schools  in  his  youth  and  was  reared  in  Way- 
bridge,  Vermont,  upon  his  fathers  farm,  re- 


384 


JV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


siding  at  that  place  until  the  fall  of  1859, 
when  he  arrived  in  Michigan,  taking  up  his 
abode  in  Livingston  county.  He  attended 
the  normal  school  at  Ypsilanti,  this  state,  and 
subsequently  engaged  in  teaching  school 
through  the  winter  months  for  about  two 
years  or  until  after  the  inauguration  of  the 
Civil  war.  He  had  watched  with  interest 
the  progress  of  events  in  the  south,  had  no- 
ted the  threatening  attitude  of  certain  states 
below  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line  and  he  re- 
solved that  if  an  attempt  was  made  to  over- 
thro\y  the  Union  he  would  strike  a  blow  in  its 
defense.  Accordingly  in  1861  he  ofifered  his 
services  to  the  government,  becoming  a  mem- 
ber of  Company  E,  Seventeenth  Michigan 
Volunteer  Infantry,  with  which;  he  served  un- 
til April,  1862,  when  he  was  honorably  dis- 
charged, on  account  of  physical  disability. 
In  the  meantime,  however,  he  had  partici- 
pated in  two  very  important  battles  of  the 
war — those  of  South  Mountain  and  Antie- 
tam. 

After  leaving  the  army  Mr.  Sturtevant 
made  a  short  visit  to  his  old  home  in  the 
Green  Mountain  state  and  then  again  located 
in  Livingston  county,  Michigan,  where  he 
continued  his  education,  realizing  its  impor- 
tance as  a  preparation  for  the  practical  and 
responsible  duties  of  life.  He  entered  the 
preparatory  school  at  Ann  Ar1>or  with  the 
intention  of  pursuing  a  college  course,  but 
he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  that  plan  on  ac- 
count of  ill  health.  Being  advised  to  engage 
in  outdoor  life  he  then  turned  his  attention 
to  farming  in  Livingston  county,  where  he 
carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  for  two 
years-  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
removed  to  Shiawassee,  where  he  also  car- 
ried on  farming  for  two  years.  At  the  end 
of  that  time  he  took  up  his  abode  in  Owosso 


and  represented  its  business  interests  as  an 
enterprising  merchant.  He  remained  there 
until  November,  1869,  when,  disposing  of 
his  store,  he  came  to  Wexford  county,  es- 
tablishing his  home  in  Sherman  and  at  the 
next  regular  election  of  the  county  officers 
he  was  chosen  by  popular  ballot  for  the  posi- 
tions of  county  clerk  and  register  of  deeds. 
He  acted  in  that  dual  capacity  for  six  years, 
retiring  from  the  position,  as  he  had  entered 
it,  with  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  all. 
He  then  resumed  merchandising  and  also  en- 
gaged in  real  estate  business  in  Sherman,  be- 
ing an  active  representative  of  commercial 
life  here  until  the  fall  of  1901,  when  he  re- 
turned to  Owosso.  He  is,  however,  still 
largely  interested  in  lands  in  this  county  and 
in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  and  his  invest- 
ments not  only  return  to  him  a  good  income, 
but  contribute  to  the  general  prosperity  of 
this  section  of  the  state.  Upon  his  removal 
he  not  only  discontinued  his  mercantile  af- 
fairs here,  but  also  resigned  from  the  office 
of  justice  of  the  peace,  which  he  had  filled 
continuously  from  the  spring  of  1870  until 
the  fall  of  1901.  "His  even-handed  justice" 
was  a  characteristic  of  his  official  service  and 
"won  golden  opinions  from  all  sorts  of  peo- 
ple." For  eight  years  prior  to  1901  he 
served  as  supervisor  of  Hanover  township 
and  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties  he 
was  always  loyal  and  reliable.  He  took  a 
very  active  part  in  politics,  never  failing  in 
his  support  of  what  he  believed  to  be  right. 
He  was  also  active  and  prominent  in  church 
work  in  this  county,  holding  membership  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  while  for 
more  than  twenty  years  he  was  superinten- 
dent of  its  Sunday  school  in  Sherman  and 
was  a  most  active  and  helpful  laborer  in  the 
cause  of  Christianity  here. 


IVEXFORD    COUNTY ^  MICHIGAN, 


385 


Mr.  Sturtevant  was  married  in  Unadilla, 
Livingston  county,  Michigan,  November  26, 
1863,  to  Miss  Rhoda  A.  Dunn,  who  was 
born  in  that  place  on  the  4th  of  August,  1842. 
There  her  girlhood  days  were  passed  in  the 
home  of  her  parents,  Hillier  and  Lois 
(Dunn)  Dunn,  the  former  a  native  of  New 
Jersey  and  the  latter  of  Connecticut.  Re- 
ujoving  to  the  west,  they  became  residents 
of  L^nadilla,  Michigan,  where  both  resided 
until  called  to  the  home  beyond,  the  father 
passing  away  at  the  age  of  fifty-ihe  years, 
while  the  mother's  death  occurred  when  she 
was  fifty-six  years  of  age.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Sturtevant  have  adopted  a  daughter,  j\se- 
nath,  who  is  now^  the  wife  of  Vincent  C. 
Wall,  of  Sherman,  Michigan.  Mr.  Sturte- 
vant still  retains  his  membership  in  Sherman 
Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  he  is 
now  an  active  member  of  the  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  with  which  his  wife  is  also 
identified.  Such  in  brief  is  the  life  history 
of  one  w^hose  efforts  have  ever  been  discern- 
ingly directed  along  w^ell  defined  lines  of 
labor,  whether  for  the  benefit  of  himself, 
his  country  or  his  county.  He  has  been  as 
loyal  to  his  town,  state  and  nation  in  times 
of  peace  as  he  w^as  when  he  followed  the 
starry  banner  upon  the  battlefield  of  the 
south  and  his  has  ever  been  a  crejditable  and 
honorable  record,  winning  for  himself  the 
confidence  and  good  w'ill  of  all  with  whom 
he  has  been  associated. 


HENRY  C.  AUER. 


Henry  C.  Auer,  a  prosperous  and  popu- 
lar merchant  of  Cadillac,  is  a  native  of  New^ 
York,  born  in  Moscow,  Septemlier  15,  i860. 
His  parents  were  John  H.  and  — 


Auer,  natives  of  Germany.  The  family,  in 
1864,  moved  to  Almont,  Lepeer  county, 
Michigan,  but  remained  there  only  about 
four  years,  when  they  moved  to  Reed  City, 
Osceola  county,  then  knowni  as  Todd's 
Slashings,  and  settled  on  a  farm  three  miles 
from  that  place.  There  were  seven  children 
in  the  Auer  family,  of  whom  the  subject  w^as 
the  sixth.  The  father  is  now  living  a  retired 
life  in  Reed  City.  The  mother  died  when 
the  su1)ject  was  three  and  one-half  years  old. 

The  early  life  of  Henry  C.  Auer  was 
s])ent  beneath  the  parental  roof  until  he  was 
se\xnteen  years  old.  He  had  attended  the 
public  schools  and  was  studious  and  ambi- 
tious, so  that  when  he  laid  aside  his  books  to 
face  the  world  and  battle  for  a  fortune,  his 
mind  was  well  stored  wath  useful  knowledge. 
Having  secured  a  position  as  clerk  in  a  gen- 
eral merchandise  store  at  Nirvina,  Lake 
county,  Michigan,  he  immediately  en- 
tered upon  his  duties  and  gave  satisfaction 
both  to  the  patrons  of  the  establishment  and 
his  employers.  Thirsting  for  more  knowl- 
edge, he  returned  to  Reed  City,  procured  a 
place  as  clerk  in  a  hotel  and  was  given  an 
opportunity  to  attend  school  during  school 
hours.  When  school  closed  he  w^as  offered  a 
place  in  the  Brotherton  Hotel  at  Flint,  Mich- 
igan, as  clerk,  remained  there  until  the  man- 
ngement  changed,  when  he  again  returned  to 
Reed  City.  Then  for  two  and  a  half  years 
lie  was  employed  in  the  mercantile  estab- 
lishment of  D.  M.  McClelland.  In  August, 
1882,  he  came  to  Cadillac  and  entered  the 
emj^loy  of  W.  R.  Dennis  &  Company,  deal- 
ers in  clothing  and  gents'  furnishings  goods,, 
remaining  in  their  service  for  nearly  six 
years. 

In  Cadillac,  Wexford  county,  December 
25,    1885,    Henry   C.    Auer  was   united   in 


386 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


married  to  Miss  C^apitola  Havens,  a  native 
of  Almont,  Michigan,  born  in  Angust,  1859. 
Her  parents  are  natives  of  New  York  state. 
Her  father  is  dead,  while  her  mother  yet 
lives.  One  child,  Harold  Clement,  has  been 
born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Auer.  He  is  a  manly, 
intelligent  youth,  now  in  his  seventh  year. 
His  experience  in  the  clothing  and  gents' 
furnishing  line  was  such  as  to  make  Henry 
C.  Auer  thoroughly  conversant  with  every 
detail  of  the  business.  Accordingly,  in  1888, 
he  entered  into  partnership  with  P.  Medalie 
in  that  line  of  business,  the  firm  name  being 
H.  C.  Auer  &  Company.  The  new  firm  pros- 
pered from  the  beginning  and  for  five  years 
the  partnership  continued,  when  it  was  dis- 
solved by  mutual  consent,  Henry  C.  Auer 
purchasing  the  interest  of  his  partner. 
Since  that  time  he  has  been  conducting  the 
business  alone  and  with  most  flattering  suc- 
cess. He  has  a  large  trade,  quite  an  exten- 
sive scope  of  country  to  draw  from  and  with 
his  well-known  fair,  honorable  business  prin- 
ciples, the  number  of  his  patrons  is  steadily 
increasing.  He  is  too  busy  a  man  to  interest 
himself  greatly  in  politics,  hence  he  has 
neither  aspired  to  nor  held  a  political  po- 
sition of  any  kind.  He  is  interested  in  true 
Christianity,  sincere  religion  and  good  mor- 
als and  is  a  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Cadillac.  He  belongs  to 
three  fraternal  societies  and  makes  it  con- 
venient to  give  each  some  attention.  He  be- 
longs to  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  46,  Knights 
of  Pythias,  to  Cadillac  Tent,  K.  O.  T.  M. 
and  to  the  camp.  Modern  Woodmen  of 
America.  By  zeal,  economy,  close  applica- 
tion to  business  and  indomitable  persever- 
ance, from  a  most  humble  beginning  he  has 
placed  himself  among  the  leading  and  most 
successful  merchants  of  northern  Michigan. 


ISAAC  NICHOLS. 

In  Clam  Lake  township,  upon  a  good 
farm,  Isaac  Nichols  makes  his  home  and  de- 
votes his  energies  to  general  agricultural  pur- 
suits. He  was  born  in  Ontario  county, 
Canada,  on  the  22d  of  March,  1847,  ^^^^^  is 
a  son  of  John  and  Sophia  (DeBoyse) 
Nichols.  His  parents  are  both  now  deceas- 
ed, his  father  having  passed  away  in  Can- 
ada when  but  thirty  years  of  age.  The  moth- 
er long  survived  him,  however,  and  spent 
her  last  days  in  the  home  of  her  son,  Isaac,  in 
Clam  I^ake  township,  where  she  died  in  her 
eighty-second  year. 

In  the  Dominion  Isaac  Nichols  was  rear- 
ed upon  a  farm.  He  attended  the  pubhc 
schools  and  when  not  engaged  in  the  ef- 
fort to  master  the  branches  taught  in  such 
institutions  he  devoted  his  labors  to  the  work 
of  the  farm  and  thus  gained  practical  ex- 
perience in  the  occupation  which  he  has 
chosen  as  his  life  work.  He  remained  in 
Canada  until  about  twenty-six  years  of  age 
and  then  determined  to  seek  a  home  in  the 
United  States.  Many  are  the  sons  of  the 
Dominion  who  have  crossed  the  border  in 
order  to  enjoy  the  better  business  oppor- 
tunities, with  livelier  competition,  that  are 
to  be  found  in  this  country.  It  was  in  the 
month  of  September,  1873,  ^hat  Mr.  Nich- 
ols arrived  in  Wexford  county  w^ith  his  fam- 
ily and  he  settled  upon  the  farm  where  he 
now  lives  and  it  has  been  his  home  continu- 
ously for  thirty  years.  He  here  owns  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land  and  with 
unfaltering  energy  he  has  continued  the 
work  of  cultivation  and  improvement  here 
until  he  now  has  over  one  hundred  acres  un- 
der the  plow.  He  has  also  erected  a  modern 
brick  residence  and  made  other  valuable  im- 


ISAAC   NICHOLS   GROUP. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


887 


provenients,  including  the  planting  of  an  or- 
chard of  four  acres,  which  yields  its  fruits 
in  season.  I  lis  fields  return  to  him  good  har- 
vests and  in  all  of  his  farm  work  he  is  pro- 
gressive, using  the  latest  improved  machin- 
ery in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  and  keeping 
good  grades  of  stock  to  assist  in  carrying  on 
the  farm  work. 

Mr.  Nichols  was  married  in  Canada  to 
Miss  Josepliine  Watt,  a  native  of  Lambton 
county,  Ontario,  born  July  i6,  1848.  Unto 
them  have  been  born  four  children,  who  are 
yet  living,  namely:  John  W.,  Thompson  W., 
Melissa  S.,  who  is  the  wife  of  Robert  Gra- 
ham, and  Louisa,  who  is  the  wife  of  Frank 
Flynn.  lliey  have  also  buried  one  son,  Isaac, 
who  died  in  Clam  Lake  township,  wdien 
twenty  years  of  age,  his  loss  being  deeply 
mourned  not  only  by  his  family,  but  also  by 
many  friends.  John  W.  wedded  Miss  Ber- 
tha M.  Hammond  and  resides  in  Clam  Lake 
township ;  they  have  one  little  daughter,  Pa- 
tience L.  Thompson  W.  wedded  Miss  Anna 
Stewart  and  they  have  two  children,  Leone 
J.  and  Stewart  W.,  a  resident  of  Clam  Lake 
township.  John  is  fitting  himself  for  the 
])r()fession  of  dentist  and  is  now  a  student  in 
the  dental  department  of  the  Detroit  Col- 
lege of  Medicine,  a  member  of  the  class  of 
1904. 

Matters  of  public  interest  pretaining  to 
the  w^elfare  and  progress  of  his  section  of 
the  state  received  the  attention  and  often- 
times the  active  support  of  Mr.  Nichols,  wdio 
is  a  wnde-awake  and  progressive  citizen. 
He  has  served  as  highway  commissioner  of 
Clam  Lake  towaiship,  Init  has  never  been  an 
active  politician  in  the  sense  of  ofifice  seek- 
ing, preferring  to  give  his  time  and  energies 
to  his  business  affairs.  He  votes  with  the 
Republican  party  and  is  connected  with  the 


Patrons  of  Husbandry.  He  has  a  nice  home 
and  good  farm  and  all  that  he  possesses  has 
come  to  him  through  his  own  efforts.  He 
may  well  be  called  a  self-made  man  and 
deserves  all  the  credit  wdiich  the  term  im- 
plies. His  business  methods  have  been  such 
as  will  bear  close  investigation  and  his  worth 
both  as  a  man  and  citizen  are  widely  ac- 
knowledged by  all  with  whom  he  has  come 
in  contact.  His  ho])e  of  finding  good  busi- 
ness advantages  in  the  United  States  has 
been  more  than  realized  and  by  improving 
the  opportunities  with  which  he  was  sur- 
rounded he  has  gained  a  creditable  position 
among  the  prosperous  agriculturists  of  his 
adopted  county. 


SAMUEL  J.  CASSETY. 

The  next  best  thmg  to  being  a  native  of 
the  state  of  Michigan  is  to  have  lived  in  the 
commonwealth  the  greater  part  of  one's  life. 
Michigan  is  a  great  commonwealth,  a  rich 
and  productive  state,  and  of  all  of  her  eighty- 
five  counties  there  are  not  many  superior  to 
Wexford  county  as  a  place  of  abode.  Samuel 
J.  Cassety,  a  resident  of  Colfax  township 
and  the  subject  of  this  biography,  has  been 
a  resident  of  Michigan  for  more  than  half 
a  century,  and  of  Wexford  county  during 
all  of  the  years  of  its  existence  as  a  county 
and  for  two  years  prior  thereto.  Only  a  child 
of  seven  years  when  his  parents  brought  him 
to  the  state,  from  that  time  to  the  present 
he  has  made  it  his  home. 

Samuel  J.  Cassety  was  torn  in  the  state 
of  Ohio,  Seneca  county,  Reed  township, 
September  2,  1845.  His  parents  w^ere 
Franklin  and  Charity  (Gilbert)  Cassety, 
the   father   a  native  of  the  state  of   New 


B88 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


York,  and  the  mother  of  Ohio,  who 
made  that  commonwealth  their  home  un- 
til 1852,  when  they  moved  to  Muskegon 
county,  Michigan,,  settling  on  a  farm 
in  Casnovia  township,  wdiere  they  contin- 
ued to  reside  until  their  death,  which  oc- 
curred many  years  ago.  They  were 
the  parents  of  six  children,  two  sons  and 
four  daughters,  the  suhject  being  the  sec- 
ond child  of  the  family.  The  other  sur- 
A'iving  members  of  his  parents'  family  are 
Eliza,  the  wife  of  Dexter  Fields,  a  gardener 
at  Salem,  Oregon;  Hannah,  wife  of  Will- 
iam Folston,  a  ranchman  of  Oregon,  and 
Alice,  the  wife  of  Amos  Cobleigh,  a  farmer 
also  of  Oregon. 

On  the  farm  of  his  father  in  Casnovia 
township,  Muskegon  county,  Samuel  J.  Cas- 
sety  was  reared  and  grew  to  manhood.  The 
educational  facilities  of  the  state  during  his 
youth  were  not  all  that  could  be  desired, 
nevertheless  he  managed  to  secure  a  good 
education  in  all  of  the  common  school 
branches,  which  has  been  supplemented  by 
extensive  reading  on  many  subjects.  There 
are  few  men  in  Wexford  county  possessed  of 
more  general  informiation  than  is  the  sub- 
ject. Farming  has  jjeen  the  occupation  of 
liis  life  and  he  began  his-  lessons  in  agricul- 
ture at  a  very  early  age.  That  they  were 
thoroughly  learned  is  amply  attested  by  the 
success  he  has  attained.  He  remained  a 
member  of  the  parental  household  until  he 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-three  years,  most 
of  the  time  being  occupied  in  the  labors  of 
the  farm. 

April  25,  1S68,  Samuel  J.  Cassety  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Augusta  Field, 
a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Summit  county, 
February  19,  1846.  Her  parents  are  Aus- 
tin and  Sarah  A.  (Compton)  Field,  the  for- 


mer being  a  native  of  Massachusetts  and  the 
latter  of  Ohio.  She  died  in  Ottawa  county, 
Michigan,  at  the  age  of  forty-six  years,  being 
the  mother  of  eight  children,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Cassety  was  the  seventh,  the  other  survivors 
of  the  family  being  Cordelia,  the  widow  of 
Luther  P.  Doane,  now  resides  in  Conklin, 
Michigan;  Aurelia  is  the  wife  of  Theron 
Emmons,  of  (Conklin ;  Dexter  lives  in  Salem, 
Oregon,  and  Lester,  who  married  Lucy  Do- 
ane and  resides  in  Kalkaska,  Michigan. 
After  the  death  of  his  wife  Mr.  Field  moved 
to  Oregon,  wdiere  he  died  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enty-three years.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cassety 
three  children  have  been  born,  ©ne  of  whom 
died  in  infancy.  The  others  are  Arthur  S. 
and  Hugh.  Arthur  S.,  who  is  a  merchant  at 
Elton,  Michigan,  married  Anna  A.  Gregg 
and  they  have  one  son,  Delos  C,  and  Hugh, 
who  is  a  farmer  in  Colfax  township,  married 
Mamie  Hunt,  who  was  formerly  a  teacher. 
Mrs.  Cassety  was  prior  to  her  marriage  a 
successful  teacher,  four  years  in  Ottawa 
county  and  one  year  in  Wexford  county. 

The  first  three  years  after  his  marriage 
the  subject  resided  upon  and  cultivated  the 
old  homestead.  In  1871  he  came  with  his 
family  to  Wexford  county  and  took  up  a 
homestead  of  eighty  acres  in  what  is  now 
Colfax  township.  On  this  land  the  family 
have  continued  to  reside  up  to  the  present 
time.  This  modest  little  farm  he  cleared, 
improved  and  cultivated,  adding  to  it  piece 
by  piece  as  he  was  able  and  the  opportunity 
offered  until  at  one  time  he  owned  two 
hundred  and  forty  acres,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  of  which  was  under  cultivation. 
Later  he  presented  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  to  his  sons,  so  that  his  present  place 
comprises  only  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres,  which  he  finds  quite  sufficient  to  oc- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


889 


cupy  his  time  and  attention.  The  buildings 
upon  the  place,  residence,  1>arns,  stables,  etc., 
are  all  that  could  be  desired  and  their  neat 
and  well-kept  appearance  contributes  to  the 
general  air  of  comfort  and  thrift  which  char- 
acterizes this  model  rural  home.  Even  the 
most  casual  glance  at  the  farm  and  appurte- 
nances will  convince  a  visitor  that  the  owner 
and  occupant  of  the  place  is  no  common 
husbandman. 

In  politics  iVlr.  Cassety  is  a  Republican, 
and  although  he  has  frequently  labored 
zealously  in  the  interests  of  his  party, 
he  has  never  aspired  to  ])ublic  position. 
His  fellow  citizens  have,  however,  hon- 
ored him  by  electing  him  to  a  number  of 
local  offices,  such  as  school  inspector,  school 
director  and  overseer  of  highw-ays,  and  he  is 
at  present  serving  as  one  of  the  county  super- 
intendents of  the  poor.  His  standing  in  the 
community  has  always  been  of  the  very  best 
and  he  might  have  been  elected  to  places  of 
trust  and  profit  in  the  county  had  he  cared 
to  be  a  candidate,  but  his  ambition  to  m'anag^e 
well  his  own  private  affairs  precluded  the 
possibility  of  giving  any  time  for  holding 
public  positions.  Although  nevdr  having 
belonged  to  any.  religious  order,  society  or 
church,  he  is  imbued  with  much  veneration 
for  Christianity  and  there  are  few,  even 
among  church  members,  who  contribute  more 
liberally  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel  than  he 
does.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cassety  are  among  the 
oldest  and  best  known  residents  of  Wexford 
county  and  all  who  are  favored  with  their 
acquaintance  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of 
their  many  sterling  qualities  of  head  and 
heart.  They  have  lived  long  and  well,  have 
done  their  duty  without  fear  or  favor  and  the 
tuture  awaits  them  with  abundant  rewards. 


EDWARD  C.  BREHM. 

Edward  C.  Brehm  is  a  representative  of 
agricultural  interests  in  Wexford  county, 
and  his  farm  of  eighty  acres  is  situated  on 
section  34,  Clam  Lake  township.  A  native 
of  Germany,  he  was  lx)rn  February  7,  1867, 
and  spent  the  first  sixteen  years  of  his  life  in 
the  fatherland,  where,  in  accordance  wath  its 
laws,  he  attended  the  public  schools  between 
the  ages  of  six  and  fourteen  years.  He  came 
with  his  parents  to  the  United  States  in  1883 
and  on  landing'  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the 
new  w^orld  they  made  preparations  to  con- 
tinue their  journey  across  the  country,  Mich- 
igan being  their  destination.  A  settlement 
was  made  in  Sherman  township,  Osceola 
county,  the  father  securing  a  farm,  upon 
which  the  family  lived  for  some  time. 

Edward  C.  Brehm  remained  at  home  up 
to  the  time  of  his  marriage,  which  important 
event  in  his  life  history  occurred  on  the  13th 
of  April,  1891,  the  lady  of  his  choice  being 
]\liss  Ida  Discher,  a  daughter  of  William 
Discher,  of  Sherman  township,  Osceola 
county.  She  w^as  born  in  Ohio,  May  19, 
1868,  and  in  her  girlhood  days  w^as  brought 
l)y  her  parents  to  the  Wolverine  state,  where 
she  has  since  lived.  At  the  time  of  their  mar- 
riage the  young  couple  began  their  domestic 
life  upon  the  farm  where  they  are  now  living 
on  section  34,  Clam  Lake  township,  Wex- 
ford county,  Mr.  Brehm  purchasing  eighty 
acres  of  land,  which  he  still  owns.  With  the 
exception  of  fifteen  acres  he  has  placed  the 
entire  tract  under  cultivation  and  the  appear- 
ance of  the  farm  is  pleasing,  because  of  its 
well-tilled  fields,  its  good  buildings,  and  its 
many  evidences  of  the  practical  care  of  a 
thrifty  and  progressive  owner. 


390 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brehm  has 
been  blessed  with  six  cliildren,  who  are  yet 
hving;  Emma,  Ella,  Walter,  Paul,  Arthur 
and  Gustaf.  They  also  lost  one  son,  William, 
who  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brehm 
have  long  resided  in  this  section  of  the  vState 
and  the  circle  of  their  friends  is  almost 
co-extensive  with  the  circle  of  their  acquain- 
tance. They  are  worthy  representatives  of 
the  agricultural  interests.  Mr.  Brehm  owes 
his  success  to  his  own  efforts.  He  has 
brooked  no  obstacles  that  could  be  overcome 
by  determined  purpose  and  honorable  labor 
and  thus  he  has  steadily  worked  his  way  up- 
ward until  he  is  classed  among  the  substan- 
tial farmers,  and  his  well  improved  property 
is  the  visible  evidence  of  his  life  of  diligence, 
perseverance  and  capable  managen:ient. 


GEORGE  C.  TEED. 

George  C.  Teed,  who  carries  on  agricul- 
tural pursuits  on  section  15,  Antioch  town- 
ship, is  a  native  of  the  Empire  state,  his  birth 
having  occurred  upon  a  farm  in  Livingston 
county  on  the  iith  of  June,  1852.  tie  is 
the  fifth  in  a  family  of  eight  children,  who 
reached  mature  years.  His  father,  George 
P.  Teed,  was  a  farmer  and  carpenter,  follow- 
ing these  pursuits  in  order  to  provide  for  his 
wife  and  children.  He  wedded  Miss  Mary 
Richardson  and  they  removefd  from  Living- 
ston coimty.  New  York,  to  Michigan,  in  the 
winter  of  1855,  making  the  journey  across 
the  country  with  horses  and  oxen.  They 
settled  upon  a  farm  in  Ionia  county,  and  it 
ivas  there  that  their  son  George  was  reared. 
He  remained  a  resident  of  that  portion  of 
the  state  until  he  was  thirty  years  of  age  and 


from  that  time  when  he  put  aside  his  school 
books  he  devoted  his  energies  in  undivided 
manner  to  agricultural  pursuits.  His  father 
died  in  1867,  when  about  fifty-four  years  of 
age,  and  after  that  much  of  the  farm  work 
devolved  upon  Mr.  Teed,  of  this  reviews 
On  leaving  Ionia  county  he  took  up  his  abode 
in  Kalamazoo  county,  remaining  a  resident 
of  Climax  township  for  about  five  years,  or 
until  the  fall  of  1888.  In  November  of  that 
year  he  came  to  Wexford  county  and  has 
since  been  a  resident  of  Antioch  township, 
covering  a  period  of  fifteen  years.  Here  he 
owns  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land 
and  of  this  ninety-five  acres  has  been  brok- 
en, placed  under  the  plow  and  transformed 
into  rich  and  productive  fields.  Mr.  Teed 
has  erected  good  buildings,  including  a  com- 
fortable residence  and  substantial  barns, — 
in  fact,  his  is  one  of  the  fine  farms  of  the 
county  and  his  home  is  surrounded  by  well 
tilled  fields,  returning  to  him  golden  har- 
vests. He  is  also  interested  in  the  breeding 
of  fine  blooded  stock  and  thus  adds  not  a 
little  to  his  income.  He  uses  the  latest  im- 
proved machinery  in  operating  his  land  and 
all  modern  equipments  and  accessories  com- 
mon to  a  farm  of  the  twentieth  century  are 
found  upon  his  place. 

Mr.  Teed  was  married  \\\  Kalamazoo 
county,  Michigan,  on  the  14th  of  May,  1887, 
to  Miss  Mary  Smith,  a  native  of  that  county 
and  a  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Foster 
Smith,  who  were  natives  of  Vermont.  Re- 
moving to  the  west,  they  spent  their  remain- 
ing days  in  Kalamazoo  county.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Teed  are  the  parents  of  four  children : 
Louis  M.,  Stanley  W.,  Lois  G.  and  Willis. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Teed  is  inde- 
pendent, but  keeps  well  informed  on  the  is- 
sues of  the  day  and  in  his  ballot  gives  his 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


391 


support  to  the  man  whom  he  thinks  best  qual- 
ified for  office.  He  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  township  affairs  and  has  been  cahed  to 
serve  in  positions  of  pubhc  trust,  having 
acted  at  different  times  as  supervisor  of  An- 
tioch  township,  as  township  treasurer  and  as 
school  inspector.  He  is  a  staunch  advocate 
of  the  cause  of  temperance  and  both  he  and 
liis  wife  are  active  members  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  church  and  take  a  helpful  in- 
terest in  church  and  Sunday  school  work. 
Their  lives  are  in  consistent  harmony  with 
their  professions  and  they  do  all  in  their 
power  to  advocate  the  cause  of  Christian- 
ity and  to  extend  its  influence  in  this  com- 
munity. Mr.  Teed  is  also  identified  with 
Vntioch  Grang-e  No.  919,  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry. Those  who  know  him  entertain  for 
jiim  the  higliest  regard  because  he  has  lived 
worthily,  his  life  being  actuated  by  upright 
principles  that  have  been  exemplified  in  hon- 
orable conduct. 


GEORGE   S.   STANLEY. 

George  S.  Stanley,  editor  and  proprie- 
tor of  the  Michigan  State  Democrat,  was 
l)orn  in  Chester,  England,  on  the  30th  of 
June,  1858.  His  parents,  being  devout  mem- 
bers of  the  Established  church,  were  desir- 
ous that  he  should  enter  the  ministry.  Ac- 
cordingly his  education  began  at  a  very  early 
age  with  that  ol^ject  (in  view.  After  receiv- 
ing his  preliminary  instruction  from  private 
tutors,  he  was  entered  when  twelve  years 
old  at  the  King's  school  and  from  that  in- 
stitution passed  to  the  Chester  Preparatory 
College,  which  he  attended  one  year.  While 
thus  prosecuting  his  studies  he  concluded  to 


give  up  the  idea  of  taking  holy  orders  and 
devote  his  life  to  journalism,  a  calling  for 
which  he  had  long  manifested  a  decided  piel- 
erence.  Mr.  Stanley's  first  experience  in 
It  is  chosen  field  of  endeavor  was  in  the  office 
of  the  Chester  Chronicle,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  influential  weeklies  in  England, 
where  he  soon  gained  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  profession  which  he  has  since  followed 
with  such  encouraging  success.  In  1872  he 
accompanied  his  family  to  Canada  and  dur- 
ing the  ensuing  ten  years  was  employed  upon 
a  number  of  the  leading  newspapers  of  that 
country,  the  meanwhile  continually  enlarg- 
ing his  experience  and  developing  decided 
abilities  as  a  clear,  elegant  and  forcible 
wTiter.  At  the  expiration  of  the  alx)ve  per- 
iod he  came  to  Michigan  and  for  some  time 
tliereafter  worked  on  different  Democratic 
papers,  but  the  following  year  he  went  into 
business  upon  his  own  responsibility,  by  es- 
tablishing in  Lapeer  county  the  Columbia- 
ville  New  Era.  Later,  1890,  he  established 
tlie  Michigan  Odd  Eellow,  a  bi-monthly  de- 
voted to  the  interests  of  Odd  Fellowship  in 
this  state,  which  grew  rapidly  in  popular 
favor  and  reached  a  wide  and  remunerative 
patronage.  After  running  the  two  papers 
jointly  for  about  one  year,  he  disposed  of 
them  and  purchased  of  M.  T.  Woodruff  the 
Michigan  State  Democrat  at  Cadillac,  which 
he  still  owns  and  personally  conducts  and 
which  under  his  able  management  has  be- 
come one  of  the  leading  party  organs  of  the 
state. 

Mr.  Stanley  is  a  Democrat  of  the  most  or- 
thodox stamp  and  since  his  advent  into  the 
field  of  Michigan  journalism  he  has  ren- 
dered valiant  service  for  his  party  in  its  many 
hard-fought  and  seemingly  hopeless  contests. 
Wielding  a  trenchant  pen,  he  has  ably  and 


392 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


fearlessly  discussed  the  leading  ques'tions 
and  issues  upon  which  people  and  parties  are 
divided,  proving  a  formidable  but  courteous 
antagonist,  and  making  his  paper  a  power  in 
state  and  national  politics,  as  well  as  in  lo- 
cal affairs.  He  served  four  years  as  chair- 
man of  the  Democratic  county  committee 
and  in  that  capacity  effected  a  more  complete 
organization  than  had  hitherto  existed,  be- 
sides doing  valuable  service  in  the  ranks  as 
a  personal  w^orker.  He  has  represented 
Wexford  county  in  nearly  all  state  and  dis- 
trict con^^entions  of  his  party  since  coming 
to  Cadillac.  The  Michigan  State  Demo- 
crat is  an  ably  edited  and  popular  paper, 
with  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  cir- 
culation and  a  liberal  advertising  patron- 
age. Mechanically  it  is  a  model  of  typo- 
graphic art  and  through  the  medium  of 
its  columns  much  interesting  matter  aside 
from  politics  finds  publicity.  The  office 
is  fully  equipped  wnth  the  latest  modern 
machinery  and  appliances  used  in  the 
'*art  preservative,''  and  all  in  all  the  paper 
compares  favorably  with  the  best  local 
sheets  in  the  state,  while  for  clearness,  force, 
elegance  and  general  literary  merit  its  edi- 
torials are  not  surpassed  by  those  of  the 
leading  metropolitan  journals. 

In  addition  to  his  merits  as  a  writer, 
Mr.  Stanley  is  also  an  orator  of  recognized 
ability,  his  services  as  such  being  in  great 
demand  on  the  hustings  as  well  as  on  the 
popular  platform.  A  sound,  logical  rea- 
soner  and  a  ready  del^ator,  he  enters  heart 
and  soul  into  every  political  canvass,  and 
in  the  two-fold  capacity  of  writer  and  speak- 
er, has  perhaps  done  more  to  strengthen 
and  solidify  his  party  and  ]')romote  its  suc- 
cess than  any  other  man  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  state.     Personally  he  is  a  most 


genial,  affable  and  companionable!  gentle- 
man and  his  popularity  is  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  his  political  associates,  as  he  is 
held  in  high  esteem  by  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  people  wherever  known.  He  has 
a  beautiful  and  attractive  home  in  Cadillac, 
being  a  married  man  wath  an  interesting 
family  of  five  children,  four  sons  and  one 
daughter. 


THOMAS  W.  CROSBY. 

In  the  respect  that  is  accorded  to  men 
who  have  fought  their  way  to  success,  pos- 
sibly through  unfavorable  environment,  we 
find  an  unconscious  recognition  of  the  in- 
trinsic worth  of  a  character  which  not  only 
can  endure  so  rough  a  test,  but  gain  new 
strength  through  the  discipline.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  Thomas  W.  Crosby,  was 
not  favored  by  inherited  w^ealth  or  the  assis- 
tance of  influential  friends,  but  in  spite  of 
this,  by  perseverance,  industry  and  a  wise 
economy,  he  has  attained  a  comfortable  sta- 
tion in  life.  He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in 
Lucas  county,  October  26,  1836.  His  parents 
were  Van  Rensselaer  and  Lucinda  (  Black- 
man)  Crosby,  the  former,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  1812,  dying  about 
1879,  while  his  wife  died  about  1880.  The 
subject's  grandfather,  Elarcom  Crosby, 
fought  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  and  saw 
General  Washington  many  times. 

Thomas  W.  Crosby,  the  subject  of  this 
review,  was  reared  in  his  native  county  of 
Lucas  and  there  he  spent  the  first  twenty- 
six  years  of  his  life.  Mind  and  body  were 
both  well  cared  for.  He  was  well  schooled  in 
all  of  the  common  branches  of  education 
and  his  life  of  industry  on  the  farm  was  pro- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


898 


ductive  of  desirable  physical  development. 
jOecember  22,  1S62,  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  service,  in  Company  K,  One  Hundred 
and  Twenty-eighth  Regiment  Ohio  Volun- 
teer Infantry,  and  saw  service  also  in  the 
Fourteenth  Ohio  Infantry,  his  commands 
l>eing-assigned  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  latter  part  of 
April,  1865,  the  regiment  was  mustered  out 
of  the  service,  Mr.  Crosby  receiving  an  hon- 
orable discharge  at  Camp  Chase,  Columbus, 
Ohio,  July  ly,  1865.  Returning  from  the 
field,  he  again  took  up  his  residence  in  Lucas 
county,  Ohio,  and  devoted  himself  to  farm- 
ing until  1 87 1,  when  he  moved  to  Big  Rap- 
ids, Michigan,  wdiere  he  remained  until  Feb- 
ruary, 1872,  when  he  located  in  Wexford 
county  and  devoted  himself  to  his  calling  of 
a  milhvright,  a  business  he  had  become 
skilled  in  before  entering  the  United  States 
service.  In  1877,  he  purchased  eighty  acres 
of  land  in  section  35,  Haring  township, 
w^here  he  established  a  home  and  where  he 
has  since  resided,  devoting  himjself  entirely 
to  farming.  His  place  is  \vell  improved  and 
he  has  erected  thereon  good,  substantial 
buildings. 

On  the  22(1  day  of  May,  1865,  in  Lucas 
county,  Ohio,  Thomas  W.  Crosby  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Jane  D.  Heath,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  born  in  Holmes  county.  May  22y 
J 845,  the  daughter  of  Nehimiah  Heath,  also 
a  native  of  Ohio.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crosby 
four  children  were  born,  viz :  Charles,  Jen- 
nie, Minnie  and  Milo.  Jennie  died  when 
nineteen  years  of  age;  Minnie  is  the  wife  of 
Merton  Morford,  a  resident  of  Cadillac  and 
in  the  employ  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indi- 
ana Railroad,  and  they  have  one  child,  Ken- 
neth. 

Thomas  VV.  Crosby  has  been  actively  in- 


terested in  all  movements  diesigned  for  the 
public  good  and  the  development  of  the 
township  and  county  in  which  he  resides. 
He  served  for  a  length  of  time  as  president 
of  the  Wexford  County  Agricultural  Society, 
has  been  supervisor  of  Haring  township,  and 
has  also  been  township  treasurer.  He  is  an 
unswerving  Republican  and  has  been  such 
since  the  organization  of  that  party.  He  is 
a  most  genial,  companionable  man,  always 
disposed  to  look  upon  the  bright  side  of  life. 
He  is  possessed  of  a  rich  vein  of  humor  and 
there  are  few  situations  that  do  not  furnish 
him  an  opportunity  of  extracting  therefrom 
a  little  merriment  for  his  own  and  his  friends' 
benefit.  The  real  calamity  of  his  life  came 
October  12,  i8g7,  when  his  faithful  and  de- 
voted wife,  the  mother  of  his  children  de- 
parted this  life.  He  has  been  true  to  her 
memory  in  death  as  he  was  true  an;d  devoted 
to  her  in  life. 

Mr.  Crosby  makes  the  principle  of  char- 
ity his  religion  and  is  ever  ready  to  dispense 
to  those  wdio  are  in  need  or  distress.  He 
has  not  an  exalted  idea  of  the  religion  wdiich 
is  practiced  by  many  of  the  so-called  mem- 
bers of  churches  and  says  that  many  min- 
isters have  missed  their  calling  and  a  mone- 
tary consideration  is  the  only  goal  they  are 
striving  to  reach. 

The  following  obituary  notices  will  un- 
doubtedly prove  of  interest  to  the  reader : 

At  niidnig^ht  last  Friday,  October  12,  1897,  Mrs. 
Jane  D.  Cros'by,  wife  of  T.  W.  Crosby,  passed  into 
rest,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two  years  and  five  months. 
She  had  been  confined  to  her  bed  since  last  March 
from  the  illness  which  terminated  her  life,  and  for 
a  period  of  about  twenty^seven  years  her  delicate 
health  had  caused  anxiety  to  her  relatives  and 
friends.  Her  physical  endurance  finally  succumbed 
to  bronchial  consumption,  coupled  with  Bright's 
disease.  Her  patience  and  cheerfulness  in  the  midst 
of   suffering   was  a   marvel   to     her    many    friends. 


B94 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


With  her  hitsibaud  and  three  small  children,  Mrs. 
Cros'by  came  to  this  locality  in  1872  and  the  beauti- 
ful farm  home,  just  east  of  the  present  city  limits, 
wirought  from  iwhat  was  then  a  wilderness,  attests 
her  thoughtful  consideration  and  the  splendid  man- 
agement of  her  household.  She  had  very  many 
friends  with  the  people  of  this  city,  among  whom 
she  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  patient  pioneers, 
and  at  whose  suburban  home  they  always  found 
enjoyable  entertainnienit.  A  few  years  ago  her  eld- 
est daughter,  Jennie  Crosby,  who  was  greatly  be- 
loved, was  taken  away  by  death.  The  funeral  of 
Mrs.  Crosby  was  held  from  the  family  home  at  two 
o'clock  last  Sunday  afternoon  and  was  attended  by 
■I  large  gathering  of  people  from  the  city  and  sur- 
rounding country.  The  ceremonies  were  conducted 
by  Rev.  N.  S.  Bradley,  oi  the  Congfegational 
ch'.trch. 


Mis'S  Jennie  Orosiby,  oldest  daughter  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  T.  W.  Crosby,  died  at  the  home  of  her 
parents,  one  mile  east  of  this  city,  on  last  Thursday 
evening,  March  8,  1888.  She  was  born  May  9,  1869, 
at  White  House,  Lucas  county,  Ohio,  and  removed 
to  this  vicinity  in  1872.  During  her  life  time  in  this 
community  Miss  Jennie  had  become  gicatly  en- 
deared to  all  with  whom  she  associated,  and  in  her 
own  home  was  beloved  with  all  the  devotion  that 
could  'be  bestowed  upon  a  dutiful  daughter  and  an 
affectionate   sister. 

To  her  invalid  mother  she  had  'become  espe- 
cially endeared  as  she  every  day  strove  to  lessen 
the  cares  and  duties  that  necessarily  devolve  upon 
the  mistress  of  a  farm,  household  and  to  carry  them 
herself,  even  in  the  tender  years  of  her  girlhood. 
She  was  ever  dheerful,  happy  and  hopeful,  and  was 
always  too  active  and  solicitous  for  the  happiness 
of  others  to  be  mindful  of  her  own  comfort  or  to 
have  room  in  her  heart  for  a  selfish  thought.  Her 
death  is  a  sad  affliction  to  her  bereaved  parents, 
sister  and  two  brothers. 

During  her  fatal  illness,  a  disease  of  the  heart, 
with  which  she  was  attacked  on  the  14th  of  Decem- 
bar  last,  Jennie  was  patient  and  cheerful,  though 
undergoing  the  most  intense  suffering,  and.  her 
thoughts  and  talks  have  been  higth  and  noble  in  the 
extreme.  Her  remains  were  laid  at  rest  in  our  hill- 
side cemetery  on  last  Sabbath  afternoon.  The  fun- 
eral  at  the  family  residence  was  attended  by  a  large 
number  of  her  young  acquaintances  from  the  city 
who  deeply  mourn  her  loss. 


HENRY  B.  HUFF. 

The  conditions  which  prevailed  througli- 
out  the  state  of  Michigan  fifty  01*  more  years 
ago  were  by  no  means  what  they  are  today. 
The  face  of  the  entire  country  has  undergone 
wonderful  changes  since  then.  The  state, 
having  been  admitted  in  1837,  was  only 
about  thirteen  years  old  and  the  population 
was  small,  with  settlements  widely  scattered. 
The  states  of  the  Union  in  1850  numbered 
thirty  and  Michigan  was  the  twentieth  in 
]:)opulation,  but  most  of  the  people  resided  in 
the  southern  and  eastern  counties.  Kent 
comity,  where  Henry  B.  Huff,  the  subject 
of  this  review,  was  born,  was  then  practi- 
cally an  unbroken  wilderness.  His  par- 
ents had  settled  there  some  years  previous 
and  were  among  the  early  pioneers  of  the 
locality.  There  they  endured  all  of  the  hard- 
ships of  the  early  settler  and  there  their  chil- 
dren were  born  and  reared  and  learned  their 
first  industrial  lessons. 

Henry  B.  Huff,  now  a  resident  of  Cedar 
Creek  township,  w^as  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Kent  county,  Michigan,  April  28, 
1850.  His  parents  were  James  S.  and 
Phoebe  (Blackall)  Huff,  the  father  being  a 
native  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey  and  the 
mother  of  New  York.  They  h^d  come  to 
Michigan,  where  homes  were  cheap  and 
where  the  expense  of  existence  was  less  bur- 
densome than  in  their  native  commonwealths. 
It  is  doubtful  if  they  realized  the  trials,  in- 
conveniences and  privations  that  always  are 
to  be  encountered  in  every  new  country,  but 
having  once  crossed  the  Rubicon  return  was 
not  to  be  thought  of.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  eight  children,  six  sons  and  two 
daughters,   and   these   they   reared   and   in- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


895 


vStructed  to  lives  of  usefulness.  About  1870 
the  family  moved  to  Cedar  Creek  township 
and  there  the  latter  years  of  the  lives  of  the 
sturdy  old  couple  were  passed.  Both  were 
in  the  seventy-third  year  of  their  age  at  the 
time  of  their  death.  Of  their  eight  children, 
Henry  B.  Huff  was  the  second.  His  youth 
w'as  spent  in  the  w^oods,  the  clearing  and  in 
the  fields  when  the  forest  had  been  trans- 
formed into  tracts  of  land  which  permitted 
of  cultivation.  He  w^as  about  five  years  in 
Wexford  county  before  the  removal  of  the 
family  from  Kent  county,  and  wath  that 
exception  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  life 
w^ere  spent  at  the  place  of  his  birth.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1870,  he  located  on  a  tract  of  eig*hty 
acres  of  land  in  section  6,  Cedar  Creek  town- 
ship, and  there  he  has  remained  ever  since, 
clearing  the  land,  improving  the  farm  and 
cultivating  the  soil.  Farming  has  been  the 
business  of  his  life  and  although  he  has  not 
accumulated  a  great  amount  of  money  he 
has  made  a  comfortable  living  and  laid  by 
something  for  his  declining  years.  He  is  the 
owner  of  eighty  acres,  on  part  of  which  he 
originally  settled,  and  fifty-five  acres  of  it 
are  cleared  and  the  place  well  improved. 

May  15,  1872,  Henry  B.  Huff  w-as  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  Smith,  a  native  of 
Ohio,  wdio,  when  a  little  girl,  accompanied 
her  parents  to  Michigan  when  they  decided 
to  settle  in  the  wilderness.  They  located  in 
Kent  county  and  there  the  little  girl  w^as 
reared  to  womanhood.  She  and  Henry  B. 
Huff'  had  known  each  other  many  years  and 
when  he  established  a  home  in  Cedar  Creek 
township  made  it  comfortable  and  had  lived 
there  some  two  years,  he  sought  out  the  girl 
of  his  boyhood's  love  and  hastened  to  make 
her  his  w^ife.  Since  then  they  have  lived 
modestly,  but  com'fortably,  upon  their  little 

24 


farm  and  there  are  thousands  of  rich  and 
o])ulent  people  throughout  the  land  who  have 
lived  less  happily,  less  usefully  and  less 
worthily  than  they  have.  Both  are  active 
members  of  the  Freewill  Baptist  church,  of 
which  he  is  deacon  and  a  trustee. 


WILLIAM  P.  WESTBROOK. 

Most  men  past  the  meridian  of  life  w^ho 
have  devoted  all  their  years  to  agricultural 
pursuits  and  have  been  successful  therein, 
have  too  much  timidity  to  venture  into  a 
different  calling,  one  new  and  wholly  un- 
tried. When  such  a  venture  is  made,  in  a 
majority  of  cases  it  proves  disastrous.  While 
men  possessed  of  the  requisite  versatility  to 
make  a  success  under  such  circumstances  are 
not  numerous,  there  are  instances  of  the 
kind  wdiere  success  has  l^een  remarkable.  The 
subject  of  this  review,  William  P.  West- 
brook,  has  displayed  most  creditable  versa- 
tility in  this  respect.  Farming  has  been  the 
labor  of  his  life,  but  in  the  spring  of  1902  he 
decided  to  embark  in  the  mercantile  business 
at  Manton.  Associating  wath  him  his  kins- 
man by  marriage,  O.  E.  Burns,  he  embarked 
in  the  retail  mercantile  trade  and  from  the 
very  first  the  enterprise  has  been  a  gratify- 
ing success.  Location  and  conditions  w-ere 
right,  two  very  important  features,  and  ju- 
dicious management  did  the  rest. 

William  P.  Westbrook,  who  resides  on 
a  part  of  section  13,  Greenwood  township, 
was  born  in  Kalamazoo,  Michigan,  March 
14,  1859.  His  father  w^as  Ethan  A.  West- 
brook,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  his  mothen 
Mary  (Lockwood)  Westbrook,  a  native  of 
Michigan.      He   died   in   Ne\vaygo   county, 


896 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Michigan,  the  latter  part  of  April,  1902, 
while  she  is  still  living  at  the  family  home  in 
Newaygo  county.  The  subject  of  this  re- 
view is  the  only  child' born  to  his  parents. 
When  he  was  about  six  years  old  his  par- 
ents moved  to  Newaygo  county,  Michigan, 
and  settled  in  Dayton  township.  There  he 
attended  the  public  schools,  received  a  good 
common  school  education  aiijd  grew  to  man- 
hood. His  father's  farm  and  the  labors 
thereon  supplied  him  with  all  the  advantages 
of  an  industrial  school.  Hard  work  devel- 
oped his  muscles  and  his  strength  and,  hav- 
ing profited  by  the  time  he  spent  in  the  school 
room,  it  quickened  the  intellect,  so  that  by 
the  time  he  attained  his  majority  he  was 
physically  and  intellectually  a  well  developed 
man. 

July  4,  1883,  in  Newaygo  county,  Michi- 
gan, William  P.  Westbrook  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  Burns,  a  native  of 
Clinton  county,  Michigan,  born  January  2, 
1859.  Her  parents  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  W. 
Burns,  residents  of  Newaygo  county.  Seven 
children  have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Westbrook,  two  of  whom  died  when  about 
two  years  old.  The  other  children  are  Frank, 
Ethel,  Winnie,  Leslie  and  Wilber. 

In  June,  1885,  about  tw^o  years  after 
marriage,  Mr.  Westbrook  moved  his  family 
to  Wexford  county  and  located  on  the  farm 
where  he  now  lives  and  where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  is  a  thorough  farmer,  having 
devoted  nearly  all  the  years  of  his  life  to  the 
business.  He  owns  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  acres  of  good,  fertile  land,  one  hundrejd 
acres  of  which  is  clear  and  well  improved. 
He  is  a  prudent,  careful  business  man  and 
guards  his  interests  more  zealously  than  the 
average  farmer.  His  talent  for  business 
caused  his  neighbors  to  elect  him  to  the  po- 


sition of  supervisor  of  Greenwood  town- 
ship and  held  him  in  the  position  a  number 
of  years.  He  also  served  as  justice  of  the 
peace  of  the  township.  He  is  a  Republican 
in  politics  and  does  not  confine  his  political 
activity  to  local  affairs,  the  affairs  of  the 
cotmty  and  state  receiving  a  good  deal  of 
attention  from  him,  particularly  during  cam- 
paigns. He  never  aspired  to  or  held  any 
public  office  outside  of  the  township  of  his 
residence.  In  the  spring  of  1902  his  busi- 
ness tact  and  keen  observation  of  conditions 
pointed  out  to  him  an  opening  for  a  pros- 
perous mercantile  business  in  the  little  town 
of  Manton.  Associating  with  O.  E.  Burns, 
they  purchased  a  good  stock  of  merchan- 
dise and  opened  it  up  in  one  of  the  business 
rooms  of  the  little  town.  Within  a  short 
time  patrons  became  numerous  and  at  the 
present  writing  the  proprietors  of  the  estab- 
lishment are  enjoying  a  most  flourishing 
trade.  There  need  be  little  doubt  that  the 
business  will  grow  and  flourish.  There  is 
a  wide  scope  of  rich  agricultural  country  to 
draw  from  and  the  business  tact  already 
demonstrated  in  the  management  of  the  new 
enterprise  is  the  surest  guarantee  of  suc- 
cess. 


JAMES    HANTHORN. 

Wexford  county,  Michigan,  has  been  or- 
ganized only  abotit  thirty  years.  At  the 
time  of  its  organization  the  population  was 
not  large,  but  there  were  a  number  of  fam- 
ilies within  the  borders  of  what  is  now  the 
county  who  had  lived  there  many  years  and 
who  are  still  living  on  the  farms  where 
they  located  a  generation  or  more  ago. 
Prominent   among  these,   James   Hanthorn 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


897 


and  his  worthy  wife  deserve  special  men- 
tion. They  were  married  only  about  three 
months  when,  in  June,  1871,  they  came  to 
this  county  and  located  on  the  farm  still 
owned  and  occupietl  by  them,  which  they 
received  from  the  government  as  a  home- 
stead. It  is  here  the  most  enjoyable  part 
of  their  lives  have  l^een  spent,  here  their  chil- 
dren were  born  and  reared  and  here  doubt- 
less the  remaining  years  of  their  career  will 
be  passed. 

James  Hanthorn  is  a  native  of  Ireland, 
born  in  the  county  of  Armaugh,  December 
24,  1 84 1,  but  spent  only  the  first  nine  years 
of  his  life  in  his  native  land.  In  1850  the 
family  moved  to  Canada,  located  in  North- 
umberland county,  Ontario,  and  there  our 
subject  grew  to  manhood.  His  years  of  la- 
bor while  doing  so  being  devoted  to  farm- 
ing, his  opportunities  for  acquiring  an  edu- 
cation were  by  no  means  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired. Yet  his  learning  is  not  deficient.  In 
starting  out  into  the  world  to  do  for  him- 
self, after  he  had  attained  his  majority,  he 
liad  reasons  for  l)eleiving  that  there  wa*e 
l)etter  opportunities  for  a  young  man  in  the 
United  States  than  in  Canada.  Accordingly 
lie  came  to  Michigan  and  stopped  at  Grand 
Ra])ids  a  number  of  months,  where  he  w^as 
employed  at  the  lime  kilns.  From  there  he 
went  to  Big  Rapids  and  on  the  8th  day  of 
March,  1871,  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Ella  M.  Cochran,  a  native  of  New- 
York,  born  September  5,  1851.  Three 
months  later  they  came  to  Wexford  county 
and  located  upon  their  present  farm.  It  com- 
prised Init  eighty  acres  then,  but  now  in- 
cludes one  hundred  acres,  twenty  acres  hav- 
ing been  added  to  it  by  purchase.  The  place 
is  supplied  with  good,  substantial  buildings 
and  it  is  otherwise  well  improved  and  quite 


productive.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hanthorn 
have  been  born  seven  children,  two  of  whom 
died  in  early  life  and  Ella  May  passqd  away 
May  27,  1903.  The  others  are  John,  Ada 
v.,  George  A.  and  William  T. — Ada  being 
the  wife  of  Arthur  Langdon.  At  present 
the  parents  of  this  interesting  family  are 
enjoying  that  quiet,  peaceful  life  which  is 
the  invariable  reward  of  prudence,  industry 
and  good  management.  To  say  that  they 
are  worthy  citizens,  deserving  of  the  high 
esteem  in  which  they  are  held,  is  only  to 
express  a  fact  of  which  the  general  public 
in  the  vicinity  of  their  home  is  cognizant. 
J\Ir.  Hanthorn's  aim  has  ever  been  to  do  that 
which  is  right,  and  rarely  indeed  has  he 
failed  in  the  attainment  of  his  worthy  aim. 
It  is  to  such  as  he  that  our  country  is  in- 
delated  for  the  stal>ility  of  its  institutions  and 
for  the  large  measure  of  prosperity  which  it 
enjoys. 


ALVAH  PECK. 

Among  the  sturdy  sons  of  the  Empire 
state  to  secure  congenial  homes  in  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  and  achieve  success  in  var- 
ious avenues  of  endeavor  is  the  representa- 
tive citizen  of  Hanover  township  whose 
name  appears  at  the  head  of  this  article. 
Alvah  Peck  is  a  native  of  Niagara  county. 
New  York,  where  his  birth  occurred  on  the 
5th  day  of  May,  1834,  being  the  son  of  Al- 
vah and  Lovica  (Ketch)  Peck,  both  l)orn, 
reared  and  married  in  Vermont,  and  both 
now  sleeping  the  sleep  that  knows  no  wak- 
ing, near  the  old  family  home  where  their 
son  first  saw  the  light  of  day.  By  reason  of 
the  death  of  his  parents,  which  occurred 
when  he  was  quite  young,  the  subject  was 


398 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


reared  by  friends  who  took  him  to  Steuben 
county  and  it  was  there  he  spent  his  child- 
liood  and  youth  on  a  farm  and  received  liis 
educational  training  in  the  pubhc  schools. 
Early  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,  he 
learned  to  rely  upon  himself  and  to  make 
tlie  most  of  his  opportunities,  and  he  grew^ 
to  full  stature  of  manhood  with  a  proper  ap- 
preciation of  the  dignity  and  responsibility 
of  life.  On  the  27th  of  May,  1855,  in  On- 
tario county.  New  York,  he  was  united  in 
marriage  w-ith  Miss  Julia  Cronk,  daughter 
of  John  and  Margaret  (Wilson)  Cronk, 
and  from  that  time  until  1882  lived  princi- 
pally in  tlie  county  of  Steuben,  devoting  his 
attention  chiefly  to  agricultural  pursuits, 
wdiich  he  prosecuted  w^ith  fair  success  and 
profit,  Mrs.  Peck  was  born  at  Naples,  On- 
tario county,  March  30,  1838,  grew  to  ma- 
turity and  received  her  education  in  that 
town  and  it  was  there  that  her  parents  died 
and  were  buried. 

In  the  spring  of  1882  Mr.  Peck  disposed 
of  his  interests  in  his  native  state  and  moved 
to  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  selecting  for 
his  location  a  tract  of  land  in  section  6,  Han- 
over townshi]),  wdiich  he  has  since  developed 
and  improved,  converting  it  into  one  of  the 
best  and  most  valuable  farms  in  that  part 
of  the  county.  Of  the  one  hundred  acres 
constituting  his  place  seventy-four  are  in  a 
high  state  of  cultivation,  and  on  this  he 
raises  abundantly  all  crops  grown  in  the  lat- 
itude, devoting  especial  attention  to  horti- 
culture, which  he  has  found  not  only  a  pleas- 
ant and  agreeable  pursuit,  but  a  far  more  re- 
liable source  of  income  than  au}^  other  branch 
of ,  husbandry.  In  the  material  develop- 
ment of  his  township  and  the  advancement 
of  its  local  interests  Mr.  Peck  has  mani- 
fested, a  commendable  spirit,  in  recognition 


of  which  fact  he  has  been  honored  at  differ- 
ent times  wath  official  positions,  proving 
under  all  circumstances  a  capable,  painstak- 
ing and  popular  public  servant.  Keeping 
in  close  touch  with  the  trend  of  modern  prog- 
ress, and  having  faith  in  the  future  grow^th 
and  prosperity  of  his  adopted  county,  he 
has  lalx)red  earnestly  to  promote  the  general 
welfare  of  the  comniiunity,  lending  his  aid 
to  all  worthy  enterprises  for  its  material 
improvement  and  using  his  best  endeavors  to 
luring  about  better  social  conditions  and  dis- 
seminate a  strong'er  and  more  steadfast  mor- 
al sentiment.  His  position  in  the  esteem  and 
friendship  of  those  W'ith  wdiom  he  mingles 
has  long  been  assured ;  he  does  honor  to  the 
community  which  is  proud  to  recognize  his 
citizenship  and,  being  essentially  a  man  of 
the  people,  wnth  their  interests  at  heart,  his 
influence  has  always  been  on  the  right  side 
of  every  question  or  issue  affecting  the  ptib- 
lic  welfare.  Politically  Mr.  Peck  is  a  Repub- 
lican and  as  such  has  been  a  factor  of  con- 
siderable w^eight  in  local  affairs,  laboring 
zealotisly  for  his  party  and  contributing  not 
a  little  to  its  success  since  becoming  a  resi- 
dent of  this  county.  Religiously  he  belongs, 
wath  his  wife,  to  the  Disciple  church  in  Wex- 
ford township,  l)oth  being  zealous  members 
and  active  workers,  also  liberal  supporters 
in  spreading  the  gospel  both  at  home  and 
abroad.  Personally  Mr.  Peck  is  a  most  af- 
fable gentleman,  possessing  a  pleasing  pres- 
ence and  genial  manners,  which,  with  other 
amiable  qualities  and  characteristics,  have 
won  him  the  respect  of  neighbors  and  friends 
and  a  worthy  prestige  in  the  community 
which  all  recognize  and  appreciate.  To  the 
subject  and  wife  have  been  born  four  chil- 
dren, namely:  Eugene;  Belle,  now  Mrs. 
William   Mohler;    Elwood,   late  prominent 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


399 


attorney  of  Cadillac,  whose  sketch  and  por- 
trait ap])ear  elsewhere,  and  Nellie,  w^ho  mar- 
ried Roy  Simmons,  of  Woodland,  Michigan. 
Of  the  homje  life  and  social  relations  of 
]\lr.  and  Mrs.  Peck  it  is  unnecessary  to  speak 
except  in  a  general  w^ay,  as  both  are  widely 
and  favorably  known,  all  having  the  pleas- 
ure of  their  acquaintance  bearing  cheerful 
testimony  to  their  high  standing  and  ster- 
ling worth.  A  courteous  gentleman  of  the 
old  school,  the  subject  possesses  the  happy 
faculty  of  winning  friends  and  binding  them 
to  him  with  bonds  which  time  or  circum- 
stances rarely  sever,  the  same  qualities  be- 
ing characteristic  of  his  amiable  and  loving 
companion,  whose  gentle  disposition,  kindly 
words  and  helpful  influence,  like  benedic- 
tions, have  lightened  the  burdens  and  bright- 
ened the  pathway  of  many  of  earth's  tired, 
careworn  sons  an<l  daughters  and  w^hose 
wdiole  life  has  been  a  simple,  though  grand, 
poem  of  rugged,  toilsome  duty  faithfully 
and  uncomplainingly  done.  Those  who  have 
met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Peck  within  the  inner 
circle  of  their  domestic  fireside,  where  they 
can  be  seen  at  their  best,  are  most  profuse  in 
their  praise,  and  it  is  the  prayer  of  all  such 
as  well  as  the  universal  w^ish  of  others  that 
their  lives  may  be  spared  many  years  in 
which  to  be  a  continued  blessing  to  the  world 
as  they  have  been  in  time  gone  by. 


JOHN    A.    HASKIN. 

Practical  industry,  wisely  and  vigor- 
ously applied,  never  fails  of  success.  It  car- 
ries a  man  onward  and  upward,  brings  out 
his  individual  character  and  acts  as  a  power- 
ful stimulus  to  the  efforts  of  others.     The 


greatest  results  in  life  are  often  attained  by 
simple  means  and  the  exercise  of  the  ordi- 
nary qualities  of  common  sense  and  perse- 
verance. •  The  every-day  life,  with  its  cares, 
necessities  and  duties,  affords  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  accjuiring  experience  of  the  best 
kind  and  its  most  beaten  paths  provide  a 
true  worker  with  abundant  scope  for  effort 
and  self  improvement.  The  gentleman 
whose  name  forms  the  ca])tion  of  this  arti- 
cle has  throughout  his  entire  lifetime  pur- 
sued a  straightforward  and  consistent  course 
and  the  success  he  has  achieved  has  been  due 
solely  to  his  own  earnest  efforts  and  the  wise 
judgment  and  discrimination  wdiich  he  has 
exercised  in  the  affairs  of  life. 

John  A.  liaskin,  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view, and  a  resident  of  Selma  township,  was 
born  in  Lower  Canada,  June  17,  1845.  M^^ 
parents  were  Ithimar  and  Sarah  (Coyle) 
liaskin,  the  former  of  whom  died  in  Janu- 
ary, 1898,  and  the  latter  died  in  January, 
1872.  The  father  was  a  United  Brethren 
minister  when  he  died,  his  field  of  work  hav- 
ing been  in  Ohio  and  Canada.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Sixth  Ohio  Cavalry  and  after- 
wards joined  the  Second  Ohio  Artillery.  He 
was  a  Republican  in  politics. 

The  first  twelve  years  of  the  life  of  John 
A.  Haskin  were  spent  in  his  native  place  in 
Canada.  In  1857  the  family  moved  to  Ohio 
and  located  on  a  farm  in  Ashtabula  county, 
where  the  subject  continued  to  reside  during 
the  next  five  years.  August  17,  1863,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  M,  Second  Ohio  Heavy 
Artillery,  in  which  he  served,  seeing  con- 
siderable service  and  some  hot  fighting,  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  The  regiment  was 
mastered  out  in  August,  1865.  On  leaving 
the  service  he  returned  to  Ashtabula  county, 
w^here  he  sojourned  for  a  short  time,  when 


400 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


he  moved  to  Kalamazoo  county,  Michigan, 
where  for  the  next  seven  years  he  was  em- 
ployed as  a  farm  laborer. 

In  November,  1868,  in  Kalamazoo  coun- 
ty, Michigan,  John  A.  Haskin  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Charlotte  Layton,  a  na- 
tive of  New  York,  born  in  Genesee  county, 
in  December,  1844,  and  whose  parents  are 
dead. 

Mrs.  Haskin  was  reared  in  New  York 
till  she  was  twelve  years  old  and  then  in 
Kalamazoo  county.  She  was  a  teacher  in 
Kalamazoo  county  and  taught  the  first  school 
in  Selma  township.  From  Kalamazoo  coun- 
ty, in  1869,  the  family  moved  to  Allegan 
county,  where  the  subject  purchased  a  farm, 
nine  miles  from  South  Haven,  in  the  town- 
ship of  Casco.  There  they  remained  for 
three  years,  when  an  opportunity  offered  for 
selling  the  farm  at  a  nice  figure  and  it  was 
accordingly  disposed  of.  From  Allegan  the 
family  moved  to  Wexford  county,  in  April, 
1 87 1,  and  entered  on  a  homestead  of  eighty 
acres,  part  of  section  8,  Selma  township,  the 
same  on  which  the.  family  still  resides. 
Forty-five  acres  of  this  place  is  now  cleared 
and  in  cultivation,  with  all  necessary  im- 
provements, including  good,  substantial 
buildings.  Here  the  family  has  lived  in 
comfort  and  contentment  for  nearly  thirty- 
two  years,  their  income  yearly  increasing 
and  each  year  seeing  an  increase  in  their 
material  wealth. 

The  voters  of  Selma  township  have 
shown  their  appreciation  of  the  abilities  and 
integrity  of  John  A.  Haskin  by  electing  him 
to  various  township  offices.  He  has  served 
them  a  number  of  years  as  treasurer  and 
clerk  and  for  nineteen  he  was  justice 
of  the  peace,  having  been  recently  re-elected 
again  for  four  years.    He  is  a  charter  mem- 


ber of  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  331,  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,  and  also  of  Pleasant  Lake 
Grange,  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  In  him 
the  truth  of  the  saying  that  ''merit  wins," 
is  well  exemplified.  His  success  is  attrib- 
utable to  the  many  good  qualities  he  has 
brought  to  bear  upon  his  life  work  and  he 
can  now  enjoy  the  reward  which  steady  and 
persistent  application  invariably  brings  to 
those  who  exercise  those  desirable  traits  of 
character. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Haskin  have  had  no  chil- 
dren born  to  them,  but  in  the  goodness  of 
their  hearts  have  adopted  and  are  carefully 
rearing  two,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  namely :  Ed- 
win, who  is  attending  the  common  schools, 
and  Lia,  who  is  a  successful  and  popular 
teacher. 


ANDREW    B.    DENIKE. 

While  there  may  be  some  dispute  as  to 
who  was  the  first  settler  of  Wexford  county, 
there  is  no  question  whatever  as  to  who  was 
the  first  white  man  to  establish  a  home  and 
maintain  it  from  that  time  to  the  present 
in  Boon  township.  He  is  not  a  native  of  the 
state,  nor  of  the  United  States,  but  no  na- 
tive-born citizen  can  claim  superiority  over 
him  for  pure,  loyal,  patriotic  feelings  toward 
the  land  of  his  adoption.  His  name  is  An- 
drew^ B.  Denike,  whose  home  is  in  section 
36,  Boon  township. 

Andrew  B.  Denike  is  a  native  of  On- 
tario, Canada,  lx)rn  in  Hastings  county,  Ap- 
ril 16,  1846.  Flis  parents  were  Anthony  and 
Eliza1>eth  Denike,  natives  of  Canada,  but 
l>oth  are  now  dead,  he  dying  in  Canada,  at 
the  age  of  forty-five  years,  while  she  died 
also  in  Canada  when  she  was  forty-one  years 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


401 


of  age.  They  were  the  parents  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  Andrew  B.  was  the  eighth 
in  order  of  birth. 

The  subject  of  this  review  was  reared  in 
his  native  county  and  there  grew  to  man- 
hood. He  secured  a  fair  common  school 
education,  but  most  of  tlie  years  of  his  min- 
ority were  devoted  to  hard  labor  on  the  farm. 
In  1869,  when  twenty-three  years  of  age, 
he  came  to  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  and 
decided  to  make  it  his  permanent  home.  He 
looked  over  the  land  during  the  autumn, 
winter  and  spring,  finally  taking  up  a  home- 
stead of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  a  part 
of  section  36,  Boon  township.  The  records 
in  the  land  office  show  that  he  was  the  first 
settler  in  that  township  and  his  was  the  first 
modest  home  erected  within  its  borders.  It 
was  a  log  structure,  chinked  and  plastered, 
and  although  by  no  means  handsome,  it  was 
quite  comfortable,  even  during  the  severest 
weather.  One  other  structure,  in  the  way  of 
a  habitation  for  white  people,  ante-dates  the 
first  home  of  Mr.  Denike  in  Boon  township, 
but  that  was  not  erected  by  a  settler  nor  for 
the  purposes  of  settlement.  It  was  a  build- 
ing erected  on  the  Traverse  City  state  road 
for  a  way  station  and  was  known  as  the  Sum- 
mit place.  Half  of  the  land  for  which  the 
subject  received  a  patent  from  the  govern- 
ment he  has  since  sold.  He  retains  eighty 
acres  of  the  original  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  to  which  he  has  added  by  purchase 
two  forty-acre  tracts,  making  his  farm  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres.  Seventy-two  of 
those  are  cleared,  improved  and  well  culti- 
vated. All  necessary  buildings,  large,  com- 
fortable and  substantial,  have  been  erected 
upon  the  place,  making  it  one  of  the  most 
desirable  farms  in  the  township. 

In  Henderson  township,  Wexford  coun- 


ty, on  the  17th  day  of  May,  1875,  Andrew 
B.  Denike  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Emma  L.  Henderson,  a  native  of  Indiana, 
born  in  Huntington  county,  December  18, 
1856.  Her  parents  were  Thomas  S.  and 
Sophia  (Harris)  Henderson,  of  Henderson 
township.  They  were  among  the  first  white 
settlers  and  early  pioneers  of  Wexford  coun- 
ty. The  mother  is  living  in  Mason  county, 
Michigan,  aged  about  sixty-seven  years.  The 
father  died  a  number  of  years  ago  in  Hen- 
derson township,  almost  eighty  years  of  age. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Andrew  B.  Denike  thir- 
teen children  were  born,  eight  of  whom  are 
still  living,  viz:  Dollie  E.,  Charles  H., 
Flossie  M.,  Sophia  Ernest,  Clyde,  Albert 
Allen,  Thomas  S.  and  Orlando  H.  Four 
of  the  other  five  children  all  died  in  early 
childhood.  Charles  and  Flossie  are  twins 
and  Flossie  is  now  the  wife  oi  Noyes 
Bainbridge;  Dollie,  the  oldest  daughter,  is 
the  wife  of  Orange  Sprague;  one  daugh- 
ter, Sylvia,  attained  the  age  of  thirteen 
years,  when  she  met  with  an  accident 
while  at  play  in  the  school  she  was  attend- 
ing, whereby  she  received  a  fall  that  resulted 
in  her  death. 

What  could  be  more  natural  than  that 
the  first  and  original  settler  of  Boon  town- 
ship should  be  deeply  interested  in  its  wel- 
fare and  that  he  should  be  untiring  in  his 
efforts  to  push  forward  its  growth  and  de- 
velopment. He  often  inconvenienced  him- 
self for  the  public  good,  but  never  mbre  so 
than  when  he  consented  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  various  local  offices.  He  has 
served  as  justice  of  the  i>eace,  overseer  of 
highways  and  in  a  number  of  other  capaci- 
ties. While  acknowledging  allegiance  to  no 
particular  sect  or  religious  denomination,  he 
is,  nevertheless,  a  Christian  and  a  moral  man. 


402 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Church  and  Sunday  school  work  absorbs 
much  of  his  attention.  He  is  a  most  worthy 
man,  possessing  the  full  confidence  and  es- 
teem of  all  of  his  neighbors. 

The  following  newspaper  notice  regard- 
ing Mrs.  Denike's  father,  Thomas  Hender- 
son, as  also  his  obituary  notice,  will  no  doubt 
prove  of  interest  in  this  connection : 

Uncle  Tommy  Henderson,  of  Henderson  town- 
ship, Wexford  county,  made  the  Enterprise  office 
his  first  visit  last  Saturday,  and  we  were  well  en- 
tertained during  his  stay.  Uncle  Tommy  is  quite 
a  character  in  his  way.  He  was  born  in  Ohio  sev- 
enty-two years  ago,  of  hardy  Scotch  parents.  His 
father  fought  in  the  war  of  1812  and  his  grandfa- 
ther in  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  and  his  four 
brothers  w^ere  in  their  younger  days  strong,  muscu- 
lar six-footers  and  it  took  a  good  man  to  handle 
any  of  them.  Uncle  l^ommy  says  he  has  seen  the 
day  'he  could  out-run,  out-walk,  out-fight,  out- 
dance; out-wrestle  or  out-work  any  man  in  the  state 
and  can  yet  outdo  any  man  of  his  age.  He  is  now 
six  feet  in  stature  and  as  active  of  a  man  of  forty. 
He  has  lived  where  he  now  lives  for  twenty  years 
and  is  well  known  all  over  this  part  of  the  state. 
He  knows  a  little  law,  a  good  deal  of  medicine  and 
has  lots  of  shrewd  native  sense.  He  claims  to  be 
able  to  cure  headache,  rheumatism,  toothache  and 
cancer  by  the  simple  laying  on  of  his  hands.  He 
has  been  caught  under  a  half  dozen  falling  trees, 
but.  never  had  a  bone  broken.  He  says  he  has 
drank  forty  barrels  of  whisky  and  has  as  steady 
nerves  as  any  man  in  the  county,  w'hich  is  true.  He 
is  noted  for  his  generous  nature,  never  refusing  a 
man  a  meal  or  lodging  whether  he  has  mioney  or 
not.  He  has  no  use  for  a  Republican  or  an  Indian, 
classing  them  about  on  a  par.  But  he  says  the  En- 
terprise is  a  mighty  good  paper,  which  shows  that 
Uncle  Tommy's  head  is  level,  if  it  is  not  gray. 


with  one  exception,  are  married  and  away  from  the 
old  bome,  and  all  of  'whom  have  the  sympathy  of  a 
large  circle  of  friends. 


Uncle  Tommy  Henderson,  one  of  the  early  set- 
tlers and  for  whom  his  township  was  named,  died 
of  heart  failure  March  i,  1896,  at  his  home,  five 
miles  south  of  Harrietta.  He  was  a*bout  seventy- 
nine  years  of  age.  He  was  very  peculiar  in  many 
ways,  but  was  a  good  neighlx)r  and  generous  to  a 
fault.  Many  a  weary  traveler  has  found  refresh- 
ment and  shelter  at  his  humble  home,  which  became 
a  landmark,  never  to  be  forgotten.  He  leaves  a 
wife  and  a  large  family  of  children,  all  of  whom, 


JOHN    A.  GUSTAFSON. 

The  little  country  of  Sweden  has  long 
been  noted  for  the  industry,  thrift  and  sa- 
gacity of  her  many  sons  who  have  invaded 
the  borders  of  American  soil,  so  in  epito- 
mizing the  review  of  the  subject  of  this  text, 
the  following  is  offered  in  a  brief  and  plain 
manner,  shorn  of  any  ostentation  or  lauda- 
tory remarks.  Mr.  Gustafson  was  born  in 
the  little  province  of  Sodermanland,  in  the 
adjacent  territory  of  the  beautiful  capital 
city  of  Stockholm,  September  5,  1856,  and 
his  boyhood  was  spent  until  the  age  of 
sixteen  in  his  native  land.  His  education 
while  not  of  a  collegiate  nature,  was  of  a 
practical  line,  which  has  served  him  in  the 
later  years  of  his  busy  life.  It  was  in  the 
month  of  September,  1872,  when  he  decided 
to  cast  his  lot  in  America,  and  his  objective 
point  of  location  was  the  little  village  of 
Clam  Lake,  now  the  city  of  Cadillac,  Wex- 
ford county,  Michi§*an.  While  yet  a  young 
man  Mr.  Gustafson  was  amongst  the  early 
founders  and  settlers  of  Cadillac.  One  year 
after  his  arrival  in  Wexford  county  he  eur- 
tered  the  employ  of  Cloud  &  Ballou  as  an  ap- 
prentice to  the  tinner's  trade. 

In  1879  '^^  severed  his  connection  with 
the  above  establishment  and  went  to  Big 
Rapids  where  he  was  employed  for  two 
years,  then  in  1881  he  returned  to  Cadillac 
and  was  at  once  employed  by  John  M.  Cloud, 
wnth  whom  he  remained  till  he  embarked  in 
business  for  himself.  Eight  years  later,  in 
1889,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  Andrew 


JOHN  GUSTAFSON. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


408 


Olsen,  and  engaged  in  the  grocery  business 
under  the  style  of  Olsen  &  Gustafson.  The 
hrni  thus  continued  business  until  January 
I,  1891,  when  it  was  dissolved  by  mutual 
consent,  and  Mr.  Gustafson,  the  following 
March,  became  associated  with  John  John- 
son in  the  hardware  business.  The  latter 
business  continued  until  1901,  Messrs.  Gus- 
tafson &  Johnson  purchasing  good  business 
property  in  an  excellent  location  in  Cadillac. 
In  1901  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  and 
since  that  date  Mr.  Gustafson  has  been  con- 
ducting a  heating  and  plumbing  establish- 
ment and  is  now  conducting  a  general  hard- 
ware store. 

Mr.  Gustaf son's  tastes  runs  mostly  to 
mechanics  and  in  this  line  of  business  he  has 
been  remarkably  successful  and  his  standing 
and  business  reputation  is  such  as  is  recog- 
nized by  the  better  class  of  the  commercial 
w-orld.  Mr.  Gustafson,  while  deeply  en- 
grossed in  his  work,  has  also  found  time  to 
give  his  support  to  those  measures  and  enter- 
prises which  tend  to  elevate  and  advance  the 
usefulness  of  the  municipal  government  of 
the  city  of  Cadillac.  In  the  spring  of  1895 
he  modestly  accepted  the  office  of  alderman, 
to  which  he  was  chosen  by  the  elective  vote 
of  the  citizens  on  the  Democratic  ticket.  He, 
like  many  other  of  his  countrymen,  has  taken 
a  positive  and  emphatic  stand  on  the  excel- 
lence of  the  city  schools  and  has  served  011 
the  board  of  education.  He  is  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  universal  education  of  the 
masses  is  the  keynote  of  stability  of  the 
great  republic. 

Mr.  Gustafson  is  a  believer  in  true  Chris- 
tianity, and  for  years  has  been  an  earnest  ad- 
vocate of  the  teachings  of  the  Swedish  Luth- 
eran church,  and  the  Sunday  school,  which  is 


the  great  aid  to  the  church,  has  found  in 
him  a  worthy  devotee. 

On  the  23d  day  of  September,  1881,  the 
subject  wedded  Miss  Amanda  F.  Monson, 
and  three  cliildren  have  graced  their  mar- 
riage, viz  :  Mabel  O.,  Carl  A.  S.  and  Harold 
J.  G.  By  his  industry  and  his  integrity  of 
character,  Mr.  Gustafson  has  gained  the  es- 
teem and  confidence  of  the  citizens  of  Cad- 
illac and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  print  the  above  re- 
sume, brief  as  it  may  be,  of  this  worthy 
Swedish-American  citizen. 


NELSON    McBRIAN. 

Luxury  and  longevity  on  this  earth  rare- 
ly fall  to  the  lot  of  the  same  individual.  Hard 
work,  rough  fare  and  exposure  to  the  ele- 
ments are  more  frequently  followed  by  a 
good  old  age  than  are  downy  couches,  soft 
rugs  and  dainty  food.  The  average  hod  car- 
rier has  more  years  to  his  score  when  he 
comes  to  face  the  grim  destroyer  than  has 
the  average  banker.  All  of  the  years  of  Nel- 
son McBrian,  of  Cedar  Creek  township, 
more  than  half  a  century,  have  been  years 
of  almost  incessant  toil.  Yet  he  is  physically 
and  mentally  well  preserved.  The  hard 
work  and  exposure  and  the  rough  fare  inci- 
dent to  the  lumber  camps,  where  he  worked 
for  many  years,  have  left  none  of  their  traces 
upon  a  constitution  that  seems  equal  to  the 
ravages  of  another  half  century. 

Nelson  McBrian  was  born  in  Northum- 
berland county,  Ontario,  Canada,  August  17, 
1850.  His  parents  w^ere  Robert  and  Mary 
(Collins)  McBrian,  whose  entire  lives  were 
spent  in  Canada,  both  having  died  there  a 


404 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


number  of  years  ago.  He  was  reared  upon 
his  father's  farm  in  his  native  county  until 
he  arrived  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years,  hav- 
ing had  plenty  of  hard  work  to  do  and  little 
opportunity  of  securing  an  education.  In 
1869,  blessed  wnth  good  health  and  an  abun- 
dance of  physical  strength,  he  came  to  Mich- 
igan and  secured  employment  on  the  river, 
logging.  This  he  followed  during  the  sum- 
mer and  in  the  winter  went  into  the  w^oods 
and  worked  in  the  lumber  camps.  For 
twelve  years  he  followed  this  business  and, 
although  the  work  w^as  hard  and  the  expos- 
ure great,  so  far  from  suffering  physically 
by  what  he  endured,  he  gained  strength 
and  a  sturdy  physique  as  a  result  of  his  la- 
bors. Unlike  many  of  those  employed  with 
him,  he  was  prudent  with  his  earnings  and 
as  soon  as  he  had  means  enough  to  enable 
him  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  he  gladly  re- 
tired from  the  calling.  In  1881  he  bought  a 
tract  of  forty  acres  of  land,  a  part  of  sec- 
tion 8,  Cedar  Creek  township,  and  located 
thereon  a  year  later.  From  that  time  until 
the  present  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the 
township.  Farming  has  been  exclu- 
sively his  occupation  since  he  ceased  lum- 
bering and  he  has  made  it  satisfactorily  re- 
munerative. He  is  now  the  owner  of  an 
eighty-acre  farmi,  seventy  of  which  is  im- 
proved and  under  cultivation. 

August  2,  1885,  Nelson  McBrian  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Linnie  Priest,  a 
native  of  Orange,  Ionia  county,  Michigan, 
born  August  22,  1867.  Her  parents  were 
Eliphalet  and  Cornelia  (Dunsmore)  Priest, 
natives  of  New  York,  who  were  among  the 
early  pioneers  of  the  state  of  Michigan.  Of 
the  four  children  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Priest,  Mrs.  McBrian  was  the  third.  The 
subject  and  his  wife  are  the  parents  of  two 


children,  Nellie  M.  and  Ralph.  The  family 
attend  divine  service  at  the  Free  Methodist 
church  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McBrian  are  mem- 
bers of  that  religious  denomination.  The 
only  public  position  which  the  subject  has 
ever  filled  was  that  of  school  director,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  a  number  of  years. 
With  limited  opjx)rtunities,  the  life  of  Nel- 
son McBrian  has  been  a  far  more  success- 
ful, exemplary  and  worthy  one  than  that  of 
many  a  man  born  to  riches  and  influence. 


SAMUEL    CARNAHAN. 

On  section  4,  Antioch  township,  lives 
Samuel  Carnahan,  whose  attention  is  given 
to  agricultural  pursuits  in  the  operation  of 
his  valuable  farm  of  eighty  acres,  of  which 
seventy-two  acres  is  under  a  very  high  state 
of  cultivation.  He  was  born  upon  a  farm  in 
LaGrange  county,  Indiana,  March  19,  1844. 
His  father,  Samuel  Carnahan,  was  also  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  carrying  on  that  pur- 
suit until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  La- 
Grange  county  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his 
age.  His  wife,  who  lx)re  the  miaiden  name 
of  Mary  Ann  Mashon,  also  died  in  La- 
Grange  county,  her  death  occurring  in  her 
sixty-fifth  year.  They  were  the  parents  of 
nine  children,  of  whom  Samuel  was  the 
fourth  in  order  of  birth. 

LTpon  the  old  homestead  in  the  county  of 
his  nativity  Samuel  Carnahan  was  reared 
and  when  not  engaged  with  the  duties  of  the 
school-room  his  attention  was  largely  given 
to  farm  work,  with  which  he  became  famil- 
iar in  its  various  departments.  He  continued 
to  live  in  LaGrange  county  until  he  was  thir- 
ty-eight years  of  age,  or  until  the  fall  of 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


405 


1882,  and  at  that  time  he  came  to  Wexford 
county,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
In  December  following  his  arrival  he  pur- 
chased eighty  acres  of  land  on  section  4, 
Antioch  township,  and  the  following  March 
he  settled  upon  this  tract  of  land  with  his 
family.  With  characteristic  energy  he  began 
its  cultivation  and  improvement  and  has  con- 
tinued his  w^ork  here  with  the  result  that  he 
now  has  seventy-two  acres  of  land  under 
cultivation.  The  fields  have  been  divided  by 
well-kept  fences  and  the  early  tints  of  spring- 
give  promise  of  g'olden  harvests  in  the  au- 
tumn, while  the  sale  of  his  crops  return  to 
him  a  good  harvest. 

On  the  1 2th  of  January,  1871,  Mr.  Car- 
nahan  was  united  in  marriage,  in  LaGrange 
county,  Indiana,  to  Miss  Sarah  Rathbun, 
who  was  born  in  Elkhart  county,  Indiana, 
May  I,  1852,  a  daughter  of  Costain  and  An- 
dalusia (Gould)  Rathbun.  Her  father  died 
in  LaGrange  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his 
age,  and  the  mother  afterward  came  to  Mich- 
igan, spending  her  last  days  in  Mesick, 
where  she  died  in  her  seventy-fourth  year. 
She  was  the  mother  of  five  children,  of  whom 
Mrs.  Carnahan  is  the  second.  The  home  of 
the  subject  and  his  wife  has  been  blessed 
with  five  children  :  Lester  C. ;  Charles  H. ; 
Clara  E.,  the  wife  of  Samuel  Jones;  Rachel 
A.,  the  wife  of  Edward  Patterson;  and 
Samuel  Albert. 

Mr.  Carnahan  has  served  as  treasurer  of 
Antioch  township  and  has  held  different 
school  positions.  He  was  elected  one  of  the 
county  superintendents  of  the  poor  in  the 
fall  of  i8go  and  in  these  various  offices  he 
has  ever  been  found  reliable  and  trustworthy, 
discharging  his  duties  in  a  prompt  and  capa- 
ble manner.  His  political  support  is  given 
to  the  Republican  party  and  he  is  a  member 


of  the  Grange.  He  is  also  a  liberal  contrib- 
utor to  church  w^ork  and  co-operates  in 
many  measures  for  the  general  good.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  in  Wexford  county  he  has 
so  lived  as  to  command  the  good  will  and 
confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  has  come  in 
contact  and  he  has  gained  many  friends.  His 
life  has  been  one  of  untiring  industry  and 
his  farm  has  been  cleared  entirely  through 
his  own  efforts. 

Mr.  Carnahan  is  erecting  a  residence, 
eighteen  l:)y  twenty-six  feet  in  size,  on  his 
farm,  and  will  thus  have  one  of  the  most 
comfortable  and  conveniently  arranged 
homes  in  the  township. 


ISAAC   STARKWEATHER. 

Statistics  show  that  the  man  who  toils 
lives  longer  than  the  man  of  leisure.  It  is 
not  the  life  of  ease  and  comfort  that  is  pro- 
ductive of  longevity.  The  toiler  is  spared 
to  his  toil,  w^hile  the  money  changer  is  sep- 
arated  by  death  from  his  millions.  Toil 
should  have  some  reward  more  than  the  bare 
pittance  it  gets  in  the  way  of  w^ages  and  there 
seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  nature  has-  pro- 
vided it  wath  longevity  by  way  of  additional 
compensation.  The  years  of  the  life  of 
Jsaac  Starkweather,  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view, have  been  years  of  active  labor. 
Throughout  the  greater  part  of  them  he  has 
been  blessed  with  the  requisite  health  and 
strength  to  encounter  and  accomplish  every 
task*  required  of  him.  There  is  a  homely 
old  saying,  that  has  far  more  truth  than  elo- 
quence in  it,  viz  :  ''God  fits  the  back  for  the 
burden."  Those  doomed  to  a  life  of  toil  are 
generally  endowed  by  nature  w^ith  the  phys- 


406 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


ical  strength  to  sustain  theni  in  its  accom- 
plishment. Nature  is  wise  and  generally 
just,  if  not  always  generous. 

Isaac  Starkweather,  who  resides  on  a 
part  of  section  6,  Selma  township,  is  a  native 
of  Canada.  He  was  born  in  Kent  county, 
Ontario,  January  ]i,  1846.  His  parents 
were  Asa  and  Betsey  ( Ruble)  Starkweather, 
the  father  a  native  of  New  York  and  the 
mother  of  Canada,  l)oth  now  deceased. 

The  first  twenty-two  years  of  the  life  of 
the  subject  were  s])ent  in  his  native  county. 
His  education  was  not  neglected,  though  it 
Was  by  no  means  as  complete  as  he  could  de- 
sire. It  included  a  fair  knowledge  of  all  of 
the  common  school  branches  and  this  he  has 
since  supplemented  \\\t\\  a  w^ide  range  of 
reading  which  has  made  him  a  well  informed 
man.  Naturally  possessed  of  a  taste  for 
mechanics  and  an  aptness  and  skill  in  the 
use  of  tools,  he  took  very  kindly  to  carpen- 
tering and  was  not  obliged  to  serve  at  the 
business  very  long  before  l^ecoming  (juite 
skillful.  In  1868  he  came  to  Montcalm 
county,  Michigan,  secured  employment  in 
the  woods  and  worked  at  logging  and  lum- 
Ijering  for  about  a  year,  when  he  went  to 
Defiance  county,  Ohio,  and  followed  his 
calling  of  a  carpenter  for  a  number  of  years. 
In  the  spring  of  1883  he  came  to  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  purchased  forty  acres  of 
land  in  section  6,  Selma  township,  where  he 
erected  a  residence  and  proceeded  to  estab- 
lish a  home.  This  has  been  his  place  of 
abode  from  that  time  to  the  present,  al- 
though for  five  years  he  w^as  employed  as  a 
carpenter  and  builder  in  the  city  of  Cadillac. 

On  the  1 8th  day  of  November,  1874,  in 
Defiance  county,  Ohio,  Isaac  Starkweather 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Nancy  Duf- 
fey,  a  native  of  Paulding  county,  Ohio,  born 


October  'zy,  1853,  the  daughter  of  Mathew 
and  Almira  (McGee)  Dufifey.  Her  father 
was  a  native  of  Ireland  and  her  mother  of 
New  York,  both  being  now  deceased.  Mrs. 
Starkweather  was  reared  and  educated  in 
her  native  county.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stark- 
weather three  children  w^ere  born,  viz. :  Al- 
mira, Asa  and  Plattie,  the  latter  being  now^ 
a  successful  teacher  of  Wexford  county. 
The  former  became  the  w^ife  of  James  Har- 
ris, but  was  called  to  her  eternal  rest  when 
she  had  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 
In  all  public  affairs  of  the  township  c^f 
his  residence  Mr.  Stark w^eather  has  been 
quite  prominent.  Next  to  his  individual 
welfare  he  prizes  the  welfare  of  Selma  town- 
shi]).  Indeed,  the  one  is  so  closely  identified 
with  the  other  that  the  neglect  of  the  one 
must  necessarily  reflect  injuriously  upon  the 
other.  He  has  served  the  people  of  his  town- 
ship as  supervisor,  treasurer  and  member  of 
the  school  board.  He  is  a  member  of  Lodge 
No.  186,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
at  Harrietta,  and  of  the  Selma  townshij) 
Grange,  I^atrons  of  Husbandry.  In  his  own 
humble,  honest,  direct  way,  he  has  well  per- 
formed all  of  the  duties  of  life  and  has  re- 
ceived the  commendation  and  esteem  of  all 
who  know  him,  as  well  as  the  sanction  and 
ap])roval    of   his   own  conscience. 


ARIEL  W.  TWE;EDIE. 

Ariel  W.  Tweedie,  proprietor  of  the 
Cadillac  Cireenhouse  and  one  of  the  city's 
well-know-ti  and  popular  residents,  was  born 
in  Three  Rivers,  St.  Joseph  county,  Michi- 
gan, October  14,  1855.  His  father,  Thom- 
as Tweedie,  was  a  native  of  Ireland  and  a 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


407 


tailor  l)y  trade  and  his  mother,  wlio  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Sarah  Jane  W^ellman,  was 
1)orn  and  reared  in  the  state  of  New  York. 
When  about  Twelve  years  of  age  Idiomas 
Tweedie  came  to  the  United  States,  and  he 
grew  to  maturity  in  New  York  and  there 
learned  his  trade  and  married.  Later  he 
moved  to  Michigan  and  settled  at  Three 
Rivers,  thence  went  to  Schoolcraft,  Kala- 
mazAK)  county,  where  he  followed  his  chosen 
vocation  until  1882,  when  he  took  up  his 
residence  in  Cadillac  and  here  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  dying  on  the  first  day 
of  January,  1884,  his  wife  surviving  him 
until  Fel)rjiary  2^,  1899.  Thomas  and  Sa- 
rah  Jane  Tweedie  reared  a  family  of  seven 
children,  the  subject  of  this  review  being 
the  fifth  of  the  number. 

iVriel  \V.  was  alx)ut  two  years  old  when 
his  parents  moved  to  Sclioolcraft,  and  he 
spent  his  childhood  and  youth  in  that  town, 
receiving  his  education  in.  the  pu1)lic  schools, 
and  when  a  youth  in  his  teens  he  entered  a 
newspaper  office  to  learn  the  printer's  trade. 
He  soon  became  an  efficient  workman  and 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  left  home  and  found 
employment  at  his  trade,  working  for  a 
numl)er  of  years  thereafter  for  different 
newspapers,  rising  to  the  position  of  fore- 
man in  nearly  all  the  oftices  in  which  he  was 
engaged.  Among  the  several  places  where 
Mr.  Tweedie  held  the  position  of  foreman 
was  Mount  Pleasant,  this  state,  where  he 
served  for  s.ome  tiine  in  the  ofiice  of  the 
Northwestern  Michigan  Tribune.  Sever- 
ing his  connection  with  that  paper  in  De- 
cember, 1 899,  he  came  to  Cadillac  and  took 
charge  of  the  office  of  the  Michigan  State 
Democrat,  for  M.  T.  Woodruff,  in  whose 
employ  he  continued  about  two  years,  when 
the  paper  was  sold  to  George  S.   Stanley. 


After  serving  several  years  in  the  same  ca- 
pacity with  the  latter  gentleman,  he  resigned 
with  the  object  in  view  of  starting  a  green- 
house in  Cadillac,  seeing  here  a  favorable 
opening  for  such  an  enterprise.  Years  be- 
fore he  had  acquired  a  taste  for  horticul- 
Liu-e  and  tloriculture,  under  his  father,  who, 
in  addition  to  his  trade,  devoted  a  great  deal 
of  attention  to  the  raising  of  fruits  and  fiow^- 
ers.  The  knowledge  of  plants  thus  derived 
was  turned  to  practical  use,  while  serving 
as  foreman  on  the  Democrat  office,  as  he  de- 
\'Oted  his  leisure  hours  to  floriculture  and  in 
due  time  found  a  ready  sale  at  liberal  prices 
for  the  products  of  his  garden.  In  this  con- 
nection it  may  be  proper  to  state  that  the 
idea  of  engaging  in  this  fascinating  pursuit 
as  a  Ijusiness  appears  to  have  originated  in 
the  mind  of  Mrs.  Tweedie,  who  for  some 
time  had  been  raising  llowers  and  supplying 
the  popular  demand.  She  began  in  a  small 
way,  but  was  soon  o1)liged  to  give  the  matter, 
more  serious  attention  as  the  demand  for 
Rowers  continued  to  increase  until  she  was 
no  longer  able  to  gratify  it  wdiolly. 

Convinced  that  a  properly  conducted 
greenhouse  would  soon  be  liberally  patron- 
ized, Mr.  Tweedie  at  this  juncture  resigned 
his  position  and,  with  the  able  assistance  of 
his  wife,  at  once  eml)arked  in  the  business, 
beginning  on  a  modest  scale  but  gradually 
extending  the  scope  of  their  operations  until 
the  matter  passed  beyond  the  experimental  • 
stage  and  became  an  assured  financial  suc- 
cess. By  diligent  attention  and  constant 
study  of  the  tastes  of  his  customers  Mr. 
Tweedie  succeeded  far  beyond  his  expecta- 
tions. He  gradually  built  up  a  flourishing 
Inisiness,  which  has  continued  to  grow^  in 
volume  with  each  succeeding  year,  the  mean- 
while enlarging  the  capacity  of  his  establish- 


408 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


nient  and  introducing  new  features  until  he 
now  has  a  large  and  well  conducted  green- 
liouse. 

A  man  of  refined  tastes,  he  has  done 
much  through  the  medium  of  his  business  to 
[)romote  an  interest  in  floriculture,  which  all 
concede  to  be  one  of  the  most  fascinating 
and,  when  properly  conducted,  one  of  the 
most  remunerative  pursuits  in  which  a  per- 
son of  moderate  capital  can  engage.  Having 
studied  very  carefully  every  phase  of  plant 
life,  he  is  familiar  with  every  detail  of  flori- 
culture and  possesses  sound  judgment  in 
matters  of  business,  and  it  is  an  easy  proph- 
ecy to  predict  for  his  already  flourishing- 
enterprise  a  long  lease  of  continued  pros- 
perity. 

Mr.  Tweedie  was  married  at  Vicksburg, 
Michigan,  October  30,  1878,  to  Miss  Minnie 
5.  Boynton,  wdiose  birth  occurred  in  the  city 
of  Niles,  this  state,  September  28,  1856. 
Mrs.  Tweedie  is  the  oldest  of  two  children 
whose  parents  were  Rev.  Jeremy  and  Martha 
(Stilson)  Boynton,  the  father  for  many 
years  a  well-known  Methodist  divine,  who 
preached  in  various  parts  of  Michigan  and 
who  died  some  years  ago  at  the  town  of 
Stanton.  Six  children  have 'resulted  from 
the  marriage  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tweedie,  to- 
wit:  Bertha  K.,  wife  of  Clarence  C.  Beach; 
Helena  E.,  Mattie  J.,  Ariel  T.,  and  two  that 
died  in  infancy.  Mrs.  Tweedie  has  been  her 
•  husband's  able  assistant  in  all  of  his  endeav- 
ors and,  as  already  indicated,  much  of  the 
success  of  his  present  business  enterprise  is 
due  to  the  interest  she  manifested  during  its 
inception  and  to  her  active  co-operation 
since.  She  is  an  estimable  lady,  esteemed  by 
a  large  circle  of  friends  in  Cadillac  and  oth- 
er places  where  she  has  lived,  and  makes 
her  presence  felt  for  good  among  those  w^ith 


whom  she  mingles.  Mr.  Tweedie  is  also  an 
active  church  worker.  He  possesses  decided 
musical  talent  and  is  interested  in  that  art, 
Iiis  nature  being  peculiarly  susceptible  to 
all  kinds  of  refining  influences.  An  honora- 
ble, straightforward  business  man,  an  ex- 
cellent neighbor,  a  law-abiding,  public- 
spirited  citizen,  his  labors  in  Cadillac  have 
been  fruitful  of  beneficial  results  and  he 
occupies  no  little  place  in  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  the  public. 


D.  W.  CURTIS,  V.  S. 

The  profession  of  which  the  subject  of 
this  review  is  a  worthy  representative  has  of 
recent  years  come  prominently  to  the  front 
and  in  its  ranks  today  are  found  many 
learned  and  distinguished  men  whose  ability 
and  skill  are  being  unselfishly  devoted  to 
man's  most  serviceable  and  faithful  friend, 
the  horse.  Dr.  U.  VV.  Curtis,  a  leading  veter- 
inary surgeon  of  Wexford  county,  and  the 
only  professionally  educated  man  of  his  call- 
ing in  this  part  of  the  state,  is  a  native  of 
Canada,  born  January  24,  1863,  in  western 
Ontario,  near  the  town  of  Stratford.  He 
w^as  reared  and  educated  in  the  land  of  his 
nativity  and  there  followed  various  pursuits 
until  1890  when  he  entered  the  Ontario  Vet- 
erinary College  at  Toronto,  perhaps  the 
most  famous  institution  of  the  kind  on  the 
continent,  and  graduated  from  the  same  two 
years  later.  The  same  year  in  which  he  re- 
ceived his  degree  witnessed  the  Doctor's  ar- 
rival at  Cadillac,  Michigan,  where  he  at  once 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and 
it  was  not  long  until  his  ability  and  skill 
vvere  duly  recognized  by  the  people  of  the 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


409 


city  and  county,  with  the  result  that  his  repu- 
tation   was    soon    i^ermanently    estabhshed. 
After  practicing  here  until  the  fall  of  1893 
he   returned   to   Canada   and   took   a   post- 
graduate course  in  the  same  institution  from 
which  he  had  formerly  graduated,  thus  by  a 
thorough  course  of  training  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  best  professional  talent  in  Amer- 
ica fitting  himself  for  a  calling  in  which  he 
has  already  achieved  marked  success  and  in 
which  he  is  destined  to  fill  out  a  still  greater 
career  of  usefulness.     Leaving  college  the 
second  time,  the  Doctor  located  at  Big  Rap- 
ids, Michigan,  where  he  practiced  the  ensu- 
ing fifteen  months  and  at  the  end  of  that 
time   returned    to     Cadillac,   where  he  has 
since  remained,  the  meanwhile  building  up  a 
large  and  lucrative  lousiness  wdiich  has  been 
as  successful  financially    as    professionally. 
In  connection  w^itli  his  professional  business 
he  operated  a  large  horseshoeing  establish- 
ment in  which  none  but  the  most  skillful 
workmen  were  employed,  and  his  reputation 
in  this  line  brought  him  a  patronage  much 
more  liberal  than  that  of  any  other  establish- 
ment of  the  kind  in  this  city.     However,  this 
branch  of  business  has  been  discontinued  on 
account  of  his  not  having  time  to  attend  to  it 
personally,     Dr.   Curtis  has  devoted  much 
time  and  thought  to  the  calling  in  which  he 
is  engaged  and  the  rare  skill  he  displays  in 
the  treatment  of  the  various  diseases  peculiar 
to  the  horse,  and  the  success  with  which  the 
same  has  been  crowned  has  given  him  a  place 
in   the   front   ranks   of   the  profession.      A 
close  and  critical  student,  he  spares  no  pains 
to  keep  in  touch  with  the  latest  discoveries 
and  advancements  in  veterinary  surgery  and, 
possessing  the  ability  to  reduce  his  knowl- 
edge to  practice,  demonstrates  his  fitness  to 
meet  every  requirement  made  upon  him  in 


tlie  line  of  his  professional  work.  He  is 
one  of  the  substantial,  public-spirited  men  of 
his  adopted  city,  has  done  much  to  promote 
its  general  prosperity,  materially  and  other- 
wise, and  always  stands  ready  to  lend  his 
influence  and  support  to  all  worthy  enter- 
prises. Dr.  Curtis  was  married  December 
29,  1896,  to  Miss  Marguerite  Code,  the  un- 
ion being  blessed  with  one  child,  Velma 
Irene,  who  was  born  July  21,  1898. 


WALTER  L.  STURTEVANT. 

Walter  L.  Sturtevant,  who  formerly 
served  as  sherift*  of  Wexford  county,  and  is 
living  on  section  36,  Wexford  township, 
claims  the  Green  Mountain  state  as  the  place 
of  his  nativity,  for  he  first  opened  his  eyes 
to  the  light  of  day  in  Weybridge,  Addison 
county,  Vermont,  on  the  loth  of  January, 
1855,  his  parents  being  Milo  and  Elizabeth 
(Taft)  Sturtevant,  of  whose  family  of  six 
children  he  was  the  youngest.  Both  of  the 
parents  died  in  Weybridge.  The  subject  of 
this  review  spent  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life 
upon  his  father's  farm  in  that  place  and  then 
went  to  Saginaw,  Michigan,  with  his  broth- 
er Ethan  A.  Sturtevant,  and  was  reared 
to  manhood  in  that  locality  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  year  and  a  half  spent  in  Wey- 
bridge, to  which  place  he  returned.  He  pur- 
sued his  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
Saginaw  and  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
twenty  years  he  followed  the  trade  of  brick- 
making.  On  reaching  the  age  of  twenty 
yeiu's  he  again  went  to  his  native  place  in 
Vermont,  where  he  remained  for  a  year  and 
a  half  and  then  again  he  came  to  Michigan 
and  once  more  settled  in  Saginaw.     During 


410 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


tlie  following  winter  he  worked  in  the  woods 
and  next  went  to  Midland,  where  he  resided 
but  a  short  time.  Settling  then  in  Owosso, 
he  resided  but  a  short  period  there  and  in 
Jul}',  1878,  he  arrived  in  Wexford  county, 
taking  up  his  abode  in  Sherman,  where  he 
entered  the  employ  of  his  brother,  H.  B. 
Sturtevant,  with  whom  he  was  connected  in 
a  business  way  for  ten  years.  The  subject 
was  then  elected  sheriff  of  Wexford  county 
in  the  fall  of  1890  and  filled  the  position  so 
acceptably  that  he  was  re-elected  for  a  sec- 
ond term. 

On  his  retirement  from  office  Mr.  Sturte- 
vant  returned  to  Sherman,  where  he  contin- 
ued to  reside  for  about  a  year,  at  the  end  of 
wliich  time  he  settled  in  Wexford  township 
and  since  the  fall  of  1897  he  has  lived  upon 
the  farm  which  is  now  his  home.  He  has 
here  eighty-five  acres  of  land,  which  is  rich 
and  cultivable,  the  entire  amount  being  im- 
proved. He  has  followed  farming  continu- 
ally since  his  retirement  from  the  office  of 
slieriff  and  his  labors  have  been  attended  with 
a  high  degree  of  success.  His  buildings  are 
substantial,  commodious  and  modern  in  con- 
struction, his  fields  w^ell  tilled  and  he  uses 
the  latest  improved  machinery  in  carrying  on 
the  farm  work.  He  also  has  good  grades  of 
stock  upon  his  place  and  fruit  trees  give  a 
good  yield  in  season. 

On  the  9th  of  October,  1881,  was  cele- 
brated the  marriage  of  Mr.  Sturtevant  and 
Miss  Margaret  Crites,  who  was  born  in  Can- 
ada, on  the  6th  of  April,  1859.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  G.  A.  and  Jane  ( McKee)  Crites 
and  by  her  marriage  she  has  become  the 
mother  of  one  child,  Grace  E.,  who  is  now 
the  life  and  light  of  the  household.  Mr. 
Sturtevant  has  been  a  member  of  the  board 
of  review   of   Wexford   township   and   has 


served  as  deputy  sheriff  for  a  number  of 
years.  Fraternally  he  is  connected  with 
Sherman  Lodge  No.  372,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  and  has  also  taken  the  Royal  Arch 
degree  in  Cadillac  Chapter  No.  302,  Royal 
Arch  Masons.  In  matters  pertaining  to  pub- 
lic progress  he  is  deeply  interested  and  has 
given  active  co-operation  to  many  move- 
ments for  the  general  good,  his  assistance 
being  of  a  practical  and  beneficial  nature.  In 
his  business  affairs  he  has  prospered  and  to- 
day a  valuable  farm  gives  evidence  of  his 
life  of  industry.  In  his  dealings  with  his 
fellow  men  he  is  always  fair  and  just  and  his 
integrity  stands  as  an  unquestioned  fact  in 
his  career.  He  represents  a  high  type  of 
the  American  citizen  and  Wexford  county 
is  fortunate  in  that  he  has  allied  his  interests 
with  hers. 


HENRY  BALLOU. 


The  gentleman  of  whom  the  biographer 
writes  in  this  connection  enjoys  worthy  pres- 
tige as  one  of  the  honored  citizens  of  Cad- 
illac and  for  a  number  of  years  he  has  been 
actively  identified  with  the  varied  interests  of 
the  city,  occupying  at  the  present  time  an  im- 
portant position  with  one  of  its  largest  busi- 
ness establishments.  His  well  directed  ef- 
forts in  the  practical  affairs  of  life,  his  capa- 
ble management  of  large  and  responsible 
trusts,  together  with  his  sound  judgment  and 
sterling  integrity,  have  brought  him  con- 
fidence and  prosperity,  and  his  life  fitly  dem- 
onstrates what  may  be  accomplished  by  a 
man  of  energy  and  ambition  who  places 
upon  honorable  endeavor  its  true  value.  In 
every  relation  of  life  he  commands  the  re- 
spect and  confidence  of  his  fellow  men^  and 


HENRY   BALLOU. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


411 


witliout  a  l)rief  record  of  liis  life  tliis  1)io- 
graphical  conipencliuni  of  Wexford  county 
would  not  be  fully  complete. 

Henry  Ballon  was  lx)rn  in  Otsego,  Alle- 
gan county,  Michigan,  June  7,  1854,  the  son 
of  Byron  and  Hannah  (Eldred)  Ballon.  The 
father  was  for  many  years  a  business  man  of 
Otsego,  but  in  1876  left  that  place  and  moved 
his  family  to  Cadillac  wdiere  he  engaged  in 
mercantile  pursuits  until  failing  health 
obliged  him  to  turn  his  interests  over  to  oth- 
er hands  and  retire  from  active  life.  Com- 
ing to  this  place  in  a  comparatively  early  day, 
he  became  quite  an  influential  factor  in  the 
business  affairs  and  material  growth  of  the 
town  and  as  long  as  he  lived  his  interest  in  its 
welfare  and  faith  in  its  future  advance- 
ment ne\'er  wavered.  He  served  two  years 
as  postmaster  and  was  one  of  the  leading  Re- 
publicans of  the  county,  having  also  been 
noted  as  a  politician  of  considerable  prom- 
inence for  a  numl)er  of  years  before  taking 
up  his  residence  in  this  part  of  the  state. 

While  a  citizen  of  Otsego  he  w^as  es- 
pecially active  in  political  affairs  and  during 
the  late  Civil  war  w^as  untiring  in  his  efforts 
to  uphold  the  cause  of  the  Union  and  induce 
yoiuig  men  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of  the 
nation's  honor.  Byron  Ballon  departed* this 
life  in  Cadillac  and  left  to  his  descendants 
the  memory  of  a  good  name,  which  they 
prize  among  their  most  valued  ix)ssessions ; 
his  widow  still  survives,  as  do  also  four  of 
his  five  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this 
review  is  the  third  in  order  of  birth. 

Henry  Ballon  grew^  up  under  the  sturdy, 
invigorating  discipline  and  environments  of 
the  home  in  Otsego,  and  received  a  common 
school  education  in  the  schools  of  that  city, 
subsequently  completing  a  business  course 
in  a  commercial  college  at  Grand  Rapids.   In 

25 


1872  he  came  to  Cadillac  as  clerk  for  his 
brother,  Lorenzo  Ballon,  who  here  establish- 
ed a  store  which  for  several  years  was  con- 
ducted as  a  brauch  of  the  main  establishment 
in  Otsego.  After  remaining  with  the  above 
business  concern  until  1877,  he  severed  his 
connection  with  the  same  and  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Rail- 
road, where  he  remained  for  two  years,  when 
he  entered  the  company  of  Cobbs  &  Mitchell, 
for  which  firm  he  served  as  bookkeeper,  un- 
til his  promotion  to  the  superintendency  a 
few  years  later,  a  place  he  has  since  held.  As 
general  superintendent  of  the  large  and  far- 
reaching  business  of  Messrs.  Cobbs  &  Mitch- 
ell, he  has  demonstrated  executive  abilities  of 
a  high  order,  and  his  career  in  this  important 
and  responsible  station  has  been  crowned 
w^ith  usefulness  and  sustained  by  the  con- 
tinued and  unqualified  approval  of  his  em- 
ployers. Mr.  Ballon  is  a  thorough-going, 
enterprising  business  man,  happily  endowed 
by  nature  with  those  qualities  essential  to 
successful  leadership  in  large  undertakings 
and  in  every  relation  to  which  called  his 
integrity,  absolute  reliability  and  sterling- 
worth  have  won  the  confidence  not  only  of 
those  in  whose  welfare  he  has  l^een  directly 
interested,  but  also  of  the  general  public. as 
well.  He  has  gained  a  reputation  as  a  man 
well  equipped  with  solid  business  attain- 
ments, but  above  this  he  has  ordered  his 
life  on  a  high  plane,  having  a  deep  sense  of 
his  stewardship,  a  just  appreciation  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities that  canopy  every  life  and  true 
regard  for  the  esteem  in  wdiich  he  is  held  by 
his  fellow  men. 

Mr.  Ballon  was  married  in  Cadillac,  Jan- 
uary II,  1881,  to  Miss  Sarah  A.  Corn  well, 
of  Cadillac,  the  union  being  blessed  with 
children   as   follows:   Maude  Z.,   Kate   H., 


412 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Dora,  Henry  and  Elton,  the  last  named  dy- 
ing at  the  age  of  nine  months.  Mr.  Ballon 
has  been  honored  by  his  fellow  men  of  Cad- 
illac by  being  elected  to  different  positions  of 
trust,  in  all  of  which  he  discharged  his  du- 
ties faithfully  and  well,  thus  justifying  the 
confidence  reposed  in  his  integrity  and  abil- 
ity. He  served  as  city  clerk  two  terms,  rep- 
resented his  ward  in  the  common  council  and 
for  several  years  labored  zealously  for  the 
educational  interests  of  the  town  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  school  board.  He  has  long  been 
active  and  prominent  in  the  social  and  club 
life  of  (Cadillac,  is  equally  interested  in  re- 
ligious and  benevolent  enterprises  and  all 
worthy  means  for  the  moral  improvement  of 
the  community  are  sure  to  enlist  his  in- 
fluence and  material  support.  His  name 
adorns  the  records  of  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  46, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  and  the  lodge  of  An- 
cient Order  of  United  Workmen,  and  as  a 
communicant  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
his  life  presents  a  commendable  example  of 
applied  Christianity,  being  one  of  the  leading 
mem.bers  of  the  congregation  worshiping  in 
Cadillac,  in  which  organization  his  wife  is 
also  a  faithful  and  zealous  worker.  His  po- 
litical preference  is  for  the  Republican  party, 
but  he  is  by  no  means  a  partisan  in  the  sense 
the  term  is  generally  understood  and  he 
would  much  rather  be  known  as  a  business 
man  and  private  citizen  than  to  assume  any 
official  responsibilities  or  accept  any  pub- 
He  distinctions  his  fellow  citizens  might  be- 
stow upon  him.  Mr.  Ballou  is  a  man  of 
strong  convictions  and  positive  character,  but 
withal  genial  and  companionable,  and  by 
reason  of  his  intelligence,  integrity  and  busi- 
ness success  holds  a  warm  and  abiding 
place  in  the  hearts  of  those  with  whom  he 
associates.     Being  in  the  prime  of  vigorous 


physical  and  mental  manhood,  his  star  of 
usefulness  is  still  in  the  ascendancy,  the  ardor 
of  youth  characterizing  his  actions  as.  in 
years  ago  when  he  first  began  grappling 
with  the  practical  problems  of  life.  He  has 
done  well  his  part,  seeking  ever  to  improve 
his  environment,  and  by  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  the  duties  coming  within  his 
sphere  he  has  added  greatly  to  the  welfare  of 
the  community  wdiich  is  honored  by  his  citi- 
zenship. 


WILLIAM  H.  SHAVER. 

William  H.  Shaver  is  a  representative  of 
the  commercial  interests  of  vSherman,  where 
he  is  now  conducting  a  well  appointed  fur- 
niture store.  A  native  of  the  Empire  state, 
his  birth  occurred  upon  a  farm  in  the  town- 
ship of  Wayland,  Steuben  county,  New 
York,  on  the  10th  of  A.pril,  1852.  His  fath- 
er, Stephen  Shaver,  was  a  blacksmith  and 
wagonmaker  and  also  engaged  in  farming  to 
some  extent.  After  arriving  at  years  of  ma- 
turity he  wxdded  Miss  Julanah  Shutes  and 
they  spent  their  entire  married  life  in  New 
York,  both  passing  away  in  Livingston  coun- 
ty, both  being  between  sixty  and  seventy 
years  of  age  at  the  time  of  death.  They  were 
the  parents  of  eleven  children. 

William  H.  Shaver,  whose  name  intro- 
duces this  review  and  wdio  was  their  second 
child,  lived  with  his  parents  in  Steuben  coun- 
ty until  he  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age. 
During  that  time  he  had  acquired  a  fair  En- 
glish education  in  the  public  schools.  He 
then  accompanied  his  father  and  mother  on 
their  removal  to  Livingston  county,  New 
York,  where  he  continued  to  make  his  home 
with  them  until  1876,    He  assisted  his  father 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


4lS 


in  wagonniaking  ^vllile  remaining  under  the 
parental  roof,  but  when  twenty-four  years  of 
age  he  decided  to  start  out  in  Hfe  for  himself 
and  spent  about  two  years  in  Ontario  county, 
New^  York,  during  which  time  he  was  em- 
ployed at  farm  labor  during  the  summer 
seasons,  while  in  the  w^inter  months  he  taught 
school.  The  west,  with  its  opportunities  and 
business  possibilities,  however,  attracted  him 
and  leaving  the  Empire  state  he  proceeded 
towards  the  setting  sun  until  he  reached 
Kansas.  He  spent  al)out  three  months  in 
that  state  with  the  intention  of  locating  there, 
but  not  liking  the  country  as  well  as  he  had 
anticipated,  he  returned  to  his  old  home  in 
New  York.  Not  long  afterward  he  started 
for  Michigan,  settling  in  Grand  Traverse 
county,  in  August,  1879.  He  lived  there  for 
a  year  and  during  the  hrst  winter  of  his  resi- 
dence in  this  state  was  engaged  in  teaching 
school.  In  the  spring  of  1880  he  came  to 
Hanover  township,  Wexford  county,  and 
settled  upon  a  farm  w^hich  he  continued  to 
cultivate  and  improve  for  about  two  years 
and  in  addition  he  also  engaged  in  school 
teaching.  On  leaving  the  farm  he  took  up 
liis  abode  in  the  village  of  Sherman,  where 
he  taught  school  for  about  four  terms,  or 
a  year  and  a  half.  He  next  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  H.  B.  Sturtevant  as  a  salesman  and 
that  he  proved  most  loyal  to  the  trust  reposed 
in  him  and  was  most  capable  in  the  discharge 
of  his  duties  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  for 
fourteen  years  he  was  continued  in  that  em- 
ploy. With  the  capital  which  he  had  thus 
acquired  through  his  industry  and  economy 
Mr.  Shaver  began  business  on  his  own  ac- 
count by  establishing  a  furniture  and  under- 
taking store  and  this  he  has  since  conducted 
with  gratifying  success,  his  trade  continually 
increasing.     He  now  carries  a  large  and  well 


selected  line  of  goods,  ranging  from  the 
cheaper  to  the  higher  grades  in  order  to  meet 
the  varied  demands  of  his  customers. 

On  the  23rd  of  August,  1899,  Mr.  Sha- 
ver was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lilla 
Falby,  a  native  of  Canada.  They  have  a 
pleasant  home  in  Sherman,  in  addition  to 
which  he  owns  forty  acres  of  highly  improv- 
ed land  in  Grand  Traverse  county.  He  is 
now  active  and  influential  in  the  work  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  of  w^hich  he  is 
a  member,  and  contributes  liberally  to  its 
support,  doing  all  in  his  power  to  promote  its 
influence.  He  is  likewise  a  member  of  Sher- 
man Lodge  No.  ^72,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  and  has  held  almost  all  of  the  offices 
in  the  lodge.  His  fraternal  relations  likewise 
connect  him  with  Maqueston  Tent  No.  654, 
Ivnights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  with  Sher- 
man Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias.  In  manner 
Mr.  Sha\er  is  genial  and  affable,  qualities 
which  have  won  him  many  friends,  and  he 
also  retains  the  high  regard  of  those  with 
whom  he  is  l3rought  in  contact  by  reason  of 
his  honorable  business  methods  and  his 
fidelity  to  principle. 


TOHN  DUNBAR. 


Clearly  defined  purpose  and  consecutive 
effort  in  the  aft'airs  of  life  w^ill  inevitably  re- 
sult in  the  attaining  of  a  due  measure  of  suc- 
cess, but  in  following  out  the  career  of  one 
who  has  attained  success  by  his  own  ef- 
forts there  comes  into  view^  the  intrinsic  in- 
dividuality which  made  such  accomplishment 
possible,  and  thus  there  is  granted  an  ob- 
jective incentive  and  inspiration,  while  at  the 
same  time  there  is  enkindled  a  feeling  of  re- 


414 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


spect  and  admiration.  The  ([ualities  which 
have  made  Mr.  Dunbar  one  of  the  prominent 
and  successful  men  of  Clam  Lake  township, 
Wexford  county,  have  also  brought  him  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow  citizens,  for  his  career 
has  been  one  of  well-directed  energy,  strong 
determination  and  honorable  methods. 
There  is  also  paid  to  him  that  respect  which 
should  always  be  accorded  the  brave  sons  of 
the  North  who  left  homes  and  the  peaceful 
pursuits  of  civil  life  to  give  their  services, 
and  their  lives  if  need  be,  to  preserve  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  American  Union.  He  proved 
his  love  and  loyalty  to  the  government  on 
the  long  and  tiresome  marches  in  all  kinds  of 
situations,  exposed  to  summer's  withering 
heat  and  winter's  freezing  cold,  on  the  lone- 
ly picket  line  a  target  for  the  deadly  missiles 
of  the  unseen  foe,  on  the  tented  field  and 
amid  the  smoke  and  flame  of  battle,  where 
the  rattle  of  the  musketry  miingled  with  the 
terrible  concussion  of  the  bursting  shell  and 
the  deep  diapason  of  the  cannon's  roar  made 
up  the  sublime  but  awful  chorus  of  death. 
John  Dunbar  was  born  in  Albany  county, 
New  York,  on  the  6th  of  September,  1842, 
and  is  the  son  of  Robert  and  Mary  (Lake) 
Dunbar.  His  father  was  a  native  also  of 
Albany  county,  New  York,  while  his  mother 
was  born  in  Schoharie  county,  the  same  state. 
Their  deaths  occurred  in  Hancock  county, 
Ohio,  to  which  locality  they  removed  when 
the  subject  was  about  eleven  yeafs  of  age. 
In  that  county  he  grew^  to  manhood  and  was 
given  the  benefit  of  a  fair  common  school 
education.  In  the  spring  of  1865,  feeling 
that  his  country  needed  his  services,  he  en- 
listed in  Company  E,  One  Hundred  and 
Ninety-seventh  Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  for  eight  months  faithfully 
served  his  government  at  the  front.     Upon 


the  cessation  of  hostilities  he  returned  to 
Hancock  county,  Ohio,  which  remained  his 
homie  until,  in  1882,  he  came  to  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  has  since  re- 
mained. Upon  coming  here  he  settled  on 
the  farm  which  he  now  occupies,  which  is 
located  in  section  25,  Clam  Lake  township, 
and  consists  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres,  sixty-five  acres  of  which  are  improved. 
Like  the  progressive  man  that  he  is,  Mr. 
Dunbar  has  spared  neither  pains  nor  ex- 
pense in  making  of  this  farm  one  of  the  best 
in  the  township,  and  one  in  which  he  takes 
a  justifiable  pride.  He  has  pursued  his 
chosen  calling  with  ardor,  has  been  fortunate 
in  his  undertakings  and  has  gradually  risen 
step  by  step  over  many  discouraging  obsta- 
cles until  he  now  occupies  a  place  in  the  front 
rank  of  the  township's  most  enterprising 
men  of  afl:'airs.  As  an  agriculturist  he  is 
methodical  and  far-sighted,  and  the  satisfac- 
tory results  he  has  attained  prove  him  pos- 
sessed of  sound  judgment,  keen  discernment 
and  a  faculty  of  taking  advantage  of  every 
circumstance  calculated  to  advance  his  in- 
terests in  a  business  way.  His  place  contains 
many  valuable  improvements  and  he  believes 
money  well  invested  that  adds  to  the  beauty 
of  his  home  or  in  any  manner  enhances  its 
comfort  or  attractiveness. 

In  October,  1880,  in  Detroit,  Michigan, 
John  Dunbar  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Sarah  Rowe,  who  was  born  in  Juniata 
county,  Pennsylvania,  August  3,  1855,  the 
daughter  of  Eli  and  Sarah  (Loudenslager) 
Rowe.  To  this  union  have  been  born  seven 
children,  of  whom  five  are  living,  namely  : 
Harry,  Lillian  M.,  Clayton,  Emma  and 
Gladys  L.  Politically  Mr.  Dimbar  is  in- 
dependent, while  his  religious  convictions 
are  in  harmony  with  the  creed  of  the  Meth- 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


415 


odist  cliurch.  The  business  career  of  Mr. 
l.^unbar  is  one  that  should  encourage  others 
to  press  onward  to  greater  achievements. 
Earnest  labor,  unabating  perseverance,  good 
management  and  a  laudable  ambition — these 
are  the  elements  which  have  brought  to  him 
prosperity.  His  devotion  to  the  public  good 
is  unquestioned  and  arises  from  a  sincere  in- 
terest in  his  fellow  men.  What  the  world 
needs  is  such  men — men  of  genuine  worth, 
of  unquestioned  integrity  and  honor. 


NELSON  R.  TORREY. 

The  life  history  of  him  whose  name 
heads  this  sketch  is  closely  identified  with  the 
recent  history  of  the  city  of  Cadillac,  Wex- 
ford county,  Michigan.  His  life  has  been 
one  of  untiring  activity,  and  has  l)een  crown- 
ed with  a  degree  of  success  attained  by  those 
only  who  devote  themselves  indefatigably  to 
the  work  before  them.  He  is  of  a  high  type 
of  a  business  man  and  none  more  than  he 
deser\'es  a  fitting  recognition  among  the  men 
whose  genius  and  abilities  have  achieved  re- 
sults that  are  most  enviable  and  com- 
mendable. 

Nelson  R.  Torrey,  junior  member  of  the 
firm  of  Torrey  Brothers,  dealers  in  marble 
and  granite,  at  Cadillac,  Wexford  county, 
Michigan,  is  well  known  among  the  young 
business  men  of  that  city.  He  is  a  native  of 
this  state,  having  been  born  at  Eowlerville, 
Livingston  county,  on  the  28th  of  August, 
1870,  and  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth  of 
the  five  children  1)orn  to  George  S.  and  Al> 
l»ie  D.  (Smock)  Torrey.  I'he  parents  re- 
sided for  some  time  at  Fowderville,  but  about 
J 87 1  located  at  Evart,  Osceola  county,  Mich- 


igan, from  whence,  in  1893,  they  removed  to 
Cadillac,  where  they  have  since  resided. 
Their  children  were  as  follows:  John  S., 
Nelson  R.,  Harold,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
three,  Renie  M.,  Neil  B.,  and  Eugenia. 

Nelson  R.  Torrey  was  about  a  year  old 
when  his  parents  removed  to  Evart  and  there 
lie  grew  to  manhood  and  was  educated.  He 
])ursued  his  studies  in  the  public  schools  of 
that  place  and  acquired  a  good  education, 
whicli  he  has  since  supplemented  by  w^ide 
reading  and  close  observation  of  men  and 
events.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  en- 
tered upon  life's  practical  duties  by  engaging 
as  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store  at  Evart,  in 
which  he  was  employed  for  four  years  and 
then  was  with  another  grocery  firm  for  the 
same  length  of  time.  Then  going  to  Mere- 
dith, this  state,  he  was  employed  in  a  general 
store  there  for  about  six  months,  but  in 
March,  1893,  he  came  to  Cadillac  and  was 
employed  as  a  traveling  salesman  or  general 
agent  for  monumental  w^ork  until  1898.  In 
that  year  he  removed  to  Charlevoix,  Charle- 
voix county,  Michigan,  where  for  a  year  he 
was  engaged  in  the  same  line  of  business  on 
his  own  account:  Returning  to  Cadillac,  he 
then  purchased  the  interest  of  his  father  in 
the  marble  works  and  since  then  has  been 
in  partnership  with  his  brother,  John  S.  Tor- 
rey, under  the  firm  style  of  Torrey  Brothers. 
They  are  both  men  of  undoubted  ability  and 
sound  iudgment  in  business  matters  and  by 
reason  of  their  technical  knowledge  have 
been  able  to  cater  to  the  most  fastidious 
tastes  or  requirements  in  any  line  of  their 
business.  They  do  not  confine  their  opera- 
tions solely  to  monumental  work,  but  also 
have  a  large  trade  in  prepared  building  stone, 
l)lain  or  ornamental,  and  in  copings  of  var- 
ious styles/    Hie  business  has  been  carried 


416 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


on  with  very  satisfactory  results  ever  since 
the  firm  was  organized  and  is  still  the  only 
establishment  of  the  kind  in  this  city.  Mr. 
Torrey  is  a  gentleman  of  varied  attainments, 
highly  esteemed  by  the  people  of  his  town 
and  nothing  in  the  way  of  adverse  criticism 
has  ever  been  made  against  his  integrity  or 
personal  honor.  He  has  pursued  the  even 
tenor  of  his  way,  qviietly  and  unobtrusive- 
ly discharging  the  duties  of  citizenship  as 
becomes  a  loyal  American  and  doing  all 
within  his  power  to  advance  the  material 
or  moral  welfare  of  the  community. 

On  the  2(\  of  February,  1898,  Mr. 
Torrey  was  united  in  the  holy  bonds  of  wed- 
lock with  Miss  Jessie  F.  Bloss,  a  native  of 
Detroit,  Michigan,  and  a  daughter  of  D.  M. 
and  Carrie  E.  Bloss.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Torrey 
are  active  members  of  the  Congregational 
cliurch  and  take  an  active  and  earnest  inter- 
est in  the  welfare  of  the  congregation  with 
which  they  are  identified.  Fraternally  Mr. 
Torrey  is  a  member  of  Cadillac  Tent  No. 
232,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  and  Cadil- 
lac Lodge  No.  181,  Ancient  Order  of  United 
Workmen,  in  both  of  which  he  occupies  a 
high  standing  and  the  beneficent  principles 
of  which  he  exemplifies  in  his  daily  life. 


PETER  A.  RYDQUIST. 

As  the  name  suggests,  the  subject  of  this 
review  is  not  of  Anglo-Saxon  birth,  but 
hails  from  Sweden,  that  romantic  country  of 
historic  renown,  long  distinguished  among 
the  nations  of  the  world  for  its  grand  nat- 
ural features,  as  well  as  for  its  brave,  hardy 
and  God-fearing  people.  Peter  A.  Ryd- 
quist  was  born  November  12,  1844,  and  his 


early  years  were  devoted  to  the  steady,  plod- 
ding industry  of  a  farmer  boy  among  the 
mountains  and  valleys  of  his  native  land. 
He  remained  wnth  his  parents  until  a  young 
man,  when  he  left  home  and  for  some  time 
thereafter  worked  on  a  railroad,  to  which 
kind  of  employment  and  agriculture  pursuits 
he  devoted  his  attention  until  about  twenty- 
six  years  of  age. 

Having,  like  many  of  his  countrymen, 
conceived  a  strong  notion  of  seeking  his  for- 
tune in  America,  Mr  Rydquist,  in  1870,  was 
enabled  to  carry  out  his  desire  of  long  stand- 
ing. In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  took  passage 
for  the  new  world  and  in  due  time,  after  an 
interesting  but  uneventful  voyage,  landed  at 
New  York,  from  whicli  city  he  made  his 
way  direct  to  Michigan  where  he  soon  se- 
cured remunerative  employment  on  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad.  Later 
he  worked  for  some  time  in  the  pineries, 
which  kind  of  labor,  with  railroading,  en- 
gaged his  attentions  until  he  took  up  a  home- 
stead, consisting  of  eighty  acres,  in  Clam 
Lake  township,  Wexford  county,  on  which 
he  has  since  lived  and  ])rospered.  With  com- 
mendable industry  Mr.  Rydquist  brought  his 
land  to  a  successful  state  of  cultivation 
and  he  now  has  a  well  tilled  farm  and  a  com- 
fortable home,  his  Iniildings  and  other  im- 
provements comparing  favorably  with  the 
best  in  the  county.  He  has  added  to  his  real 
estate  until  he  now  owns  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres,  all  fine  land,  the  tillable  part 
being  peculiarly  adapted  to  grain,  vegetables 
and  fruits,  large  crops  of  which  the  subject 
raises  every  year.  He  has  labored  diligent- 
ly to  provide  a  home  and  a  livelihood  for 
himself  and  family  and  his  efforts  have  been 
crowned  with  liberal  rewards,  as  his  present 
independent  circumstances  and  the  compe- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


417 


lency  acquired   for  old  age  abundantly  at- 
test. 

Mr.  Rydquist's  wife,  whom  he  married 
in  Wexford  county,  was  formerly  Miss 
Christina  Hagstroom,  a  native  of  Sweden, 
who  came  to  the  United  States  some  time  in 
the  'seventies.  She  is  the  mother  of  six  chil- 
dren, namely:  Oscar  E.,  Esther  M.,  Johanna 
S.,  Johan  A.,  Selma  E.  and  a  daughter, 
Johanna,  who  died  at  the  age  of  four  years. 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rydquist  are  highly  esteemed 
in  their  neighborhood  and  have  many  warm 
friends.  Their  lives  have  been  along  quiet 
and  sequestered  ways  and  in  a  home  of  plen- 
ty and  content,  at  peace  with  the  world,  they 
perform  their  allotted  tasks  and  fulfill  their 
missions,  conscious  that  the  all-wise  Eather 
will  approve  their  efforts  and  at  last  receive 
them  to  himself. 


JAMES     WHALE  Y. 

James  Whaley  dates  his  residence  in 
Wexford  county  since  1869.  Coming  here 
in  pioneer  times,  he  entered  upon  wliat  has 
proven  a  ver}^  successful  career  and  is  today 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  farmers  of  the 
county,  possessing  valuable  landed  posses- 
sions, well  improved,  wdiich  he  has  secured 
through  untiring  energy  and  indefatigable 
industry,  prompted  by  a  laudable  ambition. 

Mr.  Whaley  is  a  native  of  Perth  county, 
Ontario,  and  is  the  second  in  order  of  birth 
in  a  family  of  eleven  children,  whose  parents 
wxre  Thomas  and  Jane  (Whaley)  Whaley. 
They  were  natives  of  Maryland,  and  for 
some  years  resided  in  Ontario,  whence,  in 
the  year  1869,  they  came  to  Michigan,  cast- 
ing in  their  lot  wnth  the  earliest  settlers  of 


(^Jam  Lake  towaiship,  Wexford  county. 
Under  the  parents'  roof  James  Whaley  was 
reared  and  in  the  public  schools  he  ac- 
quired his  education.  In  the  year  of  his 
] parents'  arrival  in  Wexford  county  he  also 
came  to  Michigan  and  has  since  been  identi- 
fied with  the  agricultural  interests  here.  He 
entered  a  tract  of  eighty  acres  of  land  from 
the  government  and  at  once  began  the  de- 
velopment of  a  farm.  Not  a  furrow^  had 
been  turned  or  an  improvement  made  upon 
the  place  at  that  time,  but  soon  the  track  of 
the  i)low^  was  seen  across  the  fields,  which  in 
the  autumn  returned  good  harvests  as  a  re- 
ward for  early  spring  planting.  The  work 
of  development  has  since  been  carried  on  by 
Mr.  Whaley,  with  the  result  that  he  is  now 
owner  of  a  very  productive  and  fine  farm, 
^^ear  by  year  his  capital  increased  as  the  re- 
sult of  his  careful  management,  his  enter- 
prise and  economy,  and  he  made  further  in- 
vestments in  real  estate  until  he  is  now^  the 
owner  of  l)etween  three  and  four  hundred 
acres,  of  wdiich  two  hundred  acres  are  cul- 
tivated. Well  kept  fences  divide  the  place 
into  fields  of  convenient  size  and  there  are 
rich  pastures  upon  which  the  stock  grazes 
and  good  .meadow^s  which  furnish  food  for 
the  stock  in  the  winter  months.  The  build- 
ings upon  the  place  are  modern,  commodious 
and  substantial  and  stand  as  monuments  to 
his  well-directed  labor. 

Mr.  Whaley  was  married  in  Cadillac, 
Michigan,  to  Miss  Isabelle  Gane,  who  was 
born  in  Illinois,  and  they  now  have  four 
children:  Ella.  Edward,  Ida  and  Ernest. 
Of  these  the  daughter,  Ida,  is  married,  being 
the  wife  of  Albert  Hollenburg.  In  public 
affairs  Mr.  Whaley  has  been  prominent  and 
influential  and  has  several  times  been  called 
to  office.     He  was  elected  and  served  as  sup- 


418 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


ervisor  of  his  township,  was  also  highway 
commissioner  and  has  held  school  offices, 
the  cause  of  education  finding  in  him  a  warm 
friend,  for  he  realizes  its  value  as  a  prepara- 
tion for  life's  practical  duties.  For  more 
than  a  third  of  a  century  he  has  made  his 
home  in  Wexford  county  and  has  therefore 
witnessed  almost  its  entire  growth.  He  has 
seen  its  wild  lands  transformed  into  pro- 
ductive farms,  dotted  here  and  there  A\ith 
attractive  homes,  good  schools  and  churches. 
He  has  seen  its  villages  founded  and  grow^ 
into  thriving  towns  and  in  all  matters  of 
substantial  progress  leading  to  the  pros- 
perity of  the  county  he  has  taken  a  deep  and 
abiding  interest.  He  is  a  careful  man  of 
business,  ])ossessing  keen  foresight  and  exec- 
utive force,  and  by  his  earnest  effort  he  has 
gradually  added  to  his  possessions  until  he 
has  gained  a  very  creditable  and  desirable 
competence,  making  him  one  of  the  well-to- 
do  citizens  of  Clam  Lake  township. 


HENRY    J.     PAYNE. 

America  is  pre-eminently  a  land  of  self- 
made  men,  for  here  abound  opportunities 
for  achieving  success  such  as  no  other  coun- 
try  affords.  The  man  of  energy  and  cor- 
rect training  may  here  readily  rise  to  posi- 
tions of  usefulness,  if  not  distinction,  pro- 
vided he  is  well  grounded  in  the  principles 
of  rectitude  and  integrity.  Not  only  is  this 
the  case  at  the  present  time,  but  to  some  ex- 
tent conditions  have  long  existed  whereby 
the  individual,  with  proper  conception  of  the 
dignity  of  his  mission,  might  rise  superior 
to  his  envin)nment  and  win  for  himself  posi- 
tions of  honor  and  trust  in  the  community. 
The  story  of  the  life  of  the  subject  of  this 


review,  Henry  J.  Payne,  affords  a  striking 
example  of  what  a  man  endowed  with  good 
common  sense,  supplemented  by  sound  men- 
tal discipline,  may  accomplish  in  a  country 
like  this,  where  opportunity  is  frequently 
knocking  at  a  man's  door. 

Henry  J.  Payne  is  a  native  of  Canada, 
born  in  the  county  of  Peterboro,  Ontario, 
September  24,  1855.  His  parents  were  Ed- 
ward and  Sarah  Ann  (Hughes)  Payne,  both 
natives  of  England.  They  remained  resi- 
dents of  Peterl)oro  county  up  to  the  time  of 
their  death,  which  occurred  many  years  ago. 
Until  he  arrived  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years 
the  su1)ject  hereof  remained  a  resident  of  his 
native  county.  There  he  was  reared  and 
educated,  receiving  a  good  common  school 
education.  In  1873  he  moved  to  Essex 
county,  Ontario,  and  there  devoted  himself 
to  farming  for  a  period  of  ten  years,  being 
gratifyingly   successful. 

In  1882,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  Ontario, 
Henry  J.  Payne  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Adelia  B.  Fraby,  a  native  of  Canada, 
born  in  Waterloo  county,  Ontario.  Hei' 
parents  were  Frederick  and  Henrietta  Fraby, 
natives  of  Canada.  The  mother  died;  in 
Essex  county  in  1884.  I0  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Henry  J.  Payne  seven  children  have  been 
born,  viz. :  William  G.,  Henrietta,  Roy  V., 
;\lma  A.,  R.  Stanley,  Frederick  D.,  and  Ber- 
tha A.  The  older  children  are  w^ell  edu- 
cated and  the  younger  members  of  the  family 
are  still  attending  school.  All  are  intelli- 
gent and  well  bred  and  give  ample  promise 
of  becoming  worthy,  useful  citizens. 

About  a  year  after  their  marriage,  in 
1883,  Flenry  J.  Payne  and  his  wife  and  one 
child,  William  G.,  transferred  their  residence 
to  the  state  of  Michigan,  locating  in  Wex- 
ford   county.     Here    he    purchased    eighty 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


419 


acres,  to  which  he  has  added  forty  acres 
more,  l)y  purchase,  and  of  the  one  hundred 
cind  twenty  acres  one  hundred  are  cleared 
and  well  improved.  Sixty  of  the  ini])roved 
one  hundred  acres  have  been  improved  by 
I\Tr.  Payne's  own  labor.  On  this  tidy  little 
farm  the  family  occupies  a  neat,  comfortable 
and  well-furnished  home.  The  barn,  sta))le 
and  out-buildings  are  substantial  and  com- 
modious indeed  and  in  its  every  feature  the 
place  discloses  the  thrift,  industry  and  good 
taste  of  the  owner. 

In  the  affairs  of  the  township,  ever  since 
his  location  therein,  Henry  J.  Payne  has 
taken  an  active  interest.  It  is  his  opinion 
that  good  citizenship  exacts  from  every  man 
a  portion  of  his  time,  no  matter  how  valu- 
able, which  should  be  devoted  to  the  pu1)lic 
good  and  this  without  any  hope  of  reward 
or  return  except  such  as  would  come  to  the 
individual  through  the  benefits  derived  by 
the  public  generally.  Hence,  he  has  felt  it 
to  be  his  duty  to  accept  of  and  discharge  the 
duties  of  a  number  of  the  township  offices. 
He  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace,  member 
of  the  school  board  and  commissioner  of 
highw^ays  and  he  has  1)een  active  in  every 
movement  inaugurated  to  improve  local  con- 
ditions. He  is  a  prudent,  conservative, 
public-spirited  citizen  who  is  rarely  found 
advocating  the  wrong  side  of  any  important 
question. 


JOHN     S.     TORREY. 

Practical  industry,  wisely  and  vigorously 
applied,  never  fails  of  success.  It  carries  a 
man  onward  and  upward,  brings  out  his  in- 
dividual character  and  acts  as  a  powerful 
stimulus    to    the    efforts    of    others.     The 


greatest  results  in  life  are  often  attained  by 
simple  means  and  the  exercise  of  the  ordin- 
ary qualities  of  common  sense  and  perse- 
verance. The  e very-day  life,  with  its  cares, 
necessities  and  duties,  affords  ample  oppor- 
tunities for  acquiring  experience  of  the  best 
kind  and  its  most  beaten  paths  provide  a  true 
worker  w^ith  abundant  scope  for  effort  and 
self  improvement. 

John  S.  Torrey,  senior  partner  of  the 
firm  of  Torrey  Brothers,  proprietors  of  the 
Cadillac  Marble  and  Granite  Works,  at  Cad- 
illac, Wexford  county,  Michigan,  was  born 
at  Fowlerville,  Livingston  county,  Michi- 
gan, on  the  6th  of  August,  1868,  and  is 
a  son  of  George  S.  and  Abbie  D.  (Smock) 
Torrey.  The  parents,  who  after  their  mar- 
riage had  resided  for  a  time  at  Fowlerville, 
later  removed  to  Evart,  Osceola  county,  this 
state,  in  1871,  but  in  1893  they  removed  to 
Cadillac,  where  they  have  since  resided. 
They  are  the  parents  of  six  children,  John 
S.,  Nelson  R.,  Renie  M.,  Neil  B.,  Eugenia 
and  a  son  who  died  at  the  age  of  three  years, 
llie  father  was  a  worker  in  marble  and  was 
for  a  number  of  years  successfully  engaged 
in  l)usiness  at  Cadillac. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  eldest 
child  of  his  parents  and  was  but  three  years 
old  when  his  parents  removed  to  Evart, 
Osceola  county,  where  he  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools.  When  he  was 
fourteen  years  old  he  commenced  working 
at  the  trade  of  marble  cutting,  working  in 
several  shops  at  Evart  and  Clare,  Michigan, 
Beardstown,  Illinois,  and  at  Flint,  Michigan. 
He  was  employed  in  a  shop  in  the  latter 
place  about  a  year  and  then,  in  the  spring 
of  1893,  he  came  to  Cadillac  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  firm  of  Ostman  &  Torrey, 
of  which  firm  the  subject's  father  was  the 


420 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


junior  partner.  He  remained  with  this  firm 
ai30iit  a  year,  when  Mr.  Ostman  retired  and 
the  firm  of  George  S.  Torrey  &  Sons  was 
formed,  consisting  of  George  S.  Torrey  and 
two  sons,  John  S.  and  Nelson  R.  This 
partnership  arrangement  continued  until 
1896  when  Nelson  R.  sold  his  interest  to  the 
remaining  members  of  the  firm,  which  con- 
tinued in  business,  under  the  name  of  G.  S. 
Torrey  &  Son,  until  1898.  At  that  time  the 
father  sold  his  interest  to  Nelson  R.,  since 
which  date  the  business  has  been  run  under 
the  firm  style  of  Torrey  Brothers.  The 
members  of  the  firm  are  both  practical  mar- 
ble workers  and  are  therefore  a1)le  to  give  an 
intelligent  direction  to  all  work  entrusted  to 
them.  They  give  prompt  attention  to  all 
kinds  of  cemetery  work  and  some  splendid 
examples  of  monumental  work  have  been 
produced  by  them.  They  also  get  out  large 
amounts  of  building  stone  and  coping  and 
have  acquired  a  much  more  than  local  repu- 
tation, sending  their  work  to  many  points 
throughout  northern  and  central  Michigan. 
By  their  determined  efforts  to  please  their 
customers  and  the  excellent  quality  of  their 
workmanshi]),  they  have  won  a  large  and 
representative  clientele  and  are  now  among 
the  leaders  in  their  line  in  this  part  of  the 
state. 

On  the  15th  of  August,  1891,  at  Evart, 
Michigan,  Mr.  Torrey  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Fannie  Earl,  a  native  of 
Mt.  Clemens,  this  state,  and  a  daughter  of 
I'ranklin  Earl,  of  Romeo,  Michigan.  This 
union  was  a  most  happy  and  congenial  one 
and  was  blessed  by  the  birth  of  one  son, 
Alton.  Mrs.  Torrey  departed  this  life 
on  June  11,  1903.  She  had  been  an  active 
and  persistent  worker  in  the  Methodist 
church,  and  was  active  in  the  w^ork  of  the  • 


Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  of 
which  she  w^as  president  for  seven  years, 
holding  the  office  at  the  time  of  her  death. 
In  his  political  predilections  Mr.  Torrey 
is  a  Prohibitionist  and  takes  a  keen  interest 
in  all  movements  having  for  their  object  the 
welfare  of  the  community  in  which  he  re- 
sides. Religiously  he  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  church  and  contributes  to  all 
worthy  benevolent  objects.  Socially  he  be- 
longs to  Cadillac  Tent,  No.  232,  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees,  and  to  Cadillac  Lodge,  No. 
181,  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 
During  all  his  residence  in  this  county  he 
has  borne  his  full  part  in  all  public  improve- 
ments and  his  standing  as  one  of  the 
county's  progressive  and  representative  citi- 
zens is  conceded  by  all.  He  has  an  exten- 
sive acquaintance  throughout  the  county  and 
the  name  of  his  personal  friends  is  legion. 


GEORGE    E.    THOMAS. 

It  must  be  gratifying  to  a  man  who  has 
advanced  beyond  the  meridian  of  a  well  spent 
life  to  look  back  and  contemplate  the  good 
work  which,  by  patient  industry  and  unre- 
mitting toil,  he  has  accomplished.  The  men 
who,  ''back  in  the  sixties,"  in  the  bloom 
of  youth,  settled  in  the  forests  of  Michigan, 
are  now  on  the  shady  side  of  life.  Many  of 
them  still  live  on  the  farms  which  by  their 
labors  have  taken  the  place  of  the  forests. 
Much  of  the  work  which  the  change 
necessitated  was  performed  by  their  own 
hands.  They  have  not  made  as  much  stir, 
strife  or  tumult  in  the  world  as  some  others, 
but  the  world  is  far  better  for  their  modest 
efforts  than  it  is  for  the  blatant  zeal  of  some 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


421 


who  believe  themselves  entitled  to  the  laurel 
wreath  of  fame. 

George  E.  Thomas,  the  subject  of  this 
review,  is  one  of  those  who  devoted  his  early 
manhood  to  the  subjugation  of  a  Michigan 
forest  with  a  degree  of  success  that  must 
be  very  pleasing  to  him  in  his  maturer  years. 
He  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  I.orain  coun- 
ty, Columbia  township,  August  30,  1848. 
His  parents  were  Noah  C.  and  Thuseba 
(Bigelow)  Thomas,  he  being  a  native  of 
New  York,  while  Ohio  was  her  native  state. 
He  was  by  ])rofession  a  veterinary  surgeon, 
but,  seldom  having  all  that  he  could  do  in 
that  line,  devoted  much  of  his  time  to  car- 
pentering, in  which  calling  he  was  very  skill- 
ful. In  1 85 1  they  came  with  their  family 
to  Michigan,  located  in  Thornapple  town- 
ship, Barry  county,  upon  a  tract  of  land 
which  was  chiefly  forest,  when  they  first 
took  possession  of  it,  but  which  within  a 
few  years  was  converted  into  a  fertile  farm. 
There  they  continued  to  reside  until  visited 
by  death,  each  expiring  when  only  forty- 
eight  years  of  age.  They  were  the  parents 
of  six  children,  four  sons  and  two  daughters, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  third 
child  born  to  them. 

When  his  parents  moved  to  Michigan 
George  E.  Thomas  w^as  only  three  years  old, 
hence  his  residence  in  the  state  covers  a 
period  of  more  than  half  a  century.  He  was 
reared  and  grew  to  manhood  in  Barry  coun- 
ty, receiving  as  liberal  an  education  as  the 
common  schools  of  the  time  afforded.  He 
remained  a  member  of  the  parental  house- 
hold until  his  twentieth  year,  when,  finding 
one  whom  he  felt  would  make  him  a  suitable 
com])anion  with  whom  to  tread  life's  rugged 
journey,  he  determined  to  marry.  Accord- 
ingly, January  8,   1868,  Mr.  Thomas  was 


united  in  the  bonds  of  matrimony  with  Miss 
Mary  Ann  Briggs,  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in 
October,  1847.  ^^^'  P^i'^nts  were  Sherman 
and  Ellen  (Vietz)  Briggs,  he  being  a  native 
of  the  state  of  New  York,  and  she  of  Penn- 
sylvania. Of  their  family  of  eight  children, 
Mrs.  Thomas  was  the  second. 

Young  as  he  was  at  the  time  of  his  mar- 
riage, George  E.  Thomas  was  the  owner  of 
a  nice  farm  in  Thornapple  township.  To 
this  place  he  brought  his  bride,  establishing 
themselves  at  housekeeping  in  a  comfortable, 
little  home  upon  the  place  and  there  they  con- 
tintied  to  reside  until  1881,  when  they  moved 
to  Wexford  county,  locating  on  a  tract  of 
land  in  Colfax  township,  where  they  have 
since  resided.  At  first  he  owned  but  forty 
acres,  which  he  purchased  before  moving  to 
the  coimty,  but  he  has  since  added  to  this 
until  he  is  now  the  owner  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  acres.  Of  this  one  hundred 
and  sixty-five  acres  is  comprised  in  one  tract 
located  in  Colfax  township,  the  other  twenty- 
five  acres  being  detached  and  located  in 
Cedar  Creek  township.  The  place  is 
splendidly  improved,  he  having  recently 
erected  good  farm  buildings  of  all  kinds,  in- 
cluding a  neat,  comfortable  residence. 
There  are  eighty  acres  of  the  home  place  in 
Colfax  township  improved  and  under  culti- 
vation. 

In  all  matters  relating  to  the  welfare  of 
the  township  Mr.  Thomas  takes  commenda- 
ble interest.  He  has  served  as  township 
treasurer  and  being  interested  in  education 
is  generally  one  of  the  members  of  the 
school  board.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  are 
firm  believers  in  religion,  its  practices  and 
the  important  work  which  it  does  in  ameli- 
orating the  condition  of  mankind.  Hence 
from  their  substance  they  give  freely  to  the 


422 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


cause  of  Christianity  and  charity.  In  acl- 
(htion  to  his  rural  possessions,  Mr.  Thomas 
also  owns  considerable  property  in  Manton. 
l^ach  season  since  coming  to  Wexford  coun- 
ty, now  (1903)  twenty-two  years,  he  has 
l)een  in  the  employ  of  the  Champion  Agricul- 
tural Implement  Company  and  has  sold  for 
them  many  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of 
machinery.  He  is  not  only  a  successful  and 
])rogressive  farmer,  but  a  thorough  business 
man,  whose  character  for  moral  worth  and 
strict  integrity  is  well  established  by  the  com- 
mercial transactions  of  years.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Lodge  No.  347,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  of  Manton. 


CARL    E.    HAGSTROM. 

Carl  E.  Hagstrom,  who  is  engaged  in 
general  farming  in  Clam  Lake  township, 
Wexford  county,  is  a  native  of  Sweden,  his 
birth  having  there  occurred  on  the  3d  of 
July,  1863,  he  being  the  fourth  of  seven 
children  l)orn  unto  I'eter  J.  and  Ingred  (Lar- 
son) Hagstrom,  w^ho  were  also  natives  of 
vSweden.  Believing  that  he  might  have  bet- 
ter business  opportunities  in  the  new  world 
and  furnish  his  children  with  better  advant- 
ages than  could  be  obtained  in  the  land  of 
his  birth,  the  father  made  arrangements  to 
bring  his  family  to  America.  Bidding  adieu 
to  home  and  friends  they  sailed  from  Sweden 
in  the  fall  of  1874  and  in  due  course  of  time 
arrived  at  New  York  City.  Proceeding  into 
the  interior  of  the  country,  they  remained 
for  almost  a  year  in  the  vicinity  of  How^ard 
City,  Michigan,  but  in  the  spring  of  1875 
came  to  Wexford  county,  where  the  sul> 
ject  of  this  review  has  since  made  his  home, 


covering  a  period  of  twenty-eight  years. 
Time  and  man  have  wrought  many  changes 
in  the  appearance  of  the  county  during  this 
time.  The  farmers  have  taken  possession 
of  the  land  and  transformed  it  from  a  wild 
tract  into  productive  fields.  The  merchants 
and  artisans  have  developed  thriving  towns 
and  all  the  comforts,  conveniences  and  ad- 
\\antages  of  the  older  districts  of  the  country 
have  l)een  introduced,  placing  Wexford  on 
a  par  with  any  county  in  the  state. 

Mr.  Hagstrom  has  always  followed  farm- 
in.g,  first  as  an  assistant  on  the  old  home 
]>lace  and  later  on  his  own  account.  He  has 
also  worked  in  the  lumber  woods  and  for 
eight  years  he  was  engaged  in  buying  pota- 
toes at  Hobart  as  agent  for  the  firm  of  Free- 
man Brothers.  His  savings  have  been  in- 
x'ested  in  ]:>ro]:)erty  and  he  is  now  the  owmer 
of  thirty  acres  of  land  in  Clam  Lake  town- 
ship, most  of  which  is  improved,  and  upon 
the  place  are  good  buildings.  He  is  now 
giving  his  undivided  attention  to  the  further 
development  of  his  farm  and  follows  pro- 
gressi\x'  methods  in  his  farm  work. 

On  the  24th  of  June,  1893,  ^^^''  ^^^^§'" 
Strom  was  united  in  mariage,  in  Clam  Lake 
township,  to  Miss  Jennie  Marie  Gran,  a 
daughter  of  N.  J.  and  Johanna  Christina 
(Anderson)  Gran,  well-known  residents  of 
this  township.  The  father  is  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Clam  Lake  township,  aged  sixty- 
three  years,  while  the  mother  died  August 
2,  1887.  They  were  adherents  of  the 
Swedish  Mission  church.  Mrs.  Hagstrom 
was  born  in  Sweden,  August  26,  1866,  and 
like  her  husband  was  reared  in  Wexford 
county,  w^here  both  are  widely  and  favor- 
ably known. 

Mr.  Hagstrom  exercises  his  right  of 
franchise  in  support  of  the  men  and  meas- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


423 


iires  of  the  Republican  party,  is  deeply  inter- 
esied  ill  its  success  and  does  all  he  can  for  its 
growth.  He  has  held  some  offices  in  his 
rownship,  including  that  of  highway  com- 
niisioner,  and  he  delights  in  the  ])rogress 
and  advancement  here  made  along  all  lines 
of  general  improvement.  The  moral  ad- 
vancement of  the  community  is  also  a  matter 
of  interest  to  him  and  he  is  an  attendant  on 
the  services  of  the  Swedish  Mission  church. 
From  his  boyhood  days  to  the  present  he  has 
been  a  resident  of  the  county  and  that  his 
stanchest  friends  arc  numbered  among  those 
who  have  known  him  from  his  youth  is  an 
indication  that  he  has  lived  an  honorable  life, 
characterized  by  all  those  traits  w^hich  in 
every  land  and  clime  command  res])ect  and 
admiration. 


OTTO  H.VGSTROM. 

There  is  no  element  in  our  American  citi- 
zenship that  is  of  more  value  than  that  fur- 
nished by  Sweden,  for  the  sons  of  that 
country  possess  the  characteristics  requisite 
to  good  citizenship.  They  are  industrious, 
progressive  and  thoroughly  reliable.  One 
of  the  renowned  travelers  w'ho  has  visited 
almost  every  part  of  the  world  and  visited 
almost  every  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe 
said :  ''Sweden  is  the  home  of  the  honest 
man."  This  element  alone  in  the  sons  of 
that  country  would  make  them  a  valued 
addition  to  any  land.  As  his  name  in- 
dicates, Mr.  Hagstrom  comes  from  Sweden, 
where  his  birth  occurred  on  the  22(1  of  March, 
1866,  his  parents  being  Peter  J.  and  Ingred 
(Larson)  Hagstrom,  unto  whom  were  born 
seven  children,  the  subject  of  this  review  be- 
ing the  sixth  in  order  of  birth.     He  was  a 


youth  of  eight  years  when  the  family  left 
their  native  land  and  sailed  for  the  new 
world,  arriving  in  the  United  States  in  the 
autumn.  They  came  at  once  to  Michigan 
and  for  a  year  resided  near  Howard  City. 
In  the  spring  of  1875  ^^^^Y  came  to  Wex- 
ford  county,  and  since  that  time  Otto  Hag- 
Strom  has  been  a  resident  of  Clam  Lake 
township.  His  life  has  been  one  of  indus- 
try. For  seven  years  he  was  employed  in 
the  lumber  woods  and  since  1893  ^"^^  ^"^^^ 
engaged  in  general  farming.  He  thorough- 
ly understands  the  best  methods  of  conduct- 
ing his  farm,  of  raising  crojxs  and  placing 
them  on  the  market  so  as  to  bring  a  good 
return,  and  in  all  his  w^ork  he  is  progressive, 
practical  and  energetic. 

In  Cadillac,  Michigan,  Mr.  Hagstrom 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ida  Johnson, 
who  was  also  a  native  of  Sweden.  They 
traveled  life's  journey  together  very  happily 
for  a  numl)er  of  years,  but  in  1900  were 
separated  by  death,  the  wife  being  called  to 
the  home  be}^ond  on  the  9th  of  September  of 
that  year.  She  left  four  children :  John, 
Adol])h,  Oscar  and  Edla,  and  they  also  lost 
one  son,  Oscar,  who  died  in  infancy.  Mrs. 
Hagstrom  was  a  most  estimable  lady,  de- 
voted to  her  family  and  faithful  in  her  friend- 
ships, and  her  loss  was  greatly  mourned 
throughout  the  community  as  well  as  in  her 
immediate  household. 

In  his  political  views  Mr.  Hagstrom  is 
an  earnest  Republican,  whose  study  of  the 
questions  and  issues  of  the  day  has  led  him 
to  the  belief  that  the  Republican  platform 
contains  the  ]:)est  elements  of  good  govern- 
ment. He  is  quite  active  and  influential  in 
local  political  circles  and  has  served  as 
school  inspector  and  highway  commissioner. 
He  has  also  taken  an  active  part  in  church 


424 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


work  aiicl  is  a  member  of  the  Swedish  Mis- 
sion church  of  Clam  Lake,  contributing  hb- 
erally  to  its  support  and  putting  forth  ef- 
fective effort  for  its  growth  and  progress. 
In  all  business  affairs  he  is  thoroughly  re- 
liable and  his  word  is  as  good  as  his  bond, 
his  life  standing  in  exemplification  of  the 
fact  that  ''Sweden  is  the  home  of  the  honest 
man.''  Wexford  county  has  found  him  a 
valuable  citizen  and  his  many  excellent 
traits  of  character,  his  freedom  from  ostenta- 
tion, his  genial  manner  and  genuine  worth, 
render  him  popular  with  a  large  circle  of 
friends. 


JOHN     H.     MANNING. 

It  requires  a  master  mind  to  rise  superior 
to  unfavorable  environment  and  become  a 
leader  in  large  and  important  industrial  en- 
terprises. The  necessary  ability  to  accom- 
plish such  results  is  possessed  in  a  marked 
degree  by  John  H.  Manning,  who  has  long 
l)een  identified  with  the  lumber  interests  of 
Michigan  and  is  now  one  of  the  leading 
men  of  Cadillac,  holding  as  he  does  a  com- 
manding position  with  one  of  the  city's  lead- 
ing industries.  He  is  a  typical  western  man, 
of  clear  mind,  tireless  energy,  unfaltering 
perseverance,  keen  discrimination  and  ab- 
solute reliability  in  every  relation  of  life. 
I^ew  have  accomplished  as  much  as  he  in 
the  same  length  of  time  and  it  is  fitting  in 
this  connection  that  an  outline  of  his  career 
be  given,  as  his  many  friends  and  acquain- 
tances in  Cadillac  and  throughout  the  state 
will  no  doubt  gladly  peruse  the  record. 

Mr.-  Manning's  father  was  John  H. 
Manning,  a  successful  farmer  and  lumber- 
man of  Monroe  county,  Michigan,  who  died 


some  years  ago,  in  the  township  of  London, 
that  county,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 
Emily  Everett,  who  became  the  wife  of 
John  H.  Manning,  spent  the  great  part  of 
her  life  in  the  above  county  and  died  there 
at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven,  leaving  a 
family  of  eight  children,  the  subject  of  this 
review  being  tire  fifth  in  order  of  birth. 

Reverting  to  the  personal  history  of 
John  H.  Manning,  whose  name  introduces 
this  sketch,  it  is  learned  that  he  was  born 
February  8,  1851,  in  Monroe  county,  this 
state,  and  that  he  spent  his  childhood  and 
youth  to  his  thirteenth  year  on  the  home 
farm  in  London  township.  Like  the  ma- 
jority of  country  boys,  he  was  early  sent  to 
the  district  schools  where  he  prosecuted  his 
studies  of  winter  seasons  and  spent  the 
other  months  of  the  year  at  various  kinds  of 
farm  labor,  having  early  been  taught  those 
important  lessons  of  industry  and  thrift 
which  had  such  a  potent  influence  in  mould- 
ing his  character  and  shaping  his  future 
course  of  action.  Mr.  Manning  was  a  mere 
lad  when  the  great  Civil  war  broke  out  and 
he  had  a  burning  passion  to  enter  the  ser- 
vice of  his  country,  but  his  youth  prevented 
him  from  carrying  this  laudable  desire  into 
immediate  effect.  When  only  thirteen, 
however,  an  opportunity  presented  itself  by 
means  of  wdiich  he  succeeded  in  entering  the 
government  service  as  a  member  of  the  First 
Regiment  of  Mechanics  and  Engineers  from 
Michigan.  In  this  capacity  he  accompanied 
the  regiment  to  Georgia,  where  it  was  at- 
tached to  the  army  under  General  Sherman, 
and  he  reached  the  scene  of  action  in  time  to 
take  part,  under  that  distinguished  com- 
mander, in  the  celebrated  march  to  the 
sea.  After  remaining  in  the  employ  of  the 
government    about    three    months    he    was 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


425 


honorably  discharged  from  the  service  and, 
returning  home  at  once,  resumed  farming  on 
the  home  place,  devoting  the  winters,  as  for- 
merly to  school  work.  When  sixteen  years 
old  he  severed  home  ties  and  started  out  to 
make  his  own  way,  engaging  first  as  a  saw- 
mill hand  in  his  own  county,  where  he 
labored  during  the  ensuing  three  years.  At 
the  expiration  of  that  time  he  entered  the 
employ  of  a  lumber  manufacturer  at  Saginaw 
w^here  he  worked  in  the  mills  during  the 
summer  of  1871,  and  the  following  year 
went  to  Coleman  where  he  was  similarly  en- 
gaged until  the  latter  part  of  1872.  Mr. 
Manning's  next  engagement  was  at  Evart 
where,  w^ith  the  exception  of  spending  one 
year  as  superintendent  of  the  shingle  mill  in 
the  city  of  Farwell,  he  worked  from  the 
spring  of  1873  ^^^  ^'^^  ^^'^  ^^  T878.  Leav- 
ing Evart,  he  accepted  the  superintendency 
of  a  large  saw-mill  at  Farwell  and  after 
serving  in  that  capacity  until  April,  1884, 
resigned  his  position  and  entered  into  part- 
nership, at  Hersy,  with  Robert  Hall,  the 
company  thus  constituted  becoming  the 
largest  lumber  firm  in  that  town.  After 
lasting  about  three  years  and  doing  a  very 
flourishing  business,  the  firm  of  Hall  &  Man- 
ning was  dissolved,  the  latter  disposing  of 
his  interest  in  the  concern  in  1888.  In 
February  of  that  year  Mr.  Manning  came 
to  Cadillac  and  entered  the  employ  of  Dig- 
gins  Brothers  as  superintendent  of  their 
large  lumber  mills,  the  duties  of  which  re- 
sponsible position  he  discharged  in  an  able 
and  satisfactory  manner  until  September, 
1895,  when  he  resigned  for  the  purpose  of 
becoming  superintendent  of  the  Cadillac 
Handle  Company,  being  still  manager  of  this 
large  and  flourishing  enterprise. 

From  the  foregoing  outline  of  a  very  ac- 


tive and  successful  career  it  will  be  seen 
that  Mr.  Manning  has  filled  worthily  several 
important  trusts,  in  all  of  wdiich  he  demon- 
strated business  and  executive  ability  of  a 
high  order,  discharging  every  duty  credit- 
ably and  fully  meriting  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him  by  his  employers.  His  ad- 
vancements from  an  humble  station  to  the 
commanding  position  he  now^  holds  as  prac- 
tical manager  of  one  of  the  leading  indus- 
trial enterprises  in  this  part  of  the  state  have 
l)een  continuous,  each  successive  change 
leading  to  something  higher  and  more  re- 
sponsi1)le,  the  firms  which  he  left  parting  re- 
luctantly with  his  services,  others  eagerly 
acce])ting  him  as  the  one  best  qualified  to 
bring  their  industries  to  the  highest  possible 
standard  of  efficiency. 

On  the  13th  day  of  September,  1876,  at 
Mt.  Morris,  Genesee  county,  Michigan,  Mr. 
Manning  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Ida  E.  Mann,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Sarah 
(Van  Natten)  Mann.  Mrs.  Manning  is  a 
native  of  Branch  county,  Michigan,  and  has 
borne  her  husband  children  as  follows : 
Myrtle,  wife  of  William  Hoag;  Lee,  Bessie, 
John,  Leo,  Erma  and  Daniel.  Mr.  Man- 
ning has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  pub- 
lic works  at  Cadillac  since  1890  and  while  a 
resident  of  Evart  he  served  two  years  in  the 
common  council  of  that  city.  -  Fraternally 
he  lelongs  to  Cadillac  Lodge,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  to  Lodge  No.  181,  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen,  and  he  is  also  an  active 
worker  and  leading  spirit  in  the  Royal  Cir- 
cle of  this  city.  He  enjoys  the  high  respect 
and  warm  admiration  of  the  people  of  his 
adopted  city,  is  a  forceful  factor  in  all  mat- 
ters pertaining  to  its  general  welfare  and 
stands  today  one  of  the  leading  and  influen- 
tial business  men  in    a    community    where 


426 


PV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


talent  and  genuine  worth  have  ever  been 
recognized  and  appreciated  at  their  true 
vahie.  Mr.  Manning's  Hfe  has  been  one  of 
great  activity,  attended,  as  already  stated,  l^y 
remarkable  business  advancements  and  not  a 
little  of  financial  prosperity.  He  is  essen- 
tially progressive  in  all  he  undertakes  and 
endowed  with  the  ability  and  tact  to  mould 
circumstances  to  his  will.  His  success  in 
over-riding  adverse  conditions  and  rising  to 
his  present  influential  and  honorable  station 
in  the  world  of  affairs  is  such  as  few  attain. 
Of  strong  convictions,  positive  character 
and  incorruptible  integrity,  he  is  deservedly 
classed  with  the  most  intelligent  and  ener- 
getic of  Cadillac's  representative  men  and 
holds  a  permanent  place  in  the  hearts  of  his 
fellow  citizens. 


HENRY  HANSEN. 


The  men  of  force  and  capacity  who  take 
strong  hold  of  the  rugged  conditions  of  life 
and  mold  them  to  their  will  are  entitled  to 
all  honor  among  their  fellow  men,  not  only 
for  the  individual  triumphs  they  win  but 
also  for  the  fruitful  potencies  awakened  and 
inspired  by  their  examples.  To  the  complex 
fabrics  of  our  American  social  life  nearly 
every  civilized  nation  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  has  contributed  its  cjuota,  and  here  we 
have  many  of  the  sturdy  sons  of  the  far 
Norseland  who  have  come  to  our  hospita1)le 
shores  and  by  personal  effort  won  for  them- 
selves success  and  prestige.  One  of  this 
number  is  Mr.  Hansen,  who  is  an  honored 
citizen  of  Cadillac,  and  who  is  at 
the  present  time  incuml)ent  of  the 
office  of  register  of  deeds  of  Wexford 
count  v. 


Henry  Hansen  is  a  native  of  Denmark, 
where  he  was  born  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1848,  being  a  son  of  Hans  and  Johanna  M. 
Rassmussen,  representatives  of  staunch  old 
Danish  stock.  He  was  reared  to  the 
age  of  seventeen  years  in  his  native  land, 
where  he  received  his  early  educatioti- 
al  discipline,  and  he  then  severed  the  home 
ties  and  valiantly  set  forth  to  seek  his 
fortunes  in  America,  whither  he  came 
alone  and  as  a  veritable  stranger  in  a  strange 
land.  Mr.  Hansen  disembarked  in  the  port 
of  New  York  city  in  the  month  of  April, 
1867,  and  thence  made  his  way  westward 
to  Champaign  county,  Illinois,  where  he  se- 
ciu'ed  employment  on  a  farm,  and  to  this 
line  of  work  he  continued  to  devote  his  at- 
tention, in  different  counties  of  that  state, 
for  a  period  of  five  years,  while  he  also  work- 
ed at  mining  for  two  years,  having  a  deep 
respect  for  honest  toil  and  never  liesitating 
to  turn  his  attention  to  any  honest  employ- 
ment he  could  secure,  while  he  spared  no  ef- 
fort to  advance  himself  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  English  language  and  the  customs  of  the 
country  which  he  had  adopted  as  a  home. 
Erom  Illinois  he  w^ent  to  Denver,  Colorado, 
where  he  was  employed  as  a  lumber  in- 
spector for  one  and  a  half  years,  in  the 
meanwhile  passing  six  months  in  the  mining 
districts  of  the  state.  After  leaving  Colo- 
rado Mr.  Hansen  returned  to  Denmark, 
where  he  continued  to  reside  for  the  ensu- 
ing seven  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
he  came  again  to  the  United  States,  locating 
in  Wexford  county  in  1881  and  here  secur- 
ing employment  as  a  common  laborer  in  the 
lumber  W'Oods,  where  he  remained  about 
six  months,  after  which  he  was  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Cummer  Lumber  Company  for 
about  the  same  length  of  time.     At  the  ex- 


H.   HANSEN. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


427 


piration  of  this  incumbency  he  secured  a 
clerkship  in  the  law  and  insurance  office  of 
Rosevelt  &  Christensen,  in  Cadillac,  remain- 
ing with  this  firm  about  two  years  and  g'ain- 
ing  valuable  experience  and  knowdedge. 
Thereafter  he  was  in  the  employ  of  E.  E. 
Haskins  for  six  months  and  then  passed  two 
years  as  a  clerical  assistant  in  the  law  and 
insurance  office  of  Hon.  Clyde  C.  Chittenden. 
Mr.  Hansen  then  resumed  work  in  connec- 
tion with  the  lumbering  industry,  securing 
employment  in  a  sawmill  at  Grayling, 
wdiere  he  remained  about  six  months,  at  the 
expiration  of  which  he  returned  to  Cadillac 
and  secured  the  position  of  assistant  post- 
master, of  wdiich  he  remained  incumbent  for 
two  years,  after  which  he  w^as  variously  em- 
ployed until  1890,  when  he  was  appointed 
deputy  county  clerk  and  deputy  register  of 
deeds  for  Wexford  county,  under  Samuel 
J.  Wall,  with  whom  he  remained  about  six 
years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1896  Mr.  Hansen 
was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  clerk,  on 
the  Republican  ticket,  and  gave  so  capable 
and  satisfactory  an  administration  that  at 
the  expiration  of  his  term  of  four  years  he 
was  made  the  candidate  of  his  party 
for  the  office  of  register  of  deeds, 
being  elected  by  a  gratifying  majority 
in  the  autumn  of  1900  and  being  now  in 
tenure  of  the  office,  wdiile  he  has  proved  him- 
self well  worthy  of  the  confidence  and  trust 
reposed  in  him  by  the  people  of  the  county. 
Mr.  Hansen  has  given  a  staunch  allegiance 
to  the  Republican  party  and  has  been  an  ac- 
tive and  influential  factor  in  its  local  ranks, 
while  as  an  official  and  a  citizen  he  enjoys 
unqualified  confidence  and  esteem  in  the  com- 
munity in  which  he  has  won  prestige  and 
success   through    well   directed   and    honor- 

26 


al^le  effort,  being  essentially  the  architect  of 
his  own  fortunes.  Fraternally  he  is  iden- 
tified with  the  Gotha  Lodge  No.  5,  of  the 
Swedish  Lhiited  Sons  of  America,  and  with 
Cadillac  Tent  No.  232,  Knights  of  the 
Maccabees. 

In  the  city  of  Cadillac,  on  the  ist  of 
August,  1885,  Mr.  Hansen  was  united  in 
marriage  to  MJss  Johanna  Eng,  who  was 
born  in  Norway,  and  they  are  the  parents  of 
three  children,  Ingeborg  M.,  H.  Paul  and 
Donald  E. 


JOHN     KLUSS. 

There  have  come  to  America  from  other 
countries  many  men  of  limited  financial  re- 
sources, but  wdio  were  imbued  with  a 
sturdy  independence  and  a  laudable  ambition 
to  succeed.  They  have  taken  advantage  of 
the  wonderful  possibilities  afforded  here  and 
gradually,  step  by  step,  have  accumulated 
property  and  risen  to  places  of  prominence 
in  business  circles.  The  career  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  John  Kluss,  of  Haring 
township,  illustrates  most  forcil)ly  the  pos- 
sil)ilities  that  are  open  to  a  man  who  pos- 
sesses intelligence  and  integrity.  It  proves 
that  success  is  not  a  thing  to  be  inherited, 
but  to  be  won  by  sheer  force  of  energy,  di- 
rected and  controlled  by  correct  moral 
principles.  It  also  proves  that  neither 
wealth  or  social  position,  nor  the  assistance 
of  influential  friends,  are  always  requisite  to 
placing  an  individual  on  the  high  road  to 
prosperity  and  honoral)le  station. 

John  Kluss,  whose  farm  is  part  of  sec- 
tion 34,  Haring  township,  is  a  native  of 
(jermany.  He  was  lx)rn  August  7,  1847, 
and    was    reared   and   educated   in    his   na- 


428 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


live  land.  Having  grown  to  manhood  there, 
military  duty  was  required  of  him,  as  it  is 
from  all  other  German  youths,  without  re- 
gard to  rank  or  station,  wliT)  have  the  phys- 
ical strength  to  be  received  into  the  service. 
Three  years  of  his  early  manhood  were  spent 
in  the  German  army,  which  period  included 
the  Franco-Prussian  war  of  1870-71,  in 
which  lie  served  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  war.  After  the  conclusion  of  his  mili- 
tary service  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Ger- 
many and  engaged  in  farming  until  1883, 
when  he  migrated  to  America.  He  first  set 
foot  on  American  soil  in  the  city  of  New 
York  and  came  direct  to  Wexford  county, 
IMichigan,  where  he  was  not  long  in  secur- 
ing employment  with  the  Grand  Rapids  & 
Indiana  Railway  Company  and  for.  thirteen 
years  faithfully  served  them  in  various 
capacities.  From  a  portion  of  the  savings 
of  those  years  he  purchased  twenty  acres  of 
land,  a  part  of  section  34,  Haring  town- 
ship. Another  purchased  increased  the 
size  of  his  realty  holdings  in  that  township 
to  sixty  acres,  thirty-eight  acres  of  which  is 
wxll  improved,  tillable,  with  good  buildings 
and  other  necessary  appurtenances.  On 
severing  his  connection  with  the  railroad 
company,  he  established  his  home  on  tliis 
land,  where  he  has  resided  since. 

Before  leaving  Germany  for  America,  on 
the  5th  day  of  November,  1871,  John  Kluss 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Wink- 
elman,  a  girl  who  was  noted  for  good  judg- 
ment and  many  sterling  virtues.  On  the 
voyage  to  America  she  accompanied  him 
and  in  all  the  labor  in  which  he  has  engaged 
since  locating  here  she  has  been  to  him  all 
that  a  good,  true  and  noble  wife  should  be. 
Especially  in  the  making  of  the  home  and 
the  care  of  their  children  has  she  shown 


tliose  matronly  '  qualities  which  make 
womanhood  and  motherhood  so  worthy  of 
admiration.  A  good  wife  is  one  of  the 
best  gifts  God  ever  bestowed  upon  a  poor 
man  and  the  full  truth  of  this  saying  has 
many  times  been  realized  by  John  Kluss. 
With  his  well-known  industry  and  untiring 
energy  has  been  coupled  her  thrift  and 
economy,  qualities  wdiich  when  combined  in 
one  household  neutralizes  even  the  gravest 
misfortunes.  They  are  the  parents  of  three 
children,  August,  Fred  and  Mary.  August 
makes  his  home  with  his  parents,  and  is  a 
farmer.  Fred,  who  is  a  carpenter  and  joiner, 
married  Miss  Grace  Rudolph  and  they  reside 
in  Oakland,  California.     Mary  is  at  home. 

While  by  no  means  aspiring  to  be  a  politi- 
cian and  too  busy  with  his  labors  on  his 
farm  to  give  politics  much  attention,  Mr. 
Kluss  has  been  honored  by  the  voters  of  his 
township  with  a  number  of  official  positions 
in  the  municipal  government.  The  success 
which  lias  attended  his  labors  in  America 
clearly  indicates  what  may  be  acomplished 
by  any  one  possessed  of  industry,  economy 
and  integrity,  whether  they  be  natives  of  this 
republic  or  citizens  by  adoption. 


WARREN     SEAMAN. 

Wexford  county  is  characterized  by  her 
full  share  of  the  honored  pioneer  element, 
who  have  done  so  much  for  the  develop- 
ment of  this  country  and  the  establishment 
of  the  institutions  of  civilization  in  this 
fertile  and  well  favored  section.  The  bio- 
graphical sketches  in  this  volume  are  largely 
of  this  class  of  useful  citizens  and  it  is  not  in 
the  least  too  early  to  record  in  print  the 
principal  items  in  the  lives  of  these  hard- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


429 


working  and  honest  people,  giving  honor  to 
whom  honor  is  due.  They  will  soon  be  gone 
and  the  past  can  have  no  better  history  or 
memento  than  these  records., 

Warren  Seaman,  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view, was  born  in  Cattaraugus  county,  New 
York,  on  a  farm.  May  i6,  1834.  His 
parents  were  John  and  Lucretia  (Wyllys) 
Seaman,  the  former  a  native  of  Ulster 
county,  New^  York,  while  the  latter  was 
born  in  Massachusetts.  They  came  to 
Michigan  in  1842,  located  in  Hillsdale  coun- 
ty, and  ten  years  later,  in  1852,  moved  to 
Muskegon  county,  locating  at  Casnovia, 
where  they  remained  until  their  deaths, 
she  at  eighty-eight  years  of  age,  and  he 
at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years.  They 
were  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom 
Warren,  the  subject  of  this  review,  was  the 
fifth. 

When  Warren  Seaman  first  viewed  the 
pine-clad  hills  of  Michigan  he  was  only  eight 
years  old.  During  the  ten  years  of  the 
family's  residence  in  Hillsdale  county  he  was 
occupied  most  of  the  time  in  the  woods,  the 
clearing  and  on  the  farm.  A  portion  of 
llie  time  he  attended  such  schools  as  the 
commonwealth  afforded  in  the  locality,  and 
managed,  through  persistent  efforts,  to  se- 
cure a  fair  education.  In  1855,  al^o^^t  the 
time  that  he  attained  his  majority,  he  moved 
to  a  farm  near  Big  Rapids  where  he  engaged 
in  agricultural  pursuits  and  lum])ering.  1  his 
he  continued  until  May,  1869,  when  he  came 
to  Wexford  county  and  settled  on  the  farm 
in  Cedar  Creek  township  where  he  now  re- 
sides and  which  has  been  his  residence  con- 
tinuously for  thirty-four  years.  He  entered 
the  land  as  a  homestead,  eighty  acres  in  ex- 
tent, and  upon  it  built  a  log  house.  Later 
he  purchased  forty  acres  contiguous  to  his 


homestead,  which  gives  him  a  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  one  body. 
Since  then  the  log  house  has  been  replaced 
by  a  neat,  commodious  frame  house  and  the 
other  farm  buildings  have  been  improved  in 
accordance  therewith.  Eighty  acres  of  the 
tract  have  been  cleared,  are  well  cultivated 
and  exceedingly  productive.  A  fine,  bear- 
mg  orchard  of  ten  acres  in  extent,  containing 
over  five  hundred  trees,  adds  largely  to  the 
receipts  of  the  place.  Thefe  are  about  two 
hundred  peach  trees,  one  hundred  plum  trees 
and  one  hundred  pear  trees,  the  remainder 
being  apple  trees.  The  fruit  is  all  of  the 
finest  and  most  desirable  varieties. 

At  Casnovia,  Muskegon  county,  Michi- 
gan, September  16,  1855,  Warren  Seaman 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  E. 
Moore,  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  October  7, 
1838.  She  is  the  daughter  of  Drayton  H. 
and  Zilpha  S.  (Loumis)  Moore,  both  na- 
tives of  Massachusetts.  lie  died  at  Cas- 
novia when  seventy-three  years  of  age, 
while  she  is  still  a  resident  of  that  place,  be- 
ing aged  about  eighty-seven  years.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Seaman  five  children  have  been 
l)orn,  viz. :  Zelpha  L.,  Judd  J.,  Sylvester 
R.,  Drayton  W.  and  Mary  Ella.  Zelpha 
died  in  infancy  and  Mary  Ella  is  the  wife 
John  W.  Hubbell. 

The  people  of  Cedar  Creek  township 
have  honored  Warren  Seaman  with  various 
local  offices.  He  has  served  as  supervisor 
seven  years,  justice  of  the  peace  four  years 
and  highway  commissioner  several  terms. 
Public  matters  of  all  kinds,  but  particularly 
those  relating  to  the  locality  in  which  he 
resides,  always  command  his  attention.  In 
politics  he  is  disposed  to  be  independent,  but 
generally  acts  with  the  Republican  party. 
He  and  his  wife  are  adherents  of  the  Metho- 


430 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


dist  Episcopal  church  and  in  his  younger 
days  he  was  quite  active  in  the  cause  of  re- 
ligion. He  has  a  happy  home,  a  noble  fam- 
ily and  one  of  the  finest  farms  in  the 
county.  Contentment  reigns  over  his  house- 
hold and  domestic  peace  is  a  constant  guest. 
The  day  of  trial  is  past 'and  in  its  place  has 
come  rest  and  enjoyment,  a  most  welcome 
change.  Many  other  changes  also  have 
been  brought  about  since  tlie  country's 
early  settlement.  One  in  particular  com- 
mands especial  notice.  When  Warren  Sea- 
man first  located  in  Cedar  Creek  township, 
thirty-four  years  ago,  the  nearest  postoffice 
was  Sherman,  seventeen  miles  away.  At 
the  present  time  rural  delivery  is  an  estab- 
lished fact  in  Wexford  county  and  mail  is 
deHvered  each  day  at  the  expense  of  the 
government,  at  the  door  of  the  family  resi- 
dence. Time  works  wonderful  changes 
everyw^here,  but  nowhere  so  much  as  in  the 
new  countries,  settled  up  within  the  ]?.st 
fifty  or  sixty  years. 


GEORGE  ALLEN. 

Success  in  this  life  comes  to  the  deserv- 
ing. It  is  an  axiom  demonstrated  Iw  all 
human  experience,  that  a  man  gets  out  of 
this  life  what  he  puts  into  it,  plus  a  reason- 
able interest  on  the  investment.  The  individ- 
ual who  inherits  a  large  estate  and  adds 
nothing  to  his  fortune  cannot  be  called  a  suc- 
cessful man.  He  that  falls  heir  to  a  large 
fortune  and  increases  its  value  is  successful 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  he  adds  to  his 
possession.  But  the  man  who  starts  in  the 
world  unaided  and  by  sheer  force  of  will, 
controlled  l:)y  correct  principles,  forges  ahead 


and  at  length  reaches  a  position  of  honor 
among  his  fellow  citizens  achieves  success 
such  as  representatives  of  the  two  former 
classes  can  neither  understand  nor  appre- 
ciate. To  a  considerable  extent  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  is  a  creditable  representa- 
tive of  the  class  last  named,  a  class  which  has 
furnished  much  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
country  and  added  to  the  stability  of  the 
government  and  its  institutions. 

George  Allen,  the  popular  and  accommo- 
dating proprietor  of  one  of  the  leading  livery 
stables  of  Cadillac,  Wexford  county,  Michi- 
gan, was  born  in  the  township  of  Etibocoke, 
county  of  York,  province  of  Ontario, 
Canada,  the  date  of  his  birth  being  the  9th 
of  January,  1848.  His  parents  were 
Thomas  and  Margaret  Allen,  the  father  a 
native  of  Nova  Scotia  and  the  mother  of 
Yorkshire,  England.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  reared  upon  the  parental  farm- 
stead and  was  early  inured  to  the  hard  toil 
and  labor  incident  to  the  life  of  an  agricultur- 
ist. He  attended  the  schools  of  his  neigh- 
borhood and  received  a  fair  education, 
remaining  at  home  until  he  reached . 
his  twenty-second  year.  At  that  age  he 
left  his  native  country  and  came  to  the 
United  States,  locating  at  Cedar  Springs, 
Kent  county,  Michigan,  where  for  about  a 
year  he  was  employed  in  a  lumber  yard, 
fvcmoving  at  the  end  of  that  time  to  Morley, 
Mecosta  county,  this  state,  he  entered  the 
employ  of  Cummer  &  Son,  the  extensive  lum- 
ber manufacturing  firm.  He  remained  at 
Morley  for  several  years  and  then,  about 
J  878,  was  transferred  to  Cadillac,  where  he 
remained  in  the  employ  of  the  same  firm  un- 
til November,  1898,  the  long  period  of 
thirty  years'  employment  by  one  firm  testi- 
fying to  his  faithfulness  and  efficiency  as  an 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


431 


em])U)yee.  Upon  leaving  the  employ  of  the 
Cummers,  Mr.  Allen  engaged  in  business  on 
liis  own  account,  opening  a  livery  stable  in 
Cadillac,  which  he  has  since  conducted. 
His  enterprise  at  once  met  with  the  approval 
of  the  general  public,  which  has  given  him 
its  patronage  to  a  gratifying  extent.  Mr. 
Allen  has  a  well  equipped  stable,  containing 
stylish,  up-to-date  turn-outs  of  every  descrip- 
tion, as  well  as  the  heavier  style  of  vehicles 
for  transportation,  and  his  stalls  are  occu- 
pied by  a  number  of  line  horses.  Mr. 
Allen's  evident  desire  to  please  his  customers 
and  his  ability  to  provide  any  accommoda- 
tions desired  in  his  line  have  brought  to  him 
a  well-deserved  patronage  and  he  has  ac- 
quired a  splendid  reputation  throughout  this 
section  of  the  county. 

George  Allen  was  married  at  Sutton, 
Ontario,  Canada,  on  the  19th  of  May,  1875, 
to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Mossington,  a  native  of 
that  province,  born  in  1.840,  and  the  daugh- 
ter of  Mark  and  Elizabeth  (Comer)  Moss- 
ington. This  union  has  been  blessed  by  the 
birth  of  one  daughter,  Ada  M.,  who  is  now 
the  w^ife  of  Walter  Kysor.  Mrs.  Allen  is  a 
pleasant,  intelligent  lady,  possessed  of  strong 
traits  of  character,  and  has  proven  to  her 
husband  a  helpmate  in  the  truest  sense  of 
the  term.  Politically  Mr.  Allen  is  a  Republi- 
can and  has  ever  taken  a  keen  interest  in  the 
success  of  his  party  and  in  the  advancement 
of  all  movements  having  for  their  object 
the  advancement  of  the  interests  of  his  city 
and  county.  For  six  consecutive  years  he 
served  as  a  member  of  the  city  council  and 
in  that  body  w^on  an  enviable  reputation  for 
his  earnest  and  untiring  efforts  to  elevate 
the  standing  of  his  city  along  all  lines.  M  rs. 
Allen  and  her  daughter  are  faithful  and  con- 
sistent   members    of    the     Congregational 


church,  to  which  the  subject  contributes 
liberally.  Fraternally  Mr.  Allen  is  a  Mason, 
holding  membership  in  Big  Rapids  Lodge 
No.  171  and  also  in  the  chapter  at  Cadillac. 
He  also  belongs  to  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  249, 
Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Mr. 
Allen  has  in  all  the  relations  of  life  proven 
himself  equal  to  the  responsibilities  which 
liave  been  thrown  upon  him  and  because  of 
his  many  sterling  qualities  he  has  won  the 
regard  of  the  entire  community.  His  career 
lias  been  one  of  unceasing  activity  and  it 
presents  much  that  is  pleasing  as  well  as 
profitable  to  young  men  just  starting  out 
in  life. 

W.  E.  SOUTHWICK. 

This  enterprising  farmer  and  representa-^ 
live  citizen  is  a  native  of  Kalamazoo  county, 
Michigan,  l)orn  on  a  farm  in  Wakeshma 
township,  March  9,  1861.  His  father  was 
Elijah  B.  Southwick,  and  his  mother  before 
lier  marriage  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Har- 
riett Brown.  These  parents  lived  for  many 
years  in  the  above  county,  but  in  the  spring 
of  1884  disposed  of  their  possessions  there 
and  moved  to  the  county  of  Wexford,  set- 
tling in  Wexford  township,  where  they 
spent  the  remainder  of  their  days,  the  father 
dying  at  the  age  of  eighty-tw^o  and  the  moth- 
er wdien  sixty-eight  years  old.  W.  E. 
Southwick  w^as  reared  to  agricultural  pur- 
suits, received  a  fair  education  in  the  public 
schools,  and  with  the  exception  of  about 
two  years  spent  in  the  county  of  St.  Joseph, 
this  state,  lived  in  Kalamazoo  county  until 
his  removal,  in  January,  1884,  to  the  county 
of  Wexford.  On  coming  to  this  county  he 
purchased  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in 


482 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


section  27,  Wexford  township,  and  on  this 
he  has  since  hved  with  the  exception  of  one 
year,  devoting  his  time  and  energies  to  the 
improvement  of  his  land,  being  now  the  pos- 
sessor of  one  of  the  most  productive  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  valuable  farms  in  his  part 
of  the  country.  He  has  good  buildings  and 
has  spared  no  labor  or  pains  in  surrounding 
himself  with  comforts  and  conveniences,  his 
home  being  beautiful  and  attractive,  and  he 
is  now  well  situated  to  enjoy  the  many 
material  blessings  which  his  labors  have 
earned. 

Mr.  Southwick  was  married  in  Wexford 
township,  April  25,  1897,  ^o  Miss  Bertha  L. 
}Till,  who  was  born  June  14,  1877,  in  St. 
Joseph  county,  Michigan,  the  daughter  of 
Henry  C.  and  Luella  A.  ( Smalley)  Hill. 
Mrs.  Southwick  is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of 
three  children,  her  parents  still  living  in 
Wexford  township  where  they  settled  in 
1897,  moving  here  from  Grand  Traverse 
county. 

Mr.  Southwick  has  taken  an  active  in- 
terest in  the  affairs  of  his  community,  having 
been  honored  by  his  fellow  citizens  w^ith  sev- 
eral   positions   of   trust,    including  that   of 
township   supervisor   and   school    inspector. 
Some  years  ago  he  made  a  trip  to  the  far 
west  and  spent  considerable  time  in  the  state 
of  Washington,  besides  traveling  over  other 
states  and  territories  and  visiting  many  places 
of  natural  and  historic  interest.    He  is  a  man 
of  broad  views  and  progressive  ideas,  highly 
esteemed  by  his  neighbors  and  fellow  citi- 
zens, being  always  ready  to  grant  any  favors 
within  his  power  to  bestow  and  showing  a 
willingness  to  assist  any  worthy  enterprise 
for  the  material  advancement  or  moral  good 
of  the  community.     Fraternally     he     is     a 
member  of  the  order  of  Free  and  Accepted 


Masons,  belonging  to  Sherman  Lodge  No. 
372,  at  Sherman.  In  closing  this  brief  re- 
view suffice  it  to  state  that  Mr.  Southwick  is 
a  worthy  example  of  sterling  American  cit- 
izenship, the  product  of  our  splendid  public 
school  system  and  the  .sturdy  farm  life, 
sources  from  which  have  sprung  much  of 
the  moral  bone  and  sinew  of  the  great  north- 
west. Enterprising,  energetic  and  fully  alive 
to  the  questions  of  the  hour,  with  an  in- 
clination to  perform  his  civic  duties  from 
conscientious  motives  and  with  a  due  re- 
gard for  the  rights  and  privileges  of  others, 
he  attends  strictly  to  his  own  affairs,  at  the 
same  time  losing  sight  of  self  in  his  laudable 
endeavors  to  promote  the  welfare  of  his  fel- 
low men.  With  no  ambition  for  public  dis- 
tinction, he  has  settled  down  to  the  quiet  en- 
joyment of  life  and  possessing  the  esteem  of 
all  with  whom  he  has  relations  of  any  kind, 
his  future  is  bright  with  the  promise  of  a 
long  and  useful  career. 


HUMPHREY  W.   MILLER. 

The  best  title  one  can  establish  to  the 
high  and  generous  esteem  of  a  community 
is  a  protracted  and  honorable  residence  in 
its  midst.  Mankind  is  generally  fair  and 
just  in  its  judgments.  An  unusual  event  may 
sway  it  for  a  time,  but  w^hen  normal  condi- 
tions are  again  resumed  a  just  judgment  is 
certain  to  follow.  It  is  possible  to  gull  the 
public,  but  it  is  impossible  to  keep  it  gulled. 
As  sure  as  fate,  true  conditions  will  event- 
ually prevail  and  then  the  true  public  judg- 
ment is  inevitable.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
a  man  is  judged  rather  by  what  his  neighbors 
think  of  him  than  anything  he  may  have 
said  or  done.    When  a  court  desires  to  find 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


433 


out  whether  or  not  a  witness  is  truthful,  it 
it  asks  what  the  person's  reputation  is  for 
truth  in  the  neigh))orhoo(l  in  which  he  hves 
The  law  correctly  estimates  that  the  judg-- 
ment  of  the  pubhc  is  ahnost  invariably  in- 
falli1)le.  Judged  by  this  measure,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review%  Humphrey  W.  Miller, 
must  necessarily  be  a  man  of  the  strictest  in- 
tegrity. In  the  community  where  he  resides 
he  has  made  his  home  for  nearly  thirty-two 
years — almost  a  generation.  His  residence 
therein  has  certainly  been  a  protracted  one 
and  that  it  has  been  an  honorable  one  is  well 
established  by  the  high  regard  in  wdiich  he 
is  held  by  all  who  have  known  him  for  so 
many  years. 

Humphrey  W.  Miller,  a  resident  of  sec- 
tion 30,  Selma  township,  is  a  native  of  Ohio, 
born  in  Fulton  county,  September  4,  1848. 
His  parents  were  Humphrey  and  Catharine 
(Hamilton)  Miller,  also  natives  of  Ohio. 
The  father  died  while  the  subject  was  yet 
an  infant  and  some  time  thereafter  his  moth- 
er became  the  wife  of  Charles  Blackman. 
In  1850  the  family  moved  to  Cass  county, 
Michigan,  but  remained  only  a  short  time, 
when  they  moved  to  Jasper  county,  Illinois, 
where  they  remained  three  years.  In  1853 
they  again  returned  to  Michigan  and  located 
in  Pipestone  township,  Berrien  county, 
wdiere  Humphrey  W.  Miller  grew  to  man- 
hood and  received  a  good  common  school 
education.  In  March,  1872,  he  came  to 
Wexford  county,  secured  a  tract  of  land, 
part  of  section  30,  Selma  towaiship,  and 
there  he  has  since  resided.  One  year  of  the 
time,  however,  was  spent  in  Cadillac,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  brick. 
He  is  the  owner  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
acres  of  land  in  section  30,  one  hundred  acres 


of  which  are  cleared,  well  improved  and  un- 
der cultivation. 

In  Berrien  county,  Michigan,  September 
5,  1869,  Humphrey  W.  Miller  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Jennie  Murphy,  a  na- 
tive of  Michigan,  born  in  Pipestone  town- 
ship, Berrien  county,  January  i,  1854.  Her 
l)arents  were  George  and  Catharine  (Have- 
ner) Murphy.  The  father  was  a  soldier  of 
the  Civil  war  and  lost  his  life  in  defense  of 
his  country.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Humphrey 
W.  Miller  two  children  were  born,  viz: 
Frank  W.  and  Rose  C.  The  latter  gradu- 
ated from  the  Mt.  Pleasant  State  Normal  in 
the  class  of  1903  and  has  been  a  successful 
teacher  for  eig-ht  years  in  Wexford  county. 
Frank  is  foreman  for  Anderson  &  McCoy, 
lumbermen  at  South  Bordman,  Michigan. 

Being  an  old  resident  of  Selma  township, 
having  watched  its  growth  and  development 
almost  from  its  earliest  settlement,  it  is  only 
natural  that  Mr.  Miller  should  be  deeply  in- 
terested in  all  that  concerns  its  material  wel- 
fare. He  has  been  its  treasurer  and  was  a 
school  officer  almost  from  the  time  that 
school  districts  were  organized  within  its 
borders.  He  served  for  years  as  one  of  its 
justices  of  the  peace  and  is  still  counseled 
with  by  his  neighlx)rs  and  fellow  citizens  on 
matters  of  business  and  all  affairs  which  per- 
tain to  the  law.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  actively  interested  in  the 
work  of  the  order  and  has  advanced  through 
the  various  degrees  to  that  of  Royal  Arch 
and  Knight  Templar.  He  is  also  a  very  act- 
ive member  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry. 
His  standing  in  the  community  is  an  envia- 
ble one,  made  so  by  the  uniform  intelligence, 
integrity  and  kindness  with  which  all  who 
come  in  contact  with  him  are  treated.    From 


434 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


a  very  insignificant  beginning,  by  native  in- 
dustry he  has  accumulated  a  competencv, 
reared  a  noble  family  and  all  his  life  has  con- 
ducted himself  in  a  manner  to  win  the  ap- 
proval, respect  and  confidence  of  his  fellow- 


men. 


CHARLES  J.  CARLSON. 

Charles  j.  Carlson,  who  is  engaged  in 
general  farming  on  section  32,  Clam  Lake 
towaiship,  was  born  in  Sweden,  on  the  26th 
of  January,  1861,  his  parents  being  Charles 
H.  and  Johanna  (Johanson)  Carlson,  both 
of  whom  were  natives  of  Sweden  and  are 
now  residents  of  Osceola  county,  Michigan. 
When  the  subject  of  this  review  was  but 
twelve  years  of  age  he  came  with  his  mother 
to  America,  the  father  having  crossed  the 
Atlantic  in  the  previous  year.  In  1873  they 
settled  in  Cadillac,  Wexford  county,  and  in 
1874  removed  to  Sherman  township,  Osceo- 
la county,  where  they  have  since  resided,  Mr. 
Carlson  being  identified  with  agricultural  in- 
terests there.  Unto  him  and  his  wife  were 
born  eight  children,  but  they  lost  four  of 
that  number  in  infancy  and  one,  John  Al- 
fred, was  accidentally  killed.  Charles  J.  Carl- 
son of  this  review  is  the  oldest  of  the  three 
who  are  yet  living.  He  continued  under  the 
parental  roof  up  to  the  time  of  his  marriage. 
He  obtained  a  common  school  education  in 
his  youth  and  became  familiar  with  farm 
w^ork  in  its  various  departments,  as  he  aided 
his  father  in  the  labors  of  field  and  meadow. 
The  occupation  to  which  he  was  reared  he 
chose  as  a  life  work  and  has  become  a  pro- 
gressive farmer,  well  known  in  the  communi- 
ty in  which  he  makes  his  home. 

It  w^as  on  the  26th  of  December,  1885, 


that  Mr.  Carlson  was  united  in  miarriage  to 
Miss  Nellie  Peterson,  a  daughter  of  Swen 
J.  and  Stena  Lena  (Johanson)  Peterson, 
well-known  residents  of  Clam  Lake  township, 
who  came  to  this  country  from  Sweden. 
Mrs.  Carlson  was  also  born  in  that  land,  her 
natal  day  being  Sq:)t ember  14,  i860.  She 
was  a  young  lady  of  nineteen  years  when  she 
came  to  America  and  here  she  gave  her  hand 
in  marriage  to  Mr.  Carlson.  After  the  mar- 
riage Mr.  Carlson  was  employed  in  a  shin- 
gle-mill at  Muskegon  for  about  five  years, 
but  in  1 89 1  he  settled  upon  the  farm  which 
has  since  been  his  home.  It  is  located  on 
section  32,  Clam  Lake  township,  where  he 
has  erected  a  good  home,  built  in  1901. 
Here  he  owns  one  hundred  acres  of  land  and 
already  he  has  placed  under  cultivation  forty 
acres  of  this  tract.  He  labors  untiringly  and 
in  a  manner  to  produce  good  results  and 
his  farm  is  beconiing  one  of  the  valuable 
country  places  of  Wexford  county. 

The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carlson  has 
been  blessed  with  six  rhildren :  Clyde  H., 
Edgar  W.,  Esther  M.,  Edith  M.,  Ruth  V. 
and  Helen  E.  In  his  political  views  Mr. 
Carlson  is  an  earnest  Republican,  who  keeps 
well  informed  on  the  issues  of  the  day  and 
does  all  in  his  power  to  promote  the  growth 
and  insure  the  success  of  his  party.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  treasurer  of  Clam  Lake 
township  for  two  terms  and  from  the 
spring  of  1899  until  the  spring  of  1903 
he  was  justice  of  the  peace.  In  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties  in  that  position  he  man- 
ifested marked  impartiality,  basing  his  de- 
cisions upon  the  evidence  and  the  equity  of 
the  case.  He  is  widely  known  as  a  man  of 
honorable  purpose  who  is  reliable  in  his  busi- 
ness affairs  and  trustworthy  in  all  public 
positions.    His  friends  and  family  find  him  a 


m^m^. 


C.  J.  CARLSON  GROUP. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


485 


considerate  and  kindly  companion;  he  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  leachng  and  prominent 
citizens  of  Wexford  county,  and  it  is 
therefore  with  pleasure  that  the  record  of  his 
career  is  here  presented.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Carlson  are  adherents  to  the  Swedish  Mis- 
•sion  church. 


SANFORD  GASSER. 

Few  men  are  more  prominent  or  more 
widely  known  in  the  enterprising  town  of 
Sherman  than  San  ford  Gasser.  He  is  an 
important  factor  in  business  circles  here  and 
l]is  popularity  is  well  deserved  as  in  him  are 
embraced  the  characteristics  of  unabating 
energy,  unbending  integrity  and  an  industry 
that  never  flags.  He  is  public-spirited  and 
thoroughly  interested  in  wdiatever  tends  to 
]>romote  the  welfare  of  the  community  and 
Sherman  has  profited  by  his  labors  in  her  be- 
half. He  is  now^  engaged  in  the  loan  and  in- 
surance business  and  he  has  lumber  interests 
in  the  state  which  bring  to  him  a  good 
iinancial  return. 

Mr.  Gasser  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  his  birth 
having  occurred  in  SancUisky  county,  on  the 
1st  of  August,  1841,  his  parents  being 
Benedict  and  Caroline  (Alberts)  Gasser. 
Throughout  his  business  career  the  father 
carried  on  agricultural  pursuits  and  he  is 
now  living  a  retired  life  in  Steuben  county, 
Indiana,  having  reached  an  advanced  age. 
His  wife  died  in  Angola,  Steuben  county, 
when  eighty  years  of  age.  In  their  family  of 
nine  children  Sanford  Gasser  was  the  eldest. 
He. was  only  two  years  of  age  when  his  par- 
ents removed  to  Steuben  county,  Indiana, 
settling  in  the  midst  of  the  beautiful  lake  re- 
gion of  that  section  of  the  state,  their  home 


being  on  a  farm  about  two  and  a  half  miles 
from  Angola  and  near  Pigeon  lake.     There 
Sanford   Gasser   was    reared,    remaining  in 
that  locality  until  twenty-two  years  of  age, 
during  which  time  he  attended  the  public 
schools,  assisted  in  the  farm  work  and  en- 
joyed the  pleasures  of  fishing  and  other  en- 
joyments such  as  the  neighborhood  afforded. 
He  then  came  to  Mecosta  county,  Michigan, 
and  for  a  few  years  during  the  winter  seasons 
was  engaged  in  hunting  and  trapping,  which 
he  found  very  profitaJDle,  for  owing  to  the 
unsettled   condition   of  that  portion   of  the 
state  much  game  still  abounded  there.     He 
made  his  headquarters  at  Big  Rapids  and 
from  his  traps  and  as  the  result  of  his  skill 
as  a  marksman  he  brought  home  rich  pri- 
zes from  the  forests.    In  the  summer  seasons 
he  would  employ  men  and  make  his  way  up 
the  Muskegon  river,  poling  his  canoe  and 
and  carrying  with  him  provisions  for  three 
or  four  months.     Proceeding  to  the  govern- 
ment marshes  with  his  hired  assistants,  he 
would  there  cut  and  stack  hay,  which  he 
disposed  of  to  the  lumbermen.     This  work 
he  also  found  to  l^e  quite  lucrative  and  he 
was  thus  engaged    for    four   or   five   years. 
During  that  time,  as  his  financial  resources 
increased,  he  purchased  considerable  proper- 
ty at  Big  Rapids,  buying  and  selling  much 
real  estate.     As  his  investments  were  judi- 
ciously made  he  also  realized  a  good  financial 
return  in  this  way.     For  about  three  years 
he   was   engaged   in   conducting   a   billiard 
hall  and  restaurant  in  Big  Rapids,  but  at 
length  he  disposed  of  all  his  interests  there 
and  came  to  Wexford  county. 

The  spring  of  1870  witnessed  his  arrival 
here.  He  purchased  eighty  acres  of  land 
which  now  comprises  Glasser's  plat,  in  the 
village  of  Sherman.    In  1871  he  took  up  his 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


abode  in  tliis  town,  where  be  has  since  made 
bis  liome.  He  bas  been  engaged  in  buying 
and  selling  timber  lands  and  in  connection 
witb  tbis  be  bas  also  engaged  in  tbe  insur- 
ance and  loan  business,  in  wdiicb  be  bas  se- 
cured a  good  clientage.  Mr.  Gasser  likewise 
possesses  considerable  inventive  ingenuity 
and  bas  patented  a  stretcber  for  men's  trou- 
sers, wbicb  is  a  very  simple  but  useful  con- 
trivance. 

Mr.  Gasser  was  married  in  Big  Rapids  to 
Lucina  Smitb,  a  native  of  Newaygo,  Mich- 
igan, wbo  died  in  Branch  county,  tbis  state. 
On  tbe  30tb  of  September,  1872,  in  Jones- 
A  ille,  Michigan,  was  celebrated  the  marriage 
of  Mr.  Gasser  and  Miss  Minerva  Wise,  who 
was  born  in  Licking  county,  Ohio,  October 
1,  1843,  ^  daughter  of  Jacob  A.  and  Lydia 
(Stout)  Wise.  Three  children  have  been 
born  unto  the  subject  and  bis  wife;  Gertie, 
tbe  wife  of  Harry  Gouker;  Dora,  the  wife 
of  Niel  Clark;  and  Wilbert  W.  In  1900  Mr. 
Gasser  erected  the  finest  residence  in  Sher- 
man, it  being  one  of  tlie  finest  in  the  entire 
county.  It  is  a  beautiful  structure,  con- 
structed in  modern  style  of  architecture  and 
tastefully  and  elegantly  furnished,  and  more- 
over its  chief  charm  is  the  cordial  and  gra- 
cious hospitality  so  freely  accorded  to  the 
many  friends  of  the  family. 

Exercising  his  right  of  franchise  in  sup- 
port of  the  men  and  measures  of  tbe  Republi- 
can party,  Mr.  Gasser  bas  long  been  one  of 
its  advocates  and  loyal  adherents.  When  the 
county  seat  was  located  at  Sherman  be 
served  as  under  sheriff  for  eight  years,  bis 
superior  officer  being  Messrs.  Shackleton  and 
W^eaver,  and  since  then  he  bas  acted  almost 
continuously  as  deputy  sheriff  up  to  1900.  He 
is  prominent  in  county  politics  and  his  opin- 
ions carry  weight  in  the  local  councils  of  bis 


[)arty.  He  is  also  a  staunch  adv^ocate  of  tem- 
perance and  by  example  as  well  as  precept 
has  furthered  this  cause.  Both  he  and  his 
wife  are  devoted  members  of  tbe  Methodist 
]{piscopal  church  and  whatever  tends  to  aid 
bis  fellow  men  in  the  building  of  an  honura- 
ble  character  receives  his  endorsement.  In 
business  affairs  he  is  energetic,  prompt  and 
notably  reliable.  Tireless  energy,  keen  per- 
ception, honesty  of  purpose,  these  are  bis 
chief  cliaracteristics.  Justice  has  ever  been 
maintained  by  him  in  his  relations  witb  those 
whom  he  bas  employed  and  witb  those  with 
whom  be  bas  had  business  transactions  and 
wdiile  he  has  been  watchful  of  his  business 
and  of  all  indications  pointing  to  prosperity, 
bis  efforts  resulting  in  the  acquirement  of  a 
liandsome  competence,  yet  this  has  not  been 
alone  the  goal  for  which  be  bas  striven,  for 
be  belongs  to  that  class  of  representative 
American  citizens  who  promote  the  general 
pros])erity  while  advancing  individual  in- 
terests. 


CHARLES  W.  BUTTON. 

The  specific  office  of  biography  is  not  to 
give  voice  to  a  man's  modest  oj)inion  of  him- 
self ^md  his  accomplishments,  but  rather  to 
leave  upon  record  the  verdict  establishing  his 
character  by  the  consensus  of  opinion  on  the 
part  of  those  with  whom  he  has  been  most 
intimately  associated.  In  touching  upon  the 
career  of  the  subject  of  tbis  review,  the 
writer  aims  to  avoid  fulsome  encomium  and 
extravagant  praise ;  yet  he  desires  to  hold  up 
for  consideration  those  facts  which  have  en- 
tered into  tbe  make-up  of  a  useful  and  hon- 
orable life,  a  life  characterized  by  persever- 
ance,  energy,   broad   charity   and   well   de- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


437 


fined  purpose.  To  do  this  will  be  but  to 
reiterate  the  dictum  pronounced  upon  the 
man  by  the  people  who  have  known  him  long 
and  well  and  wdio  have  not  been  slow  to 
recognize  his  merits  and  appreciate  his  value 
to  the  community. 

Charles  W.  Dutton,  the  leading  contrac- 
tor and  builder  of  Cadillac,  is  a  native  of 
Rochester,  New  York,  and  the  son  of  Harry 
B.  and  Nancy  (Flynn)  Dutton,  both  parents 
born  and  reared  in  the  Empire  state.  Harry 
Dutton  was  for  a  number  of  years  quite 
prominent  in  railway  circles  and  when  a 
young  man  assisted  in  the  construction  of  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad,  in  the  employ 
of  wdiich  he  afterwards  rose  to  an  important 
official  position,  that  of  assistant  superinten- 
dent of  the  middle  division.  He  was 
thorough  in  all  the  details  of  railroading, 
stood  high  in  the  confidence  of  his  superiors 
and  devoted  the  greater  part  of  his  life  to 
the  service,  making  a  record  for  faithfulness 
and  efficiency  of  which  any  man  might  well 
feel  proud.  His  home  was  in  Rochester  and 
he  died  in  that  city  at  the  age  of  fifty-two, 
leaving  a  widow  and  four  children,  the  for- 
mer departing  this  life  at  the  same  place 
when  sixty-two  years  old.  Of  the  six  chil- 
dren constituting  the  family  of  Harvey  B. 
and  Nancy  Dutton,  Charles  W.,  of  this  re- 
view%  is  the  youngest.  He  was  born  May 
26,  1853,  and  after  attending  for  some  years 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  city  and  ac- 
cjuiring  a  good  education,  entered  upon  an 
ai)prenticeship  to  learn  carpentry  and  join- 
ing, at  which  he  spent  four  years  of  faithful 
service.  Possessing  mechanical  ability  of 
no  mean  order,  he  soon  became  an  effi- 
cient workman  and  shortly  after  com- 
pleting his  apprenticeship  he  sought  a  field 
for  the  e:5tercise    of    his    skill    in    the    new 


and  sparsely  settled  country  of  northern 
Michigan,  locating  at  Clam  Lake  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1873.  During  the  two  years  follow- 
ing his  arrival  he  worked  at  carpentry  for  the 
Harris  Brothers  and  at  the  expiration  of  that 
time  returned  to  New  York  where  he  was  en- 
gaged in  railroading  until  1877,  when  he  re- 
sumed his  chosen  calling  and  again  came 
west  for  the  purpose  of  making  Cadillac  his 
future  place  of  abode.  Mr.  Dutton  is  a 
master  of  his  trade  and  as  a  builder  ranks 
with  the  ablest  and  most  scientific  mechanics 
in  his  adopted  state.  He  has  taken  many 
large  contracts  in  Cadillac  and  elsewhere, 
most  of  the  beautiful  residaices,  business 
houses  and  public  edifices  of  this  city  having 
been  erected  under  his  supervision,  and  his 
skill  has  frequently  been  called  into  requisi- 
tion on  important  buildings  in  other  cities 
and  towns.  To  him  as  much  perhaps  as  to 
any  one  man  is  the  flourishing  little  city  of 
Cadillac  indebted  for  its  growth  and  pros- 
perity along  material  lines  and  through  the 
medium  of  his  vocation  he  has  certainly  done 
more  to  beautify  and  lend  charrn  to  it  as  a 
place  of  residence  and  thus  advertise  its  ad- 
vantages to  the  world  than  any  other  of  his 
compeers.  He  is  still  actively  engaged  in 
building,  with  all  the  work  on  hand  he  can 
jjossibly  do,  and  not  infrequently  has  he 
l)een  obliged  to  refuse  large  and  lucrative 
contracts  by  reason  of  the  volume  of  pressing 
business  demanding  his  attention. 

Since  coming  to  Cadillac  Mr.  Dutton  has 
been  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  town 
and  his  activity  has  made  him  a  leader  not 
only  in  the  matter  of  material  improvement 
but  also  in  the  domain  of  party  politics  and 
public  life.  He  is  an  uncompromising  Re- 
publican and  as  such  was  elected  city  assess- 
or, in  addition  to  wdiich  office  he  was  also 


488 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


supervisor  of  the  second  ward  for  a  number 
of  years,  discharging  the  duties  of  both  posi- 
tions in  an  able  and  praiseworthy  manner 
that  won  him  the  confidence  of  the  people 
regardless  of  political  preference. 

Like  the  majority  of  enterprising,  pro- 
gressive men,  Mr.  Dutton  is  identified  with 
that  oldest  and  most  honorable  of  all  frater- 
nal organizations,  the  order  of  Free  and  Ac- 
cepted Masons,  being  one  of  the  leading 
spirits  of  Clam  Lake  Lodge  No.  331,  and 
also,  with  his  wife,  to  the  Order  of  the  East- 
ern vStar.  His  name  appears  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  Viola  Lodge  No.  259,  Lidepen- 
dent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  of  Cadillac 
Lodge  No.  46,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  of 
Lodge  No.  680,  Benevolent  and  IVotective 
Order  of  Elks,  in  all  of  which,  as  in  the  or- 
ganization above,  he  manifests  an  abiding  in- 
terest and  in  which  he  has  i^een  honored  at 
different  times  with  important  official  sta- 
tions. 

On  May  25,  1875,  in  the  city  of  Grand 
Rapids,  Mr.  Dutton  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Jerlena  Crothers,  of  Phelps,  New  York, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Harriett  Crothers, 
both  parents  natives  of  New^  York  state,  the 
father  now  a  farmer  of  Grand  Traverse 
county,  Michigan,  living  near  I^ife  Lake, 
the  mother  having  died  there  in  the  spring  of 
1901.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dutton  have  one  child, 
a  daughter  1)y  the  name  of  Dollie  wiio  is  now 
the  wife  of  John  Terwilliger,   of  Cadillac. 

Thus  briefly  have  been  set  forth  the 
salient  facts  in  the  life  of  one  of  Cadillac's 
representative  men  of  affairs.  His  career 
and  position  happily  illustrate  the  fact,  that 
if  a  young  man  possesses  the  proper  attri- 
butes of  mind  and  heart,  with  the  ability  to 
direct  the  same  in  proper  channels,  he  can 
attain  to  a  position  of  unmistakable  prece- 


dence and  gain  for  himself  an  honored  place 
among  the  foremost  factors  in  shaping  the 
destinies  of  cities,  communities  and  states. 
His  life  proves  that  the  only  true  success  in 
this  world  depends  upon  personal  efforts  and 
consecutive  industry  in  the  pursuit  of  some 
specific  and  honorable  purpose;  it  also  dem- 
onstrates that  the  road  to  position  is  open  to 
all  who  possess  the  courage  to  tread  its 
pathway,  besides  serving  as  an  incentive  to 
the  young  of  the  present  generation,  teaching 
])y  incontrovertible  facts  that  true  excellence 
in  any  worthy  undertaking  is  ambition's  le- 
f^itimate  answer. 


JOHN    GOLDSMrrH. 

Amidst  the  population  of  the  United 
States  no  one  need  be  surprised  at  the  people 
w^hom  they  encounter.  The  man  who  sells 
you  bananas  on  the  street  corner  may  have 
been  a  princeling  in  his  native  Italy;  your 
barber,  with  his  kindly  smile,  polished  man- 
ner and  affable  ways,  may  have  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  nobility  in  the  land  of  his  nativity; 
a  genuine  British  lord  has  been  known  to 
serve  as  a  common  cow  puncher  in  the  south- 
west, and  there  are  instances  where  ex-mem- 
bers of  the  English  parliament  have  been  re- 
duced to  the  necessity  of  performing  very 
menial  labor  in  America  in  order  to  eke  out 
an  existence.  One  can  never  judge  accurate- 
ly of  a  man's  past  by  his  environment  in 
America,  for  this  is  a  country  wdiere  all 
ranks  are  leveled  and  titles  count  for  noth- 
ing, except  among  marriageable  young  wo- 
men whose  papas  have  more  money  than 
brains  with  which  to  endow  them.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  John  Goldsmith,  of  Col- 
fax township,  is  neither  a  princeling,  a  mem- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


439 


ber  of  the  nobility,  a  lord  or  an  ex-meniber  of 
parliament.  His  services  to  the  world  have, 
doubtless,  been  far  more  valuable  than  if  he 
were  the  possessor  of  either  of  those  distinc- 
tions. It  seems  strange,  however,  to  en- 
counter in  an  inland  county  in  Michigan  a 
man  whose  early  career  was  as  varied,  as  ex- 
citing and  as  replete  with  adventure  as  that 
of  John  Goldsmith.  He  followed  the. life  of 
a  sailor  upon  the  ocean  for  twenty  years, 
visited  nearly  every  important  port  on  the 
face  of  the  earth,  twice  circumnavigated  the 
globe,  and  now,  in  his  sixty-seventh  year, 
we  find  him  quietly  and  comfortably  set- 
tled upon  a  farm  in  Wexford  county,  enjoy- 
ing the  blessings  of  domestic  tranquility  in 
the  midst  of  a  noble  family. 

John  Goldsmith  is  a  native  of  Germany, 
born  in  the  duchy  of  Holstein,  September 
18,  1836.  His  father  w^as  a  native  of  Ire- 
land and  his  mother  of  Germany.  The  first 
twelve  years  of  his  life  were  spent  beneath 
the  paternal  roof,  during  which  time  sucli 
education  as  he  received  was  acquired.  At 
the  early  age  of  twelve  he  became  a  sailor 
upon  the  high  seas,  following  that  calling  for 
many  years.  Being*  in  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
at  the  time  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil 
war  in  America,  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  navy  and  served  about  three  years  on 
the  frigate  ''Sabine,"  when  he  received  an 
honorable  discharge  on  account  of  disability. 

While  on  a  visit  to  his  native  land  early 
in  1 86 1,  John  Goldsmith  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Maria  Nagle,  a  native  of  Han- 
over, Germany,  born  February  17,  1844. 
His  services  in  the  United  States  navy  ne- 
cessitated a  separation  of  several  years  from 
the  worthy  woman  whom  he  had  married, 
but  upon  his  discharge  he  came  to  Wexford 
county,  located  upon  the  tract  of  land  which 


he  at  present  owns  and  occupies,  and  as  soon 
thereafter  as  circumstances  would  permit 
was  joined  there  by  his  wife.  In  addition  to 
his  experience  upon  the  ocean  and  in  the 
United  States  navy,  he  followed  sailing  upon 
the  great  lakes  for  three  years.  Having  no 
certificate  of  the  marriage  which  had  taken 
place  in  Germany,  April  17,  1868,  he  and  his 
wife  went  to  Manistee,  Michigan,  and  w^ere 
married  under  the  laws  of  the  United  States. 
To  the  union  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Goldsmith 
nine  children  have  been  born,  viz:  Anna 
M.,  Harry  J.,  George  W.,  who  is  married, 
Phynetta  M.,  Orlando  H.,  Katharine  J., 
Louise  G.  and  Mary  H.  One  son  died  in 
infancy;  Anna  is  the  wife  of  George  Jenk- 
ins and  has  one  child,  Maria,  and  Phynetta 
is  the  wife  of  Edgar  Ostrander  and  they 
have  four  children,  Elijah,  Johnnie,  Louise 
and  Merritt. 

On  becoming  a  resident  of  Wexford 
county  Mr.  Goldsmith  located  upon  a  home- 
stead of  eighty  acres,  a  part  of  section  20, 
Colfax  township,  which  he  has  cleared,  im- 
proved and  cultivated  from  that  time  to  the 
present.  He  has  sixty  acres  of  his  land  un- 
der cultivation  and  the  farm  is  well  stocked, 
equipped  and  supplied  with  all  necessary 
farm  buildings,  including  a  handsome  res- 
idence. He  is  a  thorough,  practical  farmer 
and  a  most  capable  business  man,  who  has 
managed  his  aft'airs  so  successfully  that  he  is 
in  possession  of  a  comfortable  competency. 

From  the  time  of  his  advent  in  Wex- 
ford county  John  Goldsmith  has  actively  in- 
terested himself  in  all  public  affairs,  par- 
ticularly those  pertaining  to  the  township  in 
which  he  resides.  He  has  been  highly  hon- 
ored by  the  suffrage  of  his  fellow  citizens, 
having  been  elected  to  a  number  of  local  po- 
sitions, among  them  township  treasurer,  su- 


440 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


pervisor,  justice  of  the  peace,  constable  and 
member  of  the  school  board.  He  has  well 
and  faithfully  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  twenty-live 
years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  O.  P.  Morton  Post  No.  54, 
at  Manton,  the  Colfax  Grange,  Patrons  of 
Husbandry,  Lodge  No.  357,  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  at  Manton.  He  is 
one  of  the  very  oldest  residents  of  Colfax 
township,  a  man  who  has  led  a  busy  and 
most  useful  life  and  who  now\,  in  the  evening 
of  his  career,  is  in  a  position  to  enjoy  the  re- 
wards which  have  come  to  him  as  the  natural 
recompense  of  a  nol)le,  well-spent  life. 


THOMAS    HODGSON. 

Agriculture  has  been  an  honored  voca- 
tion from  the  earliest  ages  and  as  a  usual 
thing  men  of  honorable  and  humane  im- 
pulses, as  well  as  those  of  energy  and  thrift, 
have  been  patrons  of  husbandry.  The  free 
outdoor  life  of  the  farm  has  a  decided  ten- 
dency to  foster  and  develop  that  independ- 
ence of  mind  and  self-reliance  which  char- 
acterize true  manhood  and  no  greater  bless- 
ing can  befall  a  boy  than  to  be  reared  in 
close  touch  with  nature  in  the  healthful,  life- 
inspiring  labor  of  the  fields.  It  has  always 
been  the  fruitful  soil  from  which  have 
sprung  the  moral  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
country,  and  the.  majority  of  our  nation's 
great  warriors,  wise  statesmen,  renowaied 
scholars  and  distinguished  men  of  letters 
were  born  on  the  farm  and  are  indebted  to 
its  early  influence  for  the  distinction  which 
tliey  have  attained. 
'   Thomas  Hodgson  is  a  native  of  merrie 


England,  born  in  Westmoreland  county  on 
the  28th  of  February,  1838.  He  was  reared 
in  his  native  count r^r  and  there  received  a  fair 
education.  Upon  attaining  mature  years,  he 
became  convinced  that  in  the  new  world  lay 
better  opportunities  for  a  man  of  energy  and 
ambition,  and  he  carried  his  convictions  into 
effect  by  emigrating  to  Canada.  After  resid- 
ing in  the  dominion  about  six  years  he  re- 
moved to  Kansas  and  made  that  his  home  for 
about  four  yeai-s.  In  September,  1874,  he 
came  to  Wexford  county  and  settled  on  the 
farm  in  section  36,  Clam  Lake  township,  on 
which  he  now  resides.  His  farm  comprises 
one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of  land,  of 
which  ninety  are  in  cultivation.  He  has  a 
comfortable  and  commodious  residence  and 
splendid  farm  ))uildings  in  which  to  house 
his  stock  and  store  the  products  of  the  farm. 
He  has  his  farm  stocked  with  good  grades  of 
horses,  cattle  and  hogs  and  his  fields  are  in 
a  high  state  of  cultivation.  He  has  paid 
special  attention  to  trees,  having  some  splen- 
did fruit  and  shade  trees  on  the  place,  and 
has  otherwise  in  many  ways  endeavored  to 
make  his  farm  a  model  one.  Under  his  care- 
ful and  skillful  management  it  is  made  to 
yield  more  liberal  returns  than  many  places 
of  much  larger  area.  He  is  a  man  of  indus- 
trious and  thrifty  habits  and  seldom  fails  of 
winning  success  from  everything  to  which  he 
lays  his  hands.  His  home  is  a  model  of  neat- 
ness and  comfort  and  he  has  surrounded 
himself  w^ith  many  of  the  comforts  and  lux- 
uries of  life  which  make  a  rural  home  so  at- 
tractive. Among  his  friends  and  fellow  cit- 
izens he  is  held  in  high  favor.  He  is  enter- 
prising in  all  the  term  implies,  public  spirited 
in  all  that  pertains  to  the  material  prosperity 
of  his  township  and  county  and  as  a  farmer 
he  occupies  a  leading  place  among  the  citi- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


441 


zens  of  the  community  in  which  he  resides. 
In  all  his  relations  with  his  fellow  men  his 
conduct  has  been  blameless  and  it  has  been 
his  laudable  aim  to  keep  his  name  and  char- 
acter above  reproach. 

In  1866,  at  Ingersoll,  Canada,  Mr. 
Hodgson  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Mary  Gane,  a  native  of  England,  born  April 
20,  1848,  the  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Parson  )Gane.  This  union  has  been  a  most 
felicitous  one  and  has  been  blessed  by  the 
birth  of  twelve  children,  named  as  follows : 
Elizabeth  M.,  born  November  2^,  1866,  is 
the  wife  of  James  Phillips,  a  millwright  at 
Traverse  City,  and  they  have  three  children, 
Lena,  Plazel  and  Elmer;  Ehvood  N.,  born 
August  9,  1868,  a  farmer  in  Clam  Lake 
township,  married  Edna  Thomas  and  they 
have  one  child  living,  Albert  T. ;  Maggie  E., 
born  July  3,  1876,  is  the  wife  of  George  W. 
Heator,  of  Cadillac;  Anna  F.,  born  January 
J3'  ^^73>  <^lie<^l  April  II,  1895,  ^^^^s  the  wnfe 
of  Frederick  Phillips,  of  Cadillac;  John  H., 
I>orn  June  3,  1875,  died  Sei>tember  i,  1877; 
Anthony  E.,  born  September  10,  1877,  is  a 
resident  of  Missaukee  county;  Elsie  E.,  lx)rn 
October  8,  1880,  is  the  w'ife  of  Samuel 
Shine,  of  Clam  Lake  township,  and  they 
have  one  child,  Milton  D. ;  Edith  R.,  born 
November  21,  1882,  is  at  home;  Mildred  E., 
torn  June  20,  1884,  is  at  home;  Julia  E., 
l)orn  June  23,  1887,  died  at  the  age  of 
three  months  and  three  days;  Arthur  T., 
born  November  15,  1888,  is  at  home,  as  is 
Gertha  Blanche,  born  September  30,   1890. 

Mr.  Hodgson  is  an  ardent  member  of  the 
Republican  party  and  takes  a  deep  interest 
in  the  trend  of  passing  events,  especially  in 
all  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  his 
own  community.  Religiously  he  is  identified 
with    the    Methodist   Episcopal   church,   to 


which  he  contributes  liberally  of  his  time  and 
means.  His  wife  and  children  are  also  mem- 
bers of  the  same  church  and  are  actively  in- 
terested in  the  work  of  the  society.  They  all 
occupy  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  social  cir- 
cles of  the  community  and  are  held  in  high 
esteem  by  all  who  know  them. 

The  following  obituary  of  John  N.  Gane, 
father  of  Mrs.  Hodgson,  will  no  doubt  prove 
of  interest  to  the  reader : 

John  N.  Gane  was  born  in  Summersetshirc,  Eng- 
land, June  5,  1817,  and  died  Dec.  30,*1897,  aged  sev- 
enty-eight years,  six  months  and  twenty-five  days. 
In  the  year  1844  he  was  united  in  holy  wedlock  to 
Elizabeth  E.  Parsons,  with  whom  he  lived  a  most 
happy  life  for  forty-eight  years.  In  1892,  in  the  sixty- 
fourth  year  of  her  age,  she  was  called  to  her  heavenly 
home.  The  fruit  of  their  wedded  life  was  nine 
children.  Of  these  two  died  in  infancy,  two  after 
they  had  reached  the  years  of  maturity,  and  five  still 
remain  to  mourn  the  loss  of  father  and  mother — 
a  daughter,  Mrs.  Thomas  Hodgson,  and  four  sons, 
George,  Robert,  Homer,  a  Presbyterian  minister  in 
the  state  of  Kansas,  and  Walter,  the  youngest  of  the 
family 

John  Gane  together  with  his  beloved  wife  and 
children  then  born  left  their  native  land,  and  came 
to  Ingersol,  in  what  was  at  that  time  known  as 
Canada  Wtst,  now  called  the  province  of  Ontario, 
and  there  they  remained  for  twenty  years.  In  1867  he 
'with  his  beloved  family  moved  to  Clam  Lake  town- 
ship, Michigan.  His  home  has  been  in  the  township 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  it  at  present  bears,  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death.  Sister  Gane  had  at  the 
time  of  her  death  lived  twenty-three  years  to  a  day 
on  the  old  homestead  farm  in  the  extreme  southeast 
of    Wexford    county. 

The  deceased  was  converted  very  shortly  after 
the  birth  of  his  first  child.  He  seemed  to  have  -been 
impressed  with  the  great  responsibility  resting  upon 
him  to  train  up  the  precious  gift  of  a  dear  child  in 
the  fear  and  admonition  of  the  Lord;  and  while 
standing  in  the  church  of  his  native  land  in  a  prayer 
meeting,  said  as  'he  looked  on  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  building,  "Let  this  be  a  witness  that  I  this  day 
consecrate  my  life  to  God."  Shortly  after,  he 
and  his  young  wife  united  with  the  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odist church  of  the  home  land.  Through  all  these 
vears  he  remained  faithful  to  that  vow  made  in  the 


442 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


spring-time  of  life.  By  the  life  of  such  a  saint  we 
may  learn  something  of  the  spirit  of  early  Method- 
ism. The  Methodists  of  that  time  were  a  very  'happy 
people  They  lived  for  the  other  world.  Like  the 
saints  of  old,  they  regarded  themselves  as  strangers 
and  pilgrims  on  the  earth.  He  was  a  class-leader  for 
more  than  forty  years,  and  no  doitbt  would  have  con- 
tinued the  good  work  but  for  the  fact  that  he  be- 
came dull  of  hearing.  He  delighted  in  visiting  the 
sick  and  dying,  and  in  pointing  them  to  the  only 
.Savior  of  sinners. 

One  could  not  be  long  in  his  company  without 
the  subject  of  religion  being  introduced,  but  in  such 
a  pleasant  and  familiar  way  that  even  the  most  wicked 
could  not  take  offense.  He  seemed  to  breathe  the 
atmosphere  of  the  heavenly  world.  It  was  no  un- 
conmion  thing  for  him  to  spend  an  hour  on  his  knees 
— morning,  noon  and  night.  He  did  not  pray  as  most 
people  do.  He  talked  with  God  as  one  does  to  his 
most  familiar  friend.  Sunday,  December  19,  he  at- 
tended his  last  love-feast,  and  how  cheerful  was  his 
testimony,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  he  could  not 
hear  the  testimony  of  others. 

The  following  week  be  was  looking  forward  to 
the  coming  Sabbath,  telling  his  son  with  whom  he  was 
visiting  that  he  was  glad  that  they  could  attend  the 
service  that  day  together.  But  the  Heavenly  Father 
ordered  otherwise,  for  on  Saturday  night  he  was 
stricken  with  paralysis.  He  was  unconscious  for  a 
time,  but  soon  came  to  himself  so  that  he  understood 
all  that  was  said  to  him.  When  prayer  was  offered, 
several  times  he  responded — ^Amen.  Referring  to 
Job,  he  quoted  his  words  and  said :  'Thoug'h  he  slay 
me  yet  will  I  trust  in  Him."  As  one  gazed  upon  the 
dying  saint  the  words  of  the  ^blessed  book  would  come 
to  his  mind:  "Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his."  At  nine  o'clock 
Thursday  morning,  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan, 
he  passed  to  the  heavenly  mansions  to  meet  the 
blessed  Savior,  the  beloved  companion  of  his  long 
life,  and  the  dear  children  gone  before.  "Blessed  are 
the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth  ;  yea, 
saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors 
and  their  works  do  follow  them." 


ALBERT  L.  SMITH. 

With  both  the  agricultural  and  industrial 
interests  of  Clam  Lake  township  Albert  L. 
Smith  is  identified  and  is  :i  worthy  represent- 


ative of  business  activity  here.  Realizing 
that  ''there  is  no  royal  road  to  wealth''  and 
that  ''there  is  no  excellence  without  labor", 
he  has  worked  earnestly  and  untiringly  to 
win  a  comfortable  competence  and  a  credit- 
able name  in  the  business  world.  He  now 
carries  on  both  farming  and  lumbering, 
being  engaged  in  the  operation  of  a  saw-mill 
in  connection  with  the  tilling  of  the  soil. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  native  of  the  Empire 
state,  his  birth  having  occurred  on  the  23d 
of  June,  1855,  in  Ontario  county.  His 
parents  were  Charles  C.  and  Jane  A. 
(Broom)  Smith,  who  emigrated  westward 
and  spent  their  last  days  in  Kent  county, 
Michigan.  Of  their  four  children  Albert  L. 
Smith  is  the  youngest,  one  is  deceased,  and 
the  others  are:  Mary  Jane,  the  widow  of 
Robert  H.  Lewis,  for  twenty-nine  years  a 
resident  of  this  county,  and  she  has  three  chil- 
dren, Cary  O.,  Albert  L.  and  Emily  L; 
Charles  C,  a  farmer  of  Osecola  county,  mar- 
ried Eliza  vStnith,  and  they  have  five  children. 
The  subject  was  hardly  more  than  an  infant 
when  his  parents  left  New  York  for  In- 
diana and  was  a  lad  of  only  eight  summers 
when  they  took  up  their  a1x)de  in  Kent  coun- 
ty, Michigan,  where  he  continued  his  educa- 
tion that  had  been  begun  in  the  schools  of 
Indiana.  In  the  summer  months  he  worked 
in  the  lumber  business,  and  was  trained  to 
habits  of  industry,  economy  and  honesty. 
He  continued  his  residence  in  Kent  county, 
until  1890,  when  he  made  his  way  to  Osceola 
county,  but  chose  his  location  in  Clam 
Lake  township,  where  he  has  since  made  his 
liome,  having  here  a  good  farm  of  ninety- six 
cicres  of  rich  land.  While  plowing,  planting 
and  harvesting  claims  considerable  of  his 
attention,  he  also  has  other  business  inter- 
ests, for  he  owns  and  operates  a  saw-mill 


ALBERT   L.   SMITH   RESIDENCE. 


IV  EX  FORD    CQUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


443 


and  is  thus  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of 
himber,  for  which  he  finds  a  ready  sale. 
Industry  is  the  keynote  of  his  character  and 
he  places  his  dependence  not  upon  specu- 
lation or  upon  any  fortunate  combination  of 
circumstances,  but  continued,  persistent 
effort,  guided  by  sound  judgment. 

In  Osceola  county,  Michigan,  on  the  23(1 
of  January,  1881,  was  celebrated  the  mar- 
riage of  Mr.  Smith  and  Miss  Mahala  A. 
Williams,  a  native  of  Wells  county,  Indiana, 
born  on  the  8th  of  May,  1857.  She  is  a 
daughter  of  Francis  M.  and  Mary  E.  (Rich- 
ards) Williams.  Her  mother,  who  bore  the 
maiden  name  of  Mary  E.  Richards,  died  in 
Wells  county,  September  23,  1873.  Mrs. 
Smith  is  the  eldest  of  the  eight  children  born 
unto  her  parents,  of  whom  the  following  are 
living:  Mrs.  Smith;  John  R.,  a  farmier,  who 
is  married  and  lives  in  Antrim  county ;  Da- 
vid H.;  Isaac  N.,  of  Osceola  county;  Jo- 
seph L.,  also  of  Osceola  county.  By  her 
marriage  Mrs.  Smith  has  become  the  moth- 
er of  four  children  :  Lena,  Guy  L.,  Charlotte 
and  Bessie  E.  The  family  is  well  known  in 
Wexford  county  and  the  members  of  the 
household  occupy  an  enviable  position  in  the 
social  circles  in  which  they  move.  During 
the  thirteen  years  of  his  residence  in  this 
part  of  the  state  Mr.  Smith  has  so  directed 
his  efforts  that  a  paying  business  is  now  his 
and  a  good  home  property.  Both  his  agri- 
cultural and  industrial  interests  return  to 
him  a  good  income  and  he  is  known  as  a 
reliable  man,  the  potent  traits  of  his  character 
being  his  perseverance  and  diligence.  His 
beautiful  residence  w^as  built  almost  entirely 
by  his  own  hands,  and  in  furnishing  it  in  its 
present  cosy  style  his  wife  has  fully  done  her 
part.     Their  cash  assets  upon  coming  to  this 


county  were  but  eleven  dollars,  so  they  may 
justifiably  look  upon  their  subsequent  success 
with  a  large  degree  of  pride  and  satisfaction. 


JOHN    OLSEN. 

To  the  subject  of  this  review  is  accorded 
the  distinction  of  being  the  pioneer  boot  and 
shoe  merchant  of  Cadillac,  consequently  he  is 
one  of  the  city's  oldest  as  well  as  one  of  its 
representative  business  men.  As  the  name 
indicates,  Mr.  Olsen  is  of  Scandinavian 
birth,  being  a  native  of  Norway,  w^here  he 
was  born  on  the  2d  day  of  December,  1849, 
having  first  seen  the  light  of  day  in  the  town 
of  Sabo.  Until  twelve  years  old  he  lived  on 
a  farm  near  his  native  place  and  at  intervals 
during  that  time  attended  tlie  schools  of  his 
neighborhood,  receiving  an  elementary  train- 
ing, which  was  afterwards  supplemented  by 
additional  study,  principally  under  his  own 
direction.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left  home 
and  went  to  the  city  of  Birgen,  where  he 
learned  shoemaking,  spending  six  and  a  half 
years  at  that  place,  during  which  period  he 
not  only  l>ecame  a  very  efficient  workman, 
but  earned  considerable  money  at  his  trade. 

Eol lowing  the  example  of  many  of  his 
countrymen,  Mr.  Olsen,  in  1871,  came  to  the 
United  States,  locating  in  Chicago,  where  he 
followed  his  chosen  calling  until  October, 
1874,  meanwhile  experiencing  all  the  horrors 
of  the  terrible  conflagration  which  laid  the 
greater  part  of  that  city  in  ashes.  In  the  lat- 
ter month  and  year  he  was  sent  to  Cadillac 
by  his  employer,  O.  F.  Bloss,  to  take  charge 
of  a  stock  of  boots  and  shoes,  in  connection 
with  which  he  also  worked  at  his  trade,  the 


27 


444 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN. 


business  being  the  first  of  the  kind  brought  to 
the  town.  Mr.  Olsen  conducted  the  business 
for  Mr.  Bloss  until  1879,  in  the  spring  of 
which  year  lie  resig*ned  his  charge  for  the 
purpose  of  embarking  in  mercantile  pursuits 
upon  his  own  accoinit,  selecting  the  line  of 
trade  with  which  he  was  most  familiar, — 
boots  and  shoes.  His  previous  wide  ac- 
quaintance and  honorable  dealing  gave  him 
considerable  prestige  and  it  was  not  long'  un- 
til he  forged  tO'  the  front  as  the  leading  shoe 
merchant  in  the  place,  a  reputation  he  still 
sustains.  For  almost  thirty  years  he  has 
been  identified  w^th  the  commercial  interests 
of  Cadillac,  during  which  time  he  has  not 
only  built  up  a  large  and  financially  suc- 
cessful business  of  his  own  and  acquired  a 
comfortable  competence,  but  he  has  also  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  material  advancement 
of  the  city,  taking  an  active  interest  in  its 
general  growth  and  development  and  using 
his  influence  to  advertise  its  advantages  to 
the  world. 

On  August  1,  1879,  Mr.  Olsen  was  uni- 
ted in  marriage  with  Miss  Sophia  Symmson, 
a  native  of  Sweden,  the  union  being  blessed 
with  eight  children,  whose  names  are  as  fol- 
lows:  Fred,  who  died  March  15,  1903,  Ar- 
thur, John  F.,  Ada  E.,  Anna,  Mabel,  Helen, 
and  Marion,  who  died  May  16,  1903.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Olsen  are  influential  members  of 
the  Swedish  Mission  church  of  Cadillac,  lx)th 
active  in  the  good  works  of  the  congregation 
and  untiring  in  their  efforts  to  spread  the 
truths  of  the  gospel  among  the  people  with 
whom  they  mingle. 

While  retaining  a  warm  feeling  for  his 
native  land  and  manifesting  a  lively  interest 
in  its  public  affairs,  Mr.  Olsen  is  neverthe- 
less an  enthusiastic  American,  with  a  love 
for  his  adopted  country  and  an  admiration 


for  its  institutions  outweighing  nearly  every 
other  consideration.  Here  the  greater  and 
more  important  part  of  his  life  work  has  been 
accomplished  and  what  success  he  has 
achieved  has  been  wrought  out  under  the 
fostering  conditions  such  as  no  other  coun- 
try in  the  world  affords.  In  the  spring  of 
1887  Mr.  Olsen  revisited  his  native  land  and 
spent  about  three  months  amid  the  scenes  of 
his  childhood  and  youth,  renewing  old  ac- 
quaintances and  noting  with  not  a  little 
pathos  the  numerous  changes  that  had  taken 
place  since  he  left  the  dear  old  home,  so 
many  years  before.  On  the  whole,  his  stay 
was  pleasant  and  when  he  returned  it  was 
with  more  satisfaction  than  .ever  that  he  con- 
templated the  new  home  and  the  many  ad- 
vantages it  possesses  over  the  older  and  more, 
romantic  scenes  of  a  home  which  hereafter 
will  exist  only  as  a  pleasing  memory. 

As  a  citizen  Mr.  Olsen  discharges  every 
duty  incumbent  upon  him  with  an  eye  to  the 
good  of  the  community  and  the  state,  stand- 
ing for  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  laws  and 
lending  his  influence  and  support  to  every 
laudable  measure  whereby  the  tody  politic 
may  be  benefited.  Since  coming  to  Cadillac, 
his  life  and  the  city's  growth  have  been  pret- 
ty much  one  and  the  same  thing,  for  he  has 
appreciated  the  needs  of  the  community  and 
with  lavish  hand  has  supplied  the  same  as 
far  as  the  limits  of  his  ability  would  permit. 
Every  worthy  project  for  the  material,  so- 
cial or  moral  well-being  of  his  fellow  men 
has  received  his  sanction  and,  if  necessary, 
his  financial  support  and  all  his  relations 
with  the  world  have  been  characterized  by  a 
sense  of  honor  bespeaking  the  upright  man 
and  true  lover  of  his  kind.  Mr.  Olsen's  life 
has  been  largely  confined  to  business  and 
from  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  an  inde- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY /MICHIGAN. 


445 


pendent  factor  to  the  present  time  he  has 
made  the  most  of  his  opportunities,  his  suc- 
cess not  being  due  to  fortunate  combination 
of  circumstances,  but  to-  his  well-directed  ef- 
forts and  earnest  enterprise.  As  stated  in  a 
preceding-  paragraph,  he  has  not  circum- 
scribed his  progressive  spirit  within  selfish 
and  narrow  Ijounds,  luit  on  the  contrary  has 
ever  stood  ready  to  lend  his  influence  and 
tangible  aid  in  furthering  such  interests  as 
make  for  the  benefit  of  the  city  and  its  peo- 
ple, being  broad  minded  and  public  spirited, 
in  brief,  a  man  whose  value  to  the  commu- 
nity is  not  to  be  lightly  estimated. 


LESTER    C.  MACEY. 

A  citizen  of  the  United  States  can  have 
no  greater  badge  of  honor  than  the  distinc- 
tion of  having  served  the  government  in  the 
four  years  of  war  between  the  states.  It  is 
a  sacred  family  inheritance  of  renown,  to  be 
prized  like  a  jewel  by  all  descendants  and 
kept  bright  and  untarnished  by  other  acts 
of  valor,  patriotism  and  loyalty  in  the  inter- 
est of  free  government.  Among  the  honored 
old  veterans  of  the  great  Rebellion  now  re- 
siding in  Wexford  county  is  Lester  C.  Ma- 
cey,  the  subject  of  this  review.  A  native  of 
Burlington,  Vermont,  springing  from  the 
sturdy  stock  of  the  Green  Mountain  state,  it 
is  no  wonder  that  he  has  an  army  record 
during  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  of  which 
any  man  might  be  proud.  October  14,  1861, 
he  entered  the  Federal  service,  re-enlisted 
each  time  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  en- 
listment and  served  until  after  the  last  shot 
of  the  great  Civil  war  had  been  fired.  His 
honorable  discharge  is  dated  in   February, 

1865. 


Lester  C.  Macey,  whose  farm  is  a  part 
of  section  9,  Haring  township,  Wexford 
county,  was  lx)rn  at  the  parental  home  in 
Burlington,  Vermont,  September  11,  1846. 
His  parents  were  Charles  and  Harriett 
(Stowe)  Macey,  both  natives  of  Vermont. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children,  of 
whom  Lester  C.  Macey  was  the  fourth.  In 
1850  the  family  moved  to  Clinton  county, 
New  York,  located  on  a  farm  and  there  re- 
sided until  the  death  of  the  father,  at  the  age 
of  seventy-two  years.  The  mother  is  still 
living,  aged  ninety-one  years. 

October  14,  1861,  when  but  fifteen  years 
of  age,  Lester  C.  Macey  enlisted  in  Company 
K,  Ninety-sixth  New  York  Volunteer  In- 
fantry, and  served  from  that  time  until  mid- 
summer, June  18,  1864.  He  took  part  in 
nearly  all  of  tlie  most  sanguinary  battles  of 
tlie  Rebellion  and  escaped  not  only  with  his 
life,  ]:)Ut  without  being  maimed  or  very  badly 
crippled.  His  most  serious  injury  was  re- 
ceived in  front  of  Petersburg,  Virginia,  on 
the  Weldon  Railroad,  on  the  i8th  of  June, 
1864,  He  was  severely  wounded  in  the 
right  leg  and  for  a  time  it  was  feared  that 
amputation  might  be  necessary,  but  he  was 
fortunate  in  being  able  to  save  this  member. 
Some  of  the  battles  and  engagements  in 
which  he  participated  are  Antietam,  Mary- 
land, September  16  and  17,  1862;  South 
Mountain,  Maryland,  September  13  and  14, 
1862;  the  Peninsular  campaign,  Virginia, 
March  17  to  September  2,  1862;  Fair  Oaks, 
May  31  and  June  i,  8,  18  and  27,  1862; 
Gaines  Farm,  May  14  and  15,  1862;  Mal- 
vern Hill,  Virginia,  July  i,  2  and  23,  and 
August  2,  5,  6  and  8,  1862.  He  also  partic- 
ipated in  the  many  battles,  engagements  and 
skirmishes  in  Northh  Carolina  while  under 
the  command  of  General  Foster.  He  was  at 


446 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  June  26  and  July 
I  to  3,  1863,  and  in  the  battles  of  the  Wilder- 
ness, V^irginia,  in  May,  1864,  he  was  with 
his  regiment  and  saw  some  superb  fighting 
all  along  the  line  for  several  days. 

On  leaving  the  army  he  returned  for  a 
short  time  to  Clinton  county.  New  York, 
then  moved  to  Michigan  and  soon  thereafter 
'located  in  Manistee  county,  securing  employ- 
ment in  the  woods,  logging  and  lumbering, 
which  he  followed  for  eight  years.  He  then 
purchased  a  forty-acre  tract  of  land,  part  of 
section  9,  Haring  township;  where  he  estab- 
lished a  home  and  where  he  has  since  resided. 

October  29,  1876,  in  the  city  of  Cadillac, 
Wexford  county,  Lester  C.  Macey  was  uni- 
ted in  marriage  to  Miss  Carrie  C.  Warren,  a 
native  of  New  York,  l>orn  May  8,  1854.  Her 
parents  were  Zephiniah  and  Elizabeth  (Mc- 
Corey)  Warren.  He  was  a  native  of  Ver- 
mont, while  the  place  of  her  birth  was  Can- 
ada. They  were  the  parents  of  seven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Carrie  C,  wife  of  the  subject, 
was  the  fifth  in  order  of  birth.  Mr.  Warren 
was  ninety-one  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  Ehzabeth,  his  faithful  wife,  is  a  resi- 
dent of  East  Randolph,  Cattaraugus  coun- 
ty. New  York,  being  now  aged  seventy-eight. 
To  the  union  of  Lester  C.  and  Carrie  C. 
(Warren)  Macey  five  children  have  l^een 
]x)rn,  two  of  whom  died  early  in  life.  Ches- 
ter A.  was  only  permitted  to  enjoy  one  year 
of  earthly  existence,  and  Eva  M.  gladdened 
the  hearts  of  her  parents  for  seven  years, 
when  death  claimed  her.  The  living  chil- 
dren are  Edith,  Myrtle  and  Almeda.  Tliey 
are  intelligent,  well  educated  and  modest, 
young  ladies  who  by  their  winning  ways  and 
many  accomplishments  make  the  family 
home  a  most  enjoyable  one. 

Despite  the  eminent  services  he  rendered 


his  country,  Lester  C.  Macey  has  never  taken 
very  kindly  to  politics.  Lie  has  never  sought 
public  place  of  any  kind.  At  one  time  he  was 
induced  to  accept  the  position  of  drainage 
commissioner  of  Haring  township,  but  he 
did  not  really  want  the  place  and  was  only 
too  glad  when  his  term  of  office  expired. 
There  are  many  men  all  over  this  country, 
whose  military  records  pale  into  insignifi- 
cance before  that  of  Lester  C.  Macey,  who 
are  using  their  alleged  military  achievements 
to  boost  them  into  public  places.  He  would 
scorn  to  make  use  of  what  he  did  through 
patriotic  motives  for  so  base  a  purpose.  Men 
of  his  candor,  frankness  and  honesty  very 
rarely  make  a  success  of  politics.  The  only 
fraternal  society  to  which  he  belongs  is  the 
Masons.  He  is  a  member  of  Cadillac  Lodge 
No.  331,  Eree  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  a 
more  sincere  and  conscientious  member  of 
the  order  it  would  be  difficult  to  find. 


GEORGE    D.  WESTOVER. 

Upon  the  industrial  activity  of  a  commu- 
nity depends  in  a  large  measure  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  people  and  the  men  recognized  as 
the  directors  of  progress  are  those  who  have 
in  hand  the  management  and  control  of  im- 
portant public  enterprises.  The  gentleman 
whose  name  furnishes  the  caption  of  this 
review  is  entitled  to  distinction  as  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  in  the  material  growth  of 
Cadillac,  having  been  identified  with  the 
city's  advancement  in  various  capacities,  be- 
ing at  the  present  time  superintendent  of  the 
water  and  electric  light  plant,  in  the  estab- 
Ifshment  and  construction  of  which  he  was 
also  an  active  and  influential  factor.     George 


WEXPORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


447 


D.  W^estover  is  a  native  of  Michigan,  born 
in  the  town  of  Nnnica,  Ottawa  county,  on 
tlie  26th  day  of  April,  1865.     His  father,  the 
late   Charles    D.    Westover,    was   for   many 
years  a  prominent  l}usiness  man  of  this  state 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  March  2y,  1887, 
was  the  leading  lumber  dealer  of  Cadillac, 
also  one  of  the  city's  most  enterprising  and 
public-spirited  citizens.     The  maiden  name 
of   the   subject's   mother   was   Ruth   Lowe; 
she  was  born  in  Michigan,  bore  her  husband 
four  children  and  departed  this  life  at  iMaiit- 
port,  Muskegon  county,  February  20,  1900. 
George  1).  Westover,  the  youngest  child 
of   the   above  parents,    spent   his   childhood 
and  youth  in  his  native  county  and  received 
his  educational  training  in  the  public  schools, 
his  mind  early  taking  bent  towards  the  more 
practical  affairs  of  life.     While  a  mere  lad 
he  became  familiar  w^ith  the  underlying  prin- 
ciples of  business  and  shortly  after  the  fam- 
ily's removal  to  Cadillac,  in  1881,  he  engaged 
in  lumbering  as  his  father's  partner,  the  rela- 
tionship continuing  about  three  years.      At 
the  expiration  of  that  time  he  accepted  a  po- 
sition with  the   Waterhouse  Electric  Com- 
])any  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  subsequently 
absorbed    1)y    the  Westinghouse   Company, 
where  he  soon  acquired  efficiency  as  an  elec- 
trical  engineer,  and  it  was  wdiile  thus  en- 
gaged that  he  superintended  the  construction 
of  the  first  electric  light  plant  at  Cadillac. 
After  installing  the  works  in  this  city,  Mr. 
Westover,  as  constructing  engineer  for  the 
Westinghouse   Company,    then   entered   the 
employ  of  the  EcHson  Light  Company,  of 
Grand  Rapids,  and  while  there  rose  to  an 
important  position,  continually  adding  to  his 
already  well-established  reputation  as  a  skill- 
ful electrician  and  able  mechanical  engineer. 
Severing  his  connection  wdth  the  above  com- 


pany, he  became  interested  in  electric  rail- 
road construction  and  in  1890  built  the  first 
electric   railway   line   in   the  city   of   Grand 
Rapids,  which  enterprise  brought  his  name 
prominently  before  the  public  throughout  the 
state.     After  completing  the  work,  he  con- 
tinued  about   one   year   in    the   capacity   of 
erecting  engineer,  at  the  end  of  which  time 
he  again  accepted  a  position  wdth  the  Edison 
Company,    remaining   wdth    the   same   until 
1893,  when  he  resigned  for  the  purpose  of 
taking  charge,  as  manager  of  the  city  water 
works  and  the  Cummer  Electric  Light  Com- 
])any     of     Cadillac.      As    superintendent   of 
these  important  public  enterprises  Mr.  West- 
over  displays  abilities  of  a  high  order,  both 
mechanical  and  executive,  and  his  functions 
have  been  discharged  in  a  manner  creditable 
to  himself  and  satisfactory  to  the  people  of 
the  city.      An  accomplished  electrician  and 
thoroughly  familiar  w^ith  every  detail  of  me- 
chanical engineering,  his  manifold  duties  are 
so  systematically  arranged  as  to  cause  him 
no  inconvenience,  while  as  custodian  of  one 
of  the  leading  interests  of  the  city,  his  record 
has    teen    honorable    and    upright,     never 
swer\^ing  from  the  strict  path  of  rectitude, 
but  ahvays  proving  able  to  discharge  worth- 
ily the  responsibilities  resting  upon  him  as 
chief  factor  in  a  station  demanding  the  high- 
est order  of  business  talent.     He  has  labored 
earnestly   to  promote  the  efficiency,  of   the 
work  in  hand,  subordinating  every  other  con- 
sideration to  this  one  object,  and  it  is  con- 
ceded that  the  continued  success  of  1x)th  en- 
terprises is  directly  attributable  to  his  energy 
and  systematic  business  methods. 

Aside  from  his  connection  with  Cad- 
illac's pul)lic  works,  Mr.  Westover  has  l)een 
an  influential  factor  in  its  general  business 
and  industrial  interests,  every  enterprise  cal- 


448 


H^  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


ciliated  to  advance  the  city,  materially  or 
otherwise,  receiving  his  hearty  co-operation 
and  support.  He  is  unwavering  in  his  ad- 
vocacy of  what  he  believes  to  be  for  the  pub- 
lic good,  upholds  his  honest  convictions  at 
the  sacrifice  of  every  other  interest,  and  is 
ever  ready  to  lend  his  influence  and,  if  need 
be,  his  financial  assistance  to  further  all 
movements  having  for  their  object  the  social 
and  moral  improvement  of  the  community. 
As  a  citizen  he  is  deservedly  jxjpular  with  the 
people  of  his  adopted  city,  standing  Jiigh  in 
the  esteem  of  all  classes  and  conditions  and 
to  the  poor  and  needy  he  is  ever  ready  to  lend 
a  helping  hand,  charity  and  benevolence  be- 
ing among  his  most  marked  characteristics. 
Mr.  Westover  is  in  the  prime  of  vigorous 
physical  and  mental  manhood,  a  ''hustler"  in 
all  the  term  implies,  and  the  series  of  con- 
tinued successes  that  have  attended  his  ca- 
reer thus  far  bespeak  a  still  wider  and  more 
promising  field  of  endeavor  in  years  to  come. 
Politically  he  gives  his  support  to  the  Demo- 
cratic party,  but  the  wiles  and  chicanery  of 
the  professional  partisan  meet  no  favor  at 
his  hands  and  he  is  by  no  means  an  aspirant 
for  public  distinction  or  a  seeker  after  the 
honors  or  emoluments  of  office.  While 
earnest  in  the  support  of  his  principles  and  al- 
ways ready  to  assign  an  intelligent  reason 
for  his  opinions,  he  is,  first  of  all,  a  man  of 
business,  making  everything  else  secondary 
to  his  public  obligations.  Mr.  Westover  is 
a  married  man  and  has  a  beautiful  home, 
which  was  presided  over  with  grace  and  dig- 
nity by  an  intelligent  and  refined  lady  to 
whom  he  was  united  in  the  bonds  of  wed- 
lock on  the  5th  day  of  April,  1893.  M^^s. 
Westover  was  formerly  Miss  Eugenia  E. 
Camp,  daughter  of  John  Camp,  of  Grand 
Rapids,  ii^  which  city  she  wa§  reared  cj^ncj  ed- 


ucated. This  union,  a  most  fortunate  and 
happy  one,  was  blessed  with  one  child,  a 
daughter  by  the  name  of  Marion  E.,  in 
whom  are  centered  many  fond  hopes  for  the 
future.  Mrs.  Westover  passed  from  this 
earth  on  December  24,  1902,  and  was  in- 
terred in  Oak  Hill  cemetery.  Grand  Rapids. 
In  closing  this  brief  sketch  of  one  of 
Cadillac's  most  energetic  and  progressive 
young  men  of  affairs,  suffice  it  to  state  in 
brief  that  Mr.  Westover's  duties  as  a  citizen 
have  been  discharged  with  the  same  fidelity 
that  has  characterized  his  career  as  a  public 
servant ;  he  is  a  valuable  member  of  the  body 
politic  and  his  main  object  has  always  been 
to  shape  his  life  and  conduct  according  to 
the  highest  standing  of  excellence.  He  en- 
tertains noble  aims  and  high  ideals  and  the 
consensus  of  opinion  is  that  he  stands  before 
the  world  a  model  of  the  successful  business 
man  and  a  true  type  of  the  courteous,  broad- 
minded  gentleman. 


^» » 


ELON     CORNELL. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  appears 
above  is  one  of  the  brave,  indomitable  spirits 
to  whom  the  present  generation  is  so  largely 
indebted  for  the  transformation  of  the  wil- 
derness of  Wexford  county  into  a  dominion 
of  civilization  and  enlightenment.  Endowed 
by  nature  with  strong  bodily  power  and 
marked  characteristics  that  have  made  him 
efficient  in  the  mission  he  was  born  to  ful- 
fill, he  has  labored  hard  and  done  much  to 
confer  the  blessing  of  progress  upon  this 
part  of  the  state,  being  now  one  of  the  oldest 
as  well  as  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
highly  respected  citizens  of  the  township  in 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


449 


which  he  resides  and  with  the  development 
of  which  he  has  so  long  been  identified. 

Elon  Cornell  is  a  native  of  Steuben 
county,  New  York,  where  he  was  born  on 
the  6th  day  of  July,  1836,  the  son  of  Elisha 
and  Myrtle  Cornell,  the  latter  before  her 
marriage  having  been  a  Chrissler.  These  ])a-- 
rents  reared  a  family  of  eleven  children  and 
died  a  number  of  years  ago  in  their  native 
state,  honored  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  them.  Of  the  large  family  that  once 
gathered  around  their  hearthstone  the  sul)- 
ject  of  this  sketch  is  next  to  the  youngest. 
His  father  being  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  Elon  was 
reared  on  the  farm,  early  became  familiar 
with  its  varied  duties  and  wdien  old  enough 
to  begin  life  for  himself  w^isely  decided  to 
devote  his  time  to  husbandry.  After  re- 
maining on  the  old  homestead  until  his  mar- 
riage, which  was  solemnized  February  22, 
1839,  with  Miss  Phoebe  Masters  he  set- 
tled on  a  farm  in  his  native  county  and  there 
lived  until  1863,  in  October  of  which  year  he 
sold  out  and  moved  his  family  to  the  new 
and  sparsely  populated  country  of  northern 
Michigan,  taking  possession  of  a  homestead 
in  W^exford  county  which  he  had  entered  the 
previous   summer. 

Mr,  CornelFs  claim  was  in  what  is  now 
Wexford  township  and,  the  country  being 
wild  and  no  neighbor  nearer  than  several 
miles,  a  more  uninviting  prospect  than  the 
new  home  in  the  wilderness  presented  would 
be  difficult  to  imagine.  Dense  forests  cov- 
ered the  land,  amid  the  sombre  recesses  of 
which  but  few  white  people  had  penetrated, 
wild  animals,  numerous  and  some  of  them 
fierce,  were  everywhere  in  evidence,  and  the 
future  outlook  was  anything  but  liright  and 
encouraging.  After  hastily  constructing  a 
rude  log  shanty  for  his  faniily,  Mr.  Cornell, 


with  the  lively  hope  which  has  always  char- 
acterized him,  beg^an  the  work  of  clearing 
his  place  and  it  was  not  long  until  he  suc- 
ceeded  in   removing  the  timber   from   two 
acres  and  geting  the  soil  under  cultivation. 
He  continued  to  prosecute  his  labors  with 
diligence  until    his    area    of    tillable    land 
amounted  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres, 
the  meui while  making  other  improvements 
in  the  way  of  buildings,  etc.,  one  of  which 
was  the  erection  of  a  residence  of  enlarged 
proportions  to  take  the  place  of  the  little 
I  cabin,  within  the  humble  walls  of  which  the 
;  family    experienced    many    vicissitudes    and 
I  hardships  of  pioneer  life. 
I  Mr.  Cornell  took  an  active  interest  in  the 

I  growth  and  development  of  the  country,,  as- 
I  sisted  the  new  comers  by  every  means  w'ith- 
i  in  his  power,  and  as  years  went  by  became 
I  one  of  the  leading  men  and  influential  citi- 
i  zens  of  his  community.    By  industry  and  well 
!  regulated  thrift  he  succeeded  in  placing  him- 
I  self   in   comfortable   circumstances,   besides 
I  laying  by  a  competency  for  old  age,  after 
which  he  divided  his  land  among  his  sons, 
reserving  for  his  own  and  his  wife's  use  the 
homestead  and  about  fifty  acres  surrounding. 
He  is  now  practically  retired,  finding  it  no 
longer  necessary  to  labor,  as  his  livelihood 
is  assured,    and    in  a    pleasant  home,    sur- 
rounded by  many    conveniences,    with    de- 
voted sons  and  daughters  to  minister  to  his 
comfort,  he  is  spending  his  declining  years 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  toil. 

While  at  all  times  devoting  attention  to 
his  own  interests  and  laboring  hard  to  pro- 
vide for  those  dependent  upon  him,  Mr. 
Cornell  has  never  failed  in  his  duties  as  a 
citizen  or  neglected  his  obligation  to  the  pub- 
lic. For  many  years  he  was  an  active  fac- 
tor in  township  and  county  affairs,  served 


450 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


as  township  trustee  and  highway  commis- 
sioner and  worked  zealously  for  the  success 
of  the  political  party  with  which  he  afiiliated  ; 
but  with  advancing  age  he  gradually  with- 
drew from  participation  in  such  matters, 
though  he  still  keeps  in  touch  with  the  world 
of  thought  and  the  trend  of  current  events. 
In  his  religious  belief  he  is  a  Methodist,  as 
is  also  his  good  wife,  both  being  zealous 
members  of  the  church,  dignifying  their 
profession  by  word  and  deed  and  duly  ap- 
preciating their  high  privileges  as  disciples 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  Nazarene.  Mrs. 
Cornell  was  born  May  13,  1843,  ^^  Steuben 
county,  New  York,  her  ancestors  having 
been  early  settlers  of  that  section  of  the  Em- 
pire state.  She  is  the  mother  of  four  chil- 
dren, whose  names  are  William,  Edwin, 
Eliza  and  Lucy,  Eliza  being  the  wife  of  Ed- 
w^ard  Millman  and  Lucy  marrying  Martin 
Stoack,  both  gentlemen  residents  of  Wex- 
ford county. 


HENRY  CLAY   McNITT. 

If  it  be  true — and  there  is  good  authority 
for  the  statement — that  one's  environment 
has  much  to  do  in  influencing  his  character, 
then  the  men  who  have  had  the  good  fortune 
to  pass  their  lives  in  the  midst  of  movements 
which  have  brought  atout  the  rapid  devel- 
opment and  remarkable  advancement  of 
northern  Michigan  may  well  be  expected  to 
exhibit  independence,  self-reliance,  enterprise 
and  practical  sagacity.  In  the  life  of  the 
subject  of  this  review,  Henry  Clay  McNitt, 
may  be  found  those  qualities  in  a  marked 
degree.  His  success  is  leased  upon  a  prompt 
and  judicious  use  of  opportunity. 

Henry  Clay  McNitt  is  a  native  of  the 


state  of  Michigan,  having  been  born  in 
Sparta,  Kent  county,  March  19,  1849.  ^^^ 
parents  were  Horace  and  Sarah  (Whitney) 
McNitt,  natives  of  Ohio  and  early  pioneers 
of  Wexford  county.  They  settled  first  in 
Boon  township,  where  they  remained  a  few 
years,  then  moved  to  Haring  township,  and 
resided  there  until  their  death.  They  were 
the  parents  of  five  children,  of  whom  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  the  second. 

In  his  native  county  of  Kent  Henry  C. 
McNitt  was  reared  and  educated.  He  at- 
tended school  at  Grand  Rapids,  the  county 
seat,  and  improved  his  time  and  the  opportu- 
nities offered  so  well  that  today  he  is  not 
only  a  well  informed  man,  but  in  many  re- 
gards may  be  considered  learned.  All  of 
the  hours  of  the  day  outside  of  the  school- 
room were  devoted  to  farming,  in  which 
vocation  he  became  quite  successful.  He 
moved  from  Kent  county  to  Eayette  county, 
Illinois,  wdiere  he  lived  for  six  years,  then 
returned  to  Kent  county  and  l^ecame  inter- 
ested in  the  mercantile  business.  Though 
never  schooled  in  that  fine  of  business,  he 
readily  grasped  all  the  details  of  the  vocation 
and  took  more  kindly  to  the  calling  than 
many  who  were  specially  prepared  for  the 
w^ork  by  education  and  training.  In  1880, 
discovering  that  Wexford  county  had  sever- 
al places  where  a  nice  mercantile  business 
might  be  successfully  conducted,  he  came 
here  and  opened  stores  in  Haring,  Round 
Lake  and  Jennings.  During  the  eight  years 
he  was  in  business  at  those  ]X)ints  he  pros- 
pered even  beyond  his  brightest  hopes. 
Later  he  opened  a  store  at  Cadillac,  the  coun- 
ty seat,  and  continued  in  business  there  until 
1892,  when  he  purchased  a  farm  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  acres  in  section  15,  Haring 
township.     He  has  spent  quite  an  amount 


~hayC,HH-f 


H.  C.  McNITT  GROUP. 


JV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


451 


of  money  in  making  improvemjents.  One 
luindred  and  thirty  acres  are  cleared  and  im- 
der  cultivation  and  the  place  is  supplied  with 
good  substantial  buildings  of  all  kinds.  He 
has  erected  u])on  it  a  large,  comfortable 
home  and  will  furnish  it  in  a  style  befitting 
the  home  of  a  man  in  his  comfortable  finan- 
cial condition. 

On  the  r/th  day  of  March,  1886,  at  Jen- 
nings, Missaukee  county,  Michigan,  Henry 
C.  McNitt  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Carrie  B.  Anderson,  a  native  of  Indiana, 
born  in  Michigan  City,  Feb.  9,  1865.  Her 
parents  were  George  A.  and  Carrie  (Cong- 
don)  Anderson,  of  Harrietta,  Wexford 
county.  Mrs.  McNitt  is  a  lady  of  tact  and 
ability  who  by  her  good  judgment  and  dis- 
cretion has  been  a  valuable  assistant  to  her 
husband  in  all  of  his  business  ventures. 
They  are  the  parents  of  three  children, 
bright,  intelligent  boys,  who  not  only  reflect 
credit  upon  the  family  but  upon  the  rearing 
and  training  they  have  received.  The  chil- 
dren are:  Henry  Clyde,  a  student  at  Farris 
Institute,  Earl  and  Clarence. 

Busy  as  his  life  has  been,  Henry  C.  Mc- 
Nitt has  found  time  to  interest  himself  in 
every  ])ublic  enterprise  set  on  foot  to  promote 
the  welfare,  growth  and  development  of  the 
township  in  which  he  lives  and  of  the  county 
at  large.  He  has  served  as  an  official  in  some 
of  the  local  offices  of  Haring  township,  but 
his  election  to  those  positions  was  not  of  his 
seeking.  He  has  always  felt  that  he  could 
be  of  more  service  to  his  people  and  the  local- 
ity of  his  residence  as  a  private  citizen  than 
he  could  in  any  official  position.  He  is  a 
true,  distinctive  and  representative  American 
— one  of  those  whose  genius  for  business  is 
a  constant  source  of  astonishment  to  the 
natives  of  other  countries. 


CYRIL  H.  TYLER. 

A    single   county   of   a   great   common- 
wealth may  be  considered  a  very  inconsid- 
erable part  of  it.     It  is,  nevertheless,  true 
that  this  wdiole  nation  is  made  up  of  just 
such   humble   municipalities,   and   each   one 
deserves  its  portion  of  honor  and  renown  for 
what  it  contributes  to  the  wealth  and  power 
of  the  state  and  the  nation.     Under  those 
circumstances  Wexford  county  has  a  claim 
to  considerable  attention,  and  the  men  who 
had  the  work  of  moulding  its  infancy  and  di- 
recting its  organization  in  such  lines  as  have 
led  to  its  present  importance  and  position 
deserve  much  honor  and  everlasting  remem- 
l^rance,   particularly   by   those   who  call   its 
territory  their  home,  and  have,  therefore,  a 
pardonable   pride   in   its    institutions.     One 
[  of  those  who  took  an  important  part  in  mak- 
ing this  portion  of  northern  Michigan  what 
it  is  today  is  the  subject  of  this  review,  Cyril 
H.  Tyler,  lumberman  and  farmer,  of  Man- 
ton.     For  more  than  fifty  years  he  has  been 
a  resident  of  Michigan  and  each  one  of  those 
years  has  witnessed  something  done  by  him 
which   added    to    the    material    wealth   and 
prosperity  of  the  state  and  the  county  in 
which    he   lived. 

Cyril  H.  Tyler  is  a  native  of  New  Y'ork, 
born  in  Yates  county,  February  11,  1841. 
His  parents  were  Rufus  and  Amy  ( Farn- 
ham)  Tyler,  he  born  in  Madison  county. 
New  York,  in  1816,  she  in  Genesee  county, 
New  York,  in  18 18.  They  were  married 
in  1840  and  twelve  years  thereafter,  in  1852, 
the  family  moved  to  Kalamazoo  county, 
Michigan,  where  they  resided  for  twenty 
years.  In  1872  they  moved  to  Wexford 
county,  and  about  a  year  later  they  set- 
tled in  Grand  IVaverse  county,  where  they 


452 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


lived  until  1893,  when  they  returned  to 
Wexford  county  and  settled  in  Manton. 
Rufus  Tyler  died  in  Manton,  August  27, 
J 894,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his- age. 
Amy  Tyler  is  still  living,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-five  years.  They  were  the  parents  of 
three  children,  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  oldest 
child  of  the  family. 

In  Kalamazoo  county  the  subject  grew  to 
manhood  and  secured  the  benefits  of  a  fair 
common  school  education.  He  then  took  up 
the  calling  of  a  farmer  and  followed  it  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion 
cilled  him  to  a  different  and  more  hazard- 
ous line  of  employment.  August  14,  1861, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  I,  Seventh  Regiment 
Michigan  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served 
three  years.  He  participated  in  some  of 
the  most  important  battles  of  that  deadly 
conflict,  among  them  Fair  Oaks,  May  31 
and  June  1,  1862 ;  Malvern  Hill,  July,  1862  ; 
Savage  Station,  Virginia,  June  29,  1862; 
Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  August  4  to  8, 
1862;  Gettysburg,  June  26  and  July  i  to  3, 
1863;  Wilderness,  May  5  to  7,  1864;  Spott- 
sylvania  Court  House,  May  8  and  21,  1864; 
Cold  Harbor,  May  31  and  June  12,  1864: 
Petersburg,  Virginia,  July  31,  1864,  besides 
many  engagements  of  less  magnitude.  He 
was  discharged  with  some  thirty  of  his  com- 
rades, on  the  field,  just  at  the  opening  of 
the  battle  at  Reams  Station,  Virginia,  by 
reason  of  the  expiration  of  their  term  of  en- 
listment. His  discharge  came  very  oppor- 
tunely to  save  him  from  capture  and  a  long 
sojourn  in  a  rebel  prison.  In  about  two 
hours  from  the  time  he  was  given  his  dis- 
charge the  entire  regiment  to  which  he  be- 
longed was  in  the  hands  of  the  Confederates. 
It  was  months  before  some  of  them  were 


exchanged  and  release  came  to  many  of  them 
only  through  death. 

Returning  after  his  discharge  to  Kala- 
mazoo county,  Mr.  Tyler  again  again  re- 
sumed his  ocupation  of  farming,  meeting 
with  gratifying  success  each  successive  year. 
In  August,  1 87 1,  he,  moved  to  Manton, 
Wexford  county,  and  engaged  in  buying  and 
selling  timber  lands,  spending  much  of  his 
time  in  the  woods  logging.  This  he  fol- 
lowed for  twenty  years,  prosperity  attend- 
ing all  of  his  efl:*orts.  In  1891  he  returned*- 
to  the  farm  and  has  followed  agriculture 
since,  devoting  all  of  his  time,  when  not 
actively  engaged  on  the  farm,  to  lumbering. 
He  is  the  owner  of  tw^o  hundred  acres  of 
splendid  land  in  Greenw'ood  township  on  the 
Manistee  river.  Only  forty  acres  are  as 
yet  under  cultivation.  When  cleared  and 
])roperly  improved  it  will  make  as  fine  a 
farm  as  could  be  desired.  Upward  of  one 
thousand  fruit  trees  have  been  set  out  upon 
the  place  recently. 

August  14,  1 86 1,  just  eight  days  before 
he  became  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  his  coun- 
try, Cyril  H.  Tyler  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  II.  Foote,  in  Kalamazoo  county. 
She  is  a  native  of  the  state  of  New  York, 
born  April  9,  1839.  The  young  wife  was 
much  rejoiced  at  the  return  of  her  young 
soldier  husband.  They  immediately  set  up 
housekeeping  and  proceeded  to  enjoy  the 
honeymoon  that  had  been  interrupted  rudely 
Ijy  the  call  of  the  youthful  husband  to  the 
front.  They  are  the  parents  of  three 
daughters,  intelligent,  educated  and  accom- 
plished. They  are  Carrie  E.,  I.aura  A.  and 
Bessie  E.  Carrie  is  the  wife  of  A.  W.  Peck, 
who  is  a  salesman,  and  they  reside  at 
Traverse  City,  Michigan. 

Cyril  H.  Tvler  is  something  of  a  politi- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


453 


cian  and  is  an  active  and  zealous  worker  on 
behalf  of  his  party,  being  a  Prohibitionist, 
sincere,  consistent  and  devoted  to  the  cause. 
He  has  served  as  chairman  of  the  county 
central  committee  a  number  of  years  and  al- 
though defeat  has  stared  them  in  the  face 
each  successive  campaign,  the  adherents  of 
the  cause  never  surrender.  He  has  unbounded 
faith  in  the  success  of  the  prohibition  princi- 
ple eventually.  He  is  a  member  of  Oliver 
P.  Morton  Post  No.  54,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  at  Manton.  Both  he  and  his  wife 
are  devout  members  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church,  regular  attendants  upon  its 
service  and  have  always  been  earnest  work- 
ers in  the  cause  of  religion  and  charity.  He 
is  a  man  who  is  admired  and  respected  by 
his  neighbors  for  his  sincerity.  Many  of 
those  who  are  most  diametrically  opposed  to 
his  views  on  politics  and  religion  admire  the 
man,  even  though  they  dislike  the  opinions 
which  he  entertains. 


LUCIUS    A.    DUNTON. 

Cedar  Creek  township  finds  a  worthy 
representative  of  its  agricultural  interests  in 
Lucius  A.  Dunton,  who  resides  on  a  good 
farm  on  section  23,  which  is  his  property  and 
represents  his  life  of  industry,  for  all  that 
he  has  has  been  acquired  through  his  own 
efforts.  His  farm  is  eighty  acres  in  extent 
and  more  than  half  of  this  is  richly  culti- 
vated, while  good  buildings  have  been 
erected  and  the  home  is  very  pleasant  and  hos- 
pitable. 

Mr.  Dunton  is  one  of  the  native  sons  of 
Michigan,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  Holly 
township,  Oakland  county,  on  the  27th  of 


August,  1857.  He  is  a  son  of  John  W.  and 
Mary  Ann  (Cook)  Dunton,  both  of  whom 
are  now  deceased.  The  mother  died  in 
Holly  township,  Oakland  county,  when  only 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  and  the  father,  sur- 
viving her  for  some  time,  departed  this  life 
in  Eaton  county,  Michigan,  in  the  sixty- 
sixth  year  of  his  age.  The  subject  of  this 
review  is  the  fifth  of  their  six  children.  He 
remained  in  the  place  of  his  nativity  until 
he  reached  the  age  of  ten  years,  when  he 
accompanied  his  father  on  his  removal  to 
Genesee  county,  Michigan,  and  there  l_.u- 
cius  A.  Dunton  grew  to  manhood.  He  is 
indebted  to  the  public  schools  of  the  state 
for  the  educational  privileges  w^iich  he  re- 
ceived and  which  fitted  him  for  life's  practi- 
cal duties.  After  puting  aside  his  text 
books  lie  began  earning  his  ouai  livelihood 
and  was  employed  as  a  farm  laborer  for  ten 
years  in  Livingston  county,  Michigan. 

As  a  companion  and  helpmate  on  life's 
journey  Mr.  Dunton  chose  Miss  Carrie  E. 
Perry,  their  wedding  being  celebrated  in  Ty- 
rone township,  Livingston  county,  on  the 
9th  of  December,  1885.  It  was  in  that 
township  that  the  lady  was  born  on  the  23d 
of  May,  1867,  a  daughter  of  George  G.  and 
Mary  A.  (Petty)  Perry,  who  are  residents 
of  Livingston  county.  Their  family  num- 
ber twelve  children,  of  whom  Mrs.  Dunton 
w^as  the  sixth.  In  March,  1886,  the  sub- 
ject arrived  in  Wexford  county,  accompan- 
ied by  his  wife,  and  they  began  their  domes- 
tic life  here  upon  the  farm  which  has  now 
been  their  home  for  seventeen  consecutive 
years.  During  this  period  Mr.  Dunton  has 
wrought  many  changes  in  the  appearance  of 
the  land  which  came  into  his  possession  at 
the  time  of  his  arrival.  He  owns  eighty 
acres  and  of  this  forty-five  acres  is  contained 


454 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


within  fields  which  are  annuany  plowed, 
planted  and  produce  good  crops,  lie  also 
has  rich  pasture  lands  and  a  good  grade  of 
stock.  He  uses  the  latest  improved  ma- 
chinery in  the  cultivation  of  his  farm  and  his 
property  is  now  valuable  and  is  an  indication 
of  his  active,  energetic  career. 

The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dunton  was 
blessed  with  four  children,  but  they  lost  one 
son  jn  infancy,  while  Grace  died  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  months.  The  living  sons  are 
John  E.  and  Harold  J.,  both  at  home  w^ith 
their  parents.  Mr.  Dunton  is  an  active 
party  worker  and  is  a  man  wliose'^infiuence 
has  ever  been  on  the  side  of  progress  and 
of  the  right.  He  is  deeply  interested  in 
everything  pertaining  to  the  moral,  social, 
intellectual  and  material  welfare  of  his  com- 
munity. Both  he  and  his  wife  occupy  an 
enviable  position,  in  the  regard  of  their  many 
friends  and  the  hospitality  of  the  best  homes 
of  this  section  of  the  country  is  freely  ac- 
corded them.  They  are  popular  people  be- 
cause of  their  cordial  manner  and  many  ex- 
cellent characteristics  and  it  is  with  pleasure 
that  the  record  of  their  lives  is  here  pre- 
sented. 


ARTHUR     H.     WEBBER. 

One  of  the  conspicuous  figures  in  the 
commercial  circles  of  Cadillac  is  the  rep- 
resentative l:)usiness  man  and  prominent 
citizen  to  a  brief  outline  of  whose  life  and 
character  the  reader's  atention  is  herewith 
respectfully  invited.  Arthur  H.  Webber, 
the  leading  druggist  of  this  city  and  a  man 
whom  to  know  is  to  honor,  is  a  native  of 
Geauga  county,  Ohio,  where  his  l)irth  oc- 
curred on  the  26th  day  of  April,   1S59,  he 


being  the  son  of  Charles  and  Henrietta  Web- 
ber. When  he  was  about  three  years  old  his 
parents  moved  to  Linden,  Genesee  county, 
Michigan,  in  which  towai  he  spent  his  child- 
hood and  youth  and  in  the  public  schools  of 
which  he  received  his  preliminary  education. 
.\ctuated  by  a  laudable  desire  for  a  more 
thorough  mental  training  than  the  common 
schools  could  impart  he  subsequently  became 
a  student  of  the  Northern  Indiana  Normal 
School  and  Business  College  at  Valparaiso, 
where  he  pursued  for  some  time  the 
higher  branches  of  learning,  meanwhile  re- 
ceiving his  initiation  into  more  practical  af- 
fairs of  life  by  serving  a  two  and  a  half  years 
a])prenticeshi])  in  pharmacy,  under  the  di- 
rection of  Charles  Brown,  who  kept  a  drug 
store  in  the  town  of  Linden. 

Later,  in  the  spring  of  1881,  Mr.  Web- 
ber went  to  Big  Rapids,  Michigan,  where 
for  a  period  of  two  years  he  w^orke.l  in.  a 
drug  store  kept  by  Charles  Wagner  and  at 
the  expiration  of  that  time  formed  a  part- 
nership in  the  drug  business  at  the  same 
place  with  Dr.  W.  A.  Hendricks,  the  firm, 
under  the  name  of  W.  A.  Hendricks  &  Com- 
pany, lasting  until  1885,  wdien  the  subject 
purchased  the  Doctor's  interest  and  became 
sole  proprietor.  After  running  the  business 
at  Big  Rapids  with  varied  success  until  1887, 
he  removed  to  Cadillac,  wdiere  he  bought  a 
stock  of  drugs  l^elonging  to  R.  J.  Cummer 
^S:  Company,  and  from  that  time  to  the  pres- 
ent day  he  made  this  city  his  home,  his  busi- 
ness career  the  meantime  presenting  a  series 
of  successes  which  fully  entitles  him  to  the 
high  reputation  which  he  now^  enjoys  as  the 
leading  druggist  in  the  place,  also  as  one  of 
the  most  enterprising  and  progressive  men  in 
this  section  of  the  state.  The  drug  business 
is  only  part  of  Mr.  Webber's  general  busi- 


Iv  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


455 


ness.  His  finst  venture  in  Cadillac  was  a 
drug  store  only,  Init  from  time  to  time  he  has 
added  new  departments  as  the  wants  of  the 
people  seemed  to  demand,  until  at  the 
present  time  the  business  includes  drugs, 
stationery,  books,  furniture,  crockery,  wall 
paper,  carpets  and  bazaar  lines;  in  fact,  it  is 
what  might  be  considered  a  modern,  up-to- 
date  department  store.  The  store  space  oc- 
cupied by  this  firm  is  about  sixteen  thousand 
square  feet,  making  it  the  largest  retail  in- 
stitution north  of  Grand  Rapids.  Mr.  Web- 
ber is  also  interested  in  real  estate,  the 
growth  of  Cadillac  having  demonstrated  to 
him  the  need  of  more  homes,  The  Home 
I>uilding  and  Realty  Company  of  Cadillac, 
of  which  he  is  president,  is  the  outgrowth  of 
this  fact. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  career  Mr. 
Webber  has  been  remarkably  prosperous, 
owing  to  the  energy  he  has  injected  into 
the  business  and  to  the  good  judgment  and 
discretion  displayed  in  the  purchase  and  dis- 
play of  his  stock,  to  which  may  be  added  his 
careful  selection  of  clerks,  as  he  employs 
none  but  well  qualified  and  judicious  men  to 
cissist  him  in  handling  the  large  amount  of 
business  that  has  come  to  him  w^ith  each  re- 
curring year.  Mr.  Wel:)ber  is  a  close  student 
of  pharmacy  and  has  investigated  the  science 
from  every  conceivable  standpoint.  He 
has  a  strong  analytical  mind,  which  has  been 
strengthened  and  disciplined  by  thorough 
training,  the  result  being  a  broad  and  com- 
prehensive knowledge  which  he  is  al)le  to 
ap])ly  practically,  his  ability  and  skill  so  win- 
ning the  confidence  of  the  public  as  to  bring 
liim  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  pat- 
ronage. Keeping  in  close  touch  w'ith  the 
times  on  all  matters  relating  to  his  chosen 
calling,  Mr.  Webber  has  achieved  more  than 


local  re])utation,  as  is  attested  by  the  fact  of 
his  having  been  elected,  in  1889,  president 
of  the  Michigan  Pharmaceutical  Association, 
an  honorable  post  to  which  only  the  best 
known  and  most  highly  qualified  men  of  the 
profession  are  called.  Later  he  was  chosen 
delegate  to  the  meeting  of  the  National  Re- 
tail Druggists'  Association,  which  held  its 
session  in  Cincinnati  in  1899,  and  in  1900 
he  was  further  honored  by  representing  the 
:\ational  Association  of  Retail  Druggists 
at  Detroit.  His  wide-spread  popularity  as 
a  learned  and  skillful  pharamacist  has  re- 
cently found  expression  in  his  appointment 
by  Governor  Bliss  to  a  place  on  the  state 
board  of  pharmacy,  an  honor  which  he 
greatly  appreciated  and  in  which  his  many 
friends  in  Cadillac  and  throughout  Michigan 
feel  something  akin  to  personal  pride.  In 
his  political  affiliations  Mr.  Webber  has  been 
a  lifelong  Republican.  While  deeply  inter- 
ested in  his  party's  welfare  and  laboring 
;^ealously  for  its  success  in  local,  state  and 
national  affairs,  he  is  not  an  office  seeker, 
neither  has  he  any  ambition  for  public  dis- 
tinction of  any  kind,  nor  has  he  ever  aspired 
to  leadership.  His  services,  however,  have 
been  duly  recognized  and  appreciated,  as 
Vv'itness  his  aj)pointment  in  1899,  and  again 
the  vear  following,  to  the  chairmanship  of 
the  senatorial  committee  for  the  tw^enty- 
seventh  district,  which  position  he  has  since 
held  l)y  successive  reappointments. 

h^raternally  Mr.  Webl)er  1)elongs  to  sev- 
eral secret  and  l)enevolent  orders,  promi- 
nent among  which  are  the  Masons,  Knights 
of  Pythias  and  Knights  of  the  Loyal  Guard. 
Additional  to  these  he  is  a  leading  spirit  in 
the  Board  of  Trade  of  Cadillac,  of  which  he 
is  now  president.  He  has  done  much  to 
promote  the  city's  material  welfare,  also  by 


^oo 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


means  of  this  agency  spreading  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  place  a)3road  and  inducing  men 
of  means  to  put  their  capital  in  Wexford 
county  real  estate  as  a  safe  and  remunera- 
tive investment.  Mr.  Webber's  efforts  since 
Ijecoming  a  citizen  of  Cadillac  have  not  been 
circumscribed  within  the  bounds  of  his  own 
business  interests,  as  lie  has  been,  in  a  large 
sense,  a  public-spirited  man,  lending  his  in- 
fluence and  at  times  his  more  tangible  aid 
to  encourage  enterprises  for  the  upholding 
of  the  city,  materially  and  along  other  lines. 
He  is  an  earnest  friend  and  zealous  advocate 
of  all  agencies  tending  to  the  social  advance- 
ment and  moral  welfare  of  the  community, 
hence  churches,  schools,  benevolent  societies, 
public  charities  and  like  organizations  en- 
list his  encouragement  and  sui^ort.  A  man 
of  broad  mind  and  progressive  ideas,  there 
is  nothing  little  or  narrow  in  his  nature;  de- 
spising what  is  mean  and  low,  detesting  the 
base  and  recognizing  the  false  and  hypo- 
critical, he  discerns  in  every  honest  man, 
however  poor  and  humble,  the  true  essence 
of  honorable  character  wdiich  bespeaks  ties 
of  brotherhood  and  reciprocity  of  interests. 
Mr.  Webber  possesses  a  pleasing  personal- 
ity, is  easily  approachable  and  all  who  come 
within  range  of  his  influence  are  profuse  in 
their  praise  for  his  many  amiable  qualities, 
among  which  a  genial  disposition,  a  com- 
panionable nature  and  an  optimistic  tempera- 
ment are  especially  conspicuous.  His  in- 
tegrity is  above  reproach,  his  character 
strong  but  clear  and  transparent  as  an  open 
book  in  which  are  no  black  or  blotted  pages, 
and  his  name  is  synonymous  with  all  that  is 
honorable  in  manhood  and  upright  and 
straightforward  in  citizenship.  Religiously 
the  Congregational  church  represents  his 
creed  and  for  a  number  of  years  past  he  has 


been  an  active  and  zealous  member  of  the 
society  worshipping  in  Cadillac,  being  at  the 
present  time  chairman  of  the  church  board 
of  trustees. 

Mr.  Webber  has  a  beautiful  and  attractive 
home,  the  presiding  genius  of  which  is  a  lady 
of  culture  and  refinement  to  whom  he  w^as 
united  in  marriage  September  i,  1886.  Mrs. 
Webber  was  formerly  Miss  Lucie  M.  Morri- 
son, of  Grand  Rapids,  whose  father  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  leading  citizens  and 
founders  of  Kent  county,  also  one  of  the 
first  probate  judges,  while  her  mother  was 
an  active  participant  in  the  organization  and 
work  of  charitable  institutions  in  Grand 
Rapids. 

Mrs.  Webber  has  been  a  true  wife  and 
helpmate,  a  fit  companion  for  the  husband 
whose  name  she  honorably  bears,  assisting 
him  in  many  w^ays,  co-operating  w^ith  him 
in  his  business  enterprises,  encouraging  him 
in  all  his  laudable  endeavors,  and  proving  a 
constant  inspiration  to  him  in  all  the  w^alks 
and  relations  of  life.  One  child,  Harold,  a 
])right  son,  eleven  years  old,  completes  the 
subject's  mutually  helpful  and  happy  family 
circle. 


DANIEL  E.  KAISER. 

A  person  travelling  through  almost  any 
of  the  states  bordering  on  the  Canadian  line 
cannot  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  number 
of  native  Canadians  who  have  located  be- 
neath the  stars  and  stripes  and  become  true 
and  loyal  American  citizens.  The  first 
question  that  suggests  itself  to  the  traveler 
is,  was  it  simply  a  spirit  of  restlessness  and 
desire  for  a  change  that  caused  this  large 
immigration  on  the  part  of  our  neighbors 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


457 


across  the  border?  If  it  was,  would  not. an 
inquiry  into  the  nativity  of  the  population 
on  the  other  side  of  the  line  disclose  an  equal 
number  of  natives  of  the  United  States 
domiciled  in  Canada?  It  does  not,  how- 
ever, disclose  any  such  conditions,  so  that  the 
conclusion  is  forced  upon  us  that  this  coun- 
try affords  better  opportunities  for  the 
average  man  of  moderate  means  than  does 
the  Canadian  provinces.  Zealous  Cana- 
dians w^ould,  doubtless,  be  inclined  to  deny 
this,  but  the  facts  are  certainly  against  them. 
However  it  may  be,  it  is  quite  certain  thai 
a  very  large  percentage  of  the  most  enter- 
prising citizens  of  the  state  of  Michigan 
came  originally  from  the  Dominion.  The 
subject  of  this  review,  Daniel  E.  Kaiser, 
has  benefited  himself  and  added  to  the  wealth 
of  the  state  of  his  adoption  by  abandoning  the 
place  of  his  nativity  to  become  an  inhabitant 
ol  the  great  republic. 

Daniel  E.  Kaiser,  a  resident  of  sec- 
tion 26,  Clam  Lake"  township,  is  a  native 
of  Canada,  1x)rn  near  Toronto,  \'^aughn 
county,  Ontario,  June  6,  1844.  ^^^  ^^^^  ^i^~ 
tive  country  he  was  reared,  educated  and 
grew  to  manhood.  When  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  in  1865,  he  came  to  Montcalm 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  resided  until  1881,  when,  in  Febru- 
ary of  that  year,  he  came  to  Wexford  county 
and  located  on  his  present  farm  in  Clam 
Lake  township. 

In  Cedar  Springs,  Kent  county,  Michi- 
gan, on  the  31st  day  of  December,  1868, 
Daniel  E.  Kaiser  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Amanda  Van  Meer,  a  native  of  Canada, 
born  October  10,  1851.  Immediately  after 
mariage  they  came  to  Clam  Take  township 
and  took  up  their  residence  upon  the  farm 
owned  by  him  on  section   26,  where  they 


have  since  continuously  resided,  cultivating 
the  soil  and  yearly  adding  to  their  possessions. 
Nine  years  of  the  time  he  has  resided  on  tlie 
farm  he  was  in  the  employ  of  La  Bar  & 
Cornw^ell,  in  Cadillac.  He  owns  eighty 
acres  of  land,  sixty  of  which  is  improved 
:ind  in  a  fine  state  of  cultivation.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Kaiser  two  children,  Nettie  and 
Jerry,  have  been  born,  both  intelligent  and 
possessed  of  much  strength  of  mind  and 
body. 

The  politics  of  his  adopted  country  has 
no  little  fascination  for  Mr.  Kaiser  and  there 
are  few  men  in  Wexford  county  better  in- 
formed on  every  political  topic  that  may  be 
under  consideration.  He  is  a  loyal  Repub- 
lican and  actively  interested  in  the  success 
of  that  party.  In  religion  he  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church,  is  de- 
vout and  regular  in  his  attendance  upon  its 
services,  and  the  cause  of  religion,  morality 
and  charity  have  no  more  staunch  and  true 
friend  and  advocate  than  he  is.  Personally 
he  is  pleasant  and  genial,  frank  and  candid 
to  the  utmost  degree,  a  man  wdiose  friend- 
ship can  always  be  depended  upon  and  an 
enumeration  of  whose  friends  would  be  as 
his  acquaintance's. 


RALPH    W.  CRAWFORD. 

In  the  perspective  of  human  thought  and 
action  is  often  found  the  lamentable  condi- 
tion which  justifies  the  w^ords  of  the  poet, 
''Some  with  lives  that  come  to  nothing;  some 
with  deeds  as  well  undone,"  and  yet  the 
close  observer  needs  never  lack  for  objective 
lesson  and  incentive  through  worthy  lives 
and  w^orthv  deeds  in  all  fields  of  human  en- 


458 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


deavor.  In  every  American  community  to- 
day the  young  man  in  business  is  a  distinc- 
tive factor,  and  in  the  city  of  Cadillac  the 
field  of  newspaper  enterprise  has  an  able  rep- 
resentative in  the  person  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
who  is  associated  with  John  M.  Terwilliger 
in  the  publication  of  the  Cadillac  Globe,  an 
individual  sketch  of  the  life  of  his  partner  ap- 
pearing on  another  page  of  this  work,  while 
in  the  connection  is  also  given  an  outline  of 
the  history  of  the  paper,  so  that  a  detailed  re- 
capitulation is  not  demanded  at  this  juncture. 
The  editors  and  proprietors  of  the  Globe  are 
both  alert  and  thorough-going  young  busi- 
ness men  and  the  success  which  has  attended 
their  efforts  stands  to  their  credit  and  is  in 
justice  due. 

Mr.  Crawford  w^as  born  in  the  town  of 
Woodhull,  Henry  county,  Illinois,  on  the 
27th  of  January,  1874,  being  a  son  of  Rev. 
John  W.  Crawford,  D.  D.,  who  was  a  prom- 
inent and  scholarly  clergyman  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  and  who  died  in  Monett,  Barry 
county,  Missouri,  in  1897,  at  the  age  of  six- 
ty-three years,  his  life  having  been  one  of 
signal  consecration  and  usefulness.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Emma  Van 
Nice,  is  still  living.  Seven  children  w^re 
]x:)rn  of  this  union,  of  w4iom  the  sixth  was 
Ralph  W.,  the  immediate  subject  of  this 
sketch,  wdiile  of  the  number  five  are  still  liv- 
ing. The  early  years  of  Ralph  W.  Crawford 
were  passed  principally  in  Kansas  and  Mis- 
souri, the  family  removing  from  place  to 
place,  as  the  clerical  duties  of  the  father  de- 
manded. After  receiving  a  common-school 
education  he  entered  the  Strickler  Business 
College,  in  the  city  of  Topeka,  Kansas, 
where  he  completed  a  course  of  study,  after 
wdiich  he  secured  employment  in  a  printing 
office  at  Ellsworth,  that  state,  where  he  re- 


mained three  years,  gaining  a  thorough  and 
practical  knowledge  of  the  mechanical  de- 
tails of  the  art.  He  later  w^as  employed  at 
his  trade  in  various  places.  In  1896  he  as- 
sumed charge  of  a  weekly  paper,  the  Eagle, 
at  Monett,  Missouri,  and  about  eighteen 
months  later  he  located  in  Purdy,  that  state, 
W'here  he  conducted  a  paper  for  a  short  time, 
and  then  disposed  of  the  business  and  came 
to  Cadillac,  Michigan,  wdiere,  in  July,  1899, 
he  purchased  a  half  interest  in  the  Cadillac 
Globe,  which  had  been  established  by  his 
partner,  Mr.  Terwilliger.  In  politics  Mr. 
Crawford  gives  his  allegiance  to  the  Repub- 
lican party,  and  fraternally  he  is  identified 
with  Clam  Lake  Camp  No.  1596,  of  the 
Modern  Woodmen  of  America.  He  is  pop- 
ular in  the  business  and  social  circles  of  the 
community  and  is  known  as  an  able  and  dis- 
criminating newspaper  man,  the  Globe  hav- 
ing attained  marked  prestige  'and  a  liberal 
supporting  patronage. 


JOHN  HARVEY. 


The  farming  interests  of  Wexford  coun- 
ty find  a  worthy  representative  in  John  Har- 
vey, who  is  living  on  section  14,  Antioch 
township.  He  is  one  of  the  valued  citizens 
of  Michigan  that  England  has  furnished  to 
the  state,  his  birth  having  occurred  in  War- 
wickshire on  the  '^merrie  isle,"  on  the  20th 
of  March,  1848.  His  father  also  bore  the 
name  of  John  Harvey  and  the  mother's 
maiden  name  w^as  Elizabeth  Faulkner. 
They  spent  their  entire  lives  in  England,  Mr. 
Harvey  passing  away  between  the  age  of 
sixty  and  seventy  years,  while  his  wife  de- 
parted this  life  at  the  age  of  seventy-six 
years.     They  were  the  parents  of  nine  chil- 


JOHN   HARVEY'S  FARM. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


469 


dren,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this  review  is 
the  seventh  in  order  of  birth. 

In  liis  native  country  John  Harvey  was 
reared  and  at  the  usual  age  he  entered  the 
pubhc  schools.  He  remained  in  England  un- 
til twenty-two  years  of  age  and  in  his  early 
life  he  was  employed  as  a  groom  and  also 
worked  as  a  farm  hand  for  about  a  year 
prior  to  his  emigration  to  America.  Hearing 
favorable  reports  of  the  opportunities  af- 
forded in  the  new  world,  he  determined  to 
seek  his  fortune  here  and  in  the  spring  of 
1870  he  bade  adieu  to  his  friends  and  native 
land  and  sailed  for  the  United  States. 
Landing  at  New  York  he  came  then  to  Kent 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  located  for 
about  three  years,  during  which  time  he 
lived  upon  a  farm.  In  May,  1873,  ^^^  ^^~ 
rived  in  Wexford  county  and  here  he  ac- 
quired and  cleared  a  tract  of  land.  Later 
he  purchased  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres 
of  land  in  Antioch  township  and  since  the 
spring  of  1873  he  has  made  his  home  in  this 
township.  During  the  winter  months  he 
worked  in  the  lumber  woods  and  in  the  sum- 
mer seasons  devoted  his  attention  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits.  The  result  of  his  labors 
is  seen  in  the  fine  farm  which  he  now  owns. 
He  has  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  on 
section  14,  Antioch  township,  and  of  this 
about  one  hundred  and  forty  acres  is  under 
cultivation.  He  has  erected  good  buildings 
upon  his  farm  and  has  a  very  finfe  orchard  of 
apple  and  peach  trees,  comprising  ten  acres. 
Michigan  is  celebrated  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  this  land  for  the  high  grade 
of  peaches  which  it  produces  and  there  are 
no  better  specimens  of  this  fine  fruit  tc  be 
found  anywhere  than  is  shipped  from  the 
farm  of  Mr.  Harvey. 

On   the  5th  of  April,    1884,   in   Colfax 

28 


township,  Wexford  county,  Mr.  Harvey  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  Pettit, 
who  w^as  born  in  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  on  the 
13th  of  July,  1858,  and  is  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  and  Mary  Ann  (Martin)  Pettit, 
who  were  early  settlers  of  Colfax  township, 
taking  up  their  abode  there  in  187 1.  They 
continued  their  residence  in  that  locality  un- 
til called  to  the  home  beyond,  the  father  pass- 
ing away  when  about  seventy-two  years  of 
age,  while  the  mother's  death  occurred  when 
she  was  seventy-eight  years  of  age.  In  their 
family  were  nine  children,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Harvey  was  the  eighth  in  order  of  birth. 
The  home  of  the  subject  and  his  wife  has 
been  blessed  with  but  one  child,  Anna  E. 
Mrs.  Harvey  is  an  estimable  lady,  possessed 
of  many  excellent  traits  of  character  of 
heart  and  muid  and  these  have  endeared  her 
to  a  large  circle  of  friends.  She  presides 
with  gracious  hospitality  over  her  pleasant 
home  and  her  genial,  cordial  manners  have 
made  her  popular  with  all  with  whom  she  has 
come  in  contact. 

Mr.  Harvey  has  held  sonle  of  the  minor 
offices  of  Antioch  township,  but  has  never 
been  an  active  politician  in  the  sense  of  of- 
fice seeking,  preferring  to  devote  his  energies 
to  his  business  affairs,  in  which  he  has  la- 
bored untiringly.  His  excellent  property  is 
indicative  of  his  life  of  industry  and  useful- 
ness, and,  moreover,  his  business  methods 
have  been  honorable  and  in  all  things  he  is 
straightforward,  living  a  life  that  is  as  an 
open  book  which  all  may  read. 


GUSTAVE     ANDERSON. 

It  is  considered  by  those  in  the  habit  of 
superficial  thinking  that  the  history  of  so 
called  great  men  only  is  worthy  of  preserva- 


460 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


tion  and  that  little  merit  exists  among  the 
masses  to  call  forth  the  praise  of  the  histor- 
ian or  the  cheers  and  appreciation  of  man- 
kind. Few  greater  mistakes  have  been 
made.  No  man  is  great  in  all  things  and 
very  few  are  great  in  many  things.  Many 
by  a  lucky  stroke  achieve  lasting  fame,  who 
before  that  had  no  reputation  beyond  the 
limits  of  their  neighborhoods.  It  is  not  a 
history  of  the  lucky  stroke  which  benefits 
humanity  most,  but  the  long  study  and  ef- 
fort which  made  the  lucky  stroke  possible. 
It  is  the  preliminary  work,  the  method,  that 
serves  as  a  guide  for  others.  Among  those 
of  foreign  birth  and  education  who  in  this 
country  have  achieved  a  fair  measure  of  suc- 
cess along  steady  lines  of  action  is  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  Gustave  Anderson,  of 
the  third  ward  in  the  city  of  Cadillac.  The 
fact  that  the  first  thirty  years  of  his  life 
were  spent  in  his  native  land,  Sweden,  did 
not  militate  against  him  in  the  least  in  the 
accomplishment  of  a  successful  business 
career  in  America,  the  land  of  his  adoption. 
Gustavc  Anderson  was  born  in  Sweden 
September  ii,  1841.  The  first  thirty  years 
of  his  life  were  spent  in  his  native  land, 
where  he  secured  a  good  common  school  edu- 
cation and  where  he  learned  habits  of  in- 
dustry, thrift  and  economy,  which  have  been 
most  useful  to  him  in  the  land  of  his  adop- 
tion and  have  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
success  which  he  has  achieved.  In  no  part 
of  Europe,  indeed  it  may  be  truthfully  said 
tiiat  in  no  part  of  the  world  are  the  advan- 
tages and  opportunities  equaf  to  those  to  be 
encountered  by  the  average  individual  in  the 
United  States.  A  knowledge  of  this  truth 
was  early  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.     He  therefore  bent 


every  energy  to  make  immigration  to  the 
United  States  possible.  Tlie  better  to  ac- 
complish so  desirable  a  consummation,  he 
became  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  comely 
young  girl  in  the  neighborhood  and,  appre- 
ciating the  fact  that  with  her  to  help  him 
practice  economy  his  savings  would  be 
greater,  he  hastened  the  ceremony  by  which 
they  were  united.  It  was  only  a  very  short 
time  after  Miss  Johanna  Johnson  became 
Mrs.  Gustave  Anderson  that  the  worthy 
young  couple  found  themselves  financially 
in  a  position  to  pay  all  necessary  expenses  of 
the  voyage  across  the  ocean  and  leave  them 
a  comfortable  little  sum  to  give  them  a 
start  in  the  new  world.  On  arriving  in 
America,  in  1871,  he  procured  employment 
on  a  railroad  in  New  Jersey.  They  fitted 
themselves  up  nicely  in  housekeeping  and 
for  two  years  prospered  most  gratifyingly. 
Knowing  that  New  Jersey  was  only  a  small 
part  of  the  United  States  and  believing  that 
opportunities  along  the  Atlantic  coast  might 
be  far  inferior  to  what  they  might  find 
farther  in  the  interior,  they  moved  to  Minne- 
sota, but  remained  there  only  a  short  time, 
when  they  came  to  Wexford  county.  They 
cirri ved  here  in  the  spring  of  1873,  and,  true 
to  the  energy  in  which  he  had  been 
schooled,  he  lost  no  time  in  finding  employ- 
ment in  the  mills  in  Cadillac.  For 
eleven  years  he  worked  in  the  saw-mills, 
losing  little  time  and  allowing  none  of  the 
dollars  that  he  earned  to  escape  him  except 
for  absolute  necessities.  When  his  savings 
justified  it,  he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  in 
vv^hat  was  then  Haring  township  and  he  is 
now  the  owner  of  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  and  a  half  acres,  fifty-four  of  which 
are  well  improved  with  good  buildings,  a 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


461 


nice  residence,  barn,  stables,  outhouses,  and 
other  necessary  ap])artenances  for  making  it 
<i  well  equipped  and  desirable  farm.  Hav- 
ing established  himself  comfortably  on  the 
farm,  he  turned  over  his  job  in  the  saw- 
mill to  some  one  less  fortunate  than  himself 
and  has  since  devoted  himself  exclusively 
to  the  tilling  of  his  land,  the  planting  and 
the  gathering  of  his  crops  and  making  such 
improvements  upon  his  farm  as  his  time  and 
his  means  will  allow. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1875,  ^^'^^  ^^^^^ 
years  after  leaving  his  native  land  and  only 
two  years  after  having  taken  up  her  abode  in 
Wexford  county,  Mrs.  Johanna  (Johnson) 
y\nderson  departed  this  life,  leaving  two 
children  as  pledges  of  her  love  to  her  be- 
reaved husband,  both  girls,  Belinda  and  Ma- 
tilda. The  latter  has  since  become  the  wife 
of  Charles  Olson.  Four  other  children  w^ere 
Ijorn  to  this  union,  but  they  died  in  early 
childhood.  On  November  i,  1875,  Gus- 
tave  Anderson  was  again  married,  his  bride 
on  this  occasion  being  Louisa  Johnson,  also 
a  native  of  Sweden.  She  has  shown  herself 
to  be  a  worthy  woman,  a  faithful  wife  and 
a  kind  and  indulgent  mother.  They  are  the 
parents  of  five  children,  viz. :  Anna,  Al- 
fred, David,  Ralph  and  Silas.  Anna,  the 
oldest  child  of  the  family,  is  the  wife  of 
Charles  Anderson. 

The  su))ject  of  this  sketch  permits  no 
outside  issues  to  interfere  with  his  business. 
He  is  as  prudently  parsimonious  of  his  time 
as  he  is  of  his  means  and  year  by  year  he  is 
adding  to  his  possessions  in  a  manner  to  as- 
tonish persons  not  inclined  to  pursue  the 
same  methods.  Scrupulously  honest,  pru- 
dent in  all  things,  simple  in  his  habits  and 
content  with  the  conditions  which  sur- 
rounded him,  the  next  ten  or  twenty  years 


will  certainly  see  him  among  the  most  pros- 
perous people  in  that  part  of  Michigan 
where  he  resides. 


T.  HENRY    CALLIS. 

Some  men  are  ever  seeking  positions  in 
the  public  service.  They  are  standing  candi- 
dates at  each  successive  election  and  though 
often  encountering  defeat,  they  come  up  smil- 
ingly at  the  next  convention  with  all  the  easy 
grace  and  confidence  of  a  man  who  has  never 
known  disappointment.  Then  there  is  an- 
other class  of  men  who  are  modest  even  to 
docility,  lacking  in  self-assertion,  to  whom 
aggressiveness  is  wholly  foreign,  yet  who 
find  it  impossible  to  keep  out  of  office.  With- 
out solicitation  whatever  on  their  part,  they 
are  chosen  again  and  again  to  offices  of  pub- 
lic trust  and  responsibility.  There  is  a  cause 
for  this  and  it  doubtless  will  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  modesty,  when  coupled  with  abil- 
ity, is  ever  appreciated  by  the  general  public, 
while  the  blatant  place-hunter,  who  is  ever 
a  most  selfish  creature,  is  sure  to  receive  the 
contempt  wdiich  his  self-assertion  merits. 
The  subject  of  this  biography,  T.  Henry 
Callis,  is  one  of  those  men  whom  his  fellow 
citizens  love  to  honor.  He  has  held  various 
public  positions,  none  of  which,  however, 
were  secured  through  his  own  seeking.  For 
nearly  thirty  years  he  has  been  a  resident  of 
Wexford  county  and  during  that  time  the 
people  have  had  ample  opi^ortunity  to  form 
a  just  estimate  of  the  man,  with  the  result 
that  he  occupies  today  an  enviable  position 
among  his  fellow  citizens. 

T.  Henry  Callis  is  a  native  of  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  born  August 
2y,  1854.     His  parents  were  John  and  Eliza 


462 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


(Morris)  Callis,  natives  of  England  who 
came  to  America  alx)ut  the  middle  of  the  last 
century  and  settled  in  the  *'City  of  Brotherly 
Love/'  where  they  remained  a  number  of 
years.  They  were  the  parents  of  ten  chil- 
dren, of  whom  the  subject  was  the  eighth. 
When  he  v^as  two  years  old,  in  1856,  the 
family  came  to  Washtenaw  county,  Michi- 
gan, locating  on  a  farm  in  Augusta  town- 
ship. The  mother  is  now  deceased,  while  the 
father  still  resides  on  the  place.  On  this 
farm  the  subject  was  reared  and  grew  to 
manhood.  He  attended  the  district  school 
during  the  winter  months  and  devoted  him- 
self during  the  other  months  of  the  year  to 
the  duties  of  the  farm.  So  well  did  he  em- 
ploy his  time  in  the  school  room  that  by  the 
time  he  was  old  enough  to  take  charge  of  and 
govern  a  school  he  was  amply  qualified  for 
the  employment.  He  continued  to  reside  in 
Washtenaw  county,  devoting  his  tim'e  to 
farming  unitl  1874,  when  he  came  to  Wex- 
ford county,  where  for  a  number  of  years  he 
followed  the  same  lines  of  labor. 

June  8,  1879,  Mr.  Callis  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Delia  A.  Matteson,  a  na- 
tive of  Avon,  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  born 
April  21,  1862.  Her  parents  were  Abner  L. 
and  Susan  (Card)  Matteson,  natives  of  the 
state  of  New  York.  The  family  came  from 
Ohio  to  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  some 
two  years  previously.  He  secured  a  farm  in 
Colfax  township,  upon  which  he  built  a  home 
and  there  they  continued  to  reside  until  death 
claimed  the  worthy  and  devoted  couple.  Her 
death  occurred  April  14,  1882,  he  surviving 
her  a  little  more  than  four  years,  expiring 
July  13,  1886.  Each  was  about  sixty  years 
old  at  the  time  of  death.  Mrs.  Callis  is  the 
youngest  of  a  family  of  eight  children.  She 
and  her  husband  are  the  parents  of  four  chil- 


dren, viz :  Edith  M.,  Alwin  B.,  Effie  N.  and 
Morris  C.  Edith  is  the  wife  of  Lewis  B. 
Judd. 

About  the  time  of  his  marriage  Mr.  Cal- 
lis became  the  owner  of  sixty  acres  of  land  in 
Cedar  Creek  township  and  soon  afterward 
the  young  couple  established  their  abode 
thereon.  The  tract  is  well  improved  and 
supplied  with  all  necessary  buildings,  wdiich 
are  far  superior  to  the  average  farm  struc- 
tures. There  are  thirty-two  acres  under  cul- 
tivation and  the  place  is  well  stocked  and 
supplied  with  all  necessary  implements  and 
machinery  for  its  proper  operation.  Its 
owner  is  an  intelligent,  progressive  and  thor- 
ough farmer,  one  who  believes  in  the  policy 
of  a  little  farm  well  tilled. 

In  politics  T.  Henry  Callis  is  independ- 
ent, and  the  manner  in  which  he  has  been 
honored  by  his  fellow  citizens  precludes  the 
possibility  of  his  being  a  bitter  partisan. 
During  the  years  from  1893  to  1895,  ii^clu- 
sive,  he  represented  his  township  on  the 
county  board  of  supervisors.  He  served  also 
as  township  clerk  and  for  four  years  has  been 
a  member  of  tlie  board  of  school  examiners 
of  Wexford  county.  He  has  been  for  several 
years  president  of  the  Wexford  County 
Farmers  Institute  and  in  1894  was  the  enum- 
erator for  the  township  in  which  he  lives. 
He  and  his  worthy  wife,  who  has  contributed 
much  to  the  success  and  popularity  of  her 
husband,  are  members  of  Rose  Hill  Grange 
No.  949,  Patrons  of  Husbandry.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Callis  are  classed  among  the  most  in- 
telligent and  refined  residents  of  Cedar -Creek 
township  and  consequently  enjoy  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  their  neighbors  to  an  unusual 
degree.  No  words  of  commendation  that 
can  here  be  added  could  enhance  the  regard 
in  which  they  are  held. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


463 


MARVIN    D.  COLVIN. 

Marvin  D.  Colvin  is  the  owner  of  a  val- 
uable and  highly  in-4)roved  farm  of  two  hun- 
dred acres  situated  on  section  ii,  Wexford 
township.  This  property  is  the  visible  evi- 
dence of  his  life  of  industry,  his  well  directed 
labors  and  his  sound  judgment  in  business 
affairs.  lie  is  today  classed  among  the  rep- 
resentative and  highly  respected  agricultur- 
ists of  his  community  and  it  is  with  pleas- 
ure that  the  record  of  his  life  is  here  pre- 
sented. A  native  of  the  Empire  state,  he  was 
born  in  Cattaraugus  county  on  the  13th  of 
February,  1874.  His  father,  Barton  Colvin, 
was  also  born  in  New  York  and  wedded 
Miss  Alma  Holmes,  who  died  in  Cattaraugus 
county.  In  the  year  1883  ^h^  father  came 
to  Michigan,  establishing  his  home  in  Wex- 
ford county.  He  is  now  an  esteemed  resi- 
dent of  Traverse  City  and  is  in  politics  a 
Democrat. 

Marvin  D.  Colvin  accompanied  his  father 
on  his  removal  to  the  west  and  since  1883 
has  resided  continuously  in  Wexford  town- 
ship. He  was  a  youth  of  nine  years  at  the 
time  of  his  arrival  and  therefore  the  period 
of  his  entire  manhood  has  been  spent  in 
this  county  where  he  is  now  so  widely  and 
'  favorably  known.  He  obtained  his  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  and  w^as  reared  to 
farm  life.  After  reaching  years  of  maturity 
he  was  married,  in  Bay  Shore,  Michigan, 
on  the  27th  of  January,  1897,  ^^  Miss  Edith 
L.  Worth,  a  native  of  Wexford  county,  born 
January  17,  1874,  and  they  now  have  two 
interesting  children,  Margery  W.  and  Floris 
H.  Mrs.  Colvin  was  educated  in  the  Sher- 
man public  school  and  at  Benzonia  College, 
and  was  a  successful  teacher  in  Wexford 
and  Benzie  counties.     Theirs  is  a  pleasant 


home,  celebrated  for  its  cordial  hospitality, 
and  their  many  friends  delight  to  gather 
there.  Mr.  Colvin  devotes  his  energies  to 
agricultural  pursuits  and  his  farm,  compris- 
ing two  hundred  acres  of  rich  land,  indi- 
cates his  careful  supervision  in  its  neat  and 
thrifty  appearance.  He  has  good  farm 
buildings  upon  his  place,  including  his  nice 
residence,  a  commodious  barn  and  other 
buildings  for  the  shelter  of  grain  and  stock. 
Everything  is  kept  in  good  repair  and  this  is 
one  of  the  model  farms  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

In  public  affairs  Mr.  Colvin  has  also 
been  somewhat  prominent  and  for  three 
years  he  has  served  as  justice  of  the  peace, 
proving  a  competent  officer.  His  life  has 
been  one  of  industry  and  he  has  never  taken 
advantage  of  the  necessities  of  his  fellow 
men  in  any  trade  transaction,  but  has  won 
his  prosperity  through  honorable  business 
methods  that  will  bear  the  closest  investiga- 
tion and  scrutiny. 

Politically  Mr.  Colvin  belongs  to  Lodge 
No.  2)7^^  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  to 
Castle  No.  212,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  to 
Wexford  Camp  No.  8647,  Modern  Wood- 
men of  America,  in  which  he  has  held  the 
office  of  venera'ble  consul.  Mrs.  Colvin 
belongs  to  the  Order  of  the  Eastern  Star 
and  is  also  a  member  of  the  Christian 
church. 


SYLVESTER  R.  SEAMAN. 

Success  in  this  life  comes  to  the  deserv- 
ing. It  is  an  axiom  demonstrated  by  all  hu- 
man experience  that  a  man  gets  out  of  life 
what  he  puts  into  it,  plus  a  reasonable  inter- 
est on  the  investment.     The  individual  who 


464 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


inherits  a  large  estate  and  adds  nothing  to 
his  fortune  cannot  be  called  a  successful  man. 
He  that  falls  heir  to  a  large  fortune  and  in- 
creases its  value  is  successful  in  proportion 
to  the  amount  he  adds  to  his  possessions. 
But  the  man  who  starts  in  the  world  unaided 
and  by  sheer  force  of  will,  controlled  by  cor- 
rect principles,  forges  ahead  and  at  length 
reaches  a  position  of  prominence  among  his 
fellow  citizens,  achieves  real  success.  To  a 
great  extent  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a 
creditable  representative  of  the  class  last 
named.  It  is  a  class  which  has  furnished 
much  of  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  country 
and  added  to  the  stability  of  the  government 
and  its  institutions. 

Sylvester  R.  Seaman,  the  subject  of  this 
review,  who  resides  in  Liberty  township,  on 
an  eighty-acre  farm,  was  born  in  Leonard 
township,  Mecosta  county,  Michigan,  Octo- 
l^er  lo,  i860.  His  parents  are  Warren  and 
Mary  E.  (Moore)  Seaman.  A  review  of  the 
career  of  the  father  of  the  subject  can  be 
found  in  another  part  of  this  volume,  under 
the  head  of  Warren  Seaman.  Sylvester  R. 
Seaman  was  the  third  child  of  a  family  of 
five,  and  was  reared  to  the  age  of  nine  years 
in  the  county  of  his  birth.  In  1869  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  Wexford  county,  and  that  coun- 
ty has  since  been  his  home.  The  family  es- 
tablished their  home  in  Cedar  Creek  town- 
ship and  there  the  subject  of  this  review  grew 
to  manhood.  His  school  days  were  not  many 
and  the  educational  facilities  of  the  time  and 
the  locality  by  no  means  what  they  are  today, 
but  having  a  thirst  for  knowledge  and  a 
natural  aptitude  to  acquire  it,  at  the  time  of 
quitting  school  the  subject  was  possessed  of 
a  very  fair  education.  He  remained  under 
the  parental   roof  until  he  was  twenty-six 


years  of  age,  devoting  a  good  part  of  his  time 
to  the  work  on  his  father's  farm. 

December  23,  1886,  Sylvester  R.  Seaman 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Frances  M. 
Wilson,  a  native  of  Michigan,  born  June  i, 
1865,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James 
Wilson,  of  Liberty  township.  Immediately 
after  marriage  the  young  couple  took  up 
their  residence  in  Cedar  Creek  township,  on 
a  farm  which  is  part  of  section  5,  where  they 
continued  to  live  until  1900,  when  they 
moved  to  section  1,2,  Liberty  township.  His 
farm  consists  of  eighty  acres,  part  of  it  being 
located  in  Liberty  township  and  the  remain- 
der in  Cedar  Creek  township.  The  place  is 
well  improved,  fifty  of  its  acres  being  under 
cultivation  and  well  improved.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Seaman  have  an  adopted  child,  an  in- 
telligent, attractive  little  girl,  named  Flossie 
M.  The  subject  has  never  sought  pul^lic 
office  or  any  political  preferment,  but  a  num- 
ber of  local  positions  in  the  township  where 
he  resides  have  been  thrust  upon  him,  among 
them  that  of  school  assessor  and  member  of 
the  board  of  review.  He  and  his  wife  are 
both  active  members  of  the  Free  Methodist 
church  in   Manton. 


ESEDORE  GILBERT. 

For  almost  a  third  of  a  century  Esedore 
Gilbert  has  been  an  active  factor  in  mercan- 
tile interests  in  Sherman,  controlling  a  busi- 
ness of  considerable  magnitude.  At  the 
time  of  his  arrival  here  the  town  was  in  the 
early  stages  of  its  development  and  through- 
out the  intervening  period  he  has  been 
prominent  in  the  advancement  of  commer- 
cial activity,  whereon  the  growth  and  pros- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


465 


perity  of  every  town  and  city  depends. 
Widely  known,  his  life  history  cannot  fail 
to  prove  of  interest  to  his  many  friends  and 
it  is  therefore  with  pleasure  that  this  record 
is  presented. 

Mr.  Gilbert  was  born  upon  a  farm  in  In- 
diana, Septemter  22,  1847.  His  father, 
Truman  Gilbert,  was  also  a  farmer  by  oc- 
cupation, following  that  pursuit  throughout 
his  entire  business  career.  The  mother  of 
the  subject  bore  the  maiden  name  of  Calista 
Clark  and  her  death  occurred  while  she  was 
visiting  in  Whitewater,  Wisconsin,  when 
sixty-six  years  of  age.  Mr.  Gilbert  had 
passed  away  in  Indiana,  at  the  age  of  forty 
years.  In  their  family  were  four  children, 
of  whom  Esedore  was  the  youngest.  Dur- 
ing his  early  childhood,  when  only  about  a 
year  and  a  half  old,  Esedore  Gilbert  was 
taken  by  his  parents  to  Hillsdale,  Michigan, 
where  they  resided  for  six  years,  and  then 
settled  upon  a  farm  in  Hillsdale  county. 
He  worked  in  the  field  and  meadows  during 
his  youth,  becoming  familiar  with  farm 
work  in  its  various  departments,  and  when 
he  was  eighteen  years  of  age  he  started  out 
in  life  on  his  own  account  and  has  since 
depended  upon  his  labor  for  all  that  he  has 
enjoyed  and  achieved.  Not  desiring  to 
make  farming  his  life  work,  he  left  home 
and  went  to  St.  Charles,  Saginaw  county, 
Michigan,  where  he  secured  employment  in 
a  saw-mill.  After  two  months,  however,  he 
removed  to  Big  Rapids,  for  the  purpose  of 
locating  pine  lands.  He  spent  about  two 
years  in  inspecting  pine  lands,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  he  began  driving  a  stage  be- 
tween Big  Rapids  and  Traverse  City,  which 
business  he  followed  for  six  months. 

Mr.  Gilbert  next  came  to  Sherman  and 
while  the  city  has  profited  by  his  business 


activity,  he  has  also  found  here  a  good  field 
of  labor,  wherein  industry  has  gained  its 
merited  reward  in  a  comfortable  cempetence. 
It  was  in  the  fall  of  1870  that  he  arrived  in 
Wexford  county  and  for  a  time  he  engaged 
in  conducting  a  hotel  known  as  the  Grant 
House.  After  a  year,  however,  he  sold  out 
and  accepted  a  clerkship  in  the  general  store 
of  Maqueston  Brothers,  from  which  time 
his  connection  with  mercantile  interests  in 
Sherman  dates.  He  remained  in  the  employ 
of  that  firm  for  four  and  a  half  years,  during 
which  time  he  gained  a  good  knowledge  of 
the  methods  in  mercantile  life  and  his  ex- 
perience has  proven  of  much  value  to  him 
in  later  years.  His  clerkship  ended,  he  then 
embarked  in  business  on  his  own  account 
as  a  member  of  a  firm,  his  partner  being  the 
late  I.  II.  Maqueston.  This  relationship 
was  maintained  for  five  years,  when  Mr. 
Gilbert  disposed  of  his  interest  and  through 
the  two  succeeding  years  carried  on  mer- 
chandising alone.  At  the  end  of  that  time 
he  merged  his  store  into  another  mercantile 
establishment  and  continued  in  the  same  line 
of  business  with  H.  B.  Sturtevant  and  F.  D. 
Hopkins,  this  partnership  existing  for  five 
or  six  years,  during  which  time  the  firm  en- 
joyed a  profitable  and  growing  patronage. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  Mr.  Hopkins  with- 
drew and  the  firm  of  Gilbert  &  Sturtevant 
then  carried  on  the  business  until  fifteen 
years  had  passed  when  Mr.  Gilbert  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  his  partner,  who  then 
retired  from  mercantile  life.  The  subject 
has  since  been  alone  in  the  conduct  of  a  busi- 
ness, which  has  now  assumed  important  and 
extensive  proportions.  He  carries  a  large 
and  well  selected  stock  of  goods  and  his 
annual  sales  amount  to  a  considerable  figure. 
He  is  reliable  in  his  trade  transactions,  is 


466 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


courteous  in  his  treatment  of  his  customers 
and  his  earnest  desire  to  please  has  brought 
him  a  large  patronage. 

In  Hanover  township,  Wexford  county, 
Mr.  Gilbert  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Mary  A.  Fox,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  a 

daughter     of     Jeremiah     and 

(Clark)  Fox.  Her  father  was  one  of  the 
honored  pioneer  settlers  of  Wexford  county, 
casting  in  his  lot  with  the  early  residents 
when  the  era  of  improvement  was  just 
dawning  here.  He  died  in  Sherman  town- 
ship after  reaching  the  Psalmist's  span  of 
three  score  years  and  ten — a  worthy  citizen 
whose  loss  w^as  deeply  regretted.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Gilbert  are  the  parents  of  two  children, 
Myrtle  and  lone,  the  former  now  the  wife 
of  C.  C.  Slemons.  The  parents  are  active 
and  devoted  memters  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church,  and  their  aid  and  influence 
have  been  very  helpful  and  beneficial  in 
strengthening  the  church  and  promoting  its 
success.  Mr.  Gilbert  has  also  been  a  co- 
operant  factor  in  many  movements  for  the 
general  good,  his  assistance  being  withheld 
from  no  measure  which  he  believes  will 
prove  of  benefit  to  his  community.  Hon- 
ored and  respected  in  every  class  of  society, 
he  has  for  some  time  been  a  leader  in  thought 
and  action  in  the  public  life  of  the  town  and 
county  in  which  he  makes  his  home.  He 
has  long  been  identified  with  mercantile  in- 
terests in  Sherman  and  faithfulness  to  duty 
and  strict  adherence  to  a  fixed  purpose  in 
life  will  do  more  to  advance  a  man's  inter- 
ests than  wealth  or  advantageous  circum- 
stances. A  man  of  distinct  and  forceful  in- 
dividuality and  most  mature  judgment,  he 
has  left  and  is  leaving  his  impress  upon  the 
commercial,  social  and  moral  development 
of  the  community. 


ELIJAH  SMITH. 

The  war  of  the  Rebellion  left  its  impress 
deep  and  lasting  upon  the  life  of  many  a 
youth  yet  in  his  teens.  The  call  to  arms 
found  tens  of  thousands  only  too  ready  to 
respond.  For  the  first  time  in  their  lives 
they  found  themselves  no  longer  restrained 
by  parental  control.  Rigid  military  discipline 
held  them  in  check  to  some  extent,  but  it  did 
not  prevent  many  from  contracting  dissolute 
and  profligate  habits,  of  which  some  have  not 
been  able  to  divest  themselves  even  unto  this 
day.  Few  indeed  were  as  fortunate  in  this 
as  the  subject  of  this  review,  Elijah  Smith, 
of  Colfax  township,  Wexford  county,  who 
when  less  than  nineteen  years  of  age  became 
a  soldier  of  the  Union,  and  although  filling 
two  terms  of  enlistment,  returned  home  with 
unimpaired  morals. 

Elijah  Smith  is  a  native  of  New  York, 
bom  in  Tompkins  county,  June  12,  1842. 
He  was  reared  and  educated  in  his  native 
county,  the  extent  of  his  learning,  however, 
being  confined  to  the  common  school 
branches.  He  was  still  beneath  the  parental 
roof  when  Siuiiter  was  fired  uix)n  and  the 
most  sanguinary  struggle  in  the  history  of 
the  world  was  inaugurated.  Of  those  who 
resi)onded  to  the  first  call  of  President  Lin- 
coln, in  April,  1861,  Elijah  Smith  was 
among  the  number.  Lie  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  K,  Twenty-sixth  Regiment 
New  York  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served 
until  August,  1862,  when,  greatly  to  his  re- 
gret, he  was  discharged  for  disability.  Re- 
turning home  to  Tompkins  county.  New 
York,  he,  after  sufficiently  recovering*  his 
health,  engaged  in  farming  until  August, 
1864,  when  he  enlisted  in  Company  I,  One 
Hundred  and  Seventy-ninth  Regiment  New 


ELIJAH  SMITH  GROUP. 


ELIJAH  SMITH   RESIDENCE. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


467 


York  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Confederates  at  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
in  February,  1865,  and  held  till  the  close  of 
the  war.  Returning  to  his  home  in  New 
York  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  remained 
there  farming  for  some  time,  then  camfe  to 
Michigan.  For  two  seasons  he  followed 
farming  and  carpentering  in  Ingham  and 
Livingston  counties,  and  then,  in  1867,  he 
came  to  Wexford  county  and  settled  on  a 
tract  of  land  in  Colfax  township,  a  part  of 
section  28,  where  he  has  since  continued  to 
reside. 

In  1866  Elijah  Smith  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Lovina  Smith,  a  native 
of  Ohio,  who  lived  only  long  enough  to 
bear  for  her  husband  a  pledge  of  her  love 
in  the  person  of  a  little  daughter,  whom  they 
named  Blanche.  Mrs.  Smith  died  in  July, 
1875.  The  daughter  grew  to  womanhood,  be- 
came a  refined,  intellectual  woman  and  is 
now  the  wife  of  Charles  Rogers,  a  resident 
of  Colfax  township.  December  25,  1878, 
Mr.  Smith  was  again  married,  his  bride  on 
this  occasion  being  Mrs.  Jennie  McClain, 
widow  of  George  W.  McClain  and  daughter 
of  Enos  C.  and  Cynthia  (Whitmore)  Day- 
huff.  Mrs.  Smith  is  a  native  of  St.  Joseph 
county,  Indiana,  torn  July  22,  1850.  She 
and  her  husband  are  the  parents  of  five  chil- 
dren, only  one  of  whom,  Clara  B.,  the  wife 
of  John  Roode,  is  now  living.  Another 
daughter,  Grace  E.,  lived  to  the  age  of 
twenty  years  and  then  died.  The  other  three 
children  died  in  childhood.  Mrs.  Cynthia 
(Whitmore)  Dayhufif,  mother  of  Mrs. 
Smith,  is  still  living,  now  in  the  eighty- 
second  year  of  her  age. 

The  farm  upon  which  the  subject  and  his 
familv  resides  is  fertile  and  well  improved. 


In  any  direction  a  visitor  may  look  he  sees 
evidences  of  prosperity.  The  place  is 
adorned  with  good,  substantial  buildings  of 
all  kinds  and  the  condition  in  which  they  are 
kept  bespeaks  the  thorough  farmer.  In  con- 
nection with  his  conduct  of  the  farm  Mr. 
Smith  has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business  at  Meauwataka  ever  since  he  be- 
came a  resident  of  the  county.  His  farm 
comprises  one  hundred  and  forty  acres,  one 
hundred  and  twenty  of  which  are  clear  and 
under  cultivation.  In  all  matters  pertaining 
to  the  interests  of  the  community  in  which 
he  has  lived  Mr.  Smith  takes  a  deep  and  act- 
ive interest.  He  has  been  elected  a  numl)er 
of  times  to  various  local  positions,  such  as 
highway  commissioner,  justice  of  the  peace, 
etc.,  and  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
office  to  the  entire  satisfactionn  of  his  con- 
stituents. He  has  been  appointed  a  notary 
public  and  served  for  a  number  of  years  as 
postmaster  of  Meauwataka.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  at  Cadillac,  and  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  O.  P. 
Morton  Post  of  Manton.  He  is  a  prudent, 
sagacious  man,  possessed  of  excellent  judg- 
ment and  thoroughly  alive  to  his  individual 
interests,  as  he  is  also  to  those  of  the  general 
public. 


DANIEL  McCOY. 

The  subject  of  this  review,  formerly  a 
prominent  business  man  and  honored  citizen 
of  Cadillac,  is  now  a  resident  of  Grand  Rap- 
ids, with  the  industrial  interests  of  which 
city  he  has  been  identified  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  in  addition  thereto  he  has  also 
))een  called  to  high  official  stations,  serving 
at  the  present  time  his  second  term  as  state 


468 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


treasurer.  Daniel  McCoy  is  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  born  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia on  July  17,  1845.  His  father,  John 
McCoy,  a  native  of  Scotland,  came  to  the 
United  States  in  1832  and  setled  in  Oakland 
county,  Michigan,  with  his  father's  family, 
whence  he  wxnt  to  Philadelphia  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  dying  in  that  city  in 
the  year  1861.  Mary,  wife  of  John  McCoy 
and  mother  of  the  subject,  was  born  and 
reared  in  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  came  to 
this  country  in  1839,  married  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  is  still  living  in  Philadelphia.  Pa- 
ternally, the  McCoys  are  Scotch.  They  were 
first  represented  in  the  north  of  Ireland  in 
1745,  but  returned  to  Scotland  the  next  gen- 
eration, and  in  1832,  as  noted  above,  certain 
members  of  the  family  became  residents  of 
the  United  States,  since  which  time  the  de- 
scendants have  settled  in  various  parts  of  the 
Union. 

Daniel  McCoy  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  Philadelphia,  and  at  the  death  of 
his  father,  in  1S61,  entered  the  wholesale 
hardware  warehouse  of  Shields  Brothers  in 
that  city,  with  the  object  in  view  of  obtaining 
a  practical  knowledge  of  commercial  life. 
Not  making  the  progress  he  desired,  he  sev- 
ered his  connection  with  his  employers  five 
years  later  and  went  to  the  oil  fields  of  West 
Virginia,  near  Parkersburg,  and  at  Burning 
Springs,  on  the  Little  Kanawha,  where  he 
remained  variously  engaged  until  May,  1867, 
when  he  started  west  in  search  of  a  more 
favorable  opening,  going  as  far  as  Wyan- 
dotte, Kansas.  Failing  to  find  in  that  state  the 
opening  desired,  he  returned  eastward,  and 
while  en  route  stopped  to  visit  some  relatives 
in  the  town  of  Romeo,  Michigan,  where  in 
due  time  he  found  the  opportunity  for  which 
he  had  long  sought.     Soon  after  his  arrival 


in  Romeo  Mr.  McCoy  embarked  in  the  sup- 
ply business,  to  furnish  grain,  provisions  and 
other  necessities  to  tlie  men  engaged  in  lum- 
bering in  the  Michigan  pineries,  and  to  this 
line  of  endeavor  he  devoted  his  attention, 
with  handsome  profits,  until  1872.  In  that 
year  he  discontinued  the  supply  enterprise, 
cUid,  in  partnership  with  James  A.  Remick, 
of  Detroit,  and  John  G.  Riggs,  of  Saginaw, 
engaged  in  the  lumber  business  under  the 
style  of  Riggs  &  McCoy,  the  scene  of  the 
firm's  operations  being  confined  principally 
to  a  large  area  of  fine  timber  land  on  the 
south  branch  of  the  Manistee  river.  This 
partnership  lasted  for  only  a  limited  time, 
and  about  one  year  after  its  organization  the 
subject  came  to  Clam  Lake  and  became  asso- 
ciated with  Charles  M.  Ayer,  the  firm  thus 
constituted  doing  an  extensive  and  very 
lucrative  lumber  business  on  Big  Clam  lake, 
and  continuing  the  same  for  a  period  of  ten 
years. 

During  his  residence  at  Clam  Lake  Mr. 
McCoy  took  an  active  interest  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  place,  served  as  president  of 
the  village,  and  subsequently,  after  its  incor- 
poration as  the  city  of  Cadillac,  he  was  elect- 
ed mayor.  He  did  much  to  advance  its 
industrial  and  commercial  interests,  was  also 
zealous  in  promoting  the  educational,  social 
and  moral  welfare  of  the  young  and  thriving 
city,  and  few  have  been  as  influential  as  was 
he  in  shaping  and  directing  the  public  policy 
of  the  municipality.  In  1883  the  firm  of 
McCoy  &  Ayer  was  dissolved,  and  the  same 
year  the  subject  disposed  of  his  business 
interests  at  Cadillac  and  removed  to  Grand 
Rapids,  which  city  he  has  since  made  his 
home  and  in  the  civic  and  public  affairs  of 
which  he  has  been  a  pronu'nent  and  influen- 
tial factor. 


DAYHUFF  GROUP. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


469 


Mr.  ^McCoy -lias  been  honored  with  a 
nnmber  of  high  official  positions,  including 
that  of  president  of  the  State  Bank  of  Mich- 
igan, which  he  has  held  since  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  institution,  in  1892,  and,  as  stated 
in  a  preceding  paragraph,  he  is  now  serving 
his  second  term  as  treasurer  of  the  state, 
having  been  first  elected  to  the  office  in  No- 
vember, 1899.  Among  the  industrial  enter- 
prises with  which  he  is  identified  are  the 
Grand  Rapids  Edison  Electric  Light  Com- 
pany, of  which  he  has  been  president  since 
1886,  the  year  of  its  organization;  the  Im- 
perial Furniture  Company  of  the  same  city, 
and  the  Alfred  Baxter  Company,  to  both  of 
which  he  sustains  the  relation  of  execu- 
tive head.  He  is  also  connected  with 
the  Herkner  Jewelry  Company,  of  Grajid 
Rapids,  and  various  other  important  inter- 
ests, with  the  management  of  which  he  has 
contributed  in  no  small  degree. 

For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  McCoy  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  political  afifairs  of 
Michigan,  and  he  has  long  been  recognized 
as  one  of  the  Republican  leaders  in  tliis  state. 
His  influence  in  the  councils  of  his  party 
has  had  much  to  do  with  its  success,  and 
the  honorable  position  he  now  holds  is  one 
of  the  many  testimonials  to  the  confidence 
with  which  he  is  regarded  by  his  political 
associates  and  to  the  high  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held  by  the  public.  Mr.  McCoy  sub- 
scribes to  the  Episcopal  creed  in  matters  re- 
ligious, and,  with  his  wife,  is  a  faithful 
member  of  the  church  in  Grand  Rapids  and 
a  liberal  contributor  to  its  support  and  to 
various  benevolences.  While  loyal  to  his 
own  faith, he  possesses  a  catholic  spirit,  which 
sees  good  in  all  churches,  and  consequently 
liis  financial  assistance  is  I)y  no  means  con- 
fined to  one  organization,  but  all  lines  of 


religious  and  charitable  work  have  profited 
by  his  generous  contributions. 

Mr.  McCoy  was  married  on  the  19th  of 
March,  1869,  in  Romeo,  Michigan,  to  Miss 
Gail  Lyon  Ayer,  a  descendant  of  an  okl  New 
England  family,  the  union  being  blessed  with 
four  children,  as  follows  :  Mrs.  Helen  Fran- 
ces Grab,  born  June  28,  1871  ;  Lieutenant 
Ralph  Mc^oy,  of  the  Twenty-seventh  United 
States  Infantry,  born  January  27,  1873; 
Mrs.  Katherine  Braddock,  born  April  20, 
1879,  and  Gerald,  whose  birth  occurred  on 
December  24,  1881. 


NELS     P.     NORDSTROM. 

The  foreign-born  citizens  of  the  United 
States  constitute  a  large  and  important 
element  in  our  national  life  and  as  a  rule 
they  are  enterprising  and  thrifty  in  wdiatever 
field  of  endeavor  engaged.  From  all  parts 
of  Europe  people  have  flocked  to  our  shores 
to  find  homes  and  fortunes  under  the  fos- 
tering influence  of  a  free  government,  many 
of  them  achieving  distinctive  precedence  in 
agriculture,  commercial  and  industrial  pur- 
suits, others  rising  to  distinguished  promi- 
nence in  the  learned  professions  and  in  the 
domains  of  science  and  art,  Scandinavia 
more  perhaps  than  any  other  country  has 
contril^uted  to  the  material  development  and 
general  prosperity  of  our  northern  and  west- 
ern states,  and  wherever  found  this  hardy 
nationality  is  noted  for  intelligence,  enter- 
prise, thrift  and  a  love  of  freedom,  consis- 
tent with  the  highest  order  of  American 
citizenship.  Among  the  representatives  of 
this  nationality  in  Wexford  county,  Michi- 
gan, is  Nels  P.   Nordstrom,  a  progressive 


470 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Imsiness  man  of  Cadillac  who  was  born  in 
Sweden  on  the  27th  day  of  May,  1857.  His 
father  was  an  agricultnrist  and  it  was  un- 
der the  wholesome  discipline  of  the  farm 
that  young'  Nels's  childhood  and  youth  were 
spent,  obtaining  the  meanwhile  a  common 
school  education  and  later  receiving  instruc- 
tion at  home  from  private  tutors.  When  a 
young  man  he  took  up  cabinet-making,  of 
which  he  served  a  four-years  apprenticeship 
and  immediately  after  completing  his  term 
of  service  came  to  the  United  States,  where 
he  was  led  to  believe  a  more  attractive  field 
and  larger  opportunities  were  to  be  found 
than  his  own  country  offered.  Mr.  Nord- 
strom landed  in  Boston  in  the  summer  of 
1881  and  from  that  city  came  direct  to  Clam 
Lake,  Michigan,  reaching  this  place  on  the 
4th  day  of  the  following  August.  For  some 
months  after  his  arrival  he  worked  at  dif- 
ferent vocations,  turning  his  hand  to  any 
kind  of  honest  employment  he  could  find, 
but  later  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  clerk- 
ship in  the  hardware  store  of  J.  W.  Cummer, 
in  which  capacity  he  continued  until  1893. 
In  that  year  Mr.  Nordstrom  engaged  in  the 
hardware  trade  upon  his  own  responsibility 
and  he  has  since  carried  on  a  large  and  lu- 
crative business,  his  success  being  commen- 
surate with  the  energy  and  enterprise  dis- 
played in  the  undertaking. 

Mr.  Nordstrom  has  a  well  equipped  store, 
carries  a  full  line  of  all  kinds  of  hardware 
demanded  by  the  trade,  and  owns  the  build- 
ing in  wdiich  his  business  is  conducted.  His 
progress  since  becoming  an  independent  fac- 
tor in  the  commercial  world  has  been  credit- 
able in  every  respect  and  he  stands  today 
among  the  leading  hardware  dealers  in 
Cadillac,  as  well  as  among  the  city's  most 
enterprising  men  of  affairs.     Honor  and  in- 


tegrity have  characterized  his  career,  his  re- 
lations with  his  patrons  and  with  the  public 
generally  have  been  most  agreeable  and  he 
is  held  in  high  esteem  by  all  with  whom  he 
has  dealings  or  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact  in  business  or  social  capacities. 

Mr.  Nordstrom  is  a  public  spirited  man 
and  ever  since  coming  to  Cadillac  has  as- 
sisted by  every  means  at  his  command  all 
enterprises  for  the  material  advancement  of 
the  city.  His  interest  in  the  social  and  moral 
welfare  of  the  community  has  not  been  sec- 
ondary to  his  efforts  along  other  lines,  being 
a  friend  and  earnest  advocate  of  measures 
for  the  general  good  of  his  kind,  such  as 
churches,  schools,  charitable  and  benevolent 
institutions,  in  all  of  which  his  influence 
has  been  heartily  enlisted.  In  religion  he 
subscribes  to  the  Presbyterian  creed,  being 
one  of  the  leading  members  of  that  church  in 
Cadillac,  and  in  politics  he  gives  his  support 
to  the  Republican  party. 

Mr.  Nordstrom  is  a  man  of  excellent 
mental  acquirements,  having  supplemented 
his  scholastic  training  by  a  wide  range  of 
reading,  so  that  he  is  now  well  informed  on 
many  subjects,  his  acquaintance  with  the 
world's  best  literature  being  both  general 
and  ])rofound.  He  keeps  in  touch  with  the 
trend  of  modern  thought  in  matters  of  state 
and  national  legislation,  and  has  strong  con- 
victions and  decided  opinions  relative  to  the 
leading  questions  and  issues  of  the  day.  In 
closing  this  simple  sketch  of  a  w^ell-rounded 
character  and  successful  business  career  it 
may  be  profitable  to  pause  a  moment  to  learn 
the  lesson  such  a  life  tends  to  teach.  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  Mr.  Nordstrom  is  a  self- 
made  man,  as  all  noble  characters  with  God's 
help  are  thus  developed.  Follow  him  from  his 
home  in  the  far-aw^ay  Northland  across  the 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


471 


sea  to  a  new  country  whose  conditions  were 
so  different  from  those  of  his  own;  contem- 
plate his  experiences  and  struggles  for  years 
in  subordinate  capacities,  ofttimes  obliged  to 
encounter  obstacles  calculated  to  discourage, 
but  gradually  overcoming  everything  in  the 
way  of  success  until  rising  to  his  present 
position  of  affluence  and  influence,  and  the 
reader  will  have  an  object  lesson  as  plain  as 
it  is  practical.  It  is  not  luck,  inlluence  or  in- 
herited wealth  that  makes  such  men,  but 
work,  persistence,  pluck,  and  a  laudable  am- 
bition to  rise  superior  to  environment.  Mr. 
Nordstrom  has  lived  well  and  made  most 
of  his  opportunities  and  what  he  has  already 
accomplished  may  be  taken  as  a  prophecy 
of  still  greater  achievements  and  a  wider 
field  of  usefulness  in  years  to  come. 


ELIAS    MORKEN. 


Well  authenticated  history  now  concedes 
that  the  Norsemen  or  Northmen  were  the 
first  Europeans  to  visit  the  western  hemis- 
phere. Their  leaders  termed  themselves  sea- 
kings  and  the  recital  of  their  undertakings 
and  adventures,  both  on  sea  and  land,  mark 
them  as  kings  indeed.  The  new  country 
visited  by  them  in  the  year  1002,  and  named 
))y  them  Vineland,  is  believed  by  some  his- 
torians to  be  the  coast  of  Lal^rador,  by  others 
to  be  the  New  England  shore,  but,  wherever 
their  Vineland  may  have  been  located,  it  is 
now  generally  conceded  that  they  anticipated 
the  discovery  of  Columbus  by  five  hundred 
years.  That  they  made  no  use  of  their  dis- 
covery, other  than  to  make  a  record  of  it  in 
their  annals,  is  the  reason  why  1492  is  as- 
signed as  the  date  of  the  actual  discovery  of 


America.  One  of  the  worthy  descendants 
of  these  hardy  seamen  is  the  subject  of  this 
review,  Elias  Morken,  of  Cherry  Grove 
township. 

Elias  Morken  is  a  native  of  Norway, 
1)orn  Decem1)er  26,  1840.  He  received  a 
fair  education  in  his  native  land  and  resided 
there  the  first  twenty-two  years  of  his  life. 
JMshing  and  sailing  was  the  the  chief  occu- 
pation of  the  greater  number  of  those 
years.  Desiring  to  come  to  America  and 
having  the  requisite  amount  to  defray  neces- 
sary expenses  and  leave  him  enough  for  a 
start  in  the  new  and  strange  land,  he  ad- 
justed his  affairs  and  in  1880  set  sail  for  the 
United  States.  The  voyage  was  a  pleasant 
one,  and  in  August,  1880,  he  set  foot  on 
American  soil  for  the  first  time.  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  was  his  destination  and  he 
lost  no  time  in  reaching  it.  During  the 
next  years  he  engaged  in  various  kinds  of 
labor  and  then  invested  his  means  in  forty 
acres  of  land,  a  part  of  section  17,  Cherry 
Grove  township.  Before  leaving  his  native 
land  he  wisely  took  the  precaution  to  provide 
himself  with  a  wife,  as  the  ist  day  of  No- 
vember, 1865,  at  her  home  in  Norway,  he 
\s'as  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Paulina 
Hanson,  a  native  of 'Norway,  born  June  30, 
J  845.  On  first  locating  in  Cherry  Grove 
township,  they  established  their  home  on 
section  20,  where  they  resided  eight  years, 
while  they  were  preparing  their  own  little 
farm  in  section  17  for  occupancy  and  cul- 
tivation. They  have  since  established  their 
home  on  their  own  land  and  have  the 
greater  part  of  it  cleared  and  improved  and 
are  gratifyingly  prosperous.  They  are  the 
parents  of  six  children,  viz. :  Ellen,  Peter, 
Hans,  Axin,  Gertrude  and  Hannah.  Ellen 
is  the  wife  of  Loe  Nelson,  Gertrude  is  mar- 


472 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


ried  to  Roy  Loveland  and  Hannah  has  been 
Mrs.  A,  Carlson  for  some  time.  The  son 
Axin  is  postmaster  at  Axin  postoffice,  being 
appointed  in  1899  under  McKinley's  admin- 
istration. He  is  an  expert  in  fancy  embroid- 
ery, in  silk  and  crewels  and  his  handiwork- 
is  much  admired.  Since  1889  the  family 
has  resided  on  the  farm  in  section  17,  and 
have  devoted  themselves  almost  exclusively 
to  agricultural  pursuits. 

From  his  first  location  in  Cherry  Grove 
township  Elias  Morken  has  been  much  inter- 
ested in  all  public  affairs  which  concern  it. 
He  has  advocated  good  roads,  economy  and 
retrenchment  in  the  disbursement  of  finances 
and  in  the  just  and  equitable  levy  and  col- 
lection of  taxes  to  defray  expenses.  He 
served  seven  years  as  highway  commissioner, 
four  terms  as  treasurer  of  the  township  and 
a  number  of  times  as  member  of  the  county 
board  of  review.  The  members  of  the  fam- 
ily belong  to  the  Lutheran  faith,  in  which 
they  were  brought  up,  and  are  devout  and 
sincere  in  the  practices  of  that  religion.  The 
father  is  an  enterprising,  thrifty,  progressive 
man,  who  is  regarded  by  all  as  one  of  the 
most  worthy  citizens  of  this  locality. 


N.     JACOB     SMITH. 

There  .are  few  foreign  nations  that  have 
contributed  to  the  complex  composition  of 
our  American  social  fabric  an  element  of 
more  sterling  worth  or  of  greater  value  in 
fostering  and  supporting  the  national  insti- 
tutions than  have  the  natives  of  the  Scandi- 
navian peninsula,  who  have  come  to  and  be- 
come citizens  of  the  United  States.  The 
men   of   Scandinavia   who  have  located  in 


America  arc  with  very  few  exceptions  per- 
sons of  sturdy  integrity,  indomitable  perse- 
verance, high  intelligence  and  possessed  of 
much  business  sagacity.  Through  them 
there  have  been  incorporated  in  our  cosmopol- 
itan population  many  elements  of  enduring 
strength.  The  subject  of  this  review,  N. 
Jacob  Smith,  is  a  native  of  Sw^eden,  and 
there  his  childhood,  youth  and  early  man- 
hood w^ere  spent.  He  is  proud  of  the  race 
whence  he  sprang  and  the  dominating  char- 
acteristics of  that  people,  as  disclosed  in  him, 
have  won  him  the  confidence  and  regard  of 
his  fellow  citizens  in  the  land  of  his  adoption. 
N.  Jacob  Smith,  of  Cherry  Grove  town- 
ship, was  born  in  Sweden,  January'2i,  1842. 
His  parents  w^ere  agriculturists  and  the  first 
fifteen  years  of  his  life  w^ere  spent  on  a  farm. 
In  1857  he  crossed  over  into  Denmark  and 
resided  there,  following  farming,  until  1870, 
when  he  made  a  visit  to  the  United  States. 
He  was  so  well  pleased  with  all  that  he  saw^ 
that  he  determined  to  make  the  great  Ameri- 
can republic  his  future  home.  Accordingly 
he  returned  to  Sweden  and  in  the  fall  of  1S71 
he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Johanna 
Sophia  Johnson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  born 
in  September,  1844,  and  soon  thereafter  they 
came  to  the  United  States,  coming  direct  to 
Livingston  county,  and  thence  to  Wexford 
county,  Michigan,  where  he  invested  in  forty 
acres  of  woodland,  which  he  bought  of  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  Company. 
It  is  a  part  of  section  2^,  Cherry  Grove  town- 
ship, and  cost  him  three  hundred  and  sixty 
dollars,  or  nine  dollars  per  acre.  He  im- 
mediately erected  good,  substantial  build- 
ings and  began  clearing  the  land.  Whenever 
he  found  an  adjacent  tract  of  land  for  sale 
at  a  reasonable  figure  he  lost  no  time  in 
purchasing  it  and  in  this  way  kept  constantly 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


478 


adding  to  his  real  estate  possessions,  until 
at  this  time  he  is  the  owner  of  two  hundred 
and  eighty  acres,  eighty  of  which  are  cleared 
and  under  cultiv^ation.  Eleven  children 
have  been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smith,  six 
of  them  died  in  childhood.  Those  living- 
are  Edmund  J.,  Erank  O.,  Emma  S.  J., 
Charles  N.  and  Nels  A. 

In  all  public  affairs,  local,  state  and  na- 
tional, like  every  well  educated,  patriotic 
citizen,  Mr.  Smith  takes  much  interest.  In 
educational  w^ork  he  is  particularly  active, 
for  he  knows  that  enlightenment  is  a  pre- 
requisite to  good  citizenship.  He  has  served 
in  nearly  every  capacity  on  the  school  board, 
as  director,  moderator  and  inspector.  Good 
roads  is  another  favorite  local  topic  with  him 
and  he  served  for  a  number  of  years  as  high- 
way commissioner,  during  which  time  the 
good  work  accomplished  by  him  was  quite 
perceptible  to  every  person  making  use  of 
the  public  highways  of  the  township.  The 
finances  of  the  township  also  always  re- 
ceive a  good  deal  of  consideration  from  him. 
He  was  treasurer  of  the  township  a  number 
of  terms  and  guarded  the  public  funds  in  a 
manner  to  secure  the  approval  of  every  tax- 
payer. The  family  belongs  to  the  Swedish 
Mission  church  and  are  devout  and  zealous 
workers  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  charity. 
He  is  an  enterprising,  public-spirited  man 
who  has  done  his  full  share  toward  the 
growth  and  development  of  the  township 
and  county  of  his  residence. 


CHARLES    C.    DUNHAM. 

One  of  the  leading  figures  in  the  history 
of  Wexford  county  is  Charles  C.  Dunham, 
who    for    nearly    thirty    years    has    been    a 


wortliy  resident  of  Cadillac,  during  which 
period  he  has  achieved  honora-ble  distinction 
as  a  citizen,  besides  serving  the  public  in 
an  important  official  position,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  his  connection  with  various  enterprises 
Lor  the  general  welfare  of  the  community. 
In  a  war  which  tested  the  stability  of  the 
yVmerican  government  he  bravely  and  loy- 
ally defended  the  nation's  honor  and  in  var- 
ious avenues  of  civil  life  he  has  been  charac- 
terized by  fidelity  of  purpose  and  adherence 
to  principle  which  bespeaks  the  trustw^orthy 
man  and  public-spirited  citizen. 

Charles  C.  Dunham  is  a  native  of  Ohio 
and  was  born  November  17,  1845,  ^^^  ^^^^ 
towni  of  Hinckley,  Medina  county,  being  the 
son  of  William  and  Jane  Ann  (Conant) 
Dunham,  both  natives  of  Pennsylvania. 
Until  about  eight  years  of  age  the  subject 
lived  at  the  place  of  his  birth,  his  experience 
during  the  interim  being  pretty  much  like 
that  of  the  majority  of  children  born  and 
reared  in  a  country  towui.  About  1853  his 
father  brought  the  family  to  Michigan  and 
located  near  Grand  Rapids,  in  wdiich  city  the 
elder  Dunham  w^orked  for  some  years  as  a 
carpenter  and  joiner,  which  trade  he 
learned  before  moving  wxst.  Being  an  ef- 
ficient mechanic,  his  services  were  in  great 
demand  and  in  addition  to  many  other  edi- 
fices he  l3uilt  a  number  of  hotels  betw^een  the 
cities  of  Grand  Rapids  and  Kalamazoo,  sev- 
eral of  w^hich  became  noted  places  of  enter- 
tainment during  the  early  days  wdien  people 
traveled  largely  by  stage  or  private  convey- 
arxe.  Later  William  Dunham  abandoned 
mechanical  work  and  turned  his  attention  to 
business,  accepting  the  position  of  cashier  in 
a  bank  at  Manistee,  in  which  institution  he 
was  also  interested  as  stockholder.  Subse- 
quently he  was  made  president  of  the  bank 


474 


Vl^EXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


and  as  such  gained  an  honorable  reputation 
in  financial  circles,  his  connection  with  the 
banking  business  at  Manistee  covering  a 
period  of  twenty  years,  during  which  time 
he  became  one  of  the  leading  men  of  that 
town.  For  a  time  he  served  as  president  of 
the  Fifth  National  Bank  of  Grand  Rapids, 
which  city  he  still  makes  his  home  and  with 
the  material  growth  and  prosperity  of  which 
he  has  long  been  identified,  being  at  this  time 
one  of  its  best  known  and  most  praiseworthy 
citizens.  By  energy  and  successful  manage- 
ment he  accumulated  a  large  fortune,  but 
owing  to  financial  difficulties  much  of  his 
wealth  was  lost,  although  he  succeeded  in 
saving  sufficient  to  spend  the  remainder  of 
his  days  in  comforL  In  politics  he  has  been 
a  zealous  Republican  ever  since  the  organi- 
zation of  the  party,  and  while  living  at  Man- 
istee he  was  elected  to  several  county  ofiices, 
in  all  of  which  he  discharged  his  duties  in 
a  manner  which  met  with  the  approval  of 
the  public  irrespective  of  party  ties.  Mr. 
Dunham  has  long  been  an  enthusiastic 
Mason  and  of  recent  years  has  been  one  of 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  order 
in  this  state,  having  risen  to  the  thirty-third 
degree,  which,  as  all  know,  depends  entirely 
upon  merit  and  is  only  reached  by  a  few. 
At  the  present  time  he  is  living  a  life  of  re- 
tirement, honored  and  respected  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Grand  Rapids  and  well  known  in  fin- 
ancial and  Masonic  circles  throughout  the 
state,  his  name  everywhere  being  synony- 
mous with  all  that  is  upright  in  manhood 
and  commendable  in  citizenship.  The 
family  of  William  and  Jane  Ann  Dunham 
includes  five  children,  whose  names  are  as 
follows :  Henry,  Jennie,  Phoebe,  Julia  and 
the  subject  of  this  review,  who  is  second 
in  order  of  birth. 


As  already  stated,  Charles  C.  Dunham 
w^as  a  lad  of  about  eight  years  when  his 
parents  moved  to  Michigan  and  from  that 
time  until  eighteen  his  life  was  devoid  of 
interesting  experiences  or  eventful  episode. 
He  attended  the  public  schools  of  the  various 
localities  in  which  the  family  lived,  made 
the  most  of  his  opportunities  and  grew  up 
vigorous  in  body,  strong  and  alert  in  mind 
and  well  qualified  to  assume  the  grave  re- 
sponsibilities of  life  when  they  should  pre- 
sent themselves.  In  1863  he  responded  to 
the  country's  call  for  volunteers  by  enlisting 
in  Company  L,  Tenth  Michigan  Cavalry, 
with  which  he  shared  the  fortunes  and  vicis- 
situdes of  war  until  the  close  of  the  rebel- 
lion, serving  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland 
and  participating  in  many  noted  battles  and 
campaigns  as  a  brave  and  gallant  soldier.  In 
an  engagement  near  Henry  Court  House, 
Virginia,  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  tlic  enemy, 
but  after  being  held  a  prisoner  one  day  was 
released  and  rejoined  his  command,  from 
which  time  until  the  end  of  his  period  of  ser- 
vice he  met  with  no  other  mishap  or  misfor- 
tune. Returning  to  Michigan  at  the  close  of 
the  war,  Mr.  Dunham  yielded  to  a  desire  of 
long  standing  by  beginning  the  study  of  law, 
but  after  prosecuting  the  same  for  a  short 
time  circumstances  led  him  to  engage  in 
an  undertaking  which  promised  him  a 
more  speedy  means  of  obtaining  a  liveli- 
hood; accordingly  he  left  Wayland,  where 
he  had  located  after  the  war,  and  engaged  as 
superintendent  of  a  shingle  mill  at  Winne- 
conne,  Wisconsin,  where  he  remained  until 
his  return  to  Michigan,  in  1870.  In  that 
year  he  embarked  in  the  lumber  business  at 
Manistee  anxl  there  continued  with  fair  suc- 
cess until  1876,  when  he  came  to  Cadillac 
where  he  carried  on  the  manufacture  of  luni- 


V/ EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


475 


ber  during  the  ensuing  two  years,  devoting 
a  part  of  his  time  to  clerking  in  a  grocery 
house. 

Mr.  Dunham  early  became  interested  in 
politics  and  shortly  after  his  removal  to 
Cadillac  began  taking  an  active  part  in  local 
affairs,  his  ability  as  an  organizer  and  party 
leader  soon  bringing  him  prominently  be- 
fore the  public.  In  1878  he  was  nominated 
on  the  Republican  ticket  for  sheriff  and  his 
election  to  the  office  by  a  large  majority 
demonstrated  not  only  his  fitness  for  the 
position  but  also  his  personal  popularity  with 
the  people,  men  of  all  parties  giving  him  a 
liberal  support.  His  administration  of  the 
oftice  was  in  every  respect  satisfactory  and 
so  ably  and  faithfully  did  he  discharge  his 
duties  that  he  has  been  retained  several 
terms,  his  course  throughout  fully  justifying 
the  wisdom  of  the  people  in  keeping  him 
continuously  in  oftice.  In  1882  Mr.  Dun- 
ham was  admitted  to  the  bar,  but  his  official 
functions  have  required  his  time  and  atten- 
tion to  the  extent  of  practically  preventing 
him  from  engaging  in  the  practice,  his  legal 
services  being  of  an  advisory  nature  and 
confined  largely  to  maters  outside  of  the 
courts.  He  is  well  grounded  in  the  princi- 
ples of  jurisprudence,  has  a  wide  acquain- 
tance with  the  law  in  all  its  bearings  and 
possesses  the  ability  and  tact  to  apply  his 
knowledge  to  practice.  Should  the  people 
ever  release  their  hold  upon  his  services  he 
will  dou])tless  yet  achieve  a  creditable  record 
at  tlie  bar,  his  integrity  and  sound  judg- 
ment being  qualifications  largely  in  his  favor 
when  he  sees  fit  to  assume  his  proper  place 
among  his  professional  brethren. 

Mr.  Dunham,  in  the  year  1869,  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  D.  Butts, 


of  Lawrence,  Michigan,  daughter  of  H.  W. 
Butts,  the  union  being  blessed  with  a  daugh- 
ter by  the  name  of  Eva.  In  social  and  fra- 
ternal circles  Mr.  Dunham  has  long  been 
active  and  prominent,  standing  especially 
high  as  a  Mason,  in  which  order  he  has  taken 
a  number  of  degrees  besides  serving  in  var- 
ious honorable  capacities.  He  has  held  of- 
ficial .station  in  the  commandery,  and  served 
as  high  priest  of  the  chapter  of  Royal  Arch 
Masons,  discharging  his  duties  in  these  im- 
portant relations  with  the  same  ability  and 
fidelity  that  characterize  his  career  in  the 
civil  of^ce  with  which  the  people  of  Wex- 
ford county  have  honored  him.  He  is  also 
identified  v/ith  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  be- 
longing to  the  Uniform  Rank,  and  for  a 
number  of  years  his  name  has  adorned  the 
records  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic 
and  the  Union  Veterans'  Union,  which  or- 
ganizations tend  to  keep  in  memory  the 
thrilling  scenes  and  experiences  of  his  mili- 
tary days  and  endeavor  and  heighten  the 
patriotic  sentiment  which  should  animate 
every  true  soldier  who  tendered  his  services 
and  !iis  life  to  the  country  during  the  period 
of  treason  and  disunion. 

Mr.  Dunham's  career  in  civil  as  in  mili- 
tary life  has  been  most  creditable  and  right 
faithfully  has  he  earned  and  nobly  does  he 
merit  the  confidence  in  which  he  is  held  and 
ihe  honors  that  have  been  conferred  upon 
him.  By  all  who  know  him  he  is  considered 
a  faithful  and  efficient  officer  and  an  up- 
right, courteous  gentleman  and  in  the 
various  relations  of  life,  whether  as  citizen, 
friend,  neighbor,  public  servant,  husband  or 
father,  he  is  respected  by  a  wide  circle  of 
acquaintances,  who  regard  him  as  an  honor- 
able man,  true  to  his  convictions  and  ever 


29 


476 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  AflCHIGAN. 


ready  by  every  power  at  his  command  to  do 
the  right  as  he  sees  and  understands  the 
right. 


FRANK  L.  GOODYEAR. 

The  science  of  agriculture,  for  it  is  a 
science  as  well  as  an  art,  finds  an  able  demon- 
strator as  well  as  a  successful  practitioner  in 
the  person  of  Frank  L.  Goodyear,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review.  A  skilled  engineer,  both 
locomotive  and  stationary,  he  abandoned 
that  remunerative  calling  to  engage  in  the 
more  peaceful,  less  hazardous  and  more 
agreeable  pursuit  of  agriculture. 

Frank  L.  Goodyear,  who  owns  and  re- 
sides upon  a  part  of  section  24,  Selma 
township,  is  a  native  of  New  York,  born 
in  Camden,  Oneida  county,  December  17, 
1847.  In  1853  the  family  moved  to  Oswego 
county,  New^  York,  where,  in  January,  1864, 
the  subject  of  this  review^  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany H,  Ninth  Regiment  New  York  Heavy 
Artillery,  and  served  until  after  the  close  of 
the  war.  He  was  mustered  out  of  the  ser- 
vice September  29,  1865,  ^^^^^  returned  to 
his  home  in  Oswego.  He  served  his  coun- 
try faithfully  and  received  a  wound  in  the 
left  arm,  while  in  the  line  of  duty,  at  Monoc- 
acy,  Maryland,  which  for  a  length  of  time 
caused  him  considerable  trouble.  In  the 
spring  of  1866  he  decided  to  try  his  fortune 
in  the  west  and  accordingly  he  left  Oswego 
county  and  took  up  his  abode  in  Clinton, 
Iowa.  There  he  secured  employment  on  the 
Chicago  &  Northwestern  Railroad,  became 
a  skillful  engineer  and  ran  on  that  line  in 
that  capacity  for  a  number  of  years.  He 
was  also  for  a  time,  while  he  lived  in  Clinton, 
engineer  on  a  steamboat  plying  up  and  down 


the  Mississippi  river.  He  was  not  at  all 
dissatisfied  with  his  calling,  but  the  dangers 
to  which  he  w^as  constantly  exposed  was 
a  constant  source  of  fear  and  anxiety  to  the 
family  and  eventually  he  was  prevailed  upon 
to  give  it  up  and  enter  a  calling  not  so  be- 
set with  danger.  In  the  fall  of  1884  he  pur- 
chased a  team  and  wagon,  installed  his 
wife  and  two  children  in  the  canopy-topped 
vehicle,  put  in  a  few  necessary  articles  and 
headed  his  horses  for  Wexford  county,  Mich- 
igan. In  due  season  he  arrived,  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  24,  Selma 
township,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  es- 
tablish a  home  thereon,  having  since  con- 
tinued to  reside  there.  About  half  of  the 
tract  of  land  he  has  cleared  and  it  is  well  cul- 
tivated and  quite  productive.  He  has  erected 
commodious  and  substantial  buildings  there- 
on and  the  place  and  its  surroundings  present 
a  most  enticing,  home-like  appearance. 

On  the  17th  day  of  January,  1876,  in 
Oneida  county.  New  York,  Frank  L.  Good- 
year was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Helena 
Davis,  a  native  of  New  York,  born  in  Oneida 
county,  September  17,  1857.  To  this  union 
three  children  were  born,  two  of  whom, 
Cora  J.  and  F>essie  C,  are  living.  The  other 
daughter,  Leva,  died  early  in  life.  Cora  at- 
tended the  normal  college  at  Cadillac  and 
for  seven 'years  was  a  successful  teacher  in 
this  county.  December  25,  1902,  she  be- 
came the  wife  of  Clarence  Parker. 

Ever  since  his  location  in  Selma  town- 
ship Mr.  Goodyear  has  been  quite  active  in 
public  affairs.  He  served  as  supervisor  of 
Selma  township  from  1890  to  1901,  a  period 
of  eleven  years.  He  has  been  highway  com- 
missioner and  was  deputy  sheriff  of  Wexford 
county  for  a  number  of  years.  In  his  labors 
on  the  farm  he  has  been  most  successful,  and 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


477 


lias  never  for  a  moment  regretted  that  he 
changed  either  his  location  or  his  calhng.  He 
is  a  man  of  firm  convictions,  yet  amiable  and 
kind,  and  in  his  liome  is  all  that  could  be  de- 
sired in  a  husband  and  father. 


ASAPH  T.  VANCE. 

There  is  no  positive  rule  for  achieving 
success,  and  yet  in  the  hfe  of  the  successful 
man  there  are  always  lessons  which  might 
well  be  followed.  The  man  who  gains  pros- 
perity is  he  w4io  can  see  and  utilize  the  op- 
portunity that  comes  in  his  path.  The  es- 
sential conditions  of  human  life  are  ever  the 
same,  the  surroundings  of  individuals  differ 
but  slightly,  and  when  one  man  passes  an- 
other on  the  highway  of  life  to  reach  the 
goal  of  prosperity  before  others  who  perhaps 
started  out  before  him,  it  is  because  he  has 
the  power  to  use  advantages  which  probably 
encompass  the  wdiole  human  race.  Today 
among  the  prominent  citizens  and  successful 
agriculturists  of  Claju  Lake  township,  Wex- 
ford county,  Michigan,  stands  Asaph  T. 
Vance.  The  qualities  of  keen  discrimination, 
sound  judgment  and  a  keen  sense  of  honor 
enter  very  largely  into  his  make-up  and  have 
l)een  contributing  elements  to  the  material 
success  which  has  come  to  him. 

Asaph  T.  Vance  is  a  native  of  Canada, 
'having  been  born  in  the  county  of  Norfolk, 
province  of  Ontario,  on  the  nth  of  May, 
1846,  the  son  of  Alexander  and  Nancy 
(Teal)  Vance,  natives  also  of  Canada.  The 
subject  was  reared  upon  his  father's  farm  and 
was  early  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  suc- 
cessful agriculture,  in  the  meantime  being 
given  the  benefit  of  a  good  education  in  the 


common  schools,  a  grammar  school  and  pri- 
vate instruction  under  Robert  Miller,  a  class- 
ical scholar.  He  remained  with  his  mother 
until  in  February,  1872,  when,  desiring  to 
start  out  on  his  own  account,  he  came  to 
Cadillac  (then  known  as  Clam  Lake)  and 
took  up  a  homestead.  During  the  first  five 
or  six  years  he  passed  his  winters  teaching, 
and  in  the  lumber  woods,  but  at  length  was 
enabled  to  give  his  attention  to  his  farm.  He 
set  about  to  improve  the  tract  and  had  forty 
acres  improved  and  in  good  cultivable  condi- 
tion, when,  in  1903,  he  traded  his  homestead 
for  an  eighty-acre  tract  in  section  25,  the 
same  township.  He  has  given  careful  at- 
tention to  the  cultivation  of  his  land  and 
raises  all  the  crops  that  the  climate  and  soil 
are  at  all  capable  of  producing,  and  also  pays 
some  attention  to  the  raising  of  such  stock 
as  is  needed  in  the  the  conduct  of  the  farm. 
His  farm  is  well  improved  with  a  modern 
dwelling  and  his  outbuildings  are  all  of  sub- 
stantial construction  and  conveniently  ar- 
ranged,  as  well  as  sufficiently  commodious 
for  all  practical  purposes.  The  entire  place 
shows  the  careful  superintendence  of  a  skill- 
ful manager,  and  there  are  very  few  farms 
of  its  size  in  the  county  with  w^hich  it  will 
not  favorably  compare. 

Mr.  Vance  has  twice  been  married,  the 
first  time,  on  the  nth  day  of  May,  1875,  to 
Miss  Alma  J.  Barker,  a  native  of  Hillsdale 
county,  Michigan.  Her  death  occurred 
July  9,  1876,  and  on  the  5th  of  November, 
1882,  Mr.  Vance  was  married  to  Miss  Dor- 
cas C.  Dunbar,  a  native  of  the  state  of  New- 
York  and  the  daughter  of  Robert  and  Mary 
(Lake)  Dunbar.  When  she  was  yet  in 
young  girlhood  her  parents  removed  from 
New  York  to  Hancock  county,  Ohio,  where 
she  was  reared  and  educated  and  lived  until 


478 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


early  in  the  'seventies,  when  she  came  tc> 
Wexford  county,  Michigan.  To  her  union 
with  Mr.  Vance  was  born  one  child,  Asaph 
J.,  who  died  w^ien  ten  months  old. 

The  political  entiments  of  the  subject  are 
in  harmony  wath  the  platform  and  principles 
of  the  Republican  party  and  he  has  been  ac- 
tive in  the  interests  of  his  party.  He  stands 
high  in  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens 
and  for  several  years  filled  the  office  of  clerk 
of  his  township  and  also  several  years  as 
township  supervisor,  performing  the  duties 
of  both  positions  in  a  manner  highly  credit- 
able to  himself  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  his  constituents.  In  religion  he  subscribes 
to  the  creed  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  He  aims  to  be  progressive  in  what 
he  does,  is  always  in  sympathy  with  enter- 
prises having  for  their  object  the  common 
good,  and  his  infiuence  is  ever  exerted  on  the 
right  side  of  every  moral  issue.  Like  all 
men  of  positive  character  and  independence 
of  mind,  he  is  outspoken  in  the  defence  of 
what  he  considers  to  be  right,  and  his  con- 
victions are  such  that  his  neighbors  and  fel- 
low citizens  know  well  his  positions  on  all 
questions  of  a  political,  moral  and  religious 
nature.  His  private  life  has  been  exemplary 
and  his  amiable  traits  of  character  and  many 
virtues  have  made  him  widely  popular 
throughout  the  township  in  which  he  re- 
sides. 


CHARLES  H.  DRURY. 

The  popular  citizen  and  enterprising  busi- 
ness man  whose  name  furnishes  the  caption 
of  this  article  needs  no  formal  introduction 
to  the  people  of  Cadillac  and  Wexford  coun- 
ty. For  a  number  of  years  identified  with 
the   commercial    interests   and   always   tak- 


ing an  active  part  in  promoting  the  welfare 
of  the  public,  he  has  risen  to  a  high  place  in 
business  circles,  besides  earning  the  reputa- 
tion of  one  of  the  county's  broad  minded, 
progressive  men  of  affairs.  Charles  H. 
Drury,  president  of  the  Kelley  &  Drury 
Hardware  Company  of  Cadillac,  is  a  native 
of  Michigan,  born  July  i8,  1848,  in  the  city 
of  Detroit.  His  father,  Nathaniel  Drury, 
was  an  artist  and  for  many  years  followed 
scenic  painting  in  various  parts  of  the  United 
States,  visiting  many  of  the  largest  cities  in 
the  course  of  a  singularly  brilliant  and  suc- 
cessful professional  career.  He  was  a  man 
of  fine  attainments  and  high  social  standing 
and  excelled  in  the  calling  to  which  his  life 
and  energies  were  mainly  devoted.  He  died 
some  years  ago  in  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
whither  he  had  been  called  in  the  line  of  his 
work.  The  maiden  name  of  the  subject's 
mother  was  Sarah  A.  Kress.  She  was  born 
in  Penn  Yan,  New  York,  bore  her  husband 
two  children,  and  departed  this  life  in  Ad- 
rian, Michigan,  which  place  she  was  making 
her  home  at  the  time  of  her  death. 

Charles  H.  Drury  spent  his  early  years  in 
the  city  of  Adrian  and  after  receiving  a  good 
practical  education  in  the  public  schools  be- 
gan life  for  himself  as  a  clerk  in  a  hardware 
house,  a  line  of  business  for  which  he  dis- 
played unusual  aptitude  and  in  which  his 
al^ilities  as  a  salesman  soon  became  manifest. 
From  1862  until  1879  '^^  followed  clerking, 
principally  in  the  city  of  Adrian,  but  in  Au- 
gust of  the  latter  year  came  to  Cadillac  and 
accepted  a  position  in  the  hardware  house  of 
Cloud  &  Mitchell,  where  he  remained  a  few 
months,  resigning  his  place  in  the  spring  of 
1 880  for  the  purpose  of  engaging  in  the  same 
line  of  trade  for  himself  in  partnership  with 
Frank  C.  Sampson. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


479 


Messrs.  Sampson  &  Drury  soon  became 
the  leading  hardware  dealers  in  Cadillac  and 
the  firm  as  originally  constituted  lasted 
about  ten  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
time  A.  W.  Newark  purchased  Mr.  Samp- 
son's interest  and  became  the  subject's  busi- 
ness associate  under  the  style  of  Newark  & 
Drury.  Under  this  joint  management  the 
business  continued  during  the  ensuing  five 
years,  when  Mr.  Newark  sold  out  to  F.  B. 
Kelley,  thus  forming  the  Drury  &  Kelley 
Hardware  Company,  and  as  such  it  has  since 
existed.  It  is  not  only  the  largest  and  most 
successful  hardware  firm  in  Cadillac,  but 
one  of  the  most  enterprising  partnerships  of 
the  kind  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state. 
The  company  commands  an  extensive  local 
and  general  trade  and  is  widely  known  in 
commercial  circles,  enjoying  exceptional 
standing  with  the  leading  business  agencies 
of  the  country,  and  the  remarkable  adv.ance- 
ment  made  since  its  organization  may  be 
taken  as  an  earnest  of  a  still  larger  and  more 
prosperous  career  in  the  future. 

Mr.  Drury  is  easily  one  of  the  leading 
men  of  Cadillac  and  as  such  occupies  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  estimation  of  his  fel- 
low citizens.  He  takes  a  lively  interest  in 
whatever  tends  to  advance  the  material 
growth  of  the  city,  supports  with  a  liberal 
hand  all  worthy  enterprises  having  for  their 
object  the  social  and  moral  welfare  of  the 
community  and  his  influence  has  ever  been 
exerted  on  the  right  side  of  all  local  issues. 
His  career  has  been  one  of  continued  activity, 
attended  in  the  main  by  remarkable  busi- 
ness advancements  and  financial  prosperity. 
He  is  essentially  progressive  in  all  he  under- 
takes and,  endowed  with  the  al3ility  and  tact 
to  mould  circumstances  to  suit  his  ptu'poses, 
his  success  in  rising  superior  to  adverse  con- 


ditions and  mounting  to  his  present  high  and 
honorable  position  in  the  world  of  affairs 
indicates  a  power  such  as  few  possess. 

The  domestic  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Mr.  Drury  has  been  one  of  almost  ideal  char- 
acter, but  it  is  not  for  the  writer  to  lift  the 
veil  from  the  sacred  precincts  where  much 
of  his  inspiration,  courage  and  confidence 
liave  been  born  and  in  which  the  grace  and 
dignity  of  noble  womanhood,  the  devotion 
of  motherhood  and  the  charm  of  childhood 
shine  with  such  peculiar  luster.  Sufiice  to 
say,  however,  that  on  the  24th  day  of  Jan- 
uary, 1 87 1,  he  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Alice  C.  Webster,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Orange  Webster,  of  Cadillac,  a 
union  resulting  in  the  birth  of  three  children, 
the  oldest  of  whom,  Margaret,  is  now  the  ' 
wife  of  Charles  Gibson,  the  other  two,  Ed- 
win C.  and  Franklin,  still  being  mem- 
bers of  the  pleasant  home  circle.  Mrs. 
Drury  is  a  lady  of  refinement  and  gracious 
presence,  taking  an  active  interest  in  the 
social,  church  and  benevolent  life  of  her 
home  town  and  holding  the  appreciative  re- 
gard of  all  who  come  within  her  kindly  and 
helpful  influence. 

In  addition  to  his  large  and  constantly 
growing  business  affairs,  Mr.  Drury  has 
long  been  a  factor  in  the  public  concerns  of 
Cadillac,  having  served  acceptably  as 
treasurer  of  the  city,  besides  doing  much  in 
other  than  official  capacities  to  promote  its 
material  progress.  He  is  also  connected 
with  the  People's  Saving  Bank,  of  which  he 
is  now  vice-president,  and  he-  is  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Cadillac  Can  Manufacturing 
Company,  a  large  business  enterprise  with 
which  he  is  identified  and  for  the  success 
of  which  he  has  put  forth  such  strenuous 
and  faithful  efforts.     Fraternally    he    is    a 


480 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the 
Benevolent  and  Protective  Order  of  Elks, 
and  religiously  belongs  with  his  wife  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church. 

The  foregoing  review  of  the  life  of  one 
of  Cadillac's  enterprising  business  men  and 
prominent  citizens  is  necessarily  general  in 
character  and  scope.  To  enter  fully  into  all 
the  interesting  details  of  his  career,  touching 
the  struggles  of  his  youth  and  young  man- 
hood and  the  success  of  later  days,  would 
require  an  article  far  in  excess  of  the  limits 
of  this  review.  Enough  has  been  submitted, 
however,  to  prove  that  he  is  entitled  to  a  first 
place  in  the  ranks  of  the  determined,  ener- 
getic, self-made  men  of  Michigan,  whose 
enterprise  and  unswerving  honor  have 
wrought  from  the  wilderness  a  state  second 
to  none  in  the  grand  constellation  compris- 
ing our  proud  national  union,  and  to  show 
that  he  fully  merits  the  high  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held  by  the  people  among  whom  his 
lot  has  been  cast. 


MRS. 


CYNTHIA  (WHITMORE) 
DAYHUFF. 


Thirty-five  years  ago  what  is  now  the 
county  of  Wexford  was  a  wilderness.  There 
wxre  a  few  settlements,  where  people,  will- 
ing to  undergo  the  privations  of  pioneer 
life  in  the  hope  of  a  brighter  future,  came 
and  availed  themselves  of  the  privileges  of 
the  homestead,  laws,  settled  on  land  and 
awaited  the  advance  of  civilization.  At 
that  time  the  population  of  the  county  con- 
sisted wholly  of  hard-working  people.  Con- 
ditions were  then  entirely  too  primitive  for 
the  event  of  professional  men.     Occasion- 


ally a  minister  of  the  gospel  might  be  en- 
countered, but  he  w^as  one  of  those  pious 
laborers  who  employed  six  days  out  of  each 
wxek  doing  manual  labor  on  the  farm,  in 
the  woods  or  in  a  saw-mill  and  spent  Sunday 
preaching  salvation  to  those  who  cared  to 
come  to  listen  to  him.  As  to  lawyers,  there 
were  no  questions  for  litigation  and  gener- 
ally when  the  services  of  a  doctor  were  re- 
((uired,  through  sickness  or  accident,  he  had 
to  be  called  in  from  another  county.  These 
were  the  conditions  prevailing  in  this  lo- 
cality when  Mrs.  Cynthia  (Whitmore)  Day- 
huff,  with  her  family,  located  in  what  is  now 
Colfax  township.  At  that  time  she  was  a 
woman  forty-seven  years  of  age,  the  mother 
of  six  children  and  with  an  abundance  of 
experience  in  ministering  to  the  sick  and 
afflicted.  She  possessed  a  fair  education, 
had  read  much,  particularly  standard  medi- 
cal authorities,  and  being  blessed  by  nature 
with  excellent  judgment  and  a  fund  of  rare 
common  sense,  the  people  in  the  vicinity  of 
her  home  soon  found  her  services  far  more 
valuable  to  the  sick  and  suffering  of  the  lo- 
cality than  the  doctors  whom  they  could  in- 
duce to  come  in  and  prescribe  for  them.  In 
this  way  she  began  the  practice  of  medicine 
and  devoted  much  of  her  time  for  many 
years  to  the  profession,  often  being  called 
from  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles  or  more  to 
attend  a  patient  and  almost  invariably,  when 
the  call  was  not  urgent  or  the  distance 
great,  making  the  journey  on  foot.  In  this 
way  ^'Grandma  Dayhuff,"  as  she  is  popularly 
known,  has  been  an  angel  of  mercy  to  many 
a  poor  sufferer. 

Cynthia  (Whitmore)  Dayhuff  is  a  native 
of  the  state  of  New  York,  born  at  Shelby, 
Genesee  county,  December  15,  182 1,  and  is 
consequently  now    (1903)    in    the    eighty- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


481 


second  year  of  her  age.  Her  parents  werr. 
Obediah  and  Betsey  (Van  Riper)  Whitmore, 
also  natives  of  the  Empire  state.  In  1827, 
when  the  subject  was  six  years  old,  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  Chautauqua  county,  New 
York,  where  they  lived  for  four  years  and 
then  migrated  to  Ohio,  locating  in  Sandus- 
ky county,  where  Mrs.  Day  huff  grew  to 
womanhood.  She  attended  school  in  her 
native  state  and  in  Ohio  and,  being  intellec- 
tual and  naturally  studious,  readily  learned 
all  the  lessons  that  were  set  before  her. 
Mentally  and  educationally  she  was,  on 
reaching  maturity,  more  advanced  than  the 
average  girls  of  the  times  and  the  places 
wherever  she  lived.  In  St.  Joseph  county, 
Indiana,  she  was  united  in  marriage  to  Enos 
C.  Dayhuff  and  in  that  county  they  settled 
and  there  made  their  home  for  a  number  of 
years.  Six  children  were  born  to  them,  viz  : 
Amios,  Nathan,  James,  Mary  E.,  Jennie  and 
Milton.  Jennie  is  now  the  wife  of  Elijah 
Smith,  at  whose  home  the  subject  resides. 
In  another  part  of  this  volume  will  be  found 
a  brief  biography  of  Mr.  Smith. 

In  1864  the  family  moved  to  Michigan, 
locating  in  Grand  Rapids,  where  they  re- 
mained for  three  years.  In  November, 
1867,  Mr.  Dayhuff  and  family  came  to  what 
is  now  Wexford  county;  satisfied  himself  as 
to  the  possibilities  of  the  place  and  bought 
and  located  upon  a  tract  of  land  which  is 
now  a  part  of  Colfax  township.  Here  a 
modest  home  was  erected,  the  land  cleared 
and  a  productive  farm  took  place  of  the 
forest.  From  here  the  six  children  went  out 
into  the  world  in  quest  of  their  own  for- 
tunes and  there  the  parents  continued  to  re- 
side until  the  autumn  of  1899,  when,  yearn- 
ing for  a  less  rigorous  climate  than  northern 
Michigan,  they  moved  to  Tennessee.     Their 


enjoyment  of  the  balmy  breezes  of  the 
sunny  south,  however,  was  of  short  duration. 
September  26,  1901,  Enos  C.  Dayhuff 
breathed  his  last,  at  the  venerable  age  of 
eighty  years.  His  aged  and  disconsolate 
widow  soon  thereafter  returned  to  her  old 
home  in  Michigan,  where  she  w^as  heartily 
w  elcomed  by  her  daughter  and  son-in-law, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elijah  Smith. 

iVlways  religiously  inclined,  from  the 
time  that  she  was  fifteen  years  of  age,  Mrs. 
Dayhuff  has  been  a  member  of  the  Metho- 
(list  Episcopal  church.  In  her  younger  and 
nnore  active  years  she  was  zealous  in  every 
species  of  church  work,  particularly  in  that 
part  of  it  whicli  is  included  in  deeds  of 
charity.  When  engaged  in  ministering  to 
tlie  sick,  the  suffering  and  the  dying  she  was 
actuated  more  by  a  love  for  humanity  than 
by  any  hope  of  material  reward.  Few  lives 
liavc  been  simpler,  purer  or  better  than  hers 
has  been,  and  now,  standing  on  the  outer 
verge  of  time  and  with  a  confidence  not  born 
of  earth,  awaiting  the  glorious  dawn  of 
eternity,  she  has  no  reason  whatever  to  doubt 
that  the  greeting  of  the  Master  will  be  other 
than  ''Well  done,  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vant, possess  the  kingdom  prepared  for  you." 


TAYLOR    W.    GRAY. 

Those  men  who  have  devoted  their  lives 
to  the  development  and  extension  of  the 
agricultural  interests  of  northern  Michigan 
are  deserving  more  than  praise  at  the  hands 
of  the  present  generation  and  an  indebted- 
ness still  heavier  is  due  them  from  coming 
generations.  It  is  their  labors  that  have  light- 
ened the  burdens  of  the  present  rural  resi- 


482 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


dent  and  made  a  garden  spot  instead  of  a 
wilderness  for  posterity.  The  subject  of  this 
review,  Taylor  W.  Gray,  is  one  of  those 
whose  good  work  as  a  woodman  and  agri- 
culturist accomplished  so  much  for  the  sec- 
tion of  Michigan  in  which  he  resides  and 
where  he  has  resided  for  many  years.  He 
is  a  resident  of  Liberty  township,  his  farm 
being  a  part  of  section  28. 

Taylor  W.  Gray  was  born  on  his  father's 
farm  in  Morgan  county,  Indiana,  January 
6,  1839.  His  parents  were  David  W.  and 
Elizabeth  (McCampbell)  Gray,  both  now^ 
dead.  She  died  at  the  family  residence  at 
the  age  of  fifty  years,  while  her  husband 
died  many  years  later,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
four  years.  They  were  the  parents  of  thir- 
teen children,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this 
review  was  the  third.  He  was  reared  in 
Indiana  and  engaged  in  agricultural  pur- 
suits until  August,  1 86 1,  when  he  became 
a  soldier  in  the  United  States  army,  enlisting 
in  Company  A,  Thirty-third  Indiana  Vol- 
unteer Infantry,  and  served  to  the  close  of 
the  war.  His  regiment  was  a  part  of  the 
xA.rmy  of  the  Cumberland  and  he  participated 
in  a  number  of  the  hottest  battles  of  the  war, 
among  them  that  of  Kenesaw  Mountain, 
Georgia,  June  19  to  25,  1864,  and  Peach 
Tree  Creek,  Georgia,  July  19  and  20,  1864. 
At  Springfield,  Tennessee,  November  26th 
and  30th,  with  his  regiment,  he  w^as  captured 
by  the  Confederates  and  incarcerated  in 
Libby  prison,  where  they  languished  for 
about  two  months,  or  until  they  were  ex- 
changed. The  regiment  was  in  the  thick 
of  the  fight  in  most  of  the  engagements 
from  Chattanooga  to  Atlanta,  and  was  with 
Sherman  on  that  memorable  march  through 
Georgia  to  the  sea.  Mr.  Gray  was  mus- 
tered out  at  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1865,  and 


returning  to  Morgan  county,  Indiana,  he 
again  engaged  in  farming,  which  has  been 
his  business  since.  In  the  fall  of  1870  he 
came  to  Michigan  and  after  taking  a  look 
over  some  portions  of  Wexford  county,  de- 
cided to  locate  there.  He  took  up  a  home- 
stead of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land  in  section  28,  Liberty  township.  Re- 
turning to  Indiana  he  spent  the  winter  there 
and  in  the  spring  of  1871  moved  to  the 
homestead  he  had  entered, 

Mr.  Gray  was  twice  married.  On  the 
TOth  day  of  April,  1854,  in  Owen  county, 
Indiana,  he  was  luiited  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Emerilla  Nichols,  a  native  of  that  county, 
born  about  1848.  They  were  the  parents 
of  three  children,  only  one  of  whom, 
Savannah,  is  now  living.  She  is  the  wife  of 
Frank  Moore.  Emery  grew  to  manhood 
and  still  resided  at  home,  when  he  was 
stricken  with  illness  and  died  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years.  Mary  was  the  wife  of 
Sheridan  G.  Long,  and  they  had  not  been 
!ong  married  when  she  died,  at  the  early 
age  of  twenty  years.  Mrs.  Gray  had  pre- 
ceded her  children  into  eternity  several 
years,  expiring  at  the  family  home  in  Lib- 
erty township  in  April,  1873.  Tn  March, 
1874,  after  being  a  widower  for  one  year, 
Mr.  Gray  was  again  married,  his  bride 
on  this  occasion  being  Mrs.  Jane  Yeo- 
mans,  widow  of  William  Yeomans.  She  is 
a  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Aaron  Bassett, 
of  Allegan  county,  Michigan^  and  is  a 
native  of  New  York,  where  she  was  born  in 
1845.  To  this  union  six  children  were  born, 
viz:  Robert  J.,  David  W.,  Estella,  Alice, 
Nettie  and  Henry  M.  Alice  is  the  wife  of 
James  Robinett. 

Of  the  original  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres  upon   which  the   subject   located,   he 


ELWOOD  PECK. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


483 


still  retains  ninety-one  acres,  fifty-eight  of 
which  are  cleared,  weir  cultivated  and 
splendidly  improved.  The  kind  of  farming 
that  is  best  adapted  to  the  conditions  which 
prevail  in  northern  Michigan  makes  it  im- 
possible for  a  farmer  without  large  capital 
or  much  help  to  cultivate  large  tracts.  A 
well  cultivated  small  farm  there  is  much 
more  profitable  than  a  large  one  which  can- 
not receive  proper  care.  It  was  this  fact 
that  influenced  Mr.  Gray  in  disposing  of 
sixty-nine  of  the  broad  acres  of  his  original 
homestead. 

The  sulDJect  has  been  honored  by  the  peo- 
ple of  his  township  with  various  local  po- 
sitions, such  as  supervisor,  treasurer  and 
member  of  the  school  board.  Ever  since 
his  residence  in  the  county  he  has  been  very 
much  interested  in  every  local  public  enter- 
prise and  in  everything  that  pertains  to  the 
township's  welfare.  While  a  Republican,  he 
has  no  ambition  to  become  a  politician  and 
has  no  desire  for  political  preferment.  He 
is  interested  in  religion  and  church  work, 
both  he  and  his  wife  being  members  of  the 
Christian  church,  the  members  of  which  are 
known  as  the  Disciples  of  Christ.  His  life 
lias  been  a  very  busy  and  useful  one  and  be- 
cause of  his  genial  disposition,  courtous  man- 
ner and  genuine  worth  he  has  won  for  him- 
self a  host  of  warm  personal  friends. 


ELWOOD  PECK. 


On  the  roster  of  Wexford  county's  able 
lawyers  is  found  the  name  of  the  late  Elwood 
Peck,  w^ho,  though  a  young  man  at  the  time 
of  his  lamented  death,  had  already  reached 
a  commanding  place  at  the  Cadillac  bar,  be- 


sides gaining  distinctive  prestige  in  legal 
circles  throughout  the  northern  part  of  the 
state.  Called  away  at  the  zenith  of  his  use- 
fulness and  in  the  ripeness  of  his  mental 
and  professional  powers,  he  so  impressed  his 
individuality  upon  the  city  of  his  adoption 
as  to  l>ecome  not  only  an  influential  factor  in 
its  legal  affairs,  where  his  genius  shone  pre- 
eminent, but  in  all  measures  and  enterprises 
making  for  the  community's  material,  social 
and  moral  advancement  his  position  was  that 
of  a  leader  whose  wisdom  and  ability  paved 
the  way  for  others  to  follow. 

The  third  child  and  second  son  of  Alvah 
and  Julia  (Cronk)  Peck,  Elwood  Peck  was 
born  July  2,  1865,  iif  Cohocton,  Steuben 
county,  New^  York,  and  there  spent  the  first 
seventeen  years  of  his  life,  receiving  mean- 
while a  fair  mental  discipline  in  the  public 
schools.  In  the  spring  of  1882  he  moved 
with  his  parents  to  VV^exford  county,  Michi- 
gan, and  during  the  ensuing  three  or  four 
years  assisted  his  father  in  developing  the 
farm,  bearing  his  full  share  of  the  labor  at- 
tending such  experiences  and  with  strong' 
and  willing  hands  contributing  to  the  support 
of  the  family. 

Possessing  a  studious  nature  and  feeling 
the  need  of  a  more  thorough  training  than 
the  comm.on  schools  could  impart,  he  soon 
entered  the  West  Michigan  College  at 
Grand  Rapids,  where  he  prosecuted  his  stud- 
ies until  completing  the  prescribed  course, 
being  graduated  fro'm  that  institution  in  the 
year  1891.  Actuated. by  a  laudable  ambi- 
tion to  fit  himself  for  a  career  of  usefulness, 
and  selecting  law  as  the  profession  best  suit- 
ed to  his  tastes  and  inclinations,  young  Peck, 
in  the  spring  of  1884,  came  to  Cadillac  and 
entered  the  ofilce  of  E.  E.  Haskins,  under 
whose  direction  he  pursued  his  legal  studies 


484 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


until  his  admission  to  the  bar,  the  year  fol- 
lowing. Meantime,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  he  had  been  elected  justice  of  the  peace 
for  Hanover  township,  which  office  he  held 
two  years,  l^eing'  chosen  after  moving  to  the 
county  seat.  He  was  made  town  treasurer 
by  the  votes  of  the  people,  a  position  he 
filled  with  credit  to  himself  and  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  public  for  a  few  years.  Mr. 
Peck  soon  forged  to  the  front  as  an  able 
and  judicious  lawyer  and  won  a  lucrative 
practice  in  addition  to  his  official  duties,  his 
name  appearing  in  connection  with  much  im- 
portant litigation  from  the  date  of  his  ad- 
mission to  the  bar  until  his  death.  Some 
conception  of' his  popularity  with  the  public 
and  of  the  confidence  the  people  reposed  in 
him  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  of  his  al- 
most continuous  retention  in  important  offi- 
cial positions  during  the  period  of  his  resi- 
dence in  Cadillac.  In  1894  he  was  appointed 
deputy  county  treasurer,  which  position  he 
held  by  successive  reappointments  until 
1896,  when  he  was  elected  circuit  court  conv 
missioner.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  the 
latter  office  until  1900,  having  been  re-elected 
in  1898,  and  in  addition  thereto  also  served 
as  deputy  register  of  deeds,  proving  under 
all  circumstances  a  most  capable  and  judi- 
cious public  servant.  In  conducting  the  du- 
ties of  the  several  posts  with  which  the  peo- 
ple honored  him  he  made  himself  very  pop- 
ular by  his  reliability  and  gentlemanly  de- 
meanor to  all  having  dealings  of  an  official 
character,  and  it  is  universally  conceded  that 
his  different  administrations  were  among 
the  ablest,  most  straightforward  and  busi- 
ness-like in  the  history  of  the  city  and 
county. 

Mr.  Peck  was  a  Mason  of  high  degree 
and  a  leading  spirit  of  Sherman  Lodge  at 


Cadillac,  which  he  served  in  the  highest  of- 
ficial capacities  within  the  power  of  the  mem- 
bers to  bestow.  He  was  also  an  active  worker 
in  the  Royal  Arch  degree,  the  Royal  and  Se- 
lect Masters  and  the  Order  of  the  Eastern 
Star,  besides  being  prominently  identified 
with  the  Knights  of  the  Maccabees  and  other 
organizations  of  a  fraternal  and  benevolent 
character,  in  all  of  which  his  influence  was 
[)otent  and  his  efforts  effective.  Socially  his 
relations  with  the  people  of  Cadillac  were 
most  pleasant  and  agreeable  and  every  en- 
terprise making  for  the  city's  good,  materi- 
ally or  along  other  lines,  enlisted  his  earnest 
endeavors  and  hearty  co-operation.  Mr. 
Peck  had  profound  convictions  in  the  matter 
of  religion,  his  early  training  and  subse- 
quent study  and  investigation  leading  him  to 
acce])t  Christianity  as  the  one  faith  most  con- 
ducive to  man's  liappiness  here  and  in 
the  world  to  come.  Subscribing  to  the  Con- 
gregational creed,  he  early  became  an  active 
worker  in  the  church  and  in  the  spring  of 
1895  ^^^  ^^'^s  elected  clerk  of  the  congrega- 
tion at  Cadillac,  a  position  he  w^orthly  held 
until  called  from  the  church  militant  to  the 
church  triumphant. 

Mr.  Peck,  as  indicated,  possessed  natural 
abilities  of  a  high  order,  which,  strengthened 
and  disciplined  by  continuous  study,  made 
him  an  influential  factor  in  the  business  and 
social  world.  He  had  a  strong  legal  mind, 
easily  comprehended  the  most  complex  and 
obstruse  principles  of  the  law  and,  possess- 
ing the  ability  to  apply  the  same  in  practice, 
would  no  doubt  have  risen  to  high  honor  and 
distinction  in  his  profession  had  not  death 
so  untimely  terminated  his  bright  and  prom- 
ising career.  Among  his  friends  he  was  the 
personification  of  good  fellowship  and  in 
whatever  circle  he  moved  his  easy  dignity, 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


485 


genial  disposition  and  cordial  manner 
marked  him  at  once  as  the  courteous  and  re- 
fined gentleman.  Every  trust  reposed  in  him 
was  faithfully  guarded  and  religiously  dis- 
charged, his  duties,  professional,  official  and 
social,  were  most  carefully  observed  and 
made  co-ordinate  to  every  other  considera- 
tion and  he  always  did  the  right  as  he  saw 
and  understood  the  right  and  endeavored  to 
realize  within  himself  his  highest  and  noblest 
ideals  of  manhood. 

Mr.  Peck  died  on  the  19th  day  of  De- 
cem):>er,  1901,  being  in  the  priniie  of  manhood 
and  in  the  maturity  of  his  powers  when  he 
paissed  away.  In  his  death  his  family 
suffered  the  loss  of  a  dutiful  son  and  brother, 
the  city  and  county  one  of  their  most  effi- 
cient and  popular  public  servants,  the  legal 
profession  one  of  its  ablest  and  most  prom- 
ising members,  and  the  state  a  representative 
citizen  who  honored  and  adorned  every  sta- 
tion to  which  he  had  been  called.  Human 
life  is  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean  that  flash 
for  a  few  brief  moments  in  the  sunlight, 
marvels  of  power  and  beauty  and  then, 
dashed  upon  the  remorseless  shore  of  deatli, 
they  are  broken  and  disappear  forever.  As 
the  sea  has  rolled  for  unnumbered  ages  in 
the  past  and  will  continued  to  roll  and  chant 
its  sublime  dirge  for  ages  to  com^e,  so  will 
the  waves  of  human  Hfe  follow  each  other 
in  countless  succession  to  the  one  common 
goal  until  time  shall  be  no  more. 


RICHARD    W.     MASSEY. 

During  the  progress  of  the  Civil  war, 
1861-65,  ^^  ^s  w^l'  known  that  English 
sympathy  was  almost  entirely  with  the 
Confederacy.  Different  historians  seek  to 
account   for  this  in  various  ways,  but  all 


of  them,  even  those  of  English  origin,  ad- 
mit the  fact,  while  seeking  to  give  excuses  for 
it.  The  ])eople  of  English  origin  residing 
in  yVmerica  at  that  time,  however,  were  not 
controlled  in  their  sympathies  by  the  views 
entertained  l)y  their  countrymen  across  the 
water.  Thousands  of  them  not  only  advo- 
cated the  cause  of  the  Union,  but  entered 
the  service  as  soldiers  and  sailors  and 
served  their  adopted  country  w^ith  distinc- 
tion until  the  close  of  the  war.  While  the 
subject  of  this  review,  Richard  W.  Massey, 
is  a  native-born  American,  his  parents  are 
l)oth  natives  of  England,  and  his  father  was 
one  of  those  Englishmen  who  heartily  en- 
dorsed the  position  taken  by  the  North  in 
that  most  sanguinary  civil  conflict.  Indeed, 
he  did  not  confine  his  endorsement  to  words, 
but  proved  his  loyalty  by  deeds,  as  a  private 
soldier,  on  many  of  the  battle  fields  of  the 
south.  He  was  a  member  of  Company  C, 
jiighth  Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantry. 

Richard  W.  Massey  is  a  native  of  Wis- 
consin, born  at  Kenosha,  November  14, 
J 85 1.  His  parents  were  John  and  Emma 
(Hamer)  Massey,  both  natives  of  England, 
who  immigrated  to  America  soon  after  their 
marriage  and  located  at  Kenosha,  Wisconsin, 
where  John  Massey  followed  shij)  building 
\xry  profitably  until  the  breaking  out  of  the 
(j'vil  war,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Eighth 
Wisconsin  Regiment,  and  served  until 
peace  was  declared.  He  was  a  lover  of  the 
country  of  his  adoption  and  true  and  loyal 
to  her  cause.  He  died  in  Racine,  Wiscon- 
sin, some  time  after  his  return  from  the 
army,  at  the  age  of  forty-seven  years,  his 
good  wife  having  died  three  years  before  in 
the  same  city,  when  she  was  forty  years  old. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
four   sons   and   four   daughters,   of   whom 


486 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Richard  W.,  the  subject  of  this  article,  was 
the  seventh  in  order  of  birth. 

The  first  years  of  the  Hfe  of  the  sub- 
ject were  spent  in  Kenosha,  where  he  was 
born,  and  in  Racine,  to  which  place  the  fam- 
ily moved  while  the  subject  was  still  quite 
young.  He  attended  school  a  few  years, 
])ut,  like  most  boys  who  are  reared  near 
large  bodies  of  water,  he  yearned  for  ad- 
venture upon  the  great  lakes.  When  he  was 
eleven  years  old  he  secured  a  position  on  one 
of  the  vessels  plying  between  Racine  and 
other  points  in  the  lake  region  and  for  the 
next  eight  years  he  saw  more  of  the  water 
than  he  did  of  the  land.  Wearying  of  the 
monotony  of  life  on  ships,  he  longed  for  a 
little  more  intimate  relation  with  green 
woods,  verdant  pastures  and  fields  of  wav- 
ing grain.  Returning  to  land,  he  secured 
a  place  in  a  barber  shop,  became  skilled  in 
the  trade  and  followed  it  much  of  the  time 
for  eighteen  years,  principally  in  Chicago, 
Manistee  and  Cadillac.  In  the  fall  of  1876 
he  came  to  Cadillac,  was  employed  as  a 
barber  and  for  the  next  eleven  years  fol- 
lowed that  vocation. 

On  the  3d  day  of  July,  1877,  in  Cadillac, 
Wexford  county,  Richard  W.  Massey  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  Cobbs,  a 
native  of  Indiana,  born  in  Butlerville,  Jen- 
nings county,  May  3,  1859.  Her  parents 
were  Jonathan  W.  and  Nancy  J.  (Preble) 
Cobbs.  He  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Col- 
umbiana county,  July  25,  1828,  while  she 
was  born  in  Ripley  county,  Indiana,  March 
21,  1833.  The  father  was  a  skilled  me- 
chanic, a  cabinet-maker,  carpenter  and 
wagon-maker,  but  devoted  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  life  to  the  manufacture  of  lum- 
ber, in  which  he  amassed  a  comfortable  for- 
tune.    The  family  moved  from  Indiana  to 


Michigan  in  1874,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
first  persons  to  engage  in  the  manufacture 
of  lumber  in  Cadillac.  He  died  in  1898, 
and  a  sketch  of  his  interesting  career  will  be 
found  in  another  part  of  this  volume.  Mrs. 
Cobbs  is  still  living,  a  genial,  matronly  lady, 
who  has  yet  many  years  of  usefulness  be- 
fore her.  Mrs.  Richard  W.  Massey  is  a 
lady-  of  taste,  refinement  and  many  accom- 
plishments. To  her  and  her  husband  four 
children  have  been  born,  viz. :  Wynter, 
Mabel,  Dick  and  a  little  daughter  who  died 
in  infancy. 

In  the  fall  of  1876  Richard  W.  Massey 
came  to  the  city  of  Cadillac,  and  engaged 
in  his  chosen  vocation  ,  that  of  a  barber. 
This  he  followed  for  eleven  years,  when  he 
opened  up  a  wholesale  and  retail  tobacco 
store.  In  this  business  he  was  quite  suc- 
cessful and  followed  it  for  six  years.  He 
then  retired  from  active  business  and,  being 
quite  comfortably  situated  financially,  has 
not  considered  it  necessary  to  pursue  any 
particular  business  or  calling  since. 

Having  the  time  and  means  to  devote  to 
the  social  side  of  life,  Mr.  Massey  is  inter- 
ested in  many  fraternal  societies.  He  is  a 
member  of  Cadillac  Lodge  No.  331,  Free  & 
Accepted  Masons,  Cadillac  Chapter  No.  103, 
Traverse  City  Commandery  No.  41,  and  De- 
Witt  Clinton  Consistory  at  Grand  Rapids. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Knights  05 
Pythias,  with  a  membership  in  the  local  lodge 
at  Cadillac,  and  is  also  a  member  of  Cadillac 
Lodge  No.  680,  Benevolent  and  Protective 
Order  of  Elks.  The  Massey  residence  is  a 
beautiful,  commodious  structure,  delight- 
fully situated  and  furnished  in  palatial  style. 
Its  occupants  are  generous,  hospital3le  peo- 
ple who  merit  and  receive  the  highest  re- 
gard of  their  fellow  citizens. 


MRS.  H.  I.  DEVOE. 


H.  I.  DEVOE. 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  All  CHI  CAN, 


487 


NELS    NEILSON. 

Nels  Neilson,  who  has  been  engaged  in 
kiml3ering  and  farming  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  residence  in  Wexford  county — 
covering    thirty-one    years — was    born    in 
Sweden,  his  natal  day  being  December  17, 
1852.     His   education    was   there   acquired 
and    he    continued    to    make    his    home    in 
Sweden  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  when, 
being  an  ambitious  young  man,  he  resolved 
to  try  his  fortune  in  a  land  of  broader  op- 
portunities, where  effort  is  unhampered  by 
caste  of  class.     Accordingly  he  sailed   for 
the  United  States,  and  in  1872,  when  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  came  to  Wexford  county, 
Michigan,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home. 
He  first  entered  the  employ  of  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad  Company,  con- 
tinuing in  that  service  for  two  years,  on  the 
expiration  of  which  period  he  sought  other 
employment  and  has  since  been  engaged  in 
farming  and  in  working  in  the  lumber  re- 
gions.    It  has  been  in  theis  way  that  he  has 
gained    a   comfortable   living   and   a   good 
property.     He  is  now  the  owner  of  eighty 
acres  of  land,  of  which  about  thirty  acres 
has  been  placed  under  the  plow,  its  cultivation 
representing  much  hard  labor  and  yet  bring- 
ing to  hiiii  good  returns  in  abundant  crops. 
He  has  also  erected  good  buildings  upon  his 
farm,  which  is  situated  on  section  14,  Cedar 
Creek   township.     His   is  a  pleasant   home 
and  all  the  improvements  upon  the  farm  are 
the  result  of  the  energy  and  effort  of  the 
owner. 

In  Manton,  Michigan,  June  2y,  1896, 
Mr.  Neilson  was  married,  the  lady  of  his 
choice  being  Miss  Julia  C.  Jorgenson,  a  na- 
tive of  Denmark,  born  May  11,  1876,  and 
they  now  have  one  son,  Ludwig  H.     Mr. 


Neilson  has  never  been  afraid  of  work  and 
realizes  that  it  is  the  foundation  of  all  suc- 
cess and  by  reason  of  this  he  has  become 
the  possessor  of  one  of  the  good  farms  of 
Cedar  Creek  township. 


HENRY  I.  DEVOE. 

More  than  a  century  ago  George  Wash- 
ington said  ''Agriculture  is  the  most  useful 
as  well  as  the  nipst  honorable  pursuit  of 
man,"  and  this  truth  stands  today  as  it  did 
tlien.  Earming  forms  the  basis  of  all  pros- 
perity and  no  land  has  had  continuous  or 
substantial  development  that  could  not  base 
its  growth  upon  agricultural  pursuits.  Mr. 
DeVoe  is  a  representative  of  the  farming 
interests  of  Wexford  county  and  his  home 
is  now  on  section  34,  Wexford  township. 
He  was  born  in  Albany  county.  New  York, 
on  the  nth  of  May,  1837,  ^i^d  when  a  youth 
he  was  taken  by  his  parents  to  Pennsylvania, 
the  family  settling  upon  a  farm  in  Crawford 
county,  that  state.  There  the  subject  re- 
mained until  he  was  eleven  years  of  age, 
when  he  came  with  his  parents  to  Michigan, 
the  family  home  being  established  upon  a 
farm  in  Wright  township,  Hillsdale  county, 
where  the  subject  remained  until  1867.  In 
his  youth  he  worked  in  the  fields  and  mead- 
ows, early  beconiiing  familiar  with  the  best 
methods  of  producing  good  crops  and  carry- 
ing on  the  other  work  of  the  farm.  His  work 
in  the  fields,  however,  was  interrupted  by  his 
service  in  the  Union  army,  for  his  patriotic 
spirit  was  aroused  by  the  continued  attempt 
of  the  South  to  overthrow  the  Union  and  in 
October,  1862,  he  offered  his  services  to  the 
government,  becoming  a  member  of  Com- 


488 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


pany  G,  First  Michigan  Regiment  Engineers 
and  Mechanics,  with  which  he  served  for 
three  years,  or  until  October,  1865.  He 
rendered  his  nation  valuable  aid  and  was  al- 
w^as  loyal  to  the  old  flag  and  the  cause 
it  represented.  When  the  war  was  over  and 
he  received  an  honorable  discharge  Mr.  De- 
Voe  returned  to  Hillsdale  county,  where  he 
engaged  in  farming  until '1867. 

The  month  of  May  of  that  year  witnessed 
the  subject's  arrival  in  Wexford  county. 
Here  he  settled  upon  a  farm  which  is  yet  his 
home.  Securing  a  claim  of  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  land,  with  characteristic  energy 
he  began  its  cultivation  and  he  is  now  the 
owner  of  two  hundred  acres,  of  which  fifty 
acres  is  improved.  His  is  an  industrious 
life  and  his  well-directed  energy  is  bringing 
to  him  creditable  and  gratifying  success. 
When  he  came  to  Wexford  county  he  was 
accompanied  by  his  young  wife,  having  been 
married  in  Hillsdale  county,  Michigan.  On 
Christmas  day  of  1866  he  married  Miss 
Helen  M.  Miner,  a  native  of  Branch  county, 
Michigan,  and  their  union  has  been  blessed 
with  two  children,  but  Edgar  died  when  only 
a  year  and  a  half  old.  The  other  son  is  Isaac 
M.  He  received  a  common-school  education 
and  was  the  first  graduate  of  the  Sherman 
public  school  in  1898,  afterward  taking  a 
course  in  the  normal  college  at  Mt.  Pleasant, 
Michigan.  He  wedded  Miss  Mae  Snyder, 
who  was  born  near  Mt.  Pleasant,  and  he 
now  occupies  the  chair  of  science  in  the 
Charlevoix  schools.  They  also  had  an 
adopted  daughter,  Carrie  DeVoe,  who  was 
reared  by  them  from  infancy  and  who  is  now 
the  wife  of  W.  M.  Tracy.  In  1882  Mr. 
DeVoe  was  called  upon  to  mourn  the  loss  of 
his  wife,  who  died  in  Wexford  township  on 
the  2d  of  April  of  that  year. 


Called  to  public  office  by  his  fellow 
townsmen,  Mr.  DeVoe  has  served  as  super- 
visor, as  township  clerk,  and  as  justice  of 
the  peace  and  for  twelve  years  he  was  county 
superintendent  of  the  poor.  He  was  also 
elected  county  surveyor  and  held  that  po- 
sition for  one  term  and  he  has  been  deputy 
county  surveyor  during  the  greater  part  of 
his  residence  here.  No  trust  of  a  public  na- 
ture that  has  been  reposed  in  him  has  ever 
been  betrayed  in  the  slightest  degree  and  at 
all  times  he  is  reliable,  fully  meeting  his 
obligations.  He  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
chiuxh  work,  has  held  membership  with  the 
Congregational  denomination  since  1871  and 
his  wife  was  also  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church  of  Sherman  and  they  con- 
tributed liberally  to  its  support  and  did  every- 
thing in  their  power  for  its  growth  and  up- 
building. Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  sub- 
ject has  been  an  active  factor  in  the  material 
and  moral  development  of  his  community 
and  his  labors  have  been  so  directed  by 
sound  judgment  that  they  have  proven  of 
much  benefit  to  his  adopted  county.  He  is  a 
man  whom  to  know  is  to  respect  and  honor 
and  during  his  residence  in  this  section  of 
the  state  he  has  gained  miany  warm  friends. 


ALBERT    B.    SOUTHWICK. 

Albert  B.  Southwick,  who  resides  on 
section  2y,  Wexford  township,  was  born  in 
Centerville,  St.  Joseph  county,  Michigan,  on 
the  30th  of  September,  1848,  his  parents 
being  Elijah  B.  and  Harriet  (Brown) 
Southwick.  In  the  spring  of  1884  the 
father  removed  with  his  family  from  Kala- 
mazoo county,  Michigan,  to  Wexford  coun- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


489 


ly  and  settled  in  Wexford  township,  where 
he  and  his  wife  spent  their  remaining  days, 
her  death  occurring  when  she  was  ahout 
sixty-eight  years  of  age,  hut  the  father  sur- 
vived until  he  reached  the  age  of  eighty- 
two  years.  Unto  them  were  born  six  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Albert  B.  is  the  eldest. 

In  the  county  of  his  nativity  and  in 
Kalamazoo  county,  Michigan,  Mr.  South- 
wick  of  this  review  spent  his  boyhood  days 
and  at  the  time  of  his  parents'  removal  to 
Wexford  county  he  also  settled  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  state  upon  the  farm  which  has 
since  1)een  his  home.  He  has  since  erected 
good  buildings  here  for  he  is  a  progressive 
agriculturist,  and  his  labors  have  kept 
abreast  with  the  improvements  of  the  times 
that  has  marked  the  pursuit  of  agriculture 
as  well  as  all  other  lines  of  business  life.  He 
has  placed  a  part  of  his  land  under  a  high 
state  of  cultivation,  having  fifty-five  acres 
improved.  His  farm  comprises  altogether 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  acres  and  from 
time  to  time  he  extends  the  boundaries  of 
the  cultivated  tract.  He  raises  the  cereals 
i)est  adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate  and  he 
cdso  has  good  grades  of  stock  upon  his 
place. 

Mr.  South  wick  has  been  twice  married. 
In  Leonidas  township,  St.  Joseph  county, 
Michigan,  he  3vedded  Miss  Rachel  Addi- 
son, a  native  of  Indiana,  and  unto  them  were 
born  two  children,  who  died  in  early  youth. 
The  mother  also  passed  away  in  Mendon,  St. 
Joseph  county,  when  about  twenty-five  years 
of  age.  Dn  the  3d  of  October,  1877,  Mr. 
Southwick  was  again  married,  his  second 
union  being  with  Miss  Mary  Frederick,  a 
daughter  of  John  B.  and  Helen  L.  (Seas) 
Frederick,  wdio  came  to  Wexford  county  in 
the  spring  of  1898.     Here  the  father  died 


February  19,  1901.  Mrs.  Southwick  is  the 
eldest  of  his  family  of  eleven  children  and 
was  born  in  Wayne  county,  Ohio,  on  the 
30th  of  June,  1855.  By  her  marriage  she 
has  become  the  mother  of  three  living  chil- 
dren, Mercy  A.,  Lydia  E.  and  Ida  A.,  and 
they  also  lost  one  daughter,  who  died  in  in- 
fancy. 

Mr.  Southwick  has  served  as  supervisor 
of  Wexford  township,  has  also  been  town- 
ship treasurer,  justice  of  the  peace,  high- 
way commisioner  and  school  inspector. 
All  this  indicates  that  he  has  the  confidence 
and  good  will  of  his  fellow  townsmen,  who 
recognize  his  capability  for  office  and  there- 
fore honor  him  with  positions  of  public  trust. 
He  has,  indeed,  been  active  in  township 
aft'airs  and  is  regarded  as  a  valued  citizen. 
Fraternally  he  is  connected  with  Maquestion 
Tent  No.  654,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees. 
Mr.  Southwick  is  a  man  of  considerable 
business  capacity,  of  keen  discrimination  and 
unflagging  energy.  It  is  these  qualities 
which  have  brought  to  him  a  creditable  meas- 
ure of  success,  making  him  one  of  the  sub- 
stantial citizens  of  his  community.  He  is  a 
western  man,  possessing  the  energy  and 
adaptability  that  has  always  characterized 
the  people  of  this  section  of  the  country,  and 
his  worth  as  a  man  and  citizen  is  widely  ac- 
knowledged. 


REUBEN   D.  FREDERICK. 

Reuben  D.  Frederick  is  the  editor  and 
proprietor  of  the  Sherman  Pioneer,  pub- 
lished at  Sherman,  Michigan,  and  has  made 
this  paper  an  index  of  the  progressive  dis- 
trict in  which  it  is  located.  He  was  born 
upon  a  farm  in  Medina  county,  Ohio,  De- 
cember 7,   1856,  and  is  a  son  of  J.  B.  and 


490 


PV  EX  FORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Helen  I.  (Seas)  Frederick,  who  came  to 
Wexford  county,  Michigan,  in  the  spring  of 
1896,  locating  upon  a  farm  in  Wexford 
township.  Here  the  father  spent  his  re- 
maining days,  passing  away  on  the  19th  of 
February,  1901,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 
This  worthy  couple  had  a  family  of  eleven 
children,  of  whom  Reuben  D.  Frederick  is 
the  eldest  son.  He  spent  the  first  seven  years 
of  his  life  in  the  county  of  his  nativity  and 
then  came  with  his  parents  to  Michigan,  a 
settlement  being  made  in  St.  Joseph  county. 
They  lived  upon  a  farm  in  Leonidas  town- 
sliip  and  there  the  son  was  reared  to  man- 
hood, taking  his  place  in  the  fields  as  soon 
as  he  was  old  and  strong  enough  to  bear  a 
part  in  the  work  of  tilling  the  soil.  He 
resided  in  St.  Joseph  county  until  1883  and 
was  educated  chiefly  in  the  district  schools 
of  that  county.  When  not  engaged  with  the 
duties  of  the  school  room  he  worked  upon 
the  farm  or  else  followed  the  carpenter's 
trade,  being  engaged  at  that  labor  for  three 
years.  Fie  also  taught  school  for  two  terms. 
On  leaving  St.  Joseph  county  Mr.  Fred- 
erick came  to  Wexford  county  and  took 
up  his  abode  in  Sherman..  Not  long  after 
this  he  entered  the  employ  of  John  H. 
Wheeler  in  the  office  of  the  Sherman  Pioneer 
and  has  since  been  connected  with  journal- 
istic work,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  For 
a  year  he  remained  in  the  office  of  the  Pion- 
eer and  then  turned  his  attention  to  the  sta- 
tionary business  which  he  conducted  for  six 
years.  On  the  expiration  of  that  period  he 
sold  out  and  purchased  the  paper  of 
which  he  is  now  the  editor  and  proprietor. 
It  was  called  the  Wexford  County  Pioneer, 
but  he  changed  its  name  to  the  Sherman 
Pioneer.  It  now  has  a  circulation  of  near- 
ly six  hundred  and  is  a  bright,  newsy  sheet, 


published  in  the  interest  of  the  Republican 
party  and  devoted  to  the  welfare  and  up- 
building of  this  section  of  the  state.  One 
of  its  purposes  is  the  dissemination  of  gen- 
eral and  local  news  and  the  discussion  of 
questions  which  are  of  moment  to  all  Amer- 
ican people.  Its  editorials  are  clear,  con- 
cise and  interesting  and  Mr.  Frederick  has 
made  of  the  Pioneer  a  journal  of  value  to  the 
community.  Since  commg  to  the  county 
he  has  also  taught  for  one  term  in  Antioch 
township. 

It  was  on  the  30th  of  August,  1885,  in 
Sherman,  that  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Fred- 
erick and  Miss  Matilda  Martin  w^as  cele- 
brated. The  lady  is  the  daughter  of  Wil- 
liam Martin,  who  died  in  Orange,  New  Jer- 
sey. She  was  born  near  Newark,  New 
Jersey,  and  by  her  marriage  has  become 
the  mother  of  three  children:  Leo  M., 
Floy  A.  and  Esther  H.  Mr.  Frederick  has 
been  active  in  the  affairs  of  the  village  and  by 
his  fellow  townsmen  has  been  called  to  a 
number  of  offices,  serving  as  village  clerk, 
as  clerk  of  Antioch  township,  as  justice  of 
the  peace  and  as  school  trustee.  He  was 
also  appointed  postmaster  of  Sherman  in 
November,  1901,  by  President  Roosevelt, 
and  is  now  acceptably  filling  the  position.  A 
valued  and  prominent  representative  of 
fraternal  interests,  he  holds  membership  in 
Sherman  Lodge  No.  336.  Independent  Or- 
der of  Odd  Fellows,  Sherman  Camp  No. 
5514,  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  Sher- 
man Lodge  No.  2 1 2,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and 
Maqueston  Tent  No.  654,  Knights  of  the 
Maccabees.  Whatever  pertains  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community  and  its  progress  elicits 
his  attention  and  support  and  when  his  judg- 
ment approves  of  a  measure  he  gives  to  it 
his  hearty  co-operation  and  aid. 


JAMES  MANSFIELD   RESIDENCE. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


491 


JAMES  K  MANSFIELD. 

Many  of  the  l>est  families  of  the  state  of 
Michigan  trace  their  ancestry  to  sturdy  New 
England  stock.  Of  course  all  cannot  boast 
of  having  Puritan  blood  in  their  veins,  nor 
is  it  necessary  to  do  so  to  demonstrate  that 
they  spring  from  worthy  ancestors.  As 
every  one  knows,  the  Puritans,  while  in  the 
main  acting  on  worthy  motives,  were  both 
fanatical  and  intolerant  and  the  common- 
sense  observer  marvels  much  why  there 
should  be  such  a  scramble  among  sensible 
people  to  prove  that  the  founder  of  their  fam- 
ily tree  in  America  was  one  of  those  who 
crossed  the  ocean  in  the  ''Mayflower"  in 
1620.  That  eminent  humorist,  Mark  Twain, 
has  given  the  most  truthful  and  graphic  de- 
scription of  the  Puritan  of  any  other  writer, 
when  he  says :  ''The  Puritans  were  a  noble 
band  of  people,  who  came  to  America  for  the 
purpose  of  worshiping  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  conscience  and  prevent- 
ing all  others  from  enjoying  the  same  blessed 
privilege."  The  subject  of  this  review,  James 
E.  Mansfield,  is  a  native  of  New  England, 
but  whether  or  not  of  Puritan  stock,  he  neith- 
er affirms  nor  denies.  He  is  quite  content  to 
let  the  work  of  his  life  speak  for  itself,  with- 
out reference  to  what  the  generations  of  the 
past  may  or  may  not  have  been. 

James  E.  Mansfield,  a  resident  of  section 
14,  Boon  township,  Wexford  county,  Mich- 
igan, is  a  native  of  Connecticut,  born  at 
Bridgeport,  September  19,  1847.  His  par- 
ents were  H'enry  and  Mary  (McCormick) 
Mansfield,  natives  of  Connecticut,  who 
moved  to  Michigan  in  1852,  and  settled  in 
Washtenaw  county,  where  they  resided  until 
his  death.  He  died  in  Manchester,  Wash- 
tenaw county,  in  1861,  at  the  ag'e  of  forty 
30 


years,  while  she  is  a  resident  of  Ionia  county, 
aged  about  seventy-nine  years.  They  were 
the  parents  of  four  children,  of  whom  James 
E.  was  the  second,  and  all  are  livng. 

At  the  age  of  five  years  James  E.  Mans- 
field accompanied  his  parents  to  Michigan, 
received  a  good  common-school  education  in 
Washtenaw  county  and  there  grew  to  nijan- 
hood.  #  When  not  occupied  with  his  studies 
he  was  acquiring  lessons  of  industry  in  the 
woods,  the  clearing  or  in  the  fields  of  his  fa- 
ther's farm.  In  October,  1863,  when  only 
sixteen  years  of  age,  he  entered  the  United 
States  service  as  a  private  soldier,  enlisting 
in  Company  I,  First  Regiment  Michigan 
Engineers  and  Mechanics.  Previous  to  en- 
listing he  had  devoted  some  time  to  car- 
pentering, w^as  always  handy  with  tools  and 
before  the  close  of  the  war  had  become  quite 
skillful  as  a  mechanic.  He  saw  considerable 
active  ser\'ice,  was  often  under  fire,  and  was 
frequently  in  rather  close  quarters,  but  man- 
aged to  escape  without  harm.  He  was  mus- 
tered out  of  the  service  at  Nashville,  Ten- 
nessee, September  20,  1865,  long  after  the 
war  had  closed.  Returning  to  Washtenaw 
county,  he  secured  employment  as  a  carpen- 
ter, which  calling  he  pursued  very  success- 
fully for  seven  years. 

May  22,  1870,  James  E.  Mansfield  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Ann  Antclifif,  a 
native  of  England,  born  July  25,  1849.  Her 
parents  were  AVilliam  and  Sarah  (Turner) 
Antclifif,  who  immigrated  to  the  United 
States  with  their  family  in  1863,  and  located 
in  Washtenaw  county,  where  they  resided 
until  their  deaths,  in  1871  and  June,  1881, 
respectively.  After  marriage  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Mansfield  continued  to  reside  in  Washtenaw 
county  until  August,  1872,  when  they  moved 
to  Wexford  county  and  established  them- 


492 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


selves  on  a  farm,  a  part  of  section  14,  Boon 
township,  which  has  been  their  home  from 
that  time  to  the  present.  He  is  now  the 
ownier  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
excellent  land,  all  located  in  Boon  township, 
two-thirds  of  which,  or  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  is  splendidly  improved  and  un- 
der cultivation.  Fine,  substantial,  commo- 
dious buildings  add  much  to  the  convenience 
and  value  of  the  place.  Five  children  have 
been  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  E.  Mans- 
iield,  only  three  of  whom  are  living,  viz  : 
Wilber,  Clarence  and  Willis.  Their  oldest 
child,  Bert,  a  youth  of  much  intelligence  and 
great  promise,  died  upon  the  threshold  of 
manhood  at  the  age  of  nineteen  years.  The 
other  son,  Glenn,  met  with  an  accident  in 
Grand  Traverse  bay,  where  he  lost  his  life 
by  drow^ning.  Those  bereavements  weighed 
heavily  upon  the  devoted  parents  and  the 
other  children. 

It  is  only  natural  that  a  man  possessed  of 
as  much  property  in  Boon  township  as  Mr. 
Mansfield  owns  should  be  deeply  interested 
in  the  governmental  affairs  of  the  municipal- 
ity. This  interest,  however,  exacts  some  pen- 
alties, for  the  voters  insist  that  he  must  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  some  of  the  local  offices. 
At  various  times  in  the  past  years  he  has 
been  supervisor  of  the  township,  highway 
commissioner  and  member  of  the  board  of 
review.  In  each  position  he  acquitted  him- 
self most  satisfactorily  to  his  constituents 
and  greatly  to  the  substantial  improvement 
and  financial  benefit  of  the  township.  He 
has  always  acted  well  his  part  in  life.  As  a 
citizen,  soldier  and  official  he  has  merited 
and  received  the  respect,  confidence  and  com- 
mendation of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  con- 
tact in  these  various  capacities. 


JAMES  HAYNES. 

Among  the  successful  business  men  of 
Cadillac  whose  enterprising  spirit  and  pro- 
gressive methods  contributed  so  largely  to 
the  city's  industrial  interest  in  the  past,  the 
name  of  the  late  James  Haynes  stands 
clearly  and  distinctly  defined.  His  father 
was  Joseph  Flaynes,  a  native  of  New  York 
and  of  Dutch  descent,  his  ancestors  coming 
to  this  country  in  an  early  day  and  figur- 
ing quite  conspicuously  in  various  parts  of 
the  Empire  state.  James  Haynes  was  born 
at  Gorham,  New  York,  on  the  17th  day  of 
February,  1825.  He  spent  the  first  twelve 
years  of  his  life  in  his  native  commonwealth 
and  in  1837  accompanied  his  father  to 
Michigan,  settling  in  the  county  of  Van  Bu- 
ren,  where  he  lived  until  the  year  1863,  de- 
voting the  great  part  of  the  interim  to  busi- 
ness pursuits  in  the  towai  of  Lawrence.  In 
early  life  he  dealt  in  produce,  but  later  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  and  grain  trade  at  De- 
catur, to  which  place  he  removed  from  Law- 
rence. After  spending  nine  years  at  Decatur 
he  changed  his  abode  in  1872  to  Clam  Lake 
and  here  built,  the  same  year,  a  large  planing- 
mill,  which  he  operated  successfully  until 
1877,  when  the  entire  plant  was  destroyed  by 
fire.  With  characteristic  energy  he  at  once 
rebuilt  the  structure,  but  upon  a  more  exten- 
sive scale  than  formerly,  and  the  business 
continued  to  grow  in  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance it  was  found  necessary  to  erect  a  sec- 
ond mill  of  still  larger  proportions.  Accord- 
ingly in  1 88 1  what  was  known  as  mill  No.  2 
was  completed,  the  combined  capacity  of  the 
two  plants  averaging  over  two  hundred 
thousand  feet  per  day.  Meantime,  in  1880, 
Mr.   Haynes  took  in  as  partners  his  sons, 


WEXFORD   COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


498 


N.  D.,  C.  E.  and  E.  J.  Haynes,  the  firm  thus 
constituted  being  known  as  James  Haynes 
&  Sons,  the  father  having  some  time  previ- 
ously given  the  latter  an  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness. The  enterprise  proved  successful  from 
the  beginning  and  in  due  time  became  the 
largest  industry  of  the  kind  in  Cadillac,  a  re- 
putation it  has  ever  since  sustained.  Ener- 
getic and  progressive  in  all  the  terms  imply, 
with  sound  judgment,  rare  foresight  and 
line  executive  ability,  Mr.  Haynes  establish- 
ed the  business  upon  a  solid  basis  and,  with 
the  assistance  of  his  sons,  who  early  demon- 
strated peculiar  fitness  for  the  prosecution  of 
large  undertakings,  the  mills  kept  pace  with 
the  increasing  demands  upon  them  until,  as 
stated  above,  the  enterprise  became  a  perma- 
nent fixture  in  the  city. 

Mr.  Haynes  finished  his  life  work  and 
was  gathered  to  his  fathers  on  the  2d  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1886,  his  wife  dying  six  years  prior  to 
that  date,  at  the  age  of  fifty-one  years. 
Mrs.  Haynes'  maiden  name  was  Mary  M. 
Bierce.  Her  father,  Norman  Bierce,  was 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  but  in  an  early  day 
moved  to  New  York  and  from  that  latter 
state,  in  1837,  migrated  to  Michigan,  where 
lie  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  dying  at 
Cadillac  in  1885  ^^^  ^'^^  ninety-second  year 
of  his  age,  leaving  a  family  of  one  son  and 
three  daughters. 

Fraternally  James  Haynes  was  a  Mason 
of  high  standing,  having  belonged  to  the  blue 
lodge  at  Cadillac  and  Peninsular  Command- 
ery.  Knights  Templar,  at  Kalamazoo. 
Though  '  in  no  sense  a  i>olitician,  he 
was  for  many  years  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Democrats  in  Wexford  county  and 
as  such  was  elected  to  various  of- 
ficial positions,  in  all  of  which  he  mani- 
fested the  same  interest  and  high  business 


qualifications  displayed  in  his  private  enter- 
prises. He  served  one  term  as  justice  of 
peace,  was  township  treasurer  five  years, 
city  treasurer  one  year  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  was  both  treasurer  of  the  county  ^nd 
mayor  of  Cadillac.  For  many  years  his  life 
was  very  closely  identified  with  the  business 
interests  and  industrial  prosperity  of  Cadil- 
lac and  Wexford  county  and  in  the  history 
of  both  his  name  will  always  figure  as  that 
of  one  of  the  notable  men  of  his  day  and 
generation.  A  strong,  well-developed 
character,  combined  with  vigorous  mental 
powers,  indomitable  moral  courage,  untiring 
energy  and  a  capacity  for  large  undertakings, 
he  nobly  fulfilled  his  mission  and  at  its  close 
left  to  posterity  and  to  the  community  an 
honorable  name,  the  memory  of  which  will 
live  coeval  with  the  history  of  the  flourish- 
ing city  with  whose  industrial  prosperity  he 
had  so  much  to  do. 

Charles  E.  Haynes,  son  of  James  and 
Mary  M.  Haynes,  was  born  in  Van  Buren 
county,  Michigan,  February  22,  1855. 
When  he  was  about  eight  years  old  his  par- 
ents moved  to  Decatur,  this  state,  and  it  was 
in  the  schools  of  that  town  that  he  received 
his  educational  training,  having  lived  there 
until  coming  to  Clam  Lake  in  the  year  1873. 
Here  he  grew  to  man's  estate,  the  mean- 
while becoming  familiar  with  business  af- 
fairs under  his  father's  direction,  and  in 
1883  he  went  to  Jennings  where  he  built 
and  for  some  time  operated  what  was  known 
as  the  C.  E.  Haynes  &  Company's  planing 
mill.  Returning  to  Cadillac  in  February, 
1888,  he  purchased  the  Spaulding  mill,  west 
of  Hobart,  which  he  operated  during  the  sea- 
son of  1889,  ^^^^^  ^he  following  year  made  an 
extensive  tour  of  the  western  states  and 
territories,  spending  some  time  in  Washing- 


494 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


ton  and  Oregon,  buying  and  selling  lumber. 
Tn  1S91  he  returned  to  Cadillac  and  the 
next  year  bought  a  half  interest  with  his  bro- 
ther, E.  J.  Haynes,  the  firm  thus  constituted 
beings  still  known  as  the  Haynes  Brothers 
Planing  Mill,  the  largest  industry  of  the 
kind  in  the  city.  In  addition  to  dressing 
lumber  the  firm  deals  extensively  in  all  kinds 
of  lumber,  laths,  singles,  etc.,  and  do  a  suc- 
cessful and  far-reaching  business,  their  pat- 
ronage extending  over  a  large  area  of  con- 
tiguous territory  besides  shipping  extensive- 
ly to  distant  points.  Mr.  Haynes  is  an  ac- 
complished business  man,  energetic  and  thor- 
oughly reliable,  and  much  of  the  success 
of  the  large  enterprise  with  which  he  is  con- 
nected is  due  to  his  efforts.  In  1883  1^^ 
was  elected  alderman  and  as  such  looked 
carefully  after  the  city's  interests  and  made 
a  creditable  and  praisew^orthy  record.  Per- 
sonally M;r.  Haynes  is  the  embodiment  of 
good  nature,  a  hale  fellow  well  met,  and  his 
l)opularity  is  only  ])ounded  by  the  limits  be- 
yond which  he  has  not  become  acquainted. 
He  was  married,  June  26,  1879,  to  Miss 
Ellen  O.  Stevens,  of  Parishville,  New  York, 
and  they  have  a  beautiful  and  attractive 
home  in  Cadillac  which  is  frequented  by  the 
best  society  circles  of  the  city. 

Elbert  J.  Haynes,  brother  of  the  preced- 
ing and  third  son  of  the  late  James  Haynes, 
was  born  November  22,  1859,  in  Lawrence, 
Van  Buren  county,  Michigan,  and  received 
his  education  in  the  schools  of  Decatur,  to 
which  place  the  family  moved  in  1863.  In 
July,  1873,  he  came  to  Clam  Lake  with 
his  parents  and  here  assisted  in  operating 
the  planing-mill,  an  account  of  which  is 
given  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  becoming 
a  prominent  factor  in  the  industry  and  dem- 
onstrating unusual  business  ability  for  one 


of  his  age  and  experience.  Meantime  he 
finished  his  literary  education  in  the  schools 
of  Clam  Lake,  later  completed  a  full  business 
course  at  the  Northern  Indiana  Normal 
School  and  Business  College  at  Valparaiso 
and,  returning  home,  took  charge  of  his 
father's  books  and  correspondence,  attend- 
ing to  all  the  details  of  the  office  until  Janu- 
ary I,  1882,  when  the  firm  of  James  Haynes 
&  Sons  was  formed,  consisting  of  Norman 
D.,  Charles  E.  and  Elbert  J.  Charles  E. 
withdrew  in  May,  1883,  ^^^  subject,  with 
liis  father  and  other  brother,  continuing  the 
business  until  1886.  James  Haynes  dying 
in  February  of  that  year,  Norman  D.  and 
Elbert  J.  continued  the  enterprise  under  the 
original  name,  in  addition  to  which  the  sub- 
ject was  appointed  county  treasurer  to  fill 
the  vacancy  in  that  office  caused  by  his 
father's  death.  Elbert  J.  Haynes  first  en- 
tered the  county  treasurer's  office  in  Janu- 
ary, 1885,  as  deputy  under  his  father  and 
served  as  such  until  April  i,  1886,  when,  as 
stated  above,  he  was  appointed  the  regular 
custodian  of  the  public  funds,  disciiarging 
his  duties  ably  and  conscientiously  in  both 
capacities.  When  Norman  D.  withdrew 
from  the  firm,  January,  1892,  to  engage  in 
the  same  line  of  business  else\yhere,  Elbert 
J.  continued  at  Cadillac  and  m  July,  1892, 
the  present  firm  of  Llaynes  Brothers,  con- 
sisting of  Charles  E.  and  the  subject,  w^as 
formed. 

Mr.  Haynes  has  been  actively  identified 
with  the  industrial  interests  of  Cadillac  since 
young  manhood  and  has  proven  one  of  the 
enterprising  and  reliable  business  men  of 
the  city.  Endowed  by  nature  with  strong 
mentality  and  keen  perceptive  faculties,  and 
through  a  long  and  severe  course  of  train- 
ing proving  able  to  discharge  worthily  im- 


C.   C.   DAUGHERTY. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


496 


portant  trusts,  he  has  made  his  presence 
felt  as  a  forceful  factor  in  the  community 
and  stands  today  one  of  the  most  conspic- 
uous figures  in  the  inckistrial  affairs  of  this 
section  of  the  state.  On  the  26th  day  of 
March,  1885,  lie  was  happily  married  to 
Miss  Louie  T.  Taplin,  the  union  being 
blessed  with  two  sons,  Charles  James  and 
Merritt  Mearne. 


CHESTER  C.  DAUGHERTY. 

Chester  C.  Daugherty,  who  is  now  serv- 
ing as  supervisor  of  Antioch  township  and  is 
one  of  the  leading  and  influential  citizens  of 
Wexford  county,  was  torn  in  Spencer  town- 
ship, Medina  county,  Ohio,  on  the  12th  of 
April,  1856.  His  father  was  Charles  H. 
Daugherty,  a  farmer  by  occupation  who  also 
dealt  to  quite  an  extent  in  lumber.  He  chose 
as  a  companion  and  helpmate  for  life's  jour- 
ney y\rmina  N.  Inman,  and  on  their  removal 
from  the  Buckeye  state  to  Michigan  they  set- 
tled in  Allegan  county,  where  they  lived  for 
many  years.  They  are  now  residents  of 
Grand  Rapids  and  are  people  of  the  highest 
respectability,  having  many  warm  friends. 

Chester  C.  Daugherty  is  the  second  in 
order  of  birth  of  their  four  children.  He 
was  only  three  years  of  age  at  the  time  of 
his  parents'  removal  from  Ohio  and,  there- 
fore, he  was  reared  in  Allegan  county,  where 
he  obtained  a  common-school  education  and 
received  ample  training  in  farm  labor,  thus 
gaining  a  practical  experience  in  the  w^ork 
which  he  has  chosen  as  a  life  pursuit.  He 
lived  at  home  until  1879,  when  he  was  mar- 
ried. It  was  on  the  9th  of  January  of  that 
year  that  he  wedded  Miss  Cora  B,  Averill, 


who  was  born  in  Medina,  Ohio,  on  the  i6th 
of  Eebruary,  1858,  a  daughter  of  Lanader 
B.  and  Eleanor  (Depew)  Averill.  They  lo- 
cated in  Allegan  county,  Michigan,  in  1863, 
and  afterward  became  residents  of  Wexford 
county,  Mr.  Averill  departing  this  life  in 
Antioch  township  in  1893  '^^^  '^is  seventy- 
sixth  year.  In  his  family  were  eleven  chil- 
dren, of  whom  Mrs.  Daugherty  was  the  fifth 
in  order  of  birth.  Her  girlhood  days  were 
spent  in  Allegan  county  from  the  age  of  five 
years  and  to  its  school  system  she  is  indebted 
for  the  educational  privileges  she  received. 

After  his  marriage  Mr.  Daugherty  con- 
tinued to  reside  upon  the  home  farm  for  two 
years  and  then,  in  May,  1881,  he  came  to 
Wexford  county  with  his  wife  and  one  child, 
settling  on  the  farm  in  Antioch  township 
which  has  since  been  his  home  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  period  of  a  year  and  a  half.  He 
has  always  devoted  his  time  and  energies  to 
farming  and  he  now  owns  a  tract  of  land  of 
eighty  acres,  of  which  fifty  acres  is  under 
cultivation  and  the  arable  land  returns  to 
him  good  harvests. 

The  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Daugherty 
has  been  blessed  with  two  children,  but  the 
daughter,  Eleanor,  died  in  infancy.  The 
son,  John  J.,  is  still  with  his  parents.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Daugherty  are  most  hospitable 
people  and  their  home  is  a  favorite  resort 
with  their  many  friends,  who  delight  in  the 
good  cheer  of  the  household.  Mr.  Daugh- 
erty has  held  the  office  of  supervisor  of  An- 
tioch township,  has  also  been  township  clerk, 
township  treasurer  and  justice  of  the  peace. 
In  the  last  named  position  his  rulings 
have  been  strictly  fair  and  impartial  and 
in  the  other  positions  he  has  discharged 
his  duties  with  marked  fidelity.  The  cause 
of  education  has  ever  found  in  him  a  warm 


496 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


friend.  He  votes  with  the  RepubHcan  party 
and  on  the  17th  of  September,  1902,  he  was 
nominated  on  its  ticket  for  the  office  of  treas- 
urer of  Wexford  county  at  the  convention 
which  was  held  in  Cadillac.  There  w^ere 
seventy-six  delegates  present  and  he  received 
the  vote  of  forty-eight.  Mr.  Daugherty  is  a 
man  of  marked  individuality,  of  strong  pur- 
pose and  of  sterling  rectitude  of  character 
and  Wexford  county  and  especially  Antioch 
township  has  profited  by  his  labors  in  its  be- 
half, while  in  his  business  affairs  he  has 
found  a  good  source  of  livelihood  that  has 
made  him  one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of 
his  county. 


JOHN    A.  EVITTS. 

The  business  career  of  John  A.  Evitts 
has  been  attended  with  success  and,  in 
the  possession  of  a  comfortable  competence, 
he  is  now  largely  living  retired,  enjoying 
the  fruits  of  his  former  toil.  He  makes 
his  home  in  Mesick,  where  he  was  formerly 
engaged  in  the  hardware  business.  In  the 
various  other  pursuits  he  has  followed  in 
different  parts  of  this  state,  he  has  so  directed 
his  energies  that  his  labors  have  brought 
him  a  desirable  financial  return. 

Mr.  Evitts'  birthplace  was  a  farm  in 
Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  his  natal 
day  was  January  14,  1848.  His  parents, 
Daniel  and  Jane  (Steele)  Evitts,  were  also 
natives  of  the  Keystone  state  and  both  died 
in  Franklin  county,  the  father  passing  away 
when  only  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.  The 
mother  long  survived  him  and  died  at  the 
age  of  seventy-eight  years.  In  their  family 
were  five  children,  of  whom  John  A.  is  the 
third  in  order  of  birth. 


On  the  old  homestead  in  the  county  of 
his  nativity,  John  A.  Evitts  spent  the  days 
of  his  youth  and  when  but  a  lad  of  seven- 
teen years  he  oft'ered  his  services  in  defense 
of  the  Union,  enlisting  on  the  8th  of  March, 
1865,  as  a  member  of  Company  F,  Seventy- 
ninth  Pennsylvania  Veteran  Volunteers, 
with  which  he  served  until  the  12th  of  July 
following,  when,  the  war  having  been 
brought  to  a  victorious  close,  he  was  mus- 
tered out  in  Philadelphia.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Franklin  county,  Pennsylvania,  but 
in  the  same  year  made  his  way  westward  to 
Galesburg,  Illinois,  where  he  learned  the  tin- 
ners trade,  serving  an  apprenticeship  of 
three  years.  He  did  not  follow  that  pur- 
suit, however,  until  a  number  of  years  had 
passed  and  in  the  meantime  gave  his  atten- 
tion to  other  work.  From  Galesburg  he 
came  to  Michigan,  locating  in  Berrien 
county  in  1868,  and  through  one  winter 
term  he  attended  school  at  Niles.  He  then 
followed  farm  work  until  1876  and  in  the 
summer  season  of  that  year  he  operated  a 
boat  on  the  St.  Joseph  river  for  the  Good- 
rich Transportation  Company,  living  at  that 
time  in  St.  Joseph,  Michigan.  He  next  went 
to  Chicago,  where  he  was  employed  as  an 
auctioneer  for  two  years,  on  the  expiration 
of  which  period  he  established  his  home  in 
Newaygo  county,  Michigan.  In  the  latter 
place  he  worked  in  the  lumber  woods  until 
the  spring  of  1891  and  during  that  time  he 
had  also  purchased  and  improved  two  farms 
in  that  county.  In  1891  he  discontinued  his 
labors  in  connection  with  the  lumber  industry 
and  devoted  his  entire  attention  to  his  ag- 
ricultural pursuits  until  1894,  when  he 
left  Newaygo  county  and  went  to  Thomp- 
sonville,  Benzie  county,  Michigan.  It  was 
at    that    time    that    he    resumed    work    at 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


497 


the  trade  which  he  learned  in  the  Mississippi 
valley.  He  l^ecame  the  owner  of  a  hardware 
store,  which  he  conducted  for  three  years, 
when  he  sold  out  and  returned  to  Newaygo 
county.  There  he  purchased  a  business 
block  and  residence  in  the  town  of  Grant, 
and  improved  the  property,  intending  to  oc- 
cupy the  residence  and  to  engage  in  the 
hardw^are  business  in  his  store  building,  but 
relinquishing  this  idea,  he  sold  out  there  and 
removed  to  Mesick,  Wexford  county,  where 
he  has  made  his  home  since  the  fall  of  1S97. 
Here  he  established  a  hardware  store,  which 
he  carried  on  successfully  for  three  years, 
having  a  large  patronage.  He  then  dis- 
posed of  his  stock  and  later  he  purchased  the 
old  Mesick  House,  which  he  removed  to  its 
present  site  and  remodeled,  and  it  is  now- 
known  as  the  Hotel  Evitts. 

During  the  first  period  of  his  residence 
in  Newaygo  county.  Mr.  Evitts  was  mar- 
ried, in  Fremont,  Michigan,  on  the  2Sth  of 
January,  1878,  to  Miss  Eliza  Grouse,  who 
was  born  in  Vermilion,  Ohio,  a  daughter  of 
Gonrad  Grouse.  He  is  a  member  of 
Thompsonville  Lodge,  Independent  Order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  is  also  affiliated  with  Mc- 
Gall  Tent,  Knights  of  the  Maccabees,  of 
Thompsonville.  His  business  interests 
have  been  of  a  varied  character  and  have 
been  carefully  managed,  while  his  invest- 
ments have  been  judiciously  made.  These 
two  elements  have  been  potent  factors  in  his 
prosperous  career.  His  life  has  been  one 
of  continuous  activity,  in  which  has  been 
accorded  due  recognition  of  labor,  and  to- 
day he  is  numbered  among  the  substantial 
citizens  of  the  county.  At  all  times  he  is 
ready  to  lend  his  aid  and  co-operation  to 
movements  for  the  general  good. 


WILLIAM    KELLEY. 

Among  the  leading  business  men  of 
Gadillac  in  days  gone  by  none  took  a  more 
active  interest  in  the  material  development 
of  the  town  or  contributed  in  a  greater  de- 
gree to  its  general  prosperity  than  the  late 
William  Kelley,  a  brief  outline  of  whose 
career  is  herewith  presented.  Mr.  Kelley 
was  a  native  of  Ireland,  born  in  the  month 
of  January,  1845.  When  about  seven  years 
old  he  was  brought  to  the  United  States  by 
his  father,  w^ho  settled  in  New  York,  and 
there  died  shortly  after  his  arrival,  leaving 
his  orphan  son,  poor  and  friendless,  to  make 
his  own  way  in  the  world.  Young  William 
turned  his  hand  to  any  honorable  employ- 
ment he  could  find  and,  being  endowed  with 
an  independent  spirit  and  tireless  energy, 
he  experienced  little  difficulty  in  earning  a 
comfortable  livelihood.  At  the  breaking  out 
of  the  great  Rebellion  he  was  one  of  the 
first  young  men  in  his  county  to  tender  his 
services  to  the  government,  enlisting  early 
in  t86i,  and  not  long  after  entering  the 
army  it  fell  to  him  to  take  part  in  the  bloody 
and  disastrous  battle  of  Bull  Run.  While 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fray  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  and  was  held  a  prisoner 
for  eleven  months,  being  first  taken  to  Libby 
prison,  Richmond,  and 'later  to  Salisbury, 
North  Garolina,  wdiere  he  was  afterwards 
exchanged.  Rejoining  his  command  as 
soon  as  possible,  he  served  to  the  end  of  the 
war  and  earned  an  honorable  record  as  a 
soldier,  participating  in  a  number  of  noted 
campaigns  and  bloody  battles  and  proving 
in  most  trying  and  dangerous  conditions  a 
true  soldier  and  high-minded  patriot. 

On  quitting  the  service  at  the  cessation 


498 


IV  EX  FORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


of  hostillities  Mr.  Kelley  returned  to  New 
York,  but  soon  afterwards  came  to  Michi- 
gan and  settled  at  Greenville,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  business  until  his  removal,  a  little 
later,  to  the  town  of  Lakeview.     Meantime, 
on  August  2,  1862,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Nancy  Van  Ness,  of  Green- 
ville, daughter  of  George  and  Sarah  (Haw- 
ley)    Van  Ness,  early  settlers  and  leading 
residents  of  that  city.     After  remaining  at 
Lake  View  until  August,  1872,  Mr.  Kelley 
disposed  of  his  interests  there  and  removing 
to  Clam  Lake  embarked  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness, which  he  carried  on  quite  extensively 
for  several  years,   the  meantime  becoming 
actively   identified   with   the   material   pros- 
perity of  the  community.     He  made  money 
and   spent   it  judiciously   for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  town,  invested  in  real  estate  and 
erecting  buildings,  besides  taking  a  leading 
part  in  public  affairs.     He  was  for  several 
years   a   member   of   the    local    educational 
toard,  also  served  in  the  city  council  and  in 
these  and  other  official  capacities  was  un- 
tiring in  his  efforts  to  promote  the  welfare 
c>f  the  people  and  advertise  the  advantages 
of  Clam  Lake  to  the  outside  world.     In  poli- 
tics he  was  an  unyielding  Republican  and 
his  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  party  made 
him  one  of  its  trusted  and  aggressive  lead- 
ers in  Wexford  county.     While  a  zealous 
politician  he  was  naturally  and  wisely  re- 
luctant to  leave  the  career  he  had  marked 
out  for  himself  for  the  more  uncertain  and 
less  satisfactory  arena  of  official  life,  hence 
he  had  no  aspirations  or  ambitions  in  that 
direction.     Mr.    Kelley   stood   high   in   the 
esteem  of  the  public  and  as  a  neighbor  and 
citizen  always  wielded  a  forceful  influence 
for  the  welfare  of  the  community  and  made 
his  presence  felt  for  good  in  all  of  his  re- 


lations with  his  fellow  men.  As  a  patron  of 
the  Presbyterian  church  he  lived  an  earnest, 
God-fearing  life  and  dignified  his  religious 
professions  by  his  works  of  faith  and  labors 
of  love.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  was 
trustee  of  the  Cadillac  Presbyterian  church, 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  which  materi- 
ally and  spiritually  were  largely  due  to  his 
unfailing  interests  and  liberal  financial  sup- 
port. His  was  indeed  a  full  and  useful  life, 
fraught  with  great  good  to  his  friends  and 
to  the  Avorld,  and  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  Cadillac  on  the  26th  day  of  December, 
1879,  after  a  brief  illness,  removed  from  the 
city  one  of  its  prominent  and  praiseworthy 
citizens  and  leading  men  of  affairs. 

Mr.  Kelley  was  the  father  of  three  chil- 
dren, the  oldest  of  whom,  a  daughter  by  the 
name  of  Edith  M.,  is  now  the  wife  of  H.  T. 
Morgan ;  Edwin  V.,  the  second,  is  a  worthy 
citizen  of  Cadillac  and  the  youngest  of  the 
family,  Helen  A.  married  F.  W.  Green,  in- 
spector general  of  Michigan. 


DAVID  B.  AVERILL. 

Those  brave  men  who  in  the  years  of 
their  country's  struggle  for  the  perpetuity  of 
its  government  institutions  bravely  laid  aside 
all  personal  interests  and  went  forth  to  oflfer 
their  lives,  if  need  be,  that  the  unity  of  the 
Republic  might  be  preserved  are  always  de- 
serving of  a  promiinent  place,  not  only  in  th^ 
history  of  their  locality,  but  in  the  history  of 
the  nation.  The  subject  of  this  review, 
David  B.  Averill,  of  Liberty  township,  de- 
serves even  more  credit  than  the  average  vet- 
eran of  the  Civil  war  for  the  part  he  took  in 
that  fierce,  sanguinary  and  most  remarkable 


DAVID  B.  AVERILL. 


MRS.  D.  B.  AVERILL. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


499 


struggle.  Altlpugh  but  little  more  than 
fourteen  years  of  age  at  the  commencement 
of  hostilities,  so  eager  was  he  to  take  part  in 
the  conflict  that  his  relatives  and  friends 
were  with  difliculty  able  to  restrain  his  youth- 
ful ardor.  Several  times  during  the  first 
two  years  of  the  war  he  attempted  to  enlist, 
but  his  boyish  face  and  youthful  figure  pre- 
vented his  acceptance.  The  examining  board 
declared  that  it  was  yet  too  early  in  the  war 
to  commence  fighting  battles  with  babies.  A 
good  deal  discouraged,  but  by  no  means  dis- 
heartened, he  waited,  tried  again  and  on  the 
14th  of  September,  1863,  had  the  satisfaction 
of  being  enrolled  in  Company  E.,  Tenth 
Michigan  Cavalry. 

David  B.  Averill,  who  resides  on  a  part 
of  section  33,  Liberty  township,  was  born  in 
York-  township,  Medina  county,  Ohio,  De- 
cember 15,  1846.  His  parents  were  Edward 
and  Mary  (Ih'anch)  Averill,  the  former  an 
industrious,  energetic  and  thrifty  farmer. 
He  and  his  wife  were  the  parents  of  six  chil- 
dren, two  sons  and  four  daughters.  In  1856, 
when  the  subject  was  ten  years  old,  the  fam- 
ily moved  to  Allegan  county,  Michigan,  and 
settled  in  Dorr  township.  There  the  mother 
died  when  she  had  reached  her  seventy- 
second  year.  The  father  now  resides  in  Al- 
legan county,  aged  eighty  years. 

In  Dorr  township  the  subject  continued 
to  reside  until  September  14,  1863,  when  he 
succeeded  in  enlisting  in  the  United  States 
army.  Several  of  the  years  previous  to  this 
he  had  spent  in  school  and  was  possessed  of 
a  very  fair- education.  He  continued  in  the 
service  until  after  the  close  of  the  war,  be- 
ing mustered  out  Novemter  11,  1865,  at 
Memphis,  Tennessee.  With,  his  regiment  he 
participated  in  many  of  the  battles  of  the 
closing  years  of  the  war.     At  the  battle  of 


Flat  Creek  Bridge,  May  24,  1864,  he,  with 
a  number  of  others  of  his  regiment,  was  cap- 
tured by  the  Confederates.  However,  he  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  only  about 
twenty- four  hours.  Abiding  his  opportun- 
ity, he  succeeded  in  giving  his  captors  the 
slip  and  was  gratified  in  being  able  to  reach 
the  Union  lines  in  safety.  He  and  his  com- 
])any  participated  in  the  engagement  at 
Greenville,  Tennessee,  October  12,  1864, 
which  resulted  in  the  death  of  the  rebel 
guerrilla  General  Morgan.  His  company  was 
a  part  of  the  troops  engaged  in  the  last 
Stoneman  raid,  during  March  and  April, 
1865.  They  started  from  Knoxville,  Ten- 
nessee, went  through  the  Carolinas  and  por- 
tions of  Virginia  and  were  constantly  occu- 
pied in  marching  and  fighting  the  greater 
part  of  three  months.  The  life  of  a  soldier 
was  by  no  means  distasteful  to  Mr.  Averill. 
The  excitement  was  to  him  a  constant  stimu- 
lant and  the  hardships  endured  seemed  to 
have  little  efi^ect  on  the  rugged  constitution 
of  the  boy.  When  the  war  was  over  and 
others  were  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  an 
early  return  to  their  peaceful  rural  homes,  it 
was  almost  with  regret  that  Mr.  Averill  laid 
down  his  arms  and  accepted  his  discharge. 
He  was  neither  blood-thirsty  nor  in  love  with 
sanguinary  strife,  but  the  excitement  of 
camp  and  field,  the  constant  change  of  scen- 
ery on  the  march  and  even  the  very  danger 
that  constantly  threatened  his  life  was  fas- 
cinating to  the  imaginative  youth. 

On  leaving  the  service  Mr.  Averill  re- 
turned to  Allegan  county,  Michigan,  where 
he  engaged  in  farming  and  where  he  contin- 
ued to  reside  until  about  twelve  years  ago. 
May  28,  1868,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Mary  C.  Weaver,  a  daughter  of  Brad- 
ley C.  and  Sally  M.  (Butler)  Weaver.     He 


500 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  she  of  Pennsyl- 
A^ania.  They  settled  in  Genesee  county,  New 
York,  where  they  remained  a  number  of 
years,  then  moved  to  Kent  county,  Michigan, 
setthng  in  Byron  township.  They  were  the 
parents  of  five  children,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Averill  is  the  oldest.  She  was  born  in 
Byron  township,  Kent  county,  June  20,  1848, 
where  she  was  reared,  educated  and  grew  to 
womanhood.  After  their  marriage  the  sub- 
ject and  wife  settled  on  a  faruT  in  Allegan 
county  where  they  continued  to  reside  until 
1 89 1,  wdien  they  moved  to  Wexford  county 
and  settled  on  a  tract  of  land  in  section  33, 
Liberty  township.  This  they  have  improved 
and  made  a  desirable,  valuable  farm,  and 
there  they  have  continued  to  reside  ever  since. 
They  are  the  parents  of  two  children,  viz  : 
Harry  M.  and  Elias  L.  The  farm  upon 
which  the  family  resides  consists  of  eighty 
acres,  sixty  acres  of  which  is  well  improved 
and  under  cultivation. 

Although  a  resident  of  Wexford  county 
only  about  twelve  years,  Mr.  Averill  has 
been  honored  by  the  voters  of  Liberty  town- 
ship with  the  office  of  supervisor  three  years, 
justice  of  the  peace  one  term  and  township 
treasurer  two  years.  At  present  he  holds  a 
commission  from  the  chief  executive  of  the 
state  as  a  notary  public.  He  is  a  member  of 
Oliver  P.  Morton  Post  No.  54,  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  at  Manton,  and  has  served 
as  commander  of  the  post.  The  Grand 
Army  and  the  Grange  are  the  only  secret  so- 
cieties to  which  he  belongs.  He  is  master 
of  Rose  Hill  Grange  No.  949,  Patrons  of 
Husbandry.  In  politics  he  has  always  acted 
with  the  Republican  party,  for  he  considered 
the  success  of  its  principles  and  policies  most 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  country.  In 
every  movement  for  the  benefit  or  develop- 


ment of  the  township  of  his  residence  he  is 
always  in  the  forefront.  He  is  a  worthy 
man  and  an  enterprising  citizen,  whose  life 
in  every  place  he  has  liyed  and  every  calling 
in  which  he  engaged  has  been  productive  of 
much  good,  not  only  to  his  immediate  family 
and  friends  but  to  the  community  and  the 
state. 


PORTER    WHEELER. 

Fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  in  the  region 
that  had  been  known  as  the  Northwest  ter- 
ritory, out  of  which  the  five  great  states  of 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin were  carved,  there  w^as  a  very  little 
other  than  farming  for  the  average  man  of 
limited  means  to  turn  for  employment  and 
SLi].)port.  There  were  few  shops,  scarcely 
any  railroads  and  no  factories  worthy  of  the 
name.  Hence,  the  early  settlers  w^ere  all 
agriculturists.  Of  course  they  had  to  be 
woodmen  first,  for  the  clearing  of  the  land 
was  a  prerequisite  to  the  planting  of  a  crop. 
The  subject  of  this  review.  Porter  Wheeler, 
^vas  born  in  Ohio  more  than  fifty-six  years 
ago,  was  reared  in  that  locality  and  therefore 
was  bred  to  the  calling  of  a  tiller  of  the  soil. 
It  is  an  honorable  and  independent  avocation 
and,  although  circumscribed  in  its  opportuni- 
ties' for  amassing  much  material  wealth,  the 
securing  of  civic  honors  or  the  acquisition  of 
fame,  there  is  more  genuine  contentment 
and  real  happiness  to  the  square  inch  in  the 
rural  districts  of  the  country  than  there  is 
to  the  square  mile  in  the  towns  and  cities  of 
the  land.  The  farmer  has  no  occasion  for 
envying  any  one,  but  people  in  other  walks 
of  life  have  many  reasons  and  ample  justifi- 
cation for  envying  him. 

Porter  Wheeler  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


601 


near  Wellington,  Lorain  county,  February  4, 
1846.  His  parents  were  Volorus  and 
Charity  (  Pomeroy)  Wheeler,  both  natives  of 
]\'[assachusetts,  where  they  were  reared  and 
married.  Early  in  wedded  life  they  left  the 
east,  which  was  already  showing  signs  of 
congestion,  and  came  west  to  Ohio  to  better 
their  condition.  They  settled  near  Welling- 
ton, Lorain  county,  on  a  tract  of  woodland, 
which  by  hard  labor  they  converted  into  a 
farm.  There  they  remained,  rearing  and 
educating  a  noble  family  of  boys  and  girls, 
until  each  of  his  parents  was  visited  by 
death.  The  mother  was  the  first  to  pass 
to  the  great  hereafter,  expiring  when  a  lit- 
tle more  than  seventy  years  old.  Her  hus- 
band survived  her  a  few  days,  passing  away 
when  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eight  children, 
two  sons  and  six  daughters,  four  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity  and  have  acted  well  the 
part  assigned  to  them  upon  the  stage  of  life. 

Porter  Wheeler  was  the  oldest  child  of 
the  family.  He  was  reared  upon  his  father's 
farm  in  Lorain  county,  attending  school  iii 
the  winter  seasons  and  devoting  the  other 
seasons  of  the  year  to  the  labor  on  the  farm. 
His  industry  was  noticeable  in  both  places 
and  even  at  that  early  day  he  gave  promise 
of  the  good  and  useful  life  he  has  since  led 
and  is  now  leading,  a  life  that  has  been  most 
beneficial  not  only  to  himself  and  to  his  im- 
mediate family,  but  to  every  community  in 
which  he  has  resided. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1864,  when  not 
yet  eighteen  years  of  age.  Porter  Wheeler 
enlisted  in  Company  E,  One  Hundred  and 
Twenty-eighth  Regiment,  Ohio  Volunteer 
Infantry.  Most  of  his  war  record  was 
guard  duty  on  Johnson's  Island.  He  faith- 
fully performed  his  duty  and  was  so  fortun- 


ate as  to  never  be  confined  to  hos])ital  on  ac- 
count of  injury  received  in  battle.  He 
served  until  peace  was  declared,  when  he 
i*eturned  home  to  Lorain  county,  Ohio.  One 
of  the  most  commendable  characteristics  of 
the  American  is  the  ease  and  facility  with 
which  he  turns  from  one  avocation  to  an- 
other diametrically  its  opposite.  In  the 
case  of  Porter  Wheeier,  the  dashing  young 
soldier  was  transformed  into  the  patient, 
plodding,  contented  agriculturist  and  during 
the  next  three  years  he  devoted  himself  to 
that  pursuit. 

At  Wellington,  Lorain  county,  Ohio, 
October  8,  1868,  Porter  Wheeler  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Emma  Breckenridge,  a 
native  of  Ohio,  born  in  Lorain  county,  Feb- 
ruary 17,  185 1.  She  is  a  lady  richly  endowed 
by  nature  with  many  physical  graces  and 
much  mental  strength,  which  natural  gifts 
have  been  supplemented  by  education  and 
training.  There  are  few  among  the  early 
pioneers  of  any  new  country  possessed  of 
the  grace  and  accomplishments  of  her  who  is 
the  devoted  wife  of  the  subject  of  this  re- 
view. Her  parents  were  Lewis  and  Mary 
Ann  (Munson)  Breckenridge,  he  a  native 
of  Vermont  and  she  of  Canada.  They  were 
married  in  the  east  and  sought  the  west  to 
find  a  home  and  build  up  a  fortune.  They 
located  in  Lorain  county,  Ohio,  where  six 
children,  one  son  and  five  daughters,  were 
lx)rn  to  them,  and  there  these  offspring 
were  reared  to  industry  and  schooled  in 
morality  and  virtue  as  wxU  as  knowledge. 
Mrs.  Wheeler  was  the  fourth  child  of  the 
family.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Mr. 
Breckenridge  was  seventy  years  of  age.  His 
widow  is  now  a  resident  of  Wellington,  aged 
seventy-eight  years.  She  is  a  member  of  the 
Disciple  church. 


502 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


After  their  marriage  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Por- 
ter Wheeler  continued  to  reside  in  their  na- 
tive county  for  the  next  three  years.  The 
high  prices  of  the  years  of  the  war  had 
greatly  enhanced  the  value  of  land  in  the 
well-settled  states,  Ohio  among  that  number, 
so  that  a  desirable  farm  was  beyond  the 
reach  of  so  slender  a  purse  as  that  possessed 
by  Porter  Wheeler.  People  who  had  land 
to  rent  were  independent  and  exacting.  Like 
most  landlords,  they  absorbed  the  most  of 
the  crop.  To  them  the  lion's  share  went, 
w^hile  to  the  man  through  wdiose  sweat  the 
plowing,  planting,  cultivating  and  gather- 
ing was  done,  only  a  paltry  pittance  went 
to  remunerate  him  for  his  services.  A 
thoughtless,  indolent  man  might  have  missed 
his  grievances  and  made  the  best  of  these 
unfortunate  conditions.  Not  so  with  Por- 
ter Wheeler.  He  knew  that  there  is  no 
wrong  for  which  a  remedy  may  not  be  found 
and  he  was  not  long  in  finding  the  true 
remedy  for  dear  land. 

Arranging  his  affairs  in  Ohio  as  speedily 
as  possible  and  disposing  of  such  belongings 
as  he  did  not  choose  to  take  with  him,  he  and 
his  family  came  to  Wexford  county,  Michi- 
gan, early  in  the  spring  of  1871,  and  entered 
upon  a  homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
acres,  in  Cherry  Grove  township,  a  part  of 
section  6,  upon  which  he  built  a  home  and  in- 
stalled his  family,  which  then  consisted  of 
his  wife  and  little  daughter.  There  they 
lived  until  1883,  when  they  transferred  their 
residence  to  section  18,  in  the  same  town- 
ship. The  family  were  not  the  earliest  set- 
tlers of  Cherry  Grove  township,  but  they 
were  the  first  settlers  within  its  borders  to 
own  a  team  of  horses,  and  their  second  lit- 
tle daughter,  Minnie  May,  now  the  wife  of 
Merrick  Stocking,  was  the  first  white  child 


born  in  the  township.  Porter  Wheeler  is 
now  the  owner  of  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  acres,  one  hundred  of  which  are  well 
improved  and  under  cultivation.  Good, 
substantial  buildings  adorn  and  add  to  the 
comfort,  convenience  and  value  of  the  place. 
The  home  is  a  most  pleasant  one,  all  that 
could  be  desired,  and  the  family  is  one  of  the 
happiest  a  person  could  desire  to  meet.  Five 
children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler^ 
viz. :  Edith  Lillian,  Minnie  May,  Fred 
Lewis,  Arthur  Earl  and  Etta  Pearl.  Edith 
Lillian  became  the  wife  of  William  Lynn, 
but  her  matrimonial  career  was  sadly  brief, 
she  dying  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen 
years.  Minnie  May  is  the  wife  of  Merrick 
Stocking,  as  has  been  heretofore  mentioned. 
She  was  for  five  years  a  successful  teacher 
in  Wexford  county,  and  is  now  a  member  of 
tlie  Congregational  church  at  (■adillac. 


IRA  JENKINS. 


Many  are  under  the  impression  that  a 
term  of  service  l)y  a  young  man  in  the  army 
or  navy,  covering  a  period  of  several  years, 
unfits  him  for  the  ordinary  duties  devolving 
upon  him  as  a  citizen.  In  some  instances 
there  is  little  doubt  that  it  does,  but  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases  the  ex-soldier  or  ex- 
sailor  proves  himself  as  worthy,  capable  and 
industrious  as  those  who  know  nothing  of 
life  in  the  service  of  the  government.  In- 
deed it  often  happens  that  a  few  years  of 
military  or  naval  discipline  has  had  a  most 
salutary  and  beneficial  effect  upon  the  char- 
acter and  disposition  of  the  youth,  and  that 
he  returns  to  his  home,  when  his  time  has 
expired,  much  more  of  a  man  mentally  and 


IRA  JENKINS. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


503 


physically  than  he  was  when  he  joined  the 
service.  The  subject  of  this  biography,  Ira 
Jenkins,  of  Colfax  township,  spent  the  entire 
five  years  preceeding  the  attainment  of  his 
majority  in  the  United  States  navy.  He  re- 
turned home  just  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Civil  war,  and  although  greviously  tempted 
to  re-enlist,  his  yearning  for  the  life  of  a 
^'land  lubber"  was  such  that  it  overcome  any 
tendency  he  may  have  had  to  again  re-enter 
the  service. 

Ira  Jenkins  is  a  native  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, born  in  Manchester,  Septemter  30, 
1840.  His  parents  were  John  and  Eliza 
(Brown)  Jenkins,  natives  of  Massachusetts, 
both  having  been  born  in  Townsend,  Middle- 
sex county.  For  many  years  in  his  native 
town  previous  to  his  removal  to  New  Hamp- 
shire the  subject's  father  w^as  an  extensive 
dealer  in  fish.  The  latter  years  of  the  life 
of  both  were  spent  in  New  Hampshire  and 
both  died  at  West  Thornton,  the  death  of 
one  following  the  other  within  a  short  time. 
She  was  seventy-seven  years  old  at  the  time 
of  her  death  and  he  eighty-one.  They  were 
the  parents  of  ten  children,  of  whom  the  sub- 
ject was  the  youngest. 

In  his  native  city  of  Manchester  the  first 
ten  years  of  the  life  of  Ira  Jenkins  were  spent. 
From  there  he  went  to  Lincoln,  New  Hamp- 
shire, where  he  remained  until  he  was  six- 
teen years  old,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  navy  and  served  for  a  period  of  five 
years,  completing  his  term  of  service  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  war.  On  returning 
to  his  home  in  New  Hampshire  he  engaged 
in  farming,  devoting  himself  with  zeal  and 
earnestness  to  the  calling  and  with  a  suc- 
cess fully  commensurate  with  the  efforts  put 
forth.  February  2,  1863,  Ira  Jenkins  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Thayer, 


a  native  of  Franconia,  Grafton  county.  New 
Hampshire,  born  April  27,  1843.  Her  par- 
ents were  Zora  and  Johanna  (iVldrich) 
Thayer,  natives  of  New  Hampshire.  The 
father  wvas  by  occupation  a  farmer,  prosper- 
ous and  financially  in  good  circumstances. 
.\t  the  early  age  of  thirty-two  years  the 
mother  passed  into  eternity,  being  survived 
by  the  father,  who  is  still  living,  a  venerable 
resident  of  Paw  Paw,  Michigan,  where  he  is 
honored  and  respected  for  the  blameless  and 
exemiplary  life  wdiich  he  has  led.  They  were 
the  parents  of  seven  children,  of  whom  Mrs. 
Jenkins  is  the  oldest.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Jenkins  the  following  children  were  born, 
viz:  George  I.,  Johanna  A.,  Joel  P).,  Ira 
J.,  William  A. ;  May  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Al- 
fred Watson,  a  practicing  physican  and  sur- 
I  geon  of  Cadillac,  Michigan.  Joel  died  when 
I  eig'hteen  months  old.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jen- 
I  kins  have  also  an  adopted  child,  named  Will- 
j  iam  A. 

I  For  five  years  after  their  marriage  the 
I  subject  and  his  wife  continued  to  reside  in 
i  their  native  state,  then,  desiring  to  improve 
their  condition  and  that  of  their  children, 
in  1868  they  moved  to  Van  Buren  county^ 
Michigan,  where  he  engaged  in  farming  for 
six  years.  In  November,  1874,  they  came  to 
Wexford  county  and  in  the  spring  of  the 
succeeding  year  settled  upon  the  farm  which 
is  now  and  has  been  from  that  time  their 
home.  When  he  located  upon  it  the  place 
was  wholly  unimproved,  but,  with  the  char- 
acteristic ardor  of  his  nature,  Mr.  Jenkins 
set  to  work  clearing  the  place  and  soon  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it  a  fertile,  well 
cultivated  and  productive  farmi.  Upon  it 
he  has  erected  a  neat  residence,  sufficiently 
large  for  all  of  the  wants  of  the  family,  and 
it  is  tastefully,  if  not  luxuriously,  furnished. 


504 


WEXFORD   COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


The  otlier  farm  buildings  accord  nicely  with 
the  family  home,  being  large,  substantial  and 
well  constructed.  The  farm  comprises  only 
forty  acres,  but  every  foot  of  the  land  is  un- 
der cultivation,  and  under  the  skillful  man- 
agement of  the  owner  the  yearly  product  of 
the  place  exceeds  many  farms  that  are  sev- 
eral times  its  size.  Many  times  during  his 
residence  in  Colfax  township  Ira  Jenkins  has 
been  honored  by  his  fellow  citizens  with 
their  suffrage.  He  has  been  highway  com- 
missioner of  the  township,  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
time  a  member  of  the  school  board.  Mrs. 
Jenkins  is  a  devout  member  of  the  Methodist 
chuch,  and  an  active  worker  not  only  in  re- 
ligious matters,  but  in  every  deserving, 
worthy  cause.  If  his  services  for  the  govern- 
ment during  the  latter  five  years  of  his  boy- 
hood have  been  in  the  least  detrimental  to 
Mr.  Jenkins,  neither  himself,  his  family  nor 
his  neighbors  have  yet  found  it  out. 


GEORGE    A.  REYNOLDS. 

Fulfilling  all  of  life's  requirements  ac- 
cording to  his  highest  ideal  of  right,  aiding 
the  spirit  of  enterprise  and  improv^ement, 
and  using  his  influence  for  what  benefits 
humanity  and  builds  up  the  community,  it 
may  be  truly  said  of  the  worthy  subject  of 
this  review  ^^He  has  made  the  world  better 
by  having  lived  in  it."  He  is  an  old  resi- 
dent of  Selma  township,  Wexford  county. 
His  life  has  been  an  active  and  busy  one,  but 
he  is  now  living  a  somewhat  retired  life  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  his  labors. 

George  A.  Reynolds,  the  subject  ai  this 


review,  resides  on  a  part  of  section  ii,  Selma 
township,  Wexford  county.  He  was  born 
in  West  Granville,  Washington  county. 
New  York,  August  27,  181 7,  and  is  there- 
fore at  the  present  time  in  the  eighty-sixth 
year  of  his  age.  When  he  was  eight  years 
old,  in  1825,  the  family  moved  to  Onondaga 
county.  New  York,  where  they  resided  some 
four  years.  They  then  removed  to  Alle- 
gany county.  New  York,  where  Mr.  Rey- 
nolds grew  to  manhood  and  where  he  be- 
came skilled  in  the  trade  of  a  cooper,  wdiich 
business  he  followed  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century. 

In  Allegany  county.  New  York,  on  the 
4th  day  of  July,  1842,  George  A.  Reynolds 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Thorpe,  who  proved  a  most  faithful  and 
dutiful  wife.  She  lived  to  the  age  of  sixty- 
eight  years,  following  the  fortunes  of  the 
family  from  New  York  to  Missouri,  back 
again  to  New  York '  and  thence  to  Selma 
township,  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  where 
she  died  in  September,  1885,  ending  a  well- 
spent  life  in  peace  and  contentment.  They 
were  the  parents  of  three  children,  viz.  : 
Orin  was  a  soldier  in  the  Federal  army  dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  Rebellion  and  was  taken 
prisoner  at  Newbern,  North  Carolina ;  he  was 
one  of  the  unfortunates  incarcerated  in  An- 
dersonville  prison  and  perished  there  from 
starvation  and  exposure;  Cora  is  the  wife 
of  Alonson  De  Bow ;  Nettie  is  the  wife  of  Dr. 
John  Sabin,  a  resident  of  Couer  De  I^eon, 
Idaho. 

Immediately  after  their  marriage  the 
subject  of  this  review  and  his  w^ife  estab- 
lished themselves  in  a  home  of  their  own  in 
Allegany  county.  New  York,  where  they  re- 
sided many  years,  he  working  at  his  business 
as  a  cooper,  in  which  calling  he  was  quite 


V/EXFORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN, 


505 


prosperous.  A  desire  to  see  more  of  the  coun- 
try and  to  find  a  location  where  his  services 
would  receive  better  remuneration  caused  him 
to  move  his  family  to  Newton  county, 
Missouri,  where  for  a  time  he  was  employed 
at  his  trade.  It  took  but  three  years  to 
gratify  his  taste  for  the  southwest  and  the 
family  again  returned  to  New  York,  taking" 
up  their  residence  this  time  in  Livingston 
comity.  There  they  lived  until  August, 
1877,  when  he  gave  up  his  business  of 
coopering,  moved  west  to  Wexford  county, 
Michigan,  located  on  a  portion  of  section 
]i,  Selma  township,  and  became  a  farmer. 
There  he  has  since  lived,  there  his  good  and 
faithful  wife  died  and  there  the  evening  of 
liis  life  is  being  spent  in  that  quiet  content- 
ment and  peace  which  he  has  so  richly 
earned. 

The  early  life  of  George  A.  Reynolds 
was  spent  in  a  Quaker  settlement.  His 
parents  were  of  that  faith  and  in  it  he  was 
brought  up.  Though  separated  for  many 
years  from  people  of  that  faith  he  still  ad- 
heres to  a  belief  in  the  doctrines  of  that 
sect.  They  have  guided  and  directed  him 
throughout  his  long  life  and  ruled  and 
governed  his  conduct  in  his  dealing  with  his 
fellow  men,  with  the  result  that  he  is  honored, 
respected  and  beloved  wherever  he  is 
known,  for  the  gentleness  of  his  nature  and 
the  rigid  moral  principles  which  govern  his 
life.  Though  now  in  the  eighty-sixth  year 
of  his  age,  he  is  wonderfully  well  preserved 
and  the  mental  and  physical  strength  which 
he  still  possesses  would  do  credit  to  a  man 
twenty  years  younger.  No  one  who  en- 
joys his  acquaintance  and  who  is  familiar 
with  his  good  habits  and  mode  of  life  doubts 
tliat  he  will  easily  reach  the  century  mark  as 
the   measure   of   his   existence.     Indeed   at 


present  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  apparent 
why  it  should  not  extend  far  beyond  that 
time. 


JOHN    J.     NICHOLS. 

One  of  the  attractive  features  of  the 
landscape  in  Clam  Lake  township  is  the  well 
improved  farm  of  John  J.  Nichols,  located 
on  section  19.  This  is  a  fine  farm,  well 
equipped  with  all  the  accessories  and  con- 
veniences known  to  the  model  agricultural 
home  of  the  twentieth  century.  The 
rich  soil  produces  splendid  crops  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  property  stands  a  commodious 
and  pleasant  residence  which  is  character- 
ized by  an  air  of  neatness  and  thrift  and  it 
is  tastefully  furnished,  making  one  of  the 
comfortal)le  homes  of  this  section  of  the 
state. 

Mr.  Nichols  is  a  native  of  Ontario  coun- 
ty, Canada,  born  on  the  20th  of  September, 
1839.  His  parents  were  John  and  Sophia 
(DeBoyce)  Nichols  and  the  former  died  in 
Ontario  county,  Canada,  when  about  thirty 
years  of  age.  The  mother  afterwards  came 
to  Wexford  county  and  died  at  the  home  of 
one  of  her  sons  in  Clam  Lake  township  in  the 
eighty-second  year  of  her  age.  She  had  but 
two  children,  John  J.,  of  this  review,  and 
Isaac,  who  is  a  well-known  and  prominent 
agriculturist  of  Clam  Lake  towaiship.  The 
former  was  reared  to  farm  life  in  Canada 
and  the  experiences  of  his  early  boyhood 
were  those  which  usually  fall  to  the  lot  of 
farmer  lads.  He  lived  in  his  native  coun- 
try until  1873,  but  the  previous  year  had 
come  to  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  and  en- 
tered a  claim  comprising  eighty  acres  of 
land   in   section    30,    Clam    Lake   township. 


506 


Wexford  county,  Michigan. 


In  September,  1873,  he  returned  with  his 
family  to  Michigan  and  located  upon  the 
homestead  which  he  had  secured.  He  has 
since  been  a  resident  of  the  towniship  and  at 
the  time  of  his  arrival  here  he  at  once  began 
the  development  of  his  eighty-acre  tract,  of 
which  he  still  owns  forty  acres,  while  his 
brother,  Isaac,  is  now  the  proprietor  of  the 
other  forty  acres.  Mr.  Nichols  of  this  re- 
view likewise  has  thirty-nine  acres  on  sec- 
tion 19  of  the  same  township,  so  that  his 
farm  comprises  altogether  seventy-nine  acres, 
of  which  seventy  acres  have  been  converted 
into  rich  fields,  from  which  he  annually  har- 
vests good  crops.  On  the  other  nine  acres 
stand  his  farm  buildings^  including  two  good 
houses  and  substantial  barns  and  outbuild- 
ings. 

On  the  15th  of  July,  1873,  John  J. 
Nichols  was  married,  in  Lambton  county, 
Ontario,  to  Miss  Sarah  J.  Van  Natter,  who 
was  born  in  Haldeman  county,  Ontario,  on 
the  2 1st  of  May,  1848,  a  daughter  of 
James  and  Regina  (Miller)  Van  Natter. 
Her  parents  spent  their  entire  lives  in  Can- 
ada and  are  now  deceased.  Unto  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nichols  have  been  born  two  children : 
Regina  J.,  now  the  wife  of  William  An  way, 
and  Philena  S.,  the  wife  of  M.  E.  Shippy. 
Mr.  Nichols  takes  an  active  part  in  church 
work  and  is  an  evangelist.  He  is  deeply 
interested  in  the  moral  development  of  the 
community  and  in  the  adoption  of  Christian 
principles,  but  he  is  not  a  believer  in  creeds 
or  dogmas,  l)eing  unsectarian  in  his  re- 
ligious beliefs.  He  bases  his  belief  merely 
upon  Bible  teachings,  preferring  to  make  his 
own  interpretations  of  the  scriptures  rather 
than  accepting  something  that  has  been 
evolved  by  religious  leaders  in  former  ages. 

When    Mr.     Nichols    and    his    brother 


came  to  Wexford  county  in  1873  ^'^^^  ^^'^•'^ 
still  a  frontier  region,  the  work  of  progress 
and  improvement  being  scarcely  begun. 
They  built  a  log  house  upon  the  homestead 
and  there  lived  together  for  sixteen  years, 
during  which  time  four  children  wxre  born 
to  Isaac  Nichols  and  two  children  to  John 
Nichols.  They  were  all  rocked  in  one  cra- 
dle. The  two  families  lived  together  as  one, 
having  a  common  pocketbook,  sharing  alike 
in  everything.  At  length  when  they  de- 
cided to  separate  the  division  \vas  made  in  a 
manner  entirely  satisfactory  to  each.  The 
division  w^as  finally  brought  about  because  of 
an  accident  which  occurred  to  Isaac  Nichols, 
who  was  bitten  by  a  black  squirrel  on  the 
right  hand.  This  caused  blood  poisoning 
and  necessitated  the  amputation  of  the  lit- 
tle finger.  As  tlie  years  passed  the  brothers 
watched  the  development  of  the  county  and 
took  an  active  part  in  its  growth  and  im- 
provement. Deeply  interested  in  every- 
thing pretaining  to  public  progress,  John  j. 
Nichols  has  labored  effectively  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  county  and  for  its  intellectual 
and  moral,  as  well  as  material  advancement. 
He  is  a  man  of  strong  purpose,  of  marked 
indi^'iduality  and  keen  intellectuality.  He 
looks  u])on  life  from  a  broad  humanitarian 
standpoint,  realizing  that  this  life  is  but  a 
preparation  for  the  life  to  come  and  that 
the  preparation  for  a  future  existence  is  the 
Imilding  of  an  upright  character. 


VICTOR  F.  HUNTLEY,  M.  D. 

Professional  success  results  from  merit. 
Frequently  in  commercial  life  one  may  come 
into  the  possession  of  a  lucratfve  business 
through  inheritance  or  gift,  but  in  what  are 


VICTOR  F.   HUNTLEY. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


507 


known  as  the  learned  professions  advance- 
ment is  gained  only  throngh  painstaking  and 
long-continned  effort.  Prestige  in  the  heal- 
ing art  is  the  ontcome  of  strong  mentality, 
close  application,  thorongh  mastery  of  its 
great  underlying  principles  and  the  ability 
to  a])ply  theory  to  practice  in  the  treatment 
of  diseases.  Good  intellectual  training,  thor- 
ough professional  knowledge  and  the  posses- 
sion and  utilization  of  the  qualities  and  attri- 
butes essential  to  success  have  made  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review  eminent  in  his  chosen 
calling,  and  he  stands  today  among  the  schol- 
arly and  enterprising  physicians  in  a  county 
noted  for  the  high  order  of  its  professional 
talent. 

\^ictor  F.  Huntley  is  a  native  of  the  old 
Empire  state,  having  been  born  in  Belmont, 
iM-anklin  county.  New  York,  on  the  6th  of 
June,  1854.     He  is  descended  from  English 
ancestry,    though    his    grandfather,    Hiram 
Huntley,  was  born  in  Maine  and  died  near 
(irand  l^apids,  Michigan,  in  1893,  at  the  age 
of  eiglity-eight  years.     Frederick  M.  Hunt- 
ley, the  father  of  the  subject,  was  a  pattern- 
maker by  trade,  and,  while  residing  in  the 
state  of  Wisconsin,  also  followed  the  occu- 
])ation  of  carpentering  for  a  number  of  years. 
\n    1863   '^^  removed  to   Michigan,  accom- 
panied l)y  his  family,  and  settled  at  Grand 
Rapids.      AI)out   the  time  of   the   outbreak 
(;f  the  CwW  war  he  enlisted  in  Company  D, 
iM'rst   Michigan    Engineers,    with   which   he 
served  until  the  close  of  the  struggle.     Ele 
])roved  a  l)rave  and  gallant  soldier  and  par- 
ticipated in  much  arduous  service  and  at  the 
close  of  his  service  he  received  an  honorable 
discharge.     At  the  completion  of  his  mili- 
tary  service   lie   returned   to   his    Michigan 
home   and    again    resumed   the   pursuits   of 
peace.     He  was  the  father  of  eight  children, 

31 


of  whom  six  attained  years  of  maturity,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  being  the  eldest  of  the 
number. 

Victor  V.  Huntley  received  his  rudimen- 
tary education  in  the  city  schools  of  Grand 
Rapids,    and   afterward   spent   one   year   in 
Albion  College.     For  a  short  timie  after  leav- 
ing college  he  was  employed  at  the  trade  of 
wood  turning,  and  during  the  winter  seasons 
was  employed  at  teaching  school.  The  science 
of  medicine  had  early  attracted  his  attention, 
and  in  1874,  finding  a  favorable  opportunity, 
he  went  to  Goshen,  Indiana,  where  he  read 
mcflicine    under    the    preceptorship    of    Dr. 
\Villiam  A.  Whippy.    In  due  time  he  matric- 
ulated  in  the  Chicago  Homeopathic  Medical 
College,   from  which  he  was  graduated   in 
1 88 1,  and  the  following  year  he  entered  upon 
the  active  practice  of  his  profession  at  Jen- 
nings, Missaukee  county,  Michigan.     After 
remaining  there  for  some  time,  he  became 
convinced  that  a  better  field  of  labor  existed 
for  him  in  Wexford  county,  and  consequent- 
ly, on  the  1st  of  May,   1886,  he  located  at 
Manton,    this   county,    where   he   has   since 
remained  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
the  healing  art.     He  has  taken  a  keen  and 
abiding  interest  in  public  affairs,  and,  under 
the  administration  of  the  late  President  Mc- 
Kinley,  he  received  the  appointment  of  post- 
master at   Manton,    discharging  the   duties 
of  the  ofiice  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  all 
the  patrons  of  the  office.      He   was  re-ap- 
pointed under  President  Roosevelt,  and  still 
holds  office.     He  has  also  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  United  States  pension 
examiners,    having   served   as   president   of 
the  l)oard  for  two  years. 

In  1875  Dr.  Huntley  was  united  in  mar- 
riage w^ith  Miss  Harriet  E.  Castle,  a  native 
of  St.  Eawrence  county,  New  York.     This 


508 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


union  has  been  a  most  happy  and  congenial 
one  and  has  been  blessed  by  the  birth  of  two 
children,  one  that  died  in  infancy,  and  Fred 
M.,  a  physician,  who  graduated  from  the 
Chicago  Homeopathic  Medical  College,  and 
is  practicing  his  profession  with  the  subject 
in  Manton.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Michi- 
gan State  Medical  Society  and  fraternally  is 
a  member  of  the  Free  and  Accepted  Masons, 
having  attained  to  the  thirty-second  degree. 
His  political  principles  are  in  accord  with 
those  of  the  Republican  party,  and  he  takes 
an  active  part  in  local  affairs,  being  a  stanch 
supporter  of  all  movements  having  for  their 
object  the  prom'otion  of  the  welfare  of  the 
community  in  which  he  lives.  As  evidence 
of  this  fact  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  he  was 
one  of  the  numbers  to  w^hose  untiring  per- 
severance was  due  the  installation  of  water 
works  at  Manton. 

Mr.  FTuntley's  ability  to  trace  the  devious 
paths  of  disease  throughout  the  human  sys- 
tem and  to  remove  its  effects  is  widely 
recognized  and  a  mind  well  disciplined  1)y 
severe  professional  training,  together  with  a 
natural  aptitude  for  close  investigation  and 
critical  research,  have  peculiarly  fitted  him 
for  the  noble  calling  in  which  he  is  engaged, 
and  thus  far  his  career  has  been  all  and  more 
than  his  most  sanguine  friends  predicted. 
He  is  a  careful  reader  of  the  best  professional 
literature,  and  keeps  himself  in  close  touch 
with  the  age  in  the  latest  discoveries  pertain- 
ing to  the  healing  art.  The  better  to  enable 
him  to  keep  abreast  the  most  modern  meth- 
ods in  the  treatment  of  disease,  he  took  a 
post-graduate  course  in  the  Chicago  Homeo- 
pathic Medical  College  in  1890,  in  1894,  in 
1899,  and  again  in  1901.  Those  qualities 
of  mind  and  heart  that  do  not  pertain  to  the 
mere    knowledge    of    medical    science,    but 


greatly  enhance  the  true  w^orth  of  the  family 
physician,  are  not  wanting  in  him.  He  pos- 
sesses the  tact  and  happy  faculty  of  inspiring 
confidence  on  the  part  of  his  patients  and 
their  friends  and  in  the  sick  room  his  genial 
presence  and  conscious  ability  to  cope  suc- 
cessfully with  the  diseases  under  treatment 
are  factors  that  have  contributed  to  the  en- 
viable standing  which  he  has  attained.  As 
evidence  of  the  success  wdiich  he  has  at- 
tained, he  entered  into  partnership  with  Will- 
iams Brothers  in  November,  1902,  in  a  gen- 
eral mercantile  business,  which  is  incorpor- 
ated and  knowni  as  the  Williams  Mercantile 
Company,  and  he  is  now  serving  as  presi- 
dent of  said  corporation.  He  is  also  an  officer 
in  the  Manton  Development  Association, 
which  has  purchased  a  tract  of  w^ild  land  ad- 
joining the  village,  which  has  been 
surveyed  and  platted,  and  is  now  rapidly 
building  up. 


WILLIAM     H.     GRAY. 

It  is  not  ease  1)ut  effort  that  makes  the 
man.  There  is  perhaps  no  station  in  life 
where  difficulties  do  not  have  to  be  encoun- 
tered and  obstacles  overcome.  Every  vo- 
cation has  in  it  certain  elements  or  situations 
which  might  be  characterized  as  disagreeable 
l)ut  which  are  counterbalanced,  to  some  ex- 
tent at  least,  I)y  compensatory  features.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch,  William  H.  Gray,  of 
section  28,  Liberty  township,  has  for  years 
pursued  two  vocations.  He  is  a  tiller  of 
the  soil  and  the  local  minister  in  the  church 
of  the  Disciples  of  Christ.  He  is  as  much 
at  home  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  midst  of  the 
members  of  his  flock,  as  he  is  in  the  fields 
amid  his  growing  crop.     He  has,  doubtless. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


509 


often  realized  in  his  dual  labors  the  truth 
of  the  assertion  that  it  is  not  ease  but  effort 
that  makes  the  man. 

William  H.  Gray  was  born  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Morgan  county,  Indiana, 
August  27,  1847,  ^^1^(1  is  the  son  of  David  \V. 
and  Elizabeth  (McCampbell)  Gray.  Both 
parents  died  in  Morgan  county,  Indiana, 
the  father  at  the  age  of  seventy-six  years. 
They  were  the  parents  of  thirteen  children, 
the  subject  1)eing  one  of  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  family.  He  was  reared  at 
home  and  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion in  the  schools  of  the  county  of  his 
birth.  While  attending  school  he  aided  in 
the  farm  work  and  later  engaged  in  it  as 
his  regular  yocation. 

]n  Tipton  county,  Indiana,  Oct()l)er  20, 
1870,  William  H.  (iray  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Martha  R.  AVilcox,  a  native  of 
Indiana,   born   in   Tipton  county,   April  24, 
J  853.      She  was  a  young  lady  noted  for  her 
religious    fervor    and    Christian     character. 
Her  father  was  Uriah  Wilcox,  a  \xteran  of 
the   Civil    war,   while  her  mother's   maiden 
name    was    Emaline    Roode.      Of    a    fam- 
ily    of     seven     children     Mrs.    Gray     was 
the    second.     After    marriage    the    sul)ject 
and     his     wife     established     themselves     in 
a    home    in    Morgan    county,    where    they 
continued  to  reside  until  the  fall  of  1875, 
when     they     moved     to     Wexford     county, 
Michigan,  and  located  on  a  farm  in  section 
28,    Liberty  township,   where  they  still   re- 
side.    .1 le  is  the  owner  of  sixty  acres  of  land, 
thirty-fi\'e  of  which  is  in  a  hue  state  of  cul- 
tivation and  well  improved.     Ihey  are  the 
])arents    of    eight    children,    only    three    of 
whom  are  now    living,    yiz. :     Leona    M., 
Nellie  and  Arthur  E.     Leona  is  the  wife  of 
John  V.  Gardner.     The  five  other  children 
died  early  in  life. 


Though  by  no  means  active  in  pohtics 
and  not  a  partisan,  William  H.  Gray  has  Ijeen 
elected  to  and  held  at  different  times  the  of- 
fices of  township    treasurer    and    township 
clerk.     He  did  not  seek  those  positions,  but 
his  neighbors   of  Liberty  township,   recog- 
nizing his  worth  as  a  citizen  and  his  integ- 
rity as  a  man,  placed  him  in  nomination  and 
elected   him   without   difhculty.     He   is   ac- 
tively interested  in  all  matters  which  tend 
to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  community  or 
improve  the  conditions  of  the  locahty.     He 
is  a  public-spirited  man,  interested  alike  in  the 
material   and   spiritual   good   of   his    fellow 
creatures.     Since  1887  ^le  has  been  the  resi- 
dent minister  of  the  church  of  the  Disciples 
of  Christ,  located  at  Haire,  in  Liberty  town- 
ship.    His    ministerial    labors    in    all    those 
years   haye   been   productive  of  very  satis- 
tactory  results.      Jdie  congregation  is  devout 
and  prosperous  and  has  been  for  a  long  time 
steadil}     increasing    in    membership.     Mr. 
Ch-ay  and  his  wife  organized,  June  9,  1876, 
the  first  Sunday  scliool  ever  established  in 
Liberty  township.      Both  have  labored  nobly 
to  keep  alive  the  Christian  spirit  in  the  lo- 
cality and  will  doubtless  receive  a  rich  re- 
ward, if  not  on  earth,  certainly  in  heaven. 


THOMAS   P.   DENIKE. 

The  \'ery  large  per  cent,  of  native  Cana- 
dians which  constitutes  part  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  states  l)ordering  on  the  Canadian 
line  shows  clearly  that  there  have  been  some 
Canadians  who  were  not  willing  to  wait  un- 
til Miss  Canada  sees  Ht  to  fling  herself  into 
the  arms  of  Uncle  Sam.  That  that  will  be 
the  ultimate  destiny  of  Canada  many  on  both 
sides  of  the  border  firmly  believe.     Indeed, 


510 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


the  location  of  so  many  Canadians  on  this 
side  of  the  hne  may  hasten  rather  than  re- 
tard the  coming  of  the  Canadian  bride.  How- 
ever that  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  what- 
ever that  some  of  the  very  best  citizens  of 
the  state  of  Michigan  today  are  native  Cana- 
(hans.  One  of  them  is  the  subject  of  this 
review,  Gliomas  P.  Denike,  a  resident  of  sec- 
tion 36,  Boon  township,  Wexford  county. 

In  Hastings  county,  Ontario,  Canada, 
August  12,  1850,  Thomas  P.  Denike  first 
saw  the  light  of  day.  His  parents  w^ere  An- 
thony and  Elizabeth  (Reed)  Denike,  both 
deceased  when  Mr.  Denike  was  a  small  boy. 

On  his  father's  farm,  in  his  native  coun- 
ty, he  w^as  reared  to  manhood.  He  was  given 
a  fair  common  school  education  and  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years  started  out  for  him- 
self in  life  to  make  his  way  in  the  world.  In 
1 87 1  he  came  to  Michigan,  secured  employ- 
ment in  the  woods,  logging  and  lumbering, 
which  business  he  followed  for  a  number  of 
}  ears,  when  he  secured  more  desirable  em- 
ployment in  Big  Rapids.  In  1875  he  re- 
turned to  Canada  and  for  the  next  few^  years 
devoted  himself  to  farming. 

In  Northumberland  county,  Ontario, 
Canada,  August  31,  1879,  Thomas  P.  Den- 
ike was  united  in  mariage  to  Miss  Sophro- 
nia  Maybee,  a  native  of  Ontario,  Canada, 
born  June  30,  1856.  Her  parents  were  Mi- 
nard  and  Rachel  (Allie)  Maybee,  natives  of 
Canada  and  who  died  when  Mrs.  Denike  was 
a  little  girl.  She  was  educated  in  her  native 
country  and  is  a  lady  of  most  pleasing  ad- 
dress. To  Thomas  P.  and  Sophronia  (May- 
l.)ee)  Denike  five  children  have  been  born,  of 
whom  one  died  in  infancy.  The  surviving 
four  are:  Berton  E.,  Salyer  V.,  Alta  E.  and 
Elsie  A.  All  are  possessed  of  good  physi- 
cal and  mental  powers  and  give  promise  of 
making  worthy  citizens. 


Within  a  few  weeks  after  their  marriage 
in  Canada  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denike,  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1879,  came  to  Wexford  county,  de- 
siring to  establish  here  their  permanent  home. 
He  purchased  eighty  acres  of  land,  part  of 
section  36,  Boon  township,  on  which  he 
erected  a  dwelling,  which  has  been  the  home 
of  the  family  from  that  time  to  the  present. 
Later  he  purchased  forty  acres  adjoining, 
which  makes  him  a  tidy  little  farm  of  one 
hunch'ed  and  twenty  acres,  about  fifty  of 
which  is  cleared  and  under  cultivation.  Good, 
substantial  buildings  have  been  erected  on 
the  place,  making  it  a  most  desirable  home. 

The  voters  of  Boon  township  seem  to  be 
possessed  of  a  good  deal  of  penetration  and 
discernment,  being  able  to  recognize  a  per- 
son's special  fitness  for  official  position,  and 
the  good  sense  to  persist  in  keeping  him 
there.  Eifteen  years  ago  they  elected 
Thomas  P.  Denike  to  the  position  of  school 
assessor  and  each  successive  election  since 
lias  found  them  voting  to  retain  him  in  that 
place.  It  is  a  tribute  alike  to  the  good  judg- 
ment of  the  voters  and  to  the  abilities  of  their 
school  assessor.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denike  are 
true  and  consistent  Christians,  though  hold- 
ing no  membership  in  any  denomination. 


JOHN  R.  HOGUE. 

If  one  desires  to  gain  a  vivid  realization 
of  the  rapid  advance  in  civilization  during 
the  last  few  decades,  he  can  listen  to  the 
stories  of  men  who  are  still  living  and  by 
no  means  bu.rdened  with  the  weight  of  years, 
who  tell  of  their  early  experience,  when  the 
country  was  new^  and  social  conditions  in 
this  part  of  the  state  of  Michigan  were  in 
their  formative  period.     It  is  now  a  genera- 


J.   R.   HOGUE. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


511 


tion  ago,  1870,  since  John  R.  Hogue,  the 
subject  of  this  review,  first  took  up  his  al)0(le 
in  Wexford  count}'.  Hie  inhal)itants  of  the 
county  were  then  few  in  number,  the  farms 
mostly  clearings,  a  large  majority  of  the 
residences  log  structures,  few  roads  of  anv 
description,  with  a  limited  numl)er  of  schools 
and  a  much  less  number  of  churches.  Con^ 
trasted  with  the  conditions  which  prevail 
here  at  the  present  time,  those  days  are  in^ 
deed  well  classified  as  primitive. 

John  R.  Hogue,  of  section  22,  Colfax 
township,  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born 
in  the  township  of  Worth,  Mercer  county, 
December  3,  1841.  His  parents  were  Will- 
iam and  Sarah  (Kyle)  Hogue,  natives  the 
father  of  Ohio  and  the  mother  of  Virginia, 
E^oth  are  now  deceased. 

The  first   thirteen   years   of  the   life   of 
John    R.    Hogue   were  spent   in   his   native 
county.      He  attended   school  a   few   ternf3 
during  the  winter  months  and  was  employed 
the  remainder  of  the  time  upon  the  farm.   In 
1854  the  family  moved  to  Berrien  county, 
Michigan,   and   located   in   Pipestone  town- 
ship.    There  the  subject  grew  to  manhood, 
completing  a  course  of  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools.     In  August,  1862,  he  enlisted 
in  Company  B,  Seventeenth  Regiment  Mich- 
igan Volunteer  Infantry.     At  that  particular 
time  the  cause  of  the  Union  was  most  des- 
perate, so,  with  very  little  timle  afiforded  for 
preparation,  the  regiment  w^as  ordered  to  the 
front..    In  less  than  a  month  after  enlistment 
it  participated  in  the  battle  of  South  Moun- 
tain, Maryland,  September  13  and  14,  1862, 
and  two  days  later  took  part  in  the  battle 
at  Antietam.     It  was  in  the  fight  at  Fred- 
ericksburg,  Maryland,   and   saw   service   at 
Jackson,  Mississippi,  and  participated  in  the 
seige  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee.       In  every 


one  of  the  engagements  in  which  the  regi- 
ment took  part  the  aggressive  young  sol- 
dier bore  his  part  with  honor.  In  the  battle 
of  the  Wilderness,  Virginia,  May  5  to  7, 
1864,  and  nearly  all  of  the  sanguinary  en-, 
counters  of  the  time  and  of  the  locality  he 
played  his  part  as  l)ecame  a  true  warrior. 
June  3,  1865,  he  received  his  discharge,  after 
having  served  nearly  three  years,  and  being 
in  the  thick  of  the  fight  nearly  all  of  the 
time. 

Returning  to  Berrien  county,  Michigan, 
immediately    on    quitting    the    service,    he 
turned  his  attention  to  farming  in  Pipestone 
township  for  the  next  five  years.     In  Berrien 
county,  September  2,  1866,  John  R.  Hogue 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Susan  King, 
a  native  of  England,   born   in   July,    1848, 
who  came  to  America  with  her  parents  while 
yet  a  child  and  resided  the  greater  part  of 
her  life  in  the  courity  where  she  was  married. 
The  union  was  a  happy  one,  and  three  chil- 
(h-en  were  born  to  bless  it,  viz:     Nora  B., 
Horace  II.  and  Luemma.     Nora  is  the  wife 
of  William  Sager;  Horace  is  a  joint  owaier 
in  the  farm  with  his  father  and  assists  in 
its  cultivation,  and  Luemma  brought  joy  to 
the  home  for  the  brief  period  of  eighteen 
months  only,   when   death   called   her   to   a 
better  world.    Mrs.  Hogue  died  at  the  family 
home  m  Colfax  township,  Wexford  county, 
after    the    family    located    here,    and    Mr. 
Hogue  was  again  marired,  his  bride  on  this 
occasion  being  Mrs.  Helen  Watson,  widow 
of  the  late  Charles  Watson,  and  .daughter  of 
Mr.   and   Mrs.    E^astwood.      Her  death  oc- 
curred  in   Selma   township.      Mr.    Hogue's 
son,  Plorace  by  name,  was  born  November 
23,  1868,  and  on  May  19,  1891,  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Addie  Jordan,  of  Cad- 
illac, and  to  this  union  two  children  have 


512 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


l^eeii  born,  namely:  Vena,  aged  eleven 
years,  and  Lyle,  aged  nine. 

In  November,  1870,  the  family  moved  to 
Wexford  county,  where  Mr.  Hogue  had 
taken  up  a  homestead  on  a  part  of  section 
22,  Colfax  township.  On  this  place  he  has 
erected  a  comfortable  residence  and  all  other 
necessary  farm  buildings.  He  and  his  son 
Horace  together  own  one  hundred  and  t\\  en- 
ty  acres,  about  eighty  of  which  is  cleared, 
improved  and  under  cultivation,  the  other 
forty  acres  being  in  timber.  It  is  a  nice,  pro- 
ductive farm,  from  which  the  owners  and 
managers  derive  a  very  comfortable  income. 

The  education  of  the  young  has  always 
been  a  matter  of  much  concern  and  interest 
to  Mr.  Hogue.  Though  by  no  means  a  man 
greatly  lacking  in  knowledge,  he  feels  that 
he  could  have  accomplished  much  more  in 
life  had  he  received  the  benefit  of  a  better 
education.  Knowing  his  zeal  in  this  particu- 
lar, the  voters  of  the  township,  years  ago, 
placed  him  on  the  school  1x>ard  and  have 
kept  him  almost  constantly  in  one  or  the 
other  positions  on  the  school  board  ever 
since.  He  also  served  the  people  of  the  town- 
ship in  the  position  of  treasurer,  justice  of 
peace,  board  of  review,  school  inspector  and 
highway  commissioner.  In  politics  he  is  a 
stanch  Republican.  There  are  few  people 
of  his  age  now  living  who  have  crowded 
more  real  good,  earnest  labor  and  more  gen- 
uine usefulness  into  the  years  of  their  lives 
than  has  John  R.  Hogue. 


EDWARD    MORGAN,    M.    D. 

Dr.  Edward  Morgan  has  the  distinction 
of  being  the  only  soldier  who  enlisted  from 
Wexford  county  for  service  in  the  Civil  war 


and  he  is  one  of  the  oldest  physicians  in  years 
of  connection  with  the  profession  in  this  part 
of  the  state.  He  now  makes  his  home  in 
Manton,  where  he  has  a  large  patronage 
that  is  indicative  of  his  skill  and  comprehen- 
sive learning  in  connection  with  the  science 
of  medicine. 

The  Doctor  was  l)orn  on  a  farm  in 
Steul)en  county.  New  York,  July  2,  184T. 
His  father,  Reuben  Morgan,  was  a  carpen- 
ter and  farmer,  foHowing  the  two  pursuits 
throughout  his  business  career.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Clarissa  Manhart,  and  they  l)e- 
came  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of  whom 
the  Doctor  was  the  fourth  in  order  of 
birth.  The  father  died  in  Howard,  Steu1)en 
county.  New  York,  when  about  sixty-se\"en 
years  of  age,  and  his  widow,  surviving  him 
for  some  time,  died  in  Emmet  county,  Michi- 
gan, in  her  seventy-sixth  year. 

In  the  county  of  his  nativity  Dr.  Mor- 
gan was  reared  and  was  living  there  at  the 
time  of  his  first  enlistment  for  service  in  the 
Civil  w^ar.  In  May,  1861,  he  joined  Com- 
pany G,  Twenty-third  New  York  Volunteer 
Infantry,  with  which  he  was  connected  for 
two  years.  He  was  tlien  discharged  with 
the  regiment  at  the  expiration  of  the  term 
of  enlistment  in  May,  1863.  In  June  fol- 
lowing the  Doctor  arrived  in  what  is  now 
Wexford  county,  and  secured  a  homestead 
in  Wexford  townshi]:),  comprising  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  acres  of  wild  land,  on  which 
he  settled.  To  its  development  and  im- 
provement he  devoted  his  energies  until 
October,  1864,  when,  feeling  that  his  first 
duty  was  to  his  country,  still  in  the  throes 
of  civil  strife,  he  rejoined  the  army,  this 
time  as  a  member  of  Com|)any  M,  I'enth 
Michigan  Cavalry,  with  which  he  served  un- 
til May,  1865,  wdien,  the  war  having  closed. 


V/EXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


518 


lie  returned  to  his  home  with  a  most  cred- 
ital)le  military  record.  He  was  the  only 
man  who  enlisted  from  Wexford  connty, 
which  was  then  largely  unsettled,  and  he  was 
always  found  at  his  post  of  duty,  whether  in 
the  thickest  of  the  light  or  on  the  lonely  pick- 
et line.  At  Strawherry  I'lains,  l^ennessee,  his 
horse  was  shot  from  under  him  and  on  that 
occasion  he  was  so  injured  that  he  was  un- 
able to  again  take  up  the  active  work  of  the 
farm  and  accordingly  he  disposed  of  his 
homestead. 

The  Doctor  then  entered  upon  the  study 
of  medicine  in  Steuben  county.  New  York, 
and  after  pursuing  a  course  of  lectures  in 
the   Bellevue   Hospital    Medical    College   he 
l)egan  practice  in    Wexford    and    Kalkaska 
counties,    Michigan,   continuing  his   profes- 
sional labors  in  this  state  until   1884,  ^vhen 
he  began   practice  in   Florida  and  also  be- 
came a  student  in  the  State  University  there. 
Upon  his  return  to  the  north  he  settled  in 
Manton,  where  he  practiced  successfully  un- 
til  1889,  when  he  went  to  the  territory  of 
Oklahoma   and    secured    a   homestead.     Tn 
connection  with  the  reclamation  of  the  wild 
land  for  the  purposes  of  civilization,  he  also 
])ractice(l  medicine  in   Guthrie  and  vicinity 
for  two  and  a  half  years,  and  at  the  end  of 
that  time  he  sold  his  homestead  and  returned 
to  Manton,  where  he  has  since  remained,  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  his  jM'ofession  and 
easily  maintaining  a  foremost  ])osition  in  the 
ranks  of  the  medical  fraternity  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  state.     He  practiced  in  Kalkaska 
county  for  seven  years  and  also  in  Cadillac 
for  two  years,  but,   with  the  exce])tion   of 
these  periods  and  the  time  spent  in  Okla- 
homa, throughout  his  professional  career  he 
has  remained  in  Wexford  county,  where  he 
located  as  the  first  physician  within  its  bor- 


ders. He  belongs  to  the  State  Eclectic  Med- 
ical Society  and  is  a  man  of  broad  informa- 
tion who  studies  and  thinks  deeply  and  who 
shows  marked  skill  in  coping  with  the  in- 
tricate problems  which  continually  confront 
tlie  physician  in  his  efforts  to  restore  health 
and  prolong  life. 

in  Kalkaska,  Michigan,  Dr.  Morgan  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Mrs.  Eliza  (Overhiser) 
Shults,  a  daughter  of  William  and  Hannah 
(Collier)  Overhiser.  She  was  born  in  Steu- 
l)en  county.  New  York,  August  14,  1849, 
cUkI  was  brought  to  Michigan  in  pioneer 
times,  her  father  being  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tlers of  Cedar  Creek  township.  He  arrived 
in  Wexford  county  about  1870  and  took  up 
I'iis  abode  on  a  tract  of  land  in  the  township, 
and  since  that  time  he  has  been  an  interested 
and  heli)ful  witness  of  the  progress  and  im- 
provement which  has  been  made  in  his  lo- 
cality. His  wife  died  in  Steuben  county, 
New  York,  in  November,  1861,  w^hen  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  leaving  two  children, 
of  whom  Mrs.  Morgan  is  the  elder.  Unto 
the  Doctor  and  his  wife  have  been  born  two 
children,  Mildred  M.,  the  wife  of  Edward 
Carroll,  and  William  D. 

Dr.  Morgan  is  a  member  of  O.  P.  Mor- 
ton Post  No.  54,  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic, and  is  serving  as  its  commander.  He 
also  has  membership  relations  with  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  his 
wife  is  president  of  the  Woman's  Relief 
Corps,  the  attxiliary  of  Morton  Post.  She 
is  also  an  active  and  consistent  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  They  have 
an  attractive  home  in  Manton  and  the  Doctor 
also  owns  eighty-five  acres  of  land,  of  which 
fifty  acres  is  under  cultivation.  He  has  long- 
taken  an  active  interest  in  politics  as  a  stip- 
porter  of  the  Republican  party  and  while  re- 


514 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


siding  in  Kalkask 
ly  pliysician  for 
physician  for  the 
Odar  Creek,  Li 
Wexford  county, 
a  large  private  pr 
nature  of  his  pr 
confidence  and  tr 
pubhc. 


I  county  he  served  as  coun- 
seven  years.  He  is  now 
four  townships  of  Colfax, 
berty  and  Greenwood  in 
and  in  addition  to  this  has 
•actice,  which  indicates  the 
ofessional  lai)ors  and  the 
ust  reposed  in  him  by  the 


RASMUS  P.  BREDAHL. 

In  mentioning  those  of  foreign  birth  who 
have  become  prominent  in  their  different 
callings  in  Wexford  county,  jNIichigan,  the 
name  of  Rasmus  P.  Bredahl,  of  Liberty 
township,  the  subject  of  this  review,  should 
n.ot  be  omitted.  He  is  one  who  has  fully 
l)orne  out  the  reputation  of  that  class  of  in- 
dustrious, energetic  and  far-seeing  men 
whose  birth  is  credited  to  other  shores,  l)ut 
who  have  risen  to  prominence  here  in  the 
land  of  their  adoption. 

Rasmus  P.  Bredahl,  a  resident  of  section 
29,  Liberty  township,  was  born  in  Denmark, 
Novem1)er  13,  1851.  The  first  fifteen  years 
of  his  life  were  spent  in  his  native  land,  af- 
ter which  he  went  into  Germany  and  devoted 
his  time  up  to  1872,  when  he  attained  his 
majority,  working  on  the  farms  of  his  em- 
ployers as  a  laborer.  Having  earned  and 
saved  enough  money  to  justify  him  in  mak- 
ing the  venture,  in  1872  he  embarked  for 
America,  coming  direct  to  Cadillac,  then 
known  as  Clam  Lake,  by  way  of  New  York. 
He  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  employment 
as  almost  immediately  on  locating  in  Wex- 
ford county  he  vvas  employed  1:)y  the  Grand 
Rapids  &  Lidiana  Railroad  Company,  first 
on    repairs   and   construction   and   later   as 


section  foreman.  He  remained  in  the  em- 
})l()y  of  the  railroad  company  until  January, 
J  877,  when  he  moved  on  his  farm  of  one 
hundred  and  cwenty  acres,  which  he  had 
purchased  in  1874,  and  has  since  devoted  his 
energies  to  cultivating  and  improving  his 
land.  This  farm  is  located  in  section  29, 
Liberty  township.  He  is  the  owner  of  sev- 
eral other  pieces  of  land,  one  of  them  being 
in  section  9,  same  township,  upon  which  is  a 
comfortable  residence.  Since  1876  he  has 
transferred  his  residence  a  number  of  times 
from  one  to  the  other  of  these  tracts,  but  has 
continuously  resided  on  the  farm  in  section 
29  since  1883.  One  year  of  this  time  was 
spent  in  California,  where  he  went  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  conditions  there,  l)ut 
he  did  not  find  them  so  promising  as  painted 
and  was  not  tempted  to  change  his  residence 
to  that  commonwealth.  All  of  his  time  has 
been  devoted  to  farming  since  he  resigned 
I'iis  position  on  tiie  railroad  in  1877.  He  is 
the  owner  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of 
land  in  Liberty  township,  about  sixty  acres 
of  which  are  cleared,  well  improved  and  sup- 
plied with  suitable  and  substantial  Iniildings. 

At  Cadillac,  May  25,  1881,  Rasmus  P. 
Bredahl  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mar- 
tha C.  Anderson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  Ijorn 
December  18,  1847.  1'^  ^^^^^  union  four 
children  were  born,  two  of  whom  died  in  in- 
fancy. Those  living  are  Francis  E.  and 
Julius  A. 

On  becoming  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  state  of  Michigan, 
Rasmus  P.  Bredahl  allied  himself  with  the 
Republican  party  and  the  lapse  of  time  has 
only  served  to  convince  him  of  the  wisdom 
of  his  choice.  His  party,  too,  has  appre- 
ciated his  services  and  shown  its  ai)preciation 
by  electing  him  to  various  offices  in  Liberty 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


515 


townshi]).  He  lias  served  as  towiisliip  super- 
visor, treasurer,  liio-jnvay  commissioner, 
justice  of  the  pence,  school  trustee  and  town- 
ship clerk.  In  all  the  affairs  of  the  township 
he  is  active  and  Jiis  nei§hl)ors  defer  to  his 
opinion  when  local  matters  of  puhlic  interest 
are  under  consideration.  He  and  his  wife 
are  hoth  religiously  inclined,  hut  do  not  he- 
long  to  the  same  religious  denomination. 
He  is  a  memher  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
while  she  worships  at  tiie  Swedish  Lutheran 
church.  They  are  worthy,  industrious  peo- 
ple, whose  lahors  as  producers  are  constantly 
adding  to  their  own  and  the  countrv's  wealth. 


GEORGE  A.  EREDERICK. 

George  A.  iM-ederick  is  the  owner  and 
operator  of  a  farm  of  one  hundred  and  sixtv 
acres  on  section  26,  Wexford  township,  of 
which  one  hundred  acres  is  under  a  high 
state  of  cultivation.  A  native  of  Ohio,  his 
hirth  occurred  in  Medina  county,  on  the  15th 
of  April,  i860,  and  he  is  the  fifth  in  order  of 
l)irth  in  a  family  of  eleven  children,  whose 
])arents  were  John  B.  and  Helen  L.  (Seas) 
iM-ederick.  During  the  hoyhood  of  the  suh- 
ject  they  remoxed  to  St.  Jose])h  county. 
Michigan,  and  in  the  spring  of  1896  they 
came  to  Wexford  county,  taking  up  their 
ahode  in  Wexford  township,  wdiere  the  fatlier 
passed  away  on  the  19th  of  Eehruary,  1901, 
in  the  seventy-seventh  year  of  his  age. 

George  A.  Frederick  was  a  little  lad  of 
only  four  summers  at  the  time  of  his  parents' 
removal  to  this  state  and  upon  the  home 
farm  in  Leonidas  towaiship,  St.  Joseph  coun- 
ty, he  was  reared  until  he  had  attained  his 
majority.     The  public  schools  afforded  him 


liis  educational  privileges  and  when  not  en- 
gaged with  the  (hities  of  the  school-room  he 
largely  devoted  his  time  and  energies  to  as- 
sisting in  the  cultivation  of  the  fields  or  in 
the  care  of  the  stock  upon  the  home  place. 
He  arri\T(l  in  Wexford  county  in   1884  ^^^^^ 
for  four  years  was  identified  with  its  intellec- 
tual development  as  a  school  teacher.     At 
the  end  of  that  time  he  went  to  the  wxst  and 
for  about  three  years  was  al)sent  from  Michi- 
gan.    He  then  returned  to  St.  Joseph  county, 
where  he  carried  on  educational  w^^rk  and 
also  followed  the  carpenter's  trade,  making 
his  home  there  until  1896.     In  that  year  he 
once  more  came  to  Wexford  county  and  set- 
tled upon  the  farm  on  which  he  is  now^  liv- 
ing on  section  26,  \\^exford  township.     Here 
he  has  a  quarter  section  of  the  rich  land  of 
iAIichigan  and  of  this  one  hundred  acres  are 
under  cultivation.     It  is  a  rich,  productive 
soil  and  yields  to  him  good  returns  for  his 
labors.     Mr.  Frederick  is  practical  in  all  that 
he  does  and  this  quality  manifested  in  his 
business  career  has  resulted  in  bringing  to 
lu*m  a  comfortable  competence,  making  him 
one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  his  com- 
munity. 

On  Christmas  day  of  1900,  in  St.  Joseph 
county,  was  cele1)rated  the  marriage  of  Mr. 
Frederick  and  Mrs.  Katie  A.  Huff,  the 
widow  of  Widter  H.  Huff  and  a  daughter  of 
William  and  Rebecca  (Leister)  Lighthiser. 
Mrs.  Frederick  was  born  in  Tuscarawas 
county,  Ohio,  on  the  19th  of  October,  1871, 
and  by  her  first  marriage  had  one  son,  Leo 
W.  Hufif.  Both  the  subject  and  his  wdfe  are 
well  known  in  Wexford  county  and  have 
gained  the  favorable  regard  of  many  w^ith 
whom  they  have  come  in  contact,  their  cir- 
cle being  constantly  increased  as  the  circle 
of    their    acquaintance    is    extended.      Mr. 


516 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


Frederick  is  a  man  of  broad  mind  and  keeps 
well  informed  on  all  the  questions  of  the  day, 
political  and  otherwise.  In  matters  pertain- 
ing to  agriculture  he  is  progressive  and  his 
farm  indicates  his  careful  supervision,  ))e- 
ing  neat  and  thrifty  in  appearance.  Politi- 
cally he  supports  the  platform  and  nominees 
of  the  Democratic  party,  while  fraternally  he 
is  affiliated  with  Lodge  No.  212,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  at  Sherman,  of  which  he  was  the 
first  chancellor  commander.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  Lodge  No.  372,  Free  and  Acce])t- 
ed  Masons,  at  Sherman,  and,  with  his  wife 
belongs  to  the  Sherman  chapter  of  the  East- 
ern Star. 


LEMUEL  A.  TIBBFfS. 

Each  calling  or  business,  if  honorable, 
has  its  place  in  human  existence,  constituting 
a  part  of  the  plan  whereby  life's  methods  are 
pursued  and  man  reaches  his  ultimate  desti- 
ny. Emerson  said,  ''All  are  needed  l)y  each 
one."  That  is  as  true  in  one  avenue  of  life's 
activities  as  in  another.  However,  the  im- 
l)ortance  of  a  business  or  profession  is  in  a 
very  large  measure  determined  1)y  its  useful- 
ness and  the  benefits  it  bestows  on  humanity. 
The  career  of  the  subject  of  this  review, 
l^emuel  A.  Tibbits,  of  Selma  township,  has 
certainly  been  a  useful  one  and  the  record  of 
its  achievements  proves  very  conclusively  the 
inestimable  benefits  he  has  bestowed  on  hu- 
manity by  his  labors  in  the  school  room  and 
in  the  education  of  the  young. 

Lemuel  A.  Tibbits  was  1x)rn  in  the  city 
of  Rochester,  New  York,  August  24,  1858. 
He  was  reared  in  his  native  city  and  there 
the  greater  part  of  his  education  was  secured 
in  De  Grasse  Military  and  Collegiate  Insti- 


tute at  Rochester.  In  1874,  when  but  six- 
teen years  of  age,  he  came  to  Michigan  and 
secured  employment  on  a  farm  in  Washte- 
naw county,  b^or  seven  years  he  worked  as 
ci  farm  hand,  arranging  his  afTairs  so  that  he 
was  enabled  to  attend  school  two  terms.  That 
he  profited  well  i)y  those  two  terms  at  school 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  qualified  him 
for  entering  the  school  room  as  a  teacher. 
In  1 88 1  he  came  to  Wexford  county,  secur- 
ed a  district  school  to  teach  and  has  since 
engaged  continuously  in  that  honoral)le  vo- 
cation. No  other  teacher  of  Wexford  coun- 
ty has  so  long  continuously  engaged  in  the 
calling  in  that  county,  and  there  are  very 
few  teachers  in  northern  Michigan  who 
have  been  engaged  in  the  business,  as  he  has 
been,  in  one  county  for  twenty-two  years. 
Fifteen  of  those  terms  were  employed  in 
one  district,  No.  5.  In  1883  he  had  accumu- 
lated sufficient  from  his  savings  to  purchase 
forty  acres  of  land  in  section  2,  Selma  town- 
ship, where  he  established  a  home  and  where 
he  has  since  resided.  At  present  the  land  is 
nearly  all  cleared,  well  cultivated  and  im- 
])roved  with  good,  substantial  buildings  and 
other  necessary  appurtenances.  September 
1,  1886,  Lemuel  A.  Tibbits  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  b^'ances  E.  P)eckwith, 
whose  parents  were  among  the  early  settlers 
of  Wexford  county.  Nathan  Reckwith  is 
still  living,  Avhile  his  good  wife  passed  to  her 
eternal  rest  February  22,  1902.  Lemuel  A. 
and  Frances  E.  Tibbits  in  the  goodness  of 
their  hearts  have  adopted  a  little  girl,  by 
name  Jessie  M.,  an  intelligent,  winsome  little 
lady,  now  attending  school. 

In  all  educational  matters  the  subject  of 
this  article  is  very  much  interested.  b\)r 
six  years  he  has  served  as  county  school  ex- 
aminer, a  position  through  which  the  stand- 


V/ EX  FORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


517 


ard  of  education  in  a  county  may  1)e  easily 
lowered  or  raised.  During  the  years  of  his 
a(huinistration  of  tlie  office  it  is  generally 
conceded  that  the  educational  interests  of  the 
county  were  never  ])etter  attended  to  and  to 
his  influence  and  wisely  directed  lahors  much 
of  it  is  due.  He  has  served  as  township 
clerk,  township  tre^isurer  and  he  has  been 
commissioned  by  the  governor  of  the  state 
a  notary  public.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Pleasant  Lake  Grange  and  ([uite  active  in 
the  affairs  of  the  order.  At  present  he  is 
the  lecturer  of  the  local  grange  and  also  of 
the  Wexford  County  (irange.  Beginning 
life  with  practically  nothing,  thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  in  a  strange  common- 
wealth at  the  early  age  of  sixteen  years,  de- 
ficient in  education,  through  the  industry,  in- 
tegrity and  the  many  other  noble  qualities 
of  which  he  is  possessed,  he  has  surmounted 
every  obstacle  and  is  now  recognized  as  one 
of  the  most  progressive,  ptiblic-spirited  citi- 
zens of  Wexford  county.  Others  may  have 
more  to  show  in  the  way  of  material  wealth 
accumulated  in  the  same  length  of  time,  but 
certainly  there  are  very  few  who  have  be- 
stowed as  many  blessings  upon  the  communi- 
ty as  he  has.  Flis  la1)ors  in  the  school  room 
alone  are  worth  more  to  the  country  and  to 
luimanity  than  the  entire  lifework  of  many 
another  man. 


THOMAS  .\.  CORLETT,  M.  D. 

The  practice  of  medicine  and  surgery  is 
one  of  the  most  exacting  professions  in  Avhich 
ci  ])erson  can  engage,  it  is  alike  trying  u])()n 
the  physicial  and  tipon  the  mental  powers. 
Physical  strengtli  and  vigor  are  as  necessary 


in  it  as  is  the  mental  ability  which  must  be 
])ossessed  by  him  who  would  succeed.  Dr. 
Thomas  A.  Corlett,  the  stibject  of  this  biog- 
raphy, is  a  physician,  and  surgeon  now  en- 
gaged in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession 
at  Manton,  Cedar  Creek  townshi]).  He  is 
possessed  of  all  the  essential  qualifications 
of  a  successful  pliysician  and  stu'geon.  That 
he  is  ra])idly  winning  sticcess  is  well  attested 
l\v  the  large  and  steadily  increasing  practice 
for  which  he  is  at  present  caring. 

Dr.  Thomas  A.  Corlett  was  born  in  the 
county  of  Grey,  province  of  Ontario,  Canada' 
August  7,  1863.  His  parents  were  John  and 
Elenore  J-  (McKinzie)  Corlett,  native  the 
former  of  Scotland  and  the  latter  of  Canada, 
lie  is  a  prosperous  farmer  of  Bendick  towti- 
ship,  Grey  county.  Twelve  children  were 
ixM'u  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Corlett,  of  whom  the 
subject  of  this  review^  is  the  third.  On  the 
farm  where  he  was  born  the  subject  Vvas 
reared  and  received  a  very  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  elementary  branches  of  learn- 
ing. Thereafter  he  took  a  cotu'se  at  the 
Owen  Sound  Collegiate  Institute.  He  at- 
tended the  Toronto  L^ni  versify  Mechcal 
School  three  years  and  graduated  from  the 
Detroit  School  of  Medicine  in  the  class  of 
1892.  He  was  at  home  tmtil  February,  1893, 
when  he  located  in  Manton  for  the  purpose 
of  engaging  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
Vor  the  past  ten  years  he  has  been  a  resident 
of  Manton  and  actively  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice. 

August  31,  1897,  at  Cadillac,  Michigan, 
Dr.  Thomas  A.  Corlett  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Mary  E.  Stimson,  a  native  of 
b^lint,  Michigan,  her  parents  being  now  de- 
ceased. One  child  has  been  born  to  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Corlett,  whom  they  have  named 
Donald    Alexander.      He   is   an   interesting 


518 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


child,  blessed  with  a  vigorous  constitution, 
which  gives  fair  i)romise  of  making  for  him 
a  long  and  useful  career. 

Dr.  Corlett  is  a  man  of  genial  (Hsposi- 
tion,  affable  and  quite  companionable.  He 
is  a  man  whose  s\'mpathies  are  easily  aroused 
and  who  ever  res])onds  with  alacrity  to  the 
call  from  the  suffering,  whether  it  be  beneath 
the  humble  roof  of  the  cottager  or  within  the 
palatial  home  of  wealth.  The  duties  of  his 
profession  luring  him  in  contact  with  a 
large  numl)er  of  his  fellow  citizens  of  Wex- 
ford county.  Still  comparatively  young  in 
years  and  in  his  profession,  he  has  all  the 
requisite  ability  to  rise  to  eminence  in  his 
chosen  profession  and  his  many  friends  be- 
lieve that  he  is  very  certain  to  do  so. 


DR.  HOWARD  S.  KXEELAND. 

The  subject  of  th,is  rex'iew  is  a  substantial 
and  highly  esteemed  citizen  of  Cadillac,  who 
since  the  year  1900  has  1)een  following  the 
profession  of  dental  surgery  with  a  con- 
stantly increasing  popularity,  being  now  in 
the  enjoyment  of  an  extensive  and  lucrative 
practice  which  has  earned  for  him  a  reputa- 
tion much  more  than  local.  With  intelli- 
gence and  energy  that  have  served  hitu  well 
and  made  him  a  constant  stuflent  and  seeker 
after  knowledge,  he  has  steadily  advanced  in 
the  line  of  his  calling,  until  he  now  occupies 
a  place  in  the  front  rank  of  his  compeers, 
with  the  assurance  of  a  future  of  continued 
professional  and  financial  success. 

Dr.  Howard  S.  Kneeland  was  born  June 
9,  1863,  in  Ionia  county,  Michigan,  and  there 
spent  his  early  life  amid  the  varied  duties 
of  the  farm,  his  father,  John  K.  Kneeland, 


having  been  an  industrious  and  prosperous 
tiller  of  the  soil.  The  maiden  name  of  the 
Doctor's  mother  was  Amanda  M.  DeLong. 
"Jliese  parents,  in  1876,  moved  to  Wexford 
county  and  settled  on  a  homestead  in  section 
I,  vSelma  township,  which  the  father,  with 
such  assistance  as  his  son  could  render, 
cleared  and  converted  into  a  good  farm. 
There  the  family  lived  some  eighteen  or 
twenty  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time 
the  elder  Kneeland  retired  from  active  life 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  Cadillac,  where 
he  s])ent  the  remainder  of  his  days,  dying 
August  17,  1897,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight 
years.  Of  the  children  born  to  John  K.  and 
Amanda  Kneeland,  the  Doctor  is  the  only 
survivor.  He  was  about  thirteen  years  old 
when  the  family  came  to  Wexford  county, 
and  in  the  clearing  and  developing  of  the 
farm  and  its  subsequent  cultivation  he  in- 
dustriously and  worthily  bore  his  part.  A 
naturally  studious  nature,  combined  with  a 
lauda1)le  ambition  to  acquire  an  education, 
led  him  to  take  advantage  of  every  oppor- 
tunity in  this  direction  and,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  his  father,  who  was  an  old-time 
school  teacher,  he  made  commendable  prog- 
ress in  his  studies,  completing  the  conmion 
school  course  besides  obtaining  a  fair  knowl- 
edge of  the  higher  branches.  By  devoting 
his  leisure  time  to  reading  he  became  widely 
and  thoroughly  informed  and  while  still  un- 
der the  parental  roof  his  intelligence  and 
good  judgment  caused  him  to  be  chosen  to 
several  official  positions,  in  all  of  which  his 
record  was  that  of  a  capable  and  faithful 
])ublic  servant.  He  served  as  treasurer  of 
Selma  township  with  credit  to  himself  and 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  people,  also  held 
the  ofhce  of  justice  of  the  peace  for  several 
years,  and  as  school  inspector  did  much  to 


HOWARD   S.   KNEELAND. 


V/EXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


519 


promote  the  cause  of  popular  education  in 
his  jurischction.  In  the  year  1888  ]\Ir.  Knee- 
land  was  appointed  deputy  county  clerk  and 
register  of  deeds,  under  S.  J.  Wall,  which 
position  he  held  tw^o  years,  resigning  at  the 
expiration  of  that  time  to  become  l30okkeeper 
for  the  Cummer  lumber  firms,  a  post  of 
greater  responsibility  than  the  foniiler,  but 
commanding  a  much  better  salary.  Not 
content  always  to  remain  an  employee,  sub- 
ject to  the  w^ill  of  others,  he  early  decided 
to  prepare  himself  for  some  specific  life  work, 
accordingly,  while  discharging  his  duties  in 
the  clerk's  ofiice,  he  took  up  the  study  of 
dentistry,  to  which  he  devoted  his  leisure 
hours  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  H.  V. 
Ward,  of  Cadillac.  Later,  during  his  ten 
years  with  the  Cummer  Company,  he  fur- 
ther prosecuted  his  studies  and  investiga- 
tions under  Dr.  C.  Al.  Brown,  and  so  closely 
and  unceasingly  did  he  apply  himself  that 
he  was  one  of  the  very  few  to  pass  success- 
fully the  rigid  examination  of  the  state  board 
of  dental  examiners. 

Receiving  a  license  from  this  body  in 
October,  1900,  Dr.  Kneeland  immediately 
opened  an  office  in  Cadillac  and  in  due  time 
1)uilt  up  a  lucrative  practice,  which  has  stead- 
ily increased  with  each  recurring  year.  His 
suite  of  parlors  are  finely  furnished,  his  la- 
boratory is  supplied  ^^vith  all  the  latest  mod- 
ern appliances  used  in  the  profession  and  he 
is  thoroughly  i)repared  to  do  all  kinds  of 
work  in  his  line  with  neatness  and  despatch 
and  according  to  the  most  approved  scientific 
methods.  The  Doctor's  continued  profess- 
ional success  is  his  best  advertising  medium 
and  he  depends  upon  this  alone  to  Ijring  him 
to  the  notice  of  the  pul)lic.  He  is  well  known 
throughout  this  section  of  the  state  as  a 
skillful   and   finished   operator   and   accom- 


plished artisan,  and  his  services  have  been 
in  such  demand  that  financial  as  well  as  pro- 
fessional success  has  attended  him  most  liber- 
ally, he  being  now  the  possessor  of  a  hand- 
some competence,  the  result  of  close  atten- 
tion to  his  duties. 

As  a  private  citizen  no  less  than  in  his 
professional  capacity,  the  Doctor  makes  his 
infiuence  for  good  felt  in  the  community.  He 
is  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him,  is 
a  kind  neighbor,  a  genial  companion  and  his 
domestic  life  is  one  of  refinement  and  taste. 
PTe  was  married  in  Cadillac  February  14, 
1893,  to  Miss  Marguerite  M.  Baroux,  the 
daughter  of  Adrian  Boroux,  of  Montague, 
Michigan,  the  union  being  blessed  w^ith  three 
children,  namely  :  Gladys  M.,  Gaylor  L.  and 
Minnie  M.  Doctor  Kneeland  is  prominent 
in  the  social  and  benevolent  circles  of  Cad- 
illac, belonging  to  several  fraternal  organi- 
zations, notably  among  which  are  Lodge  46, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Lodge  No.  680,  Benevo- 
lent and  Protective  Order  of  Elks,  the 
Knights  of  the  I^oyal  Guard,  the  Modern 
Woodmen  of  America  and  the  Knights  of 
the  Maccabees.  He  stands  for  progress  and 
improvement,  lends  his  infiuence  to  all 
worthy  objects  and  his  self  poise,  earnest- 
ness of  purpose,  directness  of  thought  and 
action  and  commendable  public  spirit  have 
won  for  him  a  high  rank  among  the  repre- 
sentative citizens  of  Cadillac  and  Wexford 

county. 

^-*-#^ 

ANDREW  JOHNSON. 

Wexford  county  owes  not  a  little  of  its 
development  and  business  activity  to  its  citi- 
zens of  Sw^edish  birth  or  descent.  The  king- 
dom in  the  northern  peninsula  of  Europe  has 


520 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN, 


sent  many  representatives  to  the  new  world, 
where  they  have  taken  advantages  of  busi- 
ness opportunities,  have  adapted  themselves 
to  altered  conditions  and  have  by  the  exer- 
cise of  care,  perseverance  and  diligence  won 
for  themselves  good  homes  and  provided 
comfortably  for  their  families.  Mr.  John- 
son, a  native  of  Sweden,  was  born  on  the 
28th  of  October,  1837,  and  the  years  of  his 
childhood,  youth  and  early  manhood  were 
there  passed.  He  attended  its  schools  and 
also  performed  considerable  work  in  his 
youth,  which  resulted  in  habits  of  industry 
and  persistency  of  purpose.  The  year  1871 
witnessed  the  severance  of  the  ties  which 
bound  Mr.  Johnson  to  his  native  land.  The 
l)usiness  possibilities  of  the  new  world  at- 
tracted him  and,  crossing  the  briny  deep,  he 
took  uj)  his  a[)ode  in  Wexford  county,  Michi- 
gan, on  the  farm  where  he  now  lives  and 
which  has  been  his  home  continuously 
through  twenty-two  consecutive  years.  Dur- 
ing this  period  he  has  erected  good  farm 
Iniildings,  including  substantial  barns  for 
the  shelter  of  grain  and  stock.  He  has  also 
built  a  good  residence,  and  his  attention  has 
l.)een  given  in  undivided  manner  to  the  im- 
provement of  his  eighty  acres  of  land,  of 
which  fifty  acres  is  under  cultivation  at  the 
present  time. 

In  Wexford  county  Mr.  Johnson  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Anna  Magnuss(>n, 
a  native  of  Sweden,  and  they  now  have  an. 
interesting  family  of  six  children,  as  follows  : 
Frank,  Emil  J.,  Ida  M.,  Amanda  C,  Min- 
nie and  Agnes  K. 

Such  in  brief  is  the  life  record  of  Mr. 
Johnson.  He  has  lix'ed  for  almost  a  third 
of  a  century  in  Wexford  county  and,  while 
there  have  been  no  exciting  chapters  in  his 
life  history,  it  is  that  of  a  man  who  is  loyal 


in  citizenship,  trustworthy  in  business  and 
faithful  in  friendship,  and  these  are  the 
qualities  which  are  deemed  of  worth  in  every 
land  and  clime.  He  has  labored  untir- 
ingly here  in  order  to  gain  a  good  home  for 
himself  and  family  and  has  found  good 
business  opportunities  in  this  country  where 
effort  is  unhampered  by  caste  or  class. 


JOSEPH  McCANE. 

In  this  world  there  is  one  kind  of  man 
who  can  successfully  combat  the  many  dis- 
advantages and  trials  which  humanity  en- 
counters in  every  walk  of  life.  It  is  he  who 
is  possessed  of  superior  intelligence  and 
force  of  character;  the  man  who  is  the  happy 
possessor  of  that  energy  which  seems  to  be 
the  magic  wand  that  transforms  a  poor  be- 
ginning into  a  successful  ending.  To  this 
class  belongs  the  subject  of  this  review,  Jo- 
se])h  McCane,  who  began  life  with  little  and 
ciccomplished  much  more  than  many  whose 
opportunities  were  far  better. 

Joseph  McCane  is  a  native  of  Scotland, 
l)orn  al)out  thirty  miles  from  E(lin1)urg,  Sep- 
tember 4,  1851.  His  parents  were  William 
and  Mary  (Hodgins)  McCane,  the  father  a 
native  of  Scotland  and  the  mother  of  En- 
gland. They  migrated  to  America  in  1856 
c'md  settled  in  Saginaw,  Michigan,  the  same 
year.  There  the  mother  still  resides.  Her 
husband  died  in  1888,  while  on  a  visit  to 
his  son  Joseph,  in  Wexford  county,  at  the 
c'.ge  of  seventy-six  years.  They  were  the 
l)arents  of  twelve  children,  of  whom  Jose])h, 
the  subject,  was  the  fourth. 

The  year  of  his  arrival  in  America  Jo- 
seph McCane  was  five  years  old.     I^'rom  that 


PV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


521 


time  until  he  o1)taine(l  liis  majority  he  made 
his  home  with  his  parents  in  Saginaw.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  a  stone  and  brick  mason, 
became  quite  skillful  and  wx)rke(l  at  the  luisi- 
ness  many  years  after  he  was  twenty-one 
years  old.  In  many  of  the  towns  and  cities 
of  Michigan  may  be  seen  samples  of  his  work 
in  the  buildings  erected  since  1873. 

At  IvOomis,  Clare  county,  Michigan, 
August  6,  1874,  Joseph  McCane  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Elizabeth  Cornelius,  a 
native  of  the  state  of  New  York,  born  in 
Steuben  county,  June  30,  1855.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  Ira  and  Catharine  (Castle)  Cor- 
nelius, both  now  deceased.  To  this  union 
six  children  were  born,  viz;  Mary  E.  is  the 
wife  of  John  Bolton,  a  native  of  Ottawa, 
Canada,  and  a  farmer  and  lumberman,  and 
they  had  two  children,  Dovis,  aged  three 
years,  and  Leland,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
two  months;  William  W.,  of  Liberty  town- 
ship, who  wedded  Mabel  (Gilbert,  of  Ionia 
county;  George,  Eva,  Earl  and  Harrold. 
Jri  August,  1877,  the  family,  then  consist- 
ing of  the  parents  and  two  children,  movxd 
to  Wexford  county,  and  settled  on  a  part  of 
section  29,  Liberty  towmship,  where  they 
have  since  resided  and  where  the  four  young- 
er children  of  the  family  have  been  born. 
1die  farm  upon  which  they  reside  and  which 
they  own  consists  of  forty-two  and  a  half 
acres,  all  cleared,  s])len(1i(lly  cultivated  anci 
su])plie(l  with  every  convenience  in  the  way 
of  buildings.  A  number  of  acres  was  set 
ti])art  some  time  ago  for  an  orchard,  in  which 
a  large  number  of  fruit  trees  were  planted. 
They  are  thrifty,  well  cared  for  and  will  soon 
be  bearing  abundance  of  fruit.  The  family 
occupies  a  home  that  for  hai)i)iness,  thrift 
and  comfort,  is  not  excelled  in  the  county. 

The  principles  and  policies  of  the  Repub- 


lican party  early  won  the  favor  of  Joseph 
McCane  and  his  zeal  for  party  success  won 
the  favor  of  the  Republicans  of  his  township 
and  they  insisted  on  his  acceptance  of  such 
|>ositions  as  they  had  at  their  disposal.  He 
has  filled  the  positions  of  assessor,  school  in- 
spector and  has  l)een  deputy  sheriff  for  that 
township  since  1882,  more  than  twenty-one 
years.  The  Christian  church,  whose  mem- 
liers  are  known  as  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  is 
the  church  of  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCane 
are  members.  They  are  regular  attendants 
upon  its  services.  The  only  fraternal  society 
to  which  he  belongs  is  the  Independent  Order 
of  Odd  Eellows,  his  membership  being  in 
Manton  Lodge.  Like  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  his  native  land,  he  is  possessed  of 
good  judgment  and  excellent  sense.  To  the 
energy  he  displays  in  all  that  he  undertakes 
and  to  the  force  of  character  for  which  he 
is  distinguished  he  is  indebted  for  the  success 
which  has  attended  the  wx)rk  of  his  life. 


CHARLES  J.  BECHTEL. 

It  is  generally  considered  by  those  in  the 
habit  of  superficial  thinking  that  the  history 
of  so-called  great  men  only  is  worthy  of  pres- 
ervation and  that  little  merit  exists  among 
the  masses  to  call  forth  the  praise  of  the 
historian  or  the  cheers  and  the  appreciation 
of  mankind.  A  greater  mistake  was  never 
made.  No  man  is  great  in  all  things  and 
very  few^  are  great  in  many  things.  Many 
I)y  a  lucky  stroke  achieve  lasting  fame,  who 
before  that  had  no  reputation  beyond  the 
limits  of  their  immediate  neighborhoods.  It 
is  not  a  history  of  the  lucky  stroke  wdiich 
[benefits  humanity  most,  but  the  long  study 
and  effort  which  made  the  lucky  stroke  pos- 


522 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


sible.  It  is  the  preliminary  work,  the  meth- 
od,, tliat  serves  as  a  guide  for  the  success  of 
others.  Among  those  in  this  county  who 
have  achieved  success  along  steady  lines  ol 
action  is  the  subject  of  this  brief  review, 
C:harles  J.  Bechtel,  of  Manton,  W^exford 
county. 

Mr.  Bechtel  was  born  in  Dumfries,  On- 
tario, Canada,  July  8,  1858,  and  is  the  son 
of  Ephraim  and  Caroline  (Schumacher) 
Bechtel.  His  father  was  also  a  native  of 
Canada,  and  is  a  carpenter  l)y  trade,  while 
his  mother  is  a  native  of  (jermany.  The  par- 
ents came  to  Missaukee  county,  Michigan, 
in  1872,  and  settled  in  Caldwell  township, 
where  they  still  reside.  They  reared  a  fam- 
ily of  eight  children,  of  whom  the  subject  is 
the  eldest.  Charles  Bechtel  was  but  two 
years  old  when  brought  to  the  United  States 
by  his  parents,  who  at  first  located  in  Kent 
county,  Michigan,  and  later  accompanied 
them  to  their  new  home  in  Missaukee  county. 
He  was  given  tlie  benefit  of  a  fair  common 
school  education  and  remained  under  the 
parental  roof  until  he  was  twenty-two  years 
old.  He  then  engaged  in  the  lumber  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  in  Missaukee  coun- 
ty, an  occupation  which  he  has  followed  ever 
since  in  conjunction  with  farming.  At  the 
time  of  his  marriage,  in  1891,  Mr.  Bechtel 
removed  to  Manton  and  has  here  since  re- 
sided. He  is  the  owner  of  several  hundred 
acres  of  good  land,  of  which  he  cultivates 
a1)out  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  most  of 
which  is  in  Missatikee  county.  He  is  a  care- 
ful and  progressive  husbandman,  thoroughly 
up-to-date  in  his  methods  and  has  made  a 
distinctive  success  of  his  vocation.  His 
beautiful  farm  bears  the  marks  of  thorough 
cultivation  and  careful  management  and  for 
a  number  of  years  he  has  ranked  with  the 


successful  agriculturists  of  his  section  of  the 
county. 

On  the  26th  of  June,  1891,  Mr.  Bechtel 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Etta  Stew- 
art, the  ceremony  being  performed  at  Bell- 
aire,  Michigan.  Mrs.  Bechtel  was  born  at 
South  Huron,  Michigan,  on  the  30th  of 
November,  1875,  and  is  the  daughter  of 
James  and  Susan  (Stuart)  Stewart.  The 
sul)ject  is  a  pronounced  Republican  in  poli- 
tics and  takes  a  keen  interest  in  the  trend 
of  passing  events,  especially  as  relating  to 
the  best  interests  of  his  country  and  imme- 
diate neighborhood.  Eor  seven  years  he 
served  as  treasm^er  of  Caldwell  and  Bloom- 
field  townships  in  Missaukee  county,  and 
since  residing  in  Manton  he  has  served  as  a 
member  of  the  village  cotmcil  for  four  years. 
JM-aternally  he  is  identified  with  the  Knights 
of  Pythias,  holding  membership  in  Cedar 
Creek  Lodge  No.  147,  and  he  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  Tent  No.  220,  Knights  of  the  Mac- 
cabees. Mr.  Bechtel  has  attained  to  an 
enviable  standing  among  the  foremost  men 
of  Cedar  Creek  township.  Strong  determi- 
nation, persistence  in  the  pursuit  of  an  hon- 
orable purpose,  unflagging  energy  and  keen 
discrimination — these  are  the  salient  features 
in  his  career  and  his  life  stands  in  unmistak- 
able evidence  that  success  is  not  a  matter 
of  genius,  as  held  by  some,  but  is  the  out- 
come of  earnest  and  well-directed  effort. 


AXEL  G.  BURMAN. 

The  sturdy  Swedish  nationality  in  the 
state  of  Michigan  has  a  worthy  and  honor- 
able representative  in  the  stibject  of  this 
review,  who  for  some  years  past  has  l)een 


AXEL   G.   BURMAN. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


523 


engaged  in  the  real  estate  and  insurance  busi- 
ness at  Cadillac.  Axel  G.  Burman  inherits 
many  of  the  sterling  characteristics  of  his 
vScandinavian  ancestors  and  though  still  re- 
taining fond  recollections  of  the  fatherland 
and  taking  a  pardonable  pride  in  its  splendid 
history  and  magnificent  achievements,  he  is 
nevertheless  a  loyal  citizen  of  his  adopted 
country  and  an  ardent  admirer  and  earnest 
supporter  of  the  laws  and  institutions  under 
which  he  now  lives.  It  is  a  pertinent  truth 
that  much  depends  upon  being  well  born,  for 
with  the  human  race,  as  with  the  lower  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  kingdoms,  like  invariably 
produces  like.  Fortunate  indeed  the  indi- 
vidual wdio  can  point  with  pride  to  worthy 
ancestors  with  the  consciousness  that  he  has 
never  by  word  or  deed  tarnished  the  honor 
of  the  name  they  have  transmitted  to  him. 
In  this  respect  the  subject  has  l^een  peculiarly 
blessed,  first,  in  being  well  born  and,  sec- 
ond, in  w^orthily  upholding  the  reputation 
of  an  old  and  estimable  family,  the  origin  of 
which  is  traceable  to  a  very  early  period  in 
the  history  of  the  Northland. 

Mr.  Burman  was  born  in  Sweden  No- 
vember 14,  1843,  being  the  son  of  Rev.  Os- 
car and  Elizabeth  Mosberg  Burman,  the 
father  a  learned  and  for  many  years  distin- 
guished clergyman  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
church,  wlio  spent  all  his  life  in  his  native 
country.  He  liad  charge  of  a  number  of 
congregations,  was  an  able  and  eloquent  di- 
vine and  died  full  of  years  and  honors  at 
the  age  of  seventy-three.  Mrs.  Burman  bore 
her  husband  seven  children,  the  subject  of 
this  review  being  the  next  oldest  of  the  num- 
ber, and  she  departed  this  life  in  Sweden 
when  a1)()ut  fifty  years  old. 

Axel  G.  Burman  grew  up  in  a  domestic 

atmosphere  of  culture  and   refinement   and 
32 


was  given  the  best  educational  advantages 
his  country  afliorded.  After  receiving  his 
preliminary  training  in  the  common  schools, 
he  completed  a  high  school  course  and  then 
entered  the  University  of  Upsala,  where  he 
prepared  himself  for  the  legal  profession, 
graduating  from  the  law^  department  of  that 
institution  in  1863.  Opening  an  office,  he  at 
once  engaged  in  practice  and  soon  built  up  a 
lucrative  business,  in  addition  to  which  he 
also  served  for  ten  years  as  criminal  prosecu- 
tor for  several  districts  in  which  he  lived.  At 
the  expiration  of  his  official  term  Mr.  Bur- 
man began  dealing  in  real  estate,  which,  with 
various  lines  of  manufacture,  engaged  his 
attention  until  1881,  when,  by  reason  of  a 
general  Ixisiness  depression,  he  disposed  of 
his  interests  in  Sweden  and  came  to  the 
United  States.  After  an  uneventful  voy- 
age Mr.  Burman  landed  at  New  York,  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  and  from  that 
city  he  proceeded  to  Chicago,  where  he  re- 
mained for  a  few  months,  and  then  engaged 
in  railroad  construction,  stone  quarrying, 
levee  building  and  lumbering  as  a  common 
laborer,  in  which  work  he  devoted  his  atten- 
tion from  1 88 1  to  1887,  traveling  during  the 
interim  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf  and  from 
the  Alleghany  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  hav- 
ing been  employed  by  a  number  of  the  lead- 
ing houses  in  the  United  States.  Severing 
his  connection  with  these  lines  of  work  in 
1887,  he  embarked  on  the  sea  of  journalism 
by  establishing  at  Marinette,  Wisconsin,  a 
Swedish  newspaper  called  the  Nordmannen, 
which  under  his  a1)le  management  continued 
to  grow  in  favor  with  his  countrymen  of 
that  state  until  1889,  wdien  he  exchanged  the 
plant  for  a  tract  of  land  in  Minnesota. 

Leaving  Marinette,  Mr.  Burman  returned 
to  Chicago,  where  he  was  engaged  for  some 


524 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


months  in  publishing'  the  Evening  Blade,  a 
paper  devoted  to  the  interest  of  the  Swedish 
nationality  in  that  city  and  elsewhere,  but 
in  July  of  1890  he  sold  the  office  for  the  pur- 
pose of  devoting  his  time  and  attention  ex- 
clusively to  real  estate.  In  December,  1892, 
Mr.  Burman  visited  Cadillac  in  the  interest 
of  a  friend  whom  he  wished  to  assist  in  the 
newspaper  and  publishing  business,  intend- 
ing to  remain  only  long  enough  to  establish 
the  enterprise  upon  a  solid  basis.  Being 
pleased  with  the  town,  however,  and  seeing 
a  favorable  opening  for  an  energetic  real 
estate  man  to  do  a  thriving  business  he  took 
council  of  his  better  judgment  by  concluding 
to  make  the  flourishing  little  city  his  per- 
manent place  of  abode.  Accordingly  he 
wound  up  his  affairs  in  Chicago  and  as  soon 
as  possible  opened  an  office  here,  which  he 
has  since  conducted  with  a  constantly  in- 
creasing patronage,  being  at  this  time  the 
largest  real  estate  dealer  in  Cadillac,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  city's  most  widely  known  and 
highly  respected  citizens.  In  addition  to  real 
estate  he  does  a  large  and  successful  insur- 
ance business,  is  also  a  notary  public  and  has 
all  he  can  attend  to  in  his  various  lines.  Mr. 
Burman  has  been  active  in  municipal  affairs 
since  locating  at  Cadillac,  and  has  done  much 
to  promote  the  city's  material  interests,  hav- 
ing served  in  the  capacity  of  alderman.  He 
is  classed  among  the  best  and  most  public- 
spirited  citizens  of  the  community,  both  as 
regards  his  business  career,  which  is  irre- 
proachable, and  his  civic  capacity,  which 
is  without  a  stain.  He  is  one  of  the  leading 
Swedish- Americans  in  this  part  of  the  state, 
and  has  great  influence  with  his  fellow  coun- 
trymen, as  well  as  with  the  public  in  general, 
all  who  know  him  recognizing  his  ster- 
ling worth  in  every  relation  of  life.    He  pos- 


sesses exceptional  industry  and  energy,  is 
widely  read  and  thoroughly  informed,  and 
is,  in  short,  a  scholarly  gentleman  of  varied 
culture  whom  to  know  is  to  respect  and 
honor. 

Mr.  Burman  was  married  in  his  native 
land,  June  16,  1868,  to  Miss  Erica  Hell- 
strom,  who  has  borne  him  eight  children,  six 
living,  namely :  Ellen,  the  wife  of  Axel  Bau- 
din:  Bertha,  wife  of  Olaf  Anderson;  Half- 
dan,  Yngre,  Atle  and  Rolf,  alll  of  whom  re- 
side in  Sweden. 


NELSON  H.  DUNHAM. 

Nelson  H.  Dunham,  who  is  engaged  in 
general  farming  on  section  4,  Wexford 
township,  was  born  in  Steuben  county.  New 
York,  on  the  3d  of  June,  1838,  and  was 
reared  upon  his  father's  farm,  his  days  being 
spent  in  the  usual  manner  of  farmer  lads  of 
that  period,  the  work  of  the  fields  claiming 
his  attention  when  he  was  not  occupied  with 
the  duties  of  the  schoolroom  or  engaged  in 
the  pleasures  of  the  playground.  He  contin- 
ued a  resident  of  his  native  county  until  No- 
vember, 1863,  and  at  that  time  he  came  to 
Wexford  county,  Michigan,  becoming  one 
of  the  first  settlers  who  located  within  its 
borders.  All  around  him  was  an  unbroken 
district  as  yet  largely  unclaimed  for  the  uses 
of  the  white  man,  the  trees  standing  in  their 
primeval  strength  and  the  forest  stretched 
away  for  miles.  Mr.  Dunham  secured  a 
homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 
which  he  entered  in  December,  1863.  The 
following  spring  he  built  a  log  house  and  be- 
gan to  clear  and  improve  this  land.  Long 
since  that  primitive  cabin  home  has  given 
place  to  a  good  frame  residence,  while  other 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


525 


buildings  necessary  for  the  shelter  of  grain 
and  stock  have  been  erected  and  the  farm 
is  now  well  supplied  with  modern  equip- 
ments. He  is  the  owner  of  seventy  acres  of 
rich  land,  of  which  about  forty-seven  acres 
is  under  cultivation. 

Mr.  Dunham  was  married  in  Wexford 
township,  on  the  loth  of  January,  iS66,  the 
lady  of  his  choice  being  Miss  Lydia  A.  Cor- 
nell. They  were  the  second  couple  married 
in  Wexford  county.  Mrs.  Dunham  was 
born  in  Steuben  county,  New  York,  on  the 
J  7th  of  March,  1848,  and  by  her  marriage 
has  became  the  mother  of  four  living  chil- 
dren:  Ede  is  the  wife  of  B.  E.  Ormsby; 
Nettie  is  the  wife  of  D.  A.  Covey;  Ira  is  the 
third  of  the  family;  and  Mary  is  the  wife  of 
H.  L.  Horton.  They  have  also  lost  four 
children  :  Burt  N.  was  a  soldier  of  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Michigan  Regiment  in  the  Spanish- 
American  war  and  served  in  Cuba.  The 
hardships  and  rigors  of  war,  however,  un- 
dermined his  health  and  after  his  return  home 
he  died  in  Wexford  county  on  the  nth  of 
April,  1899,  when  in  his  twenty -third  year. 
1  le  was  a  young  man  of  many  sterling  traits 
of  character,  respected  and  honored  by  all 
who  knew  him,  popular  with  his  friends  and 
to  his  parents  was  a  devoted  son.  His  loss, 
therefore,  came  as  a  great  blow  to  those  who 
knew  him  and  most  of  all  to  his  family.  The 
other  children  of  the  Dunham  family  who 
have  passed  away  are  Minnie  and  Alva,  who 
died  in  infancy,  and  an  adopted  son,  Alva, 
who  died  in  his  eighth  year. 

Mr.  Dunham  has  been  honored  with 
some  local  offices  in  his  township.  He  was 
the  first  constable  elected  in  the  township  and 
in  the  various  positions  which  he  has  been 
called  upon  to  fill  he  has  discharged  his  duties 
with  marked  promptness  and  capability.    His 


entire  life  has  been  devoted  to  agricultural 
pursuits  and  he  has  labored  earnestly  and 
untiringly  in  order  to  secure  a  good  home 
and  comfortable  competence  that  he  might 
provide  well  for  his  wife  and  children.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Dunham  have  now  traveled  life's 
journey  together  for  more  than  thirty-six 
years,  sharing  with  each  other  the  joys  and 
sorrows,  the  adversity  and  prosperity  which 
checker  the  careers  of  all.  She  is  an  estima- 
ble lady,  who  has  been  to  her  husband  a 
faithful  companion  and  helpmate  on  life's 
journey  and,  like  him,  she  has  many  warm 
friends.  Mr.  Dunham  is  indeed  an  honored 
pioneer  settler  of  Wexford  county  and  few 
of  the  residents  here  antedate  his  arrival. 
He  has  watched  the  forests  cleared  away  and 
the  wild  land  transformed  into  rich  fields. 
He  has  also  seen  the  establishment  of  vil- 
lages which  have  grown  into  thriving  towns 
or  cities  and  has  watched  the  introduction  of 
all  conveniences  and  improvements  known  to 
the  older  sections  of  the  United  States.  In 
matters  of  citizenship  he  has  always  been 
public  spirited  and  has  taken  a  deep  and  justi- 
fiable interest  in  what  has  been  accomplished 
here. 

MARION  B.  BOYD. 

The  people  who  constitute  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  this  country  are  not  those  who  are 
unstable  and  unsettled ;  who  fly  from  this  oc- 
cupation to  that;  who  do  not  know  where 
they  stand  on  political  questions;  who  take 
no  active  and  intelligent  interest  in  affairs  af- 
fecting their  schools,  church  and  property. 
The  backbone  of  this  country  is  made  up 
of  families  which  have  made  their  own 
homes;  who  are  alive  to  the  best  interests  of 


526 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


the  community  in  which  they  reside;  who 
are  so  honest  that  it  is  no  trouble  for  their 
neighbors  to  know  it;  who  attend  to  their 
own  business  and  are  too  busy  to  attend  to 
that  of  others;  who  work  steadily  on 
from  day  to  day,  taking  the  sunshine  with 
the  storm,  and  who  rear  line  families  to  hon- 
est names  and  comfortable  homes.  Such 
people  are  always  welcome  in  any  communi- 
ty. Among  them  is  the  family  represented 
by  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 

Marion  B.  Boyd,  of  section  20,  Selma 
township,  is  a  native  of  Michigan,  born  in 
Alpine,  Kent  county,  August  20,  1S59.  His 
parents  were  George  and  Amy  (Short) 
Boyd,  who  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Selma  township,  where  they  resided  until 
their  deaths,  which  occurred  some  years 
ago.  Both  were  about  sixty  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  their  demise,  though  she  sur- 
vived him  a  few  years.  They  were  the  par- 
ents of  five  children,  of  whom  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  the  youngest. 

In  March,  1871,  the  family  moved  from 
Kent  to  Wexford  county,  where  the  subject 
of  this  review  was  about  twelve  years  old. 
He  attended  school  in  Kent  county  and  later 
in  Wexford  county  and  improved  his  oppor- 
tunities so  well  that  he  is  possessed  of  a  very 
fair  common-school  education.  With  the 
exception  of  two  years  spent  in  the  woods, 
in  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan,  logging 
and  lumbering,  his  entire  life  since  1871  has 
been  spent  in  Selma  township.  Farming  has 
been  the  occupation  of  his  life,  varied  occa- 
sionally, when  there  was  little  to  be  done  on 
the  farm,  by  working  in  the  lumber  camps. 
With  what  he  was  able  to  save  from  the 
rumuneration  he  received  for  his  industry  on 
the  farm  and  in  the  woods,  he  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  land,  built  a  home  thereon 


and  there  are  now  about  fifty  acres  of  the 
tract  cleared  and  under  cultivation. 

On  the  20th  day  of  April,  1879,  in  Selma 
township,  Marion  B.  Boyd  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Melvina  Martin,  a  native 
of  New  Jersey,  born  in  Newark,  Essex  coun- 
ty, April  17,  1863.  Soon  after  their  mar- 
riage they  took  up  their  abode  on  the  farm 
owned  by  the  subject  and  there  they  have 
since  resided,  living  in  happiness,  content- 
ment and  comfort.  They  are  the  parents  of 
three  interesting  and  intelligent  children,, 
viz :  Fred,  Lewis  and  Georgiana.  Two  of 
the  children  of  this  marriage  died  in  infancy. 

Although  a  man  of  good  mental  power 
cind  well  informed,  Mr.  Boyd  interests  him- 
self very  little  in  politics.  His  well-known 
prudence  is  probably  responsible  for  his  lack 
of  interest  in  that  particular  line.  While  a 
few  men  may  have  accumulated  wealth  in 
politics  there  are  tens  of  thousands  who  have 
impoverished  themselves  in  their  mad  race 
after  political  honors.  The  lessons  taught 
by  the  experience  of  such  persons  have  not 
been  lost  on  Mr.  Boyd.  Prudently  observing 
and  profiting  by  his  observation,  he  has  chos- 
en to  be  as  passive  in  politics  as  good  citizen- 
ship will  permit.  Still  he  has  not  debarred 
himself  entirely  from  political  honors.  He 
has  served  as  deputy  sheriff  a  number  of 
terms,  was  constable  a  length  of  time  and 
served  the  people  of  his  township  faithfully 
and  well  in  the  capacity  of  highway  com- 
missioner. While  in  no  sense  a  politician, 
it  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  interest  him  in 
anything  wherein  is  involved  the  welfare  of 
the  township  in  which  he  lives.  He  is  a  man 
of  domestic  tastes,  regular  habits  and  genial 
manners.  Fie  has  every  element  which  is 
considered  necessary  to  make  a  man  popular, 
but  he  has  no  desire  to  make  use  of  it  by  seek- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


527 


mg  political  preferment.    The  only  fraternal 
order  to  which  he  belongs  is  Pleasant  Lake 


Grange. 


WARD  P., SMITH. 

Ward  P.  Smith  is  now  a  resident  of 
Grand  Rapids,  but  through  many  years  was 
very  actively  connected  with  business  life 
and  public  affairs  in  Wexford  county  and  has 
left  the  impress  of  his  individuality  for  good 
upon  many  lines  of  progress  and  improve- 
ment. He  is  so  well  known  in  this  county 
and  has  been  such  an  important  factor  in 
her  public  life  that  no  history  of  this  section 
of  the  state  would  be  complete  without  men- 
tion of  Ward  P.  Smith.  He  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  of  Wexford  county  and  for  many 
years  witnessed  its  development  and  growth. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Otsego,  Allegan  county,  Michigan,  on  the 
6th  of  September,  1842,  and  was  there  reared 
to  manhood.  His  father  died  when  the  son 
was  eight  years  of  age  and  the  mother  after- 
ward became  the  wife  of  Norris  Bullock. 
The  subject  continued  to  live  with  his  mother 
and  step-father  upon  the  farm  in  Trowbridge 
township,  Allegan  county,  there  remaining 
until  nineteen  years  of  age,  during  which 
time  he  became  familiar  with  the  work  of 
field  and  meadow  as  he  assisted  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  home  place.  To  the  common- 
school  system  of  that  locality  he  is  indebted 
for  the  educational  privileges  he  enjoyed. 
When  a  young  man  of  nineteen  years  he  en- 
listed for  service  in  the  Union  army  in  re- 
sponse to  the  country's  need,  becoming  a 
member  of  Company  I,  Thirteenth  Michigan 
Volunteer  Infantry,  with  wdiich  he  served 
for  three  years.     Going  to  the  front  with  his 


command,  he  participated  in  the  battle  of 
Stone  River,  Tennessee,  where  he  received 
a  severe  gunshot  wound  on  the  right  side  of 
the  face,  in  consequence  of  which  injury  his 
eyesight  was  almost  destroyed.  However,  as 
soon  as  possible  he  left  the  hospital  and  dur- 
ing the  remainder  of  his  term  of  service  was 
on  detach  duty,  spending  much  of  the  time 
at  Camp  Dennison,  in  Ohio,  as  hospital  stew- 
ard. He  was  mustered  out  of  the  service  at 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  with  a  most  credita- 
ble and  honorable  military  record  returned 
to  his  home. 

After  receiving  an  honorable  discharge 
Mr.  Smith  went  to  Allegan  county,  Michi- 
gan, where  he  was  engaged  in  farming  for 
about  two  years  in  Trowbridge  township.  He 
afterward  removed  to  Saugatuck,  Michigan, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  teaming  for  about 
one  year.  He  then  took  up  his  abode  in 
Heath  township,  Allegan  county,  where  he 
was  employed  in  the  lumber  woods  at  team- 
ing for  two  years.  On  the  expiration  of  that 
period  he  took  up  his  abode  on  a  farm  in 
Hopkins  township,  that  county,  where  he 
remained  until  the  spring  of  1874,  when  he 
sold  his  farm  and  turned  his  attention  to  the 
milling  business.  It  occupied  his  time  and 
energies  until  the  fall  of  1875,  when  he  ar- 
rived in  Manton,  Wexford  county.  There 
he  entered  business  life  as  a  merchant  and  for 
five  years  was  thus  connected  with  commer- 
cial pursuits  of  the  city,  but  at  the  end  of  that 
time  he  was  obliged  to  sell  out  on  account  of 
failing  eyesight.  About  a  year  later  he  built 
an  office  and  turned  his  attention  to  the  real 
estate,  land  and  collection  business,  at  the 
same  time  acting  as  justice  of  the  peace.  In 
his  new  venture  he  continued  until  1886, 
when  he  removed  to  Grand  Rapids  and  soon 
afterward  he  took  up  his  abode  where  he  now 


528 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


resides,  at  No.  491  North  Diamond  street. 
He  is  now  engaged  in  fruit  growing  on  a 
large  scale  and  finds  it  a  profitable  source  of 
income.  Michigan  is  one  of  the  best  fruit 
growing  states  in  the  Union  and  Mr.  Smith 
is  wise  in  making  this  his  business,  for 
through  his  capable  management  and  enter- 
prise he  finds  that  it  returns  to  him  a  good 
income. 

Mr.  Smith  left  behind  him  many  friends 
in  Manton,  but  the  ties  of  friendship  were  not 
severed  by  his  removal  and  he  receives 
hearty  greeting  upon  his  frequent  returns  to 
the  town  in  which  he  lived  for  a  mimber  of 
years.  While  residing  here  he  not  only  acted 
as  justice  of  the  peace,  but  was  also  super- 
visor of  Cedar  Creek  townsliip.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  town  of 
Manton  and  was  appointed  by  the  governor 
to  the  position  of  chairman  of  the  first  elec- 
tion board.  He  was  also  county  superinten- 
dent of  the  poor  and  was  president  and  treas- 
urer of  the  village.  He  acted  as  a  member 
of  the  school  board  and  in  all  of  these  off^ices 
discharged  his  duties  with  promptness  and 
fidelity  that  won  him  the  unqualified  confi- 
dence and  respect  of  his  fellow  men.  No 
trust  reposed  in  him  has  ever  been  betrayed 
in  the  slightest  degree,  for  he  is  a  man  of 
sterling  integrity  and  honor.  His  political 
support  has  been  given  to  the  Republican  and 
to  the  Prohibition  parties. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married  in  Otsego,  Alle- 
gan county,  Michigan,  December  3,  1865,  to 
Miss  Mary  J.  Wood,  who  was  born  July  i, 
1850,  a  native  of  Vermont,  and  a  daughter 
of  Ezekiel  and  Lavina  (Holley)  Wood, 
both  of  whom  were  natives  of  the  Green 
Mountain  state.  The  marriage  of  the  sub- 
ject and  his  wife  has  been  blessed  with  seven 
children  :    Estella  C,  who  died  when  fifteen 


years  of  age ;  Freddie,  who  died  at  the  age  of 
thirteen  years;  Arthur,  who  is  now  a  mer- 
chant of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan;  Giles  A., 
who  died  when  a1:)Out  nine  years  of  age; 
George  D.,  who  is  foreman  of  the  mailing 
department  of  the  Grand  Rapids  Evening 
Press;  Frank,  a  stenographer;  and  William 
R.,  who  completes  the  family.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Smith  have  for  a  number  of  years  been 
deeply  and  actively  interested  in  church  work. 
Their  labors  and  influence  have  ever  been 
helpful  in  that  direction  and  they  are  worthy 
Christian  people,  whose  lives  are  framed  in 
accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  lowly 
Nazarene.  Their  membership  is  with  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  of  which  Mr. 
Smith  is  a  local  preacher.  Fraternally  he 
is  a  charter  mem1)er  of  Manton  Lodge  No. 
347,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  and  he  is 
also  a  charter  member  of  O.  P.  Morton  Post, 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  of  Manton,  of 
which  he  served  as  its  first  adjutant.  Such 
in  brief  is  the  life  history  of  one  who  is  very 
widely  and  favorably  known  in  Wexford 
county.  His  interest  in  the  county  has  ever 
been  of  a  practical  nature  that  results  in  di- 
rect benefit  along  lines  of  substantial  im- 
provement and  material  upbuilding.  He  has 
indeed  many  friends  there  and  all  who  know 
him  entertain  for  him  warm  regard. 


PHLLIP    KELLOGG. 

This  successful  farmer,  old  resident  and 
representative  citizen  of  the  township  in 
which  he  lives  is  a  native  of  Tioga  county, 
Pennsylvania,  where  his  birth  occurred  on  the 
26th  day  of  April,  1832,  being  the  son  of 
Merritt  and  Clarissa    (Manhart)    Kellogg, 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


529 


both  parents  born  in  the  Keystone  state. 
When  he  was  a  child  his  father  removed  to 
Steuben  county,  New  York,  and  he  there 
spent  the  years  of  his  childhood  and  youth 
on  a  farm,  early  becoming  accustomed  to 
the  various  kinds  of  laljor  required  in  tilling 
the  soil.  Before  reaching  his  majority  he 
lived  at  different  places  in  New  York,  but 
after  his  marriage,  which  was  solemnized  in 
the  month  of  March,  i860,  with  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Campbell,  he  returned  to  his  native 
state  and  lived  during  the  ensuing  five  years 
near  his  old  home  in  the  county  of  Tioga. 
M^eantime  he  continued  to  devote  his  atten- 
tion to  agricultural  pursuits  and  it  was  with 
the  object  in  view  of  securing  cheaper  land, 
where  he  could  prosecute  his  life  work  with 
more  certain  promise  of  successful  results, 
that  he  disposed  of  his  interests  in  Pennsyl- 
vania in  the  fall  of  1865  and  migrated  to 
Michigan.  On  coming  to  this  state  Mr. 
Kellogg  located  in  Wexford  township,  Wex- 
ford county,  where  he  took  up  a  homestead 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  in  section  2, 
which  he  at  once  proceeded  to  develop  and 
improve.  The  country  at  that  time  was  new 
and  sparsely  settled  and  much  hard  work 
was  required  to  reduce  the  land  to  cultiva- 
tion, but,  with  an  energy  born  of  a  determin- 
ation to  succeed,  the  subject  applied  him- 
self diligently  and  in  due  time  a  comfort- 
able home  with  many  of  the  conveniences  of 
life  rewarded  his  earnest  and  laudable  en- 
deavors. 

Mr.  Kellogg  has  seventy  acres  of  his 
farm  in  cultivation  and  he  raises  abundant 
crops  of  all  the  grains  and  vegetables  grown 
in  this  latitude,  devoting  considerable  atten- 
tion to  fruit  culture,  to  which  branch  of  hus- 
bandry his  soil  appears  peculiarly  adapted. 
He  has  made  many  substantial  improvements 


in  the  way  of  buildings,  fences,  etc.,  has 
spared  no  reasonable  expense  in  providing 
for  the  comfort  of  his  family  and  is  now 
well  situated  to  enjoy  life,  owning  a  house~ 
with  a  competence  laid  up  against  the  pro- 
verbial rainy  day  which  sooner  or  later 
comes  to  the  majority  of  men,  or  for  old  age, 
which  in  his  case  is  not  very  far  in  the  fu- 
ture. 

Mrs.  Kellogg  was  born  December  9, 
1836,  in  New  York  state,  the  daughter  of 
James  and  Abigail  (Evans)  Campbell,  na- 
tives of  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania  re- 
spectively. She  has  borne  her  husband 
three  sons,  whose  names  are  Herbert,  James 
and  Devereaux,  and  one  daughter,  Abbie 
C,  is  the  widow  of  Calvin  Coblentz.  Mr. 
Kellogg  has  been  active  in  the  affairs  of  his 
township,  especially  in  matters  educational, 
having  long  manifested  a  lively  interest  in 
the  public  schools,  for  the  success  of  which 
he  has  devoted  considerable  of  his  time  and 
attention.  Pie  also  stands  for  all  enterprises 
for  the  material  prosperity  of  the  country, 
lends  his  influence  to  every  laudable  meas- 
ure for  the  social  advancement  and  moral 
good  of  the  community  and,  as  a  public- 
spirited,  progressive  citizen,  is  ever  ready  to 
make  sacrifices  to  promote  the  general  wel- 
fare. Personally  he  is  highly  esteemed  by 
all  who  know  him  and  by  reason  of  his  long 
continued  residence  in  the  same  locality,  a 
residence  extending  over  a  period  of  nearly 
forty  years,  he  has  become  widely  acquainted 
and  favorably  known,  his  life  during  that 
time  being  above  reproach,  his  character  so 
honorable  and  steadfast  as  to  defy  adverse 
criticism,  his  relations  with  his  fellow  citi- 
zens so  creditable  and  praiseworthy  that  all 
within  the  range  of  his  influence  pronounce 
him  a  man  of  pure  motives,  noble  aims  and 


530 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


correct  ideals.  Politically  Mr.  Kellogg 
gives  his  support  to  the  Democratic  party, 
but  aside  from  defending  his  convictions  and 
voting  his  principles,  he  can  hardly  be  called 
a  politician,  having  no  desire  for  public  dis- 
tinction nor  any  aspirations  as  an  office 
seeker.  Content  to  spend  his  days  as  an 
humble  though  honorable  tiller  of  the  soil 
and  to  be  known  simply  as  a  private  citizen, 
he  lives  a  life  of  quiet  usefulness,  respected 
I)y  friends  and  neighbors  for  his  many  esti- 
mable qualities  of  head  and  heart  and  by 
upright  conduct  and  manly  deportment  prov- 
ing himself  worthy  of  the  confidence  and  es- 
teem in  which  he  has  so  long  been  held. 


HANS  OSTENSEN. 

An  enumeration  of  the  citizens  of  Cadil- 
lac who  have  won  honor  and  public  recog- 
nition in  the  past  and  who  now  occupy  prom- 
inent positions  in  the  social  and  busines's  cir- 
cles of  the  city,  would  ht  incomplete  without 
due  notice  of  the  enterprising  gentleman 
whose  brief  biography  is  herewith  presented. 
Hans  Ostensen  is  an  American  by  adoption, 
being  a  native  of  Scandinavia  and  inheriting 
in  a  marked  degree  the  sterling  characteris- 
tics which  from  time  immemorial  have  dis 
tinguished  this  sturdy  nationality  from  other 
European  peoples.  Still  a  young  man,  in  the 
prime  of  his  physical  and  mental  powers,  he 
has  forged  to  the  front  in  various  capacities, 
overcoming  many  obstacles  in  the  way  of  his 
advancement,  filling  worthily  positions  of 
trust,  until  he  stands  today  one  of  the  lead- 
ing spirits  in  a  city  long  noted  for  the  enter- 
prise and  talent  of  its  business  men.  Mr. 
Ostensen  was  born  April  8,  1871,  in  Ber- 


gen, Norway,  and  spent  his  childhood  and 
youth  in  that  city.  He  enjoyed  excellent 
educational  advantages,  receiving  a  thorough 
mental  training  in  the  Cathedral  School  of 
Bergen,  front  which  he  was  graduated  in 
1887,  when  but  sixteen  years  of  age. 

The  year  following  his  graduation, 
young  Ostensen  bade  adieu  to  his  native  land 
and  came  to  the  United  States,  his  objective 
point  being  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  where 
he  proposed  further  prosecuting  his  studies. 
When  en  route  to  that  city  he  stopped  at 
Cadillac,  Michigan,  and  being  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  latter  place  and  the  advant- 
ages it  aft'orded  to  a  young  man  with  ambi- 
tion to  rise  in  the  world,  he  wisely  decided  to 
make  it  the  terminus  of  his  journey.  His 
first  employment  here  was  in  the  capacity  of 
assistant  cook  on  the  Blodgett  farm,  but 
after  four  months'  service  there  he  obtained 
through  the  kindness  of  an  influential  friend 
a  position  in  the  postoffice,  first  as  a  general 
delivery  clerk,  and  later  as  chief  clerk  of 
the  mailing  department.  After  three  years 
of  faithful  service  in  the  postoffice,  Mr.  Os- 
tensen resigned  his  position  and  accepted  a 
clerkship  in  the  clothing  house  of  H.  E.  Al- 
drich  &  Company,  with  whom  he  remained 
until  the  spring  of  1895,  meantime  by  dili- 
gent application  becoming  familiar  with  the 
fundamental  principles  of  business,  besides 
developing  great  efficiency  as  a  salesman. 
When  the  above  firm  moved  to  another  city, 
the  subject  entered  the  employ  of  P.  O.  Klint 
&i  Company,  merchant  tailors  and  clothiers, 
and  later,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1895,  he  pur- 
chased an  interest  in  the  business,  succeed- 
ing the  senior  partner,  and,  with  Oluf  John- 
son, establishing  the  new  firm  of  Johnson  & 
Ostensen,  the  name  by  which  the  house  was 
known  until  March  23,  1903,  when  Mr.  Os- 


HANS  OSTENSEN. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


531 


tensen  became  sole  proprietor,  having  pur- 
chased Mr.  Johnson's  interest. 

The  large  acquaintance  acquired  by  Mr. 
Ostensen  while  in  the  ix)stoffice  and  in  the 
employ  of  Aldrich  &  Company  proved  a  ma- 
terial help  in  advancing  the  business  of  the 
firm'  with  which  he  is  now  proprietor,  a 
business  which  steadily  grew  in  volume  until 
a  building  of  enlarged  proportions  became 
necessary.  In  August,  1897,  the  firm  re- 
moved to  the  present  quarters  in  the  Granite 
block,  one  of  the  best  located  and  most  de- 
sirable business  places  in  the  city,  and  here 
the  trade  has  steadily  increased  with  a  far- 
reaching  patronage,  the  Granite  Block  Cloth- 
ing Store  now  standing  at  the  head  in  the 
lines  of  business  which  it  represents. 

Mr.  Ostensen  has  a  laudable  ambition  as 
a  merchant  and  seeks  by  every  means  within 
his  power  to  make  his  business  worthy  the 
large  and  constantly  increasing  patronage 
which  it  now  commands.  His  relations  with 
the  public  are  most  pleasant  and  cordial  and, 
possessing  a  keen  insight  into  human  nature 
and  the  happy  faculty  of  winning  friends,  it 
is  not  strange  that  his  patrons  include  the 
best  people  of  the  city  and  surrounding  coun- 
try. He  has  labored  earnestly  and  faithfully 
to  promote  his  interests,  subordinating  every 
other  consideration  to  this  one  object,  and 
it  is  conceded  that  much  of  the  success  with 
which  the  business  has  met  is  directly  at- 
tributable to  his  energy,  systematic  methods 
and  superior  executive  ability. 

An  ardent  Republican  and  an  influential 
party  worker,  Mr.  Ostensen  is  not  a  politi- 
cian in  the  sense  the  term  is  usually  under- 
stood, neither  is  he  an  office  seeker,  although 
frequently  importuned  to  stand  for  impor- 
tant public  positions.     He  twice  declined  the 


nomination  for  city  treasurer,  but  in  the 
spring  of  1899,  contrary  to  his  wishes,  he 
was  elected  to  that  office  and  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  same  for  a  period  of  two  years, 
proving  a  capable  and  popular  public  servant 
and  a  safe  custodian  of  the  public  funds.  Mr. 
Ostensen  has  unbounded  confidence  in  the 
future  of  Cadallic,  and  is  a  zealous  advocate 
of  and  influential  worker  for  all  worthy 
enterprises  for  the  city's  material  advance- 
ment. He  is  just  completing,  for  his  own 
occupancy,  one  of  the  finest  residences  in 
northern  Michigan.  He  also  manifests  a 
lively  interest  in  the  moral  welfare  of  the 
community,  being  a  friend  of  churches, 
schools  and  other  agencies  for  the  general 
welfare  of  his  kind.  As  a  member  of  the 
board  of  education  he  has  done  m(uch  for  the 
public  schools  of  Cadillac.  Fraternally  Mr. 
Ostensen  belongs  to  Lodge  No.  46,  Knights 
of  Pythias,  and  he  is  also  an  influential  mem- 
l:)cr  and  past  president  of  the  Gotha  Aid  and 
Benefit  Society.  He  is  a  believer  in  re- 
vealed religion,  and  as  a  member  of  the 
Swedish  Baptist  church  of  Cadillac  demon- 
strates by  his  daily  walk  and  conversation 
the  beauty  and  value  of  Christianity  when 
practically  applied.  He  is  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  above  congregation,  a  liberal  con- 
tril)utor  to  its  charitable  and  benevolent 
work  and  for  several  years  past  has  been  the 
efficient  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school, 
a  post  for  which  he  seems  peculiarly  fitted. 
Referring  to  the  domestic  life  of  Mr. 
Ostensen,  it  is  learned  that  he  was  happily 
married  on  the  17th  day  of  August,  1898, 
to  Miss  Elvira  Johnson,  a  native  of  Sweden, 
who  was  brought  to  this  country  by  her  par- 
ents when  five  years  old.  Two  children  add 
sunshine  to  the  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Os- 


532 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


tensen,  Harold  B.  and  Floyd  C,  both  bright 
and  promising,  and  in  them  are  centered 
many  fond  hopes  for  the  future. 

Thus  in  a  brief  and  cursory  way  have 
been  set  forth  the  leading  facts  and  some  of 
the  more  prominent  characteristics  in  the 
career  of  one  of  Cadillac's  representative 
men  of  affairs.  To  the  best  of  his  ability 
Mr.  Ostensen  has  aided  the  progress  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  city  of  his  residence,  faith- 
fully performed  the  duties  of  citizenship,  and 
discharging  with  commendable  fidelity  every 
trust  reposed  in  him  by  his  fellow  men.  His 
position  in  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  the 
community  has  long  been  assured  and  he 
does  honor  to  the  county  and  city  which 
claim  him  as  an  adopted  son  and  in  which  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  work  thus  far  has 
been  accomplished. 


RICHARD    C.    NORRIS. 

Richard  C.  Norris  is  a  native  of  the 
state  of  Vermont,  born  at  West  Derl^y, 
March  30,  1843.  l^^s  parents  were  Ele- 
phalet  S.  and  Susan  A.  (Alexander)  Nor- 
ris, both  natives  of  the  Green  Mountain 
state,  where  the  years  of  their  lives  were 
spent  and  from  whence  the  spirit  of  each 
took  its  flight  into  the  life  hereafter.  They 
were  the  parents  of  six  children,  the  young- 
est of  whom  is  the  subject  of  this  review. 
At  the  early  age  of  thirty  years  death 
claimed  the  young  mother,  when  her  young- 
est child  was  a  mere  infant.  The  fatlier 
lived  more  than  the  Biblical  alottment  of 
three  score  and  ten,  being  seventy-four  years 
old  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

The  early  life  of  Richard  C.  Norris  was 


passed  in  the  state  of  Vermont.  The  time 
he  spent  in  the  school  room  was  brief,  in- 
deed, but  inspired  with  a  laudable  ambition 
and  imbued  with  a  thirst  for  knowledge, 
he  availed  himself  of  every  opportunity  to 
gain  information.  Before  he  attained  his 
majority  he  had  as  good  a  general  knowledge 
of  the  common  branches  of  education  as 
many  a  youth  who  had  spent  the  greater 
part  of  the  years  of  his  life  in  the  school 
room.  This  was  done,  too,  without  any  of 
his  duties  on  his  father's  farm  being  neglect- 
ed by  him. 

In  September,  1862,  Richard  C.  Norris, 
realizing  that  his  country  needed  his  ser- 
vices in  the  suppression  of  the  great  Rebel- 
lion, enlisted  in  Company  H,  Fifteenth  Reg- 
iment Vermont  Volunteer  Infantry,  this  be- 
ing the  regiment  of  which  Senator  Proctor 
was  colonel.  The  term  of  enlistment  was 
only  nine  months,  and  after  seeing  much 
service  in  the  battle  fields  of  the  South,  it 
was  mustered  out  in  June,  1863.  Many  of 
its  members  re-enlisted  immediately  and 
continued  in  the  difficult  and  hazardous 
task  of  putting  down  the  rebellion.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  however,  returned  home 
for  much-needed  rest.  In  the  summer  of 
1864  he  again  enlisted,  this  time  in  Com- 
pany I,  First  Vermont  Cavalry,  in  which 
regiment  he  served  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  After  receiving  an  honorable  dis- 
charge, he  betook  himself  again  to  his  native 
state  and  devoted  himself  for  the  next  four 
years  to  agriculture  pursuits. 

In  the  summer  of  1869  he  started  out  on 
a  tour  of  the  west,  with  a  view  of  finding  a 
location  more  congenial  and  remunerative 
for  the  labor  expended  than  the  bleak  hills 
oT  northern  Vermont.  He  traveled  through 
Kansas,   Nebraska,   Iowa,   Illinois  and   In- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  AH  CHI  G  AN. 


533 


diana,  stopping  some  time  at  various  points 
in  those  states,  but  finding  no  place  which 
suited  him  in  all  particulars.  In  Indiana  he 
accepted  employment  on  a  farm  and  re- 
mained there  a  few  months,  then  came  to 
Allegan  county,  Michigan,  where  he  secured 
employment  cutting  wood  for  the  Lake  Shore 
&  Michigan  Southern  Railroad.  He  was 
thus  employed  for  about  a  year  when,  in  the 
autumn  of  1870,  he  came  to  Wexford 
county,  settled  on  a  homestead,  part  of  sec- 
tion 28,  Selma  township. 

July  3,  1873,  in  Watson  township,  Alle- 
gan county,  Michigan,  Richard  C.  Norris 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  A. 
Alexander,  a  native  of  Michigan,  born  in 
Allegan  county,  February  12,  1850.  She 
is  a  lady  of  good  education,  re- 
fined and  possessed  of  many,  accomplish- 
ments. Her  parents  were  David  and 
Paulina  (Rose)  Alexander,  natives  of  Ver- 
mont who  had  moved  to  Michigan  soon 
after  their  marriage  and  resided  in  Allegan 
county  until  their  deaths.  He  died  at  the 
early  age  of  twenty-seven  years,  while  she 
survived  him  many  years,  being  upwards  of 
sixty  years  of  age  when  she  entered  eternity. 
They  were  the  parents  of  two  children,  Mrs. 
Norris  being  the  youngest  child  of  the 
family.  She  was  reared  to  womanhood, 
educated  and  married  in  her  native  county  of 
Allegan.  To  her  and  her  husband  three 
intelligent,  winsome  children  have  been  born, 
viz :  Estella  P.,  a  most  promising  girl,  who 
died  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years;  Fannie  E. 
is  the  wife  of  R.  T.  Montgomery;  Ray  C. 
resides  with  his  parents. 

After  marriage  Richard  and  Sarah  Nor- 
ris took  up  their  abode  on  his  farm  in  Selma 
township,  where  they  continued  to  reside 
for    three    years.     In    1876    he    purchased 


eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  2^,  the  same 
township,  to  which  they  moved,  and  that  has 
been  their  home  up  to  the  present  time. 
Later  he  purchased  eighty  acres  more,  which 
makes  the  farm  a  comfortable  one  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres.  It  is  nearly  al! 
cleared,  improved  and  well  cultivated.  It 
was  reclaimed  from  the  wilderness  almost 
entirely  by  the  industry  of  its  energetic 
owner. 

Notwithstanding  the  busy  life  that  he 
has  led  and  the  numl)er  of  matters  constant- 
ly demanding  his  attention,  Mr.  Norris  has 
found  a  good  deal  of  time  to  devote  to  civic 
affairs.  He  served  nine  years  as  superin- 
tendent of  the  poor  of  Wexford  county,  was 
deputy  sheriff  two  years,  was  highway  com- 
missioner of  Selma  township  five  years, 
served  as  justice  of  the  peace,  township  treas- 
urer and  was  president  of  the  Pioneer  So- 
ciety of  the  townships  of  Selma,  Haring, 
Boon,  Colfax,  Clam  Lake  and  the  city  of 
Cadillac.  Only  three  other  settlers  pre- 
ceded him  in  taking  up  their  abode  in  Selma 
township.  He  is  a  member  of  Washington 
Post,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  of  Cadil- 
lac, is  also  a  member  of  the  Patrons  of  Hus- 
Ixmdry,  master  of  Wexford  County  Po- 
mona Grange  and  president  of  the  Patrons' 
Mutual  iMre  Insurance  Company  of  Wex- 
ford, Osceola  and  Missaukee  counties.  He  is 
a  man  whose  kindly  smile  and  genial  man- 
ners readily  win  friends  in  any  gathering  in 
which  he  may  be  found.  There  are  few 
men  in  any  community  more  comfortably 
situated  than  he  is.  Possessed  of  enough 
of  this  world's  goods  to  supply  every  want, 
blessed  with  health  and  strength,  with  a 
true  and  noble  wife  at  his  side  and  surround- 
ed by  children  who  were  always  noted  for 
their  obedience  and  morality,  why  need  a 


534 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


man    seek    further    for    that    paradise    of 
which  we  hear,  but  of  which  we  know  noth- 


inofr 


JACOB    DISCHER. 

Jacob  Discher  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  born  in 
Putnam  county,  March  15,  1847,  ^^^^^  there 
he  was  reared  until  sixteen  years  of  age. 
His  parents  were  John  and  Maria  (Hed- 
rick)  Discher,  both  natives  of  Germany. 
They  emigrated  to  America  in  the  early  part 
of  the  last  century  and  located  in  Ohio. 
They  were  the  parents  of  eleven  children,  of 
whom  the  subject  was  the  youngest.  He 
received  his  education  in  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  county  and,  although  leaving 
school  when  quite  young,  had  managed  to 
acquire  a  fair  knowledge  of  all  the  common 
school  branches.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
years,  accompanied  by  his  elder  brother, 
William  Discher,  he  went  to  southern  Mich- 
igan, and  located  in  Branch  county,  where 
he  remained,  about  eighteen  months,  em- 
ployed at  such  labor  as  he  could  find  to  do. 
St.  Joseph  county  next  became  his  residence 
and  later  Osceola  county,  where  he  was  em- 
ployed in  a  saw-mill,  in  the  woods  on  the 
Grand  Rapids  &  Indiana  Railroad.  These 
various  occupations  he  followed  until  1869, 
w^hen  he  came  to  Wexford  county  and  set- 
tled on  a  farm  in  Clam  Lake  township  which 
is  now  his  home  and  where  he  has  since  re- 
sided. He  is  one  of  the  very  oldest  settlers 
in  Wexford  county.  On  this  farm,  which 
consists  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  he 
erected  a  large  barn  in  1898,  besides  other 
necessary  farm  buildings,  su1)stantial,  con- 
venient and  commodious.  Eighty  acres  of 
the  place  are  cleared  and  in  a  fine  state  of 
cultivation. 


On  the  13th  day  of  September,  1875,  in 
Clam  Lake  township,  Jacob  Discher  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Sophronia  Hoff- 
man, a  native  of  Calhoun  county,  Michigan, 
born  November  27,  1858.  Her  parents  are 
the  late  Hugh  and  Mary  (Eritz)  Hoffman, 
natives  of  Pennsylvania.  To  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Discher  four  children  have  been  born,  viz : 
Burt,  Edward,  Minnie  and  Kittie.  Minnie 
is  the  wife  of  Gustave  Brehm,  and  they  have 
one  child,  Gladys.  Burt  wedded  Miss  Ger- 
trude Mead  and  they  have  two  daughters. 
Alpha  May  and  Blanche  Kittie.  The  family 
is  most  estimable  and  highly  respected 
tliroughout  the  county. 

In  politics  Mr.  Discher  is  a  consistent  and 
thorough-going  Democrat,  who  not  only  be- 
lieves in  the  principles  of  the  party  but  wdio 
is  willing  to  make  some  sacrifices  in  its  be- 
half. The  family  are  members  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  church,  regular  attendants 
upon  its  services  and  devout  worshippers. 


NORMAN    A.     REYNOLDS. 

The  two  most  strongly  marked  charac- 
teristics of  the  east  and  the  west  are  com- 
bined in  the  residents  of  the  section  of  coun- 
try of  which  this  volume  treats.  The  en- 
thusiastic enterprise  which  overleaps  all 
obstacles  and  makes  possible  almost  any 
undertaking  in  the  comparatively  new  and 
vigorous  western  states,  is  here  tempered  by 
the  stable  and  more  conservative  policy  that 
we  borrow  from  our  eastern  neighbors  and 
the  combination  is  one  of  peculiar  force  and 
power.  It  has  1)een  the  means  of  placing 
this  section  of  country  on  a  par  with  the 
oldest  east,  at  the  same  time  producing  a  re- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


585 


liability  and  certainty  in  business  affairs 
which  is  frequently  lacking  in  the  west. 
This  happy  combination  of  characteristics 
is  possessed  in  a  marked  degree  by  the  sub- 
ject of  this  review,  Norman  A.  Reynolds, 
of  Cedar  Creek  township,  present  member  of 
the  county  board  of  supervisors. 

In  Wellsville,  Allegany  county,  New 
York,  on  the  23rd  of  February,  1851,  Nor- 
iiian  A.  Reynolds  was  born.  He  was  the 
oldest  of  two  children  born  to  his  parents, 
Norman  and  Phoebe  A.  (Abbott)  Reynolds, 
whose  life  of  domestic  tranquility  was  re- 
markable only  for  its  brevity,  the  young 
mother  dying  in  1853,  when  the  subject  was 
only  two  years  old.  The  care  and  rearing 
of  the  child  being  thus  left  to  strangers,  it 
may  well  be  imagined  that  the  life  of  the 
boy  was  by  no  means  a  happy  one.  Up  to 
the  time  that  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he 
lived  mostly  in  Steuben  county,  though  a 
portion  of  the  time  was  spent  in  Wayne 
county.  Had  he  been  a  boy  with  little  apti- 
tude or  taste  for  learning  he  might  have 
grown  up  in  ignorance  of  letters  and  books, 
but  the  natural  tendency  of  the  youth  was 
toward  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  to 
which  he  is  indebted  for  the  satisfactory 
common  school  education  wdiich  he  received. 
His  father  was  by  occupation  a  cabinet- 
maker and  followed  his  calling  until  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion,  when  he  en- 
listed in  the  Eighty-sixth  Regiment,  New- 
York  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  served  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  is  still  living,  a 
resident  of  Steuben  county.  New  York, 
where  the  greater  part  of  his  long  and  useful 
Hfe  has  been  spent. 

In  April,  1869,  Norman  A.  Reynolds 
left  his  native  state  and  went  into  northern 
Michigan.     He  remained  for  a  time  in  Wex- 


ford county,  before  it  was  organized,  then 
sought  and  secured  employment  in  various 
sections  of  the  northern  part  of  the  state, 
continuing  at  such  work  as  he  was  able  to 
procure  until  1872,  when  he  returned  to 
Wexford  county.  Having  attained  his 
majority  about  the  time  of  his  return  to 
W^exford  county,  he  took  up  a  homestead  in 
Greenwood  township,  upon  which  he  erected 
a  residence,  established  his  home,  resided 
upon,  and  cultivated  the  place  until  1895, 
when  he  settled  in  Manton  to  take  charge  of 
and  manage  the  store  of  the  Patrons'  Busi- 
ness Association.  While  living  in  Greenwood 
he  represented  that  township  on  the  county 
board  of  supervisors  for  ten  years,  served 
a  number  of  years  as  justice  of  the  peace 
and  was  much  of  the  time  one  of  the  school 
officers  of  the  district.  When  the  township 
w^as  organized  he  was  one  of  those  who  voted 
at  the  first  election  ever  held  in  the  township, 
in  the  spring  of  1873,  being  then  less  than 
twenty-two  years  old. 

July  4,  1877,  Norman  A.  Reynolds  was 
united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Linda  K. 
Wood,  a  native  of  Michigan,  born  in  Alle- 
gan county  in  1857.  Her  parents  were 
William  W.  and  Phoeba  A.  (Richey)  Wood, 
old  settlers  of  Antioch  townsliip,  Wexford 
county.  Both  are  now  deceased.  To  the 
union  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Reynolds  one  son, 
Estavan  D.,  has  been  born,  who  is  now  in 
tlie  twenfV-first  year  of  his  age.  The  po- 
litical af^liations  of  Mr.  Reynolds  are  with 
the  Republican  party  and  he  is  a  man  of 
recognized  ability  and  influence  in  the  party 
in  the  locality  where  he  resides.  He  is  at 
present  supervisor  of  Cedar  Creek  township 
and  is  also  justice  of  the  peace,  filling  each 
position  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constit- 
uents.    He   is   a   member  of   Cedar   Creek 


536 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Lodge  No.  147,  Knights  of  Pythias.  For 
about  a  year  after  serving  his  connection 
with  the  Patrons'  Business  Association, 
which  closed  up  its  affairs  and  quit  business, 
]ie  suft'ered  from  ill  health,  but  has  since 
fully  reco veered.  He  takes  an  active  inter- 
est in  all  public  matters,  and  his  opinions  on 
various  questions  arising  in  the  community 
are  frequently  sought.  He  is  a  typical  man 
of  the  people,  the  unselfishness  of  whose 
nature  is  the  secret  of  his  popularity. 


WILLIAM    McNITT. 

A  young  man  never  devoted  the  years  of 
his  early  manhood  to  a  more  noble  or  worthy 
cause  than  in  the  defense  of  his  native  land 
and  the  protection  of  her  institutions.  For- 
tunate indeed  was  he  who  survived  to  see 
the  dark  shadow  of  civil  war  swept  from  the 
face  of  the. land  that  gave  him  birth  and  to 
see  the  one  blot  upon  its  fair  name,  human 
slavery,  wiped  out  forever.  The  subject  of 
this  review,  William  McNitt,  is  one  of  the 
aggressive  and  enthusiastic  youths  of  1861, 
wdio  went  to  the  front,  offering  their  lives 
that  the  free  institutions  of  their  country 
might  live. 

William  McNitt  is  a  native  of  Ohio.  He 
was  born  October  26,  1840,  and  spent  the 
first  two  years  of  his  life  in  and  near  the 
place  of  his  birth.  His  parents  were  Sidney 
and  Madula  McNitt,  natives  of  Ohio  and 
early  pioneers  of  Kent  county,  Michigan. 
In  1842  the  family  moved  to  DuPage  county, 
Illinois,  w^here  they  continued  to  reside  un 
til  1849,  when  they  moved  to  Kent  county, 
Michigan,  where  they  continued  to  reside 
until  their  death,  a  number  of  years  ago. 


At  the  time  of  his  death  his  father  was  sev- 
enty-one years  old.  They  were  the  parents 
of  five  children,  of  whom  William  was  the 
oldest. 

In  the  public  schools  of  Du  Page  county, 
Illinois,  and  of  Kent  county,  Michigan,  the 
education  of  William  McNitt  was  procured. 
In  August,  1 861,  just  before  attaining  his 
majority,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in 
a  company  raised  in  Kent  county  that  was 
later  assigned  to  the  First  Regiment,  New- 
York  Lincoln  Cavalry.  He  took  part  with 
his  regiment  in  many  of  the  important  bat- 
tles of  the  war  and  was  slightly  wounded  in 
an  engagement  that  took  place  between  Mar- 
tinsburg  and  Bunker  Hill,  West  Virginia. 
Later  he  was  taken  prisoner,  at  Morefield, 
West  Virginia,  but  fortunately  made  his  es- 
cape and  reached  his  regiment  before  being 
recaptured.  He  served  until  after  the 
close  of  the  war,  being  mustered  out  of  the 
service  in  July,  1865. 

Returning  to  Kent  county,  Michigan, 
Mr.  McNitt  engaged  there  in  farming  a 
number  of  years,  then  went  to  southern  Illi- 
nois and  remained  there  two  years,  when,  in 
October,  1872,  he  moved  to  Wexford  county 
and  located  on  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
of  land,  part  of  section  14,  Boon  township. 
This  land  he  has  cleared  and  improved  and 
splendidly  fitted  it  up  for  a  farm.  One  hun- 
dred and  ten  of  its  fertile  acres  are  now  un- 
der cultivation.  Outside  of  the  four  years 
spent  in  the  service  of  his  country  farming 
has  been  his  life  work. 

On  the  7th  day  of  December,  1865,  in 
Kent  county,  Michigan,  William  McNitt 
was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Maria  Saur, 
a  native  of  Sweden,  born  March  3,  1846, 
a  lady  possessed  of  many  signal  virtues  and 
endearing  qualities.    Four  handsome  and  in- 


PV  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


587 


telligent  children  have  been  born  to  bless 
their  union.  They  are  Nora,  Gussie,  Claude 
and  William.  Both  the  girls  are  married, 
Nora  being  the  wife  of  W.  B.  Watkins,  and 
Gusie  is  married  to  Henry  Mansfield,  both 
gentlemen  being  worthy  and  prosperous 
farmers  of  Wexford  county. 

Ev^ery  intelligent  community  loves  to 
honor  its  prudent,  capable,  upright  citizens 
with  public  place.  This  is  doubtless  the  rea- 
son why  the  subject  of  this  review  has  been 
called  by  the  voters  of  Boon  township,  at 
various  times,  to  fill  the  oftice  of  supervisor, 
township  treasurer  and  a  member  of  the 
school  board,  The  affairs  of  the  township 
have  alwa3^s  commanded  a  good  deal  of  his 
time  and  attention.  In  every  movement 
for  the  general  good,  without  any  desire  to 
make  himself  conspicuous,  he  has  always 
taken  a  prominent  part.  He  and  his  wife 
are  members  of  the  Boon  Baptist  church  and 
both  are  actively  interested  in  church  and 
charitable  work.  Their  contributions  to 
every  good  cause  are  always  liberal  and 
timely  and  without  ostentation.  If  there 
is  one  trait  more  than  another  in  the  char- 
acter of  William  McNitt  which  has  com- 
manded the  attention  and  respect  of;  his 
neighbors  it  is  his  honesty  and  integrity. 
He  has  the  reputation  of  being  the  soul  of 
honor,  a  man  whose  word  can  be  relied  upon 
as  implicitly  as  his  note  or  bond. 


EZRA     HARGER. 


The  history  of  the  representative  citizens 
of  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  would  not 
I)e  complete  should  the  name  that  heads 
this  review  be  omitted.  When  the  fierce  fire 
of  the  Rel)e11ion  was  raging  throughout  the 


Southland,  threatening  to  destroy  the  Union, 
he  responded  with  patriotic  fervor  to  the 
call  for  volunteers  and  in  some  of  the  blood- 
iest battles  for  which  that  great  war  was 
noted  he  proved  his  loyalty  to  the  govern- 
ment he  loved  so  well.  During  a  useful  life 
in  the  region  where  he  lived  he  labored  dili- 
gently to  promote  the  interests  of  the  people, 
working  earnestly  and  with  little  regard  for 
his  personal  advancement  or  ease.  He  was 
devoted  to  the  public  welfare  and  in  all  of 
his  relations  his  highest  ambition  was  to 
benefit  the  community  and  advance  its  stan- 
dard of  citizenship. 

Ezra  Harger,  deceased,  was  born  in 
Kent,  Portage  county,  Ohio,  in  1838,  but 
when  a  mere  child  he  accompanied  his  par- 
ents upon  their  removal  to  St.  Clair,  Alle- 
gheny county,  Pennsylvania.  At  the  age  of 
about  ten  years,  in  1848,  he  returned  to  Kent 
county,  Ohio,  and  in  1852  he  went  to  Jefi^cr- 
son  county,  New  York.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  he  came  to  Lapeer  county,  Michi- 
gan, where  he  resided  until  1861,  when  he 
paid  a  visit  to  old  friends  in  Eulton  county, 
Ohio.  While  there  he  enlisted,  in  April, 
J 86 1,  in  the  Fourteenth  Regiment,  Ohio 
Volunteer  Infantry,  for  service  during  the 
Civil  war,  his  regiment  enlisting  for  the 
three  months  service.  Upon  his  discharge 
he  went  to  Toledo,  Ohio,  and  from  there  to 
New  York  state  and  there  re-enlisted,  being 
asigned  to  the  Fifteenth  United  States  In- 
fantry, which  became  a  part  of  the  Western 
army.  He  served  with  this  command  until 
February,  1864,  when  he  again  re-enlisted 
for  three  years,  receiving  his  final  discharge 
in  February,  1867.  He  was  a  brave  and 
loyal  soldier  and  participated  in  all  the 
nicirches,  skirmishes  and  battles  in  which  his 
regiment   took   part. 


588 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


Upon  his  discharge  from  the  army,  Mr. 
Harger  came  to  the  Traverse  region  in 
search  of  desirable  land  and  in  Augnst,  1867, 
he  took  up  a  homestead  of  eighty  acres  in 
section  12,  in  what  is  now  Colfax  township, 
Wexford  county.  It  was  unimproved  land, 
l)ut  he  went  to  work  to  create  out  of  it  a 
model  farm,  in  which  he  was  successful  to 
a  high  degree.  He  added  to  the  original 
tract  from  time  to  time  and  erected  substan- 
tial and  commodious  buildings  and  at  length 
found  himself  the  possessor  of  one  of  the 
best  farms  of  the  size  in  the  township.  He 
was  a  progressive  and  enterprising  citizen 
and  assisted  in  the  organization  of  the  town- 
ship in  which  he  resides.  In  company  with 
William  Mears  and  George  Manton,  he 
platted  the  town  of  Manton  and  here  erected 
the  first  house.  In  1873  he  removed  from 
Colfax  township  to  the  home  which  he  had 
created  here  and  lived  here  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  days,  his  last  residence  being 
in  the  town  of  Manton.  For  six  terms, 
twelve  years,  he  served  as  treasurer  of  Wex- 
ford county,  and  was  also  supervisor  of  Col- 
fax township,  and  Cedar  Creek  township, 
and  was  township  treasurer  and  justice  of 
the  peace. 

Mr.  Harger  was  twice  married.  On  the 
25th  of  December,  1867,  he  was  united  to 
Miss  Mary  Bayes,  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  to 
tliem  were  born  four  chiktren,  Virginia,  who 
died  in  childhood;  Emma,  who  is  the  wife 
of  Charles  H.  Bostick;  Flora,  who  is  the 
wife  of  M.  J.  Compton,  and  Edith.  Mrs. 
Mary  Harger  died  in  February,  1889,  and 
he  was  subsequently  married  to  Miss  Mar- 
garet Bayes,  a  sister  of  his  first  wife.  One 
child  was  born  to  the  second  union,  Gladys 
by  name.  Mr.  Harger's  decease,  which  oc- 
curred in  Manton  on  April  20,  1900,  was  a 


matter  of  regret  to  the  people  among  whom 
his  splendid  abilities  made  him  a  leader  and 
a  forceful  factor.  In  every  relation  of  life 
he  was  a  manly  man,  broad  and  liberal  in  his 
views,  and  won  by  his  courtly  manner  and 
genial  companionship  the  esteem  and  ad- 
miration of  the  people  of  his  town  and 
county.  With  a  character  open  and  trans- 
parent, and  a  sense  of  honor  strong  and  de- 
cided, he  was  a  striking  example  of  what 
is  noblest  and  best  in  manhood,  and  he  will 
always  be  accorded  a  high  place  among 
Wexford's  representative  citizens. 


SAMUEL  J.  WALL. 

Among  Wexford's  leading  nijen  of  af- 
fairs and  distinguished  citizens,  the  name  of 
Samuel  J.  Wall,  of  Cadillac,  has  long  been 
pre-eminent.  Of  commanding  intellectual 
ability  and  high  professional  attainments,  he 
has  been  a  forceful  factor  in  legal  circles 
and  as  a  director  of  thought  and  moulder  of 
opiinons  in  all  matters  of  a  public  character, 
his  influence  being  duly  recognized  and  ap- 
preciated by  his  fellow  citizens  in  this  part 
of  the  state. 

Samuel  J.  Wall  was  born  in  Kent  county, 
Michigan,  July  10,  1851,  the  son  of  Samuel 
and  Mary  (IMorris)  Wall,  1x)th  parents  na- 
tives of  England.  Samuel  Wall  and  wife 
were  reared  and  married  in  the  land  of  their 
birth  and  there  remained  until  several  of 
their  children  were  born,  when  they  came  to 
the  United  States,  sojourning  for  a  time 
in  Ontario  county,  New  York.  A]x)ut  the 
year  1850  they  removed  to  Kent  county, 
Michigan,  and  settled  on  a  farm  which 
the     older      sons      improved      and      culti- 


S.   J.   WALL. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


639 


vated.  Ihe  father,  being  a  tailor,  worked 
at  his  trade  in  the  city  of  Grand  Rapids  of 
winter  seasons,  devoting  the  rest  of  the  year 
to  agricnltural  pursnits.  Mrs.  WaU  bore  her 
husband  nine  children  and  departed  this  hfe 
in  the  year  1864,  Mr.  Wall  surviving  her 
vuitil  1892,  when  he  too  was  called  to  the 
other  world. 

Samuel  J.,  the  youngest  of  the  nine  chil- 
dren, spent  his  youthful  days  in  the  cease- 
less round  of  labor  wdiich  attends  farm  life 
and  at  intervals  pursued  his  studies  in  the 
district  schools  until  he  acquired  a  fair 
knowledge  of  the  fundamental  branches.  The 
training  thus  received  was  later  supplement- 
ed by  a  course  in  the  Grand  Rapids  Business 
College,  after  which  he  taught  school  for  a 
wdiile,  but  soon  abandoned  that  profession 
for  other  and  more  congenial  pursuits.  Mr. 
Wall  began  his  business  career  at  J3ay  Port, 
Huron  county,  Michigan,  wdiere,  in  partner- 
ship wnth  James  McKay  and  others,  he  or- 
ganized the  Bay  Port  Salt  and  Lumber  Com- 
pany, of  wdiich  he  was  made  secretary.  Af- 
ter remaining  at  that  place  until  1876  he  re- 
turned to  Cadillac  and  accepted  a  clerical 
]3osition  in  the  oftices  of  Harris  Brothers, 
lumber  dealers,  and  continued  in  their  em- 
ploy until  engaging  with  another  himber 
firm  near  the  city  two  years  later.  Mean- 
time he  devoted  his  leisure  to  the  study  of 
the  law%  a  profession  for  which  he  had  long 
m'anifested  a  decided  preference,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1880  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
immediately  thereafter  opening  an  office  in 
Cadillac  and  engaging  actively  in  the  prac- 
tice. The  following  fall  he  was  elected  on 
the  Republican  ticket  prosecuting  attorney, 
the  duties  of  which  office  he  discharged  one 
term  and  at  the  expiration  of  which  he  again 

turned  his  attention  largely  to  his  lumbering 
33 


interests  in  Lake  county,  where  he  made  con- 
siderable investment  in  the  year  1880  with  a 
partner  by  the  name  of  Sipley.  In  1882  these 
gentlemen  enlarged  the  plant  and  prosecuted 
the  business  w^ith  the  most  encouraging  suc- 
cess until  the  follow^ing  year,  when  the  en- 
tire outfit  was  destroyed  by  fire,  entailing  a 
heavy  loss,  wdiich  for  a  time  seriously  crip- 
pled them  and  interfered  very  materially 
with  their  plans.  Returning  to  Cadillac  after 
this  disaster,  Mr.  Wall  resumed  the  practice 
of  the  law,  which,  with  various  lines  of  ni^is- 
cellaneous  business,  engaged  his  attention 
ifutil  1888,  when  he  was  elected  county  clerk, 
which  position  he  continued  to  hold  by  suc- 
cessive re-elections  four  terms,  proving  a 
capable  and  obliging  public  servant  and  so 
administering  the  office  as  to  gain  the  con- 
fidence and  good  will  of  the  people.  Subse- 
quently, in  1890,  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
the  third  ward  in  the  city  council,  in  wdiich 
body  he  w^as  untiring  in  his  efforts  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  municipality,  and 
four  years  later  he  was  further  honored  by 
being  elected  mayor  of  Cadillac.  Mr.  Wall 
served  two  years  in  the  latter  capacity  and 
made  an  honorable  record  as  an  executive,  his 
administration  thnnighout  ])eing  straight- 
forward, business-like,  creditable  to  himself 
and  satisfactory  to  the  public.  Retiring  from 
the  office,  he  resumed  the  practice  of  his 
profession,  and  was  thus  engaged  until  1898, 
wdien  he  was  again  called  from  private  life 
by  being  appointed  postmaster  of  Cadillac, 
the  duties  of  which  position  he  has  since  dis- 
charged. 

Mr,  Wall's  almost  continuous  retention 
in  important  official  stations  affords  the  best 
evidence  of  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is 
held  by  the  people  and  his  official  career 
throughout  has  fully  justified  the  confidence 


540 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


reposed  in  him  by  his  fellow  citizens.  His 
long  residence  in  Cadillac  has  enabled  him 
to  realize  as  well  perhaps  as  any  other  the 
wants  of  the  people  and  with  clear  brain  and 
walling  hand  he  has  supplied  the  demand 
generously  and  unsparingly.  His  coming 
here  and  the  existence  of  the  town  were  al- 
most coeval  events  and  it  is  not  too  much 
to  claim  for  him  a  large  share  in  the  com- 
munity's subsequent  development  and  pros- 
perity. A  western  man  in  the  broad  sense 
of  the  word  and  public  spirited  in  all  the 
term  implies,  he  has  labored  zealously  for 
the  general  welfare,  and  that  his  efforts  have 
been  productive  of  large  and  lasting  results 
is  cheerfully  conceded  by  those  at  all  familiar 
with  the  history  of  Wexford  county  and  the 
growth  of  its  flourishing  capital  city. 

In  his  achievements  as  a  lawyer  Mr. 
Wall  is  w^holly  indebted  to  personal  efforts, 
having  pursued  his  preparatory  studies  dur- 
ing spare  hours,  snatched  from  time  devoted 
to  his  regular  occupations.  He  made  the 
most  of  his  opportunities  under  such  circum- 
stances and  today  occupies  a  respectable 
place  among  his  professional  brethren  of 
the  Cadillac  bar,  enjoying  a  lucrative  prac- 
tice, which  but  for  the  pressing  claims  of 
his  official  duties  would  be  far  more  exten- 
sive than  it  now  is.  In  politics,  as  already 
indicated,  he  is  an  uncompromising  Repub- 
lican and  for  a  number  of  years  past  has  been 
an  influential  factor  in  local  matters,  besides 
taking  an  active  interest  in  state  and  national 
affairs.  He  knows  the  grounds  of  his  belief 
and  has  carefully  studied  the  differences  be- 
tween the  two  great  parties,  therefore  his 
position  is  that  of  an  intelligent  man  who 
reaches  conclusions  after  mature  deliberation 
and  supports  the  cause  which  in  his  judg- 
ment makes   for  the  best  interests   of  the 


people.  As  chairman  of  the  Republican  coun- 
ty central  committee  his  services  were  es- 
pecially valuable  to  the  party,  and  he  has 
also  frequently  figured  as  a  delegate  to  vari- 
ous nominating  conventions,  local,  district 
and  state,  manifesting  much  more  than  a 
passive  interest  in  their  deliberations.  Mr. 
Wall's  fraternal  relations  are  represented  by 
the  Masonic  order  and  the  Knights  of  Pyth- 
ias, both  of  which  he  recognizes  as  impor- 
tant agencies  for  man's  moral  good  and  so- 
cial advancement. 

Mr.  Wall  is  a  married  man  and  the 
father  of  four  children,  whose  names  are 
Ruth,  Marjorie,  Stewart  and  Morris.  His 
wife  w^as  formerly  Miss  Caroline  Sipley,  of 
Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  and  the  ceremony 
by  which  it  was  changed  to  the  one  she  now 
bears  was  solemnized  in  the  year  1881. 


LYMAN  E.  PARKER. 

An  enumeration  of  the  men  of  the  pres- 
ent day  who  have  won  success  and  recogni- 
tion for  themselves  and  at  the  same  time 
have  honored  the  locality  in  which  they  re- 
side would  be  incomplete  without  due  no- 
lice  of  the  subject  of  this  review,  Lyman 
E.  Parker.  Clearly  defined  purpose  and 
consecutive  effort  have  been  among  his  more 
prominent  characteristics  and  his  standing- 
today  as  one  of  Selma  township's  most  en- 
terprising agriculturists  and  one  of  the 
county's  truly  representative  citizens  is 
cheerfully  conceded  by  all  who  know  him. 
Identified  with  every  enterprise  having  for 
its  object  the  good  of  the  community,  taking 
a  lively  interest  in  the  public  aft'airs  of  his 
township  and  county,  he  has  sought  by  every 
means    at    his    command    to    promote    the 


V/ EX  FORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


541 


country's   material   prosperity  and  advance 
the  standard  of  its  citizenship. 

Lyman  E.  Parker,  who  resides  on  a  part 
of  section  24,  Sehiia  township,  Wexford 
county,  was  born  in  Wyoming  county,  New 
York,  August  26,  1847.  When  he  was  two 
years  okl  his  parents  moved  to  Erie  county, 
New'  York,  where  they  took  up  their  resi- 
dence and  engaged  in  farming.  There  he 
grew  to  nianhood,  received  a  fair  education 
and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  mercan- 
tile business.  In  starting  out  in  the  world 
to  provide  for  himself  he  went  into  Catta- 
]*augus  county,  New  York,  where  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  business  and  where  he  pros- 
pered for  two  years.  Having  made  up  his 
mind  that  there  were  better  opportunities  in 
his  line  in  the  w^est,  he  made  all  necessary 
arrangements  and  moved  to  Coopersville, 
Ottawa  county,  Michigan,  where  he  opened 
out  in  the  mercantile  business  and  did  a 
thriving  trade  for  four  years.  He  then  sold 
out  and  moved  to  Dorr,  Allegan  county, 
Michigan,  where  he  engaged  in  the  hardware 
business,  which  he  continued  until  January, 
1882,  when  he  came  to  Wexford  county. 
Some  time  previously  he  had  purchased 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  section  24,  Selma 
township,  though  he  later  sold  forty  acres  of 
this.  On  this  tract  he  established  a  home  and 
it  has  been  the  place  of  residence  of  the  fam- 
ily since.  Seventy-six  acres  more  have 
been  purchased  since,  making  a  snug  farm 
of  one  hundred  and  twelve  acres.  About 
sixty  acres  have  been  cleared  and  the  place 
is  well  improved,  being  all  that  one  could  de- 
sire in  a  modest,  comfortable  home. 

In  Sardinia,  Erie  county,  New  York,  on 
the  25th  day  of  December,  1866,  Lyman  E. 
Parker  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Hat- 
tie  L.  Hosmer,  a  native  of  New  York,  l)orn 


in  Erie  county,  April  10,  1847.  She  has 
proven  herself  an  amiable,  worthy  wife  who 
has  been  a  most  valuable  assistant  to  her 
husband  in  his  various  business  ventures. 
They  first  engaged  in  housekeeping,  a  num- 
ber of  years,  in  their  native  state  and  the 
wife  accompanied  the  husband  in  his  removal 
to  Michigan.  They  are  the  parents  of  four 
children,  viz  :  Cora  M.,  Grace  M.,  Clarence 
U.  and  Ruth  E.  Cora,  who  had  taught  in 
Wexford  county,  was  the  wife  of  A.  E. 
Tilyon,  resided  in  Huntsville,  Alabama,  and 
died  December  25,  1891,  when  thirty-two 
years  of  age.  Grace  M.  is  the  wife  of  Or- 
lean  Denike  and  resides  in  Selma  township. 

Ever  since  he  became  a  citizen  of  Wex- 
ford county  Lyman  E.  Parker  has  taken  an 
active  part  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
w'elfare  and  development  of  the  locality.  He 
has  served  as  justice  of  the  peace  a  number 
of  years,  discharging  the  duties  of  that  po- 
sition most  efficiently.  He  has  also  served 
as  township  clerk  and  township  treasurer  for 
tw^o  terms  and  has  always  been  found  faith- 
ful and  trustworthy  in  all  that  he  has  under- 
taken. He  is  a  member  of  Lodge  No.  331, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  at  Cadillac,  and 
takes  an  active  interest  in  the  work.  He 
and  his  wife  are  both  members  of  the  church 
of  the  Disciples  of  Christ.  Both  are  persons 
whose  standing  in  the  county  is  above  re- 
l>roach,  the  parents  of  a  worthy  family  and 
the  occupants  of  a  home  that  is  the  model 
of  domestic  courtesv  and  refinement. 


CARL    B.     PETERSON. 

When  it  comes  to  thrift,  the  practice  of 
economy  and  the  accumulation  of  property 
and    wealth   the   average   native   American 


542 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


does  not  seem  to  be  able  to  bear  favoraljle 
comparison  with  the  natives  of  other  chmes 
who  take  up  their  abode  in  the  United  States. 
True,  most  of  the  really  rich  men  of  Amer- 
ica are  *'to  the  manner  born,''  but,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  number,  people  of  foreign 
birth  are  possessed  of  much  more  of  the 
w^ealth  of  the  nation  than  the  native-born 
citizens,  if  the  gigantic  corporations  and  the 
millionaires  are  excluded.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  difference  in  training  of  the 
two  classes  produces  different  results.  Pru- 
dence and  economy  is  the  rule  with  the  one ; 
lavish  expenditure  the  policy  of  the  other. 
America  is  largely  peopled  with  wealth  pro- 
ducers and  accumulators  from  other  shores. 
Nearly  every  country  in  Europe  has  contrib- 
uted to  the  grand  total  and  the  sons  of  Swed- 
en are  not  the  least  among  the  number.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch,  Carl  B.  Peterson,  who 
resides  on  section  35,  Clam  Lake  township, 
is  one  of  the  thrifty  sons  of  Sweden  who 
have  resided  in  America  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  century.  By  industry  and  frugality  he 
has  accumulated  a  comfortable  estate,  and 
not  yet  being  bowed  down  by  the  weight  of 
years,  it  is  quite  likely  that  he  will  yet  add 
many  thousands  more  to  his  possessions. 

As  before  indicated,  Carl  B.  Peterson  is 
a  native  of  Sweden.  He  was  born  June  g, 
1855,  and  continued  to  reside  in  the  country 
of  his  birth  until  he  arrived  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  years.  The  prevailing  condi- 
tions in  his  native  land  were  not  entirely 
agreeable  to  him  and  he  yearned  for  a 
wider  field  and  better  opportunities.  After 
casting  about  for  some  time  for  a  location, 
he  decided  that  America  afforded  the  best 
field  for  operation.  In  1882,  when  twenty- 
seven  years  of  age,  he  emigrated  to  America, 
remained  a  few  months  in  Cleveland,  Ohio, 


and  then  came  to  Wexford  county,  Michi- 
gan, and  purchased  eighty  acres  in  section 
35,  Clam  Lake  township,  on  which  he  set- 
tled and  which  has  been  the  family  home  to 
tlie  present  time.  To  the  original  purchase 
he  has  added  eighty  acres  more  and  is  now 
the  owner  of  a  fine  fertile  quarter  section, 
sixty  acres  of  which  is  improved  and  in  a 
fine  state  of  cultivation. 

In  Muskegon,  Michigan,  Carl  B.  Peter- 
son was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Minnie 
Anderson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  a  woman  of 
many  noble  qualities  and  sterling  virtues. 
They  immediately  took  up  their  abode  upon 
the  farm  on  section  35,  and  that  has  been 
their  residence  to  the  present  time.  To  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Peterson  four  children  have  been 
born,  viz:  Joseph,  Carl  A.,  Oscar  and 
David.  The  family  stands  well  in  the 
township  of  their  residence  and  enjoy  an 
enviable  reputation  for  thrift  and  industry 
and  every  element  that  constitutes  good  citi- 
zenship. 


GEORGE    F.    WILLIAMS. 

The  two  most  strongly  marked  charac- 
teristics of  both  the  east  and  the  west  are 
combined  in  the  residents  of  the  section  of 
country  of  which  this  volume  treats.  The 
enthusiastic  enterprise  which  overleaps  all  ob- 
stacles and  makes  possible  almost  any  under- 
taking in  the  comparatively  new  and  vigor- 
ous western  states  is  here  tempered  by  the 
stable  and  more  careful  policy  that  we  have 
borrowed  from  our  eastern  neighbors,  and 
the  combination  is  one  of  peculiar  force  and 
po\yer.  It  has  been  the  means  of  placing 
this  section  of  the  country  on  a  par  with  the 
older  east,  at  the  same  time  producing  a  cer- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


543 


tainty  and  reliability  in  business  affairs  which 
is  frequently  lacking  in  the  west.  This 
happy  combination  of  characteristics  is  pos- 
sessed by  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  George 
r\  Williams,  one  of  the  prominent  and  en- 
terprising business  men  of  Manton,  Wexford 
county,  Michigan. 

Mr.  Williams  is  a  native  of  Canada,  hav- 
ing been  born  on  the  22d  of  August,  1859. 
lie  is  the  son  of  James  and  Paulina  (Pritch- 
ard)  W^illiams,  who  were  both  natives  oi- 
England,  in  w^hich  country  they  w^ere  reared 
and  were  there  married.  The  father  died 
at  Shelby,  Michigan,  in  i88t,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-one  years.  The  mother,  w^ho  was 
born  in  1822,  is  still  living  and  makes  her 
home  with  the  subject.  George  F.  Williams 
removed  from  Canada  with  his  parents  in 
J  864  and  located  at  Aurora,  Illinois,  and  two 
years  later  they  removed  to  Montague, 
Michigan,  where  the  father  engaged  in  the 
business  of  lumbering.  There  the  subject 
was  given  the  opportunity  of  attending 
school,  but  his  studies  were  interrupted  in 
1871,  when  the  family  removed  to  Shelby, 
Oceana  county,  Michigan,  where  his  father 
and  his  brothers,  Jeremiah,  James  H.  and 
AValter  S.,  engaged  in  the  mercantile,  lum- 
bering and  saw-mill  business.  In  the  new- 
home  the  subject,  w^ith  a  younger  brother, 
Albert,  was  again  permitted  to  attend  school, 
though  he  w^as  also  employed  at  odd  times 
in  the  mill.  In  the  spring  of  1881,  upon  the 
death  of  his  father,  Mr.  Williams  assisted 
his  brother  Walter  in  conducting  a  planing 
and  saw-mill.  His  first  business  venture  on 
his  own  account  was  the  purchase  of  a  lot 
in  the  village  of  Shelby,  on  which  he  built 
a  brick  veneered  block,  in  conjunction  with 
a  Mr.  l\'irmenter,  who  owned  the  adjoin- 
ing lot,  the  tw^o  jointly  building  the  division 


wall.  In  1 88 1  Mr.  Williams  was  united  in 
mariage  with  Miss  Emma  Graves,  of  Shelby, 
and  the  next  year  he  moved  to  Manton, 
where  their  only  son,  Clarence  F.,  was  born, 
October  i,  1883.  In  1883  Mr.  Williams 
engaged  in  the  business  of  getting  out  and 
shipping  last  blocks  and  about  the  same 
time  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
brother  James  H.  in  a  general  store.  The 
last  named  business  was  sold  out,  how^ever, 
soon  afterwards  and  Mr.  W^illiams  devoted 
his  attention  solely  to  the  last  business, 
which  was  not,  however,  on  a  very  large 
scale.  At  the  outset  of  his  career  there  oc- 
curred one  of  those  incidents  which  might 
have  easily  discouraged  a  more  timid  or 
less  resolute  man.  W'lien  he  arrived  in 
Manton  he  possessed  about  one  thousand 
dollars  and  it  was  partially  invested  in  the 
first  shipment  of  last  blocks  which  he  made 
to  a  Chicago  party.  The  latter  party  failed 
and  the  subject  was  unable  to  realize  a  cent 
on  the  transaction,  which,  with  other  unfor- 
tunate transactions,  left  him  seriously  in 
debt.  The  outlook  was  certainly  dis- 
couraging, but  Mr.  Williams  had  a  thorough 
insight  into  the  last  block  business  and  felt 
that  in  that  line  lay  his  future  success.  In 
Wexford  county  lay  a  large  quantity  of 
good  maple  timber  suitable  for  his  purposes 
and  he  determined  to  establish  himself  him- 
self at  Manton  and  secure  a  few  good  cus- 
tomers for  rough  turned  last  blocks.  In 
1886  he  induced  his  brother,  Walter  S.,  to 
go  in  with  him  and,  renting  a  ten-horse  power 
engine  and  boiler,  the  two  brothers  formed  a 
company  known  as  Williams  Brothers  and 
started  a  factory.  The  factory  was  a  small 
one  and  tlie  two  brothers  did  all  the  manual 
labor  connected  with  the  manufacture, 
George   F.   acting  as  engineer  and  buying 


544 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


the  stock,  while  Walter  S.  did  the  turning. 
They  continued  to  devote  their  undivided  at- 
tention to  their  business  and  were  at  length 
rewarded  by  a  substantial  and  gratifying  in- 
crease in  their  business,  which  compelled 
them  to  employ  others  to  do  the  work.  At 
one  time  they  also  operated  a  saw^-mill  in 
conjunction  with  the  last  block  factory.  The 
business  continued  to  grow  rapidly  and  in 
1897  had  reached  such  proportions  that  it 
was  deemed  advisable  to  incorporate  a  stock 
company,  which  was  done  under  the  name  of 
the  Williams  Brothers  Company,  with  a  capi- 
tal stock  of  thirty-seven  thousand  dollars. 
George  F.  Williams  was  principal  stockhold- 
er and  was  chosen  secretary,  treasurer  and 
manager,  the  other  stockholders  being  Wal- 
ter S.  and  Albert  E.  Williams,  brothers  of 
the  subject,  and  William  A.  Hall,  a  nephew. 
ITnder  the  new  arrangement  they  found  it 
possible  to  extend  their  operations  and  soon 
started  a  branch  factory  at  Mesick,  Michi- 
gan, opened  a  general  store  at  Manton,  and 
also  made  large  purchases  of  hardwood  tim- 
ber, including  the  land  on  which  it  stood.  In 
the  summer  of  1902  the  capital  stock  of  the 
company  was  increased  to  seventy-live 
thousand  dollars,  the  subject  taking  the 
larger  portion  of  the  stock  and  the  other 
stockholders  being  Walter  S.  Williams,  Al- 
bert E.  Williams,  Clarence  F.,  the  subject's 
son,  Marty  L.  Williams,  son  of  Walter  S., 
William  A.  Hall,  Bruce  Green  and  H.  M, 
Billings.  The  subject  was  still  retained  as  the 
active  manager  of  the  company's  interests 
and  their  holdings  were  still  further  extend- 
ed, they  buying  a  large  tract  of  timber  land 
along  the  Ann  Arbor  Railroad  and  building 
a  saw-mill  and  last  block  factory  at  Cadil- 
lac. The  manufacturing  of  last  blocks  was 
begun  on  a  modest  scale,  but  has^  grown  to 


mammoth  proportions,  necessitating  the  em- 
ployment of  over  one  hundred  men  and  the 
output  amounting  to  one  and  a  half  million 
last  blocks  per  year.  In  the  spring  of  1902 
the  general  store  was  discontinued  and  the 
Williams  Mercantile  Company  was  organ- 
ized, with  a  capital  stock  of  twelve  thou- 
r^and  dollars,  the  officers  of  the  new  company 
being  as  follows :  President,  George  F. 
Williams;  vice-president,  Walter  S.  Will- 
iams; secretary,  M.  J.  Compton;  treasurer, 
Reynold  Swanson,  these  gentlemen  holding 
all  the  stock.  In  1902  Mr.  Williams  also 
was  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Manton 
Development  Association,  with  a  capital 
stock  of  six  thousand  dollars.  He  was  chosen 
president  of  the  association,  the  other  stock- 
holders being  Clarence  F.  Williams,  H.  M. 
Billings,  James  R.  Oaks,  Dr.  V.  F.  Huntley, 
and  J.  E.  Jones.  In  addition  to  all  the  busi- 
ness enterprises  which  have  been  here  men- 
tioned, Mr.  Williams  also  owns  considerable 
real  estate  in  Wexford  county,  including  a 
beautiful  home  and  several  houses  and  lots 
in  the  village  of  Manton.  He  came  to  the 
village  at  a  time  when  it  gave  little  promise 
of  1)ecoming  the  busy  and  thriving  town  it 
is  today,  and  it  has  been  largely  through  his 
influence  and  energy  that  the  town  has  as- 
sumed the  commercial  importance  that  it 
occupies  today.  Mr.  Williams  has  been 
honored  by  his  fellow  citizens  with  several 
positions  of  honor,  having  been  one  year 
village  president,  six  years  a  member  of  the 
village  council,  four  years  a  member  of  the 
school  board  and  four  years  township  clerk. 
He  is  affiliated  with  the  Republican  party,  of 
which  he  is  a  warm  supporter,  and  he  served 
one  year  as  chairman  of  the  township  com- 
mittee. Fraternally  he  is  a  member  of  the 
.follow^ing  orders :     Free  and  Accepted  Ma- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


545 


sons,  Independent  Order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Order  of  the  Eastern 
Star,  and  in  the  Masonic  order  he  is  a 
Knight  Templar  and  also  has  taken  the  de- 
grees of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 

In  1894  Mr.  Williams  was  married  to 
Miss  Eliza  Gaunt,  of  Manton,  a  daughter  of 
Austin  and  Mary  (Johnson)  Gaunt,  and  born 
June  2,  1866.  By  his  courteous  manners, 
genial  disposition  and  genuine  worth  Mr. 
Williams  has  won  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts 
of  all  who  know  him  and  he  and  his  wife 
are  the  center  of  a  large  circle  of  warm  and 
loval  friends. 


JAMES  H.  BAKER. 

There  are  few  states  in  the  union  where 
enterprise  is  better  appreciated  or  industry 
more  liberally  remunerated  than  in  Michi- 
gan. This  is  especially  true  of  that  portion 
of  the  state  known  as  the  northern  part  of 
the  southern  peninsula,  wherein  is  located 
the  fertile  and  productive  county  of  Wex- 
ford. Youth  and  inexperience  is  no  bar  to 
success  in  that  favored  region,  and  it  is  noth- 
ing uncommon  there  to  encounter  beardless 
boys  at  the  head  of  enterprises  of  such  mag- 
nitude as  would  deter  old  veterans  from  un- 
dertaking them  in  more  conservative  sections 
of  the  land.  James  H.  Baker,  of  the  firm  of 
Phelps  &  Baker,  millers  and  produce  dealers 
of  Manton,  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  the 
shrewdness,  tact  and  commercial  foresight 
which  can  be  displayed  in  this  part  of  the 
country  by  a  lad  who  had  scarcely  attained 
his  majority.  In  the  year  1889,  when  barely 
twenty-one  years  old,  he  took  upon  himself 
as  proprietor  .the  care  and  operation  of  a 


tlouring-mill  at  Manton,  with  all  of  the  busi- 
ness management  incident  to  the  conduct  of 
such  an  enterprise,  and  has  attained  an  en- 
viable success  in  each  and  every  department 
of  his  undertaking. 

James  H.  Baker  was  born  at  Dorr,  Ale- 
gan  county,  Michigan,  October  16,  1868. 
His  parents  were  Henry  M.  and  Catherine 
(Butcher)  Baker,  the  former  being  by  occu- 
pation a  machinist  and  millwright.  He 
came  to  Manton  in  April,  1883^,  and  for 
about  seven  years  operated  the  flouring-mill 
at  that  ])lace.  In  1889,  on  account  of  failing 
health,  he  was  obliged  to  retire  from  active 
business,  which,  however,  did  not  improve 
his  physicial  condition  and  he  died  March 
18,  1892,  being  then  in  the  fifty-seventh  year 
of  his  age.  His  faithful  wife  is  still  living, 
residing  with  her  children,  in  Manton.  To 
them  six  children  were  born,  of  whom  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  w^as  the  oldest  child 
and  only  son. 

The  early  years  of  the  life  of  James  H. 
Baker  were  spent  in  his  native  county  and 
did  not  differ  materially  from  the  youth  of 
other  lads  of  the  same  age  and  time,  except 
that  he  had  acquired  a  very  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  common  school  branches  of 
learning  at  an  early  age.  Under  the  tuition 
of  his  father  he  applied  himself  to  securing 
a  knowledge  of  machinery  and  milling. 
When  the  father  first  came  to  Manton  his  son 
accompanied  him  and  during  the  seven  years 
that  the  parent  operated  the  mill  there  the  boy 
was  his  constant  attendant  and  helper. 
When  the  physical  condition  of  his  father 
compelled  him  to  retire  in  1889,  so  well  had 
the  son  learned  his  lessons  in  mechanism 
that  he  easily  stepped  into  his  parent's  place, 
and  the  operation  of  the  mill  and  the  busi- 


546 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


ness  connected  with  it  went  on  without  a  stop 
or  friction.  In  1892  the  subject  formed  a 
partnership  with  C.  D.  Phelps,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Phelps  &  Baker,  and  from  that 
time  to  the  present  they  have  conducted  a 
A^ery  successful  business,  year  after  year  in- 
creasing their  patronage  and  steadily  adding 
to  their  capital. 

July  3,  1897,  James  H.  Baker  was  united 
in  marriage  to  Miss  Sarah  Newland,  a  na- 
tive of  Ohio,  born  June  3,  1869.    Her  parents 

were  Richard  and Newland,  who 

were  among  the  early  settlers  of  Manton. 
Having  assumed  new  and  very  important 
responsibilities,  the  subject  applied  himself 
to  the  business  of  his  choice  with  a  keener 
zest.  They  not  only  rebuilt  the  old  mill, 
but  in  1900,  to  accommodate  their  increased 
patronage  and  that  they  might  have  a  man- 
ufacturing plant  that  is  strictly  up  to  date, 
they  erected  an  entirely  new  mill  on  the  most 
improved  plan,  with  the  very  latest  machin- 
ery and  most  improved  processes  and  with 
a  capacity  of  seventy  l)arrels  daily.  The  old 
mill  they  still  retain  intact,  and  it  is  almost 
constantly  in  operation  on  rough  grinding, 
meal,  feed  etc.  The  capacity  of  both  mills 
w^ill  exceed  one  hundred  barrels  daily.  In 
the  summer  of  1902  the  firm  embarked  in  the 
produce  business.  They  established  a  large 
warehouse  at  Manton,  and  buy  and  ship  all 
kinds  of  produce.  The  Inisiness  is  yet  in  its 
infancy,  but  everything  indicates  that  their 
success  in  this  new  line  will  be  all  that  they 
could  desire.  In  the  conduct  of  all  of  his  af- 
fairs Mr.  Baker  is  strictly  business-like;  no 
detail,  no  matter  how^  trivial,  escapes  his  at- 
tention, and  each  and  every  department  of  the 
business,  under  his  care  and  direction,  glides 
along  as  smoothly  as  the  machinery  of  his 
mills. 


AARON  F.  ANDERSON. 

Into  the  complex  fabric  of  our  national 
commonwealth  have  entered  elements  rep- 
resenting every  civilized  nation  on  the  globe, 
each  element  having  its  part  in  conserving  the 
textile  strength  of  the  composite  whole,  the 
entirety  constituting  the  grandest  republic 
the  world  has  ever  known.  Among  those 
from  foreign  lands  seeking  new  homes  and 
working  out  new  destinies  on  American  soil, 
the  strong,  stalwart,  mentally  alert  sons  of 
Scandinavia  have  been  especially  prominent 
in  that  they  have  brought  with  them  these 
noble  attributes  of  manhood  and  that  love 
of  personal  freedom  for  which  the  people  of 
the  northland  have  long  been  distinguished 
and  which  constitute  such  important  ele- 
m^ents  of  true  American  citizenship.  The 
well-known  business  man  whose  name  intro- 
duces this  sketch  is  a  representative  of  the 
above  nationality  and  as  such  worthily  up- 
holds the  honor  of  his  fatherland,  although 
a  lover  of  his  adopted  country  and  to  all  in- 
terests and  purposes  as  loyal  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  as  an  American  to  the  manner 
born.  Aaron  Frederick  Anderson  hails  from 
far-away  Swxden,  where  his  birth  occurred 
on  the  8th  day  of  March,  1858.  His  father 
being  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  he  was  reared  to 
agricultural  pursuits  and  assisted  to  run  the 
home  farm  until  his  twentieth  year,  mean- 
while receiving  a  good  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  when  not  engaged  in  the 
fields,  learning  the  shoemaker's  trade,  at 
which  in  due  time  he  became  an  efficient 
workman.  Thinking  to  better  his  condition 
in  a  country  abounding  in  more  favorable 
opportunities  than  prevailed  in  his  native 
land,  Mr.  Anderson,  in  1878,  came  to  the 
United  States,  making  his  way  direct  to  Cad- 


A    ANDERSON. 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


547 


iliac,  Michigan,  where  he  beg'an  working  at 
his  trade.  Meeting  with  encouraging  suc- 
cess from  the  start,  he  was  induced  after 
a  few  years  to  engage  in  the  general  toot  and 
shoe  business;  accordingly,  in  1885,  he  pur- 
chased a  full  line  of  goods,  and  in  due  time 
succeeded  in  building  up  a  lucrative  trade, 
which  was  successfully  conducted  until  1901. 
Meanwhile,  in  1897,  he  became  interested 
in  the  lumber  industry  and,  to  better  prose- 
cute the  same,  disposed  of  his  mercantile 
Inisiness  in  1901,  since  which  time  his  atten- 
tion has  been  exclusively  devoted  to  lumber- 
ing, with  fortunate  financial  results. 

Mr.  Anderson  is  essentially  a  business 
man,  possessing  the  sound  judgment  and 
clear  insight  necessary  to  success  in  large 
and  important  undertakings.  With  compar- 
atively no  outside  assistance,  he  has  steadily 
pursued  his  way  from  a  modest  beginning 
until  he  now  occupies  a  conspicuous  place 
among  the  enterprising  and  well-to-do  mai 
of  his  adopted  city.  Strong  determination, 
l)erseverance  in  the  pursuit  of  an  honorable 
purpose,  unflagging  energy  and  careful  man- 
agement, are  among  the  salient  features  of 
his  career  and  his  life  stands  in  unmistaka- 
ble evidence  that  success  is  not  a  matter  of 
genius  or  the  result  of  fortune's  favors,  but 
is  more  the  outcome  of  earnest  and  well- 
directed  endeavor. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  married  in  Cadillac 
on  the  26th  of  September,  1882,  to  Miss 
Addie  Greenburg,  the  union  resulting  in  the 
birth  of  six  children,  namely:  Fred  W., 
Clarence  E.,  Ester  E.,  Ruth  F.,  Helen  M. 
and  Rachel  D.,  the  second  of  the  family  dy- 
ing at  the  age  of  twelve  years.  Mr.  Ander- 
son is  an  influential  member  of  the  Swedish 
Baptist  church  of  Cadillac,  and  contributes 
liberally  to  its  material  support.     Personally 


he  is  quite  popular,  possessing  in  a  marked 
degree  the  characteristics  which  win  and  re- 
tain warm  friendships  and  which  render  one 
a  favorite  in  the  sociah  circle.  He  is  public 
spirited  and  progressive,  deeply  mterested  in 
the  welfare  of  the  comimunity  and  does  all 
within  his  power  for  its  advancement  along 
material,  social,  educational  and  moral  lines. 
His  business  efforts,  as  already  stated,  have 
been  crowned  with  a  large  measure  of  suc- 
cess and  it  is  no  fulsome  praise  to  state  that 
no  citizen  of  Cadillac  stands  higher  in  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  people  or  has 
shown  himself  more  worthy  of  public  re- 
gard. Mr.  Anderson  has  worthily  upheld 
an  honored  ancestral  name  and  his  loyalty 
to  friends  and  devotion  to  family  mark  him 
a  true  man  and  an  upright  citizen. 


HORACE  G.  HUTZLER. 

It  is  a  well-recognized  fact  that  the  most 
powerful  factor  and  influence  in  shaping  and 
controlling  public  life  is  the  press.  It 
reaches  a  greater  number  of  people  than 
a-ny  other  agency  and  thus  has  always  been 
and,  in  the  hands  of  persons  competent  to 
direct  it,  always  w^ill  be  a  most  important 
factor  in  molding  public  opinion  and  shaping 
the  destiny  of  a  nation.  The  gentleman  to  a 
brief  review  of  wdiose  life  these  lines  are 
devoted  is  prominently  connected  w^ith  the 
journalism  of  Wexford  county,  and  at  this 
time  is  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Manton 
Weekly  Tribune,  one  of  the  most  popular 
papers  of  the  county,  comparing  favorably 
with  the  best  local  sheets  in  this  section  of  the 
state  as  regards  news,  editorial  ability  and 
mechanical  execution.     The  county  recog- 


548 


WEXFORD    COUNTY.  MICHIGAN. 


nizes  in  Mr.  Hutzler  not  only  one  of  the  keen- 
est newspaper  men,  but  also  a  representative 
citizen,  whose  interest  in  all  that  affects  the 
general  welfare  has  been  of  such  a  character 
as  to  win  for  him  a  high  place  in  the  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  the  people. 

Horace  G.  Hutzler  was  born  in  Iroquois, 
Iroquois  county,  Illinois,  on  the  i6th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1863,  and  is  the  son  of  David  Davis 
and  Charlotte  (Church)  Hutzler.  He 
is  of  German- Welch  descent,  his  emigrant 
ancestors  first  settling  in  Virginia,  in  which 
state  all  his  grandparents  were  born.  His 
mother's  grandfather,  Henry  Shipman,  was 
a  relative  and  pioneer  companion  of  the  cele- 
brated frontiersman,  Daniel  Boone,  and  to- 
gether they  settled  in  the  wilds  of  Kentucky. 
The  subject's  father  is  a  native  of  Ohio  and 
his  mother  of  Illinois.  At  the  time  of  the 
outbreak  of  hostilities  between  the  north  and 
south,  in  1 861,  they  were  prosperous  farmers 
in  Iroquois  county,  Illinois,  but  the  father, 
feeling  that  his  country  needed  his  services 
at  the  front,  left  his  family  and  the  peaceful 
pursuits  of  civil  life  and  went  to  the  front, 
where  for  four  years  he  fought  in  the  defense 
of  Old  Glory  and  the  vindication  of  the  prin- 
ciple of  central  government.  His  wife  died 
in  Manton  about  nine  years  ago,  but  he  still 
resides  at  that  place  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
nine  years,  making  his  home  with  a  daughter, 
enjoying  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who 
know  him. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  at  the  close  of 
the  Civil  war  was  brought  by  his  parents  to 
Berrien  county,  Michigan,  where  his  boy- 
hood days  were  passed.  He  was  permitted 
to  attend  school  during  the  winter  months, 
l)ut  during  the  summers  was  employed  on 
the  farm  and  in  getting  out  timber,  his  father 
being  engaged  in  the  shipping  of  the  latter. 


It  was  necessary  for  him  to  walk  to  New 
Troy,  two  and  a  half  miles  distant,  in  order 
to  attend  school,  but  he  was  of  a  studious 
disposition,  and  made  the  most  of  his  op- 
portunities, so  that  eventually  he  became  a 
fairly  well-informed  lad.  This  training  has 
since  been  liberally  supplemented  by  wide 
reading  and  a  close  observation  of  men  and 
events,  and  today  there  are  few  men  in  this 
locality  better  informed  in  a  general  sense 
than  is  the  subject.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
he  removed  with  his  parents  to  Indiana,  set- 
tling near  Warsaw,  in  Kosciusko  county, 
where  his  teens  were  passed,  partly  in  at- 
tendance at  school  and  in  the  capacity  of 
salesman.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  years  Mr. 
Hutzler  went  to  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan, 
where  he  was  engaged  as  a  dry  goods  sales- 
man, and  at  the  same  ti;ne  he  attended  night 
school  and  a  commercial  college.  Subse- 
quently he  came  to  Manton,  where  his  par- 
ents had  located  some  years  previously,  and 
shortly  afterward  entered  the  Union  Law 
College  at  Chicago,  it  being  his  intention  at 
that  time  to  take  up  the  practice  of  law  as 
his  life  work.  However,  because  of  impaired 
health,  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  these 
plans,  and  the  following  two  years  were 
passed  in  the  capacity  of  traveling  salesman, 
with  the  object  in  view  primarily  of  bene- 
fiting his  health.  Returning  to  Manton  in 
1892,  he  shortly  afterward  purchased  the 
Manton  Tribune  and  at  once  assumed  the 
active  management  of  the  paper.  He  is  a 
ready  and  facile  writer,  wielding  a  trenchant 
pen,  and  through  the  columns  of  the  Tribune 
he  has  exerted  a  powerful  and  far-reaching 
influence  on  all  questions  which  have  become 
of  public  importance.  By  pen  and  personal 
influence  he  has  been  an  earnest  advocate  of 
all   movements   which   have  tended  to  the 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


549 


betterment  of  the  people  of  his  community 
and  the  upbuilding  of  the  city,  materially  or 
morally.  Of  the  common  people,  he  is  a 
lover  of  justice  and  equity  and  a  foe  to  class 
legislation,  and  is  also  an  earnest  advocate 
of  municipal  ownership  of  public  institutions. 
In  politics*  he  is  a  stanch  Republican,  a  cham- 
pion of  the  protective  tariff  system  and  a 
standard  dollar  of  intrinsic  value.  Since  set- 
tling in  Manton  Mr.  Hutzler  has  several 
times  been  honored  by  his  party  with  offices 
of  trust  and  responsibility,  having  served 
several  years  as  village  clerk,  several  years 
as  township  clerk,  being  at  the  present  time  a 
member  of  the  common  council,  township 
clerk  and  deputy  state  oil  inspector  for  the 
twenty-first  district,  having  received  the  lat- 
ter appointment  at  the  hands  of  Governor 
Bliss  in  July,  1901. 

In  1895  ^^'-  Hutzler  was  united  in  mar- 
riage with  Miss  Lillian  Bostich,  of  Manton, 
and  they  have  three  children, 'Ralph  Emer- 
son, Wauneta  M.  and  Damon.  Fraternally 
Mr.  Hutzler  is  connected  w^ith  the  Knights 
of  the  Maccabees,  of  wdiich  he  is  past  com- 
mander ;  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, of  w^hich  he  is  past  master  workman ; 
the  Modern  Woodmen  of  America,  of  which 
he  is  one  of  the  managers,  and  with  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  of  which  he  is  chancellor 
commander. 


GEORGE  S.  GRAHAM. 

The  gentleman  whose  name  introduces 
this  article  is  one  of  the  oldest  living  settlers 
of  Wexford  county,  and  during  a  continuous 
residence  of  nearly  a  third  of  a  century  his 
life  has  been  very  closely  identified  with  the 


growth  and  development  of  the  section  of 
the  country  in  which  his  present  home  is 
situated.  George  S.  (iraham  is  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States  by  adoption,  ])eing  a  native 
of  Canada,  born  December  i,  1839,  in  Sim- 
coe  county,  Ontario.  His  father  being  a 
farmer,  he  w^as  reared  in  close  touch  with 
nature  and  early  became  accustomed  to  the 
labors  and  wholesome  experiences  wdiich  at- 
tend life  under  such  circumstances.  Until 
fifteen  years  old  he  lived  in  the  counties  of 
Simcoe  and  Holdeman,  but  at  that  age  came 
to  the  county  of  Perth,  where  he  remained 
until  changing  his  residence,  in  1871,  to 
Wexford  county,  Michigan.  On  coming  to 
this  country  Mr.  Graham  took  up  a  home- 
stead of  eighty  acres  in  section  10,  Clam  Lake 
towaiship,  and  at  once  addressed  himself  to 
the  task  of  its  improvement,  W'Orking  early 
and  late  to  provide  a  comfortable  livelihood 
for  his  family  and  prepare  a  home  in  which 
to  spend  his  declining  years.  By  w^ell-direct- 
ed  energy  he  soon  had  the  greater  part  of 
his  land  in  cultivation,  and  by  judiciously 
investing  his  surplus  earnings  from  time  to 
time  added  to  his  real  estate  until  he  now 
has  land  to  the  amount  of  two  hundred  acres, 
all  finely  situated  and  well  adapted  to  general 
farming  and  fruit  raising.  As  an  agricultur- 
ist Mr.  Graham  easily  ranks  with  the  most 
enterprising  and  successful  of  his  fellow-citi- 
7ens  similarly  engaged,  being  progressive  in 
his  methods  and  possessing  the  ability  and 
tact  to  take  advantage  of  circumtances  and 
mold  them  to  suit  his  purposes.  As  already 
stated,  he  was  one  of  Wexford's  early  pio- 
neers, and  not  long  after  his  arrival  he  as- 
sisted in  building  the  first  saw^-mill  at  Clam 
Lake,  besides  in  many  other  ways  contribut- 
ing to  the  early  growth  and  material 
advancement   of    the   village   and   adjacent 


550 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN, 


country.  His  industry,  directed  in  proper 
channels,  has  made  him  prosperous,  and,  as 
indicated  in  a  preceding  paragraph,  he  is 
now  well  situated  in  life  to  enjoy  everything, 
having  a  comfortable  home,  with  a  suffi- 
ciency of  this  world's  goods  to  enable  him 
to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  free  from 
care. 

On  the  29th  of  April,  1868,  in  Welling- 
ton county,  Ontario,  Mr.  Graham  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Eliza  Bridge,  who 
was  born  in  Lower  Canada,  July  22,  1850. 
To  this  union  seven  children  have  been  born, 
of  whom  the  following  are  living:  Thomas 
R.,  George  F.,  William  J.  and  Albert  E.  Of 
the  deceased  members  of  the  family  tliree 
died  when  quite  young.  A  daughter  by  the 
name  of  Maggie  M.  grew  to  maturity,  became 
the  wife  of  Andrew  Hawthorne  and  departed 
this  life  in  Missaukee  county,  Michigan,  on 
April  I  of  the  year  1900.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Graham  are  zealous  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian church,  and  their  daily  lives  beauti- 
fully exemplify  the  faith  which  they  profess. 
They  are  widely  known  for  their  many  vir- 
tures,  among  which  hospitality  is  worthy  of 
especial  mention.  Their  door  is  ever  open  to 
the  needy,  and  in  crossing  its  threshold  the 
guest  is  sure  of  a  welcome  which  at  once  puts 
liim  at  liis  ease  and  in  departing  carries  with 
him  sweet  remembrances  of  the  whole-souled 
host  and  hostess. 

In  his  relations  with  the  world  Mr.  Gra- 
ham is  ever  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to 
others  and  to  give  his  influence  and  material 
support  to  all  enterprises  for  the  general 
welfare  of  the  community.  Few  men  of  the 
county  are  as  well  known  or  as  popular.  His 
integrity  has  always  been  above  reproach 
and  his  name  is  synonymous  with  all  that  is 
correct  in  manhood  and  ennobling  in  citizen- 


ship. He  has  been  successful  beyond  the 
average,  and,  being  indebted  to  no  one  but 
himself  for  his  rise  in  the  world,  his  career 
may  be  studied  with  profit  by  the  young  man 
just  starting  on  the  road  to  fortune. 


CHARLES  H.  BOSTICIT. 

It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  describe  ade- 
ciuately  a  man  who  has  led  an  eminently 
active  and  useful  life  and  who  has  attained 
a  position  of  relative  distinction  in  the  com- 
munity with  which  his  interests  are  allied. 
But  biography  finds  its  most  perfect  justifica- 
tion, nevertlieless,  in  the  tracing  and  record- 
ing of  such  a  life  history.  It  is,  then,  with 
a  full  appreciation  of  all  that  is  demanded 
and  of  the  painstaking  scrutiny  that  must  be 
accorded  each  statement,  and  yet  with  a  feel- 
ing of  satisfaction,  that  the  writer  essays  the 
task  of  touching  briefly  upon  the  details  of 
such  a  record  as  has  been  that  of  the  honored 
subject  whose  life  now  comes  under  review — 
Charles  H.  Bostick,  of  Manton,  Wexford 
county,  Michigan. 

Charles  IL  Bostick  is  a  native  of  the 
state  of  Michigan,  having  first  seen  the  light 
of  day  at  New  Troy,  Berrien  county,  on  the 
18th  of  January,  1869.  His  parents  were 
Dr.  Charles  H.  and  Sarah  A.  (Merry- 
field)  Bostick,  the  former  a  native  of  New 
York  state,  born  May  13,  1825,  and  the  lat- 
ter born  August  29,  1825,  at  New  York. 
They  came  from  New  Troy,  Berrien  county, 
to  Manton  in  1880  for  the  purpose  of  visiting 
a  son.  Dr.  John  C.  Bostick,  and,  being  pleased 
with  the  country,  they  located  permanently 
at  Manton  in  1882.  The  father  continued 
in  the  active  practice  of  his  profession  up  to 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


551 


within  two  years  of  his  death,  when,  1)ecanse 
of  faiHng  heahh,  he  was  compelled  to  reHn- 
qnish  his  practice.  His  death  occurred  at 
Manton  August  5,  1896.  He  and  his  wife 
were  the  parents  of  twelve  children,  six  sons 
and  six  daughters,  of  whom  the  subject  was 
the  eleventh  in  the  order  of  birth. 

Charles  H.  Bostick  was  educated  pri- 
marily in  the  schools  of  New  Troy  and  later 
at  Manton,  having  accompanied  his  parents 
upon  their  removal  to  this  place  in  1882. 
Upon  completing  his  common  school  train- 
ing he  w-as  employed  for  about  three  years  in 
the  drug  store  of  his  brother,  Ur.  John  C. 
Bostick,  and  then  for  about  two  years  en- 
gaged at  various  occupations.  He  then  took 
a  c^u'se  of  study  in  the  department  of  phar- 
macy at  the  University  of  Michigan  at  Ann 
Arbor,  and  upon  his  return  home  was  again 
employed  in  his  brother's  drug  store,  where 
he  remained  until  1895,  when  he  purchased 
an  interest  in  the  business,  and  has  since 
had  the  active  management  of  the  store. 
He  is  a  thorough  and  practical  pharmacist, 
and  particularly  well-equipped  in  a  knowl- 
edge of  all  that  goes  to  the  making  of  a  capa- 
])le  prescription  druggist.  In  1891,  upon 
examination  by  the  state  board  of  phar- 
macy, he  was  given  a  certificate  as  a  pharma- 
cist. His  store  is  well  supplied  with  a  full 
line  of  drugs,  besides  which  he  keeps  a  large 
assortment  of  sundries  such  as  are  usually 
to  be  obtained  in  a  drug  store.  By  his  cour- 
teous manners  and  his  evident  desire  to  please 
his  customers  he  has  won  their  confidence 
and  commands  a  large  and  profitable  busi- 
ness. In  company  w^ith  his  brother,  Dr.  John 
C,  he  erected  the  block  known  as  the  Bost- 
wick  block,  one  of  the  most  substantial  and 
best  arranged  public  buildings  in  the  town. 

In  September,  1888,  Mr.  Bostwick  was 


united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Emma  L.  liar- 
ger,  who  was  born  October  3,  1870,  the 
daughter  of  Ezra  and  Mary  (Bayes) 
Harger.  Mrs.  Bostick  was  born  in  Colfax 
township,  this  county,  and  was  reared  there 
and  in  Manton.  To  her  union  with  Mr. 
Bostick  have  been  born  five  children — Ray 
E.,  Rex,  Kenneth,  Herbert  and  Mary.  Po- 
litically Mr.  Bostick  is  identified  with  the 
Republican  party,  in  which  he  takes  a  deep 
interest.  He  has  been  honored  by  his  fellow 
citizens  with  several  offices  of  public  trust 
and  responsibility,  having  been  village  treas- 
urer of  Manton  two  terms,  village  clerk  for 
tw^o  terms,  and  served  five  terms  as  village 
president.  In  all  these  positions  he  has  per- 
formed his  duties  in  a  manner  highly  cred- 
itable to  himself  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  his  fellow  citizens.  Fraternally  he  is  con- 
nected with  the  Maconic  fraternity,  holding 
membership  in  Manton  Lodge  No.  347.  He 
has  attained  the  thirty-second  degree  in  Ma- 
sonry in  Dewitt  Clinton  Consistory,  Ancient 
Accepted  Scottish  Rite,  and  belongs  to  Sala- 
din  Temple,  Ancient  Arabic  Order  Nobles  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine,  at  Grand  Rapids.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  Cedar  Creek  Eodge  No. 
J  47,  Knights  of  Pythias,  Drasmic  Order 
Knights  of  Khorassan  No  155,  of  Traverse 
City,  and  with  Manton  Tent  No.  220, 
Knights  of  the  Maccal>ees.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ijostick  are  deservedly  popular  and  are  the 
center  of  a  large  social  circle. 


JOHONNAS  ANDERSON. 

Among  the  Swedish-American  residents 
of  Clam  Lake  township  is  numbered  Johon- 
nas  Anderson,  who  has  made  his  home  in 


652 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


Wexford  county  for  almost  a  tliird  of  a 
century,  having  arrived  here  in  1872.  His 
interests  have  since  been  identified  with  this 
section  of  the  state  and  through  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  he  has  followed  farming, 
his  labors  being  attended  with  good  results. 
Mr.  Anderson's  natal  day  was  February 
7,  1842,  and  his  birth  place  Sweden.  In 
that  country  he  was  reared  and  educated, 
and  when  he  began  earning  his  own  living 
he  took  up  farm  work,  which  claimed  his 
attention  until  1871,  when,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-nine  years,  he  resolved  to  try  his  for- 
tune in  America.  His  fellow  countrymen 
who  had  come  to  the  United  States  had  sent 
back  favorable  reports  of  the  opportunities 
afforded  in  this  land  and  hoping  to  better 
his  financial  condition,  Mr.  Anderson  crossed 
the  briny  deep,  landing  in  New  York  city 
April  2^,  1 87 1.  For  one  year  he  remained 
in  the  east  and  in  the  spring  of  1872  arrived 
in  Wexford  county,  Michigan,  first  going  to 
the  village  of  Clam  Lake,  which  is  now  the 
city  of  Cadillac  and  the  county  seat.  He 
began  earning  his  livelihood  here  by  work- 
ing on  the  railroad  and  was  thus  employed 
for  several  months.  He  afterwards  worked 
in  saw-mills  for  about  a  year,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  settled  on  the  farm  on  which 
he  now  lives  in  Clam  Lake  township.  His 
savings  he  invested  in  a  tract  of  forty  acres 
of  land  and  with  characteristic  energy  he 
began  its  development.  It  was  not  long  be- 
fore richly  cultivated  fields  began  to  return 
good  harvests  and  the  annual  sales  of  his 
farm  products  brought  him  a  desirable  in- 
come. This  he  invested  in  more  land  and 
he  now  has  one  hundred  and  forty-five 
acres,  of  which  sixty  acres  lies  in  Clam  Lake 
township.  Upon  the  home  farm  he  has 
erected  good  buildings  and  everything  about 


the  place  is  kept  in  repair,  while  neatness 
and  thrift  characterize  his  labors  and  have 
been  the  foundation  upon  which  he  has 
builded  his  success. 

After  leaving  his  native  country  Mr. 
Anderson  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Elna  Nelson,  a  native  of  Sweden,  born  May 
6,  1850,  unto  them  have  been  born  eleven 
children.  Delia,  born  in  Sweden,  October 
35,  1871,  died  in  January,  1872;  Delia  (sec- 
ond), born  in  Cadillac  July  17,  1873,  ^^^^^  ^ 
teacher,  but  became  the  wife  of  Andrew 
Johnson,  a  lumber  inspector  at  Manistee, 
and  they  have  tw^o  children,  Alma  Elnora 
and  Arthur  Rudolph;  George  Antinian, 
born  July  25,  1875,  died  October  12,  1901  ; 
Selma  Charlotte,  born  November  10,  1877, 
is  the  wife  of  Carl  Olson,  a  boilermaker  of 
West  Superior,  Wisconsin,  and  they  have 
two  children,  Olive  Edna  and  an  infant 
daughter;  Victor  Bennett,  born  February  1, 
1880,  and  who  is  employed  in  the  Michigan 
Iron  \\''orks,  at  Cadillac,  married  Alfreda 
Precell  and  they  have  one  son,  Milburn  I're- 
cell ;  Pattie  Albertina,  born  January  25,  1882, 
is  the  wife  of  Jalmer  Johnson,  a  farmer  in 
Clam  Lake  township,  and  they  have  one 
son,  Harold  Raymond;  Jennie  Amelia, 
born  January  5,  1884,  died  April  2;^,  1884; 
l^avid  Paul,  born  February  20,  1885,  Gerda 
Elvira,  born  May  12,  1887,  Jennie  B.,  born 
April  29,  1889,  and  Alma  Olivia,  born  De- 
cember 9,  1 89 1,  are  at  home  and  are  attend- 
ing school.  Mrs.  Anderson  is  one  of  seven 
children  bom  to  her  parents,  Nels  and  Anna 
(Parson)  Parson,  both  parents  now  de- 
ceased, the  surviving  children  being  as  fol- 
lows:  Sena  is  the  wife  of  Nels  Parson,  a 
farmer  of  Hobart,  this  state;  Mrs.  Ander- 
son; Anna  is  the  wife  of  Frank  LaRose,  of 
Cadillac,  and  Olaf,  who  is  married  and  con- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


553 


ducts  a  farm  in  Clam  Lake  townshij).  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Anderson  hold  mem1)ership  in  the 
Swechsh  Lutheran  church  and  are  well 
known  people  of  this  community,  having  the 
regard  of  all  with  whom  they  have  come 
in  contact  and  the  friendship  of  many.  The 
hope  that  led  Mr.  Anderson  to  leave  his  na- 
tive land  and  seek  a  home  in  America  has 
])een  more  than  realized.  He  found  the  op- 
portunities he  sought — which,  by  the  way, 
are  always  open  to  the  ambitious,  energetic 
man — and  making  the  best  of  these  he  has 
steadily  worked  his  way  upward.  He  pos- 
sesses the  resolution,  perseverance  and  trust- 
w^orthiness  so  characteristic  of  people  of  his 
nation,  and  his  name  is  now  enrolled  among 
tlie  best  citizens  of  Wexford  county.  When 
he  began  life  in  Michigan  his  capital  consist- 
ed of  but  fifteen  dollars,  wdiile  today  he  pos- 
sesses one  hundred  and  forty-five  acres  of 
land,  and  not  a  dollar  of  indebtedness  against 
him. 


LUCAS  W.  GATES. 

For  thirty-six  years  Lucas  W.  Gates  has 
been  a  resident  of  Wexford  county,  and  is 
now  living  a  retired  life  in  Manton,  after 
many  years  of  active  connection  with  agri- 
cultural pursuits.  He  was  born  on  a  farm 
in  Fowler  township,  Trumbull  county,  Ohio, 
May  15,  1842,  a  son  of  Martin  R.  Gates,  a 
native  of  New  York  and  a  farmer  by  occupa- 
tion. The  mother  bore  the  maiden  name  of 
Electa  Rhodes,  and  both  parents  died  upon 
ihe  farm  in  Fowler  township,  where  their 
married  life  had  been  passed.  They  w^ere 
well-known  representatives  of  agricultural 
interests  in  Trumbull  county,  and  were  peo- 
ple of  the  highest  respectability. 


Lucas  W.  Ciates  was  the  youngest  of 
their  three  children.  He  was  reared  upon 
his  father's  farm,  early  becoming  familiar 
w^ith  the  work  of  the  fields  from  the  time  of 
early  spring  planting  until  the  crops  w^ere 
harvested  in  the  late  autumn.  He  was  still  at 
home  when,  in  April,  1863,  when  not  yet 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  he  offered  his  serv- 
ices to  the  government  in  defense  of  the 
Union  and  enlisted  in  the  Trumbull  Guards 
of  United  States  Infantry.  This  was  an  in- 
dependent company,  and  was  assigned  to 
post  duty  at  Gallipolis,  Ohio,  wdiere  they 
made  their  headquarters  until  the  2d  of  July, 
1865,  wdien  the  command  was  mustered  out, 
the  war  having  been  brought  to  a  successful 
termination. 

When  hostilities  between  the  North  and 
the  South  had  ceased  Mr.  Gates  returned  to 
his  father's  farm  in  Trumbull  county,  Ohio, 
and  there  remained  up  to  the  time  of  his 
marriage,  which  occurred  February  22, 
1867,  the  lady  of  his  choice  being  Miss  Eliza- 
l)eth  Burns,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Jehu 
Burns,  of  that  county.  She  was  born  in 
1842.  The  first  summer  after  his  marriage 
Mr.  Gates  cultivated  his  father's  land,  and 
then  came  to  Wexford  county,  Michigan, 
where  he  arrived  in  August,  1867.  He  en- 
tered a  homestead  claim  of  eighty  acres  on 
section  18,  Colfax  township,  took  up  his 
abode  thereon,  and,  with  characteristic  ener- 
gy, began  the  development  of  a  good  farm, 
transforming  the  wild  land  into  richly  pro- 
ductive fields.  For  twenty-four  years  he 
carried  on  general  agricultural  pursuits 
there,  and  in  the  fall  of  1891  sold  that  prop- 
erty and  removed  to  Manton,  where  he  has 
since  made  his  home.  He  improved  about 
fifty  acres  of  his  homestead.  When  he  came 
to  this  county  he  built  a  log  house,  and  later 


554 


Py  EX  FORD    COUNTY,  .MICHIGAN, 


replaced  it  by  a  more  modern  and  commo- 
dious frame  residence.  He  also  built  a  good 
barn  and  other  outbuildings  necessary  for 
the  shelter  of  grain  and  stock.  The  country 
was  entirely  new  and  wild,  and  he  was  one  of 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Wexford  county.  At 
the  time  of  his  arrival  Wexford  and  Mis- 
saukee counties  had  not  been  divided,  and 
one-half  of  the  entire  area  was  embraced 
within  the  boundaries  of  Colfax  township. 
Great  changes  have  occurred  as  the  years 
have  passed,  and  the  land  has  been  reclaimed 
for  farming  purposes,  becoming  the  place  of 
residence  of  a  contented  and  prosperous  pop- 
ulation. 

Unto  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gates  have  been  born 
two  children,  Rupert  D.  and  Clifford  M. 
Mr.  Gates  belongs  to  O.  P.  Morton  I'ost 
No.  54,  Grand  Army  of  the  Repu1)lic,  and 
is  a  member  of  Manton  Tent  No.  220, 
Knights  of  the  Maccabees.  He  has  always 
been  a  stanch  supporter  of  the  Republican 
party  since  attaining  his  majority,  and  upon 
that  ticket  he  has  been  elected  to  a  number  of 
local  offices.  While  living  in  Colfax  town- 
ship he  served  for  many  years  as  township 
clerk,  and  since  coming  to  Manton  he  has 
been  a  meml)er  of  the  citv  ..council. 


WALTER  S.  WILLIAMS. 

The  gentleman  to  a  brief  review  of  whose 
life  and  characteristics  the  reader's  attention 
is  herewith  directed  is  among  the  foremost 
business  men  of  Wexford  county,  Michigan, 
and  has  by  his  enterprise  and  progressive 
methods  contributed  in  a  material  way  to 
the  industrial  and  commercial  advancement 
of  the  county  in  which  he  resides.     He  has 


in  the  course  of  an  honorable  career  been 
most  successful  in  the  business  enterprises 
with  which  he  has  been  connected,  and  is 
well  deserving  of  mention  among  the  repre- 
sentative men  of  this  section  of  the  state. 

Walter  S.  Williams  was  born  in  Glouces- 
tershire, England,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1856, 
and  is  the  son  of  James  and  Paulina  (Pritch- 
ard)  Williams.  They  w^ere  the  parents 
of  a  large  family  of  children,  seven  of  whom 
grew  to  maturity,  and  of  wliom  the  subject 
was  one  of  the  older  members.  When  he 
was  about  a  year  old  his  parents  removed 
to  America,  locating  in  Canada,  where  they 
lived  about  seven  years.  Not  being  satisfied 
with  conditions  there  they  removed  to  the 
United  States,  locating  in  Aurora,  Illinois, 
where  they  resided  about  a  year  and  a  half, 
when  they  removed  to  Montague,  Muskegon 
county,  Michigan.  ^  After  a  residence  there 
of  seven  or  eight  years  they  again  changed 
their  abode,  this  time  to  Shelby,  Oceana 
county.  In  1884  the  subject  moved  to  Man- 
ton,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside. 
James  Williams  was  a  man  of  enterprise  and 
progress! veness,  and  is  credited  with  having 
started  the  first  store  at  Shelby,  wdiere  he  was 
also  engaged  in  the  saw^-mill  business,  l)eing 
assisted  in  the  latter  business  for  several  yccirs 
by  the  subject.  The  father  was  highly  re- 
spected and  universally  esteemed  because  of 
his  many  estimable  personal  qualities,  and  his 
death  occurred  in  Shell)y  at  the  age  of  al)out 
sixty-one  years. 

Alxnit  the  time  Walter  S.  Williams  at- 
tained his  majority  he  took  charge  of  the 
saw-mill  business  on  his  own  account  and 
operated  it  in  this  way  about  three  years. 
On  coming  to  Manton  in  1884  he,  in  com- 
pany with  a  brother,  George  F.  Williams, 
rented  a  saw-mill  and  engaged  in  the  manu- 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  AH  CHI  CAN. 


555 


facturing  business.  When  lie  assumed 
charge  of  the  business  at  Shelby  he  also  as- 
sumed a  heavy  indebtedness  which  had  been 
incurred  by  his  father.  The  subject,  how- 
ever, devoted  himself  assiduously  to  the  ob- 
ject of  paying  off  this  incumbrance,  which  he 
succeeded  in  doing  to  the  last  dollar,  and  at 
the  time  he  came  to  Manton  he  was  the  pos- 
sessor of  but  ten  dollars,  which  he  at  once 
paid  down  on  the  purchase  of  a  building  lot 
in  the  village,  and  on  this  lot  his  present 
comfortable  and  commodious  residence  now 
stands.  Upon  engaging  in  business  here 
with  his  brother,  George  F.,  they  were  for 
some  time  engaged  in  manufacturing  differ- 
ent articles,  but  about  a  year  and  a  half  later 
commenced  the  manufacture  of  shoe-last 
blocks.  They  conducted  operations  in  the 
rented  mill  for  a  short  time  and  then  pur- 
chased a  small  mill.  They  gave  their  sole 
and  undivided  attention  to  the  business,  do- 
ing all  the  labor  themselves,  Init  at  length 
tlie  business  grew  to  such  proportions  that 
they  were  compelled  to  hire  other  workmen, 
and  made  additions  to  the  plant  from  time 
to  time,  until  at  the  present  time  they  own 
the  largest  plant  in  the  world  devoted  ex- 
clusively to  the  manufacture  of  rough  turned 
last  blocks.  The  factories  consume  a  vast 
amount  of  hardwood  timber,  pay  out  a  large 
sum  of  money  in  wages  and  in  many  ways 
have  proven  a  direct  and  permanent  benefit 
to  the  community. 

Mr.  Williams  has  of  recent  years  been 
interested  to  some  extent  in  other  lines  of 
enterprise  and  in  1897  he  and  his  brother 
George  F.  incorporated  under  the  name  of 
the  Williams  Brothers  Company  and  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacturing  and  mercantile 
business.  About  two  years  later  they  pur- 
chased the  Truman  Brothers'  stock  of  gen- 
34 


eral  merchandise  and,  under  the  name  of 
Williams  Brothers  continued  business  until 
September,  1902,  when  the  Williams  Mer- 
cantile Company  was  incorporated.  At 
that  time  the  subject  was  elected  president 
and  still  holds  that  office.  Mr.  Williams  also 
owns  in  his  own  right  eighty  acres  of  good 
land  in  this  count};;,  and  the  firm  of  Williams 
Brothers  Company  own  about  five  thousand 
acres  of  as  good  timber  land  as  is  to  be  found 
in  Michigan. 

The  subject  has  always  taken  a  deep  in- 
terest in  local  affairs  and  in  state  and  nation- 
al politics  casts  his  vote  and  influence  in 
favor  of  the  Republican  party,  believing  the 
principles  of  that  party  to  be  those  most  con- 
ducive to  the  welfare  of  the  American  peo- 
ple. He  takes  an  intelligent  and  abiding  in- 
terest in  all  questions  before  the  public  and 
casts  his  vote  with  his  honest  convictions. 
His  fraternal  affiliation  is  with  the  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons. 

On  the  21st  day  of  January,  1881,  Mr. 
Williams  was  united  in  the  holy  bonds  of 
matrimony  with  Miss  Lydia  Colburn,  the 
ceremony ,  being  performed  at  Shelby,  this 
state.  Mrs.  Williams  is  a  daughter  of  Will- 
iam and  Jane  Colburn,  and  was  born  at 
Missouri  on  the  21st  day  of  September,  1862. 
This  union  has  been  blessed  by  the  birth  of 
three  children,  Maud,  Abbie  and  Mart. 
Longfellow  said,  'The  talent  of  success  is 
nothing  more  than  doing  what  you  can 
do  well  and  doing  well  whatever  you  do, 
without  any  thought  of  fame.''  Illustrative 
of  this  sentiment  has  been  the  life  of  the  sub- 
ject and  his  career  should  serve  as  an  incen- 
tive and  an  inspiration  for  others.  He  is 
a  man  of  marked  domestic  tastes,  whose  life 
is  devoted  to  his  wife,  children  and"  home. 
Mrs.  Williams  is  a  lady  possessed  of  quali- 


556 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


ties  which  have  retained  her  the  love  and 
grateful  appreciation  of  her  loved  ones  and 
won  for  her  the  sincere  regard  and  esteem 
of  a  large  circle  of  warm  and  admiring 
friends. 


HENRY  M.  BILLINGS. 

The  history  of  Michigan  is  not  an  ancient 
one.  It  is  the  record  of  the  steady  growth 
of  a  community,  planted  in  the  wilderness 
in  the  last  century  and  reaching  its  magni- 
tude of  today  without  other  aids  than  those 
of  continued  industry.  Each  county  has  its 
share  in  the  story  of  every  county  that  can 
lay  claim  to  some  incident  or  transaction 
which  goes  to  make  up  the  history  of  a  com- 
monwealth. After  all,  the  history  of  a 
state  is  but  the  record  of  the  doings  of  its 
people,  among  whom  the  pioneers  and  their 
sturdy  descendants  occupy  places  of  no  sec- 
ondary importance.  The  story  of  the  plain 
common  people  who  constitute  the  moral 
bone  and  sinew^  of  the  state  should  ever  at- 
tract attention  and  prove  of  interest  to  all 
true  lovers  of  this  kind.  In  the  life  story 
of  Henry  M.  Billings,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  there  are  no  striking  chapters  or 
startling  incidents.  It  is  merely  the  record 
of  a  life  true  to  its  highest  ideals  and  fraught 
with  much  that  should  stimulate  the  youth 
just  starting  in  the  world  as  an  independent 
factor. 

Henry  M.  Billings,  of  Cedar  Creek  town- 
ship, Wexford  county,  is  a  native  of  New 
York.  He  was  born  in  Lebanon,  Columbia 
county,  August  29,  1839.  His  parents  were 
Jonathan  B.  and  Mary  Jane  (Elmore)  Bill- 
ings, the  former  born  in  Vermont  and  the 
latter  in  New   York.     They  were  married 


in  the  latter  state  and  some  time  thereafter 
moved  to  Michigan,  locating  at  Detroit, 
where  he  engaged  in  the  produce  business. 
It  proved  a  very  successful  venture  and  he 
continued  in  it  until  he  had  accumulated  a 
competence.  Detroit  was  their  home  during 
all  the  remaining  years  of  their  lives.  His 
death  occurred  about  the  time  he  had 
reached  the  patriarchial ,  age  of  three  score 
and  ten  years,  while  she  survived  him  near- 
ly twenty  years,  expiring  in  the  eighty-fifth 
year  of  her  age.  They  were  the  parents  of 
four  children,  of  whom  Henry  M.  was  the 
second. 

The  first  eighteen  years  of  the  life  of 
Henry  M.  Billings  were  spent  in  his  native 
county  of  New  York,  where  he  secured  a 
good  common  school  education.  In  1855  he 
came  to  Michigan  and  assisted  his  father  in 
the  conduct  of  his  produce  business  in  the 
city  of  Detroit.  He  continued  in  the  busi- 
ness until  after  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
of  the  Rebellion  when,  in  September,  1862, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  Company 
D,  Sixth  Michigan  Volunteer  Infantry,  and 
served  until  the  close  of  the  war,  nearly  three 
years.  He  saw  considerable  service,  took 
part  in  a  number  of  important  battles,  among 
them  that  of  Gettysburg,  after  which  he 
was  put  upon  detached  duty  in  the  office 
of  the  medical  department  at  Washington, 
where  he  remained  until  he  was  mustered 
out  of  the  service,  in  the  fall  of  1865.  While 
in  Washington  he  was  stricken  with  typhoid 
fever.  For  weeks  he  suffered  with  the  dread 
disease,  his  life,  like  that  of  the  nation  at 
the  time,  being  as  it  were  poised  in  the  bal- 
ance. He  escaped  death,  but  it  was  a  long 
time  before  he  was  fully  restored  to  health. 

On  being  discharged  from  the  army  Mr. 
Billings  came  to  Byron,  Shiawassee  county, 


WEXFORD    COUNTY,  MICHIGAN. 


557 


Michigan,  and  there  engaged  in  the  mer- 
cantile business  for  about  two  years.  There, 
on  December  24,  1861,  he  married  Emma 
C.  H.  Allen,  of  Byron,  who  died  November 
24,  1867.  They  had  one  son,  Wilbur  Allen, 
born  November  19,  1863,  who  now  resides 
in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  On  the  25th  day  of 
May,  1869,  Mr.  Billings  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Carrie  A.  Roberts,  a  native 
of  Shiawassee  county,  born  May  16,  1850. 
ller  parents  were  Isaac  L.  and  Harriet  R. 
Roberts,  natives  of  New  York,  who  came 
to  Michigan  in  1840,  located  near  Byron, 
where  they  resided  during  the  remaining 
years  of  their  life. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Billings  are  the  parents  of 
two  daughters,  Stena  P.  and  Edna.  The 
former  is  the  wife  of  M.  P.  Phillips,  of  Ban- 
croft, Michigan,  wdiile  the  latter  makes  her 
home  with  her  parents  in  Manton.  In 
1872  the  subject  went  to  Grand  Traverse 
county,  where  he  entered  the  employ  of  Hul- 
bert  Brothers  as  cashier  and  bookkeeper,  re- 
maining in  their  service  two  years.  On  the 
opening  of  the  station  of  the  Grand  Rapids 
&  Indiana  Railroad  at  Fife  Lake  he  was 
offered  and  accepted  the  position  of  station 
agent,  which  he  held  for  two  years,  when  he 
w^as  given  a  place,  as  accountant,  in  the  of- 
fice of  the  auditor  of  the  road  at  Grand 
Rapids.  He  faithfully  served  the  company 
at  the  latter  place  and  various  points  along 
the  line  of  the  road.  A  position  being  of- 
fered him  by  the  Grand  lYunk  Railroad,  at 
Bancroft,    Michigan,    he    accepted    it    and 


served  that  company  as  station  agent  at  that 
point  until  1882,  when  he  resigned  the  posi- 
tion and  came  to  Manton  and  engaged  in 
the  lumber  business  with  Closson  &  Gilbert 
lor  a  number  of  years.  During  all  of  these 
changes  from  one  locality  to  another  his  fam- 
ily continued  to  reside  and  he  made  his  home 
at  Bancroft.  He  lived  in  that  place  altogeth- 
er about  eighteen  years.  In  1886,  being  em- 
ployed in  Manton  as  bookkeeper,  he  moved 
his  family  to  that  place  and  there  they  have 
since  resided.  Being  the  owner  of  a  nice 
tract  of  land,  forty  acres  in  extent,  adjoining 
the  village  of  Manton,  he  platted  one-fourth 
of  it  as  an  addition  to  the  village  and  on  the 
other  thirty  he  runs  a  poultry  farm  and  dairy. 
He  has  made  the  business  quite  profitable, 
despite  the  fact  that  he  has  very  little  time 
to  devote  to  it.  Since  living  in  Manton  he 
has  held  the  position  of  township  and  village 
treasurer,  each  three  years,  and  takes  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  all  that  relates  to  the  welfare 
of  the  locality.  Mr.  Billings  is  a  member  of 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  He  is  a 
man  who  during  the  course  of  his  long  and 
eventful  career  has  accomplished  much  good 
not  only  for  his  own  household  but  for  many 
others.  He  has  made  the  world  brighter 
and  better  for  his  presence  and  when  the 
time  comes  for  him  to  cease  life's  labors  and 
join  the  great  majority,  he  will  be  sadly 
missed  by  those  whose  burdens  he  lightened 
and  into  whose  life  he  brought  so  much  of 
kindness  and  love. 


^!r  ^k'  !  l^^:^^  'M^--'^>[^^^^^^ 


fy--;^^:  ^^TY; -h::tS5^.fejfc^^