History of Michigan

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HISTORY

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MICHIGAN

BY

CHARLES MOORE

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO

THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1915

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History of Michigan

Stephen Olin Johnson. Detroit has produced and attracted from
other parts of the country many industrial leaders, men of preeminent
executive and organizing abihty, and the industrial prosperity of the city
largely represents the practical ideals and character of such men, promi-
nent among whom for nearly thirty years has been Stephen Olin Johnson,
president of the Penberthy Injector Company. From a small plant, hardly
more than a shop on a by-street, the Penberthy Injector Company has
developed until it is recognized as one of the largest individual industrial
plants of Detroit, and in the manufacture of injectors it is the largest in
the world.

While the record of this enterprise is in itself sufficient to make Mr.
Johnson known as one of the able business men of a great industrial
center, he has also played a prominent part in the wider fields of business
in that city. Most persons acquainted with the recent industrial history
of Detroit will recall the important part taken by the Employers' Associa-
tion in making Detroit an "open shop" manufacturing center and a brief
recital of facts should be stated in this article. Up to 1902 Detroit was,
industrially, in the complete grip of the unions, and strikes were called
by delegates on the slightest pretext. In that year the Brass Manufac-
turers' Association, of which Mr. Johnson was president, and the Metal
Manufacturers' Association were amalgamated under the name of Detroit
Employers' Association, of which organization Mr. Johnson became the
first vice president. With five other prominent manufacturers, com-
posing the executive officers of the organization, they worked at different
periods for five years with later organizations in settling labor disputes,
until finally, on the amalgamation of the two associations, they came out
boklly and declared that 13etroit was henceforth to be an open shop town.
The details of the subsequent struggle cannot be told here, but it is a fact
that through the efforts of Mr. Johnson and his associates open shop con-
ditions were established, and have since been maintained by the Employ-
ers' Association. The value of this work had the broadest application to
Detroit's remarkable prosperity in the past decade. It should be remem-
bered that about the time the Employers' Association was organized the
automobile industry was in its infancy, and there has been no one fact of
greater importance in Detroit's growing prestige as a center of automobile
manufacture than in the maintenance of the open shop principles in labor
circles. i\nd what was done by this comparatively small group of men
working together in Detroit was not without its beneficial effect on industry
throughout the state, and extended to many manufacturing cities in the
immediate vicinitv of Detroit.

Stephen Olin Johnson is a native of Massachusetts, born at Westfield,
lime 15, 1847, and descended from notable American ancestors. His

1215

1216 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

great-grandfather, Samuel Johnson, was born in Massachusetts, in which
state he remained until his death, and served in the war of the American
Revolution. Grandfather William Johnson, a native of Massachusetts,
married Parmelia Dudley, a descendant of Sir Thomas Dudley, who was
the second colonial governor of Massachusetts. In 1630 he emigrated
from England to Alassachusetts as deputy governor under Winthrop.
He served thirteen years as deputy governor and was four times governor
of the colonies, in 1634-40-45-50. The father of the Detroit manufac-
turer was Philo Johnson, who was born in Massachusetts and who married
Eliza English. Both died in Brooklyn, New York', where Philo Johnson
for many years had been prosperously engaged in merchandising.

Mr. Johnson's education was acquired in the public schools of New
York, and his business career began in 1865, at the age of eighteen. He
was employed in the counting room of a large New York tobacco manu-
factory until 1871, and that experience was followed by his connection
with a large toy manufacturing concern in New York. In 1873 he was
given an interest in the latter business and continued with the house until
1877. Failing health terminated his career as a toy manufacturer in New
York city, otherwise he might probably have continued in business in the
eastern metropolis throughout his active years. For recuperation he went
to Denver, Colorado, where he lived several years. In 1879 he began
manufacturing and handling toys and kindred lines of goods in Denver,
where his enterprise continued on a modest scale until 1884. In that
year he located in Detroit, which has since been his permanent home.

In Detroit Mr. Johnson became manager of the Detroit Knitting and
Corset Works, and directed the business management of that concern
until 1887. In the meantime, in 1S86, Mr. Johnson had become associated
with Homer Pennock and William Penberthy, three men who organized
and incorporated the Penberthy Injector Company for the purpose of
manufacturing an improved form of steam injector invented by Mr. Pen-
berthy. Of the new company Mr. Johnson became secretary and treas-
urer. The Penberthy injector was by all odds superior to anything at the
time in use, but the three associates had only moderate capital, and they
proceeded cautiously with investment in plant and machinery, but exploited
the sale and distribution of the product most vigorously. In a few
years the Penberthy Injector had an established reputation as a mechanical
appliance, and the factory at Detroit grew in proportion. Since that time
it has become the largest concern of its kind in the world, and supplies
all markets with the Penberthy Injector and other steam appliances. Its
plant at Detroit occupies several acres of ground, with a large branch
situated at Windsor, Canada. For fifteen years Mr. Johnson was presi-
dent and general manager of the plant and company, and to his manage-
ment during that period has been due much of the success of the enter-
prise. His son, Homer S. Johnson, who succeeded him as manager, has
continued in that position ever since with wonderful success.

Besides his influential leadership and work with the Detroit Employ-
ers' Association, as already related, Mr. Johnson is a member of the Detroit
Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Detroit
Athletic Club, the Old Club, the Au Sable Fishing Club, and in Masonry
has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite and belongs to the Mystic
Shrine.

In New York City on June 5, 1873, occurred the marriage of Mr.
Johnson to Miss Lilla Louise, daughter of George and Sarah (Bissell)
Sturtevant of New York City. Mrs. Johnson is a niece of George H.
Bissell, the discoverer of petroleum in America, and who donated to Dart-
mouth College the gymnasium which bears his name on the cam[nis of that

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1217

institution. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are: Homer S. John-
son, Alice G. Johnson, Claire Olin Johnson, and Charles B. Johnson.

MoTT Emmons Sherwood. The railway service has always drawn
into its ranks many of the keenest and ablest men, and though the in-
dustry is one requiring the closest discipline and the aggregate em-
ployes number thousands, advancement is quite sure to come to the
deserving, and in that business more than in any other promotion means
efficiency and proved and tested worth. Of the better known men in the
service of the Michigan Central lines through Michigan, perhaps none
has had more rapid advancement than Mr. Sherwood, now master me-
chanic in the Michigan Central Shops at Jackson Junction.

Mott Emmons Sherwood was born at Mount Vernon, New York,
November 26, 1868, a son of George F. and Katherine (Emmons)
Sherwood, who now live at Jackson. The father is a cabinet maker by
trade and for a number of years was an engineer on steamships plying
across the Atlantic Ocean.

When Mr. Sherwood was seven years old in 1875, the family located
in Jackson, and in that city he grew up and attended the local schools
until he was sixteen, when he quit to enter the shops of the Michigan
Central Railway at Jackson Junction. During the three years in the
shops at that time he was employed chiefly as an engine wiper and
"caller." After that for some vears he was out of the railway service,
and for a time was engineer for the Jackson Electric Light & Power
Company. On re-entering the Michigan Central employ twenty-three
years ago he began as a machinist and his record since that time is one
of special interest and is given in full as follows : Beginning as a
machinist October i, 1890, at one dollar and seventy-five cents per day,
promoted to g3.ng boss at three dollars and a half a day on May i, 1903 ;
promoted assistant general foreman at ninety-five dollars a month, Feb-
ruary I, 1905; wages raised to one hundred and five dollars a month,
January i, 1906; again increased to one hundred and tv^-enty dollars a
month, December i, 1906: promoted to general foreman at one hundred
and fifty-five dollars a month on September i, 1907; wages increased to
one hundred and seventy-five dollars a month j\Iay i, 1909, and to two
hundred dollars a month July i, 1909. Promoted from general fore-
man at two hundred dollars a month to master mechanic at two hundred
and fifty dollars a month August i, 1910; and his salary raised to two
hundred and seventy-five dollars on June i. 1912.

On December 2, 1889, Mr. Sherwood married ■Miss Inez Eva Isbell,
of Jackson. They have one son, William Franklin Sherwood, born
March 4, 1891. Mr. Sherwood is affiliated with the Elks and is a member
of the blaster Mechanics Association.

William H. Presser. At the time of his death on September 12,
1912, the late William H. Presser was one of the foremost manufacturers
and citizens of Saginaw. For thirty years he had followed an independ-
ent career as a manufacturer in that city, and had been a resident there
since 1876. Due to his initiative and exceptional ability in the manage-
ment of complicated affairs, Saginaw is now the seat of the important
industry known as the Michigan Saw Company.

William H. Presser was born at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and at the
time of his death was seventy years of age. On the paternal side his
grandparents were of German stock, and came to America and settled in
Pennsylvania, many years ago. The mother's people were Pennsylvania
Dutch and Irish, and well known in the early history of Pennsylvania.

1218 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

After leaving school, William H. Presser learned the trade of saw-maker,
and in 1S62 began his regular work at the trade in Pittsburgh, then went
west and located at St. Louis, and after several years of varied experience
came to Saginaw in 1876. He was employed with the Michigan Saw
Works until that industry was destroyed by fire, and in 1882 he started
the W. H. Presser Saw Works as his individual enterprise. This rapidly
grew to a large proportion and in 1893 was adopted the name of Michigan
Saw Company and Mr. Presser continued as sole owner until his death.
'The company has a large output with a standard reputation, and the
plant employs about ten expert workmen the year around.

During his career in Saginaw, Mr. Presser served as school inspector
of the city, was an active Republican in politics, belonged to the various
Masonic bodies, and is especially well remembered for the quiet industry
and effective citizenship, which marked his career here throughout nearly
forty years. He served three years in the Union army as private during
the Civil war.

At Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1864, William H. Presser married
Miss Amelia B. Aiken. Mrs. Presser died April 14, 1914. Three sons
and two daughters were born to their union. Mrs. Gertrude Davies,
who was born at Pittsburgh, resides in Detroit, and has two sons, George
and Frank. Charles H. Presser, who was born in Pittsburgh in 1869,
became an expert workman under the direction of his father, took part
in the management of the concern, and is now one of the proprietors
of the ^Michigan Saw Company; he is married but has no children. Wil-
liam R. Presser, who is also connected with the saw factory, was born
at Pitt.sburgh in 1870, and is married. Frank Presser, who was born
in 1873, resides in Montreal, Canada, and is unmarried. ]Mrs. L. W.
Pease, born at Pittsburgh in 1881, resides in Chicago.

Gf.orge a. Vandercook. Sixteen years of conscientious public serv-
ice have made the name of Mr. Vandercook familiar to the people of
Jackson, and in his present office as city treasurer he has proved himself
fully qualified to handle its affairs, and has brought to his work the busi-
ness sagacity so necessary in an office of this responsibility.

The city of Jackson has been his home all his life, and he was born
there December 3, 1875, a son of Alfred E. and Catherine (Alundy)
\'andcrcook, both of whom are now deceased. Mr. Vandercook had the
advantages of a liberal education, and from the Jackson public schools
entered the Notre Dame University at South Bend, Indiana. One of his
experiences in early manhood was as an employe in the circulation de-
partment of several large city newspapers. For the past sixteen years
he has been in the service of the city. Thirteen years of this time has
been spent in the city treasurer's office as clerk for six years, then as
deputy four years, and for the past three he has held the regular elective
office, having been twice honored with this position by the people of his
home community. In politics he is a Democrat, and in the spring of .1913
was returned to his present office by twice as many votes as were given
his progressive opponent.

Mr. \"andcrcook is a Knight Templar Mason and .Shrincr, and also
belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1905 he
married Miss Nellie Schultz, of Jackson.

T'-DWAKD J. Ryeusox. l!(jrn in New \'ork City, July 15, 18(11, Edward
J. Ryerson comes from an old family of original Dutch stock, among
the first settlers in what was then New Amsterdam and vicinity. The

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1219

Ryerson family was founded in the United States by Martin Ryerson,
who came from Holland in 1646 to New Amsterdam. He married Ann
Rappelja, who had the distinction of being the first white child born
on Long Island. Her parents, who were of French Huguenot stock,
emigrated from France to America in 1623. Mr. Ryerson is vice presi-
dent of the Standard Manufacturing Company.

On October 15, 1891, Mr. Ryerson married Julia E. Webb, daughter
of the late Charles E. Webb, of Jackson. They have one son : Creighter
Webb Ryerson.

Benjamin Fr.\nklin Loder. The first hardware business to pros-
per in the village of Lapeer was conducted under the Loder name, and
as merchants, financiers, land owners, and in important civic relations,
the Loder brothers have been prominent since almost the beginning of
commercial things in this part of the state. Benjamin F. Loder was
for twenty years at the head of the hardware establishment founded by
his brother, and for the past ten years has been best known in the com-
munity as a banker and president of the Lapeer Savings Bank.

The Lapeer Savings Bank was organized in 1902, and the number
of its state charter is 271. It occupies a handsome building known as
the Lapeer Savings Bank building. The Lapeer Savings Bank erected
the first story of the bank building, also the Lockwood store. Mr. Lock-
wood is a tenant of the bank and rents the first floor space except that
used by the Lapeer Savings Bank. The second story of the building
was purchased by the Masons and erected by them. The building itself
is distinctly creditable to the city and a monument to the enterprise of
its builder. The Lapeer Savings Bank was established primarily as a
savings institution, though it offers to the public general banking facili-
ties, and its assets and the names of its responsible officers and directors
are a splendid guarantee of its strength and also of the conservative yet
progressive administration of its affairs. The bank began with a capital
of twenty-five thousand dollars, but this was subsequently increased to
fifty thousand dollars capital, all paid in, while the additional liability
of the stockholders is also fifty thousand dollars, and the surplus fund
is ten thousand dollars. Few banking institutions anywhere have main-
tained ratio between its capital, stockholders liability and surplus and its
volume of deposits. The Lapeer Savings Bank had more than four
hundred thousand dollars deposited in August, 1913, and the record of
the deposits is an excellent illustration of its growth. In February, 1903,
the bank had about thirty-six thousand dollars, increased to nearly one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars in March, 1905, and every successive
two years since then has seen a steady increase in the aggregate of money
deposited for safe keeping with this institution. The officers and direc-
tors of the Lapeer Savings Bank are: B. F. Loder, who has been active
head and president from the beginning; Matthias Caley, vice-president;
George R. Buck, cashier; Robert L. Baldwin, assistant cashier; and
directors: Stephen Slater, S. D. Brown, John H. Dodds, J. Herbert Cole,
Henian P. Kelley and J. E. Buck.

Benjamin Franklin Loder was born January 6, 1845, in Northampton
county, Pennsylvania, a son of Louis L. and Mary (Gardner) Loder.
His parents were born in Warren county, New Jersey, and his father was
a blacksmith by trade, but later in life turned his attention to farming
and became prosperous, at the same time taking a part in local politics
and serving in the office of justice of the peace. Politically he waS a
Democrat. His death occurred in 1876. and both he and his wife now
rest in Mount Bethel cemetery in Northampton county, Pennsylvania.

1220 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Of their five children three are deceased, and the other survivor is Cath-
erine, wife of John McDonald, of Stone Church, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Loder acquired an education in the public schools of Northamp-
ton, and at the age of fifteen began to work on a farm in New Jersey.
Two years later, in 1868, he came west and at Lapeer entered the employ
of liis brother, William J. Loder, who was the pioneer hardware merchant
and tinner of that community. Under his brother's direction he learned
the trade of tinner, and continued for six years in his employ. William
J. Loder then formed the partnership of Loder & Sutton, which was one
of the successful firms in business at Lapeer until 1881. B. F. Loder
throughout this time remained with the firm, and then bought out the
business, and was himself one of the foremost merchants of Lapeer
from 1881 until 1901, when he sold out. The following two years were
spent in a well-earned rest, but he returned to business as the organizer
and active head of the Lapeer Savings Bank, and is still closely identified
with the larger phases of business in this part of the state.

At the same time he has acquired large interests as a farmer and
land owner, and has had an active part in the developing of Lapeer as
a business center and is a hard worker for civic improvements along all
lines. Mr. Loder has taken the Knight Templar degree in Masonry and
belongs to the Flint Commandery. He is a trustee and elder in the Presby-
terian church, and has been officially identified with that society many
years. On February 24, 1870, occurred his marriage to Miss Laurentia
Clark, daughter of Major Clark. Mr. Loder is a Democrat, and has
held the offices of alderman and city tax collector at Lapeer.

Harmon Eugene Morehou.sk. In June, 191 1, the thriving manu-
facturing interests of Jackson, Michigan, were given impetus by the
addition of a new and energetic concern, the Watts-Morehouse Com-
pany, manufacturers of corn shellers and dealers in dairy and builders'
supplies, buggies, carriages and agricultural implements. Although in
the field for only three years, this industry has steadily grown and
developed, and today is one of the leading enterprises of the city. Much
of the success of this concern must be accredited to the progressive and
persevering efl^orts of its young treasurer and general manager, Harmon
Eugene Morehouse, whose rise in the business world has come through
steady application rather than through any happy chance or adventitious
circumstances. Mr. Morehouse is a native son of Jackson county, Michi-
gan, having been born in a log house on a farm in Leoni township,
November 4, 1880, a son of the Rev. Frank Eugene and Ida A. (Watts)
Morehouse, and a grandson of Ezra Morehouse, who came to Michigan
from the state of New York at an early day.

Rev. Frank Eugene Morehouse was born in Hillsdale county, Michi-
gan, August 24, 1854, and after completing the curriculum of the public
schools became a student of Albion College, following his graduation
from which he embarked in agricultural pursuits. Later he entered the
ministry of the Methodist church, and for many years was a zealous
])reacher of the gospel, holding charges in various parts of Michigan.
He died at Jackson, January 16, 1908. Fie married Ida A. Watts, a
sister of William Watts, the president of the Watts-Morehouse Com-
pany. She was born in 1857, iii the same log house in Leoni township
in which the birth of her son, Harmon E., took place. Five children
were born to Rev. Frank E. and Ida A. Morehouse, namely : Jessie,
who is the wife of Ernest Showerman, of Jackson ; Maud, who is the
wife of DeForest Sanford, of Jackson; Edna, who is the wife of Arthur
A. Nagler, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a student in Harvard College;
Harmon Eugene; and Paul, who lives with his brother at Jackson.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1221

Harmon E. Morehouse spent his boyhood on the farm on which he
was born, and after the age of ten years his youth was passed in the
villages of Waterloo and Napoleon, in Jackson county. He first attended
a public school in the country, and later the village schools of Waterloo
and Napoleon, finally entering the Northern Indiana Normal School, of
\'alparaiso, Indiana, now known as Valparaiso University. There he
completed a business course which included bookkeeping and stenog-
raphy, and his first position was that of a stenographer for the Jackson
Fire Clay Company, of Jackson, now known as the American Sewer
Pipe Company. He continued as its stenographer for four years, and
then became a traveling representative for the company, remaining as
such two years, succeeding which he spent five years with the firm of
J. E. Bartlett & Company, a concern dealing extensively in masons'
supplies and builders' supplies, both wholesale and retail. Beginning
as an accountant, Mr. Morehouse's faithful and efficient services were
recognized by steady advancement until he became secretary of the
company, a position which he held during the last two years of his
connection with the concern.

In June, 191 1, Mr. Morehouse and his uncle, William Watts, formed
a partnership and organized and incorporated the present Watts-More-
house Company, which purchased the entire retail business of the Bart-
lett concern in whose employ Mr. Morehouse had been for five years.
The new concern now does an extensive business in dairy and builders'
supplies, as well as in carriages, wagons, agricultural implements, etc.,
and under the name of the Watts Manufacturing Company, Messrs.
Watts and Morehouse also manufacture the famous Watts sheller, an
invention of Mr. Watts, the president of the concern, Mr. Morehouse
being secretary and general manager. The Watts corn shellers are now
in use in practically every state in the Union, as well as in many foreign
countries. They are entirely power shellers, and the company manu-
factures them from the smallest power sheller made up to the largest,
with a capacity of 500 bushels an hour. The Watts Manufacturing
Company also makes a machine which not only shells the corn, but
husks it as well, first removing the husk and then shelling the grain, the
husks, cobs and shelled grain all coming separately from the machine.
This is another of Mr. Watts' inventions. These shellers are all handled
by the Rumely Products Company, of Laporte, Indiana, sole distributors
of these products. Mr. Morehouse is a business man of energetic
and progressive spirit and his management has done much to place the
firm's goods before the world. Pie is a member of the Jackson Chamber
of Commerce and the Jackson City Club.

On February 16, 1909, Mr. Morehouse was married to Miss Nellie
Eleanor Livermore, of Jackson, and they have two daughters, namely :
Frances Edna, born December 25, 1909; and Dorothea Ida, born Jan-
uary 12, 1912.

Ray Lyman Hewlett. The business record of Mr. Hewlett at
Jackson includes two terms of efficient service as city treasurer, and he
is now engaged in a prosperous real estate and insurance business with
offices in the Dwight Building. Mr. Hewlett is a fine example of the
self-made man. He came in from a farm to the city of Jackson when
he was about sixteen years of age, and in order to improve his oppor-
tunities and secure a better education he worked night and mornings in a
cigar store, attending school during the day. Later he .saw the need of
a knowledge of bookkeeping, and learned that by night stiidy. Thus
in every portion of his career he has been dependent upon himself, and
by self -application or by earning the money needed has advanced to
the goal desired.

1222 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Ray Lyman Hewlett was born at the corner of Steward Avenue and
Ganson street, in Jackson on May 14, 1879, and is still a young man,
with a promise of many years of usefulness and success ahead of him.
Frank Hewlett, his father, died when thirty-one years of age and when
Ray was four years old. The date of his death was November 21, 1S84.
He had been a lawyer by profession and died while in his second term
as prosecuting attorney of Jackson county. Mrs. Frank Hewlett before
her marriage was ]\Iary Ann Tobin, who is still living, her home being
in Detroit. On the death of her husband she took her two sons, Francis
Warren, now in the Catholic priesthood at Detroit, and Ray Lyman to
live with her parents, Timothy and Ellen Tobin on their farm in Black-
man township. Timothy Tobin and wife are now both deceased. It
was on that farm that Ray Hewlett passed his years until he was sixteen,
and in the meantime acquired the rudiments of an education in the dis-
trict school. Coming to Jackson at the age sixteen, he stood behind the
counter of a cigar store in the morning hours and at night, and attended
the sessions of the high school during the middle of the day, and thus
improved his education with one year in that school. He continued a
clerk in the cigar store for seven years, and then was employed by the
Christy Saddle Works. In the meantime, by evening study, he had
learned bookkeeping and equipped with new qualifications he served one
year as bookkeeper for E. J. Tobin & Company, the head of the firm
being his uncle. Mr. Hewlett in October, 1902, entered the city treasur-
er's office, as a clerk, under the then city treasurer J. George Keebler.
After six months under Mr. Keebler he was for four years deputy under
city treasurer Louis A. Worch. Following his service as deputy he was
elected chief of the ofiice. and remained in the office of city treasurer
four )'ears or two terms, the election both times being on the Demo-
cratic ticket. He was twenty-seven years of age when he was first
elected, a fact which indicates the general confidence reposed in his ability
and his popularity among the citizens of Jackson. On Mav t, 19TI, Mr.
Hewlett retired from the office of city treasurer, and during the fol-
lowing year and a half was on the road selling stocks and bonds. On
May I, 1913, he opened an office in the Dwight Building, and attends to
a growing real estate and insurance business.

He has affiliations with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Flics,
and the Km'ghts of Columbus, and is a member of St. Mary's Catholic
Church. On November 14. 1907, Mr. Hewlett married Miss Alma
Rcgina Howard of Jackson. Their two daughters are as follows : Mary
Fliznbcth, born August 7, 1908; and Frances Janet, born October 9.
T909.

Benjamin Fr.xnkt.in Cotharin. That Flint is a city of so many
and varied resources, both commercially and industrially, has been due
not so much to its geographical location and natural advantages as
to the presence in its citizenship of men who possessed an ambition to
improve and make a better and larger city, who were willing to sacrifice
their personal advantage and give time and labor to the promotion of
movements and enterprises which would bring wealth and advancement
in all lines. In that little group of men who did so much to lead the
city out of its village condition and make of it one of the flourishing
centers of the state, the late Benjamin Franklin Cotharin had a very
prominent place, and there are many reasons why he should long be
held in grateful memory at Flint, and his career was as a character which
justifies its records in a history of the state.

Benjamin Franklin Cotharin was born in .Sj)ringficld. Michigan.
March 10, 1850, and died in the city of Flint, January 23, 1905, at tlie

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TH! KiW TOW

PBiLlCIU^RARY

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1223

comparatively early age of fifty-five years. He was one of a family
of seven children born to Benjamin and Eliza (Carter) Cotharin. His
father was born in 1812, at the foot of the Catskill Mountams, was
reared and educated in the same locality, and came to Michigan and
settled in Oakland county in 1857. His occupation was farming, but in
his later life he became prominently identified with business affairs. He
conducted a store a number of years at Flushing, and later came to Flint,
where he was a merchant, banker, and prominent citizen up to the time
of his death in 1898. Eliza Carter was a native of the same vicinity
in which her husband was born, and her life span ran from 1822 until
March, 1888. She and her husband were married in New York State,
and from that section of the east came west and settled in Michigan.

The late Mr. Cotharin spent his boyhood at several different locali-
ties. He began his education in the schools of Flushing, and his equip-
ment in training for business life was completed at the Detroit Business
College. Returning to Flint, at the age of twenty-two, he became actively
identified with the mercantile interests which absorbed his energies the
greater part of his career. He was engaged in the furniture business
with William Charles, and after a few years bought out his partner and
then expanded the business into a large general store. That was one
of the central institutions in the shopping, disf rrc|, and was conducted
by Mr. Cotharin until he sold out, No\;*eftjlD.er'3b, 'I1Q04, only a few weeks
before his death. His father had 'been "^e of me organizers of the
National Bank of Flint, and was one of its directors until the time of
his death, and the son likewise became interested as a director, and his
name remained on the directorate u«til ti* fc-lose"of his life.

Perhaps the work for which Mf. ®cfthafin"deserves most credit was
the exploitation and development of what is known as Oak Park. His
associates in platting this suburban property were Mr. Dort of the
Durand-Dort Carriage Works, and Mr. Crawford. Oak Park has since
grown to be the industrial center of Flint. Its grounds are practically
covered w-ith industries w'hich have a national reputation, including the
immense automobile works of the Weston-Mott, the Buick-Cheverlot,
the Walker-\Veiss Axle Company, the Flint Varnish Works, The Stewart
Carriage Works, and others. These industries in themselves employ
enough labor to constitute a good-sized city.

The late Mr. Cotharin was a Knight Templar Mason and also had
attained thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite. He was afliliated with
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and took a^ great deal of
interest in and spent much time in the organization of the Knights of
the Loyal Guard, of which he was treasurer at the time of his death.
In politics he was an Independent Democrat, and at one time was candi-
date of his party for the office of mayor.

On October 12, 1874, the late Mr. Cotharin married Miss Elnora A.
Behee, a daughter of George and Elizabeth Behee. Mrs. Cotharin's
parents were both born at Waterloo, New York, were early settlers in
Flint, Michigan, where her father w-as known for many years as a suc-
cessful mason and contractor. He built one of the first stone houses in
Flint, and it was in that home that Mrs. Cotharin was born and married.
Her father died in September, 1888, at the age of sixty-six years. Her
mother is living, aged eighty-one. Mrs. Cotharin was the oldest of
three children. She grew ifp in Flint, received her education in the
local schools, and both before and after her marriage has been one of
the active members of local society and in recent years has given much
attention to public philanthropic movements. Mrs. Cotharin is treasurer
of the hospital board, and organized the Women's Auxiliary of the
Board. She is one of the organizers of the Young Women's Christian

1224 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Association, being a member of its board and the Children's Hospital
and other institutions have greatly benefited by her counsel and assist-
ance. Mr. and Mrs. Cotharin were the parents of two children, one
of whom died in infancy. Margaret Elizabeth, born in Flint in 1885
IS now the wife of B. F. Miller, Jr., and they have two sons: Benjamin
Franklin Cotharin Miller, born at Flint, April 20, 1909; and Fritz Dunt-
ley Miller, born at Flint, February 3, i<;i2.

George D. Gray. It is one of the lessons taught by history that the
growth of a community, a state or a country, is directly due to the pro-
gressive ideas and determined actions of a few who have the courage
of their convictions and the willingness and abilitv to carry to a successful
conclusion the movements to which their faith' is pinned. These men
may be soldiers of fortune who go ahead to blaze the trail for civilization ;
they may be officials of the newly established government, or they may
be men into whose hands are placed the management of large business
interests. It matters little by wdiat name thev are known, or in which

field of endeavor they labor. Accomplishments are the things that count

the^ results of their labors which develop and enlarge. Jackson is a city
which owes much to its men of this class who have exerted themselves
for its betterment; who, laboring in their own interests have been the
means of forwarding their city's growth and development, and in this
class is found George D. Gray, of the firm of Lepard & Gray, who own
and operate a planing mill at No. 240 Michigan avenue.

Mr. Gray was born on a farm in County Oxford, Ontario, Canada,
January 24, 1864, being the youngest of nine children, four sons and five'
daughters, born to Rev. William and Marv Lavina (Moore) Gray. His
grandfather, Dr. Michael Gray, was born in England, there studied medi-
cine and was admitted to practice, and finally emigrated to Canada, where
for years he was a noted physician and surgeon of Toronto, and later
of Ingersoll, Ontario. Rev. William Gray was born in Toronto, Decem-
ber 25, 1822, and for a period of sixty-fi've years was a minister of the
Methodist Church. The last thirty-five years of his life was spent in
Michigan, where he served Methodist churches at Jackson, Lansing,
Three_ Rivers, Leslie. Hillsdale and various other points. He died in
Ontario while on a visit to his son, December 5, 1909, when almost eighty-
seven years of age. He was married December 25. 1842, to Miss Mary
Lavina Moore, who was born at Port Hope, Ontario, May 23, 1820, the
daughter of Thomas Moore, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian who came to
America from Ireland and settled in Canada. ]\Irs. Gray died November
5, 1912, at Leslie, Michigan, in her ninety-second year. Rev. and Mrfe.
Gray lived together as husband and wife for about sixty-eight years,
and their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary had been passed before there
was a single death in their family, while their golden wedding anniversary
was celebrated at Leslie, Michigan, December 25, 1892, in the presence
of their children and grandchildren. Their children were: Martha A.;
Michael II.: E. Soi)hronia, who is now Mrs. Alfred Leach: William A.;
Phoebe Ann, who is now Mrs. Russell Godfrey; James E. ; Catherine,
who is now Mrs. Edward Norton, a widow; Emily Lavina, who is now
Mrs. Dr. Charles R. P.rown : and George D. Martha A. and James E.,
are_ deceased, the former having been twice married, first to "james A.
Elliott, who died, and then to Lafayette Jones, who survived her for
several years, his death occurring January 29, 1914; Michael H. lives at
Ingersoll, Ontario; William A. is a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana;
Mrs. Alfred Leach makes her home at Leslie, IMichigan, as do Mrs. Rus-
sell Godfrey, Mrs. Edwin Norton and Mrs. Emily Brown ; Mrs. Martha
Jones died at Leslie, in April, 1907; and James A., died at Ingersoll,
Ontario, in September, 19 13.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1225

George D. Gray was eight years of age when he accompanied his par-
ents to Jackson, Michigan, in 1872, and two years later was taken to
Leslie, where his youth was spent, his education being secured in the
public schools of that place. Upon his graduation from the Leslie High
school, at the age of eighteen years, he came to Jackson, in 1882, and his
residence has continued to be maintained here ever since. On his arrival
in this city, Mr. Gray solicited and secured employment in the sash, door
and blind factory of S. Heyser & Sons, a firm with which he was con-
nected for a period of nearly twenty years. His ability, faithfulness and
integrity won him repeated advancement, and he learned thoroughly every
detail of the business, so that when he was ready to embark upon a ven-
ture of his own he was familiar with its every department. In 1901, with
William J. Lepard, who had also been an employe of S. Heyser & Sons
for many years, he founded the firm of Lepard & Gray, which still con-
tinues in the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds, the plant of the con-
cern at 240-244 Michigan avenue being the largest of its kind in Jackson,
with an immense planing mill. The business has grown steadily during
its thirteen years of existence, and under the capable management of the
partners has been able to compete with the competition which increased
capital and trade have brought to Jackson. Mr. Gray has other business
interests, Ijeing president of the E.xcelsior Building and Loan Association
and a member of the board of directors of the Jackson Savings and Loan
Association. He is a valued member of the Jackson Chamber of Com-
merce, belongs to the Jackson City Club, holds membership in the Knights
of Pythias and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a Knight
Templar and a Shriner. With his family he is an attendant of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Essentially a business man, with large and
varied interests, he has not found time for the activities of the political
arena, but has shown a commendable willingness to bear his full share
of the responsibilities of citizenship, and has efficiently served one term
as a member of the city council from the Si.xth Ward. He has always
been a supporter of Republican policies and candidates.

On October 26, 1882, Mr. Gray was married at the age of eighteen
years to Miss Inez M. Powell. They have no living children.

Albert O. Reece. Since his admission to the bar in 1901 l\Ir. Reece
has found his time employed in handling not only an increasing private
practice, Ijut a large mass of public interests invested in his charge in
various public offices. Mr. Reece is city attorney of Jackson at the present
time, is a former prosecuting attorney of the county, and has a very high
place in the local bar.

Born in the city of Jackson which has been his life long home on
May I, 1879, Albert O. Reece is the youngest of four sons born to John
Reece, and Elizabeth (Andrews) Reece. His parents were both born in
England, and the oldest son was born in that country. They came to
America in 1872, and the father lived at Jackson, from that time until
his death in 1894. He was a tailor by trade. The mother still lives in
Jackson, and all her four sons are in the same city. Albert is the only
lawver of the familv, and his three brothers are Fred C, Henry A., and
Wifliam T. ■ ■

Albert O. Reece grew up in his native city, is a graduate of the Jack-
son high school, and before he had reached his majority he volunteered
his services during the Spanish American war of 1898. Returning to
Jackson he entered upon his studies for a profession in the offices of
John W. Miner, and Grove H. Wolcott. He was admitted to the bar in
1901, and has since practiced law as his official duties would permit.

Mr. Reece served as city attorney in 1903-04, and on May i, 1913,

1226 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

was again elected to the same ofifice, receiving a large popular vote in
approval of his candidacy. He held the office of circuit court commis-
sioner in 1903-04, was as'sistant prosecuting attorney for Jackson county
from igo5 to 1909, and in 1908 was elected prosecuting attorney, his term
running from 1909 to 191 1. In politics Mr. Reece is a Republican.

His fraternal affiliations are with the jMasonic Order, in which he has
taken the Royal Arch degree, and with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks. On June 27, 1905, was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
Reece with Miss Ethel Howard. Their two children are Donald H.
and David L.

GiiORGE Moore. The history of the building trades in Detroit would
have frequent occasion to mention the old established and well known
combination of Putman & Moore which for more than twenty years has
been engaged in the business of mason contracting. Recently the busi-
ness was incorporated under the title Putman, Moore & Brown, with of-
fices in the Builders & Traders Exchange headquarters. George Moore,
vice president of this concern, has been identified with mason contracting
in Detroit for more than thirty years, and is one of the leading men in
that line.

A native of Canada, he was born in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Jan-
uary 22, 1857. His parents were Samuel and Ann (Gibson) Moore, both
of Sligo, County Sligo, Ireland. In that country they were married, and
the oldest of their fourteen children was also born in the old country. In
the early '40s they emigrated to America, locating first in Toronto and
later in London, Ontario. The trade which George Moore follows is in
the nature of a family profession, since there has been brick masons and
contractors in the immediate family for three successive generations. His
maternal grandparents were William and Fanny Gibson, the former a
native of Kings and the latter of Queens county, Ireland. William
Gibson was a contractor, and his father was also a contractor, so that if
there is anything in inheritance Mr. Moore must credit some of his suc-
cess to his antecedents. Samuel Moore, his father, was a slater in both
Toronto and London, and in the latter city also did contracting. His
death occurred in London in 1889, and his widow died in Detroit in 191 1.

George Moore spent his boyhood days in London, Ontario, attended
the public schools there and learned the brick mason's trade under his
uncle, George Gibson, who subsequently took the young man in as a
partner. Mr. Moore came to Detroit in 1882, and for some years worked
under dififerent firms, most of the time as a foreman. On January i, 1893,
began the partnership of Putman & Moore with John F. Putman as senior
partner. That relationship, continued under the present corporate title,
is today one of the oldest firms of mason contractors in the city. The
business was incorporated in January, 1914. with Mr. Putman as presi-
dent, Mr. Moore as vice president and William Brown as secretary and
treasurer of the Putman, Moore & Brown Company. _

During its long and successful experience of twenty-one years in De-
troit the firm of Putman & Moore erected many of the city's best known
examples of architecture. Among the larger contracts executed by the
firm have been the following : The Spelts & Worch and the St. Telmo
ci<'ar factories- Timpkins Axle Works; Detroit Shear Company's fac-
tory • the addition to the E. M. F. Automoljile factory ; addition to the
Peninsula Stove Works, besides many apartment houses and costly resi-
dences and the Butzel Library building. . , ^ ■ t. mj

Mr Moore is one of the oldest members m the Detroit Builders &
Traders Exchange, of which important body he is a director, and in
Decemlicr 1913, was chosen treasurer of the Exchange and still holds

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1227

that office. He is vice president of the Jol-in H. Busby Electrical Com-
pany of Detroit. His fraternal affiliations are with the Ashlar Lodge,
the Peninsular Chapter, Damascus Commandery and Moslem Temple of
the_ Masonic Order. He is an ex-president of the Masters Association of
Builders, and also belongs to the Star Council of the Royal Arcanum.
He is president of the London, Ontario, Old Boys' Association of Detroit.
His wife before her marriage was Mary Davidson, born in County
Down, Ireland, a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Webster) Davidson.
Her paternal grandfather was Thomas Davidson and her maternal grand-
father Samuel Webster. The Davidson family crossed the ocean and
located in London, Optario, in 1870. The children of Mr. and Mrs.
Moore are as follows: Sarah Ann, who was born in London, Ontario,
and is the wife of John H. Busby of Detroit, and their children are Eva-
line Gertrude, Lillian, Ruth and George Henry; Blanche, who married
William Brown of Detroit, has one daughter, Marion Gertrude; Mary
Gertrude, who died November 29, 1890, at the age of one year and nine
months; and Alary Beatrice, who lives at home.

WiNTHROP WiTHiNGTON, youngest son of General William H. With-
ington, was born November 30, 1S78, at Jackson, Michigan. He was
educated at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, at Chateau de
Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland, and at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Michigan.

He is manager of the Withington Works of the American Fork & Hoe
,Co. vice president of the Sparks- Withington Co., and ex-president of the
Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson City Club and the Meadow
Heights Country Club.

He was married January 14, 1903, to Miss Marie G. Bennett, daugh-
ter of Arthur A. Bennett, of Jackson. He has one son, William H. With-
ington, born January 28, 1908.

Frank Holmes Goddard. In other articles appearing in this work,
frequent mention has been made of the continuous and remarkable growth
Detroit has undergone during the past decade, and of tlie many new and
handsome structures that have been erected during this time. Many of
the contracts that have been let for these have been placed with the city's
home contractors, and some of the largest and handsomest edifices that
have been built in recent years are the creation of Frank Holmes God-
dard, president of the general contracting firm of F. H. Goddard Com-
pany (Inc.), and a citizen who has become a conspicuous figure in the
business world.

Mr. Goddard is a native of the old Nutmeg state, having been born
at New London, Connecticut, Decemljer 23, 1866, a son of James and
Elizabeth (Holmes) Goddard. He received his early education in the
public graded schools of his native state, and completed his schooldays
as a student at Seabury Institute, Saybrook, Connecticut. In 1882, when
a lad of sixteen years, he came to Detroit, and in this city learned the
trade of bricklayer, under his uncle, Allen F. Holmes, who was a mason
contractor. Members of this family have been prominently known in
contracting circles of this city for many years, and Mr. Goddard's great-
uncle, Elisha Forsythe, was a pioneer contractor of Detroit, and the
Ijuilder of the first five-story building in Alichigan, as well as of the orig-
inal building of the Detroit House of Correction. Both Allen F. Holmes
and Elisha Forsythe were natives of Connecticut, where both the God-
dards and Holmeses were among the old and prominent families.

Frank H. Goddard worked at this trade with his uncle, Allen F.
Holmes, for some years, and displayed such ability and fidelity that

1228 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

finally, in 1891, he was admitted to partnership. In the following year
Mr. Holmes retired from active business affairs, and Mr. Goddard suc-
ceeded to the business, which he conducted alone for a time. He then
became one of the founders and original members of the mason contract-
ing firm of Chandler & Goddard, and after the dissolution of that part-
nership Mr. Goddard continued in contracting alone until 1909, when he
organized and incorporated what has since become known as one of the
foremost concerns of its kind in the city, the F. H. Goddard Company
(Inc.), general contractors. In the capacity of president of this enter-
prise, Mr. Goddard has shown himself a man of energy and foresight,
while the high grade and cjuality of the work dona by the company form
a monument to his skill and integrity as a contractor. He is widely known
in contracting circles, and has been honored by his fellow-members of
the Detroit Builders' Exchange by election to the position of president of
the mason branch of that body. He is an active member of the Detroit
Board of Commerce, and one of his community's best citizens, a worthy
representative of the stable, prosperous men that go to compose a stable
and prosperous city. His offices are maintained at No. 516 Franklin
street. In fraternal circles, Mr. Goddard is connected with the Masonic
order, in which he has attained to^he thirty-second Scottish Rite degree,
being a Knight Templar and a Shriner.

On December 27, 1900, Mr. Goddard was married at Detroit, to Miss
Elizabeth Burk. daughter of John Burk. Mr. Burk was born in Ireland,
was graduated from Dublin University, and came to the United States
in young manhood, here taking up the vocation of educator. After some
years sj^ent in teaching school in the southern states, he retired from his
profession and came to Detroit, where he passed away.

Peter Schulte. For more than half a century Peter Schulte, one
of Detroit's oldest and most highly respected citizens, has been identified
with the growth and development of the city and its institutions. A
native of the Fatherland, he has been a resident of Detroit since the age
of seventeen years, and his career has been one of tireless industry
characterized with well-known business success. Mr. Schulte was born
in the village of Bremschied. province of Westphalia. Germany. Novem-
ber 22, 1833, and is a son of John and Christina (Berens) Schulte.

The Schulte family was founded in Detroit in 1850, although one of
Mr. Schulte's sisters had resided here for five years previous to that
time. He had secured an ordinary education in the public schools of
his native land, and after coming to Detroit attended the public schools
here in order to perfect himself in the English language. Here he also
learned carjjentering. a trade which he followed for several years,
and gradually drifted into the business of contracting. While thus en-
gagefl he also entered the retail grocery business, and is at this time
vice-])resi(lent of the Michigan Wholesale Grocery Company, a large
and flourishing industry which has been built up to large proportions
under his able direction. His contracting and building operations re-
sulted in his establishing a factory for the manufacture of sash, doors
and lumber, which he later converted into a bo.x factory, one of the
two first to manufacture boxes in Detroit. In those early days Mr.
Sciiulte was also extensively interested in banking, and became one of
the organizers and an officer of the American Savings Association. He
also held interests in the old Ward line of steamships in the Lake
Su])erior ore-carrying trade, and for two years was engaged in an agri-
cultural venture on his fine farm in .Springville township. Farming,
however, did not prove a congenial occupation, and eventually he re-
turned to the cily. where he Iiecanie n half owner in the Schulte Soap

'j^LLU-o:

TH! N£W TCM:

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1229

Manufacturing Company, with his brother-in-law, Casper Schulte. He
continued in the soap business for about five years, and then re-entered
the grocery business and resumed building operations, being thus en-
gaged for a long period on his own account. In 1879 he became
associated with Mr. Anthony F. Grosfield, another of 'Detroit's old and
highly esteemed citizens, and they entered into the real estate business
on a large scale, buying, platting and building and selling in diil^erent
parts of the city. Among other large tracts they handled was the land
known as the "Retreat" tract, the first site of the retreat for the insane,
now located at Dearborn. This tract, running from Michigan avenue
to the Michigan Central Railroad, was purchased by Messrs. Schulte
& Grosfield, platted, improved and placed on the market, and became
one of the finest residence districts in the city. They donated to the
city the right-of-way for West Grand Boulevard, a donation which
rei-iresented a net loss of $60,000. Eventually Messrs. Schulte & Gros-
field added fire insurance, and for a number of years this firm was con-
sidered one of the leading insurance and real estate firms in the city.
These two partners and friends mutually dissolved the partnership some
years ago, but their friendship remains as cordial' as ever, and they still
have business interests in common to some' extefit.

Mr. Schulte is a devout member of tIieRorrfe!i 'Catholic church. He
was one of the trustees of St. Boniface church and a member of the
building committee when the present church was erected, and is also
a member of St. Joseph's Society, which is one of the oldest church
organizations in Detroit. Mr. Schulte's life ha's been a long and eventful
one, filled with constant endeavor, and the success which comes to the
deserving is his. He has done his full share toward the building up of
his beautiful adopted city, and has contributed liberally to the institu-
tions of the community, and now, in his eighty-first year, in the full
enjoyment of health and faculties, he is reaping the reward of a well
spent and useful life.

Mr. Schulte has been twice married. His first wife was Catherine
Ternes, daughter of Christian Ternes, who was an early German set-
tler in the vicinity of Detroit. She was born in Germany, May 17, 1839,
and died November 26, 1892. The nine living children of this marriage
are as follows : Mary, Christina, Katherine, Peter W., Anthony P.,
Elizabeth, Joseph N., Cecelia and Caroline. Mr. Schulte's second wife
was Mary Karschna, who was also born in Germany, the daughter of
.\nthony Karschna, an old German citizen of Detroit. Two children
have been born to this marriage, Irmengarde M. and Margaret. Mr.
Schulte has never sought nor cared for political office.

WiLLi.xM H. M.\LONEY. For forty years Mr. Maloney has been iden-
tified with the mercantile affairs of Jackson. His has been a career of
hard but worthily won success. Left an orphan at an early age, though
he had a good home and excellent training among friends, he began life
without patrimony, and through his own efl^orts has overcome the diffi-
culties, which had hedged his path to success and has gained a prominent
place in Jackson business life.

Born on a farm in Allegany county. New York, May 3, 1853, William
H. Maloney is a son of James and Fanny (Crowley) ATaloney. His
parents were natives of Ireland, where they were married, and before
they came to America their two oldest children were born. These chil-
dren were both sons, named Thomas and James D. Thomas Maloney
now lives in Jackson, Michigan, at the age of seventy-one, and is an
honored veteran of the Civil war. James D. Maloney, who also saw
service in the Civil war as a drummer boy, afterwards located at Troy,
Vol. rn— 2

1230 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

New York, and spent the rest of the days in and about the city, dying
November i6, 1905. His name has a place in the annals of American
sport. He was one of the pioneer baseball players and managers in the
state of New York. At one time he owned and managed the Troy team
in the state league, and his team won the state pennant. He was also a
successful business man, and for many years conducted a hotel in Water-
vliet, a suburb of Troy, and was one of the substantial and influential
men of the city. After James and Fanny Maloney came to the United
States, three other children were born, as follows : Mrs. Ella Guerin, of
Detroit, widow of Thomas Guerin ; William H. ; and Sarah, now Mrs.
Owen Hankerd, of Henrietta township, in Jackson county. After com-
ing to America James ^laloney and wife lived in Allegany county. New
York, for a short time, but in the spring of 1854, when William was a
year old, they moved to Jackson county, Michigan, locating on a farm just
south of the county seat. The mother died in 1859. The fntiier then
gave up farming and brought his children into Jackson. Not long after-
wards the Civil war began, and James Maloney was one of the volunteers
from Jackson county, enlisting in Company K, of the Eighth Michigan
Infantry. When he went to tlie front he left his five motherless children
with friends in Jackson. While in the service he was stricken with a
severe case of chronic diarrhea, and on that account was honorably dis-
charged in the spring of 1863. During the following months he appar-
ently recovered, and early in 1864 once more went to the front, but the
same old trouble soon returned and he died of that disease near Mobile,
Alabama, in December, 1864. His body now rests in the National ceme-
tery at Mobile. His services in the army was as a musician, a fifer in a
drum corps.

By the death of their father the five Maloney children were orphaned,
and were thrown on the mercy of friends and practically all of them grew
up among strangers.

In 1865 William H. Maloney, who was then eleven years of age, went
to live with the family of Patrick and Owen Hankerd, well known and
substantial farmers of Henrietta township in Jackson county. Mr. Han-
kerd later became very prominent in Michigan politics and besides six-
teen years of service as supervisor in his county, was three times a mem-
ber of the state legislature and at one time a candidate for Congress against
Hon. James O'Donnell. Owen Hankerd, the other brother, subsequently
married Mr. Maloney 's sister, Sarah. With the Hankerd family William
H. Maloney had a good home from the time he was eleven years of age
until he reached his majority. He could not have received better care
and more comforts in a home of his own, and he has a high regard for
the man who stood for him in the capacity of father and brother. For
three months each year he was allowed to attend the district schools near
the Hankerd home, and continued his education until he was twenty-one.
His last teacher was Patrick Hankerd. Since 1874, Mr. Maloney has had
his home in Jackson. Until 1892, a period of eighteen years, he was
identified with the William M. Bennett & Sons, dry goods and carpet
merchants. At that time that business was the leading dry goods and
carpet house in Jackson. It occupied the same business block now oc-
cupied by the L. H. Field establishment. For several years Mr. Maloney
had a minor part in the business, sold goods and performed all the other
duties required of him, and by close attention to his work, by the exercise
of good judgment, and with increasing familiarity with his trade, ad^
vanced to larger responsibilities and finally became department manager
in the company. In 1892, having acquired some capital of his own, and
having gained the confidence of business men and the public generally in
Jackson, Mr. Maloney engaged in business for himself on South Mechanic

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1231

street. That street has been the scene of all his independent enterprise
as a merchant, and at the present time he is the oldest merchant on the
street. At the beginning he dealt entirely in carpets, draperies, linoleums
and similar goods. In 1897, on removing to his present business room at
No. 127 South Mechanic street, he extended his enterprise by installing
a large stock of furniture, and now has one of the best patronized estab-
lishments of its kind in the city.

Mr. IMaloney is a member of St. Mary's Catholic church, of which
he is trustee, affiliates with the Knights of Columbus, with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and both in business and social sections is
one of the best known men in Jackson. Besides his mercantile enterprise,
Mr. Maloney is president of the Advance Grease and Chemical Company,
now one of the important manufacturing concerns of Jackson. He was
one of the organizers of the business in 1909, and has been its presi-
dent since the factory was opened. He is also a stockholder and director
of the Citizens Telephone Company of Jackson, of which he is one of the
organizers.

On October 12, 1880, Mr. Maloney married :\Iiss Mamie Harrison,
of Jackson. They have five children, namely: William Francis, called
Frank ; David Ray ; Mary T. ; Gertrude I. ; and Agnes L. The son Frank
is active assistant to his father in the furniture business. David Ray is
connected with the Citizens Telephone Company, in the position known
as "wire chief." The second son, Harry, died in childhood.

Martin Nicholas Burkiieiser. It is with the general building trades
that Martin N. Burkheiser has his most prominent relationship with the
city of Detroit, and for a number of years he has stood in the front rank
of mason and concrete contractors, a position which is proved not only
by the record of his actual work but also by the honors paid him by the
organized bodies of the building trades in the city. His name is also
suggestive of an old and honored family of Detroit, one which has been
identified with the building lines since almost the pioneer days, and in
the brief sketch which follows are mentioned a number of well known
former and present Detroit citizens who properly are considered under
this title.

IMartin Nicholas Burkheiser was born in Detroit, August 4, 1874, a
son of Adam and Barbara (Kehl) Burkheiser. The Burkheiser family
was founded in Detroit by John Burkheiser, who stood in the relationship
of great-uncle to Martin N. Burkheiser. He was one of Detroit's pioneer
German citizens and early builders, and came from Bavaria and located
in Detroit during the early forties. As a member of the firm of Walker-
man & Burkheiser he first became identified with the city, but subse-
quently carried on contracting under his own name for many years. Due
to his influence his nephew Carl Burkheiser left the old country and in
Detroit learned the brick mason's trade, and after Carl had become well
established he sent for his brother, Adam, who came to Detroit in 1866.
Adam Burkheiser was born in Bavaria, Germany, November 20. 1849,
was seventeen years of age when he emigrated to America, and after
learning the I)rick mason's trade engaged in business with his brother,
Carl, under the firm name of Burkheiser & Brother. Their record as con-
tractors continued for a number of years until the appointment of Carl
as city sewer inspector dissolved the partnership. Adam Bvn'kheiser
then continued in business under his "own name until about 1900, when
the firm of A. Burkheiser & Son was established and continued in active
existence until 1903. In that year Adam Burkheiser lost his life in an
elevator accident in the Chamber of Commerce building, and thus De-
troit lost one of its most esteemed and capable citizens and business men.

1232 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Barbara Kehl, who married Adam Burkheiser, introduces another
family lineage which has furnished a number of well known citizens to
Detroit. She was born in Tiffin, Ohio, January 28, 1849, a daughter of
Martin Kehl, who was born in Germany in one of the Rhine Provinces,
and the son of a Frenchman. Martin Kehl came to America in 1847,
settling at Tiffin, Ohio, and when his daughter, Mrs. Burkheiser, was an
infant moved the family to Detroit. Mrs. Burkheiser is still living.
Martin Kehl was for many years engaged in teaming, excavating, and in
the ice business. In the early days one feature of his business was the
transportation of goods by wagon from Detroit to Saginaw, Bay City
and other Michigan towns which were as yet unconnected by railway with
Detroit. As an excavating contractor he helped construct the earlier
city, having excavated for the old city hall, the Moffett building, the
Campau building, and many others of the old-time structures which are
still landmarks in the commercial district of Detroit. Alartin Kehl was
a man of no small originality and enterprise. He is said to have intro-
duced the saw into the ice harvesting industry, and thus increased to a
large degree the capacity of his organization, and for a number of years
had the contract for filling most of the ice houses in the city. From his
enterprise in that direction he gained the title of "ice-man Kehl." Mar-
tin Kehl was a large man physically, standing six feet four inches,
weighed three hundred and twenty-five pounds, and had a vigor cor-
responding to his physical proportions, since he was a hundred and one
years of age at the time of his death in 1910. Martin Kehl married
Catherine Bensfield. Their son, Anthony Kehl, served in a Michigan
regiment during the Civil war, while Mrs. Kehl's brother, Nicholas Bens-
field, was also in the war and a body guard to General Phil Sheridan, and
passed away at the age of eighty-one years.

The children of Adam Burkheiser and wife are as follows: Karl,
who died in infancy : ]\Iartin N. ; Casper, who is a lieutenant in the De-
troit fire department; Frank, who died in infancy; Conrad C, superin-
tendent for the A. A. Albrecht & Company ; Elizabeth, who died in in-
fancy ; Frank, in the building business with his brother, Martin ; Joseph,
a member of the Detroit police department; William, also associated with
his brother, Martin, in the building trade; Nicholas, a member of the
Burkheiser firm as a building contractor; and Albert, who died in in-
fancy.

As a boy Martin N. Burkheiser attended St. Mary's parish parochial
school and in his efi^orts to gain an education to fit him for a successful
career he attended for some time a night school conducted in what is
known as the old "Capitol Schoolhouse." From boyhood his assistance
was given to his father, and his expert knowledge of brick-laying and of
cement work dates back to years before he reached his majority. Gradu-
ally the greater part of responsibilities of office management for his father
devolved upon him, since the elder Burkheiser preferred the outside
work. In 1900 Martin Burkheiser became his father's partner, and with
the death of the latter in 1903 Martin assumed the business management
of the old firm, which was continued under the name of A. Burkheiser
& Son until 1907. In that year the present name M. N. Burkheiser was
adopted as tlie business title.

A large part of his time and facilities in recent years have been em-
ployed in building factories for the Aluminum Castings Company of
America, for which company he has put up all their many buildings ex-
cept the original plant. Other examples of his work includes the plant
for the Michigan Smelting and Refining Company, for the Detroit Auto
Specialty Company, the warehouse for the People's Outfitting Company.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 123:i

the power plant of the Detroit Ship Building Company, besides a great
number of residences, apartment houses and stores.

In the organized bodies of the building trades Mr. Burkheiser has a
place of unusual precedence. He has been practically since its organiza-
tion one of the most active members of the Detroit Builders and Traders
Exchange, was its treasurer in 191 1, a director in the same year, and is a
member of the Exchange's Ex-Directors Club. Mr. Burkheiser is a
third degree member of the Knights of Columbus, affiliates with
Detroit Lodge of Elks, No. 34, with Diamond Council of the Royal Ar-
canum, with Banner Council of the National Union, and his church home
is the Lady of Sorrows Catholic church. He enlisted in 1898 in A Troop
of the First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and served during the
Spanish-American war. Mrs. Burkheiser, before her marriage, was
Agnes Murphy, who was born in Detroit, daughter of James Murphy.
James Murphy was born in Detroit in 1842 on the site of the old Detroit
postoffice at the corner of Griswold and Earned streets, and is still living,
one of the oldest native sons of the city. Grandfather James Murphy was
one of the pioneer Irish citizens of Detroit. Mrs. Burkheiser's mother was
Nellie Walsh, who was born in Ireland and who died in 1899 at the age
of forty-four. To the marriage of Mr. Burkheiser and wife three sons
have been born, as follows: Leo Adam, born in October, 1902; Norval
William, born in June, 1904 ; and Earl Francis, born in 1906.

Is--\AC Rall Wilson. Now retired after a successful business career,
Mr. Wilson gives most of his time and attention to his puljlic duties as
alderman of the Seventh Ward of Jackson. No better evidence of his
standing and integrity as a citizen could be adduced from the fact that
Mr. Wilson is a staunch Republican while his ward, long known as the
"Bloody Seventh," has been as regularly Democratic as the sun shines.
However, notwithstanding the political comple.xion of his constituencv,
and that his colleague in the council is one of the Democratic leaders of
the city, Mr. Wilson has for three successive terms won the honor of
representing his ward, and has |)rovcd a useful, diligent and ])ublic spir-
ited official.

Mr. Wilson is second cousin to President Woodrow Wilson. He was
born on a farm near Elizabeth, New Jersey, October 27,, 1852. His fatlier.
John W'ilson was a carriage manufacturer. The maiden name of ihe
mother was Catherine Rail, whose father, Isaac Rail for whom Mr. Wil-
son was named, was a sea captain. Both parents are now deceasecl. the
father having died when Isaac was four and a half years of age. The
mother attained to the venerable age of ninety-two. She was married
three times, and John Wilson was her second husband.

Isaac Rail Wilson has had a varied business career. As a boy after
leaving school he served an apprenticeship of four years at the trade
of brick layer and plasterer. That was in his native city of Elizabeth,
New Jersey, but he did not pursue his trade after coming to Michigan in
1871. Since 1874 his home has been in the city of Jackson. For eighteen
years, Mr. Wilson was one of the well known railroad men, running out
of Jackson, over the lines of the Michigan Central, beginning as brake-
man, he won advancement to the position of conductor, and was one of
the most efficient men in the service. After leaving railroading he was
for six years in the hardware business, and finally went into the grocery
trade, conducting for eleven years, a high-class establishment at 423
East Main Street. Four years ago he retired from the grocery trade.
having acquired a competence, and all his prosperity has been won
by hard work and unwavering honesty in all his dealings.

On June 19, 1883, Mr. Wilson married IMary C. Eader. They are

1234 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the parents of one son and one daughter: Catherine, now Airs. Joseph
J. Johnson; and John Bader Wilson, who lives at home with his parents.

Frank M. Pauli. Occupying a foremost position among the lead-
ing carpenter contractors of Detroit is found Frank M. Pauli, who since
his entrance in the business in 1909 has erected a number of large and
valuable structures in the city. A man of energy and progressive ideas,
his contributions to the city's welfare have been of a distinctly helpful
character, and in business circles he occupies a position firmly established
in the confidence of his associates. Mr. Pauli was born at Bedford, Cuy-
ahoga county, Ohio, March 25, 1867, and is a son of Frank G. and Bertha
(Koehler) Pauli.

The parents of Mr. Pauli were both born in Germany, in which coun-
try they were married, and soon thereafter, in 1865, came to the United
States and settled at Bedford, Ohio, where the father established himself
in the undertaking business. He soon removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where
he remained a short time, and in 1869 came to Detroit, where he carried
on the retail grocery business until his death in 1876. Mrs. Pauli sur-
vived him until 1887. The early education of Frank M. Pauli was
secured in the parochial schools of Detroit, where he showed himself an
alert and studious scholar, and when he laid aside his books he took up
the carpenter's trade, to which he applied himself asiduously, learning
every detail of the business. For a number of years he followed the
trade and then took up contracting on his own account, both in building
and jobbing. His early efiforts were of a modest nature, but as the ex-
cellence of his work and his absolute reliability have become recognized
and appreciated, he has enjoyed a steadily increasing patronage, and at
this time is accounted one of the leading men in his line in a city which
does not lack for able and substantial contracting firms. Since 1909 he
has contracted for some of the large and important structures erected in
Detroit, among them being a block of fourteen terraces on Woodward
and Monterey avenues, a block of ten terraces on St. Clair and Jefferson
avenues, a block of nine store buildings on Woodward avenue near Willis
avenue, a factory building for the Van Dyke Motor Car Company, and
numerous buildings for the Timken-Detroit Axle works, the Scripps
Power building on Congress street, and various other structures, both
business and residential. Mr. Pauli's complete plant and large lumber
yard are located at Nos. 30 to 40 Shepherd street. He is widely and
favorably known in his line, and is a member of the Detroit Builders' and
Traders' Exchange, of the Chamber of Commerce, and is secretary of
the Carpenter Contractors' Division of the Employers Association of De-
troit. Pie also holds membership in the C. M. B. A. and the Ohio Society
of Detroit. .

Mr. Pauli married Anna M. Haase, who was born m Sagmaw, Michi-
gan, daughter of J. Haase, a veteran of the Civil War. To Air. and Mrs.
Pauli there have been born the following children: Frank G., born in
1889, who is engaged in business with his father; William M., who was
also 'in business with his father until his death, January 20, 1914, at the
ao-e of twenty-two years; Clarence AL, born in 1901, who is attending
school; Grace, born in 1903, who is also a student. With supreme faith
in the future greatness of his adopted city, with the ability to profit by
ijrcscnt conditions, and possessing a desire to aid others to do so, Mr
Pauli has made a place for himself among Detroit's progressive and
public-spirited citizens, and at all times displays a commendable willing-
ness to contribute of his time, his efforts and his means to the advance-
ment of those movements which promise to be of benefit to the city whose
irrowth he has fostered and with whose prosperity he has prospered.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1235

George E. Lewis, who for twenty-five years was in active business
as a grocer, and who now represents the Fourth Ward in the City Coun-
cil, has spent all his life in Jackson county, and his family is one of the
oldest and most hardy in this part of the state.

George Edwin Lewis was born on a farm in Columbia township of
Jackson county, May 30, i860. Long life and prosperity have been
cardinal characteristics of the Lewis family. His father, Thomas Lewis,
is now a veteran in years, having reached the age of eighty-two and lives
in the comforts of a well spent life at the home of his son, George E.,
in Jackson. He was born near Rochester, New York, January 14, 1832,
and in spite of his age is still strong and hearty, and would easily be
taken for a man of sixty. When he was three years of age, in 1835,
he was brought to Michigan, which was then a territory, and practically
the entire area of southern Michigan was still an unbroken wilderness.

The pioneer founder of the family in this state was Grandfather
Thomas Jefferson Lewis, who in his earlier years had seen service in
the War of 181 2 on the American side. Grandfather Lewis married
Dolly Derby, who died when her son, Thomas, was nine years of age.
Grandfather died in 1862, and both passed away in Jackson county where
they were among the pioneer settlers. The longevity which has char-
acterized the family of Lewis is well illustrated by the fact that five sons
of Grandfather Lewis are still living, namely : Edwin George, Thomas,
Isaac Ives, James and Alonzo. All five of these brothers have reached
the psalmist's age of threescore and ten, Alonzo being seventy, while
Edwin George, the oldest, is eighty-six.

Thomas Lewis, the father, spent all his active years as a farmer and
stock raiser, and dealt extensively in live stock, those activities afford-
ing him the basis of a substantial competence. On July 4, 1855, he mar-
ried Mary Priscilla Carey. They became the parents of eight children
of whom only two sons are now living, George Edwin and Stephen Eu-
gene, both of Jackson. Mary Priscilla Lewis died December 15, 1905.

George Edwin Lewis was reared on his father's farm in Columbia
township, had his training in the country schools, and the daily duties of
his boyhood and youth prepared him for a life of a practical farmer and
stock raiser. He was on the home place until he reached the age of
twenty-three, and from that time up to 1913, he was actively engaged in
the grocery business. In 1887 Mr. Lewis came to Jackson, and from
that year until 1913, he conducted a prosperous grocery on South Mil-
waukee street. Thus he was for a full quarter of a century one of the
well known merchants of the city. Mr. Lewis is a member of the Retail
Grocers and General Merchants Association of Michigan, an organization
which he formerly served in the capacity of treasurer. He has for the
past fifteen years been secretary of the Lalioring Men's Building iS: Loan
Association.

Mr. Lewis is now a member of the Board of Aldermen from the
Fourth Ward, having been elected as a Democrat, though the ward has
a normal Republican majority of about two hundred. His election by a
margin of sixty-nine votes is in itself a high tribute to his personal pop-
ularity and his standing as a citizen. Some years ago he lived in the
Fifth Ward and represented that constituency for two terms in the coun-
cil. Air. Lewis was at one time a member of the Public Library Board,
and his fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks. On October 31, 1882, he married Frankie Rizpah Lewis, who,
though of the same name, was not related to him prior to their marriage.
They have one daughter, Miss Neva Fern Lewis, who graduated from
the Jackson High School and later was a student in the LTniversity of
Michisran.

1236 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Robert W. Standart, chainiKin of the Standart Brothers Company
(Ltd.), of Detroit, one of Michigan's largest wholesale hardware concerns,
whose intense and well directed activity has resulted in the upbuilding of
one of the largest commercial enterprises of the city, has made a record
in the business world such as any man might' be proud to possess, and one
wilich excites the admiration of his fellow townsmen and the respect of
those who have in any way been connected with him in business transac-
tions. Never incurring obligations he has'not met, nor making engage-
ments that he has not tilled, he has won the unciualified trust of the busi-
ness public and his name has become a synonym for commercial integrity
and enterprise.

Mr. Standart is a native of the Empire State, having been born at
Auburn, New York, June 12, 1846, a son of the late Henry W. and Ann
(Gardner) Standart. His father and brothers, George and Joseph G.
Standart, came from Auburn, New York, to Detroit, Michigan, in June,
1863, for the purpose of establishing themselves in business, and founded
here the hardware firm of Standart Brothers, now grown into the whole-
sale line and still being carried on under the original name. Robert W.
Standart attended the public schools of Auburn, New York, and was
seventeen years of age when he came to Detroit to join his father and
brothers. Entering the store as a clerk, he worked his way steadily upward
in the growing business until, ten years after his advent therein, he was
admitted to a partnership with the older members. Upon the incorpora-
tion of the company, in 1900, he became treasurer, a capacity in which he
acted until iqi2, anfl then became chairman, a position which he has since
filled. Standart Brothers Company (Ltd.) from a small beginning has
grown into one of the largest enterprises in its line in the state of Michi-
gan, and is known to the trade all over the United States. The men who
have been at the head of this enterprise have wrought along modern busi-
ness lines, keeping in advance of the trade sufficiently to make the object
of patronage a desirable one to the retailers, while the house, wherever
known, is honored for its unassailable business methods and straight-
forward dealing. From the beginning of his connection with the house
Robert W. Standart has worked earnestly and persistently, has formed his
plans readily and has been determined in their execution. Endowed by
nature with sound judgment and an accurate, discriminating mind, he has
not feared that laborious attention to the details of business so necessary
to achieve success, and this essential quality has ever been guided by a
sense of moral right which tolerates the employment only of those means
that will bear the most rigid examination by a fairness of intention that
neither seeks nor requires disguise. A man of philanthropic views, for
many years he has been active in his assistance of the Detroit Newsboys'
Association, and for a number of years served as its treasurer. It is but
just and merited praise to say that Mr. Standart as a business man ranks
with the ablest, as a citizen is honorable, prompt and true to every engage-
ment, and as a man liolds the esteem of all classes of the people.

At Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1876, Mr. Standart was married to
Miss Harriet C. Hyde, and they have two sons : William F. and Robert
\V., both of whom are connected with the firm of Standart Brothers.

Richard Frederick Kurntz. A specialist in the line of plastering
contracting, Mr. Kurntz, who has been in business on his own account in
Detroit since 1908, has perfected an organization for performing first-class
service, and has a fine and growing business. His home is at 617 Con-
cord street.

A native of Detroit, born at the corner of Scott and Chene streets, on
the East side, February 8, 1886, Richard Frederick Kurntz is a son of

public

HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN 1237

John and Ida (Verschupsky) Kurntz. His father was born in Detroit in
1864, and his mother in Germany, and both father and mother are now
living, the former engaged in the manufacture of cement blocks. Detroit
and its environs have encompassed practically the entire lifetime of Air.
R. F. Kurntz, and his education was acquired in the public schools, but
at the age of fourteen he decided to learn the trade of plasterer and served
an apprenticeship of four years. With proficiency in his trade he worked
as a journeyman for si.x years, and in igo8 started to contract under his
own name. His work is along the line of general plastering, and his busi-
ness has been successful from the start. Mr. Kurntz is a member of the
Detroit Builders and Traders Exchange, and of the Detroit Master Plas-
terers Association. He belongs to the Amaranths, the North American
Union, his church home is St. Mark's Lutheran, and his political affilia-
tion is with the Republican party.

Mr. Kurntz married Ethel May, who was born in Detroit, daughter
of Henry and Matilda (Mass) May. Both her parents were natives of
Detroit, but Frederick Mass, Mr. Kurntz' maternal grandfather, was a
German by birth and a soldier in the Prussian army, being attached to the
Cavalry body guard of King William of Prussia, who was afterwards
Emperor William the First of Germany. This old soldier came to the
United States and settled in Detroit near the close of our Civil war, and
was for a number of years engaged in the lumber business. To the mar-
riage of Mr. and Mrs. Kurntz has been born, one daughter, Ruby Ida
May Kurntz, in 1910.

TiiOM,\s B. T.'WLOR. Under the proprietorship of Thomas B. Taylor
the City Mills of Jackson have been making useful products for the past
thirty years, and they are one of the best known and most valuable local
industries. Mr. Taylor, who represents a pioneer family of Michigan,
has had a successful business career, beginning as a boy on a farm, and
gradually working his way from one stage of progress to the next higher,
and now for many years has enjoyed an influential position in local af-
fairs at Jackson.

Thomas B. Taylor was born on a farm in Livingston county, Mich-
i<Tan, August 29. 1849. Both parents were natives of England, and the
paternal grandparents followed their son to America and died in Liv-
ingston county, but the maternal grandparents never left the old coun-
try. Richard Taylor, father of the Jackson business man. came to Mich-
igan about 1835, and was one of the pioneers of Livingston county. He
was one of the substantial and hard-working farmer citizens of that time,
and did his share toward subduing the wilderness of Livingston county
and making it a landscape of farms and comfortable homes. He con-
tinued farming in the county the rest of his days, and died in 1880 at the
age of sixtv-three. He married Mary Ann Lumb. Their acquaintance
w'^as begun in England, but they were not married until after they came
to America and reached Livingston county. ?ilrs. Richard Taylor, who
died at the age of fifty-three, was the mother of eight children. Two of
them. George and Emma, are deceased, the former at the age of sixty-
three and the latter at the age of twelve. The six still living are : Alfred
Taylor ; Miss Nannie Taylor ; Thomas B. ; Nancy and Sarah, twins, the
former' now Mrs. John Rubbins, and the latter Mrs. Thomas Dill; and
Christopher Taylor. . .

Thomas B. Taylor spent his boyhood on his father's farm m Livuig-
ston county. His training was largely of a practical nature, though he
attended the country schools and laid a substantial basis for a useful
career. When he was twentv years old he attended Bryant & Stratton's
Business College in Detroit, 'but then returned to his father's farm and

1238 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

awaited a good opportunity to get into commercial life. The work which
started him on his career to success was selling farm implements, and to
individual buyers over a large section of country he sold threshing ma-
chines, buggies, wagons, plows and practically every kind of tool, im-
plement and machinery used on farms. Finally, as a result of a trade,
i\Ir. Taylor found himself owner of a farm in Waterloo township of Jack-
son county. He did not give his personal supervision to this land, and
in 1884 succeeded in trading it for the City !Mills of Jackson. Thus, in
a roundabout way, this valuable property came into his hands, and has
proved the basis for all his subsequent business career. In thirty years
he has made the mills quite an institution in Jackson and has given a
splendid reputation to their product.

Since coming to Jackson Mr. Taylor has made many friends, and he
enjoys a secure position in the regard of the entire community. He was
one of the organizers of the Central State Bank of Jackson and has been
one of its board of directors ever since. Fraternally he is a Chapter and
Council Mason, a member of the Order of Elks, and the Jackson Cham-
ber of Commerce. He has never married. His accomplishments as a
business man well measure his conduct and character as a citizen and
man, and his fellow citizens admire him for his honest dealings, his
sobriety, his uprightness and close attention to business.

Herman Marti x Batts. Though little more than thirty years of
age, Herman Martin Batts has already won a secure position in the build-
ing trades of Detroit, and as senior member of the firm of Batts & Van
Houw, carpenters and general contractors, is at the head of an already
successful business and one whose scope and reputation are constantly ex-
panding.

Of the substantial Holland stock that has been so important a factor
in the development of Michigan, Herman Batts was born in the city of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, on August i, 1883, a son of Martin and Petro-
nella (Visser) Batts. Both parents were natives of the Netherlands, and
came when single with their respective parents to the United States in
the same year, 1881, all locating in Grand Rapids. It was in Grand Rap-
ids that the father and mother were married and still live there, the
father being a retail grocery merchant. Both are members of the Chris-
tian Reformed church.

It was in Grand Rapids that Herman M. Batts grew up, acquired an
education through the common schools and in a business college, and in
1900, at the age of seventeen, found an apprentice place with a well
known carpenter of Grand Rapids and in two or three years had devel-
oped much expertness in his trade and was one of the most responsiDie
workmen m the employ of that contractor. He continued with one man
seven years, working as a journeyman in Grand Rapids until 1906, then
spent one year in Los Angeles, California, and after one year as an inde-
pendent contractor in Grand Rapids came to Detroit in 1910. In that
city he formed his partnership with Mr. Van Houw, and for the past
four years they have transacted a large business as general and carpenter
contractors. From the start they have never had a reverse, and the suc-
cessful manner in which they handle their business is a matter of com-
ment among their business associates. Among various buildings put up
by tliem are several large apartment houses in difTerent parts of the city,
some thirty residences, stores and other structures, and their record of
building during 1912 aggregated twenty-three Inuldings.

Mr. Batts is a member ot the Builders and Traders Exchange of
Detroit, the Master Carpenters Association, and, like his parents, affiliates
with the Christian Reformed church. On May 4, 191 1, occurred his mar-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1239

riage to Gertrude Dykstra, who was born in the Netherlands, a daughter
of Ate and Anna (Feenstra) Dykstra. The family emigrated to the
United States in 1891, establishing a home in Grand Rapids, where Mr.
and ^Irs. Batts became acquainted. They now have one son, Martin
Arthur, who is two years old.

Stephen H. Carroll. A prominent public-spirited citizen uf Jack-
son, Stephen H. Carroll, now president and general manager of the Con-
sumers Ice and Fuel Company, was for upwards of a quarter of a century,
identified with the municipal government as a member of the board of
aldermen, and an important factor in advancing the city's growth and
prosperity. A son of Peter Carroll, he was born, September 2, 1852, in
Burlington, Vermont, where his mother, whose home was then in Wel-
lington county, Canada, was born and reared, and where she was visiting
her people at the time of his birth.

Peter Carroll was born in Ireland, but came to America with his par-
ents when he was a mere lad. The family first settled at Burlington,
Vermont, where he grew to manhood and was married. Some years later
he removed with his wife and parents to Wellington county, Ontario,
Canada, where his parents spent the later years of their long and useful
lives, his father attaining the remarkable age of one hundred and three
years, while his mother lived to be one hundred and one years old. In
1876 he came with his family to Michigan, locating in Traverse county,
where he spent his last days, passing away at the age of eighty-three years,
lie was twice married, by his two unions becoming the father of thirteen
sons and two daughters.

Peter Carroll married first, in Burlington, Vermont, Dorothy .Stevens,
a native of that city, and died on the home farm, in Wellington county,
Canada, in 1858. Of the ten sons and one daughter born of their union,
the daughter and four sons are now living, as follows: Elizabeth, wife of
William H. Buchan, of Traverse county, Michigan; Joseph R., of Brad-
ford county, Pennsylvania; Stephen H., the special subject of this brief
review ; Patrick, of Jackson, Michigan ; and Matthew L., of Hoquiam,
Washington. About two years after the death of his first wife Peter
Carroll married for his second wife, Mary Courtnon, who bore him four
children, three sons and a daughter, and of these three are now living,
namely: Michael, of Chicago, Illinois; Charles, of Traverse county, Mich-
igan; and Jennie, wife of Judd Hall, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The
mother of these children died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Hall,
January 26, 1914.

After the death of his mother, when he was but six years of age,
Stephen H. Carroll went to live with his uncle, James Carroll, in Welling-
ton county, Canada, on a farm, remaining with him four years. The
ensuing five years he worked on other farms in that locality, and then, in
1S67 came to Michigan, and spent a year on a farm in Traverse county.
Going to Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1868, he was employed in or near
there" for two years, but not contented with his surroundings, he returned
to Michigan in 1870, and has since been an honored resident of Jackson,
a period of forty-four years.

For ten years after locating in Jackson, Mr. Carroll was actively en-
gaged in tlie trucking business, and the following twenty years carried on
a substantial bottling business as proprietor of the Mineral Springs Bot-
tling Works. From i8g6 until 1910 Mr. Carroll was one of the partners
in the Eberle Brewing Company, of Jackson, during which time he was
vice president and treasurer of the concern. Since coming to Jackson he
has also had other interests, at one time having been identified with the
coal mines of Jackson county, and having had an interest in a buggy body

124U HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

factory. For twelve years Mr. Carroll was a director in the Jackson Land
and Improvement Company, and in that capacity was instrumental in
having located here several of the city's most important factories, among
which are the Lewis Spring and Axle Company, the Aspinwall Manu-
facturing Company, and others. At the present time, in 1914, Mr. Carroll
is the principal owner, president and general manager of the Consumers
Ice and Fuel Company, which is capitalized at $40,000, and is one of
Jackson's important industries.

For twenty-six years Mr. Carroll represented the fifth ward on the
Jackson Board of v\ldermen, serving continuously from 1884 until 1910,
when, having grown weary of the service, he resigned the office, which
otherwise he would doubtless have held as long as he lived. For three
years he was president of the Council, and during the entire period "of his
service was one of the foremost members of the board, and the author
of a large part of the city's legislation, while as president of the board he
was frequently called upon to serve as acting mayor of the city.

Mr. Carroll has been twice married. He married first, July 4, 1872,
Miss Lena Vogt, who passed to the life beyond in 1906, leaving two
daughters, namely; Ella May, wife of Joseph F. Tobin, of Jackson; and
Lena, wife of Burt Ferine, of Idaho. On June 9, 1907, Mr. Carroll mar-
ried for his second wife Miss Margaret DeLancey, of Hamilton, Ontario.
Fraternally Mr. Carroll is a charter member of Jackson Lodge No. 113,
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; and religiously he belongs to
Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church. Politically he is stanch Democrat.
For many years Mr. Carroll was a power in civic affairs in Jackson and
his name and deeds are indelibly written in the municipal history of the
city.

Hrrman Frank Yatzek. When his business associates chose Mr.
Yatzek in 1914 as president of the Master Carpenters Association of
Detroit, a well deserved honor was conferred upon one of the leading
general carpenter contractors of Detroit, and one that indicates his
standing in the general building trades of that city.

Though a resident of Detroit nearly all his life, Flerman Frank
Yatzek is a native of Germany, born in Deutsch Eilau in West Prussia
on February 24, 1873. His parents, Herman Charles and Johanna (Kona-
patzke) Yatzek, brought their little family to the L'nited States in 1887,
establishing a home in Detroit. In Germany the father had learned and
followed the carriage building trade, but after coming to the United
States was employed in the more general lines of carpentry. He is
still living, but the mother died on March 6, 1910.

As he was fourteen years old when the family came to the United
States, Herman F. Yatzek had practically completed his school training
in the old country. His early experiences in Detroit were those of a
young foreigner who had to spend considerable time in mastering a new
language, and who worked at different lines to earn a living. When
twenty years of age he took up work asi a cari)enter, and followed the
trade as a journeyman until 1903. Since that year his name has been
among the inde])endent contractors, and he was liead of the firm of
Yatzek & Grunwald until it was dissolved in 1912. Since that year Mr.
Yatzek has been engaged in contracting under the firm name of Yatzek
& Company. To mention only a few of the many contracts which he
has successfully handled, his work is exemplified in Dr. McDonald's
eight-apartment house: Mr. Beecher's forty-apartment house; Mr. Kauf-
man's six-apartment terrace ; Mrs. Frazer's eight-apartment flats ; Mr.
Cawey's six-apartment house ; and many other apartments, flats, resi-
dences, store buildings, etc.

■^i si^- lOU

*1{^>^'**>'''*'*'*^

o.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1241

Mr. Yatzek completed his own handsome brick modern residence in
igii at 955 Field avenue. Besides his membership and presidency for.
the year 1914 of the Master Carpenters Association Mr. Yatzek is a
member of the Detroit Builders & Traders E.xchange. He and his fam-
ily are members of the German Lutheran Evangelical church. He mar-
ried Lena Stoetzner, who was born in Saxony, Germany, daughter of
Charles Stoetzner, who came to this country when Mrs. Yatzek was an
infant. To Mr. and Mrs. Yatzek has been born one daughter, Florence
Elsa, aged thirteen years.

Jkre C. Hutchins. The president of the Detroit United Railway has
been a railroad man since the minor beginnings of his very successful
career. Before assuming the heavy responsibilities of his present execu-
tive office, Jere C. Hutchins, as a railway engineer, was identified with
the construction and improvement of various lines in different parts of
the state, and at one time mingled with his profession several years of
active newspaper work, and that experience has probably not been with-
out its practical value in connection with railway management. For
twenty years Mr. Hutchins has been identified with the street and inter-
urban railway interests of Detroit and vicinity and has been at the head
of the Detroit United Railway almost from the time the various com-
panies were consolidated under that management.

Jere C. Hutchins is a native of the south, born in Carroll parish,
Louisiana, October 13, 1853. His parents were Anthony W. and Mary
B. (Chamberlin) Hutchins, the former a native of Mississippi and the
latter of Pennsylvania. Anthony W. Hutchins for many years was a
successful planter in Louisiana, but soon after the birth of Jere C. moved
to Missouri, and both he and his wife spent the rest of their lives in that
state.

Prepared for his career in the public schools of Lexington, Missouri,
and by study under private tutor, Jere C. Hutchins at the age of seventeen
took up the study of civil engineering under Major JMorris, one of the
leaders of his profession at that time in Missouri. His early experience
as a civil engineer identified him with construction work on the Missouri
division of the Gulf and Lexington Railroad, with engineering depart-
ments of the Kansas Pacific, the Kansas and Te.xas, and the Texas I'acific
railroads, and he was a construction engineer with each of the last three
mentioned. It was while in Te.xas that he was drawn temporarily away
from his profession into the newspaper field. In 1876 he found work as
reporter on the Waco Examiner at Waco, Texas, and subsequently be-
came editor of that journal. He was also Texas political correspondent
for New York and New Orleans papers. After five years of newspaper
work, Mr. Hutchins in 1881 resumed his profession as engineer, and
the following thirteen years were spent successively in the engineering
department of the New Orleans and Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas and
Texas, and the Illinois Central railroads.

Having already established a reputation as an engineer, Mr. Hutchins
in 1894 moved to Detroit, where he became vice president of the Citizens
Street Railway Company, and one of the large stockholders in that enttr-
prise. About the same time he was made president of the Detroit, Fort
Wayne and Belle Isle Railway Company and vice-president of the De-
troit Electric Railway Company. Those were the three corporations that
at that time controlled nearly all the street railway transportation in and
about Detroit and the responsibilities of their successful management de-
volved upon Mr. Hutchins more than upon any other one official. While
known among his associates as a duly conservative business man, Mr.
Hutchins pursued a liberal policy in increasing the facilities and good

1242 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

service of the different lines, and tinally was one of those most instru-
mental in bringing about the organization of the Detroit United Railway
Company in 1901, and the consolidaion of the various street railways of
Detroit. His position as vice president of the new corporation was va-
cated in January, 1902, when the directors elected him president, and his
technical and administrative ability has been employed for twelve years
in the improvement and extension of the great system of urban lines
now controlled by the United Railway. It is conceded that Detroit now
has one of the best systems of urban transportation among all the cities
of America, and those who are in a position to know ascribe this achieve-
ment to Jere C. Hutchins, the president. While he has been loyal as
representing immense financial interests invested in the property, Mr.
Hutchins has likewise been guided by a due sense of responsibility to
the public, and has afforded the best service and facilities consistent
with the rules of business economy and stability. Mr. Hutchins has a
number of other business interests in Detroit, and among them he is a
director in the People's State Bank of this city.

Essentially a business man, he has had no ambition for pulilic office,
but takes an active interest in civic and professional organizations. He
belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce and various city clubs and
social organizations, is a member of the American Society of Civil Engi-
neers, affiliates with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, having
reached the Knight Templar degree in the York Rite and has taken
thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite.

Mr. Hutchins in April, 1881, married Miss Anna M. Brooks of Waco,
Texas. Her death occurred in July, 1900. In June, 1903, ]\Tr. Hutchins
was united in marriage with Miss Sarah PL Russel, daughter of the late
Dr. George B. Russel, the Detroit pioneer, physician and Inisiness builder
whose career is sketched elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Hutchins is one
of the prominent social leaders in the city.

John Fr.xncis Maher. A well-known and popular resident of the
city of Jackson, and one of the leading representatives of the prosperous
merchants of that city, John Francis Alaher is joint projirietor, with his
brother, Thomas J. Maher, of the music store, and of Music block, in
which it is located, at No. 120 East Main street. The eldest son of James
Maher, he was born October 2G, 1866, in Saginaw, Michigan, where he
was reared and educated.

James Maher was born in Canada, of Irish parentage. On February
8, 1864, he was united in marriage with l\Iiss Rose Bowles, who was
also born in Canada, of Irish parents, their marriage having been rele-
brated at Saint Catherines, province of Quebec. Soon after that event
he migrated with his bride to Michigan, locating in Saginaw, where for
many years he carried on a thriving business as a retail dealer in meat
and groceries. Subsequently moving with his family to Jackson, he con-
tinued in the same line of business until 191 1, when he retired from
active pursuits. On February 8, 1914, he and his good wife celebrated
the golden anniversary of their wedding, the occasion having been one
of great pleasure to them and to their children, relatives, and many
friends. Of the twelve children born of their union, eight are now liv-
ing, as follows: Mary, wife of Albert Crosier; John F.. the special sub-
ject of this brief sketch: Catherine, wife of W. C. Hallock : Thomas J.,
of the firm of Maher Brothers; Mabel, wife of Roy D. Bates: Sister
Mary Clara, of Saint James' Convent, Bav City, ^Michigan : De W'ht J. ;
and Gladys C.

Brought up and educated in Saginaw, John F. IMaher entered public
life at the age of twenty-one years, from 1887 until 1890, serving as city

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1243

clerk and as deputy controller of that city. When, in the latter year, the
cities of East Saginaw and West Saginaw were consolidated he was ap-
pointed secretary and superintendent of the Saginaw Water Works, a
position that he filled most creditably for four years. Coming from there
to Jackson in 1S94, Mr. Maher and his brother, Thomas J. Maher, im-
mediately founded the music business which they have since success-
fully conducted under the firm name of Maher Brothers. Fortune smiled
on the efforts of this enterprising firm, which in 1906 purchased the block-
located at No. 120 East ]\Iain street, and at once assumed its possession.
Since buying this block, now known as the Maher Brothers Music Block,
the Messrs. Maher have spent about $20,000 in remodeling and adding
to it. It is a large building, containing four stories and a basement, and
is 20 feet by 150, extending from Main street on the front to Michigan
avenue in its rear. This firm carries a large stock of musical instruments
of all kinds, in the interests of their extensive business occupying the
whole of the first and second floors of Music Block and the entire base-
ment, which is finished off as carefully as any part of the building. The
stock is complete in every respect, being equal in quality and quantity to
that of any similar store in the state with the possible exception of some
of the larger stores of Detroit and Grand Rapids. In the stock are more
than one hundred pianos, ranging in price and quality from the cheapest
grades to the finest instruments made. The firm endeavors to keep con-
stantly on hand a sufficient stock of goods to accommodate immediately
the buyer of large means, who demands the finest pianos and piano-play-
ers that can be purchased, or the buyer that desires a piano at the mini-
mum cost. Quite as fine musical instruments can be found in the estab-
lishment of Maher Brothers as can be procured in New York or Chi-
cago, instruments in fact whose value cannot be expressed in less than
four figures. Every class and grade of musical instruments is carried
by the firm, as well as the musical apparatus and equipment necessary in
stich an establishment.

The music firm of ]\Iaher Brothers has become a permanent fixture
in Jackson, and has won a deservedly high reputation not only in Jack-
son and vicinity, but throughout Jackson county and the larger portion of
Southern Michigan.

Mr. Maher is a director, and president, of the Jackson City Hospital,
a position which he has held for five years ; and is a director, and treas-
urer, of the Meadow Heights Country Club. He is also a member, and
a director, of the Jackson Citv Clul) ; and belongs to the Jackson Cham-
ber of Commerce. Fraternally he is a member of the IBenevolent and
Protective Order of Elks; and religiously he is a member of Saint Mary's
Roman Catholic Church, and one of its liberal svipporters.

On December 25, 1899, Mr. Maher was united in marriage with Miss
Bertha Nordman, of Jackson.

J.\ME.s F.ARNAM Hartnes.s. Ill the Detroit building trades the name
James F. Hartness requires no commentary, since its associations with
substantial success is already safe and secure. Mr. Hartness is a young
man, alert and enterprising, and with expert knowledge of his business
has united an aggressive temper which has made his success inevitable.

Born in Detroit j\Iarch 21, 18S0, James Farnum Hartness is a son of
the late James and Rose Etta (Wilkinson) Hartness. His father, who
was born in Schenectady, New York, in 1846, died in Detroit March 19,
1909, and was married in that city to Miss Wilkinson, who was born in
Brooklyn, New York, in 1848, and still survives. The late James Hart-
ness came to Detroit a yotmg man, and was for a number of years en-
gaged in the rtianufacture of soap, and subsequently became a successful

1244 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

contractor in the laying of sidewalks. He was a member of the Presby-
terian church.

The Detroit public schools gave James F. Hartness his early training,
and he was hardly more than a boy when he began earning his way and
preparing for a permanent career. His first work was clerk in a hotel.
Next he became an employe in his father's office, and subsequently
learned the cabinet maker's trade. That was a valuable experience and
furnished him means of a living for a time, but subsequently he began
an apiirenticeship at the brick mason's trade under John Sigman. As
a journeyman brick mason Mr. Hartness worked on many contracts
and in diflferent parts of Detroit and vicinity until iQog. Since then his
name has been in the directory of general mason contractors. His first
business was in association with Joseph Blenman, under the firm name
of Hartness & Blenman. Three years later that partnership was dis-
solved, and since then Mr. Hartness has contracted under his own name.
There are many examples of his work that might be cited, but it will
suffice to call attention to the branch house of the American State Bank
at the corner of Holcomb and Kercheval streets, also the addition to
the main banking building of the same institution at Hilger and Jeffer-
son avenue ; the residence of Charles B. Tuttle at the corner of East
Grand boulevard and Waterloo street ; the Edwin Denby terraces ; the
Fournier stores on Woodward avenue and Buena Vista street in High-
land Park; the Valpy residence, besides many others. In 191 1 Mr.
Hartness completed his own handsome residence at the corner of Fisher
avenue and Waterloo street.

Mr. Hartness is one of the popular members of the Detroit Builders
and Traders Exchange and the Master Masons Association, and his
interest in music and general fraternal matters is indicated by his mem-
bership in the Mendelssohn Society and the City of the Straits Lodge of
the Masonic order. Mr. Hartness married Lottie F. Riester, who was
born in Detroit, (laughter of John and Freda fCarber) Riester of De-
troit.

Licwis F. Secord. Benjamin Orr. The senior member of the firm
of Secord & Orr, builders of gasoline engines, at Jackson, Michigan,
Lewis F. Secord was horn on a farm in Ingham county, Michigan, April
5, 1881, a son of William E. and Celia (Chorchan) Secord, who are now
residing in Lansing, Michigan. On his father's side of the house he is of
French ancestry, and on his mother's side is of Irish descent, his maternal
grandparents having emigrated from Ireland to the L-nited States. Hav-
ing obtained a practical education in the public schools, Lewis F. Secord
learned the machinist's trade in Lansing. In tqo6 he located in Jackson,
and a few years later engaged in the manufacture of gasoline engines with
his present partner, Benjamin Orr.

Benjamin Orr was born in Jackson, Michigan, June 17, 1882, a son
of William Robert and Elizabeth (Cox) Orr, neither of whom are now
living, and is of English ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides.
He, too, learned the trade of a machinist when young, serving an appren-
ticeship in his native city. He subsequently followed his trade for a few
years, gaining knowledge and experience, and dcvelojjing his native inven-
tive talent.

In iqOQ the firm of Secord & Orr was formed for the purpose of
manufacturing gasoline engines, its plant at first being located on Water
street. Its business increasing with surprising rapidity, more commodious
(|uarlers were needed, and in 1913 this firm erected, at Nos. 115-121
Hamburg street, a handsome building, 60 feet by lOO feet, at a cost of

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1245

about $7,cxx), and at once installed in its new building the most modern
and up-to-date machinery used in the manufacture of gasoline engines.

Messrs. Secord and Orr have both great inventive genius, and deserve
much credit for the several excellent patents they have secured on their
engines. In the fall of iyi2, this firm, which had previously oljtained
some very valuable patents on a gasoline engine which it had built, sold
not only their patent to a St. Louis firm at a handsome figure, but the
entire equipment of its plant, which was shipped to the Missouri city.
The firm of Secord & Orr did not then dissolve, however, but its mem-
bers at once secured new and other patents on another gasoline engine,
which they believe is far superior to the one thev sold, although that
was an excellent engine. The new ]3atents secured, the firm of Secord
& Orr erected its present building, and equipped it with machinery neces-
sary for the manufacture of the new engine, which will doubtless be one
of the very best on the market when completed.

Mr. Secord married, June 25, 1902, Miss Lucia Elliott, and to them
five children have been born, namely: Eugene; Ruth; Lewis P., Jr.;
Mary ; and Frances. Religiously Mr. Secord is a member of Saint Mary's
Roman Catholic Church ; and socially he belongs to the Knights of
Columbus.

Mr. Orr married, July 28, 1909, Miss Mary TJarbour, of Bay City,
Michigan, and they are the parents of three children, namely : Willben,
Lyman, and Elizabeth.

M.'\RK McLe.'^n. The Mark McLean Company, architects and gen-
eral contractors, with offices at 1048 Mt. Elliott avenue, is a firm with a
practical record of accomplishment, and a hundred cases might be
readily found to illustrate the competency and reliability of the company.
Mark McLean, the senior member of the firm, has been identified with
Detroit building construction since 1906, and previously for many years
was one of the prominent builders at Port Huron.

A native son of Michigan, born on a farm in Sanilac county May 4,
[851, Mark McLean is a .son of James and Electa (Locke) McLean.
His father was born near Ottawa, Canada, of an old Canadian family
of Scotch descent, and the mother was likewise a native Canadian. About
1844 the McLeans moved across the boundary and settler in Sanilac
county, Michigan. James McLean had become a builder while in Can-
ada, and after moving to Michigan was the pioneer in his line of busi-
ness in Sanilac county, and for a number of years was practically the
only building contractor who was proficient and had the skill and organ-
zation necessary for carrying out any important enterprise. Some of the
first mills in that section of the state were erected by him. When the
war came on James McLean enlisted for service in the Twenty-second
Regiment of Michigan Infantry, and after a short service died at Chat-
tanooga, Tennessee, about 1863. His widow survived many years and
passed away at Bad Axe, Michigan, in her eighty-second year.

The boyhood and early youth of Mark McLean was passed in Sani-
lac countv, whose district schools afforded him his early education, and
as a youth he began learning the carpenter's trade at Port Huron. Af-
ter some years of practical experience as a journeyman, Mr. McLean in
1892 began contracting at Port Huron, and remained an active business
man of that city until 1906, when his enterprise was transferred to De-
troit. His place as a general contractor has long been assured. Beside
his work for others as a contractor, Mr. McLean has done a large amount
of independent building, and has furnished money for others to build
on, and his operations are of a very extensive and important character.
The Mark McLean Company was established in 191 2. the members of

1246 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

which are Mr. McLean and his son Mark, Jr. Since the establishment
of the company the annual average of construction is about thirty build-
ings of different types, while in 191 3 they put up more than forty build-
ings, including residences, stores and factories.

Mr. McLean is a member of the Detroit Citizens League, of the
Northeastern Improvement Society, and his church home is the Helen
avenue Baptist church, of which he is an official. Mr. McLean married
Sarah Carter, who was a native of Canada. Their children are: Electa,
who is the wife of Charles McKenzie of St. Clair county, and has two
children, Russell and Clarence; Mark, Jr.; and Allan A., at home.

Mark McLean, Jr., who is now one of the enterprising younger men
in the Detroit building circles, was born at Bad A.xe in Huron county,
Michigan, October 25, 1884. His public school training was acquired in
Port Huron, and under his father he learned the carpenter's trade and
worked as a journeyman for eleven years. In the meantime he acquired
a technical knowledge of architecture, and has since been associated with
his father and his profession is chiefly along the line of architecture.

Mark McLean, Jr., married Mary Pethke, who was born in Port
Huron, iMichigan. Their three children are: Arthur Werthen, Char-
lotte Marie and Eunice Esther.

C.\SPER H.\EHNLE. A man of much ability, great intelligence, and sound
judgment, Casper Haehnle is actively identified with the industrial inter-
ests of Jackson as general manager of the Haehnle Brewing Company,
of which he is a stockholder, is president of the Haehnle Bottling Com-
pany, which he founded and as vice-president of the Alloy Steel Spring
Co., of Jackson. He was born, November 12, 1876, in Jackson, Michigan,
where his entire life has been spent, being a son of the late Casper Haehnle,
whose death occurred in 1893, and of whom a brief sketch appears else-
where in this volume.

Growing to manhood in the city of Jackson, Casper Haehnle attended
the public schools during the days of his boyhood, completing the studies
of the different grades up to the ninth, and in 1894 was graduated from
Devlin's Business College. Going to Chicago in 1895, he entered the
Wahl-Henin's Institute of Fermentology, where he took a full course of
study in chemistry, microscopy and fermentation with the idea of gaining
a technical knowledge of the brewing business, and was there graduated
in April, 1896. Returning home after receiving his diploma, Mr. Haehnle
became assistant manager of the Haehnle Brewery, established by his
father, and filled the position so ably and efticiently that in 1901 he was
made general manager of the business. In this capacity Mr. Haehnle
has been eminently successful, the plant under his supervision maintaining
the excellent reputation established by his father for its clean, ]nire prod-
ucts. At the present time, in 1914, the Haehnle Brewing Company manu-
factures and sells 20,000 barrels of beer, and 6,000 tons of ice, annually.
In 191 1 Mr. Haehnle founded and established what is known as the
Haehnle Bottling Company, which is an entirely separate corporation,
although in reality it is a subsidiary corporation of the Haehnle Brewing
Company, and is its largest stockholder, and its president. The Haehnle
Brewing' Company is capitalized at $75,000, wdiile the Haehnle Bottling
Company has a capital of $15,000.

Mr. Haehnle married. May g, 1901, Miss Nellie Meyfarth, of Jackson,
and they have one child, Phyllis Averill Haehnle, born April 11, 1906.
Fraternally Mr. Haehnle is a member of Jackson Lodge No. 17, Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of Masons ; of Jackson Chapter No. 3, Royal
Arch Masons; of Jackson Commandery No. 9, Knights Templar; and of
Jackson Lodge No. 113, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He
also belongs to the Michigan Center Country Club.

m Km nm.

C f^C- t

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1247

Frank E. Palmer has a place today among the foremost citizens of
Jackson. As president of the Peninsular Portland Cement Company, vice
president of the Central State Bank of Jackson and for thirty-six years
prominently identified with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Com-
pany and its successor, the International Harvester Company of America,
he has a wide acquaintance and a representative following in business
circles of the city and state, so that he is in every way entitled to the posi-
tion he occupies in the ranks of Jackson's leading citizens.

Mr. Palmer was born on a Lenawee county farm, this state, on No-
vember i8, 1853, and he is a son of Marvin E. Palmer. This farm the
elder Palmer had entered from the government as early as 1831, he being
one of the pioneers of Lenawee county. He came to the state in 1831
from Ira, Cayuga county, New York, where he was born in 181 1. His
father, Jarius Palmer, had been in his day a pioneer of Cayuga county,
and he was a veteran of the War of 1812.

The Lenawee county farm which Marvin E. Palmer entered from the
government in 1831 lay six miles west of Adrian. In 1857 Marion Palmer
removed from Lenawee county to St. Johns, in Clinton county, Michigan,
and there for something like a half dozen years he continued to be identi-
fied with mercantile pursuits. He also became the first president of St.
Johns village, and while residing there held other offices in the community.
In 1863 he returned to his Lenawee county farm, which, though he had
sold it in 1857 when he moved to Clinton county, he was obliged to take
back owing to the inability of the purchaser to pay for it. In the fall of
1863 Mr. Palmer disposed of his farm on more satisfactory terms, [uir-
chasing another place that was more to his liking in Liberty township,
Jackson county. On this place he continued to live for a good many years,
but in 1882 the desire for change impelled him to sell the place, and he
removed to Jackson, where he died on October 12, 1899, at the ripe age
of eighty-seven years.

In about 1849 Marvin E. Palmer married Phoebe Beals, in Dover
township, Lenawee county. She was born at North Adams, Massachu-
setts, and she died in Jackson when she had reached the exact age at which
her husband passed out, her death occurring on May 18, 1909.

Since 1878 Frank E. Palmer has made this city his home and the center
of his business activities. He came here after completing his studies in
the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing, and it should be mentioned
here that while he pursued his studies there, he alternated his duties as a
student with periods of work as a teacher. It was thus that he earned the
money that made possible his college education, four terms of pedagogic
work representing his activities in that field. When he had finished his
junior year at the Agricultural College, Mr. Palmer came to Jackson, and
straightway entered the employ of C. H. and L. J. McCormick, who later
became known to the world as the McCormick Harvesting Machine Com-
pany. In 1902 it was merged in the enormous concern known as the In-
ternational Harvester Company, with headquarters in Chicago. He en-
tered the employ of the company in a subordinate capacity, advancing from
the post of book-keeper to that of state collection agent, and for more
than twenty-five years he was thus connected, until the forming of the
International Harvester Company, in 1902, since which time he has con-
tinued in the same capacity. His combined service with the McCormick
Harvester Company and its successor, the International Harvester Com-
pany, has extended over a period of thirty-six years, and the past i|uarter
century has been spent in his present position of state collection agent, a
post he has filled with the utmost efficiency.

In addition to his service with this great concern, Mr. Palmer has long
been a prominent man of affairs in Jackson, and is officially identified with

1248 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

numerous important concerns here. He is president of the Peninsular
Portland Cement Company, and vice president of the Central State Bank,
as well as having the interest of a stockholder in various other important
enterprises of the city. In the way of public service, Mr. Palmer has held
a number of offices of considerable import, and his activities along these
lines have been of a worthy nature, entirely in keeping with the general
character of the man.

Before coming to Jackson, and while yet a resident of Liberty town-
ship, Mr. Palmer served as township superintendent of schools and he
was also a member of the county board of supervisors. After his removal
to Jackson he held the offices of alderman and president of the city council,
and he also served one term in the ofike of mayor of Jackson. He was
never an office seeker, nor did he wish to precipitate himself into public
affairs in the city and county, but he was a man whose fitness to serve was
so obvious as to make it impossible for him to avoid being chosen to fill
those offices, and he further manifested the character and quality of his
citizenship in accepting the duties placed upon him at the will of the public
without resistance, rendering the best possible service on every occasion.

Mr. Palmer is a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce and
the Jackson City Club, and he is a prominent Mason as well, with Knight
Templar and Shriner degrees. He is an Elk, and is prominent and popular
in all his fraternal relations.

On May 20, 1874. Mr. Palmer was married to Sarah E. Palmer, a na-
tive daughter of Liberty township, but not of blood kin to her husband.
No children came to Mr. and Mrs. Palmer. They have a pleasant and
commodious home at No. 422 West Wilkins street, in Jackson.

Harry M.mno. The energetic, wide-awake young business men of
Jackson, Michigan, have no more worthy representative than Harry
Maine, proprietor of the Maino Machine Works, which are located at
numbers 109-111-113 Hamburg street. He was born June 22, 1881, in
Bavaria, Germany, and when less than a year old was brought to the
United States by his parents, Carl and Catherine Maino, who settled in
Jackson, Michigan, where the death of the father occurred a few years
ago. The mother and her nine children, six of whom are sons, still
reside in this city, and are all well-to-do. A further account of the parents
may be found elsewhere in this volume in connection with the sketches of
George T. Maino and Christopher K. Maino, brothers of Mr. Maino.

Harry Maino was educated in Jackson, attending the parochial schools
and Saint John's Parochial school. Leaving school, he worked in a res-
taurant for a year, and at the age of seventeen entered the employ of
the Walcott-Wood Manufacturing Company, where he served an ap]:)ren-
ticcship of two years at the machinist's trade. Becoming proficient at
his work, he next spent a year and a half with the (jeorge A. McKeel
Company, now the Sparks-Withington Comjjany, of Jackson, after which
he was in the employ of the Holton-Weathcrwax Company for a few
months. The ensuing three years Mr. Maino was employed as a mechanic
at the Michigan Central Railroad shops, and the following year was
foreman at the Novelty Manufacturing Company's plant. Leaving that
position, he worked for a time at the Lewis Spring and Axle Company's
jjlant, and also for the Cutting Motor Car Company.

In 1911, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Peter P.reitmayer,
Mr. Maino inirchased a machine shop on Liberty street, Jackson, and
began business for himself as senior member of the firm of Maino &
I'.reitmayer. The new firm thus established met with flattering success
from the very start, and in the fall of 1912 lunight the site of its present
plant on Irlamburg street, and erected its present splendid l)nildin,L;, which

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1249

is 44 feet by 72 feet, and made of cement blocks. In December, 1913,
Mr. Maino purchased the interest of Mr. Breitmayer in the business and
has since managed it himself. The Maino Machine Works manufactures
certain essential automobile parts, and in addition does general machine
shop work, its business being large and lucrative.

Mr. Maino is a stockholder in the Jackson Printing Press Company,
a prosperous organization. Religiously he is a member of Saint John's
Roman Catholic Church.

George T. Maino. Prominent among the leading manufacturers of
Southern Michigan is George T. Maino, of the firm of McLoughlin &
Maino, which owns and conducts the extensive boiler works and plumbing
establishment located at No. 501 North Jackson street, in the city of
Jackson. Since the death of Dr. McLoughlin, formerly senior member
of the firm, Mr. Maino has had sole charge of the concern, and in its
management has displayed excellent judgment and rare business and
executive ability. A native of Germany, he was born in Bavaria, Febru-
ary 5, 1873, and as a small boy came to this country with his parents,
Carl and Catherine Maino.

Carl Maino immigrated to the United States with his family in 1882,
coming directly to Jackson, Michigan, where he continued a resident until
his death, which occurred in 1908. To him and his wife, who still resides
in Jackson, nine children were born, and all are living in Jackson, as
follows: Elizabeth, wife of Peter Breitmayer; Catherine, widow of the
late Frank Ritz ; Charles; George T., the special subject of this brief
sketch ; Christopher K. ; Emma, wife of Peter Ottney ; Jacob ; Harry ; and
Frederick.

A boy of nine years when he came to Jackson, George T. Maino here
completed his early education, attending the public schools and Saint
John's Academy. Leaving school at the age of thirteen years, he learned
the machinist's trade, which he followed for several years in Jackson,
during the time being in the emi)loy of several of the larger and more
prominent firms of the city, among them having been the Holton- Weather-
wax foundry, the Sparks-Withington Company, then known as the George
A. McKiel Company; and the Central City Soap Company. Embarking
in business on his own account in 1905, Mr. Maino, in partnership with
John Crowley, established the boiler works on North Jackson street,
becoming junior memljer of the firm of Crowley & Maino. In 1007
Mr. Maino's father-in-law, the late Dr. Miar McLoughlin, jnirchased Mr.
Crowley's interest in the business, and the firm name was changed to
McLoughlin & Maino. The Doctor died in 1908, but the estate still owns
his interest, and as Mr. Maino is a son-in-law of the Doctor the business
is now all in the family. In addition to operating the boiler works, this
enterprising firm carries on a general plumbing business, including the
installing of steam and hot water fixtures, and does an extensive con-
tracting business in the way of building and erecting steel self-su]i]iorting
smoke stacks, the firm's business in this branch of its industry extending
over the whole of Southern Michigan, Northern Indiana and Northern
Ohio, having erected smoke stacks for large plants in various cities of the
three states.

In addition to being a memljer of the firm of McLoughlin & Maino,
Mr. Maino is really at the head of the concern, and the general manager
of its entire business, which is in a most flourishing condition. Lie is
likewise a stockholder of the Sparks-Withington Company, of the Hall-
Holmes Manufacturing Company, of the Haehnle Bottling Co., of the
Frost (]ear and Machine Co., also the Lewis Spring and Axle Co., all
well-known firms of Jackson.

1250 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

On November 25, 1903, Thanksgiving day, Mr. Maino was united in
marriage with Miss Mabel C. McLoughlin, and into their home two chil-
dren have been born, namely: Emily Mabel, born in 1904; and George
Croman, born in 1913. Mr. Maino is well educated, and speaks both
German and English fluently. Socially he is a member of the Benevolent
and Protective (Jrder of Elks ; and religiously he belongs to the Roman
Catholic Church.

Louis Leverexz. The F. H. Leverenz & Company, general and
carpenter contractors and manufacturers, of which Louis Leverenz is
secretary and treasurer, has only a brief history as an incorporated con-
cern under the present title, but its impregnable position and reputation
among Detroifs building interests are the result of years of experience
and practical success on the part of its constituent members.

Louis Leverenz is a native of Detroit, born December 19. 1885,
while himself a very young man but none the less expert in his line, it
was his father, Frederick H. Leverenz, who established the association
of the name with the building trades of Detroit. Frederick H. Leverenz,
who was one of Detroit's oldest and best known carpenter contractors,
and now retired, was born in Germany in 1857, came to the L'nited
States when young, and after learning the carpenter's trade in Detroit
worked as a journeyman for a number of years, finally entered the con-
tracting field, and his success was a matter of steady and substantial
growth, and examples of his work might be pointed out in practically
every part of the city, in buildings of every type, size and cost. In 1907
Frederick H. Leverenz organized the firm of F. H. Leverenz & Com-
pany, taking his sons Louis and Henry as partners. In 1913 he retired
from active affairs, and on the basis of his enterprise the F. H. Leverenz
& Company was incorporated to continue the business with which he had
so long been identified. F. H. Leverenz married Tena Boettcher. who
was also born in (Germany. Both are members of the Lutheran church.

Louis Leverenz as a boy attended the Lutheran parochial school* and
also the public schools of Detroit, and in 1900, at the age of fifteen,
became a student in the ^Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing and
spent two years with that institution. From the time he was old enough
to handle a hammer he has worked at carpentry, and under his father
served a regular apprenticeship and continued employment as a journey-
man until the organization of the firm of F. H. Leverenz & Company in
1907, when his position as a partner began. On the retirement of his
father in 1913 he was one of the organizers of the new firm of F. H.
Leverenz & Company, incorporated, the date of its charter being March
19, 1913. The first president was Theodore Betzolat, with Henry Lev-
erenz as vice-president, and Louis Leverenz as secretary and treasurer.
On January 1. 1914, Mr. Betzolat was succeeded as president by Ernst
Sylvester, and otherwise the company officials remain the same. This is
one of the largest general carpenter contracting firms of the city, and
their capabilities for extensive service are the greater because they own
and operate their own factory for the manufacture of luml)er and iniild-
ing supplies. Their record includes the erection of many fine buildings,
among them two public school houses, a factory, the English Lutheran
church on Mt. Elliott avenue, a fourteen-familv apartment, and numer-
ous flats and residences. The firm has membership in the Detroit Piuild-
ers and Traders Exchange.

Mr. Leverenz is a member of Piethania Lutheran church. He mar-
ried Flora Degener, of Detroit, daughter of August and Caroline Deg-
ener. Her father is a cigar manufacturer. To ]\Ir. and Mrs. Leverenz
was born in 1912 a daughter, Charlotte.

HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN 1251

Charles C. Carter. Coming an entire stranger to Detroit twenty-
seven years ago, Charles C. Carter has since made an enviable business
record. His business as a contracting carpenter, which has been under
his own name for ten years, has been developed along some special lines
to offer the most expert service of its kind in the city.

With an inheritance of mechanical talent from his father, Charles C.
Carter was born in England July 12, 1865. His parents were John and
Amelia (Weaver) Carter, both natives of England, and the mother died
in 1869 four years after the birth of her son Charles. John Carter, the
father, was born in the same year that gave birth to Queen Victoria
of England, in 1819. He was a natural mechanic, could do anything in
the line of constructing, repairing or operating, and was for a number
of years a carpenter at Eastborne si.xty-five miles south of London.
Later in life he gave his time to the building of pipe organs and that
work took him to different parts of England, and Charles C. being the
youngest child accompanied him. His death occurred in England in
1889. There were six children altogether, four of whom grew to maturity
and are still living as follows: Harry, born in 1853 is a school teacher
in the city of London, England ; Frank, born in 1857, is a contractor
at Eastborne, Sussex county, England, and an alderman of that city ;
Florence, born in 1862, married George Stirrup and they live at Rams-
gate, County Kent, England ; and Charles C.

His education in the public schools of England was practically ter-
minated when he was ten years of age. A year and a half later found
him at work learning the carpenter's trade under his father. At the age
of seventeen he went from his father's supervision as a journeyman and
was employed in various ])laces in the south of England for a year, and
in 1884 went across the channel to Paris, in which city during a year's
residence his services were employed on the erection of the American
Episcopal church building, and was the youngest carpenter among all
the force of workmen. After his return to England from Paris Mr.
Carter spent one year in his native country and in May, 1887, came to
the L'uited States and direct to Detroit. There was not a person in the
entire city who could give him greeting as an old friend, but he had
little difficulty in finding work in his trade. With the firm of Wynn &
Marantette he worked as journeyman carpenter three years, and his
next employment was with the Hanrahan Refrigerator Company of
Detroit and Chicago. In 1892 Mr. Carter became a member of the firm
of Jenner & Carter, which relationship continued four years. For six
and a half years Mr. Carter was foreman for the late U. Armstrong &
Company. In April, 1903, his independent business enterprise began
under his own name and in the following September he bought the busi-
ness of Seifert & Buhr at 155 Wayne street. Mr. Carter's present office
and factory are located at 112 Madison avenue, and his enterprise has
grown rapidly during the last ten years.

While Mr. Carter does more or less building and has erected among
others the Odd Fellows Temple on Park \'iew avenue in 191 3, the
amusement pavilion and log cabin on I'.ablo Island, his most profitable
and almost exclusive line is carpentering and jobbing, at which he offers
expert services in Detroit, and does more repairing by contract on the
best residences in Detroit and Grosse Pointe than any other firm in the
city. Mr. Carter also makes a specialty of appraising fire-damaged
property, and does an immense amount of work in that line in the city
and vicinity, his services being in such demand that annually his fire ap-
praisements run between one hundred and seventy-five and two hun-
dred cases.

Mr. Carter is a member of the Detroit Builders and Traders Ex-

1252 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

change, affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ala-
sonic Order and the Woodmen of the World. On May 30, 1891, the" an-
niversary of the day he arrived in Detroit, Mr. Carter married Mary
Kreuger. who was born in Detroit, the daughter of Henry Kreuger, a
merchant. Their three children are: Agnes, Clement Alfred and^To'hn
Henry.

Charles R. Dur.\nd. In tiie annals of early settlement in and about
the city of Jackson, some of the first names and 'activities worthy of men-
tion are connected with the family of which the venerable citizen, Charles
R. Durand. is a representative. Mr. Durand is himself one of the oldest
natives of the city, and has had a large part in shaping the fortunes of
that community, especially through his extensive improvements of local
real estate and a general interest in business and civic afifairs. Mr.
Durand's mother was a Blackman, and while she was the first regular
teacher in Jackson county, the Blackman familv is distinguished in many
other ways in the pioneer records of this vicinity. Mr. Durand's father
was for many years one of the most influential' factors in business and
civic afi'airs in Jackson and the county. For more than eighty years these
two names have had a place in the history of Jackson, and thev have always
been associated with solid work and witli those activities and that quali'ty
of citizenship which maintains the highest standard of community living.
On a farm in Blackman township, in the immediate vicinity of fackson-
burgh. a village which when grown to the proportions of a city "changed
its name to Jackson, Charles R. Durand was born December 5, i'842. John
Thomas Durand, his father, born near Batavia, New York, came" into
southern Michigan in 1830, six years before the territory became a state,
and was one of the vigorous and public spirited pioneers of Jackson county.'
In his private business he was active in accumulating real estate in both
the county and city, and platted the Durand Addition to the city of Jack-
son. He was one of the first to hold the oflice of county surveyor", and
was also one of the early supervisors of Blackman township. Many acts
of his career were such as to advance the prosperity and material prog-
ress of his locality. His integrity of character w'as as notable as his
business success, and he commanded both the respect and admiration
of his fellowmen. First Whig and later a Republican in politics, he was
for years quite active in local afi'airs, and he and his wife were members
of the Congregational church. His death occurred at the age of seventy-
five years.

the marriage of John T. Durand and .Silence Blackman was the first
marriage ceremony performed in what is now tlie city of Jackson. This
happy event occurred in 1833, and was performed bv Judge William R.
DeLand. Silence Blackman was born near Ithaca, New York, and her
father, Lemuel Blackman, was the original settler of Jacksonlnirgh, a
name which w^as retained until about 1836. In 1831 Silence Blackman
taught a small class of pupils in the home of her "father, and the ne.xt
summer used a room in the house of E. B. Chapman. Her first labors as
a teacher were of a private and independent nature, and she received
payment for her services by sub.scription. In the fall of 1832 .she became
teacher of what might he called the first public school of Jackson, though
still maintained by subscription. It was taught in an old store building
on Main street, and at the close of the third term had about twentv pupils.
Silence (Blackman) Durand died in 18S9 at the venerable age of eighty-
three years, and was one of the most notable pioneer women of Jackson
county. She was the mother of two children. The daughter^ Marv,
married A. W. Green, and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Charles R. Durand grew uj) in Jackson when it was little more than a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1253

village, received his education at the schools that were maintained in the
village some fifteen years after his mother had taught the pioneer school,
and the first fifteen years of his life were spent on the home farm near the
county seat. The parents then moved to Jackson which contained about
two thousand population. His father was county surveyor and town-
ship supervisor at that time, and the son received his preparatory business
training in his office. Later he engaged in the business of contracting, and
was one of the firm which performed the contract for the construction
of the east wing of the state prison. In 1884 he took a contract for the
construction of twenty miles of the line of the Northern Pacific railroad,
between Superior and Ashland, Wisconsin. The firm which did the work
was known as Dobey, Richards & Company, but Mr. Durand and Archi-
bald Richards supplied the money. It was a profitable contract, but Mr.
Durand contril)uted his energy so unreservedly to its success that at its
conclusion he was stricken with nervous prostration and suft'ered the
effects for several years. Since then most of his attention has been given
to farming and to the care and management of his real estate in Jackson.
He owns valuable property both in the county and in the city and has
contributed several important improvements during the last thirty or forty
years. He formerly owned and conducted the Hotel T'lackman, which
until a few years ago was the only first-class place of public entertainment
in the city. The lilackman and Durand families have had a notable part
in the construction and maintenance of hotels at Jackson. The building
in which the Hotel Blackman was kept was built by John Thomas Durand
in 1859-60, and was later remodeled by Charles R. Durand at a cost of
twelve thousand dollars. The name of the hotel was singularly appropri-
ate. Russell Blackman, son of Lemuel Blackman, son of the pioneer,
built in 1831 the first hotel at Jacksonburgh, and it was known as Black-
man's Tavern. Since that early date the name of Blackman was identi-
fied with hotel enterprise in the city until recent date. The first building
was one of logs, and when destroyed by fire was replaced by another of
more pretentious character on the same site. However, its name was the
Marion house. During his long and active career in Jackson Mr. Durand
has in every relation retained the confidence and good will of those who
have been his fellow citizens and business associates. In politics he has
voted with the Republican party almost since its organization, supporting
the candidacy of Abraham Lincoln in i860, and all the succeeding candi-
dates of that party. Personally he has had no ambition for public office
and has been content to do his duty to the conmnmity through a public
spirited business career and by giving liis aid and influence to the estab-
lishment of various important industries and lending his help wherever
possible to the improvement of the communitv. For several years Mr.
Durand was president of the Jackson Driving Club, which was the virtual
successor of the Jackson County Fair Association. The grounds occu-
pied by the club and association were among the best in the state, and the
land in part was originally owned by John T. Durand and sold by him to
the association many years ago.

On Decemljcr 23, 1889, Mr. Durand married Miss Frances Porter.
She was born in Jackson, a daughter of Benjamin Porter, one of the
pioneers of the county. Mrs. Durand, who died August 21, 1903, was
during her long residence in the city one of its active leaders in social and
benevolent work. A talented musician, before her marriage she had
taught music, and many in the city still have a grateful appreciation of her
efforts as an individual instructor and her zeal in promoting musical cul-
ture in the community. She was a member of the Tuesday and Friday
clubs, literary and musical organizations, and her support was deemed
almost invaluable to any movement connected with the cultural life of

1254 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the city. The home occupied by Mr. Durand, at 203 Lansing avenue, is
one of the residence landmarks of the city. It was built by his father in
1872, is a three-story mansion, of brick and stone, and when built was
one of the handsomest private residences in Jackson. It is yet one of the
splendid homes, is apparently in as good condition now as when built, and
its original cost was twenty thousand dollars, but the building could not
be duplicated at the present day for twice that amount.

Joseph Walsh. Although no longer considering himself in the active
ranks, Joseph Walsh, among Michigan's prominent lumbermen, has an
enviable position, gained by many years of activity in every department
of the industry. In the early days he followed the lumber camps in the
woods, was a skillful driver on the river, and was regarded as one of the
best all-around workers in the business. His success has many sources.
Singular ability and skill in the rough and arduous business of the wood-
man, a faculty for the control and direction of others, a resourcefulness
of both body and mind, and a splendid integrity of character — all these
and much more are the explanations offered by his associates and friends
for his rise to commercial prestige and power. Mr. Walsh has been as-
sociated with many important developments in the Michigan lumber in-
dustry, and his experiences would make an epitome of Michigan lumbering
from the close of the Civil war until the end of the century. Though now-
living retired at Flint, Joseph Walsh has still large business interests and
investments both in tliat city and elsewhere.

■ County West Meath, Ireland, where Joseph Walsh was born, had been
the home of his family for many generations. When he was three years
old, in 1848, the family, consisting of his parents, Michael and Elizabeth
(Fox) Walsh, and other children, arrived in Detroit. His father was an
expert boiler maker, and possessed special skill in the rebuilding of boilers.
He followed his trade in Detroit and elsewhere until 1861, and then
moved to Lapeer county, and made settlement in Burnside township on
a tract of wild government land, the only improvement on which was a
log cabin with not an acre of ground in cultivation. Besides farming
Michael Walsh continued to work at his trade, and did a great deal of
opportune and valued service for the millers in that vicinity. The old
homestead in Lapeer county, now comprising two hundred and eighty
acres of land, is still occupied by the youngest of the family, Louis Walsh,
who has owned the place since the mother's death. From Lapeer county
the family moved to Flint, where Michael Walsh died in 1894 at the age
of eighty-two. His wife died February i, 1900, and her last years were
spent in the home of lier daughter, Ellen, in Detroit. The daughter, Ellen,
died in 1902.

Michael Walsh, the father, was born in October, 1814, and the place
of his birth was known as Killgar Parish, Killallon Barony of Castletown
Delevin, in County West Meath. He had two brothers, William and
Patrick, and two sisters, Mary and Ann. Mary was married in Detroit
to Thomas Sullivan, and Ann married James Mackin and died in Ireland
in 1847. Michael Walsh married Elizabeth Fox, who was born in Kil-
patrick. Parish of Collinstown, County West Meath, in 1814, a daughter
of Peter and Elizabeth (McGram) Fox. Her one brother, Louis Fox,
married Elizabeth Shirden, and had a son, Peter Fox; and her one sister,
Margaret, married liryan Sutton. Michael Walsh with his wife and four
children sailed from Dublin, Ireland, June 6, 1848, on the ship Juno,
bound for New York. The record of the children of the family is briefly
as follows: Mary, born August 16, 1838; Bridget, born in 1839,
who died when three years old : Elizabeth, born June 3, 1841 ; Wil-
liam, the first of the name, who was born August 14, 1843, and died

i^*^'lu>!S "'*

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1255

when nine months old; Ambrose, born June 2, 1847; William, second of
the name, born October 16, 1849, in Detroit; Margaret, born December
15, 1851 ; Louis, born July 6, 1855; and Ellen, born August 13, 1857.

It will also be appropriate to mention some further details concerning
the earlier generations of the family. Michael Walsh was a son of
Ambrose and Bridget ( Guillick ) Walsh, the latter a native of Stonefield
Parish of liallin Lough in County Meath. Ambrose Walsh, in turn, was
a son of William and Ellen (Ward) Walsh, and a grandson of Ambrose
and Ann (Russell) Walsh. All the various members of this family lived
and died in Killgar, and are buried in Archstown churchyard, and on the
stones which mark the family plot are the names of many of the family.

It is evident that Joseph Walsh began life with one distinct advantage,
the possession of a good family heritage. His education was acquired
chiefly in the Christian Brothers school in Detroit, until he was fifteen
years old, and also by night school in that city, under the direction of
Martin O'Brien, one of tlie early educators of Detroit. When the family
moved to Lapeer county and settlefl on the tract of wild land, his services
were at once brought into requisition in assisting to clear the timber and
bring the land under the plow. For a niWnJjer of years he- contributed his
earnings to the support of the family-, and", ivorlced'iij. the harvest fields,
and for several seasons was em])loyed by Jerome E^^B'utler of Burnside
township, and while still a boy got liis active training in the lumber camps.
Few men have had better natural c|uaUfications for the varied branches of
logging and lumbering than Joseph Walsli._ "An expert in all its branches
at an early age, his capabilities were sucli fhaTKe''was paid the highest
wages in his special line. His skill in "file" handling of tools was of great
advantage to him and his employers, and he was often assigned to tasks
in which his skill had a free scope. His leisure time was also employed
in carving out ox yokes, ax handles and other useful articles. For many
years Mr. Walsh was employed by Silas S. Lee in the lumber business.
Many exciting experiences were his lot in those days, while in the depths
of the woods in the winter, or on the river drive during the spring
freshet.'!. As a capable and reliable man he was often kept in Flint to
assist in clearing up the shipments. His early experience was so broad
that he was well prepared to meet all contingencies when it became his
time to become a lumber operator.

A short sketch cannot possibly enumerate his many ventures and enter-
prises as a lumberman, and only some of the more important facts in his
career can be briefly set down. His reputation as a logger and lumber-
man had a wide vogue among the lumber kings of Michigan thirty or
forty years ago, and he was frequently offered double the salary for work
as a scaler and buyer of logs. For some time the Crapo Lumber Com-
pany had his services, and later he became associated with various lum-
bering interests over the state, and to a large extent his operations were
conducted in the heavy timber tracts near the Great Lakes. In some of
these enterprises different companies sent him out as an expert investi-
gator, entrusting him with the duty of making personal examination of
the timber, and the estimates which he submitted to his superiors were
in every case accepted without question as to their reliability. Mr. Walsh
had few equals in authoritative knowledge of timber conditions, and his
judgment was as nearly infallible as is possible in human aft'airs. In a
numijcr of enterprises he often took a personal interest as an mvestor,
and at an early date became a part owner in milling and logging enter-
prises which represented investments as high as one hundred thousand
dollars in a single venture. In 1880 Mr. Walsh represented the Delta
Lumber Company in locating and laying out the site of the present thriv-
ing and prosperous village of Thompson in Schoolcraft county. In 1881
he laid out the first logging railroad in the upper peninsula, and that is a

1256 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

distinction whicli ought to make his name memorable in the history of the
Michigan lumber industry for all time. Though showing ability in every
branch of the business which he undertook, Mr. Walsh was especially
successful in supervising lumber camps and in handling large companies
of men in the woods, along the rivers, and at the mills. These items of
his career indicate that he is and has been a leader of men, and among
old-time lumbermen in Michigan and elsewhere the name of Joseph Walsh
stands for authority and inspiring leadership.

Finally, on account of failing health, Mr. Walsh was compelled to
abandon the active work in the timber regions and moved to a farm near
Flint. This land, purchased from C. A. Mason and located two and a
half miles from the city, containing one hundred and six acres, for many
years had been the prize farm, so designated by official award at the
County Fair Association through eighteen years. After it came into the
possession of Mr. Walsh it was made one of the finest country estates in
Genesee county, and it remained his home for a number of years. For
the past ten years Mr. Walsh has been living in a beautiful residence in
the city of Flint at 627 Begole street. The farm, though still a part of
his business assets, and maintained at a high standard of cultivation and
equipment, has been under a lessee for several years.

In 1904 Mr. Walsh secured an option on a tract of timberland in the
state of Oregon, and after his investigations made the purchase. His
associate in the ownership of that property being R. J. Whaley of Flint.
The Oregon lands, whicii contain sixteen hundred and eighty acres, and
are said to have merchantable lumber aggregating one hundred million
feet, are being held by Mr. Walsh and Mr. Whaley for future develop-
ment. Mr. Walsh also has extensive mining interests in the northern
part of Ontario, and is identified with a number of local enterprises at
Flint. He is a stock holder in the National and Citizens Commercial Bank
of Flint; member of the executive committee of the Board of Commerce;
stockholder in the Industrial Savings Bank and the Federal Bank of De-
troit; stockholder in the Imperial Wheel Works at Flint. Mr. Walsh
also owns what is known as Moon Island in the Flint River.

A successful business man, he has not neglected his obligations to the
community. While his home was on the farm in Mint township he served
as supervisor several terms, and since moving to the city has had mem-
bership in the city council and always has manifested a public-spirited
activity in local affairs. As to politics he is what might be calletl an inde-
pendent Democrat. Mr. Walsh takes much interest in the affairs of the
St. Michael's Catholic church, is a member of the Knights of Columbus,
at one time was president of the local Ijranch of the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association, belongs to the Loyal Guards and the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. Among his valuable property interests should
also he mentioned the Walsh Block, an oflice building on North Saginaw
street.

On May 20, 1870, Joseph Walsh was married at Flint to Miss Ellen
Donovan, who was bom at Landsdowne, Ontario, and later came to Flint.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh contain the following children : Joseph
L., of Flint; S. Francis, of Detroit ; Ernest V., of Flint ; Agnes at"home;
and Edmund. iMlmund married Lena A. Mallen, a native of Kingston,
Ontario, and tlieir three children are: Marian, a daughter; Malloii, a
son; and infant born November 5, 1913, named Agnes Ellen. The son,
Joseph L., married Sarah O'Hare, daughter of the late Frank O'Hare,
a former prominent lumberman at Mount Morris in Genesee county. S.
Francis lives in Detroit, and by his marriage to Louisa Snyder, had the
following children: Joseph; Ruth; Elizabeth, who died in July, 1912;
and Ellen.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1257

The career of Joseph Walsh has been a long and successful one, and
in this article it has been possible to sketch it onl}' in outline. A volume
might easily be filled up with the accounts of the varied experiences and
enterprises of such a man, and it is noteworthy that his success has been
such as to benefit the community and others as well as himself.

Almon C. Varney. One of the oldest in point of experience, as
well as one of the best known and most successful architects of Detroit,
is A. C. \'arney, head of the firm of A. C. \'arney & Winter, with offices
in the Dime Bank lUiilding. During his preparatory years, Mr. Varney
was associated with some of the men then and afterwards eminent in
their profession, and has for more than thirty years, been both a student
and a practical worker in his vocation. During this time 'Mr. Varney
has drawn the plans and supervised the construction of some of the most
imposing buildings in Detroit, and in many ways has taken the lead
among his associates in this profession.

Almon Clother Varney was born at Luzerne, New York, March 28,
1849, a son of Abner M. and Marian (Clother) Varney. He grew up
in an atmosphere of hard work and high ideals and had a public school
education only in New York school, after which he entered the office of
Darius Norcross at Glens Falls, New York, in 1876, and began the
study of architecture. He was also a student under E. M. Boyden, one
of the foremost architectures of Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1881
Mr. Varney came to Detroit and opened his office and has practiced his
profession in that city ever since. For many years he was associated
with his l)rother, under the name of A. C. Varney & Company. Since
1910 he has been senior member of the firm of A. C. Varney & Winter.

Mr. Varney drew the plans, supervised the construction, and fur-
nished the capital for the erection of the first flats or apartment build-
ing in Detroit, this pioneer structure oeing known as the Varney Apart-
ments. He still owns this building. The firm of Varney & Company
were architects for a large number of business houses and flats in De-
troit, including the Butler Building on Griswold Street, the Standart
Brothers store and warehouse, the Oriental Hotel, the four Boydel
Brothers factories and offices, the Homer Mc(jraw and Howard Anthony
residences, also a considerable part of the earlier buildings of Parke-
Davis & Company. The firm of A. C. Varney & Winter have built
among others the three large plants of the Briggs Manufacturing Com-
pany, the Metzger Motor Works, the Store and Warehouse of the Brus-
haber Furniture Company, and the McRae and Roberts Brass Works.

Mr. \'arney has long been prominent in Detroit citizenship, and
from 1895 to 1900 served as poor commissioner of Detroit. He belongs
to the Detroit Board of Commerce, and is a thirty-second degree Mason
and Shriner. At Saratoga, New York, September i, 1872, he married
Lizzie C. Skidmore. They are the parents of one son and one daughter,
namely : A. Chester Varney, who is now with the Detroit Engine Works,
and Eva J. Varney, at home with her parents.

George B. Galluf. The Gallup and Lewis store, wholesale and retail
dealers in house furnishing goods, is the largest establishment of its kind
in Jackson, and is an enterprise which is a most creditable monument to
the business sagacity and integrity of its proprietors. Mr. Gallup, the
senior member, has been engaged in the furniture and house furnishing
business at Jackson for more than a quarter of a century, having entered
upon that pursuit about the time he reached his majority, and by concen-
tration of effort has succeeded beyond his most sanguine dreams of earlier
days. The motto of the Gallup and Lewis concern, known all over Jack-

1258 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

son county, is: "We furnish a house complete." Their stock comprises
turniture, stoves, carpets, draperies, and every and all articles that enter
Hito the complete equipment of the home. The partners in this monu-
mental mercantile house are George B. Gallup and David B Lewis

George B. Gallup was born in Jackson, Michigan, July lo, iSsq His
father, Milo Gallup, was for twenty-one years employed as a keeper in
the Jackson State prison, and subsequently lived on a farm in the southern
part of Ingham county for about twenty years. His death occurred in
Jackson December 26, 1909. He was born in Erie county. New York
March 9, 1833. He was twice married, the Jackson merchant being the
son of his first wife. Her maiden name was Eleanor Ealing, who died
when her son George was twelve years old.

The latter has spent all his years in Jackson, was educated in the local
schools, and had hardly attained his manhood when he began the business
career which has been leading him steadily towards larger and larger suc-
cess. The firm of Gallup and Lewis was formed on April 20, i888. No
other mercantile house in its line can bear comparison with this in Jackson
county, and it is one -of the largest in southern Michigan. The "store is
by all odds the largest in the city, and has more square feet of floor space
than any other local concern. The main building is 66x132 feet, five floors,
four stories and basement, at the corner of South Mechanic and Cortland
streets. Nearby fronting on Cortland street, is an annex, 66x132 feet,
four floors, three stories and basement. On Pearl street is a warehouse,'
44x132 feet, comprising three floors. The firm does not only an immense
retail business, but distributes its goods wholesale to a large numlaer of
dealers in southern Michigan.

Air. Gallup is a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, and
affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. On November 5, 1896, he married Miss
Emma Copsey, who was born in England. Their' three living children are
Doris, Clifford and Marion. One daughter, Eleanor, died at the age of
five years.

Mark Burnii.\m Stevens. Now in the fiftieth year of his active
connection with the well known shoe house of R. N. Eyfe & Company
at Detroit, Mr. Stevens is .still an active business man, and is one of the
highly honored veterans in business circles of that city. He has wit-
nessed the growth of Detroit from a comparatively small western town
into one of the largest business centers in America, and his part as an
individual has always been directed in the line of progress for the com-
munity as a whole, and his success has not been without benefit to the
city in which he has had his home all his life.

Mark Burnham Stevens was born at Detroit October 23, 1840, the
son of John and Mary Baker (Covert) Stevens. The Stevens family
has been identified with Detroit for a great many years, and John Stev-
ens was one of the city's early merchants. Mr. 'M. 1]. Stevens acquired
his education in the Detroit public .schools, and on EeJjruary 4, 1865,
before he was sixteen years of age, entered the firm of R. N. Eyfe &
Company in the capacity of cashier. In 1869 he was taken into the
firm as a partner, and when the business was incorporated he was
elected secretary and treasurer. In this office he has had an active part
in building up and extending the scope of the trade, and has gained
large success as a merchant.

Mr. Stevens is a meinher of the Detroit Board of Commerce, was a
charter memlier of the Detroit Club, a member of the Fine ;\rts Church
Club, the Society of the Colonial Wars, the Sons of the American Revo-
lution, and a niember Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of Epis-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1259

copal church. On September lO, 1874, he married Annie Adams, who
died July 13, 1901. On Xovember 23, 1904, he married Emily Gilmore.
By his last marriage there are two children. Mark Chancellor and Emily
Gilmore.

George M. Carter, vice president and treasurer of the Standard Car
Manufacturing Company, of Jackson. Michigan, was born in Jackson,
June 3, 1884, and is the youngec of the two sons of George W. Carter,
who is one of Jackson's leading citizens, and of whom a lengthy sketch
will be found on other pages of this work. Both George M. Carter and
his only brother. Philander L., are among the most prominent of Jack-
son's younger men of affairs. Both are engaged in the manufacturing
business — Philander L. as president of the Jackson Fence Company,
while George M. Carter is associated with the Standard Car Manufactur-
ing Company.

George M. Carter was reared in Jackson, and after finishing the gram-
mar grades in the Jackson public schools, he took a four years' course in
the Michigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake, from which institution
he was graduated in 1903 at the age of nineteen. He then spent four
years in the University of Michigan, and in 1907 was graduated from its
mechanical engineering department. The four years following his grad-
uation from the University were spent in the Northwest, mainly in the
states of Washington and Idaho and in British Columbia. He put in the
time in prospecting, giving some attention to the lumber business and. in
addition, to learning much of the geography of that section. Fie also
made some judicious investments. Returning to his old home in Jackson
in 191 1, he has since applied himself to the business of building electric
automobiles in connection with the Standard Car Manufacturing Com-
pany, and is now vice president and treasurer of that concern.

Mr. Carter is a member of the Jackson City Club and a member and
director of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of both
of the country clubs and in further reference to his business connections,
it should be said that he is a director of the Jackson Fence Company, of
which his brother is president.

Charles Richard Ammerman. It is as a consulting engineer that
Charles R. Ammerman has his most important relations with the com-
munity of Detroit, and the engineering firm of Ammerman, McColl &
Anderson has a reputation for successful and reliable performance which
gives it first rank among mechanical and electrical engineers in the state.

Born at Marshall, 'Michigan, March 8, 1880, Charles Richard Am-
merman was reared on a farm in Calhoun county, attended the district
schools, and after graduating in 1900 from the business department of
Albion College, was put face to face with the serious responsibilities of
life, and moving to Detroit began with characteristic energy to make
a place for himself in the world of affairs. W^hile earning his living in
clerical work, he studied in the night courses at the Detroit Technical
Institute, and was also a student of engineering with the American Cor-
respondence School. During 1900-03 I\Ir. Ammerman was employed as
a stenographer for the Burnham, Stoepel & Company wholesale dry
goods house, and from 1903 to 1905 was stenographer for Donaldson &
Meier, architects. After getting fairly launched in the line of his pro-
fession, his advancement to success was rapid. In 1905 he became
draftsman in the office of Brush, Allen & Anderson, mechanical en-
gineers, and in 1908 was made a member of the firm of Brush, Anderson
& Ammerman. The next change in his professional relations was in
1910, when he became senior member of the engineering firm of Am-

1260 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

merman, McColl & Anderson, who enjoyed a large practice as consult-
ing engineers in the general mechanical field and in electrical work. This
partnership continued until January i, 1914, when the firm became Am-
nierman & McColl. Mr. Ammerman is also serving as consulting en-
gineer to the Detroit Board of Education.

The family lineage and record of Mr. .Ammerman is one of particu-
lar interest, and in himself are united four old .A.merican lines. His
father, .'\nson L. Ammerman, who was born 1841J in New York state
married Ida Maria Bryan, who was born in Michigan. Through the
father and mother the family relations will be briefly traced. The orig-
inal American emigrant of the Ammerman family was Derric Jahns
Ammerman, who came over from Holland in 1650, settling at Flat Bush
on Long Island. The great-grandfather of the Detroit engineer was
Richard Ammerman. who saw service as a soldier in the war of 1812.
The grandfather married Submitta Chapin. Her father was Samuel
Chapin, whose ancestry went back to Deacon .Samuel Chapin, who
came over from England in 1640, locating at Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Chapin family furnished ])ioneers to Michigan, since Samuel Chapin.
great-grandfather of Mr. Ammerman, came to this state some time be-
tween 1830 and 1840, settling in Washtenaw county, but later moving
to Calhoun county. In the maternal line the grandfather of Mr. Ammer-
man was Ezra T. Bryan, who was born near Syracuse, New "S'ork, son
of Ezra Bryan, son of .Samuel Bryan, who was a soldier in the Revolu-
tionary war, entering the Continental army when a man of sixty years,
and faithfully performing his duties in the struggle for independence
until its triumphant conclusion. This veteran patriot died at the ex-
treme age of ninety-nine years. The Bryan family was founded in
America by Ale.xander Bryan, who crossed the ocean from England
about 1634, locating in Connecticut. As a shipping merchant he gained
large wealth for those days, and bought from the Indians a large pro-
portion of the lands used by the colony of which he was a member.
From Connecticut the Bryans moved into New York state. Ezra T.
Bryan, already mentioned as the maternal grandfather, married Harriet
Mann. She was born in Connecticut, daughter of Enoch Mann, who
was in turn the son of Elijah Mann. The founder of the Mann family
was Richard Mann, who came from England, and settled in Massachu-
setts between 1630 and 1640, later settling at Hebron, Connecticut. Har-
riet Mann came to Michigan as a member of the elder Ezra Bryan's fam-
ily, and subsequently married his son Ezra T. Bryan.

Anson L. Ammerman, father of Charles R., was brought to Michi-
gan in 185 1, when only two years of age. The Ammerman family set-
tled in Marengo township in Calhoun county, where he was reared on
the family homestead. His vocation was that of an industrious and
fairly prosperous farmer up to 1906, when he moved to the city of De-
troit and engaged in commercial lines.

Charles R. .\mmerman was married in 1904 to Mabel Adams, daugh-
ter of Armour and Anna Adams. They have one daughter, Helen Eliza-
beth Ammerman.

HiR.\M W.\LKER. The late Hiram Walker was one of the notable
[jioneers of Detroit and was the founder of Walkerville, located across
the river from this city, in Canada, a town named in his honor. He was
a native of Massachusetts and was descended from some of the oldest
and most honored families of New England. His earliest American an-
cestor was Thomas Walker, who lived in Boston in 1661 and who moved
to Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1684, where he taught school for a time
and where he died in 1699. Another ancestor was a soldier and was

/^^^.^ MiuJc^^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1261

wounded in the Narragansett fight during King Philip's War in 1675.
The Walkers were all of English stock, and the only ancestor of Mr.
Walker of any other nationality was Pierre Chamois, a French-Huguenot
who as Peter Shumway came to Oxford, Massachusetts, in about 1650.
The parents of Hiram Walker .were Willis and Ruth (Buffum) Walker,
natives of Massachusetts. Hiram was born in the town of Douglas, that
state, July 4, 1816, and there attended the public schools. Upon the com-
pletion of his education he was employed for a time in a dry goods store
in Boston, but in 1838 decided to cast his fortunes with the growing
West and accordingly came to Detroit. Here he soon established him-
self in the grocery business, and this was later followed by a tannery and
leather business, but the plant of the latter was destroyed by fire just
when its success seemed assured. Mr. Walker then returned to the
grocery business, but the money panic of 1857 spelled disaster for him
and he decided to cross the line and engage in business in Canada. Ac-
cordingly, in 1857, he purchased a tract of land forming the present site
of the flourishing city of Walkerville, and there built a steam flouring
mill and distillery, and from 1858, when the plant went into operation
Mr. Walker's great success began, to be continued the balance of his life.
The flour mill branch of the business \y,a&, continued for about twenty
years, when the increasing demands for the prodn?:t of the distillery
caused Mr. Walker to close out the flour mill'and d^^TDte his energies to
the distilling of what is now a world-wide-known product, and which
business, largely expanded, is still in operation under the corporate name
of Hiram Walker & Sons Limited. . "^ '■ ;-' ■ ■' ,. ;

In 1859 Mr. Walker removed his family "to 'Walkerville, but returned
to Detroit in 1864, where he resided during the balance of his life. He
was always the leading man of Walkerville, even though a resident of
Detroit, and was the guiding spirit in the making of that little city a
model one in improvements and an industrial center of great importance.
St. Mary's Church, built in Walkerville in 1904 to the memory of his
wife and himself by their sons is regarded as one of Canada's finest
church edifices. Mr. Walker was one of the trustees of the original
school board. He invested largely in farm lands and was also closely
connected with numerous Canadian enterprises, whose success was largely
the result of his efforts and wise guidance. Mr. Walker's Detroit in-
terests were also numerous and of great importance. As an evidence of
the class of corporations with which Mr. Walker was connected, the fol-
lowing partial list is given : Detroit Car Works, Detroit Transit Railway,
Detroit and Bay City Railway, Detroit National Bank, Hamtramck Iron
Works, Detroit College of Medicine, Detroit Chamber of Commerce
and Wayne County Agricultural and Industrial Society. He was also a
shareholder and member of the Detroit Club, the Crosse Point Club, the
North Channel Club and the Detroit Driving Club.

Mr. Walker's charities were large and varied and he ever was a
generous contributor to any worthy enterprise. In 1896 he built the
Detroit Children's Free Hospital, in memory of his daughter. Jennie
Melissa, who died in 1870. He not only gave the land and building for
this notable institution, but liberally endowed it. Thus was evidenced
his love for and sympathy with children, a prominent characteristic of
his nature. He also endowed a room and bed in Harper Hospital, and
gave generously to that institution, giving likewise his support to the
training school for nurses connected therewith. He gave liberally to the
old St. Paul's Episcopal church, where for many years he served as a
vestryman.

Mr. Walker decided to retire from active business Hfe in 1895 and
turn his business interests into the hands of his three surviving sons.

1262 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

To this end he executed deeds of sale to them of the greater part of
his real estate, including all situated in Detroit and the bulk of his
Canadian holdings and also transferred to them his shares in the differ-
ent corporations in which he was interested, his daughter also partici-
pating in the distribution of his Detroit property. Among various con-
ditions attached to these deeds and transfers was one which provided
that within three years of his death his sons should pay $20,000, to
Harper Hospital, which payment was made in 1902. Air. Walker died
at his Detroit, home January 12, 1899. Uy will he bequeathed to the
Children's Free Hospital seven-eighths, and to Harper Hospital one-
eighth, of all the property of which he might be possessed at the time of
his death.

On October 5, 1846. Mr. Walker was married to Aliss Mary Abigail
Williams, daughter of Ephraim Smith and Hannah Melissa (Gotee) Wil-
liams, of Silver Lake, Alichigan. Mrs. Walker, born in 1826, was the
first white child born in the Saginaw A'alley, where her father was
serving as paymaster for the Indians. She was descended from Robert
Williams, of \\'elsh lineage, who sailed from Norwich. England, in 1638,
and settled at Roxbury, Massachusetts. On the maternal side she was
a descendant of James Harrington Gotee, who served as a soldier in the
Continental line for seven years during the Revolutionary War. Mrs.
Walker died in 1872. To Mr. and Mrs. Walker were born five sons
and two daughters, as follows : Julia Elizabeth is the widow of the late
Theodore D. Buhl, one of Detroit's most prominent and highly hon-
ored citizens. Willis Ephraim, who died in 1886, was a solicitor and
notary in Detroit. E. Chandler, born in Detroit in 185 1. married Miss
Mary E, Griffin, daughter of the late Thomas Griffin of Detroit. He is
president of Hiram Walker &: Sons, Limited, and resides at Walker-
ville, Canada, and is a director of the Detroit Museum of Art, in which
institution he has long been deeply interested and to which he has lent
substantial financial aid. Franklin H., born in Detroit in 1853, grad-
uated from the L^niversity of Michigan with the class of 1873. and is
vice president and managing director of Hiram Walker & Sons, Limited,
and a resident of Detroit. He married Miss Mav Holbrook, daughter
of the late DeWitt C. Holbrook of Detroit, and their only child, Ella,
married Count Matuschka, of Bechau. Silesia. Jennv Melissa died in
1870, at an early age. J. Harrington, born at Walkerville, Canada, in
1859, is a resident of Detroit and an official of the firm of Hiram Walker
& Sons, Limited, a member of the board of trustees of the Detroit Col-
lege of Medicine and a member of the Detroit Club and popular in other
social organizations.. He was married in 1883 to Miss Florence A. Hol-
comb, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who died in 1887, leaving two sons,
Harrington and Hiram, and married second in 1889, Margaret Caldwell,
daughter of the late William S. Tallman, of Detroit, and has by this
union one son and two daughters.

Ch.^rles Henry Christopher. Excepting a brief interim of three
years, the city water works of Jackson have been under the superin-
tendence of Charlie Christopher for thirty-eight years, since 1876. This
is a record probably not paralleled in the state, and no other man has
served the municipality so long. Length of service has been accompanied
by a fidelity and efficiency that tend to increase one's faith in the zeal
and devotion of public workers.

Charles Henry Christopher was born at Troy, New York, April 13,
1847, a son of Joseph, and a grandson of James Christopher, the latter
came to the Lhiited -States from England, and Joseph Christopher grew
up in the east and followed the trade of millwright, and also that of car-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1263

penter. Joseph married Sarah Ann Perry, who was born in Saratoga
county, New York, a daughter of Johnson Perry, who had moved from
Connecticut to New York State, the Perrys being of old New England and
Revohitionary stock.

Charles Henry Christopher grew up in New York, and in addition
to a common school education served a full apprenticeship at the machin-
ist's trade. When eighteen years of age, or in 1865, he came to the
city of Jackson, and that city has been his home ever since. There were
then about ten thousand people living within the corporation limits,
while it is now a city of forty-five thousand. The parents followed him
to Jackson, and both died in this city, the father at the age of sixty-
seven and the mother at the age of seventy-four. Mr. Christopher has
been identified with the Jackson city government in one capacity or
another since 1869, with the exception of three years. From 1869 to
1876 he was connected with the fire department in various relations.
Since 1876 he has been chief engineer of the City Water Works con-
tinuously until i8go when he became manager of a gas plant but went
back to his old position under the municipal government in 1893. As
chief engineer it may be said that he is practically the father of the
city water plant, which is one of the finest in the state, and is a source
of pride to every Jackson citizen, and of admiration to every visitor to
the city. The source of water is artesian, and the plant now has fifteen
wells. Mr. Christopher has developed the plant from one supplying
half a million gallons a day to a capacity of twenty million gallons every
twenty-four hours.

Such has been the efficiency of Mr. Christopher in this position that
he has never been troubled by political changes. He has continued as
city water works engineer under all sorts of political administrations —
Democratic. Republican and Greenbacker. No matter what the political
administration may be Charles Christopher is never disturbed, and re-
curring elections never have any terror for him. Mr. Christopher is a
member of the Masonic Order.

On July 2, 1869, he married Miss Jennie Elizabeth Snow, who was
then sixteen years of age, and who was born in Jackson, January i, 1853.
They have lived together as husband and wife for forty-four years.
Their one living son is Frank Christopher, of Jackson, who is married
and has three children, namely: Hazel, Edith and Jessie. Hazel has for
practically all her life lived with her grandparents. She is now eighteen
years old, and a member of the senior class in the Jackson high school.
Her grandparents have accepted her as their own daughter, and have
bestowed upon her every mark of affection, and she in turn has been
the joy of the old home.

Mr. Christopher owes his success in life to the fact that he is
strictly "on the square" in all his relations with his fellow men, and to
the conscientious discharge of duty at all times. He is of the type of
manhood that does things, and is destined to get to the front. Had he
ever been a soldier, he would undoubtedly have been in command of his
company, and his sterling worth and high character are much appreciated
in his home locality.

WiT.LiAjr FIexry Holden. A graduate in pharmacy, and with a
successful and practical experience behind him, Mr. Holden came to De-
troit in 1S81, and took the position of assistant foreman in the finish-
ing department for the Parke, Davis & Company. In 1882 he was ad-
vanced and was put in charge of the finishing department, later had the
supervision of the stock department, and in 1883 was made chief of the
.shipping and stock department. In 1S99 Mr. Holden was promoted to
the position of general superintendent.

1264 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

William Henry Holden is the ninth generation from Richard Holden,
who founded the Holden family in America. Richard Holden emi-
grated from Ipswich, England, to America in 1634, making the voyage
on the ship Francis. He first located at Watertown, Massachusetts, af-
terwards moving to Groton, in the same colony, and in that portion
which IS now known as Shirley. From Richard Holden the line of
descent is traced through Stephen, John, Caleb (i), Caleb (2), Jonathan,
Charles, John Henry, and William Henry. Caleb Holden (2). left six
sons, one of whom, James was adopted by the Rev. Stephen Call, clergy-
man of Eallston, New York, and whose daughter Esther, he eventually
married. They later moved to Canada, and their daughter Esther mar-
ried Merrick Sawyer. Alary Esther, daughter of Merrick and Esther
Sawyer married John Henry Holden, and they were the parents of Will-
iam Henry Holden of Detroit. Charles Holden, son of Jonathan and
the grandfather of William H., went to Canada when a young man, and
was there successfully known as a carriage builder. He furnished a
part of the equipment used in the construction of the Rideau Canal,
with the building of which he was prominently identified. He was dur-
ing his active career a leading man in the Rideau Valley of Ontario, there
he spent the remainder of his years. The Holden family was long promi-
nent in connection with banking and professional interests in Prescott
and Belleville, Ontario. When James Holden left IMassachusetts, he
located at Augusta, Grenville county, Ontario, where his death occurred
late in life.

William Henry Holden of Detroit, was adopted by his maternal
grandfather, Merrick Sawyer, who was at that time engaged in the drug
business at Belleville, Ontario. Merrick Sawyer was a man of education
and ability. In early life he taught school in' Rochester, New York, and
later taught at Port Hope and Cobourg, Ontario. Finally he established
at_ Cobourg the private school for boys, which was the foundation for
Victoria University, of which he was first business manager, th.is insti-
tution was subsequently moved to Toronto. William H. Holden was
reared in Belleville, where he acquired his education in the public schools.
While a student at high school he assisted his grandfather in the drug
store, and that experience gave him the bent for his successful vocation
in lite. Entering the Ontario School of Pharmacy in Toronto, he was
graduated there in 1879, and on leaving college his first important po-
sition was with a large drug house at Montreal. Later he became fore-
man of the manufacturing department of a manufacturing drug house
in Montreal, and it was with this varied experience in his line of busi-
ness that he came to Detroit in 1881, and began his long and successful
connection of over thirty years with the Parke, Davis & Company. He
is also the president of the City Concrete & Coal Company, and presi-
dent of the Universal Sand & Gravel Company.

On June 9, 1887, Mr. Holden married Miss Ella Bancroft Tones,
daughter of Nathan Jones of Belleville, Ontario. Mrs. Holden is"a de-
scendant of the well known Bancroft family which has supplied to our
American life two distinguished historians. Mrs. Holden for a number
of years has been prominent among Detroit women in club and social
affairs. She served as president of the Detroit Federation of Women's
Clubs, and is a member of the Twentieth Century Club, the Detroit
Shakespeare Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution and other
well known local organizations. Mr. and Mrs. Holden have two children :
Howard Bancroft Ilolden, and Alma Clement Holden. The family are
memltcrs f)f the ]'"irst Congregational church, while Mr. Holden has mem-
ber.shii) in the Detroit Athletic Club, the Detroit Boat Club, and the
Yachtsman's Club. The summer home of the family is on Hickory

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1265

Island, at the mouth of the Detroit River, half of which Island is owned
by Mr. Holden.

Forrest Clyde Badgley. Twenty-four years of continuous and ac-
tive practice at the bar of Jackson county have brought Mr. Badgley
many of the best rewards and distinctions of professional life. He has
long ranked as one of the ablest attorneys of southern Michigan and to
him in the course of the years have come many opportunities for par-
ticipation in politics, although he has consistently refused these offers,
and although a man of prominence in the Democratic party, he is first and
last a lawyer.

Forrest Clyde Badgley was born on a farm in Jackson county, Michi-
gan, April II, 1866. His parents, Dennis and Sarah (Christopher)
Badgley, were old settlers in Jackson county and the father spent his
declining years in the city of Jackson, where his death occurred in IQ06.
The mother still lives there. On his father's side, Mr. Badgley is of
Scotch descent, while the maternal ancestry is German.

It was on his father's farm in Jackson county that Mr. Badgley grew
up, attending the district schools during the winter sessions, and while
following the plow he conceived his tirst definite ambition for a legal
career, and thereafter shaped all his efforts to enable him to succeed in
his desire. He made steady progress in the study of law and in 1889 was
admitted to the bar. Since then his efforts have all been directed to his
private practice, in the city of Jackson. Outside of his work as coun-
sellor, and in all the courts, he has a record of public service in one office,
that of prosecuting attorney for four years. Mr. Badgley belongs to the
Jackson County and the Michigan State Bar Associations, and for a
number of years has been chairman of the Democratic County Commit-
tee of Jackson county. Fraternally his associations are with the F.enevo-
lent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows
and the Knights of Pythias.

On June 12, 1895, Mr. Badgley married Miss Annie V. Beers, a
native of Iowa. They are the parents of one son and one daughter, Max
Forrest Badgley, born December 9, 1898; and Phyllis Norine, born Oc-
tober 12, 1900.

Dennis Badgley. One of Jackson county's old and honored pio-
neers was the late Dennis Badgley, who lived in the county, from 1845
until his death, December 30, 1906. His career was one of quiet un-
eventfulness, but characterized by the performance of his duty to fam-
ily and the community, and he well represented the substantial citi-
zenship of his county.

Dennis Badgley was born in Seneca county, New York, October 20,
1837. His father, John D. Badgley of Scotch extraction was born in the
same county of New York in 1801, and married Charlotte Miller, who
was of German family and was born in 1806 in Plainfield, New Jersey.
It was in the year 1845 'hat the parents came west and settled in Grass
Lake township, Jackson county. Dennis Badgley, wdio was then eight
years of age, grew up in a somewhat pioneer community, had a common
school education, and early in life learned the trade of carpenter. Later
he substituted farming for his trade, and followed that vocation until
he retired and moved to the city of Jackson in 1892.

On December 8, 1864, Dennis Badgley married Sarah Christopher,
who was born in Liberty township, Jackson county, November irt, 1S41,
and belonged to one of the earliest families. Se^'en children survive in
the family of Dennis Badgley and wife, as follows : Forrest C. ; Ernest
C. ; Grace M., now Mrs. A. C. Tawse ; Verne W. ; Laura, now Mrs. C.

1266 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

D. Munro; Hester, now Mrs. R. G. England; and Elizabeth Irene, now
Mrs. A. G. Trail,

Fk.\nk W. Hutchin'gs. Coming to Detroit in July, 1902, Frank W.
riutchings has been identified with various extensive business industries,
all of which have added to the city's prestige, and at the present time is
treasiirer of the Lake Superior Iron and Chemical Company, where his
energies have been concentrated upon the rebuilding of the charcoal pig
iron market. A man of energetic nature and progressive spirit, possessed
of much executive ability and organizing power, his career from youth
has been one of constant and rapid advancement, and the position that he
occupies today in the business world has been gained solely through the
medium of his own efforts.

Mr. Hutchings was born at Belle Plaine, Benton county, Iowa, July
27. 1873. a son of Gideon and Mary Augusta (Dresser) Hutchings. He
received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his
native community, and after some preparation entered Columbian Uni-
versity. On leaving the latter he became a student at Georgetown
University, where he received the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and
Master of Laws, and upon his graduation from that institution accepted
the position of private secretary to the Hon. Richard C. McCormick, of
New York. Subsequently he was- associated with the official stenogra-
phers of the National House of Representatives, and was next connected
with the Congressional Library Building and Grounds in the capacity of
chief clerk. On leaving that position in 1902, he came to Detroit and be-
came secretary of the National Founders' Association, and continued as
such until January, 1912, at which time he accepted the position which he
now occupies. The headquarters of the Lake Superior Iron and Chem-
ical Company are located in the Union Trust Building. He is widely
known in business circles, being one of the working members of the De-
troit Board of Commerce. His social connection is with the Detroit Club,
in which he has numerous friends.

Horatio N. Hovey. Not only by reason of his individual achieve-
ment and his personal prominence as a representative citizen and busi-
ness man but also on account of his being a scion of one of the honored
pioneer families of Michigan does Mr. Hovey merit specific recognition
in this history of his native state, the family name having been linked
with the annals of Michigan since the territorial epoch in its history.
Mr. Hovey has marked the passing years with large and worthy accom-
plishment and has proved himself one of those valiant souls to whom
success comes as a natural prerogative. He is known as one of the sub-
stantial, capitalists and representative business men of his native state,
and his gaining of this status has been the direct result of his own abil-
ity and efforts. He has been long and prominently identified with the
lumber industry, in connecton with which his interests are now principally
in the south and west and in which his operations in Michigan were
formerly of broad scope and importance. He has also lent his admirable
executive and administrative powers to the furtherance of other lines of
business enterprise, and he is today one of the influential citizens of De-
troit, where he has entered fully and loyally into the progressive spirit
that has conserved the upbuilding of the "Greater Detroit." .\ man of
broad mental ken and of sterling integrity, he has a secure place in the
esteem of all who know him, and he has made his life count for good in
its every relation.

Horatio N, Hovey was born in O.xford township, Oakand county,
Michigan, on the 20th of February, 1853, and is the youngest of the

d^fXM

TMI NIW tOKK

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1267

twelve children born to Horace and Hannah (Scribner) Hovey, the
former of whom was born at Albany, New York, and the latter in the
state of Maine, both being representatives of families that were founded
in America in the colonial era of our national history. Horace Hovey
was reared to adult age in the old Empire state, and in 1828, when a
young man, he immigrated to the wilds of southern Michigan, his trip
to the new home having been partially made on the vessel "William
Penn," which was the fifth steamboat to be placed in commission on the
Great Lakes. He disembarked in Detroit, which was then little more
than a frontier village, and soon afterward he made his way into Oak-
land county, where he obtained a tract of heavily timbered land, in Ox-
ford township, and turned his attention to reclaiming a farm from the
wilderness. Thus establishing his home in Oakland county nearly a
decade prior to the admission of Michigan to the Union, ^Ir. Hovey
became one of the honored and influential pioneers of that part of the
territory, and there he long continued to be actively identified with agri-
cultural pursuits, in connection with which his independence and pros-
perity represented years of arduous toil and endeavor. He passed the
closing period of his life in western Michigan, where he died in the
spring of 1884. In politics he was originally' a AVhig and later a Demo-
crat, and he served in various local offices of pliblic trust, the while he
ever commanded the high regard of his fellow men. His cherished anfl
devoted wife, who was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, was summoned to the life -eterisil in 1870, at Muskegon, and
of the twelve children three sons^'ai^d'ohe daughter are now living.

To the public schools of his native county Horatio N. Hovey is in-
debted for his early educational training, which was later supplemented
by an effective course in the Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie,
New York. In the meantime, at the age of fourteen years, the alert and
ambitious youth obtained employment in a grocery store at Muskegon.
Michigan, and one year later he became a clerical assistant in the post-
office at that place. He thus served until 1870, when he was appointed
deputy postmaster, and of this position he continued the incumbent sev-
eral years. In 1875 Mr. Hovey engaged in the retail hardware business
at Muskegon, as junior member of the firm of Merrill & Hovey, in
which his associate was his father-in-law, Ehas W. Merrill, In 1881
Mr. Hovey became identified with the lumber industry in that section
of the state, as a member of the firm of McCracken, Hovey & Company,
manufacturers of lumber. Two years later the title of the firm became
Hovey & McCracken, and this concern long controlled a large and pros-
perous enterprise in the manufacturing of lumber, dealing in timber
lands, etc. Mr. Hovey retired from the lumber manufacturing business
in Michigan in 1899, after the available supply resources had Jjeen prac-
tically exhausted, and since that time he has given the major part of
his time and attention to the management of his extensive timber prop-
erties in the south and west, where his exploitations along this line of
industry have been widely extended and eminently successful.

Mr. Hovey continued to maintain his home in the city of Muskegon
until IQ03, and he had been for many years one of the influential and
public-spirited citizens of that section of the state. In the year last
mentioned he removed with his family to Detroit, where his business and
social interests have since been centered, though he still has large capital-
istic interests at Muskegon and in other parts of the state, as well as
in the south and west. He is president of the Muskegon .Savings Bank
and was for several years vice president of the National Lumberman's
Bank of Muskegon, where he also served three years as president of the
Muskegon Chamber of Commerce. There he is still a director of the

1268 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Shaw-Walker Company, engaged in the manufacture of office filing de-
vices, etc., and he is a member of the board of directors of the Grand
Rapids Muskegon Power Company, a most important corporation, with
valuable properties, concessions and franchises. While a resident of
Muskegon he served ten years as treasurer of the city board of educa-
tion. He has been since 1908 a director of the Dime Savings Bank of
Detroit. He has shown rare initiative and constructive ability in the
course of his long and signally successful business career and he stands
exemplar of the best type of citizenship — loyal to all civic duties and
responsibilities and zealous and versatile in the domain of business ac-
tivities. In politics, though never a seeker of public office, Mr. Hovey
has been unswerving in his allegiance to the Republican party, and he
is identified with various fraternal and social organizations of repre-
sentative order.

On the 1st of June, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hovey
to Miss Nellie Merrill, who w-as born and reared at Muskegon and who
is a daughter of Elias W. and Sarah A. (Titcomb) Merrill. Her father
was born and reared in the state of Maine and thence came to Michigan
in 1837, the year which marked the admission of the state to the Union.
Mr. Merrill first located at Grand Rapids, whence he removed to Muske-
gon in 1844. He was a pioneer in the lumbering operations of Michi-
gan and became a citizen of prominence and influence. He represented
Aluskegon county in the state legislature for several terms and was for
many years postmaster at Muskegon, where he died at the patriarchal
age of ninety years, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest by a
number of years. Mr. and Mrs. Hovey have four children, concerning
whom the following brief data are given in conclusion of this sketch :
Annie Merrill is the wife of Charles F. Patterson, of Detroit ; Eleanor
Merrill is the wife of Dr. John E. Gleason, of the same city ; Sila Mer-
rill is the wife of Dr. Herbert W. Hewitt, of Detroit ; and Willard Merrill
Hovey, the only son, is associated with his father in Inisiness activities.

Captain Julian G. Dickinson. Of Michigan's distinguished vet-
erans of the Civil war still surviving, perhaps none is better known for
his achievements as a soldier and also for his long and honorable record
as a lawyer, than Captain Julian G. Dickinson of Detroit. Captain Dick-
inson has been a member of the Detroit bar forty-five years, and has also
been a factor in banking and manufacturing. His record as a soldier and
officer was made during his very early manhood, and to his later profes-
sion and civic career he brought the same qualities of trained efficiency,
broad and keen intelligence, and extreme fidelity, which chararterized his
activities in the army of the Cumberland.

Julian G. Dickinson is a native of New York state, born at Hamburg,
on November 20, 1843. His parents were the late William and Lois
(Sturtevant) Dickinson. The parents came to Michigan from New York
state in 1852, settling at Jonesville, in that year, but five years later moved
to Jackson. The early education of Captain Dickinson was received at
Collins Center in Erie county. New York, at Jonesville and Jackson,
Michigan, and after the war spent one year in the University of Michi-
gan. On July 10, 1862, at the age of eighteen. Captain Dickinson en-
listed as a private in Company I of the Fourth Regiment of Michigan
Volunteer Cavalry. The record of that splendid regiment from that time
until the end of the war is largely the military history of Captain Dickin-
son, since he was identified with his command in all its campaigns. The
regiment was attached to the army of the Cumberland near Louisville, in
October, 1862. Captain Dickinson's first promotion was as sergeant,
was detailed as ordnance officer of the regiment on September 25, 1863;

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1269

he became sergeant major on March 31, 1864; first heutenant and ad-
jutant of the regiment on July 15, 1864: and was brevetted captain of
United States Volunteers on May 10, 1865, and commissioned captain of
Company I of the Second Michigan Cavalry on July 10, 1865. Captain
Dickinson's record in the war comprises participation in eighty battles
and he was in ten thousand miles of marching and active campaigning.
He was in General James H. Wilson's command from Chickasaw, Ala-
bama, to Macon, Georgia, and during that campaign was commended by
his superiors for "bravery and efficiency." An exploit with which his
name will always be linked was the capture of President Davis of the
Confederacy at Irwinville, Georgia, soon after the surrender of Lee. At
that time he was on the staff of General B. D. Pritchard, who led the
troops which finally discovered the fugitive president, and Captain Dick-
inson, himself, had the distinction of arresting the Confederate leader
while seeking to escape from his camp in the guise of a female. For this
service Captain Dickinson was mentioned to the secretary of war by
General Pritchard and General J. H. Wilson. At the close of the war he
was mustered out of the service, and returned to Michigan to enter the
University of Michigan and spend one year in study. In 1866, Captain
Dickinson moved to Detroit and continued his law studies in the office of
Moore & Griffin.

In 1866 he was admitted to the bar before the supreme court of Michi-
gan, and during 1868-69 was a member of the law firm of Dickinson &
Burt. From 1869 to 1874 he was associated with Hon. Don W. Dickin-
son, the firm being known as Dickinson & Dickinson, after which he was
in practice alone until 1913, when his son, Philip Sheridan Dickinson, be-
came his partner, in the law firm of Dickinson & Dickinson with offices
in the Ford building. Captain Dickinson was for some years interested
in banking in connection with the E. K. Roberts & Company banking
house of Detroit, from which he finally retired in 1877. He was the
attorney for the Preston National Bank for fifteen years, and attorney for
David Preston and the Preston Bank of Detroit from its organization to
the time it was incorporated as Preston National Bank. Captain Dick-
inson has long been prominent in army circles, and is a member and now
commander of the Commandery of the State of Michigan for the mili-
tary order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and a member of
Detroit Post No. 384, G. A. R. His other fraternity is the Masonic Order.

At Detroit on June 25, 1878, Captain Dickinson was united in marri-
age with Clara M. Johnson. Their surviving children are : Alfred, Juli-
an, Philip S., Stanley R. and Clara J.

Hon. Charles H. Bailey. In 1913 when the citizens of Jackson
chose a mayor they turned and gave their support to a man who had
for more than twenty years been honored for his integrity and business
ability in the community, and who is one of the well known railway
officials of Jackson. Charles H. Bailey has had much other experience
in municipal affairs, having served several terms as alderman before he
went into the office of mayor. His administration of the city has been
notable for its efficiency and for the amount of work accomplished that
is directly related to the welfare of the community as a whole, and the
benefit of individual citizens.

Charles H. Bailey was born in Adrian, Michigan, April 24, 1870,
but his home has been in Jackson since he was two years old. At the
age of nineteen in 1889 he graduated from the Jackson high school.
Since that time his entire business career has been taken up with the
railroad service. His first job was as a time keeper in the Michigan
Central Shops, beginning with 1890. Later he qualified as a locomotive

1270 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

fireman, then became an engineer, and finally was made chief engine
dispatcher at Jackson Junction.

His politics is Democratic, and he has long been found in the councils
of his party, and an effective worker. He served four terms, eight
years, as alderman from the Fifth Ward, and in that time got behind
him a large following of citizens who came to feel that his services were
of the highest value to the community in the office of mayor. On April
7, 1913, his election as mayor of Jackson on the Democratic ticket was
brought about by a handsome majority over both the Republican and
Progressive opponents. Air. Bailey stands high in Masonic circles, is a
Knight Templar and Shriner, belonging to Jackson Commandery Xo. 9,
and is a member of Division No. 2 of the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers.

In 1894 Mr. Bailey married Miss Alberta Nixon, a graduate of the
Jackson high school, in the class of 1890. They have one daughter,
Frances Marion Bailey, aged fourteen years.

Bradford Smith, who died at his home in Detroit September 8, 1906,
exercised a larger influence on the life of that city than .some men of
wider newspaper reputation. He never acquired wealth, built no great
enterprise of an industrial or mercantile nature, but devoted many long
and useful years to the education and training of the young men and
women of Detroit. He believed and acted on the principle that it is more
important to educate than to govern, and as an educator and philanthro-
pist his name and career should have a lasting place in the history of
Detroit.

Bradford Smith was born at Moira, Franklin county, New York, in
1820, and reached the venerable age of eighty-six years. In several lines
his ancestry is traced back to Pilgrims, Puritans, Huguenots and other
early settlers of New England. His great-grandfather, Eleazer Smith,
fought with the Continental forces during the war of the Revolution and
was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. His father, Captain Bradford
Smith, was an officer during the war of 1812, though only a boy at the
time. The late Bradford Smith began teaching before he reached man-
hood. His schooling was acquired partly in his native village, partly in
Pottsdam Academy, and subsequently he won the degrees of Bachelor of
Arts and Master of Arts from Oberlin College, Ohio. He taught school
before going to college, and most of his expenses were paid from the pro-
ceeds of his school work.

Bradford Smith was a resident of Detroit from 1851. For eight years
he was principal of the old Eighth ward school, now known as the Hough-
ton school. Many pupils of that institution who have since become
prominent in various walks of life remember him with affection and
counted him as their guide, counselor and friend. The practical work of
organizing the graded-school system of Detroit was accomplished by
Bradford Smith, and that alone is a distinction which will always give him
a place in the history of Detroit education. In many ways he was a pro-
gressive leader in his profession. What he did and what he stood for in
Detroit education is well commemorated by the Bradford Smith school,
named in his honor.

The late Mr. Smith was even better known perhaps for his work
among the street waifs and newsboys of Detroit than as an educational
executive. He had a ready sympathy with the boys of the street, luider-
stood their environment and their needs, and was an early advocate of
systematic supervision of boys who either from inclination or from family
circumstance, or from economic necessity, had to spend most of their time
on the streets. In 1875 he was appointed commissioner of charities for

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1271

Wayne county, and held that office several years. Many wise and effec-
tive provisions were inaugurated by him for the care and guidance of the
street boys, including the establishment of an ungraded or truant school
and a police supervision which eventually was organized as the present
truant squad. Not only of his time and energy was he prodigal in philan-
thropic work, but from his private income many needy boys were sup-
plied with clothing, and for a number of years he is said to have spent
more in this direction than he did for the maintenance of his own family.

Bradford Smith was one of the early members of the Fort Street
Presbyterian church, held the post of deacon for many years, but later
transferred his membership to the Calvary church, nearer his home, and
for thirty years or more he was an elder in that society and was also
superintendent of the Sunday school. After retiring from his active ca-
reer as an educator, he took up the real estate business, and platted a
number of pieces of land which are now thickly settled and built over.
At the beginning of the Civil war, Bradford Smith organized a company
and started for the front, but an injury in one of his knees incapacitated
him so that he was obliged to return home, but he paid for and maintained
a substitute throughout the war.

In 1851 Bradford Smith married Miss Lucia Weston of New York
city. She died in 1865, and the three living children of their marriage
are: Frederick B., Joseph W. and Lucia Weed Smith, all residents of
Detroit. In 1869 Mr. Smith married Miss Julia Spencer, who died in
i88g. Her two surviving sons are: A. Weston Smith of New York city
and Henry S. Smith of Chicago.

As a tribute to the long and useful career of Bradford Smith the fol-
lowing quotation from an editorial in the Detroit Free Press is a well
deserved estimate: "Bradford Smith was one of Detroit's foremost
educators and philanthropists. It is more often that we have citizens to
honor who have achieved commercial success. Here was a man who gave
to the city more than he received. He cut off from himself all hopes of
worldly advancement. He demonstrated how a citizen may be a philan-
thropist without wealth. The methods which he initiated years ago in
the treatment of wayward boys and neglected waifs outlined the policies
of the juvenile courts of today. There was something of the Froebel
about him. Long before modern teaching methods had been fixed, or even
recognized, he put them to use. Our schools were first graded by him.
His pupils at the old Houghton school give ample testimony in their fre-
quent remembrances of his lovable character. It is much to have lived
this life of pre-eminent usefulness in the community and to have died
greatly respected at the ripe age of eighty-six years. The eighty-six years
of Bradford Smith's strong, courageous, cheerful hfe attest that the. re-
turn in pleasure has been greater than the decimal system can account."

Frederick B. Smith. Now president and general manager of the
Wolverine Manufacturing Company at Detroit, Frederick B. Smith is
one of the enterprising manufacturers of that city, and with his associates
has built up an industry whose products are distributed over many states
of the Union. The Wolverine :\Ianufacturing Company was organized
a little more than twentv-five years ago when Mr. Smitli was a young
man. It began in a sma'U way' with little capital, but the organizer had
the courage, ability and determination requisite for success. The goods
manufactured are of practical value and have a place in thousands of
homes in America, and it was a matter of pride and painstaking efforts
to Mr. Smith to improve and maintain a high standard for his products.
That has been the cause of the steady prosperity of this company, which
is now recognized as one of the important assets in Detroit industries.

1272 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Frederick B. Smith was Ijorn in Detroit Decenilier 13, 1863. a son
of Bradford and Lucia (Weston) Smith. His father was one of the
pioneer educational leaders in Detroit, and a sketch of his career is given
in following paragraphs. After his education in the public schools of
Detroit, finishing with the high school, Frederick B. Smith found his
first regular work in the accounting department of the Michigan Central
Railroad. Soon after reaching his majority, he spent a j-ear with a local
furniture comiiany, and that gave the permanent direction to his energy.
In 1887, when twenty-four years of age, Mr. Smith brought about the
organization of the Wolverine Manufacturing Company. It was incor-
porated with a capital of ten thousand dollars, and Mr. Smith has been
its active head from the beginning. This is now the largest manufactur-
ing concern of its kind in the United States, and its products are parlor
and library tables of fine quality, besides several lines of furniture spe-
cialties. In its special machinery and general equipment for the manu-
facture of this class of furniture, the factory is tlie largest of its kind
in the world. The tables made by the Wolverine Company are sold
in every part of the United States. A capital stock of six hundred thou-
sand dollars is now employed in the business, there are about six hun-
dred persons at work in the factory and offices, and some of the most
skilled workmen in this field are employed. The average annual output
is valued at a million dollars. How greatly the business has grown from
its modest inception is shown by the fact that only twelve workmen were
employed at the beginning, and the value of the first year's output was
thirty thousand dollars.

In politics Mr. .Smith is a Republican, and one of Detroit's most lib-
eral and public sj^irited citizens. From 1894 to i8g8 he was a member
of the Detroit board of estimates, and in 1903 was made chairman of the
Michigan Commission of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis.
The last president of the old Chamber of Commerce was Mr. Smith, and
when that organization and other business and civic bodies were consoli-
dated into the ])resent Detroit Board of Commerce he became one of the
charter members and one of the first directors of the new board. His
services while president of the old Chamber of Commerce were of great
importance to the city. It was largely due to his persistent advocacy and
determined leadership that the elimination of railway grade crossings
was brought about within the limits of Detroit. On May 2, 1903, at a
conference held in the office of the Michigan Central Railroad at De-
troit, the principal conferees present were Mr. Smith as president of the
Detroit Chamber of Commerce, George Hargreaves, vice-president of
the American Car and I'oundry Company, Jerome and Atkinson, repre-
senting the city cotmcil, and Henry B. Ledyard, for the Michigan Cen-
tral Railroad Company. It was in that conference that plans and meth-
ods were finallv concluded which were gradually worked out in the im-
provement of grade crossings.

Mr. Smith has numerous social relationships, including membership
in the Mayflower Society and other colonial organizations ; in the vari-
ous Masonic orders, including Detroit Commandery No. i, Knights
Temjilar, the Detroit Club, the Lake St. Claire Fishing and Shooting
Clul) (the Old Club) ; and belongs to the famous Lambs Club of New
York City. His church is the Presbyterian.

On November ii, 18S6, Mr. Smith married Miss Nanette Sackrider,
daughter of Dr. Charles L. Sackrider of Mason, Michigan. The three
children of their union are mentioned as follows: Charles S., who died
at the age of twenty-two years; Frederick B., Jr., a member of the class
of 7917 in the University of Michigan; and Robert W. of the class of
11J17 at the Central high school of Detroit.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1273

Edward Irving Isbell. S. M. Isbell & Company of Jackson is
known all over the United States and in some foreign countries as deal-
ers in beans, seeds, grain and wool, etc. The firm has behind it thirty-
five years of unwavering stability, and a record to be proud of, not only
for extensive operations, but for s(|uare dealings with every client. About
twenty-five years ago, Edward I. Isbell was employed at a dollar a day
about the elevators and warehouses of the concern. He is now president
of the corporation, and through his energy and business acumen, may
be credited the later prosperity and prestige of the enterprise.

Edward Irving Isbell was born on a farm in Lodi township in Wash-
tenaw county, Michigan, January 14, 1862. His father was Nathan
Isbell, born in the state of New York, who came to Michigan with his
parents when nine years of age, was a substantial farmer, and died in
1897 when seventy-three years old. His wife's maiden name was Mary
Sheldon, wlio was born in Washtenaw county, a daughter of Newton
and Susanna Sheldon. When Edward I. was three years old, his par-
ents moved to the village of Saline, in Washtenaw county, where for
several years his father followed the vocation of contractor and builder.
Then the family again located on a farm, and it was in the country
that Edward I. Isbell spent his years from the age of thirteen, until
ready to start out in life on his own account.

His early education was chiefly in the country schools, and after-
wards he attended the Saline high school. From boyhood up he had
plenty of work on the farm, but his real career may be said to have
begun at the age of twenty-one as a school teacher. His work in the
school room continued during three winter terms, and for two years
he was on the road as traveling representative for the Deering Harvester
Company, with headquarters in Jackson. In February, 1886, Mr. Isbell
entered tlie employ of S. M. Isbell & Company, having no particular
status in the concern, above that of a mere laborer as his wages of one
dollar a day would indicate. The S. M. Isbell & Company began busi-
ness at Jackson as dealers in beans, seeds, grain, wool, and other com-
modities in 1878. S. M. Isbell is an uncle of the man now president of
the concern. The latter by the exercise of intelligent industry and a
close study of all the details of the trade gradually worked his way to
an executive place in the business. When the concern was incorporated
in 189S, Edward Isbell became a stockholder and a director, and a few
years later was made vice president, and since June, 1908, has been
president. At that time he bought the interest of his uncle who then
retired, after a long and successful career. This is one of the largest
concerns in the state engaged in wholesaling of the staple crops already
enumerated. For a trade-mark to be used on letterheads, in catalogues,
and in other ways, the firm adopted many years ago, a design repre-
senting a large bell, with the two letters "I S" engraved on its front,
and this is a device now known to practically every large grower of grain,
wool and other produce in southern Michigan.

The success of Mr. Isbell in business has not been acquired at the
expense of neglecting civic duties. A Republican in politics, he is now
serving his third term in the city council from the Fourth Ward, and
is one of the most influential and public-spirited members of that body.
One year he served as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Jack-
son, and was one of the organizers of the business men in that form, and
served as a director of the chamber for four years. Very fond of
fishing and outdoor sport, Mr. Isbell takes his recreation through those
channels and is also a member of the Jackson City Club. He has a fine
private library, and at home can usually be found enjoying its resources.
Mr. Isbell lielongs to the United Commercial Travelers and is a prominent
Knight Templar Mason.

Ut hiW yr-*j,

fail k; I i/.iu.RY

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1275

Detroit Athletic Club; and a member in the Detroit Country Club, the
Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Fine. Arts Society. He is a trustee of
the Detroit Museum of Arts and of the Detroit School of Design. For
about twenty years he has served on the board of trustees of the Unitarian
Church in Detroit, the only organization of that denomination in the city,
and including among its members many representative families.

In Detroit on November 20, 1890, Mr. Holt married Miss Lillian Silk.
Mrs. Holt is a leader in club and social welfare and charitable work in
Detroit, is a member of the Woman's Club and the Twentieth Century
Club, is president of the Woman's Hospital of Detroit, and is a worker in
I)ractically every one of the larger and broader benevolent movements.
Mr. Holt and wife have two children : Dorothy Elizabeth and Frederick
Farrington. The daughter is a graduate of the Liggett School of Detroit
and a member of the class of 1915 in Vassar College. The son is now a
student at Hackley School, Tarrytown, New York.

Oscar J. R. Hanna, M. D. Whether from choice or circumstances,
some men lead lives of credit and usefulness in one restricted sphere of
activity and location, while others know men and cities and are known
in various parts of the world and while concentrating their chief atten-
tion to one Ijusiness or profession they, play varied roles with success.
In the latter class belongs Dr. Hanna of Jackson. . His life started out
eventfully when he became a boy soldier, ji\ the Uiijion army. Though
sixty-six years old he still has the bearing and app'e^rance of one who
has barely passed the half century milestone. Forty years of his life
have been given to the medical profession, but he has also: been a banker,
filled a federal position in the west, .a^fld' .is ^o'fgrly described as a man
of affairs. ' ' •■'•"'■ '■■■■■^■■"

Born in Guernsey county, Ohio,' April 15. 1847, Oscar J. R. Hanna
was reared in his native village of Winchester. At the same time he
attended the local schools. At the age of si.xteen he was one of the
youths from his neighborhood who responded to the call to arms, and
from 1863 to 1865 he was in the union service as a member of the United
States Signal Corps. Soon after returning from the army he took up
medical study, afid was a student in Jefferson Medical College at Phila-
delphia, during 1871 and 1872. For sixteen years, Dr. Hanna was con-
nected as a physician with the National Medical and Surgical Institute
at Indianapolis, of which institution he was secretary and treasurer.
During tv\'o years of his residence in Indianapolis, he was president of
the Indiana Banking and Investment Company. While President Arthur
was in the White House Dr. Hanna received appointment as receiver of
of the United States Land Office at Walla Walla, Washington. On
returning from the west. Dr. Hanna in 1885 chose the city of Jackson
as his permanent home, and has since enjoyed special prominence in his
profession and as a citizen. For many years he has given most of his
attention to the treatment of nervous diseases, and of all diseases of a
chronic character. In politics, and as a Republican, Dr. Hanna has long
had a prominent part. In i8cj6 he was a presidential elector from Michi-
gan, and cast his vote for McKinley and Hobart. A great many citizens
recall him for his term as postmaster at Jackson from 1902 to 1906.
He is an ex-president of the Jackson City Club, the leading social
organization of the city, is prominent in the order of Elks, and is fre-
quently called upon to deliver speeches and lectures, being a man of fine
address and an excellent public speaker. At public functions Dr. Hanna
is usually the man who presides and acts as toastmaster. He is also
affiliated with the Masonic Order.

In 1872 Dr. Hanna married Miss Elizabeth Braden of Indianapolis,

1276 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

a daughter of William Braden who was one of the prominent men in
that city. The doctor and wife have three children, two sons and one
daughter, all of whom live in the city of Chicago. They are Annie R.,
now Mrs. William E. Clark ; William B. Hanna, and Richard C. Hanna.
William B. Hanna, his older son was for ten years in the Philippine
service, first as a lieutenant and adjutant in the First Montana Volunteer
Regiment, and later as a captain in the Thirty-Seventh United States
Volunteer Infantry. He made a splendid record while in the Island
service, and for a part of the time was commander of the port of Iloilo
on the Island of Panay. Dr. Hanna's mother, Mrs. Rebecca A. Hanna,
is still living and has made her home with him practically all her life.
She has been a widow since 1862, and is now eighty-eight years of age.
She was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, July 16, 1826, her maiden
name having been Rebecca A. Theaker. She is in fine health, and in
spite of her age, in full possession of her mental faculties.

H.\RRy Jerome Darling. A prominent architect of Detroit, Harry
Jerome Darling had a thorough training and preparation for his pro-
fession, and his services have been employed on many important build-
ings.

Harry Jerome Darling is a native of Michigan, and belongs to the
pioneer stock of the state. Joseph Darling, his great-great-grandfather,
and the first member of the family to settle in this state, served as a
soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. There
are comparatively few Michigan families who have the honor of a Revo-
hitionary soldier as their pioneer representative in Michigan. Joseph
Darling was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts, September 22, 1764,
and entered the Revolutionary service when sixteen years of age. (Ref.
Mass. State Records, \'ol. 17, p. 86.) Joseph Darling was the son of
Lieutenant r,enjamin Darling, a "Minute Man"" who responded to the
alarm of Paul Revere, April 19, 1775, a great-great-grandson of George
Soule, who as a youth came to America on the Mayflower with the fam-
ily of Governor Edward Winslow (Ref.: Mayflower Descendant, Vol.
I, p. 246), and a great-grandson of George Darling who came to America
and settled in Salem, Massachusetts, before 1640. Geoi-ge Darling, the
first of the family in America, was associated with Joseph Jenks and otli-
ers in the first American foundry at Lynn and Rraintree, Massachusetts.
George Darling married Katherine Gridley, a daughter of Captain Rich-
ard Gridley of Boston, Massachusetts. Upon the death of his father,
Joseph Darling inherited land at Woodstock, Vermont. He married
Huldah Darling, daughter of Joseph and Huldah (Thomas) Darling of
Woodstock, Vermont, and all of their children, with but one exception,
were bom at this place. Later he moved to Niagara county. New York
state, and in May, 1832, he settled in Jackson, Michigan.

Joseph Darling"s son Columbus Darling built the first frame house
and first mill in Jackson, Michigan, and the History of Jackson, ])age
161, says "he did more to jiromote the early growth of Jackson than any
other man." Columbus Darling moved to Lansing in 1847 and became
one of the ]3rominent early citizens of that place. Fie built a magnifi-
cent home for his daughter, Mrs. Rollin C. Dart, across from the south-
west comer of the State Capitol grounds, and died there May 20, 1880.
Columbus Darling was a member of the State Pioneer Society, and his
name is often mentioned in the records of the society. Joseph Darling
and his wife Huldah both died in Jackson and are buried in the old
East Main Street cemetery.

Pascal P. Darling, son of Joseph and great-grandfather of Harry
Jerome Darling, engaged in contract work upon the Erie canal in New

^■Y"^^^^^^^

fit imr tuwt

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1277

York state, married Nabby F. Maynard, daughter of Colonel julin and
Sarah (Putney) Maynard at Orangeport, New York, and moved to Jack-
son, Michigan, in 1834. She was a descendant of John Maynard, who
settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1639, and of the ancient and
wealthy Putney family of Putney, England. Pascal P. Darling and his
brother Columbus erected mills in Eaton Rapids, Alichigan, and here
Pascal P. Darling died and is buried. Pascal's son, Ira O. Darling,
grandfather of Harry Jerome Darling, settled in Mason, Ingham county,
Michigan, and engaged in the manufacture of wagons. He traveled west
for his health in company with Doctor Phelps of Mason, returned to
Ypsilanti, Michigan, for medical treatment, died there Se])tember 24,
1861, aged 36 years, and was buried at Mason, Michigan. He was
first lieutenant of the company of militia at ]Mason, and. had he not
died at the outbreak of the Civil War, he would undoubtedly have of-
fered his services to the Union cause. His brother, Benjamin Darling,
was the second male child born in Jackson, Michigan, and built the tirst
summer cottage at Bay View, Michigan, now a famous summer resort.
The wife of Ira O. Darling was Cordelia Case, daughter of Lewis and
Melissa Case, and a descendant of the colonial Connecticut Case family.
Her mother Melissa was a sister of Gen. William H. Rexford of the
United States army, and of Captain James P. Rexford, one of the found-
ers of the Freedman's College at Nashville, Tennessee, The sword of
Captain James Rexford, presented to him by fn'embers of the Detroit
bar, is now in the possession of Harry Jerome DarliriglV

The only son of Ira O. Darling and the father of Harry Jerome Darl-
ing, was Frank Ira Darling born at Mason, Michigan, December 26,
1853. He was married to Clara Virginia Haight at Mason, Michigan.
P'ebruary 2, 1876, an only child of Henry Jerome and Mary E. (Steven-
son) Haight. Clara V. Darling's father was Register of Deeds for
Ingham county, and was engaged in mercantile and farming pursuits at
Mason, and her grandfather Salmon L. Haight was a member of the
first legislature to sit at Lansing, Michigan, the state capitol. The
Haight family is of old colonial origin. Frank Ira Darling, father of
Harry Jerome Darling, was admitted to the bar to practice law on June
29, 1875. He practiced law, was editor of the "Soldier's Bulletin" at
Chicago, Illinois, and served a great many years in the employ of the
United States government. In an article regarding the H. Bowen
Moore fraud case at Buffalo, New York, the Washington Post, Novem-
ber, 1893, in referring to him sayS: "The special examiner who was sent
from Washington last night to Buffalo is regarded as one of the keen-
est men in the service and is an able lawyer." He was also an artist of
remarkable ability. Besides Harry Jerome Darling, they had two chil-
dren. Ralph Emerson Darling, an older brother, was born at Mason,
Michigan, December 12, 1876, was married to Bessie Lansing Webb,
September 18, 1902, and has two sons: Egbert Webb Darling born at
Mason. Michigan, April 20, 1905, and Robert Orris Darling born in De-
troit, Michigan, December i, 1907. Grace Eva Darling, the sister of
H. J. Darling was born at Mason, Michigan, July 10, 1886, and now re-
sides in Detroit.

Harry Jerome Darling was born at Mason, Michigan, July 25, 1878,
and during the early years of his life he lived with his parents at Mason,
Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Washington, D. C, Grand
Rapids and Ann Arbor, Michigan. After being employed for about
three years at Ann Arbor, he came to Detroit, and entered the employ
of Spier & Rohns, architects, and later became associated with Joseph E.
Mills, a prominent Detroit architect. In j\Tay, 1909, he opened an office
in the Majestic building for the practice of architecture on his own ac-

1278 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

count. Later he moved to the Chamber of Commerce building and now
has his offices located at 928-929 of that building. An article published
in the Detroit Ne'MS Tribune, June 2, 1912, dealing with the growth and
development of the apartment building in Detroit, mentions an apart-
ment building of which Air. Darling was the architect, as being one of
the best examples of its kind, and shows a picture of the building with
six others. Mr. Darling's practice has been largely with the erection of
apartment buildings, store buildings, residences and factories.

He was married to Orra Jeanette Howe at Detroit on November 6,

1906. She was a daughter of Hon. Almeron R. Howe, deceased, of
Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and his wife Orra Jeanette (Hamlin) Howe
is now a resident of Detroit. Her father's family is descended from old
colonial stock, and her mother is descended from James and Anne Ham-
lin who settled in Barnstable, [Massachusetts, in 1639. Mrs. Darling is
an accomplished musician and vocalist. They have two daughters, both
bom in Detroit, Michigan: Orra Jeanette Darling born November 20,

1907, and Virginia Hamlin Darling born April 6, 1909.

George Arthur Seybold, M. D. The medical profession at Jackson
has always had men whose ability classed them among the best repre-
sentatives of the profession in the state. Of the younger physicians and
surgeons, one whose career throughout has been marked by expert
qualifications and successful work, is George Arthur Seybold, who has
successfully practiced medicine in this city for nearly ten years.

He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 26, 1881, and
through both his father and mother is of German ancestry. His grand-
father, George J. Seybold, was born in Germany, and followed farming
all his career, his last years being spent on a farm near Ann Arbor.
George W. Seybold, father of the doctor, is secretary and treasurer of
the Star IMotor Car Company at Ann Arbor this company having a large
reputation in the manufacture of automobile trucks. George W. Seybold
married Sarah Ann AUmendinger, who was born near Ann Arbor, also
of German stock.

Dr. Seybold spent his boyhood and youth in Ann Arbor, attended
the public schools there, graduating from the high school, and soon
afterwards entered upon a four years' course of preparation in the
State University. He was graduated M. D. from the medical department
June 23, 1904. A few months were spent in practice in his native city,
in association with Dr. M. L. Belser, but in November, 1904, he located
in Jackson, and has since been attending to the needs of a growing and
valuable practice. He is secretary of the Jackson County Medical Society,
and has various other fraternal and social relations. He belongs to the
Michigan Medical Society, and the American Aledical Association, has
meml;ership in the Jackson City Club, the Michigan Center Country Club,
and worships in the First Baptist Church. His secret fraternities are
the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, and the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. Politically he supports the Republican cause.

On October 25, 1906, Dr. Seybold married Miss Gertrude Wliet of
Detroit. Their two children are: Margaret Elizabeth, born December
25, 1909; and George Roberts, born March 6, 1912.

Hubert Mikoniuk. In the field of architecture and engineering,
few men in Detroit are belter or more favorably known than is Hubert
Mironiuk, who, although still a young man, and a recent arrival in this
city, has already attained a commanding position in his profession. Mr.
Mironiuk is a native of Austria-Poland where his birth occurred in the
city of Lemberg, Galicia, October 29, 1883, and has been a resident of the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1279

United States since the year igo6. He secured his early educational
training in the grammar schools of his native city, and completed his
elementary schooling at the high school of the old historic city of Kra-
kow. He had always displayed talent and a predilection for the profes-
sions of architect and engineer, and so, after passing through the public
schools and completing the curriculum of the high school, he entered the
celebrated Krakow Technical College, where he studied both architecture
and engineering, taking the full course in these departments and receiv-
ing his degree.

Mr. jMironiuk worked as a draughtsman in his native land until 1906,
in which year he decided to try his fortunes in the land across the water.
Accordingly, in that year, he came to the United States alone and landed
at New York, a perfect stranger. For some time he cast about in search
of a suitable location, but the East did not provide just what he was
looking for, and after a short stay in the metropolis he left for the West,
with the city of Chicago as his destination. In that city, being a skilled
workman in his profession, he had but little trouble in securing employ-
ment, and for three years was engaged in various architects' offices in
the Windy City, employed in various capacities, while he was gaining
experience and accumulating the means wherewith to emljark in practice
on his own account. Eventually, he opened offices of his own in Chi-
cago, and for three years carried on a fairly successful business, but at
the end of that period made removal to Evansville, Indiana, where for
two years he was associated with the well-known architect, Frank J.
Schlotter, of that city, a connection that proved mutually profita!)le. Mr.
Mironiuk, however, was dissatisfied, feeling that he had so far failed in
finding the best field for the display of his talents and ability, and finally,
in 1013, was attracted to Detroit, which city has since been the scene of
his labors and successes. Here he engaged in the dual profession of
architect and engineer, and from the first his efforts met with apprecia-
tion and reward. Being Ijoth architect and engineer, he is able to both
prepare the plans of the building and superintend the erection as well. He
carries on general architectural and engineering work, but makes a spe-
cialty of steel and steel-trussed concrete work, and is able to plan and
build structures from one to twenty stories, and even higher. He is now
in the enioyment of an extensive and representative business, and main-
tains well-appointed offices at No. 227 Broadway Market building.

Mr. Mironiuk is a Roman Catholic in his religious belief, and is a
popular member of numerous social organizations.

C. W. KiRTr,.'\ND, M. D. Since the degree of M. D. was given him
at the University of Michigan, Dr. Kirtland has practiced much in an
ascending scale of success and ability. For the past six years established
in Jackson, he now enjoys by right of merit a rank among the best in
the local fraternity of doctors.

At Rochester, Indiana, on March 4, 1S67, Charles William Kirtland
was born to Elias and Elizabeth Martha (Ferguson) Kirtland. The Kirt-
land family was first established in America at Saybrook, Connecticut, in
colonial days. Grandfather William Kirtland died in Cass county, Indiana,
in 1863. Elias Kirtland, who followed merchandising during his active
career, was born in Shelby county, Ohio, August 3, 1S35, went to Logans-
port, Indiana, in 1855, in 1865 located in Rochester, in the same state,
lived at Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1888 to 1894, then returned to
Ohio, and was a resident of Monroeville until 1902, when he again
established his home in Logansport, in which city he died April 20, 1903.
His wife who was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, February 12, 1836, now
lives at the age of seventy-eight in Marion, Indiana. Her father, Wil-

1280 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Ham Ferguson, was a farmer, and died in Cass county, Indiana, in 1863.

Dr. Kirtland spent his early life in Rochester, Indiana, was gradu-
ated from the Rochester high school in 1885, later spent one year in the
Indiana State University, and in 1891 was graduated from the Homeo-
pathic department of the University of Michigan. The first two years
were spent in practice at Pinckney, Michigan, and for fourteen years he
enjoyed a large patronage as a physician at Napoleon, in this state. In
1907 he established his office at Jackson.

Dr. Kirtland is a Royal Arch Mason. On June 25, 1895, he married
Miss Mary Inez Mann, of Pinckney, Michigan. To their union have
been born two daughters and one son, as follows : Dorothy M., born
September 2, 1896; Frances Mary, born May 9, 1900, and Walter Elias,
born May 24, 1903.

Waldo A. Avery. Seldom has the passing of an individual severed
more business ties and more extensive associations with men and affairs
than the recent death of Waldo A. Avery, who died at his home at
Grosse Point Farms, May 9, 1914. He was regarded as one of Detroit's
millionaires, and the chief source of his wealth had been the lumber
interests of Michigan, but for many years his name was also closely
identified with banking, manufacturing, real estate ownership and the
social life of his home city.

For a period of sixty years the name Avery has been prominently
associated with the lumber interests of Michigan, and it was the activi-
ties of the late Mr. Avery that made it so well known in the varied busi-
ness and financial ai¥airs of Detroit and other sections of the state. In
1852 the firm of Eddy & Avery moved out from the state of Maine and
began the purchase of Michigan pine timber. Another well-known Michi-
gan lumberman, the late Simon J. Murphy, became an associate of the
senior Avery about 1865, after the death of Mr. Eddy. As Avery &
Murphy the firm was among the largest operators in the pine regions and
continued an uninterrupted prosperity until the death of Mr. Avery about
1877. Among old-time lumliermen, few names are held in higher esteem
than the heads of the firm just mentioned.

The pioneer Michigan lumber oijerator above mentioned was the
father of Waldo A. Avery, of Detroit. The latter was born in the state
of Maine at Bradley, Penobscot county. May 14, 1850. lacking at the
time of his death only five days of the age of sixty-four. His parents
were Sewell and Eliza H. (Eddy) Avery. The family in both the
paternal and maternal lines had been established in New England during
the colonial epoch. Sewell Avery in 1854 moved his family from the
Pine Tree State to Michigan, establishing his home at Port Huron,
which was then a small village. It was at Port Huron that Waldo A.
Avery lived until fourteen, and his education came from the schools of
Port Huron and Saginaw. His best preparation for life, however, was
through the practical school of experience, in association with men and
aflfairs, and particularly in dififerent branches of the great lumber indus-
try. As a !)oy in Port Huron he had worked about the mills and in the
offices, and when the family moved to Saginaw in 1865 he soon became
a worker in the woods, on the river, and in practically every department
of oi^erations from the felling of the trees in the forest to the making
of the finished product and its distribution in the mills and lumber
yards. It was in that way he laid the foundation for his own career of
success and usefulness. In a few years he was engaged in lumbering on
his own responsibility and his success is largely due to the fact of his
close familiarity by practical experience with nearly every detail of the
business.

-«»^

mt ¥£iv- >^>:*

mOM * M*»( rtil«|

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1281

111 1876, at the age of twenty-six, Mr. Avery became interested in
the ownership and operation of a number of tugs aiul lumber vessels
engaged in the handling of logs and lumber on the Saginaw river. These
interests he retained and managed until 1883. The business was then
extended and several large lake vessels were added to the fleet, and the
entire establishment was operated under the name of Hawgood & Avery
Transit Company, with headc|uarters in the city of Cleveland. This
company is still in existence and has a large fleet of vessels in commis-
sion in general freight transportation on the Great Lakes.

After 1906 Mr. Avery had retired from practical lumlicring, but
remained in the timber land business, and was a member of the hrni of
Ivichardson & Avery of Duluth, Minnesota, dealers in pine lands and
large manufacturers of lumber. Formerly Mr. Avery was president
of the Alabaster Company of Detroit, Chicago and Alabaster, Alichigan.
When the interests of the company were merged into the United .States
Gypsum Company, he continued as a stockholder in the latter corporation
and was also a director. His oldest son is president of the United States
Gypsum Company. The gypsum mines of the„.original company are
located at Alabaster, Iosco county, Klichigan, anxl-.jt was this company
which furnished the plaster for the staff utilized in the construction
of the buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

In 1887 Mr. Avery removed his home and business headquarters to
Detroit, and lived in a residence dit. Woodward a'tenue until 1902. In
that year he occupied a beautiful suburban home at Grosse Pointe Farm,
where his death occurred. Durirrg his residence in 'Detroit Mr. Avery
manifested notable public spirit in helping along many measures designed
for the welfare and progress of the city. His accumulated interests made
him prominent in banking, real estate and constructive enterprise. From
1899 h^ was president of the American Exchange National Bank of
Detroit until its merger with the old Detroit National Bank. Other best
business interests were directorships in the United Limited Bank and
the .Second National Bank of Saginaw. Of his holdings in Detroit the
most noteworthy is the Majestic building on the Campus Martins, one
of the most modern and imposing business blocks in the entire country.
Mr. Avery owned that building jointly with E. H. Doyle.

The source of his general success in life may be ascribed almost
entirely to his own ability and efforts. As a business man of integrity
and high principle he stood second to none in the great commercial
center of Detroit. Mr. Avery was a traveler as well as a business man,
and especially in later years never denied himself an opportunity for
culture and enjoyment which comes through a broad knowledge of the
world and its people. In outdoor sport he was especially enthusiastic,
and it is said that his last illness was caused by over exertion at his
favorite game of golf while in Florida. At Detroit he held membership
in the Detroit, the Country and Old Clubs. In politics his sujiport was
always given to the Republican interests, though never allowing his name
to be used in connection with the candidacy for any public office.

Mr. Avery is survived by his widow and sons: Scwell L., president
of the United States Gypsum Company, with head(|uarters in Chicago:
and Waldo A.. Jr.. whose home is in Portland. Oregon, and who is
prominently identified with the timber land business on the Pacific
coast.

WiLLi.\M Henry Chivers, M. D. One of the older members of the
medical fraternity of Jackson, Dr. William Henry Chivers, has prac-
ticed his profession for thirty-six years, and half of that time has been

1282 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

spent in Jackson, where he has a large and unusually representative
clientage.

William Henry Chivers was born in London, England, February 2,
185 1. When he was ten years of age he accompanied his parents to
America. They were Henry and Ann (Nowell) Chivers. The home
was established in Michigan, early in the Civil war, and Dr. Chivers grew
up on a farm near Hudson. After getting his literary education in
the Hudson high school, he entered upon medical studies, and in 1877 was
graduated M. D. from the Detroit Medical College. On starting prac-
tice he first went to Colen in this state, but for the past eighteen years
his home has been in Jackson.

In 1875 Dr. Chivers married Lois Downer. Their only son is Dr.
Roy W. Chivers, of Jackson. The elder doctor is affiliated with the
Knights of Pythias, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Roy W. Chivers, M. D. The special distinction of Dr. Roy W.
Chivers in his profession has been his skill in surgery. He is regarded
as one of the most capable surgeons in Jackson county, and at the same
time enjoys a large general practice as a physician.

The only son and child of Dr. William Henry Chivers of Jackson,
he was born at Prattsville, Michigan, July 18, 1878. With a liberal
training in school, and with the example of his father before him, he
early decided upon medicine as his vocation, and his plans were all
arranged and his work concentrated, in such a way that he was prepared
for his work soon after reaching manhood. Dr. Chivers graduated from
the medical department of the University of Michigan in 1900, and has
had his home in Jackson and practiced there with marked success ever
since. The doctor has memberhsip in the Jackson County Medical
Society and the Michigan State Medical Society, and the American
Medical Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic Order
and the Knights of Pythias.

On July 12, 1905, Dr. Roy W. Chivers married ]Miss Ella Ducher.
They have two children, Ruth and Esther, the former aged seven and
the latter four years.

WiLiiAM A. Hagen, M. D. Located at Raveniia since June 20,
1905, Dr. Ilagen has a large practice, is especially well known for his
abilitv in surgery and in the treatment of stomach and intestinal diseases.

Born in the historic city of Trenton, New Jersey, September 28, 1876,
William A. Hagen was brought to Muskegon, Michigan, in 1877, was
educated in local schools, graduated from the New Jersey College of
Pharmacy at Newark, later spent one year at Baltimore Medical College,
and in 1902 took his degree of medicine at the Grand Rapids Medical
College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His practice began at Muskegon
in 1902, l)ut after fourteen months a serious illness interrupted his pro-
fessional work and kept him in retirement for practically two years. In
1903, Dr. riagen having recovered his health, located in Ravenna in
Muskegon county, and has since enjoyed a very fine practice. Though he
had little or no capital when he located in Ravenna he has since jiros-
|>ered steadily and at the same time has given a fine service to the com-
munilv. The people of that locality especially commend him as a
siJCciaiist in surgery and in the treatment of sloniach and intestinal
diseases.

Dr. Ilagen on February 17, 1910, ni.arried Miss Jennie Crotty, a
(lauf^hter of .Sarchfield Crotty. They are llie |)arents of three children,
F.erlha I".., P.eatrice E. and William A., Jr. The doctor has afiiliation
with the Muskegon Lodge No. 274, B. P. O. F., with the Masonic Lodge

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1283

at Ravenna, the Royal Arch Chapter at Sparta, and the Knight Temp-
lar Commandery in Muskegon. In politics he is a Progressive Repub-
lican, has served for a number of years as health officer at Ravenna, and
is a hard, conscientious worker in everything he undertakes.

Harris E. Galpix. It is most gratifying to note that an appreciable
percentage of the able and representative members of the Michigan bar
claim the fine Wolverine state as the place of their nativity, and such
an one is ]\Ir. Galpin, who is one of the able and successful younger mem-
bers of the bar of Muskegon county and whose technical skill and personal
popularity are fully attested by his incumbency of the important office
of prosecuting attorney of the county.

Mr. Galpin was born in the city of Ann Arbor, judicial center of
Washtenaw county and seat of the great University of Michigan, and
the date of his nativity was March 24, 1889. He is a son of Rev. Will-
iam and Helena (Grisson) Galpin, both of whom are likewise natives
of Washtenaw county, where the respective families were founded in
the pioneer epoch of JMichigan history. Rev. William Galpin was born
in the year 1859 and is a son of Freeman and Anna Galpin, both of whom
likewise were born in Washtenaw county, a fact indicating beyond per-
adventure that their parents there established their residence in a very
early day. Freeman Galpin became a large landholder and influential
citizen of Washtenaw county, and his landed estate at the time of his
death comprised fully seven hundred acres. He contributed much to
the civic and industrial development of his native county and was a
noble representative of a family whose name has been prominently and
wortliily linked with the annals of Michigan history. Mrs. Helena
(Grisson) Galpin was born in the year 1865 and is a daughter of the
late Samuel B. Grisson, who was born in Germany, and who came to
America when a young man. He was a younger son in one of the prom-
inent families of the German noJjility and on coming to the United States
he established his home in Washtenaw county, Michigan, and there made
for himself a secure place as an influential citizen of sterling character
and high intellectual attainments, as he had been graduated in historic
old Heidell)erg University prior to his immigration to America. His
loyalty to the land of his adoption was signalized by his valiant service
in the Civil war. He served with a Michigan regiment, in the capacity
of surgeon, as he had received excellent training in medicine and surgery
before leaving his fatherland, and during the closing period of the war
he held the office of paymaster general.

Rev. William Galpin was graduated in the academic, or literary, de-
partment of the University of ^Michigan as a member of the class of 1882,
and thereafter he devoted some time to successful work in the pedagogic
profession. In this connection he was superintendent of the public
schools at St. Clair, this state, for several years. He then prepared him-
self thoroughly for the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church, his
ecclesiastical and philosophical course having been taken in connection
with his school work. After his ordination to the priesthood he served
in turn as rector of parishes at Ishpeming and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and
Elkhart, Indiana, and since 1893 '^c lias been rector of the thri\-ing and
representative parish of St. P'aul's church in Muskegon. He is one of
the representative clergymen of the Episcopal diocese of Western Michi-
gan and has labored with all of consecrated zeal and devotion in the work
of his chosen and exalted calling. A man of fine intellectual attainments,
of marked ability as a pulpit orator, and boundless zeal in tlie aiding and
uplifting of his fellowmen, he is loved and revered in his present home
city and is one of the liberal and loyal citizens of Muskegon. Of the

12S4 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

four children of Rev. William and Helena (Grisson) Galpin the eldest
is George, who is a mechanical engineer by profession and who is en-
gaged in buisness in the city of Detroit ; William Freeman was graduated
in the Northwestern University, at Evanston, Illinois, in 1913, and is now
attending Yale University ; Rachel is a student in the public schools of
Aluslcegon; and Harris E., of this review, was the second in order of
birth. Rev. William Galpin is specially prominent in his affiliation with
the Masonic fraternity. He is now affiliated with the various Masonic
bodies in Muskegon, including the commandery of Knights Templars.

Harris E. Galpin, the present prosecuting attorney of Muskegon
county, was about thirteen years of age at the time the family home was
established in the city of Muskegon. Here he completed the curriculum
of the public schools and was graduated in the high school as a member
of the class of 1906. Thereafter he was identified with practical news-
paper work for some time, first in Grand Rapids and later in the city of
Detroit. His service was largely along the line of reportorial work and
in this field he gained no slight prestige and prominence. In igoQ he
served as chief committee clerk of the upper house of the Micliigan leg-
islature, and in the meanwhile he had prosecuted the study of law under
effective preceptorship, with the result that in igio he proved himself
eligible for and was admitted to the bar of his native state. He forthwith
engaged in the practice of his profession in Muskegon, and his energy,
close application and admirable abihty made his novitiate one of specially
brief duration, as is shown by the fact that in November, 1912, he was
elected prosecuting jl'ftbrney of the county, the position of which he is
now the incumbent and in the administration of which he has fully justi-
fied the e.xpectations of the constituency that gave to him the preferment.
He is recognized as a resourceful and \'ersatile trial lawyer and as a
public prosecutor he is adding much to his professional reputation. In
the private work of his profession he is associated with Christian A.
r.roek, under the firm name of Galpin & Broek, but the major part of his
time and attention is given to his official duties as prosecuting attorney.

Mr. Galpin is recognized as one of the leading spirits in the vounger
ranks of the Republican party in Michigan and has served the Repub-
lican state central committee in several capacities. He is an eft'ective
campaign speaker and as such he did effective ser\'ice in all parts of
Michigan in connection with the national campaign of 1912. He is
affiliated in his home city with the organizations of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Modern Maccabees, the Masonic
fraternity, and the Loyal Order of Moose, in which last he has passed
the official chairs in the local lodge and is now first dictator of the state
organization. Mr. Galpin is most popular in the professional, business
and social circles of his home city and county, and is recognized as hav-
ing the largest personal acquaintance in his section of the state.

On .September 3, 1913, Mr. Galpin was united in marriage with Miss
Louie M. Waters, of Muskegon, and his home is located in the newer
residence district of Muskegon near Jeff'erson Street.

Jnni-: TT.xrrington. In the staff of officials who at tlic present time
administer the municipal affairs of Jackson, there is no one more popular,
nor one more tested for his sound honesty and capability in public life
that Jode Harrington, city recorder. Mr. Harrington has conducted his
office and his own relations in the city during his active residence here
for many years, and they have been such as to make him staunch friends
and admirers in all classes.

THE NE^' ^'r^u

K8

HISTORY OF xMICHIGAN 12S5

Jode Harrington was born in Des Moines, Iowa, December 7, 1873,
a sou of Timothy Harrington. His father moved to Jackson, Michigan,
in 1884, when Jode was eleven years old and since that time" of early
boyhood he has been a loyal friend of Jackson and all his associations are
with this city. In 1893 he graduated from the Jackson high school and
was thereafter vigorously identified with the business of life and the
earning of a livelihood. In 1905 came his appointment to the office of
city recorder to fill a vacancy and his service has since been continuous
by regular re-election and with practically no opposition to his candidacy.
Mr. Harrington is a sterling Democrat, is affiliated with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of Columlnis, and belongs
to the Catholic church.

On April 23, 1908, he married Miss Grace V. PrumbuU of Jackson.
They have one daughter, Beatrice Marie, born May 23, 1912.

WiLLi.vM C. M.-vxcHESTEK. One of the younger members of the De-
troit bar, where his practice has been continuous since the close of his
university career, Mr. Manchester has enjoyed the rewards of professional
success and also the distinctions of public life, having for a number of
years been an influential factor in the Repul^lican party of Michigan, and
having served in the last constitutional convention of the state.

William C. Manchester was born at Canfield, Mahoning county, Ohio,
on Christmas day of 1873. His parents, Hugh A. and Susan Rosannah
(Squire) Manchester, still live at Canfield. The father, who began his
career many years ago as a public school teacher, later became successfully
identifiefl with farming and banking, is now retired from active affairs
and lives in comfort and plenty during his declining years. Of seven
children of the family, four sons and two daughters are living.

The public schools of Canfield gave William C. Manchester his early
training, which was followed by the regular course of the Northeastern
Ohio Normal College, where he graduated in 1894 Bachelor of Arts. His
law studies were pursued in the University of Michigan, which graduated
him Bachelor of Laws in 1896. After an extended tour of the west his
active practice began at Detroit, where he has continued in the general
practice of his profession. He is now the senior member of the firm of
Manchester & Freud.

His part in Republican politics and in public affairs is one of the
features of his career. During 1907-08 he sat as a delegate in the state
constitutional convention, and as a member of the judiciary committee
e.xerted much influence in formulating that constitutional provision pro-
viding for a juvenile court as a regular branch of Michigan judiciary, not
to mention other valuable services in the convention. In 1908 Mr. Man-
chester was a delegate to the Republican National convention, and in 1910
was given a place on the Repuljlican state central committee, where his
services have been directed to the welfare of the party in this state up to
the present time. His Masonic affiliations are with Corinthian Lodge,
A. F. & A. M. ; King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M. ; Detroit Commandery
No. I, K. T. ; Michigan Sovereign Consistory, and Moslem Temple, A. A.
O. N. M. S., of Detroit. Mr. Manchester is a Kappa Sigma in college
fraternity circles, belongs to the Detroit Board of Commerce, and with
his wife is a member of the Fort Street Presbyterian church. While his
time is taken up with his profession and with his varied public interests,
Mr. Manchester is a great lover and student of literature, and nuich of
his leisure time is spent in his library.

At Bay City, Michigan, December 27, 1899, Mr. Manchester married
Miss Margaret MacGregor, wdio was born and reared in Bay City, a
daughter of Duncan and Martha (MacDonald) MacGregor. Mrs. Man-

1286 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Chester, who graduated from the University of Michigan in 1S96 with
the degree Bachelor of Philosophy, is the mother of six children, namely:
Hugh A.-, second, who was named in honor of his paternal grandfather;
Mary Katherine ; William C, Jr. ; Helen Margaret ; Susan Rosannah ;
and Francis.

Natii.-vn Cook Lowe. One of the pioneer and estimable citizens of
Jackson is Nathan Cook Lowe, who has maintained a residence in this
city for the past fifty years. He was born on a farm in Madison town-
ship, Lenawee county, Michigan, on October 4, 1837, and is a son of
William Cornelius and Lydia (Cook) Lowe, who came to Michigan
from Chemung county. New York, in about 1830.

When Nathan Cook Lowe was three years old his parents moved
their f^rm home in Madison township to a farm in Medina township.
Lenawee county, and there he was reared to manhood. He attended
the district school to the age of thirteen years, and then became a student
at Oak Grove Academy, in the village of Medina, continuing there
through one term. He then became a school teacher, and for ten years
thereafter, or until he was twenty-six years old, ]\Ir. Lowe taught coun-
try schools in the winter season and spent his summers on the farm.
Mr. Lowe was eight years old before he learned the alphabet, as there
was no school in their vicinity that he might attend younger than that,
and the fact that l)y the time he was sixteen he was qualified to instruct
in the district schools would indicate that he had put forth some effort
when he began his studies.

In 1865. when he was twenty-eight years old, Mr. Lowe went to
Waterloo, Indiana, and there for three years he was a partner in a mer-
cantile business, enjoying a fair degree of success in the venture, un-
familiar though it was. In 1868 he came to Jackson, and this city has
represented his home ever since. In the years that have passed, Mr.
Lowe has been found actively identified with various and sundry enter-
prises in the city. For a year he was engaged in the grocery business.
He then became associated with the firm of Bostwick & Gould, attorneys,
with real estate and insurance connections, and as bookkeeper for the
concern he continued for another year, also acting as manager of the
insurance department the while. During the next two years he held a
similar position with the firm of Hall & Gould, they having succeeded
Bostwick & Gould, and in 1873 he became the partner of Mr. Hall.
For twelve years thereafter the firm of Hall & Lowe carried on a suc-
cessful real estate and insurance business in Jackson.

In 1885 ]\Ir. Lowe was made district inspector of the Southern
Michigan Underwriters' Union, the main offices of which concern were
then located at Adrian. For a year Mr. Lowe remained in Adrian in
discharge of his official duties, but since 1886 his home and headquarters
have been at Jackson, since which date he has had charge of what is
known as the Second District of the Michigan Inspection Bureau, with
offices in the Carter building. Mr. Lowe's district, over which he has
presided as inspector for nearly thirty years, comprises nine counties and
more than one hundred cities and villages. In his jurisdiction abotit
nine hundred fire insurance agents are located, and these agents look
to the Michigan Inspection Bureau for all their rate information, for
w'hich service they pay the bureau a regular fee.

Mr. Lowe is a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce. He
is also a member of the Michigan Pond of what is known as the National
Blue Goose Association, a social organization to which only insurance
men of the rank of heads of departments and inspection agents are
eligible.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1287

Mr. Lowe is a Republican and in his young manhood he served in
Lenawee county as a justice of the peace, also as school inspector for
six years. Since coming to Jackson he has seen five years of service on
the board of aldermen.

Three times has Mr. Lowe ventured into matrimony. He was mar-
ried first on November 13, 1858, to Lucy Angeline Cooper, of Hills-
dale, Michigan, and she died on November 17, 1879. On October 26,
1880, he married Mrs. Elizabeth J. Keeler, nee Shipman, who died on
February 6, 1901, and on November 9, 1902, he married Mrs. Ella Felt,
nee Calley. Of his first marriage Mr. Lowe has two living daughters,
and he has one daughter by his second marriage. They are Clara Marie,
the wife of Prof. Charles A. Barry, of Spokane, Washington ; Sarah
Gertrude, the wife of Hon. Fred L. Woodworth, of Huron county,
Michigan, he being a member of the state legislature; and L. Ruth, who
married George W. Woods, of Ann Arbor.

Mr. Lowe is a member of the First Congregational Church of Jack-
son and is now chairman of its board of trustees. Fie has been a member
for the past half century.

John Norvell. As long as time endures shall Michigan and its
metropolis owe a debt of honor and appreciation to this distinguished
pioneer, Hon. John Norvell, who established his home in Detroit about
six years prior to the admission of the state to the Union. He came to
to assume the office of postmaster, to which he had been appointed by
President Andrew Jackson. He thus Iiecame the second postmaster of
Detroit after it had come under American rule, and no citizen entered
more fully and worthily into the civic and material activities of the
pioneer community. He was one of the framers of the first state con-
stitution of Michigan and was one of the two citizens who first repre-
sented the new state in the United States senate. He was one of the
most prominent and influential citizens of Michigan during its formative
period, a distinguished member of the bar, and a man of exalted char-
acter and large and public-spirited service.

Near Lexington, Kentucky, then a part of Virginia, John Norvell
was born on the 21st of December, 1789. His father, Lipscomb Nor-
vell, a \ irginian, served as a patriot soldief in the war of the Revolution,
and received from the United States government a generous i^ension
until his death, at the age of more than ninety years. He represented an
old and patrician family of Virginia and was a personal friend of
Thomas Jefferson. John Norvell was reared in Kentucky. When four-
teen years of age, and already laying plans for the future, he received
from his father's friend, President Thomas Jefferson, a letter in which
he was advised to learn a trade and then to "take up a profession. This
admonition young Norvell followed in a most literal way. Leaving
home, he went to Baltimore, Maryland, learned the printer's trade, a
discijjline that has been pronounced equivalent to a liberal education,
and during the period of his apprenticeship devoted his sjxire time to
the study of law, and in due time was admitted to the bar. He develoj^ed
talent as a writer and his literary productions as well as his activities
in politics early gave him much prestige.

For a period he was editor of a paper at ITagerstown, Maryland, and
as such he effectively championed the policies of President Madison dur-
ing the period of the war of 1812. Feeling it but consistent to follow out
the policies which he thus advocated in his editorial utterances, lie
enlisted for service in that second war with Great Britain, in which he
participated in the battle of Blandensburg, in 1814. In 1S16 Mr. Norvell
removed to Philadelphia, and became editor of the leading Democratic

1288 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

newspaper of that city. In May, 1831, while a resident of Philadelpliia,
he received from President Jackson appointment to the office of post-
master of Detroit, Michigan, and he and his family soon left for the
west.

Upon his arrival in Detroit Mr. Norvell immediately paid his respects
to James Abbott, who was serving as postmaster and who had been
appointed to this office in 1806. Courteously raising his hat, Mr. Norvell
said to Mr. Abbott, "I am John Norvell; do you know that I am your
successor?" The reply of Mr. Abbott was: '"Yes, I have heard of you,
d — n you, and I wish you were on Grampian Hills, feeding your father's
flocks !'' Mr. Norvell's first work as postmaster was to remove the post-
office to a small brick building on the south side of Jefferson avenue,
just west of Wayne street. In the following September he removed the
office to the northeast corner of Jefferson avenue and Shelby street, and
in 1834 removed it to the south side of Jefferson avenue, near Cass
street.

Mr. Norvell was a man of active temperament, and at once identi-
fied himself with the interests and politics of the territory. He took a
prominent part in the complications incidental to the so-called "Patriot
war," and in the Michigan statehood movement. He was a delegate to
the constitutional convention of 1833, 'i^ld at Ann Arbor, and in this
convention was chairman of the committee on elective franchises, the
committee on the Ohio controversy, the committee on the prohibition
of slavery, and five other committees, besides which he was a memlier
of several other committees. He was a dominating and valued member
of this important convention, which ordered the election of governor and
a legislature, and he was largely instrumental in bringing about the elec-
tion of Stevens T.' Mason as the first governor of the new state. The
first legislative assembly elected Mr. Norvell and Lucius Lyons as the
first representatives of the commonwealth in the L^nited States senate,
Mr. Norvell being given the long term. When congress objected to
Michigan's claim that Toledo should be included within its borders and
jurisdiction, and for this reason delayed the admission of the territory
to statehood, the two Michigan senators succeeded in effecting a settle-
ment of the border controversy with Ohio and in saving to Michigan its
upijer peninsula, including the! Lake Superior region, with its wealth of
minerals. This addition to the state was granted in compensation for
the loss of the small portion of Ohio that was in dispute. In 1837
Michigan was admitted to the Union.

The most imijortant questions touching Michigan that came up
during Mr. Norvell's service in the L^nited States senate were those inci-
dental to the panic of 1S37 and the Canadian rebellion of 1837-8. In the
former Mr. Norvell was totally opposed to the doctrine that was
advanced and that, many years later, was adopted by the Greenliack
party. He believed that paper was paper and not coin or value, and that
promises to pay were only promises. The Canadian insurrection known
as the Patriot war met w-ith Mr. Norvell's warm sympathy, but while he
would have liked to see Canada freed from the yoke of the "family
compact," he did not believe that the United States should be made a
base of military oiierations while the nation was at peace with England.

In 1841, ui)on the e.xpiration of his term in the United States senate,
Mr. Norvell engaged in the active practice of law in Detroit, and was
soon afterward elected a representative of Wayne county in the state
legislature, Detroit being still the capital of the state. In 1845 he was
appointed United States district attorney for Michigan, and served until
1840. He supported the administration of President Polk in the prose-
cution of the war with Mexico, and three of his sons were gallant

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1289

soldiers in that conflict. In 1849 he was reappointed United States dis-
trict attorney by President Zachary Taylor, but before the expiration
of his term he passed away at his fine old homestead on Jefferson ave-
nue, Detroit, on the 24th of April, 1850. The city and the entire state
manifested a sense of loss and bereavement when this noble and hon-
ored citizen passed away, in his sixty-first year. Mr. Norvell's old home,
which is still standing and in excellent preservation, is situated at 814
Jefferson avenue, between Chene street and Joseph Campau avenue, and
was erected by him in 1836, when that "part of the city belonged
to Hamtramck township.

While a resident of Philadelphia Mr. Norvell was twice married.
The maiden name of his first wife was Cone, and she was survived by
three sons: Spencer, who was graduated in the United States Military
Academy, at West Point, and who served as Captain in the Mexican
war, died at Saratoga Springs, New York, on the 12th of August 1850,
about three months after the death of his honored father; Algernon died
in childhood ; and Joseph, who was graduated in the United States Naval
Academy, at Annapolis, died in Detroit, on the 15th of April. 1840. In
1823 Mr. Norvell married Miss Isabella Hodgkiss, of Philadelphia. She
died on the 30th of March, 1873, at the old homestead on Jefl'erson
avenue. During the time that her husband was in attendance at the
constitutional convention of Michigan Mrs. Norvell served as his sub-
stitute in the office of postmaster of Detroit. She was a woman of
gracious personality and a leader in the social activities of Detroit. Con-
cerning the children of the second marriage of Senator Norvell brief
record is here entered, four of the children mentioned having been born
in Philadelphia and the remaining six in Detroit: Isabella Gibson (died
on the 28th of March, 1889) ; Dallas, who was a gentleman farmer on
beautiful Grosse Isle in the Detroit river, served as supervisor of iiis town-
ship, was in service in the United States commissary department during
the closing years of the Civil war, and died March 5, 1888. r'reenian,
who served as a lieutenant in the Mexican war and as colonel of a Mich-
igan regiment in the Civil war, was president of the Detroit board of
education from 1870 to 1879, and afterward its secretary, died on the
13th of May, 1881. Barry Norvell, the next in order of birth, was a
civil engineer by profession and died from an attack of yellow fever, at
Mount Vernon, Indiana, August 20, 1858. John Mason Norvell served
on the staff" of General Richardson in the Civil war, was later promoted
brigadier general and his death occurred in 1892. Stevens Tliompson
Norvell, who served during the Civil war, was promoted colonel in the
United States army died in August, 191 1. Emily Virginia Norvell resides
in Detroit and is the widow of Hon. Henry Nelson Walker. Alfred
Cuthbert Norvell died July 22, 1883. Edwin Forrest Norvell served as
first lieutenant on the staff of General Broadhead in the Civil war and
his death occurred July 28, 1876. James Knox Polk Norvell died in
Detroit April i, 1905.

In the sixteenth of the interesting historical papers puljlislied under
the title of "The Memories of Winder" appears the following descrij)-
tion of Senator Norvell: "Mr. Norvell was a handsome man, short,
stout, with light complexion, regular features and blue eyes. In manners
he was a gentleman of the old school, — polite, courteous and dignified, —
and in society he was a fine conversationalist, quick of repartee and
fond of poetry. He was invariably dressed in black broadcloth,* w-ith
silk hat and ruffled shirt, and always dipped his beaver to every woman
whom he met on the street, whether she were rich or poor, old or
young, white, black or red."

129U HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Walter G. Norvell. Now traffic manager and assistant superin-
tendent of Parke, Davis & Compain', Walter G. Norvell entered the em-
ploy of that great drug manufacturing house when nineteen vears old as
clerk in the order department. His forte has been traffic management,
and there is probably no citizen of Detroit who possesses a more techni-
cal and detailed knowledge of this general subject than Mr. Norvell.

The Norvell family is one of the oldest and most prominent of De-
troit, and his grandfather w'as one of the first United States senators
from Michigan and one of the first postmasters at Detroit. Walter
Gregory Norvell was born November i8, 1872, at the old Middle House,
on Jeflerson avenue, long one of the leading hotels of Detroit. His
father, the late James K. P. Norvell, who was born on Grosse Isle, W^iyne
county, Michigan, August 27, 1845, and who died at Detroit April i,
1905, had a varied and active career in business. When a boy he went
to Eufialo, New York, later to New York city, was engaged in business
for a time at St. Louis, Missouri, and finally returned to Michigan and
took the management of a general store at L'Anse in Baraga county for
the company which was constructing the first railroad line on the upper
peninsula of Michigan. After returning to Detroit in 1872 he was
for many years engaged in the brokerage business. His was one of the
well-known names in Detroit business affairs for thirtv vears, and out-
side of business he was perhaps best known for his skill and ardor as
a hunter and fisherman. James K. P. Norvell married Lillie Coe, who
was born at Winstead, Connecticut, was reared in New York city, and
died at Detroit in 1893. There were two children, and the daughter is
Miss Florence of Detroit.

At the age of fifteen Walter G. Norvell left his studies in the Detroit
high school and on December 10. 1887, found a place at regular wages
with the old Peninsular Car Company, and was employed in that indus-
try for four years. Then in 1891 began his connection with the Parke,
Davis & Company as clerk in the order department. His subsequent
record has been one not only of advancement to positions which give
him a more independent place in business affairs, but he has also realized
to the highest degree the possibilities for valuable and skillful service to a
company whose trade is international in scope, and one of the largest
and perhaps the best known drug manufacturing concern in America.
Mr. Norvell has made a careful study of all the problems involved in
the handling and routing of goods, and of the larger phases of commer-
cial transportation. He was the sixth to hold the office of President of the
Detroit Transportation Club, and the only man selected for such an honor
who had not an active career as a railway or steamship official. It
was his expert qualifications in his line that led to his selection as chair-
man of the Transportation Committee of the Detroit Board of Com-
merce, as which he served from April, 1912, to April, 1914. During
same period he was also a Director. Commencing in April, 1914, he
was elected Vice President. Mr. Norvell is a member of the Fellow-
craft Club, and in the Masonic order is affiliated with Corinthian Lodge,
A. F. & A. M., King Cyrus Chapter, R. A. M.. and Moslem Temple of
the Mystic Shrine.

On August 10, 1905, occurred his marriage with Miss Janetta Mar-
della Wardell, a daughter of Charles Wardell, of Detroit, Their two
children are: Janette Frances, Ijorn May 16, 1907; and Catherine,
born December 13. 1912.

Henry N. Walker. By reason of his noble character and eminent
and professional services, the late Henry N. Walker was one of the most
distinguished figures in the early history of Michigan and one of the most

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HISTORY OF MICHIGA.N 1291

honored citizens of Detroit. He gained admission to the bar at Detroit
while Michigan was still a territory, and his death occurred in that city
February 24, 1886, at the age of seventy-four.

Henry Nelson Walker was born at Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New
York, November 30, 1811, a son of John and Nancy (Hines) Walker.
The ancestral history goes back to Scotch origin and it has been deter-
mined that the founder of the family in America was a Colonel Walker,
an officer in Cromwell's army in England, and who, after the restoration
of King Charles 11, in 1660, came from the north of England to America
and became an early settler in Rhode Island. The descent through the
subsequent four generations is briefly noted as follows : Hezekiah
Walker, one of the descendants of the Colonel Walker just mentioned,
was the father of William Walker. The latter was born at Foster, Rhode
Island, in 1750 and married there Polly Rounds. John Walker, son of
William and Polly, was born at Scituate, Providence county, Rhode Isl-
and, on October 19, 1770, and in the same locality was married to Miss
Nancy Hines. Of their several children Henry N. Walker was one.

Mr. Walker received an unfortunate handicap in his boyhood days.
While running races with other boys, being then only nine years of age,
he strained his knee, and a serious trouble ensued which confined him to
his bed for seven years and left him permanently' lamed. However, he
himself said that his illness was a blessing in disguise, as during the long
years of inaction he was continuing his studies and when finally able to
return to school had determined to make the study of law his life work.
After completing a course in the Fredonia Academy in his native town,
he began the study of law under James MuUett, an able lawyer of that
section of New York state. In 1834, at the age of twenty-three, Mr.
Walker came to the Territory of Michigan, finished his law studies in the
office of Farnsworth & Bates, the members of which were Elon Farns-
vvorth and Asher B. Bates, both foremost representatives of their pro-
fession in the territorial and early statehood bar. In 1835 Mr. Walker
was admitted to practice law in [Michigan Territory, and in the following
year joined Farnsworth & Bates in practice. Mr. Farnsworth in 1836
became chancellor of the chancery court of Michigan territory. Subse-
quently Samuel T. Douglass was admitted to the firm, which thus became
Bates, Walker & Douglass. With the retirement of Mr. Bates, the firm
of Walker & Douglass existed for several years, and by the admission of
James V. Campbell became Walker. Douglass & Campbell, admittedly
one of the strongest aggregations of legal talent in the entire state during
its existence. Both Judge Douglass and Judge Campbell served terms on
the Michigan supreme bench.

In 1837, soon after Michigan became a state, ^Ir. Walker took up
his duties as Master in Chancery. From 1842 to 1845 'le was attorney
general of Michigan, and in 1843 h^^l also taken the position of city his-
toriographer of Detroit, which he held several years. In 1844 Mr. Walker
was representative in the state legislature, and the same year was ap-
pointed court reporter, succeeding to and finishing the work of Mr. Har-
rington, the first court reporter of this state. Mr. Walker published only
one volume of reports under his own name before giving up the position.
During 1859-60 he served as postmaster of Detroit, and in 1883-84 held
the post of state commissioner of immigration under appointment from
Governor Begole.

During the '40s while at Washington. Mr. Walker was admitted to
the United States supreme court upon motion of Daniel_ Webster. In
legal circles Mr. Walker had the reputation of being one of the best equity
lawyers in Michigan, and by his varied attainments, through servicesin
behalf of large corporate affairs, he was during the time of his active
strength of usefulness hardly second to any lawyer in the middle west.

l-'!'2 HISTORY (3F MICHIGAN

His public services in otificial position usually came through his alli-
ance with the Democratic party. He was a lifelong supporter of Demo-
cratic policies and principles, and in 1835 was secretary of the Democratic
territorial central committee of Michigan, later became chairman, and
held that office after the admission of Michigan to the Union. In i8(5g
he received the complimentary vote of the Democratic members of the
legislature for the office of United States senator.

His most distinctive achievements as a lawyer and in public affairs
came froni his important relations with early railway organization and
construction in Michigan. In 1845, ^Ir. Walker, at that time attorney
general of Michigan, was directed to proceed to Albany, New York, and
neg:otiate a sale of the Michigan Central Railroad, the construction of
which had been undertaken by the state, but had proved a greater burden
than the state could successfully carry. His important part in this matter
has been described as follows : "Attorney General Henry N. Walker was
deputized to go to New York and effect a sale of the property. One of
the first steps taken by Mr. Walker was to see Erastus Corning'of Albany,
who held a large amount of the bonds of the state of Michigan, which he
had purchased for about thirty cents on the dollar. J. W. Brooks, who
was then superintending a line between Rochester and Syracuse, New
York, was called into the conference. The draft of a charter for a new
company was made. It was agreed that Mr. Walker should endeavor to
have this charter passed by the legislature. The terms of the deal were
ten per cent above the cost of the road to be paid in cash and the remainder
of the purchase price to be paid in bonds and other outstanding obliga-
tions of the state. On March 28, 1846, an act was passed iiroviding for
the incorporation of the Michigan Central Railroad Company and for the
sale by the state to the new corporation of the Michigan Central property
for two million dollars. At the request of Governor Barry and other
leading men of the state, Mr. Walker and George F. Porter went to New
York and Boston, organized a company under the terms of the new char-
ter, and on September 23, 1846, the road finally passed out of the posses-
sion of the state and became the property of private interests."

Through his successful work in this deal of the Michigan Central,
Mr. Walker gained the reputation of a specially able railroad lawyer and
man of affairs. In 1848 eastern cajjitalists solicited him to procure an
extension of the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad westward to Lake Michigan.
He secured the charter under the title of the Oakland & Ottawa rail-
road, and effected the organization of a company in which Erastus Corn-
ing, Dean Richmond and others interested in the New York Central
Railroad became leading spirits. On the first issue of bonds for the new
road two hundred thousand dollars were raised. Mr. Walker ser\'ed as
president of the company until 1S55, in which year the road was consoli-
dated with that of the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad, and the new company
assumed the title of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee Railroad
Company. Of this company he continued as president until 1858. While
president of the railway. Air. Walker twice visited Europe and raised
three and a half million dollars with which to complete the construction
of his company's line.

Mr. Walker also had an important part in the bringing to Detroit of
the Great Western Railroad. In company with James F. Joy and Elon
Farnsworth he visited Toronto and Niagara Falls to make preliminary
arrangements for the proposed extension, and at the request of J. W.
Brooks of the Michigan Central Railroad prepared a series of articles for
Detroit papers Illustrating and advocating the advantages of this new rail-
way connection. Mr. Walker secured subscriptions to the amount of one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars for that ].nirpose, and in 1854 the
road was opened to Detroit, which thus gained its first direct communica-
tion with New York and the Atlantic seaboard.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1293

His ability in the preparation of the railroad articles was no doubt
one of the influences which led Mr. Walker to purchase, on January 5,

1861, from Wilbur F. Story the Detroit Free Press, of which he was
until 1872 editor and sole proprietor. Under his administration the old
Free Press maintained the splendid prestige of its earlier days, and Mr.
Walker proved a forcible and able editor, combining admirable literary
style and taste with a mature judgment and broad grasp of economic,
political and social affairs. Mr. Walker sold the Free Press in 1872
largely as a result of his antagonism to the nomination of Horace Greeley
for president. He refused to consider Greeley as a representative of the
true principles of the Democratic party, and the withdrawal of his sup-
port was one of many other factors which contributed to the overwhelm-
ing defeat of the New York editor in his campaign.

Mr. Walker was a man of decided convictions, and there was no mis-
understanding of his position with regard to any public question of im-
portance. While acting as postmaster of Detroit the Lecompton consti-
tution of Kansas was being debated in congress, and was finally made one
of the principal planks in Buchanan's administration policy. Mr. Walker
opposed the constitution since it permitted slave-holders to take their
slaves into Kansas and hold them as slave property. At heart Mr. Walker
was a Free-soil Democrat, and while willing that slavery should exist in
the South, where it was an old established institution, was utterly opposed
to its extension to the free soil of the North and West. For his attitude
in this controversy President Buchanan deposed him from the office of
postmaster.

The late Mr. Walker was also prominent as a Detroit banker. In
1849, under an act of the legislature, the Detroit Savings Fund Institu-
tion was organized, and Mr. Walker was its first vice-president. This
office he held for twenty-five years, and was a director of the bank when
it was reorganized as the Detroit Savings Bank, continuing a director of
the latter until his death. He had varied other business relations, only
one or two of which can be mentioned within the scope of this brief ar-
ticle. During the early fifties he purchased about three thousand acres of
wild land in Clinton county, on the surveyed line of the Oakland & Ottawa
Railroad, and on which the village of St. Johns, now the county seat, was
subsequently located. Had he been able to retain his possession of that
property, the land alone would have made him a wealthy man. While pro-
prietor of the Detroit Free Press in 1870, Mr. Walker bought and under-
took the development of what was known as the Spurr Alountain Iron
Mine in Baraga county, Michigan. The venture proved unprofitable and
resulted in a personal loss of upwards of a quarter million dollars. _ XVhen
Dr. Tappan, after becoming president of the University of Michigan,
sought contributions from the wealthy and cultured men of Detroit for
funds sufficient to establish an astronomical observatory, Mr. Walker was
one of the most liberal in co-operating with the president of the university,
and subsequently paid the entire cost of a meridian circle for the observa-
tory, purchased bv Dr. Tappan in Germany.

October 31, 1861, Mr. Walker married Miss Emily \'irginia Norvell,
daughter of Hon. John Norvell, the distingitished Detroit citizen and one
of the first senators from Michigan, whose career is sketched on other
pages of this work. i\Irs. Walker was born in the old Norvell homestead
at 814 Jefferson avenue in Detroit. May 7, 1837. In 1871 Mr. Walker
bought "this fine old homestead, and thus gave his wife the privilege of
retul-ning to the old home in which she was reared and which was en-
deared to her bv manv hallowed associations. Mr. and -Mrs. Walker had
three children, 'as fol'lows : John Norvell Walker, born September 11,

1862, and died May i, 1913; Henry Lyster Walker, a sketch of whose

Vol. Ill— 6

1294 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

career is given in following paragraphs : and Miss Elizabeth Gray
Walker, who still resides w-ith her mother in the city of Detroit. John
Norvell Walker was a mining engineer and metallurgist by profession,
and was engaged in his work in the far west for a period of about twenty
years. By his marriage to Miss Luise Boynton of Everett, W'ashington,
there are two children : Carol \'irginia Walker and Donald Boynton
Walker.

Henry L. Walker. A grandson of Hon. John Xorvell. the second
postmaster of Detroit and one of the first two United States senators from
Michigan, and a son of the late Hon. Henry X. \\'alker, one of Detroit's
foremost lawyers and business men, Henry L. Walker by his own career
has done sometiiing to increase the prestige of a family name which is
thus one of the best known in Detroit and Michigan.

Henry Lyster Walker was born September 8, 1867, at Grosse Isle,
Wayne county, Michigan. He was educated in the public schools of
Detroit; in 1884 he started his business career in the house of James E.
Davis & Company, wholesale druggists. Later the Hon. Henry P. Bald-
win, one of ^lichigan's foremost citizens and at that time president of
the Detroit National Bank, gave ]Mr. Walker a position as messenger,
and when he left in 1894 he had been advanced to the position of teller
in that representative banking house, which is now the Old Detroit Na-
tional Bank. Air. Walker left banking to engage in the electrical busi-
ness, the possibilities and scope of which had hardly been dreamed of
twenty years ago, and he was thus also a pioneer in that line in Michigan.
On January 24, 1902, Mr. Walker incorporated his business under the
title of Henry L. Walker Company, of which he is president and treas-
urer. It is one of the leading electrical houses in Michigan. In 1902
Mr. Walker established the P R ^Manufacturing Company, which was
incorporated in 1904 and of which he is vice-president and treasurer.
This company is almost exclusively engaged in the manufacture of elec-
trical bells, and has the largest factory for that product in the world. Its
output is distributed not only all over the United States, but to all civil-
ized countries of the globe, and the factory is one that adds to the indus-
trial and commercial prestige of Detroit as a manufacturing center.

As a progressive and representative business man of Detroit, Mr.
Walker has membership in the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit
Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Country Club, the Automobile Club, the
Detroit Athletic Club, and the Old Club at St. Clair Flats, Michigan.
I\Ir. Walker and his wife, who likewise is a native of Detroit and belongs
to one of the old and honored families of the city, are popular factors in
the social activities of that city. In 1902 Tvlr. Walker married Miss Alice
Hammond Ives. She is a daughter of Butler Ives and granddaughter of
the late Albert Ives, the honored pioneer financier who founded the old-
time Detroit banking house of A. Ives & Sons.

John W. Shove. In 1890 John \\'. Shove came to Jackson, Michi-
gan, as the representative of the International Harvester Company, or
the McCormick Harvester Company as it was then known, and he con-
tinued with that concern until 1899 when he became interested
in the Peninsular Portland Cement Company. From 1903 to 1913
he was assistant manager of the concern, as well as secretary , and
since the death of William F. Cowham in the year last named,
he has been manager and secretary. The concern is one of the thriving
ones of the city, and owes much of its prosperity to the good work of Mr.
Shove as assistant manager and manager.

lohn W. Shove was born in Connecticut, on December 2, 1 851, a son

HIST(3RY OF MICHIGAN 1295

of Henry Shove, a farmer who spent his Hfe in that state, and of Fannie
(Lane) Shove, also a Hfe long resident of the state. The family is one
that has been long established in America and Mr. Shove has a long line
of New England ancestors behind him. Reared on his father's farm,
John W. Shove became a school teacher at the age of twenty, and he
taught school in Michigan as well as in his native state. His early educa-
tion included a course of study in the Eastman Business College at
Poughkeepsie, New York, from which he was graduated in 1873, and in
the next year he came to Michigan.

Mr. Shove, after locating in this state, first spent several years in
Wayne county, where he taught school for about three years, and he was
married there in 1877 to Miss Carrie R. Hooper. He took his bride to
New York state soon after their marriage, spending a year, after which
he returned to Wayne county, Michigan, and located at Flat Rock, where
he was for a good many years engaged in the hardware business.

In 1890 Mr. Shove came to Jackson, and this city has since been his
home. For ten years he was in the employ of the McCormick Harvester
Company in the Jackson offices as assistant manager, having charge of the
salesmen, and in 1899 he became interested in the Peninsular Portland
Cement Company, at this writing serving as manager and secretary of
the concern. This company is one of the well known Portland cement
companies in the west. Its plant is located at Cement City, Michigan.
Mr. Shove is also president of the American Oil Company of Jackson,
and has identified himself with other business enterprises of the city.

A member of the First Methodist Church of Jackson, Mr. Shove is
a member of the Board of Stewards, and his wife also is active in the
work of the church.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shove, — two daugh-
ters and a son. They are Bertha May, now wife of John Lautenslager,
of Jackson, Michigan ; Miss Frances Elizabeth, living at home, and Plarry
L. Shove, who is in the employ of the Peninsula Portland Cement Com-
pany. He has a responsible position with the concern, and is destined to
make his way to the front in business circles.

Gle.v R. MuKsjr.Aw. Among the high officials of Michigan who
through their efficient and helpful services have gained recognition and
reputation all over the state is numbered Glen R. Munshaw. deputy
Commissioner of Immigration, and Supervisor of The Field Division
of the Public Domain Commission. Mr. Munshaw is a product of the
farm and is still a young man, having been born on his father's home-
stead in Paris township. Kent county, Michigan, August 14, 1883, a
son of Simcoe E. and Emma A. (Robinson) Munshaw.

Simcoe E. Mvmshaw was bom in Canada, near the city of Toronto,
and belongs to an old Canadian family, his father, Lambert Munshaw.
having also been born in the Dominion. The mother was born in Paris
township, Kent county, Michigan, the daughter of John Robinson, a
native of New Y^ork state, who was a pioneer of Kent county and
drove an ox-cart from his home in the Empire State to Michigan.
Simcoe E. Munshaw came from Canada to Kent county with his par-
ents as a lad of about fourteen years, grew to manhood in Kent county,
where he was married, and followed farming until April, 19T3, when
he removed to Lansing.

Glen R. T^Iunshaw was reared on the home farm in Kent county,
where he attended the district schools, and remained under the parental
roof until reaching the age of seventeen years, when he prepared him-
self by special courses for a career as an educator, passing the exami-
nation and receiving a third grade teacher's certificate. .After spending

1296 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

some time as a teacher, he entered a business college at Grand Raj^ids.
through which he worked his own way. Following this, he attended the
Grand Rapids high school and later a summer normal school, follow-
ing which he spent two years more in educational work. His uncle
in the meantime having been elected sheriff of Kent county. Mr. ^lun-
shaw was offered a position in the sheriff's office, which he accepted,
and in which capacity he served four years, and when Mr. Russell was
elected commissioner of the State land ofifice, Mr. Munshaw was ap-
pointed Supervisor of Trespass. Two and one-half years in that office
were followed by his appointment as deputy commissioner of the state
land office, by Mr. Russell, a position to which he was reappointed by
Mr. Russell's successor, Commissioner Carton, January i, 1913. Vlr
Munshaw resigned that position, however, in September, 1913. to ac-
cept the office which he now holds, and in which he has made an enviable
record.

Mr. Munshaw is a Republican and stands high in the councils of his
party, both in Grand Rapids and in Lansing. In the latter city he has
been identified with civic aft'airs, having been president of the East Side
Improvement Association. Fraternally Mr. Alunshaw is a member of
the Masons, Valley City; Lodge, No! 86,- F. & A. M., the Eastern Star,
the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen, and the Loyal
Americans. His religious affiliation is with the Congregational church.
Mr. Munshaw married Jyliss Ethelyn L. Spoon, August 2t,, 1906, a
daughter of John SpdOii, (^ ("-rand Ivapids, and they have one son,
Howard Russell Munshaw.

William T. Dodce, M. D. While Dr. Dodge has been located in the
practice of medicine at Big Rapids since 1890, he graduated from the
University of ]\Iichigan in medicine ten years previously and for a long
time his ability as a surgeon has been recognized as the equal of that
possessed by any other practitioner in western Michigan. Dr. Dodge has
had a really prominent career in the fields of medicine and surgery, and
has also been prominent as a citizen in Big Rapids.

Born in Barry county, Michigan, April 2, 1860, Dr. Dodge was a son
of Winchester and Ann (Craig) Dodge, his mother a native of Scot-
land and his father born in Canada. Dr. Dodge in 1880 was graduated
M. D. from the LTniversity of Michigan, and after a varied experience in
different localities located at Big Rapids in 1890. During the twenty-
three years of his residence in the city he has built up a large practice
and is known throughout the state for his skill in surgery. Some of the
best distinctions have come to him in this connection. In 1902 he was
elected a councillor of the Eleventh District Michigan State Medical So-
ciety, and has ever since held that honor, and since 1909 has been chair-
man of the council. Locally his most im|)ortant service has been done in
connection with the Mercy Hospital of which he is head physician and
the service of that institution and its present standing among thoroughly
equipped hospitals are in no small degree due to the efficiency of Dr.
Dodge.

Dr. Dodge was mayor of Big Rapids in 1907, and for several years
has served on the board of public works, and so far as liis professional
work would ]UTmit has interested himself in every movement and cause
to advance his city and its commercial prosperity. In 1.S99, Dr. Dodge
was commissioned surgeon in the Michigan National Guards, and has
for several years been chief surgeon of the state organization. Fra-
ternally he takes a prominent part in Ma.sonry. and in other .social aft'airs.
He was wor.shipful master of Big Rapids i.odge, in 1897-98, and was
high priest of the Big Rapids Chapter in 1909- n.

■•SIT J.

i.x

^-tt/^TL-V

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1297

Charles Lewis. It has been truly said that the Lewis Spring &
Axle Company is the monument of the late Charles Lewis, as well as
being Jackson's largest single industry, and in writing of those men
who have contributed in small or greater measure to the fortunes of the
city, it would be wholly out of keeping with the spirit and ])urpose of
this work to omit mention of him whose name initiates this sketch, and
whose destinies were coincident with the destinies of Jackson for a
score of years. It would scarcely be possible, in the brief space that
is available here to touch more than lightly upon the salient points in the
career and activities of Mr. Lewis, but an etfort will be made to outline
in some degree his life and works, so as to present a concise and coni-
[irehensive record of his achievements, with some facts as to his early
life.

Charles Lewis was a native of Winscombe, a town in the steel manu-
facturing district of England near Leeds. He was born on April lo,
1853, and he came to America as a boy of fourteen years. For some
years he lived in Auburn, New York, and later he went to Amsterdam,
New York, where he became the superintendent of a spring manufac-
turing plant.

In the early nineties the late Samuel D. Collins, of Jackson, Michigan,
was engaged in the manufacture of vehicles, under the firm name of the
Collins Manufacturing Company. Mr. Collins visited the Amsterdam
factory, and there he met Charles Lewis.

Mr. Collins was at that time associated with certain other progressive
Jackson men in the promotion of the Jackson Land and Improvement
Company. It was planned to buy some extensive tracts of outlying-
land, sell lots to members of the company at a profit, and use the gains
in building factories, the stockholders to be reimbursed by the increase
in value of the lots, due to the establishments of the factories. In pur-
suance of that plan, Mr. Collins, of the Jackson Land and Improvement
Company, entered into an arrangement with Mr. Lewis whereby the
Aspinwall Manufacturing Company of Three Rivers and a bridge manu-
facturing company were to establish themselves in Jackson, on condition
that the land company furnish a site and build factories. The Aspinwall
company and -the bridge company were established south of the city,
and the spring factory was established on the site of the present location
of the Lewis Spring and Axle Company, at the eastern city limits.

Some $5,000 were expended in the building of the spring factory,
it is recalled, and Charles Lewis, the practical mechanic in charge of
the .A.msterdam plant, came to the city and began the manufacture of
carriage springs, under the firm name of Lewis & Allen, the second
member being an accountant who came from the eastern plant with Mr.
Lewis, and who had charge of the office end of the business of the new
and struggling concern.

It would be a failure in veracity to say that the firm was prosperous
from the start. It had its full measure of lean years, for the cash ca]Mtal
which the partners brought into the newly organized business did not
exceed $3,000. That fact spelled hard sledding for the affairs of the
business. After two or three years Mr. Lewis purchased his partner's
interest. He was a far-sighted business man, and he knew how to make
a good steel spring. The result was that after a season of ujjs and downs,
the business began to grow. The year 1893 saw it planted firmly on a sub-
stantial basis, after the plant had been shut down because of a lack of
cash capital to meet the running expenses, and from then to the present
time the plant has made a yearly increase in its business.

In 1897 they added an axle department, and in 1808 .Mr. Lewis
allowed himself to become interested in the automobile iiusiness, the

1298 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

upshot of it ijeing that he organized the Jackson Automobile Company
in that same year. In that venture they experienced a pleasing measure
of success, and for ten years or more he continued in the business,
though he finally decided to withdraw and devote all his time to the
spring and axle end of his enterprise. In the autumn of 191 1 he con-
solidated his several factories for the making of automobile axles in
one splendid new factory on Horton street, and at the time of his death
he was planning the construction of another factory which would have
exceeded in size any of the former plants.

At the time of his death the Lewis Spring & Axle Company, engaged
in tlie manufacture of automobile springs, front and rear axles, brake
lever assemblies, transmissions and forgings, in its factory, occupied a
(ioor space of 320,000 square feet. It employed, and still does, a force
of seven hundred men, and it is a safe statement that "Lewis Quality"'
in trade is a term that stands for excellence in workmanship and con-
struction wherever automobiles are made and sold.

Mr. Lewis was always active in city affairs, and his activity took
the form of promoting the best interest of the community at all times.
As a member of the board of public works he gave much valuable time
to the matter of improving the county roads and the public utilities of
the city. He expended generous sums in providing equipment for the
better building of roads, and was a pioneer in Jackson in that phase of
its education. It was his aim and ambition to get the city to that place
where it would employ business methods and progressive ideas in its
administration, and he gave of his time and of his money to that end.
It is safe to say that none ever realized, unless it might have been other
members of the board of public works, the full value of the services
he contributed to the city as a member of that body.

J\Ir. Lewis also served as a member of the Fire Commission for some
time, and as a member of the State Board of Corrections and Charities,
he gave much time to the improvement of conditions in the prisons and
other correctional institutions of the state. Any institution for the relief
and maintenance of the indigent old people of the community found a
stanch supporter in him. The Odd Fellows' Home, in Cooley Park,
made a strong appeal to his benevolent instincts, and he did all in his
power to aid in securing the grounds for that purpose. It is a further
tribute to his business acumen that he succeeded, despite the fact that
the grounds were wanted by an opposing faction for a public park. .He
was also a liberal contributor to the Jackson Friendly Home, an insti-
tution for aged women exclusively, and he personally solicited a good
share of the funds which tnade the home a possibility.

Mr. Lewis, though a man temperate in all things, was not in favor
of local option. He favored regulation of the saloon business, but he
did not believe that the saloon should be abolished. The local optionists.
however, won their fight, and the saloons went out of Jacksn. One
season was suflicient to convince the man that his position had been
wrong, and he came out openly in favor of the temperance faction.
Only a few weeks prior to his passing his name was found heading a
subscription list for the carrying forward of anti-saloon work. Thus
he was ever found to be. Did he cherish a conviction, he held it firmly.
But he was always ready to be shown that he was in error in his opinion
if facts could be produced to support the refutation of his ideas. It has
been said that "A wise man changes his mind; but. a fool, never."
And Charles Lewis was one who knew how to change his mind when
he found himself basing his arguments on a wrong idea.

Mr. Lewis was long a member of the Haven Methodist Fpiscopal
church and served on its board of trustees for some vears. He was a

HISTORY OF xMICHIGAN 1299

Mason, with Knight Templar affihations, and also was a Shrincr and
was a member of the Jackson lodge of Elks.

Mr. Lewis was married in Auburn, New York, on December 31,
1874, to Elizabeth A. Hollier, who survives her husband and has her
residence in a fine old colonial home at 1609 East Main street, built
by Mr. Lewis not more than five years prior to his death, which occurred
on February 24, 1912.

Mrs. Lewis was born at Skaneateles, near Auburn, New York, on Jan-
uary 12, 1853, being a daughter of William J. Hollier and his wife,
Mary Ann (Lewis) Hollier. Both were natives of England, where
they were married in 1845. The Hollier family had its origin in Wales.

The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis are: Minnie Belle, now the
wife of E. F. Lyon, of Detroit; Fred H., now managing head of the
large manufacturing plants in Jackson founded by his father, and a
prominent citizen of this city ; Jessie May, who married Fred Bowman,
of Bufifalo, New York; Alary Frances, the wife of George Tygh, of
Jackson, and Miss Alice Winifred Lewis, who is now a senior in the
Jackson high school.

Among the many articles that have been published in local journals
with reference to the life and work of Mr. Lewis, one is quoted here,
from the pages of The Jacksonian, a journal published by the Chamber
of Commerce of Jackson. It follows : "Charles Lewis was an admirer
of young men and he always believed in giving the young man a chance.
He felt that the future greatness of Jackson depended upon the younger
generation ; and he helped them with his money, with his advice and
with valuable vi'ords of encouragement. His optimistic spirit was one
of his greatest assets. His absolute and fearless honesty was another.
There was no side of his great nature that did not breathe wholesouled
geniality and inspire absolute confidence and trust. A growing com-
munity cannot be blessed with too many men of Charles Lewis' type.
We wish there were more of them in Jackson.

"Charles Lewis was one of the incorporators of the Chamber of
Commerce. From the date of its organization he served on its impor-
tant committees and as one of the trustees of the Guaranty Association.
The high regard in which he was held by every member is perhaps best
attestea oy tne following resolution adopted by the directors and later
ratified by the entire membership at the annual banquet, by a rising
vote taken in silence : 'But yesterday the Jackson Chamber of Commerce
was proud to claim among its active working members a man of whom
today, in the midst of his labors, has laid down the working tools of life.

" 'We as an organization and to a man, individually, shall deeply
and sincerely mourn the loss of Charles Lewis. We shall long feel
the want of his enthusiasm, his ready moral and financial support and
his wise council in all that pertained to the general welfare.

" 'But while we shall miss the cheery smile, the happy greeting and
the frank and friendly converse with him, we must still realize that all
these were but the mere outward attributes of a life so lived among
us as to long leave their firm impress for good upon this community.

" 'Be it resolved, therefore, that this slight tribute to his memory be
made a part of the records, and together with our heartfelt sympathy,
be communicated to his family.' "

The mayor of the city, on the day following the death of 'S\v. Lewis,
issued the following proclamation : "A sudden death has taken from us
the Flon. Charles Lewis. In his vigorous personality was embodied the
highest type of our citizenship. A life like his is an example, and Jack-
son had no nobler son. His wide sphere of beneficent activity is adorned
at every point by the grateful remembrance of all our people of the

2;^G2li^

1300 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

good he did. In the husiness life of the city he was a sturdy pillar that
stood square to every storm. In private life he was a devoted husband
and father, and a faithful friend. In public life his zealous, disinter-
ested and untiring service accompanied at all times by personal kindness,
endeared him to all and inspired the confidence and affection of his asso-
ciates. It is the lot of few men to be loved as he was.

"As a mark of respect to his memory, it is ordered that on Tuesday
afternoon the public offices in this city be closed so that the city officers
may attend the funeral in a body. All city officials will meet at one
o'clock P. M. at the recorder's officer for that purpose.

"D. C. Sauer, Mayor of Jackson."

The Union Bank of Jackson, of which Mr. Lewis was long a director,
also closed during the hour of the funeral, and other local establish-
ments showed similar courtesy to the family and respect to the memory
of a man who was much beloved in his own communitv.

James J. Keelev. For his public spirit in securing to the city of
Jackson the beautiful Keeley Park, Jackson citizens will always have
cause to remember gratefully this enterprising and far-sighted business
man, whose home has been in Jackson for the past twenty-four years. In
business affairs, Mr. Keeley is proprietor of the James J. Keeley Plumb-
ing Company, and Boiler Works, an establishment which is a product
entirely of a skill in a mechanical trade, and his ablity as a business
btiilder. Mr. Keeley is one of Jackson's foremost citizens.

A son of Irish parents, he was born at Columbus, Ohio, March 15,
1856. Jeremiah Keeley, his father, was born in County Waterford, Ire-
land, August 18, 1823, and in early life became a machinist. After coming
to the United States in 1848 he located in Columbus, Ohio, and died at
Newark, in that state, in 1891 when sixty-eight years old. In 1854, at
Columbus, he married Mary Kelly, who was born in County Tipperary,
Ireland, about 1825, and came to this country with her father and a
brother, her mother having died in Ireland, when she was eighteen years
old. Her father, Richard Kelly, first lived in Cleveland, Ohio. Mrs.
Keeley survived her husband about ten years, and was seventy-five when
she passed away. Both are buried at Calvary Cemetery in Newark, Ohio.
The Jackson business man was the second in their large family of six
sons and five daughters, two daughters and three sons being now alive,
the others named as follows : Michael T. Keeley of Newark ; Ann, widow
of \\'illiam Gorman, of Newark : Jeremiah D. Keeley of Newark ; and
Mary, now Mrs. James Stankard of Newark.

James J. Keeley, the only representative of his family in Michigan,
spent his boyhood in the Ohio cities of Columbus, Zanesville, and New-
ark. With only a common school education, at the age of fifteen, on April
1, 1871, he started upon a long apprenticeship to learn the trade of boiler
work at Zanesville. His apprenticeship continued five years and five
months, and at the end of that time he was pronounced and was in fact a
master workman. Several years following were spent as a journeyman
at various localities, in Ohio, and in Indiana. It was in 1889 that Mr.
Keeley came to Jackson, and in this city first became an independent busi-
ness iiian. On a modest scale, compared with its present jiroportions, he
established the James J. Keeley Boiler Works, and has made this an in-
dustry with a large payroll, furnishing employment to a number of hands,
and with an output that is supplied much beyond the limits of his home
locality. Five years ago, Mr. Keeley added a plumbing business and the
two lines have since been carried on with marked success.

As already stated, it will be for his public services to the city of Jack-
son that Mr. Keeley will be longest remembered. For sixteen years he has

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN i;501

represented the First Ward on the Board of Aldermen, and durin.t^ that
time has been honored with the presidency of the conncil six different
times. In not one single instance has it ever been possible to question the
disinterested motive of Mr. Keeley in his civic attitude toward all mu-
nicipal matters. For the past sixteen years his support has been thrown
to many movements having a vital relation with the general welfare of the
citizens, and the permanent improvement of the city. Naturally a leader
and a man of great force of character, and with an established business
reputation, Mr. Keeley has taken the initiative in several important meas-
ures. Most noteworthy of these was the establishment of the beautiful
Keeley Park, where Jackson citizens find their recreation and which for
its varied facilities of amusement is distinctly a credit to this large in-
dustrial center, with its thousands of workmen who need just such a place
to spend their leisure hours. This park was named in honor of Mr. Keeley
because of his long and persistent fight as a member of the Board of Al-
demien to secure its transfer from county ownership to the city. The
grounds were for many years the old Jackson county fair grounds, and
comprised a beautiful wooded tract of thirty-eight acres, situated entirely
within the corporation limits. One of the features which have been pre-
served from its former use is the half-mile race track, one of the best in
the country, and also a large grandstand. This track has made it possible
to use the park for all kinds of racing, horse races, automobile and motor-
cycle contests. A portion of the grounds are also reserved for a baseball
and football area, and in addition to the facilities afforded for wholesome
outdoor sports, it also presents the quieter features of a city park, with
trees, flowers, and well-kept walks and lawns. It is a source of pride to
every Jackson citizen, and every one using it has reason to be grateful
to the man who year after year carried out a systematic campaign, in the
face of a great deal of strenuous opposition in order to preserve this
ground against the encroachments of private enterprise in behalf of the
general welfare of all. On April 6, 1914, Mr. Keeley was elected a mem-
ber of the Jackson City Council for the ninth time from the First Ward,
winning a victory over his opponents after a most spirited political con-
test. With nine victories to his credit, and with but one defeat in ten
campaigns, his almost unbroken record is, perhaps, without a parallel in
Jackson's municipal politics. Mr. Keeley is a Democrat in politics, is a
member of St. John's Roman Catholic church, and is affiliated with the
Knights of Columbus, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Fraternal
Order of Eagles, and the Knights of the Maccabees.

On September 25, 1889, he married Miss Katherine Sullivan, who has
been his devoted wife for the past twenty-four years. She was born near
Newark, Oliio. They have no children.

John Jay Carton. This prominent banker and lawyer of Flint has
had so many distinctions outside his profession and his private business
that his nan'ie is well known in all jjarts of the state. In Genesee county
he got into politics soon after reaching manhood and held a number of
offices at the gift of his fellow citizens. Perhaps his greatest public life
and the one which has made him familiar to Michigan people was his
election as president of the last constitutional convention of Michigan.
No man in the state has attained to higher honors in the Masonic Order

than Mr. Carton. -,,•,■

John J. Carton was born in Clayton townshi]5, Genesee county, Michi-
gan, November 8, 1856. His father, John Carton, was a native of Ire-
land, who came to America in 1830 and to Michigan in 1842, was one of
the earlv settlers, and all his active career followed farming. His death
occurred in November, 1892, at Flint, when eighty -five years of age. John

1302 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Carton married Ann Alagiiire, also born in Ireland and coming to America
in 1840. They were married at Flint in 1851. The mother died in 1895
when seventy-three years old. There were thirteen children, eight of
whom are still living, and the Flint banker and lawyer is the second among
those still alive.

The boyhood of Mr. Carton began without special incident, and he
certainly had none of the special advantages or gifts of fortune which
might have preluded his successful career. Until he was thirteen years
old he went with a number of other boys and girls to an old red school
house in district Xo. 8 of Clayton township. Arriving at the age of thir-
teen he was henceforth on his own responsibilities, and both education
and his subsequent accomplishments are to be credited entirely to his own
initiative and ability. He began work at his first paying occupation, on
February i, 1871, in a drug store at Flushing, and was promised fifteen
dollars a year and his board. After one year he quit and found a job,
promising a higher salary. In the meantime he had also realized the need
of a better education than had been given him in the public schools, and
thereafter wdienever possible he was a student either in school or at home.
In 1873 he commenced teaching school in the winter time, and attended
school himself during spring and fall and in spare times worked at what-
ever he could get to do. He was employed as a farm hand, also worked
about a saw mill, and did a term as delivery boy for a groceryman. The
spring of 1877 he entered the employ of Brunson Turner as clerk in his
drug store at Flushing, where he remained until August of the same
year. For that work he got twelve dollars and a half per month and
board. He w'as then offered a position as bookkeeper with the firm of
Niles & Cotcher, general merchants at Flushing, with whom he remained
until the fall of 1880.

In the meantime he had become interested in politics, and was known
as a young man of exceptional enterprise and with an independence of
character which gained the goodwill and admiration of many outside
of the strict party line. In the fall of 1880 he was elected to the office of
county clerk of Genesee county, and began his official duties on the first
of January in the following year. By re-election, he served until the close
of December in 1884. In the meantime opportunity had been afforded to
take up the study of law, and on August 21, 1884, before the expiration
of his second term as county clerk, he was admitted to practice, and at
once formed a partnership with George H. Durand, under the firm name
of Durand & Carton. Mr. Durand at that time ranked as one of the
foremost attorneys of central Michigan, and subsequently his ability
brought his elevation to the supreme bench of the state. Their partner-
ship continued until 1903, at the death of Judge Durand. In the fall of
this year Air. Carton formed a partnership with Everett L. Bray, under
the name of Carton & Bray, a relationship which still continues, though
the firm is now Carton, Bray & Stewart, William C. Stewart having been
admitted in 1912.

Mr. Carton is known as a man of many substantial accomplishment?
in the field of law. and he has not been less successful in business. He has
been president of the National Bank of Flint since its organization in
1905, and from February i, 1899, was president of the First National
Bank of Flint, the predecessor of the National Bank of Flint, its name
being changed and the reorganization effected on the expiration of the
original charter. Mr. Carton was also one of the organizers of the Flint
National Bank, of which he is a director, and is a director in the Michi-
gan Light Companv and the Flint Electric Company. He was a member
of the Board of Directors, and vice president of the Weston-Mott Com-
pany, manufacturers of automobile parts.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1303

His first vote for a presidential candidate was cast in iS8o, he began
voting at local elections in 1878, and since then has been consistently
within the ranks of the Republican party. His first public ofKce was as
county clerk, but he subsequently served two years as city attorney of
Flint, and in the fall of 1898 was elected to the legislature, serving during
the sessions of 1899, 1901 and 1903, and was speaker of the house dur-
ing the sessions of 1901 and 1903. Elected a delegate to the constitu-
tional convention of 1907-08, he was chosen by that body as its president,
and presided over the deliberations of the convention until its close. For
a number of years he has stood high as one of the potential and active
political leaders of Michigan. During Roosevelt's administration, he was
oflfered a place on the board of general appraisers for the Port of New
York, an honor which he declined.

In Masonry Mr. Carton has reached the final degree of the Scottish
Rite. He became a member of Genesee Lodge No. 174, F. & A. M. in
1882, and still retains his membership in that lodge. He also belongs to
Washington Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and to Genesee Valley Com-
mandery. No. 15, Knights Templar. He belongs to Michigan Sovereign
Consistory. Scottish Rite, and is one of the active members of the supreme
council, thirty-third degree, A. A. S. R., Northern Masonic Jurisdiction
of the United States, and is the deputy for that body for the State of
Michigan. He was Worshipful Master of Genesee Lodge in 1890-91,
and was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State in 1896. His
other fraternal affiliations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks, and the Knights of the Modern Maccabees. Mr. Carton belongs
to the Flint Country Club, the Detroit Club and the Olympic Club of
Flint. He has been a member of the executive committee, and is now vice
president of the State Bar Association, belongs to the Genesee County
Bar Association, which he served one year as president, and also to the
American Bar Association. The church at which he and his family wor-
ship is the Presbyterian.

At Ukiah, Mendocino county, California, November 22, 1898, Mr.
Carton married Mrs. Addie C. Pierson, a daughter of Charles Wager.
She was born in Ontario county, New York State. Mr. and Mrs. Carton
have no children. Their home is at 513 Garland Street and his law offices
are in The Dryden. Outside of his business and professional duties, Mr.
Carton finds recreation in the wholesome outdoor sports, and golf is per-
haps his favorite of these different diversions.

Ch.xrles Girdell Rowley. The vice president, manager and largest
individual stockholder in the Aspinwall Manufacturing Company at
Jackson, is one of the group of enterprising men who have chosen this
Michigan city as their home, and who through their leadership, executive
ability, and splendid capacity for business organization, have created and
maintained the city as one of the most important industrial centers of the
state.

The individual record of l\Ir. Rowley as a business man and manu-
facturer has been one of progress from boyhood, and few men have
attained a more substantial degree of prosperity and prominence than he
has.

Charles Girdell Rowley was born at Friendship in Allegany county.
New Y'ork, November 23, 1876. Mr. Rowley is of old and somewhat
distinguished ancestry and, as the following genealogical record would
prove, he is eligible to membership in the Sons of the Revolution. His
great-grandfather, known in the war records as Seth Rowley 2nd, was
born in the state of Connecticut February 19, 1760, and died January 19,
1 85 1. At the age of sixteen he enlisted in the Revolutionary Army, served

llJO-t HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

two years and eight months, was engaged in several battles, but never
received a wound. Old Fort Stanwix, one of the frontier outposts and
famous as the place at which several important treaties were negotiated
with the Indian tribes, and now the site of the city of Rome, New York,
was his post of duty for some time. Seth Rowley, 2nd, served as an
orderly sergeant from April, 1779, to May, 1782, and as orderly sergeant
and sergeant major from May, 1782, to January, 1784. While in the army
he served under the following captains : Couch, Alexander Baldwin,
Henry Tiebout, Simeon Smith, Joseph Harrison, and Abraham Fonda.
The maiden name of the mother of Sergeant Rowley was Hamilton. Ser-
geant Rowley was married December 14, 1786, to Innocent Salsbury,
who was born January 10, 1770, and died October 20, 1856. She was a
daughter of a well known officer of Washington's army. Captain Salsbury.
Both Sergeant Rowley and his wife were buried in Unadilla Centre, New
York, burying ground. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Rowley was
Seth G. Rowley, who lived to be ninety-five years of age, having been born
on May 31, 1799, and dying October 15, 1894. Joel Warren Rowley,
father of the Jackson business man and who was a banker during his
earlier career in New York state and subsequently engaged in the coal
business at Springfield, Ohio, was born in New York state July 31, 1829,
and died at Springfield, Ohio, September 25, 1872. He, had been cashier
of a national bank at Cuba in Allegany county, New York, and from there
moved to Ohio. On December zj, 1855, he married in I'riendship, Alle-
gany county, N. Y., Rebecca Taylor. Of their two children, the younger,
Frank H., was born December 23, 1862, and died July i, 1874. I'he
mother, who was born in Alleghany county. New York, August 28, 1830,
died at Jackson, Michigan, June 24, 1901.

Charles G. Rowley, who is the only surviving representative of the
family, spent his boyhood days at Cuba, New York, and was about nine
years of age when the family moved to Springfield, Ohio. He had a
good home and grew up in fairly prosperous circumstances, and at the
time of his father's death was a student in Whittenberg College in .Spring-
field. The fact that his mother was left a widow with two young sons,
caused him to give up his college career and go to work. He left school
permanently at his father's death and two years later his younger brother
died. When he was sixteen he entered the employ of the Champion Ma-
chine Comjiany of Springfield, Ohio, at that time one of the city's largest
industrial institutions. A few years ago the name Champion was familiar
to practically all users of agricultural machinery, and Champion mowers,
reapers, and still later the Champion binders, had a well deserved reputa-
tion over manv states. Mr. Rowley was with that concern for fourteen
years, beginning as timekeeper, and subsequently became private secretary
to Amos Whitely, the president and the moving spirit of the company.
It was at the suggestion of his friend Mr. Whitely, that young Rowley
left his work in the factory temporarily and took a course in stenogra])hy
and typewriting at Cincinnati, and thus equipped returned to become
private secretary to the president of the company. He remained in that
capacity ten years, and the experience was valuable to him in many ways.
After fourteen years of service with the Champion Machine Company,
Mr. Rowley became secretary of the Springfield Manufacturing Company.
A. W. Ikitt was the sole proprietor of that business, which manufactured
spring-tooth cultivators, feed mills, and other argricultural machinery.
At the end of three years the concern went out of business, and Mr.
Rowley, in i88(), became one of the founders of the Springfield Seed
Company, engaging in the wholesale and retail trade in seeds. He was
president of the company for two years.

In 1891 Mr. Rowley's connection began with the Aspinwall Manufac-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1305

taring Company, which at that time was located at Three Rivers, Mich-
igan. Tlie products of the Aspinwall Company comprise a special line of
farm machinery, chiefly implements and machines used in the planting,
cultivation, harvesting of potatoes. For thirteen years Mr. Rowley has
continued with this same company, and his record is one of which he may
be proud. When he entered the company's employ at Three Rivers in
1891, he was put in charge of the office. In 1892 he became a stockholder
in the business, was made secretary of the company on March 3.1, 1894,
and continued in that capacity until November i, 1902, when to his other
duties were added those of treasurer and manager. On September 23,
1905, he resigned as secretary, and continued as treasurer and manager
until August, 1909. Since the latter date he has had the office of vice
president and manager. He and Mr. L. A. Aspinwall, the president of
the company, are the largest stockholders, the capital stock being one hun-
dred and thirty thousand dollars. In 1892, the year in which he first
secured stock in the concern, the plant was moved from Three Rivers to
Jackson, and lias since been one of the staple and important industries of
the latter city. Its present plant is at the corner of Woodbridge and Saljin
streets, and its output of potato planters, diggers, and similar implements,
are shipped all over the United States and abroad. Mr. L. A. Aspinwall,
the president, is the inventor and patentee of all the machines manu-
factured by the company. He is now a man past seventy years of age,
and practically all his active career has been devoted to the invention, im-
provement, and manufacture of potato machinery at various times and
for all manner of purposes. Mr. Aspinwall invented and secured a patent
upon the first potato planter ever built. He was a young man at the time,
and began his career as a manufacturer on a very modest scale in the state
of New Jersey, and later came west and located at Three Rivers. The
potato planter which he invented many years ago, and of course with
many improvements and modifications, is still built and sold by the Aspin-
wall company.

Mr. Rowley as one of Jackson's leading citizens is a member of the
Chamber of Commerce, the Jackson City Club, and of both the Country
clubs. For six years he was a member of the Jackson board of public
works, but aside from that service has steadily declined any official honors,
although he is an active Republican. In Masonic circles he stands high,
and has taken thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite, is a Knight Templar
in the York Rite, a member of the Mystic Shrine, and also affiliates with
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

On November 23, 1882, he married Miss Fanny Bacon, at Springfield,
Ohio. Their only living son is Charles Bacon Rowley, who was born
April 2, 1890, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
at Boston, in the mechanical engineering department, and is now em-
ployed by the Johns-AIanville Company, of Boston, as an engineer in its
insulation department. Two sons of Air. Rowley and wife are deceased,
namely: Frank Bacon, born January 30, 1885, and died .August 6, 1886;
and Richard Bacon, born December 20, 1886, and died October 2, 1887.

Harey J. Branch. A few years ago Mr. Branch gave up a position
as a teacher at $50.00 a month in order to accept a place as clerk in a
hardware store at four dollars a week. This change was not made with-
out considerable premeditation. It was his ambition to acquaint himself
with all the details of his chosen line of mercantile eft'ort, and in order to
do this he started in at the bottom and took every duty as it came. At the
present time Mr. Branch is one of the leading merchants in Flint, and is
the head of a large furniture and hardware business, occupying an ex-
tensive establishment at 216-222 E. First Street. His success shows

1306 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the value of concentration in any line of endeavor, and he is now regarded
as one of the most prosperous men of Flint.

He was born September 9, 1871, on a farm at Otisville, in Genesee
county. His father was Andrew J. Branch, a native of New York State,
who came to Michigan during the decade of the forties, and was an early
.settler and substantial farmer in Genesee county. He is now retired, en-
joying the fruits of a long and active career. A man of quiet disposition,
he has never sought any honors in political life, but has enjoyed a place
of esteem as an upright and successful man. The maiden name of the
mother was Julia Haywood, who was born in Canada, and whose father
was an early settler in Michigan. He died in 191 3. There were nine
children, of whom the Flint merchant was second in order of birth.

His education was acquired both in the country and the village schools.
At the age of eighteen he qualified as a teacher, and continued in the
school room during the winter term from 1888 to 1904. His vacations
were spent chiefly in farming, and when he felt that he had exhausted
the possibilities of that line of work he turned his attention to merchan-
dising, in the manner described above. He was first a clerk with the firm
of Foote & Church, hardware dealers, and remained with them three
years. After that he established his present business as a hardware and
furniture dealer, and began in a small way a second hand trade. Today
his is the largest firm of its kind in the city, and is conducted under the
firm name of Branch ,& Rumfold. They employ ten salespeople, and
their annual volume of business would compare favorably with any con-
cern in Genesee county. Their stock of goods and storerooms occupy the
greater part of seven stores, and they supply everything wanted by the
trade, and are very progressive in all their methods of merchandising,
always adhering, however, to the strictest principles of the square deal.

A Republican in politics, Mr. Branch is now serving as sujiervisor
from the Second Ward. He is a member of the Board of Commerce,
affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and among the
churches his preference is for the Methodist.

At Mt. Morris, }ilichigan, on January i, 1902, Mr. Ei ranch married
Miss Alta Stevens, who was born in Lansing, a daughter of Fidelia
Stevens. Mr. and Mrs. Branch, who have no children, live in their at-
tractive residence at 703 East Street, and he owns a good deal of other
real estate and improved property in the city. Outside of his special
business, Mr. Branch finds his most pleasing diversion in the raising of
blooded horses, both pacing and trotting stock, and also enjoys an oc-
casional fishing and hunting trip.

Christopher K. M.mN'O. The Maino shoe store at 226 East Main
street, in the city of Jackson represents one of the oldest commercial
landmarks of that city. It is in fact the oldest shoe business, and has
been in continuous operation for nearly half a century, although not un-
der its present proprietorship. Its founder was the pioneer merchant.
Tames l-'alihee, whose name and whose merchandise was familiarly asso-
ciated in the minds of the ])eople of Jackson through nearly two genera-
tions, and in 1902 Mr. Falihee sold out the establishment to Christopher
K. Maino, who is one of the younger generation of business men and
represents a family which has been identified with Jackson for more
than thirty years.

Christopher K. Maino was born in southern Germany, in the province
of Bavaria, on July 9, 1875. In his German lineage is mixed some
French stock, and the name itself has a French origin. His Bavarian
parents were Carl and Catharine ( Carr ) Maino. who brought their
familv across the ocean to America in 1881, and in the same vear located

&^'

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN i:i07

m Jackson, Michigan. His father, who was a wagon maimer l)y trade,
continued to live in that city until his death on June i6, 1908. The
widowed mother still lives in the city. The son, Christopher, has also
been a resident of Jackson since he was six years of age, and has been
reared and trained in an American environment, and is in every sense of
the word except by birth an American. 06 the large family of twelve
children, three died in infancy, and S\\ the other nine are now living in
Jackson, mentioned as follows: Elizabeth, Mrs. Peter Breitmayer ; Mrs.
Catharine Ritz ; Carl ; George ; Christopher K. ; Emma, wife of I'eter
Ottney ; Jacob ; Harry ; and Fred. The youngest of the family is Fred,
aged twenty-seven. Carl Maine, their father, was a strong man phys-
ically, and the fact that he reared his large family in comfort is proof
that he was a hard worker and a good provider. He stood six feet one
and a half inches in height, and weighed one hundred and ninety pounds,
being well proportioned and possessing both strength and agility. Sin-
gularly enough, the son Christopher is exactly of the same height and the
same weight, and athletic proportions and activity are characteristics of
the family generally. Carl Maino^ served a full term of seven years in
the German army when a young man. At that time, and perhaps the
custom still endures, when a new recruit entered the army it was re-
quired of him that he should be pitted against the Imlly of the regiment in
athletic test and wrestling. Young Maino proved too much for the bully,
throwing him with ease, and thereafter the object of much admiration
among his comrades. Mrs. Carl Maino is still in good health at the age
of seventy-four, and is held in high veneration by her children.

In St. John's Academy at Jackson, Christopher K. Maino received
his principal education, and began as a boy to earn his own way, being
emploved for twelve years by the Central City Soap Company at Jack-
son. Starting in at sixteen as a shipping clerk, he was gradually ad-
vanced until he became manager of the coffee roasting department. With
a capital at his command and a well established business credit, he bought
in 1902 the Falihee shoe store at Jackson from Air. Falihee, and lias
since broadened and built up a flourishing trade on the basis established
by this pioneer merchant.

Mr. Maino affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Carder of
Elks, with the Knights of Columbus, and he is a trustee of St. Mary's
Catholic church. He also belongs to the Arbeiter Society of Jackson.
On September 14, 1904, he married Miss Jessie E. McQuillan of that
city. Of their three children, a daughter, Janice, died at the age of
fourteen months. The two living children are Hubert A. and Linus J.

Lawrence Price, of Lansing, has been a citizen of Michigan for
nearly half a century, and for the major portion of that long period
has been closely identified with the commercial, industrial and public
affairs of Lansing and the state. As a soldier, public official, citizen,
business man and manufacturer he has won success and honor, and has
done his full share toward contributing to the community's growth
and that of its institutions.

Mr. Price is a son of Erin's Isle, born May 27, 1842, at Templemore,
County Tipperary, the son of Martin and Ann (Egan) Price, both of
whom were natives of County Tipperary. Martin Price, the father,
farmed in Ireland until 1849, in which year he brought his family to
America, landing at Quebec. Canada, and going from that city to Lewis-
ton, Niagara county. New York, where they made their first settlement.
In 1867 Martin Price came to Michigan and settled in Ingham county.
buying a farm in Lansing township, where he passed the last years of

1308 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

his life, dying March 20, 1895, while the mother survived him until
May 2, 1901.

Lawrence Price received his education in the common schools and
at the Lewiston (New York) Academy. He was nineteen years of age
when, in August, 1862, he enlisted in Battery M, First New York Light
Artillery, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. Subse-
quently, with this organization, he participated in the battles of Antie-
tam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, in the last of which he was
wounded by the explosion of a shell. He was also at Gettysburg, where
he was again wounded, but was with his regiment in the pursuit of the
Confederates into V'irginia as far south as Raccoon Ford on the Rapidan
River. From that point his battery was ordered to Washington City
and was then sent to Tennessee to reinforce General Rosecrans at Chat-
tanooga. The battery saw active service at Wahatchie and Missionary
Ridge, wintered at Bridgeport, Alal^ama, and the ne.xt spring joined the
forces of General Sherman in Georgia and went with him on his famous
"March to tlie Sea,'' taking part in the engagements at Resaca, Dallas,
Ringgold, Pumpkin Vine Creek, Gulp's Farm and Kenesaw Mountain.
Mr. Price was among the first troops to enter the city of Atlanta, and
with the army entered Savannah soon afterwards. On the way north
the battery was in the engagements in North Carolina at Averysboro and
Bentonville, and at the latter point Mr. Price was again slightly wounded
and was captured and sent to Libby Prison, at Richmond. The fall of
Richmond occurred soon thereafter, however, and Mr. Price was re-
leased with the other Union prisoners and sent into a parole camp in
the state of Maryland, where he was given a furlough of thirty days,
but, desiring to be near his command when the end came, did not make
use of his furlough and six days later was again with his regiment,
taking part in the Grand Review in Washington City. He was mus-
tered out at Rochester, New York, June 29, 1865.

Returning from the war with an enviable record as a brave and faith-
ful soldier, Mr. Price spent a short time at his old home at Lewiston,
and then went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he remained until
the following spring, then coming to Michigan and reaching Lansing
April 26, 1866. His first employment in this state was on a farm which
was really within the city limits. Later he purchased 160 acres of
unimproved land in Bath township, Clinton county, which he reclaimed
and put under cultivation, continuing as an agriculturist with much
success until 1880. Li that year he turned his attention to mercantile
pursuits, entering the grocery business at Flint as a retailer. Three
years later, however, he came to Lansing and located permanently. En-
gaging in the buying and shipping of stock, Mr. Price subse(|uently
became interested in the lumber business and later secured large interests
therein, being one of the organizers of the Capitol Lumber Company,
of which he was vice-president and manager, and is still an important
factor in this business, being president of the Rikerd Lumber Company,
of Lansing. For a time Mr. Price was engaged in the hardware busi-
ness as a member of the firm of Price & Smith, and later entered the
dry goods trade as a member of the firm of Ro.rk & Price, a combination
which is still in business after a period of twenty-five years. .Among
other enterprises, he is identified with the Lansing Auto Body Works,
one of the city's largest industries, of which he has been president since
its ince])tion ; the Acme Motor Company, of which he is president, and
the City National Bank of Lansing, of which he is a director. He still
owns his old farm, to which he has added 160 acres, now owning 320
acres, all joining. He has one of the best improved farms in the state,
and the residence is equipped with Ijoth water and gas.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN i;j09

Mr. Price has been prominent in Democratic politics for many years.
He has been a delegate to many city, county and state conventions; in
1890 was appointed chief of poHce and marshal of the city of Lansing;
has been superintendent of public works of the city, a member of the
city council for four years from the Fourth Ward, and was the lirst
chairman of the Ingham county board of supervisors elected from the
city of Lansing. Air. I'rice is a member of Charles T. Foster Post, No.
42, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a leading member of St. Mary's
Roman Catholic Church, and was chairman of the building committee
when that magnificent edifice was erected.

In 1867 Mr. Price married Mary Ann Ryan, of New York state, who
died in 1883. His second union occurred in 1888, when he was married
to Miss Julia Bradford. She was born in Pontiac, the daughter of
John Bradford, who came to Lansing as an attache of the state auditor
general's office when the capitol was located in this city. The family
home in Lansing is at No. 1003 Washington avenue.

Eldon E. Baker. A recent educator has said that "the true business
college aims to fit men to live, and to make a living too." That might be
described as both the object and the accomplishment of the Baker Busi-
ness University at Flint, which is known as "The School of Modern
Methods." Baker University has already made a fine record in the busi-
ness education of Michigan young men and women, and the quality of its
work is well indicated by the following brief quotation from its guaran-
tee to its students : "We guarantee to give more perfect satisfaction to
every student in providing him with the facilities, more efficient instruc-
tion, more practical and uptodate courses of study, and graduate him in
a shorter time with a better training, at less cost on his part for tuition
and supplies, and place him in a better position in less time after gradua-
tion on a higher salary, than can or does any other school in Central
Michigan." The Baker Business University offers a complete course of
study in commercial arts, stenography and typewriting, and in addition
to general academic studies offers work which will prepare students for
the civil service.

Eldon E. Baker, president and manager of Baker Business University,
is an educator of high qualifications and of a quarter century's experi-
ence. He was born at Winterset, Iowa, August 20, 1869. His father,
Daniel Baker, was born in Ohio, moved to Iowa in 1843, before the ad-
mission of the territory to the union and was one of the pioneer farmers
in JMadison county, where he died in 1876 at the age of fifty years.
Daniel Baker married Fannie Moore, daughter of Samuel Moore, whose
name belongs on the list of pioneer settlers in Des Moines county, Iowa.
She died in Winterset, Iowa, November 10, 1911, at the age of eighty
years. She became the mother of fifteen children, eight sons and seven
daughters, of whom Mr. Baker was the twelfth child and the eighth son.

While a boy, spending his time on a farm in Madison county, Iowa,
he attended the local schools, and his course was early directed toward
educational work. Two years were spent in the regular college work at
Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, and he is a graduate of Simpson
School of Business. In 1891 Mr. Baker graduated from the Dexter-
Normal in Iowa, and subsequently took a course in post-graduate work
in Highland Park College and Drake University in Des Moines. Previ-
ous to his college graduation, he had taught his first term of school, and
altogether his work in the school room in different capacities has covered
twenty-five years. For seven years, he was principal of some of the lead-
ing high schools of Iowa. In 1906 Mr. Baker moved to Winfield, Kansas,
where he was principal of the Commercial Department of the Southwest-
voi. in— I

1310 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ern Methodist College for five years. From Winfield he came to Flint, and
here bought the Flint business University, which has since been known
as Baker Business University. The school was organized in 1909, and
under the management of Mr. Baker has reached its acme of success,
having now an enrollment of more than two hundred pupils, and offering
facilities equal to those afforded by those of any other school of its kind
in the state.

During his residence in Winfield, Kansas, Mr. Baker served four
years as a member of the city council. He has always taken an active
part in Republican party politics. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic
Lodge in East Peru, Iowa, to the Odd Fellows Lodge at Winfield, Kansas,
and in Flint has membership in the Board of Commerce, and has long
been identified as a worshiper in an official capacity with the JMethodist
church.

At East Peru, Iowa, on June 5, 1895, Mr. Baker married Miss Anna
F. Wright, who was born in Madison county, Iowa, a daughter of Hiram
C. Wright. To this union have been born three children, as follows:
Lois N. Baker, born in East Peru, Iowa, July 16, 1899; Harold W. Baker,
born August 8, 1901, at East Peru; and Basil F. Baker, born August 12,
1905, in Iowa. The family residence is at 710 Avon Street, and the busi-
ness college occupies quarters at 813 to 817 S. Saginaw Street. Mr.
Baker, aside from the ordinary advantages supplied by the local schools,
and his home training, is indebted entirely to his own efforts for his
higher education, and his advancement in life. He has lived a remark-
ably clean life, having been a total abstainer from tobacco, liquors, and
profanity, and outside of his chosen vocation is devoted to the pleasures
of home and family, preferring it to any other society.

George A. Nicholls, proprietor of a paint and wall paper store at
No. 126 Cortland street, Jackson, Michigan, is one of the most success-
ful contracting decorators that the city has ever known. He has
been in the business all his life, and though well qualified to carry
on an indejaendent business at any time in his career after he had fin-
ished his thorough apprenticeships, he refrained from so doing until
within very recent years. Mr. Nicholls was born in Toronto, Canada,
on February 8, 1878, and is a son of Harry C. Nicholls, who was for a
quarter of a century a well known contracting painter and decorator, of
Jackson. He died on April 8, 1909, and it was not until then that his son
engaged in an independent business enterprise.

George A. Nicholls has lived in Jackson since he was eight years
of age, and in this city he had his early education. He served a careful
apprenticeship of several years' duration under his father's watchful
eye, and then went to Chicago when he was about nineteen years old,
where he spent two years under a master decorator. He then was for
two years employed at his trade in Rochester, New York, and at the
same time he studied drawing and designing at the Mechanic's Institute
of that city, spending his evening in tha.t work, when his associates of
the day were making merry in ways most suited to their inclinations. It
was thus that Mr. Nicholls accjuired ex])ert knowledge of all the higher
phases of his trade, and he possesses a skill in the business of decorative
designing along his line that places him well at the head of the deco-
rators of this city. In recent years his knowledge has come into more
general use than formerly, and since he opened an establishment of his
own, with a shop and stock on hand, he has put to excellent use his early
training in decorative work.

It was in the year 1909, following the death of his father, that Mr.
Nicholls established his present enterprise, and this business house stands

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1311

today among the foremost ones in tlie city. In addition to the selHng
feature of his business Mr. Nicholls keeps up his contracting business
quite the saine as before, interior finishing and decorating being his spe-
cialty in the contract hne, and this particular branch of his business neces-
sitates the employment of a large force of trained artisans.

It is pleasing to remember that Mr. Nicholls was reared in this
city, and that he is undeniably "making good" in his business is a source
of much satisfaction to those people who have known him practically all
his life. He has carried on his business activities with due regard' for
the most exacting principles of business integrity, and his methods are of
a high order calculated to bring success to any man.

iVIr. Nicholls is a Mason, and he is an earnest member of the Cham-
ber of Commerce.

On October 12, 1904, Mr. Nicholls was married to Miss Amy Dolley,
of this city, and they have one daughter, Dorothy, born on July 30, 1906.

\\'iLLi.\ii C. WoLCOTT. No better illustration of the high awards to
be attained through a life of industry and earnest endeavor could be
found than that exemplified by the career of William C. Wolcott, presi-
dent of the Wolcott Packing Company and the directing head of the
leading meat business of Genesee county. Starting life as a poor boy,
without the advantages of financial standing or influential aid, he has
through his own efforts gained a position among the leading business
men of Flint, which city has been the scene of his activities for more
than thirty years. Mr. Wolcott was born October 20, 1857, at Bellevue,
Huron county, Ohio, and is a son of Thomas and Mary A. (Ford) Wol-
cott.

Thomas Wolcott was born in England, where he was reared to man-
hood, and during the early forties emigrated to the United States, set-
tling in Ohio. During his residence in Bellevue he followed the trade
of carpenter and builder, but upon coming to Flint, Michigan, in 1867,
established himself in the butchering business. This he continued
throughout the remainder of his life, dying at the age of seventy-three
years, a moderately successful man. He was married in Ohio to 'Sla.ry
A. Ford, also a native of England, who had come to this country in
young womanhood about the same time as her husband. She died in
1863, having been the mother of five sons, of whom William C. was the
first born.

William C. Wolcott commenced his education in the public schools
of his native place, and completed his studies in Flint to which city he
had come as a lad of ten years. When he was sixteen years of age he
began to learn the butchering business in the establishment of his father,
and continued with him until he was twenty-five. In 1882 he established
his first modest store, at the corner of Detroit and Second avenue, and
since that time he has continued to be engaged in the same line, being
today the oldest merchant in Flint in the meat business. He has devel-
oped his industry into the largest of its kind in Genesee county and in
this part of the state, and in addition to five retail establishments, is
president of the Wolcott Packing Company, an incorporated concern.
This company slaughters on an average of twenty-five cattle, sixty hogs
and fortv sheep, and a proportionate number of calves per week, de-
penfling upon the season. The plant of this firm is situated just outside
of the corporate limits of Flint, in Flint township, and the company
emplovs on an average of fifteen people, while the five retail stores have
from sixteen to twenty employes. Wilson E. Wolcott, a younger i)rother
of William C, is associated with him in the five retail markets. The
officers of the Wolcott Packing Company are : William C. Wolcott, presi-

1312 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

dent; Gustav Abraham, vice-president; and F. D. Crissman, secretary
and treasurer. Mr. W'olcott attributes his success to straight-forward
dealing, persevering effort and the grasping of opportunities. He has en-
deavored at all times to give his patrons the best of goods and service,
and his stores are models of neatness and cleanliness. As an executive
he has displayed sterling business ability, and his associates have had
every reason to place confidence in his judgment, foresight and acumen.
Politically independent, he has not cared for public office, having believed
that he could best serve his community in a private capacity. He is prom-
inent in fraternal circles, being a thirty-second degree Mason and a
member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of
the Maccabees, and the Loyal Guards. He is a member of the Board
of Commerce and his religious connection is with the Methodist church.
As a lad he showed his patriotism as a member of the Flint Union Blues,
a boys' military organization.

On July 29, 1881, Mr. Wolcott was married at Grand Blanc. Gene-
see county, Michigan, to Miss Martha E. Wilber, who was born at Flint,
a daughter of Charles A. and Martha A. Wilber, members of an old
family of this city. Two sons have been born to this union : Frederick
C. and Thomas W., progressive and energetic young business men of
Flint, who are associated with their father in the meat industry. The
family home is located at No. 414 North Third avenue.

Watson R. Smith. One of the progressive business men of Jack-
son today is Watson R. Smith, secretary and general manager of the
Jackson Cushion Spring Company, one of the leading industrial and
manufacturing plants of the city, and one to which ^Mr. Smith has been
a potent factor in the matter of stimulating and pushing forward its
growth and position in the city. Mr. Smith is a native son of Michigan,
born in Ypsilanti, in the year 1868. He is a son of Caleb C. Smith, who
was born in New Jersey and wdio served in the Union Army, and who
is now living retired in Lansing.

Watson R. Smith spent his youth in the city of Lansing. He quit
school at the early age of thirteen, and applied himself to the task of
learning the bookbinder's trade in the state printing office in that city.
He was eighteen years old when he came to Jackson in 1S86, and for a
number of years he was occupied as bookkeeper and later as traveling
salesman for the American Sewer Pipe Company.

In 1900 the Jackson Cushion Spring Company was incorporated for
the purpose of manufacturing coil springs. The new concern had a cap-
ital stock of $25,000, and its first officers were as follows : E. C. Greene,
president ; Charles Rutson, vice president ; H. E. Edwards, treasurer ;
and Watson R. .Smith, secretary and general manager. The officers today
are the same with the exception of the presidency, B. M. Delamater now
presiding there.

Today the capital stock of the company is $165,000. The Jackson
Cushion Spring Company ships its product to practically every city in
the LTnited States, with regular shipments to Mexico, Canada, Australia
and South America.

Mr. Smith is an ex-president of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce,
is a member of the Jackson City Club and a Mason of the Thirty-second
degree, with Shriner affiliations as well. He was married in iSqi to ivliss
Alice Josslyii, of Jackson, and they have one daughter — Miss Alice Joss-
lyn .Smith.

CiiKiSToi'irER E. Br.vxdt. The Inisiness enterprise of the city of
Mint received one of its most substantial additions in 191 2 with the es-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1313

tablishment of the C. E. Brandt & Company, wholesale dealers in wiap-
ping papers, twines and notions, the first enterprise of its kind to be
located in Genesee county. It is now nearly two years since the busi-
ness was started, and it has already been developed as one of Flint's
most prosperous commercial concerns. The business occupies a two-
story building, eighty-five by twenty-five feet, at the corner of Kearsley
and Beech Streets. Five people are employed in the local establish
ment, and there are several traveling salesmen.

Christopher E. Brandt, who is at the head of this concern, made
a successful record as a commercial salesman and was on the road for
many 3'ears before he came to Flint and established his present business.
Mr. Brandt was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 27, 18(12. His
father, Christopher E. Brandt, Sr., was born in Berlin, Germany, came
as a child with his parents to America, and his business in life was that
of cigar and tobacco manufacturer. He died JMarch 20, 1887. His wife
was Crystal Erdman, also a native of Germany, and brought to America
in childhood. To their marriage were born three sons and two daughters
who are now living.

Christopher E. Brandt, Jr., the second of these children, was edu-
cated in the public schools of Milwaukee, and since he was sixteen years
of age has been dependent entirely upon his own resources. Mr. Brandt
now has as a cherished keepsake the first two dollars he ever earned
by regular work. This sum represented his first week's wages in the
store of Clarence Shepard & Company, wholesale hardware merchants
of Milwaukee. Flis mother took charge of his wages, and it was in this
way that he happens to have the two dollars which were first paid for
his productive labor. Being with the Shepard Company until 18S4, he
thoroughly mastered the hardware business in all its branches, and held a
responsible place with the house before he left it. His services were next
given to the Kieckhefer Brothers Company of Milwaukee, manufactur-
ers of tinware and sheet metal work. The Kieckhefer enterprise has
subsequently developed into national proportions and the Kieckhefers
are among the largest stock holders in the National Enameling and
tStamping Company. Mr. Brandt became a traveling salesman for
Kieckhefer concern, and represented that large firm on the road from
1884 for twenty-eight years until 191 2. Then in January of the latter
year he started his present business in Flint.

Mr. Brandt was well known in Flint for a number of years before
locating here permanently, having married his wife in that city. Flis
marriage occurred June 27, 1894, when Miss Eugenia I-. Cronk became
his wife. She was born in Flint, a daughter of Walter J. Cronk, one
of the early settlers of this vicinity. Mr. Cronk is now eighty-seven. His
death occurred December 26, 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Brandt have one
daughter. Frances, born at Flint June 27, 1898.

In politics Mr. Brandt is independent, and has never sought any
political distinction. In the Masonic Order he has advanced along both
the York and Scottish Rites to thirty-two degrees of the latter and to
membership in the Royal Arch and Knights Templars branches of the
former. He is also affiliated with the Mystic Shrine. Fie has member-
ship in the Flint Board of Commerce and the Flint Country Club. l\Ir.
Brandt owns and lives in an attractive home at 216 E. Second Street.

William Au.stin Moore. Not too often or through the medium of
too many historical publications touching the state of Michigan can be
accorded to any citizen a greater meed of distinction and respect than is
due to the late William A. Moore, who long held prestige as one of the
leading members of the bar of the state and who was one of the hon-

1314 ' HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ored and influential citizens of Detroit at the time of his death, which
here occurred on the 2Sth of September, 1906. He was engaged in the
active practice of his profession in Detroit for more than half a century,
and his labors in the chosen vocation which he dignified and honored by
his exalted character and eminent services came to an end only when
death set its seal upon his mortal lips, after he had passed the age of
four score years. Mr. Moore was a man of fine intellectual and profes-
sional attainments, of high ideals and of utmost loyalty in all of the
relations of life, and thus it is that his name merits a place of honor in
every publication that notes the personnel of the Michigan bar in the
past or has to do with the history of Detroit.

William Austin Moore was born on a farm near Clifton Springs, On-
tario county. New York, on the 17th of April, 1823, and was the seventh
son of the William and Lucy ( Rice) Moore, the former of whom was born
in the vicinity of Peterboro, Hillsboro county. New Hampshire, on the
9th of April, 1787, and the latter of whom was a native of Massachusetts,
both families having been founded in New England in the colonial era
of our national history. William Moore was reared and educated in his
native state and at the age of eighteen years he went to the state of
New York, where he because a prosperous and representative agricul-
turist of Ontario county. There his marriage was solemnized and there
he continued to reside until his immigration to the territory of Michigan.
He not only served in various public offices in Ontario county but was
also a valiant soldier of the New York troops in the War of 1812, in
which he was present at the burning of Buffalo by the British, besides
taking part in the engagement at Fort Erie.

In the summer of 1831 William Moore came with his family to Mich-
igan and numbered himself among the early settlers of Washtenaw
county, where, in the following year, he was appointed justice of the T)eace,
an office of which he continued in tenure until the admission of Mich-
igan to statehood, in 1837. He was not permitted to retire from this
local magistracy at that time, however, and by successive re-elections he
continued to serve as justice of the peace for the first twelve years in
the history of the new state. He became one of the most honored and
influential citizens of his coimty, was a member of the first constitutional
convention of the state, served as a member of the first state senate,
and in 1843 represented Washtenaw county in the lower house of the
legislature. He was a man of superior intellectual and business ability
and his character was the positive expression of a strong, noble and
loyal nature. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Washtenaw
county until their death and their names have place on the roll of the
honored pioneers of Michigan.

In tracing more remotely the history of the Moore family, it may be
stated that it is of sturdy Scotch-Irish extraction, and that the subject
of this memoir was of the fifth generation in line of descent from a
member of the historic Douglass clan which was virtually exterminated
at the massacre of Glencoe, Scotland, on the 13th of February, 1692.
The widow of this valorous ancestor fled with her children to Ireland,
where the family remained until 1 718, when a number of its representa-
tives came to America, where they were among the first settlers of
Londonderry, New Hampshire. The youngest son in this original .Amer-
ican family was John Moore, who married and became the father of
seven children. The third child. William, was reared to maturity in
New Hampshire, and in December, 1763, he wedded Miss Jane Holmes.
They finally removed from the Londonderrv district to Peterboro, Hils-
boro county, from which place William Moore went forth as a patriot
soldier in the War of the Revolution, records extant showing that he par-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1315

ticipated in the battle of Bennington, on the 19th of July, 1777. Of
the twelve children of William and Jane (Holmes) Moore the youngest
was William, who became the founder of the Michigan branch of the
family, as already noted in this context.

William A. Moore was eight years of age at the time of the fam-
ily immigration to the wilds of southern Michigan, where he was reared
to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and where he availed him-
self of the advantages of the common schools. W'hen twenty years of
age he determined to prepare himself for the legal profession, and he
initiated his incidental studies at Ypsilanti. where he remained two
years. He then entered the literary department of the University of
Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1850,
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, his having been the fifth class
to be graduated in that now famed institution of learning. After his
graduation Mr. Moore went to Salem, Mississippi, where he devoted
about eighteen months to teaching school. In April, 1852. in consonance
with his original plans for a future career, he began reading law, under
the preceptorship of the firm of Davidson & Holbrook, of Detroit, and
in January of the following year he was admitted to the Michigan bar.
He forthwith engaged in the practice of his profession in Detroit, and
here he continued his labors in this exacting vocation until the close of
his long and useful life. He eventually built up a large and representative
law business, in connection with which he was ever known for his close
application and his broad and exact knowledge of the science of juris-
prudence. In the early years of his practice Mr. Moore gave special at-
tention to admiralty law, which then constituted a most important phase
of legal business in Detroit, and he became a recognized leader and au-
thority in this field of practice, in which he figured in nearly all of the
important cases brought before the courts in Michigan, besides which
he was frequently called to Buffalo. Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee
in connection with important admiraltv issues. He became known as
an able trial lawyer, but his tastes and inclinations, coupled with his fine
technical knowledge and mature judgment, made him especially strong
as a counselor, in which department of practice his services were much
in demand at all stages of his professional career. Concerning Mr. Moore
these pertinent words have been written by one who knew him long and
well: "He united a judicial and independent character of mind, long
familiarity with the principles of law, excellent foresight, sound judg-
ment and, above all, unquestioned integrity — qualities which admirably
fitted him to act the part of conciliator and harmonizer of conflicting in-
terests. His convictions were not reached without careful investigation
and consideration, but a stand once taken was not abandoned for any
mere question of policy or expediency. All his interest was cast on the
side of morality, good government, obedience to law and the eleva-
tion of his fellows. No responsibility laid upon him was ever neglected
or betrayed. Many persons of far less worth have attracted a larger
share of public attention, but few have done more to conserve, in vari-
ous ways, the best interests of the city."

Mr. Moore was a well fortified and stalwart supporter of the cause
of the Democratic party, though he never sought political office. From

1864 to 1868 he was chairman of the Democratic state central committee,
and from the latter year until 1876 he represented Michigan as a mem-
ber of the Democratic national executive committee. From 185Q until

1865 he was a member of the Detroit board of education, and for three
and one-half years of this period he served as a president of the board.
He was for manv years attorney of the board of police commissioners
of Detroit : in 1881 he was appointed a member of the board of jiark

331G HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

commissioners, to which position he was re-appointed in 1884, and he
was twice elected president of the board, a position which he resigned
before the expiration of his second term.

Mr. iloore was one of the organizers of the Wayne County Savings
Bank and also of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company, of
each of which important corporations he served as director and attorney
for many years. He was ever appreciative of the spiritual verities of the
Christian faith and both he and his wife were zealous members of the
Baptist church.

On the 5th of December, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Moore to Miss Laura J. Van Husan, who was born at Saline, Washtenaw
county, on the 12th of March, 1837, and who was a daughter of the late
Caleb Van Husan, long a prominent and influential citizen of Detroit.
Mrs. More survived her husband by about five years and was sum-
moned to eternal rest on the 30th of July, 191 1, secure in the reverent
memory of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle and gracious
influence. \\'illiam V. Moore, the only child, is specifically mentioned in
the article immediately following this memoir.

William V. Moore. In the article immediately preceding this is
given a tribute to the memory of the late William A. Moore, father of
him whose name initiates the sketch at hand, and in the same connection
appear data that indicate how prominently and worthily has the name
of the Moore family been identified with the development, upbuilding
and generic history of Michigan. In the profession that was significantly
honored and dignified by the character, ability and services of his hon-
ored father, William V. Moore, himself has achieved definite preced-
ence, as has he also a citizen of influence and as a man of affairs.
No one in the least familiar with his career can but realize that he has
added further honors to the name which he bears and that he is entitled
to recognition as one of the representative men of his native city and
state. He is engaged in the active practice of law in Detroit, stands
exemplar of the most loyal and liberal citizenship and a brief review of
his career is consistently given in this work, especially in view of the
fact that he is now the only representative of the third generation of the
Moore family in Michigan, with whose history the name has been closely
linked since the territorial epoch. Concerning him the following well
merited statements may be made : "William V. Moore stands as one
of the leading members of the Detroit bar and is also identified with
various industrial and financial interests that have had marked influence
in furthering the generic precedence and prosperity of his native city,
which has been his home from the time of his birth and to which hi>
loyalty is of the most insistent order."

V/illiam Van Moore was born in the old family homestead on Con-
gress street, Detroit, on the 3d of December, 1856. After due preliminary
discipline in the public schools he was matriculated in the LTniversity of
Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1878,
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the same year he began the
study of law under the able preceptorship of his honored father, and
this training was supplemented by a course in the law department of
Boston University, in which he was graduated in 18S0 and from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned from
the Massachusetts metropolis to Detroit, where he was admitted to the
bar and initiated the active work of his profession, in which he was con-
tinuously associated with his father until the death of the latter, on the
25th of September, 1906. He was thus identified with the law firm of
Moore & Canfield, which was succeeded bv that of W. A. & W. \'. 3,Toore,

THI M'^' f'-'^-'f-

A^-itf '-£■•'' *::'*. 1

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1317

and later he continued as a member of the firm of JNIoore & Goflf until
1905, when the firm of Moore, Standart & Drake was formed. After
the death of his father, in the following year, he continued as senior mem-
ber of this firm until 1909, since which time his practice has been of in-
dependent order. He has devoted his attention principally to corporation
law and is legal representative of a number of banks and insurance com-
panies in Detroit, where he is recognized as a representative corporation
lawyer and controls a large and substantial practice.

Mr. Moore is a director and general counsel of the Wayne County
Savings Bank and is identified in a similar way with that old and im-
portant institution, the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company. He
is vice president of the Northern Engineering Works and has other
capitalistic interests, many of which were promoted and fostered by
his father. With naught of desire for the honors or emoluments of
political office, Mr. Moore accords a staunch allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party. He served from 1885 to 1889 as a member of the Detroit
board of education, of which he was president during the last two
years of this period, and in this position he rendered most earnest and
effective service, even as had his father in the same office. He served
contiriuously as a member of the city board of fire- commissioners from
April I, 1905, until April i, 1913, when he retined artd apropos of his
zealous advocacy of the basic principles for wlijch theioSanocratic party
has ever stood sponsor it may be noted that he was a delegate to the
Democratic national convention of 1896, in the city of Chicago. He and
his wife are attendants and liberal suppar.ters .g^f ■the..Wppdvvard .Avenue
Baptist church and in the same he is ■ -S" -trftstes^ as .-siiecessor of his
father. _

On the 28th of June, 1883, Mr. Moore wedded Miss Jennie C.
Andrews, who was born and reared in Michigan and who is a daughter
of the late Harry S. Andrews, a resident of Fenton, Genesee county,
at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have two children — Wil-
liam Van Husan Moore and Mary. William Van Husan Moore mar-
ried Stephanie Moran, a daughter of John V. Moran, of this city, April
II, 191 2; Mary, the daughter, married Richard P. Joy, son of James F.
Joy, of this city, in 1908.

Frederick P. Neesley. From the year 1903 up to the present time
Frederick P. Neesley has been employed in the Michigan Central shops
in an important capacity, for the past three years being general foreman
of the shops in which he served his apprenticeship as a young man. He
has had a wide experience in his work, and has studied the methods and
equipment of various shops connected with the big railroad systems of
the country, so that he is well qualified to fill his present jjosition. He
is a native son of Jackson, born in this city on March 23, 1874. and
his parents are Peter J. and Regina "(Haag) Neesley, both native born
Germans, and both still resident in Jackson. The father is also a me-
chanic, and for more than thirty years he was employed in the Michigan
Central shops of which his son is now general foreman.

Peter J. Neesley was born in Germany, as has been stated, and there
learned his trade. He came to the United States iu i8fii and located in
this city, where he now lives retired at the age of seventy-eight, after a
life of worthy activity. The wife and mother is in her seventy-sixth year.
She was reared in Germany, and there formed the acquaintance of the
man who became her husband, though they were not married until they
had emigrated to this country and had settled in Jackson. Their mar-
riage occurred in the year 1862, one year after the senior Neesley located
in this city. Of their large family, seven children are now living — two

1318 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

sons and five daughters. They are here mentioned briefly as follows:
Mary, the wife of George Ottomer; Ida, who married George W. Fisher;
Peter G. Neesley, manager of the Western Union Telegraph Company
at Jackson; Katherine, the wife of George W. Fisher; Frederick P., of
this review ; Nettie, who married C. H. Diedrich ; and Daisy the wife of
E. B. Ferguson. Another son, Frank Neesley, who was the second born
in the family, became a locomotive engineer, following the predilection
of the Neesley family for mechanics, and while taking a passenger train
down a steep mountain grade in Utah, a broken rail caused a derailment
of his engine, resulting in his instant death. He was forty-four years
of age when the accident happened, in the year 1906. It should be men-
tioned that while two of the daughters married men of identical names,
the men are unrelated, this being one of the coincidences now and then
met with.

Frederick P. Neesley was reared in the city of Jackson and here had
his schooling. When in his late teens he entered the shops of the
Michigan Central, where his father had long been employed, and there
served a thorough apprenticeship under the careful supervision of his
father, who saw to it that his training was complete in all its details, and
lacked nothing that could make for efficient service in later years. He
began his apprenticeship at the age of seventeen, it should be said, and
he finished when he was twenty-one, four years being the prescribed time
for a thorough training. Thereafter he went west and spent five years
working at his trade, much of the time being spent at Ogden, Utah. In
1903 he returned to his Michigan home, and from then until the present
time he has been steadily employed in the shops of this city. In 1907
he became foreman of the shops, and in 1910 he was again promoted to
the post of general foreman, which i)osition he now occupies. The fact
that he has continued in the work without interruption and has ad-
vanced from post to post until he is now in charge of the shops, as one
might say, is sufficient commentary on the character of his work and of
his mechanical and executive ability, so that further words on that head
would be superfluous.

Mr. Neesley is one of the popular fraternalists of the city. He is a
Maccabee, an Elk and a member of the well known German society, the
Arbeiter A'erein, of which his father has been a member for forty-five
years. His church is that of the Baptist denomination, and socially he
has membership in the Michigan Central Country Club. It should not
be omitted that Mr. Xeesley is not only an enthusiast in base ball, but
that he has played professional ball in his earlier years, as a member of
the Utah-Idaho Interstate League, his position on his team being that of
catcher. He has maintained a lively interest in the great American Game,
even though he no longer plays it. and is found among the fans of the
city whenever a game is scheduled.

On February 19. 1901. Mr. Neesley was married to Miss Mary Hvmt
of Ogden. Utah. Four sons and a daughter have been born to them,
here named in the order of their birth : Alice B. ; Raymond : Frank ;
Frederick P., Jr., and Leroy Neesley.

The family are highly esteemed in the city, and have a wide circle of
genuine friends in Jackson, many of whom have known Mr. Neesley from
his birth.

George W. Cook. The Genesee county bar has one of its ablest
representatives in Mr. Cook, who started out as a teacher, earning his
way and investing all the surplus in additional training for a larger
career, and since beginning active practice has been associated with a firm
which is recognized as having a very generous share of the legal business

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1319

in this part of the state, and in that firm his own work has been a very
important contributing factor to the general success.

George W. Cook was born October 24, 1862, at Grand Blanc, Gen-
essee County, Michigan. The family is one identified with this section
of Michigan since pioneer days. Joseph P. Cook, his father, bom in
New York State, was eight years old, when brought by his parents to
Michigan in 1836, and he lived in the vicinity of Grand Blanc as a farmer
during the greater part of his life. His death occurred in 1903 at the
age of seventy-five. The mother's maiden name was Julia H. Slagt,
also a native of New York State, who came to Michigan in 1840, with
her parents. In 1853, she and Mr. Cook were married in the Genesee
county court house at Flint. Born in 1828, Mrs. Cook is still living
in her eighty-fifth year, her home being in the village of Grand Blanc.
The old homestead is still owned by members of the family. Of the
five sons and two daughters, four sons are still living as follows : John
G., who lives at Grand Blanc ; Edwin H., who is a farmer in Genesee
county near Grand Blanc ; George W. ; and Willis G., whose home is in
Fort Worth, Texas.

George W. Cook got his first training in the country schools of Gen-
esee county, and later was a student in the high school at Flint. Before
he arrived at his majority he was granted a certificate and did work
in the district schools for a time. Later for ten years he was a teacher
in the school for the deaf. At the same time his leisure was spent in the
reading of law, but official duties kept him from active practice for
some years. For four years, from the first of January, 1893, to De-
cember 31, 1896, he served as county clerk of Genesee county. In
June, 1897, came his admission to the bar, and since that date he has
been one of the leading attorneys at Flint. He practices as a member
of the firm of Brennan, Cook & Gundry. Their offices are in the P. F.
Smith Building.

In politics a Republican, it was on a ticket of that party that Mr.
Cook won his official preferments, and has always been one of the local
leaders. For the past fifteen years he has served as a member of the
board of education, and is now its president.

At Flint, on August i, 1888, occurred the marriage of George W.
Cook and Miss Emma Zimmerman. Michigan is her native state, and
her parents were Louis and Mary Zimmerman. Mr. and Airs. Cook
have three children: Lawrence L., George Leland and Wendell J. Their
home is at 218 East Fifth Street.

Fr.\nk Robert L.\mpm.\n. Among the prominent men of Jackson,
none is better established than is Frank Robert Lampman, manager of
the Bijou theater for the past six years. Though Mr. Lampman entered
the business as a novice at that time, success has not been a stranger to
him in that field, and he has made excellent progress in the work to
which he has been devoted for some years. Prior to his attention to his
present enterprise, Mr. Lampman was a newspaper man, who had, since
his college days, been active in practically all branches of the work, from
a practical printer up to the post of city editor. Coming to Jackson in
1906 as city editor of the Citizen Press, he continued as such for a year
and a half, when he turned his attention to his present business. Since
that time he has had no active newspaper interests.

Mr. Lampman was born in Hot Springs, .Arkansas, on July 9- 1870,
and is a son of Ward Lampman, a pioneer citizen of Montcalm county,
Michigan. The father was born in Cuyahoga county. New York, on
August 7, 1839, and came with his parents to the state of Michigan in
1852, locating at first in Eaton county. In 1864 the family removed to

1320 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

^Montcalm county, and that region has since known the family. The
father still lives, and has his home with Frank R. Lampman of this
review.

Frank R. Lampman was educated up to his high school graduation in
the schools of Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was reared. Following
his graduation in 1888 he learned the printer's trade, worked at it for
some time, and then entered the L^niversity of Arkansas from which he
was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1894. For several years there-
after Mr. Lampman followed the life of a newspaper man. His calling
brought him into service in numerous capacities and in various cities.
He worked on occasions as a practical printer, and there was little in
the matter of the makeup of a live newspaper that he did not understand.
He was for si.x years a reporter on the St. Louis Globe Democrat, and
for ten years following he was a reporter and editorial writer on the
Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette. In 1906 he came to Jackson as city editor
of the Citizen Press, and as has been previously stated, he continued
there in that capacity for a year and a half, when he was attracted by the
possibilities of the theater business. His accomplishments as manager of
the Bijou theater are especially praiseworthy, and he has proven himself
a capable theater man.

Mr. Lampman is a Scottish Rite Mason as well as a Shriner and a
Knight Templar, and his other fraternal affiliations are with the Elks
of this city and the Knights of Pythias. Socially he is a member of
the Jackson City Club, and the Meadow Heights Country Club.

A Democrat, Mr. Lampman has been foremost in the politics of the
city, and he has taken a live interest in the civic welfare of Jackson. He
is now a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jackson Public Library,
and is especially active on that board. Mr. Lampman is a wide reader,
and in his fine home at Orchard Place he has one of the best private librar-
ies in the city. All classes of standard literature may be found in pro-
fusion on its shelves, but his love of historical works is especially strongs
and the best in history has a prominent place in his library.

Mr. Lampman was married on February 10, 1906, to Miss Eliz-
abeth I. Sidmore, of Rochester, Indiana. They have no children.

John C. Benson, M. D. In the line of his calling. Dr. John C.
Benson has shown a commendable persistence, and his high professional
standing comes as much from his res[)ect of the unwritten ethics of his
vocation as from the high ability he has shown in its practice. Doctor
Benson was born in the village of Mount Morris, Genesee county,
Michigan, February 6, 1878, and is a son of the Hon. John R. and Mary
E. (Bresette) Benson.

Henry Benson, the paternal grandfather of John C. Benson, was
a pioneer settler of Genesee county. When he came to this place he
was forced to transport his clothing and such household effects as he
owned in a hand wheelbarrow from Pontiac. In later years he became
a merchant and transporter, carrying goods by wagon from Pontiac to
Bay City, and helped to build the first ])lank road from Flint to Saginaw.
He was a successful man and at the time of his death left a large for-
tune. He died in 1893, at the age of seventy-three years. Hon. John
R. Benson was born in 1837, and was a lad when brought to Mount Mor-
ris, Michigan, by his father. .-Xt the outbreak of the Civil War he went
to Pennsylvania to join a brother, who had enlisted in a Michigan regi-
ment. However, the regiment had already gone to the front and John
R. accordingly enlisted in a regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers. He
nev.er again saw his brother, but was advised of his death in Anderson-
ville Prison. Mr. Benson himself was never wounded .nor taken pris-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1321

oner, although he saw much active service. When his term was through
he received his honorable discharge and returned to his Michigan home,
once again taking up agricultural work. He had received some training
in the schools of Ypsilanti, but was largely self-educated and never en-
joyed collegiate or university advantages. However, he became well
known in the field of literature, his writings comprising poems and
prose, essays and short stories, and many of the products of his pen found
their way into the leading magazines of the day. Four volumes of his
works, entitled "Poems and Sketches," are now being prepared for pub-
lication, these having been printed by pen in actual representation of
press work, a labor that required a number of years. Mr. Benson was
successful in a material way, being the owner of several farms in the
vicinity of Mount Morris. A Democrat in politics, he took an active part
in the public affairs of his day and served in a number of township and
county offices, and in 1891 was elected to the state senate by the people's
party, serving in that body two years. He died July 15, 191 1, at Mount
Morris. Mr. Benson married Mary E. Bresette, daughter of Louis and
Louise (Chandonia) Bresette, the latter a member of the noted family
which settled in the heart of what is now Detroit more than two hundred
years ago and owned a tract of land, the possession of forty acres of
which has been recently threshed out in the courts after long and expen-
sive litigation, the court deciding against the heirs because of the long
passage of time. Mrs. Benson still survived and makes her home at
Mount Morris. She has been the mother of eight children : one who
died in infancy; E. H., who is located in the West; Elizabeth, the wife
of George C. Goodyear, of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania ; W. A., who is
engaged in the mercantile business in Detroit ; Florence H., the wife of
Thomas P. Hughes, and chief adjuster for the Federal Casualty Com-
pany of Detroit; E. Louise, the wife of E. F. Costello of Mount Morris,
a farmer; Dr. John C. of this review; and Dr. Robert L., professor
of pathology at the University of Oregon, at Portland.

A lad of earnest and studious habits. Dr. John C. Benson received
his early training in the village graded and high schools of Mount Mor-
ris, and then adopted the vocation of teacher, having a school at Com-
merce, Oakland county, for one year, and in Genessee county for si.x
years. He assisted his father in the work of the home farm during the
summer months, and in the meantime prosecuted his scientific studies,
finally entering the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he was
graduated with his medical degree with the class of 1907. At that time
he began practice at Flint, and since then has enjoyed a large and repre-
sentative general practice, maintaining offices at No. looi North Sag-
inaw street. His friends and acquaintances in professional and business
life are numetous, and among all his standing is equally high. In the
line of his calling. Doctor Benson is a member of the Genesee County
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association. He inclined toward the Republican party, but is
apt to act independently in selecting his choice for public office, believing
that the individual is greater than the party. He is a member of the
Flint Board of Commerce, and fraternally holds membership in the
Knights of Columbus, the Knights of Equity, the Knights of the Mac-
cabees, the Gleaners and the Equitable Fraternal Union. With his fam-
ily he belongs to the Roman Catholic church and is a member of St. Mat-
thews parish.

On June 25, 191 1, Doctor Benson was married to Miss Katharine E.
Brennan, of Detroit, daughter of John and Mary E. (Schamadon) Bren-
nan, early Detroit settlers. One child has come to this union: \'irginia

1322 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

IMary, born August 12, 1913. The pleasant family residence is situated
at No. 1403 South Saginaw street.

Georgk \V. Carter. \\'ell known and prominent in citizensliip in
the city of Jackson, Michigan, is George W. Carter, one of the builders
and owners of' the Carter lirothers lUiilding, recognized as one of the
finest and best among the office buildings of the city. Mr. Carter has
lived long and worthily in this community, and is a native son of Jack-
son county, born in Summit township on June i, 1843. His father,
Philander Lothrop Carter, was a native of Massachusetts, who removed
from that state to Genesee county. New York, and thence in 1836 to
Jackson county, Michigan, locating first in Spring Arbor township and
later moving to Summit township. Philander L. Carter spent all his re-
maining days in Jackson county, and he died on a farm in Leona town-
ship on Christmas day, in 1881, aged eighty-one years, his birth having
occurred on April 21, 1800. Mr. Carter had long been an extensive
dealer in country lands and farming properties, and in the course of his
busmess experience in Jackson county he amassed a comfortable fortune.
He was a pioneer of the county, and when he first came here the town
of Jackson, then known as Jacksonburg, boasted not more than two or
three stores. ■ '^v'r- .'■ . T"-,-

Back in Genesee ^cjUrify.NeV'Tcirk, Mr. Carter had married Charity
Russel, and she adcom'jyahiW 'hinT^v*hen.he first came to Michigan. She
died in 1898 in the; ninety-second year of her life, and she was the mother
of seven children-f-five daughters and Bwo sons. All are now deceased
with the single exception Q<f George. -W; Carter, whose name introduces
this review. His t>irlf*'Br6theF,' John' G; Carter, who died on August 6,
1899, was closely and. intimately associated with him in business mat-
ters and in all their relations throughout his life. In fact, the two Carter
brothers were thoroughly and genuinely devoted to each other, and
])ractically all their property interests were held in common. John G.
being fourteen years older than his brother, was thoroughly attached to
George VV., who depended greatly on him for advice in all his affairs.

In 1890 the two brothers erected the Carter Ikiilding. Ii was then
and is yet the best and most up-to-date office building in Jackson. It is
five stories in height, with a frontage on Main street of forty-four feet,
and the front is of a brown stone that was quarried in Ohio. Elevators
and all modern equipment are features of the building, and when it was
built, it was generally held to be far in advance of the city in up-to-date
and modern style and finish.

John G. Carter was married, but he had no children, and he made
George M. Carter, the youngest son of his brother, his sole heir when
he died. He had always been particularly fond of his nephew, and
gained the consent of his brother to do by him as he would with a son
of his own. The result was the young man came into the entire fortune
of his uncle when he died, and he is now a half owner in the Carter
Building with his father.

George W. Carter was married on June 11, 1873. to Marion Dania
Miller, a native of Rochester, New \'ork. She still survives, and is the
mother of two sons — Philander Lothrop Carter, named for his grand-
father, and George M. Carter. The former was born on December 29,
1876, and he is now president and general manager of the Jackson Fence
Company of Jackson, a large and growing concern that has for its pur-
pose the manufacturing of woven wire fence materials. The younger
son was born on June 3, 1884, and he is now vice president and general
manager of the Standard Car Manufacturing Company of Jackson, en-
gaged in the building of electric motor cars. Each of these young men
will be found mentioned elsewhere in this historical and biographical

T»! KIW TOf.K

y^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1323

work, with more detailed facts regarding their business activities and
accomphshments, which are well worthy of them and of their father and
uncle.

George W. Carter is a Democrat and for several years he was a mem-
ber of the Jackson Board of Public Works, though he has never been a
seeker after official favors or distinction. He and his sons are members
of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, and he is treasurer of the Jack-
son Fence Company, mentioned above.

George Williams Bates. Forty years as an active member of the
Detroit bar is the record of George Williams Bates. His practice as a
lawyer has been in connection with a large volume of litigation in both
the state and federal courts, and for years he has been regarded as one
of the ablest counselors and attorneys of his home city. Mr. Bates is a
native of Detroit, and his ancestry includes many of the most notable
lines of family stock in old and modern New England history.

The Bates family in America was founded by three brothers, James,
Clement and Edward Bates, who were among the Puritan settlers in the
Massachusetts Bay colony, coming from England. A direct ancestor
of the Detroit lawyer was James Bates, who settled at Dorchester, Mas-
sachusetts, in 1634, while Clement resided at Hingham, and Edward at
Weymouth, and the descendants of these three brothers are now found
in all parts of the United States. Robert Bates, a son of James, followed
the leadership of the Rev. Thomas Plooker into Connecticut and became
one of the landed proprietors of Wethersfield, but moved from there in
1640 to the colony that founded Stamford, Connecticut. In the col-
lateral lines of the Bates ancestry are found many other notable char-
acters, including the following: William Cross, a soldier in the Pequod
Indian war and a participant in the fight of Narragansett Swamp, and
subsequently a representative of Wethersfield in the general court at
Hartford; Robert Chapman, one of the founders of Saybrook, Con-
necticut, a deputy to the general court, a commissioner, and one of the
largest landholders in Saybrook; also Gershom Lockwood, soldier, judge
and legislator of Greenwich, Connecticut; Jonathan Selleck, a brave In-
dian fighter, legislator and liberal churchman ; Richard Law, a dis-
tinguished Connecticut jurist in the early days; David Smith, one of
Washington's soldiers during the Revolution ; the family of Weeds
in Connecticut and New York. Through the Bucknam family Mr. Bates
claims relationship with Nicholas Stowers, Captain John Sprague and
Lieutenant Ralph Sprague, who were among the original settlers of New-
town or Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1628, and Ralph Sprague was
one of the first selectmen of that village. On his mother's side, George
Williams Bates is descended from Roger Williams, a cousin to the
famous Roger, who was the founder of Rhode Island : this Roger Wil-
liams, whose home was in Connecticut, came to America in 1635, was
deputy representative of Windsor in the general court at Hartford,
served as selectman, and was a member of the famous organization, the
Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston.

George Williams Bates, who was born at Detroit November 4. 184S,
is a son of Samuel Gershom and Rebecca (Williams) Bates, who were
early settlers at Detroit, which remained their home during the rest of
their lives. Samuel G. Bates was a merchant and for many years a
f)uhlic-spirited citizen of Detroit. The Detroit public schools gave Mr.
Bates his early training; in 1870 he graduated A. B. from the University
of Michigan, and in recognition of his continued attainments the same
institution gave him the degree of Master of Arts in 1875. On leaving

1324 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the university he was for about a year a representative in Detroit of the
pubUshing liouse of James R. Osgood & Company of Boston. His study
of law began in the fall of 1871 in the offices of Newberry, Pond &
Brown, and was continued with another well-known Detroit law firm
of that time, Meddaugh & Driggs.

Since his admission to the Michigan bar in 1874, Mr. Bates has had
a continuous practice at Detroit, and since the first few years has en-
joyed a business that has been both profitable and of more than repre-
sentative character. His hard-working ability, his conscientious devotion
to the interests of his clients, and his special skill in handling complicated
cases has long been recognized and has brought him many distinctive
and worthy honors in the profession.

Outside a period of service as estimator at large for Detroit, Mr.
Bates has never held public office. However, he has long been one of
the influential workers in the Republican party of the state, and has
served as a delegate to many state conventions. Before the convention
at Grand Rapids in 1894 his name was presented as candidate for attorney
general, but he subsequently withdrew in favor of another candidate.
Mr. Bates has membership in the Detroit and Michigan Bar Associations,
of the American Bar Association, has taken thirty-two degrees in Scot-
tish Rite Masonry and is a member of Michigan Sovereign Consistory,
and in the York Rite is affiliated with Oriental Lodge No. 240, A. F.
& A. M., King Cyrus Chapter No. 133, R. A. M., and Monroe Council
No. I, Royal and Select i\Iasons. Flis own distinguished ancestry has
caused Mr. Bates to take great interest in organizations of colonial and
early American character, and he has served as treasurer and registrar
of the Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, as
Historian General of the national organization and one of its vice presi-
dent-generals, and for many years has attended as a delegate the national
congresses of the Sons of the American Revolution. Mr. Bates is also a
member of the New England Society. His interest in American history
is indicated by his former service as president of the Detroit Archjeolog-
ical Society and as councilor of the American Institute of Archaeology
and of the American Historical xAssociation. xAmong other social and
civic organizations to which he belongs are the University Club of Detroit,
the Bloomfield Hills Country Club, the Alumni Association of the Univer-
sity of Michigan, and his church is the First Presbyterian.

On April 26, 1S87, Mr. Bates was married to Miss Jennie Marie
Fowler, daughter of the late Richard Essyltyne Fowler, of Clayton, New
York. Their two children are: Stanley Fowler Bates, a graduate of
Cornell University, class of 191 1; and \'irginia Williams Bates.

Fr.\nk H. M.xther. .Among those men of Jackson who have iden-
tified Ibemselves with the big interests of the city may be mentioned Frank
PI. Mather, secretary-treasurer and manager of the Central City Lumber
Companv, with which concern he has been affiliated since 191 1. Though
a young man in years, Mr. Mather has already had a wide business ex-
perience that has fitted him for his present position, and he is reckoned
among the foremost business men of the city of Jackson today.

Mr. Mather was born on a Calhoun county farm, twelve miles south
of Battle Creek, in Leroy township, on April 2. 1883. He. is a son of
David and Henriette (Miller) Mather. The father was a farmer much
of his life. He was born in Niagara county. New York, and crnne to
Michigan in young manhood, spending the rest of his life in Calhoun
countv. In his later years he devoted himself to the lumber and grain
business, in which he was quite successful, and he died on January 22,
igi.V The mother still lives, and is a resident of Mar.shall, Michigan.
They had one other son, Charles M. ^Mather, who is likewise engaged in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN i:?25

lumber activities, and located at Plymouth, Michigan. He is the elder of
the two, being nine years the senior of Frank H. Mather.

Mr. Mather, of this review, had his education in the country schools
and the Battle Creek high school, the latter of which he attended for
three years. He then took a business course in the J. B. Krug Business
College of Battle Creek, and was graduated therefrom in 1901. His
education completed, the young man entered his father's business office
as bookkeeper, at Athens, Michigan, and for a year continued there. He
then entered the employ of the lumber firm of G. E. Lamb & Sons, of
Marshall, and as manager he continued with that concern for four years.
The years of 1906-7 he spent in Cadillac, and he devoted himself while
there to a careful and systematic study of the lumber business in all its
details, both as to outside and office management, so that he was prepared
to take a responsible place with the Central City Lumber Company when
he came to Jackson in I90(S. In that year he became one of the incor-
porators of this large and well known lumber concern, and he was made
its secretary and treasurer, j)ositions which he still holds, and since 191 1,
he has also been manager of the concern.

Mr. Mather is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and frater-
nally is a Mason and an Odd Fellow. He was married on April 12, 1905,
to Miss Beulah Bond, of Athens, Michigan.

Joseph Jellis, directing head of the firm of J. Jellis & Company, of
Flint, is one of the leading millers of his part of the state, and has a
business that is at once indicative of his superior qualifications, his
straightforward methods, his laudable ambition and his indefatigable
energy. .\ native son of Canada, he was born in the Province of Oueljec,
March 18, 1850, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Knox) Jellis.
His father, born in England, emigrated to Canada in young manhood, and
there for many years was engaged in milling, becoming the owner of a
large and thriving business. He is now deceased. Mrs. Jellis, who was
born in Canada, and died at Boston, Massachusetts, in the spring of 1912,
aged eighty-nine years, was the mother of ten children, of whom Joseph
was the third in order of birth.

Joseph Jellis secured his early education in the country schools, this
being supplemented by an academic training in his native place. At the
age of sixteen years he was apprenticed to learn the trade of miller in his
father's establishment, following which he was employed as a journey-
man until 1897. He was twenty-two years of age when he first came
to Michigan, his first location being in Bay City, from whence he came
to Flint, and here, in 1897 he formed a partnership with Charles Stone
and established his first business venture on Saginaw street, at No. 1002.
The enterprise was commenced in a modest manner, but Mr. Jellis' en-
ergy, progressive methods and untiring industry soon caused its expan-
sion, and as the trade increased larger quarters were found necessary.
The present mill, formerly known as the Central Flour and Feed Mill,
is located at No. 500 to 530 Ann Arbor, at the corner of Second street,
and has been entirely remodeled and equipped with the latest and most
highly improved machinery. Since the commencement of the business
the output of the mill has been doubled, the present capacity being sixty
barrels per day, this having a demand all over the state, while twelve
persons are employed by Mr. Jellis. In addition to this enterprise, he is
the proprietor of a large grain shipping business, and also deals ex-
tensively in beans. Mr. Jellis is essentially a self-made man. His meth-
ods are such as will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny and because
of his success are of interest to the commercial world. He has based his
business principles and actions upon the rules which govern unswerving

1326 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

integrity and unfaltering effort and in this lies the secret of his rise to
prosperity and promuience in commercial circles. Mr. Tellis' private
life has been one of strict probity, and at no time has he touched liquor
or tobacco. In political matters a Republican, he has never cared for
public office, although frequently urged bv his friends to become a candi-
date. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Board of Com-
merce, and his religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church. He
owns his own modern home, located at No. 712 Ann Arbor street

Mr. Tellis was married at Flint, Michigan, October 5, 1880, to Miss
iiusan Gage, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of John L. Gage
and a member of a pioneer family that came to this state in 1830. To
this union has come one son, J. Leon Jellis, born in Flint, March 31
1882. He was educated in the public schools of this city and early entered
his father's mill, where he thoroughly learned every detail of the busi-
ness. _ He IS now his father's partner, and is known as one of the pro-
gressive and energetic young business men of Flint. Like his father, he
has abstained from tobacco and intoxicants of all kinds. J. Leon Jellis
was married to Miss Frances E. Boomer, a native of Flint, and daughter
of Horace B. Boomer, a pioneer settler of this state. One son has-been
born to this union: Joseph Horace, born February 2, 1909. Mr. and
Mrs. Jellis live in their pleasant home at No. 118 Grace street.

Ernest Chauncey Clark. Michigan as one of the leading states in
manufacturers has naturally attracted within her liorders men of fore-
mostinventive genius as well as executive ability. Within the past decade
the rising prominence of Michigan as a center for the automoijile industry
has produced some of the ablest workers in the mechanical held in the
entire country, and in this group perhaps none is better entitled to men-
tion than Mr. E. C. Clark, the inventor of the Clark motor, one of the
best types in its adaptability to automobile construction now in successful
use. Mr. Clark until recently was president of the E. C. Clark Motor
Company of Jackson, a large industry which still bears his name, and of
which he was one of the founders.

Ernest Chauncey Clark was born in Quebec, Canada, November 3,
1865. His father, Chauncey R. Clark, who was a blacksmith and wagon
and carriage maker, no doubt contributed by inheritance some of the
mechanical genius which characterize the career of his son. The elder
Clark died in Jackson, Michigan, in 1910, at the age of sixty-nine. The
maiden name of the mother was Elizabeth Miller, who died at Wayne,
Michigan, in 1909, aged sixty-eight. Mr. E. C. Clark has a brother, Oscar
L. Clark, of Northampton, Massachusetts, and a sister, Miss Amy Clark,
who is a graduate nurse and now located at Seattle, Washington. The
oldest of the children, Ernest C. Clark, was reared in Quebec^ where he
attended school, and during vacation time learned the trade of lilacksmith
and carriage maker in his father's shop. His mechanical genius was
demonstrated early in life. One time he constructed in his father's shop
an old style high-wheeled bicycle, and was constantly at work in designing
some new form of mechanical equipment or machinery. When he was
nineteen he left home and at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, found employment
for a few months in the blacksmith dej^artment of the Fairbanks Scale
Company, one of the largest industries of its kind in America. Following
this for six or seven months he worked as a brakcman on a Vermont rail-
road, and then returned to Quebec and for two years was in a machine
shop at Coaticooke. His preliminary experience was fortified by work in
various machine shops in Canada and in the eastern states.

The first accomplishment which took Mr. Clark out of the ranks as a
machinist and put him on the highway to success, came in 1891, during his

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1327

employment in a shop at Lancaster, New Hampshire. There he designed
and secured a patent upon a tablet compressing machine. It was per-
fected for the purpose of compressing medicine tablets, but dififered from
other machines then in use, in that it would not only mould and compress
the tablet, but at the same time would put a palatable coating around the
medicine. The big drug house of Parke, Davis and Company of Detroit
heard of this invention, and in 1892 induced Mr. Clark to come to Detroit
and organize their mechanical department. During the next seven years
he was master mechanic for that company.

It was in 1904 that Mr. Clark designed his first automobile motor.
Since then he has designed and improved six other motors, for use on
various styles of automobiles and automobile trucks. The first motor
designed by him attracted the attention of Messrs Charles Lewis and
George A. Mathews, the builders of the Jackson Automobile, at Jackson.
They persuaded Mr. Clark to move to their city, and the three men then
established the present E. C. Clark Motor Company, which is now one of
the largest local industrial concerns of the city, and in busy seasons employs
several hundred workmen. Each of the three had a third interest in the
plant, with Mr. Clark as president and manager. During the eight years
of his active service with this concern he succeeded in building up the
industry to its present extensive proportions, and his inventions have
proved a solid basis upon which the company has continued to grow and
prosper. The Clark motors are now used in the construction of the Jack-
son, the Imperial and the Auburn cars. While the Warren cars, at one
time built in Detroit, also used the Clark motive power. In August, 19 13,
Mr. Clark sold all his interests in the E. C. Clark Motor Company, and
since then has been enjoying tJie fruits of his work and success.

At Quebec, Canada, on November 3, 1892, Mr. Clark married Miss
Minnie May Bissell. They are the parents of four sons: Ralph R.,
Rollo A., Ernest Wilfred, and Forest Bissell. Fraternally Mr. Clark's
affiliations are with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, while he is an active member of the Jackson Chamber of
Commerce. As a sportsman he has considerable renown, especially as a
crack shooter. For many years he has been one of the crack shots in
Michigan, has won a great many prizes at tournaments in the state, and
many men know him by his proficiency in this field who are not so famil-
iar with his success as an inventor and manufacturer. Mr. Clark is also
fond of hunting, and annually takes a trip to the northern peninsula during
the open season. His skill with a rifle seldom fails of its object, and he
usuallv bags one or two fine specimens of deer, and if it were not for the
limitations imposed by the law his annual total would be larger. However,
Mr. Clark is a strict adherer of the ethics and the legal limitations, and
when he has reached the legal limit the suort of deer shooting is over with
him until the next year. Naturally he enjoys motoring, and frequently
takes his family for long pleasure tours. The summer of 1913 was spent
on a trip of this kind, when he and his wife returned to the scenes of their
childhood in Quebec, visiting their birth places, and many relatives and
old friends in the province. The round trip made a total mileage of about
two thousand, and afforded pleasures and experiences immeasurably
greater than could have been secured through the usual railroad journey.

Frank G. Sutherl.\nd. In this utilitarian age, in which progress
and advancement come not by might and the sword as in days of old, but
by activity in industrial and commercial fields, the position which the
city of Flint occupies before the world is due alone to its prominence in
manufacture. One of the concerns of this city which has shown a pleas-
ing growth since its inception is the Stewart Carriage Company, manu-

1328 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

facturers of automobile and carriage bodies, the vice-president of which,
Frank G. Sutherland, has had an interesting career. Starting in at the
bottom of the ladder, thoroughly mastering the i)rinciples of the business,
and working his way upward step by step, he has at length reached a
position of prominence among the able business men of his city and is
thoroughly deserving of the high esteem and regard in which he' is held.
Mr. Sutherland is a native of Canada, born in the Province of Ontario,
June 9, i860. _ His parents, Frank G. and Elizabeth (Caddy) Suther-
land, were natives of Scotland, and reared and educated in that country.
Some time after their marriage they emigrated to Canada, and there Mr.
Sutherland engaged in agricultural pursuits and in railroad building. He
remained in Canada until 1893, when he retired from active pursuits and
came to Flint, in which city he made his home until his death, March 31,
1914, aged ninety-two years. The mother, who has also reached the age
of ninety-two years, is still active and alert in body and mind. They have
been the parents of eight children, of whom Frank G. is the seventh in
order of birth.

Frank G. Sutherland obtained his early education in the country
schools of Canada, and early started to work in the carriage manufac-
turing business at London, Canada. There he made the most of his
opportunities, thoroughly mastering the details of the business which he
had chosen for his life work, and in 1889 came to Flint, immediately se-
curing employment with the Stewart Carriage Company, the only concern
with which he has been connected since his arrival. He commenced his
identification with this enterprise in a very modest capacity, gradually
arose to the position of foreman, and held it at the time that the entire
force of the company consisted of si.xteen men, and has continued to
advance until today he is the vice-president of a company employing one
hundred and eighty-five men. The product of this factory consists of
bodies for automobiles and carriages, commands a widespread trade, and
caters only to the highest class of business. The factory is of modern
character and is thoroughly equipped with the best and most highly im-
proved machinery. Mr. Sutherland, in his management of the business,
has shown himself acute, shrewd and far-seeing, and his associates have
every reason to have the utmost confidence in his ability. Having at-
tained success himself, he is ever ready to assist others to prosperity, and
is known as one of his city's successful men. His popularity is general,
he having friends in all walks of life. Politically a Republican, Mr.
Sutherland has served in the capacity of police commissioner for eight
years, from 1904 to 1912. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias
and of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of Alasonry.

On October 21, 1903, Air. Sutherland was married at Flint, to Miss
Lena Dunbar, a daughter of James L. Dunbar, a member of an old
and prominent pioneer family. Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland have had no
children.

Mekritt O. Dewev. Three generations of the Dewey family have
been residents of Jackson thus far, and the fourth generation is now grow-
ing up within the city. Of this family, Merritt O. Dewey is a splendid
e.xample of the New England thrift and sturdy ambition that have marked
others of the family, and his record is one of which he may well be proud,
representing as it does achievements that have been wrested from the
grasp of Fortune.

Mr. Dewey was born in Jackson county, as was also his father before
him, and his j^aternal grandfather, Timothy Dewey, came to Jackson
county in 1836 from the state of New York, though he was a native of
the state of Vermont. He was a first cousin of the late .Admiral George

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1329

Dewey, whose family also were of the Green Mountain state, and he was
descended directly from Revolutionary stock.

The father of the suhject was George S. Dewey, now a resident of
Los Angeles, California. He was born in Jackson county, an.d here spent
his entire life up to the time of his removal to Los Angeles, which event
occurred but recently. He was born on February 24, 1846, and in early
manhood he married Miss Florence Amelia Smith, a native of New York
State, who came to Michigan when she was but twelve years of age. She
was a daughter of Jackson and Eliza (Todd) Smith, and a brother, Milo
Jackson Smith, served throughout the Civil war in the Union army.

George S. and Florence ( Smith ) Dewey became the parents of five
children. They are Merritt O. ; Claude C, who is registry clerk in the
Jackson post office ; Ada I., now the wife of William Bush of Los Angeles,
California; Glenn G. and Genevieve F., who is now the wife of Ernest
Carpenter, of Pasadena, California. Glenn G. Dewey is now a student in
the Oregon State Agricultural College. He was formerly a student for
two years at Purdue. Indiana, and for one year at the University of Wis-
consin, prior to entering the Oregon school. He is now in his twenty-sixth
year, and has made his own way through school entirely. He is a grad-
uate of the Jackson high school, and is a student of splendid ability. He
is an athlete of considerable ability, and is now a member of the foot ball
team of the Oregon college at which he is attending.

Merritt O. Dewey received the greater part of his education in the
Jackson public schools, but he has since then added a consideraljle to his
mental e(|uipment through correspondence courses that he has pursued at
odd moments. While attending high school he left off attendance in his
junior year, went to work in a store, and carried on his studies evenings.
Without once appearing in school, he took his examinations at the close of
the year and passed on to his senior year of work, an accomplishment that
few boys would have had the hardihood or ambition to attempt.' Later he
took a course of training in Railway Mail service through the National
Correspondence School of Washington, D. C, and still later an electrical
engineering course through the International Correspondence Schools of
Scranton, Pennsylvania. By such methods as these has he equipped him-
self for the business of life, and he has built up an excellent success upon
this foundation.

His first independent business venture was launched in 1897, when at
the age of nineteen years he bought a half interest in a small flour and feed
business in Jackson, agreeing to pay $50.00 for his share in the plant.
Young Dewey didn't have $50.00, but he agreed to pay over a dollar when
ever he happened to have one, and thus the deal was consummated and he
became an active participant in the flour and feed enterprise. Since that
time, with the exception of a single year, Mr. Dewey has been engaged in
business for himself, in some form or another. It was in the year of 1905
that he established the present firm of M. O. Dewey & Company, he becom-
ing treasurer and general manager of the concern. The firm is engaged
in the handling of coal, coke, lime, cement, plaster, sewer pipe, salt, wood
and charcoal, and the business is one of the most prosperous and extensive
of its kind in Jackson today. The offices of the firm are located at 200
N. Mechanic street and 208 Cooper street. H. E. Dewey, an uncle of
Merritt Dewey, is president of the firm; M. B. Dewey, a cousin, is vice
president; and a brother-in-law, E. A. Smith, is secretary.

Mr. Dewey is a member and trustee of the Greenwood avenue Meth-
odist Episcopal church, and his fraternal relations are with the Odd Fel-
lows. He is a charter member of Jackson Chamber of Connnerce, and
has long been active in the best interests of that body.

On October 3, 1906, Mr. Merritt was married to Miss Florence L.

1330 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Porter, of Jackson, and to them have been born two daughters : Florence
Eleanor and Venessa Ardale, aged six and four years, respectively. In
addition to the family residence in Jackson, Mr. Merritt has a summer
home at Round Lake, where the family sojourn during the summer months.

William HexVry Pocock. Nearly thirty-five years ago William H.
Pocock established himself in Detroit as a general contractor, and his
work, carried on continuously since that time with growing success and
demand, has included many valuable contracts, including a number of
the better known apartment buildings of the city.

William Henry Pocock was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, Can-
ada, December 4, 1851. His parents were Gabriel and Emily (Rhoda-
way) Pocock. Gabriel Pocock, who was born in the city of Bristol,
England, in 1833, was a general contractor in that city, and in 1858
crossed the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, and after a voyage of three months
arrived in Canada and settled in St. Catherines, Ontario. There his
contracting business was continued on a large scale for a number of
years, but about 1898 he moved to the city of Hamilton, Ontaria, where
his death occurred in 1900. His wife was born in Somersetshire, Eng-
land. They were married in Wales, and her death occurred just two
days before that of her husband, and both were buried on the same
day in the same grave.

St. Catherines was the home of Air. Pocock's early youth, and its
common schools gave him his preliminary education. Under his father's
direction he learned the trade of mason, and at the age of twenty was
taken in as a partner to the senior Pocock in the line of general con-
tracting. From Canada he came to Detroit in the fall of 1880, and
without attempting to describe in detail his long business record, it will
illustrate the character of his work to mention the following noteworthy
buildings erected by him : The Victoria flats, the Morris flats, the Pick-
wick flats, the Regina flats, besides many of the better residences of
the city.

Mr. Pocock is a member of Corinthian Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and
of Michigan Consistory, thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and rhe
Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. His wife was Zittella McClaren,
who was born in St. Catherines, Ontario, daughter of Robert and Mary
(Facer) McClaren. j\Irs. Pocock died January 17, 1913, leaving one
son, William S.

William S. Pocock, who like his father and grandfather followed
the building trade, is one of the prominent young contractors of Detroit.
He was born in this city June 9, 1S82, was educated in the Detroit
schools, learned the mason's trade, and in 1902, at the age of twenty,
began contracting on his own account and under his individual name.
Since then his services have been employed in the construction of the
Prince Albert flats, the Patona flats, the Espinosa flats, and at the present
time his staff of workmen are engaged in constructing an apartment for
forty families and another for thirty families, and also the building of
the knights of Pythias Temple at Grand River. Mr. William S. Pocock
was married to Regina Bessinger, who was born in Detroit, a daughter
of George Bessinger. They are the parents of three children : Bryant
Walker, William Stephen and George. Mr. Pocock is an active member
of the Detroit Traders' & Builders' Exchange, the Detroit Board of
Commerce and the Detroit Motor Boat Club.

James S. Austin. The residence and business activities of James S.
Austin have been identified with Flint for the past quarter of a century.
An Englishman by birth, and having .acquired the trade of painter in the

^^e:

^^e^d&9

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 13;:!1

old country, he came to America with very slender resources, was cm-
ployed as a journeyman for a number of years, by thrift and hard work-
got together the capital which enabled him to start in business for him-
self at Flint. As a painting contractor, he has long enjoyed a fine busi-
ness, and has filled many of the largest and most important contracts in
that line in this part of the state.

James S. Austin was born in Old Devonshire, England, September
IS. 1861. He was the eighth in a family of fourteen children, born to
William and Frances (Sanford) Austin. The father was a Devonshire
farrner, and died in England in 1883 at the age of sixty-six. The mother
is still living in Devonshire, and is now eighty-eight years of age.

Mr. Austin had his early training on a farm in Devonshire, was edu-
cated in the common schools, and beginning an apprenticeship worked
seven years in learning the trade of painter, 'in order to secure the better
opportunities which the new world offered he came to America and spent
several years as a journeyman in various states and cities. He finally
located in Detroit, where he became connected with the F. Binford
Paint Company. He remained with that concern for eight years, and
after one or two other changes moved to Flint in 1888. He here estab-
lished himself in the painting business, and has operated on a contract
basis during most of the time. Mr. .Austin owns the store at 120 East
Kearsley street, but his sons have active charge, of that branch of the
business.

In public affairs he has always been a Republican, and served as alder-
man for two years from 1906 to ^gpS. " In the Masonic Order he has
taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite.^and also afiiliates with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, the Knights of the Maccabees, and the Loyal Guards.

At Detroit, in 1883, was celebrated his marriage with Miss Harriet
Zugar, whose parents are now deceased, and who at one time lived in
Crystal Falls, ^lichigan, and later in Detroit. The three children of Mr.
and Mrs. Austin are: William H. Austin, born at Detroit, in 1884, is
now married and lives in Flint, being associated with his father in busi-
ness; Lee James Austin, born at .Saginaw, in 1886, was married in Oc-
tober, 1913, to Miss Catherine Burke; Sylvester Austin, born at Flint, in
1894, is a graduate of the Flint high school. Mr. Austin in the course
of his business activities at Flint has acquired some valuable real estate.
He is the owner of what is known as Austin Place on North Saginaw
Street, a property very highly improved with modern residence buildings.

FIoN. Edward Wilmot Barber. Now eighty-six years of age, Mr.
Barber has attained, not only the distinction of long years, but of promi-
nent and useful activities that have crowded his lifetime from the decade
of the fifties down to the present, when he is still performing his func-
tions as editor of the Jackson Daily Patriot. Perhaps no citizen of Mich-
igan has more extended recollections of the old times than ^Ir. Barber.
He knew and was personally associated with many of the influential men
in the years before and during the Civil war. and for a number of years
after the war, was himself at Washington engaged in public service. Mr.
Barber has experienced much of life, and is a man whose venerable years
have been crowned with the fruit of a varied ability, and a kindly personal
character.

Edward Wilmot Barber was born at Benson, Vermont, July 3, 1828,
and his home has been in Michigan since 1839. His father was Edward
Hinman Barber, and the mother's maiden name was Rebecca Griswold.
The father who was a farmer by occupation, was born at Benson, Ver-
mont, in 1794, and died at Vermontville, ^Michigan. The Barber family

1332 HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN

goes back to the early years of New England's founding. Thomas Barber
was the Enghsh ancestor, who, under the patronage of Sir Richard Sal-
tonstall, left England in 1634, and on the ship Christian de Lo crossed
the Atlantic and in 1635 settled at or near Windsor, Connecticut. Thomas
Barber was twenty-one years of age at that time, was married at Windsor,
and it is one of the traditions of the family that his marriage was the
first in the Connecticut colony. The descendants of Thomas Barber have
ever since been prominent in New England both in peace and war. Wil-
liam C. Barber, one of the descendants, served on the staff of General
Washington, for a time during the Revolutionary war. In 1836, E. H.
Barber, father of Edward W., secured twelve hundred acres of rural land
in Eaton county, Michigan, and three years later, in 1839, brought his
family to a state, the greater part of whose territory was still in the wild-
erness. It was for the purpose of developing this large landed tract in
Eaton county, that tiie father moved to Michigan in 1839. They made the
journey from the East to Detroit, which was then a small city of nine
thousand people, and thence journeyed inland over the rough trails to
their destination.

Edward W. Barber, who was eleven years old on arriving in Michigan,
grew up with limited schooling, and at Marshall, Michigan, while a young
man, he began to learn the printers' trade. His three years' apprentice-
ship was spent on the Marshall Expounder, and was tinished in 1850. As
a journeyman he followed his trade in Detroit in a job office for several
years, later became an active newspaper man, and naturally took a hand in
politics as well as in journalism. He was the first city editor of the first
free-soil daily paper in Michigan, known as the Detroit Daily Democrat.
In 1857 and again in 1859, Mr. Barber was assistant clerk of the Michigan
House of Representatives, and in 1861 and 1863 he served as clerk of
that body. During the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, and the fortieth ses-
sions of the United States Congress, he was reading clerk in the House
of Representatives, at Washington.

His varied ability and services to his party brought him still further
promotions in public affairs. From 1869 to 1872, Mr. Barber held the
responsilile post of supervisor of internal revenue for the district, which
included the states of Micliigan and Wisconsin. In March, 1873, Presi-
dent Grant, after his second election, appointed Mr. Barber, third assist-
ant postmaster general and during the next four years he had his home in
Washington, and was busy with the duties of that office. During the
presidential campaign of 1876 Mr. Barber was on the executive com-
mittee of the Republican Congressional campaign committee in Washing-
ton. From the beginning of the Republican party his affiliation to it
existed until 1880, when on the tariff (|uestion he became, and has since
then been, an inde])cii(lent Democrat. In i8()0 he was secretary of the
State Republican Convention which met in Detroit, and which nominated
Austin Blair for governor of the state, and who became Michigan's war
governor.

Mr. Barber has had his home in Jackson since 1878, and since 1880,
he has been editor of the Jackson Daily Patriot. The Patriot is one of
the oldest newspapers in Southern Michigan, having been founded in
1844, by no less an eminent character in the newspaper field than Wilbur
1'. .Story, subsequcntlv of the Chicago Times. Mr. Barber has been twice
married, but both his wives arc deceased and there are no children.

At the age of eighty-six Mr. Barber still retains his vigor and would
pass for a man twenty years his junior. Besides the responsibilities of his
favorite post as editor of the Daily Patriot, he has a long record of suc-
cess in business affairs, and he is still active, keeping a firm hand on the
many interests which have come to him in his long career. He is presi-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN • 1333

dent of the Grand River Valley Railroad, has been on its board of direc-
tors smce 1863, and has the distinction of being the oldest living railroad
director in the state. He is a director of the People's National Bank of
Jackson, a director in the Barber State Bank of Vermontville, Michigan,
a director of the Imperial Automobile Company at Jackson, a director of
the Ruby Manufacturing Company, and also president of the Washington
Realty Company, the last two being also business concerns at Jackson.

Major Guy M. Wilson. In the course of an active career covering
less than twenty years, Major Wilson has gained some important distinc-
tions. He IS recognized as one of the leading men in the Flint bar, and
his practice as a lawyer connects him with much of the more important
and profitable business in the courts of Genesee county. Major Wilson
has gained his rank by active and efficient service in the Michigan Na-
tional Guards, and was commander of the Battalion at Flint comprising
a part of the Third Regiment of Michigan Infantry. Mr. Wilson was
one of the officers in command of the state troops at the recent labor
troubles in the northern mining district, and his service there gained many
commendations from the press and the public.

Major Wilson is a native of Genesee county, born at Thetford, No-
vember 29, 1875, the second of three children of Samuel J. and Elizabeth
(Perry) Wilson. The mother was born in Canada, but was reared and
educated in Genessee county, and died in 1880 at the age of thirty years.
The father is a native of this state, and for many years was engaged in
the manufacture of creameries, but now lives retired at Flint, at the age
of sixty-five. After the death of his first wife he was again married and
had two children by the second union.

Major Wilson grew up in his native county, had a public school edu-
cation, and entered the law department of the University of Michigan,
where he was graduated LL. B. in 1896. He was then twenty-one years
of age, and at once entered upon the active practice of the law at Flint.
He became associated with James H. McFarland, another of the well
known lawyers of Genesee county. Besides looking after his law prac- '
tice, Major Wilson is secretary and a director of the Flint Land Com-
pany.

His public service has been hardly less important than his professional
activities. He has served as secretary of the school board of Flint for
many years, and also as police commissioner. In 1900 he first enlisted
in the Michigan National Guards as a private. He subsequently became
sergeant, then captain and finally major, the rank which he still holds.
He is commander of the second Battalion of the Third Infantry, com-
prised of companies at Flint, Cheboygan, Alpena, and Pontiac. Major
Wilson had direct comrnand of the situation as quarantine guard at La-
peer during the outbreak of smallpox in that vicinity. During the sum-
mer of 1913 while the strike riots were occurring in the upper peninsula.
Major Wilson and his command were stationed in the Calumet and Wol-
verine district. It was in the latter district that the chief rioting and
trouble occurred with the dissatisfied miners. While Major Wilson and
his command were stationed there the utmost order and quiet prevailed,
and such was the efficiency of the discipline over the guard that not one
case of comi^laint was charged to the militia. The conduct of the bat-
talion during these disturbances earned for Major Wilson a reputation
among military men throughout the state and country. Major Wilson
is a Master Mason, and also affiliated with the Foresters, the Knights of
the Maccabees, and the Loyal Guard.

At Flint on February 13, 1901, occurred his marriage with Miss
Bertha Archer, a daughter of George H. and .A.ma Archer, a family of

1334 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

high standing at Flint. Mrs. Wilson is herself a highly educated and ac-
complished woman, and takes much part in Flint social atifairs. They
have no children. Major Wilson's offices are in the Patterson Block.

Dr. Osc.\r S.amuel Hartson has for more than twenty years been
engaged in the practice of his profession in Jackson, and for thirty-five
years, in round numbers, has devoted himself to his profession in this
and other fields. Success has been his good fortune, and through all the
years he has accomplished much in the way of alleviating human sufifer-
ing as the result of his labors. Dr. Hartson was born in Cleveland, Ohio,
on April 2.2, 1851, and he is a son of Joseph Hartson, a shoe manufac-
turer of that city, now deceased.

Dr. Oscar Samuel Hartson was two years old when he came to Mich-
igan with his parents, and he had his colle.ii'e training in Hillsdale College,
after which he devoted himself to pedagogic work for six years. He then
entered the medical 'department of the University of Michigan, and in
1879 he was graduated from the Homeopathic department. Since then
he has been engaged in continuous practice. His first professional labors
were carried on in Cheyenne, Wyoming. After three years there he
returned to Michigan and. continued at Cold Water for four years. He
then settled in P.arniajf Michfgah, and for six years was busily engaged
in practice. It was in 1892. that he came to Jackson, and this city has
since been the scene of his professional activities.

Dr. Hartson has prospered in his work, and has a large and lucrative
practice in Jackson, while his standing in professional circles is worthy
of his accomplishments in his field.

On September 8, 1876, Dr. Hartson was married to Miss Emma E.
Marritt, of Springport, Michigan. One daughter has been born to them,—
Myrta, now the wife of Dr. Myrton O. Blakeslee, of Jackson.

John Cornwall. Born at Bristol, England. John Cornwall came
to the United States as a youth of fifteen years, and his subset|uent
career has brought him to the forefront among Alichigan's energetic
business men. He is a son of William R. and Mary (Madge) Cornwall,
both natives of England, who brought their children to this country in
1870 and took up their residence in the Wolverine state, the father being
for thirty years one of Flint's prosperous merchants. He died in 1909,
at the age of eighty years. Mrs. Cornwall still survives, aged seventy-five
years, and lives with her son and daughter, the latter Miss Clara Louise
Cornwall.

John Cornwall was born November 11. 1855, and received good edu-
cational advantages in his native place, gratluating from the highest grade
of the schools there. Upon locating in Flint he embarked upon his career
as an employe of the Pere Marquette Railroad, in the ofiices of which line
he arose to the position of chief clerk. Subsequently he resigned to ac-
cept an ofl^er from the Durant-Dort Carriage Company, with which he
was connected for a number of years, and following this was associated
with the W. A. Patterson Carriage Company, of which he is now vice-
president. Mr. Cornwall's interests have been large and varied. He was
the organizer of the Flint Lumber Company, incorporated at $80,000,
and is its chief executive ; is secretary and general manager of the Flint
Specialty Company, in which he controls a large amount of stock ; is
secretary of the Imperial Wheel Company, one of the largest concerns
of its kind in the state, and has holdings in numerous minor companies.
His achievements have been gained entirely through his own efforts,
and his position among Michigan's substantial and helpful business men
is assured. He is an ardent Republican, hut has liad neither the time nor

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^Mi.lC LIBRARY

(gxl

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1335

the inclination for service in public office. With his family, he attends
the Episcopal church.

In 1893 Mr. Cornwall was married to :\Iiss Jennie M. Milner, of
Flint, a member of a well-known family of this city. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Cornwall have numerous friends, and are popular in social circles of the
city.

Thom.\s Woodfield. One of the largest and best known firms in the
city of Jackson today is the Hartwick-Woodfield Company, wholesale and
retail dealers in lumber, wood and coal, and operators of a modern and
complete planing mill where all kinds of interior finishing materials are
manufactured. Thomas Woodfield, whose name introduces this brief re-
view, is the president of this thriving concern and as one of the progressive
and prosperous business men of Jackson, he is especially deserving of men-
tion in these columns. Mr. Woodfield is especially fitted for the enterprise
to which he has in recent years devoted his time and attention, for he spent
twenty years in the lumber woods of Alichigan in the days when that was
the main industry of the state, so that he has no lack of understanding of
lumber and of the many details that enter into the successful conduct of
his business.

Thomas Woodfield is a native of England, born on October 19, 1858,
and he is a son of John and Mary (Chambers) Woodfield. Both are now
deceased. Neither of them ever left their native heath, but spent their
lives in England. Mr. Woodfield, their son, came to the United States
when he was twenty years old, and another of their sons, William, came
later. He is now a resident of Grayling, in Crawford county, Michigan,
a well known lumber town of the state. It was in the year 1878 that
Thomas Woodfield came to Michigan, and beginning then he spent more
than twenty years of continuous service in the lumber woods of Crawford
and Mackinaw counties. During all those years he identified himself with
the lumber business in its many phases, so that he gained a familiarity
with the enterprise that has brought him success and prosperity in his
present venture.

It was in the year igoi that Mr. Woodfield came to Jackson and here
identified himself with his present firm as one of the incorporators of the
Hartwick-W'oodfield Company, becoming vice president at the outset and
retaining that office up to 1906, when he succeeded to the presidency. The
first president of the firm was Nels Michelson, of Grayling, Michigan.
The first secretary and treasurer was Edward E. Hartwick, then of Jack-
son, but now of Detroit, and prominent in lumber circles of that city.
Harvey T. Woodfield, son of Mr. Woodfield, is the present secretary and
treasurer of the company, and the able assistant of his father in the
business.

Mr. Woodfield is a Mason of Knight Templar and Shriner affiliations,
and he is also a Scottish Rite Mason. H^e is a director of the Jackson
Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Jackson City Club. A Re-
publican, Mr. Woodfield has been more or less active in local politics, and
in his religious affiliations he is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal
church of Jackson.

On October i, 1881, Mr. Woodfield was married to Miss Marion Jo-
hanna IMickelson, and they are the parents of four children. Harvey
T., the eldest, is associated with his father in business, as has been stated
previously ; Elsie M. is the second, and Marion Ella and John R. are the
others. The eldest son was married on June 17, 1913, to Miss Louise
Gridley of Jackson. Mr. Harvey T. Woodfield, like his father, is promi-
nent in local circles, both business and social, and he is secretary and treas-
urer of the Hartwick-Woodfield Company. He is also thirty-second de-
gree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner.

1336 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Clakk M. Johxson. One of the rising yonng attorneys of the Flint
bar is Clark M. Johnson, who came out of 'the University of Michigan
a few years ago and has since been winning recognition for ability and
energy in the law, and is one of the popular younger citizens of his' com-
munity.

His birth occurred in Genesee county on a farm, in January, 1885, and
he started out with the fortunate endowment of good ancestry, and the
wholesome environment of country life. His parents are James D. and
Georgina (Stevenson) Johnson. 'The paternal grandparents were early
Michigan pioneers, coming from New York state. The father was also
born in Genesee county, has been a farmer all his active career, and is
now fifty-six years of age. The mother was born in Detroit, but was
reared, educated and married in Genessee county, and is now forty-seven
years of age. There were four children, the Flint lawyer being the
oldest and the other three being: Ransom C. Johnson, Thomas L. John-
son, and Charlotte Johnson.

Clark M. Johnson attended the district schools of (ieneseo county,
later graduated from high school, and his collegiate work was taken in
the University of Michigan, where he graduated in the law department in
ic)07. He was then twenty-two years of age, and at once established
himself among the aspirants for professional success at Flint, and has
since done well. He is a member of the County and the State Bar As-
sociation. As to politics Mr. Johnson takes an independent attitude, and
fraternally his affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Knights and Ladies of
Security. He is unmarried.

Dr. Charles B. Colwell. For fifty-three years the late Dr. Charles
B. Colwell was engaged in the drug business, and for thirty-two years of
this time his activities were carried on in the city of Jackson. A man of
sterling qualities of mind and heart, he won the unqualified respect and
esteem of the people of Jackson dtiring his long residence among them,
and when he died, November 30, 1904, he was mourned not alone as a
public-spirited and useful citizen, but as a friend of charity, progress and
education. Doctor Colwell was born at Hamilton, New York, June 12,
1823, a son of Joseph and Laura (Smith) Colwell. He was of English
descent, the ancestors of the family having emigrated from England to
America during the troubles between Cromwell's adherents and the king,
and as dissenters from the Church of England joined Roger Williams and
formed a part of his colony in Rhode Island. Joseph Colwell, the father
of Doctor Colwell, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, February 11,
1771, while the mother, Laura Smith, was born in Connecticut in 1781.
They were the parents of ten children, of whom Charles B. was the ninth
in order of birth.

Charles B. Colwell grew up at the place of his birth, and there received
his education. Upon reaching manhood, he became a clerk in the drug
store of an older brother, with whom he remained for several years, and
in 1851 embarked in business on his own account at Oswego, New York.
In 1855 he came West and established himself in the same line at Mad-
ison, Wisconsin, which was his field of activity for three years, next
removing to Janesville, in the same state, where he continued until 1871.
His next location was the town of Marshall, Michigan, and from that
place came to Jackson in 1873. For fifty-three years Doctor Colwell had
remained in the drug trade, and at the time of his death was in partner-
ship with his sons in an establishment at No. 241 East Main street. He
was an able man of business, and for a number of years was interested
in tlic manufacture of a line of ])roprietary medicines, in this connection

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1337

being originator and president of the ]\Iagic Egyptian Oil Company, of
Jackson, a concern whicli manufactured a well known remedy, which he
himself had invented. Evidence of his high standing in the ranks of his
chosen calling is found in the fact that he served for an extended period
as president of the Jackson County Pharmaceutical Association, and he
also held membership in the Michigan State Pharmaceutical Association.
His integrity and probity were a heritage from his ancestors, for by inter-
marriage he was a lineal descendant of Roger Williams, the first governor
and founder of Rhode Island, and through the same blood he comes from
Mr. Brown, the founder of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island,
and also from the Harris family, who were noted in the early history of
that state. Up to the night before his death, Doctor Colwell had been
feeling well, and the day before had been at his office, attending to his
usual duties. His illness, neuralgia of the heart, was brief, and he died
at 4:30 A. M. at his residence, No. 311 First street.

On March 30, 1847, Doctor Colwell was married at Oswego, New
York, to Miss A. E. Ruggles, who died September 10, 1861. Two chil-
dren were born to this union: Prof. Charles N., of Grand Rapids, Mich-
igan; and Frederick M., who was his father's partner and who is now
continuing the business which the elder man founded. Doctor Colwell
was married September 26, 1887, to Mrs. Mary E. Longsworth, of Jackson,
a native of Marshall, Michigan, born April 27, 1838. She was married to
William Longsworth, a hotel keeper, who died March 10, 1865, leaving
one daughter, Jennie, who is now Mrs. Jennie Henley, of Bluffton, Indiana.
Mrs. Colwell, who survives her husband, lives at Jackson, at 311 First
street.

Hugh A. Stewart, M. D. The high rewards attainable through a
career of earnest and continued effort are exemplified in the career of
Dr. Hugh A. Stewart, one of the leading medical practitioners of Flint.
Reared a farmer, he had higher ambitions than the cultivation of the soil,
and through his own labors secured the necessary training to follow the
vocation of his choice, in which his standing is now assured. Doctor
Stewart was born in Lapeer county, Michigan, August 4, 1882, and is
a son of James A. and Isabelle (Morrison) Stewart.

James A. Stewart was born in Canada, and in 1868 traveled over-
land to California, remaining in that state until 1880, when he came to
Michigan and settled in Lapeer county. He has been a lifelong agricul-
turist, and through energy and industry has made a success of his opera-
tions, and is now living retired at Fostoria, Michigan, aged sixty-five
years. Mrs. Stewart was also born in Canada, and came to Michigan in
1870, having since continued to be a resident of the Badger state, being
fifty-three years of age. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Stewart, of whom Hugh A. is the oldest.

Hugh A. Stewart early learned the meaning of hard work and the
value of a dollar, for while he was attending the country schools in his
boyhood, he spent the summer months in assisting his father. Follow-
ing the completion of his preliminary training, he began to study medi-
cine in his spare hours, and eventually went to work to earn the means
of attending college. After entering the Detroit College of Medicine he
continued to devote his out-of-school hours to assiduous labor, and thus
he worked his way through college. WHnen he was graduated, in i(p6,
he found himself $1800 in debt, but with the securing of a good practice
this was liquidated in a short time. Doctor Stewart began his profes-
sional labors at North Branch, where he remained for one year, then
going to Alba, which was the scene of his endeavors for one and one-
half years. In 1909, seeking a wider field, he came to Flint, where he

1338 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

has contimied in the enjoyment of a large and lucrative practice. He
maintains well-appointed offices at Nos. 201-2 Dryden Block. Although
Doctor Stewart graduated in 1906, he has never ceased to be a student,
and in 191 3 took a post-graduate course in London, England. He also
spent about one year in the United States Marine Hospital, and prac-
ticed in various parts of the service. Doctor Stewart is a valued mem-
ber of the Genesee County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical
Society and the American Medical Association. A Republican in his
political beliefs, he was his party's candidate for alderman in 191 1, and
has served in that office since April of that year. Fraternally, Doctor
Stewart is a Mason of the thirty-second degree and a Shriner, and
belongs also to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the
L. O. M. Club, of which latter he is a past director.

On October 23, 1907, Doctor Stewart was married at North Branch,
^Michigan, to Miss Anna M. Vandecar, and to them there have been
born three children: one who died in infancy; Georgiana, born in 1908;
and \'an Hugh, born in 1910. Mrs. Stewart's parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Frank Vandecar are still residents of North Branch.

Frederick Legr.axd Tupper, M. D. The present generation is very
far removed in more than years from the conditions that obtained when
Moliere could never mention the medicin without contempt, represent-
ing him as a mere bombastic quack ; and, allowing for the poet's creative
faculty which led him to make classes out of individuals, it may be said
that his contempt was only too often deserved. But today the doctor is
held in the highest esteem as a man of science, whose treatment is based
upon scientific principles, and whose knowledge gained is not mere care-
less study, to be lost as quickly as acquired, but knowledge that has been
secured through a long course of study, from experts in medical science,
and from actual work in institutions for the healing of the ill. Every-
thing that affects the health, not only of individuals but of communities
and even of nations, is, or has been, the subject of the doctor's investiga-
tions, and it is therefore that the profession is held in such high repute.
A man of thorough training, of natural and acquired ability, of devotion
to his chosen work and of broad sympathies. Dr. Frederick Legrand
Tupper is a worthy representative of the medical profession, and since
1901, when he arrived in Flint, he has gained a high place in the ranks
of his calling and an established position in public confidence. He is a
native son of Michigan, born at Clarkston, Oakland county, October 21,
1858, and is a son of Rev. Alexander K. and Mary (Gamble) Tupper.

Doctor Tupper comes of an old and honored American family,
founded in this country aliout the year 1630 by one Thomas Tupper, a
native of England. A number of the name have come to Michigan,
where they have distinguished themselves in various lines of endeavor.
Rev. Alexander K. Tupper, the father of the Doctor, was a noted mem-
ber of the Baptist ministry and a native of New York State, from
whence he came to Michigan with his father about the year 1828. He
was known also as a popular lecturer on various subjects of importance
during his day, and was a leading Mason of his locality, being the
founder of the first lodge of that order at Clarkston. His death occurred
at Toledo, Ohio, about the year 1864. Rev. Tupper married j\Iary
Gamble, a daughter of Rev. Gamble, a Baptist minister of Belleville,
Wayne county, Michigan, and she died in 1863 at Bridgeport, Saginaw
county, this state. There were three sons and five daughters in their
family, of whom all are now deceased except Frederick L. and Mrs. J.
F. Becker, the wife of J. F. Becker, a photographer of Flint.

The early education of Doctor Tupper was secured in the public

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1339

schools of Midland and Saginaw, Michigan, and as a youth he took up
the study, and sujjsequently the business, of pharmacy, at Bay City.
He thus became interested in the science of medicine, and determined to
become a physician, accordingly entering the ^lichigan College of Medi-
cine and Surgery, at Detroit, where he was graduated with the class of
1894 and the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He embarked in practice
immediately at IJay City, where he held the office of health officer from
1894 to 1900, and in 1901 came to Flint, where he has since carried on
an e.xcellent practice, maintaining offices at his residence. No. 1008
North Saginaw street. In addition to his general practice, a representa-
tive one, he is surgeon for the General Motors Company, represented at
Flint by the Buick Motor Company. Doctor Tupper takes a keen inter-
est in public affairs, and since its organization has been a member of the
Park Board of Flint. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in
which he has attained to the thirty-second degree, and belongs to Mich-
igan Sovereign Consistory, at Detroit. His religious connection is with
St. Paul's Episcopal church, and for over nine years he has held mem-
bership in the church choir. He has never ceased being a student of his
profession, constantly attends lectures and clinics, maintains member-
ship in the various societies of the calling.

On June 11, 1902, Dr. Tupper married Mrs. Jennie King, widow of
Edward T. King and daughter of James Reed. Mrs. Tupper conducted
art studios in Grand Rapids and Bay City, Michigan, several years before
her marriage to Dr. Tupper.

William W. Wright. The handicaps which oppose some men seem
only to emphasize the fine character of their success. Perhaps it is the
nature of some men to thrive on difficulty, and without the service of
frowning circumstances and opposition their lives might, have sunk down
to the commonplace level of human achievement. It is not always possible
to say whether any individual would have gone still further had he not
suffered so many reverses in his career, but it is any how distinctlv credit-
able that such men attain so high positions regardless of the circumstances
which impelled or retarded them in their course. When William W.
Wright of Jackson was nineteen years old he suffered an accident by
which his right hand was cut oft'. Up to that time he had practically no
education, and though now a man not only well educated but possessed
of broad culture, it is a fact that is noteworthy in his biography that he
obtained practically all his learning by private studies after the injury
to his hand. Another accomplishment which followed upon that disaster
was acquiring the skill to write with his left hand, and he now is a better
penman with that member than most men are with their right hand.
William W. Wright is one of the most successful real estate and insurance
men of southern Michigan, is a man of affairs in the best sense of the
word, is a member of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, a director in
the Central State Bank of Jackson, is president of the Jackson Brass
Foundry, and has many other relations with the community. He is a
director of the Interstate Fire Insurance Company of Detroit, Michigan,
and vice president of the local fire insurance agents' association of Michi-
gan. He is also president of the Jackson Real Estate Board and is presi-
dent of the Jackson Association of Local Fire Insurance Agents.

William W. Wright was born in Marshall, ^lichigan, March 22,
1871. He comes of a family of railroad men. and the record is somewhat
remarkable. His father was Joseph \'an Buren Wright, a locomotive
engineer on the Michigan Central, who was killed when he was thirty
years old. Grandfather Elijah Wright, was also an engineer on the
same railroad. Two brothers of Joseph \an Buren Wright, and uncles

1340 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of William W. saw a long service with the Alichigaii Central as drivers
of locomotives, and Thomas P. Wright, a brother of William W., is still
an active engineer on that road. The two uncles who were engineers
were named William and George Wright. In American families it seldom
happens that one vocation is so steadily followed, and William W. Wright,
as wil'l be shown, was only prevented by an accident from the same career.
The mother of William W. Wright was Frances J. Prindle, who after
the death of her first husband was left a widow with five children, and
was then only twenty-five years of age. In i8S8 she married James B.
Watson, a man very favorably known and well thought of in the village
of Grass Lake, Michigan. Since his death in 1901, she has continued
to make her home at Grass Lake, Michigan.

William W. Wrtght was married March 30, 1898, to Miss Catherine
Mary Shearer of Jackson. She was born in Aurora, Illinois, but was
reared and educated at Jackson, and is a graduate of the Jackson high
school. They have one daughter, Miss Uva Catherine Wright, aged six
years. Mr. Wright has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry,
belongs to the Mystic Shrine, is also an Elk and a Knight of Pythias,
and an Odd Fellow. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad
Trainmen, by virtue of his former railroad experience. Mr. Wright's
maternal grandfather, William Prindle, came to Michigan from New
York State in the early days, driving an ox team and settled as a pioneer
in Calhoun county. His settlement there antedated the railroad a number
of years, and in that period he owned and operated a stage line running
out of Marshall.

While the preceding paragraphs cover in a general way the family
record and career of Mr. Wright, it is desired to supplement those facts
by a most entertaining biographical sketch, written with a full apprecia-
tion of humor and also of the fine qualities and eminent success of this
progressive Jackson business man and citizen. The author of the sketch
knew Mr. Wright intimately, and it is seldom the fortune of an indi-
vidual to have lived a career which furnishes material for such a charming
personal narrative as the following, which is taken practically without
change from its original setting: —

When William W. Wright opened the "door of opportunity," it
slammed shut,* and pinched ofif his right hand.

This is a mixed metaphor all right, — but just the same it's got to stand,
because it happens to be true.

Bill Wright made no particular stir when he arrived in Jackson in
July, 1871. One reason may have been that he was too young, having
only arrived in this universe of Marshall, Michigan, some four months
previously, on March 22, 1871. The first nine years of Bill's life were
rather uneventful. Then he began looking for a job. First he sold papers.
Thence he naturally gravitated into the Patriot composing room, occu-
pying the ancient and honorable position of "cub" or "devil," as some
people who never worked in a printshop insist on calling it. Cubs had a
snap in those days. All they had to do was to show up at noon, clean,
fill and wipe about forty kerosene oil lamps, sweep out (carefully placing
the floor-pi on the adjacent window-sill), prove the galleys, get five-cents
worth of Dark Hiawatha for slug three, prove more galleys, and do odd
jobs until four, begin again at six-thirty P. M., prove more galleys, help
ihc foreman, get some more Dark Hiawatha, run down to the telegraph
office nineteen times, chase the galleys from the chute to the compositor's
table and generally kee]) things going until 4:30 A. M., after which he
might assist in the circulation department for a few hours before going
to bed. Bill's present appearance indicates the blighting and stunting
effect of child labor — especially at night time — but possibly he got

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1341

tired of this job. Probably he considered the pursuit of the art pre-
servative of all arts not sufficiently strenuous.

Anyway, Bill sought and obtained other jobs. Several otlier jobs,
in fact. For a time he had real genteel work, tending the door at M. W.
Robinson's drygoods store. Then he serVed a term as bell-hop at the
old Hibbard house. Then he set up in business as a junk dealer, driv-
ing a decrepit wagon from door to door and negotiating contracts in old
iron, bottles and rags. But his father and most of his relatives were
railroad men and so Bill just naturally took to the steel-belted highway
by the way of call boy. This also was some job, as it was before tele-
phones were invented and the call-boy had to call on a daily long list of
trainmen every night in every part of the town and notify them that it
was up to them to get busy. For a time he was telegraph messenger of
the railroad telegraph office at the Junction.

None of these positions being especially lucrative, Bill "accepted"
the honorable, if hot and dirty job of shoveling clinkers from underneath
the engines. Then he "accepted" the job of wiping grease from the
engines. Then he "accepted" a position as fireman on a switch engine —
being mighty glad to get the job; and after a time he fired so well and
faithfully that he was promoted to a brakemanship.

You'll notice nothing is said about schooling in this recital of diversi-
fied industry. By the way, in checking over the list it seems as though
a few jobs were omitted — yes; Bill also held down a job in the Purifier
machine shop and in Gilbert's Furniture Factory before he took to the
road. Bill went to school a few months for a few summers — but that
didn't seem to hurt him any.

Some time since Bill remarked in the course of conversation with a
friend that he couldn't help believing in destiny. In the year 1900, one
fine morning, Brakeman Bill Wright was helping to navigate a freight
train into Owosso. He says when he started on his run that morning,
his right hand had a queer feeling. His sister ordinarily met the train at
Owosso, bringing some extra nice things to eat, and he told her his
hand seemed to be asleep and he couldn't understand it. He seriously
declared that all that fateful morning he felt as though some change was
coming into his life — and at 12:20 or thereabouts, the change came. Bill
was cutting out a car at Lansing; a careless engineer left the engine in
charge of the fireman who backed up when he shouldn't, and Bill's right
hand was neatly cut off at the wrist.

It seemed a serious situation. Bill was nineteen years old, and had
been working for nine years and his worldly wealth consisted of one
ticket admitting him to a sanitarium for which he had paid one dollar a
month. They picked him up at Lansing, and after a time shipped him
to the Detroit Sanitarium, where he had his meal ticket. At the sani-
tarium Bill carefully mapped out his future career. He wouldn't be
worth anything as a brakeman or conductor; he hadn't been any too
expert at writing with his right hand, and that was lying somewhere up
the Michigan Central's right-of-way. But his left hand would do to
wave a flag at some railroad crossing — and after all the fifty dollars
per which the job paid was not so bad. So Bill decided that he would
get a job as a crossing tender just as soon as the stump on his right arm
healed up.

One morning Bill was called to the office of the superintendent of the
sanitarium. He had been a little indiscreet the night before, breaking
rule nineteen by remaining out of his room until after midnight, and he
had a hunch that his summons meant that he was to be fired in disgrace.
Instead, the superintendent told him he had a job for him as soon as he
could leave. "What sort of a job?" asked Bill. "Selling accident insur-

1342 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ance and sanitarium tickets," replied the superintendent. "What? Me?"
said Bill. "Not on your life. I think I see myself selling insurance."

The superintendent discreetly dropped the subject but a fortnight later
when Bill's stump was almost healed he got leave to visit friends in
Jackson, and the sanitarium boss handed him ten tickets. "I don't want
you to ask any one to buy them," he said, "but if any of your friends
want one, you make a dollar and a half out of every sale."

Bill came home and in two days he had sold the ten tickets, had
written the sanitarium for one hundred more — and has been doing busi-
ness with them ever since. He has also sold real estate, fire insurance,
loaned money, and just now is director of the Central State Bank, presi-
dent of the Jackson Brass Foundry Company, president of the Jackson
Real Estate Board, director of the Chamber of Commerce, and has
honestly made a very tidy pile.

That is how it came to pass that when Bill Wright opened the door
of opportunity it slammed shut and clipped off his right hand. If he
hadn't lost his hand he would have continued as a brakeinan and might
have ultimately become a conductor on a fast freight, liut he remains
just the same old Bill Wright that he was when he was shoveling clinkers
and wiping grease, except for clothes. His name is William but he is
called Bill. Without quotation marks. He's square, is Bill, and is a
good friend who has made his way without trade, schooling, or a dollar's
worth of assistance from anybody since he arrived at the mature age of
nine years. Fate forced him to labor with his head instead of with his
hands, and he has no quarrel with fate or with any mortal man.

Dr. WiLLAitD M. Burleson. While the professional career of Dr.
Burleson has been spent in the city of Grand Rapids, his family was
first identified with the northeastern section of the state, principally in
Saginaw county. The Burlesons were among the early settlers in Rhode
Island and Connecticut, and the descendants of the original emigrants
are now very numerous and found in most if not all the states of the
Union. Many have attained prominence in the professions, in business,
and in public affairs.

The lineage of Dr. Burleson back to the first American ancestor lacks
one link of complete authenticity, but from the best information avail-
able he is a descendant from John Buries, who came to America in
1632 in the ship Blessing. He settled in Rhode Island, and it is believed
that one of his sons, Edward, took the name of Burleson, instead of
Buries. Edward Burleson married Sarah, and one of their children was
John Burleson, born in 1677. John became the father of John, who
was born in 1701. In the next generation* is Edward Burleson, who was
born in 1737. Edward was the father of John Burleson, who was born
at West Greenwich, Rhode Island, June 8, 1776. He was the great-
grandfather of Dr. Burleson, and migrated west from New England and
became one of the early settlers in Chenango county. New York. Grand-
father Alfred Burleson, who was born at Greene in Chenango county,
New York, in 181 1, learned the trade of shoemaker at a time when all
shoes were made to order, and often by traveling cobblers, who went
through the country and stopped long enough at each house to make all
the boots and shoes needed by the family for the next six months.
Alfred Burleson set up a shop and did a considerable business as a
manufacturer of custom shoes. When a young man he started west,
lived a few years at Steuben county. New York, and in 1840 set out for
the new state of Michigan. After a brief residence at Pontiac, where
he followed his trade, he went on to the still newer country of Shiawas-
see county, where he bought land and settled down to the occupation of

HC'Ctf^t^'^^'*

**?!Si'y?%.^^M

HISTORY OF MICHlGAiN 1343

farming. During tlie winter months he continued to make boots and
shoes, and thus combined two very useful and prohtable employments.
He lived in Shiawassee county until his death, and his remains now rest
at Elsie, in Clinton county. Alfred Burleson married Lois Baker. Her
brother, Hiram Baker, was a farmer near Paw Paw, and her brother
Charles became a physician, and was in active practice in Decatur for
half a century. He died in 1914. Lois Baker Burleson survived her
husband a few years. They reared two sons and five daughters.

Charles Burleson, father of Dr. Burleson, was born at Howard, in
Steuben county. New York, October 12, 1832. He was about eight
years of age when the family moved to Michigan, and he made the best
of his limited opportunities to secure an education. When a young man
he went south and found employment as clerk and bookkeeper in the
Pulaski House, a well-known pioneer hotel of Savannah, Georgia. He
was there during the trying times that preceded the war between the
states, and, though a northern man, was called out to drill with the
local, militia. The last boat which left Savannah previous to the out-
break of the war carried him north, and soon after his return to Michigan
he was married and took up his residence in Saginaw. There he was
given charge of a flour mill belonging to his father-in-law, and was also
later clerk and bookkeeper at the Bancroft House. He was agent for
the Tittabawassee Boom Company, and managed the aifairs of that com-
pany at Saginaw for nine years. Finally he bofaght th* interest of the
other heirs in his father's farm, and spent ten years as a prgjctical farmer.
Then, returning to Saginaw, he entered the employ of C' Merrill and
Company, and was thus engaged until his death in 1894. The maiden
name of his wife was Elizabeth Spalding. She wjis born at Hornell,
New York, a daughter of Dr. Erastus aixl' 'Eliza (;Walker) Spalding.
Dr. Spalding came from New York state., to Michigan in 1841, making
the trip by way of the Erie canal as far as Buffalo, and from that city
driving all the way around the Great Lakes with horse and buggy,
passing through Cleveland and Toledo, which were then very small cities.
The wife of Charles Burleson died in 1902, and she reared seven chil-
dren, namely: George S., Frank A., Willard M., Jesse C, Mae E.,
Fred E., and John F.

Dr. Willard M. Burleson, who was born at Saginaw, Michigan. ]\Iarch
20, 1868, received his early education in the public schools of Shiawas-
.see coimty and at Saginaw. His career has been one of varied experi-
ence. When he was eighteen years old he enlisted in the United .States
regular army, and saw much service in the west before the close of
Indian hostilities. He was in campaigns in New Mexico and the Dakotas,
and during 1890-91 was engaged in the campaign which concluded with
the death of the famous old Indian chief, Sitting Bull. While in the
army he was promoted to the grade of Sergeant, and served five years
altogether, until he obtained his honorable discharge. Returning home,
he took a commercial course, and soon after took up the study of medi-
cine. In i8g6 he entered the .Saginaw Valley Medical College, and was
graduated M. D. from that institution in 1899. Dr. Burleson set up his
practice at Grand Rapids, and has since enjoyed a large and profitable
clientage. His brother, John F. Burleson, is associated with him in
practice, and they have a suite of offices in the Burleson Hotel building,
property which they own.

Dr. Burleson married Mary M. Comstock, who was born in Grand
Rapids, the only child of Tileston and Ellen Elmira (Turner) Comstock.
Dr. Burleson and wife have one daughter. Ellen Elizabeth. Dr. Burle-
son has taken thirty-two degrees in Scottish Rite Masonry, and is also
affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The family
attend worship at the Baptist church.

1344 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Aakon Beaman Turner. In the venerable and honored citizen who
died at his home in Grand Rapids in 1903, at the age of eighty-one, west-
ern Michigan possessed not only one of its pioneer residents, but a man
who represented in his long career the prominent social and civic ele-
ments which made this community distinctive from its growth out of the
wilderness to a modern city. He is best remembered as a journalist,
and for many years was an editor and the founder of the Grand Rapids
Eagle. He was one of the originators of the Republican party, and had
the distinction of serving as clerk of the first city council at Grand Rapids.

Aaron Beaman Turner was born in Plattsburg, New York, August
27, 1822. His father was Isaac Turner, born in Clinton county, New
York, where he was reared and married, and in 1836 came west to Mich-
igan accompanied by his family. He followed the Great Lakes as far
as Detroit, and there took his household goods and his wife and children
in a wagon and drove across the swamps and through the woods to Grand
Rapids. Grand Rapids was then only a village, antl a small collection of
pioneer homes was the only thing to distinguish it from the wilderness
which closed it in on all sides. Isaac Turner had learned the trade of
mill-wright in his younger days, and for a number of years after locating
in western Michigan he was employed in the building of many flour
mills and grist mills throughout the country around Grand Rapids, and
thus assisted in the erection of some of the first manufacturing institu-
tions in that part of the state. At Grand Rapids he had a ])rominent
place in affairs, and was a member of the first board of aldermen. His
home was on the west side, and there was no bridge across (jrand river
for some years, so that all citizens in ])assing from one to the other side
of the city had to use canoes. Isaac Turner died at the age of seventy-
eight years. He married Eunice BuUis, who was born at Plattsburg,
New York, and lived to be about eighty years of age. They were the
parents of four daughters and three sons: Aaron B., Alzina M., Lydia
H., Clara B., Theresa N., Willard D. and Chester. By a second mar-
riage he was the father of one son, Isaac.

The late Aaron B. Turner was seventeen years old when the fam-
ily came west to Grand Rapids. He made the best of his limited oppor-
tunities to acquire an education, and in 1837 began learning the printer's
trade in the office of the Grand River Times, which was the first news-
paper published in Grand Rapids, and one of the first in all western
Michigan. He acqtiired a thorough proficiency in the art of printing, and
was almost a natural newspaper man, so that he always occupied a con-
genial field in newspaper work. In 1844 he bought an old-fashioned hand
press, and sufficient type and other material to enable him to set up a
small print shop. From that little office in Grand Rapids on Christmas
day of 1844 was issued the first number of the Grand Rapids Pagle, and
no history of Grand Rapids journalism would be complete without some
account of this paper and of its veteran editor. In 1856 Mr. Turner
brought out the first daily paper published in Grand Rapids, at that
thiie the only means of illumination in the homes and in the offices of
Grand Rapids was by the tallow candle, and practically all the work on
the Daily Eagle, from typesetting to presswork, was performed by this
dim and wavering light. In 1864 the old office was destroyed by fire, but
Mr. Turner soon had it in running order again, and his |)nper was an
exception to the general rule of newspaper mortality in Michigan. Up
to 1852 his papers championed the Whig party, and at that date, the
old Whig organization having become decadent, he was one of the first
editors to make pulilic call for the formation of a new and vigorous party
which might upliold and ])Ut into operation the new principles of polit-
ical life which were already recognized and which only required organ-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1345

ization to be made effective in national affairs. When Mr. Turner came
out boldly on the platform of a new party, many of his subscribers
dropped his paper, but he continued to advocate the new princi])les until
the Republican party was formed. He was one of the organizers of that
new party, and met his associates under the oaks at Jackson in 1854. an
occasion and convention which gave the first formal existence to the
Republican party. He became prominent in public affairs, served as
secretary of the State Senate, and was a man of influence either through
his editorial writings or as a citizen. During the war he held the post
of sutler in the Fourth Michigan Infantry, and was through a number
of campaigns with his regiment.

The late Mr. Turner lived at Grand Rapids until his death at the
age of eighty-one years. He married Sally Sibley, who was born in
Clinton county, New York, December 7, 1824. Her father was Captain
Willard Sibley, a native of New York state who came out to Michigan
in 1834 and was one of the first pioneers to locate at Grand Rapids. He
was for some time engaged in boating up and down the Grand river,
and commanded the first steamboat that ever run the current of that
stream. He followed the river traffic many years, and lived in Grand
Rapids until his death. Captain Sibley married Elmyra Burt, who sur-
vived him, and for her second husband married Asa Pratt, another
Grand Rapids pioneer. The Sibley children were : Nathan, Willard
and .Sally C. Mrs. Sally Turner died in her sixty-ninth year. She
reared seven children, namely : Ellen E., Amelia, Geneva, Martha, Grace,
Aaron B. and Willard S.

Hon. Charles C. Comstock. The name of the late Hon. Charles
C. Comstock is one that deserves remembrance and memorial in the his-
tory of the state. He was for many years prominent in public affairs,
and one of the early manufacturers at Grand Rapids, a city which bene-
fited by his presence and activities in many ways.

Charles C. Comstock came to Grand Rapids from New Hampshire
in 1853. He at once identified himself with the manufacture of lumber,
a line of industry in which he had much previous experience, and built
up a large industry, and also established a plant for the manufacture of
furniture, and pails and tubs. Always a Democrat in politics and an ac-
tive worker in the organization, he was a nominee of the party for
various offices, including those of Governor and Congressman, in times
when the Democratic party was in the hopeless minority, and later when
the Democrats and Greenbackers fused their organization. He was hon-
ored by the united elements and elected for Congress from his district.
After serving a term in the National House of Representatives, he re-
fused all further political honor, and thereafter was retired until his
death, February 20, 1900, at the venerable age of eighty-two years.

Charles C. Comstock married Mary Winchester, who was born in
New England and was of old and honored revolutionary ancestry. She
died when quite a young woman, and Mr. Comstock married a second
time. The four children of his first marriage were Alzina, Tileston, Julia
and Mary Ella. The children of his second marriage were Clara and
Etta. Alzina, deceased, married Albert Stone ; Julia, married John
Goldsmith, and he is deceased: Mary Ella is the widow of Franklin
Konkle ; Clara is the wife of Huntley Russell ; and Etta married L.
Boltwood.

Ellex E. Wilson. One of the oldest residents of Grand Rapids is
this \enerablc woman, now seventy years of age, who was born in Grand
Rajjids when it was a village on the western frontier, .A.pril 29, 1844.

1346 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Ellen Elmira Wilson is a daughter of Aaron B. and Sally (Sibley)
Turner. Data concerning her father, one of the prominent pioneers of
Grand Rapids, will be found elsewhere in this work. She attended school
in the old stone building which in the early days stood on the top of the
hill and was used for various other purposes besides that of school.
When she was fifteen she entered the Michigan Female College at
Lansing, and was graduated there in 1863.

At the close of the Civil war, in 1865, the citizens of Kent county
tendered the returning soldiers a banquet. Food was solicited and con-
tributed in abundance by citizens all over the county, and it was served
to the honored guests in a dining hall which is unique in the history of
banquets. The place for the banquet was the covered bridge at the foot
of Pearl street. A table extended through the center of the bridge for
the entire length, and as all trafific was suspended for the time, a more
appropriate banquet hall could hardly have been devised. Mrs. Wilson
was one of the many Grand Rapids young ladies who waited on the
table and who served the veterans and assisted in welcoming them home
after their long service in the cause. She was for many years active in
the social affairs of the city, and at one time was a member of the
Ladies' Literai-y Club and one of the founders of the LTnion Benevolent
Hospital.

When she was twenty-one years of age she married Tileston A.
Comstock, a son of Hon. Charles C. and Mary (Winchester) Comstock.
Tileston A. Comstock was born in New Hampshire, came to Grand
Rapids with his parents when he was a boy, acquired a good education,
and took up the manufacture of furniture, which he followed until his
early death at the age of twenty-six years. He left one daughter, Hilary,
now the wife of l5r. Willard M. Burleson, of Grand Rapids. Mrs.
Comstock later married Robert Wilson. Robert Wilson was jjorn in
Dumfries, Scotland, and when ten years of age came to America with
his widowed mother. While still young he took service with Aaron B.
Turner, under whom he learned the printing trade and the publishing
business in all its details. Later he was associated with Mr. .Stevens in
publishing the Grand Rapids Democrat. At the outbreak of the war
he enlisted in Company B of the Twenty-first Regiment of ^Michigan
Infantry, and was promoted to Jhe rank of Captain. At Bentonville,
North Carolina, he was severely wounded and has never fully recovered
from his injuries. He died in 1878, leaving Mrs. Wilson a young
widow. She now lives with her daughter and husband. Dr. and Mrs.
Willard M. Burleson. Mrs. Wilson is a member of the Sophie DeMarsac
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her religious
connection is with the Fountain Street Baptist church.

Wn,Li.\M T. Walker. The vice president and, general manager of
the \\'alker-Weiss Axle Company at I'lint, is a graduate mechanical
engineer from the University of Michigan, and the ten years of his
practical experience has brought him in connection with several large
industrial corporations in Michigan and elsewhere. His technical equip-
ment and experience have -proved very valuable in his present position
as an independent manufacturer, and his training and talents have fitted
in nicely with the qualifications of his jiartner, Mr. Weiss, so that the
two have made a splendid combination in their ])resent association as
heads of the axle company.

William T. Walker was born in Toledo, Ohio, October 26, 1881. He
was the youngest of three children of William T. and Rose (Jennings)
Walker, his father a native of Ireland, and his mother of New York
state. The father came to America when a young man, settled at Ogden,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1347

New York, was for a number of years engaged in the lake transporta-
tion service, and died in Toledo in 1893 at the age of sixty-three years.
As a very young man he saw service as an American soldier in the
Mexican \Ya.r. The mother was educated and was married at Adrian,
Michigan, and is still living in Toledo at the age of seventy years.

A\ illiam T. Walker after finishing the grammar and liigh schools at
Toledo, entered the University of ]\Iichigan, and was graduated from
the engineering department in 1904. On leaving college he found
employment at Detroit in the Olds Motor Works for one year, and then
went with F. F. Van Tuyl of Detroit, later being sent to Toledo to take
charge of the office force in that city. After six months with the \'an
Tuyl concern, he spent two years in the Timkins Roller Bearing Works,
and then came to Flint. In Flint, Mr. Walker was first associated with
the ^^ eston Mott Company, and started in the engineering department,
and five years later on resigning, was assistant general manager of the
plant. Mr. Walker left the last named concern to engage in business on
his own account with Fred J- Weiss. They acquired the business which
they have since conducted as the Walker- Weiss Axle Company, of which
Mr. Walker is general manager and vice president.

Mr. Walker is popular in social and business circles, is a Master
Mason and a Republican in politics. He was married at Owosso, Mich-
igan, October 24, 1906, to Miss Maud Gale, a daughter of Charles W.
Gale, and of a well known family at Owosso. Mr. Walker as a college
man has affiliations with the Theta Delta Chi fraternity.

JosiAH Crosby Rich.ard.son. One of the leading business men of
Jackson, where he has had his home for forty years, actively identified
with municipal affairs, and the present postmaster, Mr. Richardson's
position in his home city takes on additional interest from the fact that
he is the owner of the historic "Under the Oaks," as his home. "Under
the Oaks" will always be regarded as a shrine of the Republican party,
and Mr. Richardson himself has long been one of the vigorous exponents
of that political faith in Michigan, and the old landmark is certain to
be preserved with tender regard as long as he keeps it in his owner-
ship.

Mr. Richardson was born in the town of Alstead, Cheshire county.
New Hampshire, a son of Edward P. and Eunice (Crosby) Richardson.
Four years old when his mother died, and he lost his father four years
later, so that he was deprived of many of those attentions and much of
the home training which ordinary boys receive. He lived with his step-
mother until he was eleven and from that time forward was compelled
to face the world alone. Among strangers, he proved his usefulness
even with his boyhood strength, and from the age of eleven until eighteen
worked on a farm in his native county. This not only gave him a thor-
ough knowledge of farming, but at the same time he was laying the basis
of a sound training and was getting some education by attendance at the
country school. At the age of eighteen he became a clerk at Keene in
Cheshire county and spent three years in one store. Such were his abili-
ties during that time that at the age of twenty-one he was made a partner
in the firm of Gerould, Son & Company. His experience as a New Hamp-
shire merchant continued for several years, and in 1873 he came west and
located in Jackson. ^Michigan, which has been his home for forty-one
years.

From 1873 until 1885. Mr. Richardson was engaged in the whole-
sale and retail millinery business, following which for two or three years
he managed the Jackson Corset Company. In 1889 he established the
Reliance Corset Company at Jackson, and that has since continued to be

1348 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

one of the important concerns in Jackson's commercial circle. Mr. Rich-
ardson has been president of the company since its organization, and
still owns one-half of the stock.

A successful business man, his public service has been on the same
plane with his commercial prominence. With honor to himself and value
to the community, he has served in many responsible capacities. During
1881-82 he was a member of the city council, was on the board of public
works for seven years, was president of the city council and mayor of
the city in 1896-97. Since April 6, 1906, he has been postmaster at Jack-
son, having gone into office under appointment from President Roose-
velt, and being now near the close of his second term. In whatever
capacity he has served the public, he always served it well, and has held
the confidence and esteem of the entire citizenship.

For the past ten years he has been president of the Jackson County
Humane Society, and for the past two years he has lieen president of the
Michigan State Humane Society ; for one year he held the position of
president of the Michigan State Postmasters .Association, and for several
years past he has been president of the Citizens Telephone Company of
Jackson, and he is still serving in that capacity.

When Mr. Richardson came to Jackson it was a small city of ten
thousand people, and he has not been without considerable participation
in the growth and development which now make it a metropolis of forty
thousand people.

As already mentioned, Mr. Richardson's home in Jackson, which
he has owned for the past four years, is distinguished as a place where
the Republican party was born. Under seven towering oaks which
stand in his yard, in the month of July, 1854, a meeting was held, the
result of which was the first formal movement in American politics as
the nucleus of what is now the Grand Old Party.

Mr. Richardson married Isabella J. Chamberlain, of Keene, New
Hampshire. They have two sons. Leon J. Richardson is a distinguished
scholar, and for the past twenty years has been professor of Greek and
Latin in the University of California. He received his later education
abroad in the city of Berlin, and is master of seven languages. The
younger son, Arthur Howard Richardson, has reached a successful posi-
tion in his profession of electrical and mechanical engineer, and is in the
employ of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York. Mr.
Richardson is well known in Masonic circles, being a Knight Templar
and Shriner, and past eminent commander of Jackson Commandery No.
9. He is also affiliated with the Elks and his church is the L'nitarian.

DwiGHT T. Stone, a native son of Flint, Michigan, where he has
spent his entire career, is today one of the prominent representatives of
realty interests in the city and in business affairs has been energetic,
prompt and notably reliable. He is today the directing head of a large
real estate and fire insurance business, which is operating extensively
throughout Genesee county ; nor have his efforts been confined alone to
one line but have reached out to various fields of activity where the
business development of the city has been promoted, while individual
success has also been accomi)lished thereby. Mr. .Stone was born June 6,
1863, in Flint, and is a son of Oren and Susan C. (Thompson) Stone,
the former of New York state and the latter of Grand Blanc, Michigan.
The family is an old one of New England, of English descent, and there
are a number bearing the name in this part of Michigan, notably an
uncle of Dwight T. Stone, D. Hulbert Stone, of Chase, Michigan, who
was a merchant, farmer, merino wool grower and stock expert, who is
at present living a retired life.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1349

Oren Stone came west in 1844 from his New York liome with his
parents, they having heard the reports of the great opportunities open to
men of ambition and energy in the rapidly growing community of Michi-
gan. First settHng in Oakland county, he established himself in Inisiness
as a merchant at Stony Run, and there was made postmaster before he
reached his majority. Later, seeking a wider field for his activities, he
came to Flint, and in this city carried on a general mercantile business
for several years, but finally turned his attention to the manufacturing
business. He became the founder of the Flint Woolen Mills, in 1867,
and with this enterprise continued to be successfully connected during
the remainder of his life. He died in 1897, while the mother passed
away in 1870, they being the parents of two children: Dwight T. and
Miss Helen M., who are both residents of Flint. Oren Stone was held
in high esteem in business circles and as a public-spirited citizen, and
for one term served his adopted city in the mayoralty office. He was
energetic in his operations, strictly reliable in all his transactions, and
is still remembered among the older generation for his many sterling
qualties.

Dwight T. Stone was given a thorough public school education, at-
tending the graded and high schools of Flint. After the elder man's
death'he continued in merchandising and manufacturing until igoo, that
year seeing his advent into the real estate and insurance lines, in this
connection he has become one of the foremost men in his sphere of busi-
ness activity, having developed his enterprise along modern, progressive
lines. He is a public-spirited citizen and has ever supported those inter-
ests which are calculated to uplift and benefit his community and its
people. For three years he was secretary of the Board of Commerce,
and at this time he is acting in the capacity of city assessor, a position
to which he was elected on the Republican ticket. His fraternal con-
nections are with the Alasonic order, in which he has attained to the
thirty-second degree, and he is also a member of the Flint Country Club,
With his family, he attends St. Paul's Episcopal church.

On November 21, 1889, Mr. Stone was married in Detroit, Michigan,
to Miss Carrie J. Brow, daughter of Andrew and Frances (Briscoe)
Brow. Mr. Brow, who was in business in Detroit for a number of years,
died in December, 1905, while the mother of Mrs. Stone passed away
about the year 1887. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Stone, namely: Donald D., born in 1891, a graduate of the engineering
department of the Michigan Agricultural College, and now connected
with the Buick Motor Company, at Flint; Oren F., born in 1892, who
attended the University of Michigan, and is also connected with the
Buick Motor Company; Miss Virginia, born in 1894, who is attending
the Beechwood School, an institution for young ladies at Philadelphia,
and Misses Helen J., born in 1898, and Caroline B., born in 1904, who are
attending the public schools of Flint. The family home is located at No.
510 East street.

Jorix E. Shekell. A member' of the Jackson county bar since
1891, Mr. Shekell has a position of prominence among the lawyers of
Jackson, and by reason of his faithful and diligent handling of the
interests of his clientage, has been entrusted with a large mass of busi-
ness increasing throughout the years of the professional career. Mr.
Shekell has devoted himself wholly to his profession, and has appeared
very little in public affairs, and has been only motlcralcly concerned
with politics.

lohn E. Shekell was Isorn on a farm in Washtenaw county, Mich-
igan, September 15. 1864. He was the only .son among five children.

1;J50 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

born to Aloiizo C. and Lydia ( Garden ) Shekell. Both parents were
born in the state of New York, and the father after spending his active
career in farming died in Jackson county, Michigan, in 1905, at the age
of seventy-nine. The mother died in 1900, aged seventy-five. The
paternal stock was of German descent, and through his mother Mr.
Shekell has Irish blood. The four daughters living are: Miss Anna E. ;
Mrs. Catherine Culver ; Mrs. Florence C. Townsend ; and Miss Inez.

The boyhood and youth of Mr. Shekell were passed on a farm, and
he retained a very complete recollection of farm life in this part of
Michigan as it was lived some twenty or thirty years ago. While grow-
ing up on the old homestead he was sent to district schools, especially
during the winter terms when no work could be found on the farm, and
later attended graded schools in the village of Brooklyn. Though his
ambition was early set upon a professional career, there were numerous
obstacles to be overcome before he succeeded in reaching his goal. His
education was further advanced by attendance during two years in the
Michigan State Normal School, and he spent two years as teacher of a
country school. In the offices of Thomas A. Wilson of Jackson, he did
most of his law reading, and on October 31, 1S91. was admitted to the
bar at Jackson. At the beginning of his professional career he Jocated
in his old home village of Brooklyn, and enjoyed a fair degree of pro-
fessional success there. Since January i, 1897, his home has been in
Jackson, and he has since enjoyed many of the better rewards of the
able lawyer. Mr. Shekell has membership in the Jackson county, and
the Michigan State Bar Association. Two years he served as assistant
prosecuting attorney, but aside from that his interests have been con-
centrated on private practice. On March 17, 1914, Mr. Shekell was
appointed iiostmaster of the city of Jackson by President Woodrow
Wilson. lie took charge of the office on April 16, 1914, and is now
serving in that capacity.

Mr. Shekell is a Democrat in politics. On November 9. 1899,
occurred his marriage to Miss Charlotte O. Stowe, their two children
are: Garden Stowe Shekell, born August 3, 1905: and Mary Elizabeth
Shekell born February 9, 1908.

John W. Newall. One of the old and reliable business enterprises
of Flint is that now conducted by John W. Newall, real estate and fire
insurance man of 809 Flint P. Smith Building, formerly conducted under
the firm style of George E. Newall & Son. A man of enterprise and
progressive spirit, while advancing his own interests he has contributed
much toward the development of his city, and in business, public
and social circles is widely known and highly respected. Mr. Newall
is a native son of Flint, and was born January 16, 1866, a son of George
E. and Sarah H. (Freeman) Newall, the former of English and the
latter of German descent. On his father's side of the family, his only
immediate relative is an aunt, Mrs. Thomas Chetham, of Flint, while
there are but few on the mother'^ side.

George E. Newall was born in Michigan, and here grew to manhood
and identified himself with the early manufacturing interests of Flint.
He became captain of a local militia company prior to the outbreak of
the Civil war, and when hostilities between the states began he became
captain of Company A, Eighth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry,
with which he served during the greater part of the struggle. Upon
receiving his honorable discharge he again took up business activities,
and continued to be identified therewith until his retirement. At various
times he has held pulilic office, serving as register of deeds and for
several years as postmaster. He married Sarah H. Freeman, who was

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1351

born in Michigan, a daughter of Daniel S. Freeman, a blacksmith by
trade, who came to Flint at an early day and served as a missionary
among the Indians. His death occurred about 1872, while Mrs. Newall
passed away in 1897. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Newall,
a son and a daughter, but the daughter, Winifred, died in 1887.

John W. Newall received his education in the public schools of Flint,
and as a young man devoted his activities to farming operations in
Genesee county. Following this he took up the trade of plumber, being
associated with his uncle, George L. McOuigg, of Flint, and then em-
barked in the cigar business, in which he continued eleven years. In
1895 he entered the real estate and insurance business with his father,
as George E. Newall & Son, and in I'ebruary, 1913, when the father
retired, he took complete charge. Mr. Newall's business is largely con-
fined to Genesee county, and here his sound judgment and force have
been the impetus in its growth and success. While he keeps in touch with
modern methods he also manifests the same spirit of reliability which has
ever made the name of Newall an honored one in business circles of Flint.
A stalwart Republican in politics, he has worked faithfully in support
of the principles of his party and has done much to promote its success.
From 1900 to 1905 he served in the office of alderman, and from 1908
until 191 1 as a member of the school board. He has been popular and
prominent fraternally as a member of the Masons, the Loyal Guard, the
Royal Arcanum, the Modern Maccabees and the National Union. With
his family, he attends the Episcopal church.

Mr. Newall was married August i, 1896, at Saginaw, Michigan, to
Miss Nellie Elizabeth Reynard, a daughter of James and Louise (Black)
Reynard. They occupy a pleasant home at No. 711 North Saginaw
street.

Ch.\rles M. Begole. The president of the Chevrolet Motor Com-
pany is one of ^Michigan's most prominent manufacturers of automoljiles,
but for many years before becoming identified with this typical industry
of the state was engaged in lumbering, in stock farming, and as a buggy
and general vehicle manufacturer at Flint. He is a son of the late Gov-
ernor Begole.

Charles M. Begole was Ijorn in Genesee countv, Michigan, August
10. 1848, son of Governor Josiah W. and Harriett (Miles) Begole. Roth
parents were native of Genesee county. New York, and his father came
to Michigan about 1837, before he was married, settled in Genesee county,
took up wild land near Flint and endured the hardships of early pioneers.
After his marriage he extended his business interests as a farmer and as a
lumberman, and made a lasting reputation as one of the ablest political
leaders of his time. He was county treasurer elected in Genesee county,
held various township offices, was sent to the state legislature on the
Republican ticket, and in 1882 on the People's ticket was elected governor
of Michigan, taking office the first of January in 1883 and serving one
term, .\fter his term as governor he lived quietly in Genesee county
until his death in 1896 at the age of eighty-two years. There were four
children : William M. Begole, who was orderly-sergeant and lieutenant
in the Twenty-third Regiment of Michigan Infantry, was wounded at
the battle of Lookout Mountain, and his death occurred from his wounds
soon afterwards ; Frank C. Begole in early manhood became an invalid,
traveled throughout the west and south in search of health, and died at
the age of thirty-eight in Florida, his remains now resting in the Glen-
wood cemetery at Flint; ]\Iary, wife of W. C. Cummings of Flint.

Charles ^I. Begole was educated in the common and high schools of
Flint, and in the Michigan Agricultural College at Lansing. His college

1352 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

days were followed by practical experience in the lumber woods during
the winter and in the drixing of the logs during the spring and summer
and other work at his father's sawmill. Subsequently he and his brother
Frank engaged in the sawmill business at Forrest, Michigan, for several
years. On selling out his mill property, Mr. Begole bought four hundred
acres of land in Genesee county, and for twenty years or more was a
highly pros])erous farmer and stock raiser, specializing on blooded horses
and fancy sheep. In 1906 he moved to Flint, and managed his farm for
several years from the city until his manufacturing interests so absorbed
his energies that he was obliged to dispose of his county estate. At
Flint Mr. Begole began the manufacture of wagons and buggies in a
small shop, but the industry in a few years assumed much importance
and represented a large investment and an excellent organization of
skilled labor. Mr. Begole was also one of the organizers and directors
of the Gas and Water Works companies, the properties of \yhich were
subsequently sold to the city of Flint. In the meanwhile the Flint wagon
works, of which he was a director, grew to be one of the largest in the
state, and at the high tide of its prosperity employed from eight hundred
to one thousand workmen.

About the time the influence of the automobile made itself felt in a
general decline of the output of horse-drawn vehicles, Mr. Begole was
one of the far-sighted men to recognize the posibilities of the automobile,
and took steps to utilize the experience of his older organization and the
capital for the production of motor-driven cars. Mr. Begole with' others
in igoi organized the Buick Motor Company, of which he was president
until the Buick interests were absorbed by the General Motor Company,
in which organization he is a prominent stockholder. In 1908 he organized
the Little Motor Company, of which he became active head and president.
This company took for its factory the large and substantial brick build-
ing formerly used by the buggy and wagon plant, and that nucleus has
since been greatly enlarged until the present plant covers more than eight
acres, with the most of the buildings three or more stories in height, and
ideally located on West Kearsley street adjoining the Grand Trunk rail-
way tracks and the Flint river. It is a splendidly e(.|uipped modern
factory, and a credit to the state. The Little Motor Company was re-
organized in June, 1912, and has since been known as the Chevrolet Motor
Company, of which Mr. Begole is president. Although the Chevrolet
Company has been established only two years, the fund of experience
which has resulted in its present products of perfection traces back to
the earliest formative stages in automobile development. The cars are
built by men who are experts in all branches of the industry, and are
being introduced to the public by an organization which has made a
splendid record of sales. The daily output of the Flint factory is about
seventy cars, manufactured in three types, so that the purchaser has the
widest' selection of cars that represent the highest achievement of inven-
tive and constructive experience. The three classes of Chevrolet cars are,
the Royal ^lail Roadster, a popular priced model ; the Baby Grand Tour-
ing car ; and the Classic Six, a touring car built of the highest quality in
car and passenger accommodations. At the factory in Flint the company
emi)lovs from eight hundred to one thousand men, and the capitalization
of the comjjanv is two and one-half million dollars.

Mr. P.egole is also a director in the Xational Bank of Flint. Fraternally
he is a Knight Templar Mason, is a Democrat in politics, and his church
is the Presbvterian. In November, 1872, at Ypsilanti, he married Miss
Emma I5egole. who was born at Ypsilanti, a daughter of Evan Begole,
also of a prominent pioneer family of the state. They have one daughter,
Louisa Begole, and both she and her mother take an active part in
woman's club and charitable and church affairs in Flint. Mr. Begole

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1353

outside of business finds his recreation as a hunter, and every year for
the past eight has gone deer hunting, usually in the Upper Peninsula,
and has a number of fine mounted specimens of the chase. Fishing is
also a favorite sport in the season, and he owns a pleasant summer cot-
tage at Long Lake. Mr. Begole and family reside at 416 East Third
street in Flint.

John Gustave Rulison, M. D., one of Lansing's best known and
successful physicians, is a native son of Michigan, born at Flushing, Feb-
ruary 21, 1876, and is descended from an old American family who_se
members were distinguished pioneers of the state. The family has been
in this country since the year 1680, when Laurens Rulison (then si)elled
Rulf sen ) emigrated from Copenhagen, Denmark, and settled in New
York City. The progenitor married Elizabeth Burkhardt, a Holland-
Dutch woman. The family later removed to Orange, New Jersey, where
Laurens Rulison, great-great-grandson of the emigrant resided until his
migration to Schoharie county. New York, he being the great-great-grand-
father of Doctor Rulison of this review. His son, Harmon, remo\ed from
Schoharie county to what was then known as the Black River country of
Jefi^erson county, New York. His son, Charles, the grandfather of Doctqr
Rulison, married Margaret Swanberg, a Swede, and moved to Michigan
in 1849, locating at Flint, where he died in the following January, leaving
a widow, four sons and a daughter, all of whom are now deceased.

Cornelius Emory Rulison, son of the Michigan settler and father of
Doctor Rulison, was born at Evan's Mills, Jefferson county, New York,
May 20, 1835, and was a lad of fourteen years when he came with the
family to Michigan. His elder sister, Sallie Ann Rulison, became one of
Michigan's noted women. A native of Jefferson county. New York, she
received excellent educational advantages, a good part of her education
in the higher branches having been given her by her father, who was a
student and self-taught scholar. As early as 1850 she began teaching
school at Flint and a few years later completed the full course of the
Albion (Michigan) Female Seminary in one year's time, and by the time
she had reached the age of twenty years was a teacher of mathematics in
that institution. Later she taught in the schools of Flint, and succeeding
this became identified with the Rev. John Arnold, founder and publisher
of the Michigan Christian Advocate, a Methodist publication. She organ-
ized the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of Michigan and for many
years published monthly lesson leaves for use in Methodist Sunday
schools. Miss Rulison was president at the time of her death of the
Women's Missionary Society of the Northwest, and a Chinese high school
at Kukukin, China, was named in her honor. In 1885 she married Dr.
George W. Fish, one of Michigan's distinguished men, who served as
surgeon of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry during the Civil War, was after-
wards appointed United States Consul at Shanghai, China, and later
United States Consul at Tunis, Africa. He died in 1888 and his widow
survived him until 1003.

Dr. Cornelius Emory Rulison attended public schools in New York
and at Flint, Michigan, and as a youth learned the trade of cabinet maker,
a vocation at which he worked for several years or until his shop was
destroyed by fire, at which time he gave up that kind of work to devote
himself to school teaching, being thus engaged when the Civil War came
on. In 1861 he enlisted in Company F, Second Michigan \'olunteer In-
fantry, and participated with his regiment in twenty-five engagements,
being badly wounded at the battle of Knoxville, and subsequently dis-
charged in June, 1864, on account of disability. Doctor Rulison then went

1354 HISTORY OF AIICIIIGAN

to Cincinnati, Ohio, making his home for a time with his uncle, under
whose preceptorship he studied medicine, subsequently attending two
courses of medical lectures at the Ohio Eclectic Medical College. In the
spring of 1866 Doctor Kulison entered upon the practice of his profession
at Flushing, Michigan, and continued there until his death, December 22,
1890, attaining high rank in his calling and a large and lucrative profes-
sional business. Doctor Rulison married Antoinette Greenfield, who was
born at South Byron, Genesee county, New York, in 1844, a daughter of
Elijah Greenfield, a native of the Empire State, who was a builder by
vocation and built up a large part of Omaha, Nebraska. Mrs. Rulison is
still living at the home in Flushing, and has been the mother of three chil-
dren : Dr. John Gustave, of this review ; Rose, who married John Lees, of
Hancock, Michigan; and Pearl, who became the wife of Roy DuPuys, of
Detroit.

Dr. John Gustave Rulison was graduated from the Flushing high
school in the class of 1893, and from the medical department of the Uni-
versity of Michigan in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Fol-
lowing this he served as interne of the University Hospital, at Ann Arbor,
for one year and in January, 1904, entered the practice of his calling at
Lansing. The medical abilities of Doctor Rulison have met with decided
appreciation and he has been enabled to estal;lish a considerable general
practice, in addition to which he specializes in surgery, lie is L'nited
States Pension Examining Surgeon for Ingham county, belongs to the
Ingham County Medical Society and the Michigan State Medical .Society,
is a close student and a broad reader, and at all times keeps himself fully
abreast of the advancements being made in medical science. To his thor-
ough conversance with all new theories and discoveries connected with
his calling can be attributed in great extent the success he has achieved
in his chosen profession. Doctor Rulison's fraternal connection is with
the Masonic order.

Doctor Rulison was married to Miss Edith J. Pjenjamin, of Flushing,
Michigan, daughter of Montville Benjamin, a native of Cortlandt, New
'^'ork, who settled in Michigan in 1S30, and to this union there have come
two children: John G., Jr., Iiorn (Jctoljer 16, 1906; and Josephine, bom
November 24, 1909.

W.\LTER S. Rus.sEL is president of the Russel Wheel and Foundry
Company and identified with other Detroit industrial activities. He was
horn at Detroit, March 12, 1853, educated in the Detroit public schools,
in the Peterson School for Boys in Detroit, and in the University of
Michigan, where he was graduated as civil engineer in June, 1875. Wal-
ter S. Russel was assistant engineer in the United .States Lake Survey
during the last two years of his university course and for one year after
he iiad secured his degree.

With his brother, George H. Russel, he Iniilt and operated a cog-
wheel foundry in Detroit in 1877, which in 1880 was incorporated as
the Russel Wheel and Foundry Company, of which he was vice-president
and general manager from the time of its incorporation until 1904. Since
the latter year he has been president and general manager of the company.
Mr. Russel is also iiresident of the Detroit Steel Products Comjianv and
a director in the American Radiator Company of Chicago.

One of the incorporators of the Detroit Engineering .Societv was
Mr. Russel, who served as its first president. He has membership in the
American Society of Mechanical luigineers, of which he is a former
vice-president and manager ; and belongs to the American Institute of
Mining, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Detroit Club, the University Club,
the Country Club, the Wittcnagemote Club, the Delta Kappa Epsilon

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN lUoS

Fraternity and the Detroit Board of Commerce. April 24, 1880, lie mar-
ried Mary E. Rumney of Detroit.

Maj. Roy Clark Vandercook, of Lansing, adjutant-general of Michi-
gan, is a native of the state, having been bornat Mason, the county seat of
Ingham county, November 20, 1873, and is descended from two pioneer
Michigan families, the \'andercooks and Smiths. The paternal grand-
father of Major X'andercook was Isaac H. Vandercook, who was a native
of New York state and came to Michigan in 1848, locating first at Jack-
son and later moving to Mason, Ingham county. He was engaged in the
insurance many years, and was one of the best known men in that line in
this section.

Albert L. Vandercook, the father of the Major, was born at Glovers-
ville, New York, in 1849, ^"^1 was a child when brought to Michi-
gan by his parents. Reared and educated at Mason, he early
adopted merchandising as his life work, and for many years was the
proprietor of a business enterprise at Mason, where he is still located.
The mother of Major Vandercook bore the maiden name of Jennie A.
Smith, and was born in New York state, her father, Delevan C. Smith,
coming from the Empire State to Michigan in 1856 and becoming a pio-
neer of Ingham county, where he was for a long period of years ex-
tensively engaged in agricultural pursuits.

Maj. Roy C. Vandercook was reared at Alason and received his edu-
cation in the public and high schools of that place. Upon laying aside
his school books, he entered the office of the Ingham Coiintv Nczvs. at
Mason, and learned the printers' trade, working his way up in the office
until attaining a position on the staff, doing local and editorial work. In
1898 he was commissioned first lieutenant of Company F (Mason com-
pany), of the Thirty-first Michigan Regiment, and was with that organiza-
tion in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Following the war he
came to Lansing, and in 1900 took a position with the State Republican,
being engaged in newspaper work until his appointment, in February,
1912, by Governor Chase Osborn, to the office of adjutant-general of the
Michigan National Guard, with the rank of major. He organized Battery
A, Field Artillery of Lansing, and was its commander until he became
adjutant-general. Major Vandercook is a member of the Military Order
of Foreign Wars, of the Society of Spanish-American War Veterans, and
of the Masonic and Elk fraternities of Lansing. Major Vandercook's
popularity with the members of the National Guard has made him one of
the most valualjle officers in the service, and during his incumbency of the
office the troops have made an enviable record for discipline, drill, effi-
ciency and endurance. References by the newspapers to this well known
official have a certain manner and tone that betoken their esteem and
regard for him such as are earned by few men in the public eye.

Major Vandercook was married to Miss Maude C. Burton, of Union
City, Michigan, and they have one son and one daughter: Cornelius Bur-
ton and Dorothy R. The family home is at No. 325 North Pine street,
Lansing.

Josiaii Dalt.as Dort. It has been said that a city is great not as it
has a numerous population, but in the importance of its work, meaning
what it does for its own inhabitants and produces for the outside world.
The work done by Flint has long made it a center of middle west manu-
factures. However, it is to a comparatively small group of men that the
city's industrial prosperity has been due, and during the last thirty years
none has been more steadily influential in promoting development in the
city than Josiah D. Dort, who by common consent is now one of the most
dominant figures in the business life of Michigan. As a youth he entered

1356 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

•
upon his career with only the advantages of an ordinary education, started
life in a humble station, and followed up the opportunities that opened
before him with industry and intelligent energy. Now in the prime of
life, with powers ripened and matured, Mr. Dort is the possessor of an
enviable fortune, the directing head of several large industries, and a
vital force in both business and civic affairs of his community.

Josiah Dallas Dort was born at Inkster, Michigan, February 2, 1861,
a son of Josiah and Alarcy (Jones-Straight) Dort, natives respectively
of Vermont and New Hampshire, the father dying at Inkster in 1871
at the age of sixty-one, while the mother passed away at Flint in iSij".
Josiah Dart came with his parents overland from his New England home
to the state of Ohio, leaving the rest of the family there and continuing
his journey west until he arrived at the place known as Dearborn during
the late thirties. At Dearborn he and his brother Titus engaged in the
manufacture of brick, furnishing the material for the United States
arsenal at that point. Josiah Dort was appointed postmaster of that
place, and also acted in the capacity of agent for the Michigan Central
Railroad, which had just been completed. After several years he moved
to Moulin Rouge, now known as Inkster, and became identified with mer-
chandising. Mrs. Marcy (Jones) Straight, who became his wife, was an
educated woman who had taught school in New Hampshire and at West-
port, New York. Josiah Dort was a notable man in many ways, a
typical country squire, a prominent Mason, a lifelong member of the
Methodist church, active in politics as a Democrat and \N'hig, and among
the leaders of his parties in the state was on terms of intimacy and a
close associate of such men as Zach Chandler, who was his personal
friend. He acquired considerable property through his able management,
and at the time of his death was in comfortable circumstances.

The only child of his parents, Josiah Dallas Dort was ten years of
age when his father died. His education was acquired by attending the
district schools,, the Wayne high school, and the State Normal at Ypsi-
lanti. Leaving school, he helped his mother carry on the business, the
burden of which she had resolutely borne from the time of her husband's
death. She herself was a most capable business woman, but had her
double responsibilities for only a few years, since her son soon proved
himself more than ordinarily capable and assumed all the weighty re-
sponsibilities of business. The mother was a devout Baptist, had decided
puritanical princi]:)les, was a woman with a nature serene, cheerful, loving,
beautiful and tireless. She so ordered her household that although great
riches were never present, poverty was unheard of, and her son was
reared wisely and well, so as to adopt honesty and integrity and shun
anything like idleness, extravagance or dissipation.

After several years" experience in mercantile lines, Mr. Dort found
employment with a crockery firm in Ypsilanti, and three years later
transferred his services to a similar firm in Jackson, where he also re-
mained several years. About that time his "father's estate was settled,
and in 18.S2 he engaged as clerk at Flint for Whiting & Richardson,
hardware merchants. Two years later his services were required by the
firm of Hubbard and Wager, and for one year he was with Morley
Brothers at Saginaw. Having been thrifty and economical and saving
of his earnings, with a little help from the estate, he was then able to
return to Flint and engage in the harrlware business as a co-partner with
James Bussy. It was not until September, 18S6, that Mr. Dort entered the
"field in which his greatest success and accomplishment as a manufacturer
and business man has been won. At that time, with William C. Durant,
he started in a modest way the manufacture of road carts, employing
about twenty men. This subsequently grew into the largest business of

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1357

its kind in the state, and became the parent of the principal industries of
FHnt.

Mr. Dort is president and acting directing head of the Durant-Dort
Carriage Company and its allied institutions, and also one of the founders
of the Imperial Wheel Company, Flint Varnish Works, Flint Axle Works,
the Dominion Carriage Company, Limited, of Toronto, Canada, the
Blount Carriage & Buggy Company of Atlanta, Georgia, the Pine Blufif
Spoke Company of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Among other industries Mr.
Dort was largely instrumental in establishing, here should be mentioned
the Weston-Mott Axle Company, the McCormick Harness Company,
Copeman Electric Stove Company. Through the interests of the Durant-
Dort Carriage Company, Mr. Dort's is one of the largest interests in the
Buick Automobile Company and the General Motors Company. These
institutions thus named employ many thousands of workmen and during
the days before the advent of the automobile, the vehicle and accessory
plants had upward of two thousand men on their payroll.

For several years Mr. Dort carried on as a sideline a fine stock farm
which was devoted to the breeding of pvize-winning hackney horses, and
he is at this time a holder of a King George medal and other American
and Canadian trophies.

In these days of almost constant strife between labor and capital,
it is worthy to note that these troubles are totally unknown in the Durant-
Dort institutions. Such favorable conditions may be largely accredited
to Mr. Dort's honorable dealings with the men in his employ. He inaugu-
rated a policy of interesting employes in the stock of his companies and
a system of loyalty payments for long service.

Mr. Dort was instrumental in the organization of the Flint Factories
Mutual Benefit Association, a splendid Workmen's Club in connection
with the same, and of the Flint Associated Factories organization sustain-
ing a workmen's supplemental compensation department. He is a direc-
tor of the Michigan Workmen's Compensation Mutual Insurance
Company of Detroit, an association composed of Michigan manufacturers
for the purpose of making such payments as workmen are entitled to
under the Michigan Workmen's Compensation Act, and which is one of
the best institutions of its kind in the United States.

It may be said that Mr. Dort's idea in acquiring wealth is that it may
be used as a means for greater service, it being well understood that
his income is very largely utilized for the common good. He is active in
charitable work, and has donated liberally to hospitals, churches and
other public institutions, and seldom refuses aid to any worthy object.

Mr. Dort has long been identified with civic activities, and although
steadfastly refusing political office as well as honorary positions on
various state boards, has served his people in the line of public utility.
One of his best contributions to the beauty of Flint is the public park
system, which when completed will cover eight miles of parkway and
completely surround the city of Flint, the park and boulevard following
the banks of Flint river. For this notable improvement Mr. Dort had the
plans drawn at his own expense, and as the enterprise is now fairly
launched as a result of his earnest and untiring efforts, its success is prac-
tically assured at no distant date.

Mr. Dort is a director in the Genesee County Savings Bank of Flint,
and a member of the Board of Commerce. His guidance and leadership
in large business affairs are constantly sought, and he is an ex-president
of the Carriage Builders National Association, vice-president of the
Michigan Manufacturers Association, and in every way a business execu-
tive with a broad mind and a thorough understanding of modern condi-
tions and ideas. Mr. Dort was a delegate to the Conservation Congress
Vol. in— 10

1358 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

held in the White House at Washington in 1907. He was one of the
principal factors in drafting the law creating the Michigan Railroad
Commission.

First of all in its claim on his attention and energies come his impor-
tant and varied industrial interests. But when these claims are properly
satisfied, j\Ir. Dort never refuses his consideration and aid of those other
activities which are not the less important as features of a well balanced
life. Mr. Dort is a patron of art, a lover of literature, music and archi-
tecture, an upholder of the best ideals and standards in social life. Like
all virile, energetic men, he gives a part of his attention to outdoor sports
and is an enthusiastic golfer and automobilist. His club relations include
membership in the Flint, Country, Detroit Athletic, Detroit, Detroit Golf
Club, and he is also a thirty-second degree Mason and Knight Templar,
and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His
religious afhliations are with the Episcopal church, and he is now a
member of the board of vestrymen of St. Paul's church at Flint.

Mr. Dort has been twice married. His first union was with Miss
Nellie Mathilda Bates, who died at Phoenix, Arizona, in March, 1900,
and was laid to rest in Elmwood cemetery, Flint. Two children were
born to this union: Ralph, born November 11, 1891, at Flint, a graduate
of Princeton University, was married October 15, 191 3, to Miss Helen
Wilson, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is now engaged in newspaper
work for the Knickerbocker Press Association at Albany, New York,
where he resides; and Dorothy, born September 12, 1893, at Flint, a
graduate of Miss Chamberlain's school of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr.
Dort's second marriage occurred May 8, 1906, when he was united with
Miss Marcia Webb of Mackinac, Michigan, daughter of Major Charles
A. Webb, at one time commander at Fort Mackinac. Two children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Dort: Dallas Webb, born February 17, 1907;
and Margery, born May 19, 191 1.

Thomas G. Finuc.\x, of Charlevoix, ^Michigan, has the distinction
of being the youngest second class postmaster who has held office in the
history of Michigan, having been appointed to that position in 1914 by
President Wilson. Mr. Finucan was born at Smith's Falls, Ontario,
Canada, October 30, 1888, and is a son of Commodore William and
Mary (White) Finucan. Commodore Finucan has been in the service
of the Northern Michigan Fleet for more than thirty years, beginning
his service with the old Ogdensburg & Chicago line fifty years a.go, and
for the past thirty years has sailed as captain of all the larger lake
vessels, among them the "City of Charlevoix," "Missouri" and "Illinois."
At present he is master of the steamship "Manitou," the activity of
which is confined to a season of three months. During his long period
of service Commodore Finucan has never had a serious mishap with
any of his numerous vessels. He began his career as a wheelsman and
has steadily worked his way up by faithful service, fidelity to duty and
high ability. A man of many fine personal qualities, he is popular with
the public, and being of a jolly, optimistic disposition, has numerous
friends. Mrs. Finucan is a charming lady, widely known in social cir-
cles of Charlevoix, and the family home is frequently the scene of enter-
tainments of a social nature. Commodore and Mrs. Finucan came from
Canada to Manistee, Michigan, in 1890, but after one year came to
Charlevoix, where the Commodore owns a handsome residence and has
other interests. Nine children have composed the family: one who died
in infancy; ^^'i^iam, Jr., who is cashier for the great fish firm of Booth
iS: Com])anv; Marv. a teacher in the public schools of Charlevoix;
Thomas (]., of this re\iew ; Alildred Clare, a teacher in the schools of

THOMAS G. FINUCAN

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1359

Battle Creek, Michigan ; Irene, who resides with her parents ; James
Stanley, a graduate of the Charlevoix High school, living at home ; and
Richard and Eleanor, living at home and students in the public schools.

Thomas G. Finucan attended the graded schools of Charlevoix, and
after his graduation from the high school entered tlie pharmaceutical
department of the University of Michigan, there remaining one year.
His studies in his. chosen vocation were continued in the Ferris Insti-
tute, where he took a short course, and then returned to Charlevoix and
secured his first position as a drug clerk with B. A. Herman. After
two years in this position he received the appointment from President
Wilson as postmaster of Charlevoix and has continued to devote him-
self to the duties of his office to the present time. Mr. Finucan has
proved himself an able executive and has introduced a number of greatly
needed reforms into the service here. He is popular with the people,
who have recognized the fact that he is conscientiously trying to effi-
ciently look after their interests. A Democrat in politics, he has for
some time taken an active interest in the success of his party, and is
already accounted one of the influential factors in its activities. His
religious connection is with the Roman Catholic church, and fraternally
he belongs to the Knights of Columbus.

Mr. Finucan was married October 14, 1913, at Charlevoix, to Miss
Winnifred Weaver, a native of this city, and a daughter of Capt. George
and Florence (Hyland) Weaver, her father havyig been a lake captain
for many years. ''<■ '•',>

M.-^RK S. Knapp, M. D. One of Flint's long established physicians
who has achieved an enviable reputation in his profession and who is held
in high personal regard by all who know hira, is^Df. Mark S. Knapp.
He is a native of Michigan, having been boWf -in 'thie town of Linden,
October 30, 1872, the son of Dr. Leonard E. aricl,, Melissa C. (Stevens)
Knapp, natives of this state. Myron E. Knapp, the grandfather of Doctor
Knapp, came to Michigan in 1840, as a pioneer farmer, and settled in
Washtenaw county, where he continued to carry on agricultural pursuits
up to the time of his death in 1895, at the age of seventy-seven years. He
was one of Michigan's remarkable old men, a type of the sturdy, reliable
men who through their continued and helpful activities made possible
the development of this section of the state. He married a Miss Hoising-
ton, who like himself, was a native of New York, and they traveled
together overland to this state. Mrs. Knapp experienced all the hardships
and privations of pioneer life with fortitude, assisting her husband mate-
rially in the achieving of his success and was much beloved by all who
knew her for her many sterling characteristics and admirable qualities
of mind and heart. She died at the age of fifty-four years, and both she
and her husband were laid to rest in the county of their adoption.

Dr. Leonard E. Knapp, father of Dr. Mark S. Knapp, was a self-made
man. He was born in 1842 in Washtenaw county, Michigan, received his
early education in the district schools, learned the trade of cooper, and
early left home for Poughkeepsie, New York, where he worked liis way
through Eastman's Business College. Fie then returned to Michigan
and received a normal training at Ypsilanti, where he met the lady who
later became his wife. He became a student in the University of Michi-
gan, at Ann Arbor, and later entered the Homeopathic Medical College,
of Cleveland, Ohio, from which he was graduated in i86g. In that same
year he was married and moved to Linden, Michigan, where he embarked
in practice as a physician and surgeon and continued until 1876. He
then moved to Fenton, where he continued to successfully prosecute his
professional activities until his death, in July, 191 1, when sixty-nine

1360 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

years of age. His wife passed away there in July, 1905, at the age of
sixty-three years. Doctor Knapp took several post-graduate courses in
New York City. He was a close and attentive student, a great reader
and the owner of a valuable library of both medical books and works of
other character, was prominent in educational affairs as a member of
various boards, and took a keen interest in anything that affected the
welfare of his community. At the time of his death the following article
appeared in a Fenton newspaper :

"After an illness of about three years, of paralysis. Dr. L. F. Knapp,
a prominent physician of Fenton, died Friday afternoon. Leonard E.
Knapp was born at Salem, Michigan, November 24, 1842, and was the son
of Air. and Mrs. Myron E. Knapp. When only three years of age his par-
ents removed to New York state, but later returned to Michigan and lived
on a farm near Ypsilanti. He attended the Ypsilanti seminary and
graduated from the Cleveland Medical College. Later he took up the
work of a specialist and had an extensive practice for many years. On
July 27, 1869, he was married to Miss Melissa Stevens, of Ypsilanti, who
died five years ago. The couple came to Linden for five years, thirty-
five years ago coming to Fenton. On July 22, 1906, he was married to
Miss Olga Hogan of Fenton, who still survives. He is also survived by
two sons. Dr. Mark S. and Dr. Don, of Flint, and one daughter, Eloise,
the wife of Dr. Walter Slack, of Saginaw. He belonged to a family of
physicians, the late Dr. Knapp, of Port Huron, being a brother, and Dr.
M. E. Knapp, of Detroit, another brother, died at Byron one year ago
while visiting relatives there; Delia, wife of Dr. F. S. Ruggles, of Byron,
and Alelissa, Mrs. Stephen Atchison, of Salem, are sisters of Dr. Knapp.

"Dr. Knapp was a man of the strictest integrity and the most decided
views in public affairs. He had served the village as its president of the
common council for several years and for several years was also president
of the board of education. He was always an advocate of the best edu-
cational advantages regardless of cost. He was public-spirited and be-
lieved in the future of Fenton, investing largely in real estate. As a
progressive and enterprising citizen and a physician of state renown,
he was a man who had a host of friends. Dr. Knapp was prominent in
Masonic circles and a past commander of Fenton Commandery, Knight
Templars. The funeral Monday afternoon was conducted by the Com-
mandery and the full Temjjlar service was used."

Eloise Knapp was married to Dr. Walter L. Slack, and is now a resi-
dent of Saginaw, Michigan. Dr. Don Knapp is a graduate of the medical
department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and since
1910 has been engaged in the practice of his profession in Flint, where
he has served in the capacity of health officer for several years.

In the class of 1891 Dr. Mark S. Knapp graduated from the Fenton
high school, in i8()5 received the degree of LJachelor of Sciences from the
University of Michigan, three years later was given his medical degree,
and in tcjoj took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic Hospi-
tal, although he has never ceased being a student and devotes much time
to research and personal investigation. His first practice was in partner-
ship with his father at Fenton for six months, and in December, 1898,
he settled in Flint, where he has since continued in the enjoyment of an
excellent professional business. Devoted to his profession, with a high
ideal of its best ethics, a natural inclination for medical and surgical
work and a broad and enduring sympathy. Doctor Knapp may be said
to be one who has chosen well his life work. He is local surgeon for the
Detroit Ignited Railroad, a member of the American Medical Association
and the Michigan State Medical Society and vice-president of the Genesee
County Medical Society. His fraternal connection is with the Masonic
order.' With his family, he attends the Presbyterian church and is active

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1361

in its various movements. In politics a Democrat, Doctor Knapp served
as health officer of Flint during 1900. He is an ardent bird hunter and
each year takes regular hunting trips to Houghton Lake, where with
friends he has a fine house-boat. The modern Knapp home is located
at No. 613 Liberty street.

On December 6, 1899, Dr. Mark S. Knapp was united in marriage
with Miss Florence Anderson, daughter of Captain John and Sallie
(Losee) Anderson, both of whom are now deceased. Captain Anderson
received his title during the Civil war, in which he served bravely as the
captain of a company in a Michigan regiment of volunteers. Five chil-
dren have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Knapp : Neva, born December 9,
1900; Mary Louise, born July 23, 1903; Robert Anderson and Frances
Stevens, twins, born March 5, 1905 ; and Helen Marjory, born March
23, 1902, who died at the age of thirteen months.

William Judson Stark. When William Judson Stark first came to
Flint, in 1906, it was at a period when the town began to emerge from the
conditions of a hamlet and to reach out into the surrounding country
with those instrumentalities of commerce which have since made it one of
the principal centers of business activity in the state. Since that time he
has built up a business of considerable size and volume, and as president,
secretary and general manager of the Home Laundry occupies a position
of recognized prominence in the community. Mr. Stark was born January
21, 1867, in Genesee county, Michigan, and is a son of John H. and Laura
A. (Hooker) Stark.

John K. Stark, the grandfather of William J. Stark, was a native of
the Empire State, from whence he removed to Canada and settled on a
farm near Chatham. After carrying on agricultural pursuits there for
some five or six years, he came to Michigan and settled in Oakland
county, this being in 1844, when John H. Stark was a child of four
years. There he continued to be engaged in farming up to the time
of his death, being known as an honored and honorable pioneer, a good
business man and a public-spirited citizen. William J. Stark's father
grew up amid pioneer surroundings in Michigan, receiving his education
in the primitive country schools and in the fields of hard work and
experience. Following in his father's footsteps, he early adopted the
life of a farmer, and continued to till the soil throughout the remainder
of a long and honorable career. He died in 1906, at the age of sixty-six
years. Laura E. Hooker was born in New York and came to Michigan
as a child. She still survives her husband, and at this time makes her
home at Highland, Oakland county. Four children were born to Mr.
and Mrs. Stark, namely: William Judson, of this review; Mary, who
became the wife of Clayton Deake, a farmer who is carrying on agri-
cultural pursuits in the vicinity of Ypsilanti, Michigan; and John Mack,
who is an architect and draughtsman with offices in Detroit. Ida died in
infancy.

The early education of William Judson Stark was procured in the
district schools in the vicinity of his father's farm in Oakland county,
following which he attended the Milford high school and graduated
therefrom in the class of 1886. Upon his return to his home he assisted
his father in the work of the farm until he was twenty-two years old,
at which time he left the parental roof and went to Northville, where
he secured employment in a factory and remained nine years. Dur-
ing this time, being of a thrifty and industrious nature, he carefully
saved his earnings with the ambition in view of one day being the head
of an established business of his own, an ambition which was realized in
1895, when he went to Macomb, Ohio, and engaged in the laundry busi-
ness. During the eight years that he remained in that city he built up an

1362 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

excellent trade and won a firm place in the confidence of the community,
but an opportunity to sell to advantage came and he quickly grasped it.
At that time, in 1903, he moved to Warsaw, Indiana, where he also
engaged in the sa'me line, but after one year sold out, and went to Hast-
ings, Michigan. There he purchased a laundry, which he conducted for
two years, and then, feeling that he was familiar with every angle and
detail of the business, sought a larger field for his activities and found
it in the city of Flint. Selling his Hastings business at a decided profit,
being able to do so because, as in his former business experiences, he
had built up a very desirable enterprise, in 1906 he came to Flint, a
progressive and rapidly-growing city. With his usual energy and fair
dealing, he has developed one of the largest ventures of its kind in the
state. In 1906, when he purchased the plant, it employed only two dozen
people, but he has practically rebuilt the buildings, doubled it and the
business in size, having now in use more than 15,000 square feet of floor
space, and equipped it with the latest modern appliances and improve-
ments, a decided improvement to any city. The building is three stories
with basement, a brick structure located in the iioo block, on North
Saginaw street, and here more than sixty people find steady employment.
In addition, Mr. Stark is the owner of a handsome and comfortable home
at No. 1 121 Church street. A self-made man, he has learned his business
from the bottom, is practical, alert, progressive and far-sighted, and is
eminently deserving of the confidence in which he is held and of the
success which has come to him. Fraternally he is connected with the
Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed through the chairs, the
Masons, the Elks and the Order of Ben Hur. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church, with which his wife and eldest daughter are con-
nected, they being active in church and charitable work, and members
of the Young Women's Christian Association and the King's Daughters.
In politics Mr. Stark is an independent Republican, and although he has
held no public office is greatly interested in the affairs which aflr'ect
his community, he being always a leader in movements making for
progress and advancement.

On November 27, 1890, at Commerce, Oakland county, Michigan,
Mr. Stark was married to Miss Ina Harding, a native of Oakland county
and a daughter of Bradford Harding, a pioneer settler and farmer, who
died as one of his comnumity's representative men. Two children were
born to Mr. and Mrs. Stark : Florence and Irene.

John F. Kelly. When John F. Kelly established himself in busi-
ness in Grand Rapids in 1903 as the head of the Kelly Ice Cream Com-
pany, his capital was small, and it was all he was able to do for a time
to keep his head above the deep waters of financial difliculties. Today
the Kelly Ice Cream Company, of which he is president and general
manager^ is one of the thriftiest concerns of its kind in the cily, and Mr.
Kelly takes his place among the leading business men of the community.
His rise has been steady and sure and the firm of which he is head is
established on sound business principles.

Mr. Kelly was born in Kent county, Michigan, on February 10, 1874.
and he is a son of Patrick and Bridget (Clune) Kelly, both of them
natives of Ireland who came to America in 1849 and to Grand Rapids
in 1857. The father was born in 1843 <i"fl died in 1904, while the
mothcV, born in 1841, passed out in 1896. They were married in Grand
Rapids' in i860, and Mr. Kelly divided his time between mechanics and
farming, with a good bit of time devoted to political matters on the side,
for lie had the predilection of a true son of Erin for affairs that savored
even remotely of politics. Of the ten children born to them eight are

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1363

now living, and the subject of this review is the sixth in order of birth.
The parents were members of the CatlioHc church and reared their
children in the same faith. Mr. Patrick Kelly entered the army in 1862
as a private, and was promoted from the ranks to lieutenant and later
to the rank of captain, in Company G, Fourteenth Michigan Infantry.
He was wounded at Bentonville, in the last days of the war, serving full
four years in the army. After the war he bought a farm six miles east
of Grand Rapids and there he spent the remaining years of his life. He
held several offices in his day, and was for several years a keeper in
Ionia prison. He also held the post of state oil inspector for some
years. As a leader in politics in his community, his authority was not
gainsaid, and he was recognized as the political "boss" of the township.
Mr. Kelly was the son of Philip Kelly, a native Irishman, who came to
America in 1849 and settled in New York state. He later came to Mich-
igan and ended his days in the home of his son. Simon Clune, the
maternal grandfather of the subject, came to America in tlie same
year as did Philip Kelly, and settled in Oswego, New York. He was a
boatman on the Erie Canal for a good many years.

John F. Kelly attended the district school in his native community,
and later attended the Grand Rapids high school, from which he was
duly graduated in 1898. After his graduation he worked a year for
General Stone in Wayland and went from that service to the United
States Census Office at Washington, where he spent a year and a half,
after which he resigned from the service and turned his attention to the
wholesale ice cream business, beginning his activities in that line in
Jackson. In 1903 he came to Grand Rapids and established a factory
for the manufacture of that product, organizing the business under the
name of the Kelly Ice Cream Company, and he has been very successful
in building up a nice business, as has already been indicated in another
paragraph. Another enterprise in which he has met with prosperity and
success is that of the wholesale oyster business.

Mr. Kelly, like his father, has manifested a healthy interest in the
political activities of the city, and he was elected alderman from his
ward on the Republican ticket in 19 10. He served his second term in
that office.

In 1903 Mr. Kelly was married to Miss Jessie Yerkey of Wayland,
and to them have been born three children : Helen, Hazel and John F.
Jr., all of them attending school.

The family are members of the Roman Catholic church, and Mr.
Kelly is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Hibernians and the
Woodmen's order.

George N. Wagner. The families of Wagner and Follmer, of
which George N. Wagner is a worthy representative, was for several
generations identified mainly with the agricultural industry, enjoying
in the enterprise a measure of success that spoke highly of their indi-
vidual and collective talents as husbandmen, and it remained for the
subject to launch out into other fields, and there to win to himself special
laurels in his chosen activities. He has distinguished himself not alone
as an educator but as a business man, and for more than half a century
has led a busy and successful life in those enterprises to which he
has given his attention and his energies.

George N. Wagner was born in Pennsylvania, the native home of his
ancestors, on August 16, 1837, and he is a son of Daniel and Catherine
(Follmer) Wagner, both born within the borders of the old Keystone
state. The father was born in 1802 and died in 1849, while the mother,
who was born in 18 10, lived to the age of seventy, passing away in the
year 1880. They were the parents of twelve children, seven of whom

1364 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

arc yet living, and of tlie twelve, George X. was the fifth in order of
hirtli.

The eldest was William, who now lives in Winchester, X'irginia,
retired, at the age of eighty-three. Daniel F., who died in 1866, served
in the Civil war as a cavalryman. Elizabeth Lucinda married William
Hackenburg, and is now deceased. Susan C. died when she was twenty
years old. George N. was the next born. Charles A. lives in Watson-
town, Pennsylvania. Mary A. married James A. Caldwell, and he died
one year ago. She now lives in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Jacob H. lives
in Watsontown, Pennsylvania, and there is engaged in business as the
operator of a planing mill. Levi B. is a resident of Grand Rapids,
retired from active business. John died in infancy. James F. died at
the age of six years. Frank lives in Watsontown, Pennsylvania, and is
occuiiied in manufacturing interests.

The father of this family was a member of the Lutheran church all
his life, while his wife had membership in the German Reformed church.
He was a Democrat in early life, but later became a Whig. He was
widely known as a successful farmer, and was for years the owner of
two finely improved and highly valuable farms in Pennsylvania. A quiet
man in his ways, devoid of showy qualities, he yet gained and retained
the good will and genuine regard of discriminating people, and had a
most excellent reputation in his community and wherever he was known.
It should be said that he was a son of Michael XV'agner, also a native of
Pennsylvania, who died in that state at the advanced age of ninety-six
years.

The maternal grandfather of George N. Wagner was Daniel
Follnier, a farmer of Pennsylvania birth. He was a soldier in the War
of 1812, though his service in that conflict was but brief, and he served
as Colonel of his command. His father, Jacob Follmer, a native of
Germany, was standard bearer throughout the Revolutionary war. He
was a member of the state legislature of Pennsylvania in the early days
after the war, and was one of the prominent and influential men of the
state. As associate judge of his county for a number of years, he had
a high place in the public eye and mind, and lived a life of far reaching
usefulness in all those positions to which he was called in the interests
of the people.

George N. Wagner was educated in the public schools of his native
community in so far as the fundamentals of learning are concerned. He
was reared on the home farm, and when he quitted the country schools
he looked higher for educational training, his graduation from Franklin
& Marshall College coming in the year 1862. Thereafter he devoted
himself to teaching for some years. He first taught in a high school in
Muncy, Pennsylvania. Forty-five years ago he was a teacher in the
White Pigeon (Michigan) High School, and in Milton, Pennsylvania.
He established an academy at Princeton, Illinois, which continued suc-
cessfully for three years. In 1867 Mr. Wagner returned to his native
state, and there he engaged in the lumber business, turning his back
upon the teaching jjrofession. And, though he has since maintained a
lively interest in educational affairs and activities in whatever places he
has been found, he has had no part in active teaching, but has continued
in business life. In '74 Mr. Wagner went to Williamsport, Pennsyl-
vania, where he bought an interest in a planing mill, and he continued
in business there for a year or more, after which he turned his attention
to the oil business, which held forth considerable promise at that time.
After two years devoted to that enterprise he withdrew and came to
Michigan, settling in this city in the year 1881. Here he once more
engaged in the lumber business, establishing a white pine shingle manu-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1365

facturing plant. The business, established then in a small wa}', has
grown apace with the passing years, and Mr. Wagner shipped shingles
and lumber from Grand Rapids to practically every state in the Union.
As the white pine timber gave out in Michigan he launched into the red
cedar shingle and lumber business in the state of Washington. His
shingles are found in the most unexpected places, and his trade is con-
stantly spreading out, making necessary frequent extensions of his
facilities, so that the W'agner Shingle & Lumber Company is today one
of the most substantial and progressive enterprises of the city, adding
its full quota to the assets of Grand Rapids in respect to its activities.

Mr. Wagner was married in 1871 to Miss Jennie B. Hill, a daughter
of George Hill, who was a farmer in the vicinity of Williamsport, Penn-
sylvania, for years. To Mr. and Mrs. Wagner have been born four
children : George H. is living in Alaska. Katherine B. is at home with
the family. ^Martha C. married Hubbard Newton, who is engaged in the
cedar tie, post and pole business in this city, as a member of the well
known firm of Warner & Newton. Jessie L. is a stenographer and book-
keeper in her father's business office, and is a capable and efficient assist-
ant to him. She is also a member of the Wagner Lumber & Shingle
Company, and is secretary of the company. The wife and mother died
in 1891.

Air. W'agner is a member of the Presbyterian church, and has served
as an elder in the church for many years. He is a Republican in his
politics, and it should be said that he has served well and faithfully on
the local school board for ten years, — a post for which he was especially
well fitted by reason of his earlier educational activities and his life-long
interest and'enthusiasm in matters of educational import. Another item
of interest is that of his service in the Union army during the Civil
war. Though his service was but a brief one, he participated in several
skirmishes, and aided in driving Lee from the state of Pennsylvania.
With that accomplished his service ended.

]\Ir. Wagner is a typical business man and devotes himself closely
to his own atifairs. He has seen a varied and useful career, and his suc-
cess in his business has been earned in its every detail, so that his pros-
perity is in no way that of a favorite of fortune, except as fortune must
inevitably favor the man who has in his makeup those qualities of
perseverance, energy and every-day common-sense that are so powerful
as factors in the success of every enterprise that gains a leading place
in its community.

Fr.\xk W. \'ax Wickle. Now giving all his time to his duties as
judge of Probate Court of Oceana county, with residence at Hart, Mr.
Van Wickle has had a long an dsuccessful career both in teaching and in
farming in this section of the state. His family has been identified with
Oceana county, since pioneer times, and he is one of the men whose
services have been important factors in local life.

Frank W. \'an Wickle was born in Fairfield, Ohio, January 18,
1854, a son of Andrew A. and Sarah (Moorehouse) Van Wickle. Both
parents were natives of New York State, the father was born in 1824,
and died in 1901, and the mother in 1826 and died in 1856. Andrew
Van Wickle early in life learned the mechanical trade, but later gave
most of his attention to farming. In 1864, he came to Michigan, and on
August 7, 1866, began his residence in Oceana county, on a farm. At
that time he acquired possession of one hundred and ten acres, sixty
acres of which had already been cleared, and for a number of years
thereafter he steadily pushed back the domain of wilderness, and
reclaimed the entire tract. He was a man of unusual education for his
day, and prospered in his business afifairs. He belonged to the Methodist

1366 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

church, and as a Republican was one of the local leaders having held
several township offices, was justice of the peace for many years, and
for one year was president of the Horticulture Society of Oceana
county. I3y his first wife he had three children as follows : Etta, who
married Archie A. Wasson, who is an old soldier, and lives retired in
Indiana ; Frank W. and Frederick P., twins, the latter being a very suc-
cessful business man at York, Nebraska, where he owns and operates
elevators and grain mills, and has other important interests. After the
death of his first wife the father married Arminda Bishop, and she
became the mother of three children, as follows : William G., who is a
farmer at Shelby, Michigan; Charles, whose home is in Seattle, \Vash-
ington ; and Sarah, who married Jesse Chatman, and lives in Los
Angeles, California.

Judge \'an Wickle was ten years old when the family came to
INIichigan, had a common school education, as preparatory to his self-
supporting career, and spent one year in the Ypsilanti Normal. He
began educational work and was granted a state certificate. His total
period of service in that field covered fifteen terms of teaching. From
that vocation he engaged in the drug business at Shelby, and for
eighteen years was one of the prosperous merchants of that village.
While there he held all the township offices, was president of the village
for two terms, was township treasurer two terms, commissioner of
schools, and secretary of the examining board, of the county for six
years.

Judge Van Wickle in 1884 married Rhoda A. White, of Oceana
county, a daughter of O. K. White, who was one of the early settlers,
and prominent in Republican politics having held the office of sherili,
representative of the county. To the marriage of Judge Van Wickle
have been born five children : Ellis, now in the milling business ; Seth,
Amey, Ruth, and Elinor, all in school. Mrs. \'an Wickle is a member
of the Congregational church. For a number of years he has done much
work for the Republican party, and in 1900 the people of Oceana county
first assigned him the honor of the office of probate judge. Since then
his impartial and efficient administration of the duties coming under
his jurisdiction have met with constant approval, and he is now in the
fourth successive term. Mr. Van Wickle owns a farm near Hart, and
perhaps no citizen of Oceana county is better known than Judge Vzm
Wickle.

GusTAVus M.w. One of the old and honored residents of Oceana
county was chosen to the office of county treasurer in 1912, and since
entering upon his duties at the county seat, has well justified the pre-
dictions of his friends and supporters, and has proved one of the most
efficient and popular of Oceana county's public servants. Mr. May
fought for the llag of the Union during the Civil war, and has for more
than forty years lived in this part of the state. He was born in Chau-
tauqua county, New York, on Cliristmas Day of 1844. His parents
were Kingsbury and Flizabeth ( Kingsley ) May, the former born in New
'V'ork in 1806 and died in 1889, and the latter born in Massachusetts in
1809 and died in 1871. Both the May and the Kingsley families are of
English stock, and have long been represented in America. Both the
father and mother grew up and were educated in New York State, and
the latter was for a nunilier of years a popular teacher. The father
engaged in farming, and in 1864 moved west and bought a farm in
McIIcnry county, Illinois. While living there the mother died, and he
later moved to Michigan, and lived in the home of his son Gustavus.
until his death. There were eleven children in the family, Gustavus
being the fifth, and the other two still living are: T. W. May, who is a

HISTORY OK AIICIIIGAN 1367

resident of Grand Rapids; and Eva, wife of Fred Kern, whose liome
is at Caro, Illinois. The mother belongs to the Methodist Episcopal
church and the father was a Democrat in politics.

Giistavus May attended common schools, and was only seventeen
years old when the war broke out. Enlisting in Company G of the
Forty-ninth New York Infantry, he continued at the front, participat-
ing in many campaigns and undergoing many of the viccissitudes of
militarv life for four years, his time of discharge and return home being
some weeks after the close of the war. He was with the army of the
Potomac, and in a large number of its battles and campaigns. At
Fisher's Hill, he was captured and spent three months in the noisome
prisons of Libby and Belle Isle. His final muster out occurred on July
15, 1865, and after a brief time spent in New York he went west and
was for three years located on a farm in Illinois. In 1868, Mr. May
moved to Michigan, and for eight years farmed a rented place near
Grand Rapids. In 1876 he came to Oceana county, bought a farm of
comparatively new land, eighty acres in extent, and has been since
prosperously engaged in the growing of the general crops and fruits.

In 1871, he married Harriett Hilton. She died in 1885, and was a
member of the Baptist church. Of their four children only one is now
living, Florence, the wife of Bert Cole, living at Elbridge, Michigan. In
1888 ]\Ir. May married Lydia Barnard, and they have four children ;
Max, who lives on the old homestead in Oceana county; Maude, wife of
Fred Dillingham, an Oceana county farmer ; Byron, attending school at
Hart; and Nina, also in school.

Mr. May affiliates with the Masonic Order and the Royal Arch Chap-
ter, and maintains association with his old army comrades in the Grand
Army post. He has been a Republican since the war, and has been hon-
ored with several township offices, including supervisor. Since his elec-
tion to the office of county treasurer he has moved to Hart, and now
gives all his attention to the duties of that responsible place.

Frank A. Jensen. Now in the third year as superintendent of the
city schools of Hart, Mr. Jensen has performed a service which causes
his administration to be regarded as a new epoch in local education. He
is an exponent of progresssive and practical ideals in education, and
having been a teacher all his active life, he has always been a student, and
by his experience has worked out plans and methods which he has applied
in making the Hart schools vital institutions for the welfare of the
coming generation.

Frank A. Jensen was born in Oceana county, Michigan, February 16,
1879, a son of C. M. and Ella (Moran) Jensen. Grandfather Miller
Jensen, who died in Oceana township in 1903, was for many years a salt
water sailor, but after moving to Michigan settled on a farm. C. M.
Jensen was born in Denmark in 1857, and was brought to America by
his parents in i860. They settled in Oceana county where he has long
been a successful farmer. He is a Republican in politics, and a member
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife, who was born
in Canada in 1859, also came to America in i860, but her people settled
in Ohio. She came to ^Michigan alone, and until her marriage was em-
ployed as a cook in a lumber camp. She is a member of the Catholic
church. Of their four children, two are living: Mamie, who married
Jerome Dumont, a timekeeper in a factory at Hart ; and Frank .V.

Frank A. Jensen was educated at Pentwater, graduating from the
high school in 1898. Early in that year the outbreak of the Spanish-
American war, he enlisted in Company A, of the Thirty-Fifth Michigan
Volunteers, and went with his regiment to Georgia, remaining in the

1368 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

service nine months. He had the rank of quartermaster sergeant. Fol-
lowing the war he was for two years a student in country schools, and
then attended the Ypsilanti Normal College, and was graduated in 1902
with the degrees of B. I'd. and A. I',. During the following two vears
Air. Jensen taught mathematics in the Normal school, and then for five
years was superintendent of the city schools at Kalkaska, Michigan. His
record as an educator made him well known in different parts of the state,
and in 191 1, he accepted the position of superintendent of city schools
at Hart. He is now in his third year, and has done much to bring the
Hart schools up to a high standard of efficiency. The enrollment of
pupils at this time numbers five hundred and seventy, and they are looked
after by a staff of seventeen teachers. Mr. Jensen is a student as well
as a practical executive, and in the summer of 1913, as a result of post
graduate studies was awarded the degree Master of Arts at Columbia
College at New York City.

Mr. Jensen married Mabel Bloore, who was born in Oceana county.
She died in 1907, leaving two children, Clyde and Agnes, both of whom
are attending school. In 1910 Mr. Jensen married Ruth Bowerman, of
Kalkaska county. Mrs. Jensen is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, while he affiliates with the Masonic Order up to and including
the Royal Arch degrees. In politics he is a Republican.

Edw.\ri) p. Mills. Organizer and cashier of the Farmers State
Bank of Montague, Mr. Mills is a third generation representative of a
family identified with western Michigan for upwards of seventy years.
His grandfather was a pioneer who helped clear away the wilderness, his
father has been remarkably successful as a merchant, and the son has
filled up his brief career with fifteen years active connection with banking
and business.

Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, August 25, 1879, Edward P. Mills, is a
son of Lucius W. and Laura ( Kinney ) Mills. The Mills family is of Eng-
lish descent, and the first of the name settled in Massachusetts, during the
colonial epoch. Grandfather Samuel Mills, a native of New York State,
came to Michigan in 1847, settled in Van Buren township, which at that
time was largely a wilderness and by his labors as an early settler, cleared
up a fine farm, reared a family of eight children, and died on the old home-
stead with the love and respect of his descendants, and the esteem of his
community. The mother of Air. Mills was a daughter of A. F. Kinney,
who was a Vermonter by birth, came to Ypsilanti in the early days, and
was one of the pioneer physicians of that section. Lucius W. Mills, who
was born in Genesee county. New York, August 16, 1837, is still living at
the age of seventy-seven. His wife was born at Ypsilanti, Michigan,
August I, 1845, and they were married in Ypsilanti. Lucius Alills was ten
years of age, when his family settled in Van Buren county, and as soon
as he was able he began to assist in those rugged duties of farm labor,
and clearing off the forest and the stumps from the field. He had a dis-
trict schooling, later moved to Ypsilanti, engaged in merchandising, and
finally qualified and became a very successful school teacher. He was
teaching at the time he met Miss Kinney, and served as superintendent of
schools in dift'erent towns and villages, and had just been elected superin-
tendent of schools at Lawrence when his son Edward was born. Early
in the sixties he enlisted in a Michigan Regiment of Cavalry, and saw a
good deal of hard service as a union soldier, participating among other
engagements at Shiloh. He was sergeant of his company. Though in the
hospital as a result of sickness, he was never wounded or captured. At
one time a buckle on his belt turned aside a bullet from a Rebel gun.
After teaching school a number of years, he engaged in merchandising

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1369

and established the Mills Dry Goods Company of Mason. His ha^ been a
very successful career in all its phases. He started his first dry goods
store at Webberville, branched out with growing success, and had two
stores one in !Mason, and one in Lansing. The Lansing store is conducted
by his sons. Lucius Mills has for many years taken an active part in local
political affairs, is a staunch Republican, and has held some offices, having
been honored with places of trust, during his residence at Mason, and
elsewhere. lie is a member of the Presbyterian church, affiliates with the
Maccabees, and is a man, whose career has been one of usefulness, not
only to himself but to his community. Of his five children four are liv-
ing, and the Montague banker was fourth in order of birth, as follows :
F. E. Mills, who is in charge of the dry goods business at Lansing; Wini-
fred, now deceased, was the wife of George Sheldon, a Presbyterian min-
ister of Hartford City, Indiana ; Lucius W. Jr., is in the dry goods busi-
ness at Lansing; the next is Edward; and Susan is the wife of P. W.
Bernard, who is secretary of the A. I. Union of Columbus, Ohio, and has
taken a very prominent part in Columbus politics, and for years was secre-
tary of the noted Columbus Republican Club.

Edward P. Mills spent his youth in dift'erent localities of Michigan,
was graduated in i(Sg7 from the Mason high school, took one year of study
in the Ypsilanti Normal, and about the time he became of age, entered
the Farmers Piank of Mason as bookkeeper. Leaving Mason in 1905,
with a thorough knowledge of banking, and a well tried ability and in-
tegrity, he organized the Farmers State Bank of Montague. However,
the Bank was first established as a private institution, under the name of
L. W. and E. P. Mills, bankers, and it was not until December, ipii, that
it was converted into a state bank. The Farmers State Bank is now a
flourishing and substantial institution, with a capital stock of twenty-
thousand dollars, surplus of two thousand dollars, and the average deposits
which in the highest degree reflect the confidence of the community in the
bank's management, amount to one hundred and thirty-five thousand dol-
lars. Mr. Mills became cashier at the organization of the bank, and his
father was the first president. At the present time, John V^anderwerp, of
Muskegon, is president.

In ig04 Mr. Mills married Mabel Langforfl, a daughter of Dr. G. W.
Langford, of Williamston, Michigan, where he has practiced medicine,
for a number of years. Their two children are Winifred and Margery,
both in school. The family worship at the Presbyterian church, and Mr.
Mills is affiliated with Alasonry, having been secretary of his lodge, and
was secretary of the Knights of Pythias, during his residence in Mason.

Mark B. Covell. President of the State Bank of White Hall, one
of the largest owners of real estate and general business holdings in the
city, Mark B. Covell began his career in Michigan forty years ago with
hardly a dollar to his name. He worked in lumber camps, showed his en-
terprise by eft'ecting employment, and by engaging in any line of endeavor
which would turn an honest dollar, and eventually was on the high-road
to success.

Mr. Covell has shown a sound sense of civic obligation, and while
acquiring individual wealth, has not neglected his responsibilities to the
community.

Mark B. Covell was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, June 26,
1849, a son of Calvin T. and Elizabeth (Coleman) Covell. Grandfather
James Covell was a member of the New York militia, served in the War
of 1812, and was a son of Jonathan Covell, who moved his home from
New York to Pennsylvania about 1816, when only one family had settled
in Bradford county. The Covell ancestry is German. On the maternal

1370 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

side Grandfather Coleman was born in New York State of Irish descent.
Calvin T. Covell was born in Washington county, New York, July 1809,
and died in 1879, while his wife was born in the same year, also in New
York State, and died in 1856. They were married in 1830. Calvin T.
Covell, spent all his active career as a Pennsylvania farmer. He was a
member of the Universalist church, is Republican in politics, and for a
number of years held the office of justice of the peace. He and his wife
were the parents of twelve children, six of whom are living and Mark B.
was the tenth in order of birth. The children still living are mentioned as
follows: Lyman T., living retired in White Hall; Rebecca, wife of Mr.
Staples, of White Hall; Augusta Lewis, a widow, living in White Hall;
Charles E., who is in business with his brother ^lark; Mark B., David
Wilmot, a farmer in Muskegon county.

Mark B. Covell had a common school education in his native county
of Bradford, his early experiences and environments were those of his
father's farm, and when twenty-one years of age, about 1870, he came
west and located in Michigan. His first employment here was in a lumber
camp. At his arrival in this state, his purse contained only two dollars
and a half. Two years in a lumber camp was followed by employment as
Ijookkeeper, after which he and a brother and Capt. P. D. Campbell
operated the boat line to Chicago, had a grocery store, and were active in
various lines, which paid them a sure but steady profit, and thus they laid
the foundation of success; Their -early fortune was acquired largely in
the lumber business, whichthey folltSRtd during the seventies and eighties.
In 1891, Charles E. Covell bought out the other brothers, and he and
Mark have since been partners in the lumber mill and real estate business
at White Hall. • _. _,_.. , , .

In igo2 Mark Cpvell^l^-tisjsted-iiv.th-e organization of the State Bank of
White Hall, with a .capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, and a sur-
plus at this time of ~si-x thousand dollars, andjias served as president of
that substantial institution ever since.

In 1875 ^^^- Covell married Miss Mary Myhra, who was born in Nor-
way and died in 1891 without children. In 1893 ^^ married Mary A.
Wilson, who was born in Scotland, a daughter of William Wilson, a
moulder by trade. They are the parent's of three children : Emeline W.,
who lives at home; Mary Elizabeth, who is a student in the Ypsilanti
Normal School; and Mark B. Jr., also in school. The family are mem-
bers of the Congregational church, Mr. Covell is affiliated with the
Masonic Order, and in politics is Independent. His public service includes
tenure of the offices of treasurer and president of the village and at this
time he is serving in the village council. His possessions include large
land in the vicinity of White Hall, city real estate, and varied connections
with I)usiness enterprise.

J(iiT.\ T. Cooper, M. D. A graduate in medicine in 1902. Dr. Cooper
has been in active practice at Muskegon since 1905. Muskegon is his old
home, having been his place of residence since 1868, at which time his
])arents located there. Dr. Cooper is a very capable physician and sur-
geon, and at the present lime is holding the office of county ])liysician.

|(ilni T. Coo])er is a native of the Netherlands, in which country the
name was siielled Kuiper. He was born there, Feljruary 7, 18(12, a son
of Thys and Maaitc (Wiersme) Cooper. The father was 1)orn in the
Netherlands in 1833, and died in 1885, and the mother was born in 1824,
and died in igio. They crossed the Atlantic, and settled at Muskegon in
1868. The father was a laborer on first arriving in Michigan, later took
U|) llic dairy business, and was on the rcjad In a gencvdus prosperity at
the time nf his death. There were three children, two of whom are yet

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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1371

living. Anna married Cornelius Dupner, who is in the retail meat busi-
ness at Muskegon. The parents were members of the Christian Reform
church, was one of the organizers of that church in Muskegon, it being
the second Dutch church in the city. In politics he was a Republican.
The name of the paternal grandfather was Renze Cooper.

Dr. John T. Cooper was six years of age when the family located at
Muskegon, and he attended the common schools and also the high
school of the city. When he started out he had only forty dollars to his
name, and entered upon his profession only after a long preliminary ex-
perience in business. With Detroit as his headquarters, he spent four-
teen years on the road as a traveling salesman for the Warner Crockery
House. In the meantime his ambition has become set upon a professional
career, and he entered the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery,
finally becoming a student in the Grand Rapids Medical College, where
he was graduated M. D. in 1902. His first practice w-as at Grand Haven,
where he did well during the three years of his residence, and for two
years was city physician. In 1905 he came to Muskegon, and here has
built up a very satisfactory patronage. In 191 2 he was appointed county
physician, in which office he is giving capable service to the public. Dr.
Cooper is a memljer of the ^Muskegon county and the Michigan State
jMedical Societies, and the American Medical Association. All his time
and energies are devoted to his practice.

In 1886 Dr. Cooper married Jennie Tellman, a daughter of Henry
Tellman. Her father was a very well known citizen of ^Muskegon, served
as supervisor and city alderman, and for a long number of years was
connected with the lumber industry as a saw-filer. To the marriage of
Dr. Cooper and wife have been born six children, Mabel, who married
Dr. William Sigtenhort, who recently graduated from the Chicago Dental
College ; Henry, chief inspector of the Motor Specialty Company : Margie,
who married Robert Harvey and lives in Muskegon ; Theodore, a ma-
chinist in the Motor Specialty Company ; Edna, in high school ; and
Evelyn, in the grammar schools. The family attend church at the Houston
Avenue Reform Church. In politics he is a Republican, and for a num-
ber of years has taken much interest in politics and public life.

Newell Avery. In the great lumbering industry which long consti-
tuted the basis of civic and material prosperity in Michigan, a strong,
resolute and resourceful figure in the pioneer days was the late Newell
Avery. A loyal, liberal and influential citizen of the state, not only through
his operations in the field of lumbering, but as a man of afliairs and strong
personal character, he left a definite and worthy impress upon the history
of the state.

Newell Avery was born in Jefferson, Lincoln county, Maine, on the
12th of October, 1817, and passed the closing years of his life in the city
of Detroit, where his death occurred on the 13th of March, 1877. He was
a son of Enoch and Margaret (Shepherd) Avery, both of whom were
natives of Maine, but their parents were natives of Massachusetts and
representative of staunch old colonial families of that commonwealth,
whence they removed to the state of Maine before the war of the Revolu-
tion. The respective families settled in that part of ancient Pownal-
borough, now called Alna, in Lincoln county, Maine, and both became
worthily identified with the social and industrial development and progress
of that section of the old Pine Tree state. Newell Avery was a branch
of the staunchest of Puritan stock, a descendant of Edward Rossiter, one
of the assistants of Governor John Winthrop; of William Hilton, of the
Fortune, the second trip to Plymouth, in 1621 ; and of John Brown of
Pemat|uid, whose deed of land from the Indians is the first recorded deed

1372 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAX

ill Maine, if not the first such deed in New England. His training and
inlieritance therefore equipped Newell Avery for the vicissitudes and
responsibilities of pioneer life, a life that has always demanded self-
reliance, resourcefulness, and absolute integrity of purpose. The best
type of the New England spirit was manifest in and dominated the course
of Mr. Avery, and he proved himself master of circumstance and of the
opposing forces which would have baffled a man of less vigor, self-reliance
and determination. To such valiant spirit Michigan owes much of its
early development, and the state was fortunate in having his cooperation
in its affairs in the earlier period of its industrial advancement.

The father of Newell Avery had been actively identified with lumber-
ing in Maine, and thus the son early gained the practical experience with
the industry which was to become the medium of his own large and worthy
success. Eleven years of age at the time of his father's death, there thus
fell upon his shoulders when a boy the heavy responsibilities of family
support. His widowed mother was left with ten immature and dependent
children, and under such conditions Newell Avery accepted the heavy lot
of attempting to provide for the support of the household, and thus came
to share in hard and incessant labor and almost manifold privations. The
gold of his character was thus tried in the fire of adversity, and from the
sLorm and stress of those early years was developed his many admirable
powers, although his education so far as books were concerned was of
the most meager order. With a strong and engaging personality, keen
perception and an unusual memory, he was never at a disadvantage in his
intercourse among men, and his varied achievements were those that con-
stituted true success. At the age of fourteen years Newell Avery was
working in a sawmill in the Maine woods, and by hard and self-sacrificing
labors was showing his devotion to his mother and the younger members
of the family. One of the greatest regrets of his later years was that his
loved and unselfish mother was not permitted to live to witness and par-
ticipate in the results of the great success he eventually acquired, but she
had for several years been the pleased witness of his advance toward
larger success and had enjoyed every comfort which his care and means
could suggest.

Mr. Avery's independent business career began with the purchase of a
small tract of pine land, from which he cut the timber and sold it to some
of the larger contractors in the lumber trade. With the growth of his
limited capital and his extending reputation among the lumber, interests,
he found it ])ossible to rent sawmills and to engage as an individual manu-
facturer of lumber. His progress after his independent start was rapid,
and the success which met his practical ventures and the shrewd judgment
which characterized every undertaking soon gave him a prestige and every
assurance of final success.

In 1849 Mr. Avery became associated with his brother-in-law, Jonathan
Eddy, and Simon J. Murphy, two other ambitious young men who were
destined to become representative citizens of Maine, and one of them of
Michigan. They organized the firm of Eddy, Murphy & Company, Mr.
Avery being the silent partner of the firm. Soon after its organization
the firm began operations in the great pine forests of Michigan, and in
1853 Mr. Avery removed with his family to Port Huron, of which city
he was a prominent man and civic factor in the years preceding and during
the Civil war. He served as president of the village board at one time,
and in 1859 was one of the first mayors of the city. His lumber opera-
tions were at first confined to St. Clair county, but gradually extended
until they covered a very considerable part of the entire lower peninsula
of the state. Thousands of acres were bought by him, comprising some
of the finest pine lands in the Saginaw valley, and the firm extended its

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1373

activities until they could be estimated as immense even among the greatest
timber operators in the United States at that time. Mr. Avery gave evi-
dence of his mature judgment and his appreciation of the worth and value
of others by admitting to partnership in the firm certain of his trusted
employees, a system which brought forth effective co-operation and event-
ually the maximum of profit. At one time he was the executive head of
thirteen large lumbering concerns which were operating simultaneously in
different parts of Michigan. Mr. Eddy, the senior member of the original
firm, died in 1864, and the surviving partners purchased his interest in the
business. About that time all of the firm's operations in Maine were
brought to a close, and Messrs. Murphy & Avery established their home
in Detroit, where the firm of Avery & Murphy became one of great promi-
nence and influence. The firm bought large amounts of Detroit real estate
and held extensive properties in other parts of Michigan, and from the
lumbering business as well as from their dealings in real estate Mr. Avery
and Mr. Murphy acquired a place among the most substantial capitalists
of Michigan, and both were of a valued and useful influence in connection
with the civic and material prosperity of their home state.

Though he never manifested any inclination to enter into the arena of
practical politics, Mr. Avery was an active influence in the political life of
Michigan. He was a delegate to some of the national Republican conven-
tions, and had the distinction of being one of the organizers of his i)arty
as a member of the historic company which met "under the oaks" at Jack-
son in 1854. His political influence was important to the party both in
Maine and in Micliigan, and James G. Blaine of the former state and
Zachariah Chandler of the latter frequently consulted with him. While
he was constantly urged to let his name be presented for the highest honors
the state could confer, Mr. Avery was very self-depreciating, his business
cares were great, and he steadily refused to yield to all such solicitations.
Broad-minded and public-spirited, he had a clear comprehension of the
great questions of government and economic policies, and his convictions
were of a character where he could always give "a reason for the faith
that was in him." All that touched the general welfare was a matter of
moment to him, and none had a higher sense of personal stewardship. He
was distinctly anti-slavery in his convictions and had a great admiration
for President Lincoln. An earnest and liberal supporter of the cause of
popular education, Newell Avery did all in his power to further the
growth of the public school system of Michigan, and was a liberal con-
tributor to the Olivet College, maintained at C)livet under the auspices of
the Congregational church. The late Newell Avery was a man of positive
character, steadfast and true in all the relations of life, liberal in his
religious views and always tolerant and kind in his attitude to others. He
commanded respect because he deserved it, and gained confidence and
affection by virtue of his sterling attributes. His success, which was great
from whatever point of view it might be regarded, was the direct result
of his own well ordered efforts, and he wisely used the generous fruits of
his long years of earnest endeavor, giving to the world assurance of strong,
noble and useful manhood. Both he and his wife were valued members
of the Congregational church.

In the year 1S43 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Avery to Miss
Nancy Clapp Eddy, who was born in the state of Maine, a daughter of
Ware Eddy. She was born at Eddington. Penobscot county, a town named
in honor of her illustrious ancestor, Colonel Jonathan Eddy, who was a
gallant oflicer of the patriot forces in the war of the Revolution. The
ground on which the town is situated was granted to Colonel Eddy by the
government in recognition of his services during the struggle for national
independence. After the death of Newell Avery, in 1877, Mrs. Avery was
Vol. in— 11

1374 HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN

left with a large family, only two of whom were married. Her husband's
conlidence in her wisdom was amply justified in the years that followed,
as she was instinctively business-like and just, and always tolerant. The
divisions of many interests was made without recourse to law, to her great
satisfaction.

A much younger but devoted personal friend familiar with her life
history wrote of Mrs. Avery as follows: "Madam Avery was a woman of
strong and unique personality and filled a large place in the towns where
she lived. She had a wide acquaintance and nutch influence, and at the
time of the great fires of Michigan and of Chicago it was she who helped
to meet the appalling situation with a cjuick and practical decision and
with thorough arrangement of the work of relief in her own state. She
was generous and unstinted in her service to the poor, sick and sorrowing ;
to her friends, to her church and to the various organizations in which she
was actively interested. Her strong common sense, her executive aJjility,
her clear-cut honesty of spirit, her shrewd insight, her sense of justice,
were qualities which made her associates lean on her. Modest and abso-
lutely without pretence, she was fearless in the face of difficulty. A New
Englander, descended from many lines of early settlers in New England
(John and Priscilla Alden, the Adams family of Quincy, the Fairbanks
of Dedham, etc.), she was natiu-ally a notable housewife and keen thinker.
The flavor of her native state was in her colloqHialisms and sincere man-
ner, making her interesting to the last. Loyal to her friends, hosts of
friends were bound to her and sought to brighten her last wearisome years
of feebleness."

She lived to the great age of over eighty-six years, retaining to the last
a spirit of energy and helpfulness in spite of a weak body. Her brave
spirit was an inspiration to all who knew her. Her death occurred at the
family residence, 47 Eliot street, Detroit, April 19, 191 1.* Her loss was
especially mourned by a large circle of devoted relatives who had looked
upon her as the venerated head of their family for many years. The
children of Newell and Nancy (Eddy) Avery were as follows: Edward
Orlando, born October 23, 1844, and who married Flora T. Huntington;
Darius Newell, born January 10, 1846, and who married Elizabeth Hol-
brook Dole; Leonard Cooper, born October 18, 1847, ''"d who died
Novemljer 14, 1853, at Port LIuron, Michigan; Clara Arlette, born Janu-
ary 12, 1850, who was liberally educated in Detroit and New York and
became the compiler of a genealogy of her own family and its important
branches; Nancy Margaret, born May 16, 1852, who married Henry W.
Skinner; George Edwin, born April 18, 1854, married Fannie E. Tarbell;
John Herbert, born July 29, 1855, who married Ella Smith ; Horace
Waters, born April 12, 1857, married Luella West; Nellie Jane, born
April 29, i860, married Walter Wheaton Augur; a child born August 20,
1862, died unnamed ; Arthur Ware, born October 21. 1864, at I'ort Huron,
and died there September 16, 1865; Kittie Murphy, born September 13,

1866, and died August 27, 1867; and Harry Eugene, born December 13,

1867, at Detroit.

Lym.\n T. Covell. An old-time lumberman of White Hall, a busi-
ness man of long and successful experience, Lyman T. Covell began his
career without capital, having come to western Michigan when a young
man and starting out as a day laborer in the lumber camp. Since then
he has accumulated a substantial fortune, and while gaining these mate-
rial rewards for himself has also been an important factor in making
western Michigan a land of homes and (if permanent business and in-
dustry.

In' Bradford county, Pennsylvania, Lyiuan T. Covell was born Sep-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1375

tember 30, 1835, a son of Calvin T. and Elizabeth (Coleman) Covell.
His grandfather James Covell was a soldier in the War of 1812, belonged
to the New York State militia, and his great-grandfather Jonathan
Covell was of German parentage and was one of the first settlers in
Bradford county, Pennsylvania, moving thither from New York State in
1816. [ereniiah Coleman, the maternal grandfather, was born in New
York State of Irish stock. Calvin T. Covell was born in Washington
county, New York, July 1809, and died in 1879. He was married in
1830 to !Miss Coleman who was born in New York in 1809 and died in
1856. The father spent all his active career as a Pennsylvania farmer.
There were twelve children, six of whom are living, mentioned as fol-
lows: Lyman T., Rebecca, wife of ]\Ir. Staples, living in White Hall,
Augusta Lewis, a widow, whose home is in White Hall ; Charles V-. in
business with his brother Mark at White Hall ; :\Iark B., of White Hall :
and David Wilmot, a farmer in Muskegon county. The father and
mother were both members of the Universalist faith, he was in politics
a Republican, and for a number of years held the office of justice of
the peace in New York state.

Lyman T. Covell was the first of eight brothers, to come to Michigan
and identify themselves with the industrial and business activities of the
western portion of the state. His arrival in western Michigan and at
White Hall was in the year 1859. For some time he was paid daily wages
as a laborer in the lumber camps and mills. Any kind of work, provided
it was honorable, was acceptable to this vigorous and enterprising young
Pennsylvanian. He had grown up in pioneer times, and had only a lim-
ited education, but his native ability was such that he never suffered in
competition with other business men. In 1864, his experience and his
savings enabled him to procure a small saw mill, and in a modest way
Mr. Covell began cutting logs into lumber. The size and capacity of the
plant were gradually increased, and eventually he expended a large part
of his resources in investments in timber lands, and his prosperity owing
to his good judgment and energetic handling seldom had any reverses,
and none of any importance. In 1873 Mr. Covell engaged in the coal trade
as a side issue, and at the present time has developed this as a very large
enterprise, running both a coal and lumber yard. For a number of years
he has conducted a mil! for the manufacture of shingles, the shingle mill
being operated in conjunction with his luml)er mill. Mr. Covell is one
of the stock holders and directors of the State Bank of White Hall.
Among other interests he has a large farm in the county.

In 1867 Mr. Covell married Eunice C. Hobler, whose father Peter
Hobler was born in Germany, and came to ^^'hite Hall in young man-
hood, becoming a very successful lumberman. Mr. Covell's two chil-
dren are : George E., cashier of the State Bank of White Hall ; and
Frank H., associated with his father in the coal and lumber trade. The
family are members of the Congregational Church, his fraternity is the
Masonic, and in politics he is an active Republican. His public service
includes membership on the town board, and on the school board, and
he has always willingly lent his assistance and cooperation to every pub-
lic enterprise.

Joseph M. Frost, A. M., M. Pd. The present superintendent of the
Muskegon City schools has made education his life's work, and fully
thirty years of his career has been identified with this vocation. He has
held' responsible places in some of the best known academic institutions
of the country, and has been superintendent at Muskegon since 1963.
Mr. Frost is an educational executive of exceptional ability and ex])eri-
ence, possesses the spirit of the modern teacher, is constantly working for

i;376 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

progressive measures, and has done much to make the schools of Muske-
gon, a useful factor in the common life of the people of that city.

Joseph M. Frost was born at Montour Falls, Schuyler county, New
York, March 22, 1859, the oldest of five children four sons and one
daughter, born to LeGrand W. and Isabelle (Prince) Frost. The pater-
nal grandparents were Joseph and Sally (McCarty) Frost, natives of
Connecticut, who came to New York and bought a farm, but the grand-
father soon afterwards died of smallpox. The grandmother lived to be
seventy-eight years of age. Originally the P'rost family came to America
from Fngland, and had one of its members an American soldier in the
Revolutionary war. The maternal grandparents were James and Army
Prince, natives of England. Both LeGrand W. and Isabelle Frost were
natives of New York. The father, born in 1828, is still living. The
mother was born in 1838, and died in 1904. Until his retirement in 1903,
the father was a successful farmer at ^lontour Falls, where he now
resides. He was a very young man when he moved to Montour Falls,
and the death of his father from smallpox soon afterwards threw the
burden of family responsibility upon the young man, and he at once took
charge of aft'airs, paid for the farm and from that time forward pros-
pered, buying much other land and eventually becoming one of the sub-
stantial citizens of Schuyler county. All the family were active mem-
bers of the Episcopal church, and the father is a Republican in politics,
having given his allegiance to that party since its founding, back in the
decade of the fifties. He has taken much interest both in church affairs
and in public life. There are four children still living. Professor Frost
is a twin brother of James P. Frost, who is a resident of Montour Falls
in New York, is one of the state road inspectors, and has served in pub-
lic office for the past fifteen years. Charles L. is engaged in the insur-
ance business at Montour Falls ; Alexander G. is manager of the Sorosis
Shoe Company of Chicago.

Joseph M. Frost attended school in his native locality first in the
Cook Academy of Montour Falls, and later the Hobart College at Geneva.
Subsequently he was a student of the University of Chicago, where he
did post-graduate work. He received his degrees of A. B. and Phi Beta
Kappa at Hobart College in 1884, and was given his Master's degree at
the same institution in 1889. In 1910 he received the degree of M. Pd.
from the Michigan State Normal College. His career as, a teacher began
in 1884, when he became principal of the Hudson Academy at Hudson,
New York, where he remained seven years serving as Superintendent of
Schools during the last three years. He then went to Faribault, Minne-
sota, where he was instructor in English at the Shattuck Military school.
He spent seven years at Faribault, and later for four years was superin-
tendent of schools at Lacon, Illinois. This was followed by a period as
superintendent of schools at Hinsdale. Illinois, and in 1903 he was elefted
superintendent of schools at Muskegon.

Mr. Frost in 1885 married Miss Helen B. Hippie, a daughter of George
Hippie. Her father was a merchant at Geneva, New York. Mr. and
Mrs. Frost have one child, Arthur L., twenty-seven years of age, a grad-
uate of Cornell University in the class of 1909, and now in the employ
of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company at New Haven. Connecticut.
Mr. Frost and family worship in the Episcopal church. He has been
prominent both in the York and Scottish Rites of Masonry, has taken
thirty-two degrees in the latter, and is a Knight Templar. He served as
junior warden of the Blue Lodge at Hudson. New York. In politics he
is a Progressive Republican. He has been an active factor in the civic
and social life of Muskegon, has generously accepted all opportunities
for service both within and without the schools, and the city owes much

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1377

to him for the improvements of local education during the past ten years.
Mr Frost is now president of the Western Michigan Round Table, and
the Michigan Schoolmasters Club.

James Thomas Whitehead. In the iron and steel business at De-
troit one of the prominent figures for a number of years has been James
Thomas Whitehead, president of the Whitehead & Kales Iron Works.
His relations with the industry have been as an organizer, and manager
of large interests, and his presence has proved a stimulating influence
not only in this line of manufacturing but in connection with a number
of the industrial and financial enterprises of the city. For more than
half a century the Whitehead family has been identified with Detroit
and vicinity. James Thomas Whitehead is a native of Waynes
county, born at Wyandotte, Michigan, September 28, 1864, a son
of the late James and Mary (McEvoy) Whitehead. James Whitehead,
who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1831, came to the United States
in 1852. From Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent four years, he
came to Detroit in 1856, and for several years engaged in the mercantile
business in this city. Moving to Wyandotte, he became identified with
a similar business in that locality, and so continued tmtil his death in
1873. Mary (McEvoy) Whitehead was born in Halifax, Novia Scotia
in 1S31, her parents having been natives of the north of Ireland. After
her husband's death she brought her family to Detroit, and died in that
city in 1908.

At Wyandotte, James T. Whitehead li\cd until he was about ten
years of age, and since that time his home has been in Detroit. His
education proceeded partly from the public schools and partly from the
Detroit F)Usiness University. In 1879, at the age of fifteen Mr. White-
head began his business career by entering the employ of the firm of
Rathbone, Sard & Company of Detroit. Nine years with that firm laid
the foundation of experience for his own career. In 1888 Mr. White-
head began business on his own account at Detroit, and since that time
to the present has been identified with the various lines of the steel and
iron business. In 1899 Mr. William R. Kales became associated with
him under the firm name of Whitehead & Kales.

In 1905 the industry was incorporated under the title of Whitehead
& Kales Iron Works, of which corporation Mr. Whitehead became presi-
dent, the office wdiich he still holds. His interest extends to many other
local enterprises. He is a vice president of the Kales-Haskell Com])any
of Detroit, a director in the jMichigan Copper & Brass Rolling Mills, a
director in the Peninsular State Bank of Detroit, and vice-president and
director of the Highland Park State Bank.

The marriage of Mr. Whitehead on April 8, 1885, united him to
Miss Ida Marie Frazer, daughter of Abram Carley Frazer of Detroit.
Their familv of children are James Frazer Whitehead. Thomas Cram
Whitehead, Mary Elizabeth Whitehead, and Walter Kellogg Whitehead.
Well known in club life. Air. Whitehead belongs to the Detroit Athletic
(new), the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, and is a member and
in 1909-10 was a director of the Detroit Board of Commerce. A mem-
ber of the Episcopal Church for several years he has been a vestryman
of St. Paul's Cathedral.

Edward S. Lyman. Though one of the younger members of the
Muskegon bar, Edward S. Lyman has quickly taken rank as a leader
in his profession, enjoys a good practice, and possesses the confidence of
a large circle of ac(|uaintances in his county. Mr. Lyman had to work

1378 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

hard in order to fit himself for professional work, and is in the best sense
a self-made man.

Edward S. Lyman was born in Muskegon, September 20, 1881, a
son of M. W. and IMinnie (De\'oe) Lyman. His father was born in
Connecticut in 1852, a son of Frederick and Caroline (Whitten) Lyman,
who were also natives of Connecticut and descendants of an old fam-
ily originally founded in the colonies from England. The grandparents
moved from Connecticut out to Kansas, and the grandfather was a
farmer by occupation. The maternal grandfather, William Devoe, a
native of New York, moved from ^Michigan to New Jersey in 1838,
only two years after Michigan was admitted to the Union. I-Ie was a
farmer and later had a drug business in Kansas. He died in Michigan.
M. W. Lyman and wife were married in 1874 in Kansas. His education
was received partly in Connecticut, and partly in Kansas, and his voca-
tion throughout most of his career has been farming. He now lives re-
tired in the city of Muskegon. There are four children in the family:
William D., a physician at Grand Rapids; Helen, at home, and a gradu-
ate of the Muskegon high school ; E. S. Lyman ; and Fred W., who is
employed in the offices of the Brunswick-Balke-CoUender Company at
Muskegon. The family are active church members and the father is a
Republican in politics. ' \ ^ 'y'i!

Edward S. Lymap graduated-, from ;.the Muskegon high school in
igoi. He was then ;twenty ydats of age, and with an ambition to be-
come a lawyer he found employment at rqeager wages in a law office,
where he remained five years, and gained 'much practical equipment to
serve him later. He thefT entered the iavV school at Valparaiso, Indiana,
and was graduated LLl B". 1'n 1909. For the first year he tried a west-
ern field, spending some time at Livingston, Montana, but returned to
Muskegon in March, 1910, and established an oilice here. Since then
he has enjoyed a good general law practice, and has license to practice
in all the courts of the state. He is also circuit court commissioner.

On June 18, 1913, Mr. Lyman married Sarah Hart, formerly of Oska-
loosa, Iowa, and a daughter of William Hart, a real estate dealer. Mr.
Lyman has membership in the Episcopal church, and is affiliated with
Lovell Moore Lodge No. 182, A. F. & A. M., and with the Knights of
Pythias. In politics he is Republican.

Clark E. Higbee is undeniably one of the most successful of the
younger generation of the representatives of the legal profession, and his
career thus far has been one that is well worthy of mention. He is'now
Judge of Probate for Grand Rapids, an office to which he was appointed
early in 1912, and was some months later elected to the post. He is now
serving his first year in the office, and is proving his fitness for the posi- ,
tion with every passing day. Judge Higbee is a native son of Michigan,
born in Potterville, Eaton county, on April 28, 1883, and he is a son of
Lewis E. and Ella A. (Cranston) Higbee.

Lewis E. Higbee was born in Niagara county, New York, in the year
1846, and he died at the age of sixty-two in 1908. The mother, who is
a native of Michigan, born in Livingston county, in 1856, still lives. They
were married in 1881 in Barry county, Michigan, and the father practiced
medicine at Potterville, Michigan, for thirty-five years. He was regarded
as a successful country physician, and performed his full measure of good
and kindly deeds in his capacity as medical adviser for his fellows, so
that his life was filled to the uttermost. If he did not always get his re-
ward in coin of the realm, it mattered little t(j him. for he was of that
type of generous and kindly men who feel that the knowledge of a duty
well performed carries with it its own reward.

iiri nw TtiM

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1379

Dr. Higbee was a son of Clark Pligbee, who was born in Sullivan
county, New York, and who came to Michigan in about 1851. He settled
on a farm in Williamstown and passed his remaining days in devotion
to the care of his farm. He was a soldier in the Civil war and saw much
of active and strenuous service, contracting illness during the term of his
service that never left him and which eventually caused his death.

The maternal grandfather of the subject was one Thomas Cranston,
a native New Yorker, who came to Michigan and settled in Livingston
county. He is remembered as being the first man who successfully propa-
gated or attempted the propagation of hops in Michigan. The Cranston
family, it should be said, came to America from Scotland in 1648, set-
tling in Rhode Island. Two of the first governors of Rhode Island were
Cranstons of this family, and one of them married a datighter of Roger
Williams of historic fame. One of the Cranston men served throughout
the Revolutionary war and also in King Philip's war, and others of the
name have occupied positions of prominence in their various communi-
ties through many generations of right-living.

Three children were born to Lewis E. and Ella (Cranston) Higbee.
Clark E.. of this review, was the first born. Hal P., the second son, is
engaged in business in Grand Rapids ; and Ida R. is employed in the office
of her brother, Clark E.

Clark E. Higbee finished his common school education in Nashville,
Michigan, in 1901, after which he entered the University at Ann Ar-
bor. He was graduated from the law department in 1906, after which
he came to Grand Rapids with the intention of opening up an office. In
three days' time he had formed a partnership with Mr. S. W. Barker
and for one year they continued to be associated together, after which
Mr. Higbee withdrew and continued alone in practice. He was assistant
city attorney for three years, and had worked up an excellent practice
by the time he was appointed to the office of Probate Judge in 191 2. He
was nominated for the post later in the year and elected, beginning his
service as the duly elected incumbent in January, 1913. As Judge of
Probate he has in charge the alTairs of the Juvenile Court as well as those
of the Probate Court, and is one of the busiest men in the city. He has
always had an interest in the politics of his city and has been active in all
matters relative to the civic welfare of the community.

It is a fact worthy of mention that while Judge Higbee was awarded
his diploma at Ann Arbor in the last year in which President James
Burrell Angell officiated, his father. Dr. Higbee, received his diploma
at the hands of President Angell in the first year of his service in
that office.

In 1909 Judge Higbee was married to Miss Grace A. Baker of Nash-
ville, Michigan. Like him, she was a graduate of Ann Arbor, and she
is a daughter of Dr. and Mrs. J. I. Baker. Her parents are both prac-
ticing physicians of Nashville.

Two daughters have been born to Judge and Mrs. Higbee, — Ellen and
Doris. The family are members of the Congregational church, and the
Judge is a Mason with affiliations in the Royal Arch Masons, the Knights
Templar and the Shrine. It should also be stated that as a stanch Re-
publican, he is a member of the Young Men's Republican Club of Grand
Rapids, and served as president of the club one year.

George Morris West. A resident of Detroit since 1891, Mr. West
is identified with the business community as a broker in the handling
of high-grade securities, with office in the Union Trust building. In
local financial circles Mr. West has long been prominently known, and
in the past twenty years he has probably handled as great a volume of

1380 HISTORY OK MICHIGAN

investments in commercial ;ni(l industrial securities as an\' otlier broker-
age office in Detroit.

iSorn at Indianapolis, Indiana, April 7, 1869, a son of George H.
and Susan V. (Strilclior) West, Mr. West is descended from one of
the oldest New England families. The founder of the name on this side
of the Atlantic was Francis West, a native of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng-
land, where he was born in 1606. He came, in 1628, to Duxbury, A'las-
sachusetts, which colony remained his home until his death in 1692. He
married Margery Reeves and his son, Samuel West, was born at Dux-
bury in 1643, «i''"^I married Trytbosa Partridge, whose grandfather,
Stephen Tracy, related him to another prominent New England family.
Samuel West died at Duxbury in 1689 «i"d li's wife in 1701. Francis
West, son of Samuel and Trytbosa, was born at Duxburv in 1669, died
in May, 1739, and was known in bis community as Deacon Francis West.
His marriage to Mercy Minor connected him with an old Massachu-
setts family. Samuel, a son of Deacon Francis, was born at .Stonington,
Connecticut, in 1699, and died at Tolland in the same colony in February,
1779. The maiden name of his wife was Sarah Delano, of the old
colonial family of DeLanoy, of French origin. To .Samuel and .Sarah
was born a son, Samuel, at Tolland in March, 1732, and who died at
his native town in November, 1792. His wife was Sarah Lathrop,
who was born at Tolland in 1740 and died at Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
in May, 1784. Their son Frederick was born at Tolland in April, 1767,
and died there in October, 1813. Frederick West was married at Pitts-
field, Massachusetts, to Anna Cadwell, who was born at Pittsfield in
March, 1776, a daughter of Major Daniel and Anna (Dwight) Cadwell,
her father having gained his title by service in the war of the Revolution.
Anna (Cadwell) West died at Pittsfield in 1S39. long after the death
of her husband.

Henry Franklin West, a son of Frederick and Anna, and grandfather
of the Detroit business man, was born at Pittsfield in March, 1796. and
died at Indianapolis, Indiana, in November, 1856. At the time of his
death he was mayor of Indianapolis. As one of the earlv settlers of
Indianapolis, he had long been an influential citizen, had established and
conducted the first book store there, under the name of H. F. West &
Co., and that business became the nucleus from which was evolved the
present extensive publishing house of P.obbs, Merrill iv Company. One
other fact of bis progressive citizenship at Indianapolis deserves men-
tion. It was be who introduced the teaching of elocution into the public
schools throughout Indiana, and in manv other ways his influence was
felt in that early tity. Henry F. West married Betsey Mitchell, who
was born at Southbury, Connecticut, in .April, 1795, and who died at
Davton, Ohio, in April, 1842. Her parents were fared and Sarah Ann
(King) Mitchell.

George Herman West, son of FTenry F. West, was born at Pulaski,
Oswego county, New York, November 22, 1830. In 1840 moved to
Dayton, Ohio, after leaving Rochester, New York, and in 1844 estab-
lished his home at Indianapolis. In the latter city he received the
greater part of bis education, and for many years was engaged in the
wholesale and retail queenswarc business, and subsequently became sec-
retary and treasurer of the Masonic Mutual Benefit Society, an insur-
ance organization at Indianapolis. Resigning that work in 1895, he
moved to Detroit, which city remained bis home until his death on
October 13, 1903. George IT. West married Susan Virginia Stritcbor,
who was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, .August 29, 1834, a daugh-
ter of Joseph Innis and Alniir.a (Filler) Slritchor. Mrs. West died at
Detroit May 15, 1906. Their three children were: Frank, now de-

HISTORY 01< MICHIGAN 1381

ceased, who was for twenty-three years in the brokerage business at
Detroit in the firm of Baird & West; George Moi-ris ; and Miss Hessie
Mitchell West is historian of the Mayflower Society of Detroit.

The school days of George M. West were spent in Indianapolis, his
high school conrse having been followed by study in Sewell Military
Academy of that city. Since taking up his residence at Detroit, in iSqi,
he has been continuously in the brokerage and investment business, has
built up a fine clientage, and gives special attention to the handling of
high-class securities. Mr. West belongs to the Detroit Board of Com-
merce, the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, the Country Club, the
Automobile Club, and by reason of his New England ancestrv has mem-
bership in the Society of the Sons of the Revolution and in the' Mayflower
Society. *

John C. Nichols. With residence at Charlotte, John C. Nichols
is well known both as an attorney and farmer in Eaton county. With a
practice covering a quarter of a century, he now ranks among the lead-
ing lawyers in this part of the state, but is almost equally well known
through his enterprise as a farmer and stock man.

The Nichols family has lived in Eaton county since the early days,
and Mr. Nichols is a native son of the county in which his entire career
has been spent. He was born at Chester, Eaton county, July 21, i86s. the
oldest son of Robert and Ann Jane (Clements) Nichols^ His father,
who was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, in 1827, after spending his
youth and acquiring some education there, emigrated to America, was
engaged in farming in Eaton county for several years and finally moved
to Charlotte, where his death occurred in 1908. His wife was born in
1839 and died in 1913. Three of their five children are living, and one
son, Robert H. Nichols, Jr., is a graduate of the State University at Ann
Arbor and is now engaged in practice at Leslie, Michigan.

After graduating from the Charlotte High School in 1884, John C.
Nichols studied law while employed by Daniel P. .Sagendorph of Char-
lotte, later by the firm of Dean & McCall, and subsequently was a student
in the offices of Huggett & Smith, one of the prominent law firms of
Eaton county. .Xfter about four years of study and working his own
way he was admitted to the bar in 1888 by the Circuit Court. Since
opening his office as an attorney, his service as counsel has given Mr.
Nichols place among the successful few in the Eaton county bar. How-
ever, much of his time has been spent in looking after his farming inter-
ests. His place of about a thousand acres in Eaton county is conducted
as a stock farm, for the raising of high-grade cattle, hogs, sheep and
horses, and is regarded as one of the best improved and most valuable
estates in that section of Michigan.

On November 30, 1892, Mr. Nichols married Miss Bertha A. Dorman,
daughter of Julius H. and Jeannette (Barnes) Dorman. With no chil-
clren of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols have reared in their home a
little daughter named Marie Nichols.

Mr. Nichols is active in Masonic circles, being affiliated with Char-
lotte Lodge No. 120, A. F. & A. M., with Charlotte Chapter No. 82, R.
A. M.. with Charlotte Commandery No. 37, Knights Templar, with Char-
lotte Council No. 36, R. & S. M.. and with Saladin Temple of the Mystic
Shrine at Grand Rapids. He also belongs to the subordinate and encamp-
ment degrees of Odd Fellowship. In politics a Republican, Mr. Nichols
has filled the offices of justice of the peace and circuit court commis-
sioner. His city home is at 723 N. Cochrane avenue. He is an enter-
prising business man, has a wide acquaintance over the county, and
occupies a position of independence and influence in the community.

1382 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

Frank E. Leonard. Since the time of early settlement in western
Michigan, Grand Rapids has known and been influenced by no one family
to a greater extent in its general business development than that of Leon-
ard. Two generations of the name have alike been distinguished for
remarkable business talents, enterprise and large public spirit, and two
of the foremost commercial establishments of the city at the present time
are the result of the Leonard family's executive abilities and enterprise.
The H. Leonard & Sons mercantile house has a continuous business his-
tory of sixty years, and was founded by the father of its present pro-
prietors. More important in the value of its output as one of the largest
manufacturing concerns of Grand Rapids is the Grand Rapids Refriger-
ator Company, the largest of its kind in the world, and with a payroll
amounting to about se^en thousand dollars every week. This company is
the product of the business originality and talent of the second generation
of the Leonard family, and Frank E. Leonard is vice-president, his asso-
ciate being Charles H. Leonard, and the entire stock of the company is
owned within their families.

Heman Leonard, a son of Jonathan Leonard and a grandson of Silas
Leonard, was born April 30, 1812, in Parma, New York, and was one of
the very early settlers in western Michigan and actively interested in all
that related to his community, where he was esteemed as a man of in-
tegrity and sound business judgment by all who knew him. He lived to
see Grand Rapids change from an Indian trading post to a modern city,
and while his business relations were of increasing importance he also
held several minor offices in the early days of the village and the later city.

At the age of twenty-one Heman Leonard went to Canada, spent two
years there employed in the carpenter's trade, in farming and in other
work, and became a resident of Michigan in 1836. After about a year
spent on a farm near Adrian, he moved to Sturgis, and in 1842 came to
Grand Rapids. In the early days of that village he was known as the
proprietor of the Eagle hotel for some time, but in 1844 engaged in the
grocery trade at 31 Monroe street. His stock of goods also included
crockery, and gradually all his attention was concentrated upon that
department, and the business was conducted from about 1863 as an ex-
clusive crockery house. Heman Leonard continued in business through-
out his life, and his sons, Charles H., Frank E. and Fred H. Leonard,
joined in the business as they grew into manhood.

Heman Leonard's first wife was Maria Goodrich, and they were mar-
ried May 7, 1841, and her death occurred June 26, 1842. On September
10, 1845, he married her sister, Jane A. Goodrich, who died December
25, 1862. His third wife was Maria P. Winslow, daughter of Dr. Wins-
low, a pioneer settler of Grand Rapids. They were married June 14,
1864, and she died about one year before her husband on June 15, 1883.
His death occurred February 21, 1884, at his residence on the corner of
Commerce and Fulton streets, on the site of the block yet owned by
Charles H. and Frank E. Leonard and occupied as a wholesale store in
continuation of the original establishment, started on a modest scale first
as a grocery and then as a crockery store by their father fifty years ago.
ITeman Leonard suffered a stroke of paralysis in 1872, and never fully
recovered his powers. His body now rests in the Fulton street cemetery.

Frank E. Leonard, who was born at Grand Rap'ids April 8, 1S55, a
son of ITcman and lane A. Goodrich Leonard, grew up in Grand Rapids,
finished the high scliool course in 1871 and was soon taken into the store
with his father and brother Charles, and has always been actively identi-
fied with the family business, which has prospered so many years in Grand
Rapids that it is regarded as an institution as well as a private business
house. The business was continued in the Monroe street store until 1900,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1383

when the retail department was closed, and the trade confined exclusively
to wholesale. The company now employs six men as traveling repre-
sentatives throughout the lower peninsula of Michigan, who carry the
goods and the reputation of the Leonard name among retail merchants
and dealers throughout this section.

While the business established by Heman Leonard seventy years ago
has always been considered the chief interests of the family, it has long
since been surpassed in value and importance by the manufacture of
refrigerators which is now the largest concern of its kind in the world
and which has been carried on from a modest beginning more than thirty
years ago by the brothers, Charles and Frank E. It was in 1882 that
these brothers made their first refrigerator, starting with a small shop
and with modest equipment. Under their united Energies has developed
a business second to none of its kind in the world, and the output, from
supplying a small local trade, goes in carload lots to all parts of the coun-
try. The brothers own all the stock, and the capital and surplus of the
company are seven hundred thousand dollars. Some idea of the splen-
did success of the business is shown by the figures indicating tlie sales
for the year 1913, which amounted to $1,100,000 for_ refrigerators alone,
while the company also manufacture several side lines of refrigerator
supplies and equipments. Mr. Frank Leonard has for fifteen years been
a director of the Grand Rapids Savings Bank.

On October 12, 1881, was celebrated his marriage to Sarah E. Pierce.
Her father, George R. Pierce, of Grand Rapids, is a machinist and engi-
neer. Two children have been born to their marriage: Evelyn, born
February 28, 1883; and Franklin E., born January i, 1889. The daugh-
ter, Evelyn, was married June 7, 1905, to Noyes L. Avery, who is con-
nected with the stock and "bond department of the Michigan Trust Com-
pany, and their two children are named Noyes L. Jr. and Elizabeth
Avery. The son, Franklin, graduated from Harvard University in 1912,
and is now on the road selling the goods of the Grand Rapids Refriger-
ator Company.

Mr. Leonard and family worship in the Fountain Street Baptist
church, of which he has been a trustee for twenty years, is a Repub-
lican in politics, is affiliated with York Lodge of Masons, and has mem-
bership in the Kent Country Club, the Peninsular Club and the Plainfield
Country Club.

Frank W. Wilson, M. D. Both professional success and influential
activity as a citizen have marked the career of Dr. Wilson during his resi-
dence in Michigan, and since 1900 he has been a physician and surgeon
at Muskegon. "Few physicians of that city have accomplished more or
gained higher recognition in their profession than Dr. Wilson.

Frank" W. Wilson was born in Ontario, Canada, February 0, 1854.
His father, Andrew Wilson, born in Kilkenney, Ireland, in 1810, died in
1898. Andrew Wilson came to America in 1835. and on the same boat
was Miss Maria Worthington, who was born at Kilkenney, Ireland, May
24, 1819 and died in 1897. These two Irish emigrants settled at 'i'olcdo.
Ohio, where in 1836 they were married. From there they moved to
Canada in 1837. The father was a Canadian farmer, was honored with
local offices, and was a man of substantial influence. There were nine
children in the family, five of whom are living, and the doctor was seveiUli
in order of birth. Robert Wilson, the oldest, was a minister in the Ei)is-
copal church for thirty-six years, and all of his service was near London.
Canada. The five liv'ing children are mentioned as follows: Henry, is
a retired fanuer in Ontario, Canada, and made a comfortable fortune;
Tohn, lives at Lake Linden, Michigan, where he is editor of the Native

1384 inSTORY OF ^IICHIGAN '

Copper Times; the tliird is Dr. Wilson ; Arthur is an attorney in Canada ;
and Mary, married R. G. liurgess, a Congregational minister living in
Illinois. The parents were members of the Episcopal failh, the father
was in politics a Conservative.

Frank W. Wilson as a boy attended the common schools of his native
province and had very primitive surroundings while growing up. He at-
tended one of the old-fashioned log school houses, without any floor ex-
cept the bare ground, and with logs and rough-hewn planks for benches
and seats. Later he made up for early deficiencies of training, and in
1876, entered the medical department of the State University of Mich-
igan, where he was graduated M. D. in 1879. His practice was begun
at Shelby, where he lived twenty-nine years, and had a practice second
to none among the physicians in that vicinity. Much of his work was in
the country, which involved long rides, and eventually his work became
too severe a strain upon his physical ability, and in consequence he left
Shelby and moved to Muskegon in 1909. Since that time he has con-
fined his attention to a city practice which in six months after locating
here became as extensive as his business formerly aggregated in Shelby.

In 1884, Dr. Wilson married Jessie R. Rankin, a daughter of Daniel
II. Rankin. Her father was a Michigan man and was long engaged in
the charcoal and iron business, being successful but dying at the prime
of life. To Dr. Wilson and wife have been born four children, two of
whom are deceased. Grace is now in the last year at Oliver College, and
Alice Kathleen is also a student at Olivette. Dr. Wilson is a meml)er of
the Episcopal church, has taken the Royal Arch degrees in Masonry, and
in politics is a Democrat. Most of his time is devoted to his professional
work, although he is a great lover of fine horses and is the owner of some
pacing and trotting horses, which he looks after during the track season"

William E. Grove. The life and career of Judge William E. Grove
has been one of the broadest usefulness in its character, and has ex-
tended over a long period of years. He is yet active and influential in
the city of Grand Rapids, where he has maintained a continuous resi-
flence for something more than fifty years, and has a leading place among
the legal men of the city and county. His service as Judge has included
the offices of Justice of the Peace and of Judge of the Circuit Court, to
the latter of which he had his first election in 1888, though he began to
serve after his appointment on September 15, 1888, to fill out an unex-
pired term, made vacant by the death of Judge Montgomery. Judge
Grove served for nearly twelve continuous years, and the high character
of his rulings on the bench won him a popularity in judicial circles and
with the general public that was most pleasing. The Judge was born in
Geneva, New York, and some mention of his parents and ancestry, though
it must of necessity be brief, will serve to establish him as the representa-
tive of an old American family.

William E. Grove was born on November 27, 1833, and is a son of
Martin and Ruth (Fulton) Grove. The father was born in the state of
Pennsylvania on September 27, 1797, and died in the year 1888. The
mother was a native New Yorker, born there on November 18. 1807, and
she passed away in June, 1893. They were married in New York on
March 18, 1828, and there spent a good many years of their life.

Martin Grove was a carpenter in the early days of his career, but he
later turned his attention to farming activities and continued thus for a
good many years. He retired from active affairs of that nature a few
years ])rio'r to his death and in 1880 he moved to Michigan, where he
passed away in 1888, as has already been stated. To him and his good
wife eight children were born, of whom mention will he made in a later

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1385

paragraph. 'Sir. Grove was a Mason, and a Democrat in politics. He was
all his life a member of the Presbyterian church, and when the United
Presbyterian church came out of the reorganization of the church he
joined forces with that denomination and ended his days as a member of
the Westminster Presbyterian church at Grand Rapids. He was a son
of Jacob Grove, a native Pennsylvanian, who passed his entire life in
that state, and was a son of Peter Groff, the name having been thus ren-
dered in the early days. Peter Groff, it should be said, was a refugee
from Holland, and after his location in Peimsylvania he married and
settled in York county, where he ended his days. He raised a fine family
of twelve children, many of whom perpetuated the family name, so that
the house of Groff, or Grove, as it has in later generations been rendered,
is widespread in the United States.

The maternal grandfather of Judge Grove was James Fulton. He
was born in Pennsylvania, but in early manhood settled in New York
state, where he ended his days late in life. He was a volunteer for service
in the War of 1812, and reached Buffalo just as peace was declared, so
that he saw no active service in that skirmish at arms.

William E. Grove was educated in the country schools of New York
state, and while yet in his teens he began .teaching, and for three years
was thus engaged. He later attended Union High school at Geneva and
was there prepared for college, also receiving some training in a prepara-
tory way at Swift's Academy. He then entered Hobart's College at Ge-
neva, and at the close of his junior year there he came to Grand Rapids,
here beginning the study of law under the tutelage of Holmes & Robin-
son, attorneys of the city at that time. He was admitted to the bar on
March 5, 1859, and began the practice of his profesion in that spring.
In that year was established in legal practice a man who has had a career
that is most pleasing to contemplate, both in its phases of usefulness and
beneficence, as well as in its aspects of personal advancement and success
along general lines.

Judge Grove was elected justice of the peace in i860 and he served
for four years in that office, and on September 15, 1888, he was appointed
to the circuit bench to fill out an unexpired term. In November he was
the candidate of the Republican party for the office, and the nearly
twelve years that followed he was the continuous occupant of the circuit
bench for his district. Though his first nomination came from the Re-
publicans, he was in later years the nominee of the Democrats, Repub-
licans and the People's parties.

In September, 1884, Judge Grove was married to Miss Jennie Cas-
well, who came to Grand Rapids with her mother in 1880 from Kingston,
New York. Three children have been born to them, one dying in infancy,
and the remaining two are: William Martin, of this city, and Caroline
Ruth, who lives at home.

Judge Grove and his family are members of tlie First M. E. church
and he is president of the Board of Trustees. He is a member of the
A. F. & A. M., the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the latter
order having passed through all chairs. The Judge has a leading position
among his fellow men in the city that has so long been his home, and he
is in every respect worthy of the high regard that is accorded to him.

Other members of the Grove family are here mentioned as follows :
John H. Grove, the oldest living member of the family of eight, of which
the subject was the second, is an engineer and machinist of this city, now
eighty-two years of age; and Mary G., who married Edwin F. Whiting,
and now lives in Los Angeles. The other five are deceased.

Cii.ARLES E. Moore. A Muskegon lumber dealer whose commercial
rating and esteem in the community arc of the highest, Mr. Moore knows

13S6 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the vicissitudes of business, and has come to success througli the avenue
of difticulties and from beginning in very modest circumstances. Five
years ago when he started as a lumber dealer, his capital was only nine
hundred dollars, and it was his experience, his known ability and integ-
rity which were the most important factors in his successful progress.

Charles E. Moore was born in Ontario, Canada, May 5, 1859, and
is a son of Simon P. and Louisa (Keeler) ]\Ioore, the former of whom
was likewise a native of Ontario, and of staunch German lineage,' and
the latter a native of New York. Simon P. Moore was reared and edu-
cated in his native provinces, and acquired the trade of carpenter, and
on coming to Michigan he located near Spring Lake in Ottawa county,
and followed his trade both at Spring Lake and Grand Haven. He is one
of the leading contractors and builders of Ottawa county, was a man
of sterling character, he and his wife were devout members of the Bap-
tist church, in which he is an official and his politics was Republican and
he was devoted to the best ideals of citizenship. Simon Moore was a
son of Peter Moore, a native of Pennsylvania. The Moore family was
established in America by three brothers, who came from Germany, one
settling in Pennsylvania, one in Tennessee, and one in the state of New
York. Peter Moore later moved to the Province of Ontario, where he
was a farmer.

Charles E. Moore when eight years of age, in 1867, accompanied his
parents to Ottawa county, Michigan. He was trained in a country school,
worked on the home farm until he was nineteen, and 1878 identified liim-
self with Muskegon. Me became a lumber inspector, and followed that
vocation in its various branches until 1901. For nine years he served
as bookkeeper and lumber buyer for the Grand Rapids Desk Company
of Muskegon Heights. The failure of the company resulted in Mr.
Moore being put in charge of the bankrupt atTairs of the institution, and
when he had settled the business, he established a lumber yard for him-
self in 1910. Since then he has prospered steadily, and has made money
in the lumber trade. He owns a large and attractive residence,- situated
in the midst of beautiful grounds, near his place of business.

In 1900 Mr. Moore married Ada S. Lamb, who was born in Canada.
They are the parents of one child. Charles Edwin, Jr., now seven years
of age. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are communicants of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, in which he is a trustee, his fraternal affiliations are with
the Muskegon Lodge No. 140 A. F. & A. M., of which he was master in
1910, with the Royal Arch Chapter, and at the present time he is treas-
urer of Muskegon Lodge No. 14, F. & A. M., having long taken an
active part in Masonic circles. In politics, Mr. Moore is a Republican,
and upholds good government and efficiency and honesty in public af-
fairs, but has little time outside of his private business interests to devote
to politics.

Frederick Mortimer Cowles. Since the founding of Lansing as
the capital of Michigan the Cowles family have been one of the nost
prominent in that locality, and the name is still represented in that city
by Mrs. Nelson F. Jenison, Miss Lizzie B. Cowles and Miss Lucy D.
Cowles, daughters of the late Frederick M. Cowles.

Frederick M. Cowles was born at New Berlin, Chenango county.
New York, February 3, 1824, and died at Lansing, Michigan, January
16, 1910. He married Delia L. Ward, who was born at JMiddlebury, New
York, .A.ugust 13, 1835, and died at Lansing, July i, 1895.

In 1833 the Cowles family moved from New York to the Western
Reserve of Ohio, settling at Chardon. In 1842, with his brother, Joseph
P., Frederick M. Cowles came to Alaidon, Ingham county, Michigan,

<J? 7^ 0-(^z<y-^

nLB*.v ^e> . :■!•. 'iHr. N»

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1387

where the brothers erected a sawmill. This they conducted during the
summer months, while in the short winter terms Frederick taught school.
When the legislature, sitting in Detroit, voted to locate the capital at
what is now Lansing, in 1846-47, Mr. Cowles was teaching school at
Ionia, and living with the family of Alonzo Sessions. As soon as spring
opened he started on foot for the new capital, arriving April 10, 1847,
the same day on which the capital commissioners, who were to lay out
the grounds and buildings, also arrived. At that time there was but one
house, a log structure, occupied as the home of Mr. Page and his family.
In the rear of what is now the Franklin House was a barn, in which Mr.
Cowles slept for the first two weeks. At Lansing Mr. Cowles engaged
in building and contracting and taking advantage of the wonderful oppor-
tunities presented in that field and during the next several years, in
addition to his assistance in building the capitol, erected many of the first
structures of the city. Subsequently he turned his attention to the mer-
cantile business, and later became largely interested financially in the
early enterprises at Lansing. During his time there were but few ventures
with which he was not connected, and not a church was erected that did
not receive his generous financial and moral support. He was associated
in the building of the Lansing Opera House, aijd few men did more in
contributing to the growth, developm^ent and we]fa«e;of his adopted city.

Mr. Cowles served as alderman at Lansing for many years, and was
known as one of the active members of the board of aldermen, being the
leader in the fight for the restoration of the many city bridges that were
swept away in the floods of 1875-;' ;' He also ih^toduced and had passed
the city ordinance compelling people to plant shade trees, and where that
became a burden for people to meet-t4ie-expensiehefiirnished their tolls,
so that in the hundreds of stately shade trees along the streets in the
older section of Lansing, J\Ir. Cowles has an enduring monument.

Both Mr. Cowles and his wife, Delia Ward, were descended from
some of the oldest New England families, and the following paragraphs
are devoted to a brief sketch of the principal lines in his genealogy.

Eliot Cowles, father of Frederick M. Cowles, was born at Litchfield,
Connecticut, March 5, 1783, a son of Joseph Cowles, who was born in
Staffordshire, England, and came to America when about nineteen years
of age. On landing. Joseph at once enlisted in the Continental army for
service jn the Revolutionary War. He married Jerusha Frisbie, daughter
of Jabez Frisbie, a Revolutionary soldier.

The mother of Frerlerick M. Cowles was Sarah Salome Phelps, daugh-
ter of Oliver Plielps. who was born at Goshen, Connecticut, March 17,
1764, was a Revolutionary soldier, and died at St. Johnsbury, Vermont,
in 1843. Oliver Phelps was married February 5, 1783, at Norfolk,
Connecticut, to Sarah Miner. Oliver Phelps was an ensign in the
Revolutionary army. He was the son of Elkanah Phelps, who was
born in Goshen, Connecticut, February 3, 1742, and married Abigail
Phelps, who was born at Harwinton, Connecticut, November 10,
1741, and died at Winstead, Connecticut, June 11, 1813, she being
the daughter of Lieutenant Samuel and Ruth (Phelps) Phelps.
Elkanah Phelps, Revolutionary soldier, was the son of Captain Abel
and Mary Pinnack Phelps. Captain Abel was born at Windsor,
Connecticut, February 19, 1705, received his title during the French
and Indian war, and on July 6, 1737, married Mary Pinnack, of
Hebron, Connecticut. Captain Abel was the son of Joseph Phelps, who
was born at Windsor, Connecticut. September 27, ifi66, and on November
18, ifi86, married Sarah Hosford. Joseph was the son of Lieutenant
Timothy Phelps, who was born at Windsor, Connecticut, September i,
1637, and married Mary Griswold, daughter of Edward Griswold, of

1388 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Killingsworth, Connecticut. William Phelps, the emigrant of the family,
was born at Gloucestershire, England, August 19, 1599, came to America
in 1630, in the ship Mary and John, which was the first of the Winthrop
fleet to arrive, and first settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In the fall
of 1635, with others of the Dorchester colony, he came through the woods,
enduring many hardships, and founded "Old Windsor," the first town to
be founded on Connecticut soil. He was a member of the first court held'
in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, and was also one of the first magistrates
appointed. The first election held in the colony was in April, 1639, at
which time John Haynes was chosen governor, and Roger Ludlow, George
Wyllys, Edward Hopkins, Thomas Wells, John Webster and William
Phelps, Esquires, were chosen magistrates. Previous to this election he
was one of the six magistrates governing the -colony. William Phelps
in 1636 was married in Windsor, Connecticut, to his second wife, Mary
Dover.

The genealogy of the Ward family and its connections is as follows:
Delia L. Ward, wife of Frederick M. Cowles, was the daughter of .'Manson
and Olive (Perkins) Ward, of Warsaw, New York. Alanson Ward,
who came to Lansing in Alay, 1847, and was the first justice of the peace
in that town, was born at Pittsfield, Otsego county. New York, October
17, 1800, and died at Lansing, Michigan, February 19, 1870. He was the
son of Caleb Ward, a native of Buckland, Massachusetts, who married
Ann Rice. Caleb was a son of Josiah, who was born at Upton, Massa-
chusetts, January 20, 1748, and married Polly Wis wall, who was born
at Cpton, October 6, 1744. Josiah died a soldier during the Revolution-
ary war, September 25, 1780. He was a son of John and Molly (Torrey )
Ward, the former of whom was born at Newton, Massachusetts, .August
12, 1720, and died at P)Uckland, Massachusetts, in 1805. He was likewise
a Revolutionary soldier. His father, John Ward, whose wife's name was
Deborah, was born at Newton. Massachusetts, February 23, 1691, and
died May 24, 1747, at Grafton, Massachusetts, where he was a school-
master for many years. He was the son of William Ward, who was
born at Newton, November 19, 1664, and on December 31, 1689, mar-
ried Abigail Spring, who was born February 20, 1667, a daughter of
Lieutenant John Spring, of Watertown, Massachusetts. William Ward
was a son of John \Vard, who was born in England in 1625. was a pro-
prietor of Sudbury in 1651, and married Hamiah Jackson, whose father,
Edward Jackson, bought the old Simon liradstreet farm and gave it to
help found Harvard college. John Ward was the first selectman of
Newton when that town was set off from Cambridge in 1685. He was
also the first representative from Newton to the general court, and died
July 8, 1708, while his wife passed away April 24, 1704. His military
record included service in King Philip's war, and his house was used as
a garrison house during King l'hilii)"s war. It was taken down in
1S21, after having stood 170 years and having sheltered seven generations.
John Ward was the son of William Ward, who was born in England,
came to .Sudbury, Massachusetts, in 1639, was one of the incorporators
of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts, and represented Sudbury
in the general court in 1644, removing to Marlborough in ih6o, and
dying August 10, 1687. This last William was the founder of the Ward
family in America.

Alanson Ward was married January 13, 1823, to Olive Perkins, who
was born at Rutland, Vermont, April 24, 1807, and died at Lansing,
April I, 1801. She was a daughter of Philip Perkins, who was born at
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1770, and died August 25, 1847, ^t
Owosso, Michigan. He was married at Boston, Massachusetts, Decem-
ber 3, 1790, to Sallie Gibson, who was born there in 1771. Philip was

HISTORY OF iMICIilGAN 1389

the son of Charles Perkins, who was born at Bridgewater in 1732, and
died at Middlebury, New York, in 1828, having been a soldier of the
Revolutionary war. He married Abigail Waterman, daughter of Perez
Waterman (see below). Charles Perkins was the son of Nathan Per-
kins, vvtio wa:s born at Bridgewater. Massachusetts, in 1710, and Nathan
was the son of Nathan Perkins, born at Bridgewater, September 13,
1685, and died in 1728. Nathan senior was married November g, 1709,
to Martha Leonard. Nathan was the son of David Perkins, who was
born at Hampton, New Hampshire, December 28, 1653, and established
the first ironworks at Bridgewater, was the first representative of the
town to the general court at Boston in 1692, serving also in 1694, 1696
and 1704, and died in 1736. He was a son of Abraham and Mary (Wise)
Perkins, the former born in England in 1613 and died in 1683. Abraham
was admitted a freeman of Hampton, New Hampshire, May 13, 1640,
and was marshal thereof in 1654.

Perez Waterman, mentioned in the last preceding paragraph, was
born October 8, 1713, at Plympton, Massachusetts, and died at Bridge-
water, Massachusetts, in 1793. His wife was Abigail Bryant. He was
a son of John Waterman, who was born September 23, 1685, at Marsh-
field, Massachusetts, was married December 29, 1709, to Lydia Cush-
man, thus introducing another lineage of especial interest. Lydia Cush-
man was a daughter of Eleazer Cushman who was born February 20,
1656, and married Elizabeth Coombs, January 12, 1687. Thomas Cush-
man, father of Eleazer Cushman, was born in England, and came with
his father, Robert Cushman, in the ship Fortune. Robert Cushman, who
was one of the proprietors of the Plymouth Company which sent out
the Mayflower and other ships, remained in America only a month,
and preached the first sermon ever delivered in New England, his text
being "Self Denial." When he returned to England he left his son
Thomas in the care of Governor Bradford, in the family of Elder
Brewster, and upon the death of the latter succeeded him as elder
and continued to serve as such until his death in 1689. Thomas Cushman
was married in 1635 to Mary Allerton, who was eleven years old when
she came over in the Mayflower in 1620. She died in 1699 and was
the last survivor of those who came on the Mayflower. She was the
daughter of Isaac Allerton, of London. Isaac Allerton was married
in Leyden, Holland, in 161 1. to Mary Norris, of Newbury, England.
Isaac Allerton was the fifth signer of the Mayflower compact, and when
William Bradford was chosen governor, after the death of Carver in 1621,
Allerton was made assistant or deputy governor. He was one of the
undertakers in 1627, subsequently made five voyages to England as
agent of the colonies, and died at New Haven, Connecticut, well advanced
in years.

Nelson Fletcher Jenison. The lousiness relations and the public
spirit manifested by Nelson Fletcher Jenison during a residence in Lansing
for thirty-six vears were such as to make him known as one of his adopted
city's most substantial and influential men. Mr. Jenison identified himself
with Lansing in 1871. and his death on Novenilier 3. 1907, was a distinct
loss to the community.

Nelson Fletcher Jenison was born at Eagle, Clinton county, Michi-
gan, December 16, 1855, of a pioneer family, and was the son of William
Fletcher and Janet (Berry) Jenison. The parents, who were married
at Portland, Michigan, January 3, 1841, were both natives of New York
state, the father born at Byron December 19, 1812, and the mother at
Geneva, Seneca county, April 15, 1819. The former died at Eagle,
Michigan, June 14, 1898, and the mother at the same place on November
30, 1906.

1390 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

The genealogy of the Jenison family reaches back to colonial days
in the history of this country, and is traced directly as follows: William
Fletcher Jenison was the son of Fletcher Jenison, who was born at Lan-
caster, New Hampshire, August 22, 1780, and died July 3, 1868, at Eagle,
Michigan. Flis first wife was Alma Alzina Root, who was the mother
of all his children, and his second wife bore the maiden name of Polly
Bolton. Fletcher Jenison was the son of Hopstill Jenison, who was born
at Barry, Massachusetts, September 2, 1751, and on December 16, 1773,
married Relief F'letcher, daughter of Captain I-'letcher, a Revolutionary
soldier from Massachusetts. Hopstill Jenison and wife had a son who
was born while the battle of Bunker Hill was being fought, and on
that account was named Victory. Hopstill Jenison likewise served as
a soldier of the Revolution as a sergeant in Captain Stearns company of
a Massachusetts regiment. He was a son of Nathaniel Jenison, born
April 5, 1709, at Watertown, Massachusetts, and married October 23,
1729, Abigail Mead of Weston, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Jenison, who
had the distinction of being the last man in Alassachusetts to hold slaves,
was also a Revolutionary soldier. He was the son of Samuel Jenison,
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, October 12, 1673, and died December
2, 1730. Samuel married Mary Stearns, who was born April 5, 1679,
at Watertown. Samuel was a son of Ensign Samuel Jenison, who was
born at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1643, d'^cl October 15, 1701, and
on October 30, 1666, married Judith Macomber, who died March i,
1722. Samuel Jenison was a son of Robert and Grace Jenison, the latter
of whom died November 26, 1686. Robert Jenison was born in England
and died at Watertown, Massachusetts, July 4, 1690. The original
Jenison farm is now a part of Mount Auburn cemetery in Boston, Mas-
sachusetts.

Fletcher Jenison and his son, William Fletcher Jenison, came to
Michigan in 1838, and located the old Jenison homestead at what is now
F^agle, in Clinton county, where Fletcher Jenison and his wife passed
the remainder of their lives. At that time iMichigan was an unbroken
wilderness, and had been a state only one year. The log house was
built by Fletcher Jenison, and he was a soldier in the \Var of 1812.
The William Fletcher Jenison house was a very large frame house, a
tavern in fact, and one room was used as the postoffice. The Jenison
farm was cleared and a log house built, and there William Fletcher
Jenison continued to engage in agricultural pursuits during the remaining
years of his life, passing away on the old homestead June 14, 1898.
He was one of Clinton county's oldest pioneers, was one of the first
teachers in the schools of that county, filled various public positions
within the gift of the peojjle, and was one of the first postmasters of the
county, at Waverly, which became known as Eagle wdien the township
of that name was organized. He was elected sherifl' of the county for
two terms, was supervisor of his township, and was a member of the
Alichigan legislature during the session when the state appropriated so
much swamp land for the benefit of the highways. He was a director
of the Ionia & Lansing Railway, a prominent member of the Masonic
order, and in every way one of the leading men of his community during
his day. Mr. Jenison's home was one of the landmarks of Michigan
for many years. It was built in 1841, and until its destruction by fire
only a few years ago was for a long time kept as a hotel and was the
stopping place for hundreds of travelers during the days before that
section had a railroad. Mrs. Jenison, the wife of William Fletcher
Jenison, came to Michigan in 1833 with Mr. and Mrs. A. Newman, the
latter a sister, the family settling at Portland. During the early thirties

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1391

and forties ^Irs. Jenisoii taught in the country schools, and for sixty-
live years was a resident of the old Jenison homestead phrce.

Nelson Fletcher Jenison left the home farm in 187 1, at the age of
sixteen, and at Lansing entered the employ of B. F. Simons, an early
merchant of that city. Subsequently he found employment in the store
of Frederick M. Cowles, his future father-in-law, and continued with
him until entering business in partnership with Mr. Simons. Mr. Jeni-
.son gained sole control of this enterprise, and conducted it successfully
until 1896. In that year he retired from mercantile lines to concentrate
his attention upon his growing real estate and insurance interests. He
was the owner of much improved and unimproved city property, includ-
ing the well-known Jenison block. A man of fine business attainments,
he won well-merited success in each of the fields in which he labored,
and his associates at all times had every reason to place confidence in
him and to rely upon his leadership and counsel.

The late Mr. Jenison was married April 3, 1879, to Miss Alice Glen-
dora Cowles, daughter of the late Frederick :\I. Cowles, a prominent
Lansing pioneer whose sketch and interesting ancestry are found else-
where in this work. Mr. and ^Irs. Jenison had one son: Frederick
' Cowles Jenison, now a leading real estate and insurance man of Lansing.

James F. B.albirnie. One of the oldest business establishments of
the city of Muskegon has been conducted continuously under the name
of Balbirnie for upwards of half a century. James F. Balbirnie suc-
ceeded to the undertaking business established by his father, and has
developed it until he now has the largest business of its kind in the state
of Michigan. It has been his pride to give service of a distinctive char-
acter, and at the same time he has kept his equipment at a standard the
equal of, or the superior to any similar concern in the city or state. A
large building now houses his extensive stock of .goods, and in connection
with his undertaking parlors there is a large chapel. It is a solid busi-
ness enterprise with a history of its own, which illustrates both the prog-
ress of the town and the career of one of Muskegon's foremost families.

James F. Balbirnie was born at Ottawa, Canada, August 8, 1865.
His father, the late James Balbirnie, was born in the old Fort at Quebec,
April 28, 1838. Grandfather James Balbirnie, a native of Edinburgh,
Scotland, was leader of the regimental band that landed with the troops
in Quebec in 1838. At the expiration of his term as band leader in
the army, he moved to Ottawa, where he organized the band and also
was for many years a dancing master. James Balbirnie, the father, died
at Muskegon, June 29, 1899. He came to this city September 25, 1865,
only a few weeks after the birth of his son. A cabinet maker by trade,
he superintended several factories, and also did a large business in the
manufacturing of coffins and furniture. Fle was very successful both in
business and affairs. Though he suffered three fires, and each time had
to start life anew, he ended by being one of the most prosperous and in-
fluential men of the city. He and his family belong to the Episcopal
church, St. Paul's church of Muskegon, and he was well known in fra-
ternal circles, being a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason,
also a member of the Shrine, was affiliated with the Knights of the Mac-
cabees, the Royal Arcanum, was a past noble grand of the Indejiendent
Order of Odd Fellows. In politics a Republican, he held a high position
in political affairs. For a number of years he was county coroner of
Muskegon county, was city supervisor, and in 1899 was elected mayor.
While serving in that office he was assassinated, and thus ended the
career of one of Muskegon's well remembered and highly honored citizens.

In 1861 at Ottawa, Canada, James Balbirnie married Miss Ellen

1392 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Watson, who was born at Ogdensburg, New York, in 1843, ^"'1 ''''^'l i"
April, I goo. Her father, WilHam Watson, was a native of Canada, moved
to Muskegon in 1865, and for many years was a saw filer in the lumber
mills. To the marriage of James and Ellen Balbirnie were born three
children: Missie. who died in 1883: James F. ; and Maud E., who mar-
ried R. E. Alberts, who is in the luml)er and brick business at Muskegon.

James F. Ijalbirnie has spent practically all his career in Muskegon.
.'\fter his education in the local schools, he went with his father in the
undertaking business. His father had opened undertaking parlors in
Muskegon, on his arrival in that city in 1865, and the business has been
continuously conducted under the family name since that date. Mr. Bal-
birnie has extended and developed the business along modern lines, now
carries the largest line of undertaking goods in the state, and has been
extremely successful as a business man.

On January i, 1891, Mr. Balbirnie married Adella Bergstrom, of
Muskegon. They are the parents of one son, Ralph James, now twenty-
one years of age, and associated with his father in business being thus a
representative of the third successive generation in this same line of en-
deavor. The son received his education in the Muskegon high school and
also studied at the Tolme school for Boys near Baltimore. Maryland,
and at the Casadella School at Ithaca, New York. The family worship
in the St. Paul's I-^piscopal church. Mr. Balbirnie, like his father, has
taken many of the degrees in the Masonic craft, being a Knight Templar
and a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, also a Shriner, has
affiliations with the Knights of Pythias, and is a charter member of the
Elks Lodge No. 274. He also belongs to the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Fraternal
Order of Eagles. In politics he is a Republican, and for the past four-
teen years has served as coroner of Muskegon county, having been
elected by the largest majority given to any man on the ticket in this
county. Outside of his public duties, he gives all his time and ;iUention
to his business.

H. Rov H.MiERKORN. In the midst of his activities as one of Detroit's
leading general contractors, death claimed as its toll from the living H.
Roy Haberkorn on ATarch 19, 1914. Though a comparatively young man,
he had gone far on the way to success, and his life and character deserve
memorial and remembrance in his home city. As a contractor his work
was represented in a number of the largest industrial plants and factories
in Detroit and vicinity. Mr. Haberkorn belonged to the Haberkorn
family which has been identified with Detroit citizenship for several gen-
erations and which has furnished notable names in business, manufac-
turing and other departments of activity.

H. Roy Haberkorn was born in Detroit April 7, 1876, son of the late
John H. A. Haberkorn and grandson of Henry Haberkorn, a native of
Germany and a pioneer citizen of Detroit, where he was for a number of
years identified with the building trades. John H. A. Haberkorn was
also a native of Detroit, born in 1855, followed the profession of his father
and was a carpenter contractor for many years. He died in June, 1911.

With an education in the Detroit public schools, the late H. Roy Hab-
erkorn at the age of thirteen was taken into his father's employ and
served a thorough apprenticeship to the carpenter trade. In a few years
his father placed upon him many important responsibilities, and he con-
tinued to be the elder Haberkorn's right-hand man antl during five years
had practical control of the business developed by his father, owing to
the hitter's ill health. In September, 1908, Mr. Haberkorn engaged in
general contracting on his own account, under his own name, and before

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1393

his death had become recognized as one of the most successful builders
of the city. His specialty lay in the construction of manufacturing plants
and factories, and a long list might be compiled of important examples
of his enterprise. He maintained his business offices in the Dime Bank
building.

The late Mr. Haberkorn was a member of the board of directors of
the Detroit Builders and Traders Exchange, an active member of the
Detroit Board of Commerce, a member of the Detroit Athletic Club, the
Fellowcraft Club, and in the Masonic Order had affiliations with Oriental
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., the Royal Arch Chapter, and Detroit Commandery
Xo. I, K. T., and Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine. Mr. Haberkorn
married Miss Mary Elizabeth Clark, daughter of T. W. Clark of De-
troit. Besides Mrs. Haberkorn he was survived by a sister and three
brothers.

G. 1. IIartman, M. D. Since 1904 Dr. Hartman has been in active
practice at Muskegon, and has proved himself one of the able and skillful
young physicians and surgeons of this city. He is a graduate of lialti-
more Medical College, and has lived in Aluskegon since two years after
leaving college. G. J. Hartman was born in Ohio, October 25, 1S73, a
son of Jacob M. and Hannah (Eberhard) Hartman. The grandparents
were Peter and Mary ( Harter ) Hartman, both natives of Pennsylvania,
who moved to Ohio and found a home in the wilderness about the time
of the War of 1812. Grandfather Hartman was a farmer, and was a
pioneer who did much clearing of land in his section of Ohio. The ma-
ternal grandparents were Jonathan and Margaret (Eberhard), also natives
of Pennsylvania, and early settlers in Medina county, Ohio. Grand-
father Eberhard was a soldier in the War of 1812, and followed farming
as his regular vocation. Jacob M. Hartman, the father, was born in
Ohio, in 1840, and his wife was born in the same state in 184 1. Their
marriage was solemnized in 1862. Mr. Hartman, who is now living re-
tired in Ohio, a prosperous citizen devoted most of his active career to
farming, but for twenty years was manager of the Singer Sewing Ma-
chine Company in his district. There were in the family twelve children,
eleven of whom are still living, and the doctor was seventh in order of
birth. The parents have membership in the Congregational church at
Medina, in which society Mr. Hartman has been an officer for many
years. In politics he is a Democrat, and has held some local offices.

Dr. Hartman grew up in Medina, where his training was that of the
common schools and the high school. After leaving school, and before
beginning active preparation for his career, he taught five years, and
with the means thus acquired, entered the Baltimore Medical College in
1S98. There his studies were pursued until his graduation as a doctor
of medicine in i()02. Two years were spent in practice at Baltimore, and
in IQ04 he moved to Muskegon. Dr. Hartman takes much interest in
medical afTairs, belongs to the Muskegon County Medical Society, and
both the State Medical Societies of Michigan and Maryland, and has
membership in the American Medical Association.

In 1904 Dr. Hartman married Frances House, a daughter of George
House of Medina, Ohio. Mrs. Hartman has membership in the Meth-
odist Episcopal church. Fraternally his affiliations are with the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Lovell Moore Lodge of Masons
at Muskegon. In politics the doctor is a Republican. At the present
writing he is building a beautiful home in Muskegon.

Ch.\ri.es E. Pettit. Prominent among the substantial and pro-
gressive business men who have been primarily influential in the civic

1394 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

and material development and upbuilding of the attractive little city of
Harbor Beach, Huron county, stands Charles Eberle Pettit, who is here
engaged in the drug business, of which he may consistently be termed
the pioneer representative in the village, and he is also the owner and
manager of the Temple theater, a leading and well appointed amusement
place of Huron county. He has won independence and prosperity
through his own ability and efforts, and his integrity and genial nature
have given tc> him secure place in the confidence and esteem of all who
know him.

Mr. Pettit was born in the village of Morpeth, Kent county, prov-
ince of Ontario, Canada, and the date of his nativity was February 5,
1869. He is a son of John and Mary (Mundy) Pettit, both of whom
were born in fine old Devonshire, England. John Pettit was in his
earlier business career prominently concerned with lumbering operations
in the province of Ontario, Canada, and later he continued his successful
association with the same line of industry in Michigan and Wisconsin.
He is now living retired in the city of Waukesha, Wisconsin. Mrs. Mary
( Mundy j Pettit died in 1872, when her son Charles E., of this review,
was a cliild of but three years. She was the mother of eight children, and
after her death they were separated, being taken into different homes
after the family circle had been thus disrupted by the passing away of the
devoted mother. Concerning the children the following brief data are
available: Mary, who became the wife of Lorenzo Pulford, died in 1904,
in the city of Detroit; Elizabeth is the wife of Gilford liurse, of Detroit;
Caroline is the wife of Solon Burse, a brother of Gilford, and they re-
side at Caro, Tuscola county; Harriet is the wife of James Todd, of
Birmingham, Oakland county ; William resides at Waukesha, Wiscon-
sin; Charles E., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Arthur,
after the death of his mother was legally adopted and assumed the name
of his foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chapman : he became a railroad man
and met his death in a railroad accident at Battle Creek, Michigan ;
James was taken into the home of his uncle and aunt at Morpeth, On-
tario, and when he was four years of age he was kidnapped, presumably
by two strangers who had been at the home of his uncle and who had
given their names as Mr. and Mrs. Fleming, the husband having been
much older than his wife and both having suddenly and surreptitiously
disappeared from Morpeth, the little James Pettit disappearing at the
same time and no trace of the three ever having been found thereafter,
save that they were seen at Windsor, Ontario : it has long been the hope
of Charles E. Pettit that at some time he might learn the rate of this
brother, and he has never lost faith that the latter is still living.

Charles E. Pettit was reared in the home of an uncle and aunt who
resided at Morpeth, Ontario, and his early educational training was
there received in the public schools, his vacations being advantageously
spent, as he became a youthful assistant in a drug store in his home vil-
lage, thus gaining his rudimentary knowledge of the business in which
he has achieved distinctive success. After leaving school he began a
regular apprenticeship as a pharmacist, and for three years he continued
to be employed in drug stores in his native town. At the age of 17 years
he came to Michigan and in the city of Detroit he found employment
in the drug .store of Dr. William J. Bolis, whose store was situated on
Dix road, now known as Dix avenue. At the expiration of eighteen
months' service Mr. Pettit resigned his position and went to the city
of lackson, where he was given entire charge of the drug store con-
ducted by his uncle. Dr. Myer McLaughlin. Upon the death of his
uncle, three years later, he removed to Bad Axe, Huron county, in 1890,
and there he assumed charge of the drug store of Dr. McDonald, with

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1395

whom he continued in this capacity for two years. In 1892 he removed
to Harbor Beach, a village originally known as Sand Beach, and here
he accepted the management of the drug business of Drs. Esler and
Carey. He did effective work in expanding the scope of the enter-
prise and in the meanwhile gained impregnable hold upon the esteem of
the community. At the expiration of three years he purchased the busi-
ness of his employers, and during the long intervening years he has
been successfully established in the drug business at Harbor Beach, save
for one year, during which impaired health compelled his temporary re-
tirement. Air. Pettit became a registered pharmacist at the age of
eighteen years and is known as a man specially skilled in his chosen pro-
fession, of which he has been a close student and in which his experi-
ence has been wide and varied. He has a well appointed drug establisli-
ment and the same controls a large and appreciative patronage, as its
service is ever maintained at the highest standard in all departments and
he himself is known and honored in the community that has represented
his home for nearly a cjuarter of a century. Success has attended his
efforts, both in a professional and material way, and he has been pro-
gressive and liberal as a citizen, doing all in his power to further the
best interests of his home town.

Mr. Pettit was a stalwart Republican and became a supporter of its
Progressive wing, so that in the election of 1912 he gave his allegiance
to the newly organized Progressive party, with Theodore Roosevelt as
its presidential candidate. He has illimitable faith in the future of the
new party and takes deep interest in its cause. He has served as town-
ship treasurer, but has had no special desire for public office of any de-
scription. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Alasonic fraternity, the Woodmen of the W'orld, the Knights of
Pythias, the Independent Order of Foresters and the Loyal Guard, being
a valued member of the local organization of each of these orders. He
was reared in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church.

On the 26th of November, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Pettit to Miss Nellie Puddock, who was born and reared at Harbor
Beach '.nd who is a most popular and valued factor in the leading social
life or her native town. She is a daughter of John G. and Jane (Price)
Puddock, and her father was one of the most influential figures in the
upbuilding of Harbor Beach, where he established his home in the pio-
neer days of the village. Mr. and Mrs. Pettit have three children,
whose names, with respective dates of birth, are here noted: Alice Joyce,
May 30, 1900; John. November 17, 1904: and Jane Mason, June 12, 1909.

P. Fred Nelson. One of Muskegon's livest and best known citizens
is P. Fred Nelson, who for a number of years has been connected with
the official life of the county recently left the office of sheriff, and is
prominent in manufacturing circles. His father likewise bears an hon-
ored name in this part of the state, and also served at one time as sheriff",

P. Fred Nelson was born in Muskegon, April 19, 1877, a son of Nels
P. and Josephine Nelson. The father, born in Norway in 1847, came to
America when sixteen years of age, and after a few years spent in Chi-
cago, located in Aluskegon in 1867. He operated a lathe mill in the lum-
ber industry, and later got into the retail meat business and finally the
grocery trade. His business career in that line was interrupted by his
election to the office of sheriff' of Aluskegon county, in 1887, and he served
four years. His first wife, Josephine, died in 1880, when P. Fred Nelson
was three years old. The father later married Emma Holthe, a school
teacher of Muskegon. They still live at Muskegon, and are the parents
of one child, Carlton Lester, who is harbor inspector in the government

1396 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

service. The father has membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church,
and is affihated with the Woodmen of tlie World, the Masonic (Jrder
through the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees, with the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of the Maccabees. At the
present time the senior Nelson is in the government contracting business,
under the firm name of Burke, ."-^mith & Nelson. In jjolitics tlie father
has always been a staunch Republican, but during the 1912 campaign was
a Progressive.

P. F. Nelson grew up and received his education in the Muskegon
schools, finishing his junior year in high school. In 1894 he was grad-
uated from the business college, and found his first work as a stenographer
for R. J. McDonald, and afterwards in the law office of C. W. Sessions.
Moving to Walim, he kept books and conducted a store there for a while,
but soon returned to Muskegon and was employed in the country treas-
urer's office. For eight years following he served as deputy sheriff, and
then for two years engaged in government contracting. After that he
went back to the sheriff's office, and after two years was elected sheriff
in the fall of 1909. He gave capable and efficient service as sheriff for
four years, and left the office with the thorough respect of all citizens.
In the meantime he assisted in the establishment of a manufacturing plant
for the making of cocoa mats. This business has been brought to a
flourishing position, and has a capital of five thousand dollars. Mr.
Nelson is secretary and treasurer of the company.

On December 31, 1904, he married Miss Corinne M. Laurin, a daui^h-
ter of Jean B. Laurin, who was born in Canada, and is a resident of Mus-
kegon. Mrs. Nelson has membership in the Catholic church. Fraternally
Mr. Nelson is affiliated witii the Knights of the Maccabees, the Woodmen,
the Foresters and the Elks. He has prospered through his own eff'orts and
besides other interests has some real estate in the city. He was a private
in Company C, 34th M. V. I., during tlie Spanish-American War.

Ch.\ri.e.s B. Cross. The firm of Cross, \ 'anderwerp, Foote &■ Ross,
attorneys at law, at Muskegon, Michigan, have the largest practice en-
joved by anv firm in that city, and all its members are men of high
standing and first-grade ability in the law. The ])resent firm are success-
ors to two well known Muskegon legal partnerships, the first l^eing Nims,
Hoyt, Erwin, \'anderwerp & Foote and the second being Cross, Lovelace
and Ross. Mr. Charles B. Cross, who is now senior member of this
firm, has been in practice as a lawyer for twenty-five years, and in the
general branches of the law, and both as a counselor and advocate has
few superiors in this section of the state.

Charles B. Cross was born in Tuscola county. Michigan, December
4, 1861, a son of James A. and .Sarah A. (Tenny) Cross. The Cross
family were originally of Welsh stock, and has been identifieil with
American residence for a numljer of generations. Great-grandfather
Elihu Cross was born in \'ermont. but spent many years of his life in
New York, where he was Ijoih a farmer and hunter. Grandfather Lu-
man Cross, born in A'ermont, was a young man when he located in New
York, on a farm, and that was in the pioneer times in their section of
New York Stale, it was necessary to luiild six miles of road through
the woods, in order to reach the Cross home. James A. Cross, father of
the Muskegon lawyer, was born in Monroe county. New York, in 1835,
and in 1859 married Miss .Sarah A. Tenny, who was born in the same
county in 1834, and who died in January, 1895. James Cross, in early
manhood, came out to Michigan, where he took up land in the wilderness
of Tuscola county, after making some improvements returned to New
York State where he, was married, and then with his bride came back

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1397

and took up the life and labors of a pioneer. After a long and active
career, marked by prosperity in material things, and honorable dealings
vvitli his community, the father now lives retired at Spring Lake, Michi-
gan. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Masonic Order.
and his wife was active in the Baptist church. Of their four children
Charles B. Cross was the oldest the others lieing: Lewis L., who is a
farmer and is a bachelor; George H., an attorney at Traverse City: and
Ira, a Michigan farmer. The maternal grandfather was I'eter B. 'i'enny,
who spent his life in Xew York State as a farmer.

Charles B. Cross grew up in the country around Spring Lake, where
he attended the local schools, and at the age of sixteen was ([ualified and
taught his first term of school. School teaching was largelv the means
by which he was enabled to pay his way through college. In 1887 Mr.
Cross graduated from the N'alparaiso University Law School, and after
teaching one year began [practice in 1888. At first he was alone, then be-
came associated with Chamberlain iS: Cross, then in the firm of Cross &
Lovelace, and then as head of tlie firm of Cross, Lovelace & Ross, from
which the present partnership was formed.

In 1888, ^Ir. Cross married Miss Myrtle E. Hill, a daughter of
Charles }. Llill, a prominent farmer and an old settler in this state. To
that imion have been born four children: Claude L., who for two years
taught manual training, and is now taking a course in dentistry at the
State Cniversity in Ann Arbor; Arthur G., fourteen years of age; Clar-
ence R., aged eleven ; and Elinor. Mr. Cross has social relations with
the Masonic Order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
and in ^lasonry he has been Master of his Lodge and is Past Eminent
Commander of the Knights Templar. For a number of years, Air.
Cross has taken a decided interest in political affairs, has gone on the
stump in a number of campaigns, and his stipport has been regularlv
given to the Reptiblican jiarty. His record of pul:)lic service inckides a
term as assistant prosecuting attorney and four years as prosecuting at-
torney.

JfiHN BoRN'M.AX. Born near Xeustadt, Germany, in 1835, coming
over to America while a mere youth, starting his business career as a
newsboy in Detroit, working nights for an education, apprentice in tht;
office of the old Detroit Advertiser. * * * Em|)loyed as compositor in
the printing house of O. S. Gulley, then foreman, partner, and finally
senior partner of one of the largest printing houses in the state of
Michigan. Such, m brief, is the life of John Bornman, veteran printer,
head of the firm of John Bornman & Son, Detroit, Michigan. If genius
is the capacity for hard work, of taking pains — then John Bornman is
indeed a genius. His life is an inspiration to all. It is the old, old
story of success achieved by keeping everlastingly, intelligently at it.
What this man has done, all can do. His is the life of an ordinary man
accomplishing the extraordinary, under conditions where luck, influence,
pull or fortune played no ])art. Therein lies the inspiration.

John Bornman was born August 7, 1835, near Xeustadt, Germany.
While a young l)oy he, with his parents, Dietrich and Elizal)eth ( Immel)
loornman, came to America, finally landing in Detroit, which city they
made their permanent home. It is not only a compliment to, but a char-
acteristic of, the race which gave him birth, when it is noted that the
first thought of young Bornman in his adopted city was to get an Amer-
ican education. His second thought was to get work. This was impera-
tive, inasmuch as at all times he had to be self-supporting.

His first job, like many another successful American, was that of
newsboy. It seems almost incredible to state — but it is a fact — neverthe-

1398 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

less, that within the memory of many people now living there was a
time when two newsboys supplied the whole of Detroit with papers. The
name of the boy who supplied the east side was John Bornman. So
industriously did he work at this humble employment that the manager
of the old Detroit Advertiser, noting his industry, and eagerness to serve,
offered him a position "on the staff," as errand boy. Thus John Born-
man got his first "regular salaried job." Then promotion followed pro-
motion in ciuick succession. In a few months he was galley boy, and
finally full tledged compositor. i\bout this time, i86j, he married ]\Iartha
A. Hollstein of Detroit.

In 1864 he left the Advertiser and entered the composing room of
one of Detroit's best print shops, known as the O. S. Gulley Printing
Company. Soon he became foreman of this plant and in 1875 partner
with Mr. Gulley. The name of the concern was then changed to the O.
S. Gulley & Company. In 1895 Mr. Bornman organized the independent
lirni of John Bornman & Son, and today this company is recognized
throughout the state as one of the most thoroughly equipped, up to date,
printing, engraving and book-binding plants.

Mr. Bornman has succeeded, but it is success that has been earned
by hard work, self denial, self reliance, honest method and strict atten-
tion to all the details of his business. In every sense, he is a thor-
ough master of his trade and is recognized as one of the successful
business men in the state of Michigan.

In igi2 the firm of John Bornman & Son moved into its new home
on Fort and Second Streets, Detroit. Mr. Bornman is very proud of
this building that houses his plant, and he has good reason for this pride,
for it is a monument to his own untiring industry. He has been ablv
assisted in his work l)y his son, Charles F. Bornman, who became a
partner in igo2.

John Bornman is a considerate and just employer and is esteemed
by all who know him as a man worthy of the fullest confidence. His
endeavor to give his customers at all times a little more quality than
seems necessary, has established his reputation securely, with this result
— that it is an axiom among the trade in Detroit "Oh, John Bornman &
Son — they're always busy."

While his life has always been intensely busy in a connuercial way,
there is no citizen of Detroit that has given comparatively more liber-
ally of his means and of his time to the development of the city and to
the assistance of every worthy cause promoted by its citizens. He is
a charter member of the following organizations : Detroit Board of Com-
merce, Michigan Council of National Union, St. Johns Benevolent So-
ciety, and the Protestant Home for Orphans and Old People. Of the
latter named organization he also holds the position of Treasurer. He
is also a member of the Detroit City Plan and Improvement Commission,
the Detroit Typothetae, Ben Franklin Association, and of the St. Johns
German Evangelical Church, and as one of the Trustees, he actively
assisted in the building of its present home.

It is a matter of congratulation that the qualities that in himself
made for success are found in his son, Charles F. Bornman. Like his
father, Charles F. Bornman thoroughly understands and is master of
every phase of the printing and publishing business. By an early and
rigorous training in sound commercial and manufacturing principles and
a gradual increase of responsibility, Charles F. Bornman ably assumes
the main administrative control, and the veteran printer, John Bornman,
ninst, and does, note with satisfaction that the great printing house which
Ijcars his name, will, under the guiding hand of his son, continue to
grow, dcvelo]!, serve ruid lead.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1399

Caesar Thomas, M. D. A Muskegon physician, who has been in
active practice in that city for upwards of thirty years, Caesar Thomas is
a native of Switzerland, his father an eminent physician and surgeon
before him. and his own training and early experience in the profession
were acquired in his native land. Aside from his unusual equipment in
the way of schooling and early training. Dr. Thomas possesses the talents
of the true physician, and his position in the profession since coming to
Michigan has been that of a leader.

Caesar Thomas was born at Bex, Switzerland, April 5, 1852. His
grandfather was a lumberman and farmer in that country. His parents
were Dr. Louis and Louise (Veillon) Thomas, both natives of Switzer-
land. The father, who was born in 1816, died January i, 1871. The
mother was born December 10, 1829, and died November 16, 1906. Their
marriage occurred on June 22, 1849. Dr. Louis Thomas was educated
in the schools and universities of Switzerland and Paris, graduating in
medicine in Lausanne in 1841. For all the active years of his life, he
engaged in practice at Bex, served his municipality and cantons in an
official capacity as physician, was surgeon in the Swiss army from 1841 to
1861, and for a quarter of a century was mayor of Bex. His success both
professionally and in business matters was such as to place him among the
influential and substantial men of his country. He belonged to the Na-
tional Church of Switzerland and belonged to the Masonic Order. There
were two children and the daughter, Alene, is now deceased.

Dr. Caesar Thomas was educated in the Swiss schools and also in sev-
eral of the leading German institutions of higher learning. At Lausanne,
Switzerland, he attained his preliminary training, was a student at Wuertz-
burg, Strassburg and Freiburg, (""Tcrmany. He graduated in medicine
at Basle, Switzerland, in 1878, and served as assistant physician of Basle
from April, 1877, to 1879. He was for six months official physician at
Neufchatel, Switzerland, and was at Geneva from 1879 to 1880. At
Geneva Dr. Thomas took post-graduate studies, and in 1880 came to
America. Until 1883, his practice was at Tonawanda, New York, where
he enjoyed a good practice. In 1883, he went to Africa, spending one year
there, and in 1885 returned to America and located at Muskegon. Since
then, his practice of a general nature, has brought him professional rela-
tions with many of the best families in the city, and he is also a member
of the staff of the Hackley hospital.

In 1888, Dr. Thomas married Theresa Gerst, a native of Germany.
They belong to the German Catholic church, fraternally the doctor is
affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights
of the Maccabees, has membership in the County Medical Society, and in
politics is a Democrat. All his time is devoted to his practice and he
enjoys the confidence and esteem of his medical associates in this section
of the state.

Col. Eugene Robinson. The late Col. Eugene Robinson was one
of the most widely known and highly honored citizens of Detroit, a
native of Binghampton, New York, in which city he was born May 25,
1837. and his death occurred in Detroit, October 28. 1897. He was a
member of a family that came to Michigan in 1838 and settled on a farm
at Orion. Oakland county, that same winter, the father, Asa Robinson,
also a native of New York, teaching school during the winter of 1838-9,
and in the latter vear removing his family to Detroit, where he took
charge of the old Clinton House, and died one year later.

Eugene Robinson received his education in the public schools of De-
troit, and in 1854, when in his seventeenth year, took up the study of
engineering in the office of James Monroe, an old-time Detroit ci\'il

1400 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

engineer, where he was located at the outbreak of the Civil \\'a.T. He
\-okinteered for service at President Lincoln's first call for troops, en-
listing April 17, 1861, as sergeant of the Detroit Light Guard, he being
the second man in Detroit to enlist in the first three-months regiment
from Michigan. He served the full term of his enlistment, and was
mustered out as sergeant-major of his regiment. He came out of the
first battle of Bull Run with the flag tied around his waist. Colonel
Robinson was offered a commission in the regular army, but family
influence prevailed and he returned home and engaged in civil engineer-
ing, and in 1864 was a])pointed city engineer of Detroit, serving in that
office four years, at the e.xpiration of which ])eriod he returned to his
profession. Later he entered the paving business as a contractor and
continued in that line of work until ill health compelled his retirement
from active business.

From the time of Colonel Robinson's enlistment in the army in 1861
he was one of the most active men in military affairs in Michigan. As
a tactician and drillmaster he had few equals in the Michigan National
Guard, and was regarded as the peer of any officer of the regular armv
along those lines. His promotion in the National (iuard was rapid.
He became second lieutenant in the Detroit Light Guard in 1862, and
was soon promoted to the first lieutenancy. When the old Third Regi-
ment, with which Colonel Robinson was identified, passed out of exist-
ence in 1 88 1, and the First Battalion was formed and organized under the
state laws, he was unanimously made lieutenant-colonel of the regiment.
The Fourth Regiment was formed from this battalion, and Colonel Rob-
inson was commissioned its colonel, which position he held until he re-
signed it, October i, i8go, to become brigadier-general of state troops
under appointment of Governor Luce. He was in command of the
state troops for a period of two years, during which time he thoroughly
demonstrated his admirable fitness for the important duties, and his
resignation, dated November I, 1892, was reluctantly accepted by Gov-
ernor .\lger and the news of his retirement was received with regret
by all.

In Masonic circles. Colonel Robinson was exceedingly active and
prominent. He became a member of I'nion Lodge of Strict Observance.
F. & A. M., December 5, 1864; of Peninsular Chapter No. 16, R. A. :\I.,
January 20. 1869, and of Detroit Commandery No. I, K. T.. May 21,
iSfiQ, and on March i, 1872, was elected captain-general of the com-
manderv. It was under (General Roliinson that Detroit Commandery
gained national fame and won laurel after laurel in competition drills
all over the country. He continued to hold command until 1892 and
was honorary captain-general at the time of his death. His splendid
work in Detroit Commandery led to his election as grand captain-gen-
eral of the Grand Commandery of the State of Michigan, a position he
held for a number of years. On March 10, 1880, he was made a mem-
ber of Alichigan Sovereign Consistory, S. R., and four years later joined
^Moslem Temple, Mystic Shrine. .•\t the ceremonies of the laying of
the corner-stone of the Detroit Masonic Temple, which occasion was
in charge of St. Bernard Commandery of Chicago, that commandery
elected General Robinson an honorary member of its drill corps. Gen-
eral Robinson was also a member of Detroit Post No. 384. Grand .'\rmy
of the Re])ublic.

The Detroit Free Press, of date of October 29, 1897. jniblished the
f<illiiwing editorial concerning General Robinson: "Fvery member of the
Michigan National Guard, and every Mason, Knight Templar and vet-
eran of the Ci\il War in IMichigan as well, will lie grieved to learn of
the death of that efficient military commander and chivalrous leader in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1401

knightly virtues, General Eugene Robinson. Especially in Detroit, where
for thirty years General Robinson was identified with the military life
of the city, and where his splendid abilities as a disciplinarian were so
conspicuously displayed, will his demise be felt as a personal loss. The
Fourth Infantry gained its high standing under his zealous and effective
discipline, and the National Guard was never in better condition than
when he was brigade commander. The same happy results followed
his well-directed exertion for the advancement of Detroit Commandery
of whose fame for superiority of drill it would be superfluous to speak.
General Robinson's long and valuable career in the service of the state
troops and in Masonry and Templarhood naturally lead us to speak of
these prominent in his useful life. But he will be remembered in De-
troit for his many excellent qualities as a citizen, friend and neighlior,
as well as for his services in the two especial spheres of activity in which
he won more than a state reputation."

Colonel Robinson married Matilda Watson, who was born in De-
troit, the daughter of William Watson, who was an Englishman and
an early business man of Detroit, the owner of the property on the river
front where the Grand Trunk Station now stands, as well as a large
warehouse at the foot of Beaubien street. The children born to Colonel
Robinson and his wife were as follows : William W., now a resident of
Cleveland, Ohio; Anne Eugenia, who married Maj. Charles A. Vernon,
U. S. A., retired, of Ann Arbor, Michigan ; Jesse \'. S., who was super-
intendent of a large tobacco factory, and lost his life in a brave attempt
to start the pumps when the factory was destroyed by fire ; Eugene,
who is first lieutenant of the Sixteenth Regiment, United States Army ;
and Frank Seymour.

Frank Seymour Robinson, one of Detroit's large general contractors,
is a native son of this city, and was born December lo, 1870. He was
reared in Detroit and was educated in the public schools and Michigan
IMilitary Academy, where he was graduated in 1890. He became asso-
ciated with his father in the engineering and contracting business until
i8g2, in which year he entered the oflice of the city engineer of Detroit
as an assistant, and continued there until 1899, when he went to x'Vrizona
as an engineer for a large copper company. In iijoi be returned to De-
troit and engaged in contracting, and has since continued in that line
with much success, giving special attention to reinforced concrete work.
Mr. Robinson is a member of Corinthian Lodge, F. & A. M., the Detroit
Boat Club and The Indian \'illiage Club. He belongs also to the De-
troit Chamber of Commerce.

Mr. Robinson w^as married to Miss Alary R. Mandell, of Detroit,
daughter of Addison Mandell, and sister of Judge Henry A. Alandell, of
the Wayne county circuit bench.

Jacob Oosting, M. D. Now one of the successful physicians and
surgeons of Muskegon, Dr. Oosting was a poor boy, who got his start by
working in a saw mill, and after five years of industrious labor and
economy started to study medicine under private practitioners and some
fifteen years ago graduated from college in Detroit. Since that time he
has gained a leading position among Muskegon's medical fraternity.

Jacob Oosting was born in the Netherlands, and is of that staunch
Holland Dutch stock that has been so prominent in the settlement and
development of western Mi.chigan. His birth occurred October 28, 1866,
and his parents were John and Annagien (Werkman) Oosting. His
mother was a daughter of Thomas Werkman. The father was born in
the Netherlands, in 1843, and died November 25, 1906. The mother was
born in 1841, and died October 9, 1903. In 1872, when Dr. Oosting was

1402 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

six years of age, tlie family moved to America, and located in Muskegon,
in the month of March in that year. The father was a hard working
laboring man, provided a home for his family, and did fairly well in life,
since at his death his estate was worth twenty-five hundred dollars. There
were nine children in the family, among whom the doctor was second in
order of birth, and the five now living are, besides the doctor : Thomas,
in the grocery business at Muskegon ; Minnie, the widow of John Bogema,
and now associated with her brother in the grocery trade ; Menne, who
is a cabinet maker at Muskegon; Mary, the wife of George Nienhous,
living on a farm near Holland, Michigan. The family are members of
the Dutch Christian Reformed church, and the father was in politics a
Republican. Dr. Oosting grew up in Muskegon, and family circum-
stances did not permit his getting a liberal education except through his
own work. After finishing the eighth grade in the public schools, he began
work in a sawmill, and for five years earned his living and saved some
money by hard manual work. He then took up the reading of medicine
under local doctors in Muskegon and Grand Rapids, and in 1897 was
graduated M. D., from the Detroit College of Medicine. When he re-
turned to Muskegon, in order to begin practice, his entire cash capital
amounted to five cents. Besides that he was in debt, six hundred dollars,
largely for the expenses of his education. Dr. Oosting quickly demon-
strated his ability as a physician, his genial and kindly services won him
patronage and standing, and his subsequent success is a matter of common
knowledge in the city. He has membership in the County and State
Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association, and besides his
private practice devotes much time to his work as a member of the staff
of the Hackley hospital.

In 1901 Dr. Oosting married Miss Louise Pepper, a daughter of Julius
Pepper of Muskegon, where he was one of the very early settlers. The
doctor and wife are members of the Second Reform church at Muskegon,
and his social relations are with the Knights of Pythias. A Republican
in politics, he voted the Progressive ticket in 1912. Besides his profes-
sional interests, he has stock and is otherwise interested in some financial
institutions. The doctor built and occupies a beautiful home at the corner
of Hartford and Pine Streets.

John Schrol:der. A Detroit citizen who long enjoyed the esteem
of that community, and whose life was an example of success well won,
and from difficult beginnings, was the late John Schroeder, whose career
had those attributes of accomplishment and individual character which
well merit a place in the history of the state. He was born in De-
troit, lived his entire life in that city, and to the growth and development
of its interests contributed his full share. Entering the paint business
as a boy of fourteen, he worked his way up until at the time of his
death he was at the head of the Schroeder Paint (Jt Glass Company,
which was the largest jobbing firm in that line in Detroit. He was also
president of the Michigan Smelting & Refining Company.

John .Schroeder was born in Detroit, July 26, i8to, the son of John
and Christina (Vogt) Schroeder. His early training was acquired
in the parochial schools, and later while working during the day lie
attended the Goldsmith Business College at night, and in that way gained
the commercial training necessary for his advancement. His first prac-
tical services were rendered as a clerk in the store of William Reid,
a dealer in paints, oils, glass, etc. His employment began in 1874, and
during the following years he conquered many difficulties, won the con-
fidence of his employers, and became a master of his particular line of
business. In 1897 Mr. .Schroeder and James H. O'Donncll formed a

</^

'i>Xj^' t^&Ay&^^i^

TIf Ntlf TOU

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1403

partnership and organized tlie Scliroeder Paint & Glass Company, wliole-
sale and retail, with Mr. Schroeder as president, an office he continued
to hold, directing and building up a splendid business, until the day of
his death.

Mr. Schroeder was a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce,
and very prominent in Detroit business circles. His genial disposition
and sterling character won him a wide circle of friends, and once his
friend always his friend. He was active and prominent in city affairs,
and served as a member of the city board of water commissioners from
1902 to 1907. In fraternal circles he had a varied relationship. He was
a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a charter mem-
ber of that organization in Detroit, was one of the oldest members of
the Harmonie Society, and also belonged to St. Joseph's Society, to
Westphalia Society, the Detroit Lodge of Elks, the Catholic Mutual
Benefit Association, the Detroit Athletic Club, and the Detroit Paint.
Oil & Varnish Club.

On June 3, 1884, Mr. Schroeder married Alary Antoinette Lebens,
who died July 3, 1908, leaving the following children: Antoinette A.,
who married Fred Schaemig. of Detroit; Edwin A., who married Amy
Diedrich, of Detroit ; William G. ; Marie F. ; Frances J. ; and Viola A.
Mr. Schroeder on September 27, 191 1, marrifed Mary M. Peters. Mrs.
Schroeder, a native of Detroit, is a daughter of.- Richard and Bridget

Peters. Her parents were born in Detroit, aiirl her grandfather was
Antoin Peters, a pioneer French settler in the Grosse '?5inte neighbor-
hood.

Alfred Brocke, M. D. A well known? pltysician and specialist of
Muskegon, where he has practiced since' 1904, Dr. Brock'^e is a product of
the German imiversitv and medical centers, having come to America after
his graduation in medicine, and after some years of practice in the city
of Chicago located in Muskegon. Here he enjoys a large practice, and
stands high among the local fraternity.

Alfred Brocke was born in Germany, July 9, 1869, a son of Karl and
Minna (Lerche) Brocke. The grandfather was Carl Broche, and the
maternal grandfather was John Lerche, the latter a large land owner, and
prosperous citizen of his section of Germany. Carl Broche, the father of
the doctor, was born in 1839, ^"^ died in the old country in 1904. His
wife was born in 1849 and died in 1904. The father spent nearly all his
active life as chief state forester in Germany. Of their three children the
doctor was the oldest and Max Brocke is now living in Germany, where
he is in the manufacturing business, and Marie is married and also lives
in Germany. The parents subscribed to no church and were really free-
thinkers. Fraternally the father was a Mason.

Dr. Alfred Brocke was educated in the local schools and Gymnasia of
the German fatherland, and his university career was at Jena, where he
was graduated in medicine in 1893. After several years of practice in his
native land, he moved to Chicago in 1898, and then in 1904 established his
practice in Muskegon. Dr. Brocke, while attenting to a large general
practice makes a study of stomach and intestinal diseases. Besides his
private practice he serves on the staff of the Hackley Hospital and also
the Mercy Hospital of Muskegon. His professional membership includes
the County and State Medical Societies, and the American Medical
Association.

In 1895 Dr. Brocke married Clara Sanger, in Germany. They are the
parents of one child, Lucile, now the wife of Erich Lissner of Chicago.
Fraternally the doctor is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and has taken degrees in both branches of

1404 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Masonry, including the Knight Templars degree of the York Rite, and
the Consistory in the Scottish. He is also affiliated with the Mystic
Shrine. In politics he is a Democrat.

\\'n.i,i.\M C. WiLLi.\MS. Few Michigan business men have such a
notable record as William C. Williams of Detroit. His active career
began sixty years ago. His first associations were with the wholesale
drug house of Jacob S. Farrand. The name Farrand, Williams &
Company probably better known to the drug trade in Michigan and the
middle western states than any other two names. The Micliigan Drug
Company is an outgrowth of enterprise started bv Farrand, Wi'liams
& Company and associates. Mr. Williams until recently was an
active official in the Michigan Drug Company, a business which he has
seen developed and in which his own judgment and ability were chief
factors in making. All Detroit and hundreds of well known business
men outside of that city now esteem William C. Williams as one of the
prominent men in the Michigan metropolis.

William C. Williams was born at Anglesey, North Wales, a son of
William and Dorothy (Lewis) Williams. In 1850 he came to the L'nited
States with his parents, the family first settling in Waukesha, Wiscon-
sin, where the father soon afterwards died. In 1852 the widow and her
children came to Detroit where the rest of her life was spent. The edu-
cation of William C. Williams was completed in private and public
schools of ^^^^ukcsha and of Detroit. At an early age. he founrl em-
ployment in the wholesale drug house of Jacob S. Farrand, and two
years later became manager of the estalilishment. His rise to lousiness
prominence was rai)id and was established on most secure foundation.
In 1858 he became a member of the firm of Farrand, Sheley & Company.
Later in 1860 the firm liecame Farrand, Williams & Company. In 1892
Mr. Farrand withdrew, and a reorganization brought about the business
title of Williams, Sheley & Brooks. Later a number of other drug
houses were consolidated, and resulted in the incorporation under the
title of the Williams-Davis-Brooks & Hinchman Company. To the gen-
eral public the business is better known now under a new cor])orate
title of the Michigan Drug Company, crimprising several of the largest
drug firms in the middle west. Mr. Williams \yas active president of
this corporation until 1012. when failing health compelled him to retire,
though he still retains the principal holdings in the business, llis son,
Maurice O. Williams, is secretary of the company. Besides the large
house at Detroit, the company operates a wholesale drug house at Sag-
inaw, under the name of the Saginaw \'alley Drug Company.

Not only in the direct line of his business has Mr. Williams borne an
impurtant responsibility as a Detroit citizen, but his influence and active
cooperation has been beneficial to many other interests. lie was one of
the incorporators of the Detroit College of Medicine in 1879, and has
been a member of its lioard of trustees since its organization. In 191,^
he assisted in the reorganization of that institution, and still continues
a member of the board, being now the eldest in point of service on the
board of trustees. He w;is one of the organizers of the old Commercial
National Bank of Detroit, and a member of its board of directors until
the institution was consolidated with the First National Bank, and his
work as a director has continued to benefit the new institution.

Mr. Williams has membership in' the Country Club of Grosse Pointe
Farms, the Detroit Assembly, and his church is Christ church. Episcopal.
Mr. Williams was married at Niles, Michigan, to Maria L. Murray.
Their children are: Maurice O. Williams, who is secretary of the Michi-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1405

gan Drug Company, and who married Ethel Gregory of Detroit ; and
Clara, who married Ford Arthur Hinchman, Jr., of E)etroit.

Oscar Berg. Now serving his second term as register of deeds in
Muskegon county, Oscar Berg is one of the youngest men in the court
house ofifices, and one of the most deserving, having started in life a poor
boy, having always been a hard worker, and having won on his own merit
every advancement and every success.

Oscar Berg was born in Muskegon, May 30, 1882, a son of Anton and
Ida C. (Olson) Berg. His father was born in Norway, February 23,
1847, and died March 9, 1897. His parents remained in Norway on a
farm all their lives. The mother was born in Milwaukee, September 24,
1859, and now has her home with her son, Oscar, in Muskegon. She was
a daughter of Ole Olson, who was a lumber inspector at Muskegon, hav-
ing located there in 1866, and there spending the rest of his life. He reared
a large family of eleven children. Anton I'-erg came to America alone at
the age of twenty-one settling in Muskegon. He worked in the lumber
mills and followed that vocation most of his career. He was never a rich
man, but did his work quietly and lived a peaceful and honorable life.
There were just two children, Oscar and Genevieve, the latter being un-
married and a graduate of the Muskegon high school. The family have
been members of the Norwegian Lutheran church, and the father was
affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and was a Republican in
politics.

Mr. Oscar Berg was reared in Muskegon, attended the public schools,
and after graduating from the high school in 1900 started out to earn his
way as an accountant in the office of Abner Alberts Coal & Wood Com-
pany. He remained with that firm for five years, and in that time thor-
oughly qualified himself for business. He then became city accountant
for Muskegon, and in 1910, was honored with election to the office of
register of deeds. By re-election in 1012. he is now serving his second
term. Mr. Berg gives all his time to his official duties. He has member-
ship in the Lutheran church, and belongs to the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, with which lodge he served for three years as treasurer.

Jltdgf. Henry A. Mandell. The record of Judge Mandell of the
Wayne County Circuit Court, has been one that affords satisfaction to
those who cherish the best ideals and the highest standards of the Ameri-
can judiciary. Judge Mandell has discharged his functions with a fine
degree of human and technical understanding, and his presence in the
circuit court has done much to strengthen that branch of the state's ju-
dicial system.

Henry Addison Mandell was born in the city of Detroit, on March
16, 1861, a son of Addison and Mary F. (Chittenden) Mandell. The
public schools of his native city afforded him the basis of his education,
and he subsequently attended the University of Michigan and was gradu-
ated with the degree Bachelor of Philosophy in 1883. Returning to
Detroit, he pursued his studies of the law with Moore & Canfield, and
was admitted to the Michigan Bar in 1885. Thus for nearly thirty years,
Judge Mandell has been identified with the bench and bar of this state.
"For some years he gave his attention to general practice and admiralty
law, in Detroit, and in 1891 was appointed assistant city attorne\-. He
served until 1892, and from 1892 to 1901 was assistant prosecuting at-
torney of Wayne county. Governor Bliss in 1901 appointed him judge
of the Wayne Circuit Court to fill a vacancy, and in 1903 he was elected
for the unexpired term, and in 1906 was elected for the regular term of
six years. Judge Mandell is now on his second full term.

1406 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

He is a member of the Detroit Bar Association, tlie Michigan State
Bar Association, and the American Bar Association, is a Knights Temp-
lar Mason, and a member of the Detroit, the Yondotega, the Comitry and
University Clubs.

Raymond G. Olsox, M. D. A representative of one of the old fam-
ilies in western Michigan, Dr. Olson has practiced medicine at ^luskegon
Heights since 1900. His professional standing is of the very highest, and
he has utilized all his opportunities to make himself a valuable factor of
social service in a profession which concerns human well being more inti-
mately than any other.

Raymond G. Olson was born in Muskegon, June 24, 1871, a son of
Ole and Julia (Thorstenson) Olson. The grandfather was Ole Olson,
born February 24, 1810, in Norway, who moved later in life to Muskegon,
where he met death by drowning in 1868. The maternal grandfather,
Halverson Thorstenson, was born in Norway, in 1793, came to the United
States and died in Wisconsin in 1868. Ole Olson, the father was born at
Flekejorel, Norway, July 7, 1834, and died May 13, 1906. He came to the
United States in 1854, and some years later married Miss Thorstenson,
who was born in Norway, February 12, 1836, and died April 27, iqoi.
The occupation of the father was a sailor, and after coming to the United
States, his work was on the great lakes! For a time he followed the occu-
pation of fisherman, and then ran a. boat as captain for some time. The
last years of his life wgrg 'spefit as a lumber inspector, and he was re-
garded as the most expert in the inspection of lumber in the vicinity of
Lake Michigan. There were eleven children, of whom Dr. Olson was the
seventh, and the seven still Jiving are mentioned as follows: Ida, who
married A. T. Berg, who is,n«w deceased ; Sophia, who married A. Nelson,
a foundry-man of Chicago ; Hannah, who married Hogan Bee, and lives
in Muskegon; Otto, of Muskegon; Dr. Raymond; Emma, wife of Joseph
Stewart of Battle Creek ; and Clara, wife of Henry Thompson, of Mus-
kegon. The parents were both members of the Norwegian Lutheran
church, the father was affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Macca-
bees, and as a Republican took considerable interest in local politics.

Dr. Raymond G. Olson is a graduate of the Muskegon high school in
the class of 1888, and a number of years' were spent by him in practical
business pursuits, before he was ready to take tip the profession of med-
icine. Three years were spent as exchange clerk in the Lumbermen's
Bank of Muskegon, then, he was employed a time by the Taylor Spice
Company of Chicago, and worked as time-keeper with the McCormick
Harvester Works. In the meantime he had taken up the study of med-
icine, was a student of anatomy under Professor W. T. Eckley of Chicago,
and in 1900 was graduated in medicine from the Jenner Medical College
of Chicago. With a license from the state board of Illinois, he began
practice in Chicago in 1899, and was the first surgeon in the Emergency
hospital conducted at the plant of the McCormick Harvester Company.
In 1900 Dr. Olson returned to his home city of Muskegon, and in the
following year took up active practice. Four months were spent at Fruit-
port, Michigan, and since then his home and practice have been at
Muskegon Heights. He enjoys a large practice of the better class, and
has membership in the county and state medical societies, and the Amer-
ican Medical Association. For some time. Dr. Olson has served as
health officer at Muskegon Heights, but outside of this his interest in
public affairs is only nominal and all his time and energies are devoted to
his chosen profession.

Dr. Raymond Olson was married December 6, 1905, to Charlotte
Edna Burke, daughter of William Burke, a contractor of Muskegon. The

^ - <£ Ah^^^^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1407

two children of their marriage are: Raymond G. Jr., born January 21,
1907, and now in school; and Sarah Isabel born February 28, 1913. The
fraternal associations of Dr. Olson are with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias, and his politics is Republican.

Frederick E. Driggs. One of Detroit's oldest and most prominent
citizens and honored members of the legal fraternity was the late Fred-
erick E. Driggs, who was born in New York City, New York, August 20,
1838, and died at his home in Detroit, June 16, 1913, after a continued
residence in this city of over a half a century, during which he was
actively identified with the law, business affairs and religious and philan-
thropic movements.

]Mr. Driggs was descended from an English ancestor who came to
America in 1716, settling in Connecticut, while his parents were S. Beach
and Adelaide (Desnouisej Driggs, natives of New York, to which state
the family had removed from Connecticut. Mr. Driggs received his lit-
erary education in private schools in New York, and his legal training
was procured under special preceptors and at the Poughkeepsie (New
York) Law School, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Law
in 1859. During that same year Mr. Driggs came to Michigan, locating
in Detroit, where he continued the prosecution of his legal studies in the
office of D. C. Holbrook, and in i860 was admitted to the Michigan
bar after an examination before the Supreme Court, and began the
practice of his profession at Detroit. A short time later Mr. Driggs
formed a partnership with E. W. Meddaugh, which firm, known as
that of Meddaugh & Driggs, was for many years one of the leading
legal combinations of Michigan. Subsequently Henry A. Harmon was
admitted to the firm, which then became Meddaugh, Driggs & Harmon.
As a legist, Mr. Driggs was known to be capable, well read, and a
reliable counselor. In his professional advice he was strictly honorable
and honest, consulting in every possible way the interests of his clients,
and being noted for the care and attention which he gave to every
detail. His connection with cases of an important character brought
him prominently before the people, but he was also widely known in
business and financial circles for many years, being identified with such
well-known financiers as the late U. S. Senator James McMillan, Francis
Palms, Hiram Walker, Allan Sheldon, Governor Baldwin and H. P.
Baldwin. He assisted and took a prominent part in the building of the
Detroit, ^Mackinac & Marquette Railroad, and for thirty years was
with Francis Palms and Senator IMcMillan a trustee in the management
of the land grant received by that road. He was also a director in the
Detroit Trust Company and in the Detroit Marine and Fire Insurance
Company, and held various important offices in Detroit corporations.

Mr. Driggs was much interested in church and philanthropic work
and gave freely of his time and means in that direction. For over thirty
years he was a member of the board of trustees and for many years
president of the board of St. Luke's Hospital and Church Home; he
was president of the board of trustees of the Mariners' Church, and a
vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Mr. Driggs was a member
of the American Bar Association, the Michigan State Bar Association
and the Detroit Bar Association, and retained his interest and promi-
nence at the bar to the last. He belonged also to the Detroit, Country
and Bankers Clubs. Mr. Driggs' life was spent in such a manner that
he won the respect and honor of all with whom he came in contact,
made and retained a host of warm and sincere friends, and will long
be remembered by the community as a man of strong character and much
legal and financial ability, and as one who bore his full share of labor
in the building up of Detroit and its institutions.

1408 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Matthew Beale Whittlesey. Engaged in the practice of law at the
^Michigan bar since 1900, Matthew Beale Whittlesey, of Detroit, has
achieved prominence and pojjularity, as well as the material rewards that
go with a large and rejjresentative practice, gaining his success through a
quick grasp of salient points, an impressive manner, inherent ability for
his profession and considerable oratorical gifts. Likewise, aside from his
activities in the ranks of his calling, he has interested himself in move-
ments that have made for civic betterment, and has done more than his
share in advancing morality, religion and good citizenship.

Mr. Whittlesey is a native of Michigan, born at Detroit, June 25,
1876, a son of John Jacob and Agnes (Martine) Whittlesey, lie lielongs
to an old and honored American family, the founder of whicli, John
Whittlesey, emigrated to this country as early as 1635, settling in Xew
England. The family has long been known there and has contriljuted
of its members to the various professions and to high places in military
and civic life. Matthew B. Whittlesey received his early education in
the public schools of Detroit, following which he went to the high school
at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and after some further preparation became a
student in the University of Michigan, graduating therefrom in 1899
with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In 1899 and 1900 he attended
the law department of the same institution, and in the latter year cm-
liarked in practice at Detroit, although he subsequently attended the De-
troit College of Law, from which he was graduated in igoi with the
degree of Bachelor of Laws. When he first began practice Mr. \\'liit-
tlesey was associated with the firm of Bowen, Douglas & Whiting, but
since 1901 has been engaged in practice alone. He has been successful
in building up a practice typical of the best kind of work which may
be entrusted to the lawyer, and at no time has he failed to demonstrate
his complete ability in the handling of his legal business. The success
which he has won is a sufficient testimonial not only to the possession
of su|)erior natural abilities, liut also to the exemplary perseverance and
industry which has been shown in every stage of his career. He is a
firm believer in the doctrine that work will tell. Mr. Whittlesey has
sliown more than ordinary interest in enterprises calculated to make for
advancement and city welfare, and is a member and secretary of the board
of trustees of St. Luke's Hospital Church Home and Orphanage. He is
active in religious circles, being a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal
church. He also holds membership in the I'si Upsilon College fraternity,
the Detroit Board of Commerce and the University. Detroit Boat. De-
troit Club, Detroit Tennis, Detroit Athletic and Cluu'ch Clubs. He
maintains offices at Nos. 915-16 Hammond Building.

Mr. Whittlesey was married April 25, 1908, to Miss Ellen Ruth Har-
greaves, of Detroit, and three children have been born to them : Fred-
erick Driggs, George Hargreaves and Matthew Beale, Jr.

John Q. Ross. The present lieutenant governor of Michigan has not
only been an influential figure in the political activities of the state, as
one of the able and effective advocates of the principles and policies of
the Republican party, Init he is also widely and consistently recognized as
one of the representative members of the bar of his adopted common-
wealth, within the borders of which he has been engaged in the practice
of his profession since 1894. He has been largely dependent upon his
own resources in making his way in the world, and has shown that he is
possessed of those sterling qualities of character that justify and assure
success. In the work of his profession he is a member of the prominent
and representative law firm of Cross, Vanderwerp, Foote & Ross, in the
city of Muskegon, and he is serving his second term in the office of lieu-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1409

tenant governor of the state. Such precedence and distinction he has
gained through his possession of sterling attributes of character and
marked intellectual and professional talent, and he has fully measured up
to the demands of the discriminating public.

John O. Ross claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity,
and this implies a certain degree of priority, if credance is placed in the
genial paraphrase once made by Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, who said :
"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some are born in
the state of Ohio." It is needless to say, however, that Mr. Ross has not
depended upon the benignant auguries of such nativity for the winning
of success in life. He was born on a farm near Jamestown, Greene
county, Ohio, on the 28th of June, 1873, and is a son of William R. and
Ruhama C. (Moon) Ross, the former of whom was born in Monroe
county. West Virginia, on the 9th of June, 1829, and the latter of whom
was born in Greene county, Ohio, on the 30th of March, 1845. The father
was summoned to eternal rest in 1895, and his widow now maintains her
home in St. Petersburg, Florida, their marriage having been solemnized
on the 22d of February, 1864. William R. Ross was a successful agri-
culturist in Ohio, where he continued to reside until the year 1892, when
he came with his cherished and devoted wife to Muskegon, Michigan,
where he continued to live virtually retired until his death. He was a
Democrat in his political allegiance and was a Presbyterian in his religious
faith, his widow being a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. Of their five children the eldest is Clement P., who is one of the
representative farmers of Muskegon county; Anna S. is the wife of
Orlando E. Shaner, who is in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul Railroad Company, and they reside in the city of Chicago ; Mary
E. is the wife of Asa C. Kline and they maintain their home at St. Peters-
burg, Florida, where Mr. Kline is a successful contractor; John Q., of
this review, was the next in order of birth ; and Miss Alena P. resides at
Clearwater, Florida. The paternal grandparents of John Q. Ross were
Robert and Susanna (Alexander) Ross, who were natives of Virginia
and who removed in an early day from that section of the Old Dominion
that now constitutes West Virginia to Ohio, where they passed the residue
of their lives and where Robert Ross was a farmer by vocation. The
maternal grandfather was Gideon Moon, who was born in the state of
New York and who was numbered among the pioneers of Ohio, where
he developed a productive farm and became a citizen of influence in his
•community. There he continued to reside until his death, as did also his
wife, whose maiden name was Turner.

The future lieutenant governor of Michigan was reared to the sturdy
discipline of the home farm and his early educational advantages were
those afforded in the public schools of his native county. He early
formulated definite plans for his future career and his ambition was not
one of futile or secondary nature. Under the effective preceptorship of
the firm of Jones & Clark, of Muskegon, Michigan, he pursued a through
course in the study of law, and he has continued a close and appreciative
student in later years, so tRat he is specially well fortified in the science
of jurisprudence, as is indicated by the admirable reputation he has gained
both as advocate and counselor, his resourcefulness and versatility having
been proved in connection with many important litigations. Mr. Ross
was admitted to the bar in 1894, and his initial work in his profession was
accomplished in a novitiate of one year at Shelby, Oceana county, Mich-
igan. He then transferred his professional headquarters to the city of
Muskegon, where he has had various partners in his practice and where
he has been, since 1910, a member of the representative law firm of Cross,
Vanderwerp, Foote & Ross, which controls a large and representative

1410 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

practice, each member of the firm .having a different and well defined
department of practice, so that the general prestige of the combination is
furthered.

Mr. Ross has been a valued and dominating factor in connection with
the manoeuvering of political forces in Michigan, as one of the repre-
sentative exponents of the principles and policies of the Republican party.
He has been most aggressive and influential as a campaign speaker, and
in 1910, he was made the nominee of his party for lieutenant governor of
the state, as the running mate of Hon. Chase Osborn. He made a
specially brilliant canvass and did much to make the ensuing victory in
the state election one of unequivocal order. He was elected by a gratify-
ing majority, proved a most progressive and efficient executive officer and
most popular as the presiding officer of the state senate. He was re-
elected in 1912. He was the first president of the West Michigan Devel-
opment Bureau ; is a member of and has been president of the Muskegon
Chamber of Commerce and has always been a worker for Muskegon and
has done much for this part of ]\Iichigan.

Mr. Ross, as may well be understood, is one of the progressive and
public-spirited citizens of Muskegon, and he has won to himself a very
wide circle of staunch friends in Michigan. In his home city he is an
interested principal in several business concerns, he is one of the success-
ful and representative members of the bar of this section of the state, and
his advancement stands as the direct result of his own efforts, which have
been marked by high ideals and by impregnable integrity of purpose. Mr.
Ross is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the
Knights of Pythias, in the latter of which he has served as vice-chancellor
commander.

In the year 1900 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ross to Miss
Katherine B. Schwedler, who was born in Germany and who was two
years of age when she accompanied her widowed mother to .America, her
father, William Schwedler having died in the Vaterland. j\Ir. and Mrs.
Ross have two children, Raymond F. and Florence A.

James Harvey Gregg. One of Detroit's leading business men is
James H. Gregg, secretary and general manager of the Gregg Hardware
Company, one of the large wholesale houses in that line in the state. Mr.
Gregg came from the farm when a boy, learned the hardware business
through wliolesale channels, and from the subordinate grades of service
where he was one among hundreds who rose to the heavy responsibilities
of management and finallv to independent action in his chosen field.

James Harvey Gregg was born at Browning, Lynn county, Missouri,
August 8, 1866. A brief account of his family and its important moves
in the world is as follows: His parents were George and Mary (Steel)
Gregg. The Gregg family was founded in the United States three gen-
erations ago by John Gregg, a native of Germany, who came over with
his wife and settled near the city of Philadelphia, but later moved to Ohio,
and there bought land in Carroll county and developed a fine farm. That
old homestead, now many times more valuable than when first. occupied,
is still in the possession of the Gregg family, and a brother of the Detroit
business man is its proprietor. George Gregg, the father, was born on
this old homestead in Carroll county and died there in 1899. His wife
was born in the same county and is now living in her seventy-sixth year.
Her father, James Steel, was of Irish descent. George Gregg and wife
were married in Carroll county in 1865, and during the same year
moved out to Missouri, locating in Lynn county, but at the end of some
five or six years, on account of repeated droughts in that section, condi-
tions were such as to discourage farming and he returned to Carroll
county at or in the vicinity of his birthplace.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1411

James H. Gregg was reared on the old farm, attended school through
the grades and the high school and was about eighteen years of age when
he exchanged a rural atmosphere for the environment of the wholesale
hardware house in Cleveland, Ohio. His home was in Cleveland until
1898, and in the meantime he had gained a thorough knowledge of the
hardware business and then came to Detroit to become manager of the
hardware department of Buhl Sons Company, the largest hardware con-
cern in the state. In 1906 Mr. Gregg left the Buhl company to engage
in business for himself, by organizing the Gregg Hardware Company,
which was incorporated under that name.

Outside of his immediate business he is known as a member of the
Detroit Builders & Traders Exchange and the Detroit Board of Com-
merce ; the Detroit Athletic Club ; the Rotary Club, and has taken most
of the degrees in Masonry, including membership in Ashlar Lodge, A. F.
& A. M., Peninsular Chapter R. A. M., Damascus Commandery, K. T.,
and Michigan Consistory of the Scottish Rite, and also Moslem Temple
of the Mystic Shrine.

yir. Gregg married Dora Gantz, who was born in Carrollton, Ohio,
daughter of John J. Gantz, a stock raiser of that state. To their mar-
riage a daugliter and two sons have been born, namely : ]\Iary, George
and Robert. Mr. Gregg is a Republican in politics, and the family belong
to the North Congregational church of Detroit.

Philip W. Kniskern. He whose name initiates this sketch may con-
sistently be designated as the dean of the legal profession in Muskegon
county, and he is one of the well known and highly honored citizens of
Muskegon, the fine city that is the judicial center of the county. Though
he has passed the psalmist's span of three score years and ten the years
rest lightly upon him and he is essentially alert, loyal and progressive in
his civic attitude. He is the incumbent of the office of circuit court com-
missioner for Muskegon county and has been a member of the bar of
Michigan for nearly forty years. His career has been marked by
definite and worthy achievement and to him a special tribute is due in
this history of the state that has long represented his home.

Mr. Kniskern was born in Schoharie county, New York, on the loth
of January, 1837, and he is a lineal representative of sterling jjioneer
families of the old Empire state, within whose gracious liorders his
parents were born and reared, their marriage having there l)een solem-
nized in the year 1819. He is a son of Philip and Hannah (Singerland)
Kniskern, the former of whom was born in 1800 and tlie latter in 1798.
In 1836 Philip Kniskern came with his family to the middle west and
established his residence in the state of Illinois, where he remained until
1868, when he removed to Barry county. Missouri, where he purchased
a farm and where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives,
both having been summoned to eternal rest in the year 1873, so that in
death they were not long divided, their married life having been char-
acterized by the deepest of mutual devotion and solicitude. Of the ten
children the subject of this sketch is the only one now living, and he was
the eighth in order of birth. Philip Kniskern was a Democrat in his
political proclivities and he served in minor township offices, both he
and his wife having been zealous members of the Lutheran church, in
which he held official position for a number of years. He was a son of
Abraham and Elizabeth (Warner) Kniskern, who passed their entire
lives in the state of New York, the father having been a farmer Ijy voca-
tion. The father and six of the brothers of Mrs. Elizabeth (Warner)
Kniskern were valiant soldiers of the Continental line in the war of the
Revolution, and her father was with the command of General Gates when

1412 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

that officer effected the capture of General Cornwalhs. Abraham Kniskcrn
was a son of Nicholas Kniskern, who likewise was born in New York and
who was a son of Gottlieb Kniskern, The latter was the founrler of the
family in America, to which country he immigrated from the Palitinate
of Germany, in the year 1709, having left his native land to escape the
religious turlnilence which at that time was causing great unrest and
many persecutions in Germany. He passed the remainder of his life in
New York state and, like many of his descendants in the succeeding two
or more generations, he gave his attention mainly to the great basic in-
dustry of agfriculture. The maternal ancestors of him whose name
introduces this article came to America from Holland, but he has vir-
tually no authentic data concerning the family history on the distaff side.

Philip \\'. Kiskern was reared under the invigorating discipline of the
old homestead farm in Schoharie county, New York, and there he ac-
quired his early education in the common schools, a training that he soon
amplified and effectually rounded out through self-application and asso-
ciation with the practical affairs of life. As a young man he went to the
state of Mississippi, prior to the Civil war, and at Lexington, that state,
he was admitted to the bar, after having admirably fortified himself in
the basic principles of the science of jurisprudence, \\'hen it became evi-
dent that the nation was to be involved in Civil war Mr. Kiskern re-
turned to the north, and from 1861 to iSfiS he was engaged in teaching
in the common schools in Illinois and Michigan. He then turned his at-
tention to the profession of journalism, as a representative of which he
was editor and publisher of a weekly paper at Middleville, Barrv county,
until 1876, when he engaged in the practice of law at Hastings, Michi-
gan. He has maintained his home in Muskegon since 1892, has here been
a successful and representative member of the bar of the county for
many years, and he still gives his attention to the general practice of his
profession, with a substantial clientage. His close study of the law in
the earlier years gave him facility in its application in a practical way,
and his broad and varied experience has made him one of tlie circum-
spect and well fortified members of the bar.

In politics Mr. Kiskern has been found aligned as an uncompromising
and effective advocate of the principles and policies for which the Re-
pulilican party has stood .sponsor and he has been an active worker in
behalf of the cause. He has voted for every Republican president from
the time of the second election of Lincoln, and he has been an effective
worker in virtually every national campaign during all these years, with
excellent reputation as an able and convincing stump speaker. He has
served as circtiit court commissioner of Muskegon countv since 1004.
He is the owner of a considerable amount of valuable realty in Muskegon
and other points in the county, and is one of the substantial, public-spir-
ited and distinctively popular men of this favored section of the Wol-
verine state.

The year i860 recorded the marriage of Mr. Kniskern to Miss Cor-
nelia Goodenow, who was born in Painesville, Ohio, and whose father,
Jacob Goodenow, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Michigan in 1865,
where he and his wife continued to reside until their death, Mr, and
Mrs. Kniskern have three children, concerning whom the following brief
data are entered : Albert is a lieutenant colonel of the United States
army ; Emory, who is a physician and surgeon by profession, resides at
Centralia, Washington, and Russell is engaged in the automobile busi-
ness at Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Cii.\RLF.s F. A'Iellish. One of the loyal citizens and representative
business men of Detroit is Mr. Mellish. He is a director and secretary

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1413

of the Hargreaves Manufacturing Company, which represents one of the
important industrial enterprises of the Michigan metropolis, where he is
also a member of the directorate of the Federal Motor Truck Company,
the enterprise of which has made distinctive contribution to the pre-
eminence of Detroit as a center of the automobile industry.

Charles Fillmore Mellish was born in the city of Buffalo, New York,
on the 7th of December, 1859, and is a son of Captain James William
Willoughby-Mellish and Lavina (Suthers) Alellish, the former of whom
was born in the city of London, England, and the latter of whom was a
native of Ipswich, England. Captain Willoughby-Mellish was reared
and educated in his native city and as a youth he entered the English
army, in which he eventually attained the rank of captain. He finally
resigned his commission and came to the United States, where he be-
came prominently identified with manufacturing enterprise. He first
located in the city of New York, later resided for some time in the city
of BufTalo, and finally took up his abode in Lockport, New York, where
he became one of the interested principals in the Hydraulic Manufactur-
ing Company, of which he was a director. He was a prominent and
influential citizen of Lockport for many years, was active in both the
civic and business aifairs of the community and was known as a man of
fine intellectuality and inviolable integrity. Both he and his wife con-
tinued to maintain their home at Lockport until their death.

The early educational advantages afforded to Charles F. Mellish were
those of the public schools of Lockport, New York, and the inception of
his business career was through his connection with the local art store
of R. W. & E. Beck. He entered the employ of this firm in 1878 and re-
mained with the same, as a salesman, until 18S3, when he came to
Detroit and accepted a position as traveling salesman for the Hargreaves
Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of picture frames, mouldings,
etc., and dealers in all kinds of pictures. With this extensive concern he
has continued to be identified during the long intervening period of thirty
years, and he has risen to a position of authoritative interest in the busi-
ness, which is one of the largest of the kind in the United States. Mr.
Mellish became one of the most successful traveling representatives of
the house and remained "on the road" until i()00, when the company was
reorganized and he became its secretary. At that time also he assumed
the functions of assistant manager and he has also had the personal
direction of the sales department. His services have been most potent
in forwarding the success of this representative Detroit concern and the
expansion of its business into new territory, so that his is secure vantage-
ground as one of the able and valued executives and stockholders of the
company.

Mr. Mellish has been one of the representative figures in the local
cohorts of the Republican party and has done effective service in behalf
of its cause. He is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and
has been active and influential in connection with the affairs of the De-
troit Club, of the governing board of which representative organization
he has been a member for six years, besides which he served as president
of the club in 1912-13. He also holds membership in the Detroit Coun-
try Club, the L^nion League Club of Chicago, and tiie Tuscarora Club of
Lockport, New York. Germane to his business activities he is identified
with the Picture Frame Manufacturers' Association of America, and both
he and his wife are communicants of Christ church, Protestant Episcopal,
besides being popular factors in the social life of their home city.

On the 2d of July, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mel-
lish to Miss Sarah Estelle Butler, daughter of the late Titus S. Butler, a
prominent merchant of Lockport, New York, and they have one daugh-
ter, Marjorie Butler Mellish.

1414 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

William Brinen. The lumber industry of Michigan produced many
able and splendid men of affairs. Conspicuous among these was the late
William Brinen of Muskegon. He came to that city about fifty years
ago, a young man with all his clothes tied up in a bandana handker-
chief. Hard manual labor was the beginning of his career. It is said
that a man is worth a dollar and a half a day from his neck down, but
when he has brains in his head to work in conjunction with his body,
there is no limit to his efficiency and earning capacity. William Brinen
was the type of a man who used his intelligence as well as his hands.
For a number of years before his death he was regarded as one of the
well to do and ablest business leaders in western Michigan. On May
7, 1913, following a stroke of appoplexy William Brinen was taken from
the ranks of the living and his death marked the passing of one of Mich-
igan's resourceful and valuable characters who not only acquired much
but gave even more in return to the state with which he was so long
identified.

The career of William Brinen began on a farm in Franklin, Mil-
waukee county, Wisconsin, January 8, 1845. His father was Patrick
Brinen. a native of Ireland, and one of the settlers of Wisconsin. The
early training of the late Mr. Brinen chiefly consisted in the rugged ex-
perience of a farm, and of schooling he had very little. His father had
come to the wilderness, had cleared off a space among the forest trees
upon which to erect his log cabin, and it was in the midst of pioneer sur-
roundings that William Brinen spent his vouth. In 1862, when he was
seventeen years of age, he went to Joliet, Illinois, where ten months were
spent as a farm hand. Taking passage on a boat, he crossed Lake Mich-
igan to Grand Haven, and then walked to Aluskegon, it being his in-
tention to earn enough money to buy forty acres of land in his native
state. His first employment was with L. G. Mason & Company, big lum-
bermen of that time. Driving a yoke of cattle and helping build a mill he
occupied himself in various other ways, and at one time acted as night
watch on the boom. During the winter he went into the woods, and
finally got a job of scaling logs. In the lumber camp was a man of con-
sideralile education who assisted him in figuring and Mr. Brinen was
always a man keenly alert to the opportunities about him, and really edu-
cated himself. Eventually he became foreman of the mill operated by
L. G. Mason & Company, and later known as the Mason Lumber Com-
pany. In 1878, the Thayer Lumber Company bought the Mason mill, and
Mr. Brinen continued with that concern until the mill was closed in 1910.
That was a period of forty-five years of continuous employment with
one of the largest lumber concerns in western Michigan.

Many years ago, Mr. Brinen became an independent and energetic
figure in l)usiness enterprise at Muskegon and vicinity. In 1885 he
formed a co-partnership with Thomas Munroe, under the name of Mun-
roe & Brinen. They were in the general lumber business until 1905. the
operations of the company being conducted by William Munroe since
both Thomas Munroe and Mr. Brinen were active in the affairs of the
Thayer Lumber Company. That co-partnership has never been dis-
solved although the company was not active after 1905. Mr. Brinen
was also a meiiiber of the W. J. Brinen Company, composed of William
Brinen, William ]. P.rinen, William Munroe, and George M. Gotshall, a
concern which succeeded to the local business of the Thayer Company.

His other business interests were extensive. A few months before
his death he was elected president of the L^nion National r>ank of Muske-
gon, in which he had long been a director. He was a director in the
Lumbermen's National Bank ; had been a director of the Aluskcgon Sav-
ings Bank ; was a stockholder in the Hackley National Bank ; a director

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1415

of the Muskegon Traction and Lighting Company ; a director in the
Muskegon Valley Furniture Company, a member of the firm of Brinen,
Roach & Company, dealers in coal and wood ; a director and vice presi-
dent of the Occidental Hotel Company ; president and one of the prin-
cipal stockholders in the Ouinn Manufacturing Company of Detroit,
manufacturers of plumbing and steam-fitting supplies. Mr. Brinen was
one of the owners in the Schooner Lyman Davis, and also in the Steamer
George C. ^larkham. An interesting fact is that the former boat was
sold only a short time before the death of Mr. Brinen, and cleared from
the Muskegon Harbor for its last voyage from that port just about the
time Mr. Brinen was stricken with his fatal illness.

In July, 1872, Mr. Brinen married Miss Margaret Kavanaugh, of
Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, a daughter of John Kavanaugh, a native
of Ireland and an early settler in the latter state. Mrs. Brinen died
June 12, 1892, and was the mother of Mr. Brinen's three children, namely:
William J., who succeeded his father in business; Mary E., wife of W.
G. Wieden, of Lansford, Pennsylvania, in the coal mining business; and
Frances who marj-ied Charles G. Ximes, of Raymond, Wisconsin, a
civil engineer. On Jin^e 15, 1900, Mr. Brinen married Miss Margaret
Quinlan, of Muskegon. He was a member of St. Mary's Catholic church
of Muskegon, with which church he was long identified.

A business associate of the late Mr. Brinen said at the time of his
death: "No one man, living or dead in Muskegon, ever gave more to
the worthy poor of the city than Mr. Brinen, in fact, his one fault was
that he gave too freely, being frequently imposed upon. In matters of
business he was frequently consulted, and his advice valued very highly.
As a judge of human character, I believe lie had no superior." Besides
his conspicuous place in business aflfairs. and his private charity, Mr.
Brinen was long a factor in civic and public affairs. A Democrat, he
was never a strict partisan, at least in Icical politics. For four years
he served as an alderman, and was a member of the building c(jmmittee
at the time the city hall was constructed. While in the council he was
also instrumental in getting the city to buy the Oakwood cemetery. He
was at one time a member of the old board of public works, and during
his service the water works were built. Altogether, his was a life of
long and varied accomplishment, uniting great energy and business ef-
ficiency with a board capacity for charity, and that social service which
makes the memory of men loved long after they have passed away.

Jacob S. F.arrand. The name of the Farrand family is fixed in the
recorded annals of Detroit, it is also part of the history of the State of
Michigan and figures on the pages of national history from the early
colonial era. Strong men and true, and gentle and gracious women have
represented the name as one generation has followed another upon the
stage of life, and loyalty and patriotism have been equally notable charac-
teristics among many distinguished citizens of the family, one of the
most conspicuous of whom was the late Jacob S. Farrand of Detroit.
A distinguished type of the world's productive worker, he made his work
a part of the civic and business history of Michigan and its chief city.
His life was characterized by signal purity of purpose and a high sense
of personal stewardship. More than a decade before the territory of
Michigan entered the Union, the Farrand family was founded within
its borders, and during nearly ninety years this commonwealth has been
dignified and honored by their character and services.

Jacob Shaw Farrand was born at Mentz, Cayuga county. New York,
on the 7th of May, 1815, and passed away at five o'clock in the afternoon
of April 3, 1891, at his home in Detroit. He was in the seventh genera-

1416 HISTORY OF MlCHIGAi^ •

■ '. *■

tion of the Farrand family in America and was a son of Bethuel and
Marilla (Shaw) Farrand, his father having been a farmer and black-
smith in New York state. The lineage is traced back to staunch French-
Huguenot stock, and the Huguenot ancestors in France were compelled
to flee their native land to escape the religious persecutions of the six-
teenth and early part of the seventeenth centuries. Some of the members
of the family seem to have settled in England, on the border of Wales,
and others went to the north of Ireland, family tradition indicating that
from the latter source is traced the genealogy of the American branch of
the family. The original French orthography was Ferrand.

In America the original ancestor was probably Nathaniel Farrand,
who was a resident of Alilford, Connecticut, in 1645, his son, Nathaniel
II, having likewise maintained a home at Milford. Of the latter's three
sons the ancestor of the Michigan branch of the family was Samuel Far-
rand, and the next in direct line of descent, in the fourth generation, was
Samuel's son, Ebenezer, who was born in 1707 and died in 1777, the
maiden name of the wife having been Rebecca Ward. Bethuel Farrand,
son of Ebenezer and Rebecca (Ward) Farrand, cominanded a company
of New Jersey troops in the war of the Revolution. His wife, whose
Christian name was Rhoda, bore him six sons and five daughters, of
whom the sixth was Bethuel, father of Jacob S.

Rhoda Farrand was one of the noble women of Revolutionary times,
and in order that this article may become as complete a record of the
family as possible, and also for the intrinsic interest of the incident, the
following poem written on the title "Rhoda Farrand," by Eleanor A.
Hunter in 1876. is herewith inserted:

In the last of these Centennial days,

Let me sing a song to a woman's praise ;

How she proved herself in that time of strife,

Worthy of being a patriot's wife.

A little woman she was — not young.

But ready of wit and quiet of tongue ;

One of the kind of which Solomon told;

Setting their price above rubies and gold.

A memory brave clings around her name;

'Twas Rhoda Farrand, and worthy of fame.

Though scarce she dreamed 'twould be woven in rhymes,

In these — her granddaughter's daughter's times.

Just out of the clamor of war's alarms,

Lay in tran(|uil c|uiet the Jersey farms ;

And all of the produce in barn and shed

By the lads and girls was harvested.

For the winds of winter with storm and chill

Swei)t bitterly over each field and hill.

Her husband was with the army, and she

Was left on the farm at Parsippany.

When she heard the sound of a horse's feet.

And Marshall Doty rode up the street ;

He paused but a moment and handed down

A letter for Rhoda from Morristown,

In her husband's hand — how she seized the sheet;

The children came running with eager feet :

There were Nate and Betty, Hannah and Dan,

To list to the letter, and thus it ran.

.- 'k

fflSTORY OF MICHIGAN 1417

After best greeting to children and wife :

"Heart of his heart, and the life of his life,"

I read from the paper wrinkled and brown :

"We are here for the winter in Alorristown,

And a sorry sight are our men today.

In tatters and rags with no signs of pay.

As we marched to camp, if a man looked back.

By the dropping blood he could trace our track;

For scarcely a man has a decent shoe.

And there's not a stocking the army through ;

So send us stockings as quick as you can,

My company needs them, every man,

And every man is a neighbor's lad ;

Tell this to their mothers ; Tlicy need tliciii bad."

Then, if never before, beat Rhoda's heart,

'Twas time to be doing a woman's part.

She turned to her daughters, Hannah and Bet,

"Girls, each on your needles a stocking set,

Get my cloak and hood ; as for you, son Dan,

Yoke up the steers just as quick as you can;

Put a chair in the wagon, as you're alive;

I will sit and knit, while you go and drive."

They started at once on Whippany road.

She knitting away while he held the goad.

At Whippany village she stopped to call

On the sisters Prudence and Mary Ball.

She would not go in, she sat in her chair.

And read to the girls her letter from there.

That was enough, for their brothers three

Were in T^ieutenant Farrand's company.

Then on Rhoda went, stopping here and there

To rouse the neighbors from her old chair.

Still while she was riding her fingers flew,

And minute by minute the stocking grew.

Across the country, so withered and brown.

They drove till they came to Hanover town.

There, mellow and rich, lay the Smith's broad lands.

With them she took dinner and warmed her hands.

Next toward Hanover Neck Dan turned the steers.

Where her cousins, the Kitchels. had lived for years.

With the Kitchels she supped, then homeward turned.

While above her the stars like lanterns burned.

And she stepped from her chair, helped by her son,

With her first day's work and her stockings done.

On Rockaway river, so bright and clear.
The brown leaf skims in the fall of the year.
Around through the hills it curves like an arm.
And holds in its clasp more than one bright farm.
Through Rockaway valley next day drove Dan,
Boy though he was, yet he worked like a man.
His mother behind him sat in her chair,
Still knitting, hut knitting another pair.
They roused the valley, then drove through the gorge,
And stopped for a minute at Compton's forge.

^

1418 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Then on to Boonton, and there they were fed,

While the letter was passed around and read.

"Knit," said Rhoda to all, "as fast as you can;

Send tlie stockings to me, and my son Dan

The first of next week will drive me down.

And I'll take the stockings to Morristown."

Then from Boonton home, and at set of sun

She entered iier house icitli her stockini/s done.

On Thursday they knit from the morn till night,

She and the girls, with all their might.

When the yarn gave out they carded and spun.

And every day more stockings were done.

When the wool was gone, then they killed a sheep —

A cosset — but nobody stopped to weep.

They pulled the fleece, and they carded away.

And spun and knitted from night until day.

In all the country no woman could rest,

But they knitted on like peiiple "'possessed" ;

And Parson Condit expounded his views

On the Sabbath day unto empty pews,

Except for a few stray lads who came

And sat in the gallery, to save the name.

On Monday morn at an early hour

The stockings came in a perfect shower —

A shower that lasted until the night ;

Black, brown and gray ones and mixed blue and white.

There were pairs one hundred and thirty-three,

Long ones, remember, up to the knee ;

And the next day Rhoda carried them down

In the old ox-wagon to Morristown.

I hear like an echo the soldiers' cheers

For Rhoda and Dan, the wagon and steers.

Growing wilder yet, for the chief in command,

While up at "salute" to the brow flies each hand

As Washington passes, desiring then

To thank Mistress Farrand in the name of his men.

But the words that her husband's lips let fall,

"I knew you would do it!" were best of all.

And I think in these Centennial days

That she should be given her meed of praise;

And while we are singing of "Auld Lang Syne,"

Her name with the others deserves to shine.

Bethuel Farrand, founder of the family in Michigan, married Marilla
Shaw, and after her death married Deborah Osborne. The children of
the first marriage were Lucius S., Jacob Shaw, Caroline E., Clinton
Bethuel, and Anna Marilla. Those of the second union were Sarah,
Aaron Kitchel, James B. and David Osborne. Bethuel Farrand, who
had become skilled as a civil and mechanical engineer, came with his
family from New York state to the territory of Michigan in 1825. He
had secured a contract for the installing of a primitive system of water-
works in the little frontier town of Detroit. The family arrived in De-
troit in May, 1825, and in the following autumn removed to Ann Arbor,
and there, in 1837, when Michigan became a state, he was the first to be
elected to the office of probate judge of Washtenaw county. He was one
of the honored and influential citizens of Ann Arbor until his death.
While this sterling pioneer constructed the first waterworks system in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1419

Detroit, and later his son Jacob S. served with distinction as a member
of the Detroit board of water commissioners.

Jacob S. Farrand gained his rudimentary education in his native state
and was a lad of ten years at the time of the family removal to Michi-
gan. At Ann Arbor he continued to attend school when opportunity
offered, and there first became identified with that line of enterprise
along which he was destined to achieve prominence and distinctive suc-
cess. When but twelve years of age he was employed in a drug store in
the little village of Ann Arbor, but the next year was given the appoint-
ment to carry the mail between Ann Arbor and Detroit, the trips being
made on horseback and the roads usually in an execrable condition. In
1830 Mr. Farrand established his permanent residence in Detroit, and
became a clerk in the retail drug store of Rice & Bingham. Five years
later, when but twenty years of age, he formed a partnership with Ed-
ward Bingham of that firm, and thus began his independent career as a
druggist. Within a short time came his appointment as deputy revenue
collector for the port and district of Detroit, which district then included
all of the United States shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan. During
184 1 Mr. Farrand served as military secretary to the governor of Michi-
gan, with the rank of major.

In 1845 Mr. Farrand engaged in the drug business at 80 Woodward
avenue, and in 1859 Alanson Sheley became associated in the business.
In the following year, upon the admission of William C. Williams to
partnership, the title of the firm was changed to Farrand, Sheley & Com-
pany, and the enterprise was expanded to both wholesale and retail. In
1871 Harvey C. Clark became a member of the firm and the title was
then changed to Farrand. Williams & Company. The business was de-
veloped until it became the largest of the kind in Michigan and one of
the most important in the middle west. The annual volume of business
grew to exceed one million dollars, and Mr. Farrand continued a strong
directing force, under various changes in partnership, until attacked with
the illness that resulted in his death, at whicli time he was senior member
of Farrand, Williams & Clark.

His great business sagacity brought him other important interests in
Detroit. He was a director and for fifteen years president of the First
National Bank of Detroit; was one of the incorporators of the Wayne
County Savings Bank, and became its vice-president ; for nearly a score
of years was president of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company ;
was a director of the Detroit Fire & Marine Insurance Company; was
treasurer of the Detroit Gas Light Company; and held other important
capitalistic interests. For six years Mr. Farrand served as a member of
the Detroit board of education, and from i860 to 1864 he was a valued
member of the city council, having been its president for one year and
for a short time acting mayor of the city. For fully a quarter of a cen-
tury he was a member of the city board of water commissioners, and its
president for a long period, besides which he served eight years as presi-
dent of the board of police commissioners. His relations with religious,
educational and charitable organizations were equally useful. He served
as president of Harper Hospital Board of Trustees, and as president of
the governing board of the Detroit Home & Day School ; was president
of the Wayne County Bible Society and the Detroit Society for Sabbath
Observance, and was a trustee of the Eastern Asylum for the Insane, a
state institution. For thirty-five years an elder of the First Presbyterian
church of Detroit, Mr. Farrand was a commissioner of the Presbyterian
general assemblies of 1863, 1869 and 1873, and in the last mentioned
year was likewise a commissioner to the Canadian assembly. In 1877
he was a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian council, in Edinburgh, Scot-

1420 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

land, and for many years was receiving agent in Detroit of the American
board of commissioners for foreign missions. These connections indi-
cate the manifold and varied activities of Mr. Farrand, whose life was one
of consecration to high ideals and good works. The generosity of a great
heart animated him, and yet he was eminently practical in both his general
and personal benevolence and charities.

At the time of Mr. Farrand's death the Detroit Journal said editori-
ally: "His name, prominent in a score of illustrious ways, was, in con-
sequence of his long, upright and eminent business career, a household
word in the state. In usefulness to the community he surpassed many
another who has filled loftier stations. Measured by the good he has ac-
complished, the evil he himself has foreborne to do and has prevented
others from doing, his life has been one of far more value than have the
lives of men who have sought and obtained more prominent places and
conspi'^uous honors. The lives of such men are public benefactions ; their
deaths public calamities. He deserves a public memorial whose useful-
ness rather than whose ostentation shall preserve his deeds as an example
and incentive to his fellow men."

On the I2th of August, 1841, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Farrand to Miss Olive Maria Coe, of Hudson, Ohio, and he died only a
few months prior to the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage. Mrs.
Farrand was born at Vernon, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 12th of
April, 1 82 1, and, surviving her honored husband by nearly a decade, was
summoned to rest on the 30th of March, 1910. Upon coming to Detroit
Mrs. Farrand, with her husband, united with the' First Presbyterian
church, to which she gave the loving services of her best years and of
which she was the oldest member at the time of her death. Identified
with all of the many social, charitable and religious societies of the church
for so long a period, and with the Protestant Orphan Asylum and other
philanthropic institutions of the city, and holding a secure and positive
place as the central figure of an ideally happy home, Mrs. Farrand won
and retained the admiration and confidence of all who knew her.

Mrs. Farrand was a daughter of Rev. Harvey and Deborah (Eddy)
Coe, and in the maternal line was a descendant of Samuel Eddy, a son
of Rev. William Eddy, of Cranbrook, in Kent, England. Samuel Eddy
was the founder of the American branch of the family and his descend-
ants figured prominently in colonial history. One of these was Law-
rence Eddy, who served through the Revolution and was with the forces
under General Washington at Valley Forge. .Samuel Coe, great-great-
grandfather of Mrs. Farrand on the paternal side, was a soldier in the
Seventeenth Regiment, Continental Line, and took part in the battles of
Ro.xbury and Bunker Hill. He was promoted to a sergeancy in the Third
Connecticut Regiment and with this command participated in the cap-
ture of West Point, in the battle of White Plains and in the storming
of Stony Point. After serving three years in the great war of inde-
pendence he was honorably discharged August 18, 177S. Mrs. Deborah
(Eddy) Coe was a daughter of Leveus and Deborah (Doane) Eddy, and
her mother was a direct descendant of Deacon John Doane, who was
born in England in the early part of the last decade of the sixteenth
century and who died at Eastham, Alassachusetts, February 21, 1686.
Deacon John Doane was a member of Captain Miles Standish's military
company at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1643, ^^d was military com-
missioner from Eastham, Massachusetts, to the colonial military coun-
cils. He was one of the prominent anrV influential men of the colony, was
one of the founders of Eastham, and through his military services his
descendants are eligible for membership in the American Society of
Colonial Wars. .Authentic data cnnrerning Deacon John Doane and his

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1421

descendants are found in various colonial archives and records in Massa-
chusetts.

Rev. Harvey Coe, father of Mrs. Farrand, was a graduate of Williams
College and was the second home missionary sent from Connecticut to
the Western Reserve, in Ohio. He was one of the founders of Western
Reserve College, of which he was a trustee until his death. He was an
important factor in the religious, educational and social development of
the Buckeye state. He was born at Granville, Massachusetts, October
6, 1783, and died at Hudson, Ohio, in March, i860. His wife was bom
at Haddam, Connecticut, March 24, 1790, and died at Hudson, Ohio,
May 4, i860.

William R. Farrand and Jacob S. Farrand, Jr., the sons of Jacob' S.
and Olive M. (Coe) Farrand, are individually mentioned in paragraphs
that follow. Mary C, the eldest daughter, became the wife of Rev.
James Lewis, a Presbyterian clergyman, and she died at Joliet, Illinois,
December 3, 1889. Olive C, the surviving daughter, is the wife of
Richard P. Williams, a representative business man of Detroit.

William Reynolds Farrand, who has well upheld the prestige of
the family name, and is one of the representative business men and pro-
gressive citizens of Detroit, was born in that city September 9, 1853.
Educated in the public schools, in 1870, at the age of seventeen years.
he found employment in the wholesale drug house of Farrand, Williams
& Company, with which he continued for a number of years and had
charge of one of the departments. In 1884 Mr. Farrand became actively
interested in the Whitney Organ Company, and was elected treasurer.
In 1887 when the business was reorganized, under the title of the Far-
rand Organ Company, he continued as treasurer of the new corporation,
and when the Farrand Company succeeded the Farrand Organ Company
he became president. In this office he has been successful in upbuild-
ing one of the substantial and important manufacturing industries of
his native city.

A civic worker as well as successful business man, he served as a
member of the Detroit Board of Estimate in 1890-91, and in 1893 was
president of the board. In 1893 Mayor Pingree appointed him a member
of the public lighting commission, of which he was president in 1897.
Mr. Farrand is a member of the Society of the Sons of the Revolution,
the Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Lake St. Clair Shooting and
Fishing Club, commonly known as the Old Club, and of the Board of
Commerce. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Harper
Hospital, and as a member and elder of the First Presbyterian church has
succeeded his honored father as one of the prominent laymen in Michi-
gan. He was a delegate to the Presbyterian general assembly at Pitts-
burgh, Pennsylvania, in 1895, and at Denver, Colorado, in May, 1909,
and was named as a delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian council held in
Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1913, but was unable to attend. He is specially
active in church work and has served as president of the Wayne County
Sunday School Association. Mr. Farrand in 1892 organized a company
of young men who are now known as the Farrand Guards, a military
and social organization, which has been kept together for more than
twenty years, and the influence of the guards has helped to mould the
lives of many young men of Detroit, some of whom are now prominent
in business affairs.

At Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1876, Mr. Farrand mar-
ried Miss Cora B. Wallace, a daughter of Dr. Perkins Wallace of Can-
ton, Ohio. They had one son, Wallace Reynolds Farrand, who died at
the age of six years; and one daughter, Rebekah Olive, who is the wife

1422 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of Lieutenant George C. Keleher, of the Twenty-sixth United States
Infantry, and they have a daughter, Catherine Wallace, bom November
24. 1913-

Jacob S. Farrand, Jr. Identified with the \\holesaIe drug trade in
Detroit since his youth, Jacob S. Farrand, Jr., virtually the successor of
his father in a business which stands as a memorial to the splendid com-
mercial enterprise of the elder Farrand.

Jacob Shaw Farrand, Jr.. was born at Detroit June 11, 1857, and
finished the course of the high school when that school was conducted in
the old building that had formerly been the capitol of the state. In 1876
he became a subordinate in the wholesale drug establishment of Farrand,
Williams & Company, and familiarized himself with all the practical
and executive details of the business. In 1884 he became a member of
the firm of Farrand, Williams & Clark, and as secretary and treasurer,
has since had an active part in maintaining the high standard so long
upheld by the business. ^Ir. Farrand is a director of the First National
Bank of Detroit, and an active member of the Detroit Board of Com-
merce. Through his lineage he has membership in the Society of the
Sons of tjie American Revolution, and in the American Society of
Colonial Wars. His social relations are with the Detroit Club, the
Coimtry Club, the Detroit Bankers Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the
Old Club, and the Detroit Curling Club. He is a member of the board of
elders of the First Presbyterian Church of Detroit, with which his
family has been identified for more than seventy years.

Philip P. SriiNORp.Acn. The estimate placed upon Mr. .Schnorbach
in his native city of IMuskegon is definitely indicated when it is stated
that he is here serving in the office of postmaster. He is one of the rep-
resentative and popular citizens of the fine metropolis of Aluskegon
county, has served in other local offices of public trust and has been closely
identified with civic and business interests in his home city, where he
stands exemplar of progressiveness and distinctive public spirit. He is
giving a most efficient and acceptable administration as postmaster of the
city and has brought the service up to truly metropolitan standard. Fur-
ther interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that he is a
representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Muskegon county.

Mr. Schnorbach was born in Muskegon on the 24th of February,
1870, and is a son of Philip and Martha Elizabeth (Mohr) Schnorbach,
both natives of Germany, whence they came to America more than half
a century ago, the father having established his residence in Muskegon
in 1857 and the mother having here located in 1853. Their marriage
was solemnized in this city, which was then little more than a lumtiering
town of no metropolitan pretentions, and here they continued to reside
until their death, iionored liv all who knew them. Philip Schnorbach be-
came one of tlie representative merchants of Muskegon, where he con-
ducted a grocery business for a term of years and was a man of ability
and of impregnable integrity of character, so that he ever maintained in-
violable place in popular confidence and respect. His business place was
destroyed in the memorable fire that swept the city in 1874, but he forth-
width resumed operations, and built uj) a large and prosperous business,
with which lie continued to be identified until his death, in 1887. His
devoted wife survived him by a decade and was summoned to the life
eternal in the year 1897, she having been a devout comnuniicant of the
German Evangelical cjiurcb and his religious faith having been that of
the Catholic church, under the benignant influence of which he had been
reared. Mr. Schnorbacli was lilieral and loval as a citizen, was a staunch

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1423

supporter of the cause of the Republican party, but he had no ambition
for pubHc office. His parents, as well as those of his wife, passed their
entire lives in Germany, and the place of his nativity was on the shore
of the river Rhine. Of the tive children of Philip and Martha Elizabeth
(Mohr) Schnorbach, three are now living — Emma, who is the wife of
George Rost, employed in the Muskegon postoftice ; Philip P., who is the
immediate subject of this review; and Louis E., who is identified with
the iron lousiness in this city.

The public schools of Aluskegon afforded to Philip P. Schnorbach
his early educational advantages, and he early became concerned with
practical responsibilities, as he assumed charge of the grocery business
of his father after the hitter's death, his age at the time having been
about seventeen years. He successfully continued the enterprise for a
considerable period of time and then retired from this line of business.
In 1894 he was elected city recorder, a position of which he continued the
incumbent for four years. He then engaged in the contracting business,
doing a general dredging work in connection with the improvement of
rivers and harbors on the Great Lakes system and completing a num-
ber of contracts in this line for the government. He was successful in
his operations and continued to give his attention to his contracting busi-
ness until 1907, when he was appointed postmaster of Muskegon, of which
important office he has continued the valued and able incumbent during
the intervening years. Under the recent change in the national adminis-
tration he will retire from office at the close of his present term, in Feb-
ruary, 191 5. Pie has been a zealous worker in the ranks of the Re-
publican party and has been influential in its councils in his native county.
He has achieved definite success through his own ability and well ordered
endeavors, and is one of the honored and representative men of Muske-
gon, where he has ever stood ready to lend his cooperation in the fur-
therance of measures and enterprises tending to advance the general good
of the community. He is a director of the Union National Bank of
Muskegon and is the owner of valuable real estate in his native county.
Mr. Schnorbach is affiliated with the local organizations of the Masonic
fraternity, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and he served two and one-half years as secretary of the
Muskegon lodge of the last mentioned fraternal order. Both he and his
wife are communicants of St. Paul's church, Protestant Episcopal, and
they are popular figures in the representative social activities of their
home city.

In the year 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Schnorbach to
Miss Florence E. Weir, daughter of Robert Weir, who was a native of
Scotland and who maintained his home in Muskegon for a number of
years, his profession having been that of draftsman and mechanical en-
gineer. Mr. and Mrs. Schnorbach have two children — Philip \V. and
Elizabeth P., aged respectively fourteen and twelve years.

J. F. Densi-OW, M. D. Formerly vice president of the Michigan State
Medical Society, Dr. J. F. Denslow of Muskegon, is probably one of the
best known physicians and surgeons not only of Michigan, but among
the profession throughout the country. Dr. Denslow as a result of a
long career in his profession and in business affairs is the possessor of
ample means and has used his fortune liberally not only for the promo-
tion of philanthropic enterprise, but also for social entertainment, and
at his beautiful home in ]\Iuskegon has entertained a great number of
the most notable figures in American medical profession and in public
affairs.

1424 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Dr. J. F. Denslow was born in Canandaigua, New York, September 4,
1856, a son of George and Jane ( Hoonan ) Denslow. His father was a
native of old Devonshire, England, where he was born in 1825, and died
April 29, 1912. The mother was born in Ireland in 1832, and is still
living at Hastings, Michigan. The paternal grandfather never left his
native England, but the maternal grandfather, Patrick Hoonan, a native
of Ireland, crossed the ocean early in life, landed in New York, and
for many years was a prosperous farmer near Hastings, Michigan. He
reared twelve children, of whom nine are yet living. George and lane
Denslow were married in 1854. George Denslow had come to America
about 1853, when a young man, settling first in New York, then coming
to Detroit, where he had his home during the war, subsequently moving
to Jackson county, and then to Hastings, where he lived until his death.
He was a well knov\-n manufacturer, and a very prosperous business
man and highly esteemed citizen. He was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, while his wife was a Catholic. His politics was Demo-
cratic.

Dr. Denslow, an only child, was given all the advantages he desired
for education and preparation for his life work. After graduating from
the academy at Grass Lake, in 1876, he spent a year in Europe, both
for study and pleasure. He then returned home, and entered the State
University at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated in medicine and sur-
gery in 1881. In the same year he established his office and began his
long career as a physician at Muskegon. Dr. Denslow is a member of
the staff of the Hackley hospital. He has been surgeon major of the
.State Troops of Michigan for three years, being first captain and later
major. He has membership in the county and state medical societies,
and the American Medical Association, having served as president of the
County Society, and was vice president of the State Society. Dr. Dens-
low is first vice president of the Muskegon Savings Bank. A well known
institution at Muskegon is the Century Club, of which Dr. Denslow has
been president for eight years. This club was a temperance association,
and the doctor bought it from Hackley, Mann & Hills, and has since con-
ducted it. Nearly all the prominent men in the last decade or so who
had visited Muskegon had been entertained by Dr. Denslow either at his
beautiful home or at the clul). Among other professional connections he
is surgeon for the Interurban and Electric Light Companies, and other
industrial plants.

In 1881 Dr. Denslow married Cora G. Clark, a daughter of George
Clark, who came from Michigan to the east and was a farmer by occupa-
tion. Mrs. Denslow is a member of the Congregational church, while
the doctor is afifiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
and in politics is a Democrat.

WiLLi..\M W. H.\XN'.\x. .As a recognized authority on real estate,
W'illiam W. Hannan, President of the Detroit Realty Company, and head
of the widely known Hannan Real Estate Exchange, is known in many
sections of the United States. Though educated for the law, and for some
time engaged in its practice, Mr. Hannan soon realized that his forte
was in business affairs, and in his particular sphere no one has made a
more notable success. The Detroit Realty Company owns and controls
a number of the largest and most modern apartment buildings in Detroit —
notably the Lenox, the Madison and the Pasadena. During the past
tiiirty-one years there has Ijeen hardly any event of importance in the
civic and iiulustrial history of Detroit with which Mr. Hannan's name has
not been connected in some public spirited manner.

Mfff^

'.^Z--^'^^^ ^^^^"

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1425

William W. Hannan was born in the city of Rochester, New York,
July 4, 1854. When he was about two years old his parents came West
and settled at Dowagiac, Cass county, Michigan, where his boyhood and
early youth were spent. After graduating from the Dowagiac High
School in 1873, he was a student at Oberlin College in the preparatory
school in Ohio, till 1876, then entered the University of Michigan, and
graduated from the classical department in 1880. His university career
was continued in the study of law until 1883, when he graduated LL. B.
from the State University. While at the university, Mr. Hannan made
a good record in scholarship and in athletic and social circles, and his
fellow students esteemed him all the more for the fact that he had to
pay most of his expenses, which he did chiefly through organizing excur-
sions to summer resorts during the vacation. In the old sporting records
of the university his name is found as a winner in track events. While
pursuing his law studies in 1881-83, he was engrossing and enrolling
clerk in the lower house of the State Legislature, and his qualifications
and experience were such that he was admitted to the bar, on examina-
tion before the circuit court of Washtenaw county in 1882, before gradu-
ating from the university.

Since 1883 Mr. Hannan has made his home in Detroit. His first
practice as a lawyer was as an associate of Judge William L. Carpenter,
but at the end of one year the firm of Carpenter & Hannan was dissolved,
and the younger member has since practicallij; neglected hi-s -profession in
favor of real estate. With the late Herbert ,,M.,, Snow ,:'Ke' engaged in that
business under the name of Hannan & Snow C (?nif)any''^E«r- a few months,
and then founded the Hannan Real Estate Exchange. The Exchange
was the business intermediary for the handling of many large central
business and subdivision properties in -©«.^i;f)it',*d(i_ring> ^..number of years
following its founding. It grew and prospered" as a' business, and its
operations were extended to the general" fire insurance and loan fields.
Mr. Hannan continued at the head of the Hannan Real Estate Exchange
and thirty-one years of active experience have given him a close and
and intimate knowledge of realty values in Detroit that make him a
convincing authority on the subject. His operations have also extended
into the State, and the Hannan Exchange has done business of a large
and varied order. Besides opening and improving many subdivisions,
it has erected several apartment buildings and still retains the ownership
and management of a number of them. More than a million dollars were
invested in five of these apartment Imildings, and besides them Mr.
Hannan has built a large number of private residences for sale on the
installment plan. Some brief outline of the more notable deals handled
by Mr. Hannan is afi:'orded by the following statements : He was instru-
mental in effecting the deal whereby the Ford interests of Toledo bought
the land at the corner of Griswold and Congress streets, where now
stands the eighteen-story Ford building, one of the finest office struc-
tures in the city ; the sale of the Hammond building and the Hodges
building; the erection and management of the Pasadena, the Lenox and
the Madison apartment buildings, three of the finest apartment houses
in the middle West ; the handling of a score of subdivision properties
in the North, the Northwestern and Northeastern sections of the city,
embracing Park Hill, Medbury, Baldwin Park and Dailey Park sub-
divisions ; and an even greater distinction attained by Mr. Hannan is the
fact that more industries and home builders of moderate means have
been able to secure a home through his agency than through any other
source. Mr. Hannan has a special reputation as a leader in the con-
struction of apartment buildings West of New York City. Through all
these varied business ex])eriences and enterprises he has been guided

1426 HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN

by a fine sense of community values, and his public spirit is as note-
worthy as his private enterprise.

In a public and social capacity he has been active and for eight years
gave invaluable service as a member of the Detroit Board of Estimates,
of which he served as president for one term. In politics he is a Re-
publican, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is a member of the
Detroit Club, the Detroit Country Club, and the Detroit Board of Com-
merce, and other social and civic organizations.

Mr. Hannan's activities in the real estate field have by no means been
confined to his own city or his own personal interests. Very early in his
business life he realized the necessity for and the great benefits to be de-
rived from co-operation between men of like interests. Following out
this idea, Mr. Hannan was instrumental in organizing not only the real
estate operators in Detroit into a local Real Estate Board, of which he
was a charter member, but he was also one of the originators and second
president of the National Association of Real Es.tate Exchanges.

For years jMr. Hannan has spent much time and energy visiting the
various cities trying to promote the interests of the National Association.
He ttjok the initiative in publishing the "National Real Estate Journal,''
and was its financial sponsor during the experimental stage.

Mr. Hannan has always been a valued contributor to the columns of
the "National Real Estate Journal," and a popular speaker at the meet-
ings and banquets of Real Estate Organizations in all the leading cities
of the United States.

BuRTO.v P.\F<KER. If those who claim that fortune has favored cer-
tain individuals above others but will investigate the cause of success
and failure, it will be found that the former is largely due to the im-
provement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate en-
vironments encompass nearly every man at some stage of his career,
but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the
proper moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his
opportunity. The man who makes use of the Now and not the To Be
is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out
ahead of him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance of them.
It is this (luality in Burton Parker that has won him an enviable name
in legal and political circles in Monroe county, Michigan, where he has
resided during the greater part of his lifetime thus far. At the present
time, in 1914, he is special agent of the United States treasury depart-
ment in charge of the fourteenth special agency district, with headquar-
ters at Detroit. His home, however, is in Monroe.

In the township of Dundee, ]\Ionroe county, Michigan, April 24, 1844,
occurred the birth of Burton Parker, who is a son of Morgan and
Rosetta C. ( Breningstall) Parker, both of whom were born in Batavia,
New York, the former on the ist of January, 1820, and the latter on the
27th of September, 1824. Morgan Parker was a son of Joshua Parker,
whose birth occurred in Connecticut on the 7th of November, 1770, and
the latter was the son of another Joshua Parker who was a soldier in the
Revolution. Joshua Parker II moved from Connecticut to Oneida county.
New York, where he resided for a number of years. In 1825 he emi-
grated to the western part of Monroe county, ]\Iichigan, locating eight-
een miles west of Monroe City, where he entered a tract of 160 acres
of Government land which he cleared and cultivated. Morgan Parker
was a farmer up to 1855, at which time he engaged in the lumber, milling
and manufacturing business at Petersburg, Monroe county.

The paternal grandmother of Burton Parker was Dr. Sina Parker,
of Holland descent. She was the only practicing physician in Western

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1427

Monroe county for a number of years. Early settlers here remember
her kindly as administering to the sick, traveling through swamps and
over corduroy roads to reach their new homes in the wilderness. His
maternal grandparents were likewise of Dutch descent and they emi-
grated from New York to Dundee township, Monroe county, Michigan,
in 1S40.

Burton Parker received his preliminary educational training in the
district schools of Dundee township and in the village of Petersburg.
Before and after school he worked in his father's lumber mill during the
summers, also during vacations. At times he w^as employed in the lum-
ber woods, driving teams and running logs down the river. He was
the eldest in a family of five children. As his parents had both been
school teachers in their younger days they kept their children at their
school books during all of their spare moments. In October, 1861, Bur-
ton and his father enlisted for service in the Union ranks of the Civil
war. They became members of Company F, First Regiment of En-
gineers and Mechanics, the father being first sergeant of the company.
They were in the campaign of 1861 and 1862 in Kentucky, with Gener-
als Buell and Thomas, and participated in the battle of Mill Springs,
Kentucky, on the 19th of January, 1862, when the Confederate general,
Zollicoffer, who was in command of the Confederate forces, was killed.
Burton's father died while in service in Kentucky, his demise occurring
on the 4th of April, 1862, as the result of typhoid fever. One year
later. Burton was discharged on account of long and continued sickness.
He immediately returned home and after recovering from his sick spell
became a clerk in a dry goods store. Before he had reached his twenty-
second year he was elected justice of the peace and began the study of
law. He attended the University of Michigan, in the law department of
which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1870, duly receiv-
ing his degree of Bachelor of Laws.

Air. Parker initiated the active practice of his profession at IMonroe,
where he gradually built up a large and lucrative law clientage. Pie has
always been a Republican in political matters, and in 1868 he cast his
first vote for General Grant. In 1872 he was elected circuit court com-
missioner for Monroe county ; in 1881 he was elected mayor of Monroe
by a majority of 246 and re-elected the following spring by a majority
of 318. About the same time he was elected president of the school
board of Monroe, the city at that time being over two hundred Demo-
cratic. In 1882 he was elected a memlier of the legislature in the Mon-
roe city district by a majority of 240, the district at that time being like-
wise strongly Democratic. As a member of the legislature he was chair-
man of the committee on municipal corporations and assisted in the
election of Thomas W. Palmer as United States senator. He was ap-
pointed Indian agent by President Arthur in the fall of 1884, at the
Fort Peck agency, Montana, at which place his wife did valiant mission-
ary work. He was removed by President Cleveland in the winter of
1885-86. In 1890 he was appointed special agent of the United States
treasury department and was removed twenty days after the inaugura-
tion of President Cleveland, but reinstated four years later under Presi-
dent McKinley. In March, 1894, he was appointed deputy land com-
missioner by Land Commissioner William A. French, and after perform-
ing those duties for three years he resigned to accept reinstatement un-
der President McKinley as special agent of the treasury department.
On the first of October, 1903, he was appointed supervising special
agent, in which position he served four years, during President's Roose-
velt's administration, being in charge of all special officers in the United
States and foreign countries. At the present time, in 1914, he is special

1428 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

agent in charge of the Fourteenth Special Agency district, with head-
quarters at Detroit. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Parker has
been active in poHtical matters and during the course of various cam-
paigns has made a tour of the state under the direction of the state cen-
tral committee, addressing the people upon the political issues of the
day. During his career as a lawyer he has been admitted to practice in
all the courts in Michigan, Texas, Arizona, California and in the su-
preme court of the United States. Mr. Parker believes thoroughly in
the principles of brotherhood as set forth in the creed of the Masonic
Order and is a member of the Commandery in Monroe as well as of the
Chapter and Blue Lodge.

Inasmuch as the splendid success achieved by Mr. Parker has been
entire! V the outcome of his own unaided efforts, it is the more gratify-
ing to contemplate. As a young man, after the death of his father, he
had to work hard in order to help support his mother and the younger
children. When he decided to study law, he not only had to earn his
own way through college but had a wife and two small children to sup-
port besides. During his vacation he was employed as a clerk in a dry
goods store and he did various odd jobs in order to earn the money
needed to supply the family with food and himself with tuition and
books. He claims his success in life is largely due to the cheerful and
encouraging words of a devoted and loving wife, who was ever ready
with cheering words when the way looked dark and dreary. The fore-
going summary of Mr. Parker's public service is ample proof of his
deep and sincere interest in community afifairs. He ever supported
measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general public
and has always been willing to lend a helping hand to those less for-
tunately situated in life than himself. He is a citizen of whom any
community might well be proud and he is accorded the unalloyed confi-
dence anci esteem of his fellow citizens of Monroe.

On the 8th of September, 1863, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Parker and Miss Frances C. Reynolds, of South Amherst, Lorain county,
Ohio. Mrs. Parker died August 22, 191 3. Five children were born
to them, and three of these are now living, all being practicing physicians
and successful men in their profession. Dr. Hal M. Parker is located
at Monroe, Michigan ; Dr. Thadd N. Parker is in the practice of medi-
cine at Pueblo, Colorado ; and Dr. Dayton L. Parker is located in the
city of Detroit. Dr. Dayton Parker, former police surgeon of Detroit,
is Burton Parker's brother.

D.W'TON Parker, M. D. A physician and surgeon of Detroit whose
character and services have entitled him to the prominence he has long
enjoyed in that city and elsewhere in the state. Dr. Dayton Parker pos-
sesses and exercises the qualities of mind and manhood which are among
the best assets of any community. While his work as a private practi
tioner has been important, he will probably be best remembered for his
unselfish labors in connection with the establishment of an emergency
Hospital in Detroit at a time when such an institution had not yet been
provided by public means, and also as one of the founders of the Michi-
gan College of Medicine and Surgery.

Born January 17, 1846, in Dundee township, Monroe county, Michi-
gan. Dr. Parker attended the public schools of Monroe county until
he was seventeen years of age. In the meantime his father had died in
the service of the L^nion army, and the son on January 4, 1864, enlisted
in Company K of the Sixth Michigan Heavy Artillery. This regiment
was sent south and attached to the Army of the Gulf, and Dr. Parker
saw most of his service in Mobile Bay, and was stationed on Dolphin

/(yW^ZL 64^-^£s^i<^

l„is:';s.----i

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1429

Island when Admiral Farragut sailed into that bay and gave battle to
the force guarding its entrance. For ten months he was stationed at Fort
Morgan on the Bay. As one of the memorials of war times, stands in
one of the public places of the city of Mobile a cannon, which at one
time was used in the defenses of the city. This gun did a great deal
of damage to the Union fortifications until one day one of its trunnions
was knocked off by a shell from the Union side, a ten inch mortar, and
the gunner who pulled the lanyard of the gun that dismounted the Con-
federate cannon was Dayton Parker.

On his return from the war. Dr. Parker found it necessary to apply
himself industriously and help provide for his own livelihood and the
support of the family, and at night time carried on his study of medicine.
After getting sufficient funds, he entered the medical department of the
University of Michigan, and after one term transferred to the old De-
troit Medical College, where he was graduated. M. D. in the class of
1S76. His first practice was at Blissfield, Michigan, in association with
Dr. Hal C. W'ynian. Dr. Parker has been acti\ely identified with his
profession in the city of Detroit since 1887. During recent years he has
confined his practice to consultation work and as a specialist on internal
medicine. Soon after beginning practice in this city, Drs. Parker and
Wyman organized an emergency hospital. It did excellent service for
several years, and it was the plan of its founders that, it should become
the clinical department for a new medical colkge. It is pgteworthy thai
Dr. Parker had built and brought to Detroit the first irpe ambulance
ever used in the city. The emergency hospital, while established in a
sense as an adjunct to the private practice of Drs. Parker and Wyman,
was always conducted for the benefit of the -public., and no patient was
ever refused admittance and treatment for want-AO/f-^eail^, although this
practice necessarily w'as a heavy burden upon the proprietors.

I-ater, largely as a result of the work and the influence of Drs.
Parker and Wyman, the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery was
organized at Detroit, and Dr. Parker became first vice-president and
succeeded to the presidency on the death of Dr. Wyman. Pie held that
office until the college went out of existence. It was an institution con-
ducted liberally, with a fine staff of instructors, with good equipment, and
up to the best standards of medical colleges in this country, and con-
tinued this work of training for young physicians and surgeons for eight-
een vears. Dr. Parker first held the chair of practice of medicine, later
that of gynecologv and finally the chair of mental neurology. During its
its existence the Michigan College graduated more than six hundred phy-
sicians and surgeons, many of whom are now in active practice and are
to be found in nearly all the states of the Union and in Canada. Dr.
Parker is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society, the Michi-
gan State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, and the
Michigan Surgical and Pathological Society. From 1907 to 1914, on
the appointment of Governor Warner, Dr. Parker served and did much
important work as a member of the Michigan State Board of Correction
and Charity. In 1900 he was appointed police surgeon for the city of
Detroit, and gave five years to that office.

The family history of Dr. Parker is of interest, since he bears one
of the pioneer names of Monroe county. His grandfather Joshua
Parker, a native of Vermont and of English family, moved when a
young man to New York, and after his marriage to Sina A. Smith and
the birth of their four children, came west to Michigan territory in 1825.
The better part of the journey to the present city of Monroe was made
in canoes, and from Monroe a French cart was hired to transport the
family and their goods to the township of Dundee. Joshua Parker

1430 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

spent a number of years in clearing up the government land which he
had acquired in that locaHty, and eventually had one of the best farms
of its kind in the county. His death occurred there in 1854, when
eighty-four years of age. His wife, Sina (Smith) Parker, who was of
I lolland stock, was a remarkable woman, and her name should always
have a high place in the history of Michigan medicine as she was one
of the pioneer women physicians, and was the first doctor of either sex
in the country west of Monroe. For a long time she practiced medicine
with unusual skill and success, and even took surgical cases, and often
set bones and reduced minor fractures in her community. Her record
as a pioneer woman physician is to be found in the annals of the Pioneer
Society of Alonroe County. She died in 1850 at the age of sixty-six
years. Dr. Parker's father was Morgan Parker, who was born in
Oneida county. New York, in 1820, and was five years old when the
family located in Michigan. He married Rosetta C. Brimingstool, who
was born in Oneida county. New York, in 1824, and died in 1881.
Morgan Parker in 1854 established his home at Petersburg in Monroe
county, and became a successful manufacturer, having acquired the own-
ership of a large timber tract with water power, he established and oper-
ated a mill for the manufacture of woodenware. In public affairs he
was not less prominent. In 1854 he was a member of the convention
held at Jackson to organize the Republican party, and during the early
years, as an ardent abolitionist had made his home a station on the
famous underground railway, where the fugitive slaves from the south
were sheltered until they could be safely conveyed across the interna-
tional boundary to Canada. When the Civil war broke out Morgan
Parker enlisted in the First Michigan Regiment of Fngineers and
Mechanics, and died while in service on April 4, 1862, at Louisville,
Kentucky.

In addition to his real public service as a physician and surgeon at
Detroit, Dr. Parker has in many other ways shown his public spirit.
During his residence at Blissfield he was president of the village two
terms. Outside of his profession he is interested in mineral lands and
development, and is president of the American Silica Company and of
the Flat Rock Manufacturing Company, two corporations engaged in
the production and manufacture of silica products. Dr. Parker was the
first commander of Scott Post, G. A. R., at Blissfield, and affiliates with
the Grand Army organization in Detroit. He is also a member of the
Masonic order.

Frederick Swirskv. One of Detroit's most successful architects,
one who has planned and built nearly two hundred and fifty buildings
of different types, ranging from a private residence to a theater, during
the last four years is Frederick Swirsky, who though one of the younger
members of his profession has demonstrated pronounced ability and his
success has been proportionate to the energy and skill with which he has
pushed his business. Flis offices are in the Broadway Market building.

Frederick Swirsky is a native of Russia, born in 1883, and a son of
Max and Edna Swirsky, who were also born in that country and still
live there. After a common school education, he learned architecture
in a practical way in the city of Kursk. He came to America with ex-
ceptional talents for his work and also experience that enabled him to
slip into the business in a practical way. In 1907 he arrived in this coun-
try, spent several months in New York city, and then for two years was
engaged in the work of his profession in the west, chiefly in Canada
and the far northwestern states. In 1908 he established himself in busi-
ness at Detroit, beginning in a small way and patiently and carefully

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1431

demonstrating his ability, his business grew rapidly from year to year,
and he already has a record of construction and designing which few
older architects in the city can surpass.

Among the business blocks which he has drawn plans for and di-
rected are the following: A large brick block on Hastings and Brewster
streets ; a brick block at Illinois and Brush streets ; one at Superior and
Brush streets ; another on Theodore and Hastings street ; a brick block
at Erskine and Russell streets : a brick store near Michigan and Twen-
tieth streets ; a brick building at \'ermont and Ash streets ; a brick store
at St. Aubin and Farnsworth streets ; a block on Watson and Hastings
streets ; and one on Wilkins and Hastings streets. Mr. Swirsky built
a handsome brick eight-family apartment house in Belleview avenue
between Kircheval and St. Paul streets ; another apartment and business
block on Brooklyn and Canfield streets : and has built several handsome
residences on Kirby avenue. Among buildings which are under con-
struction during 191 3, at the time of this writing, are two theater build-
ings, one on Erskine and Hastings streets and the other at Medbury and
Hastings streets. Mr. Swirsky is married and has one son, Sidney Swirsky.

Paul A. Quick, M. D. A career of honorable and useful activity,
largely devoted to the service of his fellow men has been that of Dr.
Paul A. Quick of Muskegon. Dr. Quick has been engaged in practice
at Muskegon for more than twenty years, and has been identified with the
active work of his profession for nearly forty years. As a private prac-
titioner he has always enjoyed the better rewards of his profession, and
at the same time has devoted much of his energy to the broader inter-
ests of his profession in relation to the general welfare of the community.
Paul A. Quick comes from an old Pennsylvania family, and was him-
self born in liradford county, Pennsylvania. June 13, 1853. His parents
were Paul and Mary C. (Miller) Quick. Grandfather James Quick was
born in Holland, came across the ocean at an early day, and was one of
the first settlers in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He moved from
near Milford, in Minnisink county to Tunkhannock in Wyoming
county, Pennsylvania, where he lived a short time and then located on
what was known as the Painter Farm in 1791, in Bradford county. The
first three or four years of his residence there wzre spent in a small log
house, after which he built a large and commodious residence, though also
of logs, and in that home he passed his remaining years. The maternal
grandfather was Fowler ]\Iiller, an Englishman by birth, though com-
ing to America early in life, and spending the years of his active career
in Pennsylvania. Both Paul and ^lary Quick, the parents of Dr. Quick,
were born in E^)radford county, Pennsylvania. The father was born
there in 1799, and died in 1873, while the mother was born in 1809, and
died in 1896. Paul Quick, the senior, was a minister of the Methodist
Protestant Church, a man of splendid character, whose influence was
exerted in many ways for the betterment of humanity. He belonged to
the class of ministers long celebrated in the history of our country as
circuit riders, and on many occasions during his active ministry, rode
fifteen miles horseback to preach the gospel to a remote community. He
was known all over Bradford county as "Uncle Paul Quick." He and
his wife had seven sons, six of whom grew to manhood, and are mentioned
as follows: i. Erastus C. now deceased, was a Baptist minister. 2. John
served in Company C of the'One Hundred and Third Pennsylvania Regi-
ment, and was killed after his return home from the war. 3. Thomas E.
entered the service of the Union army in i86l, was discharged in 1865,
and during his military service contracted the measles, a disease which
brought about his death a year or so after the war. 4. Daniel Miller

1432 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Quick, was a farmer by occupation, and died a few years ago. 5. Paul
A. 6. Wallace lives in Southern Missouri in Ripley county, where he is
engaged in the operation of a flour mill. Rev. Paul Quick was in politics
a Republican, and served for a number of years as justice of the peace in
his community, dispensing justice as well as the gospel among his
neighbors.

Dr. Quick grew up in liradford county, Pennsylvania, where he at-
tended the country schools, and also the high school at Laceyville in
Wyoming county. (Graduating in 1870 from his literary course he spent
one year of study in medicine under Dr. Horton, then entered the Uni-
versity of Buffalo in 1871, and was graduated M. D. in 1874. His first
practice was at Sugar Run in Pennsylvania, where he remained for
fifteen years. During that time he had all he could attend to in the way
of professional duties, and the cause of his leaving there was that so
much of his practice was in the country that it involved almost constant
riding in all sorts of weather, and over all kinds of road, and proved too
great a strain upon his physical recourses. In 1891, Dr. Quick moved
west and settled at Muskegon, Michigan, wdiere he has since occupied
a place as one of the leading physicians.

In 1875 Dr. Quick married Rebecca E. P.irney, a daughter of Harry
Birney, a Pennsylvania farmer. 'To their marriage were born three chil-
dren : The two sons were soldiers in the Spanish-American war. John
Newton Quick, died in the Detroit hospitaJ, September 5, 1898, while
on his way home from Cuba ; Rodney A., also a veteran of the Spanish
war now lives at LesterShire, New. York, where he is connected with a
shoe factory. In 1890 Dr' 'Quick married Mrs. Stella Harder.

Fraternally Dr. Quick has passed all the chairs in his Masonic Lodge,
has taken the Chapter and Knight Templar degrees, and is well known in
Masonic circles at Muskegon. His professional services in the public be-
half have been chiefly as city physician and health officer, a place in which
he served for three years, was one year county physician, and has been
on the staff of the Hackley Hospital since its opening. He has member-
ship in the Muskegon Medical Society, the State Society, and the Amer-
ican Medical Association. His politics is Republican, but outside of his
profession he has little time for otlier pursuits or activities.

Frank Holt. Most people believe that modern industrialism and
capital are synonymous, and that every large establishment necessarily
had capital as its chief foundation stone. However, this is by no means
true of many of the most substantial concerns now doing business, and
a more important factor in many of them has been the skill and enter-
prise and initiative of the proprietors, than was the money which they
were alile to command and invest. In this class of flourishing concerns
to be found in Michigan, the Enterprise Brass Works at Muskegon
Pleights illustrates the fact that brains are more important than money
in building uj) a business. Frank Holt who is the sole proprietor, and
was the founder of the business, had an excellent knowledge of his
trade as brass founder, but the only capital he had when he started a few
years ago was that accumulated by the slow process of saving his earnings.

Frank Ilolt is an Englishman by birth, born in the industrial city of
Birmingham, on December 17, 1866, a son of Thomas and Rebecca (Ad-
kins) Holt. .'\t the age of fourteen, with only a common school educa-
tion he left home, and the following four 'years were spent in working
and learning his trade as brass founder in different localities in Eng-
land. At the age of eighteen he came to America and found employment
awaiting him at his trade in Massachusetts, later in Chicago, and finally
in Grand Rapids. Since 1892 Mr. Ilolt has been identified with Muske-

^//^,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1433

gon. In that city he followed his trade until 1895, ^"d in that year the
Enterprise Brass Works was started as a very small establishment, in
limited quarters and its importance would probably have been entirely
overlooked by any one at that time investigating the industrial resources
of Muskegon. Mr. Holt has directed all his energies toward building up
a big business, and as president, general manager and sole proprietor,
now has a business of which he may be proud, and of which the city is
likewise proud. All the facilities of the plant have been greatly in-
creased in successive years, and the output is now confined to the manu-
facture of brass castings, plumbers' supplies, and recently the manu-
facture of aluminum castings. The annual value of the product amoimts
to about two hundred thousand dollars, and the business has been ex-
tended over a wide territory.

On November 16, 1889, Mr. Holt married Miss Anna Sheldon, of
Grand Rapids. Their two children, are : Jessie and William, who are
both at home. Mrs. Holt is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Holt
has taken thirty-two degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry, is also a Knight
Templar Mason, belongs to the Shrine, and also to the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks. His politics is Republican.

Dr. Edwin Ch.vpin T.vylor comes of a well established American
family of New York state, and was himself born in Elmira, New York, on
January 4, 1859. He is a son of George H. Taylor, a teacher, who died in
i860, when his youngest son, Edwin Chapin, was only a year old.

The family is one to which considerable interest attaches, and it should
be stated here that the paternal grandsire of Dr. Taylor came from Scot-
land, his native land, to the United States when he was a young man, and
he became the first Methodist preacher in Elmira, New York. He was the
father of six sons, and all of them, with the single exception of the father
of the subject, gave his life to the ministry of the Methodist church.
George H. Taylor was likewise educated for the ministry, and he, too,
would in all likelihood have devoted himself to that calling but for the
fact that he became associated closel}- with Dr. Edwin Chapin, then world
famous as a pulpit orator of the Universalist faith, and this association
resulted in a conversion of Mr. Taylor to the church of the Universalists.
So great was the influence of Dr. Chapin on Mr. Taylor, and so deep his
reverence for the man, that he named his son. Dr. Taylor of this review,
for the renowned preacher. The mother of Dr. Taylor was Nancy R.
Breese, whose grandfather, Silas Breese, was the first settler in Chemung
county. New York. Sarah Breese, an aunt of Mrs. Taylor, was the first
white child born in that county.

Dr. Taylor had his early education in the old Horse Head Academy at
Elmira, New York, and in 1879, when he was twenty years old, he was
graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Buffalo.
He has been engaged in the active practice of his profession continuously
since that time, with the exception of two years.

I'Vom 1879 to 1886 Dr. Taylor was engaged in his profession in Elmira.
From the latter year to 1899 he conducted a thriving practice at Kalamazoo,
Michigan. Since iqoo he has devoted a good deal of time to post graduate
work, carrying on his studies in the best known clinics of Baltimore, New
York and Chicago, with some attendance at the famous Mayo Hospital
at Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Taylor has given especial attention to
surgery and is now on the staff of the Jackson City Hospital. He is a
member of the Board of United States Pension Examiners and has a wide
and lucrative private practice in Jackson, in addition to his many other
duties in line with his profession.

Dr. Taylor is a member of the American Medical Association; he is

1434 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

vice president of the Michigan State Medical Society ami is also a member
of the Jackson County Medical Society. F"raternally, Dr. Taylor is a
Mason, and he has membership in the Jackson City Club and the Meadow
Heights Country Club.

The doctor has been twice married. His present wife was Miss Annie
Dodge, of Imlay City, Michigan, a sister of Dr. William T. Ddoge, of Big
Rapids, Michigan. They were married on June 23, 1898, and two children
have been born to them. Nancy x^nn, born September 22, 1899, is gen-
erally known as "Nana" and is a junior in the Jackson high school. Wil-
liam Dodge Taylor was born January 6, 1902, and is now a student in the
freshman class.

WI^.LI.^M H. Ed\v.\rds. Treasurer and general manager of the Ed-
wards Lumber Company, William H. Edwards at the age of thirty-five
has attained a position in Muskegon's business circles, such as many older
men might well envy, and his present position of independence has not
been attained as a result of family wealth or influential connections, but
by his own industry and ability. Mr. Edwards began his career in a
clerical capacity, and demonstrated what he could do for others before
he started out for himself.

William H. Edwards is a native of Muskegon, born December 7, 1878,
and a son of C. W. and Lovina (LeRoy) Edwards. Grandfather Wil-
liam Edwards was born in England, went from there to South Australia,
and finally settled in America in 1 85 1, locating in the state of Wisconsin,
where he died, and where he was one of the pioneer settlers and farm-
ers. C. W. Edwards, a well known citizen of Muskegon, died January 8,
1914. He was born at Fort Adelaide in South Australia in 1843, h^d ^
common school education, was eight years old when his parents came to
America, and in 1863 moved from Wisconsin to Muskegon. His wife
was born in Canada, April 12, 1850, and they were married in Michigan.
C. W. Edwards followed the occupation of saw tiler until the big mills
left Muskegon. He prospered, was a man of retiring disposition, has
never sought public position, is a loyal Republican in politics and is af-
filiated with the Knights of the Maccabees. He and his wife became the
parents of five children : J. E. Edwards, who is a traveling man living
in Minneapolis, Minnesota ; William H. ; A. S. whose home is with his
parents, and is employed by the Central Paper Company ; Lillie and Elsie,
twins, and unmarried.

William II. Edwards is a graduate of the Muskegon high school in the
class of 1896. He was eighteen years old when his career began with a
position in the offices of the Crescent Manufacturing Company. Two
years service as shipping clerk were followed by six months employment
with the Muskegon Manufacturing Company, after which he was night
clerk for six months in the Occidental Hotel, and then for four years
was with the American Rolling Mills in Muskegon and in Fort Wayne,
IndiaiKi. Returning to Muskegon from Fort Wayne, he accepted the
place of chief clerk with the big lumber firm of Mann, Watson & Com-
pany. Two years experience with that firm gave him the equipment he
needed for his individual enterprise, and he then assisted in the organiza-
tion of the Edwards Lumber Company. That firm began business in
July, 1909, with a capital stock of twenty-four thousand dollars, and its
prosperity has been steadily on the increase since its yards were first
opened. As treasurer and general manager, Mr. Edwards has had the
responsible part in the management of the business, and its success may
be entirely credited to his efl^orts. The company handle all classes of
building material. Among other interests, Mr. Edwards is a director in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1435

the Muskegon Building & Loan Association, Init practically all his time
and attention are devoted to the lumber business.

On April 6, 1903, Mr. Edwards married Ruby Adeline Tipson, a
daughter of Daniel Tipson of Muskegon. Her father was for many years
a retail meat dealer in Muskegon. The two children born to their mar-
riage are : \''ivian, who is attending school ; and Douglas, who is about
four years of age. Fraternally Mr. Fdwards is a Mason, and is Esteemed
Lecturing Knight for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His
politics is Republican.

R.\LPii Stone. The active career of Ralph Stone, covering a little
more than twenty years, includes several years of successful private prac-
tice as a lawyer, some important service in the public affairs of the state,
and for the last fourteen years in active relationship with the Detroit
Trust Company, of which he is vice-president.

Ralph Stone was born at Wilmington, Delaware, November 20, 1868,
and first became identified with Michigan during his student days in the
University of the state. The Stone family was founded in America in
colonial times, and Mr. Stone has some interesting and prominent ances-
tors. One of them was William Bradford, one of the original Plymouth
colonists, and who for thirty-one years, between 1621 and 1657, was
governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Another ancestor was Rev.
Peter Hobart, whose consecrated service in the ministry covered a period
of nearly fifty-three years, and who, as the first pastor of the church at
Hingham, Massachusetts, remained at the head of that congregation
forty-four years. One line of ancestry goes directly to Henry Adams,
wdio was the great-great-grandfather of John Adams, and second presi-
dent of the United States, and of Samuel Adams, colonial governor of
Massachusetts. Great-grandfather Thomas Stone married Mary Webb,
and her ancestor. Christian Webb, Sr., founded another early family in
this country. J. Thompson Stone, grandfather of Ralph, married Mary
Bennett, and both were pioneer citizens of New York state.

George W. and Catherine C. (Graupner) Stone, parents of Ralph
Stone, now live at Santa Cruz, California. George W. Stone, who was
born at Homer, Cortland county, New York, February 29, 1840, and
reared and educated in that state, after some experience in merchandis-
ing, became a clergyman of the Unitarian church, was for a number of
years pastor at Wilmington, Delaware, and subsequently moved to Santa
Cruz, California, where his services as a minister continued until his re-
tirement. In 1913 he was mayor of the city of Santa Cruz, and member
of the California State Board of Education.

Ralph Stone is an example of the college man in business. His public
school training was followed by a college career at Swarthmore College
in Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1S80 Bachelor of Arts, and then
took up the study of law under Hon. Anthony Higgins, United States
senator from Delaware. After one year Mr. Stone came west and en-
tered the law department of the University of Michigan, which graduated
him in 1892 LL. B. Many university men remember him for his service
while at Ann Arbor as managing editor of the University of Michigan
Daily, as editor in chief of the Michigan Law Journal, and as president
of the Western College Press Association. He was also prominent in
athletics, and manager of the university baseball team.

After being admitted to the bar. Mr. Stone began practice at Grand
Rapids, and for one year was associated with General Byron M. Cutch-
eon, a prominent lawyer of that city. For three years Mr. Stone was
secretary of the Michigan State Bar Association, and was elected an
honorary member of the New York State Bar Association. His best serv-

1436 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ice, however, has been rendered in the field of finance rather than in the
law. In the summer of 1893 The Michigan Trust Company of Grand
Rapids made him trust officer, and that was his position until he resigned
in 1899 to become private and military secretary to the late Hon. Hazen S.
Pingree, then governor of Michigan. His confidential relations with the
governor continued until the end of the administration, and in the course
of his duties he was able to render the state especially valuable service.
He was appointed to investigate and take measures to collect from the
United States Government the Michigan Spanish war claim, which was
finally settled satisfactorily. While in the government offices at Wash-
ington investigating accounts and documents pertaining to the Spanish
war, Mr. Stone discovered the data pertaining to Michigan's Civil war
interest claims, amounting to a large sum, and in the settlement of which,
together with the Spanish war claim, more than seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars was turned over from the United States into the Michi-
gan treasury. This latter claim was represented by coupons from bonds
issued by Michigan to provide funds for the equipment of its troops in
the Civil war. The claim had been presented at Washington some time
after the war, but had lain dormant all these intervening years. Mr.
Stone was autliorized in behalf of his state to prepare and present the
claim afresh, and as the result of his efifectual presentation of proof
prosecuted the matter to final settlement.

On resigning his position as secretary to Governor Pingree on Janu-
ary I, 1901, Mr. Stone began his duties as state bank examiner. His
service in the latter position was brief, since in May of the same year
he resigned to become assistant secretary of the Detroit Trust Company.
On January 15, 1903, the company made him secretary and a director,
and some years later an additional vice-presidency of the company was
created, a position he has continued to fill until the present time. It is
said that with one exception Mr. Stone has had a longer continuous
service as a trust company official than any other man in Michigan. He
is first vice president of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and also a di-
rector and member of the executive committee of the Chamber of Com-
merce of the United States.

In politics a Republican, Mr. Stone has been active as a citizen as well
as a business man. He is a trustee of the Unitarian church of Detroit,
has membership in the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, in the
Michigan Society of Mayflower Descendants, which he has served as
governor, and belongs to the Detroit, University, the Detroit Boat, the
Detroit Athletic, and the Tennis, Racquet and Curling Clubs.

January i, 1895, occurred his marriage to Miss Alary G. Jeffords, of
Grand Rapids. Their two children are Ralph Jr. and Ruth Waldo.

Braton S. CuA.sii. A half century ago, Milo J. Chase started in a
small way the manufacture of pianos in Ohio. Tie had a small shop,
had very little capital, but he was master of his art, and had courage,
abilitv and determination of the thorough business builder. He was not
onlv a manufacturer, but a cajiable salesman, took infinite pains and
pride in his work, and his early success in X'ermont was sul)se(|uently ex-
panded in the establishment and organization of large piano manufactur-
ing business in Michigan, and the industry as it now exists in Muskegon
is one of the largest of the kind in the country in a matter of great pride
to all Muskegon people.

Milo T. Chase was born in \'ermont in 183 1 and died at his home in
Muskegon in 1894. ^'^^ married Olive .Stacey, who was also a native
of Vermont, and whose death occurred in 1859. In 1884 the family
came to Michigan, settling in Grand Rapids, where Milo J. Chase estab-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1437

lished a plant for the manufacture of pianos. His start in the industry
in Vermont was in 1863, and with more than twenty years of experience,
he made his business in Grand Rapids a prosperous concern and in 1S90
moved it to Muskegon. There a stock company was organized, and un-
der the name of the Chase-Hackley Piano Company, a large plant was
erected and a flourishing industry established. Its capital stock is two
hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, and its branch houses are in
Chicago and in Richmond, \'irginia. The annual output is thirty-tive
hundred pianos, and the manufacturer's name is a guarantee of the cjual-
ity. Milo J. Chase and wife had six children, three of whom are living.
Arthur is living retired in Colorado; the second is Llraton S. Chase; and
Olive, is the wife of Chas. B. Branner, who represents the house in Rich-
mond, Virginia. The father and wife were active members of the Pres-
byterian Church, and he was a thirty-second degree Mason and a Demo-
crat in politics. Joseph Chase, the father of Milo J. Chase, was born
in \^ermont, of an old New England family. His occupation in the Green
Mountain State was lumbering, and from that industry he made enough
to retire and spent his last years in comfort.

Braton S. Chase was born in Pennsylvania, June 5, 1857, a son of
Milo J. Chase, and received his collegiate training in the Augusta Col-
lege at Kentucky, where he was graduated in 1880. His early training
experiences were in his father's piano factory, and Mr. Chase knows both
the business and manufacturing details. He is now vice president and
general manager of the Chase-Hackley Piano Company, gives all of his
time to the manufacturing and general business administration of the
concern, and is one of the enterprising business men of Muskegon.

Mr. Chase was married to Irene Evans, who died in 1895. Indiana
was her native state. Mr. Chase for his second wife married Mrs.
Nichols, whose father was John Wetzel, a native of Ohio. Mr. Chase is
Independent in politics.

Charles F. Bielman. The city of Detroit must ever continue to
have precedence as one of the most important ports on the Great Lakes
and here have been developed many enterprises in connection with pas-
senger and freight traffic on the great inland seas. One of the most im-
portant of the navigation companies maintaining headquarters in the
Michigan metropolis is the White Star Line, and with the evolution of
the admirable service and large and substantial business of this corpora-
tion Mr. Bielman has been most closely and influentially identified. He
is at the present time secretary and general manager of the White Star
Line and secretary and treasurer of the Stewart Transportation Com-
pany. Mr. Bielman is known as one of the progressive and public-spir-
ited citizens and representative business men of Detroit, has a wide
acquaintance in marine circles, and is one of the loyal and valued
members of the Detroit Board of Commerce, of which he has served as
president.

Charles Frederick Bielman was born in-Detroit on the 20th of April,
185Q, and is a son of Frederick and Ellen C. (Daley) Bielman, who were
well known and highly esteemed citizens of Michigan, and who established
their home in Detroit more than half a century ago. Charles F. Bielman
was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his native city and
while still a boy he initiated his association with the line of enterprise
along which he has achieved marked success. At the age of fourteen
years he went to Marine City, where he entered the employ of John J.
Spinks, postmaster, merchant and local agent of the Star Line steamers,
which operated between Detroit and Port Huron and of which the pres-
ent White Star Line is the successor.

1438 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Mr. Bielman was thus engaged for a period of six years, within which
he gained a thorough and discriminating knowledge of the details of
lake-marine traffic. In 1881 he became clerk of the steamer "Evening
Star," owned and operated by the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation
Company, and in the following year he was transferred to the "City of
Mackinac," of the same line. In 1886 was effected a merging of the
operating interests of the Star and the Cole lines of steamers, which had
previously been in competition in the passenger and freight traffic, and
the interested principals in the new combination requested David Carter,
then general manager of the Detroit & Cleveland Steam Navigation Com-
pany, to select for them a competent manager for the business of the
Star-Cole Line, representing the consolidated interests. Mr. Carter's
appreciation of the services and ability of Mr. Bielman was at this time
shown in a most significant way, for he warmly recommended the latter
as a most eligible candidate for the position in question. Mr. Bielman
had been in the employ of the Detroit & Cleveland Company for a period
of six years, and had amply demonstrated his executive and technical
ability, as evidenced by the selection thus made by Mr. Carter.

In March, 1886, Mr. Bielman entered upon the duties of his new
office, and in the following year he returned to the employ of the Detroit
& Cleveland Steam Navigation Company, in service on the steamer "City
of Alpena." Soon afterward, however, in July, 1887, he became associ-
ated with the late Darius Cole in securing control of the Star Line, Mr.
Cole already owning the line which bore his name, and the two gentle-
men continued the operation of what was designated as the Star-Cole
Line, one of the most important of those having virtual headquarters in
Detroit. Mr. Bielman became secretary and treasurer of the company,
and from that time to the present has been identified with the passenger
and freight traffic of the lake system. In 1893 '^^ became associated with
Aaron A. Parker, Captain James W. Millen and John Pridgeon, Jr., in
the purchase of the Red Star Line, of which he was made secretary and
traffic manager. In 1896 the White Star Line was incorporated under
the laws of Michigan and assimilated the interests of the Red and the
White Star Lines. Mr. Bielman was chosen secretary and traffic man-
ager of the new corporation and has since continued to serve in this
dual office.

The White Star Line is one of the most important in the realm of
lake-marine activities and the upbuilding of its large and substantial
business has been largely due to the energy and marked administrative
ability of Mr. Bielman. The company now owns and operates five steel
passenger steamers of the best type, on the route between Toledo, Detroit,
St. Clair Flats and all points on the St. Clair river to Port Huron,
besides which it owns and controls two attractive picnic or excursion
parks and its various terminal wharves.

From 1889 to 1896 the Red Star, Star Cole and White Star Lines
were operated conjunctively, under a pooling arrangement, and Mr.
Bielman had charge of the traffic interests of the combination. Since
1892 he has been secretary and treasurer of the Stewart Transportation
Company, engaged in the freight-traffic business. In 1895 Mr. Bielman
leased the steamer "Florence B." to the United States government for
use in the collection and delivery of mail to passing traffic on the Detroit
river. Since 1896 he has held the contract for the operation of this
service, which is the onlv one of the kind in the entire LTnited States. In
1907 he built for this service the excellent steel steamer "C. F. Bielman,
Jr.," at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. His interests in a business
way are confined essentially to lake-marine traffic. Mr. Bielman holds
membership in the American Association of General Passenger & Ticket

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1439

Agents, the International Water Lines Association, the Great Lakes &
St. Lawrence River Association, and the Central Passenger Association.

Mr. Bielman has been found aligned as a staunch supporter of the
cause of the Republican party but has never sought public office, though
his name has several times been suggested in connection with nomination
for mayor of Detroit. He was the third to be elected president of the
Detroit Board of Commerce, a position to which he was called in 1906,
and he gave a most effective administration, marked by civic loyalty and
progressiveness and by full accord with the high ideals of the representa-
tive organization of which he was thus the executive head. He holds
membership in the Detroit Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, the Harmonie
Society, and the Michigan Whist Association, of which he was elected
president in 1907. Both he and his wife are ardent devotees of whist and
are leading members of the Detroit Whist Club. Mr. Bielman is also
affiliated with tlie Knights of Columbus and the Benevolent and Protec-
tive Order of Elks, and he and his family are communicants of the
Catholic church, as member of the local parish of Our Lady of the
Rosary.

On the 22d of January, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Bielman to Miss Katherine Barium, daughter of Thomas Barium, long
one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Detroit.
Mr. and Airs. Bielman have two children, — Florence C, and Charles
Frederick, Jr.

Louis C. Walker. Few of the larger industries of Michigan have
been characterized by more remarkable progress than the Shaw-Walker
Company at Muskegon. This company is already pretty well known all
over the United States as manufacturers of high-class office equipment
and filing devices. The company have been liberal advertisers, have
shown great enterprise in extending their business, and having kept the
quality of their products fully up to all their claims, their success has
been entirely justified and a foundation has been laid for a business likely
to grow and go on in increasing importance for years. The beginning of
this concern was only about fourteen years ago, when Louis C. Walker
and A. W. Shaw, with about one hundred and fifty dollars in capital
between them, started in business together at Aluskegon, and were at
first chiefly manufacturers agents, getting all their goods manufactured
for them, and' giving all their energies to the sale and distribution of their
special lines. They pushed the business with such energy, that in about
two years they were justified in the erection of a large plant of their own,
and the Shaw-Walker factory, is now one of the largest in the city of
Muskegon.

Louis C. Walker is a member of a family long identified with indus-
trial enterprise in Michigan, and his father is a well known manufacturer
in Alpena. Louis C. Walker was born in Farmington, Michigan, January
8, 1875. a son of James C. and Caroline (Wilcox) Walker.^ Botli parents
were born in Michigan, the father in 1845, and the mother in 1847. Louis
is the oldest of their three children, his brother Lawrence being an asso-
ciate in the Shaw-Walker Company, while Harry is employed by the
father. Tames C. Walker started out in life as a lumber inspector, and
in 1903 "established a veneering business at Alpena, and the Walker
Veneer Works has become a large and flourishing concern. The parents
are active members of the Congregational church, and the father has
taken the degrees in both the York and Scottish Rite of Masonry, belong-
ing to the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery in the York, and having
taken thirty-two degrees in the Scottish Rite. His politics is Republican,
and his public senMce includes membership on the school board, and in
the city council of Alpena.

1440 - HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Louis C. Walker was liberally educated, and from the public schools
entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1896.
During liis college career he was a member of the Delta Upsilon fra-
ternity. His first occupation after leaving college was as lumber in-
spector, and that experience continued through several years, and gave
him a close and detailed knowledge of timber and many branches of the
lumbering industry. His ne.xt position for advancement towards inde-
pendence was at Grand Rapids, where he was employed by the Fred
Macey Company, a well known mail order furniture house. While there
he had charge of the desk department for one year. With that experience,
Mr. Walker came to Muskegon in 1899, and with Mr. A. W. Shaw
organized the Shaw-Walker Company. They started with two small
stores, and as already stated their goods were manufactured in outside
plants. In 1901 their successful operations enabled them to build a large
plant for the manufacturing of filing devices and such equipment, and
this has been steadily increased in capacity, until the business is one of
the largest of its kind. The capital stock of the company is four hundred
thousand dollars. Its branches are in London, Chicago, New York, and
XN'asliington, and their goods are sent to all portions of the world. They
manufacture both wood and steel devices.

Mr. Walker married in 1900, Miss Margaret Mercer, a daughter of
J. C. Mercer, a clothing merchant of Saginaw. To this marriage were
born three children, Jane, Peggie and Louis C. Jr. Mr. and Airs. Walker
are members of the Congregational church, and his fraternal affiliations
are with the Masonic Lodge, including the Knight Templars and Shriners,
and also the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a Repub-
lican in politics. Mr. Walker is president of the Shaw-Walker Company,
and his success in his enterprise has been largely due to his active manage-
ment and control.

Sanford Webi! L.vdd. Probably no meiuber of the Detroit bar has a
higher standing for ability and success in connection with public utility
and corporation law than Sanford Webb Ladd, who has in recent years
confined practically all his practice to that class of work. He belongs to
one of Micliigan's old families, the name having been established in the
territory nearly eighty years ago, and having been prominently associated
with jjusiness and the professions.

Sanford Wel)b Ladd, who is a niemjjcr of the law firm of Warren, Cady
& l-add, of Detroit, was born at Milford, in Oakland county, Michigan,
December 2, 1877. His father, Frank Montgomery Ladd, was born at
Milford, Oakland county, in y\pril, 1849, a son of David Montgomery and
Martha (Hartwell) Ladd. David Montgomery Ladd was born just out-
side of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1S14, and came to Michigan in 1835,
at the age of twenty-one. This was two years before Michigan became a
state of the Union. His first settlement was at Northville, in Wayne
countv, but soon afterward he moved to Milford, in Oakland county, and
there established himself in business as a pioneer merchant. For many
years he continued as one of the leading busmess men at Milford. He and
his wife both died there, he in 1909, at tlie great age of ninety-three years,
while his wife passed away in 1881. A few years after he moved to
Michigan he was followed by his ]iarents, who settled at Dearborn, in
Wayne county, where they lived until death.

Frank Montgomery Ladd, father of the Detroit lawyer, was reared at
Milford, where he attended the public schools. Becoming associated with
his father in merchandising, he later succeeded to the business, which was
carried on under father and son for a period of more than seventy years.
Mr. Ladd is now retired from active affairs, and still lives at Milford. He

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1441

was married to Mary Elizabeth Webb, who was born at West Liberty,
Ohio, in 1857, a daughter of Jacob Webb. Mrs. Ladd is also living.

At Milford, where he spent his boyhood and youth, Sanford Webb
Ladd attended the public schools and completed his early education by
graduation from the Ann Arbor high school in 1897. Entering the literary
department of the University of Michigan, he was graduated with the
degree of A. B., in the class of 1901. tie then studied law in the University
of Michigan Law School, and in the year 1902 was admitted to practice
in Michigan. He lirst had his office at Port Huron, where he became junior
member of the firm of Moore, Brown, Miller & Ladd. From Port Huron
he moved to Detroit in 1908, and was for several years a member of the
firm of Merriam, Yerkes, Sinons & Ladd. In 191 1, upon the death of Mr.
Shaw, the firm of Shaw, Warren, Cady & Oakes was reorganized under
the present firm of Warren, Cady & Ladd. For the past eight years Mr.
Ladd has been counsel for what is now the Michigan United Traction
Company, and he has looked after that corporation's interests throughout
the state.

He is well known in club life at Detroit and elsewhere. He has mem-
bership in the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Club, the Detroit
Athletic Club, the University Club of Detroit, the University Club of Chi-
cago, the University of Michigan Club, and belongs tothe Detroit, the
Michigan and the American Bar Associations.' ■.Hc'' is a trustee of the
North Woodward Avenue Congregational church. ■^(<i.'v

Mrs. Ladd before her marriage .was Miss Nina Axtell Trucsdell,
daughter of Philo and Helen (Axtell) Truesdell, of Port Huron. They
are the parents of three children : Helen Elizat)(^h La.dd, Virginia Mary
Ladd and Elizabeth Ladd. ■',-'i-'-,'^;f^ '-' ■^ .

William Dixon. A resident of Mu'Skef&n 'stnce 1879, Mr. Dixon
has had a varied career of public service and individual enterprise, was
connected with the city water system for a number of years, has been
honored with different posts in the local government, and is now a suc-
cessful contractor. Mr. Dixon has attaiiic<l the ripe age of threescore and
ten, and is still active, notwithstanding the fact that for four years he
bore arms as a Union soldier, and has had a life of almost unremitting
activity since he was a boy.

William Dixon was born in Oswego county, New York, December 9,
1843, a son of George W. and Mary (O'Shaughnessy) Dixon. His
father, who was born in England in 1822, and died at Muskegon, Febru-
ary 12, 1906, came to New York in 1842, and in the same year, Miss
O'Shaughnessy came across the ocean from Ireland, where she was born
in 1823, making the emigration with her brother. In the following Jan-
uary of 1843, those young people were married, and their first child, born
at the end of the same year was the Muskegon citizen and contractor
first named. In i860 they moved to Michigan, settling in Ottawa county,
where the elder Dixon was employed by the Ottawa Iron Works. That
was his home until 1881, at which time he took up his residence in Mus-
kegon. His career was one of considerable success, and he was an in-
ventor and machinist of more than ordinary ability. He served as an
engineer on the great lakes for several years, and was a patentee of the
Wolverine Steam Pump and other mechanical devices, which were placed
on the market, and which brought him considerable revenue in the way
of royalties. George W. Dixon was a member of the Masonic Order, a
Republican in politics, and his wife was a Catholic. There were six chil-
dren, four of whom are hving, of whom William is the eldest. Mary
Miller, is a widow ; Fred is an engineer living in Arkansas ; and Helena
married a Air. Pearson, who is a boat manufacturer in Duluth, Minnesota.

1442 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

William Dixon had a public school education at Lafayette, and began
his career in the iron works in Ottawa county. He was only eighteen
years old when the war broke out, and enlisting in Company F of the
I'ourteentJi Michigan Infantry, he saw almost four years of active serv-
ice, carrying a musket as a private, and showing the invincible and grace-
ful qualities of the soldier from start to end. The first campaign in which
he saw active service was the siege of Corinth, and from there he went
through all the campaigns up to the concluding one at Nashville, in the
fall and winter of 1864. At Atlanta, on July 5, 1864, he was taken pris-
oner, and was one of the few men still living, who can recount from per-
sonal recollection the horrors of the notorious Andersonville prison.
From Anderson he was transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, and
from that city made his escape on the morning of September 5, 1864.
He remained in hiding in and about that city until November 17, and then
with several private citizens and a union officer reached Edisto Bay, and
was taken on board the cruiser St. Louis, and was from that boat trans-
ferred to Admiral Delgren's flag ship, and from there went to New York
City. General Dix gave him a furlough, and after a few days spent at
home he returned and saw some of the final campaigning, especially in
the coast service including a numlier of en.Ljagements with the Ijush-
whackers. He rejoined his old regiment near Goldsboro, North Carolina,
accompanied it to Washington, where he participated in the Grand Re-
view, and was honorably discharged.

For five years, Mr. Dixon served as an engineer on the great lakes,
and in 1879 located in Muskegon, where a number of years were spent as
engineer in different sawmills. In 1887 occurred his first appointment as
superintendent of the Muskegon Water Works, and in that capacity he
gave nine years of effective service. In 1897 Mr. Dixon engaged in the
laundry business at Muskegon, and seven years in that line brought him
consideral^le prosperity. In 1904, on his reappointment to the superin-
tendency of the water works, he held that position until 1910. Since
then he has been engaged in the contracting business, his present associate
being John Campljell. This fimi has just completed a large contract in
the installation of a distributing system of water mains in the city of
Muskegon.

In January, 1872, Mr. Dixon married Miss Mary McElroy, a daughter
of Barney IMcElroy, who was born in Ireland. To their marriage have
been born two children, George W., who lives at home, and Charles, who
is farming a claim in Benewah Vallev, in Idaho. Mr. Dixon is affiliated
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Grand Army
of the Republic, and is an active Progressive Republican in political
affairs. For two years he held the post in the city council as alderman,
and gave two years of service as fire chief. He is the owner of one of the
beautiful homes in Muskegon, has considerable farm property, and his
prosperity, considering the fact that it has come entirely through his own
efforts is large and commendable.

Cn.^RLES Lamartinf, Clark has been identified with business affairs
in Detroit, chiefly along the lines of real estate. He is one of the suc-
cessful business men and likewise has a prominent position in the public
life of the city, being a member of the Detroit Board of Estimates.

Charles L. Clark was born at Rochester, New York, April 9, 185 1,
and comes from an old and distinguished American family. He had
direct ancestors both in the Revolution and in the War of 1812. The
founder of the name in America was George Clark, who was born in
Coleraine, Ireland, and who crossed the ocean and settled in America
in 1715. His first settlement was at Deerfield, in Masachusetts, but

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1443

subsequently he secured a charter and founded the town of Colerain,
Massachusetts, which he named in honor of his native place in Ireland.
Subsequently the family moved into Vermont, where Seth Clark, son
of George, was born. Seth Clark served as a soldier in the war of the
Revolution, enlisting when a boy of fifteen years, and several times
re-enlisting until the colonies had finally won their independence. Noah
Clark, son of Seth, and grandfather of the Detroit business man, was
born in Vermont, and fought as a soldier on the American side during
the war of 1812. His business was that of contractor and builder, and
towards the close of his life he was awarded several building contracts in
the Province of Ontario, Canada, and took up his temporary residence in
that country. While there he met an accidental death.

George Washington Clark, son of Noah, was born at Bangor, Maine,
July 5, 181 2. When his father moved to Canada he went along and at
Woodstock in Ontario was married. He was living in Canada at the
time of the rebellion of 1837, and was arrested on the ground of being
a rebel sympathizer. He was thrown into jail by the Canadian authori-
ties, but managed to effect his escape, and fled from the Dominion and
located at Ann Arbor, Michigan. In Ann Arbor George W. Clark soon
rose to prominence. He first gained attention by establishing the pioneer
temperance newspaper in the state. Later he moved to Jackson, and
while living there assisted in the founding of the Republican party at the
famous meeting "under the oaks." From Jackson he moved to Rochester,
New York, but in 1877 returned to Michigan and settled in Detroit,
where he lived until his death in 1893. George W. Clark married Louise
Elliott, who was born in Hayes, Middlesex, England, in 181 7. Her
family came to Canada in 1829, and she died at Detroit in 1904, when
eighty-seven years of age.

Mr. Clark was always an active and prominent worker in the temper-
ance and anti-slavery cause before and during the war. He was an asso-
ciate worker with Garrison, Phillips, Gerrit Smith, Fred Douglas and all
other anti-slavery agitators. He was known from one end of the United
States and Canada to the other as the "silver-voiced (singer) abolition-
ist" and as the author of several well known and popular song books of
the day, including the Liberty Minstrel, Harp of Freedom, and others.

Charles L. Clark was reared in Rochester, New York, attended the
public schools of that city, and was also a student in the Walworth
Academy near Rochester. In 1868, when seventeen years of age, he came
to Detroit and found his first employment as clerk in the jewelry house
of M. S. Smith and Company. In 187 1 he entered a jewelry establish-
ment in Chicago, but returned to Detroit in 1873 and got his first ex-
perience in the insurance and real estate business in the firm of Clark
and Crawford, the senior member of which was his older brother. A
few years later he engaged in the same business independently, and he has
been in close touch with the general realty situation in Detroit for over
forty years. At the present time he is regarded as one of the best in-
formed judges of property values, and has had a very successful career
in his particular line.

Mr. Clark is a member of the Detroit F)Oard of Commerce, the Detroit
Real Estate Board, the Detroit Boat Club, and belonged to the old
Detroit Light Guards. He has been a member of the Board of Estimates
for the city from the Fourth Ward during the last six years. He has
always taken great interest in art and was the organizer of Hopkin Club
and also a member of New York Society, .State of Michigan.

Mr. Clark married Georgiana Frazer, daughter of Thomas Frazer,
and a member of the old and honored Frazer family of Detroit. They
are the parents of three children : Cecilia Louise, Georgiana M. and
Charles Elliot Frazer.

UU HISTORY OF :\IICHIGAN

William T. Evans. Success in railway service is notably a result of
alert efficiency, and faithful performance of duty day in and day out. A
Michigan railroad man, who started in at the bottom, and now has one of
the responsible places in his community is William T. Evans, freight agent
of the Pere Marquette Railroad at Muskegon, having perhaps a hundred
men under his management, and in one of the most exacting positions on
the system.

William T. Evans is a native of Missouri, born in Schuyler county,
July 27, 1865, a son of James S. and Martha M. (Maize) Evans. Grand-
father Thomas Evans was born in Indiana, was a farmer, moved later to
Davis county, Iowa, where he died, having seen service as a Union soldier
during the Civil war. The Evans family was of Welsh decent. The
maternal grandfather was Robert J. ]\Iaize. a native of Missouri, where
all his life was spent. During the war he was captain of volunteers in the
Union army. The Maize family is of Scotch Irish descent. James S.
Evans was born in the state of Indiana, in 1842, and was married in 1863
to Miss Maize, who was a native of Missouri. The parents received their
education respectively in their native state. The senior Evans was a
practical farmer, until his retirement in 1890, and on selling his Iowa
farm, where he had taken up his residence in 1873, he moved to the town
of Bedford, and lived there in quiet retirement. He and his wife are
memljers of the Baptist church, having taken a very active part in church
affairs, and his fraternal affiliations are with the Woodmen of America,
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. A Democrat in politics, he
served several times as alderman in Bedford. His start in life was as a
poor boy, and a number of years ago he acquired a competency. There
were six children in the family, of whom the Muskegon railroad man was
the oldest, the others being: Robert J., who is a city salesman for the
Standard Oil Company, in Chicago ; Ollie, wife of Ben Maulding, a music
dealer in Marysville, Missouri ; Etta M., wife of Mark DeWitt, a very
successful farmer at Lyons, Kansas, his degree of success being judged
by the fact that in the last year his revenues from his farm amounted to
seven thous'and dollars; Alice, who is married and lives in Toledo, Ohio;
and Eunice, who is married and lives in St. Joseph, Missouri.

William T. Evans is a graduate of the Bedford high school in Iowa,
and got his first practical experiences in railroading in a local office of
the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, where he learned telegraphy. His
first regular station was at Creston, Iowa, was transferred to Lincoln,
Nebraska, and spent eight years in employment at various posts, follow-
ing the custom of railway men and leading a somewhat nomadic life. In
1892, he came into Michigan, had charge of the office at Thompsonville,
then at Big Rapids, then at Howell, at LaPorte, Indiana, and Michigan
City, Indiana, was then moved to Traverse City, and in 1905 came to
Muskegon.

He came to Muskegon to take charge of the local freight department
as freight agent, and has held this responsible position ever since. He
has charge of the yards and the entire freight department, with fifty-five
men under him, and indirectly one hundred men get their orders through
him.

Mr. Evans was married in 1896 to Bertha Morgan, who was born in
Howell, Michigan. Their two children are: Aleowyn C, who is four-
teen years old; and Doris M., aged nine. The family attend the Pres-
l:)yterian church, Air. Evans is a Knight Templar Mason and Shriner,
belongs to tlie Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights
of Pythias, is High Priest in his Royal Arch Chapter, is also exalted
ruler of the Elks, and has gone through all the chairs in the Elks organiza-
tion at Muskegon. His politics is Democratic.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1445

John S. Haggerty. During a business career that has lasted over
a period of more than a quarter of a century, John S. Haggerty has
developed one of the largest brick manufacturing industries in the state
of Michigan. In his various business relations he has done much to
promote public progress and to establish that commercial and industrial
activity whereon the growth and development of a community always
depend. He has disjilayed excellent al)ility as a manager, togetlier with
keen business discernment and unfaltering energy, and whatever he has
undertaken he has carried forward to successful completion, while his
methods have been such as will bear the closest scrutiny and most rigid
examination.

Mr. Haggerty, like many of his successful associates in Detroit's busi-
ness world, is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's
homestead in Springwells township, Wayne county, Michigan, August
22, 1866, a son of the late Lorenzo Dow and Elizabeth (Strong) Hag-
gerty. The Haggerty family was founded in the Badger state by Hugh
Haggerty, the grandfather of John S. Haggerty, who was a native of
County Derry, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1830. Landing
at New York City, he was married there to Fanny Otis, in 1831, and in
that same year came to Michigan, which was then a territory, and took
up a tract of land from the government in Springwells township, Wayne
county. There he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits during
the remainder of his life, winning position and independence through
his industry and persistent effort. He passed away in 1853, honored and
respected by all, while his widow survived him fof many years, her
death occurring in 1803. Lorenzo Dow Haggerty was born on the pioneer
homestead place in Wayne county, April 30, 1838, and grew up amid
pioneer surroundings, securing his education in the primitive schools of
his locality and passing the greater part of his boyhood and youth in
assisting his father to develop a home from the timber. He continued
to follow agricultural pursuits in Wayne county until 1856, in which
year he removed to Kansas, where he contemplated establishing a perma-
nent home. However, he found that state in the throes of the great
slavery controversy, and although he was an ardent pro-slavery man, and
in Kansas became acquainted with old John Brown and Jim Lane, the
leaders of the pro-slavery forces, the turmoil and excitement of the
times in that section were too strenuous for him, and so after a short
stay in the Sunflower state Mr. Haggerty returned to Michigan and
again engaged in farming on the old home place in Springwells township.
Subsequently he added to farming the buying and pressing of hay, an
industry in which he did a large business for many years, but in 1881
disposed of his other interests to engage in the manufacture of brick.
In 1897 he became a partner with his son, John .S. Haggerty, in the same
line of industry, this business having been established in 1888 by John S.
and his brother, Clifton Floyd Haggerty. Father and son continued
to be associated in this line with mutual success until the death of the
elder man. July 2, 1903. Mr. Haggerty was widely known as a citizen
whose labors were of the utmost value in laying broad and deep the
foundations upon which has since been builded the superstructure of
the present progress and prosperity of this section. He was possessed of
industry, integrity and perseverance in whatever occupation he found
himself, and had a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, drawn about
him by his many sterling traits of mind and heart. On December 27,
i860, Mr. Haggerty was married to Miss Elizabeth Strong, who was
born on a farm in Greenville township, Wayne county, Michigan, in 1837,
and died in i8g6. She was the daughter of John Strong, a native of
England, who settled in Greenfield township in 1826 and was for many
years engaged in farming.

1446 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

John S. Haggert}' was reared on his father's farm, and received his
education in the district schools of Wayne county. As a youth he adopted
farming as his vocation in life, and continued to be so engaged until the
spring of 1888, when he engaged in the manufacture of brick on the old
home place, in partnership with his brother. Subsequently, his father
became associated with him, and since the elder man's death, in 1903, he
has carried on the business alone, under his own name. Beginning in a
small way, this industry has been developed into one of the largest in its
line in Michigan, and at the present time has a yearly output of 40,000,000
common building brick. Mr. Haggerty is a man of excellent business
ability, whose well-directed labors have brought him a measure of suc-
cess whereby he is justly accounted one of the substantial citizens of
Detroit. His offices are located at No. 181 5 Dime Building. Mr. Hag-
gerty in 1913 was elected a director of the Detroit Builders and Traders
Exchange, and belongs likewise to the Detroit Board of Commerce. He
is a member of the Detroit Athletic Club, the Rushmere Club, the Detroit
Yacht Club and the Detroit Golf Club, and is a Mason of high degree,
being a member of the Michigan Consistory (thirty-second degree),
Damascus Commandery, Knights Templar, and Moslem Temple, A. A.
O. N. M. S. His political affiliation is with the Republican party and
he has been prominently active in the affairs of the party, although never
an office-seeker.

Adam Pyle. The Pyle Pattern & Manufacturing Company in the
past ten years has risen to among the largest industries of Muskegon.
The business was established by Adam Pyle who is president and gen-
eral manager of the company. The company manufacture iron castings,
moulding machines and plates, make patterns of every description, and
while their business is largely of a local nature, they also have extended
it to many parts of the country. Mr. Pyle is a man who started out as a
worker in the ranks, at daily or monthly wages, and by a certain proved
ability and skill as a pattern maker, and also a well seasoned business
judgment, he eventually got into business for himself and has steadily
prospered.

Adam Pyle is a native of England, and of family stock that has long
been identified with industrial activities. He was born October i, 1862,
a son of Richard and Mary (Keall) Pyle. Grandfather Adam Pyle. who
was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, was a very successful man, and did a
flourishing business as manager of a glass factory. He was born in
1803, and died in 1874 at Leith, Scotland. The maternal grandfather of
the Muskegon manufacturer, was a native of England, was a contractor,
and died early in his career. Richard Pyle, the father, was born in Eng-
land in 1837, and died in 1887. His wife, who was born in 1841, is still
living. The father was a glass blower in England, and though he
visited the United States three times, he never made this country his
permanent home. Of the four children, three are still living, Adam being
second in order of liirth. His sister Mary is the widow of Matthew Cow-
lev, while his brother, Richard, is a boiler maker in Muskegon. His
parents were memliers of the Church of England, and his father affiliated
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The school e(|uipment with which Adam Pyle was started in life was
supplied by the common schools of Sunderlanci. and when nineteen years
of age in 1881, he came to America. He served an apprenticeship in
carpenter work, and in 1S84 became a pattern maker in a foundry. He
served in various plants for a number of years, and in 1904 established
the present business, which manufactures patterns of all kinds, both in
wood and metal and the l)usiness is growing steadily every month. It is

I

^mb

^<s^*^

HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN 1447

a local stock company, capitalized at fifteen tlionsand dollars, and Mr.
Pyle is president and general manager.

In 1887 hs married Miss Mary Hewitt, of Muskegon. Mr. Pyle is
fortunate in the possession of two sons, Adam and Clyde E., both of
wdiom have come into the factory and have proved themselves capable
assistants to their father. Mr. Pyle is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and the Royal Arcanum, having held some
minor chairs in the latter order and is a Republican in politics. However,
all his time and attention are devoted to his business.

Henry AIartyn Leland. Though he recently turned over to his
son the general management of the great Cadillac Motor Company, the
name of Henry M. Leland is recognized as one of the best known in
motor manufacturing circles of the country. That Detroit is now the
"hub" of the automobile industry in America is perhaps due as much
to the enterprise of Mr. Leland as to any other single individual. His
life has been one of exceptional experience and achievement. During
the Civil War period, years before modern inventions, including the auto-
mobile, were dreamed of, Henry Martyn Leland was employed in one of
the government armories in making tools used in the manufacture of
army rifles. His mechanical genius in its development from that time
had many turnings, until twenty years ago he engaged at Detroit in the
manufacture of naphtha and other internal combustion engines, used
principally for the propulsion of motor boats. From that the transition
to manufacture of engines for automobiles was natural enough. These
facts show an interesting genesis in the career of a man who has been
one of the principal factors in the growth of the automobile business
at Detroit.

Henry Martyn Leland was born at Danville, Vermont, February 16,
1843. He is a direct descendant of Henry and Margaret Badcock Leland,
natives of England, who came to America in 1625, becoming the founders
of the Leland name on this side of the Atlantic. The original emigrant
died at Sherburne, Massachusetts, April 14, 1680. The parents of
Henry M. Leland were Leander and Zilpha (Tifft) Leland, and both
were natives of Rhode Island. Their death occurred at Worcester,
Massachusetts, the father in i88r, and the mother in 1896.

Reared in X'ermont and Massachusetts, Henry M. Leland was
educated in the public schools, and was about eighteen years old when
the war broke out among the states. Completing his apprenticeship
at that time, he contributed his services to his country by service in the
United States Armory at Springfield, ALissachusetts, and there became
actively attached to the mechanical work which has practically been his
profession ever since. At Springfield he assisted in making the tools
utilized in the manufacture of rifles for the army, and at the close of
the war entered the employ of the Colt's Fire Arms Company at Hart-
ford, Connecticut. After a short time there he returned to Worcester
and was variously employed as expert tool maker and machinist. At
Providence, Rhode Island, the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Com-
pany had become known as leading manufacturers and there Mr. Leland
became employed as a tool maker, and with that Company he served
for 12 years as superintendent of the sewing machine department.

When Mr. Leland moved to Detroit in 1890 he established a machine
business for himself. A little later Mr. Robert C. Faulconer was taken
in as a partner, under the firm name of the Leland & Faulconer Manu-
facturing Company, makers of special machinery, and the firm soon
came to be regarded as a leading one in its department of special manu-
facture. About that time the naphtha launch came into vogue, and the

1448 _ HISTORY OF MICIIIGAN

Leland & Faulconer Company came to devote much of the operations of
its plant to the building of internal combustion engines. Their expe-
rience in that line paved the way for the next development in motor
vehicles, the automobile.

At the time of the birth of the automobile Mr. Leland had well
won a reputation as one of the most skillful engine builders in the
United States, and that reputation quickly extended into the field of auto-
mobile engine construction. In order to secure a larger market for
the engines produced in his plant, he assisted in the organization of the
Cadillac Automobile Company in 1902. In 1905 the Leland & Faul-
coner Manufacturing Company was consolidated with the Cadillac Au-
tomobile Com[)any under the name of the Cadillac Motor Car Company,
Mr: Leland becoming general manager. This was the position which
he recently relinquished in favor of his son, Wilfred C. Leland, who is
also vice-president of the company. However, Mr. Henry M. Leland
continues with the company as president and advisory manager, and is
now recognized, as he has been in the past, as a pioneer and leader of the
American motor industry. He is now president of the American So-
ciety of Automobile Engineers.

Mr. Leland is a charter member of the National Association of
Manufacturers, the National Metal Trades Association, the National
Founders Association, the United Order of the Golden Cross, and is
identified with innumerable trade, professional and social organizations.
During his residence in Detroit he has taken much interest in civic
and benevolent work, and is the founder and president of the Detroit
Citizens League. While living in the East he was a member of the
Pearl Street Baptist Church of Providence. Rhode Island, but since
moving to Detroit his membership has been in the Westminster Pres-
byterian Church, of which he is an official and active member.

On September 25, 1867, Mr. Leland married, at Alilllniry, ^Massa-
chusetts, Miss Ellen R. Hull, who died January 15, 1914. Their children
are: M. Gertrude, wife of Angus C, Woodbridge, of Detroit; Wilfred
Chester, general manager of the Cadillac Motor Car Company, who
married Blanche Mollineau Dewey, daughter of the late Judge Dewey,
of Detroit; and Miriam, deceased.

Hon. Fred M. Warner. Three times governor of Michigan, and
four years secretary of state, Fred M. Warner's career is so well known
in recent political history as to require no preface. As a business man
he has been equally successful, has built a splendid industry in the village
of Farmington in Oakland county, and is now vice president of the
Detroit United Bank. Oakland county has been the seat of the Warner
family for nearly ninety years, and in the pioneer times as in later eras,
few were able to accomplish so much in the sturdy work which promoted
civilization and in those movements which brought about the existence
of higher ideals of civilization.

The first of the family to appear in southern Michigan was Seth A. L.
Warner, who came in 1823 and belonged to what has been called the
"second influx of settlers to the southern section of Oakland county."
Seth Warner was himself a good, strong and able man, but in his son
appeared a still stronger character as a citizen and business man. This
son was the late P. Dean Warner, whose name has a distinctive place in
the history of Oakland county and of Michigan. With an excellent
ancestry, and a rugged environment which brought forth and developed
the best qualities of his nature, he became a man of note throughout the
state. P. Dean Warner was born in Schuyler county. New York, .August
12, 1822, and was less than three years of age when his parents, .Seth

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1449

A. L. and Sally Warner, removed in April, 1825, to Michigan. Their
journey from New York to Michigan was not unlike those of other
pioneer families of that period, and the time required for the trip from
Detroit to their home, two miles north of the present Farmington village,
was greater than that now required to make the trip from New York to
Lansing. At the age of fifteen it seemed clear to the boy that it was his
duty to leave the parental roof and commence his business career. Clerk-
ing in a country store was the beginning of a mercantile career that was
a long and honorable one. For six years he served in that capacity, in a
general store at Farmington, with the exception of two or three months
each year spent in attending school. Part of one year he attended the
Northville school. He spent one year in Detroit clerking, and with this
exception, his entire lifetime was spent in Farmington. In 1846 he was
able to purchase one-half interest in a small stock of goods, and estab-
lish a store in Farmington under the name of Botsford & Warner. He
was best known in business as a village storekeeper and banker, and
his interests were many, not only in local commerce, but in public affairs.

He was early called upon to serve his fellow townsmen in official
position, acting as justice of the peace, clerk and supervisor for many
years. In 1850 he was chosen as a Democratic member of the house of
representatives from Oakland county, and as such participated in the
election of Lewis Cass, as United States Senator from Michigan. He
served but one term of this time. He was always interested in national
affairs as well as state, and it was not long after his first legislative
experience that he believed it to be his duty to leave the party of caste,
with which he had been identified. On the other hand he could not
indorse the principles of the opposition. He was therefore ready to
accept membership in the new political organization born upon Michigan
soil. He was one of those who voted for John C. Fremont, and he
remained until his death a steadfast member of the party he helped to
organize. In 1864 he was again elected representative, for two terms in
the iiouse. He took a prominent part in the deliberations of the legisla-
ture, and was chosen speaker in his second term. He was deeply inter-
ested in the growth and development of his state, and his help and
influence could be counted upon for any measure that sought to add to
the educational resources of the state or the care for its dependents and
unfortunates. He was a friend of the University and the Agricultural
College, believing that money expended for education of our boys and
girls would be returned a hundred fold by their increasing usefulness.
Those enjoying the splendid opportunities of public schools and universi-
ties at this time owe a debt of gratitude to such men as P. D. Warner,
who in the face of strong opposition stood by them and started them on
their careers of usefulness. His services as a law maker ended with a
term in the state senate in 1869-70. He was an active member of the
constitutional convention of 1867, a body that numbered in its member-
ship many able and influential men.

P. D. Warner was a man of deep religious convictions and a member
of the Presbyterian church for many years. He was attentive to the
minor duties of the good citizen in the home community and was fore-
most in every movement for the improvement of the little village he
loved to call home. Its churches and its schools had in him a loyal
friend. He was a friend and counselor of three generations of Farm-
ington people, and there are many men in Oakland county, who are
today the better for having relied upon his judgment and acted upon his
advice. As old age brought infirmities he gave up one by one the busi-
ness cares, and while waiting for the final summons_ enjoyed the well-
earned freedom from the cares and activities of a business career, which
lasted nearly, if not quite, three score years and ten.

1450 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

P. D. Warner was married November 8, 1845, in Ann Arbor to Rhoda
Elizabeth Bosford. To them were given ahiiost sixty-six years of happy
married Hfe before his death, on August 28, 1910. The faithful wife
lived to the old age of eighty-seven, passing away August 11, 191 1, at
Farmington.

It was with the inspiration of such a sterling citizen as P. D. Warner
before him that Fred M. Warner was stirred to reach the full bent of
his powers and opportunities. Fred M. Warner was born at Hickling,
Nottinghamshire. England, July 21, 1865, and was brought to America
by his parents when only three months old. A few months later his
mother died, and he was adopted in the family of P. D. Warner. In
addition to the training which he received in the Warner home, he pos-
sessed the English traits, of perseverance and common sense, and has
combined great energy and enterprise with genial good fellowship. At
the age of fourteen he had completed the high school course at Farm-
ington, and after taking a term at the State Agricultural College he
became clerk in the Warner store at Farmington. Iia a few years the
older man retired in favor of the younger, and Fred M. Warner con-
tinued the business on a much broader scale and made it one of the
leading mercantile houses in southern Michigan. In 1889 he established
the iirst of a dozen or more cheese factories, which eventually brought
him fortune and national standing in that particular line of industry.
Oakland county and other adjoining counties have since been well covered
with the Warner factories, and in 1905 the business was incorporated
as the Fred M. Warner Cheese Company, which at the height of its out-
put manufactured two million pounds of cheese a year. In recent years
the company has concentrated its energies upon the production of milk,
with Farmington as headquarters for the large enterprise. Practically
all the supply is marketed in Detroit.

In 1897 Mr. Warner was one of the organizers of the Farmington
Exchange Bank, which had originally been established as the Warner
Exchange Bank, and in 1910 became a state institution. Mr. Warner has
been president of the Farmington Bank for three years, and as already
stated, is identified with financial affairs in Detroit.

Mr. Warner's official life began in 1890, when he was chosen a member
and president of the Village Board of Trustees of Farmington. That
office he held for nine years. From 1895 to 1898 he was a member of the
state senate, as representative from the Twelfth District. At the Repub-
lican state convention in Grand Rapids in 1900, he was nominated for
secretary of state by acclamation, was elected in November, and served
during 1901-02. In 1902 came his re-election by a vote of over a quarter
of a million. His service as secretary of the state of Michigan covers
the years 1901-04. With his growing popularity and influence in public
affairs, and his recognized ability, he was in 1904 nominated and elected
governor of the state, being the youngest incumbent to hold that office
from the adoption of the state constitution of 1850. Another unique
distinction in state politics that belongs to Mr. Warner is that he held
the chair of governor for three successive terms, from January, 1905, to
January, 191 1. During his terms of office such measures as the good road
"movement, the primary election law, popular nomination of United States
senators, two-cent railroad passenger law, and the uniform taxation
corporation were either inaugurated or pushed into practical operation,
and largely through the governor's initiative and advocacy.

In i8S<S, Mr. Warner married Miss Martha M. Davis, who was born
at Farmington in Oakland county, a daughter of Samuel and Susan
(Grofift) Davis, of an old Pennsylvania family. The children of Mr. and
Mrs. Warner are: Susan Edcssa, born April 18, 1891; Howard Maltby,

HISTORY OF xMlCHlGAN 1451

born January 4, 1893; Harley Davis, born March 4, 1894; and Helen
Rhoda, born March 14, 1899.

Henry E. Morton. The eminence of Muskegon among the indus-
trial centers of Michigan has been due to the presence here of a group
of men possessed of remarkable genius as manufacturers and of tine
capabilities as organizers and business builders. Of those industries
which may be regarded as the direct product of inventive genius and the
personal ability of their founders, the Morton Manufacturing Company
at Muskegon Heights is probably the most conspicuous. The founder
of this industry was the late Matthew Morton, who started in life a
poor boy on a farm. Talent for mechanics and an original genius
started him in the line which brought him success and enabled him to
give to the world machinery which has lightened the burdens of men
throughout the civilized country. He had courage, ability and determina-
tion. He was not only a good manufacturer, but a remarkable salesman,
took great pride in his work, and as he prospered his business grew
until it became the nucleus of one of the important industries of the
state.

Henry E. ]\Iorton, a son of the founder of the Morton Manufactur-
ing Company, and now president of that concern, was born at Lapeer,
Michigan, September 16, 1863. His mother was Sarah T. Strong, who
was born in Lapeer, Michigan, April 27, 1841, and is still living. On
July 4, 1859, she married Matthew Morton, who was born near Ayr-
shire, Scotland, in 1837, and who died in 1909.

The late Matthew Morton came to America with his parents at the
age of eight years, settled on a farm at Romeo, Michigan, and lived in
the country until he was twenty-one years of age. While on the farm
he manufactured from his own tools a foot lathe, took this machine to
Armada, and started his career as a manufacturer. A number of years
later his enterprise was located at Lapeer. There his enterprise expanded
to the construction of steam engines and saw mill and grist mill ma-
chinery and he became head of the Lapeer Steam Engine Works, which
was conducted at Lapeer until 1870. Returning to Romeo, he then
founded the firm of Morton & Hamlin. This firm continued the manu-
facture of steam engines and other machinery until 1873. St. Clair was
the next center of operations and the business was continued there under
the name of the .St. Clair Iron Works, its output being stationary steam
engines and marine engines. Again returning to Romeo, Matthew Mor-
ton took up the manufacture of agricultural machinery.

In 1879 he invented the Morton check valve, a device which proved
its immediate usefulness in connection with all steam power plant install-
ation. In 1880 was organized the Morton Check & Pump Valve Com-
pany, a copartnership, for the manufacture of the valves in difl:erent
sizes, and as a side line agricultural machinery was made, chiefly
machines invented by the genius of Matthew Morton. In the manufac-
ture of this product a kdy seating machine was required, and as there
was nothing on the market available for the purpose, Matthew Morton
designed and built a machine that was so successful that all machine
shops in the country took steps to secure the device. In 1884 the first
patent for the machine was issued, and from that time its manufacture
was an important part of the Morton enterprise. The business was
kept at Romeo, until 1891, when the plant was transferred to Muskegon,
and established on Muskegon Heights. In the same year the Morton
Manufacturing Company was incorporated with Matthew Morton as
president, Henry E. Morton as vice-president and William Rowan as
secretary and treasurer. Its capital stock was one hundred thousand
dollars. Matthew IMorton continued as president of this large concern

1-152 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

until his death. After developing the largest line of key setting machines
in the world, his attention was given to the development of draw cut
shapers and traveling head planers. These machines were exhibited the
first time at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893. The products of the
Morton Manufacturing Company have been sold and operated in nearly
every civilized country of the world. Many of the tools have come into
general use in some of the largest ship building industries in Scotland,
and after delivering a consignment of machinery in Scotland, Matthew
Morton superintended their installation and operation. The business
has grown to remarkable proportions and its agencies are now found
in foreign lands. The career of the late ^latthew Morton was remark-
able not only for its genius and ability in organization, but also from the
fact that he started out a poor boy without a dollar, and his success was
largely the direct result of his own efforts. He was a Republican in
politics and belonged to the Methodist Protestant church. There were
three children : Harriet is the wife of James Millikin, a farmer at
Cairo, Michigan, and county treasurer and member of the state legis-
lature; Mary E. ; and Mason B., vice-president of the Morton Manufac-
turing Company.

Flenry E. Morton after a common school education entered the shops
with his father at the age of fourteen, and has been identified with the
Morton enterprise ever since. By experience and long study he is
familiar with every detail of the industry, and in his position as presi-
dent of the company directs its affairs in such a way as to reap the
benefit of the originating genius of its founder. Much of Mr. Morton's
time is taken up with travel in connection with his business.

On April 6, 1887, Henry E. Alorton married Ora (jertrude Chriss-
man, daughter of Michael H. Chrissman, who was a farmer near Wash-
ington, Michigan. To their union have been born five children: Margaret
S., who finished a college education at Olivet: Henry E. Jr., who has
taken his first year of college work at Lansing ; Matthew EL, now in high
school; Ora in the seventh grade of the common schools; and Alice N.,
also in school. The family belong to the Methodist Episcopal church,
and Mr. Morton is a Republican in politics, and at one time was presi-
dent of the Muskegon Fleights Village.

William Tefft Barbour. President of the Detroit Stove Works,
Mr. Barbour is one of the younger men in business in Detroit, and
though still in his thirties is at the head of one of the most important
industrial establishments of the state.

William Tefft Barbour was born in Detroit April 4, 1877. His par-
ents were Edwin S. and Ella (Tefft) Barbour, his father having for many
years been one of Detroit's leading men of affairs. After his education
in the pul)lic schools of Detroit, William Barbour was sent east to the
Phillips-Andover Academy of Massachusetts, where he was a member
of the class of 1896. Returning home, his business career began as pur-
chasing agent for the Detroit Stove Works, and in a short time he was
made vice-president of the company, and since 1897 has directed its
management from the post of president. His enterprise has also con-
tributed to the preeminence of Detroit as a center of the automobile
industry and has a well-established place in local industries.

Mr. Barbour is a member of the Detroit Board of Commerce, and
belongs to the Detroit Club, the Detroit Boat Club, and the Detroit
Automobile Club. His church is the Protestant Episcopal. On June 10,
i<)02, occurred his marriage with Miss Margaret C. Chittenden. She
was born and reared in Detroit, a daughter of William J. Chittenden, a
Detroit citizen whose career is mentioned elsewhere in this publication.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1453

They have four children, Irene J., Ella C, William T., Jr., and
Alpheus W.

James J. Nufer. A vigorous young business man who since leav-
ing college has been a factor in the industrial activities of White Hall,
James J. Nufer is now treasurer of the Nufer Cedar Company, an impor-
tant industry established and built up by his father.

James J. Nufer was born in White Hall, April 7, 1879, a son of
Frederick and Helen ( McGrade ) Nufer. His grandfather was Charles
Nufer, a native of Columbus, Ohio, and a successful miller. The great-
grandfather was a soldier serving with the rank of colonel in the Revo-
lutionary war. The Nufer family had settled in Fredericksburg, Mary-
land, during the colonial period. The maternal grandfather, John T.
McGrade was born in Scotland, settled in New York City, moved west
to Illinois, where he died on his farm. Frederick Nufer, father of James
J. was born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1847, a"d died in Whitehall in 191 1.
His wife was born in New York City, November 22, 1852, and was mar-
ried in White Hall in 1868. The late Frederick Nufer was one of the
early settlers in Muskegon county, and a man whose enterprise and
influence were highly beneficial to the village of White Hall. He located
there in 1858, started his career as a log scaler, worked hard and quickly
proved his ability, and in the early sixties joined Mark B. Covell in the
purchase of a small mill, where they began the manufacture of lumber
on a small scale. Frederick Nufer continued in business with Mr.
Covell a short time and then started on his own account. His enter-
prise was increased from time to time, all his surplus being reinvested in
extensions and improvements, and besides his general lumber mill he
conducted a shingle factory. His business was one of those that expanded
under the stimulus of his enterprise and his foresight and judgment,
and at the time of his death, he left an estate representing a considerable
fortune. In 1887 he incorporated a company, established a mill for the
manufacture of boxes from tin plate, and that industry was continued
up to the time of his death. The firm of Nufer Cedar Company now has
a large plant at White Hall and its annual volume of business during
1912 was four hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars. A southern
plant, a branch of the same enterprise, located at Petersburg, Virginia,
produced last year's business to the aggregate value of half a million
dollars. The late Frederick Nufer, with his wife, was a communicant
of the Methodist Episcopal church at White Hall, was a Knight Templar
and Scottish Rite Mason, also a member of the Shrine, was a Republican
in politics, and was honored with the office of president of the village of
White Hall for several years. His children were seven in number, and
four are still living, the others besides James being: William L., who
is president of the Nufer Cedar Company at Petersburg, \'irginia :
F. W. also located at Petersburg; Nellie Nufer Devine, who is secre-
tary of the company, and her husband J. J. Devine is identified with
the southern plant at Petersburg; and James J., treasurer of the com-
pany.

James J. Nufer grew up in White Hall, attended the local schools,

and his first ambition was for a professional career. After graduating

from the University of Michigan in the regular course in 1903, he spent

one year in the ^Iedical Department of the University and following

that was for two years coach of the athletic team in Purdue University

at Lafayette, Indiana. Following that experience he returned to White

Hall and became identified with his father's business, and is now giving

all his attention to the further extension of the White Hall plant, being

treasurer of the Nufer Cedar Companv. Mr. Nufer belongs to the
Vol. ni— 16

1454 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Methodist church, is affihated with the Masonic Order through the
Knights Templar degree, ami in politics is Republican. During his
university career he belonged to the Sigma Chi fraternity.

James Burritt Nettleton. By diversified gifts and various serv-
ices men contribute to the development of a great city. The foundations
of law and municipal order attract some ; others give themselves to the
founding of institutions of religion and learning, still others are instru-
mental in the opening up of the avenues of trade and commerce and in
furnishing the facilities for the transaction of business. In a thousand
different but diverging directions they bend their energies, according to
some mysterious law of organization to the common weal. Among all
the various occupations and professions, none is more promotive of the
reputation abroad of a growing city than that which has to do with its
architecture. Detroit for many years has been noted for the beauty of its
public buildings, its churches and schools, its business emporiums and its
private residences, and this is because of the work and superior gifts
of such men as James Burritt Nettleton, senior member of the well-
known firm of Nettleton & Weaver, architects.

Mr. Nettleton is a product of the farm, having been born on the
homestead of his par-ents in Medina county, Ohio, June 24, 1862, a son
of Noble and Mary Anna (Blakeslee) Nettleton. The father was born
in Connecticut in 1820, and was a son of Daniel Nettleton, also of that
state. The latter left N^w England in 1S32 with his family and removed
to Medina county, -Obio,- becoming a pioneer of that section of the West-
ern Reserve, whete he continued to pass the remainder of his life in tilling
the soil. Noble ISTettleton was twelve years of age when he accompanied
his parents overland to Ohio. He was reared to agricultural pursuits,
early adopted farming as his life work, and continued in pastoral pur-
suits throughout his life, passing away in 1893. He was an energetic,
industrious and thrifty farmer, and through energy and well-directed
effort became a substantial man, so that in his declining years he was
able to retire and enjoy the fruits of his early labors. Mary Anna
(Blakeslee) Nettleton was born in Medina county, Ohio, in 1825, the
daughter of Burritt Blakeslee, who was a New Euglander by birth and a
pioneer farmer of Medina county. She also passed her last years in
Ohio, and there died in 1899.

James Burritt Nettleton was reared on the home farm in Ohio. He
received his early education in the country schools and graduated from
the Medina high school, following which he entered Cornell University,
where he took the architectural course, graduating with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in architecture in the summer of 1886. Succeeding
this, he spent some time in the study of his chosen profession as a
draughtsman in different architects's offices at York, Pennsylvania, and
Zanesville and Cleveland, Ohio, and in the spring of 1887 came to Detroit
and became a draughtsman in the office of Donaldson & Meier, architects,
with whom he continued for ten years. In 1897 Mr. Nettleton established
himself in his profession in Toledo, Ohio, where he was in business for
five years, but in 1902 returned to Detroit to the offices of Donaldson &
Meier, where he passed the next three years. In 1905 he again entered
business on his own account, and in 1908, with Alfred E. Weaver,
formed the partnership of Nettleton & Weaver, an association which
has continued lo the present time. They maintain offices at No. 1405
Penobscot building.

As Mr. Nettleton is still in the prime of life, his originality and
enthusiasm in his chosen profession will bring him still greater eminence
than that which he now enjoys. He is a valued member of the Michigan

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1455

Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture and belongs to tlie
Detroit Board of Commerce. His rehgious connection is with St.
Joseph's Episcopal church.

Mr. Nettleton married, in 1889, Miss Kitty M. Wilder, who was born
at Medina, Ohio, daughter of James and Cornelia Eliza (Egbert)
Wilder, natives of New York state and pioneers of Medina county, Ohio.
Two daughters and a son have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nettleton,
namely: Frances Elizabeth, born in 1890; James Erls, in 1894; and
Dorothy May, in 1903.

Burt Russell Shurly, M. D. By his knowledge of medicine, medi-
cal judgment and skill, and by his prominent relations with hospital and
local and national medical organizations. Dr. Shurly is one of Michigan's
most prominent physicians. It is in the specialty of laryngology, otology
and clinical medicine that he has for several years concentrated his efforts,
and his qualifications and record entitle him to rank among the best known
specialists along those lines in the country.

Dr. .Shurly is dean and professor of rhinology, laryngology and otology
in the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery : is laryngologist to Harper
Hospital and Providence Hospital and the Children's Free Hospital ; at-
tending laryngologist and otologist to the Woman's Hospital ; and is sec-
retary of the Detroit Post-Graduate School of Medicine.

Dr. Shurly was born in Chicago, Illinois, a son of Edmund R. P. and
Augusta (Godwin) Shurly. Dr. Shurly received most of his college edu-
cation in the Northwestern Military Academy and the University of
Wisconsin, and was graduated M. D. from the Detroit College of Medi-
cine in the Class of 1895. .Subsequently he took post-graduate work in
the University of Vienna. His practice began at Detroit in 1895, and the
succeeding years have brought a large and profitable practice together
with many honors in professional positions and relations. During the late
war with Spain Dr. Shurly served as assistant surgeon and apothecary in
the United States navy on board the U. S. S. Yosemite with the Michi-
gan Naval Reserves. The record of the Michigan Naval Reserve in that
war was such as to reflect credit upon every one of its members. It will
be recalled that the Reserve was assigned to duty on the Auxiliary Cruiser
Yosemite, and did a great deal of important duty in Cuban waters.
Among other achievements the Yosemite captured a Spanish vessel, and
some years later Congress voted a large bounty which was distributed
among the officers and crew. Dr. Shurly enjoys many pleasant relation-
ships with old comrades in the Reserve, and is a member of the Military
Order of Foreign Wars.

Dr. Shurly has membership in the American Laryngological, Otological
and Climatological Associations, the Michigan State Medical Society, the
American Medical Association, the American Academy of Medicine, the
American Association of Military Surgeons, the American Academy of
Ophthalmology and Oto-Uaryngology, the American Association of Rhi-
nology, Laryngology and Otology. He also belongs to the Military Order
of the Loyal Legion, is a Republican in politics, a member of the Episcopal
church, and identified with the Masonic order. His clubs are the Detroit,
the University, the Country, the Detroit Racquet and Curling. By his
marriage to Viola Palms, of the old Detroit family of that name. Dr.
Shurly has four children : Marie, Beatrice, Burt Russell, Jr., and Edmund.

H. J. M.^xwELL Grylls. An architect with a long and successful
experience in Detroit, Mr. Grylls is junior member of the well known
firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, who as architects probably stand in
the very first rank in their profession in Detroit at this time. Mr. Grylls

1456 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

possesses not only a long and thoroughly tested experience, but splendid
natural qualifications for his work, and whether in independent practice
or in association with other well known architects has had some of the
best honors and accomplished some of the finest results in his profession
in Detroit.

Humphrey John Maxwell Grylls was born in England, March 8,
1865, a son of llumphrey Millett and Henrietta Elizabeth (Fox) Grylls.
It was through private schools that he received his educational training,
while in England, and was a student in the Truro Grammar Schools and
the Crewkerne Grammar School. In 1881 he came to the United States
and in May, 1883, began employment with W. E. Brown, a Detroit archi-
tect. He was with Mr. Brown until 1885, following which a short time
was spent in the office of Donaldson & Meier, another firm of Detroit
architects and in the latter part of 1885 he became connected with
William Scott & Company. He was taken into the business in 1889, at
which time the firm name became John Scott & Company. In 1903 Mr.
Grylls set up practice independently at Detroit under his own name, and
in 1905 became senior member of the firm of Grylls & Gies. The organi-
zation of the present corporation of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, occurred
in February, 1907, and Mr. Grylls has since been vice president of the
company.

He has been devoted to his profession and most of his honors have
come through his professional work. Mr. Grylls served as president and
secretary of the Michigan Chapter of the American Institute of Archi-
tects, and is a member of the Detroit Architectural Club, the Detroit Club,
the Indian Village Club, the Detroit Athletic Club, and the Witena-
gemote Club. In 1893 at Detroit, he was married to Miss Mary Field.
They are the parents of the following children : Flumphrey Millett Kerche-
val, Richard Gerveys Field, Maxwell Miles and John Robert Jefiierson.

J. G. R. MANW.\RrNG, M. D. A surgeon at Flint, Dr. Joshua George
Ross Manwaring was born at Imlay City, Michigan, October 17, 1877,
a son of George R. and Amy (Kinnee) Manwaring, natives of Dryden,
Michigan, and Drayton Plains, Canada, respectively. His mother died
at Kansas City, Missouri, in 191 1, at the age of fifty-six, and the father
now lives and is a successful merchant at Sedgwick, Kansas. During
many years of residence at Imlay City, George R. Manwaring was
engaged in merchandising. The five children were : Vera Inez, wife of
Dr. George Lowes, of Lawton, Oklahoma ; Joshua George Ross ; Ethel
Irene, wife of Watson Conner, of Albany, New York; Edgar George
Ross, a graduate of the School of Mines at RoUa, Missouri, and now a
mining engineer of Lewiston, Alontana ; and one that died in infancy.

With an education acquired from the public schools of Inila\', Dr.
Manwaring graduated from the Lapeer high school, and from the med-
ical department of the University of Michigan with the degree M. D.
in iijdi. The two following years were spent as a member of the house
slafi' at the University Hospital. Dr. Manwaring's chief practice from
tlic beginning has been surgery, and since locating at Flint in 1903 he
has concentrated his energies on that branch of his profession.

Dr. ]\Ianwaring has membership in the Genesee Medical Society, the
.'\merican State Medical Society and the American Medical Association,
and was one of the surgeons who in 191 2 established at Washington,
D. C., the American College of .Surgeons, membership in which is dis-
tinctive of special attainment in the field of surgery. He is a member
of the I'liui Cnuiili)- Club, has taken thirty-two degrees of .Scottish Rite
Masonr\- and belongs to the Mystic Shrine, and is a member of the
Elks. 11 is home is at 317 E. 3rd street in Mint. On August 24, 1904,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1457

Dr. Manwaring was married at Rolla, Missouri, to Miss Fleda G.
Dowell, a native of Hickville, Ohio. Their three children are : Joshua,
born July 4, 1907; John Thomas, born in January, 191 1; and Frances
Amy, born in July, 1913.

Jay Robert McColl. Probably there is no city in the country where
the services of skilled and experienced consulting mechanical engineers
are in more active demand than in Detroit, where, owing to its rapid
and marvelous growth and development, municipal improvements and vast
private enterprises are conducted upon the most extensive scale. A lead-
ing and prominent representative devoted to this department of industrial
activity is Jay Robert McColl, a member of the firm of Ammerman &
McColl, and a man who has frequently been honored by appointment to
positions of an expert and advisory nature. Mr. McColl is a native son
of Michigan and is descended from one of the pioneer families of this
commonwealth.

The McColl family originated in Scotland, and Hugh iMcColl, the
grandfather of Jay Robert McColl, and who later founded the family in
the United States, was a cotton and silk manufacturer at Paisley, Scot-
land, in which city he was born in 1795. When he came to America
about 1820 he located in what is now a part of the city of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and it was there that his son, Hugh McColl, was born.
The senior McColl died at Delhi Mills, May 28, 1864, aged seventy years.
His wife, Jean Trotter McColl, born in County Cavan, Ireland, in
1790, died at Delhi Mills, February 23, 1856, aged si.xty-six years. In
1829 Hugh McColl, the son, came to Michigan, then a territory, and
settled at what is now Delhi Station, but which was then known as Delhi
Mills, five miles from Ann Arbor, in Washtenaw county, that settlement
during those days being regarded as quite a manufacturing point. He
was a pioneer mill operator of the state, he having established one of the
first woolen mills in Michigan. Farmers would bring to his mill their raw
wool from miles around, and he would manufacture it into cloth for
clothes, blankets, etc., and the subject of this review still retains in his
possession, and uses, a pair of blankets made by the old gentleman, their
excellent state of preservation testifying eloquently to the skill and work-
manship of this pioneer. Later, Hugh McColl took up one hundred and
sixty acres of land in the above locality, and the deed, signed by President
Andrew Jackson, is held by Jay Robert McColl, as is also the deed for
an adjoining tract, one hundred and sixty acres, taken up by this pioneer,
this latter document being signed by President John Quincy Adams.
Hugh McColl was the father of four sons, of whom two took charge of
the mill at their father's death, while the other two came into possession
of the farms. The grandfather passed away at Delhi, ripe in years, and
with the respect and warm regard of a wide circle of acquaintances and
friends, attracted to him by his integrity, his honorable dealing and his
fidelity to duty as he saw it in all the walks of life.

Robert McColl, father of Jay Robert McColl, was born at Holmes-
burg, Pennsylvania, now a part of Philadelphia, December 14, 1824. He
came to Michigan with his father in 1829, at the age of five years. He
was given such educational advantages as were afiforded by the pioneer
schools, and grew up to agricultural pursuits, spending much of his time
in clearing, grubbing and cultivating the land which his father had secured
from the government. As a young man he adopted the vocation of
farming, and at the time of his father's death he secured the second tract
of land, on which he continued to carry on operations during the remain-
der of his life. He was a man of industry and thrift, prospered in his
ventures because of his close application, and was respected and esteemed

1458 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

by his fellow-citizens. He married Sophia D. Latson, who was born on
an adjoining farm, the daughter of a pioneer who came to Michigan
from the state of New York. Mrs. ]\IcColl passed away in 1900.

Jay Robert McCoU was born on his father's farm in the vicinity
of Delhi, Washtenaw county, Michigan, March 24, 1867. He first
attended the district schools and subsequently the Ann Arbor high school,
following which he took up the study of mechanical engineering at the
Michigan Agricultural College, where he was graduated with his degree
in 1890. He next took special post-graduate work in engineering at his
alma mater, as well as at Cornell University. The year he graduated from
the ^Michigan Agricultural College, he declined an appointment to the
United States Geological Survey to accept an adjunct professorship of
mechanical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, a posi-
tion which he held for ten years and resigned to accept the position of
associate professor of thermodynamics, at Purdue University, Indiana,
which he continued to hold for one year. In 1903 he became associate
professor of steam engineering, in charge of the department of steam engi-
neering at the same university, continuing as such until 1905. In the
latter year he was appointed mechanical engineer for the American
Blower Company of Detroit, the biggest manufacturers in that line in
the country, which position he resigned in 1910, to become a member of
the engineering firm of Ammerman, McColl & Anderson. In the summer
of 191 1 Mr. McColl became a member of the faculty of the University
of Detroit, and at this time he is dean of engineering of that institution.
He is president of the Michigan Agricultural College Alumni Association,
to which he was elected in 1913, and is a member of the American Society
of Mechanical Engineers, and in December, 1913, read a paper before
that society (the first on the subject) on the "Test of Vacuum Clean-
ers," at the meeting held in New York City.

At -St. Johns, Michigan, January 3, 1900, Mr. AIcColl was married to
Miss Belle G. Baldwin, who was born at St. Johns, Michigan, a daughter
of Albert J. Baldwin, a descendant of one of our old American families
that lived in Old Hadley, Massachusetts, over a hundred years before the
Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. McColl have one daughter.

John Watson. The city of Grand Rapids cherishes and honors as
its oldest pioneer citizen the venerable John Watson, whose home has
been there since 1837, and who from boyhood to old age has witnessed
practically every phase of development, and all the remarkaljle trans-
formations which the years have brought about. It is no empty distinc-
tion to have lived in one locality upwards of eighty years, and that honor
is increased when those years have been filled with useful labors, with
kindly service as a neighbor and fellow citizen, and with substantial
accumulation and accomplishments.

John Watson was born in Hartford, Connecticut, September 17,
1826, and at this writing is in his eighty-eighth year. His father was
Isaac Watson, wdio was the pioneer harness maker of Grand Rapids,
and one of its first settlers. He was born in Hartford, a son of John
Watson, who was a contractor and builder and probably spent his entire
life in Connecticut. John Watson had two daughters and seven sons,
but Isaac was the only one of the nine to reach manhood. As a boy he
served an apprenticeship in the saddle and harness making trade, and
late in 1826, after the birth of his son John, he moved west to Erie, in
the extreme northwestern corner of Pennsylvania, and a short time later
crossed the line into the Western Reserve of Ohio, becoming one of the
early settlers in Hudson in Summit county. There he acquired a large
tract of land in Hudson, including the present site of the Union station.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1459

A few years enabled him to build up a considerable business, which he
sold, and then lived for a time at Prairie Ronde and Twinsburg in the
same county. Moving his home from there to Cleveland, h^ took a
contract to make horse collars at fifty cents apiece. His shop was in his
own house, and he was able to make ten dollars a day.

In 1837 occurred the further migration of the family to what was
then the western frontier. With his family and goods Isaac Watson
embarked on a schooner at Cleveland and after battling with wind and
wave for four weeks the vessel landed at the mouth of the Grand
River, on the west coast of Michigan. While the mouth of the Grand
river was at that time occupied by settlers, Isaac Watson was not satis-
fied with the location and was transported on the steamer Gov. Mason,
which was the first steamboat plying up and down Grand river, to Grand
Rapids. Grand Rapids was then a very small village, consisting of a
few log houses. There was not a house in the place which contained a
heating or cooking stove, all being heated by wide hearths and chimneys,
and all the cooking being done by the fireplace. For his family Isaac
Watson found a vacant log house without flooring or chimney, and these
he built of wood. It was owned by the Baptist Alission, and stood on the
spot where Bridge street crosses the river on the west side. Moving
his family into that rude home, he began a permanent residence in
Grand Rapids. Traveling was very expensive in those days, and it had
taken all his cash capital to reach Grand Rapids, and his only resources
consisted of a small stock of leather and some saddles which he had
brought along. At that time there was only one team of horses on the
west side of Grand Rapids, owned by Lovell Moore, and as the sur-
rounding country was very sparsely settled there was consequently lit-
tle demand for leather goods. However, this pioneer harness maker
traded a saddle to Jonathan Chubb for si.xteen bushels of wheat, which
insured a supply of flour for some weeks to come. The wheat was
stored in the loft of the log house, and a ladder led up from the main
room to that place of storage. Isaac Watson having practically no em-
ployment at his trade, but being an expert rifleman, spent a considerable
part of his time in procuring meat for his table, and as deer were plenti-
ful in that section found no difficulty in keeping the larder filled with
venison. About a hundred feet above the bridge stood a grist mill, and
whenever flour was needed he loaded a stock of wheat in a canoe and
took it up to the mill. As already mentioned Isaac Watson was the first
saddle and harness maker in Grand Rapids. Besides making saddles
and harness, he occasionally made a pair of boots to order, and also
manufactured several trunks, covered with horse hide. Isaac Watson
died at Grand Rapids in 1846 at the age of fifty years. The maiden
name of his wife was Olive Hawkins, who was born in Hartford, Con-
necticut, and who survived her first husband many years. She after-
wards married a Mr. Roberts, and died aged seventy-seven. There were
two children, and the daughter named Harriet, married Mindius Whit-
ney, and she died in her eighty-first year.

John Watson was eleven years old when the family made its long
journey from Cleveland, Ohio, to Grand Rapids, and has a keen recol-
lection of the many incidents in that voyage. Probably no man in west-
ern Michigan has a greater fund of worthy incidents and recollections
of pioneer life than Mr. Watson. Practically the entire west coast of
Michigan in 1837 was an unbroken wilderness, the land was owned by
the government, and could be had almost anywhere at a dollar and a
quarter an acre. Though the Indian tribes had ceded the greater por-
tion of the state to the government, they still remained in practical pos-
session of their old hunting grounds, and Indian boys were the play-

1460 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

mates and comrades of young John Watson when he was growing up.
He associated with them sufficiently to learn their language. He recalls
that one of his dusky playmates was named Sowpig and another one
was called Noconetwish. Of course no railroads were built into this
part of Michigan for years, and all supplies were drawn from Kala-
mazoo overland, or brought in by lake boats. A regular means of
passenger transportation was by stage coach, and the arrival of the big
stages with passengers and mail was an event which brought out prac-
tically the entire population of the village. On the present site of the
Morton House, at the northwest corner of Monroe street and Ionia
avenue, stood in the early days the National hotel, which was the head-
quarters for these stage coaches. While Mr. Watson had had some
schooling in Ohio, he was also one of the early pupils of Grand Rapids
schools, and attended a school taught in what was known as the Mission
House, and was the first school on the west side. That school was estab-
lished in 1840. Air. Watson had only limited opportunities to ac(|uire
an education, and managed to secure a good practical training which
has been sufficient for his business purposes.

When eighteen years old he hurt himself with an axe while cutting a
stump and was kept in the house si.x months. He was under the medical
care of Dr. Ellis, who charged five dollars for attending him during those
six months. When he was twenty years old he started out on his inde-
pendent career. liuying a horse and giving his note in payment, he took
up the business of teaming, and oftentimes brought supplies overland
from Kalamazoo, while at other times he offered his services in trans-
porting household goods from the boat to the homes of new settlers.
He was engaged in that work for about twenty years, and that was the
basis of his moderate fortune. Selling out his teaming interests, he
engaged in the buying of unimproved city property and in building
houses for sale or for renting purposes. In that way he did a good deal
to develop and improve new sections of the city, and carried on the
business as a prosperous venture for several years.

In 1883 Mr. Watson bought from H. G. Stone an estate on the hill
west of the river, at that time occupied b)' an uncompleted lirick house.
He finished the construction of the house, and it has been his home
ever since. The Watson residence is located far above the smoke and
din of the city, commands an extensive and inviting view not only of the
city and immediate valley, but also of the surrounding country, and it
is not surprising that Mr. and Mrs. Watson living in such a place, should
at their advanced age be still hale and hearty. They have enjoyed a
happv marriage companionship of 64 years. On March 17, 1850, Mr.
Watson married l^lizabeth Roberts. She was born in Plattsburg, New
York, March 17, 1832, a daughter of Nathaniel P. Roberts. To their
marriage have been born three sons : Otis X. Watson, who is engaged in the
hardware business in Grand Rapids, married Cora M. Wight, and their
four children are Grace, Elizabeth. Olive and Cora. The first son,
Lewis Cass, who was trained in the hardware business, moved to
Petoskey, and did a successful business as a general store man for some
time, later engaging in the general hardware business. He died at the
age of 32 years, leaving a wife and two children. These children were
reared in the home of their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Watson.
Another son, Thomas J., died when thirteen months old.

Stanford Tappan Crapo. For nearly sixty-five years, and through
three generations, the name Crapo has been prominently associated with
the business and public affairs of Michigan. A political history of the
state will always honor the name of Henry H. Crapo, who became gov-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1461

ernor during the last year of the Civil war and held the office for two
successive terms. Governor Crapo was first active in the lumber busi-
ness, later with railroad construction, and for half a century the family
name has been particularly identified with the development of the
state's transportation system. The Pere Marquette Railroad through
its development and consolidation into the present system has owed
much to the capital and the business management of the Crapo family.
Representing the third generation of the name is Stanford Tappan
Crapo, who has been a resident of Detroit since 1900, has also been
identified with the Pere -Marquette system, with the coal and cement
industry, and with various financial and industrial corporations. Previous
to 1900 Mr. Crapo's home was in Saginaw.

Stanford Tappan Crapo was born at New Bedford, Massachusetts,
June 13, 1865, a grandson of Governor Crapo, and a son of William
Wallace and Sarah A. D. (Tappan) Crapo. Henry H. Crapo, who mar-
ried Mary A. Slocum, was a New England man who became interested
in the Michigan lumber resources at an early date, and in 1850 located
at Flint, where his activities as a lumberman were directed on a large
scale. He built the Flint and Holly Railroad, which afterwards became
a part of the Pere Marquette system, in which he was then an official.
His prominence as a business man and in public affairs and his splendid
and unwavering loyalty during the dark days of the Civil war brought
him into prominence in politics, and in 1864 he was elected Governor of
Michigan to succeed the war governor Blair, and carried into his admin-
istration the same high loyalty and ability which had been characteristic
of his predecessor. He was again elected in 1866, and served as gov-
ernor of the state from January 1865 until January 1869.

William Wallace Crapo, who was born at Dartmouth in Massa-
chusetts May 16, 1830, was graduated from Yale College in 1852, studied
law in the Harvard Law School, was prominent in politics in Massa-
chusetts before the war, and in 1869 assumed the chief responsibilities
in connection with the large lumber business which his father had built
up in the state. William W. Crapo still lives in New Bedford, Massa-
chusetts, and has never had his home in Michigan, although much of his
time has Ijeen s]jent in the state on account of his investments and varied
business affairs. From 1875 ^o 1883 he represented his district in
Massachusetts in Congress. He was prominent in building up and
operating the Pere JNIarquette railroad until 1903, and was then chair-
man of the executive board. At that time other interests succeeded in
getting control of the road, and it may be remarked that its prosperity
has been on th.e decline ever since. At his home in New Bedford, Massa-
chusetts, William W'. Crapo has been known as a banker, cotton manu-
facturer, and in connection with many other enterprises. He was married
January 22, 1857, to Miss Tappan, who is now deceased.

The education of Stanford T. Crapo was furnished by the Friends
Academy in New Bedford and by Yale University. Soon after leaving
college he came to Michigan to look after the family interests in the
Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad. From 1894 to 1900 he served as gen-
eral manager of that road, and from 1900 to 1903 was general manager
of the Pere Marquette Railroad of Michigan, that being a consolidation
of the Flint & Pere Marf|uette, the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Rail-
road, and the Chicago & \\'est Alichigan Railroad.

Since 1903 Mr. Crapo has been chiefly engaged in the productive
industries of coal and cement. He is president of the Wyandotte Port-
land Cement Company ; is also secretary of the Huron Portland Cement
Company of Michigan ; vice-president of the Berry Coal Company, a
member of the board of directors of the Old National Bank of Detroit,

1462 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

a director in the Fort Street Union Depot, and a director in the Second
National Bank of Saginaw. Mr. Crapo has membership in the Detroit
Club, the Country Club, the Boat Club, the Detroit Golf Club and the
University Club of Detroit.

John M. Root. From the Mohawk Valley of New York came a
number of the early settlers of Jackson, who were for years prominently
identified with the business interests, steady progress, and the uninter-
rupted growth of the city, and helped to make it one of the first cities in
population among the southern counties of Michigan. Among these were
Paul B. Ring, Walter Fish, Marvin Dorrill, Michael Shoemaker, Ira C.
Backus, Allen Bennett, Sr., with his sons, Allen and Alonzo Bennett, and
Amos and John M. Root. The last named was the youngest of the settlers
from that section, but he was one of the first to rise to high position, and
with tlie business men of tlie city for years held as intimate and confi-
dential relations as any other citizen, and his death, June 13, 1898, came
as a distinct shock to the city.

John M. Root was born at Fort Ann, Washington county. New York,
April 21, 1824, and a portion of his early life was spent at Mohawk, Her-
kimer county, where two of his older brothers were engaged in the mer-
cantile business. Desiring a better education than the country schools of
a half century ago aitorded, he attended the academy at Granville, New
York, and was graduated from the state normal school at Albany, in 1846.
Two years later he came to Jackson. Here he taught school for a time
and subsequently became clerk in the dry-goods store conducted by his
brother, Amos. As early as 1856 and 1858 he was elected register of
deeds for the county, later served as alderman in the city council for two
years, was deputy postmaster during about four years and in that time
had entire charge of the postoffice, and in April, 1865, when the People's
National Bank was organized, he was chosen its first cashier, serving in
that capacity for five years and then being elected president to succeed
Hon. H. A. liayden. For twenty-eight successive elections he was the
unanimous choice of the board of directors for that responsible position.
During this long service the confidence of officers and stockholders of the
bank, and also of the public generally, in Mr. Root's integrity and judg-
ment remained unimpaired. For nearly six years in addition to his own
business, Mr. Root had the care and management as executor and trustee
of the estate of the late Amos Root and in the performance of this trust
displayed rare judgment and fidelity. He succeded Amos Root as presi-
dent of the Grand River Yalley Railroad Company. Such are the meager
details of a public and business career covering a full half century in the
village and city of Jackson.

Those who knew Mr. Root best had the greatest confidence in him. In
his later years, especially, many people went to him for advice. He had
a remarkable intuitive perception, and above everything else he exalted
personal integrity, and made private or class interest subservient to general
welfare. As a banker, he stood almost alone among bankers in support-
ing the cause of silver. He conscientiously believed that the restoration
of silver to its old position in our coinage system would benefit the mass
of the people, result in greatest good to the greatest number, and his busi-
ness position and manifest sincerity made him influential in the cause he
advocated. Mistaken or not, he had the courage of his convictions.

One rarely meets the pleasing combination of business and financial
supremacy with aesthetic qualities as exemplified to such a high degree
in Mr. Root. His literary taste gave him an unusual familiarity with the
best authors in American literature. In educational matters his model and
"uide was the late Horace Mann of Massachusetts, and he could quote

flf SSW Wflkt

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1463

many of his typical utterances with verbal accuracy. Ralph Waldo Em-
erson was another favorite author, many of whose terse and Platonic
utterances he quoted with pleasure. He kept in touch with the foremost
writers of modern times who have discussed social and industrial ques-
tions from an altruistic point of view. He would cull from newspapers
striking passages, in which some noble sentiment was felicitously ex-
pressed, and take delight in calling the attention of others to them. Great
thoughts condensed into single sentences found in him a constant admirer,
as for example : "The only way to have a friend is to be one.'" — Emerson.

On April 25, 1S55, Mr. Root was united in marriage with Miss Eliza
P. Cole, who still survives. She resides at No. 719 West Main street,
Jackson, and for many years has lived in this city. Among her friends
she is admired for her charming manner, gracious character and kindly
disposition. She was born at Booneville, Oneida county. New York, July
15, 1833, and came with her parents in 1837 to Jackson, which city has
since been her home. There were three children born to Mr. and Mrs.
Root : Mary Louise, Mrs. W. L. Benham, of Portland, Oregon ; Ruth,
Mrs. John George, Jr., of Jackson, Michigan ; and Bertha, who has al-
ways resided with her mother.

In an article which appeared in a Jackson paper some time after Mr.
Root's death, the writer says: "Not, only to his own children, but to all
young people, his constant advice was : '•Be ^a%es|^'be true to yourselves,
and you will do no wrong to others,' •ay4.,Wsjcpn^<jiti enforced this wise
counsel by personal example.

"Doing well that portion of the world's work which came to him,
achieving success by honest effort, and making society better by what he
has said and done during an active Kfe_ of "^ lljlf century, his example is
worthy of emulation by the young men of our Umc. While not intolerant,
Mr. Root's integrity of character made him an honest hater of shams,
whether of a business, social, political or religious nature.

"While belonging to no church and accepting no creed, he believed in
the religion of right conduct. Of the unbroken sequence of cause and
effect, whereby men must reap as they have sown, he had no doubt. He
saw no way of escape from the moral and spiritual consequences of vio-
lated law. Integrity was his test of manhood. He believed in the religion
of free thought and right action — the religion of character, of honesty, of
upright endeavor, of the home made happy and the life made better — an
every-day religion for the world in which we live now, rather than for a
dim and distant future — the religion of liberty, love and truth. He was
sincere, and therefore made no profession of faith which he did not com-
prehend. * * * The measure of his years was full, the work of this
life finished, and in the evening of the day and of his earthly career he fell
asleep, but the awakening was in another morn than ours."

Daniel P. Markey. It is as supreme commander of the Knights of
the Maccabees of the World that Daniel P. Markey is best known not
only in Michigan but wherever that great and beneficent fraternal order
has its membersliip. A lawyer by profession, admitted to the Michigan
bar more than thirty years ago, Daniel P. Markey practiced law a num-
ber of years and also engaged in the insurance business with marked
ability and success. The opportunities and services of a political career
brought him into a practical relationship with insurance matters in Mich-
igan," and all his experiences finally combined to prepare him for the
responsibilities of handling a great fraternal insurance order.

Mr. Markey became interested in fraternal work in 1882, joining the
Maccabees in November of that year. He was great commander of the
Great Camp for Michigan now known as the Modern Maccabees, in

1464 HISTORY OF lAIICHIGAN

1888-89-yo, and became supreme commander of the Knights of the
Maccabees of the World in 1891, and has since continued in that office,
giving all his time to the order to the exclusion of his profession since
1892. In 1892, when he assumed his present office, the order had seven-
teen thousand memljers and four hundred tents. In the present year,
1914, it has over three hundred thousand members and above five
thousand tents. It was then doing business in nine jurisdictions, now in
fifty. It then had no accumulated funds, while now its reserve
resources amount to over twelve million dollars and the order is on a
splendid financial basis. Air. Markey is largely responsible for the con-
dition, and is therefore no mere figurehead in the great fraternity. .

On an old farm home in the township of Bunker Hill, Ingham
county, Michigan, June 27, 1857, Daniel P. Markey was born a son of
James and Catherine (Morgan) Markey. His father was born in County
Louth, Ireland, in 1833, ^ son of James Markey Sr., also a native of that
county, who brought his family to the United States in 1838, and took
up a tract of wild land in the township of Bunker Hill in Ingham county.
He was one of the pioneers in that vicinity, helped to cut down a portion
of the wilderness, and cleared up land which has ever since been culti-
vated fields. James Markey Jr., the father, was an Ingham county
farmer up to 1865, when he moved his family to Pinckney in Li\ingston
county, where he went into business. For a number of years he handled
agricultural implements, and had a large and prosperous trade. In 1890
he moved to Chicago, Illinois, but seven years later returned to Michigan
and located in Port Huron, where he died in 191 1. His wife Catherine,
who is still living at Port Huron, was born in Unadilla township of Liv-
ingston county, Michigan, in 1837, and is now one of the oldest surviv-
ing native daughters of that locality. Her father, Peter Morgan, a
native of Ireland, was a pioneer settler in Livingston county, having
located there about a year before the birth of his daughter.

When Daniel I'. Markey was a small boy his family located at
Pinckney in Livingston county, where he was reared. A common school
education was the preparation given him for his practical career, and
four seasons were spent as a school teacher. Leaving Pinckney in the
spring of 1879, when twenty-two years of age, he secured a clerkship
with E. J. Knowlton, an Ann Arbor manufacturer, and while perform-
ing his clerical duties during the day, he spent his evenings and all his
other leisure time in the study of law under Professor Knowlton of the
University of Michigan. Judge Morris of Monroe admitted him to the
bar in the spring of 1881. In September of the same year he moved to
West Branch in Ogemaw county, where he began the practice of law.
During the following fall and winter, in order to eke out his slender
resources and income from law practice he taught school, and in the
spring of 18S2 he and his brother bought the old established real estate
and insurance business of J. R. iMeyers & Company at West Branch. A
year later Mr. Markey bought his brother's interests, and conducted the
business alone. In the fall of 1883, he associated with himself DeX'ere
Hall, late of Bay City, and up to 1891 they conducted jointly a business
as law practitioners and in the real estate and insurance lines. Mr.
Hall then removed to Bay City, and Mr. Markey to Port Huron, where
he lived from the spring of 1891 until the fall of 1908, when he trans-
ferred his headquarters to Detroit.

While his chief work has been in the building up of a great fraternal
institution, Mr. Markey's activities in state and national politics during
the years from 1882 until 1907 should not be forgotten in a brief outline
biography of his career. During his residence at West Branch in the
fall of 1882, Mr. Markey was elected circuit court commissioner of

HISTORY OF MICHIGy\N 1465

Ogemaw county, and in the spring of 1883 the governor appointed him
to fill a vacancy as judge of the probate court in the same county. In
1884 he was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, in 1886
was again chosen a member of the legislature, and was elected speaker
of the house during the 1887 session. During his second term in the
legislature one point is of particular interest. While serving as speaker
in 1887 he was one of the members who made a thorough study of the
insurance problem, and led a spirited struggle for reform in the interests
of sound insurance. .Some who were present at Lansing during that
time or who followed the legislative work of that period will recall the
successful fight made against the so-called "graveyard insurance com-
panies," and Mr. Markey had no small share in driving several notorious
examples of these companies from the state and in securing other prac-
tical reforms which have influenced insurance for the better down to
the present time. In 1887 Mr. Markey presided over the Republican
state conventions in the spring of that year, and again in the fall conven-
tion of 1892 which nominated Mr. Illiss for governor.

Mr. Markey has been a prominent member of the National Fraternal
Congress since 1891, and was chairman of the committee on statistics
from i8g6 to 1913. He was a member of the committee that prepared
the National Fraternal Congress Mortality Table, and has been for
sixteen years a persistent advocate of the doctrine that the promised
contributions of the members of fraternal orders must e(|ual their prom-
ised benefits. He has connections with other fraternities, is a Knight
Templar Mason, a Knight of Pythias, and an Independent Forester,
belongs to the Royal Arcanum, the Modern Woodmen of America, the
Modern Maccabees, the Fraternal Aid, the Woodmen of the World and
the Loyal Guards.

While his residence was at Pinckney Mr. Markey married Miss
Eva Gean, daughter of William E. Thompson of Putnam township,
Livingston county. Mrs. Markey died in March 1897, leaving two sons:
Dr. Clare C. Markey, a dentist of Chicago ; and Dr. Claude E. Markey, a
dentist at Pasadena, California. Mr. Markey was married in the fall
of 1898 to Mrs. Harriet E. Merriam, of Port Huron, a daughter of
Frank Goldie, one of Port Huron's pioneer citizens.

J.MiEs C, Wir.f.sox, M. D. The life work of the late James C. Will-
son had been finished in hea[)ing measiu"e years before his death, which
occurred when in his eightieth year, on August 29, 1912. Dr. Willson
began practice at Flint in 1857, and lived to enjoy the fruits of his
labors, and also to enjoy the proud distinction of practicing his no!>le
profession in this city for over fifty years. In him what is called the
"old school" had a shining exemplar. He soon became the "Family
Doctor"' throughout a wide circle of homes which he entered not only to
alleviate pain and suffering but to advise, counsel and cheer. To his
patients he became an ever-present help in time of trouble, often acting
as legal, moral and even political adviser. Endowed with a sunny nature
that fairly briiumed love for his fellowman. Dr. Willson exercised a sur-
passing influence for good upon this community. For over half a cen-
tury he was guide, philosopher and friend to all who sought his aid.

Dr. James C. Willson was born at Fitzroy, Ontario, Canada, April
28, 1833. His parents were John R. and Eliza (Riddell) Willson, who
came to Canada from the north of Ireland, their marriage in 1826 being
the first ceremony of that kind in the township of Fitzroy. Dr. Willson
grew up on an Ontario farm, where the requirements of hard worlc were
imposed from early boyhood, and his advantages in schooling were those
supplied by the village school at Pakenham, located three miles away

1466 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

from his father's log house. In 1849 he left home with an older
brother for the gold fields of California, but sickness overtook him and
he returned to Canada where he taught one term at the district school
that he had attended. In the following year he went to Olean, New
York, where chance led him into the art of daguerrotyping, a novel and
well paid profession at that time. He prospered at that occupation in
Olean, but his permanent ideals were centered in a more learned pro-
fession. Returning to Canada, he continued work as a teacher until
1855, when he entered the medical department of the University of
Michigan. After two courses of lectures and study under Detroit phy-
sicians, besides acting as interne at St. Mary's Hospital, he came to
Flint on May 14, 1857, and began practice in partnership with Dr. R. D.
Lamond. He had not yet completed his medical education, but returned
to the University of Michigan in 1858, and was graduated with honors
in 1859. Ten years later, in 1869, he attended a course of lectures in the
College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, receiving special
instruction in eye and ear practice from Drs. Agnew and Knapp.

When Dr. Willson began practice in Flint he w-as broken down in
health, with only slender chances of long continuation as an active
worker. Life in the open, however, combined with hard work acted as
a tonic. Riding long distances on horseback through mud and mire,
over corduroy roads, day and night both summer and winter, he devel-
oped a robust constitution, which carried him through long years of use-
fulness and helpfulness to mankind. Of the manv tributes paid to Dr.
Willson we quote from a letter written to him by a fonner student in his
office and now a professor at the University of Michigan : "I learned
much from your books : but I learned more from you. You gave me new
views of politics and religion and science and man's relation to his
felldws. Over a long and active life, in your profession, in civic affairs,
in state affairs, in public meetings, and in church gatherings, your voice
has always been heard in defense of right, in condemnation of wrong."

Dr. Willson, though a busy professional man, never neglected his
duty as a good citizen, and the first important interruj)tion of his pro-
fessional work came soon after the outbreak of the Civil war. In 1861
he was appointed surgeon with rank of major of the Tenth Michigan
Infantry, and in 1862 was transferred to the Eighth Michigan, called
the Flint Regiment, because most of its members came from that city.
After joining the regiment in Beaufort, South Carolina, Dr. Willson
was on the field in every battle fought by his command. The hardships
of army life told heavily upon him, and he was compelled to surrender
his commission and return home. In 1864 he was appointed by the
governor of the state as Michigan Militarv Representative at \\'ash-
ington.

Always a Republican in politics. Dr. Willson was a leader in party
affairs, and several times entered the field of practical politics, but
always in behalf of good government rather than for personal ambition.
In 1870 he was elected mayor of Flint, in an exciting campaign, in which
his defeated opponent was Josiah W. Begole, afterwards governor of
the state. In 1882 Governor Jerome appointed Dr. Willson a member
of the board of trustees of the Michigan School for the Deaf. Later
when Mr. Begole became governor, he attempted to remove Dr. Willson
from the board, Init the latter vigorously defended his position before
the supreme court, which ruled that a state officer could not be removed
by the governor without cause. Dr. Willson was nominated in 1884,
a candidate for congress from the sixth district, but encountered the
strong Democratic wave of that year, and was defeated.

As a citizen of Flint, he not only witnessed, but participated in,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1467

many phases of its growth and development from a village to an impor-
tant city. In 1872 he was one of the organizers of the Genesee County
Savings Bank, became a director in 1878, was vice-president from 1896
to 1908, and then succeeded the late William Atwood as president. He
was a director and at one time president of the City of Flint Gas Light
Company. In the organized social and institutional affairs of Flint he
always bore a decided and important part. He was a charter member of
the Shakespeare Club, and for more than forty years was president of
the Board of Trustees of the Presbyterian church. In line with his
profession he belonged to the Genesee County and the State Medical
Societies, also the American Medical Association. As a veteran of the
war, he held membership in Governor Crapo Post, G. A. R., and the
Michigan Commandery of the Loyal Legion. Perhaps his most impor-
tant activity and interest in later years was in connection with the tlurley
Hospital at Flint. With rare tact and ability he acted as chairman of the
commission which passed upon the admittance of indigent patients to
that institution. Dr. Willson so far as the onerous responsibilities of his
profession and citizenship allowed, was an eager traveler, having toured
the United States from the east to the west coast, and having also
enjoyed somewhat extended sojourns in old Mexico and in Europe.

On May 18, 1865, Dr. Willson married Miss Rhoda M. Crapo,
daughter of Henry H. Crapo, then governor of the state of Michigan
To their marriage was born only one child, George C. Willson, a promi-
nent business man of Flint. Mrs. Willson was born July 29, 1838, at
New Bedford, Massachusetts, and moved to Flint with her father's
family in 1856, where she died May 8, 1907. In 1877, Dr. and Mrs.
Willson moved with their family into the Crapo homestead, a fine old
colonial house surrounded by two acres of land beautifully laid out by
Governor Crapo and which forms a natural amphitheater, a beauty spot,
rare indeed in the heart of the city. Here the doctor resided for more
than thirty-five years. After his death the property was purchased by
the city of Flint and is now that part of their park system known as
the Willson Gardens, and reflects the calm and peaceful spirit of one of
Flint's most honored and respected citizens.

George C. Willson, a son of Dr. James C. and Rhoda (Crapo)
Willson, was born at Flint, March 28, 1871, and has since resided in
that city, being actively identified with its industrial and commercial
interests. He received his education in the public schools of Flint and
at the Phillips Exeter Academy of Exeter, New Hampshire, where he
graduated in 1890. On September 4, 1894, he married Miss Frances A.
Spencer, daughter of Charles and Mary Spencer, an old and respected
family of Saginaw, Michigan. They have been blessed with three chil-
dren: Frances Spencer Willson, born December 13, 1895; James Curtis
Willson, born November 2, 1900; and Roderick Crapo Willson, born
May 8, 1907.

Mr. Willson's business interests and activities are of a varied char-
acter. He has been actively associated with several of Flint's importance
industries, is a member of the Board of Commerce and a director of the
Genesee County Savings Bank and one of the organizers and directors
of the Industrial Savings Bank. Mr. Willson is a member and treasurer
of the Board of Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church Society, a
Republican in politics, and resides in a large and attractive home at 442
East Kearsley street.

Alex.'KNder Rodgers. The Rodgers name has been prominently
identified with manufacturing in western Michigan for upwards of fifty

1468 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

years. It is one of the oldest and likewise one of the most prominent
in connection with industrial affairs in the state. Alexander Rodgers
probably did as much as any other individual citizen to establish on a
solid basis the industrial prosperity of Muskegon, and throughout his
career was one of the most public spirited citizens. His son, Lincoln
Rodgers, is likewise prominent in manufacturing circles, is secretary and
treasurer of the Rodgers Boiler and Burner Works at Muskegon, is a
former member of the state legislature, and is one of the best known
local citizens.

Alexander Rodgers was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1824, and
his death occurred in Muskegon in 1897. His father, also named
Alexander, was born in Scotland, was a farmer and owned a fine estate
near Edinburgh, and that homestead is still in the family possession.
The same year of his marriage, 1847, with his young bride, Alexander,
the son, set out for America, landing at Boston and from there going
to New York City. He was a mechanic, having served a thorough
apprenticeship in the Bolton Iron Works at Bolton, England, and on
landing at Boston secured employment as a machinist and followed that
line as a journeyman in various places. From New York City he came
west and located in Detroit in 185 1, worked at his trade there, and later
moved to Romeo, Michigan, and thence to Lamont, where the Thomas
Ferry Iron Works were located and where he served that enterprise until
he came to Muskegon in 1855. In this city Mr. Rodgers bought the iron
works previously owned by Ry'erson & Morris. That purchase was
effected in 1856. It was a very small industry at that time, and it was
due to the vigorous enterprise of Alexander Rodgers that it grew and
improved until the Rodgers Iron Manufacturing Company, incor[)orated
into a stock company with a capital of $yo,000, has for years been
one of the most substantial and prosperous of Muskegon's industries.
The chief articles manufactured by the company are the Rodgers edgers,
the Essau Torrent log turner, Alexander Rodgers being half owner of
that patent ; the Rodgers lathe mill and bolter, the machines being known
the world over wherever lumber is manufactured. In 1878, Mr. Rodgers
formed a partnership with John Bajitiste Lemaux for the manufacture
of lumber. Later he became associated with Adolph Lebeauf, and in
1886 the mill of the firm was moved to Tomahawk, Wisconsin, where
it was consolidated with the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company. Two
years before the death of Mr. Rodgers the comi)any was dissolved and
was then known as the Somo Lumber Company, in which he was the
principal stockliolder. Alexander Rodgers was regarded as one of the
most public spirited men Muskegon ever had. At the time of his death
he left a large estate, owning a large amount of real estate in the city,
and his interests were of a very complex nature. He possessed business
ajjility which was exceptional, and his judgment and foresight were
regarded l)y many of his associates as almost infallible. He was a
Knight Templar Mason, a Republican in ]xjlitics, served as supervisor
from the h'ourth ward of Muskegon, and also acted as a member of the
Board of Public Works for some time.

In England, in 1847, Mr. Rodgers was married to Jennette Pyle, who
was bom in Sunderland, luigland, in 1S27, and whose death occurred
in 1871. She was a daughter of Richard Pyle, who was born in Scotland,
but moved to England, and there became a superintendent and general
manager of one of the largest glass blowing industries in that country.
In his time Mr. Pyle was the only glass maker who was uniformly suc-
cessful in the manufacturing and marketing of what is known as art
glass. He became very wealthy through his operations, and his name
is prominent in the history of glass manufacture in England during the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1469

early half of the nineteenth century. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgcrs became
the parents of eleven children, of whom five are still living, named as
follows : Alexander Rodgers, who lives retired in Muskegon ; John,
also a retired resident of this city ; Hugh, whose home is in Detroit ;
Lincoln, mentioned in succeeding paragraphs; Jennie, the wife of Fred
H. Miller, and Margaret, the wife of Flarry Morris, their home being in
San Francisco, California.

Lincoln Rodgers was born in the City of Muskegon, June 2, 1866.
A common school education was the equipment so far as books were
concerned with which he started in life. His schooling came to an end
when he was fifteen years of age, and at that time he entered his father's
manufacturing plant and obtained a thorough practical training in the
business which he has made his life long vocation. He remained with
his father until 1897. In that year he engaged in the saw mill business
with his brother Hugh at Tomahawk, Wisconsin, and their enterprise
was a prosperous one until the mill burned in 1899. That caused
Mr. Rodgers' return to Muskegon, and he soon afterward became identi-
fied with the present industry, known as the Rodgers Boiler & Burner
Company. In 1905 this company was incorporated with a capital stock
of .$10,000. Mr. Edward Behrens is president and Lincoln Rodgers is
secretary and treasurer. Their output is a line of boilers and refuse
burners for saw mills, and their product is shipped all over the L'nited
States.

Lincoln Rodgers, in 1898, married Emma liehrens, a daughter of
Edward Behrens, who has long been one of the prominent manufacturers
and business men of Muskegon. They are the parents of two children :
Abigail, who is attending high school, and VVilliam Alexander, aged
four years. Mr. Rodgers is a past exalted ruler of the Muskegon Lodge,
No. 274, of the Benevolent and Protective Cjrder of Elks, and has taken
the Royal Arch degree of Masonry and belongs to the Inde])endent Order
of Foresters. A Republican in politics, his election to the State Legislature
came in 1901, and was followed by a re-election. In the lower house
he gave excellent service as a member of the Committee on the Home
of the Feeble Minded, the Committee on Rules, the Committee on Fish
and Fisheries, the Committee on Liquor and Taxation, and proved an
efficient representative of the Muskegon district. At the present his
entire time and attention are taken up by his business.

William R. Ro.\ch. Among the men who are responsililc for the
development of Michigan's splendid fruit and horticultural interests,
special credit must be given William R. Roach, head of the great packing
firm of W. R. Roach & Company, packers of vegetables and fruits to the
aggregate values of about two million dollars each year. The central
plant in the business headquarters is at Hart, Oceana county, but there
•are several other factories situated at eligible points in the Michigan
fruit and vegetable belt. Mr. Roach is a successful man, whose life
had its beginning on a farm in New York State, and wdio, through
sheer force of ability and individual character, has attained his present
successful position, where he is well known among business men all
over the state.

William R. Roach was born at Pierrepont Manor, in Jefferson county,
New York, September 5, 1862, a son of James and Mary Jane
(Armstrong) Roach. Both parents were born in the north of Ireland,
the father in 1828, and the mother in 1826. The father died in December,
191 1, and the mother in 1907. Grandfather William Roach was born in
Ireland, emigrated to America, and became a settler in Jefferson county.
New York, where he was living as a farmer at the time of his death.

T«L m— 17

1470 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

William Armstrong, the maternal graiulfathcr, spent all his life in Ireland,
where he was a land holder and in that way supplied the means for the
support of himself and family. James Roach, the father, came with his
family to the United States when he was young, and his wife visited
some of her relatives in America, and in that way they met and were
married. There were only two children, and the daughter, Elizabeth,
who died in 1892, was the wife of Eugene Martin. James Roach and
wife were members of the Episcopal Church, and he was a Rejjublican
in politics. He made every dollar he ever possessed as a result of his
own efforts, and for a number of years had the reputation in Jefferson
County, New York, of being one of the most successful farmers in that
part of the state. He had a fine estate of 200 acres, and managed it
with skill.

William R. Roach grew u]) in northern New York, was educated at
Hungerford's Collegiate Institute in Adams. After graduating from
this academic school, he returned to the farm and participated in its varied
industries until 1885. He was then twenty-three years of age, and ambi-
tious to make a career on his own account. Moving west he learned the
garden seed business, and near Brooklyn, Iowa, began the growing of
seed, an enterprise which he developed to fairly successful proportions.
The experience besides the profits it returned to its proprietor gave him
a thorough knowledge of the general business, and he finally sold out
and went on the road for the Jerome B. Rice Seed Company, of
Cambridge, New York, remaining with that concern eleven years. After
that Mr. Roach bought a small canning plant in 1902, and from a small
plant has developed his present large packing industry, comprising now
five complete canning plants located at Hart, Edmore, Kent City,
Scottsville, and Lexington. The output of these plants is valued at
$2,000,000 a year, and is sold to jobbers and large grocerymen all over
America, under a brand that is now a synonym for quality, known as
the Hart brand. These different plants consume and pack each year
the total crop of about fifteen thousand acres of vegetables, besides large
quantities of fruits. The W. R. Roach & Company is incorporated with
a capital of $300,000, and the home office and factory are at Hart, an
industry which in no small measure contributes to the business prosperity
of that city.

On June i, 1904, Mr. Roach married Olive L. Nott, a daughter of
Sylvester G. Nott, who was born in Adams, New York, and now lives
retired, in Michigan, after a career as a farmer and merchant. Mr. Roach
is a member of the Episcopal Church. Fraternally, he affiliates with
Wigton Lodge, No. 251, A. F. & A. M.; with Chapter No. 14S, R. A. M.,
and with the Knight Templar Commandery at Muskegon, and the Con-
sistory and Shrine at Grand Rapids. A Republican in jjolitics. Aside
from his other interests, Mr. Roach is a stock raiser, dividing his atten-
tion between cattle and horses, and has what is said to be the finest peacli*
orchard in the United States. Ele is a stockholder and director in other
leading financial institutions of Hart, Muskegon and other cities in
western Michigan.

Captain Stephen Rus.sell Kirby. As one of Michigan's pioneer
mechanical and construction engineers, whose name and work identified
him permanently with Saginaw and Detroit as well as other places around
the Great Lakes, the late Captain Stephen Russell Kirby deserves men-
tion in the list of Michigan's representative citizens of the past. His
son, Frank E. Kirby, of Detroit, is one of the ablest marine engineers in
America, and another son is Fitz A. Kirby, of Wyandotte, Michigan, a
retired ship builder.

-/^^^:^^f^

m jriw mi:

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1471

Captain Stephen R. Kirby was born at Spring Port, on the shore of
Lake Cayuga, New York, in 1824. When a boy he began saihng the
Great Lakes and by the age of twenty-one had risen to the command of
a sailing vesseL At the age of twelve, in 1836, he shipped on the
schooner "A. P. Starkey" and made his first voyage on Lake Erie. He
continued to sail on the lake until 1842, which year saw his entrance
into the service of the American Fur Company, sailing the brig "Ramsey
Crooks," trading between Detroit and the Soo. In 1843, when in the
"Brewster," he brought down the first copper (2,100-lb. chunk) from
Lake Superior. This specimen is now in the National Museum at Wash-
ington, D. C.

In 1845, when twenty-one years of age, he obtained his first captaincy
and learned the art of navigation by astronomical observations. In 1846,
he was placed in command of the steamer "Chicago," one of the three
first screw-steamers on the lake, her dimensions being 95x19 feet and 9
foot load draft. In 1848 he sailed the brig "Eureka," the largest vessel
on the lakes at that time, and too large to pay. She was sold and went
to California, arriving there after a voyage of five months.

In 1853 Captain Kirby went to Saginaw and entered the ship building
and general mercantile business, being associated with and financially
supported by the late Jesse Hoyt, of New York city. Under Mr. Kirby's
supervision a number of large vessels were built at Saginaw, both steam
and sailing. These included the barques "Jessie Hoyt" and "Sunshine,"
the latter a full rigged vessel having square sails on both fore and main
mast. He sailed her until 1856, when he bifilf- the side-wheel tug "Mag-
net," and sailed her one season, which^ eftcied his experience as a sailor.
He then became a citizen of East Sftg'iilaw*, fdbk an active part in local
afi^airs as a member of the city council, chief engineer of the fire depart-
ment and city civil engineer. While there he built the old Bancroft House
and several other buildings and mills^-also the ^steamboat "Reindeer,"
which afterwards was famous on' the Detrdit' river, and the schooner
"Newsboy," the "Wenona" and several other .vessels and tugs.

Captain Kirby had the distinction of fitting, out the first salt well
plant and works in the Saginaw valley, inaugurating an industry which
has been one of the largest in later years in that part of the state. During
the Civil war, in association with the late E. M. Peck, he built the
steamers "Fessenden" and "Sherman," ostensibly revenue cutters, but
actually gun boats, designed to overawe the rebel sympathizers then
residing in Canada. The field of his enterprise was by no means con-
fined to Michigan. In 1866 he crossed the plains to Montana, which
was then a new territory, only three or four years having elapsed since
the first discovery of precious metals in its hills and valleys. He engaged
in gold mining as chief engineer in charge of the Montana Land & Min-
ing Company. Returning in 1867, in 1868 he built a copper mill on Lake
Superior for Mr. Hoyt, and in 1870 purchased an interest in the ship-
yards at Detroit now owned by the Detroit Ship Building Company, and
in 1 87 1 became general superintendent of the Detroit Dry Docks. This
latter enterprise was originally conducted by Campbell, Owen & Company,
in which Air. Kirby held a large interest, and he continued as one of its
executives and held a large financial interest when it was organized as a
stock companv as the Detroit Dry Dock Company.

In 1872 Captain Kirbv went' to New York to build the great grani
elevator in New York Harbor for the Erie Railway Company. This
was for the time the largest and most complete elevator in the country,
and presented many difficulties in its construction to the contractors,
calling for special engineering skill. Captain Kirby successfully com-
pleted his task, and the elevator still stands as an evidence of his skill
both as an engineer and builder. He also built the elevator at Newport

l-i72 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

News, Virginia, for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, which
work closed his actual business career. From that time until his death
on January 29, 1906, Captain Kirby made his home in New York City,
passing away at the age of eighty-three. He had traveled extensively
over the United States and Europe.

At Cleveland, Ohio, Captain Kirby met and married Martha Aim
Johnson, who was born and reared near Dover, Cuyahoga county, Ohio.
She died in New York City in November, 1913.

Fr.-xnk E. Kikh^'. Michigan can take proper pride in the fact that for
more than forty years it has been the home of one of the ablest marine
engineers and architects of the nation, Frank E. Kirby, of Detroit. Born
at Cleveland, Ohio, July i, 1849, ^ son of Captain Stephen R. Kirby,
whose career is described in preceding paragraphs, he is descended both
on the paternal and maternal side from the Puritans of the seventeenth
century, his father and his mother (Martha A. Johnson) being lineal
descendants of English families who emigrated to America about the
year 1670 and settled in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

His preliminary education, fitting him for the practical work which
he has so successfully performed and in which he has so distinguished
himself in later life, was gained in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio,
and at Saginaw, Michigan, supplemented with a course at the Cooper
Institute in New York City. His first professional venture was made
when quite young by joining the engineering staff of the Allaire Works,
New York, then engaged in constructing machinery for shijjs of war.

After a brief connection with the Morgan Iron Works, in 1870 he came
to Detroit with his older brother,- Mr. F. A. Kirby, and superintended
the establishment of the iron ship yards at Wyandotte for the late Captain
E. B. Ward. With his brother he conducted an extensive business in
Detroit as consulting marine engineers until 1882, and then joined the
Detroit Dry Dock Company, which since the purchase of the Wyandotte
Yards in 1877, control the most complete and perfect establishment of its
kind on the lakes, employing hundreds of men to put into tangible form
the ideas conceived in the fertile brain of Mr. Kirby, who, as its
chief engineer and designer, has long contributed to this company's
unbounded success and commanding position. Over one hundred of
the largest crafts upon our rivers and lakes are of his architecture and
design ; marvels of their kind and monuments to his ingenuity and skill.
The floating palaces of the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Xavigation
Company ; those superb passenger vessels plying between Mackinaw
Island, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland and Buffalo, the famous Hudson
River steamers, "Hendrick Hudson," "Robert Fulton" and "Washington
Irving," marvels of marine swiftness, comfort and elegance, with the
mammoth freighters flying the stars and stripes from their mastheads,
are examples in which the companies who own them, the designer who
designed them and the public who patronize them, have a just admiration
and pride. The great ice-crushing railroad ferry steamers, St. Ignace
and St. Marie, which ])ly between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace with
whole trains of loaded cars, are products of Mr. Kirby's inventive
genius and skill. The building of these vessels solved the enigma of
railroad connections with the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, their peculiar
construction enabling them to work their way through the heavy packed
ice which forms in Straits of Mackinaw, and which oefore had consti-
tuted an unsurmountable barrier and defied the ingenuity of man. The
"Frank F. Kirby," known as the flyer of the lakes, and one of his earlier
designs, built for the Detroit and Sandusky route, was named in his
honor.

-^* «EW

"^lV^'S

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1473

Mr. Kirby has devoted much of his time to careful study and ex-
tensive travel in perfecting himself in his profession. In 1872 he visited
the great engineering and shipbuilding establishments of Europe, and
again in 1886, 1889, 1903 and 1913, and attended the Paris exhibition
and extended his trip to Italy and Switzerland. He spent the winter of
1893-94 in again visiting engineering works in Great Britain and Belgium,
and in 1895 toured Russia, Austria and Germany. During the Spanish-
American war Mr. Kirby served as consulting engineer for the United
States war department.

He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers,
the American Society of Naval Engineers, the American Society of Naval
Architects and Marine Engineers, the Naval Institute, the Institution
of Naval Architects of London, England, the Royal Society of Arts of
London, and a member of the Institution of Naval Architects and En-
gineers of Scotland, the Engineer Society at Detroit, and the Engineers
Club of New York. Mr. Kirby served as a member of the Detroit Board
of Water Commissioners from 1892 to 1896, but has no predilection for
political preferment, being ardently devoted to his profession — its calling
has bounded his ambition. In 1908 the degree of Doctor of Engineering
was conferred on Mr. Kirby by the University of Michigan.

Ch.\rles Godwin Jennings, M. D. A prominent Detroit physician,
Charles Godwin Jennings was born at Leroy, New York, in 1857, a son of
Thomas A. and Matilda (Godwin) Jennings, both of whom were natives
of New York State. Both the Jennings and Godwin families have lieen
identified with American life since colonial days, and were among the
early settlers of western New York. Members of the two families
served in the Continental army as soldiers during the Revolutionary war,
and the war of 1812, and in succeeding generations individual representa-
tives of the families have creditably identified themselves with those
activities that make history and contrilnite to the substantial welfare of
community, state and nation.

Dr. Jennings was reared in New York State, was graduated from
Mynderse Academy at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1875, immediately took
up the study of medicine, and was graduated from the Detroit College
of Medicine with the class of 1879 and the degree of M. D.

In 1880, after serving a year as hospital interne, Dr. Jennings entered
the practice of medicine in Detroit, has continued in that city ever since,
and long since reached a place among the prominent physicians of
Detroit and of Michigan. He has been physician to Harper Hospital
in Detroit for many years and is now chairman of the Medical Board.
Has also been physician to the Children's Free Hospital, the Woman's
Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital of Detroit. In succession he has occu-
pied the chairs of chemistry, physiology, diseases of children and practice
of medicine in the Detroit College of Medicine. He is now professor
of medicine and head of the department of medicine in the reorganized
Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery. He has been a member of
the Detroit City ISoard of Health, and president of the Detroit Clinical
Laboratory since its organization.

Dr. Jennings is a member of the Wayne County Medical Society,
the Michigan State Medical Society, the American Medical Association,
the American Climatological Association, and of the American Pediatric
Society, having served the latter as president in 1904. He is a first lieu-
tenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States army, receiving
his commission from President Taft in 1911. His social affiliations con-
nect him with the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the
Detroit Club, the Country Club, the Yondotega Club, the Witenagemote

1474 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

and the Detroit Boat Club. Dr. Jennings was married at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, on March i6, 1884, to Miss Helen Louise Felch, daughter
of the late United States Senator Alpheus Felch.

Edwin O. Wood was born in (jenesee county, Michigan, where his
family were pioneers. At this writing he is serving his second term as
member of the Democratic National Committee for Michigan, and is a
member of the Board of Mackinac Island State Park Commissioners,
and also a member of the Michigan Historical Commission.

He was born at Goodrich, Genesee county, Michigan, October 29,
1861. His parents were Thomas Parmalee Wood and Paulina M.
(Hulbert) Wood. Thomas P. Wood was born at West Avon, Livingston
county. New York, June 5, 1822, and was a son of William Wood, Jr.,
who was born at Westboro, Massachusetts, and was the grandson of
William Wood, Sr., of Pomfret, Coimecticut. William Wood, both
senior and junior, were soldiers of the Revolutionary war, participating in
many of the battles and campaigns to the end. The senior Wood fought
at Lexington and Bunker Hill, while his son was with Washington at
Valley Forge and Brandywine and from that time until the surrender
of Cornwallis.

Thomas P. Wood moved from New York to Michigan Territory in
1832, and settled in Genesee county, over which wilderness was still
king. In 1841 he went back to New York state and entered the Genesee
Seminary at Lima, where he completed the course of study and taught
school at Smithstown, Bloomfield and .\rkwright, in Chautauqua county,
New York. Returning to Michigan, he spent the remainder of his life
in this state, his death occurring at Goodrich, December 28, 1907, at the
age of eighty-five years.

On August 19, 1846, Thomas P. Wood married Miss Paulina M.
Hulbert, of West Bloomfield, Ontario county. New York. She was born
October 15, 1822, and died January 12, 1908, having survived her husband
but a few days, their married life having been prolonged to a period of
more than sixty-one years.

Edwin O. Wood completed his education at Goodrich antl Saginaw,
Michigan ; was a clerk in a country store, then in a clothing store at Flint,
followed by five years as a commercial traveler for a Detroit wholesale
grocery house, and the succeeding five years as representative of a whole-
sale clothing manufacturing house of New York City. He had been
appointed a railway mail clerk in 1885, but immediately resigned, pre-
ferring commercial lines. In 1892 he was chairman of the Genesee County
Democratic Committee, and in March, 1893, one of President Cleveland's
first appointments was that of Mr. \\'ood as special agent of the United
States Treasury. He conducted a vigorous investigation and prosecution
of cases in the United States customs service, and his work in that con-
nection gave his name national prominence. He was sent to the Pacific
Coast by Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle to investigate con-
ditions in the customs service on the Pacific Coast and the Northwest. In
May, 1893, before he liad Ijeen in the service three months, he seized
the merchant steamship "Haytien Republic" in Puget Sound, on evidence
that the vessel had been employed for the illegal importation (smuggling)
of opium and Ciiinese laborers. The vessel was confiscated and sold by
the Government after the case had been appealed to the United States
Circuit Court of Appeals, and finally to the United States Supreme Court,
the original decree having been confirmed jjy both courts. Finally a grand
jury was called, at Portland, Oregon, at Mr. Wood's request, before
which, and at the succeeding trials in the Federal Court, it was established
that over fifteen hundred Chinese laborers had been admitted into the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1475

Puget Sound and Portland districts during the seven months previous
to Mr. Wood's assignment to the case, and during that same period the
Government had been defrauded out of over three hundred and forty
thousand doUars in customs duties upon opium which had Ijeen smuggled
from British Columbia. It was also established in court that the collector
of customs had received $50 per head for admitting Chinamen, or a total
of over seventy-five thousand dollars in less than one year.

It was also proved that several other customs officials had been on
the pay roll of the smugglers' ring. After the successful conclusion of
these investigations and prosecutions, President Cleveland and the Treas-
ury officials extended formal thanks to Mr. Wood for his efficient conduct
of the cases.

In 1895 he was one of the founders of the Knights of the Loyal
Guard, a fraternal beneficiary society, having an extensive membership.
In 1904 he was made chairman of the Democratic States Central Com-
mittee, and in 1908 was elected a member of the Democratic National
Committee for Michigan, being re-elected in 1912. He has served as
president of the Genesee County Pioneer and Historical Society, and on
the formation of the Michigan Historical Commission in May, 1913, he
was appointed a member by Governor Ferris. He is a member of the
Board of Trustees of the Masonic Temple Association, and belongs to all
of the Masonic bodies, having received in tlie Scottish Rite the thirty-
third degree.

He was a delegate to the Democratic national convention at Denver,
in 1908, and was a delegate-at-large to the Baltimore convention in 1912
and chairman of the Michigan delegation.

Mr. Wood was married to Miss Emily Crocker, daughter of Stephen
and Prudence Crocker, in Flint, in 1889. Four children have been born
to their marriage. The eldest son, Dwight Hulbert Wood, died on August
12, 1905. The other children are, Albert Crocker Wood, Leland Stanford
Wood, and Mary B. Wood. All of the family are members of the
Episcopal Church.

Mr. Wood is a life member of the American Historical Association,
and of the historical societies of Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Minnesota, and Michigan ; also of the Mississippi \'alley Historical Society,
the American Geographical Society, the National Geographical Society,
and of the American Museum of Natural History ; also the American-
Irish Historical Society. He is a student in historical research along the
lines of the old Northwest Territory, and has accumulated a special library
pertaining to this section of the United States. This necessarily embraces
an extensive collection of books connected with the French period and
the early history of New France, the Great Lakes country, Mackirnac,
Michigan, the Indians, and the states which made up the old Northwest
Territory.

Judge George S. Hosmer has been for more than a quarter of a
century one of the judges of the Wayne county circuit court. His record
of service classifies him as a fine type of the modern judge, and he has
long filled a place of distinction and done much important public service
in his home city of Detroit.

George Stedman Hosmer was born in Detroit, May 13, 1855, ^ son
of the late John and Lucy Jane (Buttrick) Hosmer. The Hosmer family
is of English descent, and the American lineage goes back to 1635, in
which year the first of the name settled in Massachusetts. Many dis-
tinguished men of that name have lived in New England and other parts
of the United States, in subsequent generations, and have been promi-
nent in almost all the important walks of life. John Hosmer, father

1476 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of the judge, came to Michigan in 1849 from Concord, Massachusetts.
From that time until 1864, he was in the service of the Michigan Central
Railroad, and for a number of years was located at Detroit, as freight
agent.

Judge Hosmer was reared in his native city, acquired a public school
education and in the class of 1875 was graduated from the literary
department of the University of Michigan, with the degree A. B. He at
once took up the study of law in the offices of Griffin & Dickinson, and
three years later, in 1878, was admitted to the bar. For some years
Judge Hosmer was associated in practice with the firm of Griffin, Dickin-
son, Thurber & Hosmer, and later with Dickinson, Thurber & Hosmer.
His qualifications as a lawyer, rather than as a political worker, brought
him into prominence, and his fitness for judicial office was early recog-
nized. On January i, 1888, Judge Hosmer began his long and continuous
service as a member of the Wayne Circuit Court, and has been re-elected
and in 1912 was again confirmed in his present office.

Judge Hosmer is a member of the Detroit, the Yondotega, the Uni-
versity, the Country, the Fellowcraft, the Old, the Detroit Boat Clubs
and the Au Saljle Fishing Club. He is also a Mason and is a Unitarian in
religion. On October 30, 1889, Judge Hosmer married Margaret S.
Bagley of Detroit. She died in 1892 and in 1908 he married her sister,
Mrs. Frances Bagley Brown.

HIR.^M R. Thomas, M. D. The Oak Glenn Hospital and Sanitarium
at Flint is an institution which is a credit to the city, and also to the
professional activity of its proprietor, Dr. Thomas. The building was
erected especially lor 'it-s p.urposes, which is to furnish the best of facilities
for the treatment and c&re of its patients, and the standards maintained
at the Oak Glenn institution are of the very highest, measured from
every standpoint. Dr. Thomas is one of the best known physicians and
surgeons in Genesee counfy.

Hiram R. Thomas was Iioni in Davidson township, Genesee county,
Michigan, October 29, 1843, a son of William and Elizabeth ( Woolacott)
Thomas. Both father and mother were born in England, where they
were married, emigrated to New York State in 1836, anfl spent four
years there. The father during that time was engaged in the manufacture
of potash and saleratus. In 1840 he brought his family out to the wilds
of Michigan. They settled in the timber of Genesee county, moving
into a two-room log cabin without a roof. They bore the labors and
hardships of the real pioneers, had to clear up the land before he could
l)egin the cultivation of his fields, and for a numi^er of years lived a life
of the utmost simplicity and even of privation. As a farmer the father
continued his activities until his death. At one time he owned an estate
of 900 acres, and was one of the most prosjierous of the early settlers
of ( ienesee county. His death occurred in 1894, when at the good old
age of eighty-seven years. The mother died in Genesee county in 1889,
being then seventy-seven. There were eight children, four were bom in
England, and three in New York State, and Dr. Thomas and the only
one whose birth-place was the State of Michigan.

As a boy he attended district schools, and worked on his father's
farm. His earlier years were spent in various lines of activity, and he
finally followed out his ambition to take up a career as a physician. He
sjient in preparation one term in the Detroit Medical College, one term
in the University of Michigan, and then entered the Cincinnati College of
Medicine, where he graduated M. D. in 1893. Dr. Thomas practiced
the first five years at Maysville, in Tuscola County. .Since 1893 his home
has been in Mint, where he has enjoyed a large ])rivate practice. His

tJnJA(u.x^^iuv

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1477

success as a private practitioner, and in the treatment of cases leil liini in
August. 1909, to establish the Oak Glenn Hospital and Sanitarium. For
tliis purpose he secured ground at 2727 North street, where he erected a
building containing twenty-two private rooms, and ec|uipped with every
convenience and facility for the treatment of his patients. Dr. Thomas
has been specially interested in the treatment of women, and his hospital
is largely given up to that service.

Dr. Thomas has served three years as county physician for Genesee
county, was for two years in the office of township clerk of Tuscola
county, and has stood high in the business and civic community wherever
he has lived. He is medical examiner for two insurance societies and is
a member of the Michigan State Medical Society, the State Eclectic Med-
ical Society and the Genesee County Medical Society. In politics he is
independent. His church is the Seventh Day Adventist. In 1880, Dr.
Thomas married Miss Arabella Alfaretta Way. She died at Flint in
August, 1897. Fler father was Wesley Way, and her parents came from
New York State, her father being a well known railroad contractor. Dr.
Thomas has prospered in his various business affairs, and besides his hos-
pital and his residence, owns considerable real estate in Flint.

Judge William F. Connolly. As judge of the recorder's court of
Detroit, Judge Connolly has realized in an exceptional degree the fine
opportunities for public service through efficient administration of a pub-
lic office. Judge Connolly is one of the younger members of the Michi-
gan bar.

As a student he distinguished himself by completing his studies and
being ready for practice before he reached legal age, having to wait some
months before a license could be granted him to begin his vocation.

William F. Connolly was ijorn in the city of Detroit on February 25,
1876. His parents were Peter and Ellen (McGonnell) Connolly, both
natives of Ireland. The father was born in Queen's county in 1852,
and the mother in County Monaghan, in the same year. As children they
came to the United States in i860, their respective parents locating in
Detroit, where they grew up and were married. For many years the
father was employed by the Michigan Central Railroad Company at
Detroit, and died February 2^, 1899. The mother is still living in Detroit.

Judge Connolly attended the St. Vincent's parochial school, finished
his literary education in the University of Detroit, then known as Detroit
College, graduating doctor of arts with the class of 1893, and in 1895
receiving from the stame institution the degree master of arts. His law
course was pursued in the Detroit College of Law, where he graduated
with the class of 1896, and though possessing a diploma as Bachelor .of
Laws, he had to wait until 1897 before admitted to the bar. He at once
engaged in general practice, becoming junior member of the firm of
Devine & Connolly, a firm which acquired large prestige and attended
to a successful practice, until it was dissolved when Judge Connolly was
elected to the recorder's court.

Judge Connolly has been prominent in Democratic politics, and is
regarded as one of the party's most influential workers. He has mem-
bership in the Detroit Bar Association, the Lawyers Club of Detroit, and
the Alumni Association of the Detroit College. On May 5, 1905, he
married, in Detroit, Miss Mary Cameron, daughter of Lewis and Jane
Cameron. They are the parents of two sons, William Francis, Jr., and
John Walter.

ALEX.^NDLR McPiiF.R.snN. The hanking business of Michigan has no
more honored representative and perhaps none older than .Me.xander

1478 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

McPherson. president of the Old Detroit National Bank until its con-
solidation with the First National in 1914, making this one of the strong-
est banking institutions in the United States, and of which he is chair-
man of the board. His record as a banker covers practically half a cen-
tury, and began in the little city of Howell, where the private banking
concern of Alexander McPherson & Company, established in 1865, is
still in prosperous existence. Mr. McPherson was president of the Old
Detroit National Bank from January 10, 1901, when the institution was
incorporated under that title, and from 1891 has been president of the
Detroit National Bank, the name under the previous charter.

Alexander McPherson was born in the village of Aberchirder, County
of Banff, Scotland, June 7, 1836. The mental and physical traits of his
character well exemplify the sturdy race from which he sprung. Wil-
liam and Elizabeth (Riddle) McPherson, his parents, had eight chil-
dren, of which he was the third, and the others are mentioned briefly as
follows: William, a banker at Howell and a member of the State Rail-
road Commission of ^Michigan, while the late General Russell A. Alger
was governor; Alartin J. and Edward G., merchants at Howell, where
they continue the business founded by their father in 1843 ; Isabella,
who married Henry H. Mills, of Kalamazoo county : Elizabeth, who
married Edward P. Gregory of Howell; Mary L., who became the wife
of Henry T. Browning of Howell ; and Ella, who married Frederick A.
Smith of Howell.

Concerning the founder of the McPherson family in ^Michigan, it
has been said: "\\'illiam McPherson is remembered and described in
the pioneer annals of Michigan as a striking, rugged and thoroughly
manlv figure who came in the early days and gave the best part of his
life to the upbuilding, advancement and betterment of the community
in which he long held a commanding place." Born at Davoit, Scotland,
January 16. 1804. and dying at Howell, Michigan, March 16, 1891,
he lived in Scotland until 1836, when with his family he came to .America
and on the 17th of September in the same year arrived at what was
then known as Livingston Center, a little settlement in the forest and
the largest group of population then in Livingston county. , His log
house was the second dwelling to be constructed on the site of Howell,
which city was his home the rest of his life. At Livingston Center
he continued to work at the trade learned in Scotland, as blacksmith,
Init in 1841 acquired a half interest in a small general store, and for
many years was independently engaged in merchandising. The large
general store which has been conducted under the family name for more
than sixty years was founded by him. His intelligence, integrity and
energy brought success to his own business and made his services and
influence valuable in behalf of the general welfare of the community.
On the organization of the Detroit and Howell Railroad Company in
1864, William McPherson became a director and treasurer of the com-
pany, and it was largely due to his efforts that funds were raised suffi-
cient to complete the railroad between Howell and Detroit. That line,
which was of inestimable service to the people along its route during
the early days, is now a part of the Pere Marquette system. William
McPherson was a man of great local prominence and public spirit, though
not as a political office holder, and was a Republican from the organiza-
tion of that party until his death. Elizabeth Riddle, who became his
wife on April 17. 1S31. endured with him the trials of pioneer life in
Michigan, and passed away on September 7, 1874. Both were con-
stant and faithful members of the Presbyterian church, and were active
in the charter organization of the church at Howell in 1838.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1479

Alexander McPherson was six weeks old when the family emigrated
Irom Scotland to the United States, and his early days were spent in
a pioneer environment, and his education came from the village school
of Livingston Center, as Howell was then known. His business career
began in his father's store when he was a boy. The early years of his
manhood were employed in looking after various business interests at
Howell, and in 1865 he founded and became the executive head of the
private banking firm of Alexander McPherson & Company. No change
of title has ever occurred in that old and honorable banking house, and
Mr. J\IcPherson is still at its head. His prominence as a banker made
him well known outside the limits of his home county, and in 1891 he
was called from Howell to become president of the Detroit National
Bank, where his services have been such as to maintain that institution
m the front ranks of Detroit financial establishments. Mr. McPherson
succeeded the late Christian H. Buhl as president of the Detroit National,
and when the first charter expired and a reorganization took place under
the present charter in 1902, Mr. McPherson continued as president of the
Old Detroit National Bank. Thus his service in this office has been
continuous for more than twenty years. As a successful financier few
Michigan bankers have had a more noteworthy record than Mr. Mc-
Pherson. Outside of banking his interests extend to the ownership of
large tracts of pine land in the upper peninsula of Michigan and in the
states of Mississippi and Louisiana. Near his old home in Livingston
county he maintains a fine stock farm, and it has been a matter of both
recreation and profit to keep this up as a model farm. Its equipment
comprises a number of substantial brick buildings, all the land is under
a high state of cultivation, and many fine thoroughbred draft and driving
horses have been raised on the McPherson farm.

Though a Republican since casting his first vote, Mr. McPherson has
steadfastly refused to enter politics or become a candidate for office.
The names of himself and wife are on the rolls of membership in the
First Presbyterian church of Detroit, and since 1S94 he has been a
trustee. Some of his social relations are with the Detroit Club, the
Country Club, the Michigan Club, and the Lake St. Clair Shooting and
Fishing Club, or the Old Club. His stock farm, his club, travel and
home furnish him the relaxation and recreation from his business re-
sponsibilities, and though he has reached a time in life when most men
are willing to retire, his judgment in financial matters is just as keen
and is as much trusted by his associates as it was twenty years ago.
In September, i860, Mr. McPherson married Miss Julia C. Ellsworth,
of Greenville, Montcalm county. Mrs. McPherson was born at Salina,
Wisconsin, in 1840, a daughter of Dr. William H. Ellsworth, who was
a pioneer of Greenville, Michigan.

BvRON E. BuRXELL, M. D. Each profession in business has its place
in the scheme of human existence, constituting a plan whereby life's
methods are pursued and man attains his ultimate destiny. The import-
ance of any occupation, however, depends upon its helpfulness and use-
fulness. So dependent is man upon his fellow men that the worth of the
individual is largely reckoned by what he has accomplished for humanity.
There is no vocation to which more honor is due than that of the doctor of
medicine, a calling which constantlv calls for denial and self-sacrifice, the
influence of which cannot be measured by any known standard, and the
helpfulness of which is as broad as the universe. A name that stands
conspicuously forth in connection with the medical profession of Mich-
igan is that of Byron E. Burnell. M. D., who since 1901 has been engaged
in practice at Flint. Dr. Burnell is a native of Genesee county, and was

1480 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

born January 17, 1867, a son of Anthony D. and Amanda (Taylor)
Burnell.

Anthony Burnell was ijorn in Germany, but left the l"'atherland in
young manhood and on coming to the United States settled in Genesee
county, Michigan, where he passed his life in mercantile pursuits, prin-
cipally in the village of Otisville. His death occurred in Genesee county,
Michigan, in 1907, aged sixty-seven years. Mrs. Burnell was born in New
York State, and was still a cliild when jjrought to Michigan by her parents,
who were engaged in agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Pine Run.
Mrs. Burnell is still living, at the age of seventy-one years, and divides
her time between living in Flint and in Genesee county with her daugh-
ter. Four children have been born to her, of whom Dr. Burnell is the
second in order of birth.

Byron E. Burnell secured his early education in the schools of Genesee
county, in the meantime assisting his father in the work of the home
place. Succeeding this, he entered high school, and then adopted the
profession of educator, which he followed for some eleven years, advancing
in that calling until he was made principal of the schools at Flower Lake,
Columbiaville and other points. It had always been his ambition, however,
to enter the medical profession, and after these eleven years of earnest
endeavor he found himself in a position to enter the Detroit College of
Medicine, where he received his degree in 1901. He immediately engaged
in practice at Flint, and this city has continued to be his field of practice,
he now having offices at No. 518 -South Saginaw street. Doctor Burnell
is in full possession of the youth and vigor which act as a stimulus to
great and far-reaching accomplishments in the profession to which he is
devoted, and his energy, second only to his native ability, enables him to
find time to devote to study and research. He belongs to the American
Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the Genesee
County Medical Society, and for two years was secretary of the county
organization. In political matters he is a Republican, but jniblic life has
played b^t little part in his career, which has Ijeen almost entirely devoted
to his calling. Hjs fraternal connection is with the Independent Order
of Odd I'^ellows and the Masons, and his religious belief that of the
Methodist Episcojial Church.

In 1891 Doctor Burnell was married at Columbiaville, Michigan, to
Miss Blanche Hollenbeck, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Manley Hollenljeck.
One son has been born to Doctor and Mrs. Burnell : Max, born at Meta-
mora, Michigan, in 1893, and now attending college at Albion.

John Lawson Miller. A Detroit architect who in ten years has
made a name and gained a successful position, John Lawson Miller
represents one of the pioneer families of southeastern Michigan, and as
a result of his individual career is well entitled to a place in the history
of the state's leading architects.

John Lawson Miller was born at Lake Orion in Oakland county,
Michigan, March 27, 1878. He is a son of Seymour B. and Hannah
(Woodley) Miller. His father was born in Michigan and his mother in
Ontario, Canada. Grandfather Nicholas B. Miller, who came to Oakland
county when that section was in the woods, was a blacksmith and a cabinet
maker by trade, and at Lake Orion established a pioneer shop for work
both in wood and iron, and performed a useful service to the early settlers
of the community. At the same time his business enterprise led him to
make acquisitions of land in the county, and for many years he was a
prosperous and influential citizen. Seymour B. INliller was born in the
old Miller home at Lake Orion in 1850. Early in his life he learned the
trade of miller, and subsequently for years operated what were known

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1481

as the Emmons ]\Iill at Lake Orion. At one time he was serving as head
miller for Hiram Walker, the well known Canadian miller, and while in
Ontario met and married his wife, who was a daughter of the late John
Woodley, a wealthy farmer and land owner of VVaterford, Ontario. Sey-
mour B. Miller was a member of the Congregational church. He died
in the house in which he was born, August 24, 1909. His widow survives,
and still lives in the village of Orion, Michigan.

J. Lawson Miller attended the Lake Orion grammar and high schools,
and just two months before the term set for his graduation he improved
an opportunity to take up the study of architecture, and accordingly left
school. On his eighteenth birthday, March 27, 1896, he entered the offices
of Baxter & Hill, Detroit architects. Subsequently he worked for a
number of well known men in that jirofession in Detroit, including S. C.
Falkinburg, Joseph E. Mills, Roger & McFarlin, and finally returned
to Mr. Falkinburg in the capacity of head draughtsman. In 1904, in
consequence of Mr. Falkinburg's illness, Mr. Miller was given a share
in the business, and the firm subse(|uently was Falkinburg & Miller. One
year later the senior partner died, and Mr. Miller then took over the
business of the firm and has since practiced alone, with offices in the
Goebel building at Detroit.

Mr. Miller's work has been chiefly along the lines of apartment houses,
terrace houses, flats and residences, stores and factories. While the firm
of Falkinburg & Miller was in existence it put up, among other buildings,
the Plaza Apartment House on John R. street and Madison avenue,
costing one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ; and also the Emory
Apartment in Salt Lake City, Utah, at a cost of one hundred and seventy-
five thousand dollars. Since engaging in independent practice Mr. Miller
has built the following notable apartments, though the list is by no means
complete : A terrace on Woodward avenue and Ferry street, costing forty
thousand dollars : a six-family flat next door to the last mentioned, at a
cost of twenty thousand dollars ; nine-house terrace on the corner of Sev-
enteenth and Ash streets, costing thirty-five thousand dollars ; a terrace on
the corner of Second and Stewart streets, costing twenty-four thousand
dollars ; a residence on East Boulevard and Kercheval avenue, costing
twenty thousand dollars : and among other buildings now in course of
erection is a residence at Bay City, Michigan, which will cost twenty-two
thousand dollars.

Mr. Miller was married in New York City to Miss Nellie Gooney.
Mrs. Miller was born in Ireland, the daughter of Michael Gooney. She
came to Detroit as a girl of sixteen years to join her sister, her par-
ents remaining behind in the old country. Later she went back to Ireland,
and her marriage to Mr. Miller was celebrated in New York City when
she returned from abroad, Mr. Miller meeting her when she landed from
the vessel at New York. Mr. Miller is prominent in Masonic circles,
having membership in Palestine Lodge, No. 357, A. F. & A. M. ; in the
Michigan Sovereign Consistory of the Thirty-second Degree Scottish
Rite, Valley of Detroit ; and in Moslem Temple of the Mystic Shrine.

Carl D. Cii.\pi£Ll, AI. D., began practice at Flint in 1907, and he now
ranks as one of the young men of ability and of growing success in the
citv. His previous experience in his profession was in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Chapell represents an old family of Michigan, and Flint has been his
home practically all his life.

Carl D. Chapell was born in Flint, March 3, 1878. His parents are
John A. and Annie (Rodgers) Chapell. Both were natives of Michigan,
and their respective parents were numbered among the pioneer settlers.
John A. Chapell will always be remembered in the history of the city

1482 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of Flint as an educator. For twenty-five years he was superintendent
of the city schools, and during the greater part of his active career was
identified with educational work. It was during the latter decade of the
nineteenth century that he did his most important service, and in that
time was a progressive in educational affairs, at a time when progress
was less popular in schools than at the present time. While at Flint he
introduced many of the methods which are still employed and have the
sanction of twentieth-century educators. Not only in pedagogy was he
a leader, but he did much to upbuild the material facilities and systems
of education in that city. After his resignation from his ofiice as school
superintendent, he became a traveling salesman in western territory, but
still makes Flint his home. He is now sixty-four years of age. and the
mother is fifty-eight. She was reared and educated in Flint. They had
only two children, the daughter is Mrs. Madge Holmes, of Flint.

Dr. Chapell, the older child, grew up in Flint, and was educated in
the public schools. For his medical education he entered the Michigan
College of Medicine at Detroit, where he was graduated M. D. in 1904.
Moving to Cleveland, he practiced there for several years, and since 1907
has been established at Flint. Dr. Chapell has membership in the Genesee
County and the Michigan State Medical Societies, and the American
Medical Association.

In politics he is independent, and is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, and the Woodmen of the World. He was mar-
ried November 3, 1910, at Flint to Miss Elizabeth Carrol, a daughter of
Daniel and Jane Carrol, now deceased, and old settlers of this section of
Michigan.

Frank E. Thatcher. Progressive merchandising is synonymous with
progressive citizenship, and both are conspicuous qualities of Frank E.
Thatcher, who less than twenty years ago became a local merchant at
Ravenna, and has steadily prospered in his own circumstances, and at the
same time, has done everything within his power to help along the com-
munity in its material, intellectual and moral growth.

Born at Coudersport, Pennsylvania, January i, 1859, Frank E.
Thatcher is a son of Edwin and Catherine S. (Carpenter) Thatcher, the
former born in Pennsylvania in 1825, and the latter born the same year.
The parents were married in 1848, and after a long and active career as
a teacher and farmer the father passed away in 1903. The mother is
still living, her home being in Harrisburg, Michigan. The family came
to Michigan in 1866, settling in Ravenna. Edwin Thatcher taught school
the greater part of his life, served as superintendent of schools in Mus-
kegon county, during 1872, 1873-74 and continued the profession as an
active member until he was about sixty-five years of age. He also owned
a farm. In politics before the war he was a strong abolitionist, upheld
the Republican principles until the Hayes-Tilden contest, after which he
supported the Democratic interests. He served for a number of years as
supervisor of his township, and in Pennsylvania was elected to the office
of county commissioner. During the Civil war he went out as a private
in the fifty-second regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and saw
a brief service in several campaigns. The first Thatcher to come to
America was Thomas Thatcher, whose arrival was in the year 1632. He
was the first preacher in the Old South Church of Boston. From that
famous divine the line of descent is direct to the present .family of
Thatcher. All of them were representative in the ministry, and many of
the name have been eloquent speakers and religious workers. Edwin
Thatcher was a son of John Thatcher, who was born in Massachusetts,
a son of John B., also a native of Massachusetts, and he in turn was a son

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1483

of Peter Thatcher. The maternal grandfather of Frank E. Thatcher
was Tyler Carpenter, who was born in Massachusetts, in earlv youtli
moved to Pennsylvania, and following the business of carpenter and
farmer spent the rest of his years in that state. Edwin Thatcher and
wife had six children, of whom the Ravenna merchant was fourth, the
family being described briefly as follows: Fred A., a merchant at
Fountain, Michigan ; Anna, widow of W. S. Averill, of Harrisbiirg,
Michigan; Amanda, wife of G. E. Rockwell a farmer in Ottawa county;
Frank E. ; Eldred, a horse dealer in Ravenna ; and Jennie, wife of James
Rockwell, a merchant of Harrisburg.

Frank E. Thatcher grew up and was educated in the local schools of
Ravenna, and later took a teacher's course in the University of Val-
paraiso, Indiana. His first regular work as an independent man of affairs
was in teaching, but he soon gave up that profession and became clerk
in a drug store, following that work in Muskegon and at Elk Rapids, for
a number of years. In 1894 his father was made postmaster at Ravenna,
and he came to Ravenna to become assistant. At the same time he brought
a stock of goods, and conducted a drug store in the same building with the
postoffice, looking after the interests of both the Federal office and the
store. From that has developed his present large business as a druggist
and general merchant.

In 1885 Mr. Thatcher married Sadie Bennett, a daughter of Henry
Bennett of Muskegon, who was a ship carpenter in that city. Their
four children are : Edwin, who is a civil engineer, and a graduate of
Michigan Agricultural College in 1907, and is now located in Grand
Rapids; Marion, who is an assistant in his father's store: Lynn, who
passed the best examination in Muskegon in the eighth grade and has
just returned from a free trip to the State Fair at Detroit, as a reward
for his scholarship ; Thomas, who is also in school.

Mr. Thatcher is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen of America,
has passed all the chairs of the Odd Fellows, has been finance keeper in
the Maccabees for fifteen years, and banker in the Woodman Camp for
ten years. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Thatcher has been honored with
various positions, having served as supervisor of Ravenna township for
five years, being first elected in 1866, and serving until 1890. In the
latter year came his election to the state Legislature, in which he served
creditably for one term. Mr. Thatcher is vice president of the State
Pharmaceutical Association, is secretary of the Ravenna School Board,
and from a man who started out in life as a clerk and with no capital
or advantages, except those supplied through his own energy and ability,
his success has been most pleasing and gratifying.

Thomas T- Hender.son. The business relations of Thomas L
Henderson with the city of Flint have subsisted for thirty years. In that
time he has acquired more than an ordinary success. Along with business
success has come civic and personal esteem, and Mr. Henderson is one
of the well known citizens and popular business men of his home commu-
nity. His birth occurred in County Perth, Ontario, Canada, November
25, 1857. Fie was the fourth in a fam.ily of six children born to Thomas
and Mary f Hollingsworth) Henderson. Both parents were natives of
Great Britain, the mother born in Ireland, and the father in Scotland.
They came to Canada in early life, and the father was for many years a
stone mason and contractor, and spent all his active career in Ontario.
He came to Michigan to make visits at different times, but could never
be persuaded to take up his permanent residence on this side of the
boundary. He died in Canada in 1863, when thirty-nine years of age. The

1484 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

mother died in 19 lo at the venerable age of eighty-three years and her
body is at rest in that conntry.

Thomas J. Henderson ac(|iiired his early education in the jHiliIic schools
of Canada, and early in life was apprenticed to learn the plumbing trade.
On completing his apprenticeship, lie worked as a journeyman in various
places, and linally reached Michigan in 18S3. His first year in this state
was spent in Detroit, where he followed his trade. He then came to
Flint, and after working in the line of his trade for several vears, opened
a shop of his own, in partnership with Mr. Flubbard. This business,
established in 1899, was conducted as a successful partnership up to 1908,
when Mr. Henderson bought out his partner, and has since been sole
proprietor of the Flenderson Plumbing Company. He is an expert in
his line, has performed a large number of contracts reliably, and his lousi-
ness record includes successful contract work for many business jjlants,
hotels and oflice buildings in this city and elsewhere.

In politics Mr. Henderson is an independent, and his fraternal affilia-
tions are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. In 1877 Mr. Henderson was married' in
Canada to Miss Rose Sutton. His second marriage was solemnized in
Plint in 1887, when Miss Nellie E. Redcliff became his wife. She is a
daughter of Robert Redcliff who died in 191 1 at the age of seventy years.
Mr. Flenderson is the father of four children, as follows: Thomas J.
Henderson, Jr. ; Mrs. P.essie Montgomery, who was born at Flint, and
lives in Detroit, the mother of two sons, Harry Thomas and Lee; Mrs.
Mazie Ellison, and Dorothy D., who was born at Flint and lives in Detroit.
Mr. Henderson started in life without money, and by close attention to
his trade has become the leading plumber and steamfitter in Flint.

Col. Fr.vnk Joseph Hecker. .V distinguishetl citizen of Detroit and
Michigan, Col. Hecker has conferred honor u])on his native state as a
soldier in two wars, as a railroad builder and manager, as a director of
large business affairs, and by his active and public-sidrited work in several
important official Ijodies, including meml)ershi|) on the Isthmian Canal
Commission, during the e;irl\- preliminar\- work in llie construction of the
I'anama Canal.

Col. Frank Joseph Hecker, born on a farm near Freedom, Washtenaw
county, Michigan, on July 6, 1846, a son of Frank and Cynthia (Shield)
Hecker. His parents were of sturdy German stock, and settled in Michi-
gan during the pioneer era. In 1850, the family moved to St. Louis,
Missouri, where Frank Joseph grew up and got his education from the
local schools. In 1864 at the age of eighteen years he aided in organizing
Company K of the Forty-first Regiment of Missouri Infantry, being ap-
I)ointed first sergeant of liis coni]xiny, and later detailed for special duty
at department headquarters under General Granville M. Dodge. In 18^)7,
Col. Hecker began his career as a railroad man, and it was in the con-
struction and operation of railways that he laid the foundation for his
generous prosperity and achievement. In the service of the Union Pacific
Railway Company, then loeing constructed from Omaha to the Pacific
Coast, he was at first in the construction department, was then assistant
traveling auditor, became general agent at Cheyenne, and afterwards act-
ing superintendent of the Laramie division. In 1870 Col. Hecker was
ajjpointed superintendent of the Rondout & Oswego Railway, then under
construction in New York stale. He held that office until August, 1876,
and in the meantime was also superintendent of the Wallkill \^alley and
the Rhinebeck & Connecticut Railroad. In 1876 came his a])pointment as
general superintendent of the Detroit, Eel River & Illinois Railway in
Indiana. \\'hen this road in December, 1879. was merged with the Wa-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1485

bash system. Col. liecker retired from railroading, and locating in Detroit
organized the Peninsular Car Works, continuing with that corporation as
president and general manager until 1884. In that year the Peninsular
Car Company succeeded the Peninsular Car Works, and Col. Hecker was
elected president of the new company. In 1892 occurred the consolidation
of the Peninsular with the Michigan Car Company, and Col. Hecker be-
came president of the consolidated company, and so continued actively
until 1900.

Few business men of Detroit have been more closely connected with
large local enterprises. He is at the present time a director in the People's
State Bank, the Union Trust Company, the Detroit Copper & Brass Roll-
ing Mills, the Detroit Lumber Company, and with various other local in-
dustries and businesses.

During the war with Spain in 1898, Col. liecker served as colonel of
the United States Volunteers and chief of the division of transportation,
under commission from President McKinley. His resignation from office
was handed in on April i, 1899, and the formal order mustering him out
of service took effect May i, 1899. From March to December, 1904,
Col. Hecker served as a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, from
which he resigned at the latter date. In.i888 (^ol. Hecker was appointed
Metropolitan Police Commissioner of Detrojit, by: Governor Cyrus G. Luce,
and was president of the commission for two years. In the fall of 1892
he was nominated as the Republican candidate for congress in the First
Congressional District, while absent from the city and against his wishes,
and was defeated at the ensuing election, though he very materially low-
ered the usual Democratic jpafority in his district. Now retired from
his larger luisiness activities, Cpl. Hecker's influence is still a vital factor
in his home city, and his accomplishments and success have made his name
well known throughout the state. He has membership in the New York
Yacht, the Detroit, Yondotega, Country, Old and Detroit Boat Clubs,
is affiliated with the Masonic Order, the Detroit Post, G. A. R., and the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and belongs to the Fort Street Pres-
byterian Church.

On December 8, 1868, Col. Hecker married Anna M. Williamson, of
Omaha, Nebraska. To their marriage have been born three daugliters
and two sons: I*"rank Clarence Hecker, Anna Cynthia, Louise May, Chris-
tian Henry and Grace Clara.

James Corrin. James Corbin & Son is the title by which a well known
firm of real estate dealers and auctioneers is known to the community
of Flint and vicinity, and these enterprising gentlemen have been in busi-
ness in that city since July 15, 1912. Besides handling farms, city property,
and acting as sales agents and auctioneers for all kinds of live stock and
merchandise, they operate a sales barn, and each week hold an auction for
live stock.

Mr. Corbin is now settled down to a somewhat quiet routine of busi-
ness afifairs, and only comparatively few know how adventurous his
previous career has been. Until he retired eight years ago, he was an oil
promoter and operator. That fact means a good deal to men who are
familiar with oil development, but some explanation may be necessary
to understand the vicissitudes and ups and downs of such a business for
the benefit of the ordinary reader.

James Corbin was born in Wyandotte county, Ohio, August 16. 1863,
and as he is now only at the climax of his business career, and in possession
of excellent health, he is optimistic enough to believe that he \vill live fifty
years longer. He was reared on a farm and followed farming until he
was twenty-five years of age. Crossing from Wyandotte county into the
Vol. ni— 18

1486 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

adjoining county of Hancock, he started dealing in real estate at Findlay,
the county seat and the center of a great oil industry. Two years later,
Mr. Corbin leased about sixteen hundred acres of land, and drilled what
is known among oil men as a wild cat well. That means that he drilled
a well in an undeveloped territory where no oil had previously been pro-
duced. The first well he put down started off with about two hundred
barrels per day, and having attracted considerable attention to the territory
he sold his leases at a profit of several thousand dollars. His success in
his first venture led him on as it does practically every other man who
ventures into that highly speculative location, and he leased another tract
of about thirty-two hundred acres, and began a regular business in the
drilling of wild cat holes. One after another was sunk, and each time
proved dry, until he had not only lost all his previous accumulations, but
was in debt about eight thousand dollars. Not daunted by this experience
and with the courage of the born fighter and pioneer, Mr. Corbin went
to another part of the country and leased some five thousand acres. He
set up his rig, let his drills down to the oil strata, and on reaching the
sands, and after the well was shot, a flow of oil started that gushed out a
hundred feet from the surface and over the top of the eighty-foot derrick.
In the first twenty- four hours that well produced 740 barrels. He had
wisely safeguarded his territory, and there was no land that could be
leased nearer to this big well than one mile on the west, one mile on the
east, two miles on the south, and half a mile on the north. Such was the
promise and actual output of his territory that at one time he could have
sold his holdings for more than a million dollars. Mr. Corbin states that
the most expensive well he ever drilled was in the Illinois oil fields, where
■ he had his men working seventeen months on a hole which proved dry,
the expense of which amounted to $16,000. Mr. Corbin retired from the
oil business eight years ago, and as a man who had a great fund of prac-
tical experience and knowledge and was an interesting talker, and somewhat
of a philosopher, he then made the rounds of every county seat in Ohio,
except two, and delivered a popular lecture in each county town on the
subject: "The Sham and the Real Man." Since coming to Michigan,
Mr. Corbin has prospered and has a high opinion of the Wolverine State
and its people and resources.

Burt Wickii.vm. For more than twelve years Mr. Wickham has been
county clerk of Oceana county, and is a man whose career has been one of
self-supporting activity since he was eight years of age. Besides his
official position he is secretary of the W. R. Roach & Company Canning
Factory at Hart. His record as an official has been characterized by
efficiency of performance and obliging courtesy to all who have used his
oftice, and he is one of the most popular officials of the county.

Born in New York State, January 24, 1872, Burt Wickham is a son
of George and Susan A. (Ashpole) ^^^ickham. The Wickhams were
early established in New England, and Grandfather Kenyon Wickham
was born in New York and spent all his life as a farmer in that state.
He married Lucy Ann DeWitt, who was of Pennsylvania Dutch stock.
George Wickham, the father, was born in Orleans county. New York, in
1838, while his wife was born in Onondaga county. New York, in 1837,
and they were married in 1864. For a number of years the father fol-
lowed liis trade as butcher, and at one time supplied all the meats con-
sumed in the Auburn State Prison. Retiring from the meat business he
has for the last sixteen or eighteen years been selling agricultural machin-
ery and buying produce. He still lives in New York State. His wife
was a daughter of George Ashpole, who was born in England, came to
the United States when a young man, and was a farmer in New York.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1487

George Wickham and wife were the parents of six sons, mentioned
briefly as follows : Orson F., who is a partner in the Sands and Maxwell
Lumber Company at Pentwater; George, who is a nurseryman near
Geneva, New York; Lee Kenyon, who lives at Mottville, New York;
Louis, who is a paper maker at Mottville ; Burt ; and Harry, who is also
a paper maker at Mottville. The father of these children is a Universal-
ist in religion, while his wife is a Methodist. He is a Republican, and
had two brothers, DeWitt Clinton and Fernando, who served as uninn
soldiers in the Civil war.

Burt Wickham grew up in the vicinity of Mottville, New York, wliere
he attended school, but his early advantages in that direction were limited.
In 1888, when sixteen years old, he came west, and spent a year at P'ent-
water, where he attended high school for a time. Returning to New York,
he remained there a year, and in 1890. once more located in Pentwater,
where he was for ten years engaged as shipping clerk with the Pentwater
Bedstead Company. After the factory burned, he became a candidate
for county clerk of courts, and his first election to this important ofiice
came in 1900, since which time he has been regularly returned to his
official duty at the end of each term.

In 1896 Mr. Wickham married Laura Adelaide Dumont, a daughter
of William S. Dumont, one of the early settlers of Pentwater, where he
settled in 1865, and where he conducted a hotel for many years. He is
now living retired, and is a veteran of the Civil war, having gone out with
Company I of the Fifth Iowa Regiment. Mr. and Mrs. Wickham have
three children : Dorothy A., in school ; .Solomon Stuart, also in school ; and
Burt, Jr. The family attend the Congregational church, and Mr. Wick-
ham is president of the Men's Club of that church. Fraternally he is
affiliated with Wigton Lodge No. 251, A. F. & A. M. at Hart ; with Chapter
No. 148, R. A. M., of which he has been king; with the Knights of Pythias,
of .which he is past chancellor commander, and the Modern Woodmen of
America. A Republican in politics, besides his present office he has served
as village clerk of I'entwater for six years. He was for a long time chair-
man of the ReiHiblican County Committee.

William Grant Bird, M. D. In the special line of his calling there
are few men in Michigan who have attained greater distinction than
that which has come to Dr. William Grant Bird, a leading oculist and
aurist of Flint. Belonging to one of the pioneer families of the state,
he was born at Eagle Harbor, IMichigan, June 6, 1868, and is a son of
Peter C. and Mary J. (Morris) Bird. The father was born at Romulus,
Michigan, a son of Richard Bird, who was one of the first settlers of
Wayne county, whence he came overland from New York. The grand-
father cleared a farm from the virgin forests, carried on successful agri-
cultural pursuits for many years, and contributed materially to the
upbuilding and development of the community in which he resided. He
was a man of sterling character, a prominent and active member of the
Methodist church, and a helpful force in the cause of education, morality
and good citizenship, and when he died, at the age of eighty-two years,
was widely mourned by a wide circle of friends.

Peter C. Bird was born at Romulus. Michigan, and was reared to
agricultural pursuits, his education being secured in the district schools.
He was thus engaged until his enlistment, in i8fit, in the Twenty-fourth
Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and participated in
numerous engagements until wounded severely at the first day's fighting
at Gettysburg. He received his honorable discharge on account of dis-
ability, his record showing that he had always been a brave and faithful
soldier, and he at once returned to the ranks of peace where he fullillcd

1488 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

his duty just as faithfully and courageousl\'. Although his wound had
made him a cripple for life, his energy, determination and well-directed
effort enabled him to attain success as a farmer, and for a long time he
was also prominent in jniblic affairs, serving as deputy register of deeds
for ten years and as deputy collector of customs for several years. A
stanch Republican, he was always active in the ranks of his party and
was known as one of the reliable and influential wheel-horses of the
organization in his part of the state. Mrs. Bird came to Michigan as a
child, traveling overland with her jiarents and settling on a farm which
was cut out of the forest. She was a native of New York, and, like her
husband, e.Kperienced the hardships and privations incidental to life in a
pioneer community. She survives her husband, who died at Romulus,
November 24, 1912, at the age of seventy-two years, and is a resident of
Detroit. Nine children were born to Peter C. and Mary J- Bird, of
whom three are deceased, the six remaining being: Alice J., who is a
popular teacher in the public schools of Detroit and lives with her
mother : Dr. William Grant : Anna, who is the wife of Charles D. Will-
iams, of Fremont, Texas; Richard, who is engaged in farming near
Romulus, Michigan : Arthur M., a leading druggist of Milford, Mich-
igan ; and Carrie, who was married October 23, 1913, to George Sims
of Romulus.

William Grant Bird received his early education in the public schools
of Romulus, following which he became a student in Wayne High
school. He had always possessed the ambition to enter the medical
profession, but his funds were low, and in order to earn the means of
attending college he worked for some time as a salesman for the D. M.
Ferrv Wholesale Seed Company. As soon as possible he entered the
Detroit College of Medicine, but even then did not give up his work,
which he prosecuted during the vacation periods and whenever he could
find the leisure from his studies. Thus it is that Doctor Bird, like many
prominent men. is essentially eligible for membership in the class of
self-made men of which America is so proud. Graduating in the class
of 1S05, he began the general practice of medicine at Milford. He
remained there for five years, and during this time devoted a great
deal of study to the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. In 1900,
deciding that the city of Mint oft'ered broader o]iportunities, he made
this community his scene of practice, and it has since been also the field
of his successes. He has specialized exclusively since his arrival here,
and his modern offices, in the P. Smith building, are equipped with every
appliance and accessory known to the profession. His gentleness and
kindness of manner and appreciation of the wants of those who are in
need of his services as a physician have secured for him friendshijis, the
closest and most enduring of all of those which he has formed during
his interesting career. His sound business judgment and faith in the
future of Flint have allowed him to make numerous profitalile realty
investments, and one of the most valuable of these is represented by his
modem home, at No. 419 Kearsley street. He is an Elk, and in the
line of his profession belongs to the American Medical Association, the
Michigan State Medical Society and the Genesee County Medical
Society.

Doctor Bird has been twice married. His first union occurred in
1897 to Miss Mary Jane McBride, who died in 1902. One son was born
to that union: William Carroll, born November 24, 1899, and now a
student in the Flint High school. On February 10, 1905, Dr. Bird was
married to Miss Jessie L. Farmer, of Grand Blanc, Michigan, a native
of Genesee county, daughter of Thomas Farmer, of a prominent pioneer
family of this county.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1489

Frank Willis Hine. For more than thirty years Frank W. 'Hine
has successfully practiced law at Grand Rapids. While his own career
has been one of substantial accomplishments and influence he also repre-
sents one of the pioneer families of western Michigan. To be well born
is one of the greatest blessings that can come to a child, and this was the
case in the birth of Frank W. Hine. His ancestry on both sides goes
back to the early years of New England Colonial history, and he comes
of strong stock physically, mentally and morally. His genealogy deserves
some brief description, and the facts set down in the following paragraphs
are taken from a careful study of the subject made by Hon. Robert C.
Hine, formerly of New York but later of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Judge
of the Superior Court of St. Paul Minnesota.

Frank Willis Hine was born at Lowell in Kent county, Michigan, May
3, 1862. He is in the eighth generation from the founding of the family
in America. The ancestry begins with Thomas Hine, who founded the
family from England, and the successive heads of tiie family down to the
Grand Rapids lawyer are as follows : Stephen Hine, Ambrose Hine,
Ambrose Hine, Silas Hine, Demas Hine, Martin N. Hine and Frank W.

Thomas Fline, the originator of the family name in this country, came
to America on January 28, 1646. His name is recorded at that date as
being the owner of real estate in Milford, Connecticut. His wife, Eliza-
beth, was recorded as a member of the church in Milford in 1669. They
reared ten children. (2) Their sixth child, Stephen Hine, was born in
Milford, Comiecticut, October 25, 1663, and was a lifelong resident of
Milford. In 1712 he was assessed on property valued at one hundred
and one and five tenths pounds. (3) Ambrose Hine, who was born at
Milford, Connecticut, lived all his life in that state and his will was pro-
bated at New Haven November 27, 1750. His wife's name was Sarah.
(4) Captain Ambrose Hine, who was baptized in Milford, Connecticut,
June 26, 1726, was a captain in the Revolutionary war. as is proved by
records in the State of Connecticut. He located at Woodbridge, Con-
necticut, and spent his last days there. He was married on December 13,
1749, to Sarah Terrell, and from the best information obtainable married
for his second wife Betsey Ford. (5) Silas Hine, the great grandfather
of the Grand Rapids lawyer, was born in Connecticut January 8, 1764,
was reared and married in that state and accompanied by his family moved
to New York and settled in Meredith in Delaware county, where he Ijought
timber land and cleared up a farm and lived there until his death in 1841.
The maiden name of his wife was Betsey Tyrrell, she died in 1834. They
reared twelve of their thirteen children, eleven sons and one daughter.
(6) Demas Hiite was born in Connecticut March 9. 1804, received his
early education in his home state, and was about sixteen years old when
he moved to New York with his father and mother. He studied and pre-
pared for the profession of medicine, and practiced in the east for a
number of years. In 1844 he traded his possessions in New York stat'e
for three hundred and five acres of land situated in Cannon and Plain-
field townships of Kent county, Michigan. Kent county was then a wil-
derness, and the land which he occupied was practically in its virgin state.
In 1845 he came to Michigan to look after his land, and settled in Cannon
township. He soon erected a frame house and did some work to make the
place habitable, an.d in 1847 returned to the east to get his family. It was
his intention when he came to Michigan to devote his time to clearing
up his land and farming, but in those days doctors were far apart and his
services were so frequently called to treat the sick in a large community
that he had little time for private business until the country was more set-
tled. He lived in Kent county until his death on April 25, 1872. Dr. Hine
married Sally Noble. She was the daughter of Zadoc and Sally ( Stilson)

1490 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Noble. The Noble genealogy has been compiled by L. M. Roltwood, and
can be found in family publications. She died August 28, i88y, and was
the mother of three children, Milton B., Martin N. and Charles R. (7)
Martin N. Hine, father of the Grand Rapids lawyer, was born in Delhi,
Delaware county, New York, November 15, 1829. His education was
acquired in the public schools of his native state, and he also learned the
trade of carpenter. He was about eighteen years of age when he came
west in 1847, with other members of the family, and for several years was
employed at his trade in (Jrand Rapids and vicinity. In 1855 he moved
to L.owell, and there continued as a carpenter and builder, and among
the many buildings which he constructed there might be mentioned the
Congregational church and the high school which are still standing and
testify to his careful industry and skill. Later he was engaged in mer-
chandising, having a general store, and became president of the Lowell
National Bank. Until about the time of his death he was postmaster
of the village. Martin N. Hine married Lucy Jane Tilton, who was born
in Conway, Massachusetts. February 14, 1830.

The Tilton genealogy is also one of many generations and of h(jnor-
able associations in American history. Her father was Samuel Tilton,
born at Brighton, now a part of Boston, Massachusetts, January 31, 1801.
Her grandfather was Josiah Tilton, born in that part of Sudbury which is
now Weston, Massachusetts, June 23, 1776. In tlie fifth generation was
Samuel Tilton who was born near what is now Hamilton, Fssex county,
Massachusetts, January 11, 1740. At the head of the fourth generation
was Josiah Tilton, who, tlie records show, was baptised August 31, 1712.
Going back another generation, is another Samuel Tilton, who was born
April 14, 1681, in Ipswich, Massachusetts. In the next previous genera-
tion was Abraham Tilton, born about 1638. Abraham was a son of Wil-
liam, the arch ancestor, who emigrated from England, and who lived in
Lynn, Massachusetts as early as 1640. He owned a large tract of land
which e.xtended from the "Common" to the sea. He died at Lynn in
1653, and his widow subse(|uently married .Roger Shaw, a retired mer-
chant, who died at Hampton, now a part of New Hampshire. John Til-
ton, either a son or a brother of William, also lived in Lynn, and his wife
was arrested and accused of heresy because she was asserted to have said
she did not believe in infant damnation. On account of this trouble John
Tilton and wife moved to Long Island, New York, and settled at Graves-
end, and later he became one of the patentees of the Monmouth Grant in
New Jersey. One of the descendants of this John Tilton was Theodore
Tilton. Peter Tilton, a son of William, settled early in Windsor, Con-
necticut, and later in Hadley, Massachusetts, where he l)ecame prominent,
served as judge and as representative to the Colonial legislature. He
also sheltered the regicides, Whaley and Goss. Abraham Tilton settled
near what is now Hamilton, Massachusetts, and died there when about
ninety years of age, his remains now reposing in the Hamilton churchyard.
He was twice married, his first wife being Mary Cram and the mother of
his children, and the name of his second wife was Deliverance. Samuel
Tilton, a son of Abraham, was a farmer .■iiid a lifelong resident of
Hamilton. He was married May 7, 1704, to Sarah Batchelder, and they
reared eight children. Their son Josiah married I>ucy Low, and he died
at the early age of twenty-five years, leaving considerable propertv.
Samuel Tilton, a son of Josiah and I.ucy, was married November 17, 1763,
at Mcdford, Massachus"ctts, to Elizabeth Blodgett. He settled at East
Sudburv, now Weston, Massachusetts. He was a minute-man during the
Revolutionary war and was known in his community as Lieutenant Til-
ton. His death occurred on his farm .'\pril 14, 1805, and his wife died at
Brighton, February 10, T831. They hail two sons and six daughters.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1491

Their son, Josiah Tilton, became a wholesale butcher in Brighton, Massa-
chusetts, and conducted business there until 1815, when he moved to
Conway, and bought a farm on which he resided until his death in 1819.
His first marriage occurred in Boston in 1799, when Sally Cook became
his wife. At Weston he married second, Eunice Livermore. She sur-
vived him more than half a century, and had for her second husband
Jabez Newhall. Samuel Tilton, the maternal grandfather of Frank VV.
Hine, came from Massachusetts to Michigan in 1845 ''"d located in Grand
Rapids. There he opened a partnership meat market on Monroe street,
opposite the present site of the Pantlind hotel. He died during the same
year, and is buried in the Fulton street cemetery. The maiden name of
his first wife, and the mother of his children, was Electa Stearns. They
were married at Conway, Massachusetts, November 8, 1825, and she died
March 19, 1841. In 1842 at Amherst, Alassachusetts, he married Emily
Houghton. After his death she returned to Massachusetts, leaving her
step-children in Grand Rapids in the care of a guardian. The names
of the four children of Samuel Tilton were: Emily, born 1S26 and died
1848; Sarah, born in 1832 and died in 1855, both daughters being well
educated and teaching in the public schools ; Josiah, the only son, operated
hotels in Chicago, Springfield, Massachusetts, and in Buffalo, New York,
where he died ; Lucy Jane Tilton, who married Martin N. Hine, was the
third of the four children, and was also a teacher before her marriage.

Martin N. Hine and wife reared three children. The eldest, George
Tilton Hine, was educated in the University of Michigan, graduating in
the medical department, and practiced his profession at Warne, North
Carolina, where he died November 10, 1894. He was married September
5, 1881, at Lowell to Ella M. Dawson, who was born in Lowell, Michigan.
She reared two children : Martine N., born November 7, 1884, and who
married Charles Thompson of Fenton, Michigan ; and Georgia Tilton,
born May 14, 1895, and now a teacher in Stambaugh, Michigan.

Frank Willis Hine was a member of the first class graduating from the
Lowell high school in Kent county. Lie received a liberal education, and
graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan with
the class of 1 88 1, and in the following year took up active practice in
Grand Rapids. He has enjoyed large professional success, and has long
ranked as one of the leading lawyers of the Kent county bar.

On December 27, 1897, Mr. Hine married Maude B. Baker, who was
born in Grand Rapids, a daughter of William N. and Emily Baker. They
have one daughter, Emily Lucy, born October 18, 190 1. The family
attend the Congregational church, and Mr. Hine is affiliated with the
Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is fond
of all outdoor recreations, and has a large acquaintance both through his
professional relations and socially and in civic centers.

0.sc.\R W.VRREX McKenn.a, M. D. Although Dr. Oscar W.
McKenna is numbered among the more recent acquisitions to the med-
ical profession of Flint, where he is engaged in the general practice of
medicine, he has already won a large and growing patronage, for lie is
thoroughly conversant with the most modern methods known to the
members of his profession and the results which have followed his
labors have gained for him the trust and confidence of the public at
large. He was born at Albion, New York, January 26, 1872, and is a
son of Charles and Anna (McGowan) McKenna.

Charles McKenna was a member of an old and honored family of
X'ermont, where his birth occurred, and there he was reared, educated
and married. Some time after the latter event he moved to New York
and there engaged in agricultural pursuits, in which he spent his entire

1492 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

career, becoming one of the substantial men of his locality. He died at
Albion, New York, in 1905, when eighty years of age. j\Irs. McKenna
was also born, reared and educated in \ ermont, being, like her husband,
of Scotch descent, and still survives him, making her home with Doctor
McKenna, at Flint. Charles and Anna McKenna were the parents of
four sons and three daughters, and Oscar W'arren was the sixth in order
of birth.

The early education of Doctor McKenna was gained in the public
schools of Albion, and following his graduation from the high school in
1890, he became a student in the University of Vemiont. He received
his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1896 and immediately thereafter
came to Michigan, his first field of practice being the village of Vernon,
in Shiawassee county. After one and one-half years, Doctor McKenna
found that locality too restricted, and he accordingly came to Flint,
which has since been the field of his activities and successes. Having
gained a thorough knowledge of the science which he is now practicing,
he has won a goodly measure of success in carrying on the work and
has a liberal patronage, while the confidence of the public in his ability
and the efiicacy of his labors is constantly increasing. He has devoted
much of his time to research and investigation, is a constant and
assidious student, and maintains membership in the Genesee County
Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association. He maintains offices at No. 107 East First street.
A Republican in politics, he was elected on that ticket to the office of
coroner of Genesee county, and served in that position six years, but
for the greater part public life has held out no attractions to him. He
is not enthusiastic about sports or outside diversions, preferring the
pleasures to be found in his home, but that he is not indilTerent to the
satisfaction secured from companionship with his fellows is shown by
his membership in the Masons, in which he has attained to the Knight
Templar degree. He is a member of the Board of Commerce of Flint,
and his religious connection is with the Presbyterian church. For the
first si-x years of his residence in Flint he was connected with the
Michigan National Guard, but has since severed his connection with
that organization.

On June 27, igoi. Doctor McKenna was married near Walton, New
York, to Miss Josephine Knapp, who was born at Stanford, Connecti-
cut, and was left an orphan in childhood. One son was born to this
union: Harold Knapp, January 19, 1905, at Flint. Doctor McKenna's
comfortable home is located at No. 516 East Third street.

WiLLi.\M J. Gu.w. It is a precedent of long standing that from the
ranks of the bar are recruited many of the ablest civic leaders, and in
more recent times men of the law have also gained almost equal promi-
nence in business circles. In both cases the practice has been confirmed
by William J. Gray, who for more than thirty years has been identified
with the Detroit bar, and who is both an able lawyer and a banker of
that city.

William J. Gray was born in Detroit on July 9, 1857, a son of William
and Mary (Stewart) Gray. During his boyhood, spent in Detroit, Mr.
Gray was a student in the grammar and high schools, after which he
entered the literary department of the University of Michigan, where
lie w-as graduated an A.B. with the class of 1877. In the office of R. P.
Toms, of Detroit, he pursued his law studies until his admission to the
bar of Michigan in 1879. His practice began in the same year, and he
rapidly rose to a place of prominence in the profession. But in June of
1912, while senior member of the firm of Gray & Gray, he retired from

Tfil NIV TM«

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1408

active practice in order to give his entire time to the affairs of the First
National Bank of Detroit, of which well known institution he is an active
vice president. Mr. Gray's legal counsel and business ability have served
to promote the prosperity of a number of local concerns. He is a director
of the Security Trust Company, of Detroit, a director in the Michigan
Savings Bank of Detroit and a director in the Belle Isle and Windsor
Ferry Company.

Mr. Gray has membership in the Detroit Club, the University Club, the
Country Club, the Yondotega Clul) and the Detroit Boat Clul). At Detroit,
on June 2, 1887, he was married to Hannah \'an \'echten Hammond, of
this city.

FiiAXK D. B.VKER. Now serving as postmaster at Flint. Mr. I.lakcr
has been known to the business community and the citizenship of Gen-
essee county practically all his life. For thirty years he has been a
druggist at Flint, the office of postmaster is not the first important pub-
lic honor bestowed upon him since his administration as sherifi^ is well
remembered and he has been otherwise known as a leader.

Frank D. Baker is an Englishman by birth, born December 10. 1852,
but since he was four years of age, his home has been in this country.
His father was Charles Baker, who came to America in 1856, and set-
tled on a farm in Burton township of Genesee county, being one of the
early settlers there. His death occurred on tlie old homestead in 1909,
when eighty-four years of age/ Jie'was a^'^sulistantjal farmer, a man of
considerable means, and filled a ^taee of jys(^yl^eSs and honor in his
locality. The maiden name of his wife was Eliza Dymond, wlio was
born and was married in England, and who died in 1907 at the old
home place at the age of seventy sj.x. ^She .was.the mother of thirteen
children, twelve of whom are still- .livingf:<.a»d \0f . these the Flint post
master was fifth.

As a boy he lived on a farm, attended "district school, and also the
high school at Flint, and sometime after reaching manhood his ambition
directed him to prei)are for a profession. In 1876 he entered the Uni-
versity of jMichigan, and was graduated in medicine in 1880, having
also spent one year in the regular literary department. Following his
graduation he practiced three months at Lincoln, Michigan, and then
moved to Flint. Since entering the drug business in 1883, he has given

• practically no attention to his profession ; though often called doctor, it
is a title reminiscent of his earlier career rather than denoting his pres-
ent vocation. I lis appointment to the office of postmaster at Flint was
confirmed on July 26, 1913, and Mr. Baker succeeds his brother, Fred
P. Baker, in that office.

In politics he has always been a loyal Democrat, and has been
found among the party workers in Genesee county for a number of
years. His record of public service includes several terms as alderman
pf the city; he was mayor of Flint in 1899, and in the fall of 1900
was elected sheriff of Genesee county, an office in which he gave capa-
ble service for two years. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason,
- having membership in the Genesee ^''alley Commandery No. 15. and
also belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He and
his family are Methodists.

At Edwardsville, Illinois, on August 30, 1880, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Baker and Miss Mattie Ritter. .She was born in Madi-

* son county, Illinois, a daughter of Henry Ritter. To their marriage were
born six children: Martha, unmarried; Gertrude, wife of William J.
Bixby, of Evanston, Illinois; Frank D., Jr.; Jessie; Margaret, and
Bryan, named after the Great Commoner, William Jennings Bryan. The
Baker home is at 410 East Third Street.

1494 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Francis D. Campau. A well-kiiovvn and highly successful at-
torney of Grand Rapids, Francis D. Campau is a worthy representative
of one of the very first white families to settle in what is now the state
of Michigan, heing a lineal descendant of Jacques Campau, who, with
his brother, jNIichel, located in 1710, on the present site of the city of
Detroit, in the midst of an unbroken wilderness. From those two brothers
have descended all of the numerous branches of the Campau family to
be found in the three Michigan cities, Detroit, Monroe and Grand Rap-
ids, and in Chicago, Illinois.

The immigrant ancestor was Etienne Campau, who in 1663, in Mont-
real, Quebec, married Catherine Paulo. Their two sons, Jacques and
Michel, migrated to the United States, as mentioned above, settling at
Detroit in 1710, and of them many interesting stories are told in "Legends
of Detroit," written by Maria Caroline Watson Hamlin. The elder son,
Jacques Campau, born in 1677, married in 1699, Cecile Catin. The line
was continued through their oldest son, Jean Louis Campau, who was
born in 1702, and married Marie Louise Robert. The next in line of
descent was their son, Jacques Campau, who was born in 1735, and mar-
ried in 1760, Catherine Menard. He was quite prominent in local affairs,
being distinguished as the first captain of militia, his services being fre-
c|uently mentioned in the annals of Detroit. The line was continued
through the Captain's son, Louis Campau, who was born in 1767, and
married Therese Morand. They reared five children, all of whom be-
came residents of Grand Rapids, their names being as follows: Mrs.
Cotrell ; Mrs. \ illier ; George; Antoine Toussaint ; and Louis. George
married ]\Ille. Rivard, and Louis married Mile. Sophie de Marsac. An-
toine, the next in life of descent, was the grandfather of Mr. Francis D.
Campau and Antoine B. Campau.

Antoine Campau was born June 13, 1797, in Detroit, and was there
brought up. Having acquired a good business education, he began trad-
ing with the Indians, and in 1827 went to Saginaw, Michigan, to take
charge of the Indian Post that had been there established by his brother
Louis. Returning to Detroit a year or two later, he purchased land at
Grosse Point, and in addition to farming continued to trade with the In-
dians, spending several months each year on the frontier. In 1833 he
came to Grand Rapids, which was then a trading post, and in 1835 moved
his family to this place, making the removal in a covered wagon. At
the corner of Pearl and Monroe streets he erected a store building, and
on Monroe street, just above Market street, he built a small dwelling
house for his family. From that time he was an important and influential
member of the community. He continued in trade about ten years, after
which he moved to his farm, which was located on South Division street,
and was for a number of seasons successfully engaged in agricultural
pursuits. In 1855 he platted a part of his farm into city lots: since that
time the remainder of the farm has been platted and built upon with
the exception of that portion including, and immediately surrounding, the
old home, which was donated to the city by Martin Ryerson. now of Chi-
cago, and is known as Antoine Campau Park. Mr. Ryerson is a cousin
of Mr. Campau, the subject of this sketch, and it is said that these two
cousins were the only persons born in that house. Mr. Ryerson also
donated to the city the Grand Rapids Puljlic Library Building.

Antoine Campau married Sarah Cotrell, who was born in Marine
Citv, ^Michigan, of French ancestry. She survived him a few years.
They were the parents of five children, as follows: Denis L. ; Andrew
S.. father of Francis D. and .Antoine ; Marianne : .Anthony ; and Julia.

Andrew S. Campau was 1)orn in Grand Rapids, Michigan, July 15,
1839. ami in this city received his elementary education, which was com-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1495

pleted at Notre Dame, Indiana. In 1857 he went to California, going
on a sailing vessel, and rounding Cape Horn, where adverse winds and
heavy storms were encountered, causing such delays that it was seven -
months before the point of destination was reached. After spending two
days in Frisco, he went to the gold fields of Sacramento, where he re-
mained two years. Entering the United States service as a scout, he was
sent to Utah and Nevada to protect the whites from the ravages of the
Piutes and Shoshonees, it having been at the time of the Lawson Meadow
murder and the ^fountain ]\Ieadow massacre, when in that section the
life of any white traveler was in great danger. Returning to California
after two years of adventure and excitement, he remained on the upper
coast until 1869, when he came back to Grand Rapids to engage in the
fur trade, with which he was connected for several years.

On May 2, 1876, Andrew S. Campau was united in marriage with
Mary E. Blackwell, who was born in Union City, Indiana, a daugliter of
Lewis W. and Lovice ( Smith) Blackwell, both of whom were born in
New York state, of Scotch and English ancestr}'. They reared two sons,
namely : Antoine B. and Francis D. Antoine Blackwell Campau was
born March 2, 1878.

Francis D. Campau was' born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his birth
occurring on September 8, 1880. After coiupleting the course of study
in the public schools he entered the University of Chicago, and was there
graduated with the class of 1903. He subse<|uently took a three year's
course at Harvard University, and after returning home from Cambridge,
Massachusetts, was admitted to the Michigan bar in 1905. Mr. Campau
has since been actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his
profession in his home city.

Mr. Campau married August 2, 1909, Ethel Laurens Dunn, who was
born in Jackson, Tennessee. Her father, William C. Dunn, was a native
of \'irginia, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Marsh Shrop-
shire, was born in Mississippi, and both were of English ancestry. Mr.
and Mrs. Campau have one daughter, Jac(|ueline Denise. Mr. Campau
cast his first presidential vote for Theodore Roosevelt. Socially he is a
member of the Peninsular Club, and of other social organizations.

WiLLi.j,M Is-\AC Whitaker, M. D. Among the men of ability and
professional attainments, who are identified with the profession of medi-
cine in Michigan, a prominent place is held by Dr. William Isaac Whit-
aker of Flint. While a general practitioner, Dr. Whitaker has gained
more than local reputation for his knowledge and skillful handling of
typhoid cases. He is regarded as one of the best qualified and most skilled
practitioners in Genesee county.

On July 28, 1863, William Isaac Whitaker was born in Lima town-
ship, Washtenaw county, a son of Charles and Laura (Beach) Whit-
aker. His father, who was born in New York state, came to Michigan
when a young man in 1837, and first settled in the township of Lima
in Washtenaw county, where he was one of the first settlers and farm-
ers, and a public spirited citizen. He died in 1879 at the age of sixty-
one. He gave service to the community as township supervisor, and was
one of the committee that built a courthouse at Ann .\rbor during the
early days. A prominent Democrat, his popularity in his locality enabled
him to overcome a Republican majority which had kept its candidate in
the office of township supervisor for twenty years, and he was the first
Democrat in that office for two decades. Laura (Beach) Whitaker, was
also born in New York State, but was of an old Pennsylvania Dutch
family. She died January 8. 1909, at Ann Arbor, aged eighty-four years.
She was the mother of six children, three sons and three daughters, four

1496 HISruRV OF xMICHIGAN

of whom are living, the different meml)er.s of the family being named
as follows : Caroline F., who is unmarried and lives in Ann Arbor ;
Dr. Mary A. W. Williams, of Bay City, Alichigan ; Ella E. Toumey,
widow of William Toumey of Ann Arbor; Dr. William I.; Finley 1!.,
who was born December 2, 1845, s"'! became a traveling salesman, and
died at Bath, New York, in August, igo6; Charles E. Whitaker, who
was a hardware salesman, was born March 19, 1862, and died June 16,
igio. Dr. William Isaac Whitaker, who was the youngest in the family
was educated at Eaton Rapids, and in the Chelsea high school, and also
spent three years in Ann Arbor. He graduated from the Michigan Col-
lege in Medicine and Surgery at Detroit, in i8<;8. Dr. Whitaker is an
independent worker since early boyhood, and never had any of the good
fortune which enabled many young men to secure the utmost liberal
training for any profession they desire. In order to attend medical
school he borrowed the money to take him through his courses, and
after beginning practice paid back his indebtedness as fast as possible.
On graduating Dr. Whitaker began practice on July i, i8g8, at Durand,
and remained there until October. igo8, when he came to Flint. He has
built up a large general practice, and as already stated, is an expert in
the treatment of typhoid cases. He has membership in the County and
State Medical Societies, and the American Medical Association.

A Democrat, the doctor often votes for the man, regardless of party
'ties. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order, the Chapter, various
degrees in the Scottish Rite, and the Mystic Shrine, also is identified
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Alodern Woodmen
of America, the Eastern Stars, the Royal Neighbors of America, and is
medical examiner for the Illinois Bankers Life Insurance Co., Metropolitan
Life Insurance Co., the Royal Neighbors, the Knights of the Macca])ees,
and the Modern Woodmen of America. He has memljcrsliip in the
Board of Commerce, and worships in the Episcopal church. In Lima
township, in the locality where he was born, Dr. Whitaker was married
December ig, 1882, to Alma L. Perry, a native of this state, a daughter
of George B. and Loretta Perry. To their union have been born four
children, as follows: One who was born I<"ebruary 26, i8g3, and died in
infancy: Perry \'an Whitaker, born February 25, 1895; Charles Regi-
nald, born August 8, 1902: and Herschell William Whitaker, born Aug-
ust 4, igo6. The doctor and family reside at 933 Detroit Street, and his
offices are in the Flint P. ."-^mith Building.

Nicnn:..\s J. Wkstr.v. That the elements of success and advancement
lie as intrinsic i|ualitics of the intlividual ]3erson lias been significantly
demonstrated in the career nf Mr. Westra, whose ambitious purpose,
close application and dclinite ability have enabled him to gain prestige as
one of the represent:itive contractors and builders of Grand Ra])ids. He
is an exponent of a line of enterprise that closely concerns the civic and
material progress of every community, and his work in his chosen voca-
tion has not been confined to his home city but has been extended into
other places in the state, the while his reputation has been fortified by
every contract that he has executed, for fidelity and ability have character-
ized his every movement and achievement as a business man and he is
recognized as a liberal and progressive citizen.

A scion of the staunch Holland Dutch stock that has played a most
important part in the development and upbuilding of Grand Rapids and
other sections of Michigan, Mr. Westra is himself a native of Holland,
where he was born on the ist of April, 1864, a son of Julius and Jenette
(Stiemsma) Westra, members of old ami honored families of Holland,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1497

where the former was born in 1835 and the latter in 1S36. The parents
continued their residence in their fatherland until 1888, when they immi-
grated to America, and in that year they established their home in the
city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the father engaged in the con-
tracting and building business in a minor way and where he still main-
tains his residence, his loved and devoted wife having passed to the
"land of the leal" in the year 1904. Of their eight children five are now
living and of the number Nicholas J., of this sketch, is the eldest. Julius
Westra has been a man of industrious habits and has so lived as to merit
and receive the high regard of all with whom he has come in contact.
He still continues to devote considerable time to active work as a con-
tractor, and in his physical and mental vigor shows the evidences of
right living and right thinking. In politics he supports the Democratic
partv and he is a zealous member of the Dutch Reformed church, of
which his wife likewise was a devout adherent. Julius Westra is a
son of Simon Westra, who passed his entire life in ilolland, as did also
his wife, who was born in the year 1800 and who attained to the venerable
age of ninety-six years.

Nicholas T- Westra was afforded the advantages of the common
schools of his native land, where he also attended a well ordered trade
school, in which he learned practical carpentry and fortified himself ad-
mirably for the vocation in which he has since won pronounced success.
As a youth of twenty-two years he set forth to seek his fortunes in the
United States, where he felt assured of better opportunity for achiev-
ing success through individual effort. On the 5th of December, 1886,
he made his appearance at Lancaster, Erie county, New York, where he
remained until 1889, the latter year having given him the great satis-
faction of witnessing the arrival of his parents in America. In the year
last mentioned he came with his parents to Grand Rapids, Michigan,
and here he found ready demand for his services a^ a journeyman car-
penter, as he was a skilled workman. He continued to follow his trade
and graduallv expanded the scope of his operations to include inrlepend-
ent contracting and building. In 1904 Mr. Westra purchased the con-
tracting business of Henry Green, and he has since continued the en-
terprise with marked success, his business showing a constantly cumu-
lative tendency, as he is a stickler in living up to the plans and specifica-
tions involved' in every contract assumed and is known as a man thor-
oughlv fortified in all details of his chosen vocation. He has erected a
number of excellent buildings in Grand Rapids and other places in north-
ern Michigan, including Cadillac, and Alma, Michigan, besides which he
has executed contracts in other states, including one of noteworthy type
in Jacksonville, Florida. His business is of substantial order and it
mav consistently be said that his reputation is one of his best assets. He
gives his attention more particularly to the erection of private dwellings
and flat 1>uildings, and his annual operations now represent an average
aggregate of fully $90,000. Mr. Westra held and filled the contract for
the erection of the Blodgett Children Home, this lieing one of the finest
homes in the city of Grand Rapids. The achievement that has been his
within a comparatively short period of years can be better understood
when it is stated that when he arrived in Grand Rapids his cash capital
was represented in the sum of three dollars.

Air. Westra is liberal and public-spirited and he is fully appreciative
of the advantages and attractions of his home city, to which his loyalty
is unflagging. He is independent of partisan lines in defining his polit-
ical opinions and has never had aught of desire for the honors or emolu-
ments of public office.

In March, 1890, Mr. Westra wedded Miss Jenette Siebersham, who

1498 ■ HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

was born in Holland and who was a resident of Grand Rapids at the
time of her marriage. She is survived by six children — Anna, who is the
wife of Adrian Laban, of Grand Rapids ; Julius, who is associated with
his father in business ; Sibrant, who is employed in the Grand Rapids es-
tablishment of the Pittsburg Plate Glass Company ; and Jenette and
Susan, who are attending the public schools. On the 26th of March. igi3,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Westra to Miss Catherine Maude
Bliss, daughter of Albert F. Pliss, a representative citizen of Rockford,
Michigan, where he is engaged in the produce business.

Francis H. Rankin. Bearing the name of his honored father, who
as an editor and publisher, and man of offairs, was a distinguished citizen
of Flint and this state for more than fifty years, Francis H. Rankin, Jr.,
started life with a splendid heritage in his father's example and influence,
and was associated for many years with the elder Rankin in the newspaper
business.

Francis H. Rankin was born at Flint, December 28, 1854. His father,
of the same name, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, came to America
in 1848, and was one of die , pioneer settlers at Pontiac, Michigan. In
that city he served an apjfr.enticeship.at-the printer's trade. In February,
1850, he came to Flint, -and established the Genesee Whig, which six
years later became a Republican journal, upon the organization of the
Republican party. It' was one of the fir-st papers to survive the vicissi-
tudes of newspaper e:S;istence,'§nd5;tl"iae ^Ider Rankin continued to publish
and edit the journal until lii^ death in 1904. It was a weekly paper, with
the exception of two years in the sixties, when a daily edition was issued.
After the organization of the Republican party the name was changed to
the Wolverine Citizen, a name which the son continued until January,
1912, when he disposed of the paper. Through the medium of this paper,
the elder Rankin exerted an inestimalde influence, not only on the politi-
cal thought and opinion of his readers, but also in the direction of civic
welfare and public and private morality. The senior Rankin was devoted
to the interests of his community and his state. He served two terms in
the lower house of the state legislature, and one term as a senator. Presi-
dent Hayes appointed him postmaster at Flint in 1877, and he continued
through the Arthur administration and until 1885. Other offices which
he held with credit were those of city clerk and city recorder for a num-
ber of years. He was one of the organizers of the public school board,
and also of the Genesee County Agricultural Society. The senior Rankin
was probably Governor Crapo's closest adviser during the administration
of that executive in Michigan, and from Governor Crapo he received
appointment on the Board of Control of State Prison and Penal Insti-
tutions. In the case of Mr. Rankin it is a distinction that he lived and
died a poor man. Never aspiring to wealth, his ideals of success were
the utmost service to the public interests. In social afifairs he was almost
equally well known. For one term he held the position of Grand Master,
in the Grand Lodge of Michigan Odd Fellows, was a Knights Templar and
a charter member of Genesee Lodge No. 174, F. & A. M. For many years
he held the position of vestryman in the Episcopal church at Flint. His
death occurred in August, 1904. when eighty-four years of age. Francis
H. Rankin, Sr., married Arabella Hearn, who was born in County Long-
ford, Ireland, and was married in that country. There were six children,
five of whom are .still hving, namely: Jennie, widow of Leroy C. Whitney,
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Richard H. Rankin, who for many years was
connected witli the railroad service of the Pere Marquette Road and is
now living retired in Saginaw ; Anna C, is the wife of George D. Flan-

-■^,

dL.-<-<^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1499

ders, of Flint; Francis H., Jr.; and George Rankin, a resident of Mil-
waukee.

Francis FI. Rankin, Jr., received his education in the schools of Flint,
until fourteen years of age, when he was taken into the shop with his
father, and learned printing and newspaper business in all its details. He
continued an active associate and partner with his father for more than
twenty years. Mr. Rankin is a director in the Union Trust and Savings
Bank of Fliftt, and has various business interests in the city.

His career in public affairs has been on the same high plane of dis-
interested and intelligent service as characterized his late father. As a
loyal Republican, his first public office was as city treasurer of Flint, to
which he was elected in 1881 and served one year. He was mayor of
Flint for one year, from 1891 to 1892, and deputy city clerk under his
father. For fifteen years he served as a member of the board of educa-
tion, and during a part of his time was president of the board. Governor
Pingree appointed Mr. Rankin a member of the Board of Control for the
Michigan School for the Blind, and by reappointment from Governor
Bliss served ten years until he resigned. His resignation was due to his
acceptance of the position of resident trustee of the Alichigan School for
the Deaf at Flint, to which place he was appointed by Governor Warner,
and on January i, 191 3, was reappointed by Governor Ferris. His serv-
ice to these important state institutions have covered a period of seventeen
years. Mr. Rankin was for nine years a private in the, Michigan National
Guard.

He is a member of both the York and Scottish Rite branches of Ma-
sonry, has membership in the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, the
Consistory and the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Ivnights of Maccabees, and he was one of the organizers of the Loyal
Guards, being its first president, and since 1896, has served as supreme
secretary of this order. He is a former treasurer of the Board of Com-
merce, a member of the Country Club, and belongs to the Episcopal
church.

At Flint, on October 26, 1881, occurred the marriage of Mr. Rankin
with Miss Caroline A. Pierce, who was born in Michigan, a daughter of
Silas and Caroline Pierce, old settlers of Genessee county. They have
one daughter, Caroline A. Rankin. Mrs. Rankin is a worker in social
and philanthropic afifairs at Flint, is on the Flint Hospital Board, and a
member of the advisory board of the Young Women's Christian Associa-
tion, and identified with other movements in the city. The Rankin home
is at 304 First avenue in Flint. Mr. Rankin's success may be ascribed
largely to his individual efforts, though he owes much to his honored
father, who was a continual inspiration not only to himself but to many
outside of the family, and from him he acquired those early lessons of
honor and industry and also good health of body and mind, which are
essential to the best success in any line.

Edward Cii.^uncey HtNM.XN. A Battle Creek banker, manufacturer,
and leading citizen, Edward Chauncey Hinman represents a family that
became pioneers of Michigan at Bellevue before the territory was ad-
mitted to the union and since 185 1 has been identified with Battle Creek.

Edward Chauncey Hinman was born in Battle Creek, March i, 1852,
a son of John F. and Harriet E. (Hayt) Hinman. The first American
ancestor of this branch of the family was Sergeant Edward Hinman, who
was born in England in 1609, was a member of King Charles First's
body guard, and during the time of Oliver Cromwell escaped from Eng-
land and became a resident of Stratford, Connecticut, in i''i50. From

1500 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

him the line of descent comes through Benjamin Hinman, Judge Noah
Hinman, Ahijah and Adoniram Hinman. both of the latter being Con-
necticut solfliers in the War of the Revolution. A son of the latter was
Truman H. Hinman, who lived and died at Castleton, Vermont, where
he followed the occupation of farmer.

A son of this X'ermont farmer was the late John F. Hinman, who was
born at Castleton, March 17, 1816, grew up there, and in 1836, when a
young man of twenty years and at a time when southern Alichigan was
beginning to lill up with the first tide of settlers, came west and settled
at Bellcvue in Eaton county. He was one of the early merchants of
that community and remained there until 185 1, when he sold out and
moved to Battle Creek. Here he and his brother established a large
store under the firm name of B. F. & J. F. Hinman. Both in business
and in public aflfairs John F. Hinman was successful and influential. He
was recognized as one of the strong adherents of the Republican party
from its first organization, Init was never a candidate for office. The
Hinman Block, erected by himself and brother, contained the old Hin-
man Hall in which the first Republican meetings in Battle Creek were
held. After a long and honored career John F. Hinman passed away
February 6, iqoo. He and his wife were counted among the members of
the Presltyterian church for half a century or more.

Harriet E. ( Hayt) Hinman, who died March 17, 1907, was the daugh-
ter of John Tompkins Hayt. Her lineal descent from the famous John
Alden of New England is as follows : John Alden and Priscilla Mul-
lens' daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of William Paybody. Their
daughter, Rebecca, married William Southworth. Joseph Southworth,
their son, wedded Mary Blake. To them was born a son. Constant, who
married Rebecca Richmond. A son of the last named. Major William
Southworth, who won his title by valued service in the Revolution, mar-
ried Mary Throop, and their daughter, Harriet, became the wife of Ira
Tillotson. Harriet Tillotson, a daughter of this marriage, was the wife
of John Tompkins Hayt of Patterson, New York, and the mother of Mrs.
Hinman. Mr. Havt brought his family to Bellevue, Michigan, where his
daughter and John V. Hinman were married April 23, 1845. ^'^ "^ their
children reached mature years.

Edward Chauncey Ilinman was reared and received his early school-
ing at Battle Creek. His college days were passed at the University of
Michigan, where he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science
in 1874. He is a member of the Chi Psi college fraternity. His first
active work was in the Government engineering service on the Fox and
Wisconsin rivers improvement, at which he was employed from 1874 to
1880. For the next two years he was in the grain business at Port Huron,
and since 1882 has been permanently identified by residence and business
with liis native city. Until 1888 he was senior member of Hinman &
Ward, millers. In 1890 Mr. Hinman bought an interest in the Battle
Creek Machinery Company. That was then one of the smaller factories
of the city, with abr)Ut fifty men on the payroll and its output restricted
in amount and in extent of sales territory. With Mr. Hinman as secre-
tar\' and tre;isurer of the company, the business was greatly increased
nnii! in iS'i)8 it was re-organized and incorporated under the name of
the .American Steam Pump Company with capital stock of five hundred
thousand dollars and no indebtedness. In this new company Mr. Hin-
man continued to hold the office of secretary and treasurer until he was
made president, and still retains this j^osition.

Edward C. Hinman organized the Central National Bank of Battle
Creek, now the largest bank in southwestern Michigan. Mr. Ilinman has
been its president since it was organized in 1(103. This bank started with

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1501

a capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars and has had a prosper-
ous, progressive record during every year of its history. In March, 1912,
the capital was increased to three hundred thousand dollars with sur-
plus of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars and in January, 1914,
the surplus was increased to two hundred thousand dollars, with total
resources of more than $5,500,000. The fine offices of the bank are at
the corner of Alain street and Jefferson avenue.

Besides these two enterprises which have foremost places in a busi-
ness summary of Battle Creek, Mr. Hinman has many other interests.
Successful in business, he has also given his energies and civic spirit for
the betterment of his home city. It was largely through his instrumental-
ity that the appropriation for the federal building was obtained. A mem-
ber of the Athelstan Club, during his two years as president the elegant
club rooms were opened in the Post building. Fraternally his affiliations
are with JNIetcalf Lodge, A. F. & A. M., with the Chapter, Council and
Commandery in Battle Creek and with Saladin Temple of the Mystic
Shrine at Grand Rapids. Mr. Hinman also belongs to the Mayflower
Society, .Sons of the American Revolution, Society of Colonial Wars
and Colonial Governors.

As a Republican but more as a good citizen, he has served as Alder-
man from his home ward, the Fourth, but has refused to run for all
other offices, including Member of Congress and Governor when the
nomination insured the election. Mr. Hinman was one of the organ-
izers of the Battle Creek Theater Company, and has always been active
in projects for the betterment of his home city.

The Hinman residence at 303 Maple street is the most attractive home
in the city. Mr. Hinman married in 1876 Miss Carrie L. Risdon, who
died in 1887, leaving two daughters, Gertrude B. and Belle R. Mrs.
Hinman was reared at Ann Arbor and was educated in Dr. Gannett's
institute of Boston. Her parents were Lewis C. and Gertrude B. (Judd)
Risdon, the latter a descendant of Thomas Judd, who came from Eng-
land in 1633. Another of Mrs. Hinman's ancestors was Thomas Hast-
ings, who settled in Boston in 1652. On her father's side her ancestry
went back to Orange Risdon, Josiah Risdon and David Risdon. The
present Mrs. Hinman before her marriage was Miss Isadore M. Risdon,
of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a sister of the first Mrs. Hinman.

Edwin H. Bailey, M. D. Among the members of the Michigan
medical fraternity who have won merited distinction in the line of their
calling. Dr. Edwin H. Bailey, of Flint, holds prominent place. Although
he may be numbered among the recent arrivals in Flint, having made
this city his field of activities since 1909, his very evident skill and the
success which has attended his practice have placed him thoroughly in
the confidence of the public. Doctor Bailey was born in Detroit, Michi-
gan, July 18, 1880, and is a son of Dr. William M. and Lucy (Stead)
Bailey.

The Bailey family originated in Ireland, from whence several of its
members went to England, the grandfather, Joseph Bailey, being the
founder in Michigan. Dr. William M. Bailey was born at Mason, Michi-
gan, in 1839, and is a graduate of Cleveland (Ohio) Medical College.
He has been in active practice for more than forty years, thirty-five of
which have been spent in Detroit, although he started professional work
in Lansing. He was one of the organizers of the Homeopathic College
of Detroit, and continued therein as a professor until it was closed in
1012. He' is a Republican in politics and a thirty-third degree Mason,
but the greater part of his time is devoted to his calling and he has few
outside interests. Doctor Bailey married Miss Lucy Stead, who was

1502 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

born at Huddesfield, England. Her father, a wealthy and prominent
man, was of the Quaker faith, and on account of religious persecution
was forced to leave England and seek relief in the United States, where
he established the first oil refinery at Cleveland, Ohio, and for a time was
in the employ of John D. Rockefeller. Mrs. Bailey is still living and the
mother of five children, of whom two survive: Benjamin F., professor in
the University of Michigan ; and Edwin H.

Edwin H. Bailey received his early education in the Cass school,
Detroit, following which he became a student in the high school and was
graduated at the age of eighteen years. In the next year he entered the
Detroit Homeopathic College, where he received the degree of Doctor of
Medicine in 1903, and while attentling college acted as an interne in (Irace
Hospital. He began practice immediately after his graduation at Harbor
Beach, where he remained for three years, then spent a like period at
Howell, and in 1909 came to Flint, where he has continued to enjoy a
very satisfactory practice in general medicine and surgery. Doctor Bailey
is a man of strong purpose and laudable ambition and has made consecu-
tive advancement in a profession which demands strong intellectuality,
close application and unfaltering zeal. He has continually kept abreast
of the advanced thought of his calling, promoting his knowledge and
efficiency through constant reading and investigation. He belongs to the
Genesee County Medical Society, the Michigan State Homeopathic
Society, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the American Medi-
cal Association. During his residence at Howell he served two terms
as health officer of the city and township. Politically he is a Republican.
Doctor Bailey is a member of the Foresters, is connected with the
Chamber of Commerce, and his religious connection is with the Episcopal
church.

On February 4, 1904, Dr. Bailey was married to Miss Mary Wil-
helmina Tucker, who was born at Harbor Beach, Michigan, daughter of
William H. and Mary S. Tucker, old settlers of this state. Doctor
Bailey's residence and offices are situated at adjoining numbers, 813 and
815 Witherts street.

Thomas C. Irwin, M. D. The medical profession of Michigan in-
cludes among its leading members Dr. Thomas C. Irwin, whose loca-
tion is at Grand Rapids, where he stands in high repute both as a physi-
cian and a citizen. For more than twenty years he has been identified
with the city, and has here been successful in gaining the confidence and
faith of the public, and as a result is in the enjoyment of a large profes-
sional business. Doctor Irwin was born in County Simcoe, Ontario,
Canada, October 6, 1866, and is a son of James and Hannah (Brierton)
Irwin.

James Irwin was born in 1809, in Ireland, where his parents spent
their entire lives. He left home as a youth to become a sailor and fol-
lowed the sea for a number of years, but finally settled down to farm-
ing in Canada, and there spent the balance of his life on a property in
County Simcoe. He was a man of industry, determination and ambition,
and through well applied and intelligent effort was able to amass a com-
petency. In political matters he was a conservative, and with the mem-
bers of his family attended the Presbyterian church, in the faith of
which he died in 1898, at the age of eighty-nine years. In 18/), Mr.
Irwin was united in marriage with Miss Hannah Brierton, who was
a native of Ireland, where she was born in 1825, and she still survives
and makes her home at Alliston, Ontario. They were the parents of
eight children, of whom seven are living, of whom Doctor Irwin is the
youngest. The rest all make their home in Canada.

HISTORY OF AHCHIGAN 1503

Dr. Thomas C. Irwin received his early education in the public graded
schools, and later went to the Collingwood (Ontario) High school. He
next became a student in Trinity University, from which institution he
was graduated in medicine in 1891, and then went to Creemore, Ontario,
and practiced one year. Doctor Irwin came to Grand Rapids in 1803,
and this city has since continued to be his home and field of practice to
the present time, with the exception of one and one-half years when he
was doing post-graduate work in London, Berlin and Dublin. Doctor
Irwin's achievements have been such as to distinguish him as one of the
ablest general practitioners in this part of the state, althougli he has
also been successful in the practice of surgery. He has always been a
close student of his profession and has kept fully abreast of the advance-
ment made therein, also doing much personal investigation and research
work. In the line of his calling he belongs to the Kent County Medical
Society, the Michigan State Medical Society and the American Medical
Association, and is on the staff of the U. B. .\. Hospital. His offices are
located in the Ashton Building. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masons, in
which he has attained to the Chapter degree. His political belief is that
of the Republican party.

In 1905 Dr. Irwin was married to Miss Grace Kohlhepp, of Grand
Rapids, daughter of Henry Kohlhepp, bookkeeper and manager for a large
retail shoe business of this city. Two children have been born to Dr. and
Mrs. Irwin, namely: Thomas C, who is attending school; and Robert
A., who is two years old. Mrs. Irwin is a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, and is widely and favorably known in social circles of the
city.

M. William Clift. Since graduating in medicine in 1905, Dr. Clift
practiced the first two years in Saginaw, and since then in FHnt, where he
has become particularly well known as a specialist in internal medicine
and X-ray work.

Born in Bay City, Michigan, April 14, 1883, Dr. Clift is a son of Wil-
liam O. Clift, who was born at Syracuse, New York, and for many years
has been one of the leading men in general insurance and real estate at
Bay City. William O. Clift married Ella Gertrude Stocking, who was
born in Painesville, Ohio, was married in that state, and came to Michi-
gan with her husband. She died August 29, 19 12. Of their three chil-
dren one died in infancy, and the other is Lysle M., of Bay City. The
oldest of the family. Dr. Clift grew up in Bay City, and was a pupil in
the public schools there. For his literary training he was a student in
Olivet College in this state, and was graduated in medicine from the Uni-
versity of Michigan in 1905. Two years were spent in Saginaw, where
he did his first serious work in the profession, and since coming to Flint
he has enjoyed a very large practice, with special emphasis on internal
medicine and X-ray work. The doctor has membership in the County and
State Medical Societies, and is a former secretary of the County Society.
In politics he is a Republican. He is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge,
and belongs to the Episcopal church.

On October 20, 1909, at Flint, Dr. Clift married Miss Eliza Denham,
a daughter of Giles L. Denham, a native of Flint, and representing one of
the old and respected families of the city. Dr. Clift and wife reside at
227 West First street, and his office is in the Armory Building.

Hfnrv R. Pierce. One of the prosperous business enterprises of
Grand Rapids, which has grown out of the needs of its community, with
which it has grown, and with the prosperity of which it has prospered,
is the wholesale and retail ice cream business of Benjamin T. Pierce,

1504 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

founded in this city in 1S63. One of the men who have contributed ma-
terially to the success of this prosperous venture is Henry R. Pierce, who
has been connected therewith since 1897, and whose wise counsel and far-
sighted judgment are valued highly by his associates. Mr. Pierce was
born in Monroe county, New York, May 19, 1848, and is a son of Solo-
mon and Hannah (Richmond) Pierce, and a member of an old family
that originated in England.

George Richmond, the maternal grandfather of Henry R. Pierce, was
born at Westport, Massachusetts, January 6, 1780, and died in August,
1843. He was married lirst December 6, 1806, to Esther Thomas, of
Stamford, Vermont, who died April 22, 1828. He was married second
October i, 1829, to Experience Williams, of Perry, New York, having
removed to Rega, New York, as one of the first settlers of that place in
1807. He served during the War of 1812, participating in the battles
of Buffalo and Erie, and of his company of forty men, but twenty-one
returned to their homes. A man widely known, he gained the regard
and affection of his fellow-citizens, and was known as "the ministering
angel of the Colony." Solomon Pierce was born in \'ermont in 1802, and
was married in New York in 1833 to Hannah Richmond, who was born
in the Empire state in 1814. He was a gunmaker by trade and came to
Michigan in 1852, here following his vocation for several years, after
which he purchased a farm in Kent county, where he passed the remain-
der of his life. He was successful because of his industry and persever-
ing effort, and won the unqualified esteem of his fellow-citizens. In poli-
tics a Democrat, he took an interest in public affairs as they affected his
community, but never sought personal preferment, being contented to
remain an industrious tiller of the soil. He died in 1884, and the mother
survived him until May, 1910, passing away in the faith of the Universal-
ist church. They were the parents of six children, of whom four are
now living, and Henry R. is the fourth in order of birth: Benjamin T.,
who is engaged in the ice cream manufacturing business in Grand Rapids;
Charles B., who resides on the old homestead farm in Kent county ;
Elizabeth, who married Mr. Noble and is now a widow of Grand Rapids;
and Henry R.

Henry R. I'ierce was given good educational advantages in the public
schools of Grand Rapids, and his early life was ])assed on the homestead
place in Kent county, where he grew up a self-reliant and industrious
youth. Subsequently he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, and
for a number of years was engaged in the retail grocery business, and
later in the wholesale trade in the same line. With this business experi-
ence, he became a partner in the ice cream manufacturing business with
his brother, Benjamin T. Pierce, under the firm style of 15. T. Pierce
& Company, and this association has continued to the present time. Mr.
Pierce is a man of more than average business ability, and during the
seventeen years that he has been engaged in his present enterprise he has
become widely known in business circles of Grand Rapids. It has been
his fortune to have been identified with one of the most jjrosperous periods
of Grand Rapids' history in commercial activity, and he has made the
most of his opportunities and at the same time contributed to his com-
munity's advancement. Like his father, he is a Democrat, but also like
him has not cared for office. His fraternal connection is with the Knights
of the Maccabees.

Mr. Pierce was married to Miss Sarah Weaver, daughter of George
Weaver, a native of Canada who came to Michigan in early life and set-
tled on a farm entered from the Government. One child was born to
this union : Trixie M., who married Pierre Lindhout, an architect of
Grand Rapids.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1505

Benjamin T. Pierce, the founder of the firm of B. T. Pierce & Com-
pany, was born at Churchville, New York, January 9, 1834. He came
to Grand Rapids after he had completed the curriculum of the Church-
ville public schools, and from the time of his arrival, in 1852, until 1863,
was engaged in various pursuits in the growing town. In 1863 he saw
an opening for starting in the ice cream business, and set up a stand at
the corner of Ionia and Monroe avenues. The enterprise grew and he
was compelled to seek larger quarters at what was then the corner of
Canal and Monroe streets. In 1893 ^I""- fierce moved his business up to
Sheldon avenue, where his laboratory for fighting the midsummer heat
and satisfying the sweet tooth of the city has been located ever since.

■ Mr. Pierce is married and resides at No. 339 Sheldon avenue, S. E.
He is a valued member of the Masonic order and of the Association of
Co^mmerce.

Bernard C. George. For the past ten years Mr. George has been
one of the leading merchants of Flint, a member of the firm of Hall &
George, whose agricultural implement business is one of the prosperous
establishments of the city. Mr. George represents an old and honored
family in this part of Michigan. It originated in Switzerland, and the
two preceding generations were all natives of that country, and in settling
in Michigan introduced some of the hardiest and best stock from the
borders of Switzerland and France to their new home.

Bernard C. George was born in Mundy township of Genesee county,
September 17, i860. His father was Constant George, who was born in
France on the borders of Switzerland. The grandfather was George
George. The family came to America in 1840, and settled in Mundy
township, Genesee county, where the grandfather and four sons took
up one hundred and si.xty acres of government land. The grandfather
and other members of the family were watch manufacturers in France,
and accumulated a considerable fortune in that business. Grandfather
George George served as a soldier in the army of the great Na])oleon
and was in the campaign into Russia, and witnessed the burning of the
city of Moscow. For his gallant conduct as a .soldier, he was decorated
and was advanced from private to the grade of an officer. Constant
George when twenty-six years of age, went back to France and settled
up the estate which was then quite large. Constant George was nearly
all his active life a farmer in the township of Mundy. Politically he was
a Democrat, until 1884, and then gave his support to the Republican
ticket of Blaine and Logan. He was a man of considerable influence in
his community, but never sought any oflicial honors. He was a devout
Catholic, and died in that faith on the old home place in Mundy town-
ship in 1898 at the age of sixty-seven. Constant George married Cecelia
De Vriendt, who was born near the city of Antwerp in Belgium. She
was reared and educated in her native land, and at the age of twenty came
with her parents and her cousin, the late Rev. Father Charles L. DeCul-
nick, to Grand Rapids, Michigan. Father DeCulnick was a prominent
priest in Michigan, was pastor of the Catholic church in Grand Rapids,
and later of St. Michael's church in Flir}t. It was in Grand Rapids that
Constant George and wife met each other and were married in 1856 at
Flint, the ceremony being performed by Father Van Antwerp of Corunna.
To their union were born six children, three of whom are deceased :
Mary, who died as a child; Frank, deceased; Bernard; Henry, who died
on his farm in the township of Mundy at the age of forty-three ; Delphine
T., who is unmarried and lives in Flint ; and Alice J. George, also unmar-
ried and living in Flint. The mother of these children died in 1891 on the
home farm in Mundy at the age of seventy.

1506 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Bernard C. George grew up on a farm and had his education in the
district schools, and also in the Flint iiigh school, from which he gradu-
ated in 1879. He earned his first money by farm work, and received
seventy-five cents a day as his wages. Fifteen years of his early career
were spent in the school room as teacher, and he taught both country
and village schools in Genesee county. He also served as township school
inspector, and township clerk of Mundy, occupying those positions while
continuing his work as an educator. In 1902 Mr. George came to Flint.
At that time he was much broken in health and a change of occupation
was a necessity. He became identified with the agricultural implement
business, and formed a copartnership with F. T. Hall. Their relation-
ship as partners has been continued with mutual satisfaction and profit
ever since, and the firm of Hall and George has a splendid trade through-
out the colmtry about Flint. Mr. George also conducts his farm in Alun^y
township.

Mr. George has always been a Republican, having cast his first vote
for Blaine and Logan in 1884. He affiliates with the Knights of Columbus
and is a member of St. Mathew's Catholic Church. On February 8, 1906,
at Flint, he married Miss Margaret S. Sullivan, a native of Lapeer, Michi-
gan, and a daughter of Jeremiah Sullivan, who was born in Ireland, came
to America when sixteen years of age, and was one of the early settlers
in Lapeer county. Mr. and Mrs. George have no children of their own,
and have taken into their home an adopted child, Mary Cecelia George.
Their residence is at 1203 Church Street.

Frank B. \V.\lker, M. D. More than any other profession that of
the physician is one of social service, and the environments and condi-
tions of private practice often obscure the real value of such work from
the public. Of the many able members of Detroit's medical fraternity,
one whose attainments and interests in the broader work of the profes-
sion give him a special distinction is Dr. Frank B. Walker. Besides a
large private practice. Dr. Walker has important relations and positions
of service with institutions and organizations of the profession. He is
secretary and treasurer of the Detroit College of Medicine, which has
had a successful career for thirty years, and is secretary also of its suc-
cessor, the newly organized Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery.
He was one of the founders of the recently organized American College
of Surgeons.

Frank Banghart Walker was born at Hunter's Creek, Michigan, April
25, 1867, the son of Roger Thomas and Harriet Lucinda f Banghart)
Walker. His education he has made of a liberal character. The course
in the Lapeer schools was completed in 1883 and followed in 1885 by
graduation from the Flint high school. He afterward entered the Uni-
versity of ^lichigan and received the degree of Ph. B. in 1890. Having
in the meantime taken some work preparatory to a medical career, he
continued a student in the Detroit College of Medicine until graduating
as M. D. in the class of 1892. In April of the same year he Ijegan prac-
tice at Detroit, where during the last twenty years he has taken rank
as one of the leading physicians and surgeons. Dr. Walker has served
as professor of operative and clinical surgery, as registrar and secretary
of the Detroit College of Medicine, as professor of surgery in the De-
troit Post Graduate School of Medicine and of the Detroit College of
Medicine and Surgery, as attending surgeon to St. Alarv's and Providence
Hospitals, and was editor, from 1889 to 1903, of "The Physician and
Surgeon." published at Detroit and Ann .-\rbor. He is a member of the
Wayne County and the Michigan State Medical Societies, the Tri-State,
the Mississippi Valley and American Medical Associations, and a Fel-

cr

9?ZU-o^t/f^aJ^CUy ^^'(t

n

TBI NEW TCRI

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1507

low of the American College of Surgeons. He belongs to the ]\I:isonic
Order, and is a member of the university, Detroit Boat and Detroit
Athletic Clubs.

Dr. Walker was married at Monroe, Michigan, September 4, 1894,
to Hattie Belle \'enning, who died June 28, 1902. On June 26. 1905, Dr.
Walker married Kate Huntington Jacobs. There were two children by the
first marriage : Roger \'enning, now attending the University of Mich-
igan, and Margaret Alice.

Ephri.'\m Draper Rice, M. D. When Dr. Rice began practice in Flint
m the fall of 1894, he had recently passed his twenty-first birthday, and
about the same time had secured his medical degree and was entering on
his serious work in his chosen profession. Few physicians and surgeons
in the state have in the same length of time enjoyed larger and more
profitable practice, and at the same time attained a higher place in the
profession than Dr. Rice.

Ephriam Draper Rice was born, at Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, July
17, 1873, and at the age of fortj^/Ui^ successful position in life is secure.
His father was James Rice, a native- of Canada, and of English parentage.
A farmer, he prosecuted that industry with success, and was also a man
of strong influence in his community. For fourteen years he was on the
council in Oxford County, Ontario,, and always took a hand in political
affairs. His death occurred in-" '1869 at: the age of sixty-four. The mother
was Mary Ann Whiteside, a Caiudiaii by birth, but of English and Irish
parentage. She died in 1897 also at the age of sixty-four.

His boyhood was spent in Ontario, and when he began to battle with
life on his" own account, he had the equipment supplied by local public
schools. Entering the Detroit Medical College he was graduated %l. D.
in 1894, and in the spring of the same year began practice in that city with
Dr. E. B. Smith. On September 4, 1894, he arrived in Flint, and in the
general practice of medicine and surgery soon established a reputation
and for a number of years has had more business than he could attend to.

Dr. Rice is a member of the County and State Medical Society, and
the American Medical Association, being now on the board of directors
of the county society. He is president of the Flome Casualty Health and
Accident Association, whose main offices are in Flint. A Republican, the
doctor takes no part in politics, and his only fraternal relation is with the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church is the Presbyterian.
Since coming to Flint Dr. Rice has used the profits of his professional
work for extended constructive operations in real estate, and in that
time has built sixty-three apartments and dwelling houses. The finest
of individual homes is his own attractive residence, and some of the
apartments well known to the people of the city and all situated on East
Fifth Street, are the Rosedale, the Lancaster, and the Tonista Apart-
ments.

Dr. Rice has two children, namely Geraldine, born at Flint, June 21,
1897; and James Alfred, born October 27, 1901, in Flint. The doctor's
home is at 326 West Court Street, and his suite of offices are in the
Dryden Block.

James A. P. Duncan, M. D. In his native city of Grand Rapids
Dr." Duncan now controls a substantial practice of representative order
and he gives special attention to electro-therapeutics, in which branch of
professional work he has thoroughly schooled himself and has i)rovided
himself with the best of modern facilities. As one of the able and popular
physicians and surgeons of Michigan he is entitled to definite recognition
in this history of the state that has ever been his home.

1508 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Dr. Duncan was born in Grand Rapids on the 251)1 of December,
1879, and thus became a welcome Christmas arrival in the home of his
parents, James R. and Sarah Elizabeth ( Banghart ) Duncan, the former
of whom was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, of staunch Scot-
tish lineage, and the latter of whom was born on the tine old Banghart
homestead in New Jersev, at a point between Philadelphia and New York
city, the date of her nativity having been November 16, 1838, and her
death having occurred, in the city of Grand Rapids, on the 22d of No-
vember, 1913. Mrs. Duncan was a daughter of Philip Banghart, who
was born August 4, 1801, and whose death occurred May 7, 1S84, his
wife, whose maiden name was Sophia Mount, having been born October
20, 1823. Philip Banghart was a son of Michael and Elizabeth (Cum-
mins) Banghart, the former of whom was born January 3, 1772, and
the latter on the 3d of March, 1776. Michael Banghart, who died De-
cember 31, 1846, was a son of Michael Banghart, Sr., who was born
December 18, 1749, and the maiden name of whose first wife was Angell,
his second marriage having been with Martha Grimes. ^lichael Banghart,
Sr., was a son of Jacob Banghart, who immigrated from Germany to
America in 1740 and who established his home in Philadelphia, whence
he later removed to New Jersey, where he established the ancestral home-
stead long known by the family name.

James R. Duncan was born on the ist of February, 1837. and is now
living retired in the city of Grand Rapids, a pensioner of the Grand
Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, which gave him upon retirement
this recognition of long and faithful service. Mr. Duncan removed from
his native province to the state of New York, whence he came to Michi-
gan about the year i860. As a youth he learned the trade of harness-
maker, later became skilled as a wagonmaker and finally he turned his
attention to the carpenter's trade, as a journeyman at which he assisted
in the erection of old Fort \^'ayne, in the city of Detroit. For more than
thirtv years he was employed in the shops of the Grand Rapids & In-
diana Railroad, in Grand Rapids, and for a considerable part of this time
he held the position of foreman. As before stated, he was granted an
appreciable pension by the company at the time of severing his connec-
tion with the same. His marriage to Miss Sarah E. Banghart was sol-
emnized at Oxford, Oakland county, Michigan, and of their four children
three are living: \'ictor Eugene, who was born January 4, i86g, is chief
assistant in the engineering department of the Pere Marquette Railroad,
in the city of Detroit: .Adelia Josephine is the wife of Judge John S.
McDonald, presiding on the circuit court bench in and residing in Grand
Rapids, where Mrs. ^McDonald was born July 27, 1873: and Dr. James
A. P.. of this sketch, is the youngest of the three children. The father
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his devoted
wife, and his political adherency is given to the Republican party. He
was identified with the Prohibition party until, he became convinced that
the desired ends were not likely to be accomplished through its inter-
position. He has been nn industrious, upright and unassuming citizen
and has the vmqualificd esteem of all who know him. He is a son of Hugh
Duncan, who was born in Fort Williams, Scotland, and who served for
some time in the English navy, after which he came to America and es-
tablished his home in the province of Ontario, Canada, where he engaged
in the mercantile business and where he passed the residue of his life.

The public schools of Grand Rapids afiforded Dr. Duncan his pre-
liminary educational advantages, and he was graduated in the high school
as a member of the class of 1899. He then completed a course in a
business college, and for two years thereafter he was a clerical employe
in the office of the city engineer of Grand Rapids. In consonance with

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1509

definite ambition and well formulated plans he then entered the Grand
Rapids Medical College, in whicli he was graduated as a meml)er of the
class of 1906 and from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medi-
cine. Since his graduation he has been engaged in successful general
practice in his native city and he has shown much discrimination by
specializing in electro-therapeutics, a work for which he carefully pre-
pared himself by taking a post-graduate course in an institution devoted
specifically to this branch of remedial application, — the Electrical Thera-
peutic School, in Chicago, in which he took his course in the year 1909.
He has his offices in the building at 401-3 Division street, and the same
are equipped with the most approved electrical devices applied to thera-
peutic purposes, besides which he has a specially complete and select
medical library. The Doctor holds membershiij in the Kent County Medi-
cal Society and the Michigan State Medical Society, as does he also in the
American Medical Association, and through the medium of these organ-
izations, as well as through constant study and investigation, he keeps
in close touch with advances made in all departments of professional
work. He was for seven years a medical e.xaminer of United States Marine
Corps of West Michigan ; he is a Republican in politics, is affiliated with
York Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; and both he and his wife hold
membership in the First Methodist Episcopal church of Grand Rapids.
In March, 1909, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Duncan to Miss
Ella Myrtle Barr, of Grand Rapids, and they have a winsome little
daughter, Mildred Elizabeth.

Mabel Beeciier King, M. D. The professional career of Dr. Mabel
Beecher King embraces a period of more than thirty-eight years, thirty-
six which have been spent in Flint, Michigan. Her life possesses several
features of peculiar interest, in that her success was early an instrumental
factor in overcoming the obstacles formerly reared by professional pre-
judice, which had before her advent in the field prevented women from
entering the ranks of the medical calling. She has not alone won an
eminent position in the ranks of her chosen vocation, but through her
precept and example has made the path to success in professional life
far easier to travel for the members of her sex.

Dr. Mabel Beecher King was born October 21, 1838, at Brimfield,
Portage county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Guy Beecher and Jane ( Wake-
man) King. Fler father was a Beecher and a direct descendant of Dr.
Lyman Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher
were third cousins. Mrs. King's mother's family were of English stock
and were among the founders of the New Haven Colony. One of the
members of the family, John Wakeman, was the first treasurer of the
colony and the founder of the American branch. John Wakeman's son,
also John, was a captain in the patriot army during the Revolutionary
War, and the latter's son, Rev. John Wakeman, was a minister of the
Episcopal church.

The parents of Doctor King were both born in 1808, at Watertown,
Litchfield county, Connecticut. They were married at that place Septem-
ber 7, 1831, and in 1838 moved into the wilderness of Brimfield, Portage
county, Ohio, where, in a small log house, one mile from the nearest
neighbors, Doctor King was born. An ox-team, with cart, furnished the
only means of travel and conveyance of merchandise and produce to and
from the small towns ten and twelve miles distant. Doctor King's early
education was gained at the common district school in Portage county,
Ohio. The log schoolhouse in the wilderness, without blackljoards or
maps, or comforts of any kind, with six months of school during the
year under good, fair or indifferent teachers, gave the child but small

1510 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

opportunity to gain knowledge. He must prepare for college by the tallow
dip and by gaining knowledge from those who had received the advan-
tages of academic training in the eastern states. Doctor King entered
Holyoke College, at South Hadley, Massachusetts, in i860, and was
graduated therefrom in 1864, although previous to this time she had
taught the district school and was the first preceptress in the high school
at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. After her granduation she became superin-
tendent of the public school at Kent, Ohio. After three years there she
married Dr. Robert Lyman King, a young physician who had located
there, and not long thereafter the young couple came to Michigan, locat-
ing at Fenton, Genesee county, August 15, 1867.

Robert Lyman King was born October 31, 1841, at Charleston, Portage
county, Ohio, and was the son of Dr. Robert W. and Eunice (Newton)
King, the family being of Irish descent. He was the son, grandson and
great-grandson of physicians, and early showed his inclination for the
profession. He was graduated from the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons, Philadelphia, February 2, 1865, and from Hiram College, Portage
county, Ohio, March 2, 1861. His literary education was obtained at
the Western Reserve College, Hiram, Ohio, from" which he was gradu-
ated in i860. He attended Pulte Homeopathic College, Cincinnati. Ohio
(1881), and served on the staff of the Bellevue Hospital, New York, for
one year. In 1878 he began practice at Flint, Michigan, specializing
in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, and was regarded as one of
the ablest men in his line in the state. He was highly regarded in his
calling, devoted his best interests thereto, and when he died, January g,
1890, the jjrofession suffered a distinct loss. He was 'a Republican in
[lolitics, but never took any active part in public affairs. He was a devout
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and did much to furtiier its
interests.

In 1876 Dr. Mabel Beecher King established herself in practice. In
the face of prejudice, and among a community intensely devoted to
material things she began practicing her profession, relying upon her own
ability and skill to win a way to employment and recognition. Her intel-
ligence, culture and thorough knowledge commended her to all with whom
she came in contact, and she was soon enjoying an excellent practice. In
1878 she accompanied her husband to Flint, where she has since resided
in her beautiful home at No. 607 Harrison street, which she herself
erected. .She maintains offices on Van Buren street. Of late years she
has specialized in the diseases of women, but accepts cases of a general
character, and does not confine her practice to office work. She is a
member of the Michigan State Medical Society and Genesee County
Society. With all her acquisitions. Doctor King has fully preserved the
innate delicacy of her womanly nature, and is none the less a lady because
she has become a successful physician.

Two children were born to Robert Lyman anrl Malu-1 lleecher King:
Minnia A., born October 24, 1868. a maiden lady, who has been her
mother's constant stand-by and comjianion. and who is in charge of the
household; and Helen Beecher, born March 19, 1872, a graduate of the
University of Michigan (Ph. B.), April 2, 1913, and a teacher in the
department of biology, in the East Saginaw High school for the past
twenty years. Doctor and the Misses King are members of the Daughters
of the American Revolution. They belong to St. Paul's Episcopal church,
of Flint, and are well known in religious and charitable work.

S. Eur.ENE Hull. Grand Rapids is an exceedingly prosperous and
well-governed city. Its municiiial prosperity must be attriliuted in a
great degree to the l>usinesslike and economical administration of the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1511

city's affairs ; its good government must be attributed likewise to the
enforcement of law and the preservation of order by the city officials,
among whom is found S. Eugene Hull, assistant city attorney, and a
legist who, still a young man, has risen to a high place in the ranks of his
profession. Mr. Hull was born at Lowell, Kent county, Michigan, De-
cember 12, 1876, and is a son of Calvin E. and lennie L. ( Eatinger)
Hull.

Philo Hull, the paternal grandfather of S. Eugene Hull, was
born in New York, and from that state migrated to Canada,
from whence he came to Michigan as an early pioneer and died
on a farm in Kent county. He married Emmeline Vinton, who was
born in Massachusetts and died in Grand Rapids. Calvin E. Hull was
born at LeRoy, Genesee county. New York, February 7, 1837, and was
a small child when he accompanied his parents to Canada, there remain-
ing until his fourteenth year. He then went to Kent county. Michigan,
settled on a wild farm and grew up amid pioneer surroundings, and in
addition to carrying on farming and stockraising learned the trade of
stonecutter and mason. Just prior to the outbreak of the war between
the North and the South he went to Ohio, and there enlisted in Company
I, 104th Regiment, Ohio \'olunteer Infantry, wdth which organization he
served for three years, participating in some of the most decisive and
bitterly-contested battles in which the Western army was engaged. These
included Franklin, Resaca and Nashville. When the war had closed
and he had received his honorable discharge, Mr. FIull returned to Ra-
venna, Ohio, where he followed his trade until 1868, and at that time went
to Lowell. Kent county, ^Michigan. In 1876 he moved to a farm in
Lowell townshi]), where he became engaged in the cultivation of the soil
and in 1886, having accumulated a competency, retired from active life
and came to Grand Rapids, where he has since been living quietly, sur-
rounded by all the comforts of life. Mr. Hull was married at Ravenna,
Portage county, Ohio, April 22, 1861, to Miss Jennie L. Eatinger, who
was born at that place, December 16, 1844, daughter of Samuel S. and
Catherine (]\Iercer) Eatinger. the former a son of a German emigrant,
and the second male white child born in Portage county, Ohio. Mrs.
Eatinger was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania. Four children were
born to Calvin E. and Jennie L. Hull, namely : Carl P., who is engaged
in the real estate and brokerage business in Grand Rapids : Winslow C,
a farmer in Ionia county, Michigan; Rose A., who is the wife of James
A. Young, connected with the i\merican Seating Company of this city ;
and S. Eugene. The parents of these children are consistent members
of the Baptist church. While in the army, Mr. Hull became a Mason
at Covington, Kentucky, and after coming to Grand Rapids joined Val-
ley Citv I-odge No. 86, with which he continues to be connected. He is a
Republican in his political views.

S. Eugene PIull was educated in the public schools of Grand Rapids,
where he was graduated in 1898, and at that time commenced the study
of law. Subsequently, however, he put aside his professional ambitions
to engage in newspaper work, and for a number of years was retained
on the editorial staff's of several Chicago and St. Louis dailies. In 1906
he returned to Grand Rapids, and while connected with a daily paper
here completed his law studies and was admitted to the bar in 1910. In
his private practice he has achieved more than the ordinary success that
falls to the lot of the new practitioner, and his connection with and suc-
ces in a number of important cases have made him a familiar figure in
the courts. Since coming to Grand Rapids he has served in the capacity
of assistant city attorney, and his ofificial actions have always been char-
acterized by a conscientious devotion to duty and a high appreciation of

1512 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the ethics of his vocation. PoHtically a RepubHcan, he has taken an active
I)art in local affairs, and is known as one his partj-'s staunchest and
sturdiest workers. Fraternally, he is connected with the Free and Ac-
cepted Order of Masons and the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks.

Rev. Timothy Joseph Murphy. For more than thirty-three years
Father Timothy Joseph Murphy, pastor of St. Michael's Roman Catholic
Church, has lived and labored among the people of Flint, Michigan, where
his devoted and zealous services in the work of his Master have materially
contributed to the growth and strength of Catholicism. His present
parish is an ok! one, having been estahlislied in 1S40, the first edifice hav-
ing been erected soon after the organization of the church, while the pres-
ent structure was built during the years 1882 and 1883, under the direct
supervision of Father Murphy.

A native of Cork, Ireland, Timothy Joseph Murphy was born May
4, 1848, one of the children of Jeremiah and Margaret (Dacy) Murphy.
His early education was secured in his native city, and after completing
the curriculum of the ordinary grades became a student in All Hallows
College, Dulilin, from which he was graduated. The year 1870 marked
Father Murphy's emigration to the UnitecJ States, and after landing in
New York at once made his way to Detroit, Michigan, where, four months
later, he was ordained to the sacred office of priest, December 30, 1870,
by Bishop Borgess. Shortly therafter he was sent to Bay City, Michigan,
as assistant to Father Schutjes, of St. James Church, a capacity in which
he served for three months. Later he was transferred to the church of
Grand Haven, Ottawa county, where he was the first priest of the parish,
and remained until the time he was sent to Flint. Here his first act of
importance was the erection of the si^lendid brick church of St. Michael's,
which took tlie place of the old frame church. The new structure is 50x150
feet in dimensions, has a seating ca])acity of 800, cost some $30,000, and
is handsomely furnished throughout, a fitting j)lace of worshij) and prayer.

Even before leaving his native land Father Murphy had been a great
admirer of American people and institutions, and although he has never
lost his love for Ireland he is truly a patriotic citizen of the United States.
He pays close attention to the development of public afifairs in Ireland, has
enlisted hundreds of Americans in the cause of Irish Home Rule. He has
taken two trips to his old home in Erin, and intends to make another if
lie lives to see the freedom of the land of his birth. It is his dearest wish
that Home Rule may be brought about through a bond of love, and give
Ireland a place like unto that held by the state of Michigan in the United
States. On July 21, 1876, the centennial of American independence,
Father Murphy was selected by the citizens of Grand Haven to read the
Declaration of Independence, and he at that time expressed the wish that
he might live to hear read and realized the declaration of independence
of his own land.

In every section in which his laljors have been prosecuted. Father
Murphy has displayed the same energy and zeal which have endeared him
to his parishioners in Flint. Through his arduous exertions he has
secured the erection of several churches, and the places of worship at
Grand Haven, Dennison and Berlin owe their being to him. In 1903 he
had erected what is known as Father Murphy's Hall, at a cost of $18,000,
$14,000 of this amount being given him by friends of other creeds than
the Catholic, this being but one evidence of the great love and reverence in
which he is held. Broad-minded and compassionate in his views, he is
always an invited guest to important functions, and on a number of
occasions has spoken in other than Roman Catholic churches at the re-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1513

quest of their pastors. In this connection we are allowed to present a
poem, the author of which, a minister of the Presbyterian church, is one
of Father Murphy's dearest and most appreciative friends. This was
sent him on the occasion of the Silver Jubilee banquet given in his honor.

"For Father Murphy — A Bit of Sauce to his Meat on Monday Night:

My genial friend and brother,

I clip your jolly phiz
From this night's Daily Journal,

And, homely as it is,

I am right glad to see it.

And, Father, note the news
That Flint will do you honor

And I cannot refuse

To give myself the pleasure

Of jingling just a bit.
If I can only manage

To get the hang of it.

My Pegasus is balky,

And now and then he kicks.
And sometimes, when I trust him,

He leaves me in a fix.

For if I try to force him

To jingle, off he goes
And dumps me and my measure

Into a ditch of prose.

But, after all, he's handy,

Like your Kentucky bay,
To lug a portly preacher

Along a dusty way.

To drop the classic figure.

When lacking thought, I rhyme it;

The hill of sense is sandy

And nonsense helps me climb it.

Let me congratulate you.

And if the Monday night
Be 'mong the happiest of life

Old man ! 'twill serve you right.

Heaven bless you with the best

It's larder can provide you,
And, better still, with loving friends

To eat and drink beside you.

May life be all illumined

E'en to its latest page,
And like your wine be better

By reason of its age.

1514 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

May all the royal bounty

Your generous hand has given
Return to you its fullness,

Anticipating heaven.

And when the sun is setting
Behind the Golden West,
God give you happy welcome
Into His blessed rest.

Rev. Charles Hunting.
Marshall, Michigan, Saturday night, January 9, 1897."

Not alone has Father Murphy materially increased the membership of
his congregation, but in whatever community he has labored has suc-
ceeded in raising the standing of the church, increased its usefulness and
added to the zeal, enthusiasm and fervor of its members. The church at
Flint now has a congregation of about fifteen hundred people, who, under
his guidance and counsel are endeavoring to lead wholesome, Christian
lives. The development of this jjarish has been extraordinary, ^\'hen he
first came. Father Murphy was able to take charge also of the mission at
Hazleton, but the membership there increased so rapidly that it was neces-
sary to appoint a priest to that charge who could devote his entire time to
its multitudinous affairs. In connection with the beautiful church of St.
Michael's, is found a handsome parochial school, where about two hun-
dred and eighty pupils are receiving broad and thorough instruction from
six holy ladies, Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Adjacent to
the parochial school is the Sisters house, and not far therefrom is located
the priest's residence. The entire group of buildings, which add mater-
ially to the architectural beauty of F'lint, are found on Saginaw, Fifth and
Chippewa streets, and tlie structures are surrounded by handsome, well-
kept grounds.

It would be difficult to find an individual who has gained in deeper
degree the affection of his fellow-men or the love and reverence of his
people. With a happy combination of personal sympathy and compassion,
with a strong strain of practicality in material things, he has established
himself deeply in the hearts of his people and in the confidence of the
church.

George A. M.vtthews. A leading figure in the industrial develop-
ment of Jackson, a pioneer of the automobile industry, and a staunch
sujjporter of the religious and educational affairs of his community —
the late George A. jMatthews was a man who richly merited the high
esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens and business asso-
ciates.

George Adelman Matthews was born in Thompson, a small village
in Geauga county, Ohio, November 23rd, 1852. His father, Charles
Matthews was a farmer, and his mother's maiden name was Fllen
Daniels. The early years of Mr. Matthews' life were spent in the village
.school and in helping with the farm work at home. In his boyhood he
developed the ambition and tireless energy which was a potent factor in
his successful business career. He was known among his acquaintances
as a boy who could pitcli the most hay and harness a team in the shortest
time, and his enterprise and initiative made him leader among his asso-
ciates. After finishing the course of study which was provided, he
taught for two years, working on tlie farm oiUside of school hours and
during the summer vacation. By continuous ajjplication he was able to
put aside enough money to take a course in a commercial college in

TJ^E NSW 10RK

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1515

Cleveland, where he laid the foundation of his business knowledge. At
the completion of his commercial course, he entered the employ of a
large coal company, in Cleveland, where he had valuable experience in
the details of business, and was able to learn the principles of successful
management.

On December 15th, 1875, Air. Matthews married Esther Charlotte
Hulbert, whom he had known since childhood and who was still a resi-
dent of Thompson. Mrs. Matthews was born December 21st, 1850.
and was a daughter of Frederick and Charlotte Cibelia (Talcott) Hul-
bert. After his marriage, he returned to Thompson and purchased a
farm, but his business instincts did not permit him to limit his efforts to
farming, and he built up a thriving business in the wholesale marketing
of eggs and dairy products. Seeking a larger field for his activities, he
entered the employ of a carriage wheel manufacturing plant, at Madison,
Ohio. He continued to live on the farm and have it worked under his
supervision, driving each day five miles to his work in Madison and
five miles home each night. His employers soon recognized his ability
and integrity, and in a short time he was sent out to buy the material
for their plant. This work he pursued with marked success, making
trips on horse-back through the timber districts of West \'irginia and
the surrounding states in search of stock which could be used to the best
advantage in the manufacture of ca^riagg >,wheel^. Eventually, this
work brought him into contact with the qfficiils of the ?V.merican Wheel
Company, and, appreciating his ability, they fook'him intt> thdir organiza-
tion and sent him to Shortsville, N. y., to take charge of a carriage
wheel factory, at that place. He was npxt moved to Gallon, Ohio, wdiere
he spent three and one-half years as ge;.reral manager of a larger plant.

At this stage of his career, Mr. Matthews, having proven his aljility
as a successful director of manufacturing enterprises, determined to
strike out for himself. He borrowed money and added to it what he
had been able to save from his salary, and with this capital, in 1891,
bought stock in the Fuller Buggy Company, of Jackson, Michigan. A
year later, at the death of Mr. Fuller, who had been the chief stock-
holder, Mr. Matthews took over the entire business. The fact that the
financial backers of the Fuller Company were wilhng to advance the
money to finance the transfer of the stock, speaks volumes for the repu-
tation of Mr. Matthews as a competent and thoroughly dependable ex-
ecutive. Their confidence was abundantly justified, and during the next
ten years, the Fuller Buggy Company was transformed from a small
plant of moderate promise into a nationally known factory for the pro-
duction of carriages and vehicles. This company built up a large and
thriving business which e.xtended throughout the United States.

It was at about this time that Mr. Matthews, foreseeing the change
which was destined to come into the field of transportation, liegan to
direct his attention toward the production of motor cars. It was a
natural step from the production of horse-drawn vehicles to the devel-
opment of the automobile, and the rise of the industry has been due, in
a considerable measure, to his efforts, for his unfailing faith in the
future and untiring energy directed the development of one experiment
after another until success was achieved. Mr. Matthews first started
the Jackson Automobile Company in 1902 and devoted a generous share
of his time and ability to its fortunes. In the beginning, the steam engine
seemed to be the logical equipment for the automobile, and the first cars
produced by the Jackson Company were of this type. The gasoline
motor was in its infancy, and it was only after repeated trials and costly
experiments that it was proven to be a suitable motive power. During
the first two years, the outlook was dark, and there were times when

1516 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the other stock-holders in the Company were ready to give up the
undertaking. With his wonderful energy and unfailing patience, Mr.
Matthews brought the Company through the experimental period, and
in 1903, produced a gasoline car which would give practical service in
the hands of the average owner. In 1904, the Jackson Company pro-
duced a touring car, and in 1905, the output of the Company was largely
increased. Cars were shipped to all parts of the United States, and their
success built the foundation of an industry which has grown to national
and international prominence. In 1907, the Jackson Automobile Com-
pany purchased property at the corner of East Main and Horton Streets,
which more than doubled their capacity. It seemed at the time like a
big move, but the faith which Mr. Matthews had in the Jackson car and
the future of the automobile industry guided him in the right direction,
and the business of the company in 1908 and 1909 made it necessary to
erect new buildings, which again doubled the floor space of the factory.
In 1910, Mr. Matthews accjuired all of the stock in the Jackson Com-
pany, and the success of the business since that time has been a matter
of common knowledge, not only in Jackson, but throughout the United
States and abroad. At his death, the business was left to his family,
Mrs. George A. Matthews and four children, Charles Frederick
Matthews, Howard Adelman Matthews, Harry Eugene Matthews and
Miss Mary Elizabeth ^latthews. All three of the sons are officials and
stockholders in the company, and all of them have given their active
attention to its affairs for several years past. In financial circles Mr.
Matthews was known as a "dependable man." His business associates
and backers felt that his word was as good as his bond ; that he spoke
with a full knowledge of the details involved in the execution of his
plans, and that he possessed a broad knowledge and indomitable will to
carry through his projects. He was for many years a director of the
Jackson City Bank, and was associated in several other industries in
different parts of the country.

Mr. Matthews was a man of broad interests — a good citizen — who
recognized a duty, not only to himself and family, but to the com-
munity in which he lived. He gave generously of his energy and ability
to the institutions 'which make life easier and better for the world at
large. In his support of the Haven Methodist Episcopal Church, he not
only rendered financial assistance in every emergency, but gave gener-
ously of his time and strength for the furtherance of Church work. For
a number of years he taught the Bible Class in his Church, and has
always been faithful in its support. At the time when the school sys-
tem of Jackson was in the process of development, Mr. Matthews took
an active part in the work and served for many years as President of the
School Board. He gave much of his time to the advancement of educa-
tion in his community. He was prominent in the fraternal orders and
was for many years a Mason, being both a Knight Templar and a
.Shriner. He was also a member of the Elks. In every department of
tlie life of the community in which he lived, he took his part, and among
all of his associates and accjuaintances he was respected and loved.

Mr. Matthews was an unassuming man, whose generosity, though
not ostentatious, was, nevertheless, ready and sympathetic. In his deal-
ings with those who needed help, he was always ready to extend not
only material aid, but to give his time and his attention to the solution
of their troubles. It is rare indeed to find a man whose character has
been so broadly and evenly developed — a leader in education, a staunch
supporter of religious work, and of national prominence in commercial
life. His many friends feel that to have been associated with such a
I^ioneer for right, a man of such untiring energy and unselfish principles

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1517

was both a privilege and inspiration, and his passing lias left a great
void.

DeHull N. Travis. Ranking among the prominent of his state's
native sons, who have been honored politically and who have achieved a
high standing in the ranks of their profession, is found DeHull N.
Travis, of Flint. Early taking a leading place in the field of law, he has
been constantly identified with affairs of public moment, and few men of
his years have been so continually in the light of public approval. Mr.
Travis was born November ii, i'88o, at Cooper, Michigan, and is a son
of John E. and Catherine (Sherwood) Travis. He is a Welsh-English and
Scotch-French descent, and there are few of the family in Michigan,
the greater number making their residence in New York.

John E. Travis was born in the Empire state, and came to Michigan
in young manhood, here being for some years engaged in agricultural pur-
suits. Later he became identified with the publishing business at Ann
Arbor, where he is now living a retired life. The mother, a native of
Michigan, also survives, as do the three children, of whom DeHull N. is
the eldest. He received his early education in the public schools of Ann
Arbor, in which city he was reared, and after some preparation entered
the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he was
graduated with his degree in 1908. At that time he entered upon the
practice of his profession, and in June, 191 1, became private secretary to
Governor Osborn, a position which he held until January, 1912, when he
was appointed a member of the State Board of Pardons, a position which
he still retains. For the last two years he has been a delegate to the
National Prisons Association. Mr. Travis maintains offices at No. 808
F. P. .Smith Building, and is in the enjoyment of a representative pro-
fessional business, which demands a large part of his attention, yet he has
found time to engage in other lines of effort, in which he has been equally
successful. Possessed of marked literary talent, he is the author of "The
Junior Partner," a one-act drama, which has been successfully produced,
of "Executive Clemency," a clever piece of fiction, and of "The Man
Without a Smile," a lecture given by him under the management of the
Redpath Lyceum Bureau. At this time he is a member of the Joint
Phrenologist Commission of Michigan, and along lines of prison reform
has done much to promote measures for the betterment of our penal
institutions.

Mr. Travis is well known in club and fraternal life, holding member-
ship in the Masonic order, in which he has attained to the thirty-second
degree, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Beta Theta Pi
Fraternity of New York City, the University Club of Detroit and the
Phi Delta Phi, a college legal fraternity. He is fond of hunting and fish-
ing, and each year takes a trip to New York, where he spends several
weeks with gun and rod. Mr. Travis has a modern home at No. 803
Harrison street, Flint. With his family, he is a regular attendant of the
Episcopal church.

On October 17, 19TO, Mr. Travis was married at Flint, to Miss Allie
Northrop Smith, daughter of Eli F. Smith, one of the founders of the
firm of Smith, Bridgeman & Company, one of the largest and oldest
mercantile concerns of the ctiy.

WiLLi.AM \\^i.SNER T/WLOR. The precedence of the eminent corpora-
tion lawyers of the country is not attained in a day, unusual ability in this
great field demanding not only natural attaiimients, but the most compre-
hensive preparation and strenuous, continued and intense application and
industry. Broad education and extensive knowledge of business, com-

Vol. Ill— 26

1518 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

mercial and industrial principles and conditions, are requisites for suc-
cess. Commencing practice more than forty-three years ago in Grand
Rapids, William Wisner Taylor has steadily advanced to the front in
reputation and the legitimate rewards of such a standing.

Mr. Taylor was born at Geneva, New York, April 25, 1843, and is a
son of Walter T. and Charlotte (Dobbins) Taylor. He comes of dis-
tinguished ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Walter Taylor, a New York
farmer, having served in the Patriot army during the War of the Revolu-
tion, while his grandfather on the maternal side, Hugh Woodruff, a
native of New Jersey, who moved to New York in early life, in 1800, was
one of three lieutenant-colonels appointed by Governor Tompkins during
the War of 181 2, and at the close of that struggle bore the rank of briga-
dier-general. Walter T. Taylor, the father of William W. Taylor, was
born in 1802, in New York, and early in life became an educator, being
for many years at the head of Hobart College, New York. He was a
member of the Episcopal church, was a Democrat in his political views,
and was long connected with Masonry, being a member of the Royal Arch
Chapter. When he died, in 1857, he was succeeded as head of Hobart
College by his son, Hugh W. Professor Taylor was married in New York
to Charlotte Dobbin, who was born in 1802 and died in 1889, and they
became the parents of thirteen children, of whom William W. was the
twelfth in order of birth, and beside whom three are living: Hugh W.,
who after his educational experience took up banking and is now living
retired at Stockton, California, where he is devoting himself to literary
pursuits ; Mrs. C. \'an der \^een, widow of Rev. C. Van der Veen ; and
Mrs. Francis Wood, a widow of Stockton, California, who is devoting
her time to proofreading.

W^illiam Wisner Taylor was given his early education under the pre-
ceptorship of his father, and in 1865 graduated from Taylor College with
the second highest honors of his class. Following this he entered Colum-
bia Law School, Washington, D. C, and after his graduation in 1867 was
placed in charge of a large school at Charleston, South Carolina, where
he continued for two years. In 1869 Mr. Taylor came to Grand Rapids
and entered upon the practice of his profession, and this city has con-
tinued to be the scene of his labors and successes. In 1873 he was elected
city attorney, in which capacity he served for five years, and again in
1889 was again sent to that office for a like period. His rulings on city
charter provisions were always upheld by the courts, and judges and attor-
neys considered that he was remarkably successful. In 1914 he again an-
nounced himself as candidate for the office of city attorney. Mr. Taylor
is a prodigous worker and his large practice has been principally in the
field of corporation law, in which he is rated as one of the best authorities
in the state. His offices are located at No. 333 ^lichigan Trust Building.

In 1871 Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Olivia R. Burtis, of Oyster
Bay, Long Island, New York, and to this union there have been born six
children: William W., Jr., a captain in the Regular United States Army;
Mrs. Frank J. Fess, whose husband is in the general insurance business
in Detroit; Louise R., a public stenographer of Grand Rapids, at the head
of a force of seven employes ; Mrs. Andrew Peterson, whose husband is
an expert electrician with the City Telephone Company of this city ; Mrs.
William J. Hoey, wife of a lieutenant in the United States Army, and
Julia, who resides at home with her parents. In political matters Mr.
Taylor is a Democrat. With his family, he attends the Episcopal church.

Rkv. John Br,\di-ord Pe.vgellv, A. M.. D. B. Although the Rev.
J. Bradford Pengelly, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, has been
known to the jieople of Flint for Init a short ])eriod. he has already im-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1519

pressed the community with his disinterested work in the cause he serves,
and has given evidence of the possession of quaHties which must as-
suredly call forth general admiration, even from those who may differ
most sharply from him theologically and politically. His sincere piety,
his intense moral earnestness, his great industry, his kindliness and his
spirit of tolerance should go far, not alone to make him beloved bv his
flock and prosperous in the affairs of his parish, hut to gain him the good
will and assistance of those of other creeds, without which no minister
of the gospel considers that he has achieved the fullness of success.

Doctor Pengelly was born at Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Mav 12.
1880, a son of J. H. and Elizabeth Ann (Bradford) Pengelly. of Corn-
wall, England, who came to America in 1879 and settled in Canada.
There are a number of the names to be found in Cornwall, but onlv a
few in America. Several members of the family have been noted as edu-
cators and as clergj'men. Sir William Pengellv for some years held a
professorship in O.xford L'niversity. Rev. J. H. Pengelly, the father of
Doctor Pengelly, was a clergyman of the Baptist faith, was well known
in the ministry in Canada for many years, but has now laid aside his
ministerial activities and is connected with the Karn-Morris Piano Cor-
poration, at Woodstock, Canada, where he and the mother make their
home. There were five children in their family, one son and four daugh-
ters, Doctor Pengelly being the first born.

John Bradford Pengelly received his early education in the public
schools of Leamington, Canada, following which he entered Woodstock
College, where he was graduated in 1902, as valedictorian of his class,
taking also the Hiram Calvin scholarship for general proficiency during
the last two years. He next went to Mc]\Iaster University, Toronto,
where he had a brilliant career, gradtiating with first class honors in
Philosophy, History and English Literature, being president of the
Literary Society and of the Inter-College Debating Union, and graduat-
ing in 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He was also well known
in college athletics as captain of the institution's successful rugb\' team.
After a short time spent in charge of a rural parish, Mr. Pengelly en-
tered Harvard, in 1907, and spent two terms in post-graduate work, and
in 1908 went to the University of Chicago, where he took a three-year's
post-graduate course, receiving the degrees of Master of Arts and Bache-
lor of Divinity. At the end of this time he was put in charge of St. Ed-
mund's Mission, Chicago, and during the time he was there increased its
membership from forty to 350 people. On September i, 19 13, he was
called to Flint, Michigan, to take charge of St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
the largest parish in the Diocese of Michigan, outside of Detroit, with
a membership of approximately 800 souls. This church, situated on
South Saginaw street, is considered one of the most beautiful edifices in
the country. The Rectory is located at 412 East Kearsley street. Mr.
Pengelly is laboring faithfully in behalf of his new congregation, and
has already shown that his people's interests are his own. lie is liberal
in his political views, being interested more in worthy princi|)Ies than in
partisan politics. Each year he spends several weeks in building u]) the
health both of his body and his mind in hunting, boating and lishing
in the wilds of his native Canada.

On September 15, 1913. Mr. Pengelly was married to Miss Edith
Maude Campbell, of Woodstock, daughter of Capt. Robert and Eliz-
abeth (Allen) Campbell, both of whom are deceased. Mrs. Pengelly is
of Scotch-Canadian descent.

William PI. Kin.sey. For more than twenty-five years Mr. Kinsey
has bought and sold real estate in Grand Rapids and vicinity. He is the

1520 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

second oldest real estate man in the city, and during all the years has con-
ducted business in such a way as to gain and retain the complete confi-
dence of his patrons in his integrity and ability, and both in a business way
and personally has exercised his influence in behalf of the general welfare
of the community.

William H. Kinsey was born near Fort Wayne, Indiana, March 8, 1857,
the eighth in a family of twelve children born to Samuel and Caroline
(Roehrig) Kinsey. His father was born in Switzerland in 1812 and died
in 1887, and the mother was born ii: Germany in 1821, and died in 1912.
Both came to America about 1836. The father was then a young man,
and came to this country alone. The mother was a daughter of Carl Roe-
hrig, who was a shoemaker by trade, and spent the rest of his career in
Rochester, New York. It was at Rochester that the parents were mar-
ried in 1844. Samuel Kinsey spent most of his career as a farmer, but
was also connected with the tanning business at Rochester. About 1853
he moved west and settled in Indiana, bought a farm in the midst of the
woods, and was one of the men who did his part as an early settler and
cleared up and developed a cultivated farmstead. His oldest living son
still lives on and owns the old place. Six children are still living, as
follows : Caroline Henney, a widow, living at St. Louis ; Charles Kin-
sey, who owns and occupies the old farm; J. J., who is with the H. M.
Joyce Shirt Manufacturing Company at Grand Rapids; Mrs. D. R.
Archer, of St. Louis ; William H., of this city ; and E. L., a farmer at
Grabill, Indiana. The parents were members of the Evangelical Lutheran
church, and the father a Democrat in politics.

William H. Kinsey received his early training in the common schools,
did a great deal towards educating himself, and qualified for work as a
teacher, a vocation he followed for a number of years. His last work
as an educator was as superintendent of the village schools at Shelby,
Alichigan. For two years after that he was bookkeeper for the Sands &
Maxwell Lumber Comjjany of Pentwater, and in 1888 moved to Grand
Rapids. Engaging in the real estate business, he has been almost con-
tinuously identified with that line ever since, though for five years he gave
most of his attention to his duties as secretary of the Grand Rapids Board
of Trade. He is now senior partner of the firm of Kinsey & Buys.
Practically all their operations are confined to this section of Michigan,
and they act as brokers and also i)uy and sell indei^endently, and have a
large amount of property in their own name. Mr. Kinsey has handled
almost as much (irand Rapids real estate as any other individual dealer
in the city.

In 1 881 he married Lelia I. Scott, a daughter of Horace D. Scott, a
substantial farmer of this state. Mrs. Kinsey died in 191 1, without chil-
dren. She was a member of the Congregational church. On December
3, 1913, Mr. Kinsey married Annie H. Read, a daughter of John G. Read,
who came from New England to Michigan, and for a number of years
was a merchant. Mr. Kinsey and wife are members of the Congrega-
tional church, and fraternally he has served as Vice Chancellor in the
Knights of Pythias. His part in pulilic afl^airs has been not without prac-
tical benefit to the city, and for two terms he represented the Third ward
in the city council. In politics he is a Republican.

D.wiD Dii.MOKEST AiTKEN, a leading member of the l-'litit bar, has
long been recognized as one of the forceful and helj^ful men of his city.
Possessing that rare combination of talents which makes for success in
various fields of endeavor, he has entered actively into the life of the
community, and each line of endeavor with which he has been identified
bears the impress of his strong personality. He is a native son of Mich-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1521

igan, born on a farm in the township of Flint, Genesee county, Septem-
ber 5, 1854, a son of Robert P. and Sarah J. (Johnson) Aitken.

'Ihe parents of Mr. Aitken came to Michigan in 1841 from New York
state, the father from a clerkship in a store in the metropolis and the
mother from a young ladies' seminary at Newburgh. Robert P. Aitken
was of Scotch descent, his ancestors having come from Scotland to New
York the second generation before his birth. He became a prominent
man of his day and locality, served for thirty-one consecutive years as a
supervisor of the township of Flint, and during 1863 and 1864 was sent
to the state legislature. His death occurred in 1906, when he had reached
the advanced age of eighty-seven years. Mr. Aitken married Sarah J.
Johnson, of Irish parentage, who was born and reared in the city of
New York. Her death antedated her husband's demise by fifteen years,
her health having been impaired by the early roughing of pioneers while
they were clearing up the farm on which they spent their remaining years.
Like her husband, Airs. Aitken was widely known, and had the affection
of all with whom she came into contact.

David Demorest Aitken was educated in the district school which
was located one and one-half miles from his father's home farm. This
he attended during the winter months, while he helped his father dur-
ing the rest of the year, and when he hatl completed the curriculum of
the country school became a student in the high school at Flint. This
completed his schooling, and he then faced life to make his own way in
the world. For some time he was employed as a bookkeeper, and later
as a salesman, and while thus engaged was married, in 1879, to Miss Ada
E. Long, of Milburn, New Jersey. They have had no children. It had
long been Mr. Aitken's ambition to enter professional life, and with this
end in view he had apjilied himself to his legal studies faithfully and
assiduously. In 1883 he took the examination and was admitted to the
bar, and since that time has been in active practice, having made a spe-
cialty and concentrated the greater part of his energy to insurance law.
He has had very much to do with the shaping towards solvency of the
fraternal insurance associations of the country with which he has been
intimately identified, having been general counsel to two of the largest.
Mr. Aitken is a member of the Masonic order, and has attained the
Knight Templar and Shriner degrees. He has been twice elected to
Congress from the Sixth District of Michigan, in i8<j2 and 1894, and was
solicited to continue in that office, in which he could probably have served
indefinitely had he been so inclined. In 1906 he was elected mayor of
Flint, and he has ever been actively engaged in matters of a public char-
acter, and has had much to do with municipal matters of the city, in
which he had taken a great deal of interest, having served as clerk and
attorney for a good many years during his early life.

Aside from his professional and public activities, Mr. Aitken has been
well known in financial and business circles of Flint. He assisted in
the organization of the Citizens' Commercial and Savings Bank and the
Industrial Savings Bank of Flint, and has been a director in both since
their inception. He is president of the Board of Commerce of the city of
Flint, president of the Imperial Wheel Company of Flint and of the Pine
Bluff' Spoke Company, of Pine lUuff, Arkansas; a director in the Marvel
Carburetor Company and Standard Rule Company, and is president of
the Michigan State Fair, taking an active ])art in iiromoting the affairs
of the Michigan Agricultural Society.

In this latter connection it may be stated that Mr. Aitken is largely
interested in farming himself, and has what is declared by many to be
the best ec|uipped dairy farm in the state. Plere he has an excellent herd
of pure-bred Holstein cattle, to which he gives a large part of his at-

1522 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

tention as a hobby. He is chairman of the County Crop Improvement
Association executive committee, and takes a great deal of interest in the
improvement of crops, and is using his farm to demonstrate what can be
accompHshed by efficiency in farming and what it is possible to produce
from the soil under the most highly improved methods of cultivation,
spending all of his spare time in that direction. In addition to the farm
in the city, Mr. Aitken is the owner of the old homestead where his father
and mother settled when they started together on life's journey, and ex-
pects to keep it as long as he lives.

Hon. Joseph Ed\v.\kd S.\wver. Oakland County, and especially that
part which embraces the city of Pontiac, has experienced a wonderful
growth during the past two decades. This section owes its prosperity
and develojMiient to such men as Joseph Edward Sawyer, who in the
promotion and organization 'of companies for the improvement and set-
tlement of various locations, the platting and selling of numerous addi-
tions to the city, and in the inducing of large industries to locate in the
city or its environs, has rendered invaluable service. It is not alone in
the line of real estate, however, that Mr. Sawyer has been a forceful
figure in his community, for other business activities have received the
benefit of his ability and experience. Prominent in politics and in
fraternal circles, few men in the county are better known.

Joseph Edward Sawyer was born January i, 1847, at Piermont, Graf-
ton county, New Hampshire, the seventh child and only son of Hon.
Joseph and Mary (Dole) Sawyer. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas
Sawyer, a native of England, born about the year 1615, who emigrated
to the American colonies among the early settlers of the New England
states and died at Lancaster, Massachusetts. For generations this family
has been known for the remarkable longevity of its members, notably the
Rev. John Sawyer, of Bangor, Maine, who reached the age of 103 years
and five days, and at the time of his death, October 14, 1858, was possibly
the oldest minister in the United States.

Joseph Sawyer, the father of Joseph Edward Sawyer, was born in
Grafton county. New Hampshire, in which county he continued to reside
until his death, which occurred July 4, 1858, at the age of seventy-three
years. From numerous notices in the jsress of New Flampshire, and other
New England states, we quote the following :

"Mr. Sawyer was a man known all over the state, and respected where
he was known to an extent seldom equaled. He was one of 'Nature's
noblemen' — a perfect type of the independent, intelligent farmer, culti-
vating his broad acres on the banks of the Connecticut, and devoting him-
self to the good and the happiness of his race, with a noble-heartedness
which won the love of all who came in contact with him."

"It was our fortune to make his acquaintance many years ago, and it
has been our pride to number him among our friends ever since. He has
filled many places of public trust with honor as well as ability, and as a
member of the old Whig party he stood among the first in the rank of its
esteem, while we venture to say that no opponent ever questioned his per-
fect integrity — and only the fact that that party was a minority party,
preventccl him from sharing the highest honors of the state. In him a
good man has fallen, but 'like a shock of corn, fully ripe.' "

"The death of no individual in our county would excite more painful
sympathy throughout the state, for he was known to most of the promi-
nent citizens of the state, and universally respected by all who knew him,
for the possession of those sterling qualities of head and heart that com-
mand private regard and public esteem. He was a man in the noblest
sense of the term — a man everywhere and always, and most faithfully

THI NIW ycRK

fUBI iC i fy.tURY

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1523

discharged all the duties and obligations of responsible manhood in all
the varied relations of life. To do good to all — to advance the happiness
and prosperity of everybody about him, and to support every movement
and cause that promised good to his state and country, seemed the study
and aim of his life."

"Mr. Sawyer was a man of great natural abilities and varied attain-
ments, indeed, rarely accomjilished considering his advantages and lot in
life. He has filled many public oftices and all with honor and ability, and
the party to which he was so long and honorably attached, only lacked
the power to advance him to the most honorable within its gift. His first
term in the legislature as the representative from Piermont, dates back
as early as i8oy, and we served with him in the same. body in 1856, when
we had more than ever occasion to admire his exhibition of those sterling
qualities of heart and head that won for him influence and esteem from
all sides."

"In his own county the deceased was universally known and respected.
Simple in his habits, frugal in his expenditures, he was of Republican
tendencies through the impulses of a generous spirit, aud known as one
of those unostentatious, well-bred citizens,'; who,- Tijptx-always reaching
public stations they would adorn, obtain^ -nevertheless, a 4odgement in
public remembrance that men do not wish should become obliterated."

Mr. Sawyer was married to Mrs. Mary (Dole) Plastridge, daughter
of Captain Moses Dole. Her father, shortly after his marriajge to Lucy
Poor, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, ..rtiQ,''ied "to. Canaa'n, ifi the same
state, in 1802. During the Revolutionary War, Captain' Dole was a mem-
ber of the famous New Hampshire Rangers, and following the close of
that struggle was selected by his fellow citizens to fill various important
public offices, ever holding the respect and esteem of his fellowmen. He
is remembered as a courteous gentleman of the old school, while his wife
was well known during her day for her many social graces and refinement.
She died in 1826, while the Captain followed her to the grave two years
later, and was buried with Masonic honors by his brothers of Mount
Moriah Lodge. Jhere were two children born to Captain and Mrs. Dole;
Joseph, who died in 1817, at the age of si.xteen years; and Mary, who
married Dr. Charles Plastridge, who died October 16, 1824, at twenty-
nine years of age. In 1829 Mrs. Plastridge married Hon. Josejjh
Sawyer, who took her to a new home, which he had prepared for her in
Piermont, in said county, on the Connecticut River road, at the intersec-
tion of the road leading to Bradford, Vermont. Here their seven children
were born, they were: Mary Dole, born August 22, 1S30. She married
John Calloway of Cambridge City, Indiana, where she died in October,
1888. Elizabeth, born August 12, 1832, and now living in Cambridge City,
Indiana. Catherine Lucy, born December 31, 1834. She married Colonel
C. F. Kimball, who died in Pontiac, Michigan, October 30, 1906, where she
still resides. Eleanor, born September 16, 1837, who married Evan
Hughes of Cambridge City, Indiana, where she still resides. Isabella,
born December 9, 1840, who married Abram Schutt, and died near Dowa-
giac, Michigan, May 5, 1877. Zelanda Poor, born January 10, 1844, who
married James Nevvby, with whom she is now living in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, and Joseph Edward, the subject of this sketch, who was
born January i, 1847. His mother was a member of the Congregational
church from 1816 until her death, and was widely known and greatly
beloved. She died Fel)ruary i, 1885, aged eighty-two years, at the home
of her daughter, Mrs. C. F. Kimball in Pontiac, Michigan. All her chil-
dren, with the exception of Mrs. Schutt, who had previously died, were
at her bedside.

Joseph Edward Sawyer received his early education in the public

1524 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

schools of Piermont, New Hampshire, and the Academy at Bradford,
Vermont, and when sixteen years of age removed to Alichigan City, and
later to Cambridge City, Indiana, and continued his education there and
at Duljlin in the same state. In 1865 he entered the literary department
of the University of Michigan, and in 1867 he commenced the study of law
with Hon. George C. Hazelton in Boscobel, Wisconsin. The same year,
when twenty years of age, he formed a law partnership with Benjamin
Shearer, and under the firm name of Shearer & Sawyer opened offices
in Boscobel- In January, 1868, Mr. Sawyer came to Pontiac, Michigan,
and entered the law office of Hon. M. E. Crofoot. He was admitted to
the Oakland county bar September 29, 1869. He was elected Circuit
Court Commissioner in 1872, and in 1875 was appointed United States
Commissioner for the Eastern District of Michigan. In 1885 he was
appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Eastern Michigan
Asylum, now Pontiac State Hospital, by Governor Alger. He was again
appointed by Governor Luce and later by Governor Rich, serving fourteen
consecutive years, during which he was present at every meeting of the
board and the joint boards of the state, except one.

In 1 89 1 he assisted in organizing the Pontiac Land & Improvement
Company, of which he was secretary and general manager. This was
the first organized effort to attract attention to the advantages of Pontiac,
and this company did much to promote the healthy growth which this
city has since enjoyed. To further advance the interests of Pontiac,
Mr. Sawyer in 1902 purchased the D. M. Ferry & Company seed farm in
the southeastern part of the city, and conveyed the same to the Pontiac
Investment & Promotive Company, of which he is secretary and manager.
Mr. Sawyer has also platted and sold some twenty other sub-divisions
in the city, and his activities in this line have built up and developed every
part of the city. One of the most recent operations of this kind is at Cass
Lake, just outside of the city, where a few years ago he purchased the
farm formerly owned by Hon. B. G. Stout on sections one and two in the
town of West Bloomfield, which included what was known as Dollar Lake,
which Mr. Sawyer connected with Cass Lake by a canalj making the little
lake a safe harbor to which Mr. Sawyer gave the name of Keego — that
being the Indian name for fish. After selling several small parcels, Mr.
Sawyer in June, 1912, platted a sub-division on the south side of the
Orchard Lake gravel road opposite this harbor, which he named Keego
Harbor sub-division. On this sub-division there are already fifty perma-
nent homes, and including sales made by Mr. Sawyer from this property
outside of the plat, about seventy-five homes. A standard school with two
teachers and fifty-four scholars, three boat liveries, a store, laundry,
cement block factory, etc., are already established there, and Mr. Sawyer
is still actively interested in the development of this thriving village.

He has always been an active member of the Republican party, in
which he has served as secretary and chairman of the county committee
and other capacities. He represented the sixth district of Michigan in
the national convention of 1884, supporting Senator Edmonds until it
was evident that he could not be nominated, after which he gave his sup-
port to Senator Blaine. Plis father, just forty years before, as a delegate
from New Hampshire, aided in the nomination of Henry Clay.

On October 17, 1877, Mr. Sawyer was united in marriage with Miss
Lizzie V. .Satterlee, who was born in Bloomfield township, Oakland
county, Michigan, daughter of George H. and Jane Flower Satterlee.
When three years of age Mrs. Sawyer was taken to Keweenaw county,
Michigan, where she resided until the death of her father in 1875, when
.she moved to Pontiac with her mother and sisters. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer
became the parents of the following children : Lizzie Belle, born August

c

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1525

8, 1878, and now the wife of Judge Ross Stockwell of Pontiac. Mary
Lucile, born April 12, 1880, wife of George A. Drake of Detroit. Kate
Eleanor, born November 18, 1884. Joseph Sattcrlee, born July 25, 1890,
now associated in business and practice with his father, and Thomas Dole,
born January 2-/, 1901.

The Sawyer family has long been prominent in Masonry — Colonel
Edward Sawyer, the uncle of Joseph Edward, was initiated at the age of
twenty-one years, and at the time of his death, February 2, 1885, when
ninety-seven years of age, was the second oldest Mason in the United
States. He was implicated in the Morgan Conspiracy in 1826 and suf-
fered greatly in the persecution which followed that unfortunate al^'air.
Joseph Edward Sawyer was initiated May 27, 1870, in Pontiac Lodge
No. 21, F. & A. M., of which he became Master. He was exalted January
29, 1875, in Oakland Chapter No. 5, R. A. M., of which he became High
Priest. He received the Cryptic degrees in Pontiac Council No. 3, R. &
S. M., June 28, 1875, ^"^1 became Thrice Illustrious Master. He was
anointed January 15, 1884, in the Council of High Priest of the State of
Michigan. He received the orders of Christian Knighthood in Pontiac
Commandery, the order of the Temple being conferred March 7, 1876;
was elected prelate March 6, 1877, captain general in 1880, and emment
commander in 18S5. He is a past chancellor of Pontiac Lodge No. 19,
K. of P., and has served as deputy grand chancellor. His reports as
chairman of the committee on foreign correspondence, especially that of
1891, received much favorable notice from the reviewers of other grand
domains. In the military branch of the order he has held the rank of
olonel since 1892. He has been venerable sheik of Mecca Temple No. 56,
D. O. K. K., since the institution of the Temple in 1896.

Mr. Sawyer is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, to which
the members of his family also belong. He was for many years a vestry-
man of Zion church of Pontiac, and a lay reader under Bishop Harris.
In 1887 he established a flourishing mission at Clintonville. Mr. Sawyer
has always been a friend of morality, education and charity. He is deeply
interested in all that pertains to public progress and his aid and co-opera-
tion can always be counted upon to assist in measures for the public good.
His life has been actuated by high and honorable principles, and his busi-
ness career has been characterized by laudable ambition and watchfulness
of all details and indications pointing to success. In all of his dealings
he has been strictly reliable, so that his is an honored name in business
circles.

WiLLi.-\M De Boer. As a successful business man and popular citi-
zen of Grand Rapids Mr. De Boer merits consideration in this history,
but there are other elements that make such recognition the more con-
sonant. He is a native of Grand Rapids and a scion of one of the honored
pioneer Holland Dutch families of Michigan, and he is now serving as
a member of the board of aldermen of his native city, a position in which
his influence is ever given in support of good municipal government and
the furtherance of the material and social wellbeing of the community.
He owns and conducts one of the most substantial and effective employ-
ment agencies in Grand Rapids, and his discrimination, integrity and ef-
fective service in this field of enterprise have given to his agency the
highest reputation.

William De Boer was born in Grand Rapids on the 5th of October,
1871, and is a son of Joseph and Martha (Aloerdyk) De Boer, both na-
tives of Holland, ,where the former was born in 1840 and the latter in
1847, and both of whom were children at the time of the immigration
of the respective families to America. The marriage of the parents was
solemnized at Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1862, and here the mother still

1526 IIISTURV Ul' MICHIGAN

maintains her home, secure in the affectionate regard of all who know
her. Joseph De Boer was for more than half a century in the employ
of the Xelson Matter Furniture Company, one of the extensive industrial
concerns of Grand Rapids, and as an industrious, unassuming citizen
of sterling character he ever cbmmanded tlie unqualified confidence and
respect of the community that long represented his home and in which
his death occurred in the year 1912. He was a most zealous and devout
member of the Second Reformed church of Grand Rapids, as is also his
widow, and without any desire for official preferment or other political
activity he was enrolled as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Re-
publican party. His name merits enduring place on the roster of the
honored pioneers of Grand Rapids and of the state of ^Michigan. Of his
eleven children William, of this review, was the fourth in order of birth
and of the number only one is deceased.

The public schools of Grand Rapids afl'orded the means by which
William De Boer acquired his early education, and his initial venture in
connection with practical affairs was made in the capacity of clerk in a
local mercantile establishment. He was thus enga.ged three years, and
he then served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of machinist, in
which he became a skilled artisan and to which he continued to devote
his attention for twenty years, his position having been that of foreman
for several years before he resigned to take general charge of the Michi-
gan Free Employment Bureau in Grand Rapids. This position he retained
until 191 1, when he established his present independent employment bu-
reau or agency, which has been most successful in its operations and
through the medium of which employment has been procured for many
men and women throughout all parts of Michigan, and his business has
extended also into Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. The rapid and
substantial expansion of the enterprise thus founded by Mr. De Boer
placed such demands upon his time and attention that in 1913 he found
it expedient to admit Theo. \'ander Veen to partnership in the busi-
ness, this alliance having proved most effective and the business having
shown a material increase each year from the time of its establishment.
On May 18, 1914, Mr. De Boer became associated with one of the oldest
real estate firms of the city, Kinsey & Buys, and placed his youngest son,
Marston, in the employment office.

Political activities on the part of Mr. De Boer have been confined
largely to municipal affairs, and for the past eight years he has been a
representative of the Fourth ward on the city board of aldermen. He
and his wife are zealous members of the Second Reformed church of
Grand Rapids, and he is affiliated with lodge, chapter and council of York
Rite Masonry, as well as with the Alodern Woodmen of America.

In 1894 Mr. De Boer wedded Miss Eva \'an Dam, daughter of Gerard
\^an Dam, who was long engaged in the retail grocery business in Grand
Rapids. Mr. and Mrs. De Boer have four children, Joseph, Gerald,
Marston and Bertha.

Sidney B. Clark. The oldest drug store in Flint is that now con-
ducted by Sidney B. Clark, at Xo. 408 South Saginaw street, which has
been its stand since 1849. In public usefulness the druggist is associated
hand in hand with the physician and this mutual dependence is univer-
.sallv acknowledged as a condition of ])ublic safety. Healing remedies are
older than [jhysicians, and at times the discovery of a new drug has
wrought wonderful changes and has been even a factor in advancing
civilization. Out of the hands of the ignorant and unintelligent the law-
ful administration of drugs has long since been taken, and the term
druggist or jiharmacist now means one who has passed a thorough and

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1527

satisfactory examination before a learned scientilic body. Into the drug-
gist's hands, then is hterahy phiced Hfe and death, and thus it is no un-
important position that a druggist holds in a community, his personal
standing being usually of the highest. Mr. Clark has at all times meas-
ured up to the highest standards of his calling, and as a citizen few men
of Flint are held in higher esteem.

Sidney B. Clark was born in Flint, Michigan, November i, i860, and
is a son of John B. and Cornelia (Miles) Clark. His father, a native of
Massachusetts, came to Michigan in 1848 or 1840, and located at once
in Flint, where he established himself in the drug business, although prior
to this time he had been engaged in educational work. He continued be-
ing one of the leading business citizens of his adopted community imtil
the time of his death, which occurred in 1876. For a number of years
the business was conducted under the firm style of W. & J. B. Clark, W.
Clark being his cousin. John B. Clark was married to Miss Cornelia
Miles, a native of New York who came to Michigan with her parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Edmond Miles, during the 'thirties, Mr. Miles being a
wagonmaker during the early days and a very successful business man.
Mrs. Clark died at Flint in 1907, having been the mother of si.x children,
of whom Sidney B. was the second in order of liirth and one of three
survivors, the others being: Edward, who is a resident of Florida; and
Mabel, who became the wife of Thomas Barron and makes her home in
Flint.

Sidney B. Clark attended the public schools of Flint until reaching
his eighteenth year, and, having decided to become a druggist, then en-
tered his father's establishment. There he was thoroughly prepared in
every detail of the calling under the preceptorship of the elder man, and
when John B. Clark died the son succeeded to the business. Fie has stead-
fastly "maintained the high standard set by his father, and the business
enjoys a large and loyal patronage. Mr. Clark is independent in his po-
litical views, and takes only a good citizen's interest in the affairs that
affect his community. He is a member of the Loyal Guards and of the
Chamber of Commerce, and his religious connection is with the Pres-
byterian church.

In 1890 Mr. Clark was married at Flint to Miss Katherine Kedwin,
a native of Mundy, Genessee county. Michigan, and a daughter of Henry
Kedwin. One child has been born to this union : Helen, who is attend-
ing the Flint High school. Mrs. Clark is a member of the Kings Daugh-
ters, is prominent in social circles of Flint, and like her husband has a
wide circle of warm personal friends.

William C. FIoertz. Since the year 1897 William C. Hoertz has
been engaged actively in the contracting business in Grand Rapids, and
he has been favored with a generous measure of success in his enterprise
with the passing years. He has been worthily connected with some of the
leading building activities of the city, and takes his place among the fore-
most men who have contributed to the building work that has here been
carried on in the past few years. He has been associated with his father,
Charles Hoertz, in the business, and the standing of the contracting firm
of Hoertz & Son is among the best in the city.

Born in Cleveland, Oliio. on October 11, 1877, William C. FIoertz is
the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Faubel) Hoertz. The father was born
in Liverpool, New Y'ork, in 1846. and the mother in Cleveland in 1848.
They met and were married in Cleveland, Mr. Hoertz having come to
the state during the Civil war. He engaged in contracting in Cleveland,
and among the finest work he did in that city was the interior work on
the John D. Rockefeller home. In 1882 he came to Grand Rapids and

1528 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

began to carry on a contracting business here, and he has since been
occupied thus. In 1897 he took his son, whose name introduces this re-
view, into the business, and the firm has since been known as Hoertz
& Son.

William C. Hoertz is one of the two children of his parents, the other
being Elise, who is unmarried. The parents are members of the Uni-
tarian church, and Air. Hoertz is a member of all the ]\Iasonic bodies,
having taken all excepting the thirty-third degree. He is a Republican
in his politics, though not particularly active in the work of the party.
He is a quiet man, attentive to hig own affairs, and well liked by all who
know him either socially or in purely business relations.

William C. Hoertz had his education in the Grand Rapids High School,
from which he was graduated in 1893, and in the University of Michi-
gan, where he followed a course in engineering for two years. During
his second year in college he figured on the engineering building for the
University and assisted in the construction of the building.

In 1899 Mr. Hoertz was married to Miss Florence Ross. Like his
father, Mr. Hoertz is prominent in Masonry, and is said to be the greatest
worker in the order in the state of Michigan. He first became a mem-
ber of the A. F. & A. M. in 1898. and has since taken practically all the
degrees. He is a Knight Templar and a Shriner, and has passed through
all chairs in the latter body. He has been in active service in the order
since 1899, never having missed a meeting since that time. He was
elected Potentate of Saladin Temple in the Shrine on December 11,
1913, and on February 20, 1914, will put on a Circus for the benefit of
the Shrine. Mr. Hoertz' other fraternal affiliations are the lienevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife
are members of the Christian Science church of Grand Rapids.

Mr. Hoertz and his father have much in common, and are devoted to
one another. Both are Masons of high degree, and together they con-
duct one of the most successful contracting enterprises in the city, the
amount of business done by them annually being about $750,000.

Roy W. Jenning.s. In the ranks of younger business men at Flint,
Mr. Jennings is recognized as one of the most capable and enterprising of
the men who are rapidly gaining the rewards of success in commercial
affairs, and he is also well known and takes a prominent part in the social
and civic affairs of his home community.

Born at Almont, Lapeer county. ^Michigan, September 4, 1884, Mr.
Jennings is a son of Rev. George W., and Sarah (Allison) Jennings, his
father a native of Virginia, and mother of Scotland. The parents were
married in Michigan, where the father engaged in the ministry of the
Metliodist Episcopal church, in which he still continues. His first ap-
pointment to a regular charge was in Almont, after which he was in Port
i luron, then went to Flint for five years, was then at Saginaw, Pontiac,
Owosso, and now has charge of a church at Mt. Clemens. Rev. Jennings
is fifty-five years of age, and one of the best known ministers in the
Detroit Conference. The mother is also living, being now fifty years of
age. There were five children, and the Flint business man was the first
born.

His boyhood was spent in various cities, where his father had his
duties, anti he was a student of the Pontiac high school, and the Ohio
Wesleyan LTniversity at Delaware, Ohio, for two years. On leaving
school he came to Flint, and was em])loyed by Mr. F. S. Grossman in the
undertaking business until 1905. He then established the Jennings-
McKinney undertaking business, assuming the interests of the Grossman
estate in the old establishment. The business was incorporated in 1910,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1529

and Roy W. Jennings is secretary, Mr. McKinney treasurer, and Rev.
George W. Jennings is president.

In politics Mr. Jennings takes an independent stand, and in various
fraternities has important connections, being a Royal Arch Chapter.
Council, and Knight Templar Mason, also a member of the Mystic
Shrine, and has affiliations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Eli<s, and the Knights of Macca-
bees. His church is the Methodist Episcopal.

At Flint on June 3, 1908, Mr. Jennings married Miss Margaret Kathe-
rine Taylor. Her parents A. M. Taylor and wife, are well known resi-
dents of Flint. Mr. Jennings and wife have had a daughter.

Herbert M. Best, M. D. When the career of the physician is being
contemplated, the first and principal thoughts which spontaneously occur
are derived from the great value of the knowledge which is in the pos-
session of the well trained practitioner of the healing art, and the intense
desire which he must have, especially if he be at all philanthropically in-
clined, that all the people should be acquainted with the laws of health.
Dr. Herbert M. Best is not alone one of the capable physicians and sur-
geons of Grand Rapids, with a large and constantly growing general
practice, but as vice-president and medical director of the People's Health
and Accident Company, and president of the hospital maintained by this
association, is widely known as one who has done much to contribute to
the city's welfare in the line of medical instruction.

Doctor Best was born in Ontario, Canada, June 15, 1875, and is a son
of Henry and Christina (McColl) Best. His paternal grandfather,
Elisha Best, was born in Pennsylvania, and migrated to Ontario in 181 1,
taking up the homestead farm from the Government, under Colonel Tal-
bot, a property which has since become owned by Henry Best. There
were four sons in the grandfather's family, of whom three became phy-
sicians. Leonidas E., who practiced for thirty years in Grand Rapids,
was coroner for two terms, served also as supervisor, was one of the
most prominent physicians of his day in this city, and served for some
time as a surgeon in the National Guards. Robert Bruce Best was also
a well known practitioner, having his field of practice in Holland for
many years. Dr. McKendrick Best practiced first in Constantine, Michi-
gan, and later came to Grand Rapids, where he served as city physician
for a period prior to his death. The maternal grandfather of Dr. H. M.
Best was Nicol McColl. a native of Scotland, who emigrated to Ontario,
Canada, in young manhood, and subsequently became a member of the
Ontario legislative body.

Henry Best, father of Dr. H. M. Best, was born in 1847 in Elgin
county, Ontario, on the farm which he now occupies, a tract of two
hundred acres which he has brought to a high state of development, lo-
cated near St. Thomas. He has devoted his life to agricultural pursuits
and has met with success therein because of his energy, his perseverance
and his good management. While he has been busily engaged in looking
after his private affairs, however, he has also found leisure to devote to
those movements which make for the welfare of his community, and he
is known as one of his locality's most public-spirited men. A Conserva-
tive in politics, he has served as a member of the school board. He and
his wife are consistent and helpful members of the Presbyterian church,
in which he at present is serving as an elder. In 1874 Mr. Best was mar-
ried to Miss Christina McColl, who was born in Ontario in 1848, and
they have been the parents of five children, namely : Dr. Herbert M. ;
Ernest E., a practicing physician of Cameron, Texas ; Nicol D., a farmer,
living on the old homestead; Jeanette, the wife of Walter Hutton, en-

1530 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

gaged in the life insurance business at Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ; and
Robert H., connected with newspaper work at New Westminster, Brit-
ish Columbia.

The early education of Dr. Herbert M. Best was secured in the public
schools of St. Thomas, where he was graduated from the high school in
1893. Following this, he taught school for three years, and then entered
the medical college at Detroit, where he received his diploma and de-
gree in 1901. He at once entered upon the practice of his calling at
Ludington, and there was successful in attracting a large patronage, but
in 1905 he was called to Grand Rapids to assist his aged uncle, who six
months later died. Doctor Best's professional business has steadily in-
creased as he has demonstrated his skill and ability, and his able minis-
trations in the sick room have gained him the recognition and commenda-
tion of not only his professional brethren, but the general ptiblic as well.
In 1906 he was instrumental in the organization of the People's Health
and Accident Company, of which he has since been vice-president. This
is the only insurance association of its kind in the United States, giving
its patrons medical care in addition to its policy, and for this purpose
there is maintained an up-to-date and thoroughly equipped hospital, of
which Doctor Best is the director in charge. He belongs to the Kent
County Aledical Society and the Michigan State Medical Society, and
keeps abreast of the times by constant study and perusal of the best
medical literature. In political matters he is a Republican, and his fra-
ternal connection is with the Knights of Pythias, the Royal Arch Masons
and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

In 191 1, Doctor Best was married to Miss Ada McKee, daughter of
Fred McKee, of Saginaw, well known in business circles of that city as
a carriage manufacturer.

Hon. J.-mmes Munroe Turner. The late Hon. James M. Turner, of
Lansing, was one of Michigan's most distinguished men. A native born
son of the Wolverine state, he was descended from an old and honored
American family, and was a lineal descendant of Humphrey Turner, who
emigrated from Devonshire, England, in 1628, settling at Plymouth, Con-
necticut. The grandfather of Mr. Turner was Francis S. Turner, who
married at Middlcbury, Vermont, in the year 1799 Deborah Morton. His
great-grandfather was Jonathan Turner, who married Bridget Arthur
in 1772. His great-great-grandfather, Paine Turner, was married at
New London, Connecticut, November 3, 1745, to Eleanor Haines.

James Turner, the father of the late James Munroe Turner, was born
at Cazenovia, New York, April i, 1820, and came to Michigan in 1840,
only a few years after the state was admitted as such to the Union.
He first settled at Leoni. In 1841 Mr. Turner gathered together his
means and established himself in business as a merchant at Mason, and
there continued until the removal of the state capital to Lansing, when he
located in the latter city and erected the first frame house in the city.
There Mr. Turner's labors continued to be concentrated upon the mer-
cantile business until his identification with the building of the Lansing
& Howell plank road, he being treasurer and manager of the company
which built that highway. In i860 Mr. Turner became deputy state
treasurer under Hon. John Owen, and for six years had exclusive con-
trol of the affairs of that office. In 1864 Mr. Turner's labors resulted
in the building of a railroad from Jackson, which he conceived and
planned, and which later became known as the Jackson, Lansing &
Saginaw Railway, this now being a part of the Michigan Central system.
As treasurer and land commissioner for that line Mr. Turner had much
to do with its successful operation. Later he was treasurer, superin-

TH! SI^' T(?KI

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1531

tendent and a directar of a railroad from Ionia to Lansing, and for
many years was also agent for eastern holders of Michigan lands and
for the Society of Shakers for the investment of money in this state.
In iS66 he was elected state senator, was chairman of the finance com-
mittee of that body and also of the committee on the asylum for the
insane. Mr. Turner was at all times greatly interested in the cause of
education, was one of the founders of the first Union school of Lansing
and of the Michigan Female College, and was a member of Lansing's
first board of education, continuing as a member thereof throughout the
remainder of his life. For over twenty years he was superintendent
of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday-school of Lansing, and was also a
staunch and active friend of the cause of temperance. In politics he was .
identified with the Republican party from its organization. C)n October
I, 1843, Mr. Turner was married to Marion, the daughter of Jesse
Munroe, who was a pioneer of Michigan. He died October 10, 1869.
James Munroe Turner was born at Lansing, Michigan, April 23, 1850,
attended the Lansing public schools and completed his educational train-
ing in the Oneida Conference Academy at Cazenovia, New York. At
the age of sixteen years he entered upon his business career as a clerk
in the store of ex-Auditor-General Daniel L. Case', ^t Lansing, and two
years later became identified with the land office of.fhe 'Jatkson, Lansing
& Saginaw Railway, of which office his father was thei-Ti,At. the head.
Less than twenty years of age at the time of his father's death, in 1869,
Mr. Turner displayed his ability by taking full charge of the elder man's
affairs, which he closed most successfully *nd satisfactorily. In 1869
he was appointed paymaster and assistant tr'ea'felirSr of^the.Ion-ia & Lans-
ing Railroad Company, which, with a number of other corporations, was,
in 1871, merged into the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad Company.
Mr. Turner continued to fill these positions until the general offices of
the company were removed to Detroit, when he resigned, and soon after-
wards opened a general land office in Lansing in partnership with Mr.
Dwight S. Smith, formerly of Jackson, under the firm name of Turner,
Smith & Company. The partnership was continued until the retirement
of 'Mr. Smith in 1875. Mr. Turner continued to conduct this business,
confining his transactions principally to the buying and selling of timber
and mining lands in both the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan
until his death. In 1876 Mr. Turner was instrumental in organizing the
Chicago & Northeastern Railroad Company which built a line from Flint
to Lansing, he being the president of the company as well as the general
superintendent of the road, continuing in this dual capacity until 1879,
when the road was merged into the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railroad
Company, it becoming the middle division of the company. In the year
1876 James M. Turner became a member of the Michigan legislature.
He was made mayor of Lansing in 1889 and in 1890 was the nominee of
the Republican party for governor of the State. At this time he was
acting as president and treasurer of the Michigan Slate Company; presi-
dent of the Iron Star Company, which owned the great western iron
mine located at Crystal Falls, Michigan ; vice-president of the Ingham
County Savings Bank and president of the Michigan Condensed Milk
Company, of Lansing, which he had established. In 1888 James M.
Turner was elected a member of the electoral college and had the honor
of voting for General Harrison as president of the LInited States. He
was interested in general and stock farming, and was the owner of
what was known as Springdale Farm, a tract of 2,000 acres of valuable
land located near Lansing. Mr. Turner was widely known among the
agriculturists of the state, and served capably for two terms as president
of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, succeeding Hon. Thos. W.

1532 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Palmer in that office. In 1895 he was elected mayor of Lansing for a
second term, and in addition served as a member of the board of directors
of the Michigan School for the Blind for many years. His life was a
fortunate, an active and a happy one. His acquaintances esteemed and
respected him ; by his friends he was beloved. Upon him was bestowed
as much public honor as he was willing to accept. Diligent in business,
his ventures prospered under his hand. He witnessed the marvelous
growth of one of the great cities of the land, of which he himself had
placed some of the foundation stones. When he died, July 7, 1896,
Lansing lost one of its most helpful and public spirited men.

On September 30, 1876, Mr. Turner was married to Miss Sophie
Porter Scott, who was born in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of the
late Ira and Esther (Kennedy) Scott, natives of Saratoga County, New
York. Ira Scott was a graduate of Harvard Law School and removed
to Chicago in 1848, practicing his profession in that city until his removal
to Lansing in 1882, where he lived retired from active affairs during the
remainder of his life, and where Mrs. Scott also died. To Mr. and Mrs.
Turner were born two sons: James, now a successful practicing attorney
of Detroit ; and Scott, who is interested in coal mining in Spitzbergen, in
which country he spends his summers. Mrs. Turner survives her hus-
band and resides at No. 609 Washington Avenue, North, Lansing.

Alvin Ernest Harley. An architect, who has found a large field
for his ability and whose services have been called into re(|uisition for
many important business and semi-public construction work in Detroit,
Mr. Harley has been a resident of that city for the past ten years and has
a secure position both in his profession and as a member of the
community.

Alvin Em£st Harley was born at Portage La Prairie in Manitoba,
Canada, March 10, 1884. While he was born qn the western prairie, his
family belonged to a more eastern province, and their residence in the
west was of only a few years' duration. His parents were Frank and
Jane (McLeod) Harley. His father, a native of England and his mother
of London, Ontario. About 1876 his parents moved out to Manitoba,
which had about that time begun its modern devel()])ment and settle-
ment, and the father bought some large tracts. of land west of Winnipeg,
and while looking after his property also engaged in the general insur-
ance business. In 1887 the family returned" to London, Ontario, where
the parents are still living, the father having a retail grocery store in that
city. They are Ijoth active in the work of the Methodist Episcopal
church.

Alvin E. Harley spent his early youth in London, Ontario, and at-
tended the public schools and the Collegiate Institute of that city. In
1900 he took up the study of architecture at London, and in 1903 came
to Detroit and entered the offices of William Wright and Company. Later
he was with George D. Mason, one of the eminent Detroit architects, and
benefitted by his practical experience with that leader in the profession
for four years. He then began independent practice as a member of the
firm of Harley and Atcheson, and they were in business together until
1912, since which time Mr. Harley has been alone.

His work has been chiefly along general lines, and he has drawn plans
for many business blocks, hotels and churches, including the Henry Clay
Hotel, tlie Fourteenth Avenue Methodist church and the Eastern Star
Temple, also private residences, aud is recognized as one of tlie most suc-
cessful of the younger architects in his city. His work among the residence
part of his profession includes the homes of Mr. F. S. Stoepel at Grosse
Pointe and others of note, in the north end and Indian village district. Mr.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1533

Harley is architect for the Michigan State Fair Society, and designed a
number of the buildings erected on the grounds. He has membership in
the Detroit Board of Commerce, the Detroit Young Men's Christian Asso-
ciation, the Methodist church and the Masonic order. In this city he mar-
ried Maymie A. Slytield, who was born in Detroit, a daughter of the late
Captain H. J. Slyfield, prominent as a river and lake captaui.

Joseph Emmer. One of the most faithful and efficient workers in
the city government of Grand Rapids is Joseph Emmer, whose record of
continuous service has been unusual. In i88g he took his seat in the
city council, and with the exception of four years, during which he served
as a member of the board of public works, has sat in that body ever since,
representing the seventh ward. His record is such that he is again and
again spoken of as one of the tried and true, is devoted to the welfare
of his own city, and can be depended upon for action and influence when-
ever any worthy movement is inaugurated. He has never made a serious
campaign for re-election, and his friends in the seventh ward vote for
him as a matter of course and will probably continue to do so as long
as he consents to serve. Mr. Emmer is a Democrat, and his popularity is
shown by the fact that he served twice as president of the council during
Republican administration.

Joseph Emmer was born in the city of Grand Rapids November 26,
1849. He has always lived within half a mile of his birthplace, and it is
said he has never been away from the city for a longer time than ten
days. His birth occurred at his father's home on Canal street, at which
point his father then conducted a blacksmith and carriage shop. His
parents were Joseph and Catherine (Schlich) Emmer, both of whom
were born in Germany, the father in 1824, and the mother on Novem-
ber 6, 1825. The father died May 5, 1883, and the mother August 28,
1868. The parents were married at Grand Rapids on November 6, 1848.
The Emmer family have been identified with Grand Rapids since 1842,
and was one of the pioneer families to locate in what was then a small
village on the western edge of settlement in this state. The senior Joseph
Emmer was a carriage and wagon maker, and for a number of years had
his shop on Canal street, but in 1856 moved his business to the corner of
Crescent and Kent streets, where he continued to do business until his
death. He was a Democrat in politics, and he and his family were mem-
bers of St. Andrew's Catholic church. There were seven children, and
the three living include Joseph Emmer, Fred W., in the carriage and
wagon business ; and Edmond C, in the liquor business in Grand Rapids.

Toseph Emmer grew up in Grand Rapids, attended the city schools,
and graduated from the old Union school in 1865. As a boy he was taken
into his father's shop, learned the trade of carriage maker, and continued
at work under his father until the latter's death, and has since conducted
a prosperous carriage and sign painting establishment. His place of busi-
ness is now at 312 I3ond avenue.

In 1872 Mr. Emmer married Frances Nagle, the daughter of Patrick
Nagle. Mrs. Emmer was born in Grand Rapids, and, like her husband,
has never lived more than a half mile from her birthplace. There are
three children : Charles W., who is manager of the Beaumont Inde-
pendent Telephone Company in Beaumont, Texas ; Josephine E., cashier
in the Michigan Telephone Company's offices at Grand Rapids ; and
Florence E., a school teacher at Grand Rapids. The family worship at
St. Mary's Catholic church, and Mr. Emmer affiliates with Lodge No. 48,
B. P. O. E., and with St. Joseph's Society.

Charles Scot Cunninch.xm. A meml)cr of the Alichigan State
Board of Railroad Commissioners by appointment from Governor

1534 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Ferris, Charles Scot Cunningham is in every particular a practical rail-
road man, and it was only a few months before his appointment to his
present responsible duties that he resigned one of the high executive
positions in railroad circles.

His career was one of accomplishment, and he rose from the position
of water boy to superintendent of a division in one great railroad system.
It was in 1868, at the age of thirteen years that he went out west and
found employment as a water boy with the Union Pacific Railway run-
ning out of Omaha, Nebraska. He showed himself worthy of further
responsibilities, and has an honor which is almost unique in that he was
promoted to freight conductor, having charge of a work train when only
fifteen years of age. From that time forward he was a tried and faithful
worker in the employ of difterent railroads, including the Union Pacific,
the Oregon Short Line, the Northern Pacific from Portland, Oregon, to
Helena, Montana, tlie Denver & Rio Grande Western, the Wabash Rail-
road, and the Grand Trunk. He was conductor and in charge of construc-
tion at the front on difterent roads, until he went to the Wabash in 1883.
With that company he served as a freight and passenger conductor in
Missouri, until i8g6. In that year he transferred his services to the
Grand Trunk with Charles H. Hayes, when the latter took charge as gen-
eral manager. Mr. Cunningham under that forceful executive held the
position of trainmaster with headquarters at London, Ontario, and was
transferred from one division to another at one time as assistant superin-
tendent and then for the last ten years as superintendent of the division.
Mr. Cunningham came to Detroit in May, 191 1, and resigned his position
on January 15, 1913, being at that time superintendent of the western
division of the Grand Trunk, having under his supervision lines aggre-
gating one thousand miles. He had previously had his headquarters in
Durand during the year 1899 and Port Huron in 1900-01.

Charles Scot Cunningham was born in Washington, Guernsey county,
Ohio, April 19, 1855. His parents were Edward and Delilah (Griffith)
Cunningham, both of whom were natives of Ohio, and representatives of
pioneer stock of that state. The paternal grandfather, Edward Cunning-
ham, was also born in Ohio, and also the maternal grandfather, Joseph
Griffith. The Cunninghams are of Scotch-Irish descent, while the Grif-
fiths were of Welsh and Scotch.

Charles S. Cunningham was reared in his native town of Cambridge,
until he was thirteen years of age, having lost his mother at the age of
ten, and his father when he was thirteen years old. He was the oldest of
five children, and consequently had to struggle with the battle of life at
an early age. W'lien he resigned the superintendency of the western di-
vision of the Grand Trunk Railroad, in 1913, he engaged in the real estate
business at Detroit, and continued in that line until his appointment by
Governor Ferris as a member of the railroad commission on October i,
1913. Mr. Cunningham has been a member of the Masonic fraternity
since he was twenty-one years of age, and belongs to the Kansas City,
Missouri Commandery No. 10 of the Knights Templar and to the Ararat
Temple of the Alystic Shrine. He is a member of the Windsor Club.

Glenn G. Towsley, M. D. Representing the first-class ability and
skill of his profession and enjoying a large general practice. Dr. Towsley
has been a physician and surgeon at Grand Rapids, since 1910. and quickly
took front rank in his profession. He began practice about twenty years
ago in Michigan, with an excellent equipment and the test of real work
found him well qualified for imiiortant service. Dr. Towsley has never
been a man to stand still in his work, and by repeated courses of study
in the best schools of the country has kept abreast of the times and is

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1535

well qualified for his responsiljilities to society. Dr. Glenn G. Towsley
was born at Portland, Michigan, May 6, 1866, the oldest of three sons
born to Almon H. and Nellie (Joslin) Towsley. His father, who died in
1910, was a farmer by occupation, and a native of Niagara county. New
York. The mother was born at Lansing, Michigan, where she still re-
sides. When Dr. Towsley was five years of age he began his attendance
at the country schools, and continued his studies in such institutions until
he was about fifteen. He then entered the Portland high school, where
he finished a course in 1887, at the age of twenty. Already he had made
up his mind as to his future course in life, and the only obstacle was
sufiicient capital to pursue his studies. In order to get the means for his
higher education, he spent a year and a half as a clerk in a country store,
and also taught school. With this money he entered the University of
^Michigan, in 1889, and after a brief course again took up school teaching,
finally returning to the University and graduating M. D. from the medical
department in 1894. He then began his practice at Lowell, Michigan,
and in a short time had a satisfying practice. Later he entered a medical
college in New York city for post-graduate work, and finished a special
course there, returning in 1899 to Lowell. There he continued until 1909,
when once more he took post-graduate studies in New York City. In
1910 he established his office at Grand Rapids, where he has built up a
large business, specializing in the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat.

Dr. Towsley is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy,
and also has membership in the Kent County Medical Society, and the
Michigan State Medical Society. Fraternally he is affiliated with the
Lodge, Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery of Masonry, and also
with the Shrine, and the Eastern Star. His other fraternal affiliations
include membership in the Modern Woodmen of America, the Gleaners,
the Loyal Order of Moose. In politics the doctor is a Republican voter,
and he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. Mrs. Towsley
is active in social and literary circles, being a member of the East End
Literary Club and the Order of Eastern Star. Their home is at 310 Nor-
wood Avenue, and the doctor's offices in the Ashton Building.

Dr. Towsley has been twice married. In 1890 he married Miss Mabel
A. Ward, who was his class mate and graduated with him both at high
school and at college. Her death occurred August 4, 1894, and she left
no children. On July 15, 1896, occurred the marriage of Dr. Towsley to
Nellie A. McCarty of Lowell, Michigan. They have two children, Paul
G., now sixteen years of age, and Catherine E., aged twelve.

Harold F. Congleton. A Michigan family that has been identified
with the state for seventy years is represented by Harold F. Congleton,
one of Flint's leading merchants, who has for forty years had an active
career in business and has frecjuently been honored with positions of trust
and responsibility in the diflierent communities of his residence.

His birth occurred in the township of Farmington, Oakland county,
Michigan, February 12, 1849. His father, George B. Congleton, a native
of New Jersey, came to Michigan early in the forties, settling in Pontiac,
but the greater part of his active career was passed in Franklin in Oak-
land county. He was a blacksmith by trade, and that vocation gave him
the means of support until he retired. He served his township of South-
field for years as justice of the peace. He was an active Republican, and
a member of the Methodist church. The last ten years of his life were
spent in Clio in Genesee county, and while there he held the position of
township treasurer for two years, and village treasurer four years. He
was always active in local affairs.

George B. Congleton was born in New Jersey. The maiden name of

1536 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the mother was Amelia Morris, likewise bom in New Jersey, and who
came with her husband to Michigan. She was the mother of five children,
four of whom are living, namely : Sarah, the widow of John F. IVIarvin
of Oakland, California ; Jennie, widow of Ansel C. Fuller, a resident of
Clio, Genesee county, Michigan; Elizabeth, widow of Elmer German, of
Clio, and Harold F.

Harold F. Congleton, the youngest of the family, received his early
school at Franklin, and at Farmington, and continued to attend school
with more or less regularity until he was sixteen years old. While still a
boy he began to pay his own way, and for several years worked in a car-
riage shop at Franklin, and learned the carriage builder's trade, a line
he followed for six years. Moving to Clio, he and his father engaged in
the drug business there for ten years, until ill health compelled him to sell
out and take up a work of less confining nature. He got into the mail
service, and after six months took charge of the postoffice at Clio as as-
sistant postmaster. A year later he engaged in the shoe business at Clio,
with John Vaughn, a brother-in-law, tmder the firm name of Congleton
& Vaughn. This firm sold out after two years to John K. Frost, and Mr.
Congleton remained with Mr. Frost as practical manager of the business
for twenty years. From Clio he went to Sandusky, in Sanilac county,
and there bought a shoe business, which he conducted successfully for
two and a half years. In June, 1909, he moved his stock to Flint, and
established his present store at 410 South Saginaw street, under the name
of Congleton & Rogers. E. A. Rogers, his son-in-law is his partner.
This is one of the leading stores of its kind in Flint, and with long ex-
perience and his successful record, Mr. Congleton furnishes the best of
service to his patrons.

In politics he is a Republican, and has voted that ticket consistently
since the second election of Grant. While his home was at Clio he took
much part in local afi^airs, serving as president of the village and treasurer
of the township and village. He is a member of the Flint Board of Com-
merce, affiliates with the Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandry of New
York Rite Masons, and also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
He and his family worship in the Congregational church. His wife is a
member of the Ladies of the Maccabees and the Eastern Star. Their
home is at 710 East Second Street.

Mr. Congleton was married at Northville, Michigan, July 3, 1871, to
Miss Emily J. German. She was born in Michigan, a daugliter of Wil-
liam German. Four children were born to their marriage, namely: Ger-
trude, deceased; Grace, wife of E. A. Rogers; Allie, deceased; and Clarie,
wife of Hartley Blakeman, of Flint.

J.NMES W. McMeekin, M. D., C. M., F. a. C. S. A distinctive posi-
tion as a physician and surgeon has long been held by Dr. McMeekin,
whose home has been in Saginaw since 1890, and who is one of the leading
surgeons and X-ray and radiology specialists in the Saginaw \'alley. The
successful practice of a number of branches of modern surgery and medi-
cal science requires a very complicated outfit of instruments and other fa-
cilities, and Dr. McMeekin has the finest professional and private library
and the most complete set of mechanical facilities for his work in the city
of Saginaw, and there is no physician in the state whose e(|uipment is
belter or more modern. James \V. McMeekin was born at Oxford, On-
tario, October 31, 1859. His father, Samuel D. McMeekin, was born in
Castle Douglas, Scotland, while his mother, whose maiden name was
Elizabeth Mitchell, was a native of Devonshire, England. Samuel D.
McMeekin was a man of considerable education, and after moving to
Canada and locating at Oxford he became prominent as a land owner

H. ^f%r^

iSlVf t^"*** ti^Msl

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1537

and farmer, and was an authority on many lines of agricultural activity
and often sought for advice and expert assistance in his line. He died
in Oxford in 1901, at the age of eighty-two years, and his widow still
lives in the old home at Oxford. All the ten children are living, are well
educated and are people of distinction in their respective callings.

The first born of these children was Dr. James W. McMeekin. His
early years were spent at Oxford, where he received a primary and a
college education, and he also attended high school at Woodstock, the
Toronto University at Brantford, where he was graduated B. C, and
St. Catherine's College Institutes. His professional studies were pursued
in the noted McGill University at Montreal, where he was graduated in
medicine in 1885.

After obtaining his diploma from the University at Montreal, Dr.
McMeekin began practice at St. Catherines, Ontario, and became super-
intendent of the general hospital in that city. Later, in order to better
equip himself for the large, career opening before him in medicine and
surgery, he attended the famous St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London,
England, graduating in surgery in 1895. He took two separate special
courses in X-ray work and radiology in the New York Post-Graduate
School. • - '

After the death of his first wife at St. Catlierines, who died four
days after the birth of her daughter, on the 27th of December, 1885,
Dr. McMeekin decided it was necessary to make a change in his home
relations in order to overcome his sad affliction. ■•He traveled and studied
for three years, and finally settled in Saginawnn ©ecember. In a few
years he laid the foundation for a success which has been steadily grow-
ing to the present time. His work is largely surgery and X-ray special
practice, and all his time and energies are required by his practice in
Saginaw and the Saginaw Valley.

Dr. McMeekin in 1910 was one of the founders of the Clinical Con-
gress of Surgeons, organized in Chicago in that year. On November 13,
1913, the .'\merican College of Surgeons, at its first meeting in Chicago,
conferred the degree of fellowship. He has membership in the Saginaw
County and the State Medical Societies, is a past president of the County
society, and is a fellow of the American Medical Association and the
British Medical Association of London, England. As an authority on
X-ray and radiology, he has contributed various articles to medical jour-
nals. Dr. McMeekin is an enthusiast in the line of his profession, con-
centrates all his time and energy on his profession, and it is easy to
account for his splendid success when his steady devotion to it through a
long period of years is considered. He has the best equipped laboratory
in Saginaw, and there is none better in the entire state of Michigan. The
Doctor is affiliated with the Masonic order, the Mystic Shrine, the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks and other lodges and fraternities. His
church is the Presbyterian, in which denomination all his family are
members.

Dr. McMeekin was first married in 1882, at St. Catherines. Ontario,
to Miss Sulta H. Emmett, who was born at St. Catherines and died there,
as already noted, in 1885. The only child by that marriage is Sulta H.,
wife of Lloyd Avery, oi Hamilton', Ontario. Dr. McMeekin, in iqoi,
married Miss Anna Kosanka Opperman, of Saginaw. Their children are
three in number : Elizabeth, aged eleven ; Helen, aged nine ; and James,
Jr., aged six. Dr. McMeekin owns a pleasant home and other valuable
real estate in Saginaw, and has acquired considerable property in the city
of Detroit.

1538 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

George F. Brown. With a working membership in the Genesee
county bar of more than a quarter century, George F. Brown has a record
of varied achievements both in the fixed Hues of his profession, and also
in the field of citizenship. Like many successful men he opened the door
to his profession by hard, preparatory apprenticeship, chiefly as a teacher.

Success has come to him in practically every undertaking, and he is
a fine representative of the citizenship of Flint.

George F. Brown was born in Oakland county at Lyon, October 4,
1855. His father, Hiram Brown, a native of New York State and of
Scotch descent came to Michigan in 1839. He was among the first set-
tlers in the vicinity of South Lyon, in Oakland county. By tilling the
soil he provided for his family and secured a moderate prosperity, but
outside of his immediate community, where he was known as a conscien-
tious citizen and a kindly neighbor, he was little known and his retiring
disposition, never allowed him to seek or desire prominence as a public
man. He died at the age of eighty-seven years in December, 1905. His
wife was Mary Elizabeth Plowman, also of New York State nativity,
and of Dutch and English ancestry, her father's people having been Hol-
land Dutch. She was born in Orange county. New York, and in 1840
came to Michigan with her parents, Peter and Louise Plowman, who
were early settlers. Hiram and Mary Brown were married at South
Lyon, Michigan, in 1848, and became the parents of three sons, as fol-
lows : William, living at Marlette, and a farmer in Sanilac county, Mich-
igan ; Robert, who lives on the old homestead in the town of Gaines ; and
George F.

With an early education begun in the country schools and completed
in the town of Gaines, George F. Brown at the age of seventeen entered
the high school at Corunna, later was in the Flint high school, and some
years after reaching manhood entered the University of Michigan, and
was graduated LL. B. in 1887. The first twenty years of his life were
spent altogether on a farm, and after that he began teaching, and alter-
nated that work with attendance at school, and with other employment, all
his energies being so directed as to point towards one goal — the law. He
was a teacher in the schools of Mount Morris and Swartz Creek in Gene-
see county.

After being admitted to the bar, he began practice on August 27, 1887,
with Mr. E. D. Black, his class-mate in law school and president of the
class. They opened offices in the Fenton Block at Flint, under the name
of P)lack & Brown, and their partnership continued with mutual satis-
faction and profit for thirteen years. During the following nine years
Mr. Brown practiced with John H. Farley under the name of Brown and
Farley. For the past two years he has had an independent practice, and
his offices are in the Patterson Block.

His record of public service began some years before he entered vtpon
his career as a lawyer. He was a memlier of the school board of Genesee
county ten years, from 1880 to iSgo. Four years were spent in the office
of prosecuting attorney, having been elected in 1891, and serving from
189J to 1896. For three terms he was chairman of the county Repub-
lican committee, and having become a Progressive in 1912 is now chair-
man of the Progressive party in Genesee county. Mr. Brown has mem-
bership in the County and State Bar Association. Some years ago he
had membership in the State National Guards.

It is to his own efforts that he owes his success, since he began earning
his way before reaching his majority, and paid all his expenses through
University. Out.side of the law, Mr. Brown has built up a lucrative busi-
ness. His faith in the future development of Michigan led him early in his
career to invest a large part of his surplus earnings in country real estate,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1539

and the sale of these lands in subsequent years has netted him very good
returns upon the original investment, inducing lack of activity in his pro-
fession. He is regarded as one of the substantial men of the city, and
has acquired his prosperity in such a way as to justify the admiration
rather than the envy of his fellow men. His diversions are fishing and
automobiling, and every year he makes pleasure trips to the Eastern
States and elsewhere over the country, and usually has several close
friends who accompany him on these pilgrimages. A whole souled and
hospitable gentleman, he has always had the faculty of making friends,
and has a host of them not only in Genesee county, but throughout the
state.

On October 27, 1900, at Davison, Mr. Brown married Miss Etta E.
Wood, a daughter of William Wood, who was of Scotch ancestry, and a
Canadian by birth. Mrs. Brown died at Flint in 1902, leaving one daugh-
ter, Etta Elizabeth. Mr. Brown's home is at 1016 Beech Street.

J.\MEs BuRRiLL Angell. From 1871 until 1909 active president of
the University of ^Michigan, and since the latter date president emeritus,
the life and work of James Burrill Angell are best known through the
institution which under his administration came to rank as one of the
recognized centers of higher education and training in America. Be-
cause of his services as president of the University of Michigan for more
than a third of a century and his work as a diplomatist in several gov-
ernment positions, Dr. Angell has won a national fame, but it is with
both honor and aiifection that the people of Michigan regard this vener-
able educator and statesman.

James Burrill Angell was born in Scituate, Rhode Island, January 7,
1829. His preliminary education was supplemented by study in Brown
University. Matriculating in the freshman class in September, 1845, he
was graduated in 1849 with highest honors. In 1853 he received the
degree A. M. from his Alma Mater, and in later years was honored with
the degree LL. D. as follows : By Brown University, 1868 : Columbia Uni-
versity, 1887; Rutgers College, 1896; Princeton University, 1896; Yale
University, 1901 ; Johns Hopkins, 1902; University of Wisconsin, 1902;
University of A'ermont, 1904; Harvard University. 1905; Michigan
Agricultural College, 1907; Dartmouth, 1909: Miami University, 191 1;
University of Michigan, 1912; Peking (China) University, 191,3.

An aptitude for the various studies constituting the curriculum char-
acterized his college course. He was prominent as a classical scholar and
displayed equal facility in mastering the sciences. His enthusiasm for
literary studies and his comprehensive, accurate and philosophical and
historical spirit, which have since been strongly developed, were then
awakened. It would perhaps have been difficult to predict at the close
of his college career in which department of learning he would be most
successful if he chose to concentrate his energies upon a single line.
During his collegiate course under the influence of President Wayland's
thorough and simple Christian faith. Dr. Angell also announced his al-
legiance to the cause of Christianity, attaching himself after a long and
thoughtful examination of denominational peculiarities and claims to the
Congregational church. During the last years of his university course
he became imbued with the desire of entering the Christian ministry — a
purpose slowly formed and afterwards reluctantly abandoned under the
pressure of opposing circumstances.

During 184.9-50 Mr. Angell was assistant librarian in Brown Univer-
sity. The years 1830 to 1853 were spent in study in Europe, and from his
foreign residence he was recalled to accept the chair of modern languages
and literature in Brown University. This position he filled to the satis-

1540 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

faction of all connected with the college until i860, when he resigned his
professorship to enter the field of journalism, becoming editor for Senator
Henry B. Anthony of his newspaper, the Providence Journal. Dr. An-
gell remained in charge of that publication for six years, and then re-
signed to accept the presidency of the University of Vermont, with
which he was connected until 1871, when he came to the University of
Michigan as president.

His work in behalf of the University of Michigan is a matter of
history. His success is indicated by its material growth and his national
fame as an educator is the legitimate result of ability that would qualify
liim to fill any position in connection with the great institutions of learn-
ing in America. When he assumed charge in 1871 there had been an
enrollment for the year of eleven hundred and ten students and for the
the year 1914 there was an enrollment of six thousand two hundred and
fifty-eight. The University of Michigan was the first institution to take
rank with the old established universities on the Atlantic coast and its
position is attributable in large measure to the efforts of Dr. Angell. He
is an enthusiast yet is a man of action rather than theory and the records
of the university are practically a detailed account of his life and labors
since 1 87 1. More than seventeen thousand students have been awarded
diplomas from his hand and more than ten thousand additional ]nipils
have studied under his direction in Ann Arbor.

Dr. Angell has also won national fame in connection with his service
in various government positions. As minister to China in 1880-81, he
acted as commissioner in negotiating important treaties. He was a mem-
ber of the Anglo-American Fisheries Commission in 1887; was chairman
of the Canadian- American Commission on Deep Waterways from the
lalces to the sea, 1896; was appointed minister to Turkey in 1897 but re-
signed in August, 1S98. He has honored his Government with his serv-
ices and in this field has made for himself a name of more than national
prominence. Dr. Angell has served as regent of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution. He is author of "Progress in International Law," 1875; "'I'he
Higher Education," 1897; and of numerous addresses and articles in
leading reviews.

Dr. Angell was married November 2(), 1855, to Sarah S. Caswell,
daughter of Dr. Alexis Caswell, afterwards president of Brown Uni-
versity. Of two sons of Dr. Angell, the older, Alexis Caswell Angell,
began the ])ractice of law at Detroit in 1880, was a member of the law
faculty of the University of Michigan for several years, and in 191 1
was appointed United States District Judge of the Eastern District of
Michigan. The youngest son, James Rowland Angell, has made a dis-
tinguished name as a psychologist, as an educator, and since 1894 has
been connected with the University of Chicago and is now head of the
department of psychology and Dean of the University.

Louis A. Roller, M. D. In the ranks of the medical profession of
Grand Rapids are found a number of men who have attained distinction,
especiallv those who have specialized along certain particular lines. Among
these may be mentioned Dr. Louis A. Roller, than whom no physician in
Michigan stands higher as a specialist in diseases of the eye, ear, nose
and throat. His achievements will be recognized as all the more credita-
ble when the fact is known that Dr. Roller has made his own way in the
world from boyhood, that he worked his way through college, and that
his earlv years were filled with hardshi])s of the most discouraging na-
ture. Through it all, however, he has preserved his determination, per-
severance an(l indomitable courage, and today he is reaping his reward
in the emoluments of a large practice and a substantial reputation.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1541

Dr. Roller was born in New York city, February 23, 1855, a son of
William and Louise Roller. He knew little about his parents, save that
they were natives of Germany, that the father was born in 1822, that
the mother died when he was seven years of age, and that the father
disappeared almost immediately thereafter and was never again heard
from. Thus thrust upon his own resources at a tender age, the youth
early developed a spirit of self-reliance that has been one of his chief
characteristics ever since. He was eleven years of age when he came to
Michigan, and in the grammar and high schools of Greenville he man-
aged to get his preliminary training. He then became an educator, taught
school for three winters, in the meantime working as a farm hand during
the summer months, and by 1879 had saved enough from his scant earn-
ings to enter Rush Medical College, Chicago, although prior to this time
he had spent one year at Ann Arbor. When he completed the course at
Rush Medical College he returned to Michigan and established himself in
a general practice in Edmore. Like other young physicians without cap-
ital or reputation, during the first years he had many obstacles and dis-
couragements to overcome, but his persistence and determination were
equal to the task, and at the end of nine years he had a large and lucra-
tive general business. At this time he decided to enter the field of special
practice, and accordingly went to Detroit and was assistant to Dr. J. C.
Lundy in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, this being supple-
mented by post-graduate work in New York and a special course in the
Chicago Polyclinic. He began his practice at Grand Rapids in the spring
of 1891, and here he has continued in the enjoyment of a representative
professional business to the present time. His achievements in various
complicated cases have made him known as probably the most skilled
man in his special field in this city, and he is frequently called into con-
sultation by his professional larethren. He has served seven years as a
member of the Board of Health, two years as its president, and is still
a member of that body. In numerous ways he has contributed to
his city's welfare, both in his [irofessional capacity and outside of it. In
the line of his calling he belongs to the Kent County IMedical Society,
the Michigan State Medical Society, the American Medical Association,
the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otology, and is a member
and has served as president and secretary of the Academy of Medicine.
Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, in which he is a past
chancellor, and is a Chapter Mason. Politically he always supports the
principles of the Republican party. With his family he attends the Bap-
tist church.

On April 10, 1884, Dr. Roller was married to Miss Carrie Gibbs,
daughter of J. H. Gibbs, a lumberman of Edmore, Michigan, and to this
union there has come one daughter, Nellie Louise, who married Dr. Wil-
liams, of Grand Rapids.

Edwin F. Swan. The late Edwin F. Swan, during a long and useful
career, became well known to the citizens of various parts of Michigan,
and especially to the people of Flint, where at the time of his death,
April 7, 1906, he was serving as a steward of the School for the Deaf.
A native of Cincinnatus, New York, he was born December 19, 1842, a
son of Rev. Lorenzo E. and Lavinia (Brown) Swan, who were married
in Georgetown, New York, May i, 1838.

The third in a family of ten children, Edwin F. Swan received his
education at Cazenovia Seminary, near Syracuse, New York, and as a
young man learned the jeweler's trade. This he followed as the only
jeweler of his community for some years, but in 1866 his eyes failed
and he was compelled to seek some other vocation. Accordingly, he came

1542 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

to Flint, and liere established himself in the dry goods business with F. W.
Judd, under the firm style of F. W. Judd & Company, which became one of
the leafling concerns of its day in Flint and continued as such until 1876,
when Mr. Swan disposed of his interests. He at that time went to Lansing,
in which city he remained for ten years, first as an accountant under State
Treasurer McCreary and later under State Treasurer E. F. Butler. In
1886 he returned'to Flint and here became steward of the School for the
Deaf, a position which he continued to hold until the time of his death.
Politically a Republican, Mr. Swan sought no public offices. He was not
a lodge member, but was content to remain just what he was, a modest,
home-loving, God-fearing citizen. Reared in the faith of the Baptist
church, in which his father was a minister, he remained true to its teach-
ings throughout his life.

On August 17, 1870, Mr. Swan was married to Miss Frederica C. Van
Vechten, who was born February 9, 1850, at Corning, New York, daughter
of Morris and Catherine (Roe) Van Vechten. Two sons were born to
this union: Franklin Van Vechten, born October 27, 1871, in Flint; and
Frederick William, born July 17, 1874, the former of whom married
Ella Ford, and the latter Elizabeth Browne. Mrs. Swan, who survives
her husband and is well known in Flint, resides at No. 304 North West
Second street, the old homestead, which she has occupied since her mar-
riage. Her father passed away October 25, 1SS6, and her mother August
12, 1896. Her paternal ancestors were natives of Holland, and her ances-
try is traced back to the year of 1147, Mrs. Swan being in possession of
the direct line, and of the old family coat-of-arms. The family in this
country was founded by Leunis Dircksen Van Vechten, who came to the
New Netherlands with his wife and one child, and accompanied by two
black slaves, a man and a woman, in the ship "The Arms of Norway."
They settled in 1638 in Greenbush, opposite New Albany, New York.

Amos S. Mus.selman. Among the men of mark in Alichigan, and
especially in the city of Grand Rapids, none have come in for a greater
share of favorable public notice than has Amos S. Musselman, for years
identified with certain of the wholesome and widespread business inter-
ests of the state, and one who has had a prominent place in the politics
of the state. Twice candidate for the office of Governor of Michigan,
his record has been conspicuously open to the public, and it is a pleasing
thing to record that nowhere in his career has there been anything de-
rogatory to his high standing as a business man and a gentleman that his
political opponents could fasten upon and exploit to his confusion. His
life has been an open book, and while it is not possible in a brief article
of this nature to give anything like an adequate record of his career, it
is still possible to set forth the more salient points in consecutive order,
for presentation in this historical and biographical work.

It has been said somewhere and perhaps on many occasions, that the
only business success worthy of the name is that which permits of the
accumulation of a fortune and at the same time the retention of old
friendships, as well as the perpetuation of the disposition and character
which distinguished the builder when the project was begun. This is in
many particulars true, and it may be said without fear of contradiction
that Amos Musselman has so wrought as to retain all that he ever had
of the friendship of his fellows, the while he ever continued to gain the
esteem and confidence of those with whom he came into contact in the
varied relations of life. No small task is this, and its accomplishment
rests wholly upon the possession of a wholesome and distinctive char-
acter that is so fashioned as to resist the beating down by the more sordid
influences of commercialism. Such a man has Amos ■Musselman proven

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1543

himself, and he stands forth today among his contemporaries as a power
for good in his community and in' his state, and as such he is well worthy
of comment in a publication of the nature and purpose of this history.

Amos S. Musselman was born on his father's farm some eight miles
from Gettysburg. Pennsylvania, on October 19, 1851. He is the son of
Major John and Susan (Myers) Musselman, both natives of that state,
the father having been born there in 1809 and the mother in 1819. They
died in the }-ear 1871 and 1872 respectively.

John Musselman was the son of another of the same name, the first
John Musselman having been born in Canada, coming to Pennsylvania in
early manhood. The family is of German ancestry, three brothers hav-
ing emigrated to American shores and one of them being the ancestor of
the line now in consideration. John Musselman, grandsire of the subject
and father of John Musselman, was a large landowner in Pennsylvania,
and of some prominence. His son, John, on coming to manhood, demon-
strated the possession of many excellent and sturdy qualities that resulted
in winning him a secure place in his community, and he became a promi-
nent farming man and landowner of considerable scope. For his day, he
was considered very well-to-do, and he was always a prominent man in
his community. A Republican in politics, he was the only Republican
elected to the legislature from his county during his time. He never per-
mitted himself to be used as a candidate for office but that one time. He
was abolitionist. He served as major in the state militia in his early
manhood. He was the father of eight children, four of whom are now
living, and Amos S. Musselman was the sixth in order of birth. The
other living children are as follows : Laura R., married E. M. Yount,
who is in the government employ, and they reside in Herndon, West
Virginia. Mary married a Mr. Bender, who has extensive mining in-
terests in New Mexico, and they make their home there. Alice married
a Mr. Sudier, a farmer, and they reside in the state of Maryland.

In further mention of the honored father of Mr. Musselman of this
review, it should be stated that he was long a member of the Evangelical
Lutheran church, and was for years a trustee of Gettysburg Seminary.
He was a man of. the finest qualities of heart and mincl, and was widely
known in his native community as the "poor man's friend," a title he
richly deserved because of his kindly and helpful attitude toward all who
were less blessed in this world's goods than he. No citizen of the com-
munity was more public-spirited and more helpful in his civic life than
was John Musselman, and when he died in 1871 he was mourned hv niany
who felt themselves bereft of a true friend.

Amos .S. Musselman was reared on the homestead near Gettysburg
and had his college education in the Pennsylvania College at that place.
The death of his father at the end of his junior vear caused the young
student to return to his home and take up the afl:'airs of the family estate,
where he remained for two years, returning to his studies two years later
at Eastman College in the Commercial department. He made short work
of his studies there, ten weeks being the period so occupied by his studies
in commerce and finance, but he was of bright and retentive mind, and
he stored away a collection of facts that he drew upon when he found
himself thrown upon his own resources soon thereafter.

W'hen Mr. Musselman returned home after the death of his father,
he invested his share of the family estate in an enterprise that had a dis-
astrous end in the panic of 1873, so that he found it much to his advan-
tage to have had a short business training. For six months he held the
position of instructor in the banking department of Eastman College, and
in October, 1876, he came to Grand Rapids, and here accepted a position
with Graff & McSkimmin, jobbers of teas, cofi^ees and spices, at 56 Kent

1544 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

street, representing Mr. Peter Graff, whose entire time was engrossed by
his milhng interests. This firm subsequently was merged with the whole-
sale grocery establishment of Samuel Fox & Company, and Mr. Mussel-
man remained with the house until January, 1879, when he resigned to
accept a position as bookkeeper and cashier with Hibbard & Graff, at
that time leading flour millers of the city. This firm met with financial
reverses in February, 1881, and Mr. Alusselman decided to embark in
the wholesale grocery business on his own account. It was in June of
that year that the firm of Fix, Musselman and Loveridge opened its doors
for business on South Division street. This copartnership endured for
five years, when Air. Musselman purchased the interests of his partners
and formed a copartnership with William Widdicomb, the firm going
forth under the name of Amos S. Musselman & Company. Three years
later the name became Musselman & Widdicomb, and the place of busi-
ness was changed to South Ionia street. In February, 1893, Mr. Widdi-
comb retired from the firm, the concern being succeeded by a corporation,
with a paid in capital stock of $70,000, Mr. Musselman being president
and general manager of the concern. As a further evidence of the esteem
and confidence in which Mr. Musselman was held by the business public,
it should be here stated that when he was announced as the president and
manager of the newly organized concern, many of the leading financiers
of the city were among those who made application for stock in the com-
pany, which, however, could not be granted.

So prosperous was this house and so aggressive was the management
that two branch houses were subsequently established, — one at Traverse
City, under the management of Howard A. Musselman, and another at
Sault Ste. Marie, under the management of John Moran. Both these
houses came to be strong factors in their respective localities and carved
out for themselves careers quite as remarkable, relatively speaking, as did
the Grand Rapids house.

Mr. Alusselman was one of the principal factors in the organization
of the National Grocer Company, and was elected First Vice President of
the concern. On the retirement of Mr. Higginbotham, in 1905, he was
elected president, continuing in that capacity with a\\ success until he
retired from the office in 1910.

Mr. Musselman has been a member of the Westminster Presbyterian
church ever since he came to Grand Rapids, and is one of its most promi-
nent and hard working members. He took an active part in the organiza-
tion of the ATadison Avenue Presbyterian church in 1897, of which he
might be practically spoken of as the founder, so close was his connection
with the project, and in so many ways did he aid the work. \Mien he
first identified himself with the movement only a small .Sunday school
represented the nucleus of the present organization, while today there
is a thriving church society established in a church edifice of its own. In
addition to his regular church work Mr. Musselman has been a prominent
factor in the Rescue work being carried on by the City Rescue Mission
of the city, and has by his financial and moral support given the work an
impetus that will not readily relax.

Fraternally Mr. Musselman is a Mason with Royal .Arch, Knights
Templar, Consistory and Shrine afiiliations. He is also a member of the
Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum, and socially has member-
ship in the Peninsular and Kent Country Clubs. He was a member of
the Board of Trustees of the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia for twelve
years, retiring some three years ago with a most exemplary record for
faithfulness and vigilance in the discharge of his duties.

Other business associations of Mr. Musselman are here noted. He
was for several years vice-president of the Grand Rapids National Bank,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1545

and later withdrew his connection there to associate himself with the
Fourth National Bank, which he is now serving honorably and well in
the capacity of director. He is also a director in the Commercial Savings
Bank and vice-president of the People's Savings Bank of this city. Since
he withdrew from his connection with the National Grocer Company,
Mr. Musselman has been identified with the Boyne River Power Com-
pany, of which he is vice-president, and he is a director of the Tillamook
Yellow Fir Company and of the Boyne City Lumber Company. Numer-
ous other leading financial and industrial concerns of the city claim a
share of his attention, and it is not too much to say that each and every
one of them has profited by his connection therewith.

In his civic activities, Mr. Musselman's record is above reproach. He
was a charter member of the Grand Rapids Board of Trade, and a
director of the board until it was superseded by the Association of Com-
merce. He also served that organization as president and treasurer at
one time. He has served also as chairman of the Committee on Statistics,
and because of his most excellent record in that office he was selected
by the Census Bureau on the recommendation of the Board of Trade, as
the person best fitted to prepare the manufacturing statistics of the city
for the general census of 1890, a duty which he discharged in a manner
so acceptable as to win for him the encomiums of the Census Depart-
ment. Through all of his career thus far, Mr. Musselman has given of
his time and money in a most cheerful manner to every worthy project
that has been lirought to his notice, and every movement for the good of
the city, either of a commercial, moral or spiritual aspect, receives his
sympathy and his earnest support.

Not the least of Mr. Musselman's activities have been in a political
way. During the senatorial campaign of William Alden Smith, some
seven years ago, Mr. Musselman acted as chairman of the Executive
Committee, and much of the success of that memorable campaign was
directly due to the energy with which he directed the work of the several
committees and the hundreds of individual workers. On the successful
termination of the struggle Mr. Musselman's name very naturally came
into prominence in connection with the gubernatorial office, and he was
urged by many stanch friends to enter the field. Two years later he
yielded to their importunities and became a candidate for that office. The
contest, unfortunately, developed into a three cornered afifair, and inas-
much as Mr. Musselman was not a man to enter such a contest with the
expectation of winning at the polls through a lavish expenditure of
money, he lost the primary. He made a second run for the nomination
when it was announced that Mr. Osborn would not make a second run
and was successful in securing the nomination, but owing to the Pro-
gressive party taking more than forty i)er cent of the Republican vote,
was defeated at the election by a small majority, Roosevelt carrying the
state by sixty thousand. It is everywhere felt, however, that he is quite
as potent a power for good in his present position as he would be in the
office of governor, for he is a man whose influence is far reaching, and
whose activities in the best interests of his city and state are unceasing
and praiseworthy.

On September 12, 1877, Mr. Musselman was united in marriage with
Ella Hostetter, of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Musselman
was as active in her woman's sphere as was her husband in his, and be-
cause of her culture and refinement soon took a leading place in the
literary, church and philanthropic circles of the city. She died in their
beautiful country home March i, IQ14. While they both loved children
none came to bless and brighten their home.

1546 JilSTORY OF MICHIGAN

Clayton J. Tiiojias. Farming as an industry and as a business has
been brought to a high state of perfection in many parts of Michigan and
what the enterprise and energies of one man can accomphsh in this direc-
tion is perhaps nowhere better ilkistrated than on the Shiawassee county
farm of Clayton J. Thomas. Mr. Thomas, at the time he was married, a
little more than twenty-five years ago, had a cash capital of two hundred
and fifty dollars. Within recent years he has refused an oflier of thirty-
five thousand dollars for his farm estate. Under his management and
ownership at the present time are four hundred acres in Bennington town-
ship, and better land, with its resources and fertility more carefully
guarded and kept up cannot be found in this section of Michigan. Mr.
Thomas is in every way essentially progressive. In 191 1 he was one of
the leaders in his community in securing the construction of an interurban
railroad. He was one of the local parties who did most towards securing
the right of way to the county, and donated land through and alongside
his own farm for the road. At the present writing the interurban passen-
ger and freight cars pass within one hundred feet of his home, and just
opposite the gateway to his place has been erected a station, while a spur
track runs into his farm and up to his shipping room, so that his dairy
and other farm products can be loaded directly into the cars and quickly
conveyed to market. That is only one of the many interesting and im-
portant features about the Thomas homestead. Not less of value, when
comparing the conveniences of this place with city comforts and standards
of living is the fact Uiat electric U.tfht and power is used both in the house
and in the barns, aucj. iiiators turn the milling machinery and even the
washing machineus' rfm by electricity. The Thomas homestead is not only
a source of great 'pride and satisfaction to its owner, but serves to define
according to modern standards, the possibilities of Michigan agriculture,
and from this model estate many les.sons are drawn to stimulate the in-
dustry and enterprise of other less fortunate agriculturists. The farm
is not far from the city of Ovvosso, and is located on section twenty-three
of Bennington township.

Clayton J. Thomas, who is still in his forties, was born February 15,
1866. When he was four years of age his mother died, and at the age
of seven he was made an adopted child by Mr. C. H. Thomas and wife.
The Thomas family were substantial farmers in Bennington township.
Mr. C. H. Thomas was born at Nelson, Madison county, New York, June
23, 1829, and his wife, whose maiden name was Almira Trail, was born
in Allegany county. New York. They were married September 7, 1854,
and Mr. Thomas continued his career as a farmer in New York state
until the outbreak of the war. In December, 1861, he enlisted in Com-
pany F of the One Hundred and Fourth New York Infantry, and saw
active service in the northern armies until July 18, 1865. The year after
he left the army, he came to Michigan, and settled in Shiawassee county.
Buying land, he lived there until his death at the age of sixty-four, and
possessed one of the finest country estates in the county. His widow
survived him. Mr. C. H. Thomas and wife had two children of their
own : Rosa, who married Austin Smith, of Bad Axe, Michigan ; and
Nina, wife of Robert Trail, of Antrim county.

It was on the home farm of his foster-parents that Clayton J. Thomas
grew to manhood, with such educational advantages as were supplied by
the district schools. When he was eighteen years old he started out to
make his own way, working at farm labor at monthly wages. He thus
continued until he was twenty-two years of age, when he married and
made his real start toward fortune. W'hat he began with has already
been stated, and with the loyal cooperation of his wife his prosperity
steadily grew from year to year and he has always been on the upgrade.

-i^T^^-^^i:^ cu'^.

c

J'HE Niw ro&i: ,

^^Si.lC LIBRARY

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1547

For some years he worked and managed the farm of his father, and after
the death of Mr. House, whose daughter he had married, he bought the
interest of other heirs, and has Hved on the old House place ever since.
Mr. Thomas has not only been a hard worker, one who could dig and
delve when that was necessary, but has reinforced his physical industry
with shrewd business ability and that accounts for his liberal success. It
has likewise been the ambition of himself and wife that their home sur-
roundings should be of the very best. Since he bought the House place
he has expended several thousand dollars in improvements about the
buildings, and his is now regarded as one of the handsomest country resi-
dences in Shiawassee county. For a number of years in addition to general
farming, Mr. Thomas has made a specialty of producing cream, which
he sells in Owosso. He has a fine herd of dairy cattle, and takes great
pride in maintaining the herd at the highest standard and also in manag-
ing his dairy according to the most scientific and sanitary principles. At
the present time the dairy products handled by Mr. Thomas amounts to
more than $15,000 annually. Politically he is a Republican, has held the
office of townsliip treasurer, and also that of township supervisor.

On December 29, 1886, Mr. Thomas married Miss Lillie House, a
daughter of Jabez T. and Lydia (Gordon) House. She was born on the
House farm, where she still lives, on February 18, 1865. Her father,
Jabez T. House, was one of the striking characters of Shiawassee county.
Born in New York State, January 21, 1817, he died June 14, 1897, being
the oldest in a family of seven children. Farming was his lifelong ac-
tivity, but he was probably best known for his influence and his strong
convictions in matters of moral interests. Dia-ing his early years he
voted the Republican ticket, but the latter years of his life were devoted
to the Prohibition cause. He advocated with all the ardor of his nature,
the cause of temperance, and put his ideals into extreme practice, abstain-
ing not only from the use of tobacco and alcohol, but during his later
years not using even tea or coft'ee. His cliurch was tli^ Methodist. The
nine children of Jabez T. House and wife were : Henry, born December
12, 1842. and died January 22, 1843; William, born November 30, 1843,
died March 8, 1864; Sam'antha, born August 13, 1845, the wife of Phil-
ander Punches; Caroline, born February 13, 1847, died January 10, 1851 ;
George Edward, born April 3, 1853, died April 12, 1865; Frank, bom
November 2, 1855, died March 8, 1871 ; Ella, born October 26, 1858,
became the wife of C. W. Jennings of Owosso, and died July 10, 1913;
Lillie, the wife of Mr. Thomas; and Major D. House, born December
3, 1861.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas are the parents of two children : C. Lynn, born
June 12, 1892; and Russell J., born May zy, 1894. The son, Russell, is
now married, and his father has built for him a fine home on one hundred
and twenty acres of land, which Mr. Thomas bought a few years ago,
thus increasing the acreage of the old House homestead.

Herbert E. Randall, M. D. The medical profession of Genesee
county contains no more honored member than Dr. Herbert E. Randall,
who during his residence in Flint has risen to a high place in his calling.
He was born at Birmingham, Michigan, February 18, 1876, and is a son
of Lucius A. and Emily E. ( Anscomb) Randall, and is a meinber of a
family that was founded by an English emigrant who came to this country
as early as 1629 and settled in Rhode Island. The great-grandfather of
Doctor Randall was Mathew Randall, who was born in 1764.

Lucius A. Randall was born in 1847, i" Michigan, to which state his
parents had come from the East at an early period in the commonwealth's
history. He received a good common school education, entered com-

1548 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

mercial lines, and became well known as a traveling man for a large
mercantile firm of Detroit. He died in 1893, when still in the prime of
life, being but forty-six years old. Mr. Randall married ]\Iiss Emma E.
Anscomb, who still survives him at the age of sixty-eight years, and is
making her home with her only son, the other child being Mrs. Chauncey
Hill, a resident of Big Beaver, Michigan.

Herbert E. Randall's boyhood was spent in Detroit, in which city he
attended the public and high schools. He was seventeen years of age
at the time of his father's death, and at that time he faced the world on
his own account, securing a position as a clerk in a tea and coffee store
in Detroit. He subsequently left this employment to accept a position in
the clerical department of the Methodist Book Concern, at Detroit, where
he remained six months, and then entered the Detroit College of Medicine
to begin his professional studies. He was graduated from that institution
with his degree in 1897, and during that period had become assistant to
Dr. H. O. Walker of Detroit. Following his graduation, Doctor Randall
was house surgeon of St. Mary's Hospital and then embarked in practice
at Dryden, where he remained two and one-half years, and during his
stay there was appointed surgeon in the United States Philippine service.
From Dryden Doctor Randall removed to Lapeer, where he continued
in practice for nine years. Following this he came to Flint, and here has
continued in the enjoyment of an excellent practice, limited entirely to
surgery. He maintains offices at 302-3 F. P. Smith building, where every
convenience is supplied for the comfort of his patients. A man of high
reputation in his calling, he has been honored by his fellow-practitioners
by his election to the vice presidency of the Michigan State Medical
Society, and was the secretary of the Lapeer County Medical Society, a
position which he has held for eight years, and he also is a member of the
American Medical Association. He is a member of the advisory board of
Hurley Hospital, and consulting surgeon for the Michigan Home for the
Feeble Minded, and in every capacity has shown his efficiency and fidelity
to the performance of duty. Fraternally, Doctor Randall is a Mason of
the thirty-second degree, a Shriner, and a member of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. In his political views he takes an inde-
pendent stand.

Doctor Randall was married at Dryden, Michigan, in May, 1898, to
Miss Louise Sarah Jordan, of Stillwater, Minnesota, daughter of Oliver
Jordan, deceased. They have had no children.

Andrew Cl.ark. The distinction of being one of the oldest mason
contractors in the city of Detroit belongs to .Andrew Clark. His business
associates and his patrons have many other reasons to esteem him, since
he has been not only engaged in business for many years, but his time
has been filled with an exceptional service and a progressive business
success. His independent connection with the building interests of De-
troit covers a period of more than a quarter of a century and it is more
than forty years since he first came as a poor young Scotchman to
Detroit.

Andrew Clark was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, September 21,
1848. He is the only representative of his immediate family in America.
His parents, Alexander and .Ami (Robertson) Clark, as well as two sons
and two daughters, all stayed in the old country. It was in his native
locality in the land of hills and heather that Andrew Clark grew up, ac-
quired a common school training, and followed the routine work of the
farm, but without advancing his material prosperity in any conspicuous
degree, up to 1873. That year marked his emigration to the United
States, and he made the journey alone and came direct to New York.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1549

Within a few weeks the firm of Thomas Fairburn & Son had taken him
into their employ as an apprentice at the brickmason's trade. After com-
pleting his apprenticeship Mr. Clark remained with the firm for a period
of five years. As a journeyman mason he found regular employment
under dififerent contractors for eight or nine years, and with the accumu-
lations of his industry and with abundance of skillful performance as a
basis to his credit, he engaged in independent business as a partner of
John S. Putman under the firm named of Clark & Putman. This part-
nership continued successfully for three years, afterwards Mr. Clark
established the firm of Clark & Company and his son, John H. Clark, is
now associated with him in the business. During his long career as a
mason contractor and builder Mr. Clark has erected many buildings in
Detroit and vicinity, including churches, factories, apartment houses and
flats and residences, a mere list of which would be too long for inclusion
in this brief sketch.

Mr. Clark is a member of the Detroit Builders & Traders Exchange
and of the Master Masons Association. His church is the Presbyterian.
Mrs. Clark is likewise a native of Scotland, her maiden name being
Jane Patullo, and she was born in the town of Forfar, Scotland, and came
to America in 1872. The children of their marriage are as follows : Ami ;
Irene, who married Captain William H. McLean, a captain on the Great
Lakes ; and John A., who is his father's business associate.

Max Broock. This Detroit real estate man, besides his many as-
sociations in local business circles, has been a factor in the public spirited
citizenship of Detroit for some years, and his name is found on the rolls
of a number of Detroit's most representative social and civic organiza-
tions.

Max Broock was born at Toronto, Canada, October 20, 1870, a son
of Julius and Marie (Schober) Broock. His father came from Nice,
Germany, to America in 1849, and his mother was born in Elberfeld, Ger-
many, and came to America in 1853. The family moved to Detroit in
1871, and Max Broock was educated in the public schools, leaving at the
age of ten years to find active work and support himself. Since 1892 he
has been identified with the real estate business, and his long and suc-
cessive experience has been such as to constitute him an authority in that
field in Detroit. Mr. Broock specializes in high-class residence property,
and also deals in general insurance and mortgage loans. His offices are
in the Union Trust building.

As a Republican he was appointed a member of the City Plan and
Improvement Commission five years ago by ex-Mayor Philip Breit-
meyer. During the spring of 1914 the present mayor, Hon. Oscar B.
Marx, reappointed him to the commission for another term of five years.
Mr. Broock is a member of the Michigan Association for the protection
of fish and game ; of the Detroit Athletic Club ; of the Detroit Yacht
Club, Detroit Curling Club, Board of Commerce, Detroit Real Estate
Board, Harmonic Society, Detroit Zoological Society, National Geo-
graphic Society and the Wolverine Automobile Club.

In 1897 at Detroit, Mr. Broock married Elizabeth Forkel. Her father,
Julius Forkel, was a soldier during the American Civil war. Their chil-
dren are : Ferdinand Broock, born in Detroit in 1898 ; Harold Broock,
born in Detroit in 1899 ; Eleanor Broock, born in Detroit in 1901 ; and
Elizabeth Maxine Broock, born in Detroit in 1909.

Victor C. Vaugh.^n, M. S., M. D., Ph. D. While among that large
and ever growing body of University of Michigan men and women, ex-
tending back for a period of nearly forty years, the name of Dr. Vaughan

has countless associations and special distinctions, it is also identified with
Vol. in— 22

1550 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

a reputation in the field of medicine and surgery that is both national and
international. Dr. Vaughan became an instructor in the University nearly
forty years ago; since June, 1891, has been dean of the school of medi-
cine and surgery, is also professor of hygiene and physiological chemistry
and director of the hygienic laboratory.

Born at IMount Airy, Randolph county, Missouri, October 27, 1851,
Victor Clarence Vaughan is a son of John and Adeline (Dameron)
Vaughan, pioneers of Missouri. A liberal education prepared him for his
life work. He was a student at Central College in Fayette and Mount
Pleasant College, both in Missouri, graduating from the latter in 1872 as
Bachelor of Science. His post-graduate work, begun in the University
of Michigan in 1874, gave him in 1875 the degree Master of Science, and
in 1876 that of Doctor of Philosophy. Dr. Vaughan received his degree
Doctor of Medicine from the University medical school in 1878.

His connection with the corps of instruction at the university began
in January, 1876, and since then his career has been one of fruitful ac-
complishment, both as an instructor and as an original investigator and
contributor to scientific knowledge. Dr. Vaughan was assistant in the
chemical laboratory from 1876 to 1883, lecturer on medical chemistry,
1879-80; assistant professor of medical chemistry, 1880-83; professor
of physiological and pathological chemistry, and associate professor of
therapeutics and materia medica, 1883-87; and since the latter date has
been professor of hygiene and physiological chemistry, and as director
of the hygienic laboratory has developed it to its present high standard
of efficiency.

In university circles Dr. Vaughan has always been noted as an in-
defatigable worker and he has done much that calls for mention outside
the close limits of his specialty. Since June, 1891, he has been the hon-
ored dean of the school of medicine and surgery at the university. For
several terms he served as member of the state board of health, and dur-
ing the Spanish-American war was major and surgeon of the Thirty-
third Volunteer Michigan Infantry during the Santiago campaign, and
in the same year was appointed division surgeon and was recommended
by President McKinley for the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel. Majors
Reed, Vaughan and Shakespeare constituted the "Typhoid Commission"
whose report in two volumes has done much to improve the sanitation
of armies.

Dr. Vaughan's work has brought him recognition in membership with
various learned societies. He is a member of the German Chemical
Society, the French Society of Hygiene, the Hungarian Society of Hy-
giene, the Association of American Physicians (president in 1909), and
also the Michigan State Medical Society (president in 1897), ^'''d the
American Medical Association (president in 1914). He has contributed
more than one hundred and fifty articles to current medical and scien-
tific literature. Among the books which he has written the following
may be mentioned: Text Book of Physiological Chemistry, 1879, three
editions; Ptomaines and Leucomaines, with Dr. Novy, 1888, three edi-
tions ; Cellular Toxins, with Dr. Novy, 1902 ; Origin and Spread of
Typhoid Fever in the United States Army, with Reed and Shakespeare,
t\vo volumes ; Protein Split Products, with V. C. Vaughan, Jr., and J. W.
Vaughan, 1913. His work on poisons in milk first called attention to the
fact that bad milk is the cause of the high mortality in infants.

Dr. Vaughan was honored by the regents of the university in 1900
witli the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. The University of Pitts-
burg gave him the degree of Doctor of Science and Central College
conferred upon him the degree Doctor of Laws.

In 1877 occurred his marriage to Miss Dora Catherine Taylor of

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1551

Huntsville, Missouri. They are the parents of five children: Victor
Clarence Jr., John Walter, Herbert Hunter, Henry Frieze and Warren
Taylor.

WiLLi,\M Hexry V.\n Sice. Owosso's live business men include
William Henry Van Sice, dealer in building material, fuel and grain, and
proprietor of the large elevator at that place. Few men starting abso-
lutely without capital and entirely dependent upon their own labor and
resources have more steadily prospered than Mr. \'an Sice. He has not
only pulled his own weight in the world, but has done much to contribute
to the welfare and happiness of others, and having had to struggle hard
during his own youth, it is his great pleasure in his years of prosperity to
assist those less fortunate. William Henry Van Sice was born Novem-
ber 29, 1867, in Clinton county, Michigan. His father was W. H. Kim-
ball, but at the age of five years he was adopted as a result of misfortune
in the home of his parents, by Mr. John H. Van Sice, of St. Johns, Clin-
ton county, a man in very modest circumstances, who, however, did the
best he could for the young orphan. In the home of Mr. Van Sice the
boy was given the care of his foster-parents, who sent him to school in
Clinton county, and were probably as kind to the child as they would have
been to one of their own children. However, Mr. Van Sice, who thus
took the name of his foster-father, had to get out and extend his energy
freely, in earning his way. He did chores while attending school, and
grew up a strong and healthy young man. At the age of sixteen he did
a man's work on a farm, though receiving meager wages. During his
first year in regular employment, as a result of close economy, he saved
one hundred dollars, and the savings of his second year he divided with
his foster mother, who in the meantime had become a widow. He gave
her money to enable her to make a trip to visit kin folks in New York. He
continued working steadily until at the age of twenty-two years he had
saved enough to begin as a renter on a farm, and at that time he had the
courage and good sense to get married. Since that time prosperity has
been steadily coming, and has been abundant in recent years, but Mr. Van
Sice loyally credits his wife with a large share of it. After eight years
of hard work as a renter, he bought forty acres of land in Shiawassee
county, and at the same time started in the lumber business, purchasing a
portable saw-mill and also a grain threshing outfit. With that addition to
his industrial resources, his real success may be said to have begun. He
afterwards bought one hundred and seventy-four acres of land in Shia-
wassee county, and prospered both as a farmer and in the milling industry.
In 1910 his mill was sold, and early in 191 1 he started in the grain and
elevator business at Owosso. His home in Owosso he has owned and
occupied since 1899, living in the city while conducting his farm and mill.
Mr. Van Sice bought the John Brooks elevator on Tenth and West
Main Streets, and since has enlarged the capacity of that plant, and prac-
tically rebuilt until it is today one of the largest grain elevators in Shia-
wassee county. He has buildings and ecjuipments that occupy nine city
lots, and has steadily in employment from 10 to 40 people, although on
special occasions his force number as high as 80 men. Mr. Van Sice
possesses a pleasant home and other income producing properties in
Owosso.

On October 24, iSSg, was celebrated his marriage with Miss Cora E.
Ryan, a native of Shiawassee county, and a daughter of John and Lucy
Ryan. Her father is a retired farmer, a prosperous man, and highly
respected citizen of Owosso. In politics Mr. Van Sice is a Republican, and
in 1906 represented the Fifth Ward as alderman. Fraternally his affilia-
tions are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights

1552 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of Pythias and tlie Odd Fellows. Mr. \'an Sice in his prosperity of later
years uses his money liberally, both for enjoyment and for charity. He
and his wife are especially fond of automobiling, and make long trips,
one of these into Ohio, covering a distance of eight hundred miles. He
is well known for his charitable acts, and gives liberally to charitable
institutions and has taken special pleasure in caring for his foster mother.

Edwin B. Strong, M. D. To no profession do greater ojiportunities
for quiet and effective social service come than to the medical fraternity,
and a physician and surgeon who has well utilized and accepted his privi-
leges for faithful performance of skillful work is Dr. Edwin D. Strong
of Rockford, Kent county. Dr. Strong has practiced medicine for more
than a ciuarter of a century, and his father before him was an able and
highly respected physician.

Edwin B. Strong was born July 6, 1863, at Reading, Michigan, a son
of Dr. Henry W. and Rocela (Butler) Strong. Grandfather Ansel
Strong, who married a Miss Sandborn, was one of the pioneer farmers
of Michigan, having obtained his land directly from the government, and
was a man of both material success and of community influence. Dr.
Henry W. Strong was born at Monroe, Michigan, August 4, 1838, and
died May 9, 1904, while his wife passed away in 1S67. The elder Dr.
Strong was one of the early graduates from the medical department of
the University of Michigan, a member of the class of 1863. After si.x
years practice at Reading he moved to Byron Center in 1869, and prac-
ticed there until his deatli in 1904. He was a Democrat in politics and
was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. There were
just two children, and the daughter, Celia H. Strong, is now living in
California.

Dr. Edwin B. Strong completed his early education in the Grand
Rapids high schools, and after his freshman year in the University of
Michigan at Ann Arbor fmished his studies preparatory for the practice
of medicine in Detroit in 1887. For a number of years he was in prac-
tice with his father at Byron Center, but in 1906 moved to Cannon town-
ship in Kent county, and since 1910 has conducted his large general prac-
tice from Rockford. Dr. Strong is an esteemed member of the Kent
countv Medical Society, in politics is a Democrat, and has affiliations
with the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Woodmen of the World, and the Knights of the Maccabees. On October
26, 1900, he married Pearl Bellows of Rockford. Mrs. Strong is a
graduate of the Butterworth Hospital of Grand Rapids. They have
four children: Lee E., aged thirteen; Grace L., aged seven: Donald L. :
and Hugh B., who was born in 1914.

Valentine Sebastian Boos. The Saginaw Journal, now in its four-,
teenth year, while the youngest German paper in the field, has become
one of the strongest among all the German weeklies published in the
northeast section of the state, and in influence and reputation for peerless
discussion of public and current news, stands in the forefront.

The circulation of the weekly Journal is about three thousand, and its
present position has been won against severe competition and the suc-
cess of the enterprise is a high tribute to the editorial and business ability
of INIr. Boos, who is now sole proprietor and editor.

Valentine S. Boos was born in Mainz, Germany, July 13. 1860, a son
of lacob and Anna (Ehrhardt) Boos. The printing and newspaper
business have licen a family vocation for at least two generations. Jacob
Boos was a printer and pressman by trade, and his name has a place in
the historv of mechanical inventions which have improved and perfected

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1553

printing machinery and stereotyping processes. For nearly fifty years
he was employed by one publishing house at Mainz, and had been man-
ager of the press room and stereotyping department.

Jacob Boos played an important part in the Revolution of 1848 in
Germany. Not being accepted in the regular army on account of a
crippled finger, he entered the camps of the revolutionists as a turner, of
which society he had been a teacher at that time at W'uerttemberg. Dur-
ing some battles he was wounded in both legs, was finally made a pris-
oner and placed amongst those who were to be shot, but all were finally
given their liberty at the close of the war.

Both he and his wife died at Mainz. Of their six children, four are
deceased, and the only other one still living is Elizabeth the widow of
Franz Klass, who resides in Bingen, Germany.

X'alentine S. Boos received a good education, attending the schools
in his native city, and spent four years' apprenticeship in learning the
trade of printer in Mainz. About the time he reached his majority he
set out for America, and arrived at New York City in 1880, during the
hard-times. There was no employment at his trade or any other kind of
work, his money ran low, and he had to leave the metropolis altogether.
At New Seeland, New York, he found work in a fish factory, and after
a hard struggle got his first opening in his regular trade. As a composi-
tor he worked on the Connecticut Repuhlikaner, a German daily and
weekly paper, ownetl and published by William Schleim. During the sev-
eral years of his experience with that puljlication, he rapidy actjuired a
thorough knowledge of the EnglisTi language, and that proved of great
advantage to him -in his subsequent career. In 1883 Mr. Boos returned
to New York City, and secured a place in the employ of the Steiger Pub-
lishing Comjmny. He remained there until he was induced at the urgent
request of his previous employer the editor of the Republikancr, to re-
turn to New Haven, where he worked as editor and translator for several
years. About that time he was attracted to the west and resigning his
position with the Xew Haven paper came to Detroit in 1889. His first
employment lasting one year, was with the Shoper Printing Company, and
then at the request of the publisher of the daily Saginazv Post, he came
to this city, and worked for this paper as advertising solicitor and re-
porter. Mr. Boos was promised steady employment in the advertising
department, but after three months the daily Post was discontinued, and
Mr. Boos was again out of employment. His next work was as editor
with the Sagiiiazi.' Zcituiig, and in 1893 with Mr. Ernst Zoelner, as part-
ner, he became editor and advertising manager of the Zcitung and that
relationship continued for three years. Mr. lioos then sold his interest
to Air. E. Zoellner, Mr. Boos, however, continued as editor with the Zei-
tung, until it went out of existence by absorption in the Saginaw Post. Mr.
Boos then became advertising manager for the Post, and worked in that
capacity for several years. In 1901, with Richard Muessig, he organized
the weekly Saginaw Journal. In 1902 he bought his partner's interest,
and since that time on his independent iniative and energy has succeeded
in making the journal second to no German paper in influence and cir-
culation in Saginaw Valley. His circulation list has shown a steady
growth and increase from the beginning, and his name deserves a place
in the history of the press of Michigan, as a man who through hard strug-
gle and many trials has come to the front. At the same time he has reared
and educated a fine family, and has provided a pleasant home for them.

Air. Boos is Independent in politics, is affiliated with the Knights of
the Maccabees, and the Arbeiter Verein. On February 17, 1883, in New
York City, Mr. Boos married Miss Augusta Raasch, a native of New
Stettin, near Berlin, Germany. She came to the United States as a

1554 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

child with her parents. The three children of their marriage are Flora,
wife of Samuel Paquette of Saginaw : Fmily Boos, who has become an
expert in typesetting at Saginaw; Edwin, the'only son, now thirteen years
of age.

Robert Henrv Kirschman. Among the rising young lawyers of the
Michigan Bar, perhaps there is none whose career is more promising than
that of Robert Henry Kirschman, who is capably serving his second term
as i)rosecuting attorney of Calhoun county.

Mr. Kirschman was born in Allegan, Michigan, September 13, 1874,
and is a son of Jacob and Christiana (Oesterle) Kirschman, who in early
childhood emigrated from Germany to the United States. The father, a
self-made man of industry and perseverance, was for many years en-
gaged in the manufacture of wagons and carriages at Grand Rapids and
Allegan, but spent the declining years of his life in quiet retirement at
Muskegon, where he passed to his final rest. The mother died while Mr.
Kirschman was attending the University of Michigan.

Robert Henry Kirschman received his early education in the public
schools of Muskegon. There he was graduated from the Muskegon High
School in the class of 1894. Later he attended Benton Harbor College
for a short time, and adopted teaching as a profession, continuing as an
instructor in the public schools for eight years. During this time ]\Ir.
Kirschman devoted his spare time to the study of law, which had at-
tracted him from boyhood, and he decided to work his way through the
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. Early in his College course he
allied himself with the various college organizations, including the Web-
ster Debating Society, a literary organization in which his abilities soon
won him the presidency, and he subsequently became a member of the
Law Presidents' Club. In 1907 he was graduated with the degree of
Bachelor of Laws, and in the same year established himself in practice
in Battle Creek, forming a co-partnership with the late Judge Robert J.
Kelley, the firm of Kelley & Kirschman being known as one of the
strongest legal combinations in the city until the death of the senior
member. Since that time he has continued in practice alone.

A Republican in politics, in 1909 Mr. Kirschman was appointed assist-
ant prosecuting attorney of Calhoun County, but after one year resigned
this office to return to his private practice, then demanding his attention.
In 1910 he was the candidate of the Republican party for the office of
prosecuting attorney, and in the election that followed he was given a
majority of 1,422 votes, larger than the majority received by any other
candidate of the party that year in Calhoun county. In 1912 he was re-
nominated and re-elected to this office, in which he has continued to serve
with marked ability and conscientious devotion to duty. Few public
officials have been more faithful in the discharge of the responsibilities
of their office, and it has been given to few to gain and retain in greater
degree the esteem and respect of the general public.

Mr. Kirschman is a past master of A. T. Metcalf Lodge No. 419,
F. & A. M. He is also a Knight Templar and a Scottish Rite Mason, be-
longing to Battle Creek Commandery No. 33, K. T., and to DeWitt-
Clinton Consistory of the Valley of Grand Rapids. He is also a member
of Saladin Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine, at Grand Rapids. His other fraternal connections are
with Battle Creek Lodge No. 33, Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, and Battle Creek Lodge No. 35, Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Kirschman was married November 15, 1899, to Miss Winifred
Alles Fuhrman, daughter of John C. and Margaret (Alles) Fuhrman,
residents of Muskegon, Michigan. Mrs. Kirschman is a native of Hersey,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1555

Osceola county, Michigan, was graduated from the Muskegon High
School, and was a student at the University of Michigan during her hus-
band's attendance there. Mr. and Mrs. Kirschman have two children,
Robert Everett, born at Houghton, Michigan, and Winifred Alles Oes-
terle, born at Hersey, Michigan. The pleasant family home is located at
No. 22 Terrace Avenue, Battle Creek, Michigan.

Alexander Gulic Finlav. Not all men who start out in life with
liberal advantages of education and home environments make a success,
but the failures in that class have little to complain of in their lack of
fortune, and even where they succeed, they owe probably much of their
success to outside help as to themselves. However, it is an entirely dif-
ferent case with those who reach the altitudes of prosperity after a hard
battle beginning in childhood against adversities, without schools or other
advantages, and who succeed by sheer force of native ability and hard
work. Probably no man in Saginaw deserves more credit for his suc-
cess in life, than Alexander G. Finlay, now president of the \'alley Grey
Iron Company, a large foundry establishment, which under the direction
of Mr. Finlay has become one of the most important in the Saginaw
\'alley. His career has been one of hard work, of intelligent handling
of resources, and is an inspiration to others who are still struggling
along the upward path of success.

Alexander Gulic Finlay was born April 3, 1854, in Ulster county, N'ew
York, a son of James and Anna (Brownlee) Finlay, both of whom were
natives of Scotland and settled in New York State in the early forties.
His father, a stone cutter by trade, followed that vocation in Ulster
county, until his death in 1856. The mother during the latter years of
her life, spent much of her time in Saginaw, where she died in 1887, and
her remains now rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery. There were twelve chil-
dren, and eight are now deceased, the living being: William St. Clair
Lefco Finlay, who resides in Renssalaer county. New York; Susan, wife
of James Smith, of Brooklyn, New York, and Sylvia Clarissa, wife of
Thomas H. Ford, of Saginaw.

Alexander G. Finlay was but twenty-two months old when his father
died. The mother was left in very moderate circumstances, and with a
large family to look after. Owing to this condition of affairs, the son
when eight years of age was put to work in a cotton factory. At the age
of ten he started out to get a little schooling, and for two seasons attended
school in Newburgh, in Orange county. New York. His opportunities
were abbreviated again by family poverty, and he was obliged to go to
work and contribute to the family exchequer. His original intention had
been to learn the trade of machinist, but after a fair trial he decided that
the machinists hardly had enough activity, and that the vocation would
not afford him the opportunities he craved as the possessor of a strong
and rugged physique, and an ambition for the strenuous life. Therefore
he took up the trade of moulder, at Newburgh, and after serving the ap-
prenticeship and becoming a journeyman at the age of twenty-two left
his native state and located in Detroit, Alichigan. One year was spent
in work at his trade there, and in 1877 Mr. Finlay came to Saginaw.
Thirty-five years of his career, since that date, has been spent in this
city, where he is one of the old residents. His employment here began
in the foundry of A. F. Bartlett, and in that one institution he continued
for a period of thirty years and for twenty years held the position of
foreman. During all those years he never lost any time, was a hard and
conscientious worker, knew the business from the minutest details, and
often had the practical responsibility of the entire plant placed u])on his

1556 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

shoulders. In the meantime he and his wife had inaugurated a system
of careful economy, and as a result they had a considerable amount of
capital to show for all these years, so that in 1907, on leaving the employ
of the Bartlett Company, Mr. Finlay w^ith his capital and with his ex-
perience and with the confidence he was able to inspire among his asso-
ciates, was able to organize the \'alley Grey Iron Company, and became
its president and owns the controlling interest. After completing the
building and a modern plant, the Company began its operations, and has
since built up a business hardly second to any of its kind in northeastern
Michigan. The plant occupies a tract of about four acres, comprising
one of the best manufacturing sites in Saginaw, and in a strategic loca-
tion, which of itself works for the success of the business. At the present
time, forty or more workmen are steadily employed, and the valley con-
cern has more expert moulders in its employ than any other foundry in
Saginaw. To no one factor so much as to Mr. Finlay is the success of
this business due. Nominally he holds the dignified position of presi-
dent of the company, but the visitor to the plant will less frequently find
him in front of his desk in the business office than in the factory working
alongside of his employes with his sleeves rolled up and with little to
distinguish him outwardly from his subordinates. Many executives who
have come up from a long experience in a business fail because of their
aloofness from the practical management of their business, and Ijecause
they no longer keep up that close and intimate touch with their employes,
which is as vital to the success of an enterprise as good material and
scientific methods. Mr. Finlay has never failed in this respect, and is
still as hard a worker as when he was in the ranks of wage earners. The
Valley Company specializes in the manufacture of handsaws, and this
requires not only the highest grade of metal, but expert treatment in
every department.

Mr. Finlay is Independent in politics, belongs to the Presbyterian
chtirch, and his long and active business career has allowed him little
time for diversions, or interests outside of home and family. Mr. Finlay
was married July 8, 1878, to Miss Lucy Kershaw, who w^as bom in Eng-
land. Their four children are: Thomas H. Finlay, who is a plumber by
trade and lives in Saginaw ; Anna Clarissa, who is teacher of Domestic
Science and art in the Saginaw schools ; Alexander Finlay, who is em-
played in the Lufkin Rule Company at Saginaw; and John J. Finlay,
who is a moulder with his father's company. Mr. Finlay owns and oc-
cupies his pleasant homestead at 1126 South Jefferson Street in Saginaw.

John Charles Luetjohann. The vice president of the Valley Grey
Iron Company, and for many years the daily comi)anion and associate
of A. G. Finlay, president of the same company, John Charles Luetjohann
is one of the capable industrial leaders of Saginaw, who have come up
from the ranks, and who now occupy places of prominence in afTairs.
In these days of strenuous competition among ail departments of in-
dustry, and commerce, it requires not only ordinary business push and
energy, but expert knowledge and efficiency, to make a success of any
undertaking. Probably no Saginaw concern has a more substantial rec-
ord of success and steady prosj)erity than the Valley Grey Iron Com-
pany, and this fact is almost entirely due to the seasoned judgment and
practical skill of the two men who are bearing the chief responsibilities
of its management, and who are owners of nearly all the stock in the
enterprise.

John Charles Luetjohann was born in Holstein, at that time a prov-
ince of Denmark, but now a portion of the German Empire. His birth-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1557

day was January 12, 1S68, and his parents were Amos Frederick and
Mary (Prien) Luetjohann. The parents came to the United States in
1869, bringing John C, when a baby of about one year, and settled in
Saginaw. There the elder Luetjohann has lived for forty-four years,
being now retired, and after a long and active business career, spent
chieMy in salt manufacturing, enjoys a comfortable competence. He
is a Republican, and he and his family worship in the Lutheran church,
and he is a man held in the highest esteem by his neighbors and friends.
The mother died in Saginaw some years ago. There were six children,
two of whom are deceased, and the living are: Henry Luetjohann, of
Saginaw; Elizabeth, wife of Adolf Boertman, of Saginaw; John C,
and Anna, wife of Charles Wrege of Saginaw.

John C. Luetjohann grew up in Saginaw, attended the public schools
and when fourteen years of age started out to make his own way. Four
years were spent in his father's employ, and at the end of that time
he entered the Bartlett foundry and learned the trade of moulder. After
completing his apprenticeship, he continued for twenty-one years an
employe of the Bartlett Company, and only left that concern to become
associated with Mr. A. G. Finlay in the organization of the Valley Grey
Iron Company, assuming the position of vice president in that concern.
Between his former position as a workman, and his present one as an
executive officer of a flourishing concern, there is little difference to be
observed in the habits and manner of the vice president, since he still
takes his place on the floor of the foundry, goes about among his work-
men, with only the quiet authority that comes from thorough knowledge
and an ability to do the right thing, and which gives greater confidence
and esteem than any nominal office could ever do. Mr. Luetjohann
owes his rise in the business world to his energy and thrift, and stands
high in the esteem of local business men in Saginaw.

His politics is Republican, his church is the German Lutheran, he
belongs to the Royal League, and he is popular in social and business
circles of Saginaw.

On June 28, 1893, Mr. Luetjohann married Miss Elizabeth Sthcrmf,
a daughter of Jacob Sthermf of Saginaw. They have one daughter,
Laura, now seventeen years of age, and a graduate of the Saginaw high
schools.

Charles H. Gillis. In the series of personal sketches appearing in
this history it is most gratifying to note the appreciable percentage of
native sgns of Michigan who have found within the state ample scope for
worthy and effective effort along various lines of endeavor, and of this
valued quota a prominent representative is Mr. Gillis, who is one of
the influential business men and public-spirited citizens of Battle Creek,
where he stands at the head of the well known firm of C. H. Gillis &
Sons, general contractors and builders, and who is a scion of an honored
pioneer family of Alichigan, within whose gracious borders he has re-
sided from the time of his birth. He has gained recognition as one of the
leading contractors and builders of Calhoun county, and the firm of
which he is the executive head maintains its mill and offices at 53 South
McCamly street, with facilities of the best modern type in all depart-
ments and special attention being given to fine cabinet work and stair-
building, though the firm controls a large business in the line of general
contracting in the erection of buildings.

Mr. Gillis was born at Vermontville, Eaton county, Michigan, on the
I2th of April, 1855, and is a son of Edwin and Elizabeth A. (Mead)
Gillis, the former of whom was a native of the state of New York and

1558 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

the latter was born at Meadville, Pennsylvania, a member of the family
in whose honor the town was named and one that became specially promi-
nent in the activities of the Civil war. Edwin Gillis was reared and edu-
cated in the state of his birth and in his youth he there learned the
tinner's trade, in which he became a skilled workman. More than half a
century ago he came to Michigan, and he was a comparatively young man
at the time of his death, which occurred at Battle Creek, in August,
1869. His widow survived him by nearly a quarter of a century and
passed the closing years of her life in Battle Creek, where she was sum-
moned to eternal rest in 1893, at the age of fifty-three years. The re-
mains of the parents rest in Oak Hill cemetery at Battle Creek. Edwin
and Elizabeth A. Gillis became the parents of five sons, one of whom died
in infancy, and of the four attaining to maturity Charles H., of this
review, is the eldest; William H., who was born at Battle Creek, is now
a resident of Garrett, Indiana ; Edwin, who was born at Galesburg, Michi-
gan, was a resident of Kalamazoo, this state, at the time of his death,
which occurred October 27, 1912; and Harry B., who likewise was born
at Galesburg, now resides in the city of South Bend, Indiana.

Charles H. Gillis was a child at the time of his parents' removal from
Vermontville, Eaton county, to Galesburg, Kalamazoo county, and in the
latter place he acquired his early education in the public schools. Con-
cerning the conditions that compassed him in his boyhood and youth the
writer of this review has previously given the following estimate, which
amply covers the matter :„ ".He. was but fourteen years of age at the time
of his father's death, and as the family was left in straitened circum-
stances he began to depend upon his own resources when a mere boy.
Thus it was that he contended with adverse circumstances, learned the
value of practical industry and self-reliance, and became animated with
that ambition which has enabled him to gain definite and worthy success
through his own well directed efforts. In his youth Mr. Gillis learned
the carpenter's trade, and he followed the same for virtually a quarter
of a century, during the major part of which period he did independent
work as a builder. The greater part of his life has been passed in Battle
Creek. After his marriage, in 1878, he passed two years at Galesburg,
Kalamazoo county, and since that time lie has resided continuously in
Battle Creek."

Actively concerned with building and contracting operations in Battle
Creek for nearly forty years, Mr. Gillis has long maintained a position
of distinct priority in his chosen field of endeavor, and since igoo he has
been associated with his two sons in general contracting and building,
under the firm name of C. H. Gillis & Sons. In 1907 the firm leased their
present mill property, which is equipped for the turning out of the best
grades of cabinet work and interior finishing, and which controls a large
custom trade. The firm now gives employment to a larger number of
men than does any other concern of its kind in Battle Creek, and an
ajjpreciable force is retained in the operation of the mill, where are
employed a number of specially skilled artisans. The firm gives particu-
lar attention to the installing of modern store fronts and other remodel-
ing work, and the manufacture of window screens has become an
important feature of the business.

Mr. Gillis is a Republican in his political allegiance, and while he
is primarily a business man he has well fortified views concerning matters
of public policy and is broad-minded and ]3rogressive in his civic atti-
tude. He has had no amljition for public office but did not deny himself
when he was tendered the nomination for representative of the Second
Ward in the citv board of aldermen, as a member of which he gave most

THI KEW TORI

msnciU'.RAi^Y

riLBlX .•on NO -^ » ■

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1559

faithful and effective service in his first term, witii the result that he
held this office for four years, his present term expiring on April 15, 1913.

Mt. Gillis is ever found ready to lend his co-operation in the further-
ance of measures projected for the general good of the community, and
his business operations have tended to conserve the material progress of
Battle Creek, where he has been the contractor in the erection of many
residences of the better order and a number of business structures, as
well as the fine edifice of the First Methodist Episcopal church. On the
i6th of October, 191 3, the firm of C. H. Gillis & Sons purchased the
buildings and real estate of the old Battle Creek Table Company, and
this plant has been remodeled for their use, the same to be devoted to
their rapidly expanding manufacturing business.

At Vicksburg, Kalamazoo county, on the 21st of August, 1878, was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gillis to Miss Dora L. Russell, who
was reared and educated at Galesburg, that county, and who is a daugh-
ter of Louis W. and Susan M. (Sharpstein) Russell. Her father was a
wagonmaker by vocation and was a valiant soldier of the Union in the
Civil war, as a member of a Michigan regiment. Mr. Russell was a
resident of Mancelona, Antrim county, at the time of his death, and his
widow now resides in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Gillis, wife of
him to whom this sketch is dedicated. Mr. and Mrs. Gillis have two
sons, who are their father's able and valuable business associates, as
already noted, and who are numbered among the alert and popular young
business men of Battle Creek. Floyd R., the elder son, was born at
Battle Creek, September 20, 1886, and was here reared and educated.
He has been a member of the firm of C. H. Gillis & Sons since 191 1. On
the 2d of July, 1906, he was united in marriage to Miss Laura Gillett, of
Battle Creek, and they have two children, Charles Henry and Martha
Dora. Carl H. Gillis, the younger son, likewise gained his business
training under the effective direction of his father and is a member of the
firm of which the latter is the head. He was born in Battle Creek, March
27, 1889, where his educational training included a course in the Michi-
gan Business and Normal College, in which he was graduated. January
19, 1913, gave record of his marriage to Miss Carmen Standiford, of
Athens, Michigan, and they now reside at 103 Highway street. Battle
Creek. Floyd R. Gillis has his home at 479 West Van Buren street, and
the attractive modern residence of the parents is situated at 180 Upton
avenue.

Hon. Henry McMorran. One of the most useful men in the Michi-
gan delegation to Congress during the past ten years has been Hon. Henry
McMorran of Port Huron. However, though his public career has made
him well known in the state and in the country at large, Mr. McMorran
is essentially a business man, and for fifty years has been doing things
in a large w'ay, and on a scale of importance which has left a permanent
impress on the industrial and commercial development of his home state.

Henry McMorran was born at Port Huron, June 11, 1844. His father
and mother were Robert William and Isabella (Kelley) McMorran.
His mother was born on the Isle of Man, having been brought to America
and to Michigan when a young girl. She grew up and was educated and
was married in this state, and died at Port Huron in 1910 at the venerable
age of eighty-three. The father, who was born in Scotland, came to
Michigan as a young man, was married in Port Huron and was a tailor
until his death, during the fifties, when forty years old. There were three
children, the Congressman being first, and his sisters are Mrs. James R.
Hosy and Mrs. C. G. Meisel of Port Huron.

Henry McMorran started out in life with more handicaps than most

1560 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

boys. His schooling was all compressed within fourteen years from his
birth, and consisted of more or less irregular attendance in the public
institutions at Port Huron. In 1857 hp started to work for W. H. P.
Dowling, the leading merchant at that time of Port Huron. Three years
with that employer gave him an experience which proved valuable in all
his later ventures. From Port Huron he went to Marysville, found work
with the firm of Myron Williams Lumber Company, but in 1865 returned
to Port Huron, which has Ijeen the center of most of his activities. Open-
ing a stock of merchandise at the foot of Putler Street, he engaged in
the wholesale grocery and the ship chandlery trade, until 1879. Since
then his career has been one of a broad activity and accomplishment of
business. He was active in the promotion and construction of the Port
Huron and Northwestern Railway, running from Port Austin, a distance
of two hundred and eighteen miles, and continued as active general man-
ager of this road until 1889, when it was sold to the Pere Marquette Sys-
tem. His attention was next concentrated on the flour and grain trade,
and he conducted a large elevator at Port Huron, and also a mill, until
the latter was destroyed in 1900. He continued in the elevator business
until 1909 and then sold out his interests in that line. ~SIt. McMorran
was prominent in the construction of the Port Huron Light & Power
Company, and was president of the concern which developed this plant,
furnishing the electric power now used in the city of Port Huron, and
continued at the head of this company until it was sold in 191 1 to the Port
Huron Gas Company. In recent years Mr. McMorran has given most of
his attention to the Port Huron and Sarnia Ferry Company, of which he
is treasurer. He has served since 1879 as president of the I'ort Huron
Savings bank, which in 191 1 was consolidated with the Commercial Sav-
ing Bank. He is a director of the First National Bank, a director of the
I'ort Huron Engine and Thresher Company, president of the Elmwood
Land Company, president of the Michigan Cereal Company, treasurer of
the E. B. Muller Company, and the Port Huron & Sarnia Transit Com-
pany, was former president of the McMorran Alilling Company, treas-
urer of the Pawnee Boat Company, vice president of the Flint Pantaloon
Company, and has had other important business relations.

As a successful business man he has done much for his community,
but has also taken time from his private interests to serve the community
and state in public office. His first important office was as city treasurer
of Port Huron to which he was elected in 1860, and also represented the
first ward in the city council as alderman in the same year. In 1902 he
was first elected as representative from the Second Michigan District to
Congress, and has served as a member from the Fifty-Eighth to the
Sixty-second congresses. He has long been one of the leaders in the
Re])ublican party. Mr. McMorran joined the Masonic Order in the early
sixties, has attained the Ivnights Templar degrees and also is affiliated
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His church is the
I-2pisco])al.

In October i86fi Mr. McMorran was married at Marysville, Michigan,
to Miss Emma C. Williams, a daughter of Myron and M. P. Williams of
Marysville, now deceased, and a pioneer and well known family. Three
children have been born to their union, as follows : David McMorran,
December 3, 1870, at Port Huron, a graduate of University of Michigan,
and a business associate with his father, is married and has two children.
Harry Gordon, and Charlotte McMorran; Mrs. Emma J- Murphy, born
in 1872, lives in that city; Mrs. Clara McKenzie, born in 1879, is the wife
of Xorman McKenzie, and lives in Saskatchewan Province of Canada.

IIf.nky E. Nakcki.v has been for nearly twenty years actixely identi-
fied with the practice of law at Saginaw, and has won a distinctive posi-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1561

tion in professional and ci\ic affairs in the northeastern part of tlie
state.

Henry E. Xaegely was born in East Saginaw, which is now a part
of tlie city of Saginaw, March i6, 1869. His father is Captain Henry
Naegely, who was born in the Canton of Zurich, in Switzerland, Decem-
ber 3, 1838. Captain Naegely received a commercial education and
military training in the schools of Winterhur, and lived in his native land
until his departure for America in i860. His determination to come to
America and find a home in the western Republic was first formed at the
age of twenty years, and two years later he set out for the new world and
first settled in the state of Wisconsin. From that state in 1861 he
enlisted in the Union army, and went to the defense of the integrity of his
adopted fatherland. Previous experience and military training fitted him
for command, and he was made an officer immediately on entering the
army, and by skill and bravery won promotion until at the close of the
war he held the rank of captain in commnad of a company. He also
served as acting assistant adjutant general on General Morrow's stai¥.
At the close of the war Captain Naegely located in Detroit, where hfe
engaged in the hotel business and later moved to East Saginaw. He
married Maggie Breen, who was born in Ireland in May, 1845, and pos-
sessed the finest qualities of mind and heart which are distinctive of the
people of her nation.

Henry E. Naegely was born in Saginaw, attended the public schools,
and in 1889 at the age of twenty entered the University of Michigan in
the literary department. Three years were devoted to a general academic
course, and then in 1892 he entered the law department. During his
first year in law school he was elected class president, and not for many
years had such an honor been conferred upon a student at the State Uni-
versity claiming Michigan as his home. On May 26, 1894, at Ann Arbor,
Mr. Naegely was admitted to the bar, and was graduated from law
school in June of the same year. Coming to Saginaw, he entered upon
active practice, and has since found all his time and energies absorbed by
a large and increasingly important general practice.

Mr. Naegely served as judge of the recorder's court of Saginaw from
1897 to 1899, was city attorney from 1899 up to 1905, and for two years
was assistant prosecuting attorney of Saginaw county. While city attor-
ney many important cases arose demanding his official services. In
])reparation for that office he had made a thorough study of municipal
corporation law, and in not a few cases was able to give a distinctively
valuable service to his community in representing the city and protecting
its rights. As a lawyer it may be said that Naegely's professional career
throughout has been marked by a close study and a thorough mastery of
every case in which he has been interested, and by his conscientious and
painstaking efforts in behalf of his clients he has won an honorable posi-
tion at the local bar. His standing among the members of his fraternity
is well indicated by his election by the Saginaw County Bar Association
as president, for a period of two yeafs, from 1906 to 1908.

At Saginaw on November 11, 1901, Mr. Naegely married Miss
Katherine McCoy, a daughter of Timothy H. and Katherine ( Fitzpat-
rick ) McCoy. To this marriage have been born three children : Margaret,
born September 16, 1902; Marie, born July 15, 1906; and Henry, born
March 17, 10 10. The family are all communicants of the Catholic
church, and Mr. Naegely has been active in the Order of Knights of
Columbus, since 1899, having been Grand Knight of the Council and
prominent in the affairs of the Order in the State of Michigan. He is at
the present time an officer of the local lodge of Elks. The Fast Saginaw
Club has had his active membership since 1896. Politically, Mr.

1562 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Naegely is a Democrat, has frequently taken part in campaigns, both as
a speaker on the stump and in the inner councils of the party. In recent
years practically all his time has been devoted to the practice of law, and
he has seen fit to decline all political honors.

Walter S. Powers. This representative member of the bar of Cal-
houn county has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profes-
sion for nearly forty years and his prestige is of that order that implies
not only specific ability but also close application, loyalty of purpose and
impregnable integrity of character. He was a child of about one year
at the time of his parent's removal to Michigan and thus is a scion of a
sterling pioneer family of this state. He has been engaged in the prac-
tice of law in the city of Battle Creek since 1899, maintains his office
headquarters in the Winslow block, at 55 West Main street, and controls
a substantial and representative law business.

Mr. Powers was born in that part of Genesee county, New York,
that later was segregated to form Wyoming county, and the date of his
tiativity was January 14, 1849. The family record shows long and
worthy association with American history and traces back clearly to the
colonial era in New England, where representatives of the name were
substantial and honored citizens in the early period of our national
history as well as in later generations. Mr. Powers is a grandson of
John and Eunice (Squires) Powers, both of whom were born and reared
in Vermont and who settled in western New York in the early years of
the nineteenth century, Mrs. Powers having lived in Rochester, that
state, when the future city was represented by only three houses. John
Powers was a pioneer of western New York and there devoted virtually
his- entire active life to agricultural pursuits. When of venerable age
he came to Michigan to visit and he died in Barry county, this state.
One of his sons, William, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and it is
authentically assured that members of the Powers family had been
valiant soldiers of the Continental forces in the war of the Revolution.

John Richard Powers, father of him whose name initiates this re-
view, was born in Bedford township, Cayuga county. New York, about
twenty-five miles from Auburn, on the 28th day of November, 1818.
He was about eight years of age at the time of his parents' removal to
Genesee county. New York, where he was reared to maturity on the home
farm and where he received but limited educational advantages. For a
time he attended the primitive common schools of the locality, but it has
consistently been stated that most of his early education was "acquired
in the home chimney-corner, by the light of the fire." His ambition
and application enabled him by this means to make himself eligible for
pedagogic honors, and for several terms he was a successful teacher in
the common schools of his home state. The impaired health of his father
finally compelled him to abandon teaching and to assume charge of the
home farm, and he thus continued his labors in Genesee county, New
York, until 1850, his marriage to Miss Hannah Johnson having been
solemnized when he was a young man. In the autumn of the year last
mentioned. John R. Powers, accompanied by his wife and their three
children, set forth for Michigan, railroad communication having but
recently been established between the east and the middle west. The
journey was made by railroad to Buffalo and thence by vessels on the
Great Lakes to Detroit. From the Michigan metropolis the family pro-
ceeded on the Michigan Central Railroad to Battle Creek, which was
then but a village, and from this point Mr. Powers made, with team and
wagon, the overland trip to his destination, in Barry county. His first
homestead in that county comprised 120 acres, and but little had been

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1563

done in reclaiming the land from the wilderness, about the only "improve-
ment" having been a rude shanty, in which the family home was estab-
lished. The entire capital of the sturdy pioneer was "represented in the
sum of $ioo, and after taking from this the requisite amount to make
a preliminary payment on his land he found his available cash reduced
to ten dollars. After establishing himself in the new and primitive home
he applied this cash to the purchase of a cow, for which domestic animal
sixteen dollars was the stipulated purchase price. He arranged to split
rails at fifty cents a hundred to pay for the remainder of his bovine obli-
gation. Concerning his trials and labors the following account has been
given, and it is well worthy of preservation, together with other data
pertaining to him and his family ;

"For two seasons he obtained the necessities for his family by out-
side work for other settlers, and in the intervals of this period he was
engaged in making a substantial cabin of side-logs, the shingles having
been made by him and the entire work having been done by hand. After
several years filled with hard labor, this period of economic stress had
passed, and he had a very productive and valuable farm. In 1884, having
traded his first farm for land upon which the Battle Creek suburb of
Urbandale is now located, he removed to Bedford township, Calhoun
county. The property about Urbandale he afterward sold to his young-
est son. Both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives in Cal-
houn county and their names merit enduring place on the roster of the
honored pioneers of Michigan. They became the parents of eight, chil-
dren: Lydia A.; James M.; Walter S., who is the immediate subject of
this review; Agnes, who is the wife of John Wing, of Bedford town-
ship, Calhoun county ; Dr. Herbert A., who is a representative physi-
cian of Battle Creek ; Eunice, who is the wife of Walter Stringham, of
the same city; Daniel J., who still resides in Bedford township; and
Lida, who remains at the old homestead in the township just mentioned."

As previously stated. Walter S. Powers was about one year old at
the time of the family removal to Michigan, and his boyhood and youth
were passed under the conditions and influences of the pioneer farm of
his father, in Barry county. He duly improved the advantages afforded
him in the district schools, and even as a boy he determined that he
would prepare himself for the legal profession, this definite purpose
having been held without wavering and having resulted in his becoming
one of the prominent members of the bar of the state in which virtually
his entire life has been passed. Like many another aspiring youth, Mr.
Powers utilized pedagogy as a means to an end, and his .successful work
as a teacher in the schools of [Michigan showed how well he had used
the educational privileges he had been given or had acquired through
personal effort. At the age of twenty-two years Mr. Powers became
a teacher in a district school in Newago county, his primary purpose in
going to the northern part of the state having been to find work in the
lumbering region during the winter. His initial success as a teacher
led him to continue the same vocation after his return to Barry county,
and later he was a successful and popular teacher in the village schools
of New London, Ohio. At this latter period of his pedagogic work Mr.
Powers was enaljled to begin the study of law, under the preceptorship
of his cousin, Rollin Powers, and he was admitted first to the Ohio bar.
Holding as inadequate naught but the best possible reinforcement for
his chosen profession, Air. Powers, after his admission to practice, en-
tered the law department of the University of Michigan, in which he
was graduated as a member of the class of 1877, and from which he
received his coveted degree of Bachelor of Laws.

Mr. Powers served his professional novitiate at Bellevue, Eaton

1564 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

county, Michigan, and one year later he was succeeded in this field by
his brother James, who was graduated in the law department of the
university just a year later than was he himself. Having gained valuable
experience of a practical order, Walter S. Powers then removed to the
village of Nashville, Barry county, and in his old home county he built
up a large and representative professional business, having continued in
active practice at Nashville for a period of about twenty years and having
gained high vantage-ground as one of the representative members of the
bar of Barry county and that of southern Michigan. Thus, in 1899, when
he found a broader field of professional endeavor, by establishing his
residence in the city of Battle Creek, he came fortified with an unassail-
able reputation for admirable achievement in his chosen profession, — -a
reputation that can be gained only through personal worth and individual
ability. He now controls a most substantial practice of general order,
is known as a resourceful trial lawyer and well informed counselor, and
has been concerned with much important litigation besides representing
an influential clientage. His success has been on a parity with his pro-
fessional ability and close application, and he is known as one of the
liberal and public-spirited citizens of Battle Creek. He purchased the
block in which his law offices are established and this was known as the
Powers block until he sold the property, at a comparatively recent date.
Mr. Powers has given considerable attention to dealing in real estate
and he is at the present time the owner of valuable realty in his home
city, including the building at 60-64 East Main street, in which sessions
of the circuit court are held, Battle Creek being one of the two cities of
Michigan in which, though they are not county-seats, are held regular
sessions of the circuit court.

In politics Mr. Powers was formerly a Republican, but, in consonance
with his well fortified convictions, he transferred his allegiance to the
Progressive party at the time of its organization, in 19 12, since which
time he has been a zealous and efifective advocate of the principles and
policies for which the new party stands sponsor. He was presidential
elector from Michigan on the Progressive ticket in 1912 and is one of
the party leaders in his home state. While a resident of Nashville he
was president of the village board of trustees for two years, besides
serving as president of the board of education and as postmaster of the
town, a position to which he was appointed during the administration
of President Cleveland, his political allegiance at that time having been
given to the Democratic party. Mr. Powers is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity, as a member of Battle Creek Lodge, No. 12, Free & Accepted
Masons, and with the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias. At Nash-
ville he was a charter member of the lodge of the Independent Order of
Foresters. He is a valued member of the Calhoun County Bar Associa-
tion, and holds memljcrship in the Athelstan Club, the leading social
organization of its kind in Battle Creek.

On the 24th of May, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Powers, and of this union the two children are Blanch and Seba A. On
the 5th of Tune, 1910, Mr. Powers contracted a second marriage, A-Iiss
Alice Feighner, of Battle Creek, becoming his wife. Their attractive
home is at 132 North avenue. Miss Blanch Powers, elder of the two
children of Walter S. Powers, was born at Nashville, Barry county,
where she was graduated in the high school. Later she was graduated
in the Detroit Conservatory of Music, and for some time she taught
music in the public schools of Charlotte and Battle Creek. She is now
a regular grade teacher in the schools of the city of Grand Rapids, this
state, where she has been engaged since the autumn of igii. Seba A.
Powers has been engaged in the seed and feed business in Battle Creek

HISTORY OF MICI-IIGAN 1565

since 1908. He married Miss Flora Bromberg, of this city, and they have
one daughter and one son, — Marion Jane and Walter Henry.

Lewis S. Ramsdell, M. D. It has been within the powers and
privileges of Dr. Ramsdell to attain to definite prestige as one of the
representative physicians and surgeons of his native city and state. He
is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city of
Manistee and is a member of a family which has been one of the most
prominent and influential in this history of Manistee from the pioneer era
to the present, besides which it may be noted that the Doctor is of the
third generation of the Ramsdell line in Michigan, where his grandfather
settled, in Wayne county, a decade or more prior to the admission of the
state to the Union. Adequate data concerning the family history appear
on other pages of this publication, and thus it is unnecessary to repeat
the same in the present connection, further than to say that Thomas J.
Ramsdell, father of the Doctor, still remains one of the most prominent
and honored citizens of Manistee, even as he is one of the city's vener-
able pioneers and most substantial capitalists.

Dr. Ramsdell was born at Manistee, Michigan, on the 4th of July,
1875, and his loyalty to his native city has been such as to justify the
patriotic date of his nativity. He attended the public schools until his
graduation in the Manistee high school, in 1895, and thereafter he took
a partial course in the literary department of the University of Michigan.
In preparation for his chosen profession he entered the celebrated Rush
Medical College, in the city of Chicago, and in this institution he was
graduated as a member of the class of 1900, duly receiving his degree of
Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter, to fortify himself more fully, he went
to the city of Vienna, Austria, where he completed a two years' post-
graduate course in one of the great medical institutions of Europe. After
his return to America Dr. Ramsdell was engaged in practice in the City
of Mexico for one year, and he then returned to Manistee, where he has
since continued in active professional service, specializing in surgery,
and where he has achieved high reputation and distinctive success. He
has received the degree of Fellow of the American Academy of Science,
and he is identified with the Manistee County Medical Society, the Michi-
gan State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. The
Doctor was a member of the Illinois National Guard at the time of the
Spanish-American war. He went to Cuba with the First Illinois and
stayed as long as the troops remained in Cuba and was in all the liattles
around Santiago, where he served as hospital steward. He is a member
of the Spanish-American War Veterans' Association and is still identi-
fied with the Michigan National Guard, as a member of the medical
corps. In his home city the Doctor is affiliated with the lodge, chapter
and commandery of York Rite Masonry, and also with the lodge of the
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a Republican in his
political proclivities, and his wife is a member of the Congregational
church in Manistee.

In April, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Ramsdell to Miss
Marie Louise Cutcheon, daughter of General Cutcheon, long a distin-
guished citizen of Michigan. The one child of this union is Thomas J.,
Jr., named in honor of his paternal grandfather.

Hon. George Will.xrd. The early spirit of self-reliance that carried
the men who dwelt among the Green Mountains into the Revolutionary
war has continued, in large degree, to particularize the sons of Vermont.
Seclusion, dependence upon their own expedients and the combativeness
always fostered by being in the minority, in great concourses of people.

Vol. LU— 23

1566 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

have, doubtless, had much to do in forming these people's natures. But
the spirit of the days of the winning of American independence, the
infection and animation of its example, and the pride of having for a
heritage the blood in which it first blazed, is still the strongest trait in
their intellectual and social composition. Wherever they are to be found,
in military or civil life, in public position or in society, the professions,
business or the church, there is a spirit and manner that tells the world
whence they came and who their fathers were. Among the sons of Ver-
mont who have brought fame to Battle Creek and the state of Michigan
was the late Hon. George Willard, who, at the time of his decease, March
26, 1901, had lieen a resident and active participant in the business and
civic life of this conununity for thirty-three years. Primarily a minister
of the Gospel, he developed such aptness for afifairs, such strength of
character and solidity of judgment, that he became a legislator, a leader
in finance, and an important factor in the intellectual and social life of
the city.

Mr. Willard was born March 20, 1824, at Bolton, Chittenden county,
Vermont, and belonged to an old and honored family of New England.
The founder of the American branch of the family was Simon Willard,
who was born in England in 1607, and emigrated to America in 1634,
settling first in Massachusetts and one year later assisting the Reverend
Bullock in establishing the colony of Hartford, which he successfully
represented in the general court of Massachusetts from 1636 to 1652.
Later he acted as governor's assistant until 1676, explored the headwaters
of the Merrimac River, and was a member of the board of commissioners
which settled the boundary line dispute between New Hampshire and
Massachusetts, the stone boundary mark still bearing his initials. During
King Philip's War he played an important part, commanding the Middle-
sex county militia and leading a force of troops to the relief of Deerfield.

It is from this sturdy colonist that many of the name of Willard
trace their descent. One of the sons of the founder, Major Samuel
Willard. was a pastor of Old South Church, in Boston, and acting presi-
dent of Harvard College, and a prolific contriljutor to the religious litera-
ture of that period. Also from the progenitor was descended a president
of Harvard at a later day, a commander of Fort Dummer, the first settle-
ment made in Vermont, and George Willard's great-grandfather, Oliver
Willard, who received from the colony of New York a patent to Hartland
township and first settled there.

Allen Willard, the father of George Willard, was born February 10,
1794, at Hartland. \'ermont, and at the age of twenty-two years entered
Dartmouth College, where one of his mates was Rufus Choate. In the
disturbed condition incident to the epoch-making Dartmouth College
case, during Mr. Willard's junior year, he left that institution and went
to Bolton, X'ermont, where he first engaged in teaching and later took
up farming. The year 1836 saw his advent in Michigan, at which time
he settled on the place at Goguac Lake, which for seventy-eight years
has been the Willard homestead. Allen Willard is remembered as having
an interesting character, one of his principal traits being his independence
in forming his views of men and measures. When Andrew Jackson was
first nominated for the presidency he was one of the three men in his
Vermont town to cast their votes for him, but later, after Jackson's
executive interference with the United States Bank, Mr. Willard left
the Democratic party and became a Whig. A great lover of literature,
he was a profound Greek and Latin student, and continued the study of
these languages throughout his long life. He passed away at the age of
eighty-two years, February 12, 1876. Mr. Willard married Eliza Barron,
who was a descendant of one of the early Irish families that settled in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1567

New England, and they became the parents of two sons : George and
Charles, the latter of whom became prominent in the manufacturing
interests of Battle Creek. He made several princely gifts to that city,
among them being the Charles Willard Public Library Building, the
Young Men's Chritian Association Building and the beautiful Willard
Park, embracing sixteen acres, fronting on Goguac Lake.

George Willard was twelve years of age when he accompanied his
parents to southern Michigan, and here he continued to reside through-
out the period of his life. An eye-witness to practically the entire devel-
opment of this section from primitive pioneer conditions to modern
twentieth-century fulfillment of prophecies, he ever bore a prominent
and helpful part in the various activities of life here. He early gave
evidence of possessing a consuming thirst for knowledge, for by the
time he was eight years of age he had mastered the rudiments of the
ordinary studies, and in spite of the primitive nature of the educational
facilities to be secured in the new country was reading the gospels in the
original Greek when he was still a lad of fourteen, and was also familiar
with Homer. He became a teacher at the age of sixteen years, at Leroy,
and at the age of twenty years was graduated from Kalamazoo College.
Having decided upon entering the ministry, he spent several years in
preparation, and in 1848 was ordained. A recent biographical work of
Calhoun county speaks of his life at this time as follows : "With that
event he began the career of varied activity and accomplishment which
continued for more than half a century. He was successively rector of
churches at Coldwater, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo until 1862, when,
his convictions of duty having undergone a change so that he no longer felt
that he could continue in the discharge of the priestly office, he resigned
and soon afterward accepted the chair in Latin in Kalamazoo College.
Already he had been drawn into the current of discussion and affairs
that steadily flowed toward the crisis of war. In 1855, during the excite-
ment in regard to the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, he wrote a letter to Hon.
William H. Seward on the subject, receiving a reply from which the
following extract is of interest : 'Truth in every department of human
knowledge and action is entitled to open, free confession and vindication
by all classes of society ; and I know of no ground upon which any man,
anywhere, much less any man in a re])ublic, can suppress his convictions
or refrain from giving his support to the truth on any great and vital
question.' "

From the year 1856 Mr. Willard served as a member of the state
board of education, where his influence and efforts contributed in marked
degree to the movement which culminated in the establishment of the
State Agricultural College at Lansing, which opened in 1857. Forty
years later, as the only surviving member of the board of education at
that time, Mr. Willard delivered the anniversary address at the college.
Becoming a regent of the University of Michigan in 1863, it was Mr.
Willard who drew up the resolution opening the university to women,
an action characteristic of his advanced position in affairs of public im-
portance. Also, in that capacity, he stanchly advocated the establish-
ment of a chair of homeopathy in the medical department and had much
to do with securing the services of President Angell for the university.

Constant public service marked Mr. Willard's career for many years
thereafter, although he was never a politician in the generally accepted
use of the term, for his public labors were given freely and unselfishly
and were governed constantly by high ideals of the responsibilities of
public office. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, became chairman
of the house committee on education and the following year was ap-
pointed to the same position in the constitutional convention, of which he

1568 HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN

was a member. He was chairman of the committee on resolutions in the
state Kepnbhcan convention of 1868; in 1872 was appointed a member
of the centennial board of finance, and in that same year was a
delegate at large to the national convention at Philadelphia, a body
in which he served as a member of the committee on rules. Mr.
Willard's excellent service brought him his party's nomination for Con-
gress in that year and his district at that time gave evidence of his high
standing in public favor by giving him a majority of 7,547. While a
member of that distinguished body, Air. Willard was a member of the
committee on civil service and on coinage, weights and measures, and
during his second term he belonged to these committees and the com-
mittee on the District of Columbia. When the famous contested presi-
dential election of 187(3 closed, he was made a member of the committee
to provide a method of counting the electoral vote, and with Mr. Springer
formed the sub-committee which subsequently compiled the history of
the electoral count. With Senator Thurman, of Ohio, he was made a
member of the United States Monetary Commission in 1877, a connection
in which he thoroughly studied the silver question, attending the various
meetings of the committee both in Washington and New York.

We quote again from the biographical work previously referred to:
"While in Congress Mr. Willard labored zealously for the adjustment
of sectional difficulties, and advocated a speedy settlement of the southern
question on the basis of justice and charity. From almost the beginning
of his first term he attracted notice as a speaker who commanded a vast
array of facts and relied upon their logical presentation more than on the
ordinary forensic arts. His speeches on the subjects of cheap transporta-
tion, in opposition to the Force bill, and advocacy of a popular govern-
ment, and a bill to regulate the presidential vote, gave him a national
reputation, and the last-mentioned speech was published in all the lead-
ing papers of both parties. Probably no representative in Congress at
that time worked harder or more intelligently on the matters within the
scope of his duties. While he looked after the material interests of his
own district, he never forgot that his responsibilities were of a national
character."

Mr. Willard entered the field of Michigan journalism in 186S, with
the purchase of the Battle Creek Journal, and four years later established
the daily issue of that paper, of which he continued as editor and proprie-
tor up to the date of his death. In this connection he was able to wield
a wide influence and to mold public opinion along the lines which his
broad and comprehensive e.xperience had taught him were best. It has
been said that the paper was dominated by his personality and in this
respect was typical of the best of what is now called the old-style journal-
ism, the most notable example of which was Horace Greeley's New York
Tribune. His editorials were masterpieces of rhetoric, forcible in their
assertions, yet tempered with sympathy; fearless in their advocation of
whatever Mr. Willard thought right, yet at all times breathing a spirit
of justice.

Of him a writer who knew him said : "A great reader, a student of
both ancient and modern history, a fine linguist who possessed a familiar
acquaintance with German, French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and Greek.
Mr. Willard's scholarship, supplementing fine natural gifts, made him
one of the foremost among the thron.g of brilliant men of which Michigan
is so justly proud. Although advanced in years, he had always possessed
good health, and up to the time of his last illness retained fully the mental
qualities of his vigorous manhood. He was of medium height, of erect,
robust figure, with a fine head, blue eyes and clear-cut, intellectual
features. His manner was dignified, and in conversation he was both

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1569

entertaining and instructive. In all that tended to the development and
advancement of Battle Creek, he took a deep interest, and contributed
largely, by voice and pen, and in other ways, to its prosperity. A man
of strictest integrity, with the courage of his convictions, a gentleman
in the truest sense of the word, he reserved the high regard and esteem
in which he was held. The tributes to his career, spoken by representa-
tive citizens in various spheres of life at the memorial services following
his death, were of rare sincerity and spontaneity, and the subjects taken
by the different speakers indicate the great range of ]Mr. Willard's activi-
ties and influence. As a leader of religious thought, as an editor and
competitor, what he stood for in the city, as a political leader, as senior
warden of the St. Thomas Church, and, chief of all, his fine manhood
and character — from each of these viewpoints it was possible to find
instruction and inspiration in his past life."'

Througlinut his career, Mr. Willard continued to be connected with
the church in whose service he began, and was active in its work. He
was a delegate to the triennial conventions of the years 1856, 1886, 1889,
1892 and 1898, and for many years he held membership in St. Thomas
Protestant Episcopal Church, in which he was senior warden.

Mr. Willard was married April 10. 1844, to Miss Emily Harris, daugh-
ter of Rev. John Harris, of Battle Creek, and she died' in 1885, having
been the mother of four children: Frances A., who died July 6, 1912,
the widow of Charles D. Brewer, of Battle Creek; Charles, who died
in childhood ; Lillian E., the wife of E. W. Moore, who was formerly
business manager of the Battle Creek Journal, and is now a resident of
Benton Harbor, Michigan ; and George B., a review of whose life is given
below. Mrs. Brewer was educated at Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, and
Mrs. Moore received the greater part of her education at Ypsilanti, this
.state. In 1887 George Willard was married to Mrs. Elizabeth A. Willard,
who is now deceased.

For five years after the death of his father, George B. Willard con-
tinued the journalistic work which had been commenced by the elder
man, but recently has devoted his attention to the management of the
Willard homestead, the beautiful farm of 200 acres at Goguac Lake,
which was settled by his grandfather, Allen Willard, from him descended
to Charles Willard, the uncle of George B., and then to the latter. Mr.
Willard was born in Battle Creek, ]\lichigan. June 11, 1858, and was
educated in the public schools and a business college. In the office of
the Journal he received his introduction to the newspaper business and
the printing trade, and thoroughly familiarized himself with everything
pertaining to the making of a successful daily, even down to the minutiae
of the mechanical processes of the printing department. From his father,
no doubt, he inherited a natural talent and predilection for editorial
work, and this combination of abilities fitted him admirably for the
work which he chose as that in which to labor and in which he gained a
high place among Michigan newspaper men. After the death of his
father, he continued to conduct the Journal until April, igo6, and then
disposed of his interest and retired to the Willard homestead, to which
he has since devoted the greater part of his time and attention. Mr.
Willard is the owner of considerable city property in Battle Creek, has a
winter residence at No. 91 Fountain street. West, and with his family
generally spends the winter months either in California or the South.

Like his father, ^Ir. Willard has contributed materially to the wel-
fare of his native city. No movement for the betterment of conditions
along lines of education, morality, religion or intellectuality is considered
complete without his co-operation, and his time, his services and his
means may at all times be enlisted in behalf of the city's material prog-

1570 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ress. In political matters he is a Republican, but public life has held out
no attractions to him, and his service in this connection has been con-
fined to attending a number of conventions as a delegate. Fraternally,
he holds membershi]) in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks
and the Knights of Pythias, at Battle Creek, and he is also a member of
the Athelstan Club. I\Ir. Willard, with his family, attends and supports
the Indejiendent Congregational church.

On June i6, 1880, Mr. Willard was married in the home where he
now resides, to Miss Hattie Henrietta Campbell, whose father, James C.
Campbell, was a well-known early citizen of Battle Creek, and died
here many years ago. Her mother is now the widow of William H.
Flagg, who was accidentally killed at St. Petersburg, Florida, March 27,
1913. Mrs. Flagg resides with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and
Mrs. Willard. For a long period ]\Ir. Flagg had been identified with
Battle Creek and the vicinity. During the war of the Rebellion he fought
bravely for three years and three months as a soldier of the Second
Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, his service including partici-
pation in some of the most important Ijattles of that great struggle. In
his youth he learned the trade of blacksmith, became an expert in his
line, was for several years connected with the Upton Manufacturing
Works, and later was for a long period identified with the plant of the
Nichols & Shepard Compaiiy.'.-V'SSie \yas made chief of police of Battle
Creek in 1885, under ■appcHntJiJelit .of^ Mayor F. M. Rathbun, and his
administration was (distinguished by' excellent preservation of law and
order. In 1886, he was appointed by H. C. Hall as street commissioner
and assistant marshal, .offices in which he acted for a period of three
years. For several 'years- prev"i(jus to his death the active management
of the large operations at the Willard farm on Goguac Lake claimed his
attention.

WiLLi.vM J. Gle.\son. The present postmaster of the city of Luding-
ton is a native of Michigan and a member of a family that was founded
here in the second decade of the history of the state after its admission
to the Union. Mr. Gleason has been prominently identified with civic
and business afifairs in Ludington and is known as one of the progressive
and ai)preciative citizens of Alason county, his incumbency of the office
of postmaster well indicating the high regard in which he is held in liis
home community.

William J. Gleason was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, on
the 30th day of August, 1852, and is a son of William and Johanna (Cor-
coran) Gleason, both natives of Ireland, where the former was born in
1799 and the latter in 1814. Their parents were reared and educated in
their native land and their there marriage was solemnized. In 1848 they
immigrated from the Emerald Isle to America and established their
home in Detroit, Michigan. They finally removed to the city of Toronto,
Canada, where the father died in the year 1874, his widow surviving
until 1884, and both having been devout communicants of the Catholic
church. William Gleason was a man of integrity and industry and he
provided well for his family, though much of his life he depended upon
the returns from his application as a day laborer. During his residence
in Detroit he was found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of
the Democratic ])arty. r)f the ten children, William J., of this review, is
the youngest, and the other two surviving are his sisters, Anna and
Julia, both residents of Toronto, Ontario, — the former being the wife
of Tames Rvan, and the latter the wife of William Ryan.

"in the parochial and public schools of Detroit William J. Gleason
gained his early educational disciijline, and his first occupation was that

1

TCl»KXRY

'^^'^ih^L^'C^^^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1571

of freight checker in the employ of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Mil-
waukee Railroad, now a part of the Grand Trunk system. He was finally
sent by the railroad company to Grand Haven, Michigan, where he
served as foreman in its warehouse for the long period of fifteen years.
In 1887 Mr. Gleason removed to Ludington, and here he had the super-
vision of the Pere Marc|uette Railroad docks for seventeen years. In
1906 he resigned the position of which he had long been the efiicient and
valued incumbent, and he then engaged in the shoe business, with which
he continued his active association until his appointment to the office of
postmaster, on the 29th of May, 19 13. He wa;s the first Democratic
postmaster to receive commission in Michigan after the great Democratic
victory in the election of November, 1912, and his administration is prov-
ing acceptable to the local public, as he keeps the service at the highest
possible standard in every particular and directs the same with marked
ability and circumspection.

^Ir. Gleason has shown a lively interest in all that has touched the
general welfare of his home city and has here lieen active in the affairs of
the Democratic party, as a candidate of which he was elected a member
of the city board of aldermen, a position in which he gave his influence
in support of progressive policies but judicious economy in municipal
afi^airs. He and his family are communicants of the Catholic church, and
he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Knights of Columbus
and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of each of which he is
a trustee.

In the year 1S76 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gleason to Miss
Johanna Hayes, of Detroit, and they have three children, — Ellen, who is
"the wife of James Rice, of Coldwater, Branch county; Margaret, who is
the wife of Peter F. Kehoe, of Detroit; and WiUiam J., Jr., who suc-
ceeded to the shoe business established by his father and who is one of
the alert and popular young men of Ludington.

Angus Gillies M.\ckay. For his position of influence among the
leading citizens of his home city of Port Huron and St. Clair county,
Angus G. Mackay has to thank the habits of industry and thrift charac-
teristic of his Highland Scotch forefathers which he has himself inherited
to a marked degree, and also his own energetic efforts in overcoming
early difliculties and handicaps and in maintaining throughout a long
career an incorruptible integrity and reputation for efficient and responsible
business credit. Mr. Mackay is as noteworthy for his kindness of heart
as for his keen intelligence and business fealty.

Angus (iillies Mackay was born on the seventh day of March, A. D.
1847, at Rose Valley. Strathalbyn, Queens County, Province of Prince
Edward Island in the Dominion of Canada, son of William and Christina
(Gillies) Mackay, who emigrated from the Hebrides or Western Isles,
Inverness Shire, Scotland, to that Province by sailing vessel in the sum-
mer of 1839, settling in the wilderness. In the early June of 1853 they
removed to High Bank, Kings County, on the shores of the Straits of
Northumberland, locating on a partly improved farm, a location of un-
surpassed beauty and fertility. Both parents are now deceased, the
mother dying in April. 1881, and the father in June, 1908, in his eighty-
seventh year, retaining to the last all his natural faculties. One son,
John, resides on the old homestead with his family and a maiden sister.

Mr. Mackay obtained his early education in the fine common schools
of his district, which he attended when the farm did not demand his
services or the larder required that he fished cod or mackerel to supply
its wants, and in later years attended the famous Grammar and Provin-
cial Normal school of his native province. After graduating from the

1572 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

latter in 1866, he immediately engaged in teaching, first at Wilmot, Murray
Harbor district, Kings county, and afterwards at Culloden district school
in Queens county.

Deciding then to try the hazards of new fortunes, he set out for the
new and enticing state of Minnesota, landed in the United States at Port-
land, Maine, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the fifteentli day of Decem-
ber, and at Port Huron, Michigan, on the eighteenth day of December,
i86g. At Port Huron he remained for a visit with an uncle, the late
Malcolm Mackay, a well known hotel keeper and Justice of the Peace,
who induced him to remain in Michigan.

In the winter of 1870 Mr. Mackay became tutor to the family of
Charles Decker, of the township of Lexington, Sanilac county, then a
])rominent lumberman ; and later in Latin to the family as well as a clerk
in the drug store of William W. Anderson. M. D., an eminent physician
and druggist of the then prosperous town of Lexington.

In October, 1871, the county seat of St. Clair county having been re-
moved from St. Clair to Port Huron, he was offered by the county clerk,
Captain Ilazzard P. Wands, the position of deputy county clerk to suc-
ceed William .Henry Little, who after a long legal battle succeeded to
the office of superintendent of schools for St. Clair county. He continued
in this position during the term of Captain Wands in the office, and also
with his successor, Moses F. Carleton, for some time. During his work
in the county clerk's office he naturallv fell into the studying of law, but
on leaving the office entered the cm])loyment of Archibald Muir, then a
shi])huilder, and later that of the F^ort Huron Dry Dock Company, of
which Mr. Muir became the manager; remaining with it until the disso-
lution of that corporation. He then resumed the study of law in the
office of Messrs. Chadwick & Potter, a prominent law firm, Mr. Chad-
wick being then considered a special authority in real estate matters, of
which Mr. Mackay made a special study during his time with the firm.

On leaving this firm, Mr. Mackay on May 12, 1875, formed the firm
of H. Anderson & Company, consisting of Hiram Anderson, Angus G.
Mackay and William C. Anderson, to engage in the insurance, loan and
real estate business, having purchased the business of one William D.
Wright. But after a few months the Andersons found that the business
was not sufficiently lucrative to warrant their continuing therein, sold out
to Mr. Mackay, and engaged in the farm and implement business as An-
derson & Company. Mr. Mackay continued the real estate business alone,
and that has been his regular line to the present time.

Owing to the location of his office, adjoining the Huron House, then
the prominent hotel of the city, in 1880 Mr. Mackay was induced by the
late W. E. Davis, who at the time of his death was passenger traffic man-
ager of the Grand Trunk Railway System, and was then the general
passenger agent of what was known as the Chicago and Lake Huron Rail-
road (now the Grand Trunk Western), to add the ticket agency of his
line to his business as real estate agent. This was done, as was the agency
of the Great Western Railway of Canada, now a part of the Grand Trunk
System, the agency of the Beatty Line, the mother line of the Northern
Navigation Company of Ontario, as well as an agency of the prominent
ocean steamship lines. In this manner Mr. Mackay gained a wide circle
of acquaintances among the traveling public, with whom he became very
popular, as did the lines that he represented, a fact which is especially true
of the Northern Navigation Company.

In the fall of 1880, with George E. Marsh, then city engineer of tlie city
of Port Huron, Mr. Mackay secured a contract to pave during the follow-
ing season of 1881 Huron avenue, the principal street of the city. That
contract was fnl filled in such a substantial manner that it reflected credit

HISTORY OF MICHlGAiN 1573

on both gentlemen. After the completion of the work, Mr. Marsh having
accepted a position in a western city, Mr. Mackay tendered for and se-
cured the contract to pave Butler street from Huron avenue to the St.
Clair river. In this he met with a reverse which almost ruined him finan-
cially. He had purchased the cedar for the work at Anderson station
( now Applegate ) . The long to be remembered fire in the Thumb territory
in 1881 destroyed all his cedar material, leaving him in an unenviable posi-
tion, with obligations far exceeding his capital resources. With grim de-
termination he faced the conditions manfully, and in due time succeeded
in completing the work and in such a way as to pass the strictest tests of
inspection. However, this creditable performance of contractual obliga-
tions had swallowed up all his means, leaving him in debt as well, which it
took him some years to liquidate. However, the work so reflected to his
credit that Michael Fleming, banker, and Thomas Kenny, wholesale
grocer, commissioners appointed by the town of Sarnia, Ontario, to
secure the paving for the first time of Front street in their town, induced
Mr. Mackay to tender a bid for the work, which he succeeded in securing
in the summer of 18S3, and this work he completed in a substantial man-
ner and with profit to himself.

On December 10, 1S84, at Ripley. Ontario, Mr. Mackay married Miss
Alma Jennie Bowers, daughter of John and Ann (Lynn) Bowers, natives
of the city of Exeter, England, from which place they emigrated to Canada
in the early fifties, locating first in the vicinity of Port Perry, Ontario,
later removing into the wilderness in Bruce county in the vicinity of Rip-
ley, where they died at a ripe age, the mother attaining the age of ninety-
two years. Mrs. Mackay was born at Port Perry on December 22, 1859.
Of their marriage came three children : Earle B. Mackay, born May 20,
1887, a graduate of the high school of his native city and of the Uni-
versitv of Toronto, is a druggist by profession and at the head of the
drug firm of E. B. Mackay & Company, and in 191 1 married Florence,
a daughter of Ernest Akers, and an adopted daughter of her maternal
uncle, Edward Reynolds. Hazel Jeanette, the second child, born May 14,
1890, is also a graduate of the Port Huron high school. The youngest,
Kenneth John, born May 23, 1895, is at this writing a student in the city
high school, and a member of the graduating class of Jvuie, 19 14.

In religion Mr. Mackay is, as might be expected, a Presbyterian, a
member and an elder of the First Presbyterian church, and also a mem-
ber of its board of trustees, and for years has efficiently served the board
as secretary. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Order of Free and
Accepted Masons, having been raised in Pine Grove Lodge No. 11, June
23> 1873. and placed upon its Life Membership Roll in August, 1913.
Mr. Mackay is a member of the Natronal Geographical Society, and much
interested in that field of science and well informed. Politically a Demo-
crat, of the free-trade type, he is in full sympathy with the present ad-
ministration and a great admirer and loyal supporter of the present secre-
tary of state in his many campaigns for the presidency of the United
States. Himself, Mr. Mackay has never attained to any political honors,
contenting himself with doing his duty as an every-day citizen. Intellectu-
ally, and in those interests and attainments which are only casually known
to his circle of business and civic acquaintances, Mr. Mackay is possessed
of unusual resources. Well read, with a small library of well selected
books, he was in his youth a fine Latin and French scholar, and has always
kept up his interests and study of the ancient Gaelic, his mother tongue.
He possesses almost every book extant in the language, and is able to
read and write it fluently, and takes much delight in its reading.

Perry R. L. C.^rl. Another of the native sons of Michigan who
has given admirable account of himself as one of the world's productive

1574 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

workers is the popular representative citizen of Manistee whose name
introduces this article. He has shown marked initiative and executive
ability, and this e(|uipnient, as coupled with steadfast and worthy pur-
pose, has won for him advancement and specific alliance with large and
important interests, as is e\ident when it is stated that he is vice-president,
treasurer and general manager of the Manistee Northeastern Railroad.

Mr. Carl was born at Lowell. Kent county, Michigan, on the i8th of
November, 1868, and is a son of Ralph L. and Esther (Cooley) Carl,
the former of whom was born in the state of New York, in 1830, and the
latter in Michigan, in 1836, about one year prior to the admission of the
state to the Union. The father, whose death occurred in 1907, was a
millwright by trade but he finally engaged in the furniture business, in
connection with which he achieved success. He lived virtually retired for
se\eral years prior to his death, which occurred at his home in Char-
lotte, Eaton county, and his widow now resides with her son Perry,
sn1)iect of this review. The elder of the two children was Anna, who
became the wife of William G. Wisner. of Charlotte, Eaton county,
where her death occurred in 1913. Ralph L. Carl was a staunch Republi-
can was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and was a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his widow. He was a son of
David Carl, v^dio continued to reside in the state of New York until his
death. Samuel Cooley, the maternal grandfather of the subject of this
sketch, came to Michigan in the territorial days and was here a pioneer
clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church.

Perry R. L. Carl was a child at the time of the family removal from
Lowell to Stanton. Montcalm county, and in tiie latter place he duly
availed himself of the advantages of the public schools, including the high
school. He then put his scholastic attainments to practical test and
utilization by devoting two years to 'teaching, principally in the district
schools, and thereafter he was a memljer of the government surveying
partv. in Minnesota, for one year. To sup]ilement his education he then
attended the Ferris Ii\stitute. in the city of Rig Rapids, Michigan, in
the commercial department of which institution he was graduated.

On the loth day of May, 1892, Mr. Carl established his residence in
Manistee, where he assumed the position of bookkeeper for the Buckley-
Douglass Lumber Company, with which representative corporation he
continued ten years, as a valued and efficient office man. In 1902 Mr.
Carl was made auditor of the Manistee Northeastern Railroad, and he
has since been closely identified with the administration of the affairs of
this corporation. In 1909 he was made the general manager, and in 191 1
he was elected vice-president of the company, of which he has lieen treas-
urer since 1912. It is an efifective v-oucher for his executive aliility that
he now serves in these three important offices, the railroad with which he
is thus connected having 230 miles of line and traversing a section that
is rapidly developing along civic and industrial lines. .'\t Traverse City
Mr. Carl is vice-president of the Taylor Coal Company. He is a stal-
wart adherent of the Republican party, is a Knight Templar Mason and
is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, in which he is past chancel-
lor of the Alanistee lodge. He attends and supports the Congregational
church, of which his wife is a zealous member.

January 17, 1895. bore record of the marriage of ;\Ir. Carl to Miss
Nora G. Canfield, who likewise is a native of Michigan, and who is a
daughter of the late Judge John Canfield, her father having been a repre-
sentative member of the bar of Clare county, where he served eight years
as judge of the probate court. Mr. and Mrs. Carl have two children:
Francis C. and Walter L.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1575

Henry C. Ransom. With Henry C. Ransom on the probate bench
of Mason county, that community has for more than a quarter of a cen-
tury had the satisfaction of knowing that one of its most sacred judicial
functions was being (hscharged with a degree of human and technical
understanding that rarely comes to the public service. It was in 1888
that Judge Ransom was first intrusted with the responsibilities of the
probate office, and at the present time his length of service in that one
office has been surpassed by only one other man in the entire state. No
better testimony of efficiency and scrupulous care could be desired.

Henry C. Ransom was born on a farm in Florence township, Huron
county, Ohio, January 2"], 1849. the only son of Henry G. and Maryette
(French) Ransom. There were also two daughters: Mrs. Martha A.
Laurence and Frances M., the latter lieing deceased, (irandfather Russell
Ransom was a native of Connecticut, belonged to a colonial family of
that state, and the original ancestry was Danish-English and came to
America from North England. Russell Ransom was a pioneer in the '
Western Reserve of Ohio, settling there about 1820 and spending the
rest of his life in Erie county. The maternal grandfather, Burton French,
was also from Connecticut and settled in Erie county of the Western
Reserve, in 1819. Henry G. Ransom was a substantial farmer of Huron
county, Ohio, until his early death at the age of thirty-eight. His widow,
Mrs. Maryette (French) Ransom lived to about the age of seventy-two.
Both parents were Methodists and were esteemed as people of the highest
character and most substantial virtues.

In was in an environment still connected with the pioneer era that
Judge Ransom grew to manhood, was trained in the discipline of a farm,
and attended the common schools. He was between twelve and thirteen
years of age when the Civil War broke out. and his enthusiasm for the life
of a soldier led him in the winter of 1864-65 to go out as a private in Com-
pany F of the f)ne Hundred and Ninety-Seventh Ohio Infantry, with
which command he served until the end of the war and his honorable
discharge. Returning home. Judge Ransom attended Oberlin College for
two school years, learned as an apprentice the cooper's trade, worked
as a journeyman for a few years at Findlay and at Elmore in Ohio and
other places.

Judge Ransom was one of the pioneers in the development of the
agricultural country of northern Michigan, having taken up a homestead
in Custer township of Mason' county in 1875. The labors of successive
years reclaimed a place from tiie wilderness, and it was as a successful
farmer that he won his substantial position in the business community.
Judge Ransom has never abandoned farming, and still owns two fine
farms in Mason county.

While still living in the country Judge Ransom took an active interest
in local affairs, and was honored witli the offices of township clerk and
township sujiervisor. In 1884 the people of the county elected him county
treasurer, and his work in that office for four years was only preliminary
to the long and useful public service which he has performed as proI)ate
judge. In 1888 he was elected judge of probate, and at every recurring
four years the people have set the seal of their approval upon his careful
and conscientious administration of the office. At the present time Judge
Ransom is serving his seventh consecutive term.

Politically his work has always been with the Republican party and
he has long been regarded as a leader in the public life of Mason county.
He is affiliated with Pap Williams Post No. 15, G. A. R., at Ludington,
and has held offices in the order. He has taken the Lodge, Chapter and
Commandery degrees in Masonry, is affiliated with Saladin Temple of
the Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids, and also belongs to Ludington Lodges
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.

1576 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

In 1871 Judge Ransom married Mary A. Rippon, who was born in
Lincolnshire. England, and was brought to America at the age of eight
years. Her parents. Henry and Mary A. (Ainsworth) Rippon. on com-
ing to this country located in Camden, Lorain county, Ohio, where Mrs.
Ransom lived until her marriage. Mrs. Ransom is a member of the
]\Iethodist church.

Geokge O. Switzer, M. D. Among the members of the Mason
county medical profession, one who has established his reputation as a
reputable and capable physician and surgeon through long and honor-
able practice, is Dr. George O. Switzer, of Ludington, recognized as being
a man of whom his profession is proud, and conferring distinction upon
his calling and the community in which he has long been located. Doctor
Switzer has l)een engaged in practice for a period of thirty-three years,
and during this time has worked his way steadily to the forefront in his
I>rofession, so that today he well merits the confidence of the public and
the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow-practitioners. He
was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania. March S. 1854, and is a son of
George H. and Mary Jane (Walldorff) Switzer.

Henry Switzer, the paternal great-grandfather of Dr. George O.
Switzer, was a pioneer settler of Steuben county, New York, and became
one of the prominent men of his day and locality, serving for some years
as a memljer of the New York state legislature. Among his children
was William Switzer, who was born in Steuben county, where he was for
a number of years engaged in farming, subsequently going to Pennsyl-
vania, where he continued to carry on successful agricultural operations
until his death. George H. Switzer was born August 5, 1828, in Alle-
gany county. New York, and when a yoimg man accompanied his par-
ents to Pennsylvania. He had early learned the trade of millwright,
but gave this up to become a pilot on the Alleghany river, a capacity in
which he acted until coming to Michigan, in 18O0. Here he began to work
as a millwright and also had large lumbering interests, so that he was
one of the prosperous and influential men of his vicinity. He died Eeb-
ruary 17, 1879, in the faith of the LIniversalist church, of which he had
been a lifelong member. He was affiliated fraternally with the A. F. &
A. M., and in political matters was first a Democrat and later a Repub-
lican. Mrs.. Switzer was born September 30, 1833, in Allegany county
New York, and still survives her husband.' She is a daughter of George
Walldorfl:', who was born in Allegany county. New York, and was a
farmer, merchant and hotel man and was known as a wealthy citizen,
as wealth was accounted in his day. He was a son of Abraham Wall-
dorff, who served as a private in the patriot army during the Revolution-
ary War and as a corporal during the War of 1812, and was granted
160 acres of land for his services.

The primary educational training of Dr. George O. Switzer was
secured in the public .schools of Michigan, whence he had been brought as a
lad of six years. Pie attended the Hastings high school, and following
some i)reparation began his medical studies at Bennett Medical College,
Chicago, from which institution he received his degree and diploma in
1881. .At that time he at once began practice at Ludington, but soon
changed his location to Pentwater, Michigan, where he remained for some
twenty years, and then took a post-graduate course at the Chicago College
of Physicians and Surgeons and was graduated therefrom in 1897. He
then returned to Ludington, which city has since been his field of endeavor,
and here he has succeeded in building up a large and representative prac-
tice. He is a member of the Mason County Medical Society, the Michi-
gan State Medical Society and the American Medical .Association, and

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1577

his thorough understanding of the science of medicine and his practical
ability in applying it to the relief of suft'ering humanity, have gained him
in professional cuvles, a position which is unnnstakable e\idence of his
superior skill. Aside from the organizations of his profession, he affiliates
with the Masons, in which he has reached the Isaiight Templar degree,
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past grand, and the
Knights of Pythias. Formerly a Republican, when the new Progressive
party had its birth, in the fall of 191.2, he transferred his allegiance to it,
and has since been a hearty supporter of the so-called "Bull Aloose''
principles and candidates. He has been active in those attairs which have
affected the welfare of his community, served for some time as a member
of the board of pension e.xaminers, and is at this time city physician
of Ludington. In professional, business and fraternal circles he has a
wide acquaintance and enjoys the sincere friendship of men through-
out the county.

In 1876 Doctor Switzer was united in marriage with Miss Addie
Morthland, of Berrien county, Michigan, and they became the parents of
one child, Alice, who is now a professional nurse in Chicago. In 1900
Doctor .Switzer married Anna B. Jensen, of Alichigan, and they have had
two children : Lars Walldorf and Lois, both of whom are attending
school at Ludington.

Walter T. Quinlan. Among the officials of Alanistee county
whose services are contributing materially to the welfare of the locality,
Walter T. Ouinlan is deserving of more than passing mention. The
incumbent of the county clerk's office since 1910, he has displayed a
fidelity to duty and a conscientious devotion to high ideals of public serv-
ice that have won him the unqualified confidence of his fellow-citizens,
and during his administration numerous reforms and innovations in the
office have been made, all tending toward a raise in the standard of effi-
ciency. Mr. Quinlan was born in Sanilac county, Michigan, December
15, 1881, and is a son of Patrick and Anna (Conley) Quiulan.

Patrick Ouinlan was born in Ireland in 1826 and was there given
only meagre educational advantages, the family being in very modest
financial circumstances. He was an industrious and ambitious youth,
and, seeing no future for himself in his native land except one of hard,
constant labor, with but little opportunity of gaining more than a live-
lihood, decided to come to the United States and try his fortunes. Ac-
cordingly, when only fifteen years of age, he gathered together such
resource's as he could command and embarked on a sailing vessel, which
brought him in due time to this country. When he arrived, he was a
poor emigrant lad, without funds or friends, or more than a passing
knowledge of American ways and customs. However, he set to- work
industriously, and before long had saved enough from his earnings to
send to Erin for his father and mother. The former, also named Patrick
Quinlan, subsequently settled on a farm in [Michigan, became moderately
successful through his enterprise and industry, and passed away as one
of his comimmity's respected cjtizens. Patrick Quinlaii, Jr., was for a
number of years employed at various occupations, until finally embarking
in the hotel business at Lexington, Michigan, an enterprise with which he
was connected for many years, becoming well known to the traveling
public of },Iichigan, who'made his popular house their headquarters. He
is now living a somewhat retired life, his home being on a farm in the
vicinity of Carsonville, Michigan. He was twice married, and by his first
wife became the father of six children. He was married to Miss Anna
Conley, who was born in 1849, near Detroit, Michigan, daughter of
Thomas Conlev, who was for years a prosperous farmer of Michigan

1578 HISTORY OF xMICHIGAN

and died on his homestead, located near Carsonville, Michigan. Pat-
rick and Ann (Conley) Quinlan became the parents of three children,
namely : Walter T., of this review ; Blanche, who is an educator and is
engaged in teaching in the public schools of Detroit : and Pearl, who is
connected with a large millinery concern of that city. Mr. and Mrs.
Quinlan are consistent members of the Catholic church, and have reared ,
their children in that faith. He is a Democrat in politics, but has con-
fined his interest in public matters to that taken by any good citizen in the
welfare of his community.

After com]ileting his primary studies in the rural schools of .Sanilac
county, \\'alter T. Ouinlan became a student in Ferris Institute, Big
Rapids, where he graduated in the normal course. For the four and one-
half years that followed, he served in the capacity of principal of the
Oak Hill school, and during this time was also a member of the board of
school examiners. Continuing in this connection until 1910, he was
elected county clerk in that year. ;ind in November, 1912, was given the
re-election because of the e.xcellent record he had made during his first
term. In 1914 he became a candidate for further re-election. Air. Quin-
lan. is a typical Irish-.\merican. energetic, social, quick, able and thor-
oughly etlucated both, in literature and the knowledge of human nature.
He has made an excellent county cleric; "one who has gained supporters
by reason of his good service and friends through his personality and
congeniality. In the ranks of the Democratic party he is recognized as an
influential force and one whoHi'as done much to promote the organiza-
tion's welfare in Manistee cbiinty.

Mr. Quinlan was married to Aliss Celia Smith, of Detroit, Xovember
27. 1912, and to this union there has been born one son: William
Edward. Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan are consistent members of the Catholic
church, and Mr. Quinlan is well known in the Knights of Columbus, hav-
ing served for several years as financial secretary thereof.

Fr.\nk E. Mill.ar. The professional career of Frank E. Millar be-
gan in the country schools, where he was forced to teach for a number
of weary terms before he had accumulated the means with which to com-
plete his collegiate education. He is a self-made man and self-educated,
but as superintendent of the city schools of Ludington, .Michigan, is
showing excellent executive ability, and has e.xhibited a lireadth of cul-
ture, clearness of perception, fidelity and perseverance in his work, which
have placed him in the foremost rank among the educators of North-
west Michigan, .\lthough he was compelled to make his start at the
bottom, by firm determination and constant painstaking eft'ort he made
the humble calling of early life a stepping-stone to fulfilling a lofty aspi-
ration.

Frank E. Millar was born March 2-j, 1872, in Berrien county, Michi-
gan, and is a son of Ansel H. and Almena (Wood) Millar. His grand-
parents, Orlando and Mary (Hall) Millar, were natives of Canada, who
moved to New York and thence to Michigan, and finally moved to Wis-
consin, where lioth ]iassed away. The family was founded in America
by the great-grandfatiier of Mr. Millar, who was a native of Scotland
and in young manhood emigrated to \'ermont, going thence to Canada,
where his death occurred. Ansel H. Millar was born in 1827, in the state
of New York, and was a young man when he accompanied his parents
to Michigan. He early chose the vocation of farming as the field of
activity in which to g:iin his success, and through consecutive and well-
directed efl^ort made a success of those ventures to which he devoted
himself. His death occurred in 1899, when he had reached the .-tge of
seventy-two years. A Re])ul)lican in politics, he was not a seeker for

THI «!«• TORE

n

(iU^l^f^^^/lf^ j^^^;;^^^^^^^--^^^'^^^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1579

personal preferment in the public arena, but at all times showed himself
a good and public-spirited citizen, and won the respect and confidence of
those with whom he came into contact in any way. He was a consistent
member of the Baptist church and was active in its work in Berrien
county, where his entire life was passed. Mr. Millar married Miss
Almena Wood, who was born in 1831, and who is still living. They
became the parents of ten children, six of whom are still living, and
Frank E. is the youngest. Edson Wood, the maternal grandfather of
Mr. ]Millar, was born in New York state, where he was married to
Elizabeth Lambert, who was a niece of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, of Revo-
lutionary fame. After their marriage they went to Ohio, and later came
to Michigan, where the grandfather was engaged in farming until his
death, in 1888, when he was eighty-one years of age.

Frank E. Millar grew up on his father's farm and received his early
education in the public schools. He early gave evidence of a predilection
for teaching, but found his resources insufficient to provide him with a
collegiate course, and accordingly secured a certificate and began teaching
in the district schools in the county. Thus he secured the necessary
funds to take him through Kalamazoo College and the University of
Chicago, and after his graduation from the latter institution, in 1901, he
began his real career as a teacher in the high school at Council Bluifs,
Iowa. In 1903 Mr. Millar was appointed principal of the high school
at Ludington and came to this city, where he remained for three years,
then returning to Iowa and remaining two years as principal of the high
school at Clinton. Again, in 1908, he came to Ludington, this time as
superintendent of all the city schools, a position which he has continued
to fill with great success to the present time. There are now seven schools
under his supervision, with an enrollment (in 1914) of 1,700 pupils, and
Mr. Millar is forced to devote his entire time to his duties. The educator
of today is called upon to meet and overcome many obstacles of which
those of a past generation knew nothing. The enlarging of the curricu-
lum of the public schools, with the demand for the practice of pedagogy,
necessitates a long and careful training and constant subsequent study
and reading on the part of those to whom is entrusted the training of the
plastic mind of youth. Popular demand has resulted in the production of
such men as Mr. Millar, whose knowleilge of their work and matters in
general is extensive and profound, and who at the same time possess
sound judgment and a keen insight into human nature that makes it
possible for them to give to each pupil the individual attention now
regarded as so necessary for the proper rounding out and developing of
character.

Mr. Millar was married in 1903 to Miss Jessie Hope Wallace, of
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and four children have been born to this union :
Miriam and Hope, who are attending the public schools ; and Frank E.,
Tr., and Ansel \Vallace, who are still too young to be scholars. Mr. and
Airs. Millar are consistent members of the Presbyterian church. In
politics he taken an independent stand, voting rather for the man he con-
siders best fitted for the office than for the party. His fraternal affiliation
is with the Knights of Pythias, in which he has numerous friends, as he
has in all walks of life.

Orl.wdo MoxVTGomery Stephenson, M. D. One of the oldest physi-
cians in point of residence at Port Huron is Dr. Stephenson, who for a
period of more than thirty years has practiced and given his capable
services to the community in and about that city. Few members of the
profession have been better prepared by the varied experience for success-
ful private practice than Dr. Stephenson. In this time he has done a great

1580 HISTORY OF MICIilGAN

deal of good for humanity, and has maintained the- highest standards of
both professional and private life.

Orlando Montgomery Stephenson was born July 20, 1S52, at Aurora,
Illinois, a son of James Kerl, and Marie Louise Stephenson. Left an
orphan when five years of age, he had to depend upon his own resources,
and is a fine example of the man who makes the best use of his oppor-
tunities, and struggled against obstacles to success. A district schooling
in Illinois was the basis of his education, and he afterwards studied in
the Romeo high school of Michigan, the University of Michigan, and is
a graduate of the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, took post-
graduate work in the New York Post-Graduate School during 1888-89,
and has been abroad and supplemented his practical and school courses by
observation in the hospitals of Europe. The first sixteen years of his life
were spent on a farm, and at the age of eighteen he had qualified himself
for the work of teaching, which he followed in the district schools in
Macomb and St. Clair counties. He spent one year in the medical de-
partment of the University of Michigan, and was graduated from the
Chicago Homeopathic Medical College in March, 1882. Locating at Fort
Gratiot, now a part of the city of Port Huron, he has been in jjractice
ever since, with the exception of such time as he has taken for continued
studies. Dr. Stephenson served as health ofticer at Fort Gratiot during
1887-88, and was county coroner of St. Clair County in 1888-89. He was
commissioned captain and assistant surgeon in the Thirty-Fourth Michi-
gan Infantry in 1898, by Governor Pingree, and took part in the Cuban
campaign in that year. He was at Santiago de Cuba and also at Camp
Wyckoft' on Long Island.

Dr. Stephenson has prospered in a lousiness way, and is the owner of
real estate and some beach property at Lake Port. In politics he is a
Republican, and affiliates with the Independent Order of C)dd Fellows, the
Knights of Pythias, and the Woodmen of the World. On December 26,
1874, at Jonesville, Michigan, Dr. Stephenson married Lizzie B. Mum-
ford, a daughter of E. C. L. and Julia A. Mumford. Her father was for
a number of years township supervisor. The Mumford family have a
notable record in educational affairs. F. B. Mumford, a brother of Mrs.
Stephenson, is dean of the Missouri Agricultural College at Columbia,
Missouri, H. W. Mumford is connected with the Agricultural Department
of the University of Illinois, while A. W. Mumford is a Methodist nnn-
ister, and her brother, Charles Mumford. is a fruit grower at Paw Paw,
Michigan. Dr. Stephenson has no children.

Concerning the earlier generations of the family, it may be noted that
James K. Stephenson, the doctor's father, was a son of S. L. and Eliza-
beth (Keil) Stephenson, and was born in 1804 at Lincolnshire, England.
Lie married Marie Louise Gilbert, a daughter of John Gilbert, who came
from Paris, France, to America, with the followers of General Lafayette,
and served as a soldier in the American Revolution. Marie L. Gilbert's
mother was Mary McPherson of Scotland. Marie Louise Gilbert was
l)orn at Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1805. The Stephenson family
was originally of Norse extraction, the first of the family having settled
in England about the year 11 12. James K. Stephenson and wife had
thirteen children, all nf whnm are deceased, but four. James-K. Stephen-
son had a military record, as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-
Fourth Illinois Infantry, in Company B, his son, F. G., serving in the
same companv and regiment. The fathei- was out three years and several
months, was in every battle in which the One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth
participated, and had not a single day's sickness or absence from duty.
His son, Fred G., was fourteen years of age when he enlisted. John and
Orlando M. Gilbert, brothers of Marie Louise Gilbert, were soldiers of
the war with Mexico in 1846-47.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1581

Philit E. Bailey. A native sen of Michigan and a representative
of an lionored pioneer family of this commonwealth, Mr. Bailey, the
efficient and popular county clerk of Mason county, is one of the progres-
sive and public-spirited citizens of Ludington and is one of the most
enthusiastic and aijpreciative citizens of this beautiful place, known alike
for its thrift and enterprise as well as its manifold attractions as a sum-
mer resort.

Mr. Bailey was born in Kent county, Michigan, on the "th of Decem-
ber, 1853, and is a son of Alexander C. and Asenath (Matthews) Bailey,
the former of whom was born at Wethersfield, Hartford county, Con-
necticut, in 1817, and the latter of whom was born in the province of
Ontario, Canada, in 1818, both having died in the year 1863, when the
subject of this review was about ten years of age. The marriage of the
parents was solemnized in Kent county, Michigan, the father having come
to Michigan at the age of nineteen years and at about the time the state
was admitted ti) the Union. He was one of the honored pioneers of Kent
county, where he followed the trade of blacksmith and where he also
reclaimed and improved a good farm. He was influential in public af-
fairs of local order, was a staunch Republican in politics, served a num-
ber of years as justice of the peace, and both he and his wife were con-
sistent adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the four chil-
dren Philip E., of this sketch, is the younger of the two now living, and
his brother, George L., is a representative farmer of Kent county.

Philip E. Bailey was reared to adult age in his native county, where
his early experiences were those connected with the work of the farm.
In the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the com-
mon schools of the locality and period, and after abandoning his occupa-
tion as a farm worker he was employed for some time in a factory in the
city of Grand Rapids, where he remained until he had attained to his legal
majority. Thereafter he found employment in shingle mills. He has
maintained his home in Mason county since 1886. and has been closely
identified with public and general civic affairs in the county, where he
gave his attention to agricultural pursuits for a number of years. He still
owns valuable farm property in the county and has contributed his share
to its industrial development. Mr. Bailey has been virtually dependent
upon his own resources since he was a lad of twelve years, and he has
made his life count for good in its every relation, his advancement having
been the direct result of his own ability and well ordered efforts.

Mr. Bailey has been one of the leaders in the Mason county ranks of
the Republican party, and he has served in the various township offices,
including those of clerk, treasurer and supervisor. He was chairman of
the board of supervisors of Mason county until his election to his present
office, that of county clerk, of which he has been the able incumbent since
1900, with impregnable place in the confidence and esteem of the people
of Mason county. Mr. Bailey is affiliated with the Ludington lodge and
encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has passed
the various official chairs in the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias, both
he and his wife being zealous and valued members of the First Methodist
Episcopal church of their home city, where they are also popular factors
in the representative social activities of the community.

On the 6th of February, 1878, was solemnized the marri'ige of Mr.
Bailey to Miss Josephine Major, who was born in the province of On-
tario, Canada, but who had been a resident of Kent county, Michigan, for
several years prior to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey have six chil-
dren,—Claude y. is a mail carrier in the city of Ludington. Burt A.,
Harry M., George A. and William H. are farmers of Mason county;
and Philip F., who remains at the parental home, is a member of the class
of 191 5 in the Ludington high school.

Vol. in— 24

1582 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Thomas J. Eltox. Privilege is given at this juncture to accord
specific recognition and merited consideration to another of the repre-
sentative business men and honored and influential citizens of Manistee,
the metropolis and judicial center of the county of the same name and a
city that refused to obscure itself or long wane in importance after the
subsidence of the great lumbering operations of which it was formerly
the center. It is pleasing to record that lumber interests are still of
marked importance here, and of the same Mr. Elton is a prominent rep-
resentative. He is secretary of the Buckley & Douglass Lumber Com-
pany, as is he also of the Concordia Land & Timber Company and the
Manistee Land & Timber Company. He is a man of much initiative and
constructive ability, as is shown in his successful business car.eer, and as
a citizen he is an exemplar of progressiveness and liberality.

Mr. Elton was born in Stark county, Ohio, on the 5th of August.
1861, and is a son of John and Martha (Jones) Elton, the former of
whom was bom in New Jersey, on the 24th of November, 1834, and
the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania, March 7, 1836, their mar-
riage having been solemnized at Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, in
i860. John Elton was a boy at the time of his parents removal to the
state of Ohio, where he w-as reared and educated and where he learned
in his youth the trade of millwright. He was long identified with the
work of his trade, both as journeyman and contractor, but he finally
purchased a farm in Trumbull county, Ohio, where he passed the last
decade of his long and useful life, his death having occurred .September
17, 1893, and his loved and devoted wife having survived him by less
than two years, as she was summoned to eternal rest on tl^e 27th of
February, 1895. Of the six children four are living: Thomas J., of
this review, having been the first born: A. P., who resides at Jackson-
ville, Florida, gives his attention to timber operations, as the owner and
handler of timber lands in diflferent southern states ; Mrs. Rettie Pritch-
ard resides in Kansas City, Missouri, her husband being engaged in the
real estate business: and Otis J., who resides at East Liverpool, Ohio, is
a railway engineer by vocation. John Elton was a staunch adherent of
the Democratic party and both he and his wife held memljersliip in the
^Methodist Episcopal church. He was a man of unassuming worth of
character and ever commanded the high regard of "those who knew him.
His father, William Elton, wfts a native of England and came to America
as a young man, having become a successful farmer in Ohio, where he
passed the residue of his life. John Elton enlisted in an Ohio regiment
at the time of the Civil war, but his active service was not of great dura-
tion. John Jones, maternal grandfather of him, whose name introduces
this sketch, was a native of \A'ales and, coming to America when a young
man. he settled in Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until his
death.

Thomas J. Elton was afforded the advantages of the public schools
of his native state and thereafter he attended Olierlin College, at Oberlin,
Ohio, for two years. To fortify himself more fully aside from academic
lines he thereafter completed a course in a commercial college in the city
of Cleveland. In 1883, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, Mr.
Elton came to Michigan and entered the employ of the P)Uckley & Doug-
lass Lumber Company, in the capacity of bookkeeper. His initial experi-
ence was thus gained at the time when the great lumber industry of Mich-
igan was at its zenith. It is interesting to note that he has continued to
be identified with this corporation during the long intervening period of
more than thirty years and that his advancement has been the result of
fidelity and distinctive ability. He became assistant secretary of the
company in 1895, and in 1910 was advanced to his present ofiice of secre-

HISTORY OF MlCHIGAiM 1583

tary, besides being a director of the corporation. He has lived continu-
ously at Manistee and has identified himself closely with other local inter-
ests. He is secretary of the Concordia Land & Timber Company and the
]Manistee Land & Timber Company, is a director of the Glengarry
Upholstering Company, and is a stockholder of the Northern Michigan
Transportation Company, operating in the marine transportation of the
Great Lakes. He is a director and secretary of the Triple A Machine
Company, in the city of Chicago, and is the owner of valuable real estate
in ]\,Ianistee, He came to this city as a young man without financial
fortification, and here he has won independence and definite success
through well directed eft'ort.

As a consistent citizen of true puljlic spirit Mr. Elton has taken due
interest in political affairs, and he has ever been a staunch supporter of
the cause of the Democratic party. He was secretary of the board of
water commissioners of Manistee for a period of twelve years and he
is now treasurer of the board of education. The only fraternal organiza-
tion with which he is actively affiliated is the Knights of Pythias.

In March, 1881, ]\Ir. Elton wedded Miss Emma ]\IcMahan, of Green-
ville, Pennsylvania, and she is the popular chatelaine of their attractive
home in Manistee. They have no children.

Frank A. Mitchell. Among the men who have contributed to the
development of Manistee as a city of importance none have rendered
greater service than those who have been connected with its" transporta-
tion facilities, and it is not unusual to find that individuals who have won
public recognition in this line have been called upon to serve the city in
distinguished positions of public trust. As vice-president, secretary and
general traffic manager of the Manistee & Northwestern Railroad Com-
pany, Frank A. Mitchell has demonstrated a high order of executive
ability, and in 1914 was elected mayor of the city under the commission
form of government, city manager plan. While he has been the city's
chief executive for such a short period that it is impossible to form an
adequate opinion of the manner in which the affairs of his administm-
tion will be executed, it is safe to assume, from his past achievements,
that he will prove one of the best mayors that Manistee has had.

Mr. Mitchell was born at Auburn, Maine, October 31, 1855, and is a
son of Asa and Julia (\'osmus) Mitchell, the former being a descendant
of old Norman stock, while the latter is of Dutch ancestry. Asa Mitchell
was born at Yarmouth. Maine, in 181 8, and for many years was engaged
as a civil engineer in the construction of railroads, building roads in
various parts of Kentucky, as well as in New England, where he was
identified with the Grand Trunk Railway in Maine and New Hampshire
and the Boston & ]\Iaine in New Hampshire and Vermont. He devoted
his entire career to work of this nature, became very successful in his
profession, and died in 1884. He was a Republican in his political affilia-
tion, was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and a deacon in the
Baptist church for a number of years. Mrs. Mitchell, who was born at
Auburn, Maine, in 1822, is still living, having reached the remarkable age
of ninety-two years. She has been the mother of four children, of whom
two are still living: Frank A.; and Julia, who is the widow of Mr.
Stevens, recently a farmer of St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

The earlv eckication of Frank A. Mitchell was secured in the public
schools of .St. Johnsbury, Caledonia county, ^'ermont. and subsef|uently
he became a student in the noted Rowdoin College. Brunswick, Maine,
where he took the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts.
While there he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, a society which
admits only the six leading members of the graduating class, and also

1584 HISTORY .OF MICHIGAN

affiliated with the Psi Upsilon Greek letter fraternity. Following his
graduation, Air. Mitchell embarked in the drug business at Bellows Falls,
Vermont, and later went to Glens Falls, New York, but after ten years
spent in that line of business came to the West and for about one year
was engaged in traveling. He came to Manistee in 1878, and here
became purchasing agent for the Buckley & Douglas Lumber Company,
in the following year accepting a like position with the Manistee &
Northeastern Railway Company, with which line he has since been
identified. In 1891 he became general passenger agent of this company,
was made general traffic manager in 1907, and since that time has been
appointed secretary and vice-president. As a railroad man, Mr. Mitchell
has become known throughout Alichigan and is recognized as an o])erat(ir
of superior capacity and ability. He has thoroughly familiarized himself
with all the details of railroad business and management, and has earned
promotion by hard work and thorough honesty, intelligent eiifort and
efficient services. He has made a study of what may be termed "the
science of railroading," has a broad knowledge of the principles govern-
ing the operations of railroads and all the rules and regulations govern-
ing and pertaining to traffic, and is also a man of wide general informa-
tion. He is a director of the Western Michigan Development Bureau
and of the Manistee Board of Trade, and is widely known in social and
club life, being a director of the Business Men's Club and president of
the exclusive Country Club. In every movement that has been made
for the betterment of Manistee in any way he has been a prominent
factor and no enterprise for the public weal is considered complete until
his name is added to its list of supporters and directors. His election to
the mayoralty, under the commission form of government, occurred
April (), ioi.|, and it may be said that he has given evidence of his inten-
tion of ronscicntiouslv living up to every promise made by him in his
speecli of a'ce|)tancc. He has taken an independent stand in politics and
has not allowed himself to be bound down by party ties, but has
endeavored to gather about him men of ability and trustworthiness, who
will be able to bring about favorable innovations and improvements and
to conserve the citizens' best interests.

Mayor Mitchell was married first in 1881, to Miss Anna Flint, of Bel-
lows Falls, Vermont, who died in 1903, leaving one child, Marjorie, who
resifles with her father. He was married in 1905 to Miss Mary W. Lee,
of Toledo. ( )hio. Mayor and Mrs. ■Mitchell are members of the Episcopal
church. He is widely known in fraternal circles and holds prominent
positions in the Masons, the Knights Tem])lar and the Knights of Pythias.

Max E. Ne.m.. (~)f the younger generation of lawyers practicing at
the Manistee bar, none have a brighter future, judging from the past,
than Max E. Neal, who enjoys well-merited recognition and has a large
and representative practice, the splendid character of his abilities giving
everv assurance that the future holds for him a distinguished career in
the line of his profession. Mr. Neal has been located at Manistee since
1905 and since that time has been connected with a number of iiuportant
cases, all tending to demonstrate talents of an unusual ability.

Mr. Neal was born at Lodi, New York, May 9, 1879, and is a son of
John and Helen f Howell) N'eal. natives of the Empire State, where the
former was burn in 1S33 and the latter in 1855. The family originated
in iMigland, from whence came the parents of George Neal, the grand-
father of Max E. Neal, he being a native of New York, where he passed
his life in agricultural pursuits, l)eing known as one of his comnumity's
substantial and highly esteemed citizens. John Neal grew up in the
state of his nativity, early entered upon a successful business career, and

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1585

after some years spent as a successful manufacturer, became a promoter,
gi\-ing of his experience and ability to incipient institutions which he
placed upon the high road to prosperit}'. l'"or years he was connected
with a number of concerns which have since grown to be enterprises of
importance, but at this time is living a retired life, enjoying the well-won
fruits of his former toil. Mr. Neal is a stalwart Republican in politics,
.and in his earlier years held a itumber of local offices in his town in New
York, but does not now allow public matters to tempt him from the
quietude and comfort of his home. He is a member of the Masons, with
which he affiliated himself in his youth, and belongs to the Methodist
Episcopal church, in the work of which he has always taken an inter-
ested part. He was married in New York to Miss Helen Howell, who
also survives and is a faithful member of the Episcopal church. Two
children have been born to them, of whom Max E. survives. Elijah
Howell, the father of Mrs. Neal, was l)orn in New Jersey, where his
parents both belonged to pioneer families, and as a young man moved
to New York, where during the remainder of his life he was identified
with the milling business.

As a lad Max E. Neal attended the public schools, upon completing
the ctirriculum of wliich he took up the study of law, and after some
preparation entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, being
graduated from tha law department with his degree in 1903. .At that
time he began the practice of his profession at Coldwater, Michigan,
where he remained for two years, then coming to Manistee, where he
entered practice in partnership with Hon. John H. Grant, who became
probate judge of Manistee county and also served as regent of the Uni-
versity of Michigan. This association continued as one of the strong
legal combinations of the city until 1909, when the partnership was dis-
solved, and since that time Mr. Xeal has continued in practice alone. Mr.
Neal's professional business is of a general nature and has won him a
substantial reputation. His etTectiveness as a pleatler before the court
and jury is partly responsible for his success, but much of it he also owes
to the persistency with which he follows up any matter entrusted to him
and the devotion which he gives to his clients' interests.

Mr. Neal was married in 1908 to Miss Rolene Root, daughter of E.
R. Root, a successful business man of Coldwater, Michigan, who is secre-
tary and treasurer of the Wolverine Portland Cement Company. Mr.
and Mrs. Neal are consistent members of the Episcopal church. He is a
Republican in his political view-s, Ijut has not cared for public office, his
duties in all the courts demanding his entire time and attention. In addi-
tion to his general practice he is counsel for a number of large corpora-
tions and business industries of Manistee, among them the Manistee
County Savings Bank and the Roman Standard Insurance Companv.

Calvin W. Doe. When the millionaire uncle of Calvin W. Doe
passed away in California and left his nephew a comfortable fortune, he
did not conceive the idea straightway that the town wherein he had lived
and earned his bread for a good many years was no longer suited to his
needs. On the contrary, he has continued to maintain a residence here
and makes the city of Big Rapids his home, giving much of his time and
no littl^ financial aid to the furtherance of the best interests of the city.
He has, since coming into an independent fortune, done much to advance
the commercial prosperity of the city, and prior to that time, he gave a
sturdy allegiance to the city that has so long represented his home, doing
all that one man could do along civic lines, and gaining a reputation for
citizenship that is one of the notable ])oints of interest about the man.
Mr. Doe has served the city as mayor, and in that office proved himself a
capable and efficient leader.

1586 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

A native of Presque Isle, Alaine, Calvin W. Doe was born on Decem-
ber 3, 1846, and is a son of Amzi and Lorana (Wade) Doe. The father
was born in Parsonsfield, Maine, in 1825, and died in 1867, while the
mother was a native of Canada, born in 1835. She died in 1865. In
1842 they were married in Maine and there they spent their lives, subse-
quent to that event. Amzi Doe was a son of Bartlett and ]\Iary (Sand-
burn) Doe, both natives of the New England states, where they spent
their lives as farming people. The father was known widely as Colonel
Doe, because of his activity in the drilling of troops for the War of 1812,
and he was a prominent and popular man in his community.

Lorana (Wade) Doe was a daughter of Loran and Sarah Wade,
natives of Maine, where they lived for years, their entire lives, barring a
short period spent in Canada, being passed in their native .state. The
Doe and Wade families were both of English ancestry, and have long
been established on American soil.

Amzi and Lorana Doe were farming people, as has been stated, and
the father was a progressive and prominent man in his community. A
Repulilican in later life, he was always active in politics, and held a
number of offices in his community at one time or another. He was
progressive in his ideas, and was a stanch abolitionist all his days. He
and his wife were the parents of eight children, six of whom are living
today. Arthur is a resident of Portland, Maine, and is there engaged in
real estate activities. Calvin W. is the second living child. Loran is
engaged in mining in California. Emma married a Mr. Moorhouse. of
California. Nellie married George W. Boone, and lives in Waukesha,
Wisconsin. Lucy is the wife of T. B. Hyde, a preacher of Toronto.

Calvin W. Doe had his education in Maine, completing his training
in the Academy at Presque Isle, Maine. He began active work in a cabi-
net shop and learned the trade of a cabinet maker, being an acknowledged
expert in his line, and he followed the trade for fully twenty-five years.
He came to Big Rapids in 1870, and from that time up to the time in
which he fell heir to a fortune on the death of his uncle. Charles Doe, a
California millionaire, he carried on his cabinet making business. In
1900 he established a iaroom factory, in addition to his other enterprise,
and terminated his manufacturing activities. In 1904 he retired from
business. Today his only business activities are along the line of caring
for his properties, and he makes an occasional deal in real estate, though
he is practicallv and to all intents and purposes, retired from business
life.

In October, 1869, Mr. Doe was married to Miss Edna Hughes, a
Massachusetts girl, and to them were born two children : Edith, who mar-
ried Homer Sly of Petoskey, ^Michigan, and Earl, who is deceased. In
1879 the wife and mother died, and three years later Mr. Doe married
Miss Jennie Campbell, a native of this state. Their children are Edna,
who married Ralph Binner of Big Rapids, proprietor of the 1 '.inner
Machine Works, and Bartlett, who is at home with his parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Doe are members of the Congregational church and he
is fraternally affiliated with the Foresters. He is a Republican, and has
been fairly active in the politics of the city and county, though his only
service of'a ])olitical nature has been that of mayor of the city, to which
office he was elected in 1904 and 1906, serving two terms.

William A. Greesox. As the system of public education has each
year been drawn more intimately into relation to the actual requirements
of life, the responsibilities of the educator have likewise begun to assume
the dignity of the greatest of social professions. Michigan as a state has
always had reason to be proud of its educational institutions, but perhaps

WILLIAM A. GREKSON

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 15S7

nowhere in the state have the schools attained more complete develop-
ment, iiave become more thoroughly "democratized" in meeting the re-
quirements of future citizenship than in Grand Rapids. The public spirit
of the city, the broad and effective work of its civic leaders, deserve great
credit for this result, but Grand Rapids people on the whole are quite
agreed that the lion's share of the achievements is due to William A. Gree-
son, for many years identified with the high school and since 1906 superin-
tendent of all the educational institutions embraced under the municipal
jurisdiction.

William A. Greeson was born at Alto, Indiana, January 30, 1853. His
parents, David and Mary (Hodges) Greeson, now deceased, were natives
of North Carolina, but spent the greater part of their lives upon their
Indiana farm. On reaching the age of six years, William A. Greeson
began attending about three months each winter, the district schools of
his locality, and that part of his education was practically concluded when
he was fourteen. He was in the public schools of Kokomo, and two years
at Howard College. His introduction to the field of education came at
the age of sixteen, and he received unusually high wages for the time,
getting fifty dollars a month. For years he practiced setting his earning
as a teacher against the expenses of continued education. After a time
he entered the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, but stayed
there only a short while, and then entered the University of Indiana at
Bloomington, where he was a student for one terra. At Ann Arbor, Michi-
gan, during one year he took special' studies in the high school, and on
graduating from the high school in Jun6',*i875, entered the University of
Michigan in the arts department. At the end' of one year in college, his
funds again ran low, and he resorted to teaching for five months, then
resuming his studies. In three and, a, hal-fr-years. attendance at University,
Mr. Greeson accomplished the reg«la«^five years' course, graduating with
the degrees of A.B. and M.A.

His career as an educator has been one of continuous advancement to
the larger responsibilities and opportunities of his profession. After a
year and a half as principal of the Flint high school, he first came to
Grand Rapids in 1881 and in June, 1885, became principal of the high
school. Mr. Greeson was executive head of the high school in tliat earlier
period of the city's school system for eleven years.

From Grand Rapids in 1896 he was called to Chicago to take the
office of dean of the Lewis Institute, and the chair of mathematics. That
pleasant and useful work kept him for ten years, and his name is spoken
with the highest' respect by old Lewis Institute men. At the end of that
time he responded to a call that he should return to Grand Rapids and
take charge of the entire city school system, and entered upon his duties
in 1906.

Much has been written in the i)ul.)lic press concerning the Grand
Rapids schools, especially in the evolution of its specialized schools for
vocational work, and those institutions which are properly included under
the jurisdiction of education, but whose special care is for the socially
defective and incompetent, (irand Rapids now has two modern and fully
equipped high schools, together with a junior high school. The high
school faculties number altogether eighty-eight instructors, and the enroll-
ment of pupils in all high schools is 2,104. The total number of teachers
employed in all the schools of the city is 590, and the school enrollment is
17,524. It would take too long to enumerate all the many changes that
have been brought about under Superintendent Greeson's administration.
Among other things the study of the Latin language has been introduced
into the seventh and eighth grades, and it has been found that the younger
pupils take hold of that branch more readily and eft'ectively than the more

1588 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

mature pupils of the high schools. Into the work of the grades have also
been introduced courses of instruction which give girls an opportunity to
take free-hand drawing, sewing, millinery, dress-making, and cooking. ' At
the same time boys are allowed opportunities to acquaint themselves with
drawing, shop-work, printing, and other skilled vocations. In the Union
school all grades are found from the kindergarten to the twelfth. That
building is one of the latest and is completely equipped for industrial work
for both boys and girls. In the Central high school, which is the largest
in the city, having an enrollment of fifteen hundred and twenty-one pupils,
there are the various departments of vocational education, and the work
done at the Central has been of such a character as to attract attention from
educators all over the country. Realizing that education means a prepara-
tion for life. Superintendent Greeson, with the cooperation of a sympa-
thetic school board and many able assistants in the teaching staiif, has been
able to make the Grand Rapids schools models of their kind, and to bring
the system of local education up to the highest standards to be found any-
where in the United States. (Jf other institutions, really educational, but
not usually classed in the group with public schools. Superintendent Gree-
son has charge of the school for the deaf, and that department has made
commendable progress. He has also established three special schools,
(I) in the Detention Home for boys and girls, (2) in the home for delin-
quent girls, and (3) the school for the feeble-minded. Twenty special
teachers give individual instruction to the retarded and backward pupils.
On January 3, 1892, Mr. Greeson married Mrs. Emma Lyon Withey,
widow of Edward Withey, and daughter of T. Hawley Lyon, at one time
proprietor of the leading -hotel in Grand Rapids. Mrs. Greeson died
February 7, 1893. Her two children, by her previous marriage, are:
Marion, wife of Carl N. Adams of Cleveland, Ohio; and Edward L.
Withey, who is married and is connected with the Michigan Trust Com-
pany at Grand Rapids. Mr. Greeson has no affiliations with secret orders,
is well known in educational circles and organizations, is a Republican in
politics, and a member of the Congregational Church. His home is at
37 College Avenue, S. E., and his office in the City Hall.

Howard L. Campbell. In the field of American law and juris-
prudence, individual talent and merit are alone the things that count. In
commercial and industrial lines and in agriculture a man may inherit a
paying enterprise, one that has been founded and developed by his fore-
fathers, so that all he is called upon to do is to continue it. But in the
learned professions, and particularly in the law, the men who gain the
high places, both in position and prosperity, are those who are possessed
of inherent talent and industry, combined with determination and ambi-
tion, and who can direct their energies intelligently along well-defined
channels. Howard L. Campbell is one of the recent acquisitions of the
legal profession in ]\Ianistee county, yet his youth seems to be no bar to
his success, for his rise in his chosen calling has been rapid and consist-
ent, and today he occupies the office of city attorney of Manistee. He
was born in Williamson county. Illinois, January 6, 1889. and is a son
of Cyrus E. and Sarah (Lee) Campbell.

Oliver G. Campbell, the paternal grandfather of Howard L. Camp-
bell, was born in South Carolina, and in 1874 brought his family west
to Illinois, settling on a farm in Williamson county, in the vicinity of
Marion. There he engaged in the live stock business as a dealer, an
occupation to which he devoted himself during the remainder of his life.
Cyrus E. Campbell was born in South Carolina in 1862, and there
received his education in the district schools, being a lad of twelve years
when he accompanied his parents to Illinois. There the public schools

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1589

of Williamson county furnished him with the lialance of his education,
and, having been brought up among livestock on his father's place, it
was but natural that he should adopt that business as his own field of
labor. His operations have been successful because of his good business
ability, industry and enterprise, and in addition to carrying on a general
dealing business in horses and cattle he owns a large sales barn at Marion.
^Ir. Campbell is known as one of that city's substantial men, and has
been foremost among those who have aided the city in its development.
Politically a Democrat, he has not been an office seeker, but has at all
times shown his willingness to bear his share of the responsibilities of
public service and citizenship. Mr. Campbell is a member of the Metho-
dist Episcopal church, with which he united in young manhood. He was
married in Marion to Miss Sarah Lee, who was born in Williamson
county, Illinois, in 1869, daughter of William J. Lee, who was born in
South Carolina, moved to ^Villianlson county. Illinois, in voung man-
hood, and was there engaged in agricultural i)in"suits throughout a long
and active career. Mrs. Campbell died October 8, 1913, at Marion, in
the faith of the Presbyterian church, having been the mother of five
children, as follows: Clara, Howard L., Lora, Fannie and John, all of
whom are still single.

Howard L. Campbell received his earlv education in the i)ublic
schools of Marion, and there grew to sturdy young manhood. He was
graduated from the Marion High school in 1907, and instead of taking
up the business which his father and grandfather had followed, turned
his attention to the law, for which he had always shown a decided pre-
dilection. Fntering the L'niversity of \'aliiaraiso, at \'alparaiso, Indiana,
he was graduated from the law school of that institution in 191 1, and at
that time began the practice of his chosen calling in the city of Chicago.
l'"i\'e months later an attractive opportunitv presented itself at Manistee
and .Mr. Campbell came to this city, where his efforts were almost imme-
diately rewarded by a full measure of success. It is seldom that a young
attorney, practically entering practice, achieves instant recognition such
as has been given to Mr. Campbell, but it is also true that every young
legist is not so well e(|uipped, either by education or natural talent, as he.
His general practice has grown to large proportions, and at this time he
has on his books the names of some of the leading companies and indi-
viduals in this part of the state. A Democrat in political matters, he has
always shown a keen interest in public matters, and has been honored
by election to positions of public trust and responsibility. For several
years he served in the capacity of Circuit Court Commissioner of
Manistee county, and in April, 1913, became the successful candidate of
his party for the office of city attorney. He has conscientiously devoted
himself to the duties of his office, in the discharge of which he has
gained the confidence and commendation of the people.

Mr. Camiibel! is single. He is interested in fraternal matters, being
a member of Lodge No. 250, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
the Masons, and Lodge No. 99, Knights of Pythias, in all of which, he
has many friends.

Hexrv P.etirexdt. When, on Mav 5, 1914, President Wilson
appointed Henry Pehrendt, of I^nsing. United States marshal for the
Eastern District of Michigan, appreciation was given to the career of
one whose public services had e.xtended over a period dating from the
time of the Spanish-American War.- Mr. Behrendt had achieved country-
wide reputation as a police officer, principally as chief of the Lansing
department, and his appointment to his present position of responsibility
came as no surprise to those familiar with the high character of his
abilities.

1590 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Henry Behrendt was burn in the city of Detroit, Michigan, Alay 31,
1869, and is a son of David and Tenna (Berger) Behrendt. His father
was born near Berlin, Germany, in November, 1839, and came to the
United States in 1864, while the mother was born in that city in 1842,
and came to America a short time after Air. Behrendt's arrival. They
were married in New York City, and resided there for a time, subse-
quently removing to St. Louis, Missouri, and after a year or more to
Detroit, coming from the latter city to Lansing in 1876. Here the
mother died in iyo_|. while the father still survives and makes his home
in Lansing. A cigarmaker by trade, he worked at that vocation in New
York, St. Louis and Detroit, and then entered business on his own
account as a manufacturer, continuing thus engaged for forty vears.
He is now living practically retired from the activities of life. Nine
children were born to David and Tenna Behrendt, of whom two sons
and two daughters are living.

Henry Behrendt was a lad of seven years at the time the family came
to Lansing, and here his education was secured in the public graded and
high schools. As a youth he learned the trade of cigarmaker, under his
father's tutelage, and worked at that vocation with the elder man until
the outbreak of the late trouble between the United States and Spain. At
that time Mr. Behrendt enlisted in Company E, Thirty-first Regiment,
Michigan \'olunteer Infantry, an organization with which he continued
to serve, with an excellent record, until the cessation of hostilities. Soon
after his return to Lansing, Mr. Behrendt was elected police constable of
the city, in which capacity he served for two terms, and was then
ajjpointed chief deputy sherilif of Ingham county, holding that office for
four years. During this time, in 1904, he was the candidate of his party
for the office of sheritT of Ingham county, but met with defeat at the
polls. In July. 1906, Mr. Behrendt was appointed chief of police of
Lansing, an office which he held continuously until he resigned to assume
the duties of his present high position. At the time Mr. Behrendt took
charge of the Lansing police, the department was in a deplorable condi-
tion, thoroughly disorganized and demoralized. Settling down to bring
about the reorganization of the department and to bring it to an up-to-
date condition of efficiency, Chief Behrendt demonstrated a marked
administrative ability, and instilled a new spirit of earnestness and
reform into the service. In an incredibly short time he had the depart-
ment working smoothly and capably, its members performing their duties
efficiently and conscientiously. Air. Behrendt's reputation during his
incumbency of this position spread rapidly all over the country, and
eventually led to his appointment, by President Wilsbn, Alay 5, 1914. to
the office of United States marshal of the Eastern District of Michigan,
with official headquarters at Detroit, and residence at Lansing. Mr.
Behrendt has continually strengthened his reputation as an officer, and
upon the occasion of unusual disturbance of the public peace and in the
unraveling of complicated mysteries, his coolness and bravery as ar.
officer and his skill as a detective have been in high demand.

Marshal Behrendt has been prominent in Democratic politics for
many years, and for two years was chairman of the Democratic City
Committee of Lansing. He is a member of the Masonic. Odd Fellow.
Knights of Pythias and Elks fraternities, of the Royal Arcanum and of
the Arbeiters Society. For years he was a member of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police, attended all of the annual conventions
of the association, and read several papers before these bodies upon the
subjects of the causes of vice and the building up of efficient police forces.

In iS()i .Mr. Behrendt was ni.-irried U> Miss Lena .Mien, who was
l):irn in Lansing, the daughter of (i. I'.. -Mien, a well-known carpenter.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1591

Mr. and Mrs. Behrendt have one daughter: Una Esther, who was born
July 1 8, 1896.

William D. Hopkinson. 'An influential business man and citizen of
Big Rapids, William D. Hopkinson has a long and varied relationship
with his home city and with Mecosta county. He was county superin-
tendent of schools for a time when the public schools needed the services
of an organizer and a man of his zeal and ability. He also gave service
to the county for a number of years in the office of register of deeds.
Since locating in the county he has been almost continuously identified
with public affairs. At the present time he conducts a large insurance,
real estate business, and is also administrator and guardian for several
estates. He is a director of the Big Rapids Electric Power Company, a
director in the Building & Loan Association, and is the owner of farming
property in the vicinity. All these things indicate substantial prosperity,
and Mr. Hopkinson has well earned all he has, having started out in
life a poor boy.

William D. Hopkinson was born in Dutchess county, New York,
March 14, 1849, a son of William A. and Phoebe (Dutcher) Hopkinson.
Grandfather Francis Hopkinson was born in the state of Vermont, a son
of Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers of the declaration of inde-
pendence. The Big Rapids citizen is directly related with the same
family to which V. Hopkinson-Smith belonged, the noted novelist,
painter, and litterateur. The maternal grandfather, Simeon, Dutcher,
was one of the early settlers in Rensselaer county. New York, but moved
west in 1856, settled on a farm in Mecosta county, Michigan, and com-
bined farming with preaching as a minister of the Methodist church.

He served as a soldier in the war of 181 2, and thereafter drew a
pension for his service. William A. Hopkinson, father of the Big
Rapids business man. was born in \'ermont in 1808 and "died in i860. His
wife was born in Mohawk, New York, in 1816, and died in November,
1893. The father was a surveyor and civil engineer by profession,
assisted in the federal survey in Michigan, and died while in the employ-
ment of the United .States government. He was a Democrat in politics,
was affiliated with the Masonic Order, and his wife belonged to the
Methodist Episcopal church. They had foin- children ; one of these is
Benjamin A., who adopted the- profession of chef and is with one of the
big hotels in Ohio.

After a preliminary education in the i)uljlic schools, he was a student
in his native city of I'oughkeepsie, New York. He then started life as a
teacher, and was identified with that profession for fifteen years. He
served as county superintendent in Alecosta county, and at the same time
increased his income by clerking in stores. In 1902 ]\Ir. Hopkinson was
elected register of deeds and held that office by successive re-election for
ten years. In the meantime he served on the city council and was mayor
of Big Rapids in 1912, refusing another nomination. At the present time
he holds the office of city assessor.

In 1873, Mr. Hopkinson married ]\lary Dodge, daughter of Luther
Dodge of Mecosta county, a prominent lumberman in this section of the
state. Mr. and Mrs. Hopkinson have two children : Luther W., who is
agent for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad at Big Rapids, and
Francis Leslie, who graduated from the high school in 1912 and is now
a student in the University of Michigan. The family worship in the
Methodist Episcopal church and Mr. Hopkinson is affiliated with the
Masonic Order, being past master of his lodge and past high priest of the
Royal Arch Chapter. He is one of the local leaders in the RepuliHcan
party and is a member of the State Central Committee.

1592 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

RovAL A. IIawley. During a period of more than tliirty years'
practice as a lawyer in Michigan, the home and activities of Mr. Hawley
have been centered at Ionia, where his accompHshments and skill in the
law have given him leading rank as an attorney, and where he has also
enjoyed the distinction of public honors and responsibilities. He comes
of good family stock and both his father and grandfather were substantial
and useftd citizens of Ionia county.

Royal A. Hawley was born March 21, 1857, in King township of
Ionia county, a son of Willard and Caroline L. (Marble) Hawley. The
paternal grandparents were Harvey and Elizabeth (Likens) Hawdey, the
former a pioneer farmer who came to this state from Canada. The grand-
father died in May, 189 1, and his wife in December, 1890. The grand-
father was a Democrat in politics, but that political affiliation has not
been characteristic of either his son or his grandson. Willard Hawdey
was reared in Canada, educated at Brantford, Ontario, and on coming
to Michigan in 1852 settled on a farm in Keene township of Ionia
county, and gained his business success through agriculture. As a Re-
puldican he was very active, was honored with the office of supervisor
and was elected and served for two terms in the State Legislature, dying
while still a member, of the Assembly in igoi. He was married in Novem-
ber, 1855, and his 'wi'fe passed away February 14, 191 1. Their five
children were: Royai' A., Gilbert- 'P., Florence H. Dutt, Grace H.
Murphy and Willard E.

Royal A. Hawley is a product of Ionia county farm and acquired
his education in that county. In June, 1876, he was graduated from the
Ionia High School, and during 1878-79 pursued his studies in the literary
department of the UniA^ersity of. Michigan, then studied law, and was
admitted to the bar in 1880. His career as a lawyer covers thirty-four
years, and for the first ten years he was in practice at Saranac, but in
April, 1 81/), returned to his early home at Ionia, and for a long time
has been considered one of the leading lawyers of the county bar. A
Re]niblican, he served four years as Circuit Court commissioner and a
similar period as prosecuting attorney of Ionia county. Mr. Hawdey is
a past master of the Masonic Lodge at Saranac, and also belongs to the
Royal Arcanum.

On November 7, 1881, Mr. Hawley married Rernice A. Cromb. She
died February 25, 191 1. On August 4, 1912, he married Lila R. Pittman,
who passed away November 4, 1913.

Li;a\itt S. Griswold, M. D. I'or mure than thirty years Dr. Gris-
wold has practiced medicine and surgery at Dig Rapids, and in this time
many of the better distinctions that come to the physicians and surgeons
have been his, and his success has been in pro])ortion to the length of his
services. He has enjoyed an enviable reputation, especially in surgery,
and is often called into consultation. He has had a prominent place in
business, political and fraternal circles. Dr. Griswold was born in Trum-
bull county, Ohio, January 3, 1853. His parents were Jesse and EUenor
T. (McWilliams) Griswold. His father was born in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, in 1800 and died in 1872. and the mother was born in Ire-
land in 1819 and diet] in 1868. They were married in Trumbull county,
Ohio. The father was a farmer and stonemason by trade, and in later
years moved out to Gardner, Illinois, where he died. He was a Baptist
in religion, a Republican, while his wife belonged to the Methodist
church. He was twice married, and Dr. Griswold was the youngest of
the three children by the second wife, the others being: M. O. Griswold,
an attorney at Greenville, Michigan; and Susanna J., the wife of George
W. Elliott, a farmer at Gardner, Illinois.

THE KIW TORK

OVy^CUJx^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1593

Dr. Griswold grew up in Ohio, attended country school at Mecca in
that state, and in 1874 was graduated from the Greenville high school.
Soon afterwards he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, and re-
ceived his medical degree from that institution in 1879. After he was
through taking his college course he first located for practice at Sand
Lake, Michigan, and in 1881 moved from there to Big Rapids. Dr.
Griswold does a general practice, gives much of his time to surgery, and
is and has been for twenty years surgeon to the Grand Rapids & Indiana
Railway, and for a number of years held the same post with the Pere
Marquette Railway. In 1879 occurred the marriage of Dr. Griswold with
]\Iartha A. Liston. The two children of that marriage are: Carl C, who
is in the merchandise business at Xew York City ; and Roe O.. who is an
electrician at Portland, Oregon. In 1903 Dr. Griswold married Alice
Scott, who formerly lived at St. Joseph, ]\Iichigan. The doctor and
wife worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has been socially
prominent in the Masonic Order. His affiliations are with the Lodge,
the Chapter and Commandery. He has passed all the chairs in the lodge,
and was made a Knight Templar on one PViday. and the following P'ri-
day night w'as elected eminent commander, while absent on professional
duties. He held the post of commander for three years, and then after
a three-years intermission was again elected and served three years more.
The doctor had been past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and also
affiliates with the Elks. In politics he is a Democrat, and in 1895, was
elected mayor of Big Rapids, and gave a thorough administration of the
city's affairs. Dr. Griswold was a member of the County and State
Medical Society, and at this writing is serving as president of the County
Society, being also identified with the American Association.

J.-\MEs Nelson D.wis. One of the few living who has witnessed the
entire growth and development of the city of Grand Rapids is James
Nelson Davis, a pioneer, a veteran of the great war between the North
and South, one of the early printers and newspaper men of Grand Rapids,
long identified with the official affairs of the community, and a man whose
life has always been lived in accordance with the strictest principles of
honor and integrity.

Born in the Town of Wilson, Niagara county. New York, January
18, 1830, James N. Davis belongs to an old American stock, and one w-hich
has been liberally represented in the pioneer stages of western settlement
and advancement. He is a lineal descendant from Robert Davis, who
was one of the original settlers on Cape Cod. His birth occurred in Eng-
land in 160Q, and at Yarmouth, Massachusetts, he was recorded in 1643 ^^
one of the men able to bear arms. His death occurred in 1693. Next in
line of descent was his son, Joseph Davis, wdio settled in Barnstable, Mas-
sachusetts, and died there August 10, 1735. Gershom Davis, a son of
Joseph, married Mary Hinkley, and so far as known they spent all their
lives in Cape Cod. Next in line came Samuel Davis, who emigrated to
the State of Maine, and located in what is now the town of Gorham. Their
settlement there was previous to the Revolutionary war, and he spent his
last years in that locality. He married Mary Gorham, and they were the
parents of Ebenezer Davis, the grandfather of James N. Davis. Ebenezer
was born in 17(^5, and on February 18. 1790. married Mary Paine. Ebe-
nezer seemed to have inherited a desire for pioneer life, and early in his
career moved out to western New York at a time when that portion of
the state was a wilderness, and was one of the first settlers at the locality
known as Wilson in Niagara county. There he bought land and improved
a farm, and with his wife had his residence upon it until their death.

Ebenezer Davis, father of James N. Davis, was reared in western

1594 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

New York on a farm, and engaged in tilling the soil at Wilson until 1836.
Then the pioneer lust afflicted him also, and selling out his possessions and
accompanied by his family he came out to Michigan territory. He drove
a wagon and team to Lockport, there embarked upon a canal boat on the
Erie canal, went to BuiTalo, and took passage on the steamboat United
States, which was the second steamer which plied on the waters of Lake
Erie. That boat landed the family at Detroit, and from there he droven
an ox team through the woods and over the unliroken wilderness to west-
ern ^Michigan, finally arriving at Grand Rapids, which was then only a
hamlet. He located on the west side of the river, where he bought sixty
acres of land, every foot of which is now either covered with buildings or
with streets. All the sixty acres are within the city limits, and the north
boundary of this original farm is Leonard street. Many years ago the
land was platted, streets and avenues have checkerboarded its area, and
on every lot now stands a house. On settling there the father began im-
proving the property and engaged in general farming. He has his pasture
for his cattle, and grew crops of corn and potatoes on land where are now
located a dense population of city dwellers. A few years after his settle-
ment there he built a lime kiln, and burned great quantities of lime used
in building construction in early (irand Rapids. In 1850 he sold out his
land and moved to Granville, buying a farm and considerable tracts of tim-
ber land. There he continued farming and in the lumber business until his
death in his ninety-second year. His wife was Eliza Baker, who was born
in 1806 at St. Albans, Vermont, and came from Pilgrim ancestors. Her
father, Charles Baker, moved from \'ermont to Niagara county, New
York, and bought land in the ^^'ilson community, thus becoming neighbors
of the Davis family. The mother died about six years before her husband,
and she reared eight children, namely: Reuben E., Almira M., James
Nelson, Jerome G., Horace W., Lucy J., Emeline B., and Eliza S.

lames Nelson Davis was in his seventh year when the family emigrated
from western New York to Grand Rapids. He was old enough to take
note of most of the incidents which befell the party on their journey, and
has a keen recollection of all the earliest scenes through which he passed
on his way to this pioneer country. Grand Rapids was then a frontier
town, far from railroads, and the only means of transportation in the dead
of winter was bv stage coach. Indians still lived in numbers in this part
of the state, and while he was growing up Indian boys were frequently
his playmates. The first school he attended was in a building originally
erected by Baptist missionaries for the education of Indian children, and
Indian boys and girls were his fellow students in that school.

When he was seventeen years old Mr. Davis entered the office of the
Grand River Eagle, now conducted under the better known name of the
Grand Rapids Eagle. That was an old-time newspaper ofifice, with a hand
press and all the type was set from the case by hand. He learned the art
of printing in its every detail, and remained with the paper as a printer,
news gatherer, and in other capacities imtil the breaking out of the war.
In December, 1863, Mr. Davis enlisted in Company B of the Twenty-first
regiment of Michigan Infantry. He joined the command at Chattanooga,
Tennessee, was appointed sergeant of Company B, and was assigned to
the quartermaster's department. He continued with his regiment until
the close of the war, and on receiving his honorable discharge returned to
Grand Rapids and once more was employed by the Eagle. Later he
bought an interest in the Grand Rapids Democrat, and for two years was
one of the publishers of that well known journal.

Much of Mr. Davis' time has been taken up with official duties. For
nineteen years he served as supervisor of the eighth w-ard, and for six
years was a menilier of the board of public works and has also been a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1595

member of the board of aldermen. He is now living retired from active
life, and in his earlier years acquired sufficient prosperity to enable him to
pass his declining days in comfort and contentment. In 1892 he invested
some money in land at Daytona, Florida, where he has since spent his
winters. He has a fine orange grove and raises much other tropical fruits.
In his twenty-first year -Mr. Davis married Sarah A. Nichols. She
was born at Houghton Center in Canada, a daughter of Henry and Mary
(Smith) Nichols, natives respectively of England and New York state.
Mrs. Davis died April 21, 19 10. They reared one son, Charles E. Davis,
now a resident of Grand Rapids. Charles E. Davis married Wilhelmina
Bancroft, and they have one daughter, Nellie Emma, wife of Clarence E.
Fuller of New York city„ Mr. Davis, on account of his Civil War record,
affiliates with Custer Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and also
belongs to Valley City Lodge, F. & A. M., of which he has been a mem-
ber fifty years and is now an emeritus member, and also belongs to Grand
Rapids'Chaptcr, R. A. M.

Harry I. Drescher. A former mayor of Big Rapids, and now serv-
ing as probate judge of Mecosta county, Mr. Drescher has for a number
of years successfully combined business with politics, and is one of the
leading Republicans in his section of INIichigan. His business record is
that of a man who started out with little capital, and who by careful
attention to his vocation has won a commendable success.

Harry I. Drescher was born in Centerville, the county seat of St.
Joseph county, Michigan, March 27, 1870. His parents were Daniel and
Martha ( Rittenhouse) Drescher. Both families were originally of Penn-
sylvania. Grandfather Miles Rittenhouse was a prominent man in
Philadelphia, and the Rittenhouse Square, a well known feature of the
city was named for the same family. Daniel Drescher was born in Sny-
der county, Pennsylvania, in 1832, and died in 1912. His wife was born
in Philadelphia, C)ctober 2, 1833, and they were married in their native
state in 1852. About 1854 they came west and settled near Centerville
in .St. Joseph county, on a farm. Daniel Drescher was a man of consid-
erable enterprise, and finally traded his farm for a wagon factory in
Centerville, and for many years conducted that as an important local in-
dustry. He was a Republican in politics, and a man who performed his
part with regard to public affairs, chiefly through his diligent attention to
private business, and his kindly interest in his neighbors. His wife
belonged to the Methodist church. They reared a family of four chil-
dren : Miles R. is agent for the Pere Marquette Railway at Petoskey ;
William E. was for many years connected with the Michigan Central
Railway service, and some years ago paid fourteen thousand dollars for
a flat building in Detroit, where he now has his home ; Charles N. is a
stock farmer in Indiana. Judge Drescher, the youngest of the family,
was educated in the common schools at Centerville, and began his career
as a telegrapher in the employ of the Michigan Central Railroad. Sta-
tioned at different points he followed that vocation for seven years, and
for two and a half years was employed bv the Michigan Central in Chi-
cago. At Centerville, he had learned the business of undertaking, and in
i8q8 came to Big Rapids, where after two and a half years he bought
John Wiseman's undertaking establishment. He acr|uircd the business
largely on credit, and in a few years was sole owner and now has a very
prosperous business.

On June ,30, 1903, Judge Drescher married Miss Clara I. Bennett,
daughter of Thomas T. Bennett, of -Newaygo, Michigan. Mr.s. Drescher
was a teacher in the Big Rapids schools before her marriage. They are
the jiarents of one child, Leona, now in school. Mrs. Drescher is a mem-

1596 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ber of the Episcopal church. Judge Drescher takes a prominent part in
fraternal affairs. He is past exalted ruler of the Elks lodge Xo. 974. is
affiliated with Lodge Xo. 171, A. F. & A. M., with the Royal Arch Chap-
ter Xo. 42, the Knights Templar Commandery No. 23, with Saladin
Temple of the Mystic Shrine, and is past worthy patron of the Eastern
Star. Also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the Subordinate and En-
campment Degrees of Odd Fellowship, with the Modern W'oodmen of
America, the Kniglits of IMaccabees, the Modern Romans, and the Royal
Neighljors.

He has always taken more or less interest in Rc;)uljlican politics, and
served as mayor of Ilig Rapids for two terms. In the campaign of 1912
he was elected judge of probate, for Mecosta county, and now gives a
large proportion of his time to the responsibilities and duties of that
office.

Chester E. Morris. A young attorney who has entered upon prac-
tice with youth, ambition and energy, together with a broad sense of
responsibility, and who has flattering prospects of usefulness before
him, is Chester E. Morris, of White Cloud.

Mr. Morris was born in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, September 11,
1889, a son of George W. and Lucy (Brown) Morris. His father was
born in the State of Iowa, in 1864, and died in 1S96. By trade he was
a carriage maker, and was a Democrat in politics, and a member of the
Woodmen of the World. The mother, who was born in Kalamazoo
county, in 1863, died in 1914. She was a daughter of George F. Brown,
who was born in New York City, and came to Michigan and settled on a
farm in Kalamazoo county in 1854. There were two children, and the
daughter, Maude, is the wife of H. W. Shannon, a traveling salesman liv-
ing at Davenport, Iowa.

Chester E. Morris graduated from the Kalamazoo High School in
1908, and at once entered the Detroit College of Law, where he gradu-
ated and took his degree of LL. B. in 1912. After one year of experience
in Detroit, he located at White Cloud on June 15, 1913, and began his
career in partnershi]) with Fred W. Riblet. Mr. Morris is a Republican
in politics and is one of the better known of the younger men in the
law and in affairs.

Enw.vRD Dresser. One of the most popular citizens of ]\Iecosta
county is the present county clerk, Edward Dresser, who has lived at
Big Rapids and vicinity most of his life, and by his capable citizenship
and industry has made himself a valued factor in local affairs. Edward
Dresser was born in Ottawa county, Michigan, December ii. 187''). a son
of Sylvester and Mattie (Bogue) Dresser. Both parents are still living,
the father a native of Muskegon county and the mother of Ottawa
comity. Grandfather Charles Dresser was a native of \'crmont. a state
which furnished a large proportion of the early Micliigan lumbermen.
He was one of the pioneers along the Muskegon River, going there at a
time when almost the only inhabitants aside from the Indians were
hunters and trappers and a few lumbermen. He followed the woods for
nearly all the active years of his life. The maternal grandfather, Mathew
Bogue was an early settler in Ottawa county, but subsequently moved
out t(j ( )k!ahoma where he died. Sylvester spent many years as a lum-
berman and mill operator. He ac(|uired five hundred and twenty acres
of timberland in Mecosta county, and gradually sold oft' the timber and
finally the land for farming [)uriioses. He is still owner of a higlily
imj)roved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Mecosta county, and
lived on th;it estate, being a gener.al farmer. He and his wife were mar-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1597

ried in 1876, and had two children, Edward being the first, and his sister
Effie is now the wife of B. F. Reed, of Cadillac. Sylvester Dresser is a
Republican in politics, and has held several minor township offices.

Edward Dresser grew up in Mecosta county, had a common school
education, and was also a student in Ferris Institute. His first regular
work was as a sawmill hand, and subsequently he bought a farm to which
he devoted his time and energy, until called to the county seat by his
present official duties. A Republican in politics, he has interested himself
in party afl:'airs, and in all public matters from an early age, and has
served as supervisor and township clerk. He was on the Republican
ticket in 1912, as candidate for clerk of the county, and received a
plurality of the votes for that office. Fraternally he is affiliated with the
Masonic Order. Mr. Dresser was married July 28, 1897, to Elma
Halpine, a daughter of John and Nettie Halpine of Mecosta county.

Dr. Clyde F. Karshner, specialist in treatment of diseases of the
eye, ear, nose and throat, has been engaged in the general practice of
medicine here since 1910, and since April, 1913, has been associated in his
work with Dr. W. T. Dodge. He is one of the younger medical men of
the city, but his success thus far has been excellent, with promise of a
wide future practice and a high place in his profession. Dr. Karshner
was born in Seneca county, Ohio, on January 12, 1879, and is a son of
Charles F. and Cora F. ( Smith ) Karshner, both of them born in Seneca
county, in the years 1856 and 1855 respectively, and both of them are yet
living. They were married in 1876.

Charles F. Karshner has been a successful man in his life-work, which
has been that of a carriage maker. He carried on that trade in Ohio
for years and in 1880 came to Michigan, settling in Big Rapids. He
was for a time associated with the Big Rapids Wagon Company, and he
has since been engaged in the manufacture of a spring seat after a patent
of his own, which is meeting with a wide sale. He is a son of George
and Mercy (Smith) Karshner, natives of Ohio, the former a successful
mill and lumberman of the state for a good many years. The maternal
grandparents of Dr. Karshner were Theodore and Elizabeth D.
(Buchtel) Smith, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania in an early day
and settled in Republic. Mr. Smith was a shoemaker by trade, and
became prominent and well-to-do in his community in Ohio. He was a
leader in politics in his district and held a number of state offices from time
to time. He served as assistant warden of the state prison for some time,
and served four years in the Civil War as a member of the Forty-ninth
Ohio, with the rank of lieutenant. He was seriously wounded at Pitts-
burg Landing and was sent home several times on sick leave. A Repub-
lican in politics, he was prominent in his section, and was a member of the
G. A. R. and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

The children of Charles and Cora (Smith) Karshner were two in
number, — Clyde F. of this review, and Rolla G., now a student in the
medical department at Ann Arbor.

Dr. Karshner was educated in Big Rapids and when he had finished
the high school in 1895 he entered the University of Michigan where
he continued for one year. When the Spanish-American war broke
out he entered the service, and was active in his regiment in Cuba until
1898. They saw service near Santiago, and his regiment served as a
support to the Twenty-fourth Infantry at San Juan Hill. After the
war he returned home and for a time was engaged as a teacher in the
Big Rapids High School. He then kept books for Hood & Wright of this
city for about three years, and at the end of that time again entered the
University of Michigan, bent upon continuing his college work. He was

Tol. in— 25

1598 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

graduated A. B. in 1905 and M. D. in 1908, after which he went to
Brainard, Minnesota, and for six months was engaged in practice there
in the Northern Pacific Hospital. IHness for the period of a year caused
his retirement from practice then, and when he was able to return to
work he took up his practice in Iowa, continuing there for a year. In
1910 he located in Big Rapids, and continued alone until April, 1913,
when he became associated with Dr. W. T. Dodge, and they have since
been affiliated in their work together.

In September, 1910, Dr. Karshner was married to Mary E. Hedden,
the daughter of Joseph Hedden, of Bala, Pennsylvania. He was a
farmer, now retired from work.

Dr. Karshner is one of the busiest men in his community today, for
with his practice he combines a live and healthy interest in civic atfairs
in the city. As president of the Board of Education he has shown
himself well qualified for service there. He is a Mason and a Pythian
Knight, and it is worthy of mention that already he has spent two sum-
mers in post graduate work,^one in Boston and one in Philadelphia.
It is believed, and with excellent reason, that Dr. Karshner will make a
lasting name for himself in his branch of the profession to which h«
is devoted, his advancement thus far being of an order to amply support
that assumption.

" " ,, »: '-'^ -'■ ' \

Albin Johnson. The 'present county treasurer of Mecosta county
has the distinction of being ihe youngest man chosen in the general
election of 1912 to that important and responsible office in the state of
Michigan. At the time of his election, Mr. Johnson had recently cele-
brated his twenty-fifth birthday. He has been active in politics, and has
held office since he became of age, and is regarded as a young man of
exceptional ability and one of the most popular citizens of Mecosta
county.

Albin Johnson was born in Big Rapids township of that county,
September 5, 1887, a son of Andrew and Eva (Peterson) Johnson, both
of whom were natives of Sweden, where the respective grandparents
spent all their lives. Andrew Johnson was born in 1849 and his wife in
185 1, and they now live in Big Rapids. They came to America in 1871,
and in the same year were married in New York. Moving to Connecti-
cut, Andrew Johnson learned and follows the moulders' trade in that
state until 1876, when he went west and spent a short time in Wisconsin,
and in 1887 located in Big Rapids, Michigan. He moved to a farm in
1884 and was successfully identified with local agriculture until the spring
of 1913. He still owns a well improved and valuable country estate of
eighty-eight acres. They are the parents of seven children, five of whom
are living, Albin Johnson being the fifth in order of liirth. The others
are mentioned as follows : Enuna C, wife of C. D. Bergman, and living
in Mount Vernon, Washington; Anna, wife of John Nelson, of Green-
ville, Michigan; Charles, whose home is in Big Rapids; and Arthur B.,
a stenographer at Ionia, Michigan.

Albin Johnson grew up on a farm in Mecosta county, attended the
district schools and also the city public schools, and finished his education
with a business course in the International Correspondence Schools. His
working career has always identified him with agricultural afifairs, and it
was through his active relations with the rural community that he ac-
quired his large acf|uaintance and demonstrated his capabilities in the
management of public matters. In politics, a Republican, he manifested
an active interest in party af¥airs before reaching his majority, and at
the age of twenty-one was elected clerk of his township. Mr. Johnson
took a prominent part in the organization of the fraternal society of

<^l^

^^'•'.Vb-^/'.-o

1

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1599

Gleaners, in Mecosta county, and in that way acquired a large acquaint-
ance. He was also prominent in farmers institute work, and served two
years as secretary of the Mecosta County Institute. For three years he
was a member of the Michigan National Guards. In November, 1912,
came his election to the office of county treasurer, by a good majority,
though he had a close contest in the primaries.

In igo8 Mr. Johnson married Amelia Schroeder, a daughter of Emil
Schroeder, a native of Germany, who was identified with the building
trade in New York City for twenty-three years, and had his home in
Mecosta county for nine years. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are the parents
of two children : Emma A., and Andrew E. Mrs. Johnson is a member
of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Johnson's fraternal affiliations are
with the Order of Gleaners, the Knights of Pythias, and the A. F. & A. M.

E.\RL F. Phelps. Kent county has never had a more vigorous and
effective prosecuting attorney than Earl F. Phelps, who has held that
office since early in 1913. Mr. Phelps has shown an iron determination to
prosecute criminal offenses against the state and community, and the rec-
ords of his office show a long list of successful prosecutions, the influ-
ence of which has been felt in a more salutary public conscience and in a
notable decrease in crime. His work in prosecuting the murder of the
Thompsons at Grand Rapids in September, 1913. has attracted attention
outside of Grand Rapids and Kent county, and his handling of that case
shows the intrepid and vigorous character of the man.

Earl F. Phelps comes from a family of lawyers, both his father and
grandfather having practiced as attorneys, and many others of the name
having been identified with the profession at dift'erent times. Mr. Phelps
was born at Triangle, New York, October 4, 1875, a son of Joseph J., a
grandson of Fred Phelps, and a great-grandson of Joseph Phelps. The
last named was a native of Ne_w York and a cabinet maker by trade. Fred
Phelps, also born in New York, spent all his life there, and was an active
attorney at Elmira. Joseph J. Phelps was born in New York in 1841, and
is still living, being now retired after a successful professional and busi-
ness career. He saw service for three and a half years during the Civil
war, having entered the Union army when he attained his majority, and
afterwards returned to New York and took up the practice of law. After
a few years in that profession, he turned his attention to the ministry of
the Baptist church, and was devoted to that profession in New York and
in Michigan, until 1898. In the latter year he engaged in the banking
business in Montcalm county, and continued active as a banker until 1910,
since which time he has lived retired at Stanton. He has lived a long and
useful life, and at the same time has prospered in a financial way. He
was married in 1864 to Miss Frances E. Angle, who was born in New York
State in 1844, ^ daughter of Israel Angle, a New York State farmer. They
were the parents of four children, three of whom are living: Lula, the
wife of Dr. Bentley, a practicing physician in Stanton ; Earl F. ; and
Floyd A., who is connected with the Ohio Dairy Company at Toledo. The
father is a member of the Baptist church, a Republican in politics, and in
1894 served as adjutant general of the Grand Army of the Republic, in
the Michigan department.

Earl F. Phelps was reared chiefly in Michigan, was educated in the
public schools and graduated LL. B. from the University of Michigan in
1899. When he came here he began practice at Howard City, and con-
tinued there in private practice until elected prosecuting attorney of Mont-
calm county in 1906. He then moved to Stanton, and after more than
two years of service resigned during his second term. In 1909 Mr. Phelps
located in Grand Rapids, and became a partner in practice with M. L.

1600 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Dunham. They were partners until January, 19 12, when Mr. Phelps with-
drew to accept the appointment as prosecuting attorney of Kent county.
In the fall of the same year he was elected to the office and now devotes
practically all his time to its duties.

On June 19, 1903, occurred the marriage of Mr. Phelps to Miss Grace
O'Donnell of Howard City, a daughter of Richard H. O'Donnell, a promi-
nent citizen and banker of Howard City. They have one child, Alarion,
now in school. Mr. Phelps affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and is a Consistory Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner. A
Republican, he has been active since reaching his majority, and has done
much valuable work to promote party success.

William T. Junes. Among the Big Rapids men who have achieved
success in their chosen field of activity the name of William T. Jones
stands out boldly, and in writing of those men who have promoted the
commercial and industrial prosperity of the city failure- to mention
Mr. Jones would be a mistake indeed. He came to this city in 1S87 and
engaged in a manufacturing business that has been extended in its
scope from year to year until the plant of the Jones & Green concern
stands today among the leading industrial establishments of Big Rapids.

Mr. Jones is a Canadian by birth, born in Waterdown, Wentworth
county, Ontario, on March 10, 1847, a son of Ezekiel and Jane
(Thompson) Jones, natives of Ireland and Ontario, respectively, the
father born in 1818 and died in 1855, and the mother, born in 1823, lived
until 1907. They were married in Ontario, to which place Mr. Jones
came from his native land when he was eleven years of age. He was
a lumberman in the years of his business activity, and he came to Croton,
Michigan, in 1852, at which place he passed away in 1855. He was a
Republican in politics, active in the party ranks in the few years of
his residence there, and prominent in the citizenship of his communit)'.

Ezekiel Jones was a son of Thomas Jones, who was born in Ireland
and there ended his days. The maternal grandfather of \\'illiam T. Jones
was Richard Thompson, a farmer in Canada, in which community he
passed his life. To Ezekiel and Jane Jones were born six children, only
one of whom yet lives, the subject of this review.

\\^illiam T. Jones received his early education in his native commu-
nity, and was graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Business College
of Toronto in 1869. He began life as a clerk in a general store, and
for four years was thus occupied, after which experience he engaged
in business on his own responsibility. He organized the firm of Jones
& Burns in Waterdown, Canada, and for three years conducted a mer-
cantile business with fair success, after which he moved to Morley,
Michigan, and engaged in a lumber and shingle business with Messrs.
Cook and Pendleton, under the firm style of Cook, Pendleton & Jones.
After a year the firm's name was changed to Cook & Jones, and they
were very successful in the handling of lumber and in the manufacture
of shingles. He was also in partnership with William Hugh in a grist
mill, business being conducted under the firm name of Jones & Hugh.
Mr. Jones became a member of the firm of D. W. Stewart & Company,
engaged in a mercantile business, but in 1887 withdrew therefrom and
removed to Big Rapids, where he engaged in the manufacture of sash,
doors and blinds and in the retail lumber business. In 1893 he received
G. W. Green into partnership, forming the firm of Jones & Green, and
they have since added to their plant the manufacturing of hardwood
flooring. They have enjoyed a pleasing degree of business success, and
have a trade that reaches throughout the United States. The firm also
owns and conducts a flooring plant at Dighton, Michigan, which is a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1601

successful adjunct to tlie Big Rapids business. Their principal business,
however, is the manufacturing of maple and beech flooring, with a retail
lumber business in addition, the latter phase being conducted from Big
Rapids. The product of both their plants are of a superior quality that
fully warrants the success of the enterprise and proves the members of
the firm to be men of genuine business ability.

Mr. Jones is a Republican, and he has been more than ordinarily
active in politics in Michigan. He was active in the town of Morley
during the years of his residence there, and served there for several
times as township treasurer, as president of the village and as supervisor.
He served four years as a representative from his district to the State
Legislature, between the years of 1885 and 1889, and for sixteen years
was judge of probate of Mecosta. Progressive ideas have characterized
his career from his earliest business activities, and as a public servant
in any of the numerous offices he has held, the same trait has made him
invaluable to his constituency. He is a director of the Citizens State
Bank, and has various other affiliations with prominent and prosperous
financial and industrial concerns.

In 1880 Mr. Jones was married to Miss Elizabeth Cook, of Morley,
Michigan, a daughter of John T. Cook, a one time business associate of
Mr. Jones in his lumber operations. She was a prominent member of
the Episcopal Church, and her death occurred in 1908. In 191 2 Mr.
Jones was married to Mary M. Zimmerman, a daughter of Henry P.
and Nancy (McKerlie) Zimmerman. Her father was the owner and
operator of the lumber and grist mills of Zimmerman, Ontario, the town
having been named for his father, Peter Zimmerman. Mr. Jones is one
of the popular men of his city, and has a host of good friends.

Samuel W. B.\ker. It is on his long and admirable record as a
public educator that Mr. Baker's distinction as a citizen of Michigan
rests, and during the greater part of his twenty years' residence in the
city he has been at the head of the public school system of Manistee.
His career as a teacher began more than thirty-five years ago, and though
he subsequently qualified for the law and practiced a time and has also
occasionally diverted his energies in other fields, education has been his
best loved vocation, and his services have been of a splendid character.

Samuel W. Baker was born at Port Perry, Ontario county, Ontario,
September 2, 1849, a son of Dr. M. S. and Rachel M. (Brown) Baker.
His father was a native of England and his mother of Ontario. When
Samuel W. Baker was about eight years old the family moved to Michi-
gan, and he grew up in Shiawassee county, attending the public schools
of Corunna. He subsequently graduated from the Michigan State Normal
School at Ypsilanti, and early in his career, more than thirty-five years
ago, he received his first certificate and taught his first term of country
school. Mr. Baker has long held a life certificate as a teacher in Michigan.
For several years he was superintendent of the public schools of Ovid,
took up the study of law while in that work, was admitted to the bar,
and practiced the profession in Clinton county for two years. The
school board of Ovid then prevailed upon him to again take charge of
the local schools, and he remained there until elected superintendent of
schools at Big Rapids, and remained in that city for eight years. On
locating at Manistee in 1893, Mr. Baker opened a business college, and
two years later was elected director of the Normal Training School of
that city. This was followed in two years by his election as superintend-
ent of the public schools of the city. After ten years j\Ir. Baker resigned
in November, 1908, to become district manager of a life insurance com-
pany, with headquarters in Manistee. Neither business nor the law

1602 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

have been able to absorb his attention and energies. In April, 1910, he
responded to a call to resume his former office as superintendent of the
city schools, and his administration still continues. What Manistee as
a community has accomplished in the way of educational development
in the past twenty years is largely to be credited to Mr. Baker's vigorous
leadership and broad qualifications as a teacher and school executive.
Mr. Baker has always been a Republican in politics, is affiliated with
the Knights of Pythias, a charter member of the Modern Romans, and
he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Baker was married at Corunna, Michigan, to Miss Ellen L. Gillett,
who was born and reared in Michigan, and her father, Jason C. Gillett,
now deceased, was a master mechanic and a soldier in a Michigan regi-
ment during the war. Mrs. Baker, a woman of culture and thorough
education, was a popular teacher for a number of years before her mar-
riage. Mr. and Mrs. Baker are the parents of four sons and two
daughters, all of whom have been well educated, and several of whom
have shown talent in different lines. The children are : Ethel, Ray C.
and Lee, both of whom are well qualified artists in the theatrical pro-
fession ; ^\'ard, a professional violinist, and Eva and Donald.

Clarence F. Leidy. During his active career of nearly twenty
years, the late Clarence F. Leidy was regarded as one of the ablest and
most popular news])aper men in IMichigan, and the older members of
that community still have kindly memories of his abilities as a journalist
and especially of his genial wit and humor. He followed newspaper
work practically all his life, and for some years until his death was
managing editor of the Detroit Journal.

Clarence Fruit Leidy was born at Danville, Pennsylvania, April 2,
1852, and died in Grand Rapids, Michigan, February 11, 1893. His
parents were Paul and Jane Fruit (Kitchen) Leidy. The Leidys were
a distinguished family in Pennsylvania, and Hon. Paul Leidy was a
lawyer, newspaper man and represented his district in the United States
Congress, where he gained fame as a splendid debater, and had few
peers in eloquence. He was a cousin of the noted Dr. Joseph Leidy, of
Philadelphia.

Clarence F. Leidy received his education in Pennsylvania schools,
finishing in the Lafayette College at East on, and then took up the work
which became a life-long profession. At the age of twenty-four he had
become owner and publisher of a newspaper at LeMars, Iowa, and after
selling out seven years later, took a position with one of the leading
Detroit papers. iMr. Leidy finally became managing editor of the
Detroit Evening Journal, and was just in the full vigor of his successftil
career when removed by death. His old friends and associates remem-
ber Mr. Leidy as the soul of wit and humor, and the possessor of all the
companionable virtues which made his friendship a prize to all who
knew him. He bore a noted resemblance to the noted Bill Nye, and
the two were intimate friends. It is recalled how Mr. Leidy one time
appeared before a Detroit audience, which had assembled to greet and
be amused by Nye, and with such success impersonated the great humor-
ist that he held the attention of the people fully ten minutes before Nye
himself appeared, and it was only then that the audience realized that
they had been "taken in by Nye's double, C. F. Leidy."

As to his personal stand in politics, the late Mr. Leidy was a Demo-
crat, as his father had been, but always conducted his paper on Republican
lines, and had little individual part in politics. For many years he was
a member of the City and State Press Club, and his church was the
Presbyterian.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1603

Mr. Leidy was married in 1S76 at Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to
IMatie Phippen, who died in 1883. She was a daughter of William and
Elizabeth Phippen. At Toledo, Ohio, on August 21, 1887, Mr. Leidy
married Emma Brown, a daughter of Allen and Mary E. Brown, of
Toledo. Miss Brown was for ten years before her marriage a teacher
in the Toledo schools, and after the death of her husband resumed her
profession, and is still engaged in educational work, having been prin-
cipal of a school for nearly twenty years. The late Mr. Leidy had no
children by his first wife, and two sons by the second marriage: Paul
and Bruce. The son Bruce died in infancy and Paul Allen Leidy, who
is unmarried, is serving as secretary of the Jackson Chamber of
Commerce.

Milton D. Bryant. As president and treasurer of the Grand
Traverse Automobile Company, with headquarters at Traverse City,
Mr. Bryant has made an admirable record of generalship in handling
the business with which he has identified himself and in which his success
has been unequivocal. For years he has represented the Ford Automo-
bile Company, of Detroit, as a traveling salesman, and since 191 1 has
been the agent for this great company at Traverse City, with an assigned
territory of northern Michigan. In this territory his sales have from
the beginning always exceeded the contract stipulations, and it may be
said without fear of legitimate contradiction that a greater number of
the popular Ford cars is used in this part of the state than that of any
other manufacture. Mr. Bryant has identified himself closely with the
civic and industrial activities of northern Michigan and has made judi-
cious investments in farm lands and other real estate.

Milton Daniel Bryant was born in Greenfield township. Wayne county,
Alichigan, on the 3d of March, 1876, and is a son of Melvin Samuel and
Martha J. (Bench) Bryant, being sixth in order of birth of a family
of seven sons and three daughters. He is indebted to the pul)lic schools
of his native county for his early educational discipline, and in i8g8
was graduated in the Detroit Medical College, with the degree of
Graduate in Pharmacy. He is a registered pharmacist in his native state
but has found it altogether expedient to turn his attention to other lines
of enterprise than that represented in the profession for which he thus
fitted himself. He showed his initiative energy when a lad of fourteen
years, by renting a small portion of his father's farm and giving his
close attention to its cultivation, the result being that he proved his
self-reliance and youthful spirit of enterprise, with a resultant success
of appreciable order. For three years he was engaged in the creamery
business in his native county, and finally he directed his attention to the
automobile business, in which his success has been distinctive and pro-
nounced. He is thoroughly progressive and public-spirited in his civic
attitude and in politics is found aligned under the "Bull Moose" banner,
having become a supporter of the Progressive party at the time of its
formal organization, incidental to the national campaign of 1912. He
has completed the circle of York Rite -Masonry and is affiliated also
with its adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles
of the Mystic Shrine, besides which he is identified with Traverse City
Lodge, No. 323, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and with the
United Commercial Travelers. Of buoyant and genial nature, Mr. Bryant
has the fine social qualities that invariably beget objective confidence and
esteem, and both he and his wife are popular factors in the leading social
activities of their home city, both being communicants of the local parish
of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

On the 15th of May, 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bryant

KiOi HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

to Miss Bernice Robertson, who was born and reared in Michigan and
who was graduated in the high school at Traverse City, where her father
is identified with the dry goods department of the mercantile establish-
ment of the Hannah-Lay Company. Mrs. Bryant is a daughter of
Alexander and Agnes (Swan) Robertson.

Robert Winters K.vne. The dean of the Charlevoi.x county bar,
Robert Winters Kane has been engaged in the practice of law at Charle-
voix since i8S8, and during this more than (|uarter of a century had
steadfastly advanced in reputation in his profession and the emoluments
pertaining thereto. It is not alone, however, as a legal practitioner thai
he has won the confidence of his community, but as a citizen who has
been at all times ready to advance the public welfare and as a capable
and conscientious public servant who has made the city's interests his
own.

Mr. Kane was born at Galesburg, Illinois, June 5, 1856, and is a son
of Robert S. and Mary (Winters) Kane, the latter of whom died shortly
after his birth. His father was a soldier during the Civil War and fought
four years in an Indiana Volunteer Regiment in the Union army, being
discharged with the rank of second lieutenant. Robert Winters Kane
was reared in the home of his uncle and aunt, Levi and Margaret (Kane)
Blackman, and secured his primary education in the public schools. Sub-
sequently, he entered Kalamazoo (Michigan) College, from which he
was graduated in the class of 1879, 3-iid at that time commenced his
legal studies in the office of Judge H. C. Briggs and Hon. Charles S.
i\Iay, of Kalamazoo. In addition he put in several years in working in
the real estate office of J. Milo Eaton, at Charlevoi.x, Michigan, v/hich
was conducted as a side line to Mr. Eaton's legal practice, and here .se-
cured much valuable experience, his entire time out of working hours
being devoted to assiduous application to his legal studies. In 1888 Air.
Kane was admitted to practice by Hon. J. G. Ramsdell, Judge of the
Circuit Court of Charlevoix county, and for one year following was
associated with Judge Mayne in practice. Since that time he has prac-
ticed alone building up a reputation that extends all over the county, where
he is the oldest legist in point of practice. His law practice has been
general and of a very important character, for involved litigated inter-
ests are never placed in unskilled hands. His marked ability is recognized
by the public and the profession, and is the result of close study, thorough
preparation of his cases, keen analysis of the facts and a logical applica-
tion of the law that bears upon them. Mr. Kane generally gives his sup-
port to the Republican party, but is inclined to be independent in his
choice of candidates, and does not allow party politics to interfere with
his judgment where important issues are at stake. He has at various
times served in positions of public trust, being circuit court commis-
sioner for two years and city attorney for four terms, has been n mem-
ber of the board of education for three terms and is now its president,
and is also secretary of the library board.

On May 7, 1884, Mr. Kane was married at Ionia, Michigan, to Miss
Alice Flora Hart, a native of Illinois, and daughter of James P. and
Emily Hart, natives of the Prairie state and settlers of Ionia county, -
Michigan, during pioneer days, both of whom are now deceased. Mr.
and j\Irs. Kane are the parents of two children: Forrest Hart, born at
Charlevoix, March 22, i88g, a graduate of the Michigan .Agricultural
College, in mechanical engineering, class of 1912; and Emily Doris, born
October 5, 1890.

Eugene F. Smith. The field of real estate and fire insurance is one
that holds out a chance for the ambitious and quick seeing and acting man

.Wf iiiirlftiir

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1605

to gain success without the outlay of any considerable amount of capital,
and it has proven to be such in the case of Eugene F. Smith, who en-
gaged in that enterprise in the year 1905. He has continued steadily on
and in the years that have passed has come to realize a generous measure
of success in his business activities. He has gained a secure place in the
business and political life of the city of Grand Rapids, and stands well to
the front among his fellows.

;Mr. Smith is a native son of Michigan, the University town of Ann
Arbor having been his birthplace. He was born there on January 16, 1870,
and is a son of Frederick and Caroline (Benz) Schmid, who were both
born in Germany. The name, in the second generation of American life,
has been Anglicized, and no longer bears the old, distinctive German form.
Frederick Schmid was born in 1834, and he died in 1910, while the wife
and mother was born in 1836 and lived until 1899. They came to America
as children with their respective parents, and the Schmid family settled in
Washtenaw county, Michigan, while the Benz family took up their resi-
dence in Detroit, then a struggling hamlet. Frederick Schmid learned the
trade of a confectioner, and when he reached young manhood he took up
his abode in Detroit, then the more prosperous field for his activities, for
already had the embryo metropolis begun to forge ahead of her sister
cities. Mr. Schmid continued there in business for a good many years,
and in 1875 located in Grand Rapids, .w^ifere -he carried on a successful
business for some years, but retired a whik^before-His death, having ac-
quired a competency and feeling entitled to a season of rest and quiet life.
He was the father of ten children, six of whom are living today, and
Eugene F. was the seventh born of that goodU' family. Of the others it
might be said in passing that Emma n^jrie'd Gharles" Schufler and is a
resident of Grand Rapids ; Edward L. is a deputy in the Internal revenue
office at Grand Rapids ; Julia married- a Mr. Wagner and lives in Grand
Rapids; Albert is a resident of Cadillac, and is engaged in the bakery
business ; and Ida. who married a Mr. Simonette and has her residence in
St. Paul, Minnesota.

Frederick Schmid was a Democrat in his political faith, but he was
never known to aspire to office, being content to let his influence work
what benefit it would in his community, without becoming active in the
political turmoil. He was a son of Peter Schmid, who settled in Wash-
tenaw county, as has been stated previously, and one of his brothers was
the first Missionary who ever labored in the Michigan field. He was a
German Lutheran, and in the interests of the church and his fellow man he
traveled over the entire civilized part of the state, making his long and
tedious journeys on horselmck and experiencing many of the discomforts
and misfortunes that would attend such a life of self-abnegation in those
early days. He was prominent in the state and well beloved by those with
whom he labored.

Frederick Benz, the maternal grandfather of the subject, settled in
Detroit and there pursued his trade as a tin and copper smith. He pros-
pered there and was well known and highly esteemed of all. His son,
Louis Benz, served throughout the Civil war.

Eugene F. Snuth attended the schools of Grand Rapids and was gradu-
ated from the high school in 1887. He began work on leaving school as a
clerk in a store in Grand Rapids, and for some years was occupied thus.
It was in 1904 that he turned his attention to real estate and fire insurance,
and in 1905 he joined forces in the business with Mr. L. S. Sponsler, and
the two have continued since with most excellent success.

Mr. Smith has for years manifested a wholesome interest in the civic
affairs of his city, and in 1907 was elected to the office of alderman from
his ward. He served in the office for six years, and in 1912 was elected

1606 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

county treasurer. He entered upon the duties of that office on January
I, 1913, and is now discharging the duties of the position in a manner that
is characteristic of him, and which promises a most satisfactory adminis-
tration of the affairs of the county. His pohtical activities have extended
through a period of about eigliteen years, and he is known to be one of
the most pubhc-spirited and unselfish participants in affairs of that nature
that might be found in the city. A stanch Republican, he has done good
work for his party and he is held in high esteem by the people of Grand
Rapids.

In 1890 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Aliss Alice Kent of
Grand Rapids, a daughter of \\ illiams Kent, a well known agricultural
man of Kent county. Three children have been born to Mr. and ]Mrs.
Smith. LeRoy E., the eldest, is in the west ; Howard W., a resident of
Detroit, Michigan, is engaged successfully in the advertising business; and
Arthur R. is yet in school.

The Smiths are members of the Baptist church, with affiliations with
the Fountain street church, and are active in the various branches of the
work of that denomination. Mr. Smith is a Mason and a member of the
Modern Woodmen, in the latter order having passed all chairs of office.
He is popular and prominent with his fellows, and his position in his home
city is one of which he may well be proud.

Guy McK. Johnson, M. D., has shown versatility of genius and
achievement, for he has not only gained secure place as one of the repre-
sentative physicians and surgeons of his native state, but also as a pro-
gressive business man, and formerly as a redoubtable figure of prominence
in connection with the national sport, baseball. He was for some time a
member of the medical staff" of the Xorthern Michigan Asylum for the
Insane, at Traverse City, and since relinquishing this post he has been
engaged in successful pri\ate practice in this city, where he gives special
attention to the surgical department of his profession.

Dr. Guy McKevitt Johnson was born at Middleville, Barry county,
Michigan, on the 24th of June, 1875, and is a son of Dwight W. and
Mary (.AIcKevitt) Johnson, both of whom were born in the State of
New York. The parents still reside at Middleville, where the father is
now living retired, at the venerable age of seventy-four years. He was
for many years successfully engaged in business as a buyer and shipper
of live stock, and his operations were carried forward on an extensive
scale. He was a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, as a
member of Company H, Twenty-first Michigan Volunteer Infantry, with
which he served two and one-half years and took part in a number of
important battles. He was taken prisoner at one of the engagements
in which he took part, but he escaped serious wounds during the period
of his faithful and gallant service, the more gracious associations of which
he perpetuates through his affiliation with the Grand Army of the
Republic. His father, \\'illiam Johnson, was one of the sterling pioneers
of Kent county, this state, where he established his home in 1850, taking
up a tract of wild land, in Grattan township, and there reclaiming a farm
from the virgin forest. He endured the full tension of the pioneer epoch
in Michigan history and both he and his wife continued to reside in
Kent county until their death. The mother of Dr. Johnson was born at
Truxton, Cortland county. New York, and she formed the acquaintance
of her future husband while she was visiting her brother, James H.
McKevitt, who was at that time sheriff' of Barry county. Michigan. Of
the two children the Doctor is the elder, and the younger is Charles H.,
who was born at Middleville on the ist of April, 1882, and who is now
a resident of Oakland. California, where he is an interested principal in
a wholesale drug business.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1607

Dr. Johnson is indebted to the public schools of his native town for
his early educational advantages, which included the curriculum of the
high school. After his graduation in the Aliddleville High School, in
1892, he turned his attention to the pedagogic profession, and for one
year he was a successful teacher in the schools of his native county.
He then went to the city of Grand Rapids and there he was graduated
in the high school as a member of the class of 1894, after which he
prosecuted higher branches of study for two years in Kalamazoo College.
For the ensuing year he was a teacher in the public schools at Stevens
Point, Wisconsin, and he was then chosen principal of the public schools
at Eau Claire, that state, where he served in this capacity for four years
and made an admirable record. His ambition as a student was not yet
satiated, as is evidenced by the fact that his next decisive action was to
enter the literary department of the University of Michigan, in which
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1905, with the degree of
Bachelor of Arts. In preparation for his chosen profession he thereafter
completed the prescribed curriculum in the medical department of the
Northwestern University, in the city of Chicago, in which he was
graduated in 1908 and from which he received his well earned degree of
Doctor of Aledicine. In the meanwhile he also carried forward for one
year a special course of study in physiology and anatomy of nervous
systems, in the medical department of the great University of Chicago,
besides which he acquired most valuable clinical experience by serving
about three years as interne in Mercy Hospital, while still an under-
graduate in the medical school.

After leaving the great western metropolis, Dr. Johnson returned
to Michigan and during 1908-9 he was a member of the medical statif of
the Northern .]\Iichigan Asylum for the Insane, at Traverse City. Since
1910 he has been engaged in the private practice of his profession in
this city, specializing in surgery and nervous diseases, and it can readily
be understood that one who has been so appreciative and close a student
and so thoroughly fortified himself for an exacting profession, success
has come as a natural sequence. The Doctor has a large and representa-
tive practice and his professional ability has given him high reputation
and a prestige that transcends mere local limitations. He is a member
of each the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medical
Society, and the Grand Traverse County Medical Society. Observing
punctiliously the unwritten ethical code of his chosen calling, he has the
respect and esteem of his professional confreres, and he has shown his
civic loyalty in his ready support of measures and enterprises tending
to advance the general welfare of his home community.

In politics Dr. Johnson inscribes his name on the roster of the
stalwart supporters of the cause of the Republican party, and in addi-
tion to being affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
the Mystic Workers, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order
of Eagles, he is also a member of the Wequetong Boating Club, a rep-
resentative organization in his home city.

Through his own exertions Dr. Johnson paid the expenses of his col-
legiate and professional courses of study, and his resourcefulness was
shown in his having achieved this end largely through his skill and
prowess in the game of baseball. He was for some time a member of
the Boston team in the National League, later played with the Wilkes-
barre (Pennsylvania) team of the Eastern League, and with the New
Bedford team' of the New England Leagtie and Johnstown Tri-State
League, in the post of pitcher. For two years he served the University
of Michigan ball team as coach, and he gained marked reputation in
this field of sport. He now subordinates all other interests to the exigent

1608 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

demands of his profession and very rarely can he be prevailed upon to
attend a ball game.

Aside from his professional work, which claims virtually his entire
time and attention. Dr. Johnson is proprietor of a renovating prepara-
tion known as the "Earthquake Renovator," this being a most admirable
agent for the cleaning of carpets, lace curtains and other fabrics utilized
in similar ways, but the entire active supervision of this thriving enter-
prise is placed in the hands of a capable manager, and employment is
given to an average corps of thirty persons in the sales department of
the business, which has thus far been confined principally to Michigan
and Wisconsin, though its ramifications are being constantly expanded,
as the value of the preparation becomes more widely known through
practical introduction. The enterprise has proved a wonderful success
and its headquarters are maintained at Traverse City. The Doctor is
the owner of an attractive residence property at the corner of Wellington
street and Webster avenue. Traverse City, and the home is made a center
of generous hospitality, with Mrs. Johnson as its gracious and popular
chatelaine, she being a member of the Universalist Church and promi-
nently identified with the Traverse City Ladies' Club.

The 2ist of December, 1908, recorded the marriage of Dr. Johnson to
Miss Madge Lesure, the nuptial ceremony being performed in the city
of Grand Rapids. Mrs. Johnson was born at Menominie, Wisconsin,
and is a granddaughter of Capt. Andrew Tainter, who is prominently
connected with the lumber industry in 'Michigan and Wisconsin.
Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of H"arvey and Sarah (Whitcher) Lesure,
the latter of whom died in 1883, and the former of whom now resides
at Port Angeles, Washington. Dr. and Mrs. Johnson have one daughter,
Joan, who was born on the i8th of ^lay, IQ13.

Jesse W. Fox. In Grand Rapids, a city which has been his home
from his boyhood days, Mr. Fox has gained, entirely through his own
ability and well ordered endeavors, a place as one of the representative
manufacttirers and citizens of the beautiful "Valley City." Here he is
engaged in the manufacturing of excelsior, with a large and modern plant,
and his establishment is one of the most important of its kind in the Union,
with a trade that is widely disseminated. Through fire and flood Mr.
Fox has encountered severe financial losses within the period of his long
and active business career in Grand Rapids, but courage and determination
have enabled him to make good these reverses and to establish himself
firmly as one of the substantial manufacturers of the city.

Jesse W. Fox was born in the state of Pennsylvania, on the 31st of
March, 1837, and in the same old Keystone commonwealth were born
his parents, George and Maria ( Miller ) Fox, the date of the former's
nativity having been 1836 and the latter having been born March I, 1840,
her father having been a successful contractor in Pennsylvania, where he
met his death as the result of injuries received, in falling from a scafl:'old
on which he was working. George Fox, a man of upright character ancf
excellent business ability, came with his family to Michigan in 1863, and
thus the family name has been identified with the annals of this state for
more than half a century. George Fox established his home in Ottawa
countv and for a number of years thereafter he was actively identified
with lumbering operations, in which this section of the state then claimed
pre-eminence. He finally removed to Grand Rapids and here he met a
tragic death within a short time thereafter, as he was drowned in the
Grand river, in 1871, when but thirty-five years of age. His wife survived
him by many years and was a resident of Grand Rapids at the time of her
death, which occurred March i, iyo3, Ijoth having been consistent members

HISTORY. OF MICHIGAN 1609

of the Methodist Episcopal church and the father having been a stalwart
Republican in his political adherency. Of the seven children Jesse W., of
this review, was the firstborn, and of the others only three are living —
Elizabeth, who is the wife of W'illiam Woodruff, of Chicago ; Albert E.,
who is a skilled machinist, residing in Grand Rapids ; and Oliver W.,
who is a prosperous farmer of Kent county, this state.

Jesse ^V. Fox was a lad of about six years at the time of the family
removal from Pennsylvania to Michigan, and he gained his early educa-
tional training principally in the public schools of Ottawa county and the
city of Grand Rapids. Owing to the death of his father he early faced
resDonsibilities that otherwise would not have devolved upon him, but, in
the light of ultimate results, it can not be doubted that this discipline was
most valuable and timely. As a boy he began work in a Grand Rapids bar-
rel factory, and in this connection he developed his distinctive mechanical
ability. His ambition was equalled by his careful conservation of his
earnings and finally he initiated his independent business career by form-
ing a partnership with Frank D. Day and engaging in the manufacture of
excelsior, a line of industrial enterprise to which he has since given his
attention and along which he has won definite and merited success. Since
1RS5 he has individually conducted the business and he has retained his
plant continuously in the one location. Through recurrent fires he lost fully
$52,000, and the great Grand river flood of 1904 entailed to him a further
loss of Si 2,000. He has made good the losses, however, and his plant is
now essentially modern in its equipment and facilities, which make pos-
sible a large annual output, the trade extending into the most diverse
sections of the United States as well as into Canada and Mexico. Mr. Fox
began life a poor boy and is now at the head of a large and sul^stantial
business, his success being the more pleasing to note by reason of its hav-
ing been won by his own efforts. The excelsior manufacturing business
is conducted under the title of the J. W. Fox Excelsior Company, and Air.
Fox remains as the able and popular executive head of the corporation, of
which he is president and general manager.

Loyal and liberal in his civic attitude, Mr. Fox gives his co-operation
in movements for the general good of the community and his political sup-
port is given to the Republican party, though he has never manifested any
ambition for political office. He is affiliated with the lodge and chapter
bodies of York Rite Masonry and also with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows. Both he and his wife are communicants of St. Paul's church,
Protestant Episcopal.

In November, 1905, Mr. Fox wedded Miss Sarah Maybell Sthoon-
field, daughter of John Sthoonfield, a prominent real-estate dealer of Grand
Rapids, and- they have a most attractive home, known for its generous
hospitality.

Louis Francis Perkett. When Louis Francis Perkett came to
Traverse City, in 1883, he had little save his ambition to assist him in
gaining a position among the business men of this growing community.
He had some short experience as a school teacher, and had worked for
a few years in the lumber business, but at that time he gave little promise
of developing into one of the foremost factors in the commercial life
of the community. However, he was content to begin in a humble
capacity, and where opportunities were lacking to make opportunities of
his own, and thus in a few years he had started upon a career that has
subsequentlv brought him to the very forefront. Today his connections
in the commercial world have reached large proportions, and it is doubtful
if there is ^n individual who has done more to build up Western Michigan.

Mr. Perkett is of French lineage, and was born April 18, 1857, at

1610 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Lewis, Essex county, New York, his parents being Louis and Flavia
(Sharon) Perkett, natives of Chnton comity, that state. His father, who
was engaged in agricultural pursuits in the Empire State throughout his
active career, passed away in 1912, at the age of eighty-three years, while
his mother resides with a daughter, Rose, who is Mrs. William Fortune
of Saranac Lake, New York, aged eighty-two years. There were eight
children in the family: Philomena, who died at the age of twenty-seven
years, as Mrs. C. E. Bassett, her husband now being the operator of the
old homestead place in Essex county ; Oliver P., who was employed as a
bookkeeper and died at the age of twenty-eight years, being buried in
Essex county; Margaret, who is single and a resident of Essex county;
Louis Francis ; Peter T., who has been employed in the United States mail
service during the past twenty years, and makes his home in Chicago ;
Odelia, who lives with her mother and sister; Rose, the wife of William
Fortune, of Saranac Lake, New York, and Charles H., who is employed
in the equipment department of the Erie Railroad Company, at Goshen,
New York.

Louis Francis Perkett attended the public schools of the vicinity of his
father's farm in Essex county, New York, and subsequently graduated
from the high school at Keesville, following which he worked on the
home farm until 1879. At that time he left the parental roof, determined
to make his own way in the world, and came to Tustin. Michigan, where
for one term he taught school. He then secured employment with the
lumber firm of Dewing & Son, of Kalamazoo, with which concern he
w^orked two years as a scaler, and so thoroughly familiarized himself
with the business that he was able to secure the position of manager with
the M. J. Bond Lumber Company, of Cadillac. It was not in Mr. Perkett's
nature, however, to work for others. From the outset of his career, when
he came to Michigan without means or influential friends, he had deter-
mined that some day he would be at the head of his own business
enterprise, an employer instead of an employe. Accordingly, in 1883,
when his opportunity appeared, he gathered together his little savings,
came to Traverse City, and invested them in a modest grocery establish-
ment on Front street. Two years later this was merged into a wholesale
produce business, and within three more years Mr. Perkett had purchased
the interest of his two partners, and found himself the directing head
of a decidedly promising enterprise. The little grocery store, with its
small and incomplete stock, has since grown into the largest wholesale
produce business in Grand Traverse county, shipping in carload lots to
all parts of the United States, in connection with which Mr. Perkett has
built and maintains large modern warehouses located on the tracks of the
N. E. & P. M. Railroad.

While Mr. Perkett has given a great deal of attention to the develop-
ment of his produce business, he has also found the time and inclination
to engage in other lines of business activity. He has dealt largely in
farm lands, has a well developed property devoted to general farming
in Grand Traverse county, and has contributed materially to the upbuilding
of Traverse City, owning much \-aluable income pro]:)erty, including his
own $10,000 residence. But probably the most important of his achieve-
ments in adding to his community's prestige, has been the founding of
the Western Michigan Development Bureau, the product of his own brain
and enterprise. In 1909, in company with a Mr. Sawyer, of Ludington,
this state, he called the first meeting of this association at Ludington,
when Lieutenant Governor Ross was elected the first president, and
Mr. Perkett the first vice president. This is an association of progressive
citizens of twenty counties in Western Michigan, including Antrim,
Benzie, Charlevoix, Emmet, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Kent, Lake, Lee-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1611

lanau, Manistee, Mason, Mecosta, Missaukee, Montcalm, Muskegon,
Newaygo, Oceana, Osceola, Ottawa and Wexford. It is a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of Michigan, not for a pecuniary
profit, and as an organization has no land to sell. It represents every
diverse interest of the twenty counties comprising its territory, and during
the five years of its successful existence has been kept clear and free
from the influence of the real estate promoter. It maintains a statistical
department which gathers reliable facts concerning the industries already
established in the various counties and keeps in close touch with what
is being done for the betterment of agriculture in the world ; it maintains
also a department for the building up of the home market to keep pace
with the increased production of the farms, and has established an inspec-
tion service which is available to any one who desires to pack fruit under
the brand "Sunnyripe" adopted by the bureau. This has done much to
secure better prices for Western .Michigan products. The work of the
bureau is diversified, and each department has had the helpful advice
and wise counsel of Mr. Perkett. He ships and handles over one-half
of the No. I apple crop of Grand Traverse and Antrim counties, as well
as Leelanau county, and has taken a leading part in bringing about a
reduction of freight rates within this district, all important documents
referring to this matter passing through his hands. Through his activities
a saving of ij^ cents per hundredweight has been secured between Michi-
gan points and Chicago markets, as well as a large reduction on fruits,
and thus a saving of $75,000 annually to the shippers and growers has
resulted permanently. Mr. Perkett is a stockholder of the First National
Bank of Traverse City, a director of the Traverse City Refrigerator
Company, and organizer and president of the Traverse City Humidity
Regulating Company, manufacturers of electric cigar moi'steners and
electric incubators. He is a charter member of the executive board of
the Michigan Shippers' Association. Formerly Mr. Perkett was actively
engaged in politics, and served as alderman and supervisor, offices to
which he was elected on the Republican ticket, but of recent years his
great business interests have been such as to preclude any idea of his
being active in the political arena. At this time he supports the principles
of the Progressive party. With his family, he attends the Roman
Catholic Church.

Mr. Perkett was married first to Miss Mary Kilty, at Tustin, Michigan,
December i, 1881. She was a native of Western New York, and died
April 14, 1899, having been the mother of two sons : Louis Raymond,
born at Marquette, Michigan, September 29, 1893 ; and Oliver, born at
Traverse City, Michigan, April 10, 1899. On May 2, 1906, Mr. Perkett
was married at Traverse City, to Miss Florence I. Jackson, a native of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, daughter of William and Katherine (Tarbuck)
Jackson. Mr. Jackson is owner of the Jackson Iron Works of Traverse
City, and inventor and patentee of the machine for the manufacture of
climax baskets.

Burton F. Browne. In his native state of Michigan Mr. Browne is
one of the widely known newspaper men, and as editor and publisher
of the Harbor Beach Times possesses one of the triodel weekly papers of
the state, and one that ably exploits and furthers the interests of Huron
county. Having almost grown up in the newspaper profession, Mr.
Browne has been associated with the Press fraternity for the past twenty-
five or thirty years, and enjoys an esteem among Michigan newspaper men
that has resulted in several important associations. For three years Mr.
Browne was president of the Eastern Michigan Press Club, and for two
years was president of the Wolverine Press Association, from which lat-
ter office he retired in February, 1914. Locally Mr. Browne is one of the

1612 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

foremost business men and civic leaders in Harbor Beach, and since 1896
has been continuously postmaster and a public-spirited worker for every
movement that will increase the general welfare of the community.

Burton Fulmer Browne was born at Lexington, Sanilac county, Michi-
gan, August 12, 1865. A native of the "Thumb" District of Michigan, he
has always retained a strong interest in the growth and development of
that section, and has a close association with the citizens and activities of
its various counties. His parents were Ery and Mary (Rider) Browne.
His father, a native of London, Ontario, Canada, and his motlier of Lim-
erick, Ireland. His parents were married in London, Ontario, and in the
early fifties, soon after their marriage, established a home in the village
of Lexington, Michigan. Ery Browne became one of the leading con-
tractors and builders in Sanilac county, and was a pioneer in that field of
enterprise. At the same time he was influential in the development and
u|)buil(iing of Lexington, and was especially active in local politics, having
given his allegiance to the Republican party since he acquired American
citizenship. In 1888 Ery Browne moved to Port Huron, St. Clair county,
and there developed an extensive business as a contractor and builder,
and now, venerable in years, is retired, enjoying the secure rewards
of former years of fruitful endeavor and secure in the regard of all who
know him. His wife passed away in 1907, and had long been a devout
member of the Congregational church. Of the six children, Robert O. and
Charles S. are deceased ; Elizabeth is the wife of Shubal D. Runnels of
Port Huron ; Frances is the wife of Frank H. Balkwell of Almont,
Lapeer county ; Burton F. ; and Asa H., who, long an influential factor in
the Republican party in Michigan during the administration of Covernor
Rich, was private secretary to the deputy secretary of state of Michigan,
and is now in an executive position in the United States Customs House at
Port Huron.

The public schools of his native town afforded Burton F. Browne
his early educational advantages, and at the age of eighteen he began
an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, a discipline that has properly been
termed the equivalent of a liberal education. At the conclusion of his ap-
prenticeship Mr. Browne became associated with his brother Asa H. in
the ]niblication of the Cass City Enterprise at Cass City in Tuscola county.
Eighteen months later the plant and business were sold, and in 1891
the brothers established their home in Harbor Beach and became editors
and publishers of the Harbor Beach Times, a paper founded by Jos. W.
Selden in the year 1881. These brothers continued in joint management
for six months, until Asa sold his interest to his brother to take up the offi-
cial duties already mentioned. Since that time Burton F. Browne has been
sole proprietor of the Times and it is a matter of proper pride that his
paper is now one of the model weeklies of the state. Both the news and
job departments are exceptionally well equipped, and under the efficient
management of Mr. Browne the Times has raised its circulation from
about four hundred copies to more than seventeen hundred copies a
week, and at the same time the journal has become one of the best adver-
tising mediums in this section of Michigan. The work of a country news-
paper office never lacks interest, even though it is one of rigid detail, and
those who succeed must expend almost unlimited application and care.
Anvone familiar with the arduous duties of a newspaper office will easily
understand how closely Mr. Browne applied himself in his earlier years
at 1 J arbor lieach, when his duties comprised not only the dignity of
editor but also those of compositor, and his labors at "the case," often
extended far into the night in order that his paper might make its
prompt and creditable appearance. His success in the newspaper field
has been the result of hard work and determined purpose, and as a result
he now owns one of the best newspaper and job plants in the Thumb dis-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1613

trict of Michigan, with a supporting patronage that justifies the invest-
ment. The Times has always been a strong advocate of the principles and
policies of the Republican party, has wielded much influence in local
affairs, and has promoted every movement for the social, moral, educa-
tional and material welfare of Harbor Beach and vicinity.

The many varied services rendered by Mr. Browne in the cause of the
Republican party brought him only a just recognition when, in 1896,
after the election of President McKinley, he was appointed postmaster
of Harbor Beach. There has never been a more popular appointee nor a
more capable administration of the local office than Browne's, and that
is shown by his successive reappointments, so that he has been postmaster
for the past eighteen years, and his present term expires in April, 1916.
During this time he has assisted in the inauguration of various new
departments of service, including rural free delivery, parcels post and
other improvements of a local nature. Mr. Browne is president of the
official board of the Presbyterian church of Harbor Beach, and his wife
is an active member of the same church. He is affiliated with the
Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights
of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees of the World.

At Jackson, Michigan, on October 23, 1895, was solemnized the mar-
riage of Mr. Browne to Miss Grace Greenwood Winches, who was born
at Kalamazoo, a daughter of A. J. Winches, who has been a well known
and representative citizen of jNIichigan for many years. Mr. Winches was
a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, was with the Eleventh
Illinois Cavalry, and a member of the same company with Colonel Robert
G. Ingersoll. As soldiers they became close friends, and this friendship
with the great agnostic was continued until Colonel Ingersoll's death. The
father of A. J. Winches was a native of Holland, and made a military
record in that country of which his descendants are proud. He fought
with the Netherlands in the war with Belgium, and King William
presented him two gold medals in recognition of his bravery and
efficiency as a soldier. Mr. A. J. Winches and wife still maintain their
home at Jackson, and Mrs. Winches represents the American colonial
stock, several of her ancestors having fought as soldiers in the Continental
lines in the war of the Revolution. Mrs. Browne, who is a woman of
distinctive culture and well trained intellect, was graduated from the
Spring Arbor Seminary in Jackson county in the literary and scientific
course in the class of 18S8, and later was graduated from the Michigan
State Normal College at Ypsilanti in the class of 1893. For several years
she was a popular teacher in the public schools of Jackson, and in Ches-
brough Seminary in New York State. In 1893 and 1894, before her mar-
riage, she was principal of the public schools of Harbor Beach. Mrs.
Browne is one of the leaders in local literary and social circles, and her
talent as a writer has given her a reputation in many parts of the United
States. For four years she has served as Great Editor and advertising
director of the official magazine, "The Lady Maccabee,'' published by
the Ladies of the Modern Maccabees, which has a circulation of fully
75,000 copies and has subscribers throughout the L^nited .States and in
many other parts of the world in which the fraternal organization has
representatives. Mrs. Browne is associate editor of the Harbor Beach
Times, which position she has held for a number of years, and is also
chairman of the press department of the Michigan State Federation of
Woman's Clubs, and has served as corresponding secretary, vice-president
and as president of the Michigan Woman's Press Association, of which
she is now a member of the board of directors. Mrs. Browne is also
affiliated with the Daughters of \'eterans, being a member of Eva Gray
Tent No. 2 of Grand Rapids, being eligible to that order by reason of her
father's services in the Civil war. Besides serving in the capacity of

Vol. m— 26

1614 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

worthy matron of Miriam Chapter Xo. 233, Order of the Eastern Star, for
six years she has filled an official position as a grand officer in the State
Grand Chapter of Michigan O. E. S., and at the last school election in her
city was elected a member of the board of education for a term of three
years. Mrs. Browne, together with Mrs. R. C. Allen, are the first women
to serve as members of a school board in Huron county, both being elected
at the same meeting. Mr. and Mrs. Browne are the parents of three
children, all of whom were born at Harbor Beach: Eiladian Alberta,
Vivian Odessa, and Burton Wayne. The older daughter is a member
of the class of 191 5 in the Harbor Beach high school.

James B. Martix, M. D. As a physician and surgeon Dr. Martin's
work in northern Alichigan has continued for more than thirty years, and
for a quarter of a century he has been identified with Traverse City. While
his best services have been rendered through his professional capacity, Dr.
IMartin has also taken a large part in local affairs, both in business and
in public life. He is a man of broad experience, thorough culture, and the
value of his service has been commeiisurate with the length of years in
practice. " ■ '

James B. Alartin was born in the city of Scranton, Lackawanna county,
Pennsylvania, March 12, 1855, the third in a family of seven children, four
sons and three daughters, Ijorai to Daniel and Margaret (Barry) Martin.
His parents were both natives of "Irelahd; were reared in that country, but
were married after coming to America. From Pennsylvania about 1S60
they emigrated to the west, found a new home in St. Joseph county, IMichi-
gan, where Daniel ]\Iartin gave his labors to the clearing up of a farm and
was a substantial agriculturist through the rest of his life. His closing
years were spent in the village of iNIendon, where his death occurred at the
venerable age of eighty-three years. He and his wife were active members
of the Catholic church, and her death occurred at the age of sixty-six.
The oldest of their children was Catherine, who married Robert Millman
and died in 191 1 ; William T. ^lartin is a prosperous farmer of St. Jose]-/h
county; John W. was for twenty-five years in the United States railway
mail service and is a resident of Kalamazoo, where he has been in the
postoffice during the past twenty years ; Ella is the widow of Jay Hinkle
of Mendon; Mary is the widow of Bernard McDermott of Mendon ; and
Daniel IMartin, who was a farmer near Mendon, was killed by lightning
in 1904.

Dr. ]\Iartin was about five years of age when the family moved to
Michigan, and grew up on a farm and had the wholesome and stimulating
influence of country life to mold his character and mind and body for a
professional career. The ambition was early formed to enter the medical
profession, and soon after reaching his majority he entered the medical
department of the University of ^Michigan and was graduated M. D. in
the class of 1881. In October following his graduation Dr. Martin went to
Northern Michigan, then almost a wilderness, and did his first work in the
village of Manton in Wexford county. He had the experiences and the
hardships of a frontier doctor, and in his practice gained many friends and
became one of the influential men in that community. While at Manton
he served as village clerk and for three years president of the village coun-
cil, and also as township clerk for two years. Dr. Martin in 1889 moved
to Traverse City, and in a few years his reputation for ability and profes-
sional character had extended all over Grand Traverse county. In
Traverse City likewise he has taken an active part in affairs, served three
terms as health officer, and for two terms during the Cleveland administra-
tion was pension agent. Dr. Martin represents nearly all the old-line life
insurance companies at Traverse City as examiner, and probably does
more professional service along that line than any other physician in

1>it ^JLW TOM

V

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1615

his part of the state. Dr. Martin has membership in the Grand Traverse
Medical Society, the jNIichigan State Medical Society and the American
Medical Association.

He is likewise a business man and farmer. He was one of the or-
ganizers and is a director and vice-president of the People's Bank of
Traverse City, organized in 1909, is a stockholder in the Peninsular Life
Insurance Company, and is interested in a fire insurance organization. A
special object of pride and a source of recreation and profit to Dr. Martin
is his fine stock farm, located four miles from Traverse City. There he
has been very successful in raising thoroughbred Jersey cattle and Poland
China hogs, but his chief diversion and pleasure is in thoroughbred trot-
ting horses, and his stable contains two fine trotters, among the best in
northern Michigan. Dr. Martin is a Democrat in politics, and has frater-
nal aftiliations with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order ot Elks, and is a member of the Wequetong Club of
Traverse City.

Dr. Martin was married November i, 1S82, to Miss Mary J. Shepard,
who was born and reared at Middleville. Berry county, '^lichigan. Her
father was a Baptist minister and Doctor of Divinity, and was related as
second cousin to the famous Boss Tweed of New York. Mrs. Martin
was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Her
death occurred March 30, igoi. On December 20, 1910, Dr. Martin was
married at St. Joseph, Missouri, to Miss Mabel Bullock, a daughter of
David Bullock. Mrs. Martin is an active member of the Congregational
church, is identified with the work ofttfie Ladies JkJd Society, and is an
active exponent of woman's rights a'nd suft'rhge.

William Gavin Morrice. A history of Michigan will best fulfill its
purposes which preserve in enduring record th^1ife-and career of those men
who as pioneers laid the foundations of tite solid prosperity and affluence
which the state now enjoys as a harvest from the early toil and hardships
borne by the first settlers. Among the names in Shiawassee county most
entitled to distinction of such record is that of Morrice, the oldest of the
name being William Gavin Morrice, whose life has been lived almost en-
tirely within the limits of this section of Michigan, and over a period of
more than seventy years. The work and influence of himself, of his father
and uncles have left an enviable reputation and may justly be a source of
pride to their descendants. Probably the name Morrice is more closely
identified with the history of Shiawassee county than that of any other one
family. One prominent memorial in the geography of the county is the
town of Morrice, which was incorporated in 1877, '"id named in honor of
William Morrice, father of William G. Morrice is now a thriving town
with a [jopulation of six hundred people, and much Ijusiness and trade are
concentrated in that locality.

William G. Morrice was born in Shiawassee county, September 9, 1839.
His birthplace was only a short distance from his present home. His
parents were William and Elizabeth (Henderson) Morrice, both natives
of Scotland. The father came to Michigan in 1836, the year the territory
was granted the privilege of entering the Union. In 1837 he married at
Detroit his boyhood sweetheart and schoolmate. Then, in 1838, he came
to Shiawassee county, and was first emi:)loyed in the construction of a
mill race. In the meantime he bought one hundred and sixty acres of
land in the midst of the wilderness and was one of the pioneers in the
development and clearing and improvement of this section. With increas-
ing prosperity as a farmer he added to his acres until he became one of the
largest land owners in Shiawassee county. His quiet, reserved disposition
caused him to refuse the many political honors ofifered to him, and the
only office of which he was incumbent was that of justice of the peace.

1616 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

A typical pioneer, his was the character which we like to associate with
the early settlers, that of a brave, industrious man, possessing a rugged
character, and as his years increased so likewise did the esteem in which
he was held among a large community. He was born in 1800 and died in
1873. His wife passed away in 1891 at the age of eighty-eight. Both
now rest in the Rose Lawn Cemetery, at Perry. Their children num-
bered four : William G. was the oldest and the only one now living ; John
Anderson Morrice, the second, a farmer of Shiawassee county, died
March 27, 1900, at the age of fifty-eight. He married Elizabeth Walker,
who now lives in the village of Alorrice, and her children are : Dustin
Morrice and Agnes, the latter the wife of Earl Rann, a merchant at Mor-
rice. The third child was Francis George Morrice, who was a farmer,
held the office of sheriff in Shiawassee county from 1882 to 1892, was
supervisor of Bennington township and prominent in the fraternal orders
of the Elks and the Masons. Francis G. Morrice was married August 11,
1869, to Irene Waters, a native of Shiawassee county, and their four chil-
dren were : Anna, the wife of Samuel G. Fields of Detroit ; Maud Morrice,
a special teacher of art in the Owosso high schools ; Ward Morrice, a
farmer in Bennington township; and Maljel, who died in January, 1891,
at the age of ele\-en years.

The boyhood of William G. Morrice was spent during the decades of
the forties and fifties, and for that reason his school advantages were
very limited, being confined to a brief attendance at the country schools
during the winter months. When little more than a boy he became his
father's active assistant in the management of the various farms owned
by the latter and scattered in dift'erent sections of the county. Though he
married and was ready to establish a home of his own when he was
twenty-one years of age, it was impossible to leave his father, on account
of the scarcity of hands, owing to the Civil war. Thus he remained at
home until he was twenty-three years of age.

In i860, soon after reaching his majority, Mr. Morrice married Miss
Ellen Smith. She was born in Scotland, and was ten years of age when
her parents came to the United States. Her father located in Shiawassee
county in 1854. His had been a career of unusual activity and experience.
A hardy Scotch sailor, in 1841 he joined his brother. Captain Alexander
Smith, on a whaling expedition to Greenland, and the voyage was one of
innumerable hardships, the ship being frozen in ice for eighteen consecu-
tive months. After leaving the sea and coming to the inland state of
^Michigan, Mr. Smith proved a successful farmer, and was a man of high
character and greatly esteemed. For a number of years a large amount
of his time and money were devoted to establishing a just claim as heir
to the George Ames Stow Estate in England and Scotland. His life as a
farmer in Shiawassee county was interrupted nine different times, when
he made trips to England and Scotland for the purpose of securing evi-
dence and otherwise promoting the long-drawn out chancery case. The
case involved an estate whose estimated value in 1840 was twenty million
pounds. The suit is still in the chancery courts of England, and the
present defendants are Lord and Lady Ray, Lord Ray having at one time
served as vicerov to India. The expectation is that the trial will be con-
cluded in the near future.

To the marriage of William G. Morrice and wife were born seven chil-
dren: Emma died in 1898 at the age of seventeen; Lena is the wife of
George Winegar, a farmer of Shiawassee county, and operating a part
of the old Morrice homestead ; Mary Edith and Ethel May are twins, the
former being the wife of Dr. I. W. Xorrice of Corunna, while Edith is
the wife of James Hubbard, a miller in Williamston, Michigan. Lillian
is the wife of Morton Rann of Perry, Alichigan; Bessie Alorrice is a
teacher in Bozeman, Montana; William Hugo Morrice is associated with
his father in the management of the latter's large estate of three hundred

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1G17

acres, comprising lands that in cultivation and improvement have no
superiors in Shiawassee county. The son is the individual owner of
ninety-one acres, which he cultivates in addition to the assistance he gives
his father. William H. spent several years in Agricultural College, and
he and his father conduct farming on scientific methods, and the splendid
results justify all their "improvements and innovations. William Morrice,
the son, was married in 1907 to Miss Beulah Ailing, a native of Morrice,
and a daugher of Henry Ailing. They have one child, Rachael Morrice,
aged four years.

Mr. William G. Morrice from the years of his early manhood has been
a stanch supporter and voter of the Republican party. Fraternally he is
affiliated with the Independent (Jrder of C)dd Fellows, and the family are
members of the Presbyterian church. In the management of his extensive
interests in farming Air. Morrice has always been liberal in the use of
his means and has afforded employment to a great many people and has
helped many young men get a start in the world. One interesting feature
of the Morrice household is that the family have never set what is known
as a servant's table, and the relations between the hands and the employer
have never been marked by any social discrimination, Mr. Morrice and
wife in recent years have found great pleasure in travel. During 1912
they made an extended trip to Yellowstone Park, and it is their present
intention to go out to the Coast during the San Francisco Exposition of
191 5. Both Mr. and Mrs. Morrice are people of the old school, generous
hearted, beloved by all their friends and acquaintances, and employees,
and in looking back over their lives they can say that their lines have been
laid in quiet places. While prospering themselves they have helped many
others and have taken pains to give their children the best advantages of
schools and college.

Robert C.m.dwell. Since the beginning of the world travel has
always been the medium through which civilization has been extended,
and travel has always necessitated some means of transportation. The
occupation of wagon manufacturing is, therefore, one of the oldest of
the time-honored callings, and through the ages men of prominence have
found their success in this field. For forty-one years Robert Caldwell
has been a resident of Traverse City, Michigan, and for thirty-four years
of this time has been engaged in the manufacture of wagons and sleighs,
being the pioneer in this line of manufacture, and has also carried on a
general blacksmith business. He is a native of Scotland, and was born
at Ardrossen, Ayrshire, December 25, 1848, son of John and Florrie
(Brown) Caldwell. The parents spent their entire lives at Ardrossen,
where for many years the father was in charge of the horse department
of the railroad running out of the harbor. They were the parents of six
children, of whom three survive: Dtmcan, who is a resident of Greenoch,
Scotland; Daniel, who lives at \'ancouver, British Columljia ; and Robert.

Robert Caldwell was reared and educated at his native place, and
there learned his trade. He there followed his chosen vocation for sev-
eral years, and was married in young manhood, and when he emigrated
to the United States, in 1873, left his wife and first-born child in Scot-
land. Mr. Caldwell's first location in this country was the city of Chi-
cago, but was not favorably impressed with the prospects for success in
the Illinois metropolis, and after four months came to Traverse City,
Michigan, which has since been his home. Here he secured employment
with the Hannah & Bay Company, a firm which practically founded Tra-
verse City, and, showing himself a skilled workman, was able to com-
mand good wages, so that after preparing a home he sent for his wife
and child, who arrived in this country eight months after he had come.
Mr. Caldwell continued with the Hannah & Lay Company for a period of

1618 HISTORY OF MICHIGAX

seven years, and during this time carefully saved his earnings, with the
end in view of entering business on his own account, an ambition which
was realized in 1880 when he became the proprietor of a modest black-
smith and wagon manufacturing establishment. From that time to the
present his business has steadily advanced in scope and importance, and
today is the leader in its line in the city. From fifteen to twenty prac-
tical mechanics are employed and trade is attracted from all over this
part of the state, the product of the factory having met with unqualified
favor because of its honest workmanship and superior quality. Mr.
Caldwell is known all over the county as a man of upright and honorable
business principles, who has won his own way through the exercise of
good judgment, consecutive effort and making the most of his opportuni-
ties. He is a director in the Traverse City Electric Light iS: Power Com-
pany, and has other large interests here, owning valuable city realties and
fine farm lands in Grand Traverse county. All that Mr. Caldwell pos-
sesses he has earned himself, for when he came to this country he was
possessed only of his ambition and determination to succeed, backed by
inherent business ability and a willingness to start in a humble capacity
and take his chances with others in the opportunities offered by a grow-
ing community. He has taken an active part in the uiibuilding of Tra-
verse City, which has grown under his eye from a small liamlet to a manu-
facturing center of importance, and through his activities as a business
man and as a citizen has contributed greatly to this section's prestige. He
is a Republican in his political views, but has never allowed political mat-
ters to take him from his business, and has preferred not to accept public
office. As a member of the Blue Lodge and Chapter of the Masonic fra-
ternity and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, he is widely
known in fraternal circles, and his religious connection is with the Pres-
byterian church.

Mr. Caldwell was married in 1871, in his native city, to ]\Iiss ^lary
MacMillan, a native of Arran, Scotland, who died at Traverse City.
Michigan, April 2, 1903. She was always an active church member. To
Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell there were born seven children, as follows : Will-
iam, born in Ardrossen, Scotland, who was brought to the United States
as an infant, was educated in the public schools of Traverse City, and
later graduated in civil engineering from the University of Michigan,
now being successfully engaged in the practice of his profession at
Detroit ; Robert, born at Traverse City, who died at the age of twenty-
seven years : Duncan, now a resident of Chicago, where he is engaged in
business as an engineer and machinist ; John, who has spent his life in
Traverse City and is now a mechanic employed b}^ the Traverse City
Chair Company: Florrie, who resides in Traverse City with her father;
Albert C, who died at the age of twenty-seven years ; and Jessie, a resi-
dent of this city. All the children received good educational advantages,
as the father is a firm believer in the value of schools, and has given
his hearty support to movements along this line. Although he has reached
an age when most men who have gained a well-earned success are willing
to retire, Mr. Caldwell is still actively engaged in looking after his
manifold interests. During his long residence in Traverse City it has
been his fortune to acquire a wide ac(|uaintance, and in it he numbers
many warm and appreciative friends.

Charles P,\tch. A dctroit banker whose name is well known in
financial circles of that city and of Michigan, Mr. Patch is vice-president
of the Security Trust Company, has been identified with Detroit for the
past five years, and for many years was in business and banking in Cleve-
land, Ohio.

Charles Patch is a native of Illinois, born at Kewanee, August 19,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1619

1868. His parents were Rev. Orin Drew and Emma Louise (Christie)
Patch. His father, a native of New Hampshire, was for a long period
of years an active minister of the Baptist church, having come west at
an early day and filling pulpits in Illinois and Ohio, but finally returned
east and died in Greenville, Rhode Island, in 1912. His wife was a native
of Vermont, and died in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1904.

Charles Patch spent his youth in a number of different localities, ac-
quiring his education in the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, at Green-
ville, Rhode Island, at the high school in Lewiston, Maine, and in the
Cleveland Law School. His attention was directed from the profession
of law to business, and in 1888 he became cashier of the Cleveland I'ro-
vision Company, remaining with that concern two years. His banking
experience began in 1890 as teller of the Woodland Avenue Savings &
Loan Company of Cleveland, and he was with that institution five years.
In 1895 ^^^- Patch became teller of the Cleveland Trust Company, and
was successively assistant secretary, secretary and treasurer and vice-
president. His active relations covering a period of fourteen years,
until 1909, which year marked his removal to Detroit in order to take
up his duties as vice-president of the Security Trust Company. This
position has brought him into prominence in banking circles in Detroit
and in the state at large.

Mr. Patch is a member of the Episcopal church, and belongs to the
Detroit, the Detroit Country, the Hunt, the Bankers and Union Clubs,
the last being in Cleveland. On Jtme 25, i8g6, Mr. Patch married Mary-
Seymour Greene of Cleveland ; they have one son, Charles Patch. Jr.

Ch.\rles G. SfiERVVOOD. As manager of the Traverse City flouring
mills of the Hannah-Lay Company, one of the greatest of the industrial
corporations of Northern Michigan, and as a man of such marked execu-
tive ability and sterling character that he has been called upon to accord
service in many other capacities of distinctive trust and responsibility,
Mr. Sherwood has secure vantage place as one of the representative citi-
zens of Grand Traverse countv and his progressiveness has been potent
not only in connection with the business acti\'ities with which he has
been identified but also in touching those things that tend to advance the
social and material welfare of the community in general.

Charles Grant Sherwood claims the fine old Keystone State as the
place of his nativity, and the family of which he is a representative was
early founded in America, the lineage being traced back to fine English
origin. Mr. Sherwood was born on the old homestead farm of his
father, in Waterford township, Erie county. Pennsylvania, where he was
ushered into the world on the 7th of June, 1865. He is a son of Frederick
W. and Mary M. ( Fellows) Sherwood, both of whom were born and
reared in the state of New York, where their marriage was solemnized
and whence they soon afterward removed to Erie county, Pennsylvania,
where the father became a substantial agriculturist and a citizen of influ-
ence in his community. Both he and his wife continued their residence
in Pennsylvania until the close of their long and worthy lives, Mr. Sher-
wood having passed away in 1905, at the age of eighty years, and his
widow having been summoned to the life eternal in 1913, at the venerable
age of eighty-four years. Both were earnest and consistent members of
the Methodist Episcopal church and their lives were replete with kindly
thoughts and kindly deeds. They afforded to their children excellent edu-
cational advantages, and the gracious influences of the home will ever be
cherished by their sons and daughters, who revere the memory of the
loved and devoted parents. Of the six children the subject of this
review was the fourth in order of birth.

1G20 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Charles G. Sherwood found the days of his boyhood and youth com-
passed by the invigorating and benignant conditions and influences of
the home farm, in the work of which he early began to assist. After avail-
ing himself fully of the advantages of the public schools he further forti-
fied himself by completing a course in a business college, and in 1886, at
the age of 21 years, he came to Michigan and established his residence at
St. Ignace, the quaint old city situated on the Upper Peninsula, on the
Strait of Mackinac. There he found employment in the office of the
Martell Furnace & Smelting Company, with which he continued for
seven years, during the latter part of the period having had entire charge
of the books of this important corporation. In 1893 he resigned his
position and removed to Traverse City, where he assumed the position of
bookkeeper for the Hannah-Lay Company, and during the twelve and
one-half years he remained with this influential corporation he served
also, save for the first years, as private secretary to tlie late Perry Han-
nah, the honored head of the company. In this capacity he had charge
of the extensive real estate investments of Mr. Hannah, and his position
was one of distinctive trust and responsibility, giving evidence of the
great confidence placed in him by one of the most prominent and success-
ful capitalists and business men of the state. In 1904, after the death of
his honored employer and patron, Mr. Sherwood became one of the
executors of the great estate of Mr. Hannah, his appointment having
been in consonance with a provision made in the will of Mr. Hannah.
After having given careful and effective attention to the settling of the
affairs of the large estate, Mr. Sherwood, in the autumn of 1905, while
still continuing his residence in Traverse City, formed a partnership with
Henry B. Garner and engaged in the logging and lumbering business in
Mackinac county, under the firm name of Sherwood & Garner. They
did a large and successful business, in connection with which they gave
em]iloyment to an average force of eight men, and special attention was
given to the manufacturing of cedar lumber and shingles. The firm
retired from business prior to the financial panic of 1907, as Mr. Sher-
wood had measureable prescience as to the unfavorable business condi-
tions that were to exist and that the successful prosecution of the enter-
prise would demand specially large capital, even with which reinforce-
ment operations might prove hazardous.

In 1908 Mr. Sherwood was appointed receiver for the National Wood
Dish Company, of Thompsonville, Benzie county, this preferment com-
ing to him as a result of his well estaltlished reputation for executive
ability and im])regnable integrity. He brought the business of this com-
pany to a successful adjustment, and then was made receiver for the
Traverse City Canning Company, a connection in which his interposition
was equally effecti\-e, affairs being brought to an issue that was satis-
factory to all persons concerned. The next fiduciary post to which Mr.
Sherwood was called was that of auditor for the Stearns Salt & Lumber
Company, of Ludington, with which corporation he remained thus
engaged for two vears. Since 1912 Mr. Sherwood has had the entire
supervision of the fine flour mills of the Hannah-Lay Company, and here
he has proved again his splendid administrative powers. Tliese mills,
of the most modern type in all details of e(|uipment and service, have an
output capacity of 150 barrels a day, and the product is well known
throughout Northern Alichigan. where an extensive and profitable trade
is controlled.

Mr. Sherwood was one of the organizers of the Gifford Electrical
Manufacturing Company, in 1907, and he is a member of the directorate
of this corporation, which contributes definitely to the industrial and
commercial prestige of Traverse City. He is the owner of his attractive

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1621

home property, at 614 Union Street, and also of a well improved and
productive fruit farm, which lies contiguous to the corporate limits of
Traverse City and in the supervision of which he finds much pleasure and
diversion.

In politics Mr. Sherwood has not wavered in his allegiance to the
Republican party; he attends and supports the Central Methodist Epis-
copal church, of which his wife and children are members ; and in his
home city he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and the Knights of the Modern Maccabees. The family home is known
for its gracious hospitality and Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood and their chil-
dren are. prominently identified with the representative social activities
of Traverse City, Mrs. Sherwood being an active member of the Ladies'
Aid Society.

On the 9th of .April, 1891, at St. Ignace, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Sherwood to Miss Emma Ackerman, who like himself is a native
of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and who is a daughter of Jacob and Mar-
garet (Loesel) Ackerman. Concerning the five children of this union
the following brief record is entered : Willis L., who was born at St.
Ignace, on the nth of February, 1892, is now a. resident of the city of
Grand Rapids; Harry A., who was born at St. Ignace on the 2d of Feb-
ruary, 1893, remains at the parental home; Margaret, who was born in
Traverse City, on the 25th of October, 1894, was graduated in the local
high school and is now a student in the Grand Traverse County Xormal
School : the two younger children are Dorothy, who was born April 4,
1896, in Traverse City, and Donna, who was born in the same city on
the 18th of September, 1902.

Archib.m.d Broomfield was born on a farm in Isabella county, Mich-
igan, July 3, 1875, '^ son of William and Elizalieth (Malloy) Llroom-
field, both of whom were natives of York county, Ontario. His paternal
grandfather, Neil Broomfield, a native of Scotland and of a staunch old
Scottish family, emigrated to Canada and settled on a farm in Ontario
in 1 83 1. The maternal grandfather, Malcolm Malloy, was also a native
of Scotland, and settled in Ontario, on a farm which he reclaimed from
the wilderness and which remained his home until his death. William
Broomfield, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born on a
farm in York county, Ontario, in 1833. He came to the United States in
1853, and in 1861 moved to Isabella county, where he lived until his
death in 191 1. In 1908 he discontinued farming and his last years were
spent in a comfortable home near the village of iMillbrook. A Republican
in politics, he at one time served as deputy highway commissioner of the
State. For fourteen years he held -the office of township supervisor, and
his home township in Isabella county is named in his honor. He was
a member of the Presbyterian Church, a member of the Alasonic Fra-
ternity and also belonged to the Independent C)rder of Odd Fellows.
After the death of his first wife he was married to Elizabeth Alalloy in
York county, Ontario, in 1870. To this union, two children survive,
viz. : Archibald Broomfield, the Big Rapids lawyer, and Neil, who for
twenty years has been identified with the heavy hardware firm of Roehm
& Davidson of Detroit.

Archibald Broomfield grew up on a farm and largely through his own
work as a teacher and in other lines of employment acquired a liberal
education. From April, 1896, to April, 1899, he took normal and col-
legiate work in the Ferris Institute, and in the meantime had taught
school thirteen months in the country and in the village. In September,
1899, he entered the University of Michigan and in June, 1902, was
graduated in law. Mr. Broomfield began the practice of law in Big Rap-

1622 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ids on July 7, 1902, in partnership with Air. Albert B. Cogger. This
partnership continued until March, 191 1, when Mr. Cogger was elected
Circuit Judge. Mr. Broomfield then formed a partnership with Mr.
Alpheus A. Worcester, under the firm name of LSroomfield & Worcester.
They have a splendid general practice, and Air. Broomfield during the
past ten years has handled many important cases in the local and state
courts.

Mr. Broomfield was a member of the Constitutional Convention that
framed the present constitution of Michigan, during 1907-08. At the
present time he is serving as a member of the Commission appointed by
Governor Ferris to compile the laws of Michigan and digest the decisions
of the Supreme Court. He is also a member of the State Board of Ac-
countancy. Mr. Broomfield served five years as city attorney of Big
Rapids, is a director of the Big Rapids Savings Bank, and has member-
ship in the State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

On June i, i9i2,Tie was united in marriage with Miss Nettie \'oor-
hees, of Detroit. Mr. Broomfield is ai^liated with the Masonic Order in
the Blue Lodge, the Royal Arch C!,iapter and the Knights Templars at
Big Rajiids, and with thcMystic Shrine at Grand Rapids. He is secre-
tary of the local Masonic Temple Association.

Mf.rritt W. L'NDERWOod. Grand Traverse county claims its full
quota of able and successful lawyers, and he whose name initiates this
paragraph has clearly defined status as one of the representative members
of the bar of this attractive and progressive county, his success offering
evidence of his professional talent and of his possession of those sterling
attributes that ever beget popular confidence and esteem. He has been
engaged in the practice of law at Traverse City since 1892 and is now •
circuit-court commissioner for Grand Traverse county.

Merritt Walter Underwood was born in Middlebury townsliip, Wyom-
ing county. New York, on the 17th of September, i860, and is a son of
Walter and Elvira (Brown) Underwood, both of wdiom continued their
residence in the old Empire State until their death, the father having
been a prosperous farmer and honored citizen of Wyoming county. Of
the four children Merritt W., of this review, is the eldest ; George Almond
is engaged in the mercantile business in the city of Buffalo, New York ;
Carrie is the wife of Redford Hopkins, a representative agriculturist of
Middlebury township, Wyoming county. New York ; and Slary B., w'ho
is a professional nurse, maintains her home in Buffalo, that State.

The public schools of Attica, in his native county, afforded to Mer-
ritt W. Underwood his early educational advantages, and as a youth he
formulated definite plans for his future career. He determined to pre-
pare himself for the legal profession, and his preliminary discipline in
the study of law was gained under the direction of private jireceptors in
the village of Attica. In 1884 he came to Michigan and established his
residence at Flint, where he entered the law offices of the firm of Dur-
and & Carton, where he continued his technical studies until he proved
himself eligible for admission to the bar, his examination having been
conducted before Judge Newton, presiding on the bench of the circuit
court. After his admission to the bar he continued in the general prac-
tice of his profession at Newago for eight years. He then, in 1S92. re-
moved to Traverse City, where he formed a partnership with William
H. Umler, with whom he has continued to be associated in practice dur-
ing the long intervening period of nearly a (juarter of a century, the firm
having maintained high standing at the bar of this part of the state and
its practice having Ijeen essentially of representative order. Mr. Under-
wood has appeared in connection with a large amount of important litiga-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1623

tion, and his wide and varied experience has fully matured and solidified
his professional ability. He is an appreciative and valued member of
the Grand Traverse County Bar Association, is a stalwart advocate of
the principles of the Democratic party, has held since 191 2 the office of
circuit-court commissioner, and is one of the loyal and public-spirited
citizens of Traverse City. Both he and his wife attend the Protestant
Episcopal church, and are active in the affairs of their home parish, even
as they are popular factors in the social life of the community. Both
are devotees of the automobile and through its medium find their chief
source of recreation.

At Newago, Michigan, in the year 1891, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Underwood to Miss IMay Graham, a daughter of William and
Amanda (Cutler) Graham, the former of whom is deceased and the
latter of whom, at the venerable age of eighty-one years (1914), resides
in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Underwood, where she is assured of
the most loving filial solicitude. Mr. Graham was for many years promi-
nently identified with lumbering operation and contracting and building
in this section of Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Underwood have no children.

WiLLi.\M F. WiSELOGEL. A successful busiuess man and public
spirited citizen of Muskegon, William F. Wiselogel has been identified by
residence with this part of Michigan for upwards of half a century.
Before he had fairly attained to manhood he was a soldier for the Union
during the Civil war, and afterwards began his career as a worker for
others, and by industry and ability became master of his own circum-
stances, and now for many years has enjoyed prosperity in business and
a distinctive place in the civic activities of his home city.

Stark County, Ohio, was his birthplace, on May 28, 1843. His parents
were Alichael and Elizabeth (Snyder) Wiselogel, both of whom were
natives of Strassburg, Germany, the father born in 1819. The grand-
parents, George and Mary Wiselogel, left Germany early in the nine-
teenth century, located on a farm, and there spent the rest of their days.
George Snyder, the maternal grandfather, also emigrated to America at
an early date and settled in Ohio, where he followed the trade of wagon
making during most of his active career. The parents came to America
when children, the father in 1824 and the mother in 1826, and grew
together in the vicinity of Massillon. C>hio, where they were married in
February, 1838. The father was at first a wool weaver, later learned the
trade of molder, and followed that until he moved to Michigan in 1855.
After that he was one of the pioneer farmers in Calhoun county, and
before his death had acquired a considerable estate and was a man of
means and influence. He and his wife worshipped in the Lutheran church,
he had fraternal affiliations with the Masonic Order and the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, was a Republican in politics, held the office of
justice of the peace for a number of years, and was also honored with the
position of supervisor in his township. Seven children were Liorn to the
parents, and of the si.x now living William is the second, the others being
mentioned as follows : Fred G., \vho is an inventor, living in Indianapolis ;
Louis, whose home for a number of years has been in Marianna, Florida,
where he has been honored with various official places, having been post-
master at Marianna for nine years ; Carrie, widow of William H. Ford of
Albion, Michigan; Cris D., of the Peerless W'ire Goods Company of
LaFayette, Indiana ; Emile E., who married E. Bryant, a contractor in
St. Louis.

William F. Wiselogel grew up in the states of Ohio and Michigan, being
twelve years of age when the family moved to the latter state. The com-
mon schools of those states supplied his early advantages, and on Octo-

1624 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ber I, 1862, when nineteen years of age, he entered the service of the
Union in Company D of the Third Michigan Cavalry. His service with
this gallant Michigan regiment of Michigan cavalry took him through-
out the Mississippi \'alley, and among the more important points at which
he touched and in which he was engaged in actual conflict were the Siege
of Corinth, \\'ater-\'ailey, and Holly Springs, Alississippi, Jackson, Ten-
nessee, Clarendon, Arkansas, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Mobile. Alabama,
and at Coffeyville he was captured but made his escape three days later.
His service continued until about a year after the close of the war, and his
discharge was delivered at .San Antonio, Texas, in 1866. After being
mustered out at Jackson, Alichigan. Mr. W'iselogel worked at the trade
of carpenter in Albion for three years, in 1869 came to Muskegon, and
followed his trade as millwright and contractor, and operated a planing
mill until it was burned in 1897. Following that misfortune he resumed
contracting, and only retired from that business in January, 1913. In 1905
]\Ir. W'iselogel established a general supply house at Muskegon, supplying
general materials used in the mason's trade, including cement, lime, sand,
coal, etc., has built up a large business.

In 1867 Mr. Wiselogel married Alsameda V. Dyer, a daughter of
Francis J. Dyer, who was born in \'ermont, but was a Michigan farmer
for many years. Mrs. Wiselogel is a member of the Christian Science
church. Mr. Wiselogel is well known in fraternal circles, especially in
Masonry. He has taken many of the Scottish Rite degrees, belongs to
the Mystic Shrine, and is very prominent in Odd Fellowship, being past
grand master of the State of Michigan, has represented the sovereign
grand lodge twice, one time in Boston and again in Detroit. A Republican
in politics, his political activity has been chiefly along the line of promoting
good and efficient government in his home city. He has served as alder-
man, as supervisor and as city treasurer. Mr. W'iselogel belongs to Phil
Kearney Post No. 7, G. A. R., and is past commander of his post. He
owns considerable property in Muskegon and is interested in fruit farm-
ing in this vicinity.

William H. Umlor. The members of the legal profession, with an
inherent love of what they are taught to revere as the beauties of i he
technique of the profession, are proverbially conservative and have a
steadying influence on society, so that they may consistently be termed
the balance wheel of the social met;hanisnL The best traditions and
highest ethics of the profession have been well exem|)lihed by the con-
stituent members of the Michigan bar during the entire history of this
commonwealth, and the standards that obtain today are such as to main-
tain fully the high prestige of Michigan jurisprudence. He whose name
initiates this review is not only a representative member of the bar of
the state but is also a native son of Alichigan, within whose gracious
borders he has found ample opportunity for the proper and effective
utilizing of his excellent technical powers. He is engaged in the suc-
cessful practice of law at Traverse City, the judicial center of Grand
Traverse county, where he is junior member of the well known iirm of
Underwood & Umlor. His coadjutor is ;\Ierritt W. Underwood, con-
cerning whom individual mention is made on other pages of this pub-
lication. He has served as prosecuting attorney of Grand Traverse
county, and his election to this office occurred shortly after his admis-
sion to the bar, this popular preferment showing the strong hold he has
ever maintained on the confidence and esteem of the people of his
home county.

William Henry Umlor was iKirn in Ottawa county, Michigan, on the
4lh of I^'ebruary. 1867, and is a son of Michael and Mary (Schoenborn)

HISTORY OF IVnCHIGAN 1625

Umlor, the former of whom was born in Alpena township, Kent county,
Michigan, and the latter in the Kingdom of Saxony, Germany. The.
parents now reside in Traverse City, where they have maintained their
home since the father retired from active life as one of the agriculturists
of this section of the state. In the '405, during the administration of
President James K. Polk, the paternal great-grandfather of William H.
Umlor immigrated with his family from Germany to America and set-
tled near Canton, Stark county, Ohio, where he became a farmer and a
citizen of prominence and influence. His son, Theobald, grandfather
of the subject of this review saw military service in the Fatherland.
Theobald Umlor was about twenty-one years of age at the time of the
family immigration to the United States and he was one of four brothers
who finally came from Ohio and settled near Grand Rapids, Kent county,
Michigan, aljoiit the year 1842. Theoljald l/iu'or learned also the car-
penter's trade, and to this he gave considerable attention after number-
ing himself among the pioneers of Kent county. He also obtained a
tract of wild land and from the same reclaimed a productive farm, iiis
success having been on a parity with his energy, ambition and recognized
integrity of purpose. P>oth he and his wife continued to reside in Kent
county. Michigan, until their death, and their names merit enduring
place on the roster of the sterling jiioneers of the state.

Michael Umlor was, as already noted, born in Kent county, ]\Iichi-
gan, and the date of his nativity was April 5, 1847. There he was
reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer days, and
after the outbreak of the Civil war he made three attempts to enlist and
go forth in defense of the Union, his efforts in this direction having
been frustrated by his mother, who opposed the action on account of
his youth, as he was a mere boy at the inception of the war. For twenty
years he continued to be actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and
stock-growing in an independent way, and he was known as one of the
enterprising and substantial farmers of Ottawa county, where he con-
tinued to reside until his removal to Traverse City, his present home.
He is a staunch Democrat in his political allegiance and both he and
his wife are earnest communicants of the Roman Catholic church. Of
their eleven children four are deceased and of those surviving William
H.. of this review, is the eldest: Richard J. is a prosperous farmer near
Cadillac, Wexford county: Leonora C. is the wife of John F. Hayden,
and they reside in Highland Park, a suburb of the city of Detroit ;
Michael A. is a shoe manufacturer in Traverse City and is an expert in
the manufacturing of shoes for crippled or deformed feet : George P.
is identified with business interests in Traverse City; Maude M. is the
wife of Stephen J. Lautner, a successful farmer of Grand Traverse
county : and Karl F. is employed in the offices of the People's (Outfitting
Company in the city of Detroit.

\\'illiam H. Umlor gained his preliminary education in the district
schools and supplemented this by attending the Traverse City high
school and by higher academic study under the direction of a private
preceptor of exceptional ability. At the age of eighteen years he be-
gan teaching in the district schools, and for four years he continued as
an able and popular representative of the pedagogic profession, though
his efforts in the same were exerted as a means to an end, his plans hav-
ing in the meanwhile been formed for entering the legal profession. He
finally entered the law department of the great University of Michigan,
in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1891 and with
the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had previously studied law while
engaged in teaching, and he was indefatigable in fortifying himself

1626 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

for the vocation of his choice — the one in wliicli his success has been
pronounced and unequivocal. As previously intimated in this context,
Mr. Umler had the distinction of being elected prosecuting attorney of
Grand Traverse county while he was still a student in the law depart-
ment of the university. This preferment came without solicitation or
effort on his part, and he was the popular choice on the fusion ticket
made up of adherents to the Democratic and Prohibition parties and that
known as the Patrons of Industry. Immediately after his graduation and
admission to the bar Mr. Umlor thus entered upon the discharge of most
important official duties, and he made an admirable record as public
prosecutor, though his professional novitiate was served simultaneously.
Since his retirement from the office of prosecuting attorney he has given
close attention to the general practice of his profession, and since May
15, 1896, he has been junior member of the representative law firm of
Underwood & Umlor, which has controlled from its inception a large
and important law business.

Mr. Umlor finds satisfaction in knowing that he has never wavered
in his allegiance to the now dominant political party, and he has been
an effective exponent of the principles and policies of the Democratic
party. He was judge of the recorder's court for two terms. As a citi-
zen and man of affairs he has been liberal and progressive, and he was
one of the leading promoters of the organization and incorporation of
the Manistee Power Company, the productive enterprise of which was
finally squelched or aljsorbed by the power trust of the state, an organiza-
tion that has profited greatly from the incidental operations since that
time. Mr. Umlor is the owner of valuable farm land in Grand Traverse
county, and the same is devoted principally to the raising of fruit. Mr.
Umlor is past chancellor of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias
and is affiliated also with Traverse City Lodge of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. His wife is a member of the Congregational
church in Traverse City and is an active and popular factor in the
leading literary and social affairs of her home city.

On the 16th of December, 1891, at Traverse City, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Umlor to Miss Julia Stephenson, who was born
.ind reared in Grand Traverse county and who is a daughter of Freder-
ick H. and Rosa C. (Burlingame) Stephenson, the former of whom is
deceased and the latter of whom now resides in Traverse City. INIr. and
Mrs. Umlor have no children.

TiioM.AS QuiNLAx. Tlie history of Petoskey as a growing town and
commercial city covers hardly more than forty years. Throughout this
period the name Quinlan has been closely identified with the business
and civic development of the city, and there are few firms in northern
Michigan better known than the Thomas Quinlan & Son Company, un-
der which title the principal activities of the family are now concentrated.

The first American re]iresentative of the name was John Quinlan,
who was born in County Ti])perary, Ireland, and lived to the good old
age of eighty-two. When a young man he emigrated to America on a
sailing vessel, went from New York to \'ermont, began as a farmer and
for thirty-eight years was engaged in buying and shipping livestock to
the old Brighton and Cambridge markets. He was also honored in citi-
zenship, was a Democrat in politics, and at one time served in the Ver-
mont legislature. He married a native of that state, Elizabeth Flood,
and his second wife was Margaret Harney, a native of Ireland. The
five children of the first union were: ^Michael, who now resides on the
old homestead in Vermont, enlisted in the First Vermont Cavalry Regi-
ment during the Civil war, participated in the many engagements of that

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1627

regiment, and was under the command of Generals Banks and Phil
Sheridan; William, for many years a merchant at Albany, New V'ork,
is deceased ; John, who lived near Rutland, Vermont, served throughout
the war with the First Vermont Sharpshooters ; Martin, is now a promi-
nent farmer in western Wisconsin ; and the youngest is Thomas, head
of the Thomas Ouinlan & Sons Company of Petoskey. By the second
marriage there were three sons and three daughters, and those still liv-
ing a-re Joseph, a livestock man in Vermont ; Nellie, Mary, Frank and
Kate.

Thomas Ouinlan, son of John and Elizabeth (Flood) Quinlan, was
born at Charlotte, Chittenden county, Vermont, December 22, 1848. His
early schooling was obtained in a school house located on his father's
farm, and at the age of fourteen he went to work as clerk in a general
store at Ferrisburg, Vermont. Three years later he was clerk with the
]\IcWilliams Bros, firm at Burlington, \'ermont, and two years later on
account of failing health returned to his father's home to recuperate.
In October, 1871, at the age of twenty-three, a son of Judge Meech. who
had given the emigrant John Ouinlan his first work on coming to Ver-
mont, sent young Tliomas Ouinlan out to Michigan to take charge of
a business at Norwood, and he superintended the Fred Meech store there
for three years. He then went into business for himself, first as a whole-
sale buyer of potatoes, which he shipped to Chicago markets, making his
purchases in Charlevoix, Norwood and Torch Lake. In this way he
became acquainted with the firm of Fox, Rose & Butters, Charlevoix
merchants, and in November, 1874, was made manager of their branch
store at Petoskey, being connected with this firm for five and a half
years.

In the spring of 1878, with Philip B. Wachtel, Mr. Ouinlan established
the first banking house in I'etoskey, known as Wachtel & Ouinlan, bank-
ers. His interests were later sold to W. L. Curtis of Kalamazoo. Mr.
Quinlan then engaged in the real estate and insurance business until
1908, when the firm of Thomas Ouinlan & Sons Company, Ltd., was or-
ganized to take over the large interests acquired by his individual ac-
tivities. Thomas Quinlan is chairman of the Board of Managers of this
company, and others on the board are C. C. Ouinlan, M. M. Burnham
William T. Ouinlan, John F. Ouinlan. The company handle mortgage
securities, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and all
the officers therein are directors or officers in various improvement and
development associations in Michigan.

Thomas Ouinlan has from his early years of residence in Petoskey
been one of the chief factors in the uplniilding of that city and vicinity,
and has been the means of introducing to Emmett county many farmers
who have succeeded and are men of substantial means today. Mr. Quin-
lan is a Democrat, and in 1880 was elected registrar of deeds for Em-
mett county and served two terms of four years. He has also served as
township treasurer or village treasurer of Petoskey. He and his fam-
ily are members of the Catholic church and fraternally he is affiliated
with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. A large and im-
portant branch of his business, which is also his chief recreation and
hobby, is the ownership and cultivation of over six hundred acres of land
in this part of Michigan, and he is noted as a breeder of registered Dur-
ham cattle, O. I. C. hogs and Shropshire sheep. Incidentally it should
be noted that Mr. Quinlan was the first boarder taken into the Cush-
man Hotel at Petoskey. He now spends most of his winters in the
South.

Thomas Quinlan was married September 2;^. 1879, to Miss M. Bar-

1628 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

b.ira W'achtel, who was born in Pennsj-lvania. Their four children are
John F., WilHam T., Carlos C. and Edith M. William T., who is treas-
urer of the above named company and an official in several corporations,
married Miss Florence Peck, of Chicago. The son, Carlos C, who is
one of the most prominent men in financial circles in Michigan, has the
distinction of having written more than five hundred thousand dollars
worth of life insurance before he was twenty-one years of age, was the
organizer of the Detroit Life Insurance Company, and the Detroit
National Fire Insurance Company, is also vice-president of Thomas
Ouinlan & Sons Company and is actively interested in other corporations.
The daughter, Edith M., died September 21, 1913.

John F. Ouinlan, oldest of the sons, and living in Petoskey asso-
ciated with his father, was born at Petoskey, November i, 1880, was edu-
cated in the public schools and in the Ferris Institute at Big Rapids. For
four years worked in the postofhce under his uncle, P. B. W'achtel, was
bookkeeper with the Belding-Hall Manufacturing Company, for four
years had charge of the Pellston office of the Bogardus Land & Lumber
Company, at Pellston until 1908. when he assisted in the organization of
the Thomas Quinlan & Sons Company, Ltd. He is president of the
Petoskey-Mackinaw Real Estate Company. He has been very active in
city affairs, having served as city treasurer and alderman of Petoskey, is
a Republican in politics, and is afiiliated with the Knights of Pythias and
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On November 28, 1904,
John F. Ouinlan married Miss Grace Witherspoon, of Grand Rapids,
a daughter of Dr. P. E. and Lydia (Hosier) Witherspoon, her father
having been a prominent physician of Grand Rapids. They are the par-
ents of one child, Grace Edith Ouinlan, born at Pellston, Michigan,
September 30. 1905.

Thom.\s Tomlinsox B.\tes. In Northern Michigan, and particu-
larly in the Grand Traverse region, the name Bates has such distinguished
associations as cannot fail to make it one of significance in future history
as it has been in the past. There was Morgan Bates, Sr., the pioneer
newspaper man of northern Michigan, and journalism has to a peculiar
degree been the vocation of the family. A nephew of Morgan Bates
was the late Thomas Tomlinson Bates, whose son, George Gilbert, now
has the active management and control of the large publishing business
at Traverse City.

Morgan Bates, Sr., who established the first newspaper of northern
I\Iichigan by founding the Grand Traverse Herald in 1858, was born at
Queensbury, Warren county, New York, July 12, 1806. He was a boy
apprentice at the printer's trade and at the age of tw-enty established the
Gazette at Warren. Pennsylvania. While at Warren, Horace Greeley
worked with him as a journeyman printer, and their friendship, formed at
that time, was continued until the close of Mr. Greeley's life. Morgan
Bates subsequently was foreman in Greeley's New York office. The A cvj
Yorker, later changed to New^ York Tribune.

In 1838 Morgan Bates went to Detroit, and after working a year as
foreman in the office of the Advertiser, now the Tribune, bought that
journal in company with George Dawson, and later became its sole pro-
prietor. In 1844, after the defeat of the Whig party, he sold the paper,
and in 7S49 went out to California, remaining two years. In 1852 he
again sought fortune on the Pacific coast, and during his residence in
California established and until 1856 was for over a year owner and pub-
lisher of the Aha Californian. a daily and weekly paper. It was the
only daily paper published then west of the Rocky Mountains. During

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1629

his early newspaper experience he floated a printing outfit down the
Ohio and Mississippi rivers and established the New Orleans Picayune.
Not long after his return from the west Morgan Bates moved to
Traverse City in 1858. There he issued the first number of the Grand
Traverse Herald, November 3, 1858, and from the first identified his
paper with an uncompromising opposition to slavery and an earnest
support of the integrity of the Union. After the Republicans came into
power Mr. Bates was appointed by President Lincoln in 1861 as Register
of the Land Office at Traverse City. His outspoken condemnation of the
policy of President Johnson led to his removal from office in 1867. Presi-
dent Grant reappointed him Register, and he continued to hold that office
until his death. He was four times elected treasurer of Grand Traverse
county, and in tlie fall of 1868 and 1872 was elected Lieutenant Governor
on the Republican ticket. Morgan Bates died March 2, 1874, at the age
of sixty-eight.

Thomas Tomlinson Bates, a nephew of Morgan Bates, became identi-
fied with northern Michigan journalism in 1865, and eventually came into
virtual control of the press of Traverse City, and was one of the best
known and most influential journalists of northern Michigan. His death
occurred in 1912 at the age of seventy-one years. During his career as a
journalist and man of affairs he had the distinction of making and un-
making United States congressmen, senators, and held a power and in-
fluence such as is seldom wielded by individuals. Among his personal
friends were such figures as Governor Alger, Zach Chandler, and many
other notables of the time, who often sought his advice on important
political issues. At the time of his death he also enjoyed the distinction
of being one of the oldest railway officials in the United States, having
been connected with the Traverse City Railroad branch of the Grand
Rapids & Indiana Railway Company for more than forty years.

Thomas T. Bates was born December 13, 1 841, at Keesville, Essex
county. New York, a son of Rev. Merritt and Eliza A. (Tomlinson)
Bates. His father, a Methodist minister, was an uncompromising anti-
slavery man, possessed with abilities in the pulpit and among people, held
a high place in his church, and lived until the war had vindicated the
cause for which he so long and earnestly strove. The Tomlinson fam-
ily was prominent in New York City during Revolutionary times. •

Thomas T. Bates had a public school education. At the age of sixteen
he was working as a clerk at a dollar a week and boarding himself, and a
year later was the bookkeeper in a bank at Glens Falls, New York. At the
age of eighteen he was in a responsil^le position in a Memphis bankiiig
house, but came north about the beginning of the war. In 1863 he became
cashier for the firm of Hannah, Lay & Company at Traverse City, and
two years later resigned to open a real estate office with Hon. D. C. Leach,
whose interest he bought in 1871.

In the meantime Air. Bates had become identified with journalism
His uncle, Morgan Bates, in 1867, had sold the Grand Traverse Herald to
D. C. Leach, who in turn sold the paper to Thomas T. Bates in 1876.
Mr. Bates became connected with the management of the Herald in 1865,
and was editor and controlling factor in the destinies of that and sev-
eral other northern Michigan papers from 1876 until the time of his death.
In 1897 the Evening Record was established, and in 1904 the entire busi-
ness was incorporated as the Herald and Record Company, with Mr.
Bates as president. In 1910 the Eagle Press was acquired and consoli-
dated with the Herald and Record Company, and two other weekly
papers published in the county were also Ijrought under the same general
management.

The late Thomas T. Bates had many other interests. When only hf-

Vol. m— 27

1630 HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN

teen years of age he was a member of a youthful Republican organization
known as "The Rocky Mountain Boys" in eastern New York, and after
casting his first presidential vote for Lincoln in 1864 he never missed
voting a straight Republican ticket until the close of his life. Prac-
tically his only political office was that of postmaster at Traverse City
during 18S1-83, which he resigned because of the increasing responsibili-
ties of his newspaper business. He was chairman of the township and
county organizations of his party, in 1880 became a member of the stale
central committee, and his consecutive service of ten years was the longest
consecutive service performed by any member of the party in the state.
He was a delegate to the national convention in 1892, and in 1904 was a
member of the executive committee having in charge the celebration of
the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the Republican party "under the
Oaks" at Jackson. In 1885 he accepted a place on the board of trustees
of the Northern Michigan Asylum, now the Traverse City State Hospital,
an institution opened to patients in that year. Re-appointments in i88g,
1895, 1901 and 1907 kept him continuously on the board until his death, and
it is stated that his was the longest service ever rendered by any member
of any board of managers of any state institution in Michigan. He was
president of the board from 1886 to 1892, and again from 1907 to 1910,
and in 1885-86 was chairman of the board of building commissioners for
that institution until its work was finished. His long connection with the
Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad Company has already been mentioned.
He became secretary of the Traverse City Railroad Company on its
organization in 1 871 and held that office until the road was leased to the
Grand Rapids & Indiana, at which time he went on the board of directors
of the Traverse City Railroad Company, and including several years of
service as president of the company, continued a director until his death.
He was also a member and president of the board of liberty trustees of
Traverse City, and was long president of the Traverse City Business
Men's Association, an organization instrumental in securing the establish-
ment of important industries in that community. In 1909 Mr. Bates was
one of Michigan's representatives on the Lincoln National Memorial
Association for the arrangement of the proper observance of the centen-
nial anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.

Thomas T. Bates was married in 1867 to Martha E. Cram, daughter
of Jesse Cram, who for many years was identified with the early his-
tory of Wayne and Genesee counties, and was also a pioneer of Grand
Traverse county. Mrs. Bates died in 1905. There were two daughters :
Mrs. Mabel Bates Williams and Miss Clara Bates. The only son is
George Gilbert.

George Gilbert Bates since the death of his father in 1912 has been
President and Manager of The Herald and Record Company in Traverse
City. He has been more or less closely associated with newspaper man-
agement and publishing business since early youth.

He was born at Sand Lake, New York, July 23, 1861. His early
education was acquired in the public schools of Traverse City, and at the
age of fifteen he entered the newspaper office under his father and began
an apprenticeship of the printer's trade. After mastering the business he
had a varied commercial experience and routine in Grand Rapids and
Chicago. While in Chicago he became interested in the publication of
trade journals, and there acquired the ownership and took the editorial
control of the American Poultry Journal, a publication which he made a
splendid success. The American Poultry Journal under his manage-
ment became recognized as the largest journal of its kind in the world.
Selling his interests in Chicago he returned to Traverse City, and since
the death of his father has been President and Manager of The Herald

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1631

and Record Company, of which he had previously been vice-president.
He has brought the circulation of the daily Record-Eagle to about 4,000,
while the weekly Herald goes to about 3,000 subscribers.

Fraternally his affiliations are with the Masons, the Knights of Pythias,
the Elks and the Moose. He is a member of the Chicago Athletic As-
sociation.

In i8g6 he married Miss Mayme Fairbanks, daughter of Zelotas C. and
Eunice (Grant) Fairbanks, now deceased, both of whom were prominent
early settlers of Traverse City. Mr. and Mrs. Bates have one daughter,
Janet Fairbanks Bates, born in Chicago, May 5, 1907.

Xi-:ai. MacjMii.l.vn. The present postmaster at Rockford in Kent
county represents one of the oldest and most prominent pioneer families
of this section of Michigan, and during his own long and active career
has held office after office as the gift of his fellow citizens, and his rec-
ord has been without a blemish and marked with vigorous efficiency and
fidelity to all the ideals of a public servant.

Xeal MacAIillan was born in 1845 ^^ Huntington, Canada, a son of
Archibald and Jeannette (McNaughton) 3.IacMillan, who were Isorn in
Scotland. His grandparents, Archibald and ]\Iary MacMillan, emigrated
from Scotland in 1820, and both died in Canada. The parents left
Canada in 1847 and settled on government land in Kent county in West-
ern Michigan. The father was a self-made man, had never attended a
school until he was twenty-three years of age, but with all his handicaps
prospered and gained a substantial position in his community. He was a
Republican, and his death occurred in 1888 while his wife passed away
in 188.V Of their eight children five are still living, the four besides Neal
being Archibald, Alargaret Headley, Mary- Turner and Jeanette Russell.

Neal MacMillan had a high school education, and early turned his
attention to farm work and to teaching. For ten years his vocation was
teaching in the winter, and farming on the old homestead in Kent county
during "the summer. His chief business has been as a druggist, and for
forty years he was proprietor of a well patronized establishment at
Rockford.

His public career, under the auspices of the Republican party, has
been one of unusual importance. He represented his district for two
terms in the legislature, and under appointment from Governor John
T. Rich served two terms as state oil inspector. For twelve years Mr.
MacMillan was United States consul at Sarnia, Ontario. He is now in
his third year as postmaster at Rockford, and has administered this office
to the complete satisfaction of its patrons. The confidence placed in
him by his fellow citizens is indicated by the fact that he has held every
official honor in the township of Algoma. Mr. AlacMillan is prominent
in the Masonic Order, being a past master of Lodge No. 246. A. F. .St
A. M., has held all the chairs including that of grand master in the Grand
Lodge of Michigan, in IQ02; is a Knight Templar and also a Scottish
Rite Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine.

Mr. MacMillan has been married three times, first to Florence Dock-
eray, deceased, and the one child by that union is Earnest D. By his
marriage to Jeanette Blake, deceased, Mr. MacMillan is the father of
two living children: Mrs. Katherine Hoklen and Grace Watson. His
present and third wife was Myrtle Hyde. The son. Earnest, who gradu-
ated from the Rockford high school and studied law in the University
at .^nn Arbor, instead of following that profession went on the stage,
and has been very successful in the dramatic art. He was a soldier in
Cuba during the Spanish-American war, and after returning from the

1632 HISTORY OF iMICHIGAN

South married Bessie Sheldon of Lansing. The daughter, Katherine
Ethel, is a graduate of the Thomas Normal school of Detroit, while
Grace graduated from the Ypsilanti Normal school. In 1906 .Mr. Mac-
^lillan married for his present wife Myrtle Hyde.

George Allen Smith. One of the best known officials of Grand
Traverse county, who, during the ten years he has been connected with
the public life of this section has established a reputation for earnest effort
and conscientious devotion to duty, is the popular and efficient sheriff,
George Allen Smith. Mr. Smith has been an eye-witness to the great
growth and development of the vicinity of Traverse City during more
than a quarter of a century and has contributed materially to this advance-
ment through his activities in the field of agriculture and surveying, and
has gained personal advancement through steady and industrious labor
and capable handling of his opportunities. Sheriff Smith, like many of his
fellow-citizens, is a native of the Empire state, having been born in
Cicero township, Onondaga ..c^luify; 'Jafiyary 22, 1864, a son of Dr. James
A. and Charlotte R. (Smith) 'SKiith.-'- ^^^ "

Dr. James A. Smith was reared in New York, where he grew to
sturdy young manhood, a man of splendid, physique and the best of
health. During the Civil War he_,.ejilisted as a private, at Syracuse, New
York, in the 185th Regimen^^ew VJofk Volunteer Infantry, for service
in the Union army. One' year later, he was discharged for disability,
absolutely broken in health; his^orm emaciated and the dread germs of
disease having a firm hold upon him. When he had recovered somewhat
— he never fully regained his health — he took the little means that he had
been able to save from his pay as a soldier, and began the study of med-
icine, finally graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with his
degree. At that time he began to practice in his native county, and there
continued until 1876, when he came to Traverse City, and here continued
in the enjoyment of an excellent professional business until the disease
that he had contracted in the swamps of Virginia undermined his con-
stitution entirely and he was forced to give up his practice. His death
followed soon thereafter, in 1890, when he was but fifty-four years of
age. Doctor Smith was the discoverer of various valual)le [jroprietary
fonnulas, which, had he lived would have doubtless made him independ-
ent as to fortune and have gained him fame in medical circles. His life,
however, was sacrificed upon the altar of his country's honor. A Repub-
lican in his political views, he took an active interest in the success of his
party, and was prominent in civic aff'airs. Both he and his wife, who
passed away at the age of fifty-five years, in 1897, were active in the work
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and were laid to rest side by side in
the Traverse City cemetery. They were the parents of five children, as
follows: George Allen; Lily A., who is the wife of I'" rank Whipple, a
resident of Coloma, a suburb of San Francisco, California; Lottie J.,
who is the wife of Ray Lilly, private secretary to Judge Montgomery, of
Washington, D. C. ; Mary Lois, who died in igo6 at Grand Rapids, after
her marriage to George Henderson ; and William Albert, who died at
Traverse City, at the age of twenty-one years.

CJeorgc Allen Smith attended the jiublic schools of Onondaga county,
New Y'ork, until he was twelve years of age, at which time he accom-
panied his ])arents to Traverse City, and here completed his education.
He laid aside his books at the age of nineteen years, at which time he
began assisting his father, and continued to be so engaged until his mar-
riage, March '26, 1887, when he located on 160 acres of wild land in
Springdale township, Manistee county, which had been entered by his
father. On this he erected a log house, and for the following five years

'jl^lAu. y)ri<Lu^pt<^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1633

concentrated his energies upon the development of a productive farm,
experiencing all the hardships and being forced to overcome all the ob-
stacles which fall to the lot of those who hew a home out of the forest.
Constant application and abounding faith finally won the battle, and Mr.
Smith was entitled to rank among those who have contributed to the
development of one of Michigan's most fertile sections. After receiving
his patent to his land, Mr. Smith sold his first farm and purchased an-
other in Grand Traverse county, to which he moved, and on which he
resided until 1893. In the winter of that year he joined a party of civil
engineers, and for eight years continued to be identified with this kind of
work, rapidly learning the principles of the calling, and being promoted
from axeman to the trenchman and then to the position of assistant to the
chief engineer, a capacity in which he served throughout Northern Mich-
igan for four years. In the fall of 1904 Mr. Smith returned to Traverse
City and began his connection with official life, in the office of city con-
staijle, a position which he capably filled for three years. He was ap-
pointed deputy state game and fish warden February i, 1908, and held
that office for five years when he resignetl to accept the office of sheriff of
Grand Traverse county, to which he had been elected on the Republican
ticket. Mr. Smith is a man of fine physique and athletic build, and has
proved a most brave and efficient officer. His service has been char-
acterized by zealous devotion to duty, and it is doubtful if the county has
had a more popular sheriff or one who held in greater degree the confi-
dence of his fellow-citizens.

Mr. Smith was married to Miss Eva N. Lyon, of Traverse City, Mich-
igan, daughter of Edwin L. and Fannie (Brokaw) Lyon, natives of
Centerburg, Ohio, and to this union there have come two sons : William
J., born on the farm in Traverse county. May 25, 1889, who has served
four years on the U. S. S. South Dakota as an able seaman, and has visited
China, Japan, the Philippines and Mexico ; and Edwin E., born at
Traverse City, November 11, 1891, a member of the United States Cav-
alry, located at Washington, D. C, whose term of service expires in the
fall of 19 14. Both sons were educated in the graded and high schools
of Traverse City.

Lk.slie W. Keyes, M. D. A native of the old New England common-
wealth of Massachusetts, and since 1887, with the exception of five years,
a resident of Muskegon county, Dr. Keyes, by his eminence in his pro-
fession, his skill in his practice, and his high character and sterling man-
hood, reflects credit alike on the land of his nativity and the state and
county of his adoption. He is one of the leading physicians of Whitehall,
well known in the city and vicinity, has a large private practice, a beautiful
home and an interesting family, and stands high in the estimation and
good will of the people.

Leslie W. Keyes was born near Worcester, Massachusetts, October
5, 1855, a son of Everett E. and Jane (Ames) Keyes. Both parents
were natives of New York, the father born March 12. 1815, and the
mother in 18 17. His death occurred February 21, 1857, and the mother
survived many years until April 21, 188S. Grandfather Nathan Keyes
was born July 17, 1774, and died February 20. i860, spent all his life as
a farmer in New York State. The Keyes family is of English descent,
and many years ago two brothers of that name left England and founded
the stock in the American colony. Everett Keyes was an operative in
the Massachusetts Cotton Mills. There were ten children, six of whom
are living, the doctor being the youngest, and the others are as follows :
Mittie, widow of Ed. Pearce, of ('ardiner, Kansas: Everette A., a fruit
grower in E.xcelsior, Minnesota; Libbie, wife of Jacob Brubaker, of

U:U HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

JJreckenridge, Missouri; Lucius J., a retired farmer at Barron, Wis-
consin; and Benjamin F., a farmer at Blue Springs, Missouri.

Dr. Keyes received a portion of his preLminary education in Hillsdale
College of Michigan, and m 1882 was graduated Al. D. from the Columbus
Medical College m Columbus, Ohio. At that time his age was twenty-
seven, and his experience had lieen a varied one up to that time. His
family was not in affluent circumstances, and it was necessary at an early
age that he should get out and earn his own way. He accordingly earned a
living, and secured the means for a higher education as worker on a farm,
and also in teaching school. After graduating from medical college, his
practice began in Pickaway county, Ohio, and five years later he moved
10 Montague, in Muskegon county, Michigan, and with the exception of
five years, two of which were spent in Kansas, his home has been in this
section of Michigan ever since. The doctor enjoys a splendid practice,
has the confidence of his entire community, and gives all his attention to
his professional work, being a niemlier of the County and State Medical
Societies.

On August 28, 1882, Dr. Key^s married Celia Idell Keyes, a daughter
of Rev. James and Sallie (Peters) Keyes, her father having been for years
an active minister of the Free Baptist church. Rev. James Keyes was
born in 181 1 and died August 12, 1896, while his wife was born August 17,
1S14, and died November 19, igoi. Mr. Wellington, great-grandfather of
Airs. Keyes, was a drummer boy in the American army during the Revo-
lutionary war. Dr. Keyes and wife have one son, Carl Leslie Keyes, who
graduated in dentistry from the L'niversity of Michigan in 1907, and is
now practicing at St. Joseph, in this state. He married June 25, 1913,
Erma Seelye. Dr. Keyes and wife take a prominent part in the activities
of the White Flail Methodist Episcopal church. He has passed all the
chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in politics is a Pro-
gressive Republican.

Richard W. Round. Prominent among those who have e.xerted
large and benignant influence in connection with the civic and industrial
development and upbuilding of Traverse City, the fair metropolis and
judicial center of (irand Traverse county was the late Richard W.
Rounds, who was long and prominently identified with the iron manu-
facturing industry in Michigan and whose fine ability in mechanical lines
was on a parity with that which he displayed in an executive and con-
structive way. He was one of the influential and highly honored citizens
of Traverse City at the time of his death, w-hich occurred in 1906, at
which time he was sixty-five years of age.

Mr. Round was born near Birmingham, England, one of the greatest
industrial centers of Great Britain, and the date of his nativity was May
29, 1842. He was a son of Daniel and Rebecca (Ward) Round, both of
whom passed their entire lives in their native iaiid. Mr. Round attended
jjrivate and parochial schools in Birmingham until he was ten years of
age, when he found employment in the iron and steel rolling mills of that
city, where he served a thorough apprenticeship to the moulder's trade,
in the meanwhile showing his ambition by attending night schools after
his days of arduous a])plicalion. He continued to be employed at his
trade in Birmingham until 1869, when, at the age of twenty-seven years,
he came to America and worked as a journeyman in different cities in
Canada, where he passed the first two years. Thereafter he was sim-
ilarly employed for one year in the city of Detroit, Michigan, and in 1871
he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, John Rudge, and engaged
in the foundry business at Port Fluron, this State. They built up a pros-
perous business and at the exjjiratifjn of eight years Mr. Round sold his

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1635

interest to his partner and returned to Detroit, where he became a mem-
ber of the firm of Jackson & Round and continued in the foundry busi-
ness for two years, when he sold his interest in the enterprise to accept a
responsible position with the Industrial Iron Works of Bay City, where
he remained for some time. In 1882 Mr. Round formed a partnership
alliance with his son-in-law, William Malpass, and established a foundry
business at East Jordan, Charlevoix county, and after four years of suc-
cessful operations at that place he sold his interest to his partner and
made an extensive trip through the Southern States. He then accepted a
position in the Traverse City Iron Works, and one year later he pur-
chased an interest in the business, which, under his effective management,
became the largest and most important of its kind in Northern Michigan.
At the expiration of six years Mr. Round severed his association with
this concern and purchased another foundry in Traverse City, the new
enterprise having been by him developed into one of most successful
order and his connection with the same having continued until his death.
He was familiar with every detail of the foundry business and his prac-
tical skill as an artisan was ec[ualled by that which he exemplified in the
directing of administrative policies. He finally admitted to partnership
his son Henry W., the present head of the business, and thereafter the
enterprise was conducted until his death under the title of Round &
Sons, foundry and machine shops.

Mr. Round made judicious investments in local real-estate, including
his pleasant home property, and he was known and honored as a citizen
of public spirit and utmost personal rectitude, exemplifying those sterling
characteristics that invariably beget and justify proper confidence and
esteem. He served as a member of the city council and the board of
education, was a Democrat in his political proclivities, and was a con-
sistent communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church, as is also his
widow, who still resides in Traverse City. He was a Knight Templar
Mason and was affiliated with Traverse City Lodge of the Benevolent &
Protective Order of Elks, besides which he was for many years an active
member of the National Iron Moulders' Union.

In the year 1863, Mr. Round wedded Miss Frances Mary Higgins,
who likewise was born and reared in Birmingham, England, and who is
now seventy years of age, in 1914. Concerning the children of this union,
which was marked by mutual devotion and ideal relations, the following
brief record is entered : Alice is the wife of William Malpass, who still
continues in the foundry business at East Jordan ; Miss Florence Round
is now a resident of the city of Tacoma, Washington; Marion is the wife
of Harry Harris, and they reside in the State of Montana ; Emily is the
wife of William Brown, of Traverse City; Henry W. is made the subject
of more specific mention in later paragraphs ; and Daniel is a representa-
tive farmer of Leelanau county, this State.

Henry Wootten Round was born at Port Huron, St. Llair county,
Michigan, on the i6th of February, 1874, and his early education was
received in the public schools of Detroit and Traverse City. At the age
of thirteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the moulder's
trade, in the Traverse City Iron Works, with which his father was then
identified. After he had completed his apprenticeship he left the parental
home and set forth as a journeyman at his trade. He was employed in
dififerent cities in Michigan and incidentally gained much valuable exper-
ience. At the expiration of four years he returned to Traverse City and
became associated with his father in the conducting of the well estab-
lished foundry business, their grateful partnership continuing until the
honored father was summoned from the stage of life's mortal endeavors.
Since that time the son has been in control of the business, and the plant

1636 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

is now one of the best modern equipment and facilities for the manu-
facturing of all kinds of castings, varying in weight from one pound to
twenty tons, and the machine shops also have all needed facilities for
the handling of the large general machinist business that is controlled, the
entire business having its basis on high-grade work and fair and honor-
able dealings.

In politics Henry W. Round is an Independent Republican, and, like
his father, he is a progressive and loyal citizen, commanding the high
esteem of all who know him. He is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias and attends and supports the local Protestant Episcopal church,
of which his wife is a zealous communicant. In his home city he is an
appreciative and valued member of the Wequetong Club.

In the year 1895, Air. Round wedded AHss Mabel Misener, of
Traverse City, who was born at Port Arthur, Canada, and the six chil-
dren of this union are : Frances Charlotte, Richard, Charles, Marguerite,
Clifford and Dorothy, the two elder children being students in the
Traverse City high school at the time of this writing, in 1914.

Mr. Round is a man of indefatigable industry and applies himself
closely to his business, as is evident when it is stated that he has not in a
period of ten years indulged in a definite vacation. Though he shows a
loyal interest in all that touches the welfare of his home city he has had
neither time nor inclination for public office. Mrs. Round is an active
and popular member of the Pythian Sisters, an adjunct organization of
the Knights of Pythias.

RoLLA W. RoP.iiRTS. In the engineering and constructive enterprises
that have been a preliminary to the planning and laying out and improve-
ment of all the street and other public improvements in the city of Saginaw,
Rolla W. Roberts through his long service as assistant or as city engineer
has done more important work than any other individual. Mr. Roberts
has been a resident of Saginaw for more than thirty years, has followed
surveying, civil and construction engineering, and has long been re-
garded as one of the leaders of his profession in the state.

Rolla W. Roberts was born in New York State, November 14, 1858, a
son of Charles W. and Hulda (Laucs) Roberts. Both ])arents were
natives of New York State, and the father, who followed farming in his
early life, later engaged in real estate and died at Oakville, New York, in
1904. He was born in 1835. The mother died in 1905 at the age of
seventy-one. The family on both sides has a long history, in the various
sections of New England but chiefly in Vermont and Massachusetts.
They were five children, and Rolla W. was the oldest. His early educa-
tion was received in the public schools of his native states, and early in his
career he started out to make his own way by teaching school. He learned
surveying in a practical way by working with a skilled professor of that
craft, and when he came to Michigan and located at Saginaw in 1881, he
was already possessed of a thorough ability in that line. He followed sur-
veying and general engineering work for several years, being employed by
the Pere Marquette Railroad Company up to 1886. In that year came his
appointment as assistant engineer for the city of Fast Saginaw. His work
as assistant engineer continued until 1888, at which date he was appointed
to the full office of city engineer, and gave his services to the community,
until 1897. For the following five years he was engaged in handling a
large private practice, and in ir)02 was again ai>])ointed city engineer,
and filled that post up to 1912. Since leaving public office he has devoted
his attention to the private practice, and has some extensive professional
connections in the city and state. While engineer, Mr. Roberts built and

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1637

laid out nearly all the streets and sewer system comprised within the
consolidated city of Saginaw.

In politics he is Democratic, ne has taken the various degrees in "^."ork
Rite of Masonry, including the Chapter and Commandery and Shrine, be-
longs to the Benevolent and P'rotective Order of Elks, to the East Saginaw
Club, and his church is the Methodist Episcopal. On January 22, 1884,
Mr. Roberts married Miss Ora Tinkham. They were married at East
Shelby, New York. HeT parents were Morris and Julia Tinkham, her
father now deceased, while her mother is living. To their marriage were
born five children as follows: Charles Robert, born at East Shelby, Xcw
York, in 1885, and now in business at Saginaw ; .Miss Julia H. Roberts,
born at Saginaw in 1887, a graduate of the Saginaw high school and the
Chicago Art Institute, and now teacher of drawing and designing in the
Saginaw high school. Miss Flora T. Roberts, born in Saginaw in 1888,
a graduate of the high school, and two years in the Michigan Agricultural
College: Rolla W. Jr., born at Saginaw in 1891, a graduate of the high
school, and now in his second year in the University of Michigan ; Helen
E. Roberts, born at Saginaw in 1895, '^"'^ still in high school.

WiLi-i.-XM F. Calkins. A native son of Michigan who has shown
distinctive initiative and executive ability, as well as broad technical
knowledge along mechanical lines, is William Fenelon Calkins, who has
been essentially the architect of his own fortunes and who has risen to
secure status as one of the representative captains of industry in his
native State. He has been a resident of Traverse City since 1887 and is
one of its honored and influential citizens, with large interests in connec-
tion with a number of the leading manufacturing enterprises which lend to
the industrial precedence of Grand Traverse county, as further data in
this context will fully reveal. He has been dependent upon his own re-
sources from his boyhood days, and in his character and achievement he
has signally honored the State that gave him birth and to which he
accords unfaltering loyalty and appreciation.

Mr. Calkins is a scion of a sterling pioneer family of Michigan and
was born at Battle Creek, this State, on the 26th of November, 1855, the
present fine metropolis of Calhoun county having been at that time a
mere village. He is a son of Fenelon and Louise (Pierce) Calkins, both
of whom were born and reared in Wyoming county, New York, and he is
a posthumous child, as his birth occurred six months after the death of his
father, the other child of this union being Emma, who is the wife of
Oscar F. Walrath, of Glen Ellyn, Dupage county, Illinois. The mother
finally contracted a second marriage, becoming the wife of John C. Dyk-
man, and she continued her residence in Michigan until the time of her
death. William F. Calkins, owing to the death of his father, early faced
the battle of life on his ovim responsibility, and while he thus had fel-
lowing with toil and adversity in his youth the discipline proved valuable
in developing and maturing a strong and resourceful nature and in
prompting that ambition and self-reliance that have made him a success-
ful man of affairs and a progressive and useful citizen. He attended the
public schools until he had attained to the age of twelve years, and he
then went to the State of New York, where he remained for several years
on the old homestead farm of his paternal grandparents. His broader
education — and he is a man of large information and mature judgment— =
has been gained principally through self-application and through the les-
sons received under the preceptorship of that wisest of all head-masters,
experience.

At the age of nineteen years Mr. Calkins went to California, where he
was variously employed, but within a few years he returned to Michigan

1638 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

and became actively identified with the great kimbering industry, which
was then in its zenith. He had already acquired a considerable amount
of practical experience as a millwright, and after passing three years at
Big Rapids, in saw-mill work, he went to Muskegon, where he entered
the employ of the firm of Stimpson, Fay & Company. He there remained
as superintendent of the saw mills of the firm for six years, and had
supervision of the work of a corps of eighty-five men. His early ex-
perience at Muskegon and Traverse City included the supervision of the
manufacturing of more than two million feet of white-pine lumber, during
the twelve years of his connection with the firm mentioned. After the
closing down of the mills of this representative firm Mr. Stimpson
earnestly importuned '^Ir. Calkins to join him in lumbering operations
in the State of Oregon, where Mr. Stimpson became a prominent and suc-
cessful operator in the manufacturing of lumber. Mr. Calkins was ten-
dered flattering overtures to assume the superintendency of the Stimpson
mills on the Pacific coast, but he had promised to remain in Traverse
City and has never had cause to regret this promise, for here he has
found ample opportunity for the achieving of distinctive success.

In 1887 Mr. Calkins went to Traverse City in company with John
J. Fay, with whom he became associated in the operation of the saw mill
at that time known as the "Big Mill" of the firm of Hannah & Lav. The
mill was later purchased by John F. Ott, who operated it until the busi-
ness was closed down, owing to the lack of adequate supply resources,
with the virtual exhaustion of the timber of this section. After having
the management of this mill for a period of six years, during which
he was still in the employ of Stimpson, Fay & Company, Mr. Calkins
identified himself with the Traverse City Iron Works, then operated b_v
the late William Holdsworth, who was succeeded by the firm of Thrilhy
& Jackson. Upon the retirement of Mr. Jackson his interest was pur-
chased by the late Robert W. Round, and in 1894 Mr. Calkins himself
became one of the interested principals, whereupon the title of the firm
was changed to Thrilby &: Calkins. Under this firm name the business
was successfully continued until 1908, when its expansion in scope and
importance rendered expedient the incorporation of the Traverse City
Iron Company, which bases its operation on a capital stock of S 100,000
and the execiuive corps of which is as here designated: William Thrilby.
president ; William F. Calkins, vice president and treasurer : and George
Thrilln', secretary. Mr. Calkins not only gives close attention to his
executive duties as vice president and treasurer but also has general su-
perintendence of the plant, as a man of fine technical ability and as an
expert artisan. Concerning his association with this enterprise the fol-
lowing pertinent statements have been made: "He is thoroughly con-
versant with every branch of the business and is considered an author-
itv on many subjects in connection therewith. The plant builds gas-
producing engines of the highest grade, and a specialty is made oi the
installing of heating plants, besides which the enterprise includes divers
other lines of work common to industrial concerns of this order." A
more recent phase of enterprise taken up by the company is in the erec-
tion and equipment of electric-light and water-power plants, and the cor-
])oration has assumed large and important contracts of this kind in Mid-
land, I'arry, ^lissaukee and other counties of the State. In this special
department of the large and substantial business the company give em-
ployment to a force of thirty men.

Broad-minded and enterprising as a citizen, Mr. Calkins has ever
been ready to lend his influence and co-operation in measures and under-
takings projected for the general good of the community, and while he
is a staunch adherent of the Republican j.iarty and has had no amlntion

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1639

for public office, his civic loyalty prompted him to accept the position of
member of the Traverse City board of public works, an office to which
he was elected in April, 1897, and concerning his connection with which
the following estimate has been given : "He served on this board for
seven years, as its chairman during his term of office, and within his
regime was completed the first street paving in tlie city, and it was
largely through his efforts that the splendid work thus done on Front
street was ordered by the city council. He retired from office with an
excellent record and much to the regret of many representative citizens,
who would have been glad to have him remain in the position indefinitely."

Mr. Calkins is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank
of Traverse City and a stockholder in the People's Savings Bank. He
is president of the Brown Lumber Company and also of the Potato Im-
plement Company, which latter represents one of the important indus-
trial enterprises of Traverse City. Of this corporation he was one of
the organizers, and he has been its president from the beginning, besides
which he is president of the Traverse City Brick Company, of which
likewise he was one of the organizers. He has a wide acquaintanceship
among the representative figures in manufacturing circles in his native
State and his broad and intimate knowledge of mechanics makes his
judgment virtually authoritative, the while he has ordered his course upon
a high plane of integrity and honor and fully merits the unqualified es-
teem in which he is uniformly held. A reader and student, Mr. Calkins
has become a man of wide mental ken, and well fortified views, and he
has taken special pleasure in the study of astronomy, besides delving into
other scientific subjects. He is a member of the National Geographic So-
cietv and a member of the Northwestern Bankers' Club.

In the city of Muskegon, on the 7th of November, 1882, was solem-
nized the marriage of Mr. Calkins to Miss Annie C. Royce, who was born
at Pembroke, Renfrew county, Proviilce of Ontario, Canada, and who is
a daughter of Isaac B. and Susan Royce, her father having been a pioneer
fur dealer and later becoming prominently identified with lumbering op-
erations at Muskegon, this State. Mrs. Calkins is an influential and
popular factor in social, church and club ali'airs in her home city, where
she is a zealous member of the Central Methodist Episcopal church, and
prominent in its missionary work, as is she also in leading social and
literary clubs in Traverse City, where she is also secretary of the board
of trustees of the public library. Mr. and Mrs. Calkins have one daugh-
ter. Lulu, who was born at Muskegon, in 1883, and who is now the wife
of Frederick A. Noteware, a member of the editorial stafif of the Chi-
cago Inter Ocean, now under the same control as is the Chicago Herald.
Mr. and Mrs. Noteware have a daughter, ^ilargaret, who was born in
190.1.

W-\LTER H. Weeer. The National Brewery of Saginaw, is one of
the oldest established institutions of the city, and its management has
gone on successfully through three generations from the founding by
the grandfather to the present proprietorship by the grandson. Walter
H. Weber, now at the head of the brewery knows his business both as
a science, and as an industry, and has a prominent place among the
younger business leaders of his city.

Walter H. Weber was born in Saginaw in March, 1885, a son of W.
F. and Bertha (Rocky) Weber. Both parents were natives of New York
State, and were brought to Michigan at an early age. Grandfather
Weber established the National Brewery at Saginaw many years ago,
and on his death W. F. Weber succeeded to the |)roprietorship and man-

1640 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

agement of the concern, and carried it on with growing success until
his death in October, 1909, when lifty-six years old. Mrs. Bertha Weber,
who grew up in Michigan is still living in Saginaw at the age of lifty
years. The only other child is Chester Weber, now a young Saginaw
business man.

Walter H. Weber grew up in his native city, attended the local
schools, and in preparation for the responsibilities which were to de-
volve upon him he entered the Wahl-Henius School of Fermentology
at Chicago, and completed a thorough course in the brewing art and its
kindred branches. Returning to Saginaw he took charge of the National
Brewery and since his father's death has had the entire management of
the plant. Twenty experts are emi)loyed in the manufacture of the
hrew, which goes out under the National Brand, and the jilant is mod-
ern in its equipment in every respect.

Mr. Weber is affiliated with the various Masonic bodies, is an Inde-
pendent in political affairs, and has shown himself a very progressive
and public spirited man. On March 18, 1910, in Saginaw, Mr. Weber
married Miss Mary E. Wynes, and they are the parents of one child,
Walter H. Weber, Jr.

BiRNiE J. MoRG.VN'. The late Birnie James Morgan, who died at his
home in Traverse City on the 23d of July, 1910, was a representative of
one of the honored pioneer families of Grand Traverse county and was
a lad of about fifteen years when his father here established a home, in
the year 1S61. He had his full quota of experience in connection with
pioneer life in Northern Michigan and here found opi^ortunity for large
and worthy achievement. He became one of the prominent business men
and influential citizens of Traverse City was the founder and developer
of the Morgan Fruit Farm, recognized as one of the finest in the State,
and he so ordered his course as to merit the unqualified esteem that
was uniformly accorded to him by all who knew him. At the time of
his death he was one of the representative citizens of the county that
was his home during virtually his entire life, and it is but consonant that
in this history be incorporated a tribute to his memory and a brief re-
view of his earnest and upright life.

Mr. Morgan was born on a farm in Carroll county, Ohio, on the J4th
of September, 1846, and his mother died in 185 1. He acquired his early
education in the district schools of his native county and when about
fifteen years of age, as previously noted, he accompanied his father to
the wilds of Grand Traverse county, Michigan, where he was reared to
manhood under the conditions of the pioneer days. His father settled on
a tract of wild land in the vicinity of Silver Lake, and after devoting
several years of arduous labor to the reclaiming of the farm to cultiva-
tion he sold the property and returned to his old home in Ohio, where
he passed the residue of his life — a man of strong individuality and hon-
est worth of character. Birnie James Morgan did not accompany his hon-
ored sire on the return to the old Buckeye State but in Traverse City,
which was then but a straggling village, he assumed the position of clerk
in the Gunton Hotel, then a prominent hotel of this section of the State.
In 1860, when twenty-three years of age, he here engaged in the livery
business, and though he initiated operations on a modest scale he made
the enterprise so successful that he was soon enabled to engage extensively
in the buying and selling of horses. He gained wide reputation as an
authoritative judge of horses and his business grew to be one of wide
scope and importance, as shown by the fact that in his commodious sales
stables it was no unusual thing for him to have from fifty to one hun-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1641

dred head of fine horses. His love for horses was of the most insistent
order and he ever resented with vigor the abuse of any animal, lie con-
tinued to be actively engaged in the livery business and the handling of
high-grade horses until his death, and his establishment was long one of
the foremost of its kind in this section of the State.

Quick to discern opportunities, Mr. Morgan was among the first to
initiate the development of fruit-growing in Grand Traverse county,
and he became the owner of 120 acres of land, now lying contiguous
to Traverse City. Here he began to plant cherry and peach trees on a
large scale, and before the close of his life he had the satisfaction of
knowing that he had developed one of the finest fruit farms in North-
ern Michigan, nearly the entire tract of 120 acres being in productive
orchard and the Morgan Fruit Farm being held as a model in connection
with this interesting and important field of industrial enterprise. At 505
West Eighth street, Traverse City, Mr. Morgan erected one of the most
modern, commodious and attractive residences in the city, and in the
same, he found his greatest measure of happiness and satisfaction, as the
home associations were ever of ideal order and his pride being to pro-
vide with all of devotion and lavishness for the comfort and happiness
of his wnfe and children.

In politics Mr. Morgan was found aligned as an uncompromising ad-
vocate of the principles of the Republican party, and for a number of
years he served as county sheriff. He was a man of mature judgment
and invincil)le integrity of purpose, so that he was naturally resourceful
and progressive in connection with his private business affairs and in his
attitude as a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He vi'as one of the or-
ganizer.s of the First National Bank of Traverse City and was a mem-
ber of its directorate at the time of his death. At the climacteric period
of the Civil war Mr. Morgan enlisted in a Michigan \ olunteer Regiment,
but he was not called into active service at the front. In the Masonic
fraternity he completed the circle of the York Rite and was affiliated
with the local commandery of Knights Templars, besides holding mem-
bership in the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Alystic Slirine.
He attended and gave liberal support to the Congregational church, of
which his widow is a devoted member. Mr. Morgan commanded the con-
fidence and high regard of all who knew him, was earnest and liberal in
supporting those things which conserved the development and upbuild-
ing of Traverse City, and the entire community manifested a sense of
loss and regret when he was summoned from the stage of life's mortal
endeavors, at the age of sixty-two years.

In Traverse City was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morgan to
Miss Caroline M. Gunton, whose acquaintance he had formed in the old
Gunton Hotel when he was a lad of about sixteen years. She is a daugh-
ter of James and Henrietta (Baxter) Gunton, both of whom were born
in Leeds county. Province of Ontario. Canada. Mr. Gunton, who was
a carpenter and cabinetmaker by trade, was one of the early settlers of
Grand Traverse county, Michigan, where he established his residence in
the late '40s, when this section of the State was virtually an untram-
meled wilderness. At Old Mission, this county, one of the earliest set-
tlements of this section he formed the acquaintance of Miss Henn'etta
Baxter, and here their marriage was solemnized on the 24th of January,
1852. As a contractor and builder and as a man of much energy and abil-
ity. Mr. Gunton played an important part in the civic and material de-
velopment of the village of Old Mission, as did he later in the upbuild-
ing of Traverse Citv. In this city he built the Gunton House, one of the
first hotels in the town, and under the management of himself and his

1642 IllSTCJRY OF MICHIGAN

gracious wife this hotel became' widely known and exceptionally pop-
ular. Mr. Gunton continued his operations as a contractor and builder
and many of the best buildings erected in Grand Traverse county in the
early days attested his skill both as an architect and builder. He also
planned and constructed a number of the pioneer saw mills in this sec-
tion of Michigan. He was born on the 5th of September, 1830, and his
name merits a high place on the enduring roll of the honored pioneers
of Grand Traverse county. His widow, who was born August 27, 1834,
still resides in Traverse City, and is one of the venerable and loved
pioneer women of the county that has been her home since girlhood.
Mr. and Mrs. Gunton became the parents of twelve children, of whom
four are deceased. Caroline M. is the widow of James B. Morgan, to
whom this memoir is dedicated, and she still resides in Traverse City ;
Luette is the wife of Nathan White and they reside at Alma, Michigan;
Airs. Jessie Philipps likewise is a resident of Alma, Michigan ; James
R. is a representative citizen of Newberry, Luce county, jNIichigan ;
Thomas G. is identified with business activities in the city of Detroit ;
Isabelle is the wife of Frank Meads, of Los Angeles, California ; Charles
is a resident of Traverse City and Walter maintains his home at Tur-
lock, California.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan became the parents of four children, all of
whom were born and reared in Traverse City : Evaline is the wife of
Robert J. McDonald, of Atlanta, Cieorgia, and she was graduated in For-
est Glen College, in the District of Columbia, with the degree of Bachelor
of Arts ; Harry died at the age of four years ; Grace remains with her
widowed mother in the beautiful family homestead in Traverse City; and
Theron B. is the youngest of the children, following paragraphs giving
further data concerning him, for, as the only surving son, he is well up-
holding the honors and prestige of the family name.

Theron Birnie Morgan was born in Traverse City on the 21st oi ]\Iay,
18S2, and after completing the curriculum of the Traverse City high
school he attended Detroit University until he had attained to the age
of seventeen years. He then went to the State of Oregon and settled
on a timber claim in Klamath county, his claim having been seventy
miles distant from a railroad. There he remained two years, working
arduously in cutting timber and making other improvements on his land,
and he then sold the property to advantage. Upon his return to Traverse
City he became associated with the various business activities of his
father, who died two years later, and he was then appointed adminis-
trator of the family estate, a position in which he has shown marked abil-
ity and discrimination and the important duties of which still demand the
greater part of his time and attention. Mr. Morgan has a wide circle of
friends in his native State, is a Republican in politics, holds membership
in the Wequetong Club, and both he and his wife are popular figures in
the leading social activities of Traverse City, where also he is affiliated
with the lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and the lodge of
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Associated with fine horses
from his bovhood days, he has a special fondness for equestrian exercise
and keeps most excellent saddle horses, besides which he indulges him-
self in himting and fishing as a means of recreation.

On the 25th of October, 1913, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Morgan to Miss Delia M. Gillette, daughter of James M. Gillette, a
]iioneer lumberman of the Grand Traverse region, and he and his wife
reside with his widowed mother.

Henky Samuel Cole, M, D, President of the village of Whitehall,
Dr. Cole's position in tlie community is exactly measured by his present

rai III' T,c\r.

ASTCB, l..S.■*^^ A Nik

\

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1643

office. He is a leader in civic affairs, one of the most successful physicians
of Muskegon county, and a citizen whose influence counts for a great deal
in connection with any enterprise or cause with which it may be identified.

Henry Samuel Cole was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, July 28,
1879. He is descended from an old New England family. His forefathers
landed in America from the good ship Mary and John in 1692, coming
from Wales. Several of the name were later soldiers on the American
side during the Revolution, and the doctor's great-grandfather, Samuel
Cole was a lieutenant in one of the regiments of Green Mountain Boys.
Grandfather Samuel Cole, a native of Vermont, left New England early
in life and became one of the pioneers of Wisconsin. A blacksmith by
trade, he acquired material prosperity through that vocation, and as a
personality was long a dominant figure in local politics. In i860 he was
elected to the state senate of Wisconsin on the Democratic ticket, and in
1862 was returned to the same office by the Republicans, and thenceforth
his support and allegiance were with the Republican party. His portrait
now hangs in the Memorial Hall at Madison. Emmett J. Cole, father of
Dr. Cole, was born in Wisconsin in 1853, and is still living. He was mar-
ried in 1877 to Dorcy Webb, who was born in 1858 and died in 1887. Her
father was Henry Webb, a native of Cornwall, England, who came to
America in 1848, went out to California in 1849, ''"d, after making a
small fortune on the Pacific slope, returned to the middle states and settled
in Wisconsin early in the fifties. From W isconsin he moved out to Iowa,
bought a large farm, and there spent the rest of his days. Emmett J. Cole
and wife had only one child, the'AVhitelTSll physician. Emmett Cole is
likewise a physician, having taken his degree from the Hahnemann College
of Medicine, in Chicago, in 1896, and since that time has been a successful
practitioner at Beloit, Wisconsin. ..-His earlier years were spent chiefly in
the mail service. The mother was afi 'active member of the Methodist
Episcopal church. The elder Dr. Cole is affiliated with the Masonic
Order, having taken the Knight Templar and the Shrine degree, is a
Republican in politics, has served as sergeant at arms in the state senate
when young, and has been honored with election to the lower house of
the state legislation.

Dr. Henry S. Cole was reared in Wisconsin, was educated in the Platte-
ville State Normal School, and when about nineteen years of age had a
brief military career. He went out as a member of Company E, in the
First Wisconsin Regiment of Volunteers, for service in the Spanish-
American War. He joined General Fitzhugh Lee's Corps at Jacksonville,
Florida, and later was sent to Cuba. Soon after his return to Wisconsin,
he entered Hahnemann College of Medicine, in Chicago, and was gradu-
ated with his degree in medicine in 1902. He was awarded the interneship
in the Chicago Homeopathic Hospital, and with that experience received
appointment as surgeon of the Mass Mine, in the northern peninsula of
Michigan. A year later he was promoted to a position with the Atlantic
Mining Company, with headquarters at South Range, Michigan. While
there he was elected president of the village of South Range in 1906, and
held that office until he left there in 1910. During that portion of his
career Dr. Cole also served as commander of the Houghton Military Com-
pany. A post-graduate course in Chicago in 1910 was followed by his
location at White Hall in 191 1, and here he started out with a very large
practice almost at the beginning, and at the present time has more than he
can attend to.

In 1903 Dr. Cole married Mary Z. Cram, a daughter of John F. Cram
of Rochester, New York, her father having been a shipbuilder by trade.
The doctor and wife had two children: Dorcy MacCrystal, aged eight
years, and John E., who died February 15, 1914, at the age of six years.
Mrs. Cole, the wife and mother, died February i, 1914. Dr. Cole is affili-

1644 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic Order,
is a Republican in politics, served as health officer at South Range for four
years, was appointed to a similar position in White Hall in Iyi2, and is
now president of the village of White Hall.

Oscar Porter Carver. In how great a degree the struggle between
the North and the South during the 'sixties developed the vouth of the
country can never be exactly known, but there are those still living who
entered upon the hardships and perils incident to a soldier's life when
but lads of sixteen years and so bravely and courageously faced every
vicissitude and uncomplainingly bore suffering and trial that their valor
should be remembered when this united country counts over its heroes.
The bitter conflict between the L'nion and the Confederacy, with the
important issues it represented, certainly developed a class of trained,
disciplined men. whose influence has lieen ever since recognized in the
peaceful pursuits which have engaged their activities. Oscar Porter
Car\er was sixteen years of age when he donned the bhie uniform of
his country and marched to the battlefields of the South, and during the
closing years of the war discharged his duties in a faithful and courageous
manner, winning the esteem and admiration of his comrades. Rut his
service to his country did not end with his military career, for when he
returned to the pursuits and occupations of peace he had learned the
lesson of fidelity to duty, and in the years that have passed he has re-
mained true to each trust and has contributed materially to the welfare
of those communities in which he has made liis home. Today he is
known as one of the leading citizens of Traverse City, with large busi-
ness interests, and a citizen in whom the utmost confidence can be placed,
a reputation that he has gained through a life of industry, integrity and
enterprising effort.

Oscar Porter Carver was born Ajjril 13, 1847, i'l Steuben county, In-
diana, and is a son of Dr. Lewis E. and Almira (Porter) Carver, natives
of Hebron county. Connecticut. His father was one of several brothers
who founded this branch of the family in Indiana, and was a graduate
of the Connecticut State University. He began his medical career in
Steul)en county. Indiana, at an early day. but after a long period of prac-
tice the hardships and poorly remunerated labors of the country doctor
undermined his health and he was forced to seek some other occirj:)ation.
At this time he entered Republican politics, and was elected county treas-
urer of .Steuben coimty, an office in which he served capably for eight
years, following which he acted in the capacity of county recorder of
deeds for a like period. He then turned his attention to the drug busi-
ness, at Angola, Indiana, in which he continued to be engaged until re-
tiring from active life, ten years before his death, which occurred when
he was eighty-four. Doctor Carver was a man of great influence in his
community, with high professional standing, and as a man of much
more than the ordinary education was able to advance the interests of
his section in many ways. Mrs. Carver passed away when eighty-three
years of age, having been the mother of the following children : Lewis
Orville, who continued in the management of his father's drug Ijusiness,
was a man of prominence in his day, took an active part in Republican
politics, served as postmaster of Angola for many years and as state
senator for one terrn, and was a director in the Bank of Angola ; Oscar
Porter, of this review, Eugene A., also prominent in business and pub-
lic affairs of Angola, Indiana, where he has served two terms as post-
master ; Frank W.. who has been engaged in the real estate and insurance
business with his brother at Traverse City since 1902 ; and three children
who are deceased.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1643

Oscar P. Carver attended the public schools of Angola. Indiana, un-
til reaching the age of sixteen years, at which time, imbued with youth-
ful patriotism, he left the shelter of his home and enlisted, in Decem-
ber, 1863, in Company A, Eighty-eighth Regiment, Indiana \'olunteer
Infantry. He remained with this command until receiving his honor-
able discharge, in July, 1865, the war having come to a close. Mr.
Carver saw much active service at the front, being with General Sher-
man from Chattanooga on to "the sea," and participating in the almost
constant engagements from Atlanta to the end of the famous march.
Returning home, he remained there one year, and in the fall of 1876
was married at Angola to an old schoolmate, Miss Pauline Dean, the
daughter of John Dean, and they at once came to Michigan and located
at ]\luskegon which city was their home for one year. In 1867 they
came to Traverse City and in the fall of that year Mr. Carver took up
eighty acres of land in the timber of what was then Mayfield ( now Para-
dise) township from the United States Government. After engaging in
farming for three years, he disposed of his land and effects and moved
to Sherman, Wexford county, where he spent a short time as manager
for a general merchandise store. He then resigned his position and pur-
chased an interest in a store at Manton, ^Michigan, but was not satisfied
with his prospects there and during the building of the G. R. & I. Rail-
road he sold his interests and returned to Grand Traverse county, here
contracting for the building of the depot at Summit City. He also ac-
cepted the agency of the railroad, with an agreement that he be allowed
to conduct a general store in the depot building, and in addition acted
in the capacity of land agent for the Pennsylvania Railroad in that dis-
trict. In the fall of 1882 Mr. Carver was elected county clerk and reg-
ister of deeds of Grand Traverse county, on the Republican ticket, and
served four successive terms in that otfice. When his last term was
completed, he purchased what was known as the Steele & Titus Real Es-
tate and Insurance business, in Traverse City, and began making a spe-
cial feature of selling fire insurance, in which he became the leading
operator in the field. At this time he represents fifteen of the strong-
est fire insurance companies in the United States. He has always done
much to advance the welfare of his section, in the future of whicli he has
the utmost faith and confidence. His thorough knowledge of conditions
in Grand Traverse county and Traverse City makes his advice very valu-
able to those seeking a home or business location here, and his opinions
will be cheerfully given to those seeking opportunities. He has been
prominent in civic affairs, and at various times has been elected to offices
of trust and responsibility. In addition to acting as county clerk and
register of deeds, he served frequently on village boards during the early
days, was superintendent of tiie poor, acted as mayor of the city one
term, and for five years, from 1906 until July, iQii, was postmaster. His
public service has been characterized by a devotion to high ideals of the
responsibilities of office, and capable and faithful discharge of the duties
devolving upon him. For some years he has been connected with the
Masonic fraternity, and at this time is a member of the Royal Arch
Chapter.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Carver: Charles O.,
born in June, 1867, at Muskegon, Michigan, now engaged in the abstract
and title business at Traverse City, married Miss Ella Derusho. a native
of Antrim county, and has one child — Oscar Richard, born at Traverse
City; and Lulu I., born at Sherman, Michigan, who is the wife of Fred
D. Curtis, of Traverse City, and has two children — Edward C. and
Geraldine, both born here.

Vol. 111—28

1G46 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

John Walter Symons. The happiest comment on the life of any
man is that he has attained worldly success in his home community
while holding and increasing the honor and respect of his fellow citizens.
John Walter Symons came to Saginaw as a young man with a fledgling
business in 1883 and after thirty-three years, the firm of Symons Broth-
ers and Company occupies the front rank of the \\'holesale Grocers in
the State, while its founder has constantly grown in the high regard of
his fellows. The happy optomistic spirit of his every day life, with his
clean progressive business aggressiveness, have helped to build the
spirit of fine loyalty of his social and business associates. As a busi-
ness builder, few Saginaw citizens have a record that compares favor-
ably with that of Air. Symons. The ability to start a new enterprise is
less conspicuous than that involved in both starting and carrying through
the difficulties to permanent success. In a number of ways Mr. Symons'
name is identified with the business history of this citv.

Utica, Michigan, was the birthplace of John Walter Symons, on
May 13, 1849. His father, Thomas W. Symons was born in England,
came to America early in life, and at Schnectady, New York, married
Miss Sarina Eaton, of the old Massachusetts family of that name. After
their marriage they came to Michigan during the early forties and set-
tled at Flint. The father was a man of integrity and considerable in-
fluence in civic matters living a life of usefulness and honor. His death
occurred in 1900 at the age of seventy-four, while his wife passed away
in 1905 aged seventy-nine. There were five children, mentioned as fol-
lows, Hannah, wife of John W. Eldridge. of Flint, Michigan ; Col.
Thomas \\\ Symons. living at Washington, D. C. : Samuel E., a twin
brother living in Saginaw; Elizabeth, widow of E. W. Alexander, of
Logansport, Indiana.

At the age of thirteen, after a limited education in the grammar and
high schools of Flint, John W. Symons started his business life as a
cash boy in the store of Smith & Bridgeman, and later with E. T. Judd
& Company. After ten years of practical experience and successive pro-
motion, at the age of twenty-four he started out for himself as a retail
grocer. His stock was very small, but was handled energetically, with
a close knowledge of what the people wanted, and was soon in a pros-
perous way. I\Ir. Symons began as an independent merchant at Bay
City, and in 1875, the business w-as incorporated and enlarged, Mr.
James S. Smart having in the meantime entered the firm, making the
title Symons & Smart. That name continued for seven years. Mr.
Symons then came to Saginaw and bought a small wholesale establish-
ment from 'Remington & Stevens, in 1883, being joined at this time by
his brother, Samuel E., who has since then been associated with the
concern. The business organized under the name of Symons Brothers
& Company has now reached a position where it acknowledges only one
larger concern in the state, employs eighty people in its various depart-
ments, and in 1910 erected a handsome new building at a cost of one
hundred thousand dollars, this structure being a credit to the city and
representing the latest and best ideas in efficient and economical han-
dling of merchandise.

\It. Symons served on the board of trade one term, and has served
on various State and National committees and commissions. Both he
and his wife are active members of the Christian Science church. He
is a member of the Saginaw, Country, Canoe and Rotary clubs.

In April, 1872, Mr. Symons was united in marriage with Mary L.
Smart, a daughter of Mr. James S. and Elmyra (Carter) Smart, this
family being one of the old and distinctive ^lichigan families. Mrs.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1647

Symons is a woman of fine culture, and able guardian of the interests
of her household, and active in social alTairs. She has been prominent
in the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, in
musical aftairs and in the club and organized activities of women in
Saginaw. There are five children in the family: James S. Symons. of
Saginaw; Mary L. Symons, wife of K. S. Hogg, of New York City;
John \V. Symons, Jr., of Saginaw ; Edith M. Symons, wife of Walter
Cheney Hill, of Saginaw ; and :\Iyra C. Symons, of Saginaw. The
family enjoy a happy home life in their pleasant home at 547 South
Weadock avenue.

Thom.\s Hkffer.in. a pioneer business man and lumberman in the
Grand River valley, and for many years identified with banking at
Grand Rapids, Thomas Hefferan is one of the most widely known men
in western Michigan. Starting life in a humble capacity in the lumlier
woods and on a farm, he attained prominence in industry and finance
through his own efiforts and remarkable ability, and few men have so
extended and satisfying retrospect over a life of useful achievement.

Born in Washington county. New York, July 28, 183 1, Thomas Hef-
feran was one of eight children, si.x of whom were born in America.
The other twd were born in Ireland, of which country their parents,
Patrick and ]Mary (Grogan) Heflferan, were natives. After emigrat-
ing to America they settled in Granville, Washington county. New York,
and in 1840 started west to the new state of Michigan, traveling by
canal boat to Buffalo, by steamboat to Detroit, and were passengers on
the recently built Michigan Central Railway as far as Ypsilanti, which
was then the terminus o'f that road. The rest of their journey to Barry
countv was accomplished with horses and wagons. In 1846 they left
their pioneer home in Barry county and moved to Ottawa county, and
there the father followed farming the rest of his life. Patrick Ileft'eran
died in 1849 and his wife in 1863.

Thomas Hefferan was nine years of age when his journey from
New York to Michigan was made, and most of his education was ac-
quired in Barry and" Ottawa counties. In 1848. more than sixty-five
years ago, he began his practical career as an employe of Dr. Timothy
Eastman, whose home was at Eastmanville. Dr. Eastman was a lum-
berman and farmer as well as a physician. In 1852 Galen Eastman,
a Chicago lumberman, and son of the doctor, made young Heft'eran
foreman in his lumber yard, and he also performed the duties of sales-
man and general manager. In 1838, owing to the business depression
caused bv the panic of 1857, Thomas Heft'eran returned to Michigan,
and continued in charge of the business of ^Ir. Galen Eastman in this
state. His independent career as a lumber manufacturer began in Jan-
uarv, 1869, with the purchase of the Eastman sawmill at Eastmanville.
For many years he was a successful manufacturer of lumber and a
dealer in that commodity, but after the depletion of the lumber forests
of southern Michigan, discontinued lumbering in 1889 and moved to
Grand Rapids, which city has since been his home. At Grand Rapids
he turned his attention chiefly to banking, and in 1890 was one of the
organizers of the People's Savings Bank, of which he was a director
and was elected as its first president, an office which he still holds. For
many years he has been a stockholder in the Old National Bank of
Grand Rapids and a stockholder and director of the Michigan Trust
Companv of the same city.

Thomas Heft'eran was married January r, iSri^, to -\melia_Kent East-
man, who was born in Vermont, a daughter of Laurens Kent. Mrs.

1648 ■ HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Hefferan died October 28, 1910. Their three children are: George,
vice-president of The ^lichigan Trust Compaii_v of Grand Rapids; Alary,
formerly instructor in The University of Chicago ; and Thomas Will-
iam, cashier of the People's Savings Bank. A Democrat, Mr. Heft'eran
in 1896 opposed the free silver plank of his party and assisted in the
organization of the Sovmd Money wing of the Democracy.

It would be difficult to indicate the scope and interests of such a
long and varied career as that of Thomas Hefferan, whose life has been
an epitome of the history and development of western Alichigan since
pioneer times. In the hard struggle for the winning of prosperity
there have been many who have aided him and many whom he has
aided, and his own story is the story of other business men, while his
influence and means have also left their impress upon the permanent in-
stitutions of the state. A brief quotation of a paragraph from an
article that appeared in the Michigan Tradesman not long ago will serve
to indicate to better advantage the fullness and variety of his experi-
ence during the formative and the modern era of western Michigan :
"Throughout his long and acti\e business life, Air. Hefferan has never
lost sight of the lumber interests of Michigan, and, practically speaking,
may be said to have seen the rise and decay of that industry in the State.
The forests through which he trudged as a boy and worked in young
manhood and which were supposedly almost illimitable in extent and
resources have long ago fallen and given place to the prosperous farms
and fruit lands for which western Michigan is now noted. During the
years in which the farmer's boy has, by straightforward energy and
upright principles, become the successful lumber manufacturer and
honored banker he has seen the log cabin of the earliest settler give way
to the neat and comfortable cottage, the village supplanted by the town,
the wilderness transformed into populous cities, peopled by wealthy
and intelligent citizens. He has seen benches of the old log school-
houses built by the pioneers for the welfare of their children supplanted
by the polished desks in the brick structures of our present elaborate
school system ; while churches, academies, business houses, railroads,
and all the appliances of modern civilization crown the territory where
in his boyhood were only the forest, the deer and the Indian."

George Heffer.\n. Vice-president of the Michigan Trust Company
of Grand Rapids, George Heft'eran was brought up in the lumber business
during the flourishing era of that industry in Western Michigan, and for a
number of years has had many important relations with financial, lumber-
ing, and other business affairs in Alichigan and elsewhere. Mr. Heft'eran
is an officer in several large corporations, and both as a business man and
citizen stands among the leaders in his home city.

A son of the venerable Grand Rapids banker and pioneer business man
whose career is sketched in preceding paragraphs, George Hefferan was
born at Eastmanville, in Ottawa county. Michigan, April 19, 1866. After
a district school education at Eastmanville, he attended the (irand Rapids
Business College until graduating in 1886, and in 1889 completed his
studies in the Grand Rapids high school. His first ambition was towards
the law, and with that purpose in view he graduated from the law depart-
ment of the University of -Michigan in 1891. In the same year, and at
the age of twenty-five, Mr. Heft'eran began practice at Grand Rapids, and
continued to look after the interests of his clients for several years. Since
tlien his own varied financial and business affairs have abstracted him
from the law as a regular profession, although iiis knowledge and skill
in both the practice and theory of law have proved of great value to him
in the prosecution of his various enterprises.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1649

Mr. Flefferan became connected with the Michigan Trust Company in
1896. His first work was of a special nature, being the management of
the Mecosta County Savings Bank at Big Rapids, and a number of other
matters handled by the Trust Company as receiver. On January i, 1900,
he was appointed trust officer, and was elected secretary of this company
December 7, 1903, which office he held until October 6, 1913, the date of
his election to the vice-presidency. Mr. Hefferan is also closely associated
with Mr. Thomas Hume of Muskegon, A'lichigan, under the firm name
of Hume, Flefferan & Company, one of the important firms handling
timber lands and other interests. Under the title of Hume-Bennett Lum-
ber Company his relations also comprise extended lumber operations in
California. Mr. Hefferan is a stockholder and officer in a number
of business concerns in Michigan, being chairman of the Hackley &
Hume Company, Ltd. ; a director in the Chase-Hackley Piano Company ;
the Amazon Knitting Company of Muskegon ; the Richmond & Backus
Company of Detroit ; and various other enterprises.

On April 15, 1903, Mr. Hefferan married Aliss Ella J. Backus of
Detroit, daughter of F"rederick H. A. Backus, one of Detroit's prominent
pioneer citizens. They are the parents of two children : George Backus
Heft'eran, borne June i, 1906, and Thomas Hume Hefferan, born Novem-
'ber 2, 1908. Mrs. Hefferan has membership in the Episcopal church and
many of the ladies' organizations of the city. Mr. Flefferan is a member
and past master of York Lodge No. 410, A. F. & A. M. ; a member and
past high priest of Columbian Chapter, No. 132, R. A. M. ; a member of
De Molai Commandery, K. T., and of Saladin Temple of the Nobles of
the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the Peninsular and Kent
Country Clubs. In politics he is a Democrat.

WiLLARD Albon Smith. To lead in the vocation chosen for his life
work is the laudable ambition of every man with the ability to understand
what worldly success means, and it is the closeness with which such de-
sires are realized that constitutes prominence and achievement. Beyond
all peradventure, Willard Albon Smith is one of the leading, as he is
certainly the oldest and one of the best known newspaper men between
Osceola county and Lake Superior. Throughout the journalistic world
of the state there is no man more highly considered. Kindly natured and
generous in his disposition, he is yet a man of infinite resource, and is
absolutely fearless in his denunciation of whatever he believes to be evil
or unjust. He has doggedly fought municipal and political corruption
wherever it has shown its head, and has rendered inestimable service to
the community on many occasions of which the public, owing to the con-
ditions of newspaper work, has been blissfully ignorant.

Willard A. Smith was born April 4, 1851, at Malone, New York, and
is a son of .Stephen and Polly (Phelps) Smith, natives, respectively, of
England and New York state, both of whom died when he was an infant.
He received no schooling after his eleventh year, for in 1861 he entered
the office of the Marshal! (Michigan) Statesman, in the humble capacity
of "devil," with which he was connected four years, this now being the
oldest newspaper in continuous service in the state. It may be best to
relate the subsequent incidents of Mr. Smith's career in his own words,
as quoted from a speech made by him before the Northern Michigan
Press Club, in 1909, and in which he said in part: "I am an alumnus of
the Marshall Statesman office of the class of '65. Coming out as a jour-
neyman with me was Mr. J. P. Church, a brother-in-law of the late Seth
Lewis, the founder of the Statesman. The fall of '66 found me in the
job department of the Wolverine Citizen, under the late Francis H.
Rankin, Sr. In the spring of '67, in company with Mr. Church, I came

1650 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

north on a steamer, landing at Xorthport. We crossed the bay at Elk-
Rapids, Mr. Church entering the employ of Dexter & Xoble as a clerk,
while I entered the Traverse Bay Eagle office under the late Elvin L.
Sprague, whom, three years ago, I succeeded as dean of this club. In
the fall of 1868 I was one of the office force of the Eagle when it was
removed to Traverse City, and as the pressman printed the first copy of the
Eagle published in that city. The relation of the pioneer incidents may
not interest you, but it does interest me, because of the long years of
friendshi|j that existed between Mr. Sprague and myself — a friendshijj
that continued until the hour that death took from us that great-hearted,
honorable Christian gentleman. Early in January, 1869, DeWitt C.
Leach, the editor and proprietor of the Grand Traverse Herald, sent for
me and imparted the information that he was about to establish a paper at
Pine River, now Charlevoix, and that he had selected me for its publisher.
I had but just attained my majority and the proposition took my wind
for the moment. On the condition voluntarily stipulated by Mr. Leach
that I should buy the plant at the end of one year if I so desired. I ac-
cepted and at once entered his employ in the Herald office. Over me
as foreman was the late JMorgan Bates, who afterwards reached distinc-
tion as an author. I have ever since gratefully remembered the first
words of counsel and encouragement that were given me when I left the
Herald office and struck out for myself. They were spoken by the uncle
of my foreman, the later former Lieut. -Gov. Morgan Bates, the founder
of the Herald: 'My boy, work hard and you will succeed.'

"Early in February of that year I assembled from the material of the
Herald the equipment with which I established the Sentinel and which
included the Washington hand press upon which the Herald was printed.
The plant was loaded on a sleigh and sent north in the midst of a Febru-
ary break-up. I followed two days later by stage, paying $4.00 out of my
$9.00 for transportation of my trunk and fare. I walked half the way
from Traverse City to Atwood, Antrim county, aiding the driver and the
two fellow passengers in the carrying of twenty-five bushels of oats up
the bad hills. I abandoned the stage at Atwood to call on the young lady
who soon afterwards joined her fortunes with mine. The following day
I walked to Pine River through twelve miles of slush. Charlevoi.x had
just officially taken its place upon the map of Michigan. It was merely
a small fishing station and wooding point for lake steamers. It had no
harbor and its population was confined to about one dozen white families.
You will doul)tless wonder why a field of this character should be selected
for a newspaper venture, but when I tell you that for the first three years
the Sentinel printed the tax lists of six counties, Chippewa, Mackinac,
Sheboygan, Emmet, Charlevoix and Manitou, you will cease to wonder.
The first issue was printed immediately previous to the first Monday in
April, when the act passed that winter creating Charlevoix county took
effect. This issue was printed in Emmet county and justifies my claim of
being the pioneer journalist of that county as well as of Charlevoix.
During the first year the name of Mr. Leach appeared at the head of the
editorial column as proprietor and my name as publisher. At the be-
ginning of the second year I assumed both titles.

"T need not tell you of the hills which I climbed or the swamps which
I traversed during the earlier years that were a part of the more than
four decades that have elapsed. With now and then a lift in the way of
a township or a county office and meantime the postoffice, I managed to
keep mv head above water. In the second year of my career as a pub-
lisher, I was elected township clerk at a salary of fifty dollars per annum.
I was a candidate for reelection, but was defeated by the Indian vote,
that contingent of our population holding the lialance of power. The

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1651

immediate cause of my defeat was a banquet given to the Indians by my
opponent. The menu consisted of the two articles of food, crackers and
lard, and it was served in a sap pan. This defeat, coming as it did at the
threshold of my career, had a very depressing effect upon my spirits. I
actually shed tears.

"■My school days ending at the age of twelve, I had much to learn.
First, I have learned that however much a college education may adorn
the editorial chair, horse sense is more essential. I have learned that what
to print and what not to print should be coordinately considered in the
conduct of even a country newspaper. I have learned that all the world
loves a fighter, btit he must be a chivalrous fighter. I have learned that
there is a happy medium between courage and blind belligerency. I have
learned that fearlessness, sincerity and consistency are the most valuable
assets in a publisher's stock in trade. I have learned that, as a rule, the
good country editor gets the bouquets only after the undertaker gets him
and then he gets a hearse full."

Mr. Smith was commissioned captain of the Michigan National Guard
in April, iQii, was three years senior aid on the staff of Brig.-Gen. P.
L. Abbey, and served during the Calumet strike in 1913. In 1S71 he was
elected county treasurer of Charlevoix county, was elected county clerk
in 1873, was postmaster of the city of Charlevoix from October, 1872,
to April I, 1884, and has been deputy collector of customs from 1890 to
the present time. Politically a Republican, he has been steadfast in his
support of his party's principles, but has been without animosity, and has
prominent and influential friends all over the state in all the leading politi-
cal organizations. The following letter may be quoted as an example
of the high esteem and regard in which he is held by those who have
watched and admired his career:

"Boyne City, Mich., May 15, 1914.
"Capt. Willard A. Smith.

Charlevoix, Mich.
"Dear Willard :

"I am again reminded by the receipt of this week's issue of the Senti-
nel, that I want to w-rite, congratulating you upon your recent modest
anniversary announcement, and upon the fact that in a few years the
Sentinel will have passed the half century mark. It is worth something
to a man to look back over a long, consistent, active life in his chosen
profession, and when you look back and then forward to the present and
see that the Sentinel — while always standing for the best interests of
your city first, your county, state, nation and party, and the general wel-
fare of humanity upon all public questions — has steadily developed, in-
creasing its influence and power for good in the gradually enlarged field
that it has had an active part in creating, and that its own development
has kept pace in the front ranks of the march in material progress ; you
secure that retrospect which comes to the 'good and faithful servant.'
And, my dear and respected friend, I bespeak for you the reward that
comes to the good and faithful. No doubt you would rather take your
rew'ard in subscriptions than in compliments, and I concede you are en-
titled to both ; and 'Here's to you' that your days may be long in the home
of your choice. Kindly accept on this anniversary, for yourself and the
Sentinel, my highest regard and esteem.

"Yours very truly,

"(Signed) T. M. H.vrris."

Captain Smith is prominent in fraternal circles, having been master
of Charlevoix Lodge of Masons for thirteen years, high priest of Pe-
toskey Chapter one year, and a member of Charlevoix Council, R. & S.
M., and Ivanhoe Commandery, K. T., of Petoskey, Michigan.

1652 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

On December 25, 1871, Captain Smith was married to Miss Nancy
M. Bagley, daughter of Samuel K. and Euretta (Hawks) Bagley, of
Antrim county, Michigan, Mr. Bagley being a lirst cousin of Governor
Bagley of Michigan. Three children have been born to Captain and Mrs.
Smith: Mrs. Ira A. Adams, of Bellaire, Michigan; Mrs. Hudson O.
Smith, whose husband is a railroad man of Toledo, Ohio ; Albon Smith,
foreman in the Sentinel office ; and Mrs. E. V. Madison, recently de-
ceased.

William Peck. Proprietor and manager of the Franklin House at
Montague, William Peck is one of the popular and well known hotel men
of Michigan. He has had a long and varied business experience, begin-
ning during early manhood, when he served as a scout on the western
frontier during the perfod of the Civil war. As a merchant and citizen
he has been prominent in Muskegon county for upwards of half a century,
and has been the chief factor in placing the Franklin House in a rank
where its reputation as a summer hotel is second to none in the entire
state. The h^ranklin House is located on the beautiful White Lake, in the
fruit belt of Michigan, and with the si)lendid facilities afforded by its
natural situation, and by the excellent management under Mr. Peck's
proprietorship, the Franklin House has deservedly advanced high in the
public favor.

William Peck was born in Oxford, Ontario, March 20, 1843, the
younger of two sons of Lynus and Sarah (Ehle) Peck. Lynus Peck was
born in Pennsylvania in 1805. and was the oldest of the three sons of
Joseph Peck, who was born in Connecticut in 1754. The great-grand-
father, Abram Peck, was the son of Joseph Peck, an Englishman who
early in the eighteenth century emigrated to this country and settled in
New England, along with two brothers, one of whom was a preacher.
The paternal great-grandfather was a brave soldier in the war of the
Revolution, and it is said that his good wife also carried a gun and
fought with equal patriotism by his side. Grandfather Joseph Peck, while
still young, emigrated from Connecticut to Pennsylvania and became a
prosperous farmer in the Quaker state. He was a man of fine musical
ability and gained considerable fame during the war of 1812, in which he
served as lifer. On one occasion he came in close contact with a Tory,
from whose hands he wrenched a musket, which he proceeded to use with
good eft'ect, playing his fife when it was necessary to inspire the soldiers,
and also loading and firing the gun. For this gallant conduct he was given
the name of the "fighting fifer." He lived to witness nearly a century of
the rapid progress and development of the United States, surviving until
ninety-seven years of age, when he died at Rochester, New York. Mr.
Peck, the father, was separated in childhood from other members of the
family, and but very little is known concerning his two brothers. In 1831
Lynus Peck located in Grandville, near Grand Rapids. Michigan, but soon
returned to Canada and lived there until the fifties, when he brought his
family to Michigan and settled in Van Buren County. That was his home
for many years. Finally the residence was moved to Newaygo county,
where the death of Lynus Peck occurred in 1871. He was a man of more
than ordinary ability and of strong character, and, although often urged
to accept nomination to office, positively refused to do so. Sarah Ehle,
the wife, was the daughter of Sturnburg Ehle, who was of Holland
descent. Sarah Ehle was born in Otsego, New York, and died in 1907.
Of the children who clustered about the fireside of the parents, Abraham
is now a large and prominent lumber man and an extensive farmer in
Lewis county, Washington ; Mahala married Joseph Dellaven, a successful
lumberman and farmer of Newaygo county ; and Rosetta married Royal
Rummerfield, a prosperous lunibernian of Wisconsin.

'^'^^^^€^

""'^S,i

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1653

William Peck when a boy of seventeen accompanied his parents to
Michigan, which state he has ever since continued as his permanent home.
What schooling he enjoyed he received before he was thirteen years of
age, and then began to earn his daily bread by picking up cobblestones at
four dollars a month. The hrst four years after his arrival in Michigan
were spent as a laborer on a farm at very low wages. In 1863, when
twenty years of age, he went out to Kansas and was employed by the
United States government at Fort Leavenworth as a scout, a service which
took him along the western frontier throughout the states of Kansas,
Texas, Arkansas, and even into New Mexico. Many adventures and
many hair breadth escapes were in the record of his two years as a scout
and frontiersman.

In 1865 Mr. Peck returned to Michigan and was soon married to Miss
Jennie Beattie, who was born in Canada of Scotch ancestry. For two
years after his marriage Mr. Peck earned a living by tilling the soil in
Van Buren county, and later was employed in lumber camps in northern
Michigan. One year was spent in business at Dorr, in Alliegan county.
Jn the meantime, by study in spare moments, he had picked up a knowl-
edge of telegraphy, and with that acquisition was employed as an
operator at Grand Junction. Later he found a place as conductor on the
C. & W. M. Railway running into Muskegon, and at the end of twelve
months left the train service and took the management of the railroad
eating house at Grand Junction. That was his business for two years,
and after that for fifteen years he was connected with lumber manufac-
turing in various localities. This eventually brought him to Montague,
and in 1885 he established a hardware business iii. that village, starting
with a small stock, and developing rapidly, until his wa^.riie largest store
in the entire neighborhood. His business 'as ^a, l»rd\Vare merchant con-
tinued until 1901, and his success was verC-' generous and brought him
most of his present fortune. In 1901 Mr. Peck bought the Franklin House
block, and became proprietor and owner of this noted hotel, which is well
known throughout the United States.

To his marriage were born three children, as follows: Will M., who
is assistant superintendent of the McCord Manufacturing Company of
Detroit, and is married and has one child ; Edna B., who married James B.
Farrell, a prosperous farmer in Oceana county; Edwin L., a sailor, who
has captain papers for the biggest boats on the lakes.

Mr. Peck is a Democrat in politics, and in the face of a strong Repub-
lican opposition was often elected to the responsible position of supervisor
in his town. He served as treasurer of the Democratic County Committee,
was for a year a justice of the peace, and for eighteen years council
man. For a number of years he was a member of the Democratic Central
Committee. His fraternal associations are with the Masonic Order, the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Royal
Arcantnn. and the Knights of the Maccabees. He has passed all the
chairs in the Royal Arcanum, and was delegate to the Grand Lodge twice.
From 1893 to 1897, during the Cleveland administration, and part of
the McK'inley administration, Mr. Peck served as postmaster of Mon-
tague. He lias also been a member of the city council, and has given
twenty-seven years' service in behalf of public education, as a member
of the school board. He is one of the foremost citizens of Montague and
of Muskegon county.

Robert Bruce Armstrong, M. D. In adding the name of Dr. Robert
Bruce Armstrong to its citizenship in 1894, Charlevoix was to profit by the
services of a man who possessed both the ambition and the ability to make
himself a factor of large professional usefulness. His career up to this

1654 HISTORY OF .MiClilGAN

time had shown that he was persevering, industrious and energetic, for
he had worked his way through college, and had not been content with
a mere cursory education, but had thoroughly trained himself in the
various branches of his chosen vocation, so that he came to this city fully
prepared to take his place among its foremost professional men. His
subsequent labors and achievements have led him to the very forefront
among Charlevoix medical men and to an established place in the respect
and esteem of the people of this prosperous Michigan city.

Robert Bruce Armstrong was born at Oramel, Allegany county, New
York, January 22, 1S67, a son of James and Elizabeth (Odellj Arm-
strong, both of whom are now deceased. His father, a millwright by
occupation, migrated to Saginaw, Michigan, from New York in 1870,
and here continued to follow his trade until his death in 11307, when he
was eighty-six years of age. Mrs. Armstrong died soon after the birth
of the Doctor. Seven children were born to James and Elizabeth Arm-
strong: Walter, who is a resident of Duluth, Minnesota; Helen and
George, who are deceased ; James, a resident of Hood River, Oregon ;
Agnes, who became the wife of James Quounte, of Saginaw ; ]\Iargaret,
the wife of George Stevens, a resident of Spokane, Washington ; and
Robert Bruce.

Robert Bruce Armstrong .secured his early education in the graded
and high schools of Saginaw, and as a youth decided upon a career in
medicine. Funds were not forthcoming for his further education, how-
ever, he being compelled to go to w-ork as a clerk for J. P. Derby, of Sagi-
naw, in ordar to secure the means with which to take a course in pharmacy,
graduating in 1890 with the degree of Ph. C. Succeeding this he was
given the position of assistant chemist in the Experimental Station at
Geneva, New Y^ork, remaining two years, and upon his return to 'Michigan
entered the State University as a student in the medical department,
from which he was graduated with his degree in 1894. On July 4th of
that year Doctor Armstrong engaged in the practice of his profession at
Charlevoix, and here he has built up a large general practice, in addition
to which he has gained more than a local reputation in surgery and is
surgeon for the Pere Marquette Railway. The spirit of investigation has
marked Doctor Armstrong's professional career, and his laboratory is
equipped with the most modern of instruments and appliances. He, be-
longs to the American Medical Association, the Michigan State iMedical
Society and the Charlevoix County Medical Society, and for one year
served as president of the last-named organization. In the profession he
is known as a physician who observes the highest ethics and his achieve-
ments have gained him the profound respect of his fellow-practitioners.
He is a Chapter Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, in all of which fraternities iie
has numerous friends, as he has also in professional and social life.

On June 28, 1893, Doctor Armstrong was married at Saginaw, Michi-
gan, to Miss IMaud Studor, a native of that city and a daughter of Anthony
and Mary (Muldoon ) Studor. Four children have been born to this
union, namely: Helen, born at Charlevoix, jMay 7, 1895. a graduate of
the local high school and now a student in the Chicago School of Physical
Education and Expression : Dorothy, born February 13, 1897, <it Charle-
voix, a student in the local high school ; Robert Bruce, born at Charlevoix,
December 24. 1901, attending the graded school; and Phila, born De-
cember 2, 1904, in this city, also a public school student. Doctor Arm-
strong is fond of manly pursuits, and spends his vacations with his rod
and gun, but is essentially a home man, and when not engrossed in the
ever-increasing duties of his large practice is to be found in his pleasant
home, surrounded by his family.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1655

Charles Lafayette Boelio. The name of Charles Lafayette Boelio
is so well known to the people of Petoskey as one of this city's most sub-
stantial, helpful and useful citizens, that it may seem almost supereroga-
tory to republish the record of his life. At the same time, however, such
a record must be acceptable to many who may not have had the oppor-
tunity of acquaintance with his early struggles, his subsequent mis-
fortunes, his untiring perseverance and his consecutive rise, although
fully conversant with his ultimate success and high achievements.

Charles Lafayette Boelio was born in Seneca county, New York, Sep-
tember 28, 1855, and is a son of Albert and Julia (Ferguson) Boelio, the
father a French-Canadian, born in the city of Montreal, Canada, and the
mother born in a small village in the vicinity of Utica, New York. On
coming to Michigan, in 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Boelio settled in Ingham
county, and there the father engaged in agricultural pursuits, as well as
in the transfer and drayage business at Leslie, where the family made
their home. The mother passed away in 1902, at the age of sixty-nine
years, widely mourned by those who had known and loved her. The
father, who still survives and makes his home at Mason, Michigan, has
been a useful and hard-working man, and his career has been one which
reflects credit upon his industry and persistence. Since adopting the
United States as a place of abode, he has been public-spirited in his sup-
port of everything that has promised to benefit the community of his
choice in any way. During the Civil War he endeavored to join the Union
forces, and volunteered for services on two occasions, in addition to being
drafted once, but owing to poor eyesight was not accepted. Four chil-
dren were born to Albert and Julia Boelio, as follows : Charles La-
Fayetle ; Frank, who is a successful merchant of Greenville, Michigan ;
Minnie, who is the wife of George Nice, and resides at Mason, Michigan ;
and Thaddeus, who resides at Manchester, New York, where for a period
of fourteen years he has been superintendent of the Miller Sash and
Door Factory.

Charles Lafayette Boelio received his education in the public schools
of Leslie, Michigan, but at the age of nineteen years laid aside his school
books and began to perform a man's work in the stave factory, com--
mencing with A. J. Bailey & Son, with whom he continued to be identified
for twenty-two years, the last twelve years of which time he was in sole
charge as superintendent of the plant and foreman over from fifty to
seventy men. Mr. Boelio resigned his position, and with J. M. Dresser
as a partner, built a stave mill at East Cadillac and another at Dansville,
and began operations on a large scale, employing about fifty men, his
savings and his established credit being his share of the partnership. The
firm continued in business for three 5'ears, apparently making money, Mr.
I'.oelio being in charge of the manufacturing, while his partner, whom he
fullv trusted, managed the office end.

Mr. Boelio did not have a dollar in the world when he had settled with
his creditors, but did not allow himself to become disheartened, but set
himself at once to work to recuperate his fortunes. After one year in
business at Reed City, Michigan, he was given the superintendency of
the Alba Plant stave mills, owned by Tindell & Jackson, and then re-
mained five years, leaving that concern to take charge of the plant of the
Antrim Iron Company, as superintendent. This company operated seven
lumber camps, in which were employed from 200 to 800 men, of whom
Mr. Boelio had charge for three and one-half years, then resigning to
come to Petoskey and take charge of the Petoskey Paper Mills as super-
intendent. Two years later he purchased the coal business of Balden &
Edwards, of Petoskey, a concern which had been doing a modest business
of about $6,000 annually, and with his unusual energy, great business

1C56 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

capacity and versatile ability has succeeded in building up a business of
$32,000 annually. When he took charge of the business one horse was all
that was necessary to handle the trade ; now six teams are used, in addi-
tion to which others are frequently hired, and the wholesale business
of the company, carried on in car lots, is the largest in Petoskey. Aside
from his business properties and his pleasant modern home, j\Ir. Boelio
owns property in and about Cadillac. 'Tireless activity and unwavering
energy are the leading characteristics of those men who have mainly con-
tributed to Petoskey's present prominence among the cities of ^tlichigan.
As a rule, too, these men have been self made, and their lives have served
as stimulating influences to those who have followed, and in this con-
nection the career of Mr. Boelio is full of example and good precept.
Fraternally, Mr. Boelio is connected with the Masons, in which he has
attained to the Chapter degree. His political connection is with the Re-
publican party.

In 1875, at Leslie, Michigan, i\Ir. Boelio was married to Miss Hattie
Gleason, a native of that place, and a daughter of James and Julia (Hamil-
ton) Gleason. Mrs. Boelio died at Petoskey, March 10, 1910, having
been the mother of the following children: Frederick J., born at Leslie,
Michigan, and now a resident of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada ; Clyde,
also born at Leslie, and now a resident of the Saskatchewan country, in
Canada, where he is the owner of a large and valuable timber claim; and
Lewis, born at Mason, Michigan, a graduate of the University of Michi-
gan, where he attracted the notice of the professors because of his achieve-
ments in chemistry. At this time he is employed by Cook county, Illinois,
in the coroner's office, at Chicago, where, as an expert in diagnosis, he is
largely engaged in investigating suicides, murders and accidental deaths.
Charles L. Boelio was married at Petoskey, May 30, 191 1, to Mrs. Ida
(Clapp) Reed, and they have had no children. Mrs. Boelio is widely
known in social and religious circles of the city, and has been prominent
in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the Ladies' Aid
Society, and is president of the Cradle Roll Department.

RoLLiE L. Lewis is one of the young attorneys of Charlevoix, who by
industry and perseverance united with professional skill and ability, has
obtained a high position in his profession and at the same time has gained
the respect and esteem of all in the community with whom he has been
brought into contact. He is a native son of Charlevoix, born August 2,
1S84, his parents being Dr. Levi and Esther (Nelson) Lewis, the former
a native of Toronto, Canada, and the latter of the state of Wisconsin.

Dr. Levi Lewis, who settled in Charlevoix with his family shortly after
the close of the Civil War, is the pioneer physician of this city, and is still
engaged in active practice. He received his medical education in his
native place, and prior to coming to Charlevoix, in 1866, practiced at Port
Huron. At various times he has been chosen to fill positions of promi-
nence and responsibility, and has been county coroner of Charlevoix
coimty and health officer of the city. Few men in the state stand higher
in medical circles than Doctor Lewis, who in 1880 was appointed delegate
to the State Medical Conference held at Kansas City, Missouri, and also
holds membership in the American Medical Association, the Michigan
State Medical Society and the Charlevoix County Medical Society.
Politically he is a Republican, while his fraternal affiliation is with the
Masons. During his long career in Charlevoix he has taken a leading
and active part in the upliuilding and development of the city, erecting the
first opera house and numerous residences, perhaps more than any other
one citizen. In earlier life Doctor Lewis was prominent as an investor
in farm lands, owning at difi^erent times from three to five farms. With

HISTORY OF RIICHIGAN 1657

a tirni belief in the future greatness of his beautiful adopted city he has
worked earnestly in its behalf, and now, in the evening of life, at the age
of seventy-six years, sees his early confidence vindicated. Doctor Lewis'
first wife, Esther (Nelson) Lewis, passed away at the age of forty-six'
years, having been the mother of four children: one who died in infancy;
Dr. William F., of Luther, Michigan ; Edith, the wife of Charles G.
Dippel, of Grand Rapids, who has live children, Esther, Charles G., Jr.,
Warren, Lewis and George Layton ; and Rollie L. Dr. William F. Lewis
is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati Eclectic College, class of
1892. His first practice was in the hospitals of Chicago, where he re-
mained two years as interne, and then returned to Charlevoix and became
associated with his father, but subsequently became physician for a large
lumber concern at Elk Rapids, remaining there until lumbering died out
and then going to Luther, where he is in the enjoyment of a large practice.
He married Miss Hattie Laidlow, a native of Canada, and has two chil-
dren, Franklin and Audrey. Dr. Levi Lewis was married to Margaret
Henry.

Rollie L. Lewis graduated from the Charlevoix High school, succeed-
ing which he received a special course in pharmacy at the Kalamazoo
College and a special course in the manufacture of beet sugar, then being
made head chemist for the Western Michigan Sugar Company, of Charle-
voix. F"ive years later, when this factory closed, he entered the law de-
partment of the University of Michigan, graduating with his degree in
1906, and being at once admitted to the bar. His first work in his chosen
calling was with the well known and prominent firm of Knowles & Con-
verse, consisting of Leonard Knowles and J. F. Converse, at Boyne City,
Michigan, and continued with that strong legal combination until coming
to Charlevoix to engage in practice on his own account. His business is
that of a general practitioner, and his success, coming to him as it does,
without the aid of influential friends or relatives, is the result of hard
and faithful work and close adherence to the line of absolute integrity.
A Republican in politics, he has been active in the ranks of his party, and
his first campaign as a candidate for the office of prosecutor of Charlevoix
county was more than gratifying to him and his many friends, although
he failed of election by forty votes. At the present time he is chairman
of the Republican county committee. Mr. Lewis is a Chapter and Council
Mason, and a consistent member of the Congregational church. He is a
lover of all manly sports, and has some reputation as a baseball player,
having for several years been connected with the national pastime as a
professional, his connection being with the Traverse City club of the
Northern Michigan League and the Jackson club in the Southern Michi-
gan League. A worthy son of an honored father, he is steadfastly main-
taining the high reputation of the family for all that is best in social and
professional life.

Mr. Lewis was married November 12, 1912, at Kinsman. Ohio, to
Miss Abby King, daughter of George E. and Theresa (Allen) King, Mr.
King being for years a prominent cattle and horse breeder of Ohio.

Chillion Lycurgus Smith. The career of Chillion Lycurgus Smith,
one of the foremost real estate operators of Petoskey, Michigan, well
illustrates what may be accomplished by the following out of an hon-
orable purpose with firm determination and manly self-reliance. His
only resource when he began active life was natural ability, but he pos-
sessed immense will power and was enabled to make the most of every
opportunity that presented itself. His home training had been an ad-
mira1:)le one, and very early in life he learned the value of self-help and
the virtues of industry, fidelity and frugality. He set himself a high ideal

1658 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

and in a practical, common-sense way has directed his every effort toward
its attainment, with the result that he has achieved a most gratifying suc-
cess in a material way and is universally honored and respected.

Chillion Lycurgus Smith was born in Onondaga county, New York,
January 2, 1S48, and is a son of Rev. Moss I. and Alary A. (Edwards)
Smith. His father, a man of advanced education, brought the family to
Michigan in 1849 and located at Galesburg, where for a short time he
was engaged in teaching school. Subsequently joining the Methodist
church, he began to exhort in May, 1849, i" Kalamazoo county, although
continuing to teach until 1854, when he began to concentrate his entire
activities upon the work of preaching the Gospel. For many years he
filled pastorates in Marshall, Calhoun, Barry, Kent, Ottawa and Lansing
counties, and became widely known and greatly beloved, and when he
died, in 1880. at the age of fifty-six years, at Union City, his church lost
one of its most faithful servants and his fellow men a brother who had
done much to lighten the burdens of others. During the Civil War,
Reverend Smith ser\'ed as chaplain of the Third Regiment of Alichigan
Infantry. He was laid to rest at Union City. Mrs. Smith, who had
proved a faithful and devoted helpmate, passed away at Chambersburg,
Illinois, January 2, igoi, at the age of seventy-five years. They were the
parents of eight children, of whom four sur\-ive : Hattie, wdio is the wife
of Dr. D. H. Hadley, of St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary A., the wife of A. L.
Saunders, of Warsaw, Indiana ; \'erona J., living with her brother, an
active member of the Methodist Episcopal church and of the Ladies' Aid
Society ; and Chillion Lycurgus.

Chillion L. Smith was still an infant when brought by his parents to
Michigan, and his education was secured in the public schools of Saranac,
Ionia county, this being supplemented by a commercial training under the
preceptorship of Professor Ira Mayhew, at Albion. At the age of sixteen
years he commenced work as a clerk in a grocery store at Saranac, and
several years later was offered and accepted a position with the Guardian
Alutual Life Insurance Company of Detroit, Michigan, and Toledo,
Ohio, a capacity in which he gained an e.xcellent knowledge of the insur-
ance business. Returning to Saranac, he was placed in charge of the
mercantile store of Samuel A. Watt, who was the son-in-law of his first
employer, G. A. Cotton. Thus early it is seen that Mr. Smith so ably
performed his duties as to gain the confidence of those about him. While
engaged as manager Mr. Smith was also in full charge of the postoffice,
and telegraph and express office, and remained in these capacities eleven
years, resigning to engage in business on his own account at that place.
Six months later he disposed of his interests to advantage and went to
Oxford, Florida, where he was given a position as agent for the Sea
Board Air Line, remaining seven years in that position, and during this
time accumulated large properties, including an extensive orange grove
\vhich netted him handsome returns until the freeze of 1898, which ruined
so many orange growers.

Mr. Smith met with heavy losses at this time, but did not allow him-
self to become discouraged. On the contrary he but set himself more
assiduously to work to gain success, and, returning to Michigan, settled
in 1898 in Petoskey, where he secured a position in a furniture store, re-
maining two years. In 1900 he formed a partnership with William J.
.McCune and engaged in the real estate and insurance business, this enter-
prise becoming one of the largest of its kind in the city. In 1910 the
partnersliij) was mutually dissolved, and since that time Mr. Smith has
continued in business alone. He handles large properties, among which
are those of Bay View, a summer resort tow-n, five miles from Petoskey,
and during the summer months is busily engaged in looking after the
renting of the cottages belonging to the Bay View Company. His other

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1659

business interests are extensive, and through good management he has
succeeded in the achievement of a well-deserved success. Politically, Mr.
Smith is a supporter of the principles of the Republican party, but has
found little time to engage in the activities of the political arena. He has
always expressed a willingness to assist in movements making for the
advancement of Petoskey's interests, and being a benevolent and charit-
able man has refused his support to no enterprise of a religious or edu-
cational nature. With his family, he attends the Methodist Episcopal
church, of which he has long been a member.

Mr. Smith was married at Saranac, Michigan, February 9, 1869, to
Miss Julia S. Donovan, who was reared and educated in that city, daugh-
ter of Dennis and Sophia H. (Lampton) Donovan, both now deceased.
Four children have been born to this union : Samuel C, born in Detroit,
Michigan, in 1870, a graduate of Ferris Institute and now cashier of the
First National Bank of Boyne City, Michigan, married Marguerite Huft
and has one child, Malcolm ; Mahlon, born at Ionia, Michigan, assistant
cashier of the Grand Rapids National City Bank, married Louise B.
Sterling; Julia Edith, who is the wife of James W. Saigeon, of Petoskey;
and Dennis V., born at Oxford, Florida, a graduate of the department of
Ophthalmy of Michigan University, was sent in 1914 as a missionary of
the Methodist Episcopal church to Pekin, China, accompanied by his
wife, who was Miss Hazel Littlefield, of Farwell, Michigan, daughter of
James L. Littlefield.

Irvixg C. French. He whose name introduces this paragrapli has
been a resident of Kalkaska, judicial center of the county of the same
name, from the time of his infancy, and he has so utilized his energies
and abilities as to gain secure place as one of the representative busi-
ness men of this thriving little city. He is here engaged in the retail lum-
ber business, with well equipped yards, and he controls a substantial
trade, based alike upon his fair and honorable policies and his personal
popularity.

Irving Cady French was born at Springville, Erie county. New York,
on the 26th of May, I'S/G, and in the following autumn his parents re-
moved to Kalkaska, where they passed the remainder of their lives. He
is a son of Newell A. and Sarah J. (Cady) French, and is the older of
their two children, Charles E. having died in infancy. In 1874 Newell
A. French wedded ]\Iiss Sarah J. Cady, daughter of the late Ebenezer
S. and Mary J. (Oyer) Cady, of Springville. Impaired health led to
the removal of Newell A. French from Pennsylvania to Kalkaska, and
here he engaged in general contracting and building, as one of the pioneers
in this line of enterprise in Kalkaska county. He continued his operations
as a contractor until 1899, when he purchased land and established the
lumber yards that are now conducted by his only son. He continued
his active association with this retail lumber business until his death,
which occurred in 1910, his wife having passed away in 1900. He was
known and honored as one of the sterling and progressive citizens and
representative business men of Kalkaska, and his hold upon popular con-
fidence and esteem was so distinctive that he was called upon to serve
in virtually every village office except those of clerk and assessor. He
was for three terms the incumbent of the position of president of the
village council, and for a long period he was a member of the board of
trustees of the village, besides which he served sixteen vears as county
superintendent of the poor, his political allegiance having been given to
the Republican party, of whose principles he was a stalwart and efl:'ective
advocate. He was born in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and came
to Michigan in the pioneer era of the Wolverine state. In 1859 ^e made a

1660 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

prospecting trip for gold, in Colorado and Arizona, and he was measurably
successful in his quest for the precious metal.

Irving C. I*>ench continued to attend the puljlic schools of Kalkaska
until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, in which he
was graduated as a member of the class of 1893. While still attending
school he utilized his vacations and other available hours in serving a
practical apprenticeship to the printer's trade, in the office of the Kal-
kaska Leader, and the incidental knowledge which he thus accumulated
justified the statement that the discipline of a country newspaper office
is equivalent to a liberal education. As a compositor Mr. French was
employed for six years, at various towns in Northern Michigan, and he
then, in 1899, became associated with his father in establishing the lum-
ber business which he now conducts in an individual way, the enter-
prise being still carried on under the original title of N. A. French &
Son. Before assuming the responsibilities incidental to this now large
and flourishing enterprise. Mr. French fortified himself by taking a
course of study in the Benzonia Business College. He is now sole pro-
prietor of a successful business to the upbuilding of which he has con-
tributed in large measure, but much of the prosperity of which he at-
tributes to the influence and high standing of his honored father. He
is also one of the principal stockholders of the Michigan ^laple Syrup
Company, this being likewise a prosperous Kalkaska enterprise. He
owns valualjle realty in his home city, including his attractive residence.

Mr. French has not deviated from the path of strict allegiance to
the Republican party, and he is a Master Mason, having served for
more than twelve years past as secretary of his lodge. His wife is a
member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and holds membership in
the Congregational church.

In the year 1902 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. French to
Miss Cora D. Terpening, daughter of George A. and Ella E. ( Berry )
Terpening, who reside at Reading, Hillsdale county, in which vicinity
Mr. Terpening is a successful farmer and fruit-grower. Mr. and Airs.
French have four children, whose names and respective years of birth
are here designaterl ; Charles B., 1904; Frances E., 1906; Marion J..
1910; and Russell K., 1912.

Frederick J. Collins. The able and popular sheriiif of Muskegon
county is a native of the county which he is thus serving in official post
of exacting and important order, and the preferment thus accorded him
through popular franchise vouches for the estimate placed upon him in
the commimity that has ever represented his home.

Sheriff Collins was born in White River township, Muskegon county.
Michigan, on the 28th of December, 1874, and is a son of Robert and
Mary (Ryder) Collins, the former of whom was born in Ireland, in
1829, and the latter of whom was born in England, in 1836. Robert
Collins was an infant of less than one year at the time of his parents'
immigration from the Emerald Isle to the United States, and the family
home was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which state
Robert Collins was reared and educated and in which his parents con-
tinued to reside until their death, bis father having been a hatter by trade
and vocation. He came to Michigan and established his home at Muske-
gon in 185S, and he served for a number of years as engineer on steam-
boats plying the Great Lakes. He was engineer on the first passenger
steamer inlying between Muskegon and Chicago, and in the latter city
was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mary Ryder, who came to Amer-
ica, in company with her brother, when she was sixteen years of age.
They became the parents of fourteen children and of the number only

,,^i;';c^^^^*"*»

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1661

two are now living, Frederick J., who is the immediate subject of this
review, and Thomas who is a successful contractor, residing in Muske-
gon. The father was a Republican in his political adherency and was a
consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He spent his last
years at North Muskegon, Muskegon county, where he continued to re-
side until his death, which occurred in 1902. His widow now resides
in Muskegon, venerable in years, and is held in affectionate regard by
all who know her. She has long been a devoted member of the Meth-
odist Episcopal church 'and has a wide circle of friends in the county
that has long represented her home, even as did her honored husband,
who was a man of impregnable integrity of character.

The present sheriff of Muskegon county is indebted to its public
schools for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented by
an effective course in a business college in Muskegon. His initial ex-
perience in an independent way was made through his service as news-
boy in Muskegon, and later he worked as fireman on lake steamers,
after which he was employed for some time in a saw mill. He has been
dependent upon his own resources from his youth, has bravely faced the
battle of life and has proved himself worthy of public trust. His career
has been one of consecutive endeavor and he has accounted well for him-
self in all the relations of life. In 190.3 he .w:^s elected assessor of North
Muskegon, an office of which he continued the juciimbent for two
years, after which he served eight years as deputy sheriff'. His experience
in this connection was wide and he proved his powers and fidelity so con-
clusively that he was a logical candidate for the office of sheriff, to which
he was elected in November, 1912, by a^ most, gratifying majority. He
assumed his official duties in January i,"ir9T3, and is giving a most effi-
cient and vigorous administration, as a zealous conservator of law and
order in his native county. He had eight competitors in the race for
the office of sheriff and his decisive victory vouches for his unqualified
personal popularity. The sheriff' is a stalwart in the local camp of the
Republican party, and in his home city he is affiliated with the Benevolent
& Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order
of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Masons.

In the year 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Collins to Miss
Sarah J- Chandler, daughter of the late James Chandler, who was long
engaged in the livery business at North Muskegon. Mr. and Mrs. Col-
lins have no children.

Nathan Jarman. Among the business men of Petoskey who have
won success through individual effort, none are more deserving of pros-
perity than Nathan Jarman, one of the earliest pioneers of the Grand
Traverse region. A man of energy, difficulties he has never feared ; a
man of ambition, his mind was early set on making a success ; and,
imdeterred by obstacles, he stands today at the head of the Antrim Lime
& Stone Company, one of the largest enterprises of its kind in this part
of the state. Mr. Jarman is an Englishman by birth, the old family home
being situated in the village of Clipstone, North Hamtonshire, where
Mr. Jarman saw the light of day May 5, 1841. He is a son of Thomas
and Sarah Susanna (Elton) Jarman, the latter of whom died in England
at the age of fifty-one years. There were thirteen children in the family,
of whom four still survive: Charlotte, who is the widow of Charles
Maddock and resides at Oberlin, Ohio ; Nathan ; Emma, who is the
widow of Samuel Milford and resides at Elyria, Ohio; and Mary A., who
is the wife of Charles Maple, and lives at North Ridgeville, Ohio. The
parents were consistent Baptists, the father being a great Bible student,

and the children were reared to lives of industry, honesty and probity.
Vol. rn— 29

1662 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Thomas Jarman was an industrious and hard-working man, but was
in humble financial circumstances, being the owner of an unproductive
farming property. Seeing but little chance of acquiring his fortune in
his native land, Nathan Jarman decided to try the country across the
waters, and accordingly, in 1856, in company with his brother, Benjamin,
emigrated to the United States. Locating on a farm in Ohio, they care-
fully saved their wages, working early and late and practicing the most
rigid economy. Finally they gathered together their savings, added to
them $200 which they borrowed from the man "for whom they worked,
and sent the whole amount to their father, so that he and the other chil-
dren could come to this country. They arrived in 1856 and settled at
Sheffield, Ohio, where they spent two years, and Benjamin Jarman died
in the spring of 1858. Subsequently, the family moved to Lorraine
county, Ohio, where they rented a farm and remained one year, and then
went to Henrietta, Ohio, where three years were passed in farming, and
then moved on to Elyria, Ohio, where the father died at the age of seventy-
two years.

On July 4, 1863, Nathan Jarman was married at Oberlin, Ohio, to
Miss Isabelle Bartlett, and shortly thereafter purchased forty acres of
land and settled down to farming. Three years later he disposed of his
Ohio interests and came to Charlevoix county, Michigan, making the trip
by boat, and bringing with him his wife and her parents, James and Isa-
belle Bartlett. Here he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, in ad-
dition to which he purchased ninety acres more, but could not forget his
old Ohio home, and during the first two years returned and assisted his
father during the summer months. A sister-in-law, Miss Mary Bartlett,
became by appointment the teacher at the Mission Indian school in Char-
levoix county. After seven years spent in Charlevoix county, Mr. Jarman
came to what was then known as Bear Creek, now Petoskey, and at the
time of his arrival there were but two white families residing in the vi-
cinity, namely, Andrew Porter and family and the family of a Mr. In-
galls. For several years Mr. Jarman worked the Porter farm on shares.
After two years he decided to return to Ohio, and in March, 1875, packed
his household goods with the intention of leaving Michigan forever.
However, he was dissuaded by Mr. Porter, who induced him to bring his
family to Bear Creek, and for five years he operated the Porter farm, the
owner having moved to the East in order to secure greater educational
advantages for his son. Finally he bought the Porter farm, then known
as the Mission fann, and which is at present \yithin the boundaries of the
city of Petoskey. In later years Mr. Jarman platted twenty acres of his
land and sold it off in small parcels, for which he was successful in secur-
ing good values. In 1890 Mr. Jarman purchased fifteen acres adjoining
the farm, which he knew was excellently qualified for a stone quarry and
soon established himself in business, continuing therein alone until 1904,
when he organized the Antrim Lime and Stone Company, capitalized at
$28,000, of which Mr. Jamian holds $12,000 worth of stock. He was
elected president and general manager, made large investments, and now
has a modernly equipped quarry, with two large lime kilns and other up-
to-date apparatus and implements. The firm now ships annually over
40,000 barrels of lime and over 200 carloads of fluxing stone, used by
furnace companies, fifty tons to a carload. From fifteen to twenty men
are steadily employed at the quarry and 3,000 cords of wood are con-,
sumed annually in burning lime. This large enterprise has been built up
directly under Mr. Jarman's personal supervision and is a monument to
his enterprise, his business prowess and his untiring industry. As a busi-
ness man, he is known by his associates as a man of the utmost integrity,
whose word is of equal value with legal parchment, and who, while gain-
ing personal success, has not failed to assist others to prosperity.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 16G3

Mr. Jarman's first wife died in April, 1881, at the age of thirty-eight
years, having been the motlier of five children : Sarah, who married Dr.
Reuben E. Porter, died in 1896 at the age of thirty-two years, leaving
five children, — Edith, Isabelle, Howard, Esther and Lowry; William J.,
associated in business with his father, married, first, Miss Lottie Lawrence
and had two children — Walter and Myrtle, and married Lena Pratt, and
has one child — Reva ; David C, also associated in business with his father,
married Nellie Tal)bot, and has one daughter — Esther; Andrew, who
died at the age of eight months ; and Eva, the wife of Claude R. Nicholls
of Bay City, Michigan.

Mr. Jannan has always taken an active part in civic afifairs in Petos-
key, and has served the city four years as a member of the council, to
which he was elected on the Republican ticket. He has been steadfast in
his support of temperance, and is a leader in all movements making for
morality and good citizenship. A devoted member of the Baptist church,
he has served as deacon therein. Mr. Jarman has worked hard all of his
life, and his life record is unblemished by stain of any kind. Few men
are held in higher general esteem, and none have a wider circle of friends.

FuA.vei.s F. Grillf.t, M. D. Controlling a substantial i)ractice
throughout the wide territory of which the village of Alanson is the
normal center. Dr. Grillet is recognized as one of the representative
physicians and surgeons of Emmet county and as one wlio sulwrdi-
nates all other interests to the demands of his exacting and humane
profession. He is the only physician residing in Alanson, and thus he
finds insistent and virtually constant claims for his time and attention
in his effective ministrations as a man of admirable technical attain-
ments and unequivocal fidelity to his chosen vocation.

Dr. Francis Freeman Grillet was born on a farm in Whiteside county,
Illinois, on the 2nd of March, 1869, and is a son of \'ictor and Julia
May (Higley) Grillet, the former of whom died in 1909 and the latter
of whom now resides with her elder daughter at Elk Prairie, ^Missouri,
Dr. Grillet being the eldest of the four children ; Henry L. is a resi-
dent of .'-^iou.K City, Iowa : Genevieve E. resides with her mother at Elk
Prairie, Missouri; and Ida L. maintains her home at Iowa City, Iowa.
In 1870, the year after the liirth of the subject of this review, the fam-
ily home was established in Exira, Audubon county, Iowa, where the
father engaged in market gardening. He was a man of sterling char-
acter and utmost industry, but he never achieved more than minor finan-
cial success, so that his sons early became dependent upon their own
resources in facing the problems and responsibilities of life. The Doctor
gained his rudimentary education in the schools of Exira, and was
about nine years of age at the time of the family removal to Sioux
Citv, Iowa, where he continued his studies in the public schools until
he had attained to the age of fourteen years. He had in the meanwhile
gained practical experience in market gardening, under the direction of
his father, and on leaving school he began to provide for his own main-
tenance, by entering the employ of a truck gardener in Iowa. Through
his own exertions he later defrayed the expenses of a course of study
in the Northwestern Business College, at Sioux City, Iowa, in 1897 ;
after having filled various clerical positions, he went to the city of Sag-
inaw, Michigan, where he entered the Saginaw \'alley Medical Col-
lege, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900 and
from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, his
preceptors having been Drs. J. W. and F. W. Freeman. From his youth
he had fellowing with honest toil and endeavor, and knew the lash of
adversity and necessity, — a discipline that either spoils the man or makes

16C4 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

for superior strength and self-reliance. He has stated that he earned
his first dollar when he was a Ijare-footed lad of six years, the medium of
this financial accumulation being the sale of tomatoes whicii had Iseen
raised by his mother.

For the first year after his graduation Dr. Grillet followed the prac-
tice of his profession in Saginaw, and the next year was passed in pro-
fessional work at Mill Brook, Mecosta county, whence he removed to
Farwell, Clare county, a place that continued to be the stage of his pro-
fessional activities for eight years. In 1909 he went to San Francisco,
California, with the intention of engaging in practice in that city, but
he remained only a suthcient time to complete an effective post-graduate
course in the San Francisco Medical College and then returned to Alich-
igan. In the spring of 1910 he estalilished his residence at Alanson,
Emmet county, where the passing years have brought to him distinctive
success, as shown by his control of a specially large and substantial prac-
tice of general order. The Doctor keeps in close touch with the ad-
vances made in medical and surgical science, has a fine professional
library, as well as a large and select one of general order, and he avails
himself also of the best periodical literature of medicine and surgery.
His ofiice is equipped with an excellent static electrical appliance and
also with the best type of X-ray machine, — facilities that are unusual
in the equipment of the average practitioner in a country district. Dr.
Grillet is not unduly influenced by technical enthusiasm, but his re-
searches and practical experience have given hiin great faith and con-
fidence in the application of electricity in the treatment and diagnosis of
human ailments, with the result that he has provided himself with the
most modern and approved electrical appliances. Tangible evidences of
his well won prosperity are offered in his ownership of a most attractive
residence in Alanson and a fine farm of sixty acres, which he intends
to develop largely in the cultivation of fruit, specializing in the raising
of fine winter apples. The Doctor is identified with the American Med-
ical Association, the Michigan State Medical Society and the Emmet
County Medical Society, besides which he is an associate member of
the medical staff of the city hospital of Petoskey and is local examiner
for a number of the leading old-line life insurance companies.

In ])olitics the Doctor is found aligned as a staunch advocate of
the cause of the Progressive party, with which he identified himself at
its inception, incidental to the national campaign of 191 2, and as a citi-
zen he is alert, progressive and public-spirited. He is a member of
Corning Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, at Farwell, Clare county,
and is affiliated also with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Knights of the Modern Maccabees, the Woodmen of the World, and
the Improved Order of Red Men. Aside from his reading and study
and his insistent devotion to his profession. Dr. Grillet finds pleasure and
recreation in the manipulation of his fine twenty-foot naptha launch,
which he keeps in commission during the season on the famous Inland
Route, Petoskey to Cheboygan.

In the year 1902 Dr. Grillet wedded Miss Mary Holmes .Stuart,
daughter of George M. and Cynthia Alma (Barnum) Stuart, well known
citizens of Grand Rapids. Mrs. Grillet was graduated in the Grand
Rapids high school and is a prominent and popular factor in the lead-
ing social activities of Alanson, where she is a member of the Ladies'
Aid Society, and secretary of the Plomc Benevolent Society. Dr. and
Mrs. Grillet have no children.

DoRi.AND C. OsBORNR. In according recognition in this history to
the representative business men of the city of Petoskey, Emmet county,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1665

there is special consistency in giving due relative precedence to Mr. Os-
borne, who has here been engaged in the produce trade for more than
thirty years and who is thus one of the pioneer merchants of the city,
even as he is a progressive and loyal citizen to whom is granted the fullest
measure of popular confidence and esteem. He has held various local
offices of public trust and has done well his part in the furtherance of
those measures that have conserved the social and material progress and
prosperity of his home city.

Borland Clapp Osborne was born in Hastings county, Province of
Ontario, Canada, on the 17th of July, 1844, and is a son of Robert and
Frances (Clapp) Osborne, both of whom were born in Prince Edward
county, Ontario. Robert Osborne became a pioneer farmer of Hastings
county, Ontario, where he reclaimed his land from the wilderness and
where he had the distinction of being the founder of the village of Mel-
rose. In that county he continued to maintain his home until he was
summoned to the life eternal, at the age of seventy years, and his memory
is revered in the community that so long represented his home and in
which his influence was ever benignant. His cherished and devoted wife
passed away at the age of sixty years, and of the nine children only three
are now living, — Dorland C, William H. and Gilbert James.

To the common schools of his native county Dorland C. Osborne is
indebted for his early educational discipline, and as a boy he learned also
the lesson of practical industry, through his association with the work of
the home farm. He attended school until he had attained the age of
eighteen years and thereafter continued to be associated in the operation
of his father's farm until he was twenty-four years old, when, in 1868,
he came to Michigan, and made location at Saginaw. There he engaged
in the lumber business in association with his brother-in-law, Henry Ling-
ham, who had married Miss Clarinda Osborne, both being now deceased.
For two winter seasons Mr. Osborne worked in the lumber woods in
the vicinity of Tawas City, Iosco county, and passed the intervening sum-
mers at Saginaw. In 1870 he went to Milford, Oakland county, where
he entered into a contract to build the first three and one-half miles of
the line of the Pere Marquette Railroad. After the successful comple-
tion of this contract Mr. Osborne established his residence at Milford,
where he erected an elevator and engaged in the grain and produce trade.
Fie continued his successful operations from 1871 to 1882, and in the
latter year disposed of his interests at Milford to identify himself with
the business activities of Petoskey. With a capital of only $1,000 he
here engaged in the produce trade, his previous eflforts having virtu-
ally been offset by severe losses entailed by the panic of 1873, when he
lost nearly all of his accunndated capital through unfortunate operations
in the buying and shipping of wool. He was not of the fiber to permit
adversity to dampen his courage and self-reliance, and with the passing
years he has achieved large and worthy success, having continued to the
present day in the produce trade at Petoskey, with operations that show
an annual average of $90,000. Mr. Osborne is at the present time, in
point of continuous operations, the oldest business man in Petoskey, and
he still occupies for his business the building in which he here initiated
his local business. He has been careful and conservative, as \yell as up-
right and honorable in all dealings, and is one of the substantial men of
Emmet county. He owns in Petoskey his warehouse, residence and other
realtv, and in addition to this tangible evidence of his prosperity he is
the owner of a farm of eighty acres, situated within a few miles of his
home city.

Broad-minded and progressive as a citizen, Mr. Osborne is a stal-
wart advocate of the principles of the Republican party, and he has been

IGGG HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

influential in puljlic affairs of a local order. He served one year as a
nieinber of the common council of the village of Petoskey and after the
incorporation of the town as a city he was a member of the board of
aldermen for two years. He has been earnest in the support of those
measures and enterprises that have fostered the civic and physical up-
building of Petoskey, and has been zealous in the furtherance of religious
and charitable work, as well as education. He served two years as a
member of the board of education and for twenty-six consecutive years
he held the office of treasurer of the First Methodist Episcopal church of
Petoskey, of which he and his wife are devoted members, his long tenure
of this important office of trust clearly indicating the high estimate placed
upon him in the community to which he is ever loyal and which has sig-
nally honored him. In a retrospective way it may be stated that as a ■
young man in Canada he served as a memljer of the volunteer militarv
force raised to repel the threatened Fenian invasion.

At Flint, Michigan, in the year 1879, Mr. Osborne wedded Miss
Mary Joslin, daughter of Rev. T. J. Joslin, an able and honored clergy-
man of the Methodist Episcopal church. This honored pioneer minister
of Michigan died in 1013. at the venerable age of eighty-si.x years. Mrs.
Osborne passed to the life eternal in 1886, after having become the mother
of three children, — ^Miss Grace Osborne, who resides in Petoskey; Wil-
bur, who is a resident of Pontiac, Michigan ; and Mary, who died in
childhood.

In July, 1887, at Petoskey, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Os-
borne to Miss Calista Orser, daughter of the late Robert Orser, who was
a pioneer settler of Petoskey and who here erected the first hotel, the
same having been known as the Pacific Hotel and having been demolished
a number of years ago. Of the children of the second marriage the eldest
is Aurilla, who is the wife of Verne Perkins, engaged with the Mitchell
Automobile Company, in the city of Detroit; Marguerite is the wife of
Walter R. Work, freight auditor in Detroit for a railroad company ; Earl
Borland, the youngest of the children, was graduated in the Petoskey
high school, attended the University of Michigan in the medical depart-
ment.

George T. Zipp. Fellowship with adverse circumstance often tries
and proves the man, and he who presses forwarri to the goal of success
in the face of obstacles is entitled to all honor, fur he has been tried in
the crucible and been found not wanting. The career of the sterling
citizen whose name initiates this ])aragra])h has shown achievement
definite and worthy, and this in the face of innumerable hardships and
ceaseless (oil and endeavor. The discipline has made him larger and
stronger as a man, and his is the kindly tolerance which is begotten of
such experience. He is a scion of a pioneer family of Northern Michi-
gan, and here his childhood days were passed under the conditions and
influences that marked that strenuous epoch in the history of this now
opulent and favored section of the Wolverine State. He has been long
identified with the lumber industry and is now one of the representative
business men of the city of Petoskey, the fair metro]5olis of Emmet
countv. ( "luided and governed by the highest j)rinciples, he has made
his life count for good in its every relation, and he has been therefore
accorded the most generous measure of objective confidence and good
will.

George Theodore Zipp was born in the village of Markham, ^'ork
countv. Province <)f ( )nlario, Canada, and the date of his nativity was
April _'J, 1803. lie i^ a son of Peter and Elizabeth ( Pxkhardt ) Zipp,
the fnrnicr (jf wluim clied at Mancelona. Antrim countw Micliigan. at

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1667

the age of sixty-eight years, and the latter of whom was summoned to
the h'fe eternal in the spring of 1914, at the venerable age of eighty-
four years, the closing period of her long and gentle life having been
passed at Central Lake, in the same county.

In 1872 Peter Zipp came from Ontario to Michigan, in company
with his wife and their children, all of whom were born in Canada.
They voyaged down the shore of Lake Michigan to the site of the
present beautiful little city of Charlevoix, which they found to be a
mere lumbering hamlet in the midst of the forest, the houses being
little more than shacks of rough lumber, and the lake pier having been
one of most primitive order. At Charlevoix the family embarked on the
vessel "Ella Burns" and voyaged to Northport, Leelanau county, from
which point they drove overland to Brownston, now known as Torch
Lake, in Antrim county. Peter Zipp there chartered a sail boat, by
means of which the family were transported across Torch Lake to the
hamlet of Spencer Creek, nucleus of the present village of Alden. Over
an elemental road the pioneer family then proceeded a distance of
twelve miles to Mancelona, which was then represented by a single
log house, occupied by Perry Andress and his family. Mr. Zipp well
recalls the incidents of this journey and the quaint language used by
Mrs. Andress, who instructed her son James to "pail the cow," the boy,
with youthful reluctance to perform the task, stating that he hated to
"pail" (milk) cows. The Zipp family remained over night in the An-
dress home and the next day the little stock of household goods was
loaded on a wagon and transported to a point two and one-half miles
from Mancelona, where settlement was made on a homestead in the
midst of the virgin forest, the arrival of the family at the destination
having occurred May 24, 1872, — a date that stands out in the memory of
Mr. Zipp as that of the anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria. He
also recalls with gratification the deep impression made on his youth-
ful mind by the distinctive beauty of the forest wilds, and he aided in
the preparing of the rude domicile that was to figure as the family home.
Peter Zipp was a native of Prussia and was thirteen years of age
at the time of the family immigration to America. His father, who
was a tanner and currier by trade, established the family home at Utica,
New York. The family finally removed from the old Empire State to
Markham, Ontario, where Peter was reared to manhood and where
was solemnized his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Eckhardt, daughter of
John E. Eckhardt, a pioneer and prosperous farmer of that section of
Canada. Peter Zipp became the highest-salaried man in the town of
Markham, where he received $600 a year for his services. He not
only provided well for his family but also indulged a distinctive predi-
lection by keeping a number of race horses, for which he had great
fondness. Of the six children born at Markham the eldest was Emma,
who is the widow of Dey Wilcox, a prosperous farmer and saw-mill
operator of Mancelona, Antrim county, Michigan, where he died in
iqio; Frederick William was born in 1861 is now superintendent of the
plant of the Northern Lime Company at Bay Shore, Charlevoix county:
he wedded Miss Eva Cook, of Mancelona, and they have five children:
George Theodore, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; Ada
is the wife of Ilerman Darling, engaged in the laundry business at Cen-
tral Lake, Antrim county, and they have one child ; Arthur is associated
with his brothers as a stockholder in the Northern Lime Company, at
Central Lake : he married Miss Nina Evans, of Mancelona ; Homer
Leroy, who now resides in the city of Grand Rapids, is a director and a
member of the executive committee of the Northern Lime Company.
George T. Zipp acquired his rudimentary education in his native

1668 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

place and was a lad of nine years at the time of the family removal to
Michigan. His services were much in demand in connection with the
reclamation and other work of the pioneer farm and he was enabled to
attend the village school at Mancelona only during the winter terms,
the while he made the daily trip of two and one-half miles from his
home to the village, usually having to plow his way through the snow
and walking the entire distance, both going and returning. Mr. Zipp
has indulged in pleasing reminiscence concerning the early days at Man-
celona. In the year following the location of the family in Antrim
county the line of the Grand Kapids & Indiana Railroad was extended
through Mancelona, and the village was given a noteworthy celebra-
tion through the generosity of Archibald ]\IcMillan, who had been one
of the principal contractors in the construction of the road and who
eventually became a man of much wealth. At Mancelona Mr. McMillan
erected a large hotel and upon its completion he tendered in the build-
ing a ball and reception to the people of the community, his liberality
in providing for his guests being such that the ball was protracted
through the second night. At that early period law and order were
precariously maintained at Mancelona, and might rather than justice
frequently made right. In the summer season !Mr. Zipp carried water
each day a distance of two and one-half miles to supply the pioneer
home, and in the w-inter water was obtained by melting snow. After
a well had been constructed on the farm it ran dry, and to provide the
necessary lumber to reconstruct the well Peter Zipp had to go to Elk
Rapids, from which place he transported the stock by team and wagon,
over almost impassible roads, the incidental expenditure having been
fully $500. At that time he could employ men to work for him only
by providing them also with a daily ration of whiskey. It may be that
this early knowledge of the ravages of intemperance has tended to make
the subject of this sketch so bitter a foe of the liquor traffic.

As a youth George T. Zipp found employment in a saw mill at Wet-
zell, Antrim county, and in his labors he had the misfortune to have the
thumb and one finger of his left hand amputated by the machinery of
the mill, besides which he endured the herculean labor of cutting wood
for the engines of the railroad. When but fifteen years of age he as-
sisted in the erection of the first school house in his home district, at
Mancelona, and in this school he was fortunate in having as his in-
structor Jeremiah Glines, who was not only a zealous and effective repre-
sentative of the pedagogic profession but also a talented musician. This
worthy man did all in his power to inculcate high principles and aspira-
tions in the minds of his pupils, instructed them in music and during
the recess hour taught them to dance, utilizing his violin to provide the
requisite music and affording the young folk pleasing recreation.

At the age of twenty years Mr. Zipp was employed as lumber in-
spector and tallyman at East Jordan, Charlevoix county, as an attache
of the Pine Lake Lumber Company. He contimied in the service of this
company five years, and in the meanwhile bought and paid for forty
acres of timber land. In the autumn of 1888 Mr. Zipp assumed the
position of superintendent of an extensive hardwood lumber yard in
the city of Tonawanda, New York, and this incumbency he retained
until the fall of 1806. when he returned to Michigan and established
his residence in Peloskey. His son Harold, aged eight months, had
died a short time jjreviously and he and his wife then decided that the
Michigan climate and environment were more to their taste than the
dust-ridden air of Tonawanda, the result being that he resigned his post
in the latter city. .Soon after locating in Petoskey ]\Ir. Zipp here en-
gaged in the retail lumber business on ;i modest scale, his trade being

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1669

principally of a jobljing order. In 1899 lie removed to Grand Rapids,
where he became associated with his brothers Homer and Arthur in
handling hardwood lumber. They built up a successful jobbing trade
in this line and he continued a resident of Grand Rapids until the spring
of 1905, when he returned to Petoskey and purchased an interest in
the established lumber business of Josiah Hendrix, with whom he con-
tinued to be associated until 1909, when he purchased the interest of
Air. Hendrix. Since that time he has conducted the enterprise in an
individual way and his success has been unequivocal, based alike on his
thorough knowledge of all details of the business and his unqualified
personal popularity. Mr. Zipp has become also the owner of valuable
real estate in Petoskey and is known and honored as one of the reliable,
straightforward and representative business men of the city.

In politics Mr. Zipp has ever given staunch allegiance to the Repub-
lican party, and while he has taken loyal interest in its cause and in public
affairs of a local order he has never manifested aught of desire for the
honors or emoluments of public office. He is indefatigable in his eiTorts
to promote the cause of temperance and has been most zealous in sup-
port of local option. He is a member of the Petoskey Business Men's
Association and both he and his wife are earnest members of the Chris-
tian church. Owing to the musical training received in his youth, as
previously noted, he has marked talent, and he has long served as a
member of the choir of the church with which he is identified. He has
an attractive home in Petoskey and in the same his interests center, the
while the family is prominent and popular in the social life of the com-
munity, "the three sons being young men of sterling characteristics and
much promise.

At Charlevoix, this state, on the 8th of May, 1892, was solemnized
the marriage of Mr. Zipp to Miss Alary Scroggie. daughter of the late
James Scroggie, who was a prosperous farmer and honored citizen of
Charlevoix county. Mr. and Mrs. Zipp have three sons, — Homer Dean,
who was born at Tonawanda, New York, in 1895, is a student in the
high school and is prominent in athletic affairs ; Wilbur Francis, who
was born in Petoskey, in 1897, likewise is a student in the high school,
as is also the youngest son, George Theodore, Jr., who was born in the
city of Grand Rapids, in 1003.

Osc.\R LuM.\x R AMSDET.L. AI. D. Among the medical men of Alich-
igan who have won distinction and prosperity in their profession through
the possession of high talents and accomplishments, Dr. Oscar Luman
Ramsdell holds deservedly high place. During the more than twenty
years in which' he has been engaged in practice at Petoskey he has built
up a large and representative practice and his various and diversified
connections have made him well known in business, social and fraternal
circles. Doctor Ramsdell is a product of the farm, having been born on
his father's large homestead in Albany county. New York, July 5, 1864,
a son of Luman S. and Laura A. (Gedney) Ramsdell, the former of
whom died in TO06 and the latter in Alay, 1903. The children of this
union were: William C, who is now conducting business college in New
A'ork ; Fanny J.; Oscar Luman; Dr. Arthur E., a practicing dentist of
Kalamazoo, ATichigan ; and Adeline J. The father was a successful
and substantial farmer of Albany county, took a prominent part in
civic afifairs, and both he and his wife were faithful and devoted mem-
bers of the Afethodist Episcopal church.

After completing his primarv education, Doctor Ramsdell entered
Starkey Seminary, at Eddytown. Yates county, New York, taking a gen-
eral course of study there and graduating in 1889. At the age of twenty

1670 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

years he liad started to teach school during the winter months, care-
fully saving his earnings of twenty dollars per month, and during the
vacation periods worked on the home farm. For one year he taught
school at North Hector, New York, but in 1890 came to Michigan and
entered the State University at Ann Arbor, being graduated as a doctor
in 1893, and during his senior year acted in the capacity of house phy-
sician at the University Hospital. Coming to Petoskey in 1893 for one
year he was in partnership with Dr. W. A. Farnsworth, but since the
end of that period has been engaged in practice alone. A man of much
skill and numerous attainments, he has built up a large professional
business and a substantial reputation in his calling. He is examiner for
several of the old line insurance companies, and for several years has
been consulting physician for the Tubercular Sanitarium at Howell,
]\Iicliigan. His practice is of a general character, and he firmly believes
in the curative and medicinal powers of electricity, having been the
owner of the first static machine in Emmet county. That he is pro-
gressive in his ideas is shown by the fact that he owned the first auto-
mobile in Petoskey. Politically a Republican, his only public service has
been the position of health officer, which he filled in an efficient manner
for several years. In a material way he has been successful, and at
this time is the owner of the building in which his office is situated, in
addition to other valuable real estate. Doctor Ramsdell is a Mason and
belongs to various other fraternal organizations as well as those of his
calling. With his family, he attends the Presbyterian church.

On September 13, 1894, Doctor Ramsdell was married in Petoskey
to Martha E. Pepper, of Castleton, Vermont, daughter of Seth B. and
Margaret (IJlakeley) Pepper. Mr. Pepper was a machinist at Darion,
Wisconsin, for eight years, and in 1893 located in Petoskey, where he
was engaged in the furniture business up to the time of his death, in
1897. Mrs. Pepper died in 1893. Three children have been born to
Doctor and Mrs. Ramsdell, namely: Luman C, born in 1899, and now at-
tending high school; Robert B., born in 1905, a student in the graded
schools; and Evelyn, born in igo6, also a public school student. Mrs.
Ramsdell attended lowan W^esleyan University, at Mount Pleasant,
Iowa. She is prominent socially and active in all benevolent work, and
is regent of Pe-to-se-gay Chapter, Daughters of the .American Revolu-
tion, and president and treasurer of the Ladies' Auxiliary of Lockwood
Hosi^ital. Like her husband's, her acquaintance is w^ide and her friends
numerous.

J.\.\iKS Gow. Of the old-time lumber manufacturers who helped to
lay the foundations of the commercial prosperity of Muskegon, the ma-
jority have either retired or have passed from the scenes of their
earthly achievements. One of the survivors and still active in affairs is
James Gow, who has been a resident of Muskegon almost continuously
since 1866, and for more than thirty years has been one of the inde-
pendent operators in lumbering and manufacturing.

James Gow was born in Chippewa, Canada, March 17, 1846, a son
of John and Margaret Patterson Gow. His paternal grandparents were
John and Isabel (McKinzie) Gow, both natives of Scotland, where they
lived and died. The maternal grandfather Patterson, born in Ireland,
spent his life there and married a Miss Sarah Montgomery. John (iow
the father, was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, April 7, 1807, and died
November, 1864. His wife was born in Ireland in 1821 and died in
1894. They were married in England, and John Gow, who was a Brit-
ish soldier came to Canada during the thirties, to serve in the Canadian
Rebellion. ,\flcr his ser\ices he became a Canadian citizen, took up a

f'odj.^jf'i^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1671

tract of free land granted for his military service, and remained a suc-
cessful farmer until his death. He and his wife had six children, three
of whom are yet living-. One of these Robert W. is in Wisconsin, and
the other brother is David, of Minneapolis., The parents worshipped in
the Episcopal church, and the father was a Conservative in ]:>olitics. and
inuch interested in local affairs. James Gow, w'hose earl}' education was
received in Canada, and who afterwards graduated from the I'ryant &
Stratton Commercial College of Chicago, came to Muskegon in 1866
and began his career as a common laborer in a saw mill. Tlis connec-
tion with the lumber and lath mills continued until he w-as thoroughly
equipped by experience for independent operations and having accu-
mulated some capital in i88t joined with Albert C. Majo in the pur-
chase of a small mill. Thev startefl out with great energy, enlarged
the jilant and in 1S82 John Campbell became a member of the firm
wdiich assumed the name of Gow, Majo & Company until their opera-
tions extended over a large field. Mr. Majo left the firm in 1890, and
afterward the name was Gow & Campbell. From the operation of
one small plant. Mr. Gow's interests have enlarged from one success
to another, and for many years his name has been regarded as one
of the foremost among the wealthy lumbermen of Muskegon. Since 1912
he has been in business for himself at Muskegon, and his mill has a
capacity of sixty thousand feet of luml^er per day. Mr. Gow is a director
and third vice president of the Union National Bank of Muskegon : one
of his most profitable investments has beeti...itj the Henry Lumber Com-
pany of Michigan City, which hg'')'ielpe'd'brga^ij;?e in 1894, and of which
lie is vice president. At his vMii^l^e^on PlafiT, Mr. Gow manufacturers
hemlock lumber principally, Jin'Jl'' ships a great deal of his material by
boat to the various markets. iHis investments include city and country
real estate, timlierlands, in which he deals extensively, and his timber cut
is brought to the mills at Muskegon bv boats', railroad, and rafts.

On April 8, 1874, Mr. Gow married Julia S. Burch, of Manistee,
Michigan, daughter of Samuel Burch, who for many years was in the
drug business at Manistee. Two children have been bom to their mar-
riage: Edna, is the wife of Lee H. Trott. a lumber inspector; Evelyn,
married James M. Hoyt, an electrician. Mr. Gow and family are mem-
bers of the Episcopal church, for thirty years he has been a vestryman
and is now junior warden of his church. Fraternally his affiliations are
with the Lovell Moore Lodge of Masons, with the Muskegon Royal Arch
Chapter, the Muskegon Commandery of Knights Templar, and he pos-
sesses the honorary thirty-third degree in the Scottish Rite. His lodge
lias honored him with the office of worshipful master, and the com-
mandery with the title of eminent commander. His politics is Republican,
and his public service includes terms as alderman and city treasurer,
and mayor of Muskegon.

EnvviN Forrest Mathews. When Edwin Forrest Mathews was
eleven years of age he entered upon his career; shortly after attaining
his majority he became the owner of a farming property and for some
years was engaged as a tiller of the soil ; subsequently for a long period
he cruised all over Michigan in the interests of logging companies, and in
February, 1914, was appointed postmaster at Pellston, a position he has
continued to retain. Mr. Mathews began his career without advantages,
either educational or financial, but in each avenue of activity has en-
deavored to make a success of his labors, efforts which have been broadly
successful. He has relied solelv upon his own energies and abilities, and
his present prosperity indicates that in this, as in other matters, his judg-
ment has been good.

1672 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Mr. Mathews was born at Highland, Oakland county, Michigan, Sep-
tember 8, 1866, and is a son of Edwin D. and Emmeline (Rowland)
Mathews. The family was six in number when it first came to Alichigan
and settled in Emmet county. At the present time there are more than
sixty members and all are good Americans. The father was engaged for
a number of years in agricultural pursuits and through a life of industry
and earnest labor succeeded in the accumulation of a valuable property.
He died in 1902. During the Civil War he served with Company L,
Tenth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, and for some time was engaged in
scout duty under General Howard. There were six sons and two daugh-
ters in his family, namely: Almeda, born in 1857, who married Oliver
Davenport, who owns and operates a sawmill in Emmet county, and has
seven children, of whom live are living; John C, born in 1859, married
Eleanor I'ikc, of Cross Village, Michigan, is a rural mail carrier, and has
five children; Justin S., who is deceased; Clarence P., born in 1862, mar-
ried Minnie Cross, of Harbor Springs, Michigan, is engaged in farming
near that place, and has one child; Edwin Forrest, of this review; Ella,
who married George L. Mann, of Levering, Michigan, a farmer, and has
six children; Ephriam, born in 1880, who married Cora Overholt, of
Levering, is engaged in farming, and has two children ; and Ernest R.,
born in 1882, who is a bachelor and lives with his mother on the old home-
stead place.

One year and nine months spent in the country school adjacent to his
father's farm constituted the educational advantages granted Edwin F.
Mathews in his youth. Experience and hard work occupied the greater
part of his boyhood, for at the age of eleven years he commenced to work
with his father and to help support the family, then residing in Bliss town-
ship, Emmet county. Through tireless industry and economy, he was
able to save a little money, and at the age of twenty-two years became
the owner of a tract of forty acres of land, which he developed, and
which through intelligent and well-directed management he made pay him
a fair income. In 1900 Mr. Mathews came to Peliston and began to
work at the trade of carpenter, which he had learned while growing up
on the farm, but subsequently abandoned that business to become buyer
of lumber and veneer logs for the Grand Rapids N'eneer Works. He also
acted as timber estimator for various mills until 1912, cruising and logging
all over Northern Michigan, and then worked for and located the Johnson
Lumber Company, for which he cruised, this plant being located at Drum-
mond Island, at the mouth of the Soo river. He continued as general
superintendent for this company until January, 1914, and during this time
had as many as 100 men under his employ. In February of that year he
received the appointment as postmaster of Peliston, a position he has con-
tinued to hold to the present time.

Mr. Mathews is a Democrat politically, and has long been prominent in
public affairs, having served in nearly every office within the gift of the
people of his locality, including supervisor of the township, village
assessor, township clerk and justice of the peace. His public service has
at all times been characterized by a strict adherence to duty, public-spirit
and energy, and through his energetic labors in the public behalf he has
secured the full confidence of his fellow-citizens. Mr. Mathews is a
member of Peliston Lodge, No. 136, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
being a charter member and having passed all the chairs, and is also con-
nected with several other fraternal organizations. He is the owner of
160 acres of good land in Peliston, on which he has a model cherry
orchard, and also owns other real estate. A family reunion of this old
and honored Michigan family is held every year, and often at these
meetings there are exhibited specimens of the beautiful hand-made rugs

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1673

which are fashioned by Mr. Mathews' mother, who is very skilled in this
kind of work.

In 1894 Mr. Mathews was married to Miss Azella Cook, daughter of
Charles and Elvira (Pier) Cook, residents of Pellston. Mr. Cook served
during the Civil War as a member of the Seventh Michigan Cavalry, and
among others participated in the battle of Gettysburg.

Russell Abner Lee. The career of Russell Abner Lee reflects prac-
tical and useful ideals, and its range of activities has included various
business enterprises and honorable and conscientious public service. A
high-minded and public-spirited gentleman, an excellent business man and
a faithful friend, his various experiences have left him a wiser and more
useful citizen, and as one of the most popular postmasters Harbor Springs
has known he is the center of a wide circle of appreciative acquaintances.
Mr. Lee was born at Ovvatonna, Minnesota, March 30, 1S67, and is a
son of William Henry and Mary A. (Wilburn) Lee, who are now living
retired at Harbor Springs.

William Henry Lee was born in Cuyahoga county. New York, .August
3, 1840. and early in life took up educational work, being for some years
at tile Collegiate Institute at Klbridge, New York. In i860 he went to
Arkansas from New York, and then Minnesota, and took up farming.
While a resident of .Arkansas, he enlisted in the Union army, becoming
a member of the Eighth Missouri Cavalry and subsequently of the Third
Arkansas Cavalry, and his entire service covered three years, in the
capacity of first lieutenant, .\fter securing his honorable discharge, he
returned to .Arkansas and married Miss Mary .A. Wilburn, of Morrellton,
that state, where they remained until 1866. In that year they removed to
Minnesota, locating at Owatoima, but ten years later came to Emmet
county, where Mr. Lee located as a "mossback" on a farm. Subsequently
he moved into the city of Harbor Springs, and for ten years was en-
gaged in the abstract business in partnership with his son, after which
he settled down to a retired life. Mr. Lee is a thirty-second degree Mason,
and for eight years was master of Harbor Springs Lodge. He is known
as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and has gained the confidence
and respect of all with whom he has come into contact. Four children
were born to William Henry and Mary .A. Lee, namely : Russell .Abner,
of this review ; Sarah C, who married Charles H. Judd, of Harbor
Springs, a carpenter, and has one son; Mabel V., who married William
Woodruflt, a retired resident of San Francisco, California ; and one child
who is deceased.

Russell Abner Lee attended the public schools of Ovvatonna, Minne-
sota, and Enmict county, Michigan, and while securing his education
worked in a sawmill and learned the trade of carpenter. I'ollowing his
schooldays he secured employment with a company manufacturing lime
barrels, continuing to be identified with that concern for four years, and
in i8()i was appointed register of deeds for Emmet county. In 1895
he began engaging in the abstract business and subsequently was in part-
nership with his father until 1899, and in later years engaged in the
jewelry business for three years at Harbor Springs, also farming three
acres of land, although the latter venture was only as a hobby. .A Demo-
crat in his political views, Mr. Lee had long been an active worker in the
ranks of his party, and in 1913 his loyalty and capable services were recog-
nized by his appointment to the office of postmaster, in which he has con-
tinued to the present time. He is a third degree Mason, belonging to
Harbor Springs Lodge, No. 378.

In 1889. 'Mr. Lee was married to Miss Edith Caskey, the daughter of
James and Sarah (Ferry) Caskey, who are now engaged in farming in

1674 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Harbor Springs. Two children have been born to this union : Winnie
Vera, born in i8go, who graduated from the Harbor Springs High school
and is a clerk in the postolhce; and Ada May, born in 1892, a graduate of
the Harbor Springs High school, class of 1911, and of the Ferriss In-
stitute, where she took a full commercial course, and now a teacher of
the commercial course in the high school at Flint, Michigan. For a long
period .Mr. Lee has shown his willingness to bear his full share of the
duties' of citizenship, and no movement for the betterment of his com-
munity is considered complete until his name is found among its sup-
porters. When only twenty-one years of age he was elected as the only
Democrat to the office of township clerk, an oflice in which he served in
1888 and 1889, and again, in 1903, when he was elected supervisor of his
township he was the only representative of his party to be so honored.
In his present capacity he is showing a high order of ability, and his
administration will, no doubt, greatly raise' the efficiency of the local
service.

Hon. Edward James O'Brien, M. D. There can be no error in the
statement that Dr. Edward James O'Brien, mayor of Pellston, is one of
the most stirring and dominant factors in the life of Emmet county. As
a physician he has gained much more than a local reputation for his
researches and investigations ; his record as a public-spirited citizen,
ready at all times to contribute to the community's welfare regardless of
his own interests, even to a point where his life has been endangered, is
an admirable one ; as a public official he has always had a high regard
for his fellow-citizens' rights and privileges, and as a man v\'ho has worked
his own way up the ladder of success from the bottommost round, his
career is one that should prove encouraging to aspiring youth.

Doctor O'Brien was born September 12, 1879, at Grand Rapids, Michi-
gan, and is a son of Thomas and Ellen (Doyle) O'Brien, natives of
Ireland, the former of whom died in 1904 and the latter in 1908. There
were ten children in the family, of whom all but one survive, and Edward
J. is the fourth in order of birth. While still attending the public schools,
at the age of thirteen years, Edward J. O'Brien began to work during
his vacations on the section of the G. R. & I. system, on which his father
was a section foreman. In 1896 he graduated from the Mancelona High
school, and at that time secured employment with an oval wood butter
dish factory, making wooden boxes. His next employment, at the age of
seventeen years, was as a brakeman on the work train of the G. R. & I.
system, and he carefully saved his earnings, being thus able to assist his
parents in buying a home at Mancelona. From this employment he was
given charge of a switch engine, and later, until 1906, played professional
baseball and worked at tallying lumber and in the produce business until
finally he saved enough money to gratify his ambition. From his boy-
hood days it had been his desire to become a physician, and whenever he
was able he associated with medical men, and was a student of medical
works, also assisting Doctor Beaver in the capacity of bookkeeper and
being frequently called upon to dress wounds and assist in small opera-
tions. In 1906 he found himself possessed of enough money to enter the
Michigan College of Medicine, at Detroit, which closed in 1908, and at
that time he became a student in the Detroit Homeopathic College, where
he put in two years on materia medica and two years on homeopathy.
During his last year at college he found his funds disappearing, and so
accepted an interneship at Grace Hospital, to which he was appointed by
Dr. Oscar Lasuere. Notwithstanding these added duties, he graduated
as valedictorian of his class in 1910, with his desired degree of Doctor
of Medicine.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1675

After leaving college, Doctor O'Brien assisted Doctor Beaver, of
Mancelona, for a time, and then came to Pellston and opened an office
and engaged in practice. Thirty days after his arrival Pellston was visited
by a small-pox epidemic, and the Doctor was prevailed upon to accept the
position of health officer, in which capacity he fought so fearlessly and
capably that the disease was stamped out. He so won the confidence of
the people of the village that in May, 1913, he was elected mayor without
opposition, and in 1914 was re-elected. Formerly a Republican and a
delegate to the state convention of that party, in 191 2, he followed Colonel
Roosevelt into the Progressive movement and assisted in the organization
of the state ticket of the -new party. He has been offered substantial
support by prominent men if he will agree to become a candidate for the
legislature, and there is not the slightest doubt but that he would make
an excellent official, being a fearless advocate of the principles he con-
siders right and thoroughly conscientious in each work he undertakes.
Fraternally, Doctor O'Brien belongs to Elks Lodge, No. 629, Petoskey,
the Knights of the Maccabees and the Loyal Order of Moose.

Doctor O'Brien is a member of the American Aledical Association and
the Michigan State Medical Society. Primarily a general practitioner, he
has specialized to some extent in the diseases of children and is also doing
some notable work in salvarsan treatment in the cure of paresis. Doctor
O'Brien is an active, wide-awake executive and is bending every energy
toward the building up of Pellston and the development of the surround-
ing country. He is also patriotic in support of his country and has already
oftered his services to the United States as an army surgeon in case of
war with Mexico. He is unmarried.

The following is an appreciation of Doctor O'Brien as. printed in a
local newspaper : "When Pellston was practically isolated from the world
because of an epidemic of smallpox, the villagers made Dr. Edward J.
O'Brien president of the town. That's where he got the title 'Mayor of
Pellston,' as he is known from the 'sun kissed shores of Superior to the
sin cussed shores of the metropolis,' as Fred Wetmore once remarked
down at Lansing. President O'Brien immediately turned his attention
to the sanitary condition of the town and hasn't been idle since. That
is the reason why, when members of the state board of health made an
investigation, instead of finding fault with the village officials, they turned
out words of commendation. Doctor O'Brien could stand on the beach of
the Atlantic and still be six feet above the sea level ; he is thirty-five years
old, of exemplary habits, physically sound and an advocate of eugenics.
Although he sees no evil in the tango or the maxixe, he is still single. His
reputation as a physician and surgeon is more than local and he is a success
in his profession.

"Despite the duties of his large practice he has had time to mix with
people. In fact, the doctor is never happier than when he is with friends.
He never lacks for company. The local labor organization, although he is
a professional man, regard him as their own and on Labor day he has
full charge of all celebrations. The boundaries of Pellston don't limit his
friendships, either. He is well known in Detroit and other cities. Con-
gressman Woodruff, of Bay City, never lets a season go by without spend-
ing a week fishing with 'Mayor' O'Brien. Besides being mayor he is
county physician. Also he was largely responsible for the defeat of the
$225,000 county bonding proposition holding that roads that bring the
market closer to the farmer are better than auto boulevards.

"He knows the significance of the hour of 11 p. m., and in order to
help along the state convention of the B. P. O. E. to be held at Petoskey,
June 23, 24 and 25, the Elks of that city have put him on the publicity
committee. This story, however, is not the opening of his campaign to

1676 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

bring all the Elks to the north the last week of the sixth month. In fact,
when it comes to personal publicity, the 'mayor,' president, county
physician and doctor scores the only failure of his life."

Frank L. Friend. A life of earnest effort, high ambition and stern
determination, crowned eventually by success, is exemplified in the career
of Frank L. Friend, of Harbor Springs. In young manhood he was em-
ployed in the lumber camps of Petoskey, and the hard, unremitting labor
of his position made him determined to rise among the world's workers
and to gain a place of independence. That his ambitions have been grati-
fied is demonstrated by the fact that he is at the head of one of his com-
munity's thriving business enterprises, that he is a prominent factor in
local and county politics, and that he possesses in the highest degree the
esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens.

Frank L. Friend was born in Sanilac county, Michigan, January 9,
1870, and is a son of Benedict and Barbara (Hunt) Friend, the former of
whom died in 1889. Benedict Friend was a prosperous farmer of Sanilac
and Emmet county fcff twenty years, but in the spring of 1881 removed
to Sheboygan county, 'VemaiTiing six years, and then located on a home-
stead where he passed away. The third in a family of nine children, of
whom one is deceased, Frank L. Friend was eleven years of age when he
accompanied his parents to Sheboygan county and there attended school
until 1885. He was but fifteen years old when he started to farm with his
father and in 1890, following the elder man's death, went to Petoskey and
secured employment in' the lumber camps. There he remained as a driver
of teams and in other capacities until 1894, but his ambitions were set
higher than mere laboring, and he turned his attention to clerking for the
firm of FI. A. Easton & Company, hardware merchants, with whom he
continued until 1903. In that year Mr. Friend came to Harbor Springs
and entered into a partnership with J. E. Walroud, opening a general
hardware business, his capital consisting of what he had saved at Petos-
key and some money made in judicious real estate investments. The busi-
ness prospered from the start, and under Mr. Friend's excellent manage-
ment has become one of the leading ventures in the village, constantly
employing four men. Mr. Friend owns a fine home at Harbor Springs,
in addition to other realty, and is known as an able business man, with an
excellent reputation for integrity. Although his opportunities for an edu-
cation were few during his boyhood, he has been a great reader and a keen
observer of men and events, so that he has today a broad knowledge on a
variety of subjects worth while. Politically a Democrat, Mr. Friend has
been very active locally and is, no doubt, destined to become a factor in
county and state politics. In 1906 and 1907 he served in the capacity of
village assessor, and in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914 was elected treasurer
of Flarbor Springs. Fraternally, he is connected as a charter member
with Petoskey Lodge, No. 923, Knights of Columbus, and his genial and
obliging manners have gained him a wide circle of friends.

Mr. Friend was married in 1898 to Miss Susie Ellen Cassidy, daughter
of Frank and Bridget (McGuinness) Cassidy, farming people of Bliss
township, the former of whom died in 1902. Mrs. Friend is essentially
domestic in her tastes and devoted to her home, but has ever been ready
to answer any worthy call, and like her husband, has a wide circle of
friends and acquaintances.

J.\roB Prince. One of the oldest living and most honored pioneers
of Alpena is Jacob Prince, who has been identified with this section of
Michigan for forty' years or more, and has made an honorable record
both as a business man and citizen. Mr. Prince is now past the age of

^Tjf;

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1677

fourscore years, and his career has been one of unusual variety, including
experience on the Pacific Coast during the years following the discovery
of gold, a long time spent in the lumber industry of both Maine and Michi-
gan and in merchandising and other lines of enterprise.

Jacob Prince was born April 20, 1833, at Pittsfield, Maine, a son of
Levi and Margaret (Libby) Prince. Both parents were of English line-
age, and Jacob was one of a family of twelve children, seven sons and five
daughters. The only survivors are now Jacob and Henry W. Jacob
Prince had a common school training of a very limited character, since
his early years were spent at a time before the organization of public
schools in the modern sense of the term, and his education was more
practical than a result of book training. He lived on his father's farm,
and continued in its work and management until his father passed away.

About i860 at Pittsfield Mr. Prince married Angeline Jane Pusher,
daughter of Bryant and Hannah (Starbird) Pushor. Mrs. Prince was
born in the same locality as her husband, and she and her brother, Hiram,
are the only survivors of a family of five children. Both her father and
mother died near Pittsfield, and the former was a farmer.

Mr. Prince after his marriage engaged in merchandising at Hartland,
Maine, and spent about two years in that location. In 1855 he left the
quiet environment of the country about Pittsfield and started for the
Pacific coast to hunt gold. Most of this journey was made by boat,
though a portion of the distance was covered by team and wagon. After
three years in the gold fields he returned to his old home in 1858, cross-
ing the Isthmus of Panama on the railroad. In 1872 Mr. Prince left
Hartland, Maine, and went direct to Alpena, Michigan. At that time
Alpena had no connection with the outside world by railroad, and Mr.
Prince and his family arrived by boat. He found employment almost at
once in the scaling of logs in the lumber woods, and during several sum-
mer seasons he was employed in the lumber mills. Fifteen winters were
spent as a log scaler, and during the summer seasons he was chiefly en-
gaged in merchandising, part of the time for others and part of the time
for himself. Later he became connected with the store owned and op-
erated by his son-in-law, and for the past seven seasons has kept up active
work largely in superintending the operations of men employed for street
grading and other improvements in the city. He is a man who has al-
ways been busy, and his own home in which he resides is a product almost
entirely of his own labor and skill as a carpenter.

Mr. Prince has three living children, while two are deceased. They
are: Frank; Carrie, wife of Alexander Rensberry; and Laville, with
the Michigan Laundry at Alpena. In politics Mr. Prince is a Democrat,
and has stood by that party since casting his first vote before the war.

William W. Barcus. A prominent and old-established real estate
man of Muskegon, William W. Barcus has been identified with this city
in a successful and public spirited manner for over thirty years, and is
numbered among those who have been instrumental in helping promote
many projects for the upbuilding and progress of the community,

William W. Barcus was born in the state of Ohio, on August 17, 1837.
The ancestry on the paternal side goes back to James Barcus, a native
of Maryland, from which state he moved to Ohio, where he died. Still
further tracing the ancestry, it is known there were two brothers of the
Barcus family, who came from England with Lord Baltimore, and became
settlers in the original Province of Maryland. From those two brothers,
all members of the liarcus family in America have sprung. The maternal
grandfather of Mr. Barcus was William Williams, a nati\e of Penn-
sylvania, who lost his life while serving as a soldier in the War of 1812.

Vol. 111—30

1678 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

The Williams family is also of English stock. William Williams mar-
ried Aliss Gean Gregory, of an old English family. The parents of
A\'illiam W. Barcus were Danieli and Sarah Jane (Williams) Barcus,
both natives of Ohio. The father was born in 1800 and died in 1878,
while the mother was born in 181 3, and died in 1883. They were mar-
ried in Ohio in 1836, and in 1844 moved to Pennsylvania. The father
by trade was a weaver, and continued to live in Pennsylvania until his
death. In business he was fairly successful, and was always esteemed
as a useful and influential man of his community. There were eight chil-
dren in the family, and three are now living, the other two being: Ben-
jamin G., who is a carpenter in Pennsylvania: and H. T. Barcus, who is
a saw maker, now in charge of sawmills in Pennsvlvania. The parents
belonged to the Alethodist Episcopal church, and the father was a staunch
Republican, from the beginning of that party.

William W. Barcus had a common school education in the state of
Pennsylvania, completed with a course in a commercial college at Pitts-
burg in 1861. He then started out in life without capital, and through
his energy and individual ability has made his success. His first work
was as a bookkeeper, and he was employed in that vocation for a long
period of years. Finally he was promoted to the place of manager for
his company, lived some years in New York City, and then represented
the firm in Chicago. In 1881 he moved to Muskegon, where he joined
his brothers in the manufacturing of circular saws, under the firm name
of Barcus Brothers. That was a successful establishment, and did a
large business especially during the high-tide of the lumber mill in-
dustry. In 1894 Mr. Barcus established a real estate and insurance office,
and for almost twenty years has been continuously and successfullv iden-
tified with that line of enterprise. He has handled large quantities of
real estate in the city and vicinity, and represents some of the leading
insurance companies. A special feature of his business is the making of
real estate loans.

In 1863 Mr. Barcus married Miss E. J. Jaquette, a daughter of
Nathaniel Jaquette, a native of Delaware, where the Jaquette settled in
an early day. Nathaniel moved from his native state to Pennsylvania,
where he died. By trade he was a shoemaker. Mr. and Mrs. Barcus had
only one child, Clarke J., who died at the age of twenty-eight. The fam-
ily attend worship at the ]\Iethodist Episcopal church, and for more
than forty years, Mr. Barcus has been closelv affiliated with the Masonic
Order being a past master of his lodge. His politics is Republican.

Albert L. Power. It was through the great lumber industry that
Albert L. Power performed his chief service as a business man of Michi-
gan. He was one of the pioneers of Alpena, and his death in that city
about ten years ago bereaved the community of one of its oldest and best
esteemed residents. He had been an officer in the Union army during
the war, and throughout his life lived up to the fine ideals of a true
soldier.

Albert L. Power was born at Tioga, Pennsylvania, March 12, 1S38, a
son of Sullivan and Lucie (Adams) Power. The common schools gave
him his earlv training, and after graduating from the high school he took
a commercial course at ^It. Clemens, Michigan. His practical business
experience may be said to have begun when he was employed as a clerk
in a .store at Mt. Clemens. In early manhood the war broke out, and in
the first year he enlisted in Company I of the Ninth Michigan Infantry
as sergeant, and later was lieutenant. Subsequently he was advanced to
the rank of captain and commanded a company in the Forty-second In-
fantry, a colored regiment. His service lasted from the first year of the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1679

war until 1865, and with a record of efficiency and fidelity as a soldier he
returned to ]\lichigan and brought his wife to the pioneer community of
Alpena. At that time Alpena had no connections by railroad with the
outside world, and only three boats arrived each week. After some ex-
perience in merchandising, Mr. Power took up lumber inspection, and
became one of the oldest and most experienced men in that department
of the lumber industry. He was a useful man to his employers in what-
ever capacity he worked, and enjoyed prosperity and esteem. He was
chief of the fire department here for twenty-five years. His death oc-
curred in October, 1903.

Early in his career he was married at New Haven, Michigan, to Mary
O. Phelps, daughter of Edward C. and Catherine (Leonard ) Phelps. Her
family were residents of Mt. Clemens, her father having been one of the
pioneers to establish a home in the wilderness of the vicinity. It was in
Mt. Clemens that Mr. Power and his bride spent the first years of their
married life. To their union were born two daughters : Catherine I..,
the wife of Byron N. Persons ; and Alice L., who is unmarried. The late
Mr. Power was affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of the
Maccabees, belonged to the Congregational church, and in politics was a
Republican.

Guy W. Chaffee. On August i, 1913, death removed from Grand
Rapids one of the city's young business men, one who starting life on a
modest scale was the chief factor in developing a furniture business that
was one of the most prosperous •concerns of its kind in that large city.
The life story of Guy W. ChaiTee contains little that is spectacular, and
outside of his early death almost nothing of the element of tragedy. It
is a record of fine and continuous business success due to unusual ability
and force of character ; of continual willingness and much more than
ordinary capacity to serve the public where his services were needed for
the general good, and of the steady flow of a calm, full current of active
goodness toward mankind in general and his immediate associates and em-
ployees in particular, with every energy and faculty guided by lofty ideals
and dominated at all times by a strong sense of duty.

Guy W. Chafifee was born near Rockford in Kent county, Michigan,
March 16, 1873, and was a few months past his fortieth birthday at the
time of his death. His parents were Ezra M. and Hannah M. (Young)
Chafifee. His father was born in Portage county, Ohio, May 16, 1844,
while his mother was born in Courtland, Michigan, in 1849, and the father
now lives at the age of threescore and ten in Rockford, in which vicinity
he has long been a farmer. During the war he served in Company F of
the .Seventh Michigan Infantry, and on August 26, 1864, was taken a
prisoner and confined in Danville, Virginia, for some time.

With an education acquired in the country schools, Guy W. Chaft'ee
came to Grand Ra]jids at the age of twenty years, and joined his uncle,
R. J. Young, in establishing a modest stock of furniture in the Gilbert
block, with a capital of only one thousand dollars. The subsequent de-
velopment of the Young & Chafifee business was a remarkable record of
mercantile success, and at his death Mr. Chafifee left a store of large and
successful proportions at 122-128 Ottawa avenue. Much of the success
of the firm was due to the untiring efiforts of Mr. Chafifee, who was the
type of business man who gets more enjoyment out of his regular work
than from any other source, and it was in keeping with this characteristic
that he often remained on business duty from fourteen to sixteen hours
a day. While this concentration of eff'ort was the basic element in his
success, he was noted equally for his interest in the welfare of his em-
ployees, and his character was one that radiated cheerfulness and ready

1680 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

sympathy, expressed in many unostentatious acts of practical charity.
While personally a modest man, he was aggressive and public-spirited in
business and in his support of everything pertaining to the general wel-
fare of Grand Rapids. He was an active member of the Association of
Commerce and belonged to the Peninsular Club, the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks and the Plainfield Country Club. Apart from his
immediate interests in the furniture store he had considerable money in-
vested in the development of an apple orchard tract in the famous Rogue
River valley near jMedford, Oregon. His two brothers, Burt K. and
Glenn D., were both identified with the Young & Chaffee Furniture Com-
pany, and another brother, Owen, lives in Medford, Oregon, and is in-
terested in the orchard industry in that state.

In 1895 Mr. Chaffee married Laila Cain, a daughter of C. O. and
Anna S. (Seaver) Cain. Her mother was born in Maryland and her
father in Vermont, and the latter was a retail dry goods merchant who
came to Michigan when a child, and he and his wife are still living in
Grand Rapids. Mrs. Chaffee was their only child. Mr. Chaffee and
wife had two children : Wendell and Guy, both now in school.

A concise tribute to the life and character of the late Guy W. Chaffee
was thus rendered editorally by the Grand Rapids Herald: "No man
lived in vain or crosses the bar with life work undone who leaves the
memories that are cherished by Guy Chaffee's friends and by his city."

Hugh R. Mellex. One of the oldest residents of Alpena is Hugh
R. Mellen, who established a home there forty-five years ago, and has not
only been closely identified with business affairs, but has also become
known for his faithful public services. He is a progressive citizen, and
his influence can be counted upon to favor any movement calculated to
bring greater development and improvement to his section.

Hugh R. Mellen was born November 13, 1843, in county Argenteuil,
Province of Quebec, Canada, the only son and child of James and Martha
Ann (AIcNeil) Mellen. The father died about 1868, the mother lived
with her son until her death, and he was not married until after she had
passed away.

Hugh R. Mellen had a very limited education as a boy, and his uncle
being a carpenter took him in and gave him a thorough training in that
trade. That was Mr. Mellen's regular line of work until about 1884, and
he then turned his attention to the construction of mills as a millwright.
Mr. Mellen arrived in Alpena June 26, 1868, and in the subsequent years
has witnessed practically every improvement in this part of the state, in-
cluding the building of railroads, the growth of commerce and industry,
and many other changes too numerous to describe. For about five years
he was engaged in the general merchandise business at Alpena.

Mr. Mellen married Mary McNeil, daughter of Philip McNeil. They
are the parents of one son, William Harlow Mellen. Mr. Mellen has
served Alpena as a member of the school board, belongs to the Congrega-
tional church, and has afffliation with Alpena Lodge No. 199, A. F. &
A. M. In politics he has always been a Republican in national affairs,
but labors effectively for progressive government and improvement in
local matters irrespective of party affiliations.

Mi:l\-in R. Trotter. Some fourteen years ago, in a dingy, little
room at No. 95 Canal street, there was established in Grand Rapids the
first home of the City Rescue Mission. Its allurements were few; the
furniture of which it could boast was necessarily of the plainest and
cheapest kind. The financial resources of its founders were meagre ; the
idea was a new one. and the people who were in a position to aid had not

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1681

yet become enlightened as to the necessity of such a work. But behind
the movement, and in charge of it, was an earnest, conscientious and de-
termined young man of forceful character, who from the first had the
utmost faith in its ultimate success, and who was ready to sacrifice his
every personal ambition to the furtherance of the work to which he had
given himself. Three years before, Alelvin E. Trotter had been con-
verted at the Pacific Garden Mission, and so zealous had he shown him-
self in his labors that he had been chosen to assume the gigantic task of
establishing on a firm basis a house of God which would extend its in-
fluence into the depths and assist the erring ones of the great city to
once again attain the paths of righteousness and clean living. The diffi-
culties were discouraging in their profundity ; the obstacles which arose
on every side were such as to have broken the spirit of a man of lesser
calibre; yet the young zealot, working tirelessly, kept himself ever in the
faith, and the shabby, little one-room mission has grown and e.xpanded
and increased in prosperity, both financial and spiritual, until today the
City Rescue Mission in Grand Rapids has its home in the largest and
finest structure of its kind in the country, and the work which it is carry-
ing on is accounted the greatest factor for moral progress and enlighten-
ment in the city. It is not within the province of this review to give a
complete record of its achievements, a record of the men reclaimed, or a
record of the souls saved. It will be of interest, however, to the thousands
who know and love "Mel" Trotter, to relate the salient points in his ca-
reer, a career no less admirable than it is remarkable.

Melvin E. Trotter was born at Orangeville, near Freeport, Illinois,
May i6, 1870, and is a son of William and Emily J. (Lorch) Trotter.
His grandfather, George Trotter, settled in Illinois as early as 1829, at
which time .he bought land from the Government, which he worked with
a pair of horses which he had brought from Kentucky. On this property
he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits up to the time of his
death, when he was known as one of his community's most substantial
and highly respected citizens. During the Black Hawk War he served
with distinction and his entire career was that of a loyal, public-spirited
and industrious citizen. Much of his original purchase of land still re-
mains in the family possession. George Trotter married Sallie Shelton,
who lived to the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. Charles Lorch,
the maternal grandfather of Mr. Trotter, was also a well-known Illinois
citizen of early days, and for years was the proprietor of a public market
at Springfield. William Trotter was born at Freeport, Illinois, in 1839,
and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted in the Forty-sixth Regiment,
Illinois Vokmteer Infantry, with which he saw service for a short period.
His three brothers were also soldiers during that struggle, and one of
them, George Trotter, was killed at the battle of Shiloh. At the con-
clusion of his military experience, Mr. Trotter resumed his trade of bar-
ber, at Polo, Illinois, in which he was engaged for twenty years, and
subsequently became the proprietor of a hotel at Freeport. At this time
he is living retired in that city. He was married at Springfield, Illinois,
to Miss Emily J. Lorch, who was born in 1841 in that city, and they be-
came the parents of eight children, of whom seven are living: William,
who is engaged in mission work ; Mrs. Mamie Bracken, of Polo, Illi-
nois; Melvin E. ; Julia, who is single and a resident of Freeport; George
W., who is engaged in mission work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Mrs.
Nels Gaarde, of Burlington, Iowa, wife of the chief clerk to the general
manager of the Burlington Railway ; and Belle, who is engaged in teach-
ing in the public schools of Freeport. The parents are members of the
Lutheran church. Mr. Trotter is a charter member of the Modern Wood-
men of America at Freeport, and is an active Republican in politics, hav-
ing served in a number of minor offices.

1682 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

]Melvin E. Trotter received his education in the public schools of
Polo, Illinois, and as a youth learned the barber trade, at which he was
working at the time of his conversion, January 19, 1897, at the Pacific
Garden Mission. He at once threw himself whole-heartedly into the
work of rescue, and the next three years were crowded full of various
experiences in the slums of the large cities. After three years of prepa-
ration of the most comprehensive character, he was sent to Grand Rapids
to become superintendent of the City Rescue Mission work of the city.
The tirst meeting was held at the old Ionia street auditorium, now a fur-
niture store, and Mr. Trotter was called upon to speak. In the words
of one of the men who attended that meeting, and who has since become
a convert : "He didn't know much, but he was bridlewise and would
stand without hitchin", and when they put him up to speak he just told
them in a slang way how God had saved him from a low life of sin and
drinkin' and I guess it made a hit, "cause the folks gave $1,100 to open
the -Mission and Mel was the one the directors chose to run it." As re-
lated, the night the Mission opened the crowd was four times too large
to be accommodated in the hall, and during the following year there were
fifteen hundred conversions. It was soon apparent that larger quarters
were needed, but money became scarce, the confidence of the public
abated, and the outlook for the little Mission was anything but a bright
one. Through it all 'Sir. Trotter never lost his faith. Laboring ener-
getically, he finally persuaded five men to donate $500 each, more funds
were raised by selling bricks at ten cents each, a lease was secured on
the vacant lot across the street from the Eagle Hotel, and within forty-
four days there was erected a one-story building with seven hundred and
fifty chairs. Two years later it was found necessary to secure more
room, and a two-story addition was erected which gave the Alission one
thousand chairs, but not only did these not accommodate the great crowds,
but there were two hundred children in the Sunday school to be taken
care of. It was then decided to secure Smith's Opera House, which for
years had been operated as a low-class burlesque house, where vice and
drinking were rampant. An extended legal battle followed, but after a
determined struggle, during which several Mission supporters held the
property several nights with loaded guns, Mr. Trotter and his helpers
were triumphant. To use the words of the authority quoted before :
"When the 'Cherry Blossoms' came to bloom, they did not even bud."
The present structure is one of the handsome edifices of the city, to which
it is a credit, and seats eighteen hundred persons. The meetings in the
auditorium are but a part of the work. The Sunday school at this time
has an attendance of nearly five hundred ; the clothes room, the super-
intendent of which is Mrs. Trotter, furnishes clothes, shoes and other
necessities to the needy; house to house canvassing is done; jails and
hospitals are visited regularly, as well as the police courts ; the Gospel
is preached in the streets by enthusiastic workers, not by the old method
of horse and wagon, but by an up-to-date automobile, furnished with an
organ ; mothers' meetings are held, as well as Bible classes for begin-
ners and men's classes; and twenty-six outside missions are conducted by
the original home. And behind it all is the constant directorship of a
determined, inspired and devout individual, ever ready to do more than
his share of the labors which are constantly growing heavy, never too
busy to add to the burden of his own work by accepting a share of the
troubles of others. With all his accomplishments and achievements,
Mr. Trotter is a modest man, although easy of approach. It may give
some insight into his character to quote his answer to a question put to
him on one occasion when he was asked what gave him the greatest satis-
faction as he looked back over the years since his conversion. He said :

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1683

"The wonderful lot of men standing for Christ and preaching the Gospel.
Nothing gives me such joy as to know that if I never opened my lips
tonight, forty doors would swing open, and forty men would be leading
a red-hot soul-saving campaign in the missions for which I raised the
money." In these missions, it may be stated in passing, there have been
raised on an average of $210,000 annually for rescue work. Mr. Trotter
is President of the Brotherhood of Superintendents of Rescue Missions.
He is possessed of no mean literary ability, and his book, "Jimmy Moore
of Bucktown," is now in its eighth edition. In politics, he is a Republican.
Mr. Trotter was married April 2^. 1891, at Dubuque, Iowa, to Miss
Lottie M. Fisher, and they had one son, Lynn, who died at the age of
two years. Mrs. Trotter, who has been her husband's most valuable and
enthusiastic assistant in his God-given work, devotes herself chiefly to
the mothers' meetings, and has been successful in accomplishing much of
abiding value for the poor women with whom the Mission is always in
contact.

Watts S. ?Iumphrey. Of those lawyers who came to the bar dur-
ing the sixties most have long since laid down their briefs. Some sur-
vive in retirement, enjoying the ease and dignity which lives of intel-
lectual activity have earned, while fewer still continue to participate in
the struggle which the competition of younger and more vigorous men
make more severe and exacting. Watts S. Humphrey is one of the
oldest in point of length of practice, at the Michigan Bar. Since 1869,
now more than forty-five years, he has been in active practice and for
more than twenty years has been identified with the profession in the
city of Saginaw. The firm of Humphrey, Grant & Hinnijhrey, of which
he is the senior partner, has long held rank as foremost in ability and
in extent and importance of practice at the Saginaw bar.

Watts S. Humphrey was born at Perry, Wyoming county. New York,
January 3, 1844. His parents were Thomas and Sarah (Sherman)
"Humphrey, his father a native of Yorkshire, England, and the mother
of New York. The Sherman family of English and Dutch stock, had
a prominent part in early New York history. Watts Sherman, a brother
of ]\Irs. Humphrey, was the active member of the well known banking
house of Duncan, Sherman & Company, of New York city. Thomas
Humphrey, during the early part of the last century, gained a successful
position as a merchant at New York and in Richmond, Virginia. In
the latter city his prosperity was destroyed by fire, and in 1844, he came
west to Pine lake, near Lansing, Michigan, as the western agent for
Henry Cleveland, who owned extensive tracts of timber land in this
state. Thomas Humphrey brought his family with him and settled on a
piece of timberland, cleared off the trees, and began life at the bot-
tom of the ladder as a farmer. His settlement at Pine Lake near Lans-
ing occurred three years before Lansing was made the capital city of
Michigan. He succeeded in a modest way, gave his children a good
education, took his part in local affairs, was highly respected and died
in 1873 at the age of sixty-nine. His wife lived to the age of seventy-
five, passing away in 1880. Thomas Humphrey served as township
clerk in Michigan for more than twenty-years and was a staunch Re-
publican from the organization of that party.

There were only two sons in the family. George Humphrey was
the oldest and both' were educated in the public schools and at the agri-
cultural college of Michigan. Both brothers went from Michigan to
serve as soldiers in the Union Army. Their enlistment occurred about
the middle of the war. George Humphrey was with the Twentieth
Michigan Infantrv, spent six months as a prisoner in Salisburg prison.

1684 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

fought in tliirty battles, and was paroled from prison at the close of the
war. Watt Humphrey joined the First Michigan Cavalry in Custer's
Brigade, had a horse shot from under him on one of the days of the
Wilderness battle, was wounded at Trevillian Station, and was dis-
charged from Harpers Hospital at Detroit, in April, 1865. Returning
home after his military service, he began the study of law with S. L.
Kilbourne of Lansing, in April, 1867.

In the fall of the same year entering the University of Michigan,
he was graduated Bachelor of Laws, in the Spring of 1869. His choice
for a place to practice fell upon Cheboygan, where for twenty-one years
he had his home and was steadily rising in rank as a lawyer and man of
affairs. The greater part of this time his practice was individual, but
in the latter years he took in as a partner Mr. Edwin Z. Perkins, making
the firm of Humphrey (S: Perkins. Mr. Humphrey's career as an office
holder was confined to two terms as county treasurer of Cheboygan
county. His politics since he cast his first vote has been Republican.
Moving to Saginaw, in December, 1890, Mr. Humphrey on the first of
January following became associated with Robert McKnight and George
Grant, making the firm of McKnight. Humphrey and Grant. Three
years later, the election of Mr. McKnight, as judge of the Tenth Ju-
dicial district caused the senior member to retire, and for a time, the
title of the partnership was Humphrey & Grant, and afterwards Hum-
phrey, Grant and Smith, the,, junior member being Charles S. Smith,
who soon afterwards died and hie place w^s, taken by Orlando H. Baker.
Two years later Baker's death occurred, and the firm of Humphrey &
Grant then continued until January, 1913, when George M. Humphrey,
a son of Watts Humphrey, took the third place in the firm, leaving its
title as first indicated in this ^rticle.

This partnership has a large share of the corporation practice at
Saginaw. The firm act as attorneys for the Alichigan Central and the
Grand Trunk Railway Company, the Consolidated Coal Company, the
Second National Bank, the Michigan Sugar Company, and other large
interests.

Mr. Humphrey recently retired as president of the Michigan State
Bar Association, a position which indicates his high standing in the
legal fraternity all over this state. Mr. Humphrey is vice president and
a director of the .Saginaw & Manistee Lumber Company ; director and
secretary of the Waacaman Lumber Company at Bolton, North Caro-
lina ; and has interests in mining and smelting companies in Arizona.

For more than forty years Mr. Humphrey has been a Mason and
holds a life membership certificate with Cheboygan Lodge No. 283, A.
F. & A. M. ; also has taken the Royal Arch and Commandery degrees,
and belongs to the Shrine. His social membership includes the East
Saginaw and Country Clubs, also the Hunting Club. Hunting and fish-
ing have been his chief pastime, and nearly every year he takes a trip
to the salmon streams in Quebec, and since 1892 has been one of the
Saginaw Hunting party that take a yearly hunt on the prairies of Da-
kota and Saskatchewan. In the spring of 1870 Mr. Humphrey mar-
ried Miss Cordelia Fisher, who was born in Ohio, but was reared in
Lansing, a daughter of Henry Fisher. The three children of this mar-
riage were: Mina, widow of Thaddeus S. Varnum, at one time editor of
the Detroit Evening News; Mrs. Varnum is now a well known writer on
historical subjects, and current events, is also connected with the State
Historical Society, and a regular contributor to the press. Arthur T.
Humiihrey, lives in New York City; Effie G. is the wife of Guy La-
mont, a prominent lumber manufacturer of Bay City, Michigan. After
the death of his first wife, Mr. Humphrey was married at Cheboygan,

\^Hk tew TOM

i

■* •> ;. '" ' ■. '; a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1685

Michigan, January 3, 18S8, to Miss Carrie Magoffin, who was born in
Wisconsin, a daughter of Rev. James Magoffin, a minister of the Epis-
copal church. This marriage has brought four children, namely : George
M. Humphrey, a graduate of the University of JNIichigan, in the law
department, and junior member of the firm of Humphrey, Grant &
Humphrey; Gladys M.; Winifred S. ; and Watts S. Humphrey, Jr.

George Grant. The second member of the Saginaw fimi of attor-
neys, Humphrey, Grant & Humphrey, George Grant has been a practic-
ing lawyer for the past thirty years, and belongs to an old family in
western ^Michigan.

George Grant was born at Ada in Kent county, Michigan, January
9, 1852, a son of James and Isabelle (Spence) Grant. The parents
both natives of Scotland, settled in Ada township of Kent county in
1 85 1, where the father followed farming. James Grant was born in
1813 and died at the age of eighty-nine years in 1902. The mother died
at the age of sixty-eight. There were nine children five deceased, and
those living are: William Grant, a farmer in Ada township of Kent
county ; George Grant ; Albert, a merchant at Alexandria, Indiana, and
Robert S. Grant, a business man in Chicago.

The public schools and the Grand Rapids high school furnished
George Grant his preliminary training, and after graduating from the
Ypsilanti Normal, he taught school six years at Almont, Lapeer county,
Michigan. His law studies were pursued in the offices of Wheeler and
McKnight at Saginaw, and his admission to the bar came in 1883. Since
then he has been practicing at Saginaw, and for more than twenty
years has been associated with Mr. Watts S. Humphrey. Mr. Grant is
a member of the Michigan State Bar Association and is president of the
Saginaw Bar Association. His ]\Iasonic membership included all the
degrees of the York Rite, the Knights Templar, and he belongs to the
Shrine. His church is the Congregational. A Republican in politics,
he has steadfastly refused any nomination, but has worked and inter-
ested himself in many ways for the welfare of his party.

Mr. Grant was married in July, 1878, to Miss Mary S. Fowler, a
native of Ingham county, Michigan. C^f their three children, two died
in childhood, and the only survivor is George Grant, Jr., now associated
with the ^Michigan Glass Company.

Elliott D. Prescott. A native son of Michigan who has here found
ample field for definite and worthy achievement and who is today one of
the representative citizens of Muskegon county, where he is the able
and honored incumbent of the office of judge of probate, Judge Prescott
IS specially eligible for representation in this history of his native state.
He was born in Kent county, Michigan, on the nth of October, 1864,
and is a son of Langford G. and Adelia D. (\'an Norman) Prescott, the
former of staunch English lineage and the latter of Holland Dutch descent
in the agnatic line. Langford G. Prescott was born in Oswego county.
New York, in 1833, and his wife was born in the province of Ontario,
Canada, in 1840. He was reared and educated in the old Empire state
and as a young man he came to ^Michigan, where he became one of the
pioneer agriculturists of Kent county, where he reclaimed and developed
a productive farm and where he was a citizen of prominence and influence
in his community. Langford G. Prescott was a man of high ideals and
exalted integrity of character, and as a devout member of the Methodist
Episcopal church he utihzed his powers for the aiding and uplifting of
his fellow men, as he served with earnestness and perfervid zeal as a
local preacher of the religious denomination of which both he and his

1686 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

wife were most devout adherents, their marriage having been solemnized,
in Kent county, in September, 1863. When the dark cloud of civil
war cast its gruesome pall over the national horizon Air. I'rescott ten-
dered his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted in a Michigan
volunteer regiment but after one year of service he was compelled to
retire from the ranks, his honorable discharge having been accorded
on account of his physical disability. His parents, Price H. and Rebecca
(Thomas) Prescott, likewise were natives of the state of New York,
and they were representatives of sterling pioneer families of that com-
monwealth. They passed the closing years of their lives in Alichigan,
to which state they came when welL advanced in years. Rev. Ephraim
and Phoebe (LaClair) \'an Norman, the maternal grandparents of
Judge Prescott, immigrated to America from France and they first set-
tled in Canada, whence they came to Michigan in the pioneer epoch of
the history of this state. Air. \'an Norman was a clergyman of the
Methodist Episcopal church, was a man of strong individuality, much
intellectual power and utmost devotion in the work of the ministrv. He
was a circuit-rider, or itinerant minister, of the Methodist church in
the early days of Michigan history and continued his consecrated and
zealous labors for many years, besides which he long had charge of a
church of this denomination in the vicinity of Grand Rapids. He finally
removed to Kansas, where he measureably repeated his pioneer experi-
ences and where both he and his wife maintained their home until their
death. The parents of judge Prescott continued residents of Kent
county until the close of their Hves, the father having passed away in
1869 and the mother having been summoned to eternal rest in 1878.

Judge Prescott was about five years of age at the time of his father's
death and his devoted mother passed to the "land of the leal" when he
was fourteen years old. Under these conditions he early became largely
dependent upon his own resources and had no meager fellowship with
adversity. He attended the public school as opportunity presented, but
his broader scholastic discipline was acquired through self-application
and his advancement indicated his alert mentality, his integrity of pur-
pose and his definite ambition. He proved himself eligible for peda-
gogic honors and for twelve years was a successful and popular teacher
in the public schools of his native state. Thereafter he devoted four
years to the newspaper business, as editor and publisher of a weekly
paper at Ravenna. Aluskegon county, and through this journalistic ex-
perience he definitely broadened his mental ken and acquired facility
in the directing of pulilic sentiment and action, his paper having been
influential in the comnuinity in which it was published. Judge Prescott
came to Muskegon county as a boy, shortly after the death of his loved
mother, and here he has maintained his home for virtually forty years,
within which he has achieved much and accounted well for himself and
to the world. No citizen of the county can claim more secure vantage-
ground in popular confidence and esteem, and for many years he has been
influential in coimection with public affairs.

From the time of attaining to his legal majority Judge Prescott has
been found aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican
party and he has been an effective exponent of its principles and policies.
The initial service rendered by him in public office was his administra-
tion in the position of township clerk of Laketon township, Aluskegon
county, and later he served seven years in the office of justice of the
peace in Ravenna township.' In the meanwhile he devoted close atten-
tion to the study of law and acfiuired excellent knowledge of tl»e science
of jurisprudence, though he has never applied for admission to the bar.
In 1902 he was elected to the responsible office of judge of the probate

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1687

court of Muskegon county, and of this position lie has since continued
the efficient and valued incumbent, his administration having been marked
by scrupulous fidelity, circumspection and careful adjudication of all
matters of trust that come within the province of his ottice.

In his home county it may be said with all of consistency that the
circle of Judge Prescott's friends is limited only by that of his acquain-
tances, and as a citizen he is most loyal and public-spirited. 1-ie is
affiliated with the ]\Iasonic lodge and chapter in his home city of Muske-
gon ; is past exalted ruler of the local lodge of the Lienevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks; is past master of Muskegon Lodge, No. 140,
Knights of Pythias ; has passed official chairs in the lodge and encamp-
ment bodies of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; and is affiliated
also with the Independent Order of Foresters.

In the year 1887 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Prescott to
Miss }ilargaret Storrs, who is a daughter of the late Major Charles E.
.Storrs. Major Storrs was a gallant soldier and officer in the Civil war,
in which he served as a member of the Sixth Michigan Cavalry. He
Vi'as mustered out with the rank of major, after three years of valiant
and faithful service. He participated in many important engagements
marking the progress of the great conflict between the north and south
and was somewhat severely wounded in an engagement at Snicker's Gap,
X'irginia. After the close of the war he established his home in CJttawa
county, where he lived until 1876, when he moved to Mason county. He
moved from there in 1882 to North Muskegon, Michigan, and there he
and his wife passed the residue of their lives. Judge and Mrs. Prescott
have six children, whose names and respective ages, in 1913, are here
indicated : John S., twenty-five years ; Charles, twenty-three years :
F^rank H., twenty-one years; Roy A., nineteen years; Harvey E., thir-
teen years ; and Alice M., nine years. The eldest son is now engaged in
the practice of law in the city of Battle Creek, and is one of the repre-
sentative younger members of the bar of Calhoun county.

Frank M. Rathbun. Establishing his residence in Battle Creek, the
metropolis of Calhoun county, about the close of the Civil war, Hon.
Frank M. Rathbun contributed in generous measure to the social and
material development and upbuilding of the city, where he became an
influential factor in both public affairs and business circles, and where
his exalted character and worthy achievement gained him inviolable place
in popular confidence and esteem. For many years prior to his death he
was known and honored as one of the leading citizens of Battle Creek, and
not the least of his services in behalf of the city was that rendered during
his incumbency of the office of mayor. Of the pitiable accident that re-
sulted in his death the following account was given at the time of his
demise, and the statements are worthy of perpetuation in this memoir:

"On December 29, 1893, Mr. Rathbun left his home in good health,
and entered the store of Ranger & Farley. He made his way toward the
office, beside which was the unguarded opening of the freight elevator. In
the darkness he did not realize his danger, and he stepped into the open-
ing, through which he fell into the basement of the building. Besides
sustaining a broken leg he received internal injuries, and, while conscious
but a few hours thereafter, he survived two days. He passed away on
the night of December 31, 1893, just as the old year was passing out."

In all that implies true nobility of character Mr. Rathbun was admir-
ably fortified, and his death was looked upon as a matter of personal loss
and bereavement by the citizens of Battle Creek, where he had long lived
and labored to goodly ends. Mr. Rathbun was born in Laurens township,
Otsego county, New York, on the 20th of November, 1844, and was a
representative of a family that was early founded in that state, the origi-

1688 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

nal American progenitors having settled in New England in the colonial
days. The parents of Mr. Rathimn passed the closing years of their lives
on their old homestead farm in Otsego connty, and there the subject of
this memoir grew to maturity under the invigorating discipline ever in-
volved in the basic industry of agriculture, the while he duly availed him-
self of the advantages of the common schools of the locality. When about
twenty-one years of age Mr. Rathbun went to Poughkeepsie, New York,
where he completed a full course in the celebrated Eastman Business
College, in which he was graduated. After his return to the parental
home he soon found that his ambition lay in a line aside from the vocation
to which he had been reared, and under these conditions he responded to
an invitation extended by his cousin, Henry Potter, who had established
a home in Battle Creek, Michigan, and who assured him that here were
offered excellent opportunities for the winning of independence and pros-
perity through individual effort. With very limited financial resources,
Mr. Rathbun came to I-Sattle Creek about the close of the Civil war, and
here he found employment in the lumber yard of the firm of Potter &
Oilman. Within six months he had advanced to a position of distinctive
trust and responsibility and in the meanwhile he had formed the acquaint-
ance of William H. Mason, another employe of the firm. In 1867 the two
aspiring young men formed a partnership and became the purchasers of
the business with which they were associated, the lumber vard having
been situated on the site of the First Presbyterian church of the present
day. Concerning the advancement made by Mr. Rathbun the present
writer had previously prepared the following account, which is repro-
duced, therefore, without formal marks of quotation :

When he thus initiated his independent business career Mr. Rathbun's
available capital was about $500, and he effected the loan of a sufficient
amount to cover the remainder of his share of the purchase price of the
business, in which connection he assumed the obligation of paying in-
terest at the rate of ten per cent. The firm of Mason & Rathbun con-
tinued operations under this title until James Green was admitted to
partnership, whereupon the title was changed to Mason, Rathbun & Com-
pany. The enterprise was continued in the original location until 1886,
when removal was made to a larger and more eligible site, on South
Jefferson street. Mr. Rathbun continued his active identification with
the business until the time of his death. Diligence, progressive policies
and keen business acumen were salient features in his career as a man of
affairs, and he was known as one of the most substantial business men of
Battle Creek for many years prior to his death.

;\t the time that overtures were made for establishing in Battle Creek
the manufacturing plant of the Advance Threshing Machine Company,
Mr. Rathbun was one of the foremost in advocating the enterprise and
giving it requisite support, though many other leading citizens considered
the venture hazardous or of questionable value to the city. He became
one of the stockholders of the new concern, in which he invested $10,000,
and he was a member of the original board of directors, a position which
he retained until his death, the while he had the satisfaction of seeing the
enterprise develop into one of the largest of its kind in the United States,
besides proving one of the most valuable agencies in furthering the in-
dustrial and commercial progress of Battle Creek. The scope of the
enterprise may be appreciated when it is stated that the plant and business
were sold, in December, 191 1, to the Rumley Company, of New York city,
for a consideration of more than $3,000,000.

Mr. Rathl)un also gave his influence and co-operation in the sup-
port of other enterprises and measures projected for the general good
of the community. He was a member of the directorate of the Citizens'

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN l(i89

Electric Light Company and was a stockholder in various other local
corporations.

An elTective and unfaltering advocate of the principles of the Demo-
cratic party, Mr. Rathbun became one of its leaders in Calhoun county
and he was called upon to serve in various offices of public trust. He
was for several years a member of the city board of aldermen and also
gave most efficient service during his incumbency of the position of super-
visor of Battle Creek township. He was finally given further and dis-
tinctive assurance of popular confidence and esteem in that he was elected
mayor of Battle Creek. He served one term and gave a most progressive
and acceptable administration. Within his term as chief executive of the
municipal government were compassed many public improvements of en-
during value. He was a member of the board of aldermen at the time of
his death, as representative of the Second ward.

The religious faith of Mr. Rathbun was that of the Congregational
church, of which both he and his wife were zealous and devoted adher-
ents. He contributed liberally to the support of the various departments
of religious work and was a trustee of the Congregational church of his
home city at the time of his death. He was one of the organizers and
charter members of the Athelstan Club, and was affiliated with the local
organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United
Workmen. Concerning Mr. Rathbun the following appreciative state-
ments were made in a local paper at the time of his demise: "Mr. Rath-
bun was a very popular man in Battle Creek, his social nature and affable
disposition winning him many friends. His honor in business, his fidelity
in public office and his devotion to his friends were qualities which greatly
endeared him to his fellow men and made his example one well worthy
of emulation. His death was the cause of the deepest mourning through-
out the city."

In conclusion are given brief data concerning the idyllic domestic
chapter in the life history of Mr. Rathbun. On the loth of November,
1870, he wedded Miss Mary Hughes, who was born in Brady township,
Kalamazoo county, Michigan, on the 12th of September, 1831, and who
was a daughter of William and Emma (Prindle) Hughes. Her parents
were born and reared at Elmira, New York, where their marriage was
solemnized, and they were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Michi-
gan, where they established their home about the time the state was ad-
mitted to the Union, in the year 1837. They settled in the little village of
Battle Creek, and later removed to Kalamazoo county, where the devoted
wife and mother died at the age of forty-two years. Mr. Hughes passed
the closing period of his life in Battle Creek, where he died in 1882, at the
age of seventy-six years, honored as one of the worthy pioneer citizens of
southern Michigan. Mrs. Rathbun survived her honored husband and
was summoned to the life eternal on the nth of June, 191 1, the following
record being worthy of reproduction in this connection : "Mrs. Rathbun
was but eight years of age at the time of her mother's death and was
reared under the care of a sister, Mrs. Selina Wandell, who survives her.
The Wandell family came to Battle Creek nearly a half century ago.
With them came the young woman, Miss Mary Hughes, and here began
the acquaintanceship which culminated in her marriage to Mr. Rathbun.
During her young womanhood the decedent was very popular, because of
her sunny and gentle disposition and her cheerful and kindly manner.
These qualities matured and strengthened with the passing years, en-
abling the possessor to draw around her a choice circle of friends, who
remained such tlirough life and who will ever cherish in loving memory
this noble woman. * * * Though not devoted to social matters, Mrs.
Rathbun held an enviable place in these realms, yet she found time to

1690 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

attend to religious duties and those acts of charity which made her so
beloved, no one seeking sympathy or aid having been denied the same
by her.''

Mr. and Mrs. Rathbun became the parents of four children : Luella
R. is the wife of George H. Williams, of Battle Creek; Stephen J. is
specifically mentioned on other pages of this volume; Frank J. is asso-
ciated with the White Automobile Company, of Cleveland, Ohio ; and
Earl H. is in the employ of the Vogue Publishing Company, in New
York city. All of the children were born in Battle Creek and all were
afforded the advantages of the University of Michigan.

Stephen J. R.vtiibun. A native son of Battle Creek, which has ever
represented his home, Mr. Rathbun holds secure vantage-ground as one
of the substantial business men and liberal and progressive citizens of
the metropolis of Calhoun county, and here he is fully upholding the high
prestige of the family name, which has been closely identified with the
civic and business activities of Battle Creek for nearly half a century.
He is a son of the late Frank M. Rathbun, to whom a memoir is dedi-
cated elsewhere in this publication, so that further review of the family
record is not demanded in this connection. Mr. Rathbun is treasurer
of the Rathbun & Kraft Lumber & Coal Company, which is one of the
most important corporations of its kind in Calhoun county and which
proves a valued adjunct to the business activities of Battle Creek.

Stephen J. Rathbun was born in Battle Creek on the 21st of Septem-
ber, 1876, and his early educational advantages were those aflorded by
the public schools of his native city. Here also he completed a course in
the Krug Business College, which was then one of the leading schools of
the sort in southern Michigan. After his graduation Mr. Rathbun became
bookkeeper in the offices of the Advance Threshing Machine Company,
of which his father was a stockholder, and he continued with this cor-
poration three years. Soon afterward he enlisted with the local regiment
of the Michigan National Guard for service in the Spanish-American war,
and mention of this episode in his career will be made in fuller detail in
a later paragraph of this review. Mr. Rathbun received his honorable
discharge as a volunteer soldier of the United States in September, 1898,
and upon his return to Battle Creek he assumed the position of book-
keeper for the pioneer lumber firm of Mason, Rathbun & Company, of
which his father had been one of the organizers and was a member at the
time of his death, in 1893. 1" January, 1899, Mr. Rathbun associated
himself with Arthur J. Kraft in the purchase of the old and substantial
business enterprise with which he had thus become connected, and the
business was forthwith reorganized and was incorporated under the title
of the Rathbun & Kraft Lumber & Coal Company, the present official
corps of which is here designated; Frederick Wells, president; Edward
Henning, vice-president; Stephen J. Rathbun, treasurer; and Arthur J.
Kraft, secretary. The comijany has a well equipped planing mill, with
the best of modern facilities in the handling of general work and the
manufacturing of interior finish, sash, doors, blinds, etc. The company
has control also of an extensive business in the dealing in lumber, lath,
shingles and other building supplies, and handles hard and soft coal, gas
coke, cement, brick and [jlaster. The office and yards are established on
South McCamly street and it has justly been stated that the concern
"controls a business that is not exceeded in scope and imjiortance by any
of similar character in southern Michigan, the while its high reputation
for effective service and honorable dealings constitutes its best commer-
cial asset." Mr. Kraft is a business man of much initiative and executive
al)ility, has been deservedly successful and has at all times held inviolable

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1691

place ill the confidence and esteem of the community in which he has hved
from the time of his birth and in which he has gained a position as a
representative citizen of liberahty and progressiveness.

Mr. Rathbun is a zealous supporter of the Democratic party and has
given efl:ective service in behalf of its cause, as a worker in its local ranks.
He has been a frequent delegate to its county conventions in his home
county and also to the conventions of this congressional district. In
1899 he was appointed alderman from the Second ward of Battle Creek,
as successor to his business associate, Mr. Kraft, who removed to another
part of the city. He served during the unexpired term and did not appear
as a candidate for re-election. He was chairman of the city board of
health during the memorable smallpox epidemic in Battle Creek, in 1899,
and did much to aid in preventive and controlling measures. In the
autumn of 1902 Mr. Rathbun received the Democratic nomination for
representative of Calhoun county in the state legislature, and his spirited
canvass, combined with his personal popularity to give him a gratifying
support at the ensuing election, in which he ran far ahead of his ticket,
though unable to overcome the large Republican majority normally given
in the county.

In 1896 was ellected the organization of Company D of the Second
Regiment of the Michigan National Guard, and of this Battle Creek com-
pany Mr. Rathbun became a member at the time of organization. In
1898 he enlisted with his company and regiment for service in the Spanish-
American war, and the command was mustered into the United States
service as the Thirty-second Michigan Volunteer Infantry. The com-
mand was mobilized at Island Lake, Livingston county, and thence pro-
ceeded to Tampa, Florida, at which reserve camp Mr. Rathbun was pro-
moted corporal of his company. The regiment was assigned to the com-
mand of General Shafter, but did not go to Cuba, as its transport vessel
became disabled just at the time when it was needed. This contretemp
led to the transfer of the regiment to Fernandina, Florida, whence it
later went to Huntsville, Alabama, and from this latter place it finally re-
turned to Island Lake, Michigan, the members of the regiment having
uniformly expressed regret that they were deprived of the privilege of
participating in the military operations on the stage of action in Cuba.
Mr. Rathbun received his honorable discharge in September, 1898, and
thereafter continued for several years his active association with the
.Michigan National Guard.

Mr. Rathbun was reared in the faith of the Congregational church,
but he now attends and supports St. Thomas' church, Protestant Episco-
pal, of which his wife is a comrnunicant. He is an appreciative and
popular member of the Athelstai-w Club, a representative civic organization
of Battle Creek, where he likewise is aftiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Knights
of Pythias, including the Dramatic Order of the Knights of Khorassan,
an adjunct of the last mentioned organization. Aside from his associa-
tion with the Rathbun & Kraft Lumber & Coal Company, he is vice-
president of the American Motor Company, one of the important in-
dustrial corporations of Battle Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Rathbun have a most
attractive home at 59 Orchard street, and the same is known for its gener-
ous hospitality.

The 1 2th of September, 1899, gave record of the marriage of Mr.
Rathbun to Miss Julia Henning Frazer. who was born in the city of Chi-
cago but reared in Battle Creek. She is a daughter of Sidney and Mary
(Henning) Frazer and a granddaughter of the late David Henning, who
was an honored and influential citizen of Calhoun county and who was
president of the Battle Creek Gas Company at the time of his death.

1692 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Mr. and Mrs. Rathbun have two children, David Henning and Mary
Louise.

Will Zetus Seakle. The career of Will Z. Searle of Petoskey has
a number of interesting distinctions. He is the pioneer jeweler of that
city, and he is one of the local business men who have possessed the faculty
of increasing their own capacity to serve the public in proportion to
the growth and development of the city, and it can now be truthfully said
that Mr. Searle is proprietor of the largest and best jewelry establishment
in northern Alichigan, with a store that would be a credit to a city of any
size in the United States. During his early career as a jewelry mer-
chant, Mr. Searle had a varied and eventful experience. He was in the
habit of visiting many lumber camps and sawmill towns, carrying his stock
in trade with him, and his genial and optimistic nature, his skill as a per-
former on the clarionette, and his straightforward and reliable methods
of doing business made him a welcome guest wherever he traveled. He
was never molested or robbed in spite of the fact that he carried goods
to the value of several thousand dollars. He could count his friends by
the hundred among the rough lumbermen of the north, and so loyal were
they to him that it would have been dangerous business for anyone to
have interfered or molested "little Will Searle," as he was familiarly
known in that region. Besides his success as a business man -Mr. Searle
is one of the best known Masons in the entire state of Michigan, and is
regarded as one of the most active and energetic factors in the history
of Petoskey.

Will Zetus Searle was born in Ingham county, Michigan, June 20,
1859, one of the two children of Jesse O. and Frances (DuBois) Searle.
Both parents were natives of Delaware county. New York, the father
born on June 17, 181 1, and the mother in 1832. The father died in 1884
and his wife in 1876. His father was a physician and surgeon and for
forty years was engaged in active practice at Leslie, Ingham county, hav-
ing been educated for medicine in New York city. He was a prominent
Mason and a member of the IMethodist Episcopal church, and in politics
a Republican.

Will Z. Searle attended the public schools of Leslie, and at the age of
fifteen left high school to begin an apprenticeship at the jeweler's trade.
After his earlier experiences in different parts of Michigan, he first came
to Petoskey in 1882, spent two years with J. S. Coffman, and for a year
was located at Mason, after which he returned to Petoskey, which has
since been his permanent home and business headquarters. In recent
years Petoskey has outgrown its earlier distinction as a lumber town
and has become prominent as a resort cfnter of northern Michigan, with
visitors to the number of about thirty thousand every summer who come
from all over the United States. Mr. Searle has developed his business
both to serve the permanent population and also the large annual influx
of resorters, and through his acquaintance with prominent people all
over the country and his thorough business management has a store with
few equals in the state. His establishment is one that requires the skilled
services of seven employes, and he also conducts an ophthalmic depart-
ment for the testing of eyes and fitting of glasses. Mr. Searle graduated
in 1895 at the Chicago Ophthalmic College, and recently his son has com-
pleted similar training and is the active head of this department.

Mr. Searle has held more offices (fifty-eight) and probably has done
more in behalf of the .Masonic fraternity than any other one man in
Michigan. His local membership is in Durand Lodge, No. 344, A. F. &
A. M. ; Emmet Chapter, No. 104, R. A. M. ; Petoskey Council. No. 52,
R. & S. M. ; Ivanhoe Commandery, No. 36, K. T. ; Saladin Temple of the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1693

Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids; and with his wife is aiifiliated with Beulah
Chapter, No. 63, O. E. S., and with Queen Esther Shrine, No. 15, of the
White Shrine of Jerusalem. He has been identitied with the Masonic
Order for upwards of thirty years, and among the important offices held
by him with length of service are the following: High Priest, four years,
1890-94; Worshipful Master, two terms, 1889-90; Thrice Illustrious
Master, 1895 to 1905; Eminent Commander, 1898-99; and Prelate since
1908. Mr. Searle has been a trustee and steward of the Methodist Epis-
copal church for a quarter of a century, and in politics is a Republican.

Mr. Searle was married at Mason in Ingham county, April 14, 1886,
to Miss Carrie Hawley, who was born at 'Mason February 23, 1863, one
of the two children of Silas R. and Lodeska (Case) Hawley, her father
a native of New York and her mother of Ingham county, Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Searle are the parents of two children, Jessie ll., born June
12, 1888; and Granville O., born January 3, 1890.

Granville O. Searle spent two years in the Petoskey high school and
one year in the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology, graduating
in the class of 1913. He passed the examination of the State Board, and
has since been identified with his father, having active charge of the
Ophthalmic Department. He was married in June, 1913, to Sliss Etta
Dent of Petoskey, daughter of Eugene and Mary (Mathews) Dent,
natives of New York State. The son has taken the Chapter Degrees in
Masonry, belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he
and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.

Charlie Gay. The veteran editor and founder of the Big Rapids
Pioneer, Charlie Gay, is not only one of the oldest active journalists in
Michigan, but one of the prominent citizens of the state, and probably
has been as influential in moulding public opinion and upholding the best
standards of civic morality and promoting business prosperity in Mecosta
county as any other one man.

Charlie Gay was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, No-
vember 12, 1837. The common and graded schools afforded him a sub-
stantial elementary education, but he left at the age of fifteen and began
a more practical career in a printing office at Warren, ( Jhio, where he
soon became proficient, not only as an old-style compositor, but in the
different details of newspaper management and editorial and news writing.
In 1856, when less than twenty years of age, Charlie Gay came to Ne-
waygo, Michigan, and spent six years in the office of the Newaygo
Republican. Settlement and develo{>ment were proceeding rapidly in
western Michigan at that time, and in 1862, in view of the prospects of
Big Rapids, Mr. Gay took a survey of that field with the idea of estab-
lishing a county journal. On the 17th of April, 1862, was issued the
initial number of the Mecosta county Pioneer. His newspaper was begun
at a momentous time, when the country was in the throes of the Civil war,
and when every business enterprise was more or less uncertain.

Mr. Gay started his paper, not as a rank partisan journal, liut under
the sterling motto "The Union, the constitution, and the enforcement of
the laws," principles which he faithfully exemplified as long as those
ideals were the most vital in the existence of community or nation. He
also made himself and his paper a vigorous influence for the promotion
of local prosperity, and as advancement along every line, and an examina-
tion of early files of the Pioneer shows that the community had an ex-
ceptional record for moral cleanliness, and in this the journal was one of
the most valuable factors.

The Pioneer was the first paper published in Mecosta county, and
until August I, 1867, was issued in a folio of twelve columns. It was

1694 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

then enlarged by two additional columns, and in 1870 increased in the
same proportion, becoming a paper of nine columns. In July, 1874, its
press style was converted to a seven column quarto, and at this time the
title was changed to the Big Rapids Pioneer. On August i, 1881, the
paper was first issued as a daily, and the daily and weekly editions liave
since continued. The Pioneer has, for more than fifty years, been con-
ducted in accordance with the principles on which it was established, and
has won a position second to none in the state, measured by its size and
the country which it normally serves and influences. In the editorial
policies of the paper there is nothing vacillating, nor undetermined, and
the readers are never left to guess at the position held by the paper in its
editorial expression.

Mr. Gay has a long record of public service. In the spring of 1869 he
was elected the first recorder of the city of Big Rapids, and in 1870 was
elected to the olifice of county clerk, a post he held eight consecutive years.
He was town clerk from 1864 to i86g, excepting one year, and was justice
of the peace from the organization of the township until 1869. Politically
he cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in i860 and has been a radical
and positive Republican, both as a private citizen and as a newspaper man,
ever since. His wife has lived in Big Rapids as long as he has, since the
spring of 1862. In the earlier years she was prominent in social affairs,
and is an active worker in the Order of the Eastern Star, both she and
her husband having Masonic affiliations. Mr. Gay and wife have one
daughter, Mrs. W. E. Hoit, of Big Rapids, and one son, Fred, of Berkeley,
California. There are also four grandchildren.

RuFus F. Skeels, Oceana county's representative in the legislature,
a former prosecuting attorney and for the past two decades one of the
most prominent men in the community's political, professional and social
life, was called to the home beyond on the 13th of February, 1914. He
was recently declared the most available candidate for Congress from
his district and was one of the ablest attorneys in western Michigan. He
practiced law at Hart and Muskegon for a number of years, and was
accorded a large and profitable practice.

Rufus F. Skeels was born on a farm in Oceana county, September 15,
1S73, a son of Rufus W. and Louisa (Ball) Skeels. The Skeels fam-
ily has long been identified with America, and its early members were
substantial and worthy citizens, as the following brief lineage will indi-
cate. Jonathan Skeels. born in the province of New York in March,
1721, was married August 11, 1743, to Abigail Slosson, of Cortland
county. New York. Jonathan Skeels, a son of the above Jonathan, was
born November 17, 1764, was one of the American patriots who early
took part in the Revolutionary war, and was in camp with Washington
at Newburgh on the Hudson. He married Joan Wood, and died in
Cortland county. New York. Rufus Skeels, a son of Jonathan last
mentioned, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county. New York, and
married Ruth Beach. This Rufus was the great-grandfather of the
Rufus F. Skeels of this sketch.

Rufus W. Skeels, the father, was born near Cleveland, Ohio, August
9, 1835, and died July i, 1907. Educated in Ohio, he left home at the
age of fourteen and had a venturesome and exciting experience on the
western plains, joining the company of scouts under BuiTalo Bill and par-
ticipating in many frontier fights. In 1854 he established his home in
Oceana county, Michigan, and from his settlement cut the first road into
Muskegon from the north. For seven years he lived alone in his log
cabin until he had cleared a farm and made ready for a home of
his own. The home which he reclaimed from the wilderness remained

THI NIW TOI^K

riLBlK "ftllK'n .'»fi^f«S

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1695

his place of residence till two or three years before he died. Of his
children only one is now living: Charles F., who is with the Mich-
igan State Tax Commission. The senior Mr. Skeels was a Republican
ill politics, and was several times honored with local offices, having been
at one time a prominent candidate for the office of sheriff of Muske-
gon county. As a business man he was very successful. When he came
to Michigan he bought land from the government at a dollar and a
quarter per acre, and he left a large estate, chietly in lands. His death
occurred at Holton, where he was well known.

Rufus F. Skeels grew up and received a common school education
in Oceana and Muskegon counties, attending the Muskegon city schools
and the Ferris Business College of that city. In 189 1 he graduated from
the Flint Normal College and Business Institute. Taking up the study
of law, he was admitted to practice in Newaygo county in 1893, but be-
fore entering the practical work of his profession attended the Uni-
versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and was graduated from the law
department in 1894. Mr. Skeels was in practice with F. W. Cook of
Muskegon for one year, but his health failing he spent a year on a farm,
which gave him his wonted healtji and vigor. Resuming his practice in
1896, at Hart, he rapidly advknced to a position of leadership and in the
few years intervening he buih, up a pra'ctice excelled by but few attorneys
in Western Michigan. On the day he was twenty-three years of age he
was nominated for the office of prosecuting attorney and was elected and
served for two terms. After continuing in private practice for six years
Judge C. W. Sessions appointed him to fill a vacancy in the office of
prosecuting attorney, and at the close of his appointed term was elected
for two more terms. From that time he devoted himself assiduously to
his law practice at Hart.

On the 26th of June, 1895, Mr. Skeels married Miss Bertha Millin,
a daughter of Robert J. Millin, an Oceana county farmer. They became
the parents of three children : Ethel, Corinne and Helen, all of whom
are in school. The family are members of the Congregational church.
Mr. Skeels was a past master of Wilton Lodge No. 251, F. & A. 1\1., at
Hart, a charter member of Oceana Chapter, No. 148, R. A. M., and a
member of Hart Chapter, No. 60, of the Eastern Star. As a Mason Mr.
Skeels served two years as S. D., two years as J. W., two years as S. W.,
and was W. M. in 1912. Owing to his election to the legislature, Mr.
Skeels thought it his duty to decline to serve another term which no doubt
would have been accorded him without a dissenting vote. In all that per-
tains to impressive, beautiful and correct ritual work Mr. Skeels certainly
had few equals. His resourcefulness for every emergency was instantly
equal to the occasion. His rendering of the ritual, whether in the lodge
room or on public occasions was fervid and eloquent. It had the spirit of
his order, the soul of its interpreter and the eloquence of his personality.

Mr. Skeels' funeral was conducted under Masonic auspices from the
First Congregational church. Hart, Michigan, Rev. G. H. Hancock, a
Mason of high standing, officiating, paid a glowing tribute to the de-
ceased which moved all hearers to depths seldom reached even on similar
occasions. About one hundred fifty members of the order were in line
and manv distinguished visitors from around the state were present to
do him honor.

He was a past consul of Oceana Camp No. 45^9- M. W. A.; be-
longed to Golden Rod Camp No. 1743, R. N. A.: and to Mark Satterlee
Camp No. 28, S. O. V.

For a number of years Mr. Skeels was a leader in Republican poli-
tics in his section of the state. He served on the Hart school board, and

1696 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

was always ready to sacrifice his private interests in belialf of the public
welfare of his commimity. While in the state legislature he served on
the judiciary conmiittee, and was second ranking member on the com-
mittee on revision and amendments of the constitution, and was a mem-
ber of the committee on the Houghton College of Mines and chairman
of the horticultural committee. Mr. Skeels had been in the house
but a few days when he made one of the most telling speeches deliv-
ered throughout that entire session, thus attracting attention from the
press throughout the state. He was the author of a bill which became a
law creating an experimental farm department, applying to all the coun-
ties of the state, and which will be of great value to the farmers and fruit
growers of Michigan. He also led the fight in behalf of the people in
regard to the publication of the laws of the state by Michigan publishers.
As a private citizen, lawyer or legislator, Mr. Skeels was a vigorous ad-
vocate of the people's rights and interests. He seemed to have the proper
composition of sturdy conservatism with that sane progressiveism which
marks the most influential and valuable leadership.

Mr. Skeels' individual career was begun with less than half a hundred
dollars, but contrary to usual experiences the sequel proved that he hardly
needed more. His cjuick and brilliant success soon gave him a com-
petency. His frugality, his conserving of means meant first and most
of all to him a home. Later financial success meant little to him except
as a safeguard and a means whereby the l)est home and social life might
be enjoyed.

As a nature lover, one who in his inmost nature responded to all the
charms of out-door life, Mr. Skeels was preeminent. He was not only
an ardent lover of the gun and rod, but possessed rare skill in their use.
His annual hunting trips to the Upper Peninsula and his fishing bouts
were a part of the conditions of his natural existence. Disease and suf-
fering had made demands upon his strength in the fall of 1913, but upon
being asked if he was going to the Upper Peninsula, he replied, "Cer-
tainly I am, if I am able to be carried, I am going." He went, got his full
quota of deer and came back, as he said, "feeling better."

In the passing away of Mr. Skeels a local publication paid the fol-
lowing tribute to his life and deeds : "More than a year ago physicians
had informed him that he was afflicted with Prights disease, and his
span of life was set for but a few months. He heeded their warning to
the extent of placing his jjroperty affairs in the condition which his busi-
ness sagacity suggested, but refused to accept their ])rophecy as to his
lease of life, and, with a determination almost indomitable, with a cour-
age so unfaltering as to excite the wonder of all and a cheerfulness that
failing strength and racking pain did not disturb, he battled to the limit
of his physicali resources and then, with calm resignation and joyful ex-
pectancy he awaited the sleep in which he passed from mortality to im-
mortality.

"Confronted by the insidious advances of his disease Mr. -Skeels went
about his work in the legislature with a fidelity and ability that brought
him quickly into prominence as a man of exce])tional ability, and made
him one of the distinguished members of the legislative Ijody. He was
a prospective candidate for Congress, and his failing health and untimely
death cut short a career which promised to be highly honorable and
imusually conspicuous.

"The last months of Mr. Skeels' life instanced a remarkable de-
velopment of his spiritual nature, and his last day embraced scenes and
incidents that will be life-long memories to his family and friends, and
left an ineffaceable impression on the whole community. On Thursday

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1697

the knowledge possessed him that the end was near, and, although his
physicians declared that there was nothing in his condition to suggest
an earW termination, he asserted his conviction that the end had come
and asked that his friends be admitted for a farewell word and hand
clasp. His last day was perhaps the fullest and most momentous of
his busy life. Although blind from the advance of his disease, his
mental faculties were undimmed and his mind, noted for its ready grasp
of all subjects which he confronted, seemed illumined by a higher knowl-
edge and he entered into the valley of the shadow of death with such
supreme and abiding confidence that he protested at the grief of his
friends.

"Yet his friends do grieve. The impressive faith which possessed
him seemed like foreknowledge of a greater and more comprehensive
life beyond. It consoles the grief and gratifies the affection of fam-
ily and friends, but in our limited vision it does not altogether recon-
cile us to our own loss. The strength of a community or nation is in its
citizenship, and to take from the family the loving heart and strong arm
of the husband and father is a bereavement that no human philosophy
can compensate, and to take from the community the intellect, the energy,
the commanding force of a man like Rufus F. Skeels impoverishes it
beyond any estimate in commercial terms. By his own force of char-
acter he had established a place in the community so commanding and
well defined that it now stands conspicuously and sorrowfully vacant."

An equal sharer of his life and its varied interests was his wife, and
it is fitting that the following reference to her companionship and self-
sacrificing love and attention should be appended to the above :

"It requires great responsibilities or great trials, or both, to bring out
great lives. How much Mrs. Skeels contributed to their success in life
and especially to Mr. Skeels' comfort and cheer in his last trying months
can never be known. Hers was indeed a burden which only a heart
strong and brave could bear at it was borne by her. While it was crush-
ing out the fondest hopes within, it was never betrayed when hope and
cheer from her seemed best. With the inevitable before her as it was,
yet there was nothing that care could represent, that forethought could
suggest, that skill could apply or that love could prompt, that was left
undone. She was his dependence and support and his ministering angel
of mercy in the unequal conflict. No man in such a trial could have been
more blest than he.

"As a true, noble, resourceful, resolute and practical woman, with all
the higher qualities added which language can never translate, the mission
which so sadly came to her was so well done that it will forever remain
her glory and her crown."

The following tribute to the memory of ]\Ir. Skeels was published
simultaneously in four Oceana county papers:

The staunchest, noblest leaf crowned oak
Among the mightiest of its type is felled
Before the fierce cyclonic blast,
\\'hile just beside the trail of desolation wrought
Still stands the gray old trunk all verdureless
With mossy arms uplifted toward the sky.
Decaying still while seasons come and go.
Till from the very rock-bound earth its roots
In some calm autumn morn release their hold
And nature, in the fullness of the years.
Gathers unto itself her own.

1698 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

So the forces of sweet nature in her sterner forms

And fell disease and human agencies

Take undue toll on human life. The dimpled babe,

And he who stumbles on with feeble step,

Alike pay tribute to that Force — our cause,

And in whose bosom we shall rest at last.

O aching heart, O finite mind,

O sufiferer stranded on life's rough uncertain way,

Ask not of God, nor grope in never lifting darkness on

To know why this is so. This world

Will cease to be a world when these things are no more.

While there is birth, and life and hope

And human love, will silence come

To some who wait, to some unwarned.

To some who in the strenuous years of manhood's prime

Have risen to high place by worth and deeds.

Whose path to usefulness, and thus to fame.

Seems but an easy conquest in the fitness of the man

For highest place, — the servant of his fellowmen.

O may it not be richer in the sum of human life

That fondest ties are sundered than that they had never been ?

O, will there not be sweeter blending of the souls of earth

Into the great unknown because love cannot die?

And O what riches is the heritage of those

Who, living on till God's good time shall come,

Shall be, at last with them.

His fruitage in the garnered w^ealth of heaven.

O brother, idolized by those who knew thine elo(|uence and power-^-
Thy breadth of mind and vision clear on questions of the hour,
We saw in thee great things in store as leader in our State,
To help us on the upward way to deeds sublime and great.

O brother, naught else in the world thy highest aim sufficed
Except that first thy home should be an earthly paradise.
As husband, father, faithful friend in all that made life dear,
Thy soul to its profoundest depths was pure and true, sincere.

O brother, idol of us all, who knew thee most and liest.

Thy fight for life was victory till came the glorious rest.

And victory then most sweet of all because to thee 'twas given

To teach us how the soul can greet the dawning light of heaven.

Llfwellvn G. Wi'Dgfavood, M. D. For the past fifteen years suc-
cessfully engaged in the practice of medicine at Grandville, Dr. Wedge-
wood has represented the highest ability and best personal qualities of
his profession. He is the type of physician whose work has been quietly
performed, whether in the routine of daily calls or in consultation prac-
tice, and has been notable for his conscientious, efficient work at all times
and equal to all demands.

Llewellyn G. Wedgewood was bom at Byron Center in Kent county,
Michigan, June 27, iSj,^, a son of Gustavus and Elizabeth (Rice)
Wedgewood. His father, who is a retired farmer and merchant, was
born in Bangor, ]\Taine, and his wife was born December 9, 1851, and
graduated from the Grand Rapids high school in Michigan. The grand-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1699

parents were Amaziah and Elizabeth Wedgewood, the former born in
1S02 and dying in 1898, and the grandmother passing away in 1880.
The grandfather was a pioneer of western Michigan, and of the success-
ful farmers in Kent county. Dr. W'edgewood's father is a Republican,
is past noble grand of the Odd Fellows Order, and well known in the
community about Grandville. The doctor is one of four children, the
other three being Eugene, Randall M. and Lora L. McLenethan.

Dr. Wedgewood was educated in the Grandville high school, graduat-
ing in 1895, and soon afterwards entered the Detroit College of Medi-
cine, which gave him the degree of M. D. in 1899. Since that time he
has been identified with his old home community of Grandville, and has
a large practice. For ten years he served as health officer, and is well
known in fraternal organizations, having taken thirty-two degrees in
the Scottish Rite in Masonry, belonging to the Mystic Shrine, the
Knights of the Maccabees, the Woodmen of the ^\■orld and the Gleaners.
In politics he is a Republican.

Dr. Wedgewood was married February 4, 1900, to Edith Ferrand.
She was born November 15, i87,S. and died December 6, 1912. Their
two children are: Gladys, born December 17, 1900; and Alildred, born
August 13, 1902. Dr. Wedgewood was married May 9, 1914, to Mary
Preston, of Grandville, Michigan.

WiLr.i.\M L.wyRENCE Clements. For a period of more than twenty-
five years Mr. Clements has been engaged in manufacturing at Bay City,
and during the greater part of this time has been president of the "In-
dustrial Works," an enterprise that is regarded as one of the largest in
the Bay City manufacturing district, and is one of the most inijiortant
of its kind in the country. The principal products of the plant arc
wrecking, locomotive and station cranes, pile drivers, transfer tables
and rail saws. The company maintains branch sales agencies in a num-
ber of American cities and one in Montreal, Canada.

William Lawrence Clements was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
April I, 1861, a son of James and Agnes (Macready) Clements. Edu-
cated in the public schools of his native city, Mr. Clements was grad-
uated in 1882 from the scientific department of the I'niversity of Mich-
igan, and since 1887 has been engaged in manufacturing at Bay City.
The Industrial Works are to a large degree an enterjjrise of his own
making and development, and since 1898 he has been its president. Mr.
Clements is also a director of the First National Bank of Bay City
and of the Bay County Bank. Since 1909 he has held a position on the
Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, and in politics is a
Republican.

On February 7, 1887, occurred his marriage to Jessie N. Young
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Hon. George Huggett. For more than forty years George Huggett
has been an active member of the Eaton county bar, and now enjoys the
distinction of deanship in that section of the Michigan bar. By his
learning, industry, ability and character, Mr. Pluggett held a high rank
among the ablest lawyers of his time, and is no less valued in the com-
munity as a liberal minded and enterprising citizen.

Of English descent on both sides of his house, George Huggett was
born at Pittsford, New York, June 27, 1842. a son of Thomas and Alary
("Wickham) Huggett. both of whom were natives of England. In 1834
the parents moved from New York to Michigan and settled in Calhoun
county, where the father continued his career as a farmer, and it was
in the wholesome environment of rural life that George Huggett grew up

1700 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

and received the early training and impressions which have modeled his
character. He was twelve years of age when the family came to Mich-
igan, and his early education was acquired by attendance at district
school during the winter time, and at work on the farm in the summer.

When he was eighteen he was cjualified to teach, and was a capable
instructor of a roomful of children for number of terms, both before
and after the war. During the last year of the Civil war Mr. Huggett
enlisted in the First Michigan Cavalry, and went with that command to
the western frontier and saw some service against the Indians.

His earlier years had been taken up with winning a livelihood, get-
ting a foothold in the world, and he was twenty-five years of age be-
fore he was able to crystallize his ambition for a professional career
by beginning actual study.

In the fall of i&C^j Mr. Huggett entered the office of Mr. Martin S.
Brackett at Bellevue, and after three years of reading and observation
in the local courts was admitted after examination to the bar in 1870.
Mr. Huggett first practiced at Bellevue in partnership with his instructor
Martin S. Brackett. In 1876 the election of Mr. Huggett to the office
of prosecuting attorney of Eaton county caused him to dissolve partner-
ship with Mr. Brackett and remove to the city of Charlotte, which has
been his home and center of practice now for upwards of forty years.
As a lawyer there are many points at which he has excelled, and both
in civil and criminal practice, and before a judge and jury and in the
office, has enjoyed distinctive prestige and success. Something of his
characteristics as a lawyer and citizen was described by a contemporary
in the bar as follows : "He is a great student. In summer he usually
rises at daylight and works in his garden, in which he takes great pride,
having one of the most attractive homes in the city, the shrubbery and
flowers in his yard being always particularly beautiful in the summer.
After this recreation in preparation for the day. he spends the remaining
hours among his books or in study or in consultation at office, or in the
business of the courts. He has the absolute confidence of the people, and
is strictly upright in his dealings. He never leads a man into litigation,
but advises him to keep out of it if possible. He is candid in his state-
ments and stands as high as any man in the county, both as a lawyer
and as a citizen. He is a safe man to know and a great help in the edu-
cational affairs of the town."

His public career has been one of importance. In 1S75 he was elected
a member of the Michigan legislature from Eaton county. His party
affiliations have always been Republican. From 1876 to 1880 he served
as prosecuting attorney for Eaton county, and in 1876 was president of
the board of trustees of Bellevue. In 1886 he was mayor of the city
of Charlotte, and also served on the public library board and is a member
of the school board.

At Charlotte from 1879 to 1882 Mr. Huggett was a law partner of
Robert W. Shriner, and for the following eighteen years was associated
with John M. C. Smith, under the firm name of Huggett & .Smith.
Later for about two years Roy R. McPeek was his partner, and. since
then he has practiced alone. Mr. Huggett is a Knight Temjilar Mason
and is active in the affairs of the Congregational church.

On November 22, 1870, he married Mary L. Brackett, a daughter of
his first law partner. They are the parents of two children, a son and a
daughter. The son, Charles M. Huggett, graduated from the Charlotte
high school in the class of 1895, spent two years in the literary department
of the University of Michigan, and subsequently graduated from the
Columbian Law -School of \Vashington, I). C. Charles M. Huggett is a
young man with promise of a brilliant future, and has had unusual oppor-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1701

tunities for training and experience in law and public affairs. William
Alden Smith, of Grand Rapids, when he went to congress,- selected young
Mr. Huggett as his private secretary, and after two years' service to the
representative he continued in the same capacity to Mr. Smith when the
latter was elected United States senator.

Alfred E. Bousfield. Through the splendid enterprise of the firm
of liousfield & Company, Bay City now possesses the undoubted su-
premacy as the center of manufacture for superior grades of wooden
ware. No other concern in the country has so complete an organiza-
tion, manufactures a larger quantity of its special classes of output, and
has so extensively developed its distribution of product. Much of the
success of this concern may be credited to its progressive and ener-
getic president, Alfred E. Bousfield, whose reputation for business abil-
ity has long been established, and who is also known as a stanch worker
for community welfare.

The Bousfield family was one of the first to engage in the wooden-
ware business on an extensive scale, and they began operations many
years ago in Cleveland, Ohio. The members of the present firm are
sons of fohn Bousfield, who founded the business in Cleveland. Alfred
E. Bousfield and his brother Edward P., under the name of Bousfield
& Company, in 1875 purchased a wooden ware plant in Bay City which
had been established there in 1869 by George Hood. The territory now
occupied by the plant covers five city blocks, and upon this are located
sawmills, dry kilns, turning and ]iaint houses, warehouses, engine house,
offices, stables, booms and other buildings and arrangements for the suc-
cessful conduct of this monster enterprise. The fire protection con-
sists of a pumping station in the center of the plant, which sup|)lies auto-
matic sprinklers in buildings, and water mains throughout the yards
connected with hydrants. There is one central power station with a Cor-
liss engine of five himdred horse power and Babcock & Wilcox boilers.
The power is transmitted to the different buildings by what is known
as rope-transmission.

The jjroduct of the factory consists chiefly of tubs and pails, and in
their manufacture the logs are raised from the l^oom to the mill, where
they are sawed into blocks of the required length, then passed through
the various kinds of new and improved machinery by which they ' are
cut into staves, loaded into cars which carry them first to the kilns and
afterwards to the turning room, all without being unloaded from these
cars. The staves that enter this part of the establishment are in the
rough, l)ut come out tubs, pails and churns, the bottom of each article
being fitted into place by machinery. From this part of the works they
are hurried into the paint house, a building three stories in height and
84x100 feet in dimensions, and again machinery comes into play in the
decoration, and they are then delivered at the warehouse where they are
ready for shipment.

The sawmill proper is a two story building 60x90 feet in dimensions,
and is supplied with four circular saws, veneering, bottom-making and
cover-making machines, steam carriages for raising logs, and all con-
veniences and appliances for saving labor. The turning house is also a
two-story building, 70x250 feet, and supplied with twenty large lathes,
while the warehouses measure 70x430, also of brick construction, and
there are other buildings. The dry kilns are 100x225 feet. This busi-
ness re()uires the services of three hundred thoroughly competent and
skilled machanics, the payroll amounts to more than $100,000 annually,
and the daily capacity of the plant is 7,000 pails and 5,000 tubs, the
product being in constant demand all over the United States. James

1702 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Potter, the foreman, has been connected with the factory continuously
since 1870. The present officers of the company are: Alfred E. Bous-
field, president; Charles J. Bousfield, vice-president; and R. E. Bous-
tield. secretary.

John Bouslield, the father of these brothers, came as a young man
to America from England, where he was bom, and settled at Kirkland,
Lake county, Ohio, where he learned the pail-making and engaged in
the manufacture of that article by hand. He afterwards put in water-
power machinery, and later moved to Cleveland, where he was the first
manufacturer of pails in the west, gradually increasing his business until
he was the largest manufacturer in his line in the country, a rei)Utation
which his sons have since maintained. The father was associated for
some time with John Pool, under the firm name of Bousfield & Pool,
Manufacturing Company. In 1875 they met with reverses and dissolved
partnership. Subsequently Mr. Bousfield became the organizer of the
Ohio Woodenware Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, which was
operated until 1881. John Bousfield continued his relations with the
business until his death in 1888, at the age of sixty-nine years, although
his home remained in Cleveland. He jjossessed, along with great organ-
izing and e.xecutive capacity, a mechanical genius and was the inventor
of numerous machines and appliances which are still used in tlie busi-
ness. Besides his connection with the line of manufacturing which
brought him his original success, he was one of the founders of the Gas
Company in Cleveland, and assisted in the organization of two finan-
cial institutions, being for some years president of the People's Savings
& Loan Bank of that city. A stanch Republican, he was a man of emi-
nent public spirit, and was regarded as a pillar in the Congregational
church. John Bousfield married Miss Sarah Featherstone, who was
born in England and came to .America with her parents, who were farm-
ing people of Kirkland, Ohio. Of the ten children born to their union,
six are still living: Charlotta A., who is now Mrs. Hannum of Cleve-
land ; Emma L., who is Mrs. Darby, of St. Louis, Missouri ; Edward
F., formerly connected with the active management of the plant at Bay
City and still a stockholder in the Bousfield Woodenware Company ;
and the three brothers who have already been mentioned as officers of
the firm.

Alfred E. Bousfield was born at Fairport, Ohio, January 28, 1855,
but was reared and educated in the city of Cleveland, attending the pub-
lic schools. At the age of fifteen he entered the Mount Pleasant Military
Academy at Sing Sing, Xew York, and two years later entered upon his
business career as bookkeeper for a coal company at Cleveland. His
first year's experience was followed by his being taken into his father's
factory, where he learned every detail from that of the humblest work-
man to the highest e.xecutive position. In March, 1875, in company
with his brother Edward, Mr. Bousfield came to Bay City and bought
the factorv belonging to the Bay City Woodenware Company. It was
a small industry, with a good product but with little distribution be-
yond local limits. The new owners increased the plant five times in
capacity and introduced the progressive methods which have always
characterized this important industry. In i8go the entire establishment
was destroyed by fire, resulting in the loss of the new buildings and all
the stock, representing a financial loss of sixty thousand dollars above
insurance. No time was lost in rebuilding, two hundred men were set
to work in replacing the plant, and in a short time the site was covered
with larger and still more substantial buildings. Business was in oper-
ation by October of the same year, and since then has continued without
interruption, constantly growing in strength, scope and importance. The

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1703

transportation facilities enjoyed by this company are excellent, com-
prising side-tracks from the works to the Michigan Central and Flint
& Pere Marquette railroads, where the concern owns a large number of
cars built especially for its needs and of a specially large size. The
greater part of I\Ir. Bousfield's attention has been given to the manage-
ment of this enterprise, and his success can only be fairly judged when
it is known that it is the largest manufacturing concern of its kind in the
United States.

Mr. rSousfield, like his father, is more than a manufacturer. He was
one of the original stockholders of the Bay County Savings Bank of
Bav City, of which he is president, and is a director in the First National
Bank. In political matters he is a strong Republican, but has not cared
for public life and has contributed his best service to the community by
assisting movements of a progressive character. He is fond of outdoor
life. His fraternal connection is with the Masons, in which he has at-
tained to the thirty-second degree and is a Knight Templar and a mem-
ber of the IMvstic Shrine at Detroit.

Mr. Bousfield was married in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1877, to Miss
Carrie L.ockwood, who was born in Dubuque, Iowa, but was reared and
educated in Cleveland, where her father, Ira H. Lockwood, was en-
gaged in the oil business. Two children have been born to this union :
Charlotte E., wife of F. B. Ward; and Charlotte F. Mrs. Bousfield, a
lady of many social attainments, is the organizer and president of the
Civic League of Bay City, and very prominent in social and philan-
thropic affairs. The beautiful family home is on Center street.

Nelson E. Gibbard. One of the prominent farming men of Eaton
county, now retired, but still active in agricultural affairs in the county,
is Nelson E. Gibbard. treasurer of the Eaton County Agricultural Society,
and a resident of Charlotte, Michigan. Mr. Gibbard has long been a
leader in agricultural activities of the county, and has participated in
other business enterprises of this city as well. He is a native of Canada,
born on a farm November 23, 1848, and he spent the first twelve years
of life in his native community, attending the common schools of the place
in the winter seasons of the years. When he was twelve he came to
Alichigan. making his first stop in Brookfield. Eaton county, where he
remained for a short time, and then moved on to Charlotte. From there
he went to Lenawee county, where he resumed school work in the county,
finishing with the high school at Adrian. When he had done with his
studies, he moved to Branch county, Michigan, and after a short time
there he returned to Lenawee county, stopping in Adrian, where he
learned the trade of a shoemaker, continuing in that work vmtil 1877.

It was in that year that Mr. Gibbard first became identified with farm
life in Michigan, for he purchased a farm near the city of Charlotte and
for three years he applied himself industriously to that enterprise. He
then started up in the shoe business, forming a partnership with J. Q.
Thomas, under the firm name of N. E. Gibbard & Company. The firm
continued in business for four years under that name, when he purchased
the interest of his partner and for two years was alone in the conduct
of the establishment. He then disposed of the shoe store and bought a
farm in Kalamazoo township, where he engaged in farming and stock
raising on a large scale, devoting himself to the breeding of Shropshire
sheep and Shorthorn cattle and producing a class of stock that was sold
widely throughout the state for breeding purposes.

Mr. Gibbard continued with his farming work until 1904, when he
moved to Charlotte, and here he has since lived in a comparatively retired
manner, though he still retains his interest in the agricultural activities

1704 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

of the county, and is heard from at intervals as treasurer of the Eaton
County Agricultural Society.

Mr. Gibbard has been twice married. His first wife was a Miss
Amelia French, a daughter of Edmond French, an old resident of Lena-
wee county. Six children were born of this union. Five of the number
are living today, — here named as follows: Mrs. Fred Eddey ; Mrs. Elli-
son, a resident of Oregon ; Arthur E., a salesman in Oregon ; Mabel G.,
living at Brandon, Oregon : and Mrs. Grace Lentz, living on the home
farm in the vicinity of Charlotte. In igi2 he was married a second time,
when Mrs. Martha E. Moger, a widow, and the daughter of Henry A.
Moger, an old and highly esteemed citizen of Eaton county, became his
wife. Mrs. Gibbard has one son by her former marriage, — William
Coonley Moger.

While Mr. Gibbard was yet engaged in farm life, he was elected a
member of the township committee, serving for seven years on that body,
the last six years being spent as chairman of the committee. He was for
four years supervisor of the first district of Chester township, and has
otherwise been active in local politics. He is a Republican and has done
good work for the party.

Fraternally Mr. Gibbard is one of the prominent men of the city. He
is a member of Charlotte Lodge No. 37, A. F. & A. M., Charlotte Chap-
ter No. 682, R. A. J\L, Charlotte Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar,
and of Saladin Temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the
Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids. For the past seven years Mr. Gibbard
has ser\'ed as treasurer of the Eaton County Agricultural Society, and he
has done much toward stimulating the interest of the farming people in
the society, and in promoting its work as long as he has been a member
of it. He has been a public-spirited citizen all his days, and is highly re-
garded in the wide circle of friends and acquantainces throughout the
county that is his.

Eugene L. Howe. President of the Standard Malleable Iron Works,
Mr. Howe is the only one of the four original orgainzers of this com-
jiany still connected with the business and is at the head of an enterprise
which is justly considered among the largest and most important in
the industrialism of Muskegon. Mr. Howe started in as a workman in
a factory, knows the foundry and general manufacturing business in
nearly all its details, and by sheer force of native ability and industry
has made himself independent.

Eugene L. Howe, who comes of an old American family was born in
Cayuga county. New York, June 19, 1857, a son of John L. and Arminta
(Coonley) Howe. The father, who is still living in Iowa, was born in
1S29, a son of Otis Howe, who was a native of New York, was a mer-
chant and postmaster at Levanna, and a man of sturdy ability and much
influence in his community. John L. Howe's only brother, Austin Howe
was killed while a soldier in the Mexican war. John L. Howe during
his early life was a carpenter and shipwright, but in 1866 left New York
and settled in Iowa, and has been actively identified with farming ever
since. He is an active Republican in politics, having supported that
party since its organization, and belongs to the Presbyterian church. His
wife, who was born in 1835, and is still living, became the mother of
nine children, and eight are still living. Her father was Samuel Coon-
ley one of the early settlers in New York State, and a fanner by occupa-
tion.

Eugene L. Howe grew up in the country and attended the local
schools of Iowa. When fourteen years of age he started out to earn
his own living by hard work on his father's farm, and four years later

THE KIW TOHf

I'osi.iciUiunY

' I'll Df V

(.S«..^ AND

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1705

left home and entered a factory in Chicago, where he learned the pat-
tern-maker's trade. A four-years' apprenticeship prepared him for his
own way, and the first year was spent with the Ewart Manufacturing
Company in Chicago, as foreman of the pattern department. Atter that
he was superintendent for six years, and then the plant was moved to
Indianapolis, where it is still located and is known as the Link Belt Com-
jjany. From Indianapolis !Mr. Howe became superintendent of the Eber-
hard Manufacturing Company at Cleveland Ohio. That firm manu-
factured saddlery and carriage hardware. His connection with the
business at Cleveland continued for eleven years. In January, 1896, Mr.
Howe located in Muskegon, and was one of the four men who organ-
ized the Standard Malleable Iron Company, and as already stated is the
only one of those four stilli active in the business. This firm has a cap-
ital stock of one hundred thousand dollars, and after several years in
the office of vice president Mr. Howe has taken the chief executive posi-
tion and his energy and active management are the principal factors
in the success of the business. A general line of malleable castings are
manufactured and the product is shipped throughout the middle west.

In 1879 Mr. Howe married Miss Eva O. Ladd, a daughter of Otis
K. Ladd, a native of Massachusetts.: and a far.mer in that state. To
their marriage has been born one chrld| Eva, the _\vife of Andrew Weir-
engo, who is connected with the Standard Malleable Iron Company at
IMuskegon. Mrs. Howe is an active member of the Presbyterian church,
and his fraternal associations are with the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, and in politics he is a Repul)lican. All his time is de-
voted to his manufacturing enterpri'^e.

Frank Storrs. Xow giving all his time to his duties as sherifif of
Eaton county, with residence at Charlotte, Frank Storrs has lived in this
part of Alichigan all his life, and is one of the younger business men
and public leaclers. His administration as sherilT has been characterized
by fairness and efficiency, and he is one of the most popular men in the
courthouse.

Frank Storrs was born in Windsor township, in Eaton county, April
I, 1800, third among the sons of William D. Storrs. His father was born
in Vermont December 18, 1841, grew to manhood in that state and on
coming west found a home at Charlotte, which has been his place of resi-
dence for a good many years. The senior Storrs is an expert in the
care and handling of farm horses, and has been intrusted with the man-
agement of the stables of a number of leading Eaton county citizens. He
married Miss Sarah A. Bishop, who was born in Michigan and who died
in 1906.

Frank Storrs, after an education in the public schools of Charlotte,
started out to work along the same line in which his father had gained
success, and has always been more or less closely connected with farming
and with stock, especially with horses. At the age of sixteen he was em-
ployed by Elisha Sheppard, and took care of the Sheppard stables for a
number of years. For three years he was in the service of the Grand
Trunk railway while the road was being double tracked. Subsequently he
was given charge of the horses of Robert Donovan, and while the latter
was serving as sheriff' of Eaton county he performed the duties of deputy
under Mr. Donovan. His record as a deputy during four years made him
a popular candidate for sheriiT as successor of Mr. Donovan, and he re-
ceived the nomination from the Democratic party, and was successful in
the race against three other candidates, being elected by a handsome plu-
rality of five hundred and twenty. On January i, 191 3, he entered upon
the duties of his office for the term of two years.

170C HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

On November 28, 1912, Mr. Storrs married Miss Editli M. Bowes,
of Charlotte, daughter of Morris D. Bowes. Mr. Storrs has long been a
leader of the Democratic party and has done much campaigning in the
interest of other candidates. Fraternally he is affiliated with Charlotte
Lodge No. 120, F. & A. M. ; with the Knights of Pythias and with Char-
lotte -Lodge No. 62, I. O. O. F.

Cl.^rence Elmer Holmes. One of Lansing's best known and most
highly honored citizens is Clarence Elmer Holmes, superintendent of the
^Michigan State School for the Blind, who has been identified with educa-
tional work throughout his life. None but an intellect of extraordinary
strength and unusual sweep of abilities may hope to earn success in a
special field already crowded with keen competitors, and at the same time
retain unused and well-l^alanced faculties for the conception and develop-
ment of public and social problems. It may be therefore said that Mr.
Holmes is a man of more than ordinary powers, for he has not alone at-
tained statewide reputation in the field of education, but has also gained
distinction among thoughtful men as an exponent of social reforms.

Mr. Holmes is a member of a pioneer ^Michigan family and of an old
American family of the Connecticut Colony whose coming antedated the
Revolutionary War, in which Joseph Holmes, his great-great-grandfather,
fought as a soldier, going out at the first call for troops, fighting at Bunker
Hill, re-enlisting, and being with Washington's troops at \'alley Forge
and at the crossing of the Delaware. His son, Joseph W. Holmes, was
a surgeon, and both great-great-grandfather and son were graduates of
Yale college. The great-grandfather of Clarence Elmer Holmes was
Isaac Holmes, who was born at Pomfret, Connecticut, and removed to
Columbia county. New York, where he married a Holland-Dutch woman
named Whitbeck, who was born in the city of Amsterdam, Holland.
Zalmon Holmes, the grandfather of Clarence E., was born in Columbia
county. New York, and married Emily Everett, who was born in Tonip-
kin.s county. New York. From Columbia county, Isaac Holmes removed
with his family to Wayne county. New York, and thence to Wayne county,
]\fichigan, in 1832, five years before Michigan became a state. Zalmon
Holmes, the grandfather, removed from \Vayne county, Michigan, to
what is now Delhi township, Ingham county, in 1840, settling on a farm,
where both he and his wife died.

W. Irving Holmes, the father of Clarence E. Holmes, w-as born in
Wayne county, Michigan, in 1837, and was three years of age when taken
to Ingham county by his parents. There he married Marion North, who
was born in Delhi township, the daughter of Harrison North, a Michigan
j)ioneer, who came from his home in Lansing, Tom])kins wunty, Xew
York, to the Wolverine state with his father, Joseph North, in the early
thirties, settling on a farm in Ingham county. Joseph North named Lan-
sing township in honor of his old home town in New York, and the city
of Lansing subsequently took its name from the township. The mother
of Mr. Holmes died in 1866, w^hile the father survived her until 1899.
He w-as a farmer by vocation and was one of the best known and most
honored citizens of his community. While the circumstances of his boy-
hood made his education somewhat limited, by constant reading he became
one of the best informed men in the county and was also widely known
for his sterling character and public-spirited citizenship. During his
younger days he learned carpentering, cabinet-making and wheelwright-
ing, trades which were also mastered by his father. Mr. Holmes served
during the Civil War as a member of the Seventh Michigan Cavalry,
General Custer's regiment, and had a gallant record.

Clarence Elmer Holmes was born on his father's farm in Delhi town-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1707

ship, Ingham county. He first attended the district schools and later the
Lansing High school, walking five miles each way daily to the latter.
After two years' attendance at the high school, Mr. Holmes procured
upon examination a third grade license and began teaching school, by
which means he earned and saved sufficient money to enter the Michigan
Agricultural College, where he was graduated in the regular course in the
class of 1893. The following year marked the beginning of his career
as a teacher in the Lansing High school, subsequently he became principal
of that institution, and in 1899 was elected superintendent of the Lan-
sing city schools, a position which he held for three years, and later be-
came a member of the Lansing board of education and was made its presi-
dent in 1913. Commenting upon his public school experiences, the New
England Journal of Education said : "Mr. Holmes is the only instance
known to the Journal of where one man went to school, taught school,
became principal of the high school, superintendent of city schools and
president of the board of education in one city."

On July I, 1902, Mr. Holmes was appointed superintendent of the
State School for the Blind, and in this capacity has contiimed to the pres-
ent time, his administration of its affairs having been marked by constant
and helpful reforms. One of the first moves in his administration was
to secure for the school recognition as a part of the public school system
of the state. The present twelve-grade course was established as a result,
and as sucli it compares favorably with any graded school in the state,
and at the present time Mr. Holmes and his associates are working out
a one-term post-graduate course which will amount to the same as the
two first years of a college course. During the administration of Mr.
Holmes the law relating to attendance has been changed, so as to not only
include the totally blind boys and girls, but children whose vision is de-
fective to the extent that on that account they were unable to attend public
school, the object being to reach a class who formerly were out of school,
and by giving these children an education rescue them not alone from
ignorance, but in many cases from lives of crime. Every department of
the school, including the regular graded school work, the musical course
and the manual training, has proven a decided success, and as superin-
tendent of the institution Mr. Holmes is entitled to the highest com-
mendation and gratitude of his fellow men. He is an intensely busy man,
with the cares and responsibilities of his charges resting heavily upon
him, but has still found the leisure and inclination to be a close and care-
ful student of Michigan history, having made valuable researches into the
history of the early Jesuits and collecting a large amount of data, espe-
ciallv that regarding Mackinac Island and the surrounding country. He
is likewise interested in and well informed as to summer normal school
work. Fraternally, he is prominent in the Masonic order, being a Knight
Templar and a Shriner, and belongs also to the local lodge of the Elks.
He is a valued and popular member of the Michigan State Teachers' As-
sociation.

Mr. Holmes was married to Aliss Louise Knierim, and they have had
one son, C. Ross Holmes, a graduate of the class of 191 1, University of
Michigan, in both the literary and mechanical engineering departments,
who is now holding the position of efficiency engineer for the Reo Motor
Car Company of Lansing. He married Ruth L'Hommedieu, of the old
Detroit family of that name, and who was a member of his class at the
University of Michigan.

M.^RL TiiERON Murray, than whom there is no better known figure
in his line of activity in the state of Michigan, and who has exercised a
tremendous influence for good in the capacities of secretary of the Michi-

1708 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

gan State Board of Corrections and Charities, secretary of the Michigan
State Penology Commission, and member of the Michigan State Farm
Colony for Epileptics and of the Michigan State Eugenics Commission,
is a native Michigander, having been born in North Farmington town-
ship, Oakland county, Michigan, October 12, 1874, a son of Albert A.
and Cetella ( Spencer j Alurray.

The great-grandfather of Marl T. Murray, an English farmer, emi-
grated to the United States in the year 1792 and settled in Massachusetts,
but subsequently removed to Victor, Ontario county, New York, where
he passed the remainder of his life. He was the father of five daughters
and four sons, and among these children was Theron Murray, who was
born in Ontario county, New York, in 181 1. The common schools of his
day and locality furnished him with his educational training, and as a
youth he worked on a farm and followed otiier honorable employments
which presented themselves. At the age of twenty years he left his east-
ern home and started for the West, locating tirst in the present town of
Farmington, Michigan. Four years later he disposed of his uiterests there
and located at West Bloomfield, and these lands continued 'to be occupied
by him as a home during the remainder of his career. At the age of
twenty-one years, Mr. Murray was married to Miss Rebecca Welfare,
of the town of Commerce, and they became the parents of two children :
Ozro L., and Albert A., both of whom adopted their father's calling of
farming and owned farms adjoining his. He was known as a man of
the highest integrity, content to invest his earnings in legitimate business
transactions, without thought of endeavoring to increase his holdings
by ventures into the field of speculation, and throughout his career was
never sued by a man nor did he find it necessary to sue others. He was
a Republican in politics, and a Universalist in his religious belief, and won
the respect an esteem of his fellow-men, which he retained until the day
of his death.

Albert A. Murray, son of Theron Murray, and father of Marl Theron
^lurray, was born in West Bloomfield townshi]), Oakland county, Michi-
gan, April I, 1847. He was reared to the occupation of farmer, which
he followed throughout his life, and through industry and good manage-
ment became the owner of a large and valuable property. He held the
office of treasurer of Farmington for two years, and in 1887 was super-
visor, was prominent as a Republican and as a member of the Masonic
order, in which he was master for ten years of Farmington Lodge, No.
151, and was also active in the Grange and ever willing to forward the
agricultural interests of his community. Mr. Murray was at one time
a member of the Chosen Friends Insurance Company, was a generous
contributor and staunch supporter of all good causes, and in every respect
was a man who desen-ed the esteem so universally given him. His death
occurred January 26, 1888, and he was buried with Masonic honors at the
North Farmington Cemetery. ;\Ir. Murray married Miss Cetella Spencer,
who was a native of Farmington township, born January 2, 1854, the
third child of Lyman and Rachael (Dunham) Spencer, natives of New
York and early settlers of Oakland county.

Marl Theron Murray remained on the home farm until 1884, in which
year he accompanied his parents to Farmington, and there ten years later
he was graduated from the high school. Following this, he entered the
law department of the University of ^lichigan, where he took a course
of two years, but during his second year left the institution on account of
the poor health of both himself and his mother. On January i, 1901, he
entered the office of the Secretary of State, at Lansing, as a clerk, and
through fidelity and general ability worked his way through several
departments of that office to the position of chief clerk of the compiling

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1709

department, a capacity in which he acted until 1904. In that year Mr.
Murray was appointed deputy state supervisor of the state census, and
on January i, 1905, received the appointment from Governor Warner as
executive clerk to the governor and secretary of the State Board of Par-
dons, positions he held until September 3, 1909, when he was appointed
secretary of the State Board of Corrections and Charities. When the
legislature of 1913 created the Joint Penology Commission, Mr. Murray
was appointed to the secretaryship of that body, and the same legislature
also created the State Farm Colony for Epileptics, Mr. Murray becoming a
member of that commission. Subsequently, the legislature founded the
State Eugenics Commission, of which Mr. Murray was made a commis-
sioner. Recognized as one of the most efficient and thoroughly informed
men in his line of activity in the country, Mr. Murray has done and is
doing a great work for his native state. A tireless worker, giving of his
best in whatever channels his activities are directed, he is constantly
looked to for advice and leadership by his associates, and has won a firm
place in the confidence of the general public, who have become convinced
of his earnestness, conscientiousness and disinterestedness in the discharge
of the duties of his various important offices.

Mr. Murray was married to Miss Iva E. Scott, of Farmington, Michi-
gan, daughter of Walter J. Scott. Two children have been born to this
union, as follows : Marlene Lucile, and Lindan Walter. Mr. Murray is
a member of Farmington Lodge, No. 151, of the Masonic order, of
which his father was for many years master.

S.\MUEL D.\N.\ BuTTERWORTii, for sevcn years a leading Lansing archi-
tect, with an expanding reputation, is the acknowledged originator of a
distinctive style of architecture. The large and important projects with
which he has been identified have resulted in his being accounted one of
the foremost members of his profession in Michigan, and he is also widely
known as the inventor of a number of articles which are enjoying a large
sale. Mr. Butterworth was born at Lowell, Massachusetts, September 9,
1871. and is a son of Samuel Dana and Anna ( Cassidy ) Butterworth,
the former a native of Roachdale, England, and the latter of Lowell,
^Massachusetts.

The Butterworth family came to America when .Samuel D. Butter-
worth, the father, was still a small child and located at Lowell, where
Mr. Butterworth learned the business of master plasterer and interior
decorator, being engaged in contracting in that line for many years, with
clients all over the New England states, and recognized as an artist in
his field of activity. He died at Lowell, in November, 1912, while his
widow still survives and is a resident of that city. Samuel Dana Butter-
worth, of this review, graduated from the Lowell high school and immedi-
ately took up the study of architecture in his native city, following which
he entered the office of Stickney & Austin, noted architects of Lowell and
Boston. In 1894 he opened an office of his own in the latter city, and three
years later was sent by a Boston and New York syndicate to design and
build a fire-proof storage warehouse, bank building and hotel for the
syndicate at Skagway, Alaska. On his return from that country he opened
offices in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, but in 1905 came to the
West, to become office manager for the prominent Detroit architect,
George D. Mason. In 1907 Mr. Butterworth came to Lansing, and for
four years was a member of the architectural firm of White & Butter-
worth, an association which continued successfully until 19 12, when Mr.
Butterworth withdrew from the firm and opened an independent office.
He has since continued alone in the profession, and has met with a success
such as is granted only to the leaders in his calling. Mr. Butterworth

171U HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

has planned and erected many of the very finest residences, business
houses, schools and theaters in Lansing and various other parts of the
state. Among the residences which stand as monuments to his high
talents and ability may be mentioned those of W. H. Newbrough, George
Bohnet, William Donovan, Doctor Herron, Donal E. Bates, 11. B. Shier
and Charles Atteldt. He also erected six apartments for William Saier,
an apartment for Elizabeth Ziegler, three stores at Webberville, a theater
and store at Carson City, the Digby Hotel at North Lansing, the Ingham
County Tuberculosis Building, high schools at Muskegon Heights and
Royal Oak, and a theater at the latter place, the new addition to the Tus-
sing Building (the largest business and office building in Lansing, in which
Mr. Butterworth has his own offices), two moving theaters at Lansing,
a home for George V^an Buren in this city, and many others. These
include only those erected during the past two years, so it will be seen
that Mr. Butterworth's business life is an active and energetic one. A
man of energetic nature, prolific in his ideas and versatile in his talents,
he has forged steadfastly to the front, and has won the reputation of being
one of his state's foremost architects solely upon merit. Mr. Butter-
worth has more than a local name as- an iirventor, among his inventions
being a theater chair, an automobile seat and the Butterworth clinch clamp,
the last-named being a most important article, used for the reinforcement
of concrete columns, which is on the market and has met with great favor.
Mr. Butterworth married ^liss Josephine Brugnall, of Lowell, Massa-
chusetts, who was born in th.^^^ity'bf London, England, and was brought
to the United States by her parents as a thild.. Mr. Butterworth main-
tains membership in Lansing Lodge, No. 33, F.,'& A. M., and the Lansing
Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Since coming
to Lansing he has formed a wide acquaintance, and his friends are to be
found in business, professional and social circles all over the city.

Hon. John Wesley Stone, justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan,
is a worthy representative of the dignity and greatness of the state in the
domain of the law which he has so highly honored for more than half a
century. Although not a native of the state, he came here as a youth of
eighteen years and the entire i3eriod of his active career has been passed
within its boundaries. Judge Stone was boi-n at Wadsworth, Medina
county, Ohio, July 18, 183S, and is the son of Rev. Chauncey and Sarah
(Bird) Stone, natives of Vermont, of English descent. The paternal
grandfather, Benjamin .Stone, served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and
.subsequently became a pioneer of the Western Reserve of Ohio, settling
in Medina county, where he passed the balance of his life. The parents
of Judge Stone were married in Vermont and came West to Medina
county, Ohio, in 1836, there taking up a tract of wild land which they de-
veloped into a comfortable and valuable farming i)roperty. In 1856 they
came to Allegan county, Michigan, and here passed the remainder of their
lives, the father combining agricultural pursuits with preaching as a local
Methodist minister and traveling to a limited extent when building up
churches. Both parents have long since been deceased.

The early life of John Wesley Stone was passed on the farm in Ohio,
and during his youth he divided his time between attending the district
schools and assisting his father in the work of the homestead. Subse-
quently he took a course in Spencer (Ohio) Academy, and when sixteen
years of age adopted the profession of educator, continuing to teach both in
Ohio and Michigan until attaining his majority. In 1856 he came to the
state of Michigan, preceding his parents hither, and at first went to work
on a farm, although in the following year he obtained a school at Big
Spring, Ottawa county. While thus engaged, in 1859, he began the study

THI n^ TOM

X( )U.MA.\ i;. l.AWSo.X

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1711

of law in the office of Silas Stafford, at Martin, Michigan, and in 1862
was admitted to the bar at Allegan. Two years prior to this he had been
elected count)- clerk of Allegan county, an office to which he was re-
elected in 1864, and in the' fall of 1864 was chosen prosecuting attorney
of Allegan county, a position to which he was twice re-elected. At the
beginning of his active practice he had become a member of the firm of
Arnold & Stone, an association which continued until 1873, the partner-
ship terminating in April of that year when Justice Stone was elected
circuit judge of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, comprising the counties
of Allegan and Ottawa. In November, 1874, he resigned his position on
the bench and removed to Grand Rapids, in which city he returned to
private practice. He was not allowed to remain for long out of public
office, however, for in 1876 he was elected a member of Congress from
the Fifth Congressional District, and in 1878 received the re-election. In
1882 he was appointed United States district attorney for the Western
District of Michigan, and in 1887 removed to Houghton, Michigan, where
he was engaged in private practice until his election as circuit judge of the
Twentv-fifth Judicial Circuit in April, 1890. an office which he held until
December 30, 1909. April 5, 1909, he was elected to the Supreme Court
of Michigan, beginning January i, 1910, his term expiring December 31,
1917. As a jurist his decisions have always evidenced a strong mentality,
a profound knowledge of jurisprudence and careful analysis, and his
strict impartiality has made him popular with the members of the profes-
sion throughout the state.

In 1861, at Allegan, Michigan, occurred the marriage of Judge Stone
to Miss Delia Maria Grover, the daughter of A. P. Grover. Mrs! Stone
died lanuary 25, igo2. To this union there were born five children : Caria
M., wife of Fred jNI. Champlin, of Grand Rapids; Nina and Edith M.,
living with their father; John G., an attorney at Houghton, Michigan;
and Frank D., who died at the age of eighteen years.

Norman B. Lawson. A former Mayor of ^luskegon, whose record
wdiile in that office was far above the ordinary municipal administration,
resulting in many substantial and permanent improvements.

Norman B. Lawson has long been prominent in public and business
affairs. He is now one of the leading real estate and insurance men of
Muskegon. For a long period of years he was a photographer in Muske-
gon and elsewhere, but in later years, through wise real estate invest-
ments, he has accumulated considerable means. His ability and careful
judgment have been important factors in the development of his home
city and a large region tributary thereto.

I\Ir. Lawson was born February 3, 1857, near Ottawa, Ontario. His
parents were Andrew and Elizabeth ( Bowen ) Lawson. His father was
a native of Scotland and his mother Canadian born. The father came
to Canada at the age of eighteen and went into the lumber woods, in
which industry he spent many years. The parents were members of
the Methodist church. Seven children came to bless their union. The
subject of our sketch was the fourth child. The maternal grandfather
was a native of Canada who took a prominent part in the pioneer life of
that country. From such hardy stock came Norman B. Lawson, fully
imbued with the responsibilities of life, endowed with a robitst body and
a sterling character which has actuated all his subsequent life.

Mr. Lawson had as his chief equipment for life a common school edu-
cation received in the schools of his native country. His first vocation
was photography and he learned the art when it was comparatively in
its infancy. This was followed by some experience in a wholesale dry-
goods house, and in 1875 he embarked in the book and stationery busi-

1712 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ness at Toronto. This was not the hoped-for success and in 1882 he
moved to ^Muskegon. Here he opened a photographic studio, to which
he gave his attention for nearly thirty years. He is well remembered
as one of the old-time photographers of Muskegon, and his work may
be found in hundreds of homes in the city and vicinity, as good today
as the day it was produced. After he moved from Canada to the
United States, he spent a short time in the city of Chicago, and also
in Detroit, before locating permanently in Muskegon.

In 1905 Mr. Lawson was elected mayor of Muskegon on the Demo-
cratic ticket. Normally, jNIuskegon had at that time a Republican ma-
jority of about 1,600. However, such was the platform of principles and
the personal popularity of Mr. Lawson that he was returned to office by
a majority of 461 votes. So great an influence had the Lawson admin-
istration during 1905-6 on the progress and uplift of this municipality
that something should be said concerning the definite reforms and im-
provements inaugurated by Mayor Lawson. It was in every sense a
progressive administration, and yet, was remarkably economical. The
records of the city will show that he left his office with nearly fourteen
thousand dollars in the treasury more than he found when he began his
term. At the same time all permanent improvements were of the bet-
ter class. No poor pavements were laid and no small sewers installed.
Mr. Lawson pushed the meat inspection proposition, and secured inspec-
tion of milk a few weeks before he left office. Sanitary conditions in
the city were improved in every direction. An illustration of his scrup-
ulous honesty was his refusal to accept street-car passes, and his ex-
ample in this particular was sufficient to induce the members of the
council to likewise refuse free transportation on the city lines. The
purchase of the so-called market site by Muskegon was another im-
portant act of the Lawson administration. The property purchased for
this purpose has since become very valuable, testifying in no uncertain
terms to the ex-mayor's wise foresight in all real estate transactions.
During his term of office a comprehensive plan was inaugurated for creat-
ing a park system in ^luskegon and throughout the county. Alany other
items concerning his administration might be enumerated, but enough
has been said to indicate the thorough puTjlic spirit and broad-gauge
character of the man in his connection with all public affairs.

Mr. Lawson has always been active in behalf of his city, and much
of his work has brought substantial gain to this community. He was
one of those who realized, some twenty years ago, that with the dis-
appearance of the lumber mills other manufacturing plants must be sub-
stituted in order that the city might not lose in poiuilation or prestige.
It was largely through his instrumentality and leadership that a bonus
fund was raised to secure additional factories. A similar fund, raised
a few years ago, and used by the Chamber of Commerce to carry out
projects of benefit to Muskegon, was in no small degree the result of
his energy and public spirit. He has concerned himself actively of late
in an effort to secure additional railway and interurban transportation
for Muskegon, and at the present time is president of the Muskegon
and Casnovia Land & Develojiment Company, a concern which has been
organized to build an electric road to Saginaw.

In iQio Mr. Lawson embarked in the real estate and insurance busi-
ness and this has proved to be a very profitable field for his endeavor.
He is now the owner of several choice downtown parcels of realty, chief
of which is Muskegon's leading business block, known as the Flatiron
Ruilding. As a real estate specialist Mr. lawson has consummated some
of the larger deals, botli in ^luskegon and elsewhere.

In 1885 occurred the marriage of Norman B. Lawson with ^liss

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1713

Adele \'estey, a daughter of Dr. Theodore and Ehzabeth Vestey. Dr.
Vestey was for many years a well known physician at Muskegon. Mrs.
Lawson holds memi)ership in the Congregational church and at the pres-
ent time is the honored president of the Muskegon Woman's Club. In
politics Mr. Lawson has always been a staunch Democrat. At the pres-
ent time he is serving as Supervisor of the Sixth ward of Muskegon,
and gives promise of many more years of faithful service to his city
and county.

James Fr.\ncis Hammicll, chief clerk of the Labor Department and
State Hotel Inspector, ex-mayor of Lansing, and an active and prominent
Democratic leader of the state, is one of the best known men of Southern
Michigan. For a long period one of the leading business men of Lansing,
of recent years he has confined his activities to public life, and has become
justl\- accounted one of his state's most helpful and stirring citizens. Air.
Ilammell was born on his father's farm near Brighton, Livingston county,
Michigan, August 13, 1859, and is a son of the late James and Mary
I'O'Hear) Hammell. His father, a native of County Louth, Ireland, was
a young man when he accompanied his widowed mother and her family to
the United States, the little party of emigrants settling in Livingston
county, Michigan, where the mother passed away a few years later. James
Hammell worked on a farm for a time until he was able to save enough
to purchase a property of his own, then choosing his location in the vicin-
ity of Brighton, where his activities continued to be prosecuted until his
death in September, 1893. At that time he was the owner of a good and
productive farm, which had been brought to a high state of cultivation
by Mr. Hammell's industrious and energetic efforts. The mother of
Tames I'Vancis Hammell was born in New \'ork state, of Irish parents, her
father being a pioneer of the state of Michigan, who took up land from
the LTnited States Government at an early date. This land is now a part
of the old Hammell farm, and is now owned by a brother of Mr. Hammell.
There the mother passed away in March, 1871.

Tames Francis Hammell was reared on the farm on which he was
born and was brought up to agricultural pursuits and trained to a life
of industry and integrity. His education was secured in the district
schools of the vicinity and the high school at Brighton, and during several
winters after his graduation from the latter, taught country schools, while
spending his summers on the home place. In 1880 Mr. Hammell em-
barked in the retail grocery business at Williamson, Livingston county,
but in 1883 disposed of his interests there and went on the road as sales-
man for the old wholesale grocery firm of Beatty & Fitzsimmons, of
Detroit. Two years later he accepted a like position for the Globe Tobacco
Company, of Detroit, although previous to this time he had transferred
his home to Ionia, Michigan, and in 1889 left the road and engaged in
the manufacture of cigars at Ionia, under the firm name of the Hammell
Cigar Company, in which his brother, P. J., was also interested for a
time. The business grew at Ionia steadily and consistently until Mr.
Hammell was employing a force of fifty people, and, seeking a larger field,
Mr. Hammell removed the business to Lansing in 1893. Later he closed
his cigar factory and organized the Hammell Cracker Company, of which
he became president, and while this company was still in business again
went into the manufacture of cigars. In January, 191 1, Mr. Hammell
closed his cigar business, in the meantime having disposed of his cracker
interests, and in that same year became identified with the Equitable Life
Insurance Company, with which concern he was connected until he became
district manager for the Detroit Life Insurance Company, one year later.
On July I, 191 3, Mr. Hammell resigned this position to accept that of

1714 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

chief clerk of the Department of Labor and Inspector of Hotels, an
office which he has continued to hold to the present time.

Mr. Hammell has been prominent in Democratic politics in Lansing
and the state for many years. He was elected alderman of the citv of
Lansing from the Fifth Ward, in 1897, and in 1900 became his party's
candidate for the mayoralty and was sent to the chief executive's chair.
So efficient were his services that he was given the re-election in 1902,
and his capable administration of the city's affairs gained him the respect
and good will of the better class of citizens. ;\Ir. Hammell subsequently
served as a member of the Lansing Charter Revision Commission, and in
1902 his name was presented to the state Democratic convention for the
nomination for governor, Mr. Hammell making a good contest and being
all but nominated. Again, in 1912, his name was mentioned in connection
with gubernatorial honors, but at this time he refused to allow his name
to go before the convention.

Mr. Hammell has long taken an active interest in the affairs of the
Michigan Traveling JMen's Association, of which he was one of the organ-
izers and was the first vice-president chosen, and afterwards was one of
the directors of the state organization for fifteen years. He was one of
the organizers of Lansing Council of the L'nited Commercial Travelers,
and was a member of the state executive board thereof for a period of
six years, since which time he has held his present position, that of district
deput}' grand councilor of the grand council of the state. Mr. Hammell
is a devout member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, belongs to
the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Catholic Mutual Benefit Associa-
tion and the Knights of Columbus, of which last he is a grand knight,
and also holds membership in the Lansing Order of Elks.

Mr. Hammell was married in 1883, at Williamson, to Miss Eleanor
Williams, who was born in Detroit, ^Michigan, a daughter of Seth Wil-
liams, one of ]\Iichigan's pioneers. Two sons have been born to IMr. and
Mrs. Hammell. namelv : James F.. Jr.. who is manager for S. .S. Kreske,
of Zanesville. Ohio ; and George L., advertising manager for the Cincin-
nati Post, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hon. Rich,\rd R.^ltjabacgh. Holding distinctive precedence as an
eminent lawyer, and wielding a wide influence as a man of affairs, Hon.
Richard Raudabaugh is known as one of Lansing's forceful and useful
citizens. A strong mentality and determined individuality have so entered
into his composition as to render him a natural leader of men and a direc-
tor of opinion and his services both as legist and as public servant have
been such as to confer dignity upon the bar and honor ui)on the state.
Mr. Raudabaugh was born upon the old family homestead in Center town-
ship, three and one-half miles from Celina, the county seat of Mercer
county, Ohio, February 19, 1866, and is descended from a pioneer family
of the Buckeye state. His father was the Hon. George W. Raudabaugh,
who was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1818, and was the
son of William Raudabaugh, also a native of Fairfield, whose father went
to that countv from Pennsylvania when that part of Ohio was still unset-
tled. William Raudabaugh, the grandfather of Richard Raudabaugh,
went from Ohio to the \\'ar of 181 2, in which he served as a soldier in
the American army, and after the close of that struggle returned to Ohio,
spending the balance of his life in Fairfield county.

George W. Raudabaugh was reared to agricultural pursuits, and fol-
lowed fanning in Fairfield county until 1842, when he removed his family
to Mercer county in the same state. He was a pioneer of that community,
as is evidenced by the fact that he was elected justice of the peace of
Hopewell township when that township contained but thirteen voters.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1715

He devoted his energies to agriculture until becoming active in Democratic
politics, when he was elected county auditor, subsequently county treas-
urer and finally a member of the state legislature. His public service was
ever characterized by a conscientious de\otion to the duties of office and a
marked appreciation of the responsibilities resting upon him. At his
death, in 1895, his country lost one of its most helpful citizens. The
mother of Richard Raudabaugh was Catharine Roberts, also a native of
Ohio, born at Logan, Hocking county, in 1822, the daughter of Joshua
Roberts, a Virginian, who was a pioneer of Hocking county. She passed
away in 1881.

Richard Raudabaugh was reared on the old family homestead in Center
township, and there his early education was secured as a student in the
district schools. He was given better opportunities than the ordinary
farmer's son, being sent to the Celina high school, and after his graduation
therefrom entered the Ohio State University, where he spent two years.
Having decided upon a professional career, he next enrolled as a student
of the law department at the Cincinnati University, and in the class of
1891 was graduated therefrom with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In
that same year he was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Celina,
continuing in successful practice there until 1900, when, desiring a wider
field for his activities, he came to Lansing. During the fourteen years in
which Mr. Raudabaugh has been a member of the Michigan state profes-
sion he has demonstrated his ability in many important and hard-fought
cases, and has gained a substantial reputation as a close student of the
law and as a painstaking, able and strictly reliable lawyer. Politically a
Democrat, he has actively entered into public life, and since 1907. when
he was elected alderman from the Fourth Ward, has been favorably be-
fore the public. He received the reelection as alderman in 1900. and in
1910 became his party's candidate for the state legislature, to which he
was sent. Although his services were of an eminently satisfactory
nature, he met with defeat when seeking reelection in 1912, the so-
called "Bull I\Ioose" party movement proving disastrous to his ticket.

Mr. Raudabaugh was married October 13, 1891, at Celina, Ohio, to
Miss Susan Fanger, daughter of Christian Fanger of that city. They have
no children.

Fr.\nk Elmer Gorman. Among the well-known younger men of
Michigan, few have risen to greater prominence than Frank Elmer Gor-
man, deputy state treasurer, who for nearly a dozen years has been identi-
fied with the state government and by reason of his long tenure in the
capital has made hundreds of friends in every county in the state. Mr.
Gonnan is a native son of Michigan, his birthplace being Forester, Sanilac
county, and his natal day March 28, 1874, while his parents are William
and Ann (Murray) Gorman.

William Gorman, the paternal grandfather of Mr. Gorman, came to
the United States from Ireland with his family in 1850, when the father
of our subject was six years of age, and settled after liis arrival at Paris,
Ontario, Canada. In i860, William, the son, who had been born in County
Limerick, Ireland, came to Michigan, and located in Sanilac county, where
he subsequently purchased a farm and was engaged in agricultural pur-
suits for many years. During the flourishing days of the lumber in-
dustry in Michigan, Mr. Gordon was largely interested in timber proper-
ties, and his various ventures met with a full measure of success because
of his business acumen. At the present time he is engaged in extensive
farming operations at Forester, and has a well improved and valuable
property. While his life has been a busy one, crowded with activities of
a personal nature, Mr. Gorman has still found time to devote to the inter-

1716 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

ests of his community, holding various local offices with ability and fidelity
and acting as a member of the board of education of Forester for some
years. He is a life member of the Sanilac Lodge, No. 237, F. & A. M.,
and is the oldest living member of that lodge of the order.

Frank Elmer Gorman was reared at Forester and received his educa-
tion in the public schools of that place and at different normal schools.
He remained at home with his father until reaching the age of twenty-one
years, and then turned his attention to teaching, being placed in charge of
the public schools of Forester and continuing to be thus engaged for a
period of eight years. Mr. Gorman's connection with the state govern-
ment began in 1903, when he entered the state auditor general's office at
Lansing, in a clerical capacity, and continued in that department of the
state service for three years. Following this, in 1906, Mr. Gorman was
appointed a bookkeeper in the state treasury department, with wliich he has
since been connected, winning consecutive promotion through his faithful
application to duty and the ability he has displayed in each incumbency.
In 1910 he was appointed cashier, a position which he held until January i,
191 3, when he was promoted deputy treasurer. Aside from his official
duties Mr. Gorman has few interests, but is not indifferent to the social
amenities, and is a popular member of Lansing Lodge, No. 33, F. &. A. M.,
and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Mr. Gorman was married September 29th, 1S98, to Miss Clara L.
Jenkins, daughter of David O. Jenkins, of Forester, Michigan, and they
have one daughter: Marguerite Jean, who is thirteen years of age and a
student in the public schools.

Hon. John William H.\,\rer. Even in an age and an enlightened
state which recognizes young men and places responsibilities upon them
which in the past have been laid only upon the shoulders of those of much
longer experience, we seldom find one of thirty-seven years entrusted with
the complex details and great trust of the financial end of the administra-
tion of a state of some 3,000,000 inhabitants. Such, however, is the
confidence placed in the Hon. John William Haarer by the ].ieople of Mich-
igan that in the election of igi2 they elected him state treasurer, and that
by a handsome majority. Subsequent events have shown that the trust
w-as well merited. Mr. Haarer is a native son of Michigan, having been
born at Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, April 21, 1876, the son of John
and Catherine (Zimmer) Haarer.

John Haarer is a native of Germany, where he grew to manhood and
received a public school education. In the Fatherland he also learned his
vocation, that of photographer, and upon coming to the United States in
1861, established a studio at Ann Arbor, there following his calling suc-
cessfully for many years. Of more recent years, however, he has been
engaged in the book business, and still a resident of Ann Arbor, being
known as one of that city's oldest and most highly respected citizens. He
was married in that city to Catherine Zimmer, who was born in Canada,
of German parentage, and she also- survives and is well known in the uni-
versity city.

John William Haarer received ordinary educational advantages in the
public schools of Ann Arbor, in which city he was reared, but made the
most of his opportunities and through fliligent and assiduous application
to his studies became remarkably well informed on a number of subjects.
As a youth of energy and ambition, he early entered the insurance business,
and while thus engaged became actively interested in political matters. His
first public service occurred in 1905, when he was appointed deputy state
treasurer of Michigan, an office in which he served until 191 2, his devotion
to duty and recognized ability recommending him to the general public.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1717

In the Republican state convention, held at Detroit in 1912, he was nomi-
nated for the office of state treasurer, at the following election defeated
his opponents, and January i, 1913, took office as the youngest state official
in Michigan. Mr. Haarer'has been equally active in city affairs, and while
a resident of Ann Arbor served from ujoi to 1903 as president 01 ihecity
council. He has an admirable military record, having served in the Michi-
gan National Guard as battalion adjutant, captain, major and assistant in-
spector general, and is now retired with the rank of major. Fraternally he
is connected with Ann Arbor Commandery, Knights Templar and Moslem
Temple of Mystic Shrine, at Detroit, and is also a member of the Elks.
He enjoys membership likewise in the British Numismatic Society and the
Royal Societies Club of London, England.

'On January 6, 1903, Mr. Haarer was married to Miss Klara A. Bissin-
ger, who was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of Jacob Bissin-
ger and granddaughter of Conrad Bissinger, the latter of whom, it is
claimed, was the first German-born citizen to settle in Michigan. To Mr.
and Mrs. Haarer one son has been born : John William Haarer, Jr.

Daru'.s B. ]\[oon. Among the recognized leaders of the architectural
profession in Michigan, Darius B. Moon has won a substantial place be-
cause of his extensive and important activities in and around the city of
Lansing for many years. Mr. Moon is one of those whom the Empire
state has contributed to the professional life of Michigan, having been
born on his father's farm in Cataraugus county, not far distant from the
citv of Buft'alo, January 24, 1S51, a son of Sands and Alary ( Wiltse")
Moon, natives of" New York. The father was the owner of a large farm-
ing property in the East, and was one of the substantial men of his locality,
but in 1853 disposed of his interests and came to Michigan, buying wild
land in Eaton county, not far from the city of Lansing. During the fol-
lowing year his family joined him, arriving at Lansing, May I, 185-I, and
all settled on the farm, which the father was eventually able to brint,' to a
high state of cultivation, making that his home until the end of his life,
although he also gave a large part of his attention to the development
of wild land in the Grand Traverse Bay section, owning the land where the
city of Alma now stands. He died at the close of the Civil War, while
the mother survived for some years and passed away when eighty-eight
years of age. They had a family of seven sons and two daughters, of
whom Darius B. was the youngest.

Mr. Moon was three years of age when Ijrought to Michigan by his
mother, and here, while being reared on the home farm, attended the
district schools. His ambitions, however, w-ere beyond the limitations of
the farm, and as he was not encouraged in his desires for something better
ran away from home at the age of sixteen years, and, going to a carpen-
ter a few miles away, started to learn the trade. For three years he
worked as an apprentice, receiving a salary of fifteen dollars per month
the first year, twenty dollars per month the second year and eight dol-
lars per week the third year, and so rapid was his advancement that before
he had attained his majority he was engaged in contracting for himself
The first house he built netted him a profit of $300, and. with a realiza
tion of his need of a more practical education, he took this sum, pur-
chased a scholarship in the Lansing Commercial College, and attended
that institution for two winters, 1871 and 1872, in the meantime working
at his trade during the summer months. In 1877 Mr. Moon came to
Lansing and embarked in contracting in this city, and soon erected a
handsome residence of his own. During the following eighteen years
Mr. Moon continued contracting in tins city and other parts of the state,
and all this time was preparing himself for the profession of architecture,

1718 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

for which he had always cherished an ambition, securing good, practical
experience by drawing the plans for nearly every building which he
erected. In 1889 Mr. Moon gave up contracting and from that time
to the present has concentrated his energies upon architectural work, in
which he has met with a success that stamps him as one of the leading
men of his calling in the state. Mr. Moon has constructed many of the
costliest and most beautiful homes in Lansing and the surrounding cities,
having made residence work his specialty, among these fine homes being
those of R. E. Olds, Edward Sparrow, Benjamin Davis, Homer Luce,
and Frank L. Dodge. He has also erected, among others, the Tussing
Block and the Olds Motor Company's buildings. Both professionally
and in a material way, Mr. Moon has been eminently successful, and has
invested extensively in real estate in Lansing, being at present the owner
of several valuable properties. He is well known in fraternal circles,
belonging to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights
of Pythias. His religious connection is with the Methodist Episcopal
church.

In 1877 ^^- Moon was married to Miss Ellen M. Sprague, who was
born in Onondago township, Ingham county, Michigan, daughter of Mol-
ton Sprague. The mother of Mrs. ^Nloon died when she was born and her
father when she was still an infant, and she was reared in the home of
Horace L. Olcott, a pioneer builder of Lansing. Four children have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Moon : Florence, an accomplished musician and
successful teacher of music, studied a year in Germany, and is now the
wife of John O. Black, of Indiana ; Dell B., a successful plumber and gas
fitter of Lansing; Princess, the wife of Howard A. Adams, of Lansing,
and formerly of Denver, Colorado; and Mary Ellen, who died at the age
of fourteen years.

George L. Le Fevre, M. D. A member and President of the State
Board of Registration in Medicine, Dr. Le Fevre has for more than
twenty years been active in his profession at Muskegon, and has gained a
place of distinctive prestige as a surgeon, for which his equijjment is
exceptional. He is at the head of the surgical, staff of two of the lead-
ing hospitals of Muskegon, and during his career here has been iden-
tified with several offices in connection with his profession.

Dr. Le Fevre, who has been a resident of Muskegon since he was
fifteen o'r sixteen years of age, first employed his energies as a clerk in
a drug store, and knew all the details of pharmacy and the drug business
before entering upon his preparation for medicine. He is in every sense
a self-made man and is regarded as one of the aljlest surgeons in the
state.

George L. Le Fevre was born at Grand Isle, Vermont, on October
22, 1865, a son of Mathias and Eleanor (La Brecque) Le Fevre. The
paternal grandfather was Joseph Le Fevre, a native of Montreal, Canada,
where he also died. The maternal grandfather was William La Brecque.
Eleanor La Brecque, born in New York state February 8, 1838, died in
1912. Mathias Le Fevre was born at St. Anne Des Plains, Quebec, Feb-
ruary 24, 1830, and died in 1906. He moved to New York State, living
there till he was nine years of age, and from there he moved to Grand Isle,
Vermont, where he stayed till t88i coming west at that time and settling
in Musk-egon. A shoemaker by trade, he afterwards was a merchant,
and a man who managed his afl^airs with a fair degree of prosperity.
There were thirteen children in the family and nine are still living. Dr.
Le Fevre was fifth in order of birth. One son, C. H. Le Fevre is a dentist
at Muskegon. The family are members of the Catholic church. In
])nlitics the father was a Republican, and in Vermont was f|uite acti\'e
in public affairs, serving two terms in the State Legislature.

' "5 ■ "5 »r I

HISTORY OF .MICHIGAN 1719

Dr. Le Revre received his early training in the public schools at Grand
Isle, and also took a term in the fall school. For a number of years
he had to earn his own way and thus secured the means which later en-
abled him to prosecute his studies for medicine. In 1891 he was grad-
uated with his degree in medicine from the Hahnemann Medical College
of Chicago, and in the same year located in Muskegon for active prac-
tice. Along with the skill and matured judgment that comes from ex-
perience, Dr. Le Fevre has advanced his knowledge and capacity by
almost constant study. In 1904 he took post-graduate work in the New
York Homeopathic College of Medicine, and in 191 1 he spent some
months in post-graduate study at Edinburgh, Scotland. For several
years he has specialized in surgery, and has a very large practice in
both surgery and general medicine. He is head of the surgical statTs
of the Alercy and Hackley Hospitals of Muskegon.

On November 14, 1894, he married Miss Alice Ducey, a daughter of
William Ducey of Grand Rapids, Michigan. To their marriage have
been born three children : Louis, aged seventeen ; William, aged six-
teen ; and Alice Louise. The family worship at St. John the Baptist
Catholic church. The doctor has fraternal associations with the Bene-
volent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus, and in
politics he is a Republican. He is also'a member of the Muskegon Coun-
try Club and the Century Club. Governor Ferris apjjointed him a member
of the State Board of Registration in Medicine. In 1S94 he was city
physician of Muskegon, for ten years served in the office of county phy-
sician, and has received many opportunities, to translate his professional
ability into terms of public welfare. In January, 191 1, he was elected
director of the L^nion National Rank which position he now holds.

RoLL.\ND Cr.\ten Allex. Prominent among the young officials of
the state of Michigan, who have contributed and are contributing to the
welfare of the commonwealth bv their achievements along the line of
official duties, is found Rolland Craten Allen, B. A., M. A., director of the
Michigan Geological and Biological Survey, state geologist, and a man
who is rapidly gaining a recognized position in the ranks of his science.
Professor Allen is a native of Indiana, born at Richmond, May 24, 1881,
and is a son of Dr. George Debolt and Florence (Brown) Allen.

Dr. George D. Allen was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1853,
a son of George Debolt Allen, who was a native of New England, and
upon immigrating to the west settled first in Muskingum county, ( )hio,
and subsequently moved to Jay county, Indiana, there purchasing 160
acres of land in the timber, which he cleared and improved into an excel-
lent farm. Doctor Allen grew to manhood in Indiana and attended Rush-
ville College, the Cincinnati Eclectic College of Medicine and a medical
college in Missouri. He practiced his profession in Humbolt, Savonburg,
and Kansas City, Kansas, and then removed to Belleville, Wisconsin,
where he has since been in the enjoyment of a large and representative
professional business. Mrs. Allen was born on the Brown family home-
stead near Union City, Indiana, a daughter of Joseph Brown, who was
born in Indiana, a son of a Pennsylvania Dutchman, who became an
early settler of the Hoosier State.

Rolland Craten Allen received his education in the public schools of
Kansas and Richland county, Wisconsin, and in the University of Wis-
consin, from which institution he was graduated in the class of 1905,
receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in 1908 the degree of Master
of Arts. He later attended the University of Michigan, and subsequently
took post-graduate work in that institution, and was an instructor in geol-
ogy in both universities. While acting in this capacity at the L^niversity
of Michigan, in August, 1909, Mr. Allen was appointed to his present

1720 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

position, in which his achievements have been of a nature such as to gain
him recognition among the leading geologists of the state. He is a mem-
ber of the Sigma Si (scientific) and Alpha Chi Sigma (chemical) fra-
ternities, the Geological Society of America, the American Association of
State Geologists, the Lake Superior Institute of Mining Engineers, the
Michigan Engineering Society and the Michigan Academy of Science.
He is also connected with the Masons, belonging to Lansing Lodge, No.
33, F. & A. M.

In 1910 Mr. Allen was married to Miss Martha Hill, who was born
at Madison, Indiana, daughter of William and Jennie (Culberson) Mill,
The Hill and Culberson families are numbered among the old and promi-
nent ones of Indiana. Mrs. Allen's grandfather was Hon. James Hill,
a pioneer of Indiana, who went to that state in 1836, and in that year
was assistant engineer on the construction of an Ohio Canal, a project
which fell through, and, hearing of the proposed building of the old
Madison Railroad (now a part of the Vandalia system), Mr. Hill walked
to that point. Later he secured contracts in the construction work of the
railroad and handled the cutting through of several of the big hills on
the right-of-way. He was successful in his ventures, was elected to the
Indiana state senate, and died in 1913, at the remarkable age of ninety-nine
years. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen there has come one daughter and one son:
Margaret Jean, born December 5, icjii, and Roland Craten, Jr., born
July 20, 1914.

Andrew Burb.\nk Ch.xpix, of Lansing, has been an officer of the
Supreme Court of Michigan for eighteen years, having started as assist-
ant court cryer in i8q6, and since 1909 has lieen court cryer. He is a
veteran of the great Civil War, and whether in the ranks of war or of
peace, has at all times faithfully and conscientiously performed his duties,
establishing a highly creditable record as a soldier and official. Mr. Chapin
is a native son of Alichigan, having been born in Milford, Oakland county,
December 20, 1846, his parents being Barton B. and Lucy M. (Burbank)
Chapin.

The Chapin family is probably of French origin, is an old one in
.^merica, and was founded in Michigan in 1835 by the grandfather of
Andrew B. Chapin, Chauncey Chapin, who was a native of \'ermi)iit,
from whence he removed to New York and later to Michigan and settled
in the woods of Genesee county, where he cleared up one of the first
farms and where he made his home during the balance of his life. Barton
B. Chapin was born in New York in i8og and was a young man when he
accompanied his parents to Michigan. He was married in Genesee county
to Miss Lucy M. Burbank, who was born in Vermont in 1817, was early
left an orphan, and came out to Michigan to make her home with a sister.
She taught school for a time in Genesee county prior to her marriage.
Barton B. Chapin was the first cabinetmaker in Genesee county, becoming
the owner of a shop at Grand Blanc, and later removed this to Milford,
Oakland county, where he remained until 1851, in that year going to Cold-
water, where he operated a nursery for six years. Returning to Grand
Blanc, he engaged in farming and in selling agricultural implements, and
as agent for the old Buckeye mowing machine, sold the first two-wheeled
mower ever used in Genesee county. He was a Baptist in his religious
belief and first an abolitionist and later a Republican in his political views.
He died in December, 1900, wliile Mrs. Chapin survived him for several
years, passing away in March, 1903.

The boyhood of Andrew Burbank Chapin was i)assed in Oakland and
Genesee counties, and there his primary education was secured in the
public schools. The Civil War came on at this time and found him too
young to enlist, but March 11, 1864, he entered the Union service as a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1721

drummer boy in Company D, Eighth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer In-
fantry, was mustered into the service ]\Iarch 2gth, and mustered out
July 30, 1865. He continued with his regiment in the Army of the Poto-
mac, and was with General Grant's forces in the Virginian campaigns,
participating in thirteen battles and at all times demonstrating youthful
bravery and pluck. After the war, feeling the need for further education,
he attended school for two winters, and then went to Saginaw, where he
learned the trade of sash, door and blind maker, a vocation at which he
spent four years, at Saginaw, and then went to the city of Flint, where
Mr. Chapin was employed by one man for a period of twenty-one years.
On September 23, 1896, ]\Ir. Chapin was appointed assistant court cryer
of the Michigan Supreme Court, and held that position until May 23, 1909,
when he was ])romoted cryer of the court, and on that date also the gover-
nor signed the act which increased the salary attached to the office. Mr.
Chapin is a familiar figin"e in the court, where his long years of faithful
service have given him high standing and have won for him the respect of
men in all ranks and stations of life. He is a member of the Grand Army
of the Republic and of the Knights and Ladies of Security.

On January i, 1878, Mr. Chapin was married to Sarah A. Cook, who
was born at Clinton. Ontario, Canada, daughter of Samuel and Jane
(Wheatley) Cook. Samuel Cook was a native of Nottingham, England,
and came to Clinton, Ontario, in 1852, being there engaged in business
for a number of years. He died at Flint, Michigan, January 8, 1910, at
the age of eighty-six years, being a member of a long-lived family, his
mother having attained the remarkable age of 102 years. Mrs. Chapin's
mother died at Clinton, Ontario, August 31. iqck), at the age of eighty-
four years. Two children have been born to ~Slr. and ]\Irs. Chapin : James
Frank, born at Flint, May 5, 1882, is married and has one daughter, —
Mildred Veronica, born January 4, 1914: and Leroy A., born at Flint,
July 3, 1888, married Agnes Thompson and has two sons: Frank Andrew
and Clifford O.

Judge Joseph H. Steere. The appointment of Joseph Hall Steere
a justice of the Supreme Court in 191 1 brought to the service of the
highest judicial body in Michigan a man whose experience in the lower
courts already covered thirty years, and whose nianv attainments as a
lawyer and a judge have brought him a reputation placing him among the
foremost of Michigan's long line of jurists.

Joseph Flail Steere was born at Addison, Lenawee county, Michigan,
May 19, 1852, a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Comstock) Steere. His
father was a native of Ohio, but the family originally came from Virginia,
where its colonial generations had their residence. Isaac Steere, who was
a man of remarkable energy and industry, and of a strong and excep-
tional character, was a farmer and miller, one of the earlv settlers at
Adrian, in 1833. He later moved to Addison in the same county, but
spent his last years in Adrian, where he died in 1897 at the age of eighty-
two years. His widow died at Adrian, in 190S, when eighty-four years
of age. Judge Steere is the only son in a family of four children. Isaac
Steere had his home in Lenawee county for three-score and ten years,
and was not only distinguished bv his early residence, but also by his
stalwart citizenship and support of morality and religion. He was a Whig
and later a Republican, and a devout member of the Quaker faith.

Judge Steere grew up on the old farm in Addison township of Lenawee
county. From the local schools he entered Raisin \'alley Seminary, a
school conducted under the auspices of the Society of Friends, and was
graduated there in 1871. During the following six months he completed
the course of study in the Adrian high school, so that he graduated from

1722 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

tluu institution, and in the fall of 1872 entered the literary department
of the University of Michigan, where his class is that of 1876, when he
got the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the same year he also graduated
in pedagogy, and had taken some courses in the law department. After
two years of studies in the offices of Geddes & Miller at Adrian, he was
admitted to the bar in 1878.

Judge Steere located at Sault Ste. Marie, then a small village, in the
spring of 1878, and both by residence and by i)rofessional activity has
identified himself with that noted city of the Upper Peninsula until his
recent appointment as judge of the Supreme Court. He served as prose-
cuting attorney of Chippewa county by appointment, during a portion of
1878, and was then elected to the office, and his service up to 1881 gave
him his reputation as an able lawyer. He was elected in 1881 on the Re-
publican ticket judge of the Circuit Court of the Eleventh District, and
at the end of each term was re-elected, his last election coming in the
spring of 1910. He resigned from the office on September i, 191 1, to ac-
cept the appointment as justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan, and
soon afterwards removed to the capital city of Lansing.

Judge Steere was only twenty-eight years of age when elected to the
circuit bench, and practically all his mature experience has been identified
with judicial office. Concerning his early career and some of his conspic-
uous characteristics as a man and judge, a writer in a history in the bench
and bar of Michigan in 1897, said: "When he became judge the circuit
comprised the large area of what is now Chippewa, Schoolcraft, Luce,
Alger, Mackinac, and Manitou counties. There were no courthouses in
the entire circuit except at Chippewa, and Mackinac. In Manitou county,
composed of islands in Lake Michigan, the entire population was Irish,
and was governed by Father Gallagher, their priest, and they ironically
addressed Judge Steere as 'Your Lordship.' In the winter he could reach
some of his counties only on snowshoes, and in the summer in sailing
boats. He has held court in stores, hotel offices, and in other convenient
places of assembly. The judge is a great lover of hunting and fishing.
Fle is a profound student and made a thorough study of the Lake Superior
regions. He has accumulated the finest library of books relating to the
early history of this region to be found anywhere in private hands. Sault
Ste. Marie, where he resides, is the oldest white settlement in Michigan,
having a history running back to 1668. He has received many volumes
pertaining to its history and that of Superior regions generally, from deal-
ers in Europe, and many of the volumes are printed in French. He has
never married. He spends his vacation hunting and fishing, and his even-
ings in study. He has been elected to succeed himself without opposition.
He knows no friend while on the bench. A strange attorney is treated
with the same courtesy while in his court that his best friend would re-
ceive. In past years he has been called to Detroit and other places in
Michigan to preside in the courts, and is known throughout the state as a
just and upright judge. He is not a politician and believes that politics
should have no part or lot in court work. He has done much to elevate
the bench and bar since he became judge. He is kind-hearted and chari-
table and has helped many unfortunate men and women to a larger and
better life. He is a genial and companionable character, and has a wide
circle of admiring friends who love him not only for his sterling qualities
as a judge and public official, but also for his warm heart and sympathetic
disposition. Fle is a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-third
and maximum degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite."

Judge Steere is a Quaker in religion, and in his home city of Sault
Ste. Marie served as trustee of the school board and of the public library,
is a member of the Michigan Historical Societv, of the National Geo-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1723

graphical Society, and other learned bodies. His ckibs are the Detroit,
Prismatic at Detroit, the Sault at Sault Ste. Marie.

Thomas B. O'Keefe, M. D., East Grand Rapids, Michigan. General
Superintendent of Reeds Lake Sanitarium.

Hon. George G. Scott. To lead in the profession chosen for his hfe
work is the laudable ambition of every man of ability to understand what
worldly success means, and it is the closeness with which desires are
realized that constitutes prominence and eminence. Few members of the
Michigan bar practicing at Detroit are better known than Hon. George G.
Scott, who has not alone attained a leading place in the ranks of his pro-
fession, but has also made an admirable record as a legislator, being a
member of the state senate from the Fifth District of Wayne county.

Mr. Scott is a native son of Detroit, born September i6, 1874, of Scotch
descent, his father being Rev. John P. Scott, one of the earliest and best-
known ministers of Detroit. He was a native of Scottsville, Beaver
county, Pennsylvania,. not far from Pittsburgh, and as a young man became
a minister of the Presbyterian church. For nearly twenty years he was
stationed at Detroit, where he was pastor of the United Presbyterian
church, which stood on the site of the present postoffice, at Wayne street
and Lafayette avenue. From Detroit Doctor Scott was called to Monti-
, cello. New York, where he was pastor of the First Presbyterian church
for four and one-half years, and was called thence to Lebanon, Ohio,
where he occupied one pulpit for thirteen years. In Lebanon his wife
died, and from that place he went to Monticello, New York, and there
continued to fill his old pulpit until his death, in 1904. His remains were
brought to Detroit for interment.

After attending the public schools, George G. Scott entered the Na-
tional Normal School, at Lebanon, Ohio, where he took the scientific and
business courses, being graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Sciences
in the class of 1892. In 1893 he was graduated from the law department
of the University of Michigan, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and
was admitted to the bar that same year. With this excellent preparation,
Mr. Scott began practice at Detroit in 1895, and at present is the senior
member of the well-kiiown legal combination of Scott & Stafifors, with
offices at No. 713 Ford building. For a number of years Mr. Scott has
been active in the ranks of the Republican party. He entered political
life as an official in 1904, when he was elected a member of the lower
house of the legislature from the Fourth District of Wayne county, serv-
ing through the session of 1905-06. In the latter year he was re-elected a
member of the house, this time from the First District, and in 1908 was
sent to the senate from the Fourth District, was re-elected in 1910 and
1912 from the Fifth District, and at the present writing (1914) is again
a candidate for the office. As a lawyer Mr. Scott is bright and clear in
judgment, quick in perception, prompt and unhesitating in action. Quick
and shrewd to detect a fraud or sham, he is outspoken in his condemna-
tions ; yet he is always genuine, sincere and thoughtful of his friends.
The fact of his having attained so high a place when yet in the early prime
of life is ample evidence of his marked capability, and his public record
is such as to commend him to all good and right-thinking citizens. Mr.
Scott is a faithful member of the Presbyterian church. His fraternal con-
nections include membership in the Masons and the Independent Order
of Foresters.

On June 5, 1907, Mr. Scott was married to Miss Hattie A. Krause,
daughter of Otto Krause, of Detroit, and they have two children : Gifford
K., aged six years; and Milton J., who is three years of age.

1724 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Stephen Herrick Kxigiit, M. D. The medical profession of the
state has one of its ablest representatives in Dr. Knight, who for more
than twenty years has been engaged in practice at Detroit. Dr. Knight
has devoted his attention not only to the calls of a large private practice,
but also to the broader interests of the profession, especially in home-
opathy of which school he is an exponent. Dr. Knight belongs to an
old and distinguished family in American history.

Stephen Herrick Knight was born at Salem, Massachusetts, October
31, 1862. His parents were Edward Hale and Mary Meek (Russell)
Knight. Both the Knight and Russell families are among the kindred
which has been identified with successive epochs of American history
from Colonial times, and collaterally the relationship extends to other
old and prominent families, among them the Hale, Adamses, Lowells,
(same family as President Lowell of Harvard) and Coffins.

The original Knight ancestor was John Knight, who came over from
his home in the town of Romsey, county Hants, England, in 1635, set-
tling at Newburyport, Massachusetts. His son, John Knight, Jr., was
born at Newburyport, and was the father of Captain Richard Knight,
who was born in Newburyport in 1666, and who was afterwards a dis-
tinguished officer in the Indian wars. Captain Knight was the father of
Edmund Knight, whose son Edmund (II) was at the siege of Boston,
during the American Revolution. His son. Hale Knight, was the father
of Albert, father of Edward Hale, the last named having been the
father of Dr. Knight, who thus belonged to the tenth generation of the
family in America.

The original American Russell in this ancestry was Lewis Russell,
son of a French nobleman and a Huguenot. His parents attempted to flee
from France during the Huguenot persecution, taking with them their
son Lewis, then an infant of less than a year. They found a place on
a vessel about to sail for America, but just before the departure of the
ship, the parents went ashore just what cause is not to be ascertained,
and while on shore w.ere captured and put to death. Thus the vessel
sailed without them, and carried the infant Lewis to America. The
captain of the vessel adopted the child, and subse(|uently abandoned the
sea and settled at Marblehead, Massachusetts. The son of Lewis Rus-
sell was John Russell, born at Marblehead, who became the father of
John Rhodes Russell, who in turn served as an officer in the Louisberg
Expedition at the beginning of the French and Indian war, and was sub-
sequently an officer in the American Revolution, crossing the River
Delaware with General Washington's troops. His name is perpetuated
on the battle monument now standing at Trenton, New Jersey. John
Rhodes Russell married Lois Hooper, whose father was a man of large
propertv interests. They became the parents of a son, Samuel Hooper
Russell, who .served as a soldier in the war of 181 2, He in turn was
the father of Marv Meek Russell, mother of Dr. Knight.

Edward Hale Knight, father of the doctor, was born at Salem, Massa-
chusetts, in the same house in which Nathaniel Hawthorne, a distant
relative, was born. Mary ^leek Russell was born at Marblehead, ]\[as-
sachusetts.

It was from this long line of .\mericans, many of whom w^ere dis-
tinguished by military achievement that Dr. Knight is descended. His
own career as a phvsician has well upheld the standards and traditions
of the Knight familv. After graduating from the Salem high school in
Massachusetts, in 1879. he entered the Harvard L^niversity, taking his
bachelor's degree with the class of 1883. His professional preparation
was begun in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College of New York City,
where he studied during 1885-86, and w-as graduated from the New York

l(^jM^fU^4M^'k'^

'^l V i / -■■'-'.

'.-Hr

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1725

Homeopathic Medical College with the class of 1886, and received the
degree of M. D. Later he took post graduate work in surgery in New
York, Chicago, London, Paris, in German cities and in Switzerland, and
coming to Detroit entered upon his career as a general practitioner in
1890.

Dr. Knight was the first house physician of Grace hospital of which
institution he is at present attending surgeon. He is professor of sur-
gery in the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, is ex-president of
the' Detroit Practitioner Society, his term of office having been in 1910,
and is a member of the Michigan State Homeopathic Medical Society,
and of the American Institute of H:omeopathy. He also belongs to the
American Medical Association and the American College of Surgeons.
From his descent and his own social prominence, he is connected with vari-
ous organizations. He belongs to the Society of Sons of the American
Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of Colonial Govern-
ors, and to the University and Harvard Clubs in E)etroit. He is also a
member of the Detroit Board of Commerce and the Masonic Fraternity. Dn
Knight married Sarah Elizabeth Gifford of Salem, Massachusetts. Their
two sons are Hale Gifford and Rufus Hayward. Hale graduated from
Harvard, 1913, with the degree, of A, B., -g-od Rufus is a juipil in the
high school here. '. . ' ' -J'

Fern L. Shannon. At a time when people's minds are centered upon
food economy, the elimination of waste effort and the sustenation of all
of our country's resources, the work of the state dairy and food depart-
ments is of the greatest importance. Men of the broadest training and
ability are retained by the government in this field of activity, and their
efficient and persevering laljors are resulting in the accomplishment of a
work which is contributing materially to the general welfare. The head
of the analytical division of the Michigan State Dairy and Food Depart-
ment, and one of the well-known chemists of the state, is State Analysist
Fern L. Shannon, who has been the incumbent in his present office since
January, 191 1, and has materially raised the standard of his department's
achievements. Mr. Shannon is a native of Michigan, having been bom
on his father's farm in Benton township, Eaton county, August 20, 1887,
a son of Loren B. and Alice (Sholty) Shannon.

Loren B. Shannon was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, in 1859,
and is a son of John B. Shannon, the founder of the family in this state,
who came here "from his native New York during the early 'forties and
took up government land in Hillsdale county. Here he passed the re-
mainder of his life in agricultural pursuits and was successful in the de-
velopment of a valuable property. The mother of Fern L. Shannon was
born in McComb county, Ohio, in 1861, a daughter of Benjamin F. Sholty,
a native of Pennsylvania, in early life a minister of the Dunkard faith, sub-
sequently a soldier during the war with Mexico, and a " 'forty-niner"
during the rush to the California gold fields. In 1888 the parents of Fern
L. Shannon removed from Eaton county to the village of Reading, Hills-
dale county, where the father was for two years engaged in a mercantile
business, and then went to Camden, which village continued to be the
scene of his labors in the same line until 1909. Since that year he has
been a resident of Detroit, in which city he has large and valuable real
estate holdings. Mr. Shannon is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Modern
Woodman.

Fern L. Shannon was reared in Hillsdale county, and in 1904 was
graduated from the Camden high school, following which he entered Hills-
dale College, and worked his way through a course of one year. In 1905
he entered the department of pharmacy, at the University of Michigan,

Vol. UI— 33

1726 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

where he received the degree of Pharmaceutical Chemist in i()07, and two
years later that institution conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of
Sciences. During the two latter years there, 1908 and 1909, Air. Shannon
was assistant to Dr. J. O. Schlotterbeck, dean of the department of chem-
istry of the University of Alichigan, and in 1909 Mr. Shannon was ap-
pointed instructor in food and drug analysis in the department of phar-
macy at that institution, a position which he held until January, 191 1. At
that time came his appointment to his present office, secured from State
Food and Drug Commissioner G. M. Dame, under Governor Osborn. Mr.
Shannon stands high in the ranks of his profession in Michigan, and is a
member of the American Chemical Society, the American Pharmaceutical
Association, secretary of the chemist section of the Association of Amer-
ican Dairy Food and Drug Officials, and associate referee on Saccharine
Products of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. His fra-
ternal connection is with Lansing Lodge, No. 33, F. & A. M.

Mr. Shannon was married to Miss N. Eloise Whitman, who was born
in the city of Detroit and reared at Ann Arbor, daughter of Harlan Whit-
man, formerly of Ann Arbor but now of Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
One son has come to Mr. and Airs. Shannon: John Loren.

Benjamin Frederick Burtless. One of the most popular and
efficient among the younger state officials of Michigan is Benjamin
Frederick Burtless, secretary of the board of state tax commissioners,
and of the state board of assessors, with which department he has been
connected for more than fourteen years. Air. Burtless is a native son
of Alichigan, and is descended from two pioneer families, those of
Burtless and Carr.

John Burtless, the paternal grandfather of Benjamin F. Burtless,
was a native of New York state, and brought his family to Michigan
during the early 'forties, settling at Alanchester township, Washtenaw
county, as a pioneer. There he took up land from the Government,
cleared and cultivated it, and pa's1?ed the remainder of his life in agri-
cultural pursuits, becoming one of the substantial and highly respected
men of his community. On this farm, in 1842, was born \Villiani lUirt-
less, the father of Benjamin F. He grew to manhood in Alanchester
township, early adopted farming as his vocation, and became one of
the leading men of Washtenaw county. For some years he was identi-
fied with the grain, wool and livestock business, buying these commodi-
ties from the farmers of not only Washtenaw county, but of the coun-
ties of Jackson and Lenawee, and through able business management,
foresight and good judgment accumulated large holdings. He was
prominent in public affairs of the county, and at various times held im-
portant positions of trust, among them that of supervisor of Alanchester
township, an office which he occupied for a period of more than ten
years. Air. Burtless was well and favorably known in Alasonic circles,
belonging to the Lodge, Chapter, Commandery and Shrine. His death
occurred March 31, 1912, when his community lost one of its best and
most helpful citizens. The maternal grandfather of Benjamin F. Burt-
less was Elijah Carr, also a New Yorker and likewise a pioneer of Alan-
chester township, where he settled during the early fonnation, taking
up land from the Government, and developing a handsome homestead
from the wilderness. His daughter, Carrie, the motlier of our subject,
was born in Alanchester township, and still survives.

Benjamin Frederick Burtless was born in Alanchester township,
January 24, 1877. His educational advantages were good, and after
he had graduated from the Alanchester high school he took a special
course in the Ann Arbor high school, following whicn he attended a

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1727

commercial college at Toledo, Ohio, and there learned stenography, type-
writing and bookkeeping, thus Ijeing admirably fitted for a business ca-
reer. Leaving business college, Mr. Burtless spent some time in Inisiness
in association with his father, under whose admirable preceptorship he
gained much valuable experience, and was thus engaged, in 1S98, when
the Spanish-American War came on. On May 15, 1898, he enlisted as a
private in Company C, Thirty-tirst Regiment, Michigan Volunteer In-
fantry, was promoted corporal, and was mustered out as company clerk,
May 17, 1899, after service at Chickamauga, Georgia, Knoxville, Tennes-
see, Savannah, Georgia, and in the province of Santa Clara, Cuba. Re-
turning from the war, Mr. Burtless spent about one year in business with
his father, and then in August, 1900, was appointed stenographer to the
joint boards of state ta.x commissioners and state assessors. He displayed
abilities which commended him for promotion, and was made clerk and
then chief clerk, and June i, 1912, was promoted secretary of the two
boards, his record in this capacity being one which entitles him to recog-
nition among the state's most helpful and active officials. He is a member
of Manchester Lodge, No. 148, F. & A. M., and also belongs to the Royal
Arch Masons.

Mr. Burtless was married to Miss Margaret Blosser, who was born
in Manchester, and is descended from two pioneer families of Washte-
naw county. Her father, Matt D. Blosser, oue of Michigan's well-known
newspaper men, was the founder of the Manchester Enterprise more than
forty years ago, and has continued as its editor, publisher and owner to
the present time. Mr. and Mrs. Burtless reside at No. 331 N. Sycamore
street, Lansing.

Hon. Alex.\nder Woodruff Buel. The state of Michigan must
ever accord in its history a place of distinctive honor to the noble and
zealous pioneer and influential citizen to whom this memoir is dedicated.
Mr. Buel played a most influential part in the public affairs of Michigan
in the formative period of its history, and he was known and esteemed
as a man of fine attainments, of broad and well fortified opinions, of
marked administrative ability and as a leading member of the bar. He
served in various positions of public trust, and had the distinction of l)e-
ing a member of the first legislature of the new common wealth. He was
one of the brave and valiant souls who aided materially in laying the
foundation for the future prosperity and upbuilding of one of the great
states of the Union, and thus every publication that touches in the least
the generic history of Michigan cannot with consistency fail to render a
tribute to this honored and distinguished citizen, who established his
home in Detroit prior to the admission of the state to the Union. In a
previous work the publishers of this edition have been permitted to offer
a resume of the exalted life and services of Mr. Buel, and from that ar-
ticle are taken the data for the memoir here presented.

Alexander Woodrufif Buel was born in Poultney, Rutland county,
\'er;Tiont, in the year 1813, and his death occurred in 1868, at his home
in the city of Detroit, Michigan. He was a son of Ezekial and Sally
(Thompson) Buel, both of whom were born in Litchfield, Connecticut —
representatives of staunch families that were founded in New England
in the early colonial era. About the simple New England home into
which Mr. Buel was ushered into the world the green mountahis of \'er-
mont reared their heads, the while stream and forest lent their influence
in shaping the character of the aspiring youth, who thus became imbued
with a lasting appreciation of the charms of nature— an appreciation that
was eventually to be developed into a love also of all that is best in art
reproduction.

1728 HISTORY OF AIICHIGAN

The Puritan fathers left the impress of their belief that only through
suffering and privation could worthy success be gained. L'nder most
primitive surroundings and with most limited advantages young Huel
did not permit his desire for education to wane, and as a youth he made
rapid and sul)stantial progress along the path of learning.

Early in the childhood of Mr. Buel, we note the removal of the
home and family to the near-by village of Castleton, Vermont, quaint
in its simplicity and a continuation apparently of the beautiful land-
scape and surroundings of Poultney (his birth place) in mountain, lake
or stream.

Best of all, however, seemed the educational advantage gained by
change of residence in the easy access to the Castleton Academy, de-
lightfully located, well equipped in that day for the education of both
young men and women. From its teachings and untiring work emerged
many brilliant scholars, distinguished either in college or elsewhere in
life's work. Catalogues of classes of the older or later day are accessible
at any time in the present. The old fashion of the stately building still
impresses the visitor.

The well remembered classic-pillared village church, in its pristine
white v\ith its old time spire pointing heavenward, stands serene and
steadfast in the midst of the church yard sleepers, who many a day since
rested from tlieir labors — among them sleep the few Litchfield progeni-
tors of the I'uel family, who journeyed far away from many of their
kin in the early day. (Think of the wearisome travel of that date into
ways untried.) In the church yard resting near them sleep those of
their children or others of kin, who lingered in the beloved East to live
and die with their elders, while others of the flock, more ambitious and
venturesome, sought the land toward the setting sun, near-by or far away
Westward and onward to take up their lives thus fulfilling destiny.
Among the latter was young Buel as we discover later on in the sketch.

At tlie early age of fifteen years, Mr. Buel entered Middlebury Col-
lege, \'erniont, and thus is given evidence of the special talent and close
application that had made him thus eligible. Just tw^enty years after
his graduation from this institution he was invited to deliver the oration
at the semi-centennial celebration of the founding of this historic college,
and he ever retained the deepest love for his alma mater. Soon after
his graduation Mr. Buel turned his attention to practical pedagogic work,
and it is a matter of record that he rendered effective service as professor
of languages in several of the representative academies in the states of
\'ermont and New York.

Languages, ancient and modern were to him a source of delight, and
among his papers still extant is found a translation from the French of
one of the oldest American works in existence, the same having been
written by one of the Jesuit Fathers and its context mainly treating of
the Iroquois Indian tribes. He also had translations from the Italian and
Portuguese classics, and in his collection is to be found a most interesting
work compiled by himself. This consists of two books of the Ojib\yay
vocabulary, the context being written with pen and each word being
given its English definition. This exacting and fatiguing work is a
model of penmanship, clear and symmetrical throughout, and even at
the present day the ink remains unfaded.

Like many another aspiring and ambitious young man of the east,
he became imbued with a desire to cast in his lot with the pioneers of the
far west, as the central part of our national domain was then considered.
He made Detroit, Michigan, his destination, and here he soon gained
the friendship of the representative citizens of the future metropolis of
a great connnonwealth. He had previously instituted the study of law,

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1729

and in Detroit he continued liis leclmical studies under the preceptor-
ship of Hon. P.. F. H. Witherel and the Hon. A. D. Fraser, both hon-
ored pioneer members of the Michigan bar. In 1835 he entered upon the
active practice of his chosen profession, and he soon gained precedence
as one of the able and resourceful members of the Detroit bar, the while
he became prominent in public afifairs of both local and general order
in the territory, as is evident when it is stated that in 1837 he was elected
a member of the legislature of the new state, which was admitted to
the Union in that year. He was a staunch Democrat in his political al-
legiance, as had also been his honored father, and he became one of the
zealous and valued members of the legislative body which assembled in
the new capital, the embryonic city of Lansing, where among his con-
freres in the legislature were such representative men as Hon. Robert
McClelland, Hon. Kingsley S. Bingham and Hon. Jacob M. Howard.
In the letters written by Mr. Buel while thus in official service in Lansing
he speaks of the new capital as a little settlement in the woods, with the
plaster so fresh on the walls of the primitive capitol that one might if
desired write his name in the same. He also tells of being awakened in
the night by a cry of distress, apparently from the street. On looking
from his window into the darkness he descried a poor, belated traveler
who was calling for help and trying vainly to extricate himself from the
sticky clay of the unpaved street — and this was in the capital of Alichi-
gan, the location of the same having been recently changed from De-
troit. Mr. Buel was made speaker of the house during the following
session of the legislature, and proved a most capable and popular pre-
siding officer.

At Rutland, Vermont, in the year 1836, Mr. Buel wedded Miss Alary
Ann Ackley, who was born in Montreal, Canada, and whose death oc-
curred in 1850. Of this union were born four daughters: Mary B., who
still resides in Detroit and who is the widow of Charles H. Wetmore, the
subject of an individual memoir on other pages of this work; Julia M.,
who became the wife of General Luther S. Trowbridge, of Detroit, in
wliich city they were residents at the time of their death ; Clara R., who
is the widow of Colonel James Mercur, now deceased ; and Delia W.,
who is the wife of General Garrett J. Lydecker, a retired officer of the
LTnited States army and a resident of Detroit. In 1839 Mr. Buel resolved
to build a home, and he accordingly selected a part of the Guoin farm, on
Jefiferson avenue and extending back to Lamed street. The land pur-
chased by Mr. Buel fronted on Jefiferson avenue and was located between
Russell and Riopelle streets. At that time speculation in land seemed
to be running wild, but, with care and judgment, Mr. Buel managed to
hold Ills land, upon which he erected one of the few brick houses to be
found in Detroit at that period of its history. To compass the walk
from the town to the residence of Mr. Buel on a two-plank sidewalk was
in the early days looked upon as an athletic feat of some magnitude. An
acre of land, contiguous to the land on which stands the old home of the
late Senator James McMillan, contained the then pretentious residence
of Mr. Buel, a brick structure of nearly square order, and also one of the
finest gardens in the city. In this garden was to be found a wealth of
beautiful flowers and shrubbery, splendid trees, as well as fruits and
vegetables, and here the young lawyer employed his spare moments in
grafting, cultivating and other work of the old-fashioned garden. Con-
cerning this phase of his career the following pertinent words have been
written : "Even nature seemed to obey his will, and the frosts must not
chill or the sun wither the verdure of his garden. Over yonder on Rus-
sell street, not far from what was called the "Bush" would be wafted the
bugle calls from the band stationed at the barracks ; then again the beau-

1730 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

tiful band music would fall upon the ear of the young lawj-er-gardener
at his work. All this was the interval of rest to the hard-working law-
yer in old Detroit, and in retrospect the picture is a most gracious one."
The old home of Mr. Buel is still standing.

As to the fashion of the day, it may be noted that the dress coat, the
high silk hat and the satin cravat were a part of the customary apparel
of Mr. Buel, who thus conformed to the styles prescribed for the lawyers
of the '30s and "405. To be sure, the lawyer's fine broadcloth coat grew
shiny in the back as he sat so patiently in his office chair, oftimes writing
his own briefs, and the spectacle would seem strange in the extreme in
connection with the methods of the members of the bar at the present
day — a lawyer thus attired and found working hard in a dingy, dusty
office.

A large French population and a fast growing German contingent in
Detroit led IVIr. Buel to perfect himself in the French and German lan-
guages as an aid to his law business and for use in politics as well, and
he was often heard addressing his political constituents in the German
tongue, of which he was especially fond. We also find here a paper giving
in German his speech made in the presentation of a flag to the Scott
Guards of Detroit, Captain Nicholas Greusel having received the flag
in behalf of the Guards. The paper also records Captain Greusel's
speech of acceptance. In i(S43 ^Ir. Buel was appointed prosecuting at-
torney, and of this office he continued the incumbent for two terms. On
the 22nd of December, 1846, he appeared as orator at the New England
banquet in Detroit. True to his forefathers, his eloquence on this oc-
casion proved him an historian as well as an effective eulogist of the
Pilgrim Fathers, as existing records show. He was ever true to his con-
victions, and in public office, in political councils and in private life he
gave the best of his knowledge and elYort for the good of the state and
nation.

Shortly before entering upon his congressional duties in Washington,
Mr. Buel was again sent to the Michigan legislature, where he was again
elected speaker of the house. In 1848 he was elected to Congress, and in
the following year he assumed his seat in the Thirty-first congress. The
times were replete with great questions and great men, among the latter
being Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and General Lewis Cass, as well as
Sumner, Hamlin, Calhoun, Douglas and others. "There were giants in
tho.se days," surely, and great events were casting their shadows before.
The question of slavery and the incidental political contentions seemed
to augur ill for the nation. Mr. Buel did not become obscure in the
shadow of greatness, for he himself possessed the elements of true
greatness. In Congress he was appointed a member of the committee
on foreign affairs, .\mong the speeches found among his papers is one
on Northwestern Defense, as well as one worthy of especial note in con-
nection with his duties as a member of the committee mentioned. This
is his speech on the independence of Hungary, her tribulations and her
recognition. This speech was carried far and wide, and in the meanwhile
a wonderful friendship had sprung up between General Kossuth and Mr.
Buel, the loyal friend of Hungary. Again we find among the papers of
Mr. Buel a letter ^rom General Kossuth and his own reply to the same^
both interesting historical documents. Not long since an Hungarian
prince or officer who was visiting in the United States met in the east
a grandson of Mr. Buel. The name seemed to be familiar to the officer
wiicn introduced, and after thinking seriously for a moment he said:
"(Jh, yes, we have a portion of Mr. Buel's speech on Hungary in our
school books at home." In the ".-Xmerican Book of Eloc|uence" is also
found a portion of the same speech. In the death of his loved and de-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1731

voted wife, in 1850, Mr. Buel met with a great bereavement, and there-
after his daughters ever continued the object of his special care and
atil'ection. During his sojourn in Washington he wrote German and
French letters to "his daughters, and he was most zealous in furthering
their education — education, especially in languages and music, his de-
votion being repaid by the utmost of filial love and solicitude. The love
of the classics came into his life along the line of music as well as litera-
ture, and he delighted in the concerted music of Beethoven, Mozart and
Reisiger.

Mr. Buel was defeated for a second term in Congress, Mr. Penniman,
a Whig, having been elected by the fusion of the Whigs and Abolition-
ists. In the face of such probable defeat, Mr. Buel voted for the fugitive
slave law, in the hope that in the end this course might lead to com-
promise and peace. No bribe, nothing in the world, could have tempted
him to vote differently, even with disaster and personal loss facing him
in the future. He was true to his convictions, loyal to his country. If
the fight among brothers must come, sorrowing that the fact of a crip-
pled hand would not allow him to offer his services as a soldier, he was
still ready to serve in whatever way he might aid the cause of his own
United States. W'ell are his sentiments expressed in the following extract
from his speech delivered at the banquet tendered him in Detroit on the
eve of his departure for Washington. '"The Union was born by fra-
ternity and must live by fraternity or perish forever." The old is not
better than the new. Those who participated in the struggles and re-
sponsibilities of those days seem greater and nobler, but there is no pen
or brain able to compare the environments and exigencies of the two
periods.

The old time reverence for "The Home" of a day gone by lent a
glory of life and shadow to the setting in the picture of the old home
erected in 1839 on the Guoin farm, as before mentioned. As was the
custom of that day, the one home was sufficient for all time to come ap-
parently. Michigan winters were none too cold for hardy little bread-
and-butter girls and boys, or elders as well of the household. _ Sleigh-
bells would jingle merrily and Michigan lumber campers rejoiced in
the snowstorms or the melting stream to aid them in their work. De-
troiters could not miss by one month's absence from home the blooming
springtime with its fragrance of locust-tree blossoms casting their shadow
and sweetness down the old avenue and everywhere about the old home
of which we write.

Again the wondrous "Indian Summer" of a Michigan autumn. How
could its glories be missed for the novelty even of an ocean trip, to say
nothing of the summers so full of pleasures and comfort in Michigan,
with the refreshing breezes off the lakes, both large and small, off' rivers,
big or little, on which perhaps sailed some primitive craft fitting to those
days. Michigan was then beginning "to take notice." Perhaps already
swelling with pride as outsiders rushed to her shores. Today the old
home of Hon. A. W. Buel, staunch and dignified and beautified in its
old age. stands in the old quarters, still in the possession of Mr. Buel's
descendants — a third and fourth generation passing in and out through
its doorways, busy in the many walks of life, lending spirit to the sur-
roundings. To be sure the beautiful old garden has yielded to the city's
call for more space, to be resurrected jierhaps a few miles out of town
among Michigan hills and beautiful farm land. The bugle call from the old
"Barracks" no longer reaches the ear. The noise of a city's thronged
streets, the din of progress ringing in the air, tells of the great change
from the old to the newer life in Michigan. As a coincidence at the pres-
ent time of writing, we find among Mr. Buel's papers a copy of a song.
The title page reads, "The Old Hearth-stone," words by Hon. A. W. Buel,

1732 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

music by Pietro Centemeri, 1S55, calling to mind that with the writer's
latest breath came the request that the old home, of which we have
written, should not pass into strange hands. Like a message from a
far-away land come the words of the song "The Old Hearth-stone,"
from which we quote two or three lines :

And again :

"I bless these scenes.
Love here to muse."

"Stay, stranger, stay !

'Tis guarded here,

'Tis sacred now,

And yields to Time alone."

Thus we near the close of the record of one brave and public spirited,
who gave of his best to state or country in times of need, who in the
simplicity of his nature turned to write in sentiment and song of his
love for his home, the dearest spot of earth to the early Michigan settler.

In 1857 Mr. Buel contracted a second marriage. Miss Caroline
Taintor, of West Brookfield, Massachusetts, becoming his wife. No
children were born of this union, and Mrs. Buel survived her honored
husband by only four years, his death occurring in 1868, as previously
noted. Mr. Buel accounted well to himself and to the world, and noble
is the heritage w,hich he left to posterity and to the state which he dig-
ified and honored by his exalted character and services.

Cii.\RLEs Howe H.wden. One of the able and prominent members of
the Michigan bar is Charles H, Hayden, who is' now in his second term
as prosecuting attorney of Ingham county, and has been in active prac-
tice at Lansing for the past ten years.

Charles Howe Hayden was born in East Springport, on a farm in
Jackson county, Michigan. May 13, 1879. His parents were Joseph J.
and ]\Iargaret (Gilliert) Hayden, natives, the former of New York
State, and the latter of Germany. The father was born in Sodus county.
New York, in 1843, and Grandfather Rev. Erastus Hayden was a pioneer
]\Tethodist circuit rider, who brought his family to Michigan in the early
days, locating in Jackson county, where he performed his duties as a min-
ister of the gospel, and at the same time exercised his business judgment
and energy, in the acquisition of a fine farm. In Jackson county are now
found a number of Hayden families, and all of them are highly esteemed
people. Rev. Erastus Hayden was a Republican in politics and was present
at the birth of that party "under the oaks" at Jackson. Margaret (Gilbert)
Hayden was born near Strassburg. Germany, in 1850, and was four years
of age when brought by her parents to the United States and to Michigan.
In 18S9 the father brought his family to Lansing, where he still resides,
but his wife died in that city on September 20, igii.

Charles H. Hayden spent the first ten years of his life on the farm in
Jackson county, in the meantime getting some training in the district
schools. His education was continued in Lansing, after tlie family located
there, until graduating from the high school in 1898. While he attended
school in Jackson county, the school house was known as the Hayden
school, named in honor of his grandfather, .After his high school course,
Mr. Hayden took the literary curriculum at Alliion College, and then en-
tered the law department of the L'niversity of Michigan, where he was
graduated LL. B. as a member of the class of 1904. In the same year
came his admission to the bar, and in the following year he took up active
practice at the capital citv. .\s junior member of the legal firm of Black,
Reasoner & Hayden, he practiced four years, and in the meantime, in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1733

1906, was elected circuit court commissioner, and re-elected to that office
in 1908. In 19 10 Mr. Hayden was nominated on the Republican ticket
for prosecuting attorney, was elected, and by re-election in 1912 still dis-
charges the duty of that office with eminent zeal.

Mr. Ilavden is a member of the Ingham County Bar Association, and
of the ^Michigan Bar Association. He has been president of the Young
Men's Republican Club of Lansing and of the Zach Chandler Club. At
this writing he is president of the Ingham County University of Michigan
Alumni Association. His fraternal associations are with the Masons, the
Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and the Elks.

On June 25, 1907, Mr. Hayden married Florence M. Bailey. Her
parents "were Doctor George and Mary (Morley) Bailey. Her father, a
native of Vermont, and a graduate of Albion College of Michigan, has
long been a practicing physician, while Mrs. Hayden's mother was a native
of Pennsylvania. To their union has been born, on August 31, 1908, one
daughter, Mary \'irginia Hayden.

loiiN T. WiNSHip. One of the appointments which did much to
fortifv the confidence of the citizens of Michigan in their new governor,
Woodbridge N. Ferris, was the selection of John T. Winship of Saginaw
for the position of commissioner of insurance. Mr. Winship, who took
up the duties of his office on July i, 191 3, is an old newspaper man, hav-
ing begun as a reporter about thirty years ago, was for a long time one
of the proprietors and publishers of the Saginaw Evening News, has
been prominent in civic and business affairs at Saginaw, and during the
past ten years has been one of the leading Michigan Democrats.

John T. Winship was born at Independence, Missouri, in i860, but
his family soon afterwards came east to Circleville, Ohio, where he spent
most of his boyhood, excepting aliout three years at Washington, D. C,
where he attended the Boys' English and Classical High School. In the
class of 1883, Mr. Winship graduated from the University of Michigan,
and during the following four or five years was connected with the Co-
lumbus Times and Ohio State Journal. In 1888 Mr. Winship first entered
the Michigan newspaper field, as proprietor of the Kalamazoo Herald.
During his residence at Kalamazoo he also was managing editor of the
Kalamazoo Telcf/rapli for a time. In 1892 Mr. Winship and Mr. Eugene
McSweeney bought the Saginaw Evening News and, due to their combined
efforts, it in a few years became one of the finest newspaper properties in
the state. When they took charge a little more than twenty years ago,
The News had a daily circulation of about thirty-five hundred, and in
time they had introduced their paper as a daily visitor into thirty thou-
sand homes, had given its editorial columns a distinctive dignity and in-
fluence, and had made it the best advertising medium in northeast Michi-
gan. Both Mr. Winship and Mr. McSweeney withdrew from active
ownership of The News several years ago.

Mr. Winship has for years been one of the enthusiastic boosters of
.Saginaw, served as director of the Board of Trade, has been president
of the East Saginaw Club, and anything to advance the industrial welfare
and, improve the civic and cultural interests of his home city, gets the
complete support of Mr. Winship. He is an active member of the Michi-
gan Press .A-Ssociation. In 1SS6 occurred the marriage of John T. Win-
ship and Miss Frances Skinner, of Battle Creek. They are the parents
of one daughter.

Concerning the political activities of ^Ir. Winship, the}' are perhaps
best described in the following quotation from an editorial, published
about the time Mr. Winship took up his duties as commissioner of in-
surance : "As a tribute to his worth as a man, and to his abilities, as

1734 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

well as in reward for his faithful and efficient party service, he was in
1910 chosen by his party in the first primary ever held in Michigan for the
position of nominee for United States Senator, and received the unani-
mous vote of his party for that place. He has won the confidence and
loyal support of the members of his party, and the respect and esteem
of all political opponents, and is recognized as among the men of Michi-
gan who in public life have brought credit to the state.

"He was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee, and
one of the executive committee in 1004, and was a confidential adviser
of Woodbridge N. Ferris, the candidate at that time for governor, and
their friendship has grown with the eight years which has intervened.
His splendid work in the campaign led to his advancement as party leader
for Michigan, holding the office of chairman of the Democratic State
Central Committee. He conducted the state campaigns of 1906 and 190S,
and in the latter year it was largely due to his genius as an organizer and
his resourceful and earnest work that his party carried the lower penin-
sula of Michigan for the Democratic candidate for governor, who came
within nine thousand of carrying the state. No man appreciates the abil-
ity and worth of newspaper men more than Governor Ferris, and his
selection of his friend, Winship, for the most important position at his
disposal is a recognition of the splendid treatment uniformly accorded
him by the press."

Robert Lake is today one of the foremost men engaged in the
wholesale and retail coal business in the city of Jackson, and he has
through his activities in this line gained an acquaintance and promi-
nence in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio that is seldom the possession
of men who have withheld themselves from public life. As a prominent
citizen of Jackson, Mr. Lake is very properly given special mention in
a publication of the nature and purpose of this history, even though the
facts are briefly stated, and may be incomplete.

' Born in the south of England on June 24, 1S48, Robert Lake came to
the United States with his parents in 1849, arriving in Jackson county
on May i6th of that year. From then until now Jackson county has
been Mr. Lake's home, and since the year 185 1 the city of Jackson has
been the place of his residence.

Mr. Lake is the son of George Lake, who died August 13, 1880, in
Jackson, and of Martha (Fielder) Lake, who survived her husband by
about twenty years, being in her eightieth year when death claimed her.
Robert Lake was afforded only a meager early education, and his gen-
erous fund of information has been gleaned through observation and
contact, rather than from books. As a boy he learned the trade of a
bricklayer, and for many years after arriving at manhood he was one
of Jackson's leading contractors. Many of Jackson's best buildings were
erected bv him, and his work was a credit to himself and to the city.

In December, 1893, Mr. Lake established himself in the wholesale
and retail coal business, and since that time his attention has been
devoted to this industry. He has added to the handling of coal such
lines as coke and builders' supplies, carrying on both a wholesale and
retail trade in the business.

In 1894, soon after he entered into his new field, Mr. Lake became
the leading spirit in the organization of the Michigan Retail Coal Deal-
ers' Association. TTe spared no time nor detail in bringing about the
organization of this concern, and later on a union was effected between
the states of Indiana and Michigan, whereupon the united association
came to be known as the Michigan-Indiana Retail Coal Dealers' Asso-
ciation. Of tliis organization Mr. Lake was the president for six years.

j THE MW

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1735

Later on the state of Ohio was admitted to the organization, when the
name became the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana Coal Association. Mr. Lake
became the tirst president of the new association and served as such
for three years, when he dechned to serve longer, and was succeeded
by H. H. Dean, of Bluffton, Indiana.

Mr. Lake is a Democrat in his politics, and in early life he served a
good many years as a member of the Michigan state militia. His
fraternal relations are with the Masons and the Elks. He is also a
member of the Jackson City Club and of the Jackson Chamber of
Commerce. As to his Masonic connections, he has advanced to the
thirty-second degree, and is a Shriner and a Knight Templar. In the
Elks lodge he is a Past Exalted Ruler and Past District Deputy.

Mr. Lake has two children: Hattie, the wife of John W. Boardman,
Jr., of Jackson; and Robert Lake, Jr., who is associated with his father
in business.

Hon-. Joseph B. Moore, A. M., LL. D. A justice of the Supreme
Court of ^lichigan since 1895, Judge Joseph B. :Moore has experienced
a career which has l)een no departure from the ordinary type of what
we are pleased to call characteristic of the American judge. His youth
was passed in struggles with limited means ; he won a liberal education
through his own labor, and spent several years as a teacher before coming
to the bar. He began practice in a new western town, then sought the
wider fields of the city. His admirable quahties were appreciated Ijy
his fellow-citizens, who elected him to constantly advancing positions of
trust, and he has spent eighteen years of the flower of his life in self-
denying and conscientious labor successfully to discharge the duties of
his high office. The highest encomium that is possible is that he is an
able, impartial and learned judge.

Judge Moore is a native of Michigan and a descendant of one of the
pioneer families of the state. He was born at Commerce, Oakland county,
November 3, 1845, the son of Jacob J. and Hepsabeth (Gillett) Moore.
The father "of Judge Moore was a native of New Jersey, and was born
May 16. 1S15, the son of Joseph B. and Phoebe (Brands) Moore. Joseph
B. Moore was also born in New Jersey, March 20, 1790. His brother was
a Revolutionary soldier, and died at Sandy Hook during the war for
American independence. Phoebe (P.rands) Moore was born in New
Jersey. January 8, 1793, her father, Jacob Brands, being a soldier in the
"War'of'i8i2. Joseph B. Moore and' wife were married in New Jersey,
July 28, 1814, and came thence to Michigan in 1833, when it was still a
territory. Settling first in Macomb county, they took up land from the
Government in Shelby township, the deed for which was signed by Gen.
Andrew Jackson. Here these sturdy pioneers passed the remainder of
their lives. Joseph B. Moore being drowned in Clinton river, April 14,
1835, while his widow survived him until 1864.

Jacob J. Moore, father of Justice Moore, was eighteen years of age
when he accompanied his parents to Michigan. He had learned the trade
of blacksmith in New Jersey, but as a young man in Macomb county fol-
lowed the carpenter's trade for some time, and in 1838 removed to Lapeer
county, Michigan, where he resided for six years. In 1844 he removed
to Oakland county and settled in the village of Commerce, where he es-
tablished himself in business as the proprietor of a furniture manufac-
tory. He continued as a resident of Commerce until 1858, in which year
he made removal to the village of Walled Lake, in the same county, and
continued to run a steam sawmill for many years. In i860 he purchased
and moved onto a farm, although he continued to operate the sawmill in
the village. Mr. Moore was married January i, 1837, to Miss Hepsabeth

1736 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Gillett, who was born in Monroe county, New York, August 9, 1821, the
daughter of Benjamin and Asenath (Grimes) Gillett, natives of Greene
county, New York. The Gillett family came to Michigan in 1834 and
settled in Macomb county.

Joseph B. Moore attended the common schools, following which he
entered Hillsdale (Michigan) College, where he remained for several
years. Following this he secured a teacher's certificate and taught school,
first at Moscow Plains and then at "Rough and Ready Corners." in
Wayne county, and finally at Walled Lake. In 1868-69 he was a student
in the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and
in June, 1879, Hillsdale College conferred upon him the degree of Master
of Arts. In June, 1903, he was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by
the same institution. At the outbreak of the Civil War, an older brother
enlisted in the Union service and went to the front. It was natural that
the two younger brothers who were left at home should desire also to
show their patriotism, but only one could be spared from the family, and
accordingly, on a December morning, in 1864, the boys drew lots for the
privilege of serving their country. The lucky draw fell to the lot of the
future justice, then a lad of nineteen years, who at once went to Detroit
and enlisted. He had been in the barracks for but ten days, however,
when, to his great disappointment, the surgeon in charge refused to ac-
cept him and he was sent home. The day following his return his brother
went to Pontiac and enlisted, was accepted, and continued to serve until
the close of the war as a member of the Twenty-second Regiment, Michi-
gan Volunteer Infantry.

In 1868 Justice Moore removed from Oakland county to Lapeer,
Michigan, where he engaged in the practice of law. He was subsequently
elected mayor of that city, and was later elected to the office of prosecuting
attorney for two terms, and in 1878 became a member of the Michigan
state Senate. Following this he was for eight years on the circuit bench
of the Sixth Judicial Circuit. In 1895 Justice Moore liecame the Repub-
lican nominee for justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan, was elected
in that year, re-elected in 1905. and at the Republican state convention,
held at Lansing in February, 1913, Justice Moore was nominated to suc-
ceed himself, and at the elections in April. 1913, was elected for the full
term, which expires December 31, 192 1. Justice Moore's mind is of the
judicial order, and he in almost any community would have been sought
to fill a position on the bench. The high esteem in which he is held as a
jurist among the entire profession is the result of a rare combination of
legal ability and culture, and incorruptilile integrity, with the dignified
presence and absolute courage which dignify all his acts. Few men have
gained a higher place in pul)lic regard and confidence.

On December 3, 1872, Justice Moore was married to Miss F.lla L.
Bentley.

Feed A. Rogers. There is no better known figure in fraternal circles
of the state than Fred A. Rogers, grand secretary of the Grand Lodge,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, whose connection with Odd Fellow-
ship commenced nearly a quarter of a century ago. For many years Mr.
Rogers was identified with journalistic work at Readitig, Hillsdale county,
but of recent years has concentrated his attention and energies upon the
duties of his fraternal office, to which he was chosen because of his recog-
nized abilities. Mr. Rogers was born May 2, 1864, while his mother was
residing temporarily in Cass county, Michigan, during the time his father
was at the front during the Civil War. liis father, William Rogers, was
born at Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, December 8, 1838, a son of Dr.
George Rogers, a native of New "N'ork, and an early physician of Ohio.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1737

Denia (Braman) Rogers, the mother of Fred A. Rogers, was horn at
Lockport, New York, November 25, 1838, the daughter of Stephen
Braman, a New Yorker, who settled in Hillsdale county, -Michigan,
in 1845.

\\'iniam Rogers settled in Hillsdale county, ^Michigan, in 1858, and
from that time forward, with the exception of the time he was in the army,
and for a short period when he lived at Waterloo, Indiana, just after liis
marriage, he resided in that county during the balance of his life. lie
enlisted first as a private, in the Eleventh Regiment, Michigan Volunteer
Infantry, and was honorably discharged because of disability, but after
his recovery re-enlisted, becoming a member of the Twenty-eighth Regi-
ment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in which he was commissioned lieu-
tenant. During the latter years of his life, Lieutenant Rogers was engaged
in the newspaper business with his two sons, as publishers of the Reading
Hustler, which paper they established, and he died June 26, 1903. The
mother still survives.

P>ed A. Rogers has resided in Hillsdale county practically all of his
life. His education was secured in the puljlic and high schools, and as a
youth he learned the trade of printer, in the office of the Reading Tele-
phone. In 1891, with his father and brother, he founded the Reading
Hustler, which is still owned and published by the firm, Mr. Rogers having
been editor and publisher of the paper, to which he gave his entire time
until December i, 1911, when he was chosen grand secretary of the
Grand Lodge of Michigan, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with
offices at Lansing. The duties of his office now require all of his time
and energy, even to the exclusion of his newspaper, in which, however,
he still holds his interests.

Mr. Rogers has been active in Odd Fellowship since he joined Reading
(Michigan) Lodge, No. 287, in 1890. He has attended every session of
the Michigan Grand Lodge since 1894, and has held official position since
1900, when he was appointed grand herald. From year to year he was
advanced in positions of honor and responsibility, until 190(1, when he
was installed grand master of the Grand Lodge and served the customary
term of one year. Subsequently he was elected representative to the
Sovereign Grand Lodge for the term of two years, attending the sessions
at Denver and Seattle, and December i, igii, was chosen to his present
office. Mr. Rogers has a wide acquaintance with Odd Fellows throughout
the country, and few officials of this order have more friends or are more
generally popular. He also belongs to Reading Lodge, No. 117, F. & A.
M., and to Coldwater Lodge, No. 1023, Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks.

Mr. Rogers was married January i, i88ri, to Miss Abbie Sherman,
who was born at Bristol, Vermont, September 9, 1866, daughter of
Osceola and ]\Iartha Sherman. Mrs. Rogers died November 30, 1913,
leaving three children, namely : Glenn S., Vetta Z., and Ernest W.

ToNATH.\N G. Westover. The present county treasurer of Muskegon
county represents a family which has been identified with Michigan for
fifty years, and has Ijeen an enterprising business man since reaching
manhood. Mr. Westover has long been known to the citizenship of Mus-
kegon county, and his integrity and business energy commended him to
the voters at the last general election when he was awarded liis present
office as county treasurer.

lonathan G. Westover was born at Nunica, in Ottawa county, Michi-
gan" September 18, 1871, a son of Jonathan G. and Jane (Rae) Westover.
The grandfather was Charles Westover, who was "born, and who died in
Canada, a farmer by occupation. The maternal grandfather, William

1738 HISTORY OF MICMIGAN

Rae, was a native of Scotland, whence he immigrated to Canada, and
spent the remainder of his days in that country. Both parents were also
natives of Canada, the father born in 1836, and the mother in 183S. His
death occurred in igii, while she passed in 1897. Their marriage was
solemnized in Canada in iS()2. and in 1864 they came to Alichigan, and
settled in Ottawa county. The father was a blacksmith and wagon-maker
by trade, and though hampered by ill health at times, was fairly successful
as a business man. There were nine children in the family, and six are
still living, the county treasurer having been the seventh in order of
birth. Those now living are named as follows: Margaret, who married
William H. Young, a police detective at Grand Rapids ; Ruth, who married
Lester Seymour, who has a large farm in Ottawa county; Minnie, who
married Sid Scott, a farmer in Ottawa county ; Eunice, who married
Edward A. Brown, postmaster and druggist at Nunica ; Jonathan G. ;
and Clinton M., who is an electrician at Grand Rapids. The parents
were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the father was
from the time of his American citizenship interested and a strong sup-
porter of the Republican party and its principles.

Mr. Jonathan G. Westover grew up in his native town of Nunica,
where he received a common school education. Later he went out to
Harper, Kansas, where he studied one year in a business college. That
he was willing and earnest in his efforts to secure an education, and thus
advance his capabilities for service in the world is shown by the fact that
he did janitor work in order to pay for his tuition and board while at
school. Later his father was taken ill, and he went into the wagon man-
ufacturing business, to assist, and applied his energies with such good
results that he was soon fairly on the road to prosperity.

In 1891 Mr. Westover married Miss Zetta Lidell. She lived but ten
weeks after her marriage, and in 1894 occurred his marriage to Edith
Hagon, a daughter of Charles Hagon, a well-known farmer of Ottawa
county. To their union were born seven children, whose names and ages
are given as follows : Florence, aged eighteen ; Leslie, age sixteen ; James,
fourteen: Bert, twelve: Charles, ten: Harold, five; and Edith, the infant.

In fraternal affairs Mr. Westover is well known, having affiliation with
the Knights of Maccabees, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Loyal Order of Moose, the Knights of Pythias, and has passed through
the chairs in the Maccabees and is now dictator of the Order of Moose.
In politics always a Republican he has been a leader in public affairs in
Muskegon county for a number of years. He served as supervisor of
Fruitport township for eight years, was chairman of the County Board
for four years, and in November, 191 2, was a successful candidate for the
office of county treasurer. 1 fe now gives all his time to the aft'airs of his
office, and is making a splendid record as county treasurer.

Elmkk N. Peters. For aliout fifteen years Mr. Peters has been one
of the active members of the Michigan bar, has practiced in Eaton county,
has given favorable service in the office of prosecuting attorney, and is
regarded as one of the alilest attorneys at Charlotte. He began, like many
successful professional men, his career as a teacher, and by hard work
and by following his ambition steadily finally perfected himself in the
law, and has ac(|uired a place in the front rank of Eaton county lawyers.

Elmer N. Peters was born in Putnam county, Illinois, December 25,
1867, the oldest son of DeWitt Clinton Peters, who was born in New
York state in 1844. ^fr- Peters finally moved west and settled in Putnam
county, Illinois, at an early date. The maiden name of the mother was
Rachel V.. .Sheldon, who was born in New York state and died in 1908.
DeWitt C. Peters for many years followed farming as his vocation, and

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1739

a number of years ago moved from Putnam county, Illinois, to Spring-
port, Michigan, locating on a farm in Eaton county. He is still living
arid has retired from active pursuits.

Elmer N. Peters acquired his early education in the common and
high schools of Springport, gained a good knowledge of the lower
branches, and after leaving school was a teacher during the winter
months, while the summers were spent in farming. Later on he took up
the study of law, finally entered the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, where he graduated in 1899, and was admitted to the bar. Mr.
Peters began his practice at Eaton Rapids, where he soon built up a
good business and remained until 1905. While in Eaton Rapids he served
in the office of city attorney, and his election to the office of prosecuting
attorney of Eaton county caused his removal in 1905 to Charlotte. Mr.
Peters gave an excellent administration as prosecuting attorney for four
years, and since leaving the office has devoted himself to his large and
growing private practice. He has a well-equipped office and a well-se-
lected law library, and has appeared as attorney in many of the most im-
portant cases tried in the local courts.

In 1899 Mr. Peters married Miss Irene \'. Purges, of Springport, a
daughter of George and Jane ( Houseman ) Purges. The three children
born to their marriage are as follows : Vine Purges, now a student at the
University of Michigan; Bernice, also a student in the State University,
and DeWitt Clinton, who attends school at Charlotte. In politics Mr.
Peters is an active Republican, and fraternally is affiliated with Eaton
Rapids Lodge of the Masonic Order, with the Knights of Pythias, and
with the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Peters has a brother living at
Springport. His home is a neat and substantial residence at No. 412 W.
Lovett Street in Charlotte. From his long residence in Eaton county Mr.
Peters is well known and has a wide acquaintance.

Stephen D. Thompson. After the Civil War had begun the first
man from Newaygo county to enlist for military duty was Stephen D.
Thompson, then a young man who was best known to the community as
a worker in one of the general stores at Newaygo. Since the war Mr.
Thompson has for upwards of half a century been identified with mer-
chandising, and has long held a position among the most successful and
influential men of his county.

Stephen D. Thompson was born in Madison county, Indiana, Decem-
ber 27, 1839, a date which indicates that his family were among the pio-
neers in that section of the Hoosier State. He comes of good American
stock, and his grandfather, Asa Thompson, a native of New York, and
who spent his iast years on a farm in Michigan, was a soldier on the
American side during the War of 1812. Mr. Thompson's parents were
Leonard and Amy (Ferguson) Thompson, both of whom were born in
New York State, and in the year 1810. The father died in 1850 and
the mother in 1849. After their marriage in New York they moved out
to Indiana, later settled in Ohio, and from there came to Michigan in
1845, locating on the new farm in Ottawa county. A few years later the
father started out for California, following the discovery of gold on the
Pacific Coast, and taking the overland route, died in Utah before reaching
the promised land. He was by trade a blacksmith and did fairly well from
a business standpoint of view. There were six children, of whom
Stephen was second, and the other three still living are: Mary Thayer,
a widow, living in Grand Rapids, who was twice married, and her second
husband was a Mr. Cantrell ; Martha, who married ^^'illiam Knapp and
lives in Greenville, Michigan ; and Wallace, who is a carpenter at Lansing.

Stephen D. Thompson grew up in Ottawa county, was educated partly

1740 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

in Grand Rapids, and partly at Newaygo, and liis early business experi-
ences were as clerk in a store, and also as a log scaler. He was employed
in the lumber works for a number of years. In 1861 he went out from
Newaygo county in Company F of the Third Michigan Infantry, and at
the end of eighteen months of active service in the Army of the Potomac
was wounded at Groveton, Virginia, and as a result of his injuries was
discharged from service. Returning to Newaygo, he established himself
in business on a small scale, opening a stock of general merchandise. By
fair dealing and by close attention to his work his business has increased
and prospered, and besides owning the principal grocery store at Newaygo
he has also dealt extensively in timber and logs. Mr. Thompson is also
vice-president of the Henry Roe Manufacturing Company of Newaygo.
In 1866 occurred his marriage with Adelia L. Bennett. To their mar-
riage were born four children, as follows : Louis I., an associate of his
father in business; William P., also in business with his father; Maude
A., the wife of Benjamin F. Gregory, a teacher at Michigan City, Indiana ;
and Howard S., who is cashier of the P"irst State Bank at Grand Lake,
Michigan. Tlie mother of this family died in 1904. She was a member
of the Episcoijal church. In 1909 Mr. Thompson married Jemiie Lappon.
Mr. Thompson retains his membership in the Episcopal church, while his
wife is a Methodist. He is well known in Masonic circles, having been
master of Lodge No. 131, A. F. & A. M., and a number of times high
priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, No. 38, and is a member of the Knights
Templar Commandery No. "jt, at Big Rapids. A RcpuLilican in politics,
he has interested himself in local affairs, always in a private capacity,
but is very public-spirited in his endeavors to promote local prosperity.

Nahum Newton Wilson. Although a quarter of a century has
passed since Nahum Newton Wilson passed from earthly activities, the
memory of his useful, Christian life still remains in the community in
which he spent more than forty-five years, and his influence for good
continues to be felt in the various fields of labor to which he devoted
himself. Born of sterling New England ancestry, at Newport, New
Hampshire, January 10, 1805, he was reared to agricultural pursuits at
Norwich, Vermont, there working on his father's farm in the summer
months and attending district school in the winter terms from the age
of ten to nineteen years. So assiduously did he apply himself to his
studies that when he reached the latter age he was able to secure a
certificate, and for the following eight years was a teacher in the schools
of Vermont and Bolton, Lower Canada. He had secured a farm of
wild land, some 140 acres, and this he cleared and built upon it a small
house and barn. He continued to follow farming there for four or
five years, but at the end of that period, desiring to see what oppor-
tunities awaited in the Far West, he took his little family back to
Vermont and went to Chicago, Illinois. He was not favorably impressed
with conditions in the Illinois city at that time, and after a short stay
removed to Joliet, Illinois, where he followed his trade of carpenter
for a short time. In 1834, owing to unhealthy climate, he migrated to
what was then known as Thread Village, now the city of Flint. Michi-
gan, and here as a carpenter helped to build the first bridge across Flint
river as well as the first dry goods store, the latter known as the Elisha
Beach store. Later he assisted in the building of the first stage and
wright mill, the latter the first on Flint river, and about that time was
offered three acres of land, now in the main part of I'lint. for seventy-
five dollars. In the first mill Mr. Wilson fitted and hung the first saw
ever operated in this city and sawed the first stock of boards produced
here. Succeeding thus, he was encouraged to open the first grocery

'Jtt.i':'-'-' . i'-^i '■^^'Kiy'i'\-'.

i

,/j->'fcrt,'-^>; i.-j>-: .. -X-:,.

cyfoyi-^'yTn^/h y?iZs^^^

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1741

store in Flint, outside of the Indian trading place, and after seeing it
successfully under operation left it in charge of a partner and returned
to Vermont, returning with his wife and children, who had patiently
awaited his coming. On his return to Flint, he found his store prac-
tically depleted of goods and his erstwhile partner in the midst of a
debauch. Somewhat discouraged, though not disheartened, Mr. Wilson
in the spring of 1838 moved into the town of Vienna, and there bravely
commenced all over again, the ensuing year finding him a worker as a
farm hand. He then took a contract to clear a large body of land for
Judge Hotchkiss, of New York, a personal friend of his, and by working
on shares and chopping off the timber was able to earn enough during
the next year to purchase from the Government the east one-half of
the northwest one-quarter of section 25, in the town of Thetford, which
he continued until the time of his death. When the town of Thetford
was christened, Mr. Wilson gave it its present name, after a town in
\'ermont. During the spring of 1843 Mr. Wilson established his family
in a small log cabin, which he had erected upon the twelve acres he had
previously earned and cleared, and from that time on his success was
assured. In the fall of the same year he constructed a block house,
which in later years was succeeded by a handsome and modem mansion.
To the eighty acres first purchased he added from time to time until
he had large tracts of farming property, great stretches of fine pine
forest and valuable city realty, and was able to retire from active life
at the age of fifty years, one of th'e most substantial men of his com-
munity.

While prominent in business affairs, Mr. Wilson also found inclina-
tion and leisure to devote to matters of a public nature. He entered
actively into political affairs in 1838V when, at the second town meeting
held in Vienna, he was named supervisor, a capacity in which he acted
for some three years. After his advent in Thetford he was elected town
clerk for several years, subsequently became justice of the peace and
notary, and in the latter capacities did the greater part of the con-
veyancing for the country around him for a long period. For many
years he was East Thetford's postmaster, being the first to hold that
office, and contributed materially to the advancement of his community
by doing much surveying, platting and subdividing. That he was held
high in the esteem of his fellow-citizens is evidenced that while the
county at that time was strongly Republican and Mr. Wilson was an
ardent Jacksonian Democrat, he was repeatedly sent to public positions
of trust and responsibility. Probably the full extent of his charities
will never be known. Having succeeded himself, he was at all times
anxious to assist others to prosperity, and no worthy request ever met
with refusal at his hands. The opinion of his neighbors, as evidenced
in a testimonial, was that "he is a man honorable and upright in all his
dealings ; one against whom not a word is said ; one loved by his friends
and esteemed by all who know him."

On March 17, 1828, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Phalle
R. Slafter, who was born in Norwich, Vermont, January i, 1806, and
to this union there were born eight children : Mercy E., born July 26,
1830, deceased; Carlos P., born March 9, 1833, deceased; William H.,
born August 8, 1839, a retired capitalist of Flint, Michigan; Farwell A.,
boni Tidv 18, 1841, deceased; John N., born November 19, 1843, de-
ceased; Persis A., born March i, 1846, deceased; Samuel J., born Sep-
tember 3, 1849. a prominent business man of Flint, Michigan; Nahum
T., born February 22, 1852, who has large ranching interests at Belt,
Montana. Mrs. Wilson died August 13, 1863, and on October 31, 1867,
Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Mary Wooddard, who was born at
Hartford, Vermont, July 12, 1819.

Vol. UI— 34

1742 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

WiLr.iAM HoTCHKiss WiLsox. A representative of one of the old-
est families of Genesee county. William Ilotchkiss Wilson has led a
life of tireless activity, which has been crowned with a degree of success
attained by comparatively few men. He is of the highest type of busi-
ness men, and none more than he deserves a fitting recognition among
the men whose genius and abilities have achieved results that are most
enviable and commendable. Mr. Wilson is now living retired at Flint,
but continues to exert an influence over the industrial and financial inter-
ests of the city and surrounding country, where for so long he was
accounted one of the most dominant figures in business development and
progress.

Mr. Wilson was born in Genesee county, Michigan, August 8, T<S3g,
and is a son of the late Xahum Newton and Phalle R. ( Slafter) Wilson,
whose sketch appears elsewhere. William Hotchkiss Wilson was edu-
cated in the public schools of Thetford township, Genesee county, and
at the age of eighteen A'ears took his place among the world's workers,
continuing to remain with his father until after his marriage. At that
time he located on a farm in Genesee county, but after raising the first
year's crop decided that he was not inclined to pursuits of an agricul-
tural nature, and instead accepted a contract to cut logs, this eventuallv
leading him into the field of manufacturing lumber. He liuilt and
operated mills at Forrest, Genesee county, and after continuing suc-
cessfully there for four years moved the mills to Isabella county, where
he also conducted a general store. Through steady perseverance and
well-applied eflfort he gained a fortune there during the next ten years,
following wdnich he built and established the town of Harrison, a
lumber community, now the county seat of Clare county. Mr. Wilson
operated his mills at Harrison until iSq4, when, feeling that the lumber
days of that locality were rapidly passing away, he centered his activities
in the citv of Flint, and purchased large tracts of lumber in the southern
part of Alabama, continuing to do a large and profitable business until
his retirement in iqii. He then located in his beautiful residence at
Flint, which was erected by himself, and in which he spends the summer
months, the family passing the winter seasons in the South. He is very
fond of travel, and among numerous automobile trips has made one
from Flint to New York city with his family. Of an inventive turn
of mind, Mr. Wilson has had a chance during recent years of applying
himself to the perfection of several ideas, and has recently patented one
of his inventions, an automatic signal device which will make collisions
impossible and which, when placed on the market, will be imdotibtedly
put into use by all the railroads. Mr. Wilson is a thirty-second degree
Mason, belonging to the Consistory at F>av City, the Knights of Pythias
and the Sons of the American Revolution. His business career has
been a very creditable one and his reputation in commercial circles is
above question. As the architect of his own fortunes he has builded
wisely and well and the success that is his today is but the just reward
for a life of industry and continued efl'ort.

On December i, 1861, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Amelia P..
Root, a native of Kent, Ohio, and a daughter of Ransom G. Root, a
pioneer farmer of Genesee county. Two children have blessed this union :
Fmma T., who is the wife of John M. Russell, of Petersburg, Virginia ;
and Samuel Avrill.

Samitel .'Kvrill Wilson, the son of William Hotchkiss and Amelia
B. CRoot) Wilson, is worthily maintaining the high reputation gained
bv his father and grandfather. He was born in the town of Thetford,
Genesee county, Michigan, July 75. 18C15, and received his education in

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1743

the township district and higii schools and the University of Michigan,
at Ann Arbor. At the age of twenty-two years he associated himself
with his father in his various business enterprises, and continued as liis
partner until the elder man's retirement. An energetic, virile and pro-
gressive man of affairs, he has accumulated handsome properties in
Clara and Alcona counties, including a fine farm of 480 acres, on which
he specializes in the raising of thoroughbred cattle and sheep. Fra-
ternally he is a Scottish Rite ]\Iason and a member of the Knights of
Pythias, and his religious connection is with the Presbyterian church,
his wife being a leading member of church clubs and societies and promi-
nent in the King's Daughters. He has inherited his father's love of
travel, accompanies the family south each winter, and takes regular fish-
ing and outing trips. Mr. Wilson has always maintained an independent
stand in political matters. He was elected mayor of Harrison while a
resident of Clare county, and was instrumental in securing many reforms
for that community. Like most lumber towns, it was for a time overrun
with lawlessness, there being twenty saloons in a community of only
1,000 people, but Mr. Wilson caused these places to be closed on Sundays
and holidays, and after strenuous efiforts brought order out of chaos
and made life worth the living for the better element.

On June 21, 1888, Mr. Wilson was married to Miss Isabella G.
Levington, a native of Monroe City, Michigan, and daughter of Capt.
Samuel G. and Elizabeth (Hennessy) Levington. natives of Monroe
county. The Captain served throughout the Civil War, being at the
head of a company in the Seventh Regiment, Michigan Volunteer In-
fantry, under General Crooner. One son has been born to Mr. and
Mrs.'Wilson: William Harold, born December 29, 1891, a graduate of
Notre Dame, who is now a student in the University of Michigan.

Donald J. Campbell. Senior member of the manufacturing firm of
Campbell, Wyant and Cannon, foundrymen at Muskegon, Donald J.
Campbell at the age of thirty-six has attained a position in the manu-
facturing world which would be considered a high point of success for
men many years his senior. Through his enterprise he has contributed
to the development of Muskegon as a manufacturing center, his plant
now turns out a product which goes all over the United States. Donald
J. Campbell was born in Carlington Place, Canada, June 6, 1877, a son
of Dugal Kelley and Annie (McKinnon) Campbell. The grandfather
was Robert Campbell, and the great-grandfather was also named Robert,
the later being a weaver by trade, and living near Port Rush, in Ire-
land. Grandfather Robert Campbell was born in Scotland, and fol-
lowed the vocations of sailor and fisherman, spending his last years in
Canada. The maternal grandfather McKinnon was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, and spent all his life there. Dugal Campbell was born at Port
Alend, Scotland in 1846, and died in 1907. His wife was born at Point
Fortune, Canada, in 1855, and died in 191 1. Their marriage occurred
in 1875. Four years later, in 1879, the parents moved to Piufifalo, New
York, and six years later to Chicago, which remained their home until
1905, when the senior Campbell went to Yonkers, New York. His trade
was that of a moulder, and with the exception of some severe financial
reverses during the panic of 1893, he was fairly successful from a busi-
ness stand])oint. For a time he conducted a tavern at Brooklyn, New
York, known as the Rob Roy, and was chief of the Caledonia Society in
that city. In his younger years Dugal Campbell was noted as an ath-
lete. Fraternally his relations were with the Masonic Order, he and
his wife were Presbyterians, and in politics he was Republican. There
were eight children, and four are still living, the Muskegon manufac-
turer being the oldest. Norman is a moulder in Muskegon ; Robert f ol-

1744 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

lows the same business in Muskegon, and May is the wife of Hector
Brown, of Montreal, Canada.

Donald J. Campbell grew up in Buffalo, New York, and Chicago,
Illinois. His principal schooling was in the latter city. At the age of
thirteen, his practical training for life began in learning the trade of
moulder. His first experience in that line was at Rock Falls, in Illinois.
As a young man he learned his trade in dii?erent places in the east,
worked at the Newport News Ship and Dry Dock Plant, also on other
government work, and his early experience thoroughly equipped him
for all branches of his trade. In 1894 Mr. Campbell moved to Chicago,
and was connected with the Gates Iron Works, until 1900. The follow-
ing two years were spent in Milwaukee with the Bucyrus Steam Shovel
and Dredge Company, as foundry foreman. Returning to Chicago, his
services were employed as foundry foreman for Ferguson & Lange for
two years. In the meantime the automobile industry had become im-
portant, and his next connection was as foreman of the Olds Motor
Company at Lansing, Michigan. In April, 1908, Mr. Campbell came
to Muskegon and established the foundry now conducted under the
firm name of Campbell, Wyant and Cannon. The capital stock of this
large local plant is one hundred fifty thousand dollars, and its specialty
is the manufacture of automobile castings, which are used in automo-
bile factories throughout the country. The career of Mr. Campbell has
been that of a self-made man. After a number of years in his trade,
he had accumulated a capital of three thousand dollars, and has built
up an industry which now employs the capital of many thousands of
dollars, does a business aggregating several times the capital stock, and
is one of the important industries of Muskegon. Mr. Campbell has
recently returned from a trip abroad in the interests of his health.

In 1906 he married Miss Nannie M. Arnesen of Chicago. They are
the parents of two children, James and Anna. Fraternally Mr. Camp-
bell's associations are with Muskegon Lodge, No. 274, of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and he votes and supports the Republican
party.

Frederick A. Washburn. An honored and representative citizen
of Ionia county, who has here exerted potent and beneficent influence in
the development and upbuilding of one of the great industrial enterprises
of Michigan is Frederick A. Washburn, who is general superintendent of
the great silk-thread mills and business of the Belding .Silk Company, in
the beautiful little city of Belding, the town itself owing practically its
great commercial prestige and definite civic prosperity to the important
corporation which has given to the jjlace its name as well as its fame, the
works of the silk company here being among the largest in the world
and the products of the same going forth into all sections of the civilized
world. Mr. Washburn individually directed the manufacture of the
first spool of silk ever made in Michigan, and he has been untiring in his
efforts for the development of the splendid industry with which he has
here been identified from its initiation, even as he has stood exponent of
the utmost civic loyalty.

Frpderick A. Washburn is a scion of fine New England stock and is
representative of a family that was founded in .\merica in the early
colonial era of our national history. He was born in Tolland county,
Connecticut, on the 25th of March, 1855, and is a son of Alanson and
Laura (\Vhite) Washburn, whose marriage was there solemnized on the
1st of November, 1852. Alanson Washburn was born and reared in Con-
necticut, as was also his wife, and during the entire course of a long
and useful career of productive activity he was engaged in the foundry
business at Coventry, Tolland county, Connecticut, where he died on the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1745

i4tli of December, 1894, his loved and devoted wife having been sum
moned to eternal rest on the 20th of November, 1884. 15oth received
good educational advantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality
and period, and ^Irs. Washburn had been a successful and jiopular
teacher prior to her marriage. Alanson Washburn was undeviating in his
allegiance to the Republican party, and as a representative of the same he
served one term in the legislature of Connecticut, though he never had
any ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He was a
son of Seth and Katherine Washburn, both of whom were born in New
England, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and his father like-
wise was engaged in the foundry business for many years.

Frederick A. Washburn availed himself of the advantages of the
jniblic schools of Coventry, his native town, and after carrying forward
his studies in the high school for two terms he became associated with
his father's foundry business, in which connection he acquired both tech-
nical skill and practical knowledge of business methods and policies. At
the age of twenty-five he severed his association with the foundry and
entered the employ of the Belding Brothers Company. In 1886, upon
the founding of the company's plant at Belding, Michigan, Mr. Wash-
burn came to this city, where he has since maintained his home and where
he personally supervised the manufacture of the first spool of silk turned
out not only in the local factory but in the state of Michigan. He is
now general superintendent of the fine mills of the Belding Company,
and is known as a most able executive officer, as well as a business man
of much initiative and constructive ability.

Mr. Washburn has identified himself most fully and enthusiastically
with Belding and with the state of his adoption, and he has been infiu-
ential in the Ionia county ranks of the Republican party, of whose prin-
ciples he is a staunch advocate and supporter. He is at the present time
a member of the board of control of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane
that is located in the city of Ionia, and he has held this office for six years.
He was presidential elector on the Republican ticket for Michigan in the
election of 1908, and he has otherwise been zealous in the promotion of
the party cause. He was international silk juror at the Louisiana Pur-
chase Exposition held in the city of St. Louis, in 1904, and in a similar
association he received a medal of honor at the great Paris Exposition of
1900. tie is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

At South Coventry, Tolland county, Connecticut, on the 29th of July,
1880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. W'ashburn to Miss Ella M.
Wood, and they have four children, whose names, with respective ages,
are here indicated: Carlton W., thirty-two years; Florence E., thirty
years ; Harold O., twenty-eight years ; and Frederick S., twenty-
four years. Both Carlton and Harold were graduated in the University
of Michigan ; Florence completed a course in the Milwaukee-Downer
College, in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; and Frederick has been
graduated in the Ferris Institute, at Big Rapids, ]\Iichigan, and in the
Detroit Business College.

William Edward Ware. One of the ablest and most successful
members of the Battle Creek bar, Mr. Ware may be said to have begun
his practical career as a hard-working and self-supporting student more
than forty years ago in a law office at Marshall. He was not sent to
college as the son of a prosperous father, but his education like everything
he has obtained, was the result of his determined purpose and industrous
labor. Mr. Ware has gained numerous important distinctions both at
the bar and in public affairs, is one of the best known men in Southern
Michigan, has been identified at different times with the bar and public
affairs of Coldwater, Jackson, Battle Creek and other places, and through

1746 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

his career represents many of the fine quahties of his profession and
of civic life in Michigan.

A hfelong ^Michigan man, born in Allegan county, December ig, 1850,
William Edward Ware is a son of Sylvester S. and Judith E. (Watkins)
Ware. His father was born in Vermont and his mother near Watkins
Glen in New York. The founder of the Ware family was Mr. Ware's
grandfather, who located in Michigan before 1836, and was a pioneer
settler and one of the first ministers of the Presbyterian church in the
state. Sylvester Ware and wife were married in Indiana, lived for
several years in Allegan county, had their home in Athens in Calhoun
county until 1861, and after two years residence at Colon returned to
Athens. The father, though a man of frail constitution, had wonderful
energy and was a man of Ijusiness leadership. At Colon he built a mill
for the manufacture of interior finishings, and on returning to Athens
improved tlie water power and constructed a similar factory-. He was a
builder, and many of the substantial structures erected by him in the
vicinity of Athens are still standing as proof of his reliable workman-
ship. He finally left Michigan and went out to the new country of
North Dakota and took up land, was unable to endure the rigors of the
climate, and died there January 23, 1873. During the war, though
unable to go to the front on account of physical disabilities, he performed
ettective service for the Union in raising troops and funds for the cause.
He was a strong anti-slavery man, and early Whig in politics, and later
a Republican. He was a member of the Masonic order, and belonged
to the Methodist church. His wife died at Union City, Michigan,
February 8, 1877. Of their four children, one died in infancy, William
E. is the oldest; Charles Clark Ware has for many years been promi-
nent in charitable work, was an organizer and officer of the State Federa-
tion of Humane Society for Ohio, is at the head of the Toledo Humane
Society at the present time ; the daughter Carrie Belle married Charles
Gunthorpe, and she died near Mendon in .September, 1909.

With an education acquired in the village schools of Athens and Colon,
William E. Ware in June, 1872, left the farm and began the study of law
in the office of James A. Minor, one of the ablest lawyers of Marshall,
and who later served as a Federal judge in Utah Territory. Young Ware
on entering Mr. Minor's office had a salt-and-pepper suit two sizes too
large, and was what might be called a verdant boy, with only ambition
and inexhaustible energy to carry him forward. In a few months he
ceased to rely upon his father to support him, and had soon begun to
make a name for himself. In January, 1875, he moved to Union City,
and continued his studies under the direction of Marc. A. Merrifield,
and was admitted to the bar upon examination in open court at Coldwater
in June, 1878. In the meantime he had served as city attorney at Union
City, and in the fall of 1879 moved to Coldwater and became junior mem-
ber of the firm of Thompson & Ware, the senior partner being Judge
Thompson, now deceased, who for many years was one of the leaders
of the Branch county bar. In the spring of 1880, Mr. Ware opened
an office of his own at Coldwater, and was soon in the enjoyment of a
large and profitable practice. In 1887 he formed a partnership with
Elmer E. Palmer, now one of the ablest lawyers of southern Michigan.
In the fall of 1891, Mr. Ware moved to Jackson, practiced as head of
the firm of Ware & Price, for a time, and in September, 1892, became
a partner of Charles H. Smith, who for some years past has been a
Federal judge in the Philippines. He was with Mr. Smith about four
years, and in 1896 their partnership was dissolved and Mr. Ware con-
tinued in practice alone at Jackson until 1903, when he moved to Battle
Creek. Since then he has had offices in the Post building of that city

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1747

and has a splendid practice. He is especially well known for his skill
as a trial lawyer and has few equals in this field of his profession.

In the vicissitudes of politics from the early '70s until recent years,
Mr. Ware has had an ample and important share. While a student of
law at Union City he became interested in the currency question, then
vexing the country, and made himself an authority on many phases of
financial and political economy. A keen and able debater, he early gained
a reputation for cogency and clearness of argument, and in the spring of
1876 began his public career as a speaker before country political meet-
ings in the vicinity of Union City. During the summer of 1876, in the
presidential campaign, he was called upon for campaign addresses all
over Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana, his main subject being
the currency. For more than twenty years Mr. Ware was one of the
best known campaign orators and political thinkers in Southern Michigan.
At the same time he was a worker in practical politics and held a number
of offices of trust and responsibility. From 1876 to 1879 he was city
attorney of Union City, and in the campaign of 1878 was nominated on
the greenback ticket for prosecuting attorney of Branch county. There
were three tickets in the field, Republican, Democratic and Greenback.
The Republicans carried most of the offices, and Mr. Ware was defeated
by sixty-seven votes. As the Australian ballot system was not yet in use,
election officials had much more power over elections than they have at
present, and a number of years later it was learned that Mr. Ware had
been counted out of his election. During his residence at Coldwater,
Mr. Ware continued busy with politics. In 1880 he was not in
sympathy with the coalition between the Democratic and Greenback
parties, though his own name was placed on the joint ticket for the office
of prosecuting attorney. As the fusion between the Greenbackers and
Democrats continued, Mr. Ware in 1882 left his old affiliation, and became
an active worker in behalf of the Republicans, and continued to give his
support to the Republican interests until 1896. In all the succeeding cam-
paigns during that time he was one of the most popular speakers and
often spent many days and nights in the arduous labor of campaigning
and stump speaking, at a time when political addresses were a more
important means of reaching the people, than they are at present, when
newspapers and other literature are more generally employed. All the
national leaders of his time Mr. Ware probably gave most unqualified
support to James G. Blaine, whom he still looks upon as one of the
greatest statesmen of the last half century.

On the currency problem, until it was definitely settled, Mr. War^
was emphatically in favor of the double standard and also of greenback
currency. However, it should be noted that he was opposed to "fiat
money," but held that the endorsement and stamp of the Federal Govern-
ment was sufficient guarantee of the integrity of all currency used by
the world of business. Mr. Ware, during those years, was much in
advance of the times in many of his political policies. He favored the
postal savings bank years before it was established, the conservation of
natural resources, the holding of public lands for actual settlers, a tariff
system, neither on the basis of protection nor of free trade, but such
as to equalize the difference between the cost of labor here and in foreign
countries, and was especially an advocate of the doctrine of reciprocity,
which James G. Blaine for so many years brilliantly propounded.

During his residence in Coldwater, Mr. Ware was a member of the
city Board of Education in 1881-82. In the campaign of 1886 he was
elected by the Republicans as prosecuting attorney of Branch county, an
office he held two terms. He decHned a third nomination in order to
move to Jackson. While he and Mr. Smith were partners at Jackson,

1748 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

their office was Republican headquarters in that city. Both were silver
Republicans, and in 1896 his views on the financial question led Mr. Ware
to support Bryan instead of McKinley. He has never considered
this a real split with his party, since the Michigan Republicans in the
state for a number of years previously had advocated the bi-metallic policy.
At the Republican convention in Lansing that year, Mr. Ware "walked
out" and returning to Jackson called a Silver Republican county con-
vention. In response a number of silver old-line Republicans responded,
and the party was fully organized in the county, with Mr. Ware as
chairman of the county committee. Subsequently in the conventions
of the Populist, Democratic and Silver Republicans at Jackson,
Mr. Ware's name was placed on the fusion ticket for the office of regis-
ter of deeds. At that time he was serving as city attorney of Jackson,
and made a splendid and effective campaign through the county and
received a substantial plurality for his office. The state convention of
the Silver Republicans that year was attended by more than seven
hundred and fifty Republican members, and Mr. Ware, on the conference
committee, became the author of the party vignette which was placed
at the head of the ticket, consisting of the silver dollar with the words,
"sixteen to one." .Mr. Ware served as register of deeds of Jackson county
from 1896 to 1898, but after 1900 was seldom prominent in political
campaigns. In 1909-10 he was city attorney of Battle Creek.

Mr. Ware has affiliations with A. T. Metcalf Lodge No. 419, A. F. &
A. M., of Battle Creek; Jackson Chapter No. 3, R. A. M.; also with
the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Modern Maccabees of
Jackson. He and his family have long been identified with the Presby-
terian church. On October 2, 1879, Mr. Ware married Miss Elva V.
Wood. Her father, F. H. Wood, was for many years proprietor of the
"Old Pine Creek House," a popular early hotel on the Battle Creek Road
four miles north of Athens, a popular stopping place for farmers and
other travelers along that highway. Mr. Wood was also a prominent
stock buyer. Mrs. Ware was born in the old hotel, was educated in the
country schools and the Union City high school, of which she is a grad-
uate. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ware is Donald R. Ware, who was
born at Coldwater, September 7, 1884, was educated in the Jackson
schools, and is now in the insurance and stock and bond business at
Battle Creek. In August, 1910, Donald R. Ware married Miss Maud
McTaggart.

John Whiteley. An extremely successful merchant, a business man
whose grasp of large affairs made him one of the commercial leaders of
his time, the late John Whiteley, of Lansing, was more than a successful
business man. While all admired him for the unsullied prosperity that
he won, it was his incorruptible integrity, his thorough kindness in all the
relations of human life, and the sterling character which proved the
attributes by which he was best distinguished and esteemed throughout
his long residence in the capital city.

John Whiteley was born at Palmyra, Wayne county. New York, Jan-
uary 28, 1828, and his death occurred in Lansing on May i, 1891. While
his career was one of self attainment largely, he owed many of the facul-
ties of his character to his inheritance from a fine father and a noble
mother. His parents were William and Elizabeth (Dean) Whiteley.
William Whiteley, who was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1791, immi-
grated to America in 1812, and in May, 1S22, was married in the historic
Old South Church of Boston to Elizabeth Dean. Her birthplace was
Salem, Massachusetts, and the date of her birth, September 21, 1800.
She was a granddaughter of James Williams, one of the patriots of the

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1749

Revolutionary war. He participated in many of its hard-fought battles,
and his vigorous action, stubborn pluck and brilliant dash gained for him
an enviable reputation throughout his regiment. His wife, Ann Williams,
attended the grand ball given in honor of George Washington in Salem
in 1789, the most brilliant affair ever given in that city, and to Mrs. John
Whiteley was granted the opportunity of seeing in the Salem Museum a
dress worn by Airs. William Gray at this grand occasion given in Wash-
ington's honor, and also of seeing the old colonial mansion where he was
entertained on this memorial visit to Salem in 1789. William Gray was
one of the richest men in Massachusetts at that time. Elizabeth (Dean)
Whiteley also numbered among her ancestors, Joseph Millett, her great-
uncle and another of the brave and fearless soldiers of the Revolutionary
war. He carried dispatches for his general on the end of his gun. so
that he could shoot tJTe documents into fragments in case he met the
enemy.

Mrs. Elizabeth Whiteley was in many ways a remarkable woman, both
through the strength and sweetness of her character and her varied
experiences. At the time of General Lafayette's second visit to this coun-
try she was one of the young women leading the procession in his honor
in Boston, who strewed flowers in the roadway over which the general's
carriage was to pass. She often told of the triumphal arch built for the
occasion, brilliant with flags and flowers, with ladies standing at the four
corners holding flags. The men were in colonial dress, with powdered
wigs, and the ladies wore light brocaded satin, with elbow sleeves and
fancy bags were hanging on their arms. Mrs. Whiteley lived in Salem
during the height of its prosperity as a port and ship building center,
and saw many American ships launched from the Crowninshield wharf,
among them the noted vessel "Fame." Another boat which possessed
special associations for her family was the first yacht built in America,
and its owner. William Gray, and her father sailed in it to France and
afterward to St. Helena, the island prison of the deposed Napoleon, whom
thev saw and whom they secretly hoped to rescue and bring to America.
During her residence at Richmond, Virginia, Mrs. Whiteley became ac-
quainted with the old body servant of Washington, and learned from that
source many interesting anecdotes of the Father of Our Country. At
Charlottesville, Virginia, she frequently visited the old home of Thomas
Jefferson, and attended services in the church he had helped to build.
While her home was at Palmyra, New York, she saw, with the aid of the
"gold spectacles" the "gold plates" which had been dug up by Joseph
Smith, the founder of the Mormon church. She also became acquainted
with this Joseph Smith. The "gold plates" were dug out of what is now
called Mormon Hill, and by looking through the famous spectacles Mrs.
Whiteley could read the writing on the plates. This was near the year
1828. As above stated, Mr. and Mrs. Whiteley were married in Boston,
and they made their home in that city for some time, and, possessed of
ample resources, the luxury of travel was extensively indulged in the
southern states, the modes of conveyances at that time being the stage
coach, the canal boat, the sailing oacket and horseback. They also re-
sided for a time in Philadelphia, when the watchmen would walk the
streets at night ; when these officers wore the continental hats and long
black coats ; and carried candles in their tin lanterns, the sides of which
were perforated with many holes, through which a dim light was shed.
Mrs. Whiteley would often relate how these men would call the hour of
the night, and add "and all is well." In every front hall people were com-
pelled to keep a leather fire bucket filled with water, and when these night
officers would call fire every man dressed, took his bucket and ran to the
fire to assist the firemen. While on a visit to New York City with her

1750 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

husband she also saw the Clermont, the first American steamboat, on her
maiden trip, and witnessed the fear and anxiety of the people gathered on
the shore lest the boat would be blown up.

Soon after their marriage William Whiteley and wife removed from
Boston to Richmond, Virginia, later to Charlottesville, from there to
Palmyra, and in 1844 settled in Newark, Ohio. A year or two later they
went to Wheeling, West \'irginia, and were living there when General
Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States. Mrs. White-
ley often told of the overwhelming ovation he received when he entered
that city in a stage coach drawn by si.x horses. He went overland all the
way from Nashville to Washington. In 1848 Mr. and Mrs. Whiteley
returned to Ohio and located at Toledo, where the former was engaged
as a boot and shoe merchant. In 1850 they came to Lansing, and he was
engaged in the boot and shoe business here until his death, on May 30,
1859. His removal from Ohio to Lansing was accomplished on a large
"prairie schooner," drawn by a span of the largest horses ever seen in
Lansing up to that time. It was a journey requiring twenty-eight days,
and the railroad era in Michigan had hardly begun. It was thus in the
pioneer days that Mrs. Elizabeth Whiteley came to Lansing, and in this
city she spent the remainder of her life, passing away June 15, 1893, at
the venerable age of ninety-three. Her life's recollections will be in-
tensely interesting to the children of later generations, and a publication
of the reminiscences she could add thereto would be priceless to history.

John Whiteley spent his early youth and manhood in the various lo-
calities above mentioned, and one of his early experiences in practical
affairs was in teaming along the old National road between Wheeling,
West Virginia, and Zanesville, Ohio, loading his wagon for one trip with
produce and returning with a varied assortment of merchandise. He
was still a young man when he came to Lansing, and for a time was en-
gaged in the freighting business along the highway between Lansing and
Detroit. His work as an independent merchant began in 1851, with the
opening of a small stock of groceries, and having the qualities and the
enterprise of the born merchant he steadily increased his business and
prospered until he became one of the wealthy men of Lansing. Many
incidents might be mentioned to indicate his thorough qualifications as a
business man, but one will suffice to illustrate the kindness which always
actuated him in his business as well as private affairs and his sturdy
loyalty to his country. During the second year of the Civil war the
county had issued vouchers to the wives and widows of soldiers who had
gone from Ingham county, these vouchers representing promises to pay
and designed to afford means of securing supplies from local merchants.
Other Lansing merchants refused to accept them, but Mr. Whiteley
readily exchanged all that were presented to him in payment of supplies,
and in the end never lost a dollar by the transaction. His prosperity was
won on the basis of straightforward business, never tinged with specula-
tive methods, although he also exercised good judgment in his invest-
ments. During the early days he leased some ground in Lansing and
erected five stores on Washington avenue, but some time later a fire de-
stroyed all of them without insurance. His rectitude was never ques-
tioned during all his career. John Whiteley was a man of energetic
character, marvellously clear business judgment and great determination,
and a business man to whom much of the city of Lansing's prosperity is
due. His friendship when secured never failed ; he was charitable, benev-
olent and ever ready to assist the needy, and in his home was a kind and
indulgent husband and father. In religious views he was quite liberal, and
politically was a stanch Democrat. The later years of his life were spent
in semi-retirement from business affairs, and he traveled extensively,
usually spending his winters in the South.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1751

In February, 1856, Mr. Whiteley married Elizabeth Briggs, who was
born in Perth, Ontario, Canada, February 14, 1836, and is still living
at her home in Lansing, a city that she has seen grow up from a frontier
village. Her parents were Stanley and Anna (Uean) Briggs, natives of
Dublin, Ireland, who became acquainted while on a sailing vessel that
brought them to America. They were married in the Episcopal church
in Quebec, Canada, in 182 1, and in 1842 they and their children accom-
plished the journey from Canada to Michigan in wagons. For a few
years they lived at DeWitt, and ^Ir. Briggs was a carpenter and mill-
wright, and was employed during the erection of the first capital at
Lansing. He located permanently in that city in 1848, and afterward
for many years was engaged in the general mercantile business. His
wife died in April, 1868, and he passed away in the following June, after
they had been married forty-nine years. Mr. and ]\Irs. \\'hiteley were
the parents of two daughters. Isabelle, born in 1858, died in i8(j2. Xellie
Whiteley, who was born in 1862, now lives with her mother in Lansing
and has long been one of the active leaders in local society. In their
long and happy married life of thirty-five years Mr. and Mrs. Whiteley
were never separated but a few days at a time, when it was necessary
for the husband to go to New York on business matters. Possessed of
a singularly cheerful and hopeful disposition, a generous and charitable
nature, and in full sympathy with her husband's work and deeply in-
terested in all his undertakings, Mrs. Whiteley was a great aid and in-
spiration to him and with her timely aid and counsel helped him gain his
life's success.

The preceding paragraphs contain only a brief outline sketch of the
career of the late John Whiteley, and in order to supplement what has
been said and to indicate some of the more fundamental aspects of his
character and the esteem in whicli he was held by his connnunity there
is published the following poem, written by Byron M. Browne, entitled:
''On the Death of John Whiteley."

I.

After a busy life,
Burdened with cares and strife,
Death brought a sweet surcease
Of gentle rest and peace.
As one who calmly nears
A long day's quiet close,
He met, when ripe in years,
Death's gentle, sweet repose,
Conscious of duty done
And honors nobly won.
He sought no high renown,
But proved that gentle deeds.
Supplying wants and needs,
Are more than glory's crown !
Though lowly be began.
Deprived of fortune's aid.
He pressed on to the van
Of proud, successful trade,
And honest, true, self-made,
A hero and a man !
Teaching a lesson well,
That men will love to tell —
A lesson to mankind
That all may proudly share,

1752 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Giving the youthful mind
Courage to do and dare!

II.

Though oft deceived and bhnd,

For human judgment errs,

The most of all mankind

Are hero worshippers !

They love the men of power,

The heroes of the hour.

Whose deeds or words increase

Glory of war or peace.

Heroes as great as these

Pursue life's common ways,

And toil through all their days,

Not knowing rest or ease;

Supplying human needs.

Performing noble deeds ;

Gaining the honors made

In commerce and in trade ;

Cultivating of the land.

Building cities grand !

Not writing learned tomes.

Or rearing mighty domes,

But making happy homes!

Unpraised by tongue or pen,

Unhonored or unsung !

O, such was he, we know,

Who lieth cold and low !

Who bought and sold and wrought

And decorated earth

With products of his worth

And proud commercial thought 1

II T.

O mourn him not as dead.
Though he has gone to rest
Within an earthly bed.
As on a mother's breast.
We know that he was true
And honest to the end.
Gave every man his due
And was a faithful friend;
And though, perhaps, he erred
Often in thought and deed.
His epitaph shall read,
He akvays kept his zvord!
With all that could refine.
Or happiness impart.
He made his home a shrine,
The Mecca of his heart !
Rewarded by the love.
All earthly things above,
Of wife's devotion rare.
And daughter's loving care,
O mourn him not, our friend.
But all his work commend ;

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1753

For life-work nobly done,
For triumphs proudly won !
Death has no lasting gloom,
Confined to earth and tomb,
No banishment for day,
No sleep or dull decay,
No weight of clay and clod ;
For death is but the way
To the eternal ray
Of everlasting light,
And Fatherhood of God,
When we shall say good night
To all the scenes of earth
In life's eternal birth !''

Hon. Erwin C. Watkins. The late Hon. Erwin C. Watkins, long
a resident of the state of ]\Iichigan, was born in the village of Covington,
Genesee county. New York, on January 15, 1839. He was a son of Hon.
Milton C. Watkins, who was born in \Vest Rutland, Vermont, on March
20, 1806, and a grandson of Moses Watkins, who, in so far as is known,
was all his life a resident of the Green Mountain state.

Milton C. Watkins had his academic education in his native town, and
when he had finished his studies as a boy, worked at carpentering with
an elder brother. He was twenty-one years of age when he went to New
York state, there engaging in school teaching. He divided his time be-
tween that work and carpentering, and at the end of three years was
satisfied to return to his native town. There, in 1829, he married Susan
Joy, who was born in Hardwick, Massachusetts, on December 23, 1803,
and who was a cousin of James F. Joy. With his bride young Watkins
returned to New York State and for a time he farmed in Covington,
Genesee county, after which he moved to Middlebury, continuing there
in farming activities until 1844. He came to Michigan in that year, a
pioneer to Gratten township, and here commenced life anew, for he had
met with financial reverses in New Y'ork that made him anxious to be-
gin over again in a new place. He secured a tract of heavily timbered
land and in due course of time he accomplished that which many another
stout hearted pioneer has done — carved a farm out of the forest and made
a comfortable home for his family. He was a resident on that place
until his death. He early became prominent in Gratten township, in
both local and state politics. He had served as justice of the peace in
New York state, and when Gratten township was formally organized
he became supervisor. Later be served in both branches of the state
legislature, and he was also appointed to the office of assistant county
judge, which office he held for some years. He was a member of the
State Constitutional Convention of 1867, and in many ways rendered
a praiseworthy service to the state and to the community wherein he had
his home. He died on May 16, 1886. He and his wife reared a family
of five children : Charles J., Mary Colton, Electa Shellis, Erwin C.
and Lewis, who died when he was fifteen years old.

Concerning Milton Watkins, his son, Erwin C., of this review, in
writing of his early life, said of his father: "In the spring of 1844,
on account of business reverses, the result of signing accommodation
notes by which he lost his farm, he concluded to seek a home in the west,
and so moved to Michigan, accompanied by his family. A former neigh-
bor, named Sheldon Ashley, had been to Michigan the year before and
had purchased a tract of land in the county of Kent, and my father was
easily persuaded to accompany him on his return. Mr. Ashley was an

1754 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

active, energetic man, with a wife and four children, and having planned
the year before for the erection of a house on the tract purchased, the
two families went direct to the Ashley house which had been built on
the southern line of Ashfleld in Kent county. It was then that father
found realized the benefit of his knowledge of the carpenter trade which
he had learned in early life with his brother, and he now went to work
for Mr. Ashley finishing the house which he had crudely built, and erect-
ing a barn. Mr. Ashley gave him an acre of land for each day he worked
and he thus secured the eighty acres which was afterward his home until
his death. This tract included the southeast quarter of the southeast
quarter of section two, and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter
of section eleven, town eight and range nine west, and on this tract the
family settled in the fall of 1844. For the next twelve years they lived
in the log house that father had erected late in the fall. This house
was built on an Indian trail which was at that time the only road, if it
might be called a road, which passed near the farm. The marks of the
Indian survey were easily discernible, and the house was located on the
section line running north and south, one mile from the east line of the
township. The bushes were cut and old logs removed, and a crude road
was thus made from the Ashley farm past the King farms to the new
log house later in the fall. It was in those days a common thing to see a
band of Indians pass on the trail during the early winter and for at least
two years after. In those days the aborigines always went in single file,
one behind the other, men, women and children, "ponies and dogs, and
thus a well defined trail was made winding about through the woods,
around swamps and hills, which was utilized more or less by the settlers

"The Indians were of the Ojibway and Pottawattomie tribes, and
they made baskets and sold them to the settlers. In the spring they
made maple sugar and put it up in birch bark baskets or crocks, for sale
to any one not too fastidious in the matter of cleanliness. I was with
them more or less and learned a smattering of their language. The
newly purchased land in Gratten township was virgin in every respect
when Father took possession. Not a tree had been cut, not a furrow-
turned. All was in a state of nature. From the land owned by Mr.
Ashley eighty acres has been selected, upon which was an al^undance of
water. At least there were plenty of low plains called swails in the
parlance of the woods, and along the margin of these water holes grew,
at that time, a most luxuriant growth of fern or brake, the variety of
which must be seen to be appreciated. They have passed with the days
of long ago. As farms were cleared and civilization took the place of
the Indian, the bear, the squirrel, the woodchuck, and the fern disappeared.
The fern was always a pest to the farmer, for their long, tough roots
were hard to break or kill. Nothing would grow in the way of vege-
table or grain where the fern roots lurked, and they were eventually
destroyed.

"My first intro(kiction to tlie new possessions was on a bright day in
early October, when with Father and Mother I picked my way through
bushes, over old logs and around swamps, having the time of my life
watching squirrels and chipmunks as the older people selected a site for
the proposed log house soon to be constructed for their future home. To
this day the memory of the many new sights and sounds that I experi-
enced for the first time is stored in the hidden cells of the brain to be
easily recalled with thoughts of early days. But among the many pleas-
ant events of the day comes the remembrance of an experience anything
but ]jleasant. Having picked my way tlirough brake and brush and bog,
boylike, wading swails in which grew hucklelierry Inishes still loaded with
ripe fruit, I walked up a little knoll covered with oak scrubs, as I after-

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1755

ward learned to call the bushes of that country, and espied a singular
looking ball of greyish white suspended from the top of a bush and hang-
ing near the ground. This ball was about eight or nine inches in diam-
eter and at the lower end I noticed a small hole, apparently extending
into the interior. An investigation was in order, and I proceeded to make
it by inserting my hand through the filmy substance of which it was com-
posed. I got results at once. It was a black hornets' nest I had dis-
turbed, and they were apparently all at home. Aly screams brought
Father and Mother to my assistance at once, but little good could they
do. I rolled on the ground trying in vain to protect the more exposed
portions of my body that had not already been treated to a hornet's sting,
but was unsuccessful. Father and Mother were both stung mercilessly,
and it was days before mother recovered from her injuries. We wended
our way back to the Ashley homestead in the shade of evening, myself
a sadder but wiser boy.

"The work of cutting the logs for the house was accomplished dur-
ing the month, and early in November a bee was made to roll them up
and form the body of the structure which became the home of the fam-
ily for many years. All the settlers in the vicinity were invited to the
bee and with song and jest the logs were rapidly put in place. In the
days following the roof was covered with shakes split out of red ash and
the gables filled in with the same material. A piece of rag carpet was
hung up for a door and the family moved in. The accommodations were
limited, but the familv took possession with the greatest satisfaction. A
work bench was installed and during the winter following Father made
doors and windows, laid a floor above and built a stair way to reach it,
adding many little conveniences for living. Chinkings had been placed
in the seams between the logs and mudded up with clay, and the house
was warm and comfortable.

"The food supply for the winter consisted of corn meal and game.
This meager diet was sufficient to satisfy the pangs of hunger, and all
were healthy. The Mother missed her tea. and perhaps other luxuries,
but did not complain. They were pioneers and as well off as their neigh-
bors. Hunters in the communitv supplied venison in plenty and the
anticipation of better times to come cheered them on. All worked for
the common good, and mutually helped to pass the lagging days of winter.
The few books that had been brought from New York were utilized to
the fullest extent. Some time was spent every day in reciting to Father,
and the older children taught the younger, and thus their early educa-
tion was not entirely neglected."

Erwin C. \\'atkins, son of Milton Watkins, who is quoted above, at-
tended the pioneer schools and the Union school at Cooks Corners then
taught by William Ball, and after graduation there attended the Union
school at Grand Rapids for one term after which he taught for four
months in Conners Township, near Silver Lake. This was during the
winter of 1858, and in the spring of that year he returned to Grand Rap-
ids and entered the office of Ashley & Zanden and studied through the
summer. In the fall he again entered the I^nion School, and thereafter
spent a winter term teaching in the Zambeden district. He then entered
the academy of Franklin Everitt and studied for six months, which he
followed with a six months' teaching period in the home district in the
winter of i8fio-6i. In the spring he again returned to Grand Rapids and
studied law in the office of Miller & Wilson.

In i860 he had joined the guards and had made some progress in
drill work, and when the war broke out and the call for troops came he
enlisted in the Third iMichigan Infantry, but saw no action. In Julv,
1862, President Tincoln called for one Company of Cavalry from each

1756 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

loyal state, and Mr. Watkins enlisted in the company that was accepted
from Grand Rapids. His company was designated as Company K. They
went to Washington and there rendezvoused with the Lincoln Cavalry as
those troops were called, through they were later designated as the First
New York Cavalry. He was made sergeant and with twenty-five others
volunteered to go as advance guard to a small detachment of infantry
from the camp of the Army of the Potomac, near Cold Harbor, \'irginia,
along an old road, long unused, leading into the village of Mechanicsville,
and along the base of a wooded hill. A regiment of Confederate infantry
rose up from ambush in the underbrush by the side of the road and fired
a volley at close range into the little band of Cavalrymen. The officer in
command was killed, and his men fought hand to hand with the enemy
now occupying the road in the rear. With the loss of two men and sev-
eral horses they reached a wooded hill where they found protection from
the enemy's fire. Sergeant Watkins took command, rallied his little
company, and when the infantry arrived, drove the enemy into and through
Mechanicsville. As reinforcements came up, he was pointed out as the
commanding officer and was thus obeyed until the village was occupied
and the day's battle ended. For this act of bravery. General Franklin,
in whose corps the First New York was serving, complimented him in
public and recommended him for promotion to the rank of First Lieu-
tenant. Thereafter Lieutenant Watkins commanded a company of his
own through the battles on the Chickahominy and at Malvern Hill, and
returned with the Army of the Potomac to the north in time to participate
in the closing scenes at Antietam. Later he served with his regiment in
the valley of X'irginia and in their arduous campaign through the hills of
West Virginia participating in more than half a hundred cavalrv fights.
He commanded the advance guards and led the charge at the capturing
of General Imboden's camp with stores and equipage and taking more
prisoners than the entire attacking force numbered. In January, 1863,
he commanded the force making a night attack on a band of Confederate
raiders that had reached the L^nion forces at Winchester, capturing the
Martin's Bay stage with several Confederate officers returning to their
command, captured and scattered the raiders and cleared their premises.
He served as chief of scouts in the Shenandoah Valley some months in
1863 until he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General on the staff of
Col. A. T. McReynokls, who then commanded at Martinsburg. He held
that position with Cieneral McReynolds until the battle of Piedmont,
when he was appointed to a like position on the staff" of General LIunter,
who commanded the army sent to capture Lynchburg. The night before
the attack at Lynchburg General Hunter selected him to carry a verbal
message to General Crook who commanded the column approaching the
city on another road. Two carriers had lieen sent with despatches in the
evening but had been unable to reach him and had returned to lieadquar-
ters badly wounded, but Capt. Watkins succeeded in reaching him in the
gray of tjie morning and gave him the plan of battle and the part in which
Cicneral Crooks was expected to take in it. In the forenoon of the day
of the attack, when he again reported to General Hunter, lie was placed
temporarily in charge of a Brigade and led it in a fierce attack on the
enemy. After the retreat from Lynchburg General Hunter placed him in
command at Hagerstown, Maryland, where he stored great quantities
of Federal sup|)lics. Although attacked by the enemy nearly every day
he succeeded in protecting the supplies and Jiolding the town until re-
lieved. When General Hunter retired from command of the army he
rcjiorted to General Sheridan who succeeded General Hunter, and by order
of General Grant he was made Assistant Adjutant General of the Cavalry
Corps.

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN 1757

Soon after the battle of Cedar Creek he was appointed by Mr. Lincohi
as Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, and assigned to General W.
H. Seward, Jr., who requested the assignment from the secretary of war.
He remained in the Shenandoah Valley until the closing battles of the
war, when he resigned and returned home. His son, Roy Milton Wat-
kins', also mentioned at some length in another sketch in this work, has
in his possession many letters which his father wrote to his wife and to
his parents and brothers and sisters during the war, and they are intensely
interesting in character, as they give in detail much of the facts concern-
ing the life of a soldier, both in camp and on the field of battle. These
are cherished by his son, who holds them as sacred relics of his honored
father.

When Capt. Watkins returned home he bought a mill at Northford
and engaged in the buying of timber land, there carrying on saw mill
operations somewhat extensively. While there he served as village at-
torney and also as a member of the state legislature, and while Zachariah
Chandler was Secretary of the Interior, was appointed Inspector of Indian
Affairs. In that capacity he visited the various tribes in the different states
and territories, serving four years in his office, the last part of his serv-
ice being under Car! Schurz.

In 1881 he was appointed warden of the penitentiary at Ionia and he
served in that responsible post for ten years, bringing to the duties of his
office a character and influence that made itself felt throughout the state.
At the close of his wardenship he resumed his lumbering activities. In
1896 he came to Grand Rapids and opened an office in the Houseman
Building and engaged in the practice of law, in which he had been trained
before his military experience broke into his plans for a professional
career. Later his son, Roy M. Watkins, joined him and the two continued
in practice until the death of the subject, on April 14, 191 1.

Captain Watkins was married during the year 1864, while on leave of
absence from his company, Julia S. Brown becoming his wife. She was
born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, on January 30, 1837, and was a
daughter of Elijah W. and Cynthia (DeWolf) Brown. Mrs. Watkins
died on June 27, 1899, leaving a daughter and son. The daughter, Ella
Rose, is the wife of Emery Thompson, of Grand Rapids. The son, Roy
Milton, is the subject of a more or less complete sketch, to be found
just following this review.

Roy Milton Watkins is a member of the Grand Rapids legal fra-
ternity since 1900, but though he has been prominent in law, he has
divided his time between his profession and public service in one capacity
or other, so that his career thus far has been quite as fully devoted to pub-
lic activities as to his private enterprise. His public work has for the most
part been along lines of his profession, as for instance, his latest office,
which was that of law clerk of the state senate for the year 1913. He is
now engaged in private practice in Grand Rapids, where he has a nice
clientele and prospects of a pleasing future in his profession.

Mr. Watkins was born at Rockford, Kent county, Michigan, a son
of Hon. Erwin C. and Julia (Brown) Watkins, a sketch of the life of
the former appearing elsewhere in this work, so that further mention
of the parentage and ancestry of Mr. Watkins is not necessary at this
juncture.

As a boy in Ionia and Rockford Roy M. Watkins had his early school-
ing, and he was graduated from the Rockford high school in the year 1892.
Soon after that he went to Chicago and there entered the employ of the
C. F. Fayo & Company wholesale boot and shoe house, where he con-
tinued for a few months and then returned to Michigan. Upon his re-

1758 HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

turn home Mr. W'atkins was appointed clerk in the office of the Adjutant
General at Lansing, under Governor Stanley Turner, and he served three
years and a half in that office. Then, in 1897, he entered the law depart-
ment of the University of Michigan and he was graduated with his
Bachelor's degree in the class of 1899. Soon thereafter he came to Grand
Rapids and engaged in practice, but in January, 1901, he was appointed
clerk in the Adjutant General's office again, which post he accepted, and
held for a few months until he was appointed .State Examiner of Taxable
Business, and in that capacity Mr. VVatkins visited every county seat in
the state in his work of examining the records of the probate court for
taxable properties. He continued for three years in the office, and then,
in 1904, he resumed the practice of law in Grand Rapids. In 1907 he was
appointed Register of the Probate Court of Kent county and he held that
office for four years and three months. In 1913 he served as law clerk
in the State .Senate at Lansing, at the close of which service he once more
turned his attention to the practice of his profession, with the intention
of devoting his entire attention to it hereafter.

Mr. Watkins is especially endowed by nature for the successful prose-
cution of his chosen profession, and it is anticipated by all who are famil-
iar with his talents that he will make a name for himself in the legal
fraternity of this section.

On August 25, 1909, Mr. Watkins was married to Miss Lucretia R.
Shipp, born in Montgomery county, Alabama. She came to Michigan in
1882 with her parents, Zelatus and Flora (Kibbey) Shipp, the former a
native of the state of Ohio and the latter of Allegan county, Michigan.
Mrs. Shipp was a daughter of George W. and Emily Kibbey, natives of
Ohio, but pioneers to Allegan county in the early days. George Kibbey
died a good many years ago, and his widow, who still lives, is in her ninety-
second year, though she married after the death of Mr. Kibbey, a Mr.
Hadley, who also is deceased.

Mr. Watkins is prominent in social and fraternal circles, as well as
among the members of his profession, and he claims membership in
Lodge No. 410 A. F. & A. M., De W'ell Consistory and Saladin Temple
A. A. O. N. M. S. in the Masonic order. He is also a member of Grand
Rapids Chapter No. 2, Knights of Pythias, of Kent Camp 1080, Modern
Woodmen of America ; of the K. O. T. M. ; Loyal Order of Moose No.
50 : and of the I. O. O. F. He is also a member of the Order of the
Eastern Star. He is a member of the Republican Club, of the Local and
State Business Men's Association, and of the Alumni of the University of
Michigan.

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