USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192252 2
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
IVH
http://www.archive.org/details/stclaircountymic02jenk
120 [74 12-1
ST. CLAIR COUNTY MICHIGAN
ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE
A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress and its Principal Interests
BY
WILLIAM LEE JENKS
VOLUME II
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISIIERS : THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF Citizens Historical Association CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BLDG. INDIANAPOLIS, IND.
MI HV HU
596001B REMIND
1951
History of St. Clair County
HON. HENRY HOWARD, for upwards of forty years one of the most active and honored citizens of Port Huron, was successively president of the board of estimates, president of the board of education, alder- man, mayor, representative in the state legislature, and regent of the University of Michigan, prominent and influential as a business man and banker, and a potential factor in the industrial, commercial and educational advancement of the city, county and state. A son of John and Nancy (IIubbard) Howard, honored pioneer settlers of Michigan, he was born in Detroit, Michigan, March 8, 1833, and died at his resi- dence in Port Huron, May 24, 1894.
The splendid traits of character and sterling manhood which distin- guished Henry Howard throughout his long, busy and eminently useful life came to him, it may be said, through inheritance from a number of generations of sturdy, honorable and gifted American ancestors. In every line his lineage is traced to the first settlers of New England. Lieutenant John Howard, his earlier progenitor in the paternal line. born in England in 1628, came to Plymouth Colony in his boyhood, was a member of the household and a friend and associate of Captain Miles Standish and enrolled in his military company as early as 1643. As a commissioned officer he displayed great gallantry in the Indian wars and rose to the rank of lieutenant. He was one of the original pro- prietors of Bridgewater, represented that town in the General Court of Massachusetts, and is recorded in history as "a man of mueh influence." At his death in 1700, he left a large estate divided between his wife and seven children.
Lieutenant John Howard's wife, Martha, was a daughter of Thomas Hayward, of Kent. England, who came to New England in 1635. and was also an original proprietor of Bridgewater and a deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts. Their youngest son, Ephraim How- ard, married Mary, daughter of the Rev. JJames Keith. minister of Bridgewater, and granddaughter of Deacon Samuel Edson, one of the original proprietors of the town and a most substantial and respected citizen. The line comes down through a grandson of the foregoing. also named Ephraim (who was a Massachusetts soldier of the Revolu- tion ), to the father of the subject of this sketch, John Howard, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1799, spent a portion of his boyhood in Ohio, and came to the territory of Michigan in 1821, set- tling in Detroit, where he laid the foundation of his fortune during a brief but successful career as a builder, business man and hotel keeper. When cholera visited Detroit in 1832, he sent his family away for
489
490
IIISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
safety, but bravely remained to supervise the care and comfort of his numerous stricken guests. On the second visitation of the scourge in 1834, he closed up his affairs in Detroit and with his family went to live in the virgin forests of the "Black River Country," where he engaged in lumbering, having previously with John Drew established a saw-mill within a few miles of Port Huron. In 1836 Mr. Howard bought prop- erty in Port Huron, whither, in 1839, having lost his mill by fire, he removed his family and business. His initiative and energy gave the small village of that day a substantial hotel and also a large sawmill. Later he built another mill, and with his son Henry as partner, under the firm name of "John Howard & Son" operated it until his retire- ment from business in 1879, and was active in various useful ways to the great advantage of the town. He was a trustee of the village at one time, and subsequently held the office of assessor. He died in 1887, having lived to see the obscure little hamlet to which he came as a pio- neer develop into a beautiful and flourishing city, where his name must ever be held in respect and esteem as that of one of its founders and most capable, energetic and progressive citizens for nearly half a century.
John Howard married in Detroit in 1825, Naney Hubbard, daugh- ter of Jonathan Hubbard, of Hartford, Connecticut, granddaughter of James Hubbard of Haddam, Connecticut, a soldier of the Revolution, and a descendant of George Hubbard, born in England in 1601, who was one of the early settlers at Hartford. Born in Fairview, Pennsyl- vania, in 1806, she was brought to Detroit by her parents in the year 1811. Her father died a year later, and her elder brother, Edward, after serv- ing some time in the American army, was taken prisoner by the British and was never heard of afterwards. The widowed mother and her chil- dren, obliged to abandon their plundered and threatened home and farm at Grosse Pointe through fear of Indian massacre, took refuge in Detroit (then held by the British), where Nancy, though young, saw much of the horrors and suffering of war, of which she retained a vivid conscious- ness through life. She was in her turn a devoted wife and mother, keenly interested in human events and the progress of the world, and an un- flinching advocate of righteousness in publie and private life. This grand woman of the pioneer period survived her husband four years and died in Port Huron in 1901, in her ninety-fifth year. A paper written by her. detailing some of the thrilling experiences of her earlier years, has been published in the "Collections of the Pioneer Society of Michigan," and is a valuable contribution to the history of the state.
In character. conduct and enterprise Henry Howard during a long and exceptionally active career proved worthy of his ancient and repu- table lineage. Having efficiently prepared himself to begin the battle of life by a sound English education, obtained in the private schools of Port Huron, he entered the world of affairs at the age of sixteen years. For four years he held minor positions in Detroit and Port Huron, but at the age of twenty-one he began his real life work as partner of his en- terprising father and an associate, Jacob F. Batchelor, in the firm of John Howard & Company, which, upon the retirement of Mr. Batchelor a few years later. became John Howard & Son. The firm was heavily engaged in the lumber business, operating extensive saw-mills on the St. Clair river, and having other large and profitable investments in Port Huron.
49.
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
After a little more than a quarter of a century the elder Howard retired, leaving the business solely in the hands of Henry Howard, who con- ducted it with ever-increasing success until his death in 1894.
The mantle of John Howard fell upon his son in many other re- gards, for the latter inherited the paternal enterprise and public spirit. It has been said of him that he became identified with almost every business of magnitude established in Port Huron. Henry Howard sue- ceeded his father as president of the Port Huron Gas Company. founded by the latter. Ile was one of the incorporators of the Port Huron and Northwestern Railroad and its first president. He was a charter member of the First National Bank of Port Huron and its president fifteen years, to time of death. In 1886 he was president of the "Star Line" of steamers plying between Detroit and Port Huron, but disposed of his interest therein the following year. Ile was also president of the Howard Towing Association and Wrecking Company, president of the Port Huron Times Publishing Company, and vice president of the U'p- ton Manufacturing Company, now the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Company, and a director of the Grand Trunk Railroad Com- pany. Sincere and upright in every relation of life, both public and pri- vate, he enjoyed the people's confidence in an eminent degree. Blessed with excellent health and a vigorous physique, and uniting sound judg- ment to extraordinary energy, he made his various enterprises successful and profitable and accumulated a substantial fortune. He employed his wealth with great liberality in stimulating industry and developing the city. He was in fact an acknowledged leader in every undertaking looking to the publie good, a generous contributor to all public charities. and an interested and kindly helper in private life of the struggling. the unfortunate and the poor.
Mr. Howard's fellow-citizens availed themselves freely of his services in a public capacity. He was elected a member of the board of estimates and served for a time as its president. Ile filled the office of alderman for fourteen years. In 1871 he was elected to the state legislature, and was re-elected in 1873. During one term in this body he served in the responsible position of chairman of the committee on ways and means. He was urged to become a candidate for the office of speaker of the house, but declined to allow his name to be used. Always a warm friend of the public schools, he gladly served on the board of education, and during his term as president of the board rendered valuable aid in de- veloping and improving the local system and standards. In 1891 he was elected a regent of the University of Michigan for a term of six years, becoming in this capacity the colleague of a number of the ablest men in the state in the government of one of the largest and most ad- vanced educational institutions in the world. Mr. Howard believed firmly in the principles of the Republican party, and during his whole active career gave freely of his time and means in their support. In no sense of the word was he a politician, and the prominence and honors of a political character that came to him were wholly unsonght. In the discharge of these publie trusts he observed the high standards which he maintained in his private life and business and set an example that was gratefully appreciated by the people of his city and state, and that brought him the respect and friendship of many distinguished contem- poraries elsewhere.
492
IIISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Mr. Howard's private life was exemplary in every way. He was one of the most respected and valued attendants of the Port Huron Baptist church and a member of the board of trustees for a number of years. He was a large contributor to the church fund. He affiliated with the Ma- sonie order in early manhood and was a member of Port Huron Lodge. F. and A. M., of Port Huron Chapter, Royal Arch Degree, and of Port Huron Commandery, Knights Templar. He was likewise a member of the Port Huron Club, being its second president and serving two terms, charter member of the Lake St. Clair Shooting and Fishing Club, mem- ber of the Michigan Club. Detroit, and of other social organizations. in all of which he was most popular. He was congenial by nature, devoted to his family. kindly and considerate to all, and his friendship was loyal and enduring. In every relation of life he appeared to be actuated by the highest motives. Few men have been more truly respected or more genu- inely loved in the domestic eirele and by their fellow-citizens. It has been publicly said of him that "he was one of the best men that ever lived on the St. Clair River," and to his lasting honor it may also be said that while his career fell in one of the most strenuous eras of the na- tion's history, he maintained his high standards unflinchingly and pre- served untarnished the noble and honored name he bore, transmitting it with added lustre to his children and his children's children.
Henry Howard married at Port Huron, on February 25, 1856, Miss Elizabeth Experience Spalding. She was born on September 10, 1835, at Pendleton. New York, was the daughter of Jedediah Spalding, a soldier of the War of 1812, a great-granddaughter of Samuel Spalding. of Con- necticut, a young non-commissioned officer of the Revolution, and a de- scendant in the sixth generation from Lieutenant John Spalding, of Massachusetts. a colonial officer in the early Indian wars, and in the eighth generation from Edward Spalding, born in England at the close of the sixteenth century, who came to America with Sir George Yeardley in 1619, was resident at James City, Virginia, with wife and two children in 1623. and ten years later at Braintree, Massachusetts, whence his pos- terity spread to other New England colonies. Mrs. Iloward was a de- scendant also of Captain Roger Clap, who came to Massachusetts in 1630, was an officer of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery, commandant of Castle William in Boston Harbor. and a deputy to the Massachusetts General Court for fifteen years.
Henry Howard died in Port Huron on May 24, 1894, and his widow died there on February 22. 1897. Of their family of six children two survived them, Emily Louise, wife of Alfred Dwight Bennett, banker of Port Huron, and John Henry Howard, a private in Company L. Thirty- fourth Regiment, Michigan Volunteers of 1898, who died in Mexico. Au- gust 5, 1907.
ALBERT DWIGHT BENNETT, president of the Commercial Bank of Port Huron, formerly president of the Night and Day Bank (now the Harriman National Bank) of New York City, and widely known in busi- ness and financial cireles through his life-long activities in connection with important corporate interests in Michigan and elsewhere, was born in the town of Warsaw, Wyoming county, New York, March 11, 1858.
Mr. Bennett is distinctively an American, his ancestry in all lines dating back to the first settlement of the country. On the paternal side
muett
493
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
he descends from one of the oldest families of New York, his earliest progenitor in this line being William Adriaense Bennett, of a substan- tial English family (which originated in the Norman period), who came to New Netherland, probably by way of Holland, prior to 1636. With an associate, one Jacques Bentyn, this ancestor purchased from the Indians a traet of land of about one thousand acres in extent in Brook- lyn, Long Island, on the shore of Gowanus Bay. Settling on this land. of which he later became sole proprietor, he built a comfortable resi- tlenee (destroyed by the Indians in "the year of blood") and married Mary Badye, the young and attractive widow of Jacob Verdon, who bore him several children. Shortly after his demise, seven or eight years later. this goodly estate was confirmed to his widow and children by patent is- sued by Sir William Kieft, the predecessor of Peter Stuyvesant in the governorship of the colony. His posterity intermarried with the Van Sieklens and other representative families of the old Dutch stoek, and after the English occupation one or two were named as patentees of Brooklyn in the Royal Charter issued by Governor Dongan in the second year of the reign of James II.
Mr. Bennett's great-grandfather, George Bennett, son of Wynant, born in Brooklyn about 1767, married, quite early in life, Mary Lock- wood, widow of Lewis Miller, of Steuben county, New York, and settled in Columbia county, that state, where, in 1789, his son Albert Bennett was born. The latter married Rachel Warner, a native of Rensselaer county, New York, and shortly afterwards removed to Ohio, residing for a time in Lee township. Athens county. Here, on July 5, 1825, his son Daniel Miller Bennett, the father of Albert Dwight Miller of this sketch. was born.
As it is always of interest to know something of the parentage of in- dividuals who by rare personal qualities. merit, energy and intelligent grasp of affairs rise to positions of responsibility and achieve distine- tion, it may not be amiss to devote a few lines here to sketching the ca- reer of Mr. Bennett's father, a man of uncommon worth who early cast in his lot with Port Huron and beeame one of its most prominent and esteemed citizens. Daniel Miller Bennett received his early education in New York state, whither his parents removed when he was very young. His inclinations being for a professional career, he studied medicine, and having received his credentials under the auspices of the Homeopathic school entered upon general practice in 1856, at Warsaw, New York.
Very early in manhood Dr. Bennett married Eliza Prail Ransom, of Carlton, Orleans county, New York, on October 15, 1847. This lady died February 7, 1854, leaving a yonng son, Daniel Willard. In December, 1855. Dr. Bennett married again, his bride being Miss Helen Maria Shel- don, daughter of Jonathan Dwight Sheldon. of Barre, Orleans county. New York. In 1863 he removed to Saginaw, Michigan, where his skill as a physician and high qualities as a man made him many friends and brought him into deserved prominence.
Ile was active also in Masonry, and was one of the founders and the first worshipful master of Saginaw Valley Lodge, No. 154. F. & A. M. After residing for six years in Saginaw he removed to Port Huron, then a city of about six thousand inhabitants and one of the most flourishing centers of the lumber industry. The first decade of his residence there covered a period of commercial depression and arrested growth conse-
494
IIISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
quent upon financial panic. a falling off in marine business, and the for- est fires of 1871 which destroyed the timber adjacent to the streams hav- ing their ontlet at the foot of Lake Huron and which almost annihilated the local Imber industry. But Dr. Bennett had come to stay, and he remained loyal to the city, entering heart and soul into its life and af- fairs. Ilonored by appointment to the office of city physician, he filled this responsible position to the entire satisfaction of the public for a number of years. As a medical man he was loved and esteemed, possess- ing a sympathetic personality and whole hearted benevolence. In the Masonic fraternity he was revered as a venerable adept and exemplary brother. After a useful and upright career of forty years in the beau- tiful little eity he loved so well he passed to his reward, sincerely mourned. at the patriarchal age of eighty-five years.
By his second marriage Dr. Bennett was father of two sons-Albert Dwight and Lewis Ten Eyck, both of whom grew to manhood in Port Huron and became active factors in the business and commercial affairs of the city. Their half brother, Daniel, married early in Saginaw and later moved with his family of four children to the Upper Peninsula.
In the maternal line also Mr. Bennett is of English ancestry, deseend- ing from. Isaac Sheldon, born in Essex, England, in 1629, one of the early settlers in New England, who, in 1653, married Mary Woodford, of Hartford, Connecticut, and in 1655, with his wife's father, Thomas Woodford, assisted in founding Northampton, Massachusetts, where he was visited with several town offices. In this ancestral line there have been intermarriages with the Stebbins, Barnard, Hoyt, Field, Church and Welles families, bringing to the posterity of the present day the blood and characteristics of many worthies of the colonial and revolutionary periods. Through the Field alliance Mr. Bennett descends from Aaron Field, of Bernardtown, Massachusetts, an ardent patriot of the Revolu- tion ; and through the Welles, from governor of the Colony of Connec- tient (1655-1658), born in Essex, England, in 1598, and who came to this country as private secretary to Lord Saybrook.
Albert Dwight Bennett was reared in a home atmosphere of high in- telligenee, refinement and morality. In the public and private schools of Saginaw and Port Huron he obtained his early education. At the age of sixteen years he entered the banking business as correspondence clerk in the Port IIuron Savings Bank and by steady and deserved promotion rose to the position of bookkeeper. In 1890, at the age of thirty-two years, he severed this connection to accept the position of secretary and manager of the IToward Towing Association, a substantial Port Huron corpora- tion, of which the late Henry Howard was president, and which owned and operated a large fleet of tugs. On the demise of President Howard four years later Mr. Bennett was named trustee and manager of the IIenry IToward estate. This bronght under his personal supervision the large saw mill and lumber yard in Port Huron owned by Mr. Howard, together with many valuable business blocks in that city and a consider- able quantity of unimproved real estate and other property. While the responsibility of this trust was very great, Mr. Bennett from the first proved entirely adequate to its demands, having gained a thorough knowledge of the corporate and personal business affairs of Mr. Howard during the preceding four years of intimate relationship. Under his management the Howard estate has flourished and it is today a unit
495
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
of high importance in the financial and business affairs of Port Huron and of St. Clair county.
In the work of developing Port Huron, enlarging its business and ad- vancing its interests in every way, Mr. Bennett has always borne a con- spieuous part. A member of local enterprises of promise have bad the advantage of his judgment and backing, and in the more important he has aceepted official position. Ile has been keen to discern the worth and prospects of enterprises in other places which have sought his as- sistance and capital, and in several of these also he holds a place in the directory of board of officers.
During the year 1907 Mr. Bennett was president of the Night and Day Bank, Fifth avenue, New York City (now the Harriman National Bank). For many years he has been a director in the Commercial Bank of Port Huron, and since 1900 its president. He is also president of the St. Clair County Abstract Company, vice president of the Port Huron Gas Company, treasurer of the Aikman Bakery Company of Port Huron, and director in the Michigan United Railways Company and in the Na- tional Gas. Electric Light and Power Company, of Detroit. He took an important part in organizing and financing the Vermont Power and Lighting Company, and the Consolidated Lighting Company, of Mont- pelier, Vermont, and is president of both corporations. For several years he was president of the Port Huron Elevator Company. From these numerous affiliations it will be seen that his activities cover a wide range of effort. His business ability and financial acumen are indisputable and have earned for him the highest consideration in the world of commercial affairs.
Politically Mr. Bennett has acted consistently with the Republican party since polling his first vote, and by reason of his high standing both as a citizen and a banker, has been a man of weight and influence in it, locally, although never desirous of holding public office. Publie-spirited, generous and genial, he has hosts of friends and ranks among the most popular men of the state. ITe is a member of the Episcopal church, but for several years has served with zeal on the board of trustees of the First Baptist church of Port Iluron, of which his family are members and in the religious and charitable work of which he takes a hearty in- terest. The incessant demands of business absorb him very fully, but, notwithstanding, he has always found leisure for the gracions duties of home life and for travel and culture. He is a member of several leading social organizations, including the Detroit Chib.
Dr. Bennett married in Port Huron, in 1885. Miss Emily Lonise Howard, daughter of the Hon. Henry Howard, one of the wealthiest and most influential men of that eity, and granddaughter of John Howard. one of its founders. They have three children,-Henry Howard Ben- nett born June 24, 1888; Helen Howard Bennett, June 19, 1891; and Elizabeth Experienee Bennett, born July 1, 1901. Like her husband, Mrs. Bennett is of the oldest American lineage and, by right of descent from colonial worthies and soldiers, a member of numerons patriotic- hereditary societies, including the Colonial Dames of America and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
LOREN ALBERT SHERMAN. The glory of our great American republic is in the perpetnation of individuality and in the according of the utmost
496
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
scope for individual accomplishment. Fostered under the most auspi- cious surroundings that can compass one who has the will to dare and to do, our nation has produced, almost spontaneously, men of the finest mental caliber, virile strength and vigorous purpose. The self-made man is a product of America, and the record of accomplishment in the individual sense is the record which the true and loyal American holds in the highest respect and honor. These statements are distinctively apro- pos of the life history of Loren Albert Sherman, of Port Huron, who, as a progressive citizen and man of affairs, has made a definite impress upon the annals of his time. Not in an ephemeral way has his name been associated with the word progress, with movements for civic bet- terment and material advancement. He has been specially prominent in the field of newspaper work in Michigan, having compassed the np- building Port Huron of a daily newspaper enterprise of metropolitan order, and though he has in large measure retired from business activi- ties, he is still the owner of the preferred stock in the Port Huron Times- Herald Company and a regular contributor to the editorial columns. He is also president of the Riverside Printing Company, in which he is the largest stockholder, and which is the largest concern of the kind in Michi- gan north of the city of Detroit. Mr. Sherman has been a dominating force in connection with the development and upbuilding of the modern city of Port Huron, where he has maintained his home for more than forty years, and where he has ever retained secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem. He is a loyal. progressive and public- spirited citizen, and his achievement as one of the world's workers has been large, his snecess being dne entirely to his own ability and well- directed efforts. These preliminary statements indicate the special con- sisteney of incorporating in this historical work a resume of the career of Mr. Sherman. who has been a valued factor in furthering the best inter- ests of Port Huron and St. Clair county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.