USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 18
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HISTORY OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN
JOHN J. REYCRAFT, M. D .- Numbered among the essentially repre- sentative physicians and surgeons of northern Michigan and associated in practice with his brother, Dr. George E., in the city of Petoskey, where they founded and conduct the Petoskey hospital, one of the noble insti- tutions of the city, Dr. John J. Reycraft is known as a man of splendid professional attainments and as one who has achieved specially high reputation in the surgical department of his chosen and exacting profes- sion. He is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens of Pe- toskey and has served as its mayor, a fact that indicates the high esteem in which he is held in the community in which he is laboring with all of zeal and ability in the alleviation of human suffering and distress. He is thoroughly en rapport with his profession and in the same his abiding human sympathy transcends mere sentiment to become an actuating mo- tive for helpfulness.
Dr. John J. Reycraft was born at Highgate, Kent county, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 4th of October, 1869, and is a son of William and Lucy (Risk) Reycraft, the former of whom was born in county Cork, Ireland, and the latter of whom was born in the western part of the province of Ontario, Canada, of Scotch and German lineage. Of the four children of this union Dr. John J. was the second in order of birth, his brother, George E., is associated with him in practice, as has already been stated; William H. is a farmer of some note in Canada, making a specialty of wheat raising; and the only sister, Ella, who married Ed- ward Beattie of Highgate, Ontario, remains at the parental home, in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, where the father and three sons are associated in the ownership of an extensive wheat ranch. William Reycraft was a lad of ten years at the time of his parents' immigration from the Emerald Iste to the province of Ontario, Canada, where he was reared and educated and where he eventually became a prosperous agri- culturist and grain buyer, at Highgate, Kent county. There he con- tinued to maintain his home until 1908, when he removed to the pro- vince of Saskatchewan, where he and his three sons purchased three sec- tions of land, to the supervision of which fine ranch of nineteen hundred and twenty acres he has since given his attention. The property has been admirably developed under his direction and is now one of the valuable wheat ranches of that favored section of the Dominion of Canada. He is one of the influential citizens of his community and in that district of large opportunities and large undertakings he and his wife have an attractive home.
Dr. John J. Reycraft gained his preliminary education in the public schools of his native province, and after completing the curriculum of the high school at Ridgetown, Ontario, he continued his studies in the Chatham Collegiate Institute, at Chatham, that province. This was supplemented by a course in the normal department of Toronto Uni- versity, in 1886, and after leaving that institution he gave effective ser- vice as a teacher in the public schools of Ontario for two years. In prep- aration for the work of his chosen profession he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, in the metropolis of Michigan, where he completed the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1891, with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. After his
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graduation he served as first house surgeon in the Detroit Hospital until the autumn of 1891, when he established his home at Mackinaw City, this state, where he was engaged in general practice until 1894, when he located in the city of Petoskey, where he soon built up a substantial and representative practice, to which he continued to give his undivided attention until the spring of 1900, when, in order to fortify himself still further for the work of his profession, he went abroad, where he availed himself of the privileges of the clinic of the leading hospitals in the cities of Paris, London, Berlin, Glasgow and Belfast. He returned to Petoskey in the summer of 1900, and here he has since specialized in the department of surgery, in which he is known as a most skillful operator and in which his work has been attended by most gratifying success, with attendant reputation of more than local order. In 1907, realizing the need for such an institution, Dr. Reycraft became the founder of the Petoskey hospital, in the ownership and management of which he is associated with his brother, as has already been stated in this context, and of which he is chief surgeon. The hospital is equipped with the most modern appliances and accessories, has the best of sani- tary provisions throughout, and proves a most valuable acquisition to the city, as its privileges are utilized by numerous patrons in the imme- diate community as well as from distant points. Dr. Reycraft is a member of the Emmet County Medical Society, the Michigan State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He has served as a member of the United States board of pension examining surgeons for Emmet county and his careful observance of the ethical code of his profession, as combined with his genial and companionable personality, has gained and retained to him the high regard of his pro- fessional confreres, as well as the unqualified confidence and esteem of the people of his home city and county. The doctor is a firm be- liever in the generic brotherhood of man and in this respect he has faith in the sympathy, kindliness and helpfulness of his fellow men, without reference to religion, politics or other associations. Holding such views, he has never had any desire to identify himself with any fraternal or- ganization, as he deems the same an infringement of the higher fellow- ship that should animate all sorts and conditions of men, the while he believes that such organizations are incompatible with the spirit of American institutions. In politics he accords staunch allegiance to the Democratic party and his interest in public affairs of a local order is of the most insistent and loyal type. In 1909 was accorded distinctive mark of his personal popularity and recognition of his eligibility, for he was then elected mayor of Petoskey. He gave so careful and pro- gressive an administration of municipal affairs that he was elected as his own successor, in 1910, and thus served two consecutive terms, with credit to himself and with marked benefit to the city and its people.
The 20th of March, 1902, bore record of the marriage of Dr. Rey- craft to Miss Metta Cornell, who was born in the city of South Bend, Indiana, and who died on the 1st of the following May, having thus survived her marriage by less than two months.
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HON. GEORGE A. PRESCOTT .- The class of men who have been active in developing and advaneing the lumber interests of northern Michigan and who have given character and impetus to the development of the wonderful resources of this part of the Peninsular state are men of keen- perceptive faculties and strong personality, whose strenuous grasp has laid the foundations of a mighty industry. To this class, and in its front rank, stands the Hon. George A. Preseott, of Tawas City, Iosco county, who for many years was general manager of the immense busi- ness of the widely known firm of Charles H. Prescott & Sons, lumber manufacturers and dealers.
This firm was founded more than thirty years ago by Charles H. Prescott, the father of Hon. George A. Prescott. He came from Penn- sylvania to Michigan in 1876, bought heavily timbered land in Iosco county, and at once embarked in business as a lumberman, founding the firm of which he was for so many years at the head. In 1878 he removed to Bay City, where he successfully continued his operations, from year to year extending and increasing the operations of his firm. In 1904 the mill belonging to the firm was burned and its manufacture of lumber ceased, the plant having never been rebuilt. During its earlier years of existence the firm manufactured white pine and Nor- way pine lumber, but in later years confined its manufactures to hard- wood lumber. This firm employed from fifty to two hundred men, while the output of its mills had an annual average of from ten million to twelve million feet of lumber each year until 1910, when its last lumber deal was closed. In 1880 the firm added a mercantile depart- ment to its other business, establishing a store at Tawas City, and two years later, in 1882, George A. Prescott became resident manager of the firm of which he was for so many years at the head. In 1878 he sand acres of good farming land, on which is located the town of Pres- cott. Nine thousand acres of this land is fenced and under cultivation, and on this ranch in 1910 Mr. Prescott, the general manager of the entire business, handled twelve hundred head of eattle and seventy- eight hundred head of sheep, making a good record in that line of agricultural labor.
Born on March 1, 1862, in Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania, George A. Prescott lived there until sixteen years old, obtaining his carly eduea- tion in the common schools. In 1878 he joined his father in Bay City, Michigan, and attended the Bay City High School two years. He sub- sequently spent three months at the Detroit Business College, and in 1880 took a course of study at the Collegiate Institute in Ilamilton, New York. Returning to Michigan, Mr. Prescott took up his residence at Tawas City in 1881, and in 1882 assumed the general management of the business of the firm of Charles H. Prescott & Sons, of which he was a member, as above stated. Under his guiding hand the mannfac- turing and mercantile interests of the firm were increased and ex- tended, and a large agricultural industry was developed and promoted, all assuming in course of time immense proportions.
Since coming to Tawas City, Mr. Prescott has ever evinced great in- terest in local affairs and has served his fellow-citizens wisely and well in various capacities, having been village trustee, a member of the
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Board of Education, and in offices of a more important character. In 1895 he was elected state senator from the Twenty-eightlı senatorial district, and served from 1895 until 1898, inclusive. At the Republican Distriet Convention held June 30, 1904, Mr. Prescott was unanimously chosen as candidate of his party for secretary of state, and on Novem- ber 8, 1904, was elected by a vote of the people to that office, polling a vote of 339,030 ballots, while his opponents, James B. Balch, received 159,314; Charles R. Evans, 12,702; Henry P. Keaver, 7,537; and Henry Ullericht, 913. Mr. Prescott's sterling character and worth are uni- versally recognized, and he is extremely popular not only in his district but in his home town.
GEORGE W. HOPKINS .- There are few men whose lives are crowned with the honor and respect which is universally accorded to George W. Hopkins, but through nearly half a century's connection with the indus- trial world of northern Michigan his has been an unblemished character. With him success in life has been reached by sterling qualities of mind and a heart true to every manly principle. He has never deviated from what his judgment indicated to be right and honorable between his fellowmen and himself. He has never swerved from the path of duty and he has every reason to enjoy the conseiousness of having gained for himself by his honorable, straightforward career the confidence and respect of the entire community in which he lives. The public career of few other men of Bear Lake has extended over a longer period, and none has been more faultless in honor, fearless in conduct and stainless in reputation.
George W. Hopkins was born in Preston county, West Virginia, on the 8th of November, 1844, and is a son of Samuel and Susanna (Loar) Hopkins, the former of whom was born at Western Union, West Vir- ginia, in 1818, and the latter of whom claimed Oakland, Maryland, as the place of her nativity, the date of her birth having been 1819. George W. Hopkins' attendanee in publie sehool was of meager order but as his father and mother were both teachers by vocation he re- ceived good instruction from them. His grandfather Hopkins was a merchant in Boston in an early day. In 1855 Mr. and Mrs. Samnel Hopkins, with their children, moved to Michigan, locating in Lenawee county, where the father was engaged in contracting and building. George W. remained at home until 1862. in which year he bought his time from his father, agreeing to pay two hundred and fifty dollars for his time until he had attained to the age of twenty-one years. He engaged in making maps of counties, doing the work of surveying, sketching, drafting and selling them. When twenty-one years of age he had accumulated some five thousand dollars. Thereafter he was en- gaged for a time in selling fruit trees in Manistee county and later he entered into the brick-making industry. He then took up the purchas- ing of pine lands and in this connection he put as mueh as forty mil- lion feet of logs into the Manistee river. In 1873 he came to Bear Lake and erected a saw mill, which he continued to operate until 1903, since which time he has maintained a general supervision over his extensive property holdings, improving the same with good roads and bridges.
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His son, Arthur L., is associated with him in business and has charge of the farm of one thousand acres, eighty of which are set to orchards. They eultivate an average of one hundred and twenty aeres of corn. ent two hundred and fifty aeres of hay, and three hundred aeres of rye, in addition to which they feed from seventy-five to one hundred head of cattle during the winter months.
In the year 1868 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hopkins to Miss Ella Stuart, of Bellaire, Ohio. She was born in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, of parents who were natives of England, whenee they immigrated to America, in 1815, locating first in Boston and then in Philadelphia. The father was long engaged in railroad work, helping to build the Baltimore & Ohio road across the Allegheny mountains, and for a number of years he was agent for the Adams Express Com- pany at Bellaire, Ohio, where his death oceurred in 1881. Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins became the parents of four children, namely,-Arthur L., Agnes, Clare and Bess. As already noted Arthur L. assists his father in the management of their immense farm and another of his activities is shown when it is stated that he devotes considerable time to lectur- ing before many of the farmers' institutes of Michigan. In 1890 he was united in marriage to Miss Aggie Crook, a daughter of a Baptist minister who for years was a missionary among the Indians in this seetion. They have two daughters,-Graee, who was born on the 5th of December, 1892; and Neva, who was born on the 12th of November, 1894. Arthur L. Hopkins is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity and he is also an appreciative member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of the Maeeabees, while his wife holds membership in the Order of the Eastern Star. Both are devout members of the Baptist church, in the various departments of whose work they have been most active factors. Agnes Hopkins mar- ried William II. Kempfler, who is 'professor of Forestry in the Uni- versity of Wiseonsin, at Madison. Clare Hopkins is the wife of C. C. Burgess, of Baltimore, Maryland ; and Bess wedded Prof. A. A. Wor- eester, an attorney at law of Big Rapids, Miehigan.
Recently Mr. George W. Hopkins purchased ninety-six thousand acres of land in Florida and he has other financial interests of broad scope and importance. His interest in politieal questions is deep and sineere and he gives an earnest support to independent principles, be- lieving that neither of the old parties contains the best elements of good government. He and his wife are not formally connected with any church organization but they attend liberal ehureh organizations and are ever ready to give their support to any worthy cause advaneed for the good of the community. Mr. Hopkins is a typical western man, possessing the ambition and spirit of progress which have been the dominant factors in the upbuilding of this section of the country. Among his friends he is highly esteemed for his social nature, his genial disposition and he has ratified strong friendships by his deference for the opinions of others and his kindly consideration.
ARTHUR F. KESEBERG .- Among the well known and progressive busi- ness men of Ludington, Mason county, Michigan, is Arthur F. Kese-
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berg, whose contribution to the development and good government of this section of the fine old Wolverine state has been of no mean order. He is engaged in the coal, wood, eement and ice business, in which con- nection he has built up a large and substantial trade. He was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on the 26th of January, 1862, and is a son of Joseph and Dorothea (Kastner) Keseberg, the former of whom was a native of Westphalia, Germany, and the latter of whom was born in Saxony, Germany. Mrs. Keseberg came to this country with her par- ents and Mr. Keseberg made the trip alone, he being the only member of the family to emigrate to America. Their marriage was solemnized in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Both parents are now deceased, as are also two of their seven children, Arthur E., of this sketeh, being the only son now living.
Arthur F. Keseberg was reared and educated in his native eity and at the age of fourteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship at the tanner's trade, serving three years, at the expiration of which he fol- lowed that trade for a period of four years. Subsequently, when he had attained to his legal majority, he engaged in business in partner- ship with his father, in Sheboygan, continuing to be thus identified for four years. Thereafter he was in the employ of the United States and American Express Companies for about two and a half years and for five years after that he was agent for the Gutseh Brewing Company, his business headquarters being at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1898 he es- tablished his home in Ludington, where he became bookkeeper for the Ludington Wooden Ware Company, the Standard Wooden Ware Com- pany and the Specialty Wooden Ware Company, keeping three sets of books at one time. One the 1st of February, 1906, he engaged in the coal. ice and building material business, building up a large wholesale and retail trade. From small beginnings he has enlarged his scope of operations until he now employs five teams and wagons. His first year's business amounted to about twenty thousand dollars, while the business for 1910 increased to over fifty-thousand dollars.
In polities Mr. Keseberg accords a loyal allegiance to the eause of the Republican party and he is recognized as one of the most patriotic and publie-spirited citizens in Mason county. Ile takes an active part in local politics and at one time was alderman of the Second ward. In a fraternal way he is an appreciative member of the time-honored Masonie order, in which he is past eminent commander of Apollo Com- mandery, No. 31, Knights Templars, and he is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in the latter of which he is a charter member of Ludington Lodge, No. 736. He is also a member of the German Aid Society and he and his wife hold membership in the Episcopal church, in the various depart- ments of whose work they have been most active factors.
On the 25th of September, 1883, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Keseberg to Miss Minnie A. Warner, a daughter of Alvin Warner, of Sheboygan. Mr. and Mrs. Keseberg have an adopted daughter,- Katherine.
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ALBERT W. BLACK .- An able and influential member of the legal fraternity, Albert W. Black of East Tawas, now serving as prosecuting attorney for Iosco county, is a man of talent and culture and is widely known as a public-spirited and progressive citizen, ever ready and willing to do his part in advancing and promoting the best interests of his com- munity. A son of Albert W. and Ellen (Lucas) Black, he was born in Bay City, Michigan, November 21, 1880, and there acquired his com- mon school and high school education.
A young man of distinctive energy and ambition, he early determined to fit himself for a professional career, and with that end in view entered the State Law School at Lansing, Michigan, and was there graduated with the class of 1904. Almost immediately after receiving his diploma Mr. Black was admitted to the bar, and in July, 1904, located at East Tawas, where his legal knowledge and skill soon attracted the attention of the community, and his clientage grew with great rapidity, becoming extensive and remunerative.
As a representative of the highest type of manhood and of the best American citizenship, Mr. Black takes a lively interest in all that goes to conserve the welfare of his home city and county, and never shirks the responsibilities that accompany public office. In 1907, 1908 and 1909 he served East Tawas as city attorney. For five years, from 1906 until 1910, inclusive, he was Circuit Court commissioner for Iosco county. Elected prosecuting attorney for the same county in November, 1910, Mr. Black assumed the duties of the position in January, 1911, and has since filled the office with marked ability, his wide research, broad powers of reasoning and his natural aptitude for legal work making him a most valuable and desirable man for the place. When the Iosco County Board of Trade was organized Mr. Black was one of its most enthusiastic promoters, and is now, in 1911, serving as its president. He is also a director of the Iosco Agricultural Society, and in its management takes much interest.
Prominent in the Masonic fraternity, Mr. Black has taken the thirty- second degree, Scottish Rite, and is a member of Baldwin Lodge, No. 274. F. & A. M .; of the Consistory at Bay City ; of Elf Khurafeh Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Saginaw; and of the Order of the Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of Pythias. He married, in 1907, Nina M., daughter of William J. Fox.
WESLEY DUNN & SON .- This firm includes two of the representative men of the village of Kingsley, Michigan, Wesley and Howard Dunn- who form an important factor in the lumber manufacturing industry of this prosperous northern town. A review of their lives is of interest in this connection.
Wesley Dunn is a native of the Empire state. He was born at Wa- tertown, New York, in 1837, and when very young was brought by his parents to Michigan, their location being on a farm at Fawn River. Here his boyhood and youth were passed, his educational advantages being limited to the local schools near his home. At the age of twenty- one he left the parental roof and started out in the world to make his
How and W. Surn.
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own way. At Bronson, Michigan, he found employment, and there he made his first business venture, when he opened up a general store. He first came to Kingsley, from Bronson, more than twenty-five years ago- in the fall of 1885, to be exact-but at that time he remained here only a brief period, going thence to Westminster, where he started a general store. In 1893 he returned to Kingsley and purchased the sawmill of Burkett brothers, and since that date has been engaged in the manufac- ture of lumber, lath and shingles. In 1904 the mill was destroyed by fire, but that same year was rebuilt, enlarged and equipped with mod- ern machinery, and in 1910 it was remodeled and still further improved, and now under the direct management of the younger member of the firm, backed by the experience of the elder, the business is in a pros- perous condition.
In 1863 Wesley Dunn and Miss Mary Bennett were united in mar- riage, and of the four children born to them only one, Howard W., is now living. The first two, Annie Bell and Edward, died in infancy Arthur Bennett, born September 10, 1881, died in 1900. Howard W., born December 7, 1883, is the junior member of the firm whose name introduces this sketch. Mrs. Wesley Dunn is a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and at the time of her marriage was a resident of Bronson, Michigan, she having accompanied her parents to Michigan when quite young. The Bennett family made the journey across New York state via canal, and on their arrival in this state settled on a farm near Bronson.
At the time Wesley Dunn and family took up their residence at Kingsley, Howard was a lad of ten years. He attended school at this place until 1901, when he entered Kalamazoo College, where he pursued a full literary course. He graduated at this institution in the spring of 1908, in the meantime having spent one year in study at the Chicago University, and in the fall of 1908 he returned to Chicago and received from the University the degree of Bachelor of Science. Thus equipped, he returned to Kingsley and settled down in business with his father, under the name given above, Wesley Dunn & Son. On July 1, 1911, the Bank of Kingsley (a private institution) was incorporated as a state bank, with Howard Dunn as one of the principal stockholders. Al- though the youngest stockholder, he was one of the directors and the second vice-president.
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