USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 24
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JOHN PEDDEN, M. D., a prominent physician of Petoskey, and med- ical examiner for the United States Marine Corps, has been engaged in a large general practice here since 1900. Dr. Pedden has won his sue- eesses in life by hard work and a persistency which he probably in- herited from his Scotch ancestry.
He was born on a farm in Adelaide township, Middlesex county, Ontario, November 10, 1872, began his schooling in a log schoolhouse at Mud Creek Corners in that township, walking three miles along a trail through the woods every morning and evening. At the age of twelve he had completed the course of the local public schools, and after two years' work on the farm entered the Collegiate Institute at Strathroy, where he graduated with the class of 1892. During the four succeeding years, teaching supplied him with the funds for a profes- sional education, and he entered the Detroit College of Medicine, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1900. Since then he has practiced at Petoskey. He is a member of the county, state and American medical societies.
Dr. Pedden belongs to one of the pioneer families of Ontario. His grandfather, Andrew Pedden, came from Scotland in 1832, landing at Quebec and pushing his way through the wilderness to Middlesex county, where he cleared a farm and made a good home for his fam- ily. His son John, the Doctor's father, was born in Scotland in 1830, and was reared in Middlesex county, where he helped his father in his pioneer labor, and later cleared ont a farm of his own, where he is still living, an old and honored citizen. His farm was always noted for its high-class horses and other stoek, and he was progressive in every way. He married Miss Nancy MeLachlan, who was born in East Williams township, Middlesex county, where she was reared, married and is still living. She became the mother of nine children, six of whom are living, the Doctor being the second child and oldest son.
Dr. Pedden is a thirty-second degree Mason, being affiliated with Durand Lodge No. 344, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with De Witt Clinton Consistory and the Saladin Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids. In polities he is a Republican.
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October 7, 1904, he married Miss Eva Rockwell. She was born at Bear Lake, Manistee county, Michigan, being the youngest child of Charles and Lucretia Rockwell. Her father is a farmer of Manistee county and has been prominent in Democratic politics, having held all the township and county offices. Dr. and Mrs. Pedden have two chil- dren: Ilelen and John Rockwell.
WILLIAM G. MCCUNE .- Honored and respected by all, there is no man in Emmet county, Michigan, who occupies a higher place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens than does William G. Me- Cune, who is most successfully engaged in the real-estate, loan and in- surance business at Petoskey. He possesses untiring energy, is quick of perception, forms his plan readily and is determined in their execution ; and his close application to business and excellent management have brought to him the high degree of prosperity which to-day is his.
A native of the old Wolverine state, William George McCune was born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, the date of his birth being the 19th of September, 1875. He is a son of William J. and Angeline (Snow) MeCune, the former a native of New York City. The father, who was engaged in the insurance business during the greater portion of his active career, is now living, in retirement, at Petoskey. Mrs. Will- iam J. McCune was summoned to eternal rest in the year 1891. Of the two children born to Mr. and Mrs. McCune both are living at the pres- ent time, the subject of this review having been the first born. The younger son, Newell McCune, is now identified with the Methodist Epis- copal church at Benton Harbor as pastor. The father came to Petoskey in 1884, at which time William G. McCune was a child of but nine years of age.
William G. McCune received his early educational discipline from his mother and after the family home was established at Petoskey he attended the public schools of this city. Subsequently he was matricu- lated as a student in Albion College, at Albion, Michigan, and in 1896 he entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in the law de- partment of which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, duly receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately after graduation, Mr. McCune went to the city of Chicago, where he initiated the active practice of his profession, being there in the office with Joseph H. Fitch. In 1900, however, he gave up law work and came to Petoskey, where he is now engaged in the real-estate, loan and insurance business. In this particular field of endeavor he is achieving most gratifying success and in connection with his work he has done a great deal toward the improvement of the city in which he has so long maintained his home. In politics he is a stalwart Republican and while he is no office seeker, he is deeply and sincerely interested in community affairs and is ever ready to do his humble part toward the advancement of the general welfare. While in college he was initiated into the Delta Tau Delta Greek letter fraternity and in his religious faith he is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the dif- ferent departments of whose work he is an active and zealous factor.
At Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the 15th of October, 1904. was sol-
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emnized the marriage of Mr. McCune to Miss Helen Allen, who was born and reared in Grand Rapids and who is a daughter of S. N. Allen, long a representative business man in that city. Mr. and Mrs. McCune are the parents of two children,-Allan, born on the 14th of March, 1907; and William S., whose natal day is the 4th of June, 1909.
H. B. LARSEN .- For nearly forty years the name of Larsen has stood for everything which was good and dependable in the line of general merchandise at Manistee or in northern Michigan; the name carried this high guarantee because an honest and an able man was behind the name. With the exception of the five years from 1889 to 1893 spent in Chicago, H. B. Larsen has been building up this substantial reputation, as business man and citizen, in association with his brothers and as sole proprietor of his mercantile establishment, since his coming to Manistee in the last year of the war.
Mr. Larsen is a native of Denmark, born June 17, 1842, and was reared in his birth-land until he was thirteen years of age. when he emigrated to the United States, settling first in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When he moved to Manistee in 1865 he was a sturdy young man of twenty-three, ambitious but untried in business. The succeeding nine years were devoted to a preliminary education in most practical mat- ters, this period being chiefly occupied in following his trade of mill- wright, and in the year 1874 he associated himself with his brothers, Albert (now deceased) and Fred C., in the establishment of a second- hand store. This semi-independent venture developed so well that the business gradually branched out into that of general merchandise, and in 1879 he withdrew from the partnership of Larsen Brothers and founded his own house on the site of the mammoth establishment which he now conducts.
In 1882 Mr. Larsen built the store which is now a portion of the sub- stantial block which bears his name. In 1889 he leased it and engaged in business in Chicago during the succeeding four years, but returned to Manistee during the hard times of 1893, realizing that this city was a good place in which to thrive and to rear and educate one's children. Resuming business "at the old stand," his honorable methods and per- sonal popularity raised his enterprise to one of the most prominent in northern Michigan and one of the most complete department stores in the state. With the expansion of the business his accommodations out- grew the original quarters, and the large, two-story structure known as the H. B. Larsen Block is the result. This has a front of one hundred and twenty-five feet and a depth of about eighty-five feet.
Mr. Larsen's domestic life is typical of the faithfulness and affection of his countrymen, who in this country are able to give fuller expression to their family love in the shape of comforts and even luxuries of the home. With his wife, Anna Hansen, he resides in a substantial resi- dence on a pleasant street, sustained and cheered by the affectionate ministrations of his life-partner and his five children-Marion, Harry, Ethel, Avis and Lawrence. Outside of his household and warm friends
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he finds an outlet to his fraternal disposition in his connection with the Masons, of which he is a thirty-second degree member.
ARTHUR WILKINSON, M. D .- Nearly two score years ago Dr. Wilkin- son established himself in the practice of his profession in the little lumber town of Alpena, and thus it may be readily understood that he is numbered among the pioneer physicians and surgeons of this favored section of the state. He still maintains his home in Alpena, in the de- velopment of which he has aided in no insignificant way, and he is an able representative of the noble and exacting profession to which he has devoted his attention for so many years and in which his success has been on a parity with his recognized talents. In his home community he is valned as a true friend, a dispenser of good cheer, a safe and wise counselor in all matters affecting the happiness and welfare of the families and the community in general. He has made of his calling more than a cold-blooded science, without soul, heart or sympathy, and he has seduously observed the ethics and ideals of his profession, and his personal honor, one of his chief endowments, has been manifested in all his intercourse with his fellow men. His dominating purpose has been to alleviate suffering and distress, and his reward has been based upon honest and conscientious service as a true friend of humanity. Thus it may well be understood that this sterling physician is loved and honored in the many families to whom he has ministered during the long years of successful practice in the city of Alpena and its vicinity.
Dr. Wilkinson was born at West Essa, Simcoe county, Ontario, Canada, a village located about sixty miles distant from the city of Toronto, and the date of his nativity was May 25, 1842. His father, John Wilkinson, was born in the north of Ireland, where he was reared and edueated and whence he emigrated to America in 1832. He located in the province of Ontario, Canada, and soon afterward joined the royal troops and aided in the suppression of the memorable Mckenzie re- bellion. At the close of this conflict he secured a tract of land in Simcoe county, where he developed a valuable farm and where he continued to reside during the residue of his long and useful life, which came to its close on the 7th of February, 1877. In 1838 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Jane Spears, who likewise was a native of the north of Ireland and who came to Canada when a girl. She is still living on the old homestead farm and has attained to the extremely venerable age of ninety-two years (1911). John and Jane (Spears) Wilkinson became the parents of six sons and three daughters, all of whom are living, and of the number Dr. Wilkinson, of this review, was the second in order of birth. The aged mother, who is held in deepest filial solici- tude in the gracious evening of her life, has long been a devoted mem- ber of the Episcopal church, and of the same her husband was likewise an earnest adherent.
On the homestead farm to which reference has just been made Dr. Wilkinson was reared to the age of eighteen years, in the meanwhile lending his aid in the various departments of its work, the while he at- tended the common schools of the locality during the winter months.
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At the age noted he entered the Bradford grammar school, in which he continued his studies for one year, and later he was a student in the Barrie grammar school, the principal of which was Rev. Mr. Checkley, a clergyman of the Church of England and a teacher of wide reputation in Ontario. After leaving school Dr. Wilkinson proved himself eligible for pedagogic honor, and for several years he was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of his native province. In the meanwhile he had formulated definite plans for a life work, and in harmony there- with he was finally matriculated in the medical department of the University of Toronto, in which he completed the prescribed four years' course and in which he was graduated, with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, as a member of the class of 1872. In the mean- while he had also attended the government military school in the same city, and immediately after his graduation he came to Michigan in search of an eligible location. He arrived in Alpena on the 23d of April, 1872, and here established his permanent home. During the long intervening years he has continued as one of the able and popular rep- resentatives of his profession in this part of the state, and he has not failed to keep in touch with the advances made in both departments of the same. He has the genial and urbane manners of the dignified old- school regime, and through his character and effective labors he has honored the profession of his choice. No citizen of Alpena is better known or held in more unqualified esteem, and he has found time to do well his part in the promotion of measures and enterprises through which the upbuilding and development of his home city have been conserved. He has made judicious investments in local realty, and a farm that he purchased many years ago is to a large extent now in- cluded within the corporate limits of the city of Alpena. He has taken marked pride and satisfaction in the development of this property and he continued to reside on the farm until 1905, since which year he has maintained his residence in the Masonic Temple building, in the central part of the city of Alpena, and of which he is the owner.
Ever broad-minded and public-spirited in his civic attitude, Dr. Wilkinson has frequently been importuned to accept the nomination for mayor of Alpena, but he has persistently refused such overtures, as he has had no predilection for public office, preferring to devote his time and attention to the work of his chosen profession. In politics he ac- cords a staunch allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party, and both he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Protestant Epis- copal church, in which they are active members of the local parish of Charity church.
At the time of the organization of the Third Regiment, Michigan National Guard, Dr. Wilkinson was appointed assistant surgeon of the same, and in the state militia he was finally promoted to the office of surgeon of the brigade, of which his regiment was a part. He has not been active in the affairs of the National Guard during the past several years. The Doctor is affiliated with Hopper Lodge, No. 386, Free & Accepted Masons; and Thunder Bay Chapter, No. 74, Royal Arch Masons; besides which both he and his wife are identified with the
James Buckley.
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auxiliary organization, Alpena Chapter, No. 143, Order of the Easter Star.
On the 18th of November, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Wilkinson to Miss Frances E. Shepardson, who was born at Dresden, Washington county, New York, at the foot of beautiful Lake Cham- plain, and who is a daughter of Captain Seymour and Elizabeth (Jones) Shepardson, both of whom were likewise natives of Wash- ington county. Captain Shepardson was born at Putnam, that county, on the 2d of February, 1820, and died in June, 1883, and his wife was born at Dresden on the 30th of August, 1820, and her death occurred in 1892. Of the four children all are now deceased except Mrs. Wilkin- son. Dr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have one son and one daughter: Arthur J., who is now engaged in the practice of medicine at Arrow Head, Hot Springs, California, married Miss Dasia S. Armstrong, and they have two children,-John and Philip; and Elizabeth Nason Wilkinson is the wife of Robert H. Rayburn, of Alpena, concerning whom specific mention is made elsewhere in this work. Dr. and Mrs. Wilkinson have been leaders for many years in the best social activities of Alpena and here their circle of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
ROBERT H. RAYBURN was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, on the 31st of October, 1866, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Steele) Rayburn. When he was not two years of age the family removed from St. Clair county to Alpena, in which city he was reared to man- hood. After completing a course in the high school he identified him- self with the lumber industry, in connection with which he was em- ployed principally as a scaler of logs and with this line of enterprise he continued to be concerned for a number of years. In 1892 he was elected county treasurer of Alpena county and served two terms in that capacity. In 1897 he was elected county clerk and after serving one term in this office he became associated with William H. Campbell in the organization of the Michigan Veneer Company, in 1899. Mr. Ray- burn has been president of the company from the time of its incorpora- tion and he is also president and manager of the Island Mill Lumber Company, which was incorporated in 1906. He is one of the best known and active business men of the city that has been his home since childhood days. He is found arrayed as a stanch advocate of the cause of the Democratic party. He is an ardent sportsman and a lover of nature.
In 1903 Mr. Rayburn was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth N. Wilkinson, daughter of Dr. Arthur Wilkinson, one of the pioneer physicians and surgeons of Alpena. Mrs. Rayburn was born and reared in Alpena. The subject and his wife have two children,-Robert and Frances Elizabeth.
JAMES BUCKLEY, whose sudden death occurred June 15, 1911, was for forty years one of the most conspicuous figures in the business and public life of northern Michigan. At the time of his death he was postmaster of Petoskey, having held that office nearly twenty years and being one of the best known federal officials of the state. The
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city of Petoskey claimed him as one of its most prominent pioneer citizens. He located there at almost the beginning of its history as a settlement, and was the first mayor of its town government. The activities of the late James Buckley covered a wide field, in business, politics and social life, and his sudden passing took away a personality and power which his associates and fellow citizens could not well spare.
He was born in Detroit, Michigan, December 19, 1840. His parents, Daniel and Ann Buekley, both now deceased, were natives of Ireland and after their marriage emigrated to this country in 1840. From Detroit, the father in 1841 moved out to western Michigan, becoming one of the pioneers at Paw Paw in Van Buren county, and the farm which he hewed out of the wilderness was his homestead until his death. In polities he was a Democrat.
Of the seven children in the family, James was the second. He was reared on a farm and educated in the schools of that period. On August 2, 1862, when twenty-two years old, he enlisted in Company C of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, and was mustered into service at Detroit, August 28, 1862. His regiment joining the Army of the Cumberland at Louisville, and he was with it in all its battles and skirmishes except while in the hospital, participating in forty-one skirmishes and engagements. Important engagements of his military record were: New Liberty, April 20, 1863; Chickamauga Creek, Sep- tember 16, 1863; Waldron Ridge, October 1, 1863; Chiekamauga Gap, January 24, 1864; Floyd Springs, January 29, 1864; Pumpkin Vine, May 25, 1864; near Kenesaw Mountain, June 26, 1864; near Jonesboro, August 19, 1864. In Kilpatrick's raid about Atlanta, on August 20, 1864, a minnie ball wounded him in the left shoulder, and he was con- fined in the hospital at Nashville until November 25, 1864, when he rejoined his regiment at Macon, Georgia, and continued in service to the elose of the war. He received his honorable discharge at Nash- ville, July 1, 1865.
After his return to Van Buren county, he attended Eastman's Business College in Chicago and was graduated in 1867. Having learned the earpenter trade he followed that during the summers and taught school in the winter up to 1870, when he moved to northern Michigan and became a pioneer in that then rapidly developing coun- try. For four years he was engaged in the lumber business at Big Rapids.
In 1874 Mr. Buckley came to Petoskey and began the career which continued until his death thirty-seven years later. This period meas- ures the history of Petoskey from a small settlement to one of the important cities of the state, and his life work entered largely into this development. For the first three years he followed his trade as carpenter. Then, with Mr. George Mosher, he established the Petoskey Record, but other duties caused him to sell his interest after one year. He was elected county register of deeds in 1878, being the first Re- publican elected to this office in Emmet county, and was re-elected in 1880, serving four years. In 1879 he engaged in the hardware business, which he sold eight years later and began the manufacture of lum-
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ber and wooden-ware. Five years later he resumed the hardware business and continued one of the successful merchants of Petoskey until 1906.
Mr. Buckley was first appointed to the office of postmaster in 1890, by President Harrison, serving four years. In 1898 President McKinley again appointed him to the office, and by re-appointments in 1902, 1906, 1910, by the presidents in office at the times, he continued this public service until his death. Besides being first mayor of the city of Petoskey, Mr. Buckley was for two terms a member of the city council, for many years was supervisor of the township and honored with other local offices.
Mr. Buckley was a member of every branch of the Masonic order, and was a charter member of every Masonic auxiliary that has a lodge in Petoskey, including the Eastern Star and the White Shrine of Jerusalem, while he was a member of the Mystic Shrine and Scottish Rite at Grand Rapids. He served continuously for twenty-eight years as treasurer of both the chapter and council of this order. He became a Mason on December 16, 1868. He was past master of Duraud Lodge No. 344, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was a member of Emmet Chapter No. 104, Royal Arch Masons, Petoskey Council No. 52, Royal and Select Masters; past eminent commander of Ivanhoe Commandery No. 36, Knights Templar; member of DeWitt Clinton Consistory at Grand Rapids since 1880; worthy patron of Beulah Chapter No. 63, Order of Eastern Star; official in Queen Esther Shrine No. 15, Order of White Shrine of Jerusalem. He had taken thirty-two degrees in Masonry. He was also past exalted ruler of Petoskey Lodge No. 629, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Mr. Buckley was married, December 14, 1880, to Miss May Rowan. Their son, Paul Buckley, is a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan and is living at Petoskey at this time.
JOHN R. NIX .- There is no lawyer in the state of Michigan who has a higher standing than John R. Nix ,attorney at law, Lake City, Mich- igan. He has had an interesting career, but throughout it has been beyond reproach. No one has been able to cast any aspersions on his character either in a private or a public capacity. Since his first entry into the field of law he has set himself to run the course with singleness of purpose. His goal was not a crown of glory for himself, but that he might perform each day the duties which were nearest. This course he has kept without deviating to the right nor to the left. To such, honors will come without being sought, as indeed they have to Mr. Nix, but in his mind the contentment which comes with the knowl- edge of a life well spent means much more than the positions of honor which he has filled.
He was born in Henry county, Alabama, in May, 1860. His father, William J. Nix, was a physician of some repute in the county, but in 1863, during the Civil war, he died. He had married Elizabeth Murray and after the death of her husband Mrs. Nix moved with her family to Montgomery county, Alabama; she knew that on her devolved the care of providing for her children's needs both physical and mental and in
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Montgomery county there were greater educational advantages than in her old home. She lived for and in her children and died in 1898. John R. has only a very dim recollection of his father, who died when he was three years old, but his mother he feels should receive all the credit of his success. He had the good fortune to be born right, as he inherited a sound body from both father and mother, but his mother's was the only influence which he realized. Honesty, decency, obedience, cleanliness in thought and speech, were the things she insisted upon. Then she made sure that her children learned as much as they could during their school years. She saw to it that they went to school each day and that they made every day count. She realized that what they knew the world could not take from them. She stirred them with ambition to do things, to make their presence felt in the world, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the world. All of this was accom- plished in a quiet way, an almost imperceptible influence that has only been fully realized in later years. John commenced his school education in Montgomery county, Alabama, whither the family had moved after the death of his father. He attended the grade schools and then the high school at Montgomery, Alabama. In 1882 he entered the Agricul- tural and Mechanical College of the state, taking up the study of law. He graduated two years later, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Law. He went before the court of examiners and was examined by attorney W. H. Watts, the attorney general for the confederacy of the south, John Nix passed the examination and was admitted to practice in all the courts of Alabama. After his admission to the bar he went to Louisville, Kentucky and opened an office there. He tried to obtain a practice, but his father had sided with the notherners in the Civil war and when that fact became known, the people of Kentucky would have none of him. After remaining in Louisville for about a year and a half, he went to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here he was very successful and he remained until 1892, when he went to Muskogee, Indian Terri- tory. He there took up practice in the federal courts, but not finding the climate desirable, he decided to go to Ohio. Just at that time there was a good deal of talk of the mining riches that were to be had at Paulding, Ohio, and with the enthusiasm of youth he went there, hoping to make some money as a prospector. He soon found that the outlook was not favorable and his stay was short. He next went to Catterville, Arkansas, but the water was very bad there and he realized that there was danger to life if he stayed. He decided to come to Michigan and in 1908 he took up his residence in Lake City and immediately began to practice here. During the three years which have ensued since then he has succeeded in making his presence felt in the community, in a personal as well as a legal way. The governor has appointed him to the office of Circuit Court Commissioner of Missaukee county. Mr. Nix holds cards authorizing him to practice in all the courts of the United States.
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