USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 32
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Prior to 1896 Mr. Smurthwaite had given his allegiance to the Re- publiean party, but in that year the policies advanced by Hon. William J. Bryan and adopted by the Democratic party made such appeal to his judgment that he espoused the eause of the latter political organiza- tion, in whose eampaign of that year he gave effective service in sup- port of the presidential nominee, Mr. Bryan. His well defined convic- tions have since that time kept him in the ranks of the Democratic party and he is an effective advocate of its principles and policies. In 1897 further evidence of popular confidence and esteem was accorded Mr. Smurthwaite through his election to the office of mayor of Manis- tee, in which he served two terms of one year eaeh. His administration, duly conservative, was marked by thorough business policies and pro- gressiveness, and within his regime many exeellent publie improve- ments of permanent order were made, while efficiency and economy were secured in the various departments of the municipal government. Prior to this, in 1890, Mr. Smurthwaite had served as eity attorney. under Mayor Magnan, and in 1899 he held the same preferment under the administration of Mayor King.
In 1901 Mr. Smurthwaite removed to Traverse City, where he con- tinned in the practice of his profession until the summer of 1910, when he returned to Manistee, where he is again established in practice of a representative order. He has been identified with much of the impor- tant litigation in the eourts of this part of the state and is known as a hard worker in his profession and as one who has honored the same by his interposition and effective labors. He has ever maintained high civic ideals and has cast his influence in the cause of good government, loeal and national. He was a most influential factor in seeuring to Manistee its fine water system, and the principal cause of his election to the office of mayor was to secure this acquisition by the eity. ile was indefatigable in pushing the work forward, but the final result was attained under the mayoralty of Dr. King, the while he himself served at the time as city attorney. Mr. Smurthwaite has been identified with the Masonie fraternity since 1873, and his only affiliation in the same is with Traverse City Lodge, No. 222. Free & Accepted Masons. He is also identified with fraternal insurance orders. A man of positive
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views in all things and one who has a reason for his opinions and con- victions, Mr. Smurthwaite finds in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal church the tenets and ideals which meet his approval. He is an earnest communicant, as is also Mrs. Smurthwaite, and both are prominent and valued factors in the work of the local parish of Holy Trinity church. He is staunchly in favor of the embellished ritual of the "high- church" wing and this attitude is the result of careful study of church history and the primitive usages of the Church of England, with which the family has been identified since the time of the Reformation, so that probably his predilections have an inherent quality.
Mr. Smurthwaite has been in a significant sense the architect of his own fortunes, and he has accomplished much, though the materialistic views of life have never appealed to him, with the result that, though a worker, he has shown deep appreciation for the higher ideals. Sincere, tolerant and kindly, he wins and retains friends in all classes, and is satisfied to have gained such temporal success as his labors have justi- fied, the while he has been instant in sympathy and aid for those in "any way afflicted or distressed in mind, body or estate," thus showing a high sense of his stewardship as a man among men. Concerning him the following pertinent statements have been written and they are worthy of perpetuation : "Mr. Smurthwaite is a little too sympathetic, or, as some would say, too radical, for eminent financial success. He is not a worshiper of Mammon or of its representatives, and he is op- posed to all matters political or social that tend to enrich the few at the expense of the many. He has found plenty of hard work to do, and the will and ability to do it."
The domestic relations of Mr. Smurthwaite have been of most grate- ful order, and in his home and wife and children his interests are cen- tered. At Port Huron, Michigan, on the 20th of October, 1874, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Matilda Lucinda Indermille, who was born at Detroit, Michigan, and who was the fourth in order of birth of three sons and seven daughters born to Frederick and Hannah E. Inder- mille, both of whom passed the closing years of their lives in Detroit. the greater part of the active career of the father having been devoted to commercial life. Of the children no sons but seven daughters are now living. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Smurthwaite the following brief data are given: Milton Gray, who was born July 27, 1875, is now a resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; William Thomas, who was born February 5, 1877, died at Baldwin, Michigan, August 16, 1886; the next child was stillborn, in June, 1878; Gillespie Pritchard, who was born January 23, 1880, died at Traverse City March 25, 1902; Charles Frederick, who was born November 28, 1881, now resides at Phoenix, Arizona; Julian Hawthorne, who was born December 27, 1883, died at Baldwin, August 16, 1886; l'aul, who was born February 5, 1885, died at Baldwin on the 5th of May, 1886; Ethel, who was born May 1, 1888, is now a student in the University School of Music at Ann Arbor (1911) ; Bessie Lucille, who was born August 8, 1891, is a fresh- man in the University of Michigan, in the class of 1914 in the literary department; and Mary Louise, who was born April 18. 1893, remains
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at the parental home and is a student in the Manistee high school, as a member of the elass of 1912.
WILBER B. POOL .- A man of broad ideas and wide vision, Wilber B. Pool, editor of the Luther Observer, at Luther, Michigan, has met with a large measure of success as a journalist, the paper which he founded and of which he has sinee had control being now one of the leading newspapers of Lake county. A son of the late J. M. Pool, he was born at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, September 7. 1854, of Scoteh-English lineage.
Born in Riehland county, Ohio, J. M. Pool was brought up as a farmer's son, and received his education in the rural sehools of his dis- triet. He subsequently served an apprenticeship at the trade of a ear- penter and joiner. After his marriage he bought land in Wyandot county, Ohio, and began the improvement of a homestead. During the Civil war he enlisted as a one-hundred day man, and during the raid of Mosby's troops was taken prisoner, but subsequently eseaped. At the expiration of his period of enlistment he returned to his Ohio home, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, at the venerable age of eighty years. He was a life-long Republiean and a valued citizen. He married Mary Hartupee, who was born in Riehland county, Ohio, of German and French ancestry. The following sons and daughters were born of their union: A daughter that died in infancy ; William F .; Emma E .; Wilber B .; Ora B .; Elmer E .; James C .; Frank L .; and Harley A.
Obtaining his preliminary edueation in the district schools of Wyan- dot eounty, Wilber B. Pool afterwards attended the Normal School at Ada, Ohio, taking the seientifie course and subsequently taking the law and literary courses at Valparaiso, Indiana. Returning to his native state, he was engaged in the praetiee of his profession at Upper San- dusky for a brief time. In 1881, however, he eame to Michigan to as- sist his brother and an unele who were running a hardware store in Jackson. Becoming familiar with the details of the business, Mr. Pool in 1882 established a hardware store in Luther and managed it success- fully for twelve years. In 1894 he opened a printing offiee in Luther and founded the "Observer," which he has since managed with undis- puted success.
Mr. Pool has likewise devoted a part of his time and energies to the practice of his profession, being a member of the Miehigan bar, and for fifteen years has served as Cireuit eourt commissioner. He is prom- inent in public affairs, having held many of the village and township offiees, for many years serving as a member of the Luther Board of Edneation and as its president. He is an active member of the Metho- rist Episcopal church and its local preacher.
WILLIAM A. WYMAN, one of the leading business men of the eity of McBain and one of the most popular and influential citizens of Missau- kee county, was born on a farm in the township of Sandstone, Jaekson eounty, Michigan, August 27, 1874. He was the eldest son of Charles G. and Mary A. Wyman. His father, Charles G. Wyman, was the first en- gineer in the employ of Buckley & Douglas on their logging railroad in
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Manistee county. He died November 29, 1890, from injuries received while in the discharge of his duties as engineer on the Manistee & Northeastern railroad. Four years later, his widow Mary A. Wyman, married W. T. Brain, a merchant at Manistee, Michigan, where they now reside.
William's earliest recollections cluster around the farm home in Jackson county, where he was born and where he spent the early years of his life. His education was secured in a distriet school and in a graded sehool in the little village of Parma and the city of Jackson. Having obtained a fair common school education, he entered Devlin's Business College at Jackson, Michigan, about October 1, 1890. His in- tentions were to complete the business eourse, but the death of his father occurring a few weeks later, caused him to change his plans. With all the enthusiasm of youth he launched out into the business world to find employment where he could gain a practical business edu- eation as well as assist him financially. His first position was in the office of Charles Ruggles at Manistee, Michigan. He later secured a position as elerk in a grocery and drug store for George R. Seoville, in the same eity. He next accepted a position with Rademaker & Hender- son as manager of their transfer lines, this position he held for three years. It was during this time that he met Miss Minnie E. Stanley, whom he married March 31, 1896. She is the daughter of Charles D. and Mary R. Stanley, the former of whom was a merchant at Manistee and held the office of register of deeds and elerk of Manistee county, and later was general manager of the E. R. Dailey Company at Sutton's Bay, Michigan, and is now a banker at Mount Morris, Michigan.
After Mr. Wyman's marriage his first position was circulating repre- sentative for the Manistce Daily Advocate and Grand Rapids Herald at Manistee. This position he held one year until he moved to Sutton's Bay, Michigan, where he entered the employ of E. R. Dailey as book- keeper. Two years later the business of E. R. Dailey was incorporated into a stock company, under the name of The E. R. Dailey Company, and Mr. Wyman being one of the stockholders, was elected a director and secretary and treasurer of the company. Four years later Mr. Dailey sold his interest in the eompany to the other stockholders and the cor- poration name was changed to The Wyman & Strong Company, Mr. Wyman holding the offices of general manager, secretary and treasurer. During his residence at Sutton's Bay, Mr. Wyman held in sueeession the offices of township treasurer, village treasurer and village trustee, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents.
In 1904 he severed his connection with the Wyman & Strong company and came to McBain, Michigan, where he established the first banking institution that McBain ever had and the second bank in Missaukee eounty. So universally popular, under his able and pleasing manage- ment, did this bank become, that in six months' time it was necessary to seek a larger building for the banking offices in order to handle the business. Mr. Wyman is now president of the bank having admitted Mr. Orrin O. Dunham as a partner in 1906.
During the year 1907, he with Mr. O. O. Dunham, built, furnished and equipped the neat hank building at Dighton, Michigan, and on Jan-
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uary 2, 1908, opened its doors for business as "The Farmers & Mer- chants Bank." Mr. Wyman was vice president of this bank until July, 1910, when he sold his interest in the institution. He was one of the organizers of the Dighton Land Company, a corporation, whose main business is dealing in real estate, and is one of the directors and the treasurer of this company.
Mr. Wyman has never been an office seeker, but the Republican party has thrust offices upon him, but this fact has not in the least de- terred him from doing his duty with firmness and impartiality which only adds to his popularity. He was one of the leading citizens to assist in securing the charter, specially granted, which made McBain a city. He held the office of McBain village treasurer and, upon the resignation of C. R. Burleson as mayor, was appointed by the council to fill the va- cancy and so well did he fill the office that he was elected to succeed himself, which position he still holds.
With his wife and two daughters, Rhea M., born November 12, 1901, and Mary Evelyn, born Angust 22, 1904, Mr. Wyman occupies a beau- tiful home in the finest residence part of the city. He belongs to three fraternal orders, viz: the Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. He is one of the most ready men to assist in a worthy cause and always has his eyes open for anything that will advance the interest of his home city and commonwealth, and he is considered a most useful man to the county, the state and the country at large.
HENRY YOCKEY is most successfully engaged in agricultural pur- suits on his fine farm of two hundred acres adjoining the village of Mikado, in Alcona county, Michigan. He is also interested in land speculations and at one time was the faithful and efficient incumbent of the office of justice of the peace. Mr. Yockey was born in the city of Buffalo, New York, the date of his nativity being the 6th of August, 1842. He is a son of Philip and Sallie (Houri) Yockey, who was born in Alsace, which province was then a kingdom of France but which was ceded to Germany in 1871, as the result of the Franco-Prussian war. The parents emigrated to the United States in 1835, location being made at Buffalo, New York, where the father turned his attention to the lumber industry ; he also owned and operated a canal boat in the early days and he was a prominent business man in Buffalo during a long period of years. To Philip and Sallie Yockey were born seven children, five of whom are living at the present time, in 1911. The parents are both deceased.
To the public schools of Buffalo Mr. Yockey, of this review, is in- debted for his preliminary educational training and in 1862, when twenty years of age, he removed to Saginaw, Michigan, continuing to maintain his home at that place for the ensuing ten years, at the ex- piration of which he removed to Au Sable, where he constructed that well known hostelry, the Yockey House, the same being completed in 1873. Mr. Yockey owned and operated that hotel up to 1876 and in that year he became interested in the meat business. doing an extensive business on the lakes by means of trading boats. He was identified
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with the latter enterprise up to 1897, at which time he came to Mikado, where he has since been engaged in the great basic industry of agricul- ture. He owns a splendid estate of two hundred acres of land adjoin- ing Mikado and he is also the owner of a number of good lots in the village. For some time past he has been much interested in the real- estate business, doing considerable in the way of land speculations. He is a man of unusual foresight and good judgment and one whose coun- eil is sought by his fellow citizens. He is loyal and public-spirited in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the community in which he has long resided and no measure projected for progress and develop- ment fails to meet with his heartiest approval and support. Politically he is an uneompromising Republican and the only office of which he has ever been incumbent is that of justice of the peace, to which he was elected in 1897 and which he held for four years. Fraternally he is connected with various organizations of representative character and in his religious faith he is a devout member of the Lutheran church, of which is wife is likewise a member.
In the year 1872 Mr. Yockey was united in marriage to Miss Annie Miller, a daughter of Adam Miller, long a representative business man at Saginaw, Michigan, where Mrs. Yockey was reared and educated. To Mr. and Mrs. Yockey have been born four children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth,-Samuel, Edward, Henry and Sarah.
LOU. S. DARLING .- One of the substantial business men and highly esteemed citizens of Petoskey, Mr. Darling is senior member of the firm of Darling & Beahan, which controls a large and important enterprise in the handling of product, seeds, agricultural implements, carriages and other vehicles and whose extensive and well equipped establish- ment is eligibly located at 416 Howard street. Such is Mr. Darling's standing as a representative citizen and business man of Emmet county that there is all of consistency in according him speeific recognition in this publication.
Mr. Darling claims the old Empire state of the Union as the place of his nativity and within its gracious borders were also born his par- ents, a fact that indicates that the respective families were there founded in an early day. L. Steele Darling was born in Tioga county, New York, on the 12th of February, 1862, and is a son of Selim and Theodocia (Gale) Darling. The father, who was born in the year 1824, was a resident of Petoskey, Michigan, at the time of his death, in 1904, and here his widow has sinee continued to maintain her home, the sub- ject of this review being the only survivor of their four children. Selim Darling learned the trade of carpenter when a young man and event- mally became a successful contractor and builder. In 1873 he removed to Flint, Michigan, where he continued to be identified with this im- portant line of business enterprise until 1878, when he established his permanent home in Petoskey, Michigan, where he gained prestige as one of the leading contraetors and builders of this county and where he ever held secure place in popular confidence and esteem. Ile aided materially in the development and upbuilding of Petoskey and was one
John H. Grant.
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of its loyal and public-spirited citizens. IIis political support was given to the Republican party, he was affiliated with the local lodge of Knights of Pythias, and was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, as is also his widow, whose gentle and gracious attributes of character have endeared her to all who have come within the immediate sphere of her influence.
Lou. Steele Darling, whose name initiates this review, gained his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native county and supplemented this by attendance in the schools of the city of Flint, Michigan. As a youth he served a thorough apprenticeship at the car- penter's trade, under the direction of his honored father, and he further fortified himself by a course in architectural designing, in a correspond- ence school. From 1878 until 1894 he was associated with his father in the contracting and building business, and he then turned his attention to his present line of enterprise, in which his success has been on a parity with his indefatigable energy, progressive methods and good manage- ment. In the prosecution of the business he is associated with a valued coadjutor. Charles C. Beahan, under the firm title of Darling & Beahan, and their fair and honorable dealings have gained to them a large and appreciative patronage, with the result that they have built up a busi- ness that is unexcelled in its line by any other in Emmet county.
As a citizen Mr. Darling is essentially broadminded, progressive and liberal, and he has given ready support to enterprises and undertakings projected for the general good of his home community. He served one term as a member of the city board of aldermen, as representative of the first ward. Mr. Darling accords unwavering allegiance to the Re- publican party, and is affiliated with Petoskey Lodge, No. 282, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and Petoskey Tent, No. 223, Knights of the Modern Maccabees. Both Mr. and Mrs. Darling are adherents of the Presbyterian church.
On the 23d of September, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Darling to Miss Cora Bacon, the only child of Levi and Diana (Bennett ) Bacon, the former of whom was a resident of Petoskey at the time of his death and the latter of whom now maintains her home in Petoskey. Mr. and Mrs. Darling have three children. Theodocia Anna, Selim Bacon, and Ada Louise.
JOHN H. GRANT .- Measured by its benignant influence and worthy accomplishment, as well as by popular approbation, the life of Judge Grant, of Manistee, has counted for much, and he is deserving of con- sideration in this publication as one of the representative members of the Michigan bar and one of the influential and honored citizens of the city of Manistee, where he has maintained his home for nearly thirty years and where he has served on the bench of the Probate Court of Manistee county continuously for the past decade and a half. A man of ideas and ideals, his character is the positive expression of a strong, loyal and sincere nature, and he has employed his powers to goodly ends as one of the world's noble army of workers.
Judge Grant was born on a farm near the village of Burlington, Carroll county. Indiana, on the 22nd of September, 1857, and is a
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son of John M. and Catherine (Spangler) Grant, the former of whom was born in Butler county, Ohio, where the family was founded in the pioneer days, and the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania, whence she accompanied her parents on their removal to Butler county, Ohio, when a young woman. In that county was solemnized her mar- riage to John M. Grant in 1847, and about 1850 they removed to Car- roll county, Indiana. The father of Judge Grant became one of the prosperous farmers of Carroll county, where he continued to reside until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-six years, and his ster- ling integrity of character won and retained to him the inviolable eon- fidence and esteem of his fellow men. His wife is still living in Car- roll county and is eighty-four years of age at the time of this writ- ing, in 1911. Of the nine children seven grew to maturity and are still living, and until the death of the honored father there had been no other break of death in the family circle for more than half a century. Judge Grant was the sixth in order of birth, and the family name has been identified with the annals of American history since the Colonial epoch. The lineage is traeed baek to stanneh Scotch origin.
Judge Grant was reared under the invigorating influences of the farm, and in this connection he gained his initial experienee in the practical duties and responsibilities of a workaday world. The gracious environment of his home and his naturally alert mentality begot in him definite ambition, and he determined to secure a liberal education after he had completed the curriculum of the country schools. It was this determination that primarily brought him to Michigan, and in 1875 he beeame a student in the high school at Ann Arbor, the seat of the Great University of Michigan. There he continued his studies for two years, after which he attended the Pontiae high school for one year, at the expiration of which he was matriculated in the literary department of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882 and from which he received his well earned degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the following year he was graduated in the law department of the same institution, which then conferred upon him the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was forth- with admitted to the bar of the state, and those who know him agree that it is fortunate for Michigan that he did not return to his native commonwealth.
In April, 1883, Judge Grant established his home in Manistee, where he has resided continuously during the long intervening years. Here he entered the law offices of the firm of Ramsdell & Benedict, with whom he was associated until 1887, when he formed a partnership alliance with Judge Aaron V. McAlvay, which mutually pleasing and effective professional association was continued for fourteen years, to be sev- ered only when Judge MeAlvay was elected circuit judge and later was chosen a member of the Supreme Court of Michigan, upon the bench of which he has presided since 1904. In August, 1905, Judge Grant formed a partnership in the law with Max E. Neal, under the title of Grant & Neal, and this association continued until February. 1911. Judge Grant, prior to assuming his present offiee on the bench of the Probatc Court, had gained more than local reputation as a re-
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