USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 35
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Judge Grant married, October 25, 1868, Daney Clark, and into their household six children have been born, namely: Rena M .; Alda M .; Clark D., deceased; Howard; Anna; and Harold. Politically the Judge has been a life-long Republican and a faithful supporter of the prin- ciples of his party. He is a member of General I. C. Smith Post. No. 451. G. A. R., Department of Michigan, and belongs to the Knights of Pythias and to the Modern Woodmen of America.
JOHN D. POTTER .- One of the sterling pioneers and prominent and influential business men of the city of Alpena is John D. Potter, who is one of the interested principals in the Potter Hardware Company, one of the representative and important commercial concerns of this sec- tion of the state.
Like many others of the leading citizens of northern Michigan Mr. Potter claims the province of Ontario, Canada, as the place of his na- tivity, and he is a son of Thomas and Margaret (Duncan) Potter, the former of English and the latter of Scottish ancestry. Concerning the family history adequate data appear in the sketeh of James J. Potter, brother and business associate of the subject of this review, and as the artiele in question is incorporated on other pages of this volume it is not necessary to repeat the information in the present connection. John D. Potter was born in the city of London, Middlesex county, On- tario, on the 22d of September, 1846, and accompanying the family on their removal to Port Huron, Michigan, he received his early education in its common sehools of the pioneer days. After leaving school he was variously employed, principally in connection with the lumber industry, until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he subordinated all other in- terests to tender his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted, on the 19th of August, 1864, as a private in Company H. Third Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and he was mustered in at Pontiae. His regiment was assigned to the Southwestern Army, and later was reorganized, at Decatur, Alabama, where it became a part of the Fourth Army Corps and was commanded by General Stanley. Mr. Potter had taken up his residence in Alpena in July, 1862, and here his enlistment was made at a recruiting headquarters. He continued in active service in the south- west for some time after the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston, and received his honorable discharge in the city of Detroit, Michigan, in June, 1866. Ile lived up to the full tension of the great confliet be- tween the north and south and participated in all the battles and skir- mishes in which his regiment was involved, including the battles of
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Murfreesboro and Nashville. In November, 1865, he was promoted sec- ond lieutenant of his company, and in January of the following year further recognition of his gallant and faithful service was accorded by his being promoted first lieutenant, while in Texas.
After the close of his military career Mr. Potter returned to Alpena and again identified himself with the extensive lumbering operations that were then being carried on in this section of the state. He served for some time as log scaler and later became superintendent of a saw mill, which position he held until 1869, when he became associated with his brother James J. in the hardware business in Alpena, where he pur- chased the interest of his brother E. K., who had been one of the foun- ders of the enterprise. Keeping in touch with the march of progress, the firm of Potter Brothers built up a large and prosperous business, and prior to the decline of the lumber industry a large trade was controlled in furnishing supplies demanded in connection with that line of enter- prise. The business has been both wholesale and retail in its functions and the house is now one of the oldest, most substantial and most popu- lar of its kind in the entire northern part of the state, while the two pioneer citizens who have so long been at its head have gained and retained the unqualified confidence and respect of all with whom they have had dealings or have come into contact in other relations. The business was continued under the firm name of Potter Brothers until November. 1909, when it was found expedient to incorporate the same, under the present title of the Potter Hardware Company.
John D. Potter has not only been a business man of most careful and progressive methods, but he has also been known as a man of utmost civic loyalty and liberality,-ever ready to lend his influence and aid in support of measures projected for the general good of the city and county in which he has so long maintained his home. In politics, though never an aspirant for public office, he accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are earnest and valued members of the Congregational church in Alpena. Here also he perpetu. ates the more gracious memories of his career as a soldier of the Union by retaining membership in Horace S. Roberts Post, No. 139, Grand Army of the Republic. He is an appreciative member of the time- honored Masonie fraternity, in which his local affiliations are with Al- pena Lodge, No. 199, Free & Accepted Masons; Thunder Bay Chapter, No. 74, Royal Arch Masons; and Alpena Commandery, No. 34, Knights Templars. In the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, he has "crossed the burning sands of the desert" and proved himself eligible for membership in Moslem Temple, in the city of Detroit.
On the 23d of September. 1868, Mr. Potter was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Palmer, who was at the time a resident of Alpena. Michigan. She was born at Cooperstown, New York, and is the second in order of birth of the four children of Robert and Elizabeth (French) Palmer, both of whom were born in the state of New York. The father was a pioneer lumberman of northern New York state, and while thus engaged he met an accidental death, about the year 1864. His widow is
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still living, at the venerable age of eighty-six years (1911) and main- tains her home in Wellsville, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Potter have three daughters,-Ida, who is the wife of Alexander M. Marshall, of Duluth, Minnesota; and Emma E. and Mabel G., who remain at the parental home.
EDGAR J. KINGSCOTT, engaged in the mercantile business at Bear Lake, Michigan, is one of the most favorably known and highly es- teemed of the citizens in this part of the state. A man active in politics and one who has held public office in an acceptable and enlightened manner, he is also a leading figure in the commercial world, as a mem- ber of the firm of Walker & Kingscott, clothiers and furnishers, who conduct an up-to-date enterprise which adds materially to the progress and high standing of the city. He has inherited many high traditions, being the son of one of the most dauntless of Michigan pioneers and bravest of Civil war veterans.
Mr. Kingscott was born in Bear Lake township, October 8, 1869, his parents being William G. and Hannah (Hoyt) Kingscott. The father was a native of the state of New York, his birth having occurred in Genessee county, in the year 1837. His parents came to the state of Michigan at an early day, locating in Macomb county, and in this section the youth of the subject's father was passed. In the year 1866 he entered one hundred and sixty acres of timber land in Manistee county which he cleared and brought to a state of cultivation and there he made his home until his death. He was a life-long Republican and very zealous in the cause and a signal mark of the approval in which he was held in the community in which he was best known was his elevation to the office of supervisor of the township, a position which he retained for years. In the year 1866, he was married in Macomb county, Michi- gan, to Miss Hannah Hoyt, a native of Connecticut who came to Michi- gan in the early '50s. Their union was blessed by the birth of three sons and three daughters, Manistee county being the birthplace of all of them. The other surviving members of the family are May E., Ralph H., and Walter J.
At the time of the great conflict between the states William G. Kingscott hearkened to the call of "Father Abraham" and his own native patriotism and in 1861 enlisted at Grand Rapids in the Second Michigan Cavalry, serving more than four years in all, from the be- ginning to the end of the war. This honored veteran died in 1893, his years numbering but fifty-five at the time of his demise. The mother died January 3, 1911, at Bear Lake, Michigan.
To the district schools of Bear Lake township is Mr. Kingscott in- debted for his early educational advantages, his attendance being later supplemented by a season at the grammar school of the town of Bear Lake. He had some thought, even before reaching his majority, of taking up a commercial career, and he entered the commercial depart- ment of Ferris College, at Big Rapids, Michigan, and was graduated from that institution in the year 1903. His youth was passed amid rural surroundings and he became well versed in the many depart- ments of agricultural science under the able tutelage of his father.
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Ile proved of great assistance in the agricultural duties and re- mained upon the homestead until his father's death and for the eight sneceeding years. Naturally inclined to public life; interested in pol- ities and a most loyal supporter of the policies and principles of the Republican party ; public-spirited, even at the expense of personal ad- vantage; it was indeed appropriate that Mr. Kingscott should enter politics and his career has been most satisfactory from every viewpoint. In 1898 he was elected supervisor of Bear Lake township and remained in that capacity for four years. In 1902 he was elected to the office of register of deeds, holding the office for eight years, and his faithful and efficient service greatly redonnded to his credit. In business he has met with like success, his association with Mr. C. E. Walker in the clothing and furnishing business dating from the year 1905, when he bought a partnership in the company, which is the descendant of one of the oldest enterprises of the place, the store of Walker & O'Rourke.
Mr. Kingscott is an enthusiastic lodge man and indeed one of the most prominent in this part of Michigan. He is, first and foremost, a member of the ancient and august Masonic order, belonging to the blue lodge and chapter and upon occasion wearing the white-plumed helmet of the Knight Templar. He fraternizes with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Modern Romans; and is Past Chancellor Commander of the Knights of Pythias. In all of these he enjoys great popularity for many good gifts of mind and heart.
Mr. Kingscott was married January 11, 1911, to Miss Susannah H. Richardson, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
HENRY MILTNER .- Education is the capital which every man or woman must have in order to succeed. This was the opinion of Henry Miltner, now prosecuting attorney of Missaukee county. Everything he possesses today, both in the way of material wealth and personal acquirements, is the result of his own individual effort. He had very little schooling, at the age when a boy usually goes to school, but he improved those years by laying up a store of knowledge for himself. A man educates himself hy work as well as by reading and Mr. Miltner has had the advantage of both kinds of education. He has made the best possible use of his opportunities, but he has not always waited for opportunity to come and knock. Rather he has advanced to meet it and if necessary to make it. There are men who are ignorant and do not know it; they have a contempt for education. Such people are hopeless and it is of no use trying to do anything with them. There are others who know little and are ashamed of it, but have not enough go in them to change affairs. There are still others, like Mr. Miltner, who are determined to acquire knowledge and of such men are our leaders made. It is such men as these who accomplish things.
Henry Miltner was born upon a farm in Iosco township, Livingston county, Michigan, November 18, 1882. His parents were George and Mary (Lerg) Miltner. The mother died before he had reached the age of five and the father before he was ten. He then lived with his grand- father on his farm in Livingston county. As soon as he was old enough he began to work on his grandfather's farm and he then laid the founda-
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tion of the necessity to work which has carried him through many difficulties. Until he was twelve years old he had no schooling to speak of, but he learned how to read in some way and after that he picked up every scrap of information he could glean making the most of the few times he was able to attend school. When he was twelve years old he went to school four months out of the year-the winter term, working hard on the farm during the eight months, but even during the sum- mer he found some time to study, after his twelve hours work in the fields. By the time he was sixteen he had completed the work that is covered by the grammar school and was ready to enter high school. He came to Lake City where he obtained employment in return for his hoard. After he graduated from high school he taught for two winters, boarding himself and sleeping in the school house one winter, in order to save money. He expended his earnings by taking a course in short- hand at the Ferris Institute and managed to cover the required ground in three months.' He returned to Lake City and seeured employment with Attorney F. O. Gaffney. He remained with him for three years, during which time he became deeply interested in law and he began to study it in his spare time. At the end of the three years he went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and took a summer course of eight weeks. When school opened in the fall, he had made such prodigious strides that he was able to enter as a senior and at the close of the school year he obtained a diploma covering three years' course and the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the University of Michigan, as the result of one year's work and the eight weeks' summer term. The ground he covered in that time is a three years' course. After he left the University Mr. Miltner was admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Michigan at Lansing and returned to Lake City where most of his education had been acquired. He was now ready to begin his career as a lawyer. He former a partnership with Mr. Gaffney and they started business under the firm name of Gaffney & Miltner, with offices at Cadillae and Lake City. Mr. Gaffney went to Cadillac and Mr. Milt- ner took charge of the Lake City office. In 1906, when he was only twenty-four years of age he was appointed proseenting attorney of the county to fill the vaeaney occasioned by the death of Mr. Charles L. Goll. In 1910 he was put up as a candidate for the office of prosecuting attorney of the county and he was elected.
February 25, 1909, Mr. Miltner married Miss Gertrude May Howey, a very popular young lady in Lake City. She is the daughter of Stephen and Kate Howey. Mr. Howey was very well known in Lake City, hav- ing been a hardware merchant here for twenty years. Ile died in 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Miltner have one child, Charles S., born January 20, 1910.
Mr. Miltner is a member of the Catholic Church and holds member- ship with the Knights of Columbus and the Elks. IIe is still a very young man and only at the beginning of his career, although a less ambitious man might feel that he might well be satisfied with present conditions. Mr. Miltner is not ambitions to eover himself with glory, but he is and always has been, desirous of giving to the world the best that is in him. Ilis achievements in the face of great odds show that he has naturally great capabilities. He does not feel that this is any
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matter for being proud of himself, but rather that by reason of his capabilities he is so much the more responsible. Mr. Miltner has al- ways offered his best, so that the fact that he has a wife and child to work for can offer no further incentive, where none was needed. He will continue to give of himself for the good of his fellowmen, for the upholding of right and justice, for the benefit of his family.
THEODORE A. FERRIS, who has long been identified with industrial affairs in Michigan, is now interested in the manufacture of lumber and shingles, in conjunction with which he conducts a planing mill, the scene of his labors being at Lincoln, Alcona county, Michigan. Mr. Ferris owns a fine farm in Alcona county and as a citizen he has ever been exceptionally public-spirited, having been honored by his fellow men with many important offices of trust and responsibility, in all of which he has acquitted himself most creditably.
Mr. Ferris was born in Seneca county, New York, on the 2nd of November, 1848, and he is a son of John and Salome (Dailey) Ferris, the former a native of England and the latter a native of the state of New York. In 1858 Mr. and Mrs. Ferris removed to Sanilac county, Michigan, where the father purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres, which they improved and upon which they continued to reside until 1887, in which year they removed to Tacoma, Washington, where they passed the residue of their lives, their deaths having occurred in 1889 and 1891 respectively. In the family of fourteen children four are deceased,-James, Theodore A. (of this review), Lucena, deceased, Edwin, William, Frank, Libby, Ella (deceased), Lydia, Ada, Lilly, Rosie (deceased), Leonard and Warren (deceased).
To the public schools of Sanilac county Mr. Ferris is indebted for his early educational training, the same consisting of such advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. He was ten years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Michigan and as he attained to years of maturity he became interested in the lumber busi- ness, continuing to be identified with that industry during the long in- tervening years to the present time. He has resided at Lincoln, Alcona county, for the past twenty-four years, during the first twelve of which he was in the employ of the lumber firm of Alger Smith & Company. Since 1898 he has been interested in the lumber business on his own account, manufacturing lumber and shingles and operating a large plan- ing mill at Lincoln. He is the owner of considerable town property and he also owns a fine farm of eighty acres in an adjoining township. He is a business man of unusual energy and ability and it is gratifying to note that his success is the result of his own well applied endeavors. In politics Mr. Ferris endorses the cause of the Republican party and dur- ing his residence at Lincoln he has been incumbent of the following offices : justice of the peace, school director, and member of the township board of supervisors. In 1908 Mr. Ferris constructed a beautiful home at Lincoln, the same replacing one destroyed by fire, in 1893. In a fra- ternal way he is connected with the Knights of the Maccabees and with the Grange.
On the 25th of December, 1876, was celebrated the marriage of Mr.
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Ferris to Miss Emma Wixson, a daughter of Jesse and Rebecca Wixson, who were long residents of Sanilac county, Michigan, and who were na- tives respectively of Canada and New York. Mr. and Mrs. Wixson had twelve children, whose names are here recorded,-Henry, Sophronia, Alonzo, Mary, Willard, Joseph, Jesse, Lauretta, George, Stillman, Elsie and Emma, of whom six are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Ferris became the parents of six children,-Nellie, who is now Mrs. N. G. Oliver, of Oscoda ; Gaige, Lee, Percy, Frank and Bertram, the latter of whom is deceased. The Ferris family are devout members of the Baptist church in their religious faith and they have ever been liberal contributors to all phi- lanthropical movements set forward in Lincoln.
WILLIAM O'NEAL, proprietor of the Park House at Petoskey, is one of the pioneer lumbermen of northern Michigan, and the record of his career is an important chapter in the history of development in this part of the state. He was one of the pioneers who accomplished great tasks during the times when the lumber interests were clearing away the wilderness of Michigan, and the honor and prosperity of his later years are well deserved rewards of the determined energy and exeeu- tive ability displayed in earlier life.
Born at Ottawa, Canada, May 9, 1852, he was a son of William and Rose (Lyons) O'Neal. His father, who died at the age of sixty-eight, was born in County Clare, Ireland, and at an early age made the twelve weeks' voyage on a sailing vessel to Quebec, and from there to Bristol township, Ontario. There he hewed a farm from the wilderness, and a few years later moved to Stephen township in Huron county, twenty- six miles north of London. Here he lived ten years, and in 1864 moved to Saginaw, Michigan, where he was gardener up to the time of his death. Ile was a lover of fine cattle and always kept some on his farm. Of his life in Ireland, he was always proud to relate his part in hauling the carriage of Daniel O'Connell through the streets of Kilrush, County Clare, after the latter's election to a seat in Parliament. In American politics he was a Democrat and was a member of the Catholic church. Ilis wife, Rose Lyons, whom he married in Bristol, Ontario, was a na- tive of County Leitrim, Ireland, and passed away at the age of sixty- six. They were parents of four sons and two daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are living.
William O'Neal, who was the third child, attended school in his home community until thirteen years old, when he became an employe in Arthur Hill's sawmill. At the age of sixteen he went into the woods, walking sixty miles from Saginaw to the then timber-covered site of Mount Pleasant on Pine river, where he worked for two years, the first in peeling logs. The third winter he was placed in charge of a camp of forty men for Isaac Parsons of Saginaw. During the three winters of this employment, all the supplies for the camp had to be brought by canoe or scow from Redkey to the month of the Molossea river, thence up the Tittahawassee river to their headquarters.
His next work was as log scaler on the Au Sable river, the first year for Sanhourn & Beach of Port IInron, and two winters for T. F. Thomp- son. On his return to Saginaw he was appointed superintendent of a
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lumber eamp for William Callam, and later became foreman for A. T. Bliss, the former governor of Michigan. It was during this latter em- ployment that Mr. O'Neal gained his first important distinetion among Michigan lumbermen, and which brought down on him the displeasure of the ax-men. He was the first man in the state to introduce the use of the cross-cut saw in felling trees, instead of the old method of chop- ping. The walking boss reported this innovation to Mr. Bliss. The latter carried the matter before the board of trade of lumbermen at Saginaw. The result of the contention was that Tim Dorr and Pat Glenn, both prominent Inmbermen from the state of Maine, also intro- dueed the cross-cut saw in preference to the ax, and the method was quickly adopted by most of the lumbermen of the state. It is said that the price of cross-cut saws suddenly rose one dollar each.
May 1, 1879, Mr. O'Neal transferred the scene of his operations to Emmet county, and for ten years had charge of the William Callam lumber business in this region. He was the pioneer on Cecil Bay and among the first in all this region. At the same time his wife had charge of the camp boarding house. His work comprised the removal of ten thousand acres of timber, and the old sawmill is still standing on Carp river near Cecil Bay. From there he moved to Levering and for two years had charge of a lumber business at Pellston. In the meantime he had bought a tract of land in Bliss township of Emmet county, where his family made their home and where he had a man in charge of the clearing. For two years he had charge of one hundred and thirty-five men for Hall & Buel at Seeny, A. C. Hubbel being superintendent, and he was then engaged by Col. L. T. Dickerson of Chicago to superintend the milling and Inmber business at Cecil Bay. Four or five years later the ten thousand acres together with the mill at Cecil Bay were turned over to him to sell, and after buying fifteen hundred aeres for himself he sold the rest to Davis & Caldwell of Battle Creek. For several years he continued in the lumber business on his own account, selling his logs to the Cecil Bay Lumber Company.
The farm in Bliss township which he had cleared out of the wilder- ness has become a prosperons community largely through his efforts and example. When he first located there, schools were few and far between, and he had to drive thirty-three miles to have his children baptized. Later, when roads were opened, a priest eame onee in three months to the O'Neal home to say mass for the people in that vicinity. Later Mr. O'Neal set aside five acres of his farm as the site for the first church built in this locality, and he practically built the church him- self. He has also given forty more acres for this little church. Four of his children each live on eighty acres which he gave them, all being within a short distance of the church. The original farm which he still owns is a finely improved place, and had a good orchard of eight acres in apples. In October, 1909, he bought the Park Hotel in Petoskey and has sinee engaged in the hotel business.
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