USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 52
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Rollin Frank Lemon received his education in the schools of Byron and Lansing, attending high school in the latter place. When his years became sufficient to admit of his becoming a factor in the business world, he entered the mercantile company with his father and brother, the date of his entrance into the firm being 1887. In January, 1900, he made a change and engaged with the Bank of Harbor Springs as cashier, a posi- tion he retained until 1905. In that year this substantial monetary insti- tution was reorganized as the Emmet County State Bank, the subject becoming cashier and continuing in such capacity until October, 1908. Although he is no longer an officer of the bank. he holds a directorship at the present time. Mr. Lemon was appointed postmaster in 1909, and this office he holds at the present time, he being known as a most com- mendable servant of Uncle Sam. He has given valuable public service
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in other capacities, having served as village clerk for two terms and as township treasurer for the same length of time. In the insurance and loan business, he has built up a large clientage and represents some of the large companies.
Mr. Lemon is one of the most prominent and popular of lodge men. First and foremost he is a member of the time-honored Masonic order and exemplifies in himself the principles of moral and social justice and brotherly love for which Masonry stands. He is a Royal Arch Mason, his connection being with the Chapter at Harbor Springs. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. In politics Mr. Lemon gives alle- giance to the Republican party, being ready to do all in his power to advance the interests of the party in whose policies and principles he has all faith.
On November 19, 1902, Mr. Lemon was united in marriage to Bertha M. Lee, their happy union being celebrated at Harbor Springs. Mrs. Lemon was born at Kirkwood, Missouri, and is a daughter of David C. and Nellie I. (Marble) Lee, both natives of Michigan. The father sur- vives, but the mother is deceased. These worthy people were the parents of two children, Mrs. Lemon and an elder brother, Fred C., now resid- ing in Washington. David C. Lee served during the Civil war in a Mich- igan regiment, his service being in the engineering department of the same. His occupation is now and has been for many years that of a traveling salesman. Mr. Lee is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Grand Old Party. Mr. and Mrs. Lemon share their charming home with two young daughters,-Elizabeth and Helen.
ROBERT E. NEWVILLE, postmaster of Boyne City, is one of the oldest residents of this city, having lived here since 1881. He was born in Allegany county, New York, August 20, 1853. His early education was obtained in his native state, in Iowa and in Michigan, a course in a business college at Adrian preparing him for a commercial career. He was with a grocery firm at Schofield, Michigan, for a time. On his arrival at Boyne City in March, 1881, he engaged in lumbering and in July, 1883, became bookkeeper and manager in the general store of John Monroe, Sr., and for three years from 1883 was with William H. White engaged in getting out lumber. Selling out to Mr. White, he was in the livery business until 1893, and for five years following was trav- eling representative of an insurance company. In 1898 Mr. Newville was appointed postmaster at Boyne City and still holds that post of trust and public service. In 1910 he began the development of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres within a short distance of the city. His first public office was that of school inspector, and he has also served as village assessor, as deputy sheriff two terms, and as under-sheriff one term.
Robert O. and Sarah A. (Gifford) Newville, the parents of the Boyne City postmaster, were born in New York state, and the father died at the age of eighty-four and the mother at eighty-three. Two of their eight children are living, John A. and Robert E. The father was a farmer, and on moving west first went to Iowa, but in 1868 settled in Michigan. This journey from Iowa to Michigan, which was under-
R. E. Newville
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taken when Robert E. was fifteen years old, was made in wagons. They crossed the Mississippi at McGregor, Iowa, thence across Wisconsin to Milwaukee, by steamer across the lake to Manistee, thence to Traverse City, where Robert was employed during the summer on the construc- tion work of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, and in the fall of the year the family resumed its migration to Lenawee county. The family afterwards settled in Monroe county, where the father was postmaster of his village one term, and in 1881 the latter located at Boyne City where he spent the rest of his life.
January 1, 1876, Robert E. Newville married Miss Florence Hill. She was born in DeWitt, Michigan, a daughter of Theo and Delia ( Welsh) Hill, the former a native of New York and the latter of Michi- gan. The father died in 1907, and the mother now resides in Arizona. Mrs. Newville is the oldest of their seven children, six of whom are living. Her father was a minister of the Methodist church. Six chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Newville: Blanche, who died at the age of nineteen; Floyd, who is assistant postmaster; Loyal, a machinist ; Irving, Earl and Albert are at home. Mr. Newville is a prominent Odd Fellow, being past noble grand of the Boyne River Lodge No. 367, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, P. C. P. of Boyne City Encamp- ment, No. 103, and is also grand guardian of the Grand Lodge of the state.
ABRAHAM SIMMONS, D. D. S .- An essentially progressive citizen of Gaylord, Otsego county, Michigan, is Doctor A. Simmons, who is here engaged in the work of dentistry and who is the owner of a splendid farm of four hundred and twenty acres in Livingston township, some two miles distant from Gaylord. Dr. Simmons was born at Stratford, province of Ontario, Canada, on the 22d of October, 1853, and he is a son of Henry and Elizabeth (Shirk) Simmons, the former of whom was born in England and the latter in Canada. On the maternal side the Doctor traces his ancestry back to staunch Swiss origin and his grand- parents were natives of the state of Pennsylvania, whence they later removed to Canada. Henry and Elizabeth Simmons became the par- ents of seven children, four of whom reside in the United States and four of whom are living at the present time, in 1911. The father was identified with farming operations during his lifetime, and he died in 1892.
Dr. Simmons was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm in Canada, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. As a farmer lad he became very much interested in the manufacture of cheese and he has devoted more or less attention to that occupation during the long intervening years to the present time. He received a liberal education in his youth, the same including a well ordered course in the Toronto Dental College, in which excel- lent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1880, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. In 1881 he emigrated to the United States, locating in Sanilac county, Michigan, where he initiated the active practice of his profession and where he was also in- terested in cheese-making. In 1894 he established his home at Gaylord, where he has continued to reside to the present day and where he has
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gained precedence as one of the best dentists in this section of the state. He seriously contemplates taking up the manufacture of cheese again and on his fine farm of four hundred and twenty acres he has a herd of twenty good cows. His dairy and cheese factory are located on this farm, which is eligibly located two miles distant from Gaylord, which point is convenient for shipping. Dr. Simmons has ever mani- fested a deep and sincere interest in educational matters in this vicinity and in addition to serving as school trustee he was in a great measure the means of procuring the present school building at Gaylord, the same being one of the finest in the state. In politics he accords an uncom- promising allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and while he has never been desirous of the honors or emoluments of public office he is ever on the alert to do all in his power to advance the general welfare of the community and county. He is an eminently popular dentist and as a citizen no one is held in higher esteem than is he. He holds membership in various professional and fraternal organizations and he and his wife are devout adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church.
In the year 1876 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Simmons to Miss Alice A. Johnson, a daughter of James P. and Juliana Johnson, of Can- ada. To this union have been born three children ,two of whom are living,-Willon J. and Wilson H.
Dr. Simmons stands to-day as one of the strong men of northern Michigan, strong in his honor and his good name, in the extent of his influence and in the result of his accomplishments.
EUGENE L. ROSE .- There are many salient points which render most consistent the according of special recognition to Mr. Rose in this his- tory of northern Michigan, for not only is he one of the sterling and prominent business men of the city of Petoskey, where he has maintained his home for more than thirty years, within which he has contributed his quota to civic and material progress, but he has also been an in- fluential factor in public affairs of local order, has held various posi- tions of distinctive public trust, and, withal, has the further prestige of being a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the fine old Wol- verine state, with whose annals the name which he bears has been identi- fied during the greater part of the history of Michigan as one of the sovereign states of the Union.
Eugene L. Rose was born in the village of Bronson, Branch county, Michigan, on the 21st of September, 1862, and is a son of Lorenzo A. and Martha M. (Dubendorff) Rose, the former of whom was born in the state of New York, in 1831, and the latter of whom was born in Ohio. The father died in 1903, at the age of seventy-two years, and the mother still maintains her home at Bronson, Michigan. Of the two sons and two daughters the subject of this review was the firstborn, the others being Maude. Grace and Edward. The maiden name of the first wife of Lorenzo A. Rose was Weatherbee, and both of the children of this mar- riage are deceased.
Lorenzo A. Rose was reared and educated in Michigan, whence he came in early life, and he became a factor of importance in connection
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with the development and upbuilding of the state. He became one of the contractors in the construction of the old Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, the first in the state, and he had the distinction of being conductor of the first passenger train which traversed this road. In 1872 he became associated with his brother, Stephen Rose, in the building of the Coldwater, Mansfield & Ohio Railroad, and they laid the first iron rails on this line, the precarious fortunes of which are a part of the history of railroad construction in Michigan, as the road was aban- doned before operations had proceeded further than construction work, the old roadbed still being in evidence along much of its course in southern Michigan. H. O. Rose, another of his brothers, was associated with John M. Metheany in the construction of the first railroad in Em- inet county,-from Petoskey to Conway, and this line is now a part of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. Lorenzo A. Rose had the con- tract to equip this primitive railroad with wooden rails, and later these were fitted with iron straps, thus constituting the old-fashioned "strap- rails." Later he had supervision of the extension of the line to Mack- inaw City. He continued to reside in the village of Bronson until his death and was one of the well known and highly honored citizens of Branch county. He served as postmaster at Bronson under the adminis- tration of President Cleveland and was influential in connection with the local councils of the Democratic party, of whose generic principles and policies he was a stalwart advocate. He was a consistent member of the Baptist church, of which his widow also has long been a devoted commu- nieant.
Eugene L. Rose reverts to the public schools of his native village of Bronson as the agency through which he gained his early educational training, and in 1878, when sixteen years of age, he came to Petoskey, which was then a mere village, and became a clerk in the general store of the firm of Fox, Rose & Butler, in which his uncle was an interested principal. He was thus employed for nearly a decade and his uncles, H. O. and Perry Rose then became the sole owners of the business, which was thereafter conducted under the firm name of Rose Brothers & Com- pany. He remained in the employ of his uncles for several years and then engaged in the same line of enterprise in an independent way, as senior member of the firm of Rose & Shafer, in which his coadjutor was Robert Shafer, to whom he sold his interest after the lapse of abont eight years. He then engaged in the fancy grocery business, in which he has since continued and in which he has built up a flourishing and repre- sentative trade. His attractive establishment, at 312 Howard street, is a model in its equipment and facilities and caters to a thoroughly dis- criminating and appreciative patronage.
Mr. Rose has ever been vitally interested in all that has touched the welfare of his home city and has given loyal support to all measures and enterprises tending to advance civic and material prosperity. In 1883 he was accorded distinctive mark of popular esteem, in his election to the office of mayor of Petoskey, an office of which he continued incumbent for one term and in which he gave a most careful and effective adminis- tration of municipal affairs. He also served two terms as register of deeds of Emmet county, and in 1890 he was again called to assume the
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position of chief executive of the municipal government, by his election to the office of mayor. He was the first Democrat elected to this office after the incorporation of Petoskey as a city, and in view of the large Republican majority customarily given in the city his election attested emphatically his hold upon popular confidence and esteem. The estimate placed upon his services in this capacity was shown by his retaining the office of mayor for three successive terms, and his administration was marked by most progressive policies and the institution of many public improvements of excellent order. Since his retirement from the mayor- alty he has served one term as a member of the board having control of the city water system.
As has already been intimated, Mr. Rose is unswerving in his alle- giance to the Democratic party and he has given effective service in be- half of its cause. He is affiliated with Durand Lodge, No. 344, Free & Accepted Masons, of which he has served as treasurer since 1898; Eminet Chapter, No. 104, Royal Arch Masons; and Petoskey Lodge, No. 629, Be- nevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in which he is the only member to whom has been accorded the distinction of serving two terms as ex- alted ruler.
On the 25th of October, 1883, Mr. Rose was united in marriage to Miss Ella S. Tyler, who was born at Adrian, the judicial center of Len- awee county, Michigan, and who is the only child of Amos H. and Susan (Anderson) Tyler, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom maintains her home at Petoskey. Mr. Tyler and his wife were both born in the state of New York and he came to Michigan in the early '30s, becoming one of the early business men of Adrian, where he main- tained his home for many years and where he was a citizen of prominence and influence, honored by all who knew him. He was originally an old- line Whig but united with the Republican party at the time of its or- ganization "under the oaks" at Jackson, this state, and thereafter con- tinned a staunch supporter of its canse. Mr. and Mrs. Rose have one daughter, June, who is now the wife of Richard S. Measick, of Petoskey.
GEORGE A. HART .- To George A. Hart has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the great material indus- tries of northern Michigan. His life achievements worthily illustrate what may be attained by persistent and painstaking effort. He is a man of progressive ideas; although versatile he is not superficial; ex- actness and thoroughness characterize all his ventures; his intellectual possessions are unified and assimilated; they are his own. His gene- alogy also betokens that he is a scion of a family whose associations with the annals of American history have been intimate and honorable from the early Colonial epoch.
Mr. Hart was born in Lapeer, in the county of the same name, Mich- igan, and is a son of Joseph B. Hart, who was a native of Connecticut. whence he came to Michigan about 1830, locating in Lapeer, where he became identified with various industrial and commercial enterprises. Hle was for many years interested in the great lumber resources of this state, was engaged in the general merchandise business and fur deal- ing and was associated with the Indians in the early days, under-
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standing and talking their language with the utmost fluency. He took a prominent part in the early development of eastern Michigan and was ever on the alert to do all in his power to advance the prestige of the Wolverine state. His father was Oliver B. Hart, who was an early set- tler at Hartford, Connecticut. The Hart family traces its ancestry baek to staunch English extraction, the original progenitor of the name in America having emigrated hither from England about the year 1632. Joseph B. Hart married Miss Mary M. Hopkins, who was born and reared in Michigan, her parents having been pioneers in the vicinity of Flint, Genesee county. Mr. and Mrs. Hart became the parents of four sons and one daughter, two of whom are now living,-George A., the immediate subject of this review, and Henry H., who is in the employ of his brother. The father was summoned to the life eternal at the age of sixty years, his cherished and devoted wife having passed away at the early age of thirty-two years.
George A. Hart was the eldest in order of birth of the Hart boys and he passed his boyhood and youth at Lapeer, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline. He was a mere boy at the time of the inception of the Civil war and when fourteen years of age he joined the United States army as a private in Company K. Fifth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry. Two years later he was promoted to the rank of sergeant of Company K, Fifth Michigan Infantry, in the Custer brigade, in which he served with all of faithfulness and valor until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge in March, 1866. Thereafter he entered the employ of the Wells-Fargo Express Company, passing some time in the west among the Indians. In 1870 he went into business at Fenton, Genesee county, Michigan, where he continued to reside until the spring of 1873, in which year he came to Manistee, where he turned his attention to the land and timber business. Immediately after his advent in this city he became a clerk in a store and was thus engaged until 1876, since which time he has been inter- ested in the land and timber business, in which line of enterprise he has been eminently successful. He was one of the parties who became instrumental in promoting the waterworks system of the city, which was afterwards sold to the eity, and he built the electric railroad of Manistee and was its sole owner until 1903, when he disposed of his interest in the same. At the present time, in 1911, he is general man- ager of the Manistee Shoe Company and is president and general man- ager of the Manistee Flouring Mill Company. He is also a direetor in the First National Bank and is the largest farm-land holder in Michi- gan at the time of this writing, owning some eighty thousand aeres of most valuable land in northern Michigan. In connection with the lat- ter enterprise he is spending twelve hundred dollars a month in ad- vertising and general exploitation. He is treasurer of the Manistee Safety Deposit Company and for ten years, from 1889 to 1900, he had charge of all the logs that came into Manistee by water, handling from one hundred to one hundred and fifty-five million a year and having as many as three hundred man under his employ at one time.
Mr. Hart has been twice married, his first union being to Ella J. Hammond, by whom he had one daughter, Mrs. George W. Swigart, of Vol. II-26
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Chicago. In 1880 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Mattie Dexter, a daughter of Samnel Dexter, who was born and reared at Maquoketa, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Hart have four daughters, namely,-Sabra A., Pearl M., Grace M. and Golden A., all of whom remain at the parental home.
In polities Mr. Hart is a staunch adherent of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and in local politics he has been a most prominent factor. He was quartermaster general of the state, un- der General Alger Oden, for a good many years and served on the Northern Michigan Asylum Board for fifteen years. In 1896 he was given further mark of the appreciation and esteem of his fellow citi- zens in that he was then elected mayor of Manistee and in the admin- istration of the municipal affairs of the eity he proved himself essen- tially capable and broadminded, doing mueh to advance the general welfare and to promote the public utilities. He has been identified with the progress and development of northern Michigan for the past thirty-eight years and during all that time his deep interest in public affairs has never waned or been sluggish. In a fraternal way he is connected with the Knights of the Tented Maccabees and the Benev- olent & Protective Order of Elks. His wife is a devout member of the Congregational church, in the various departments of whose ae- tivities they have ever manifested a keen interest, and their spaeions and attractive home is recognized as a eenter of most gracious and re- fined hospitality.
GRANVILLE F. FOWLER .- For more than thirty years has this ster- ling eitizen been a resident of Alpena county, to whose industrial and social development he has contributed his quota, and he is one of the honored and influential citizens of Green township, where he reclaimed a farm from the wilderness and where he has served in various posi- tions of publie trust and responsibility. He is now engaged in the general merchandise business in the village of Flanders and has rented his well improved farm, to the active management of which he gave his attention for many years.
Mr. Fowler is a representative of families early founded in New England, that cradle of so much of our national history, and is himself a native of the staunch old Pine Tree state. He was born in Pittsfield township, Somerset county, Maine, on the 19th of December, 1847, and is a son of William II. and Harriet A. (Stevens) Fowler, both of whom were likewise born in Somerset county,-the former in the town of Pittsfield and the latter in that of Athens. The father was born in the year 1809 and his death occurred in December, 1871; the mother was born in 1824, and was summoned to the life eternal in 1885. They be- rame the parents of four sons and one daughter, and of the number the subject of this sketeh is the eldest of the three now living; Albert E. is a resident of Canaan township, Somerset county, Maine; and Her- bert is living in the west. William H. Fowler was identified with the agricultural and humbering industries in his native state during his entire active career, and he was a man of prominence and influence in the community that was his home until the elose of his long and useful
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life. He held various township offices, including that of selectman, which is of the same nature as that of supervisor in Michigan. He was a man of strong and earnest convictions and high principles, and in the climacteric period culminating in the Civil war he was an uncom- promising abolitionist. He united with the Republican party at the time of its organization and ever afterward continued a staunch sup- porter of its cause.
The old homestead farm of his father afforded to Granville F. Fow- ler his first experiences in connection with the practical duties of a workaday world, and he has never regretted the discipline thus gained, as it never fails to beget a due appreciation of the dignity of honest toil and to promote industry and self-reliance. He duly availed him- self of the advantages of the common schools of his native county, though his attendance was limited to the winter months, when his ser- vices were not in requisition in connection with the work of the home farm. He continued to be associated with his father's industrial opera- tions until he had attained to his legal majority, when he engaged in farming and lumbering on his own responsibility, being thus concerned in his old home county until 1880, when he came to Michigan and es- tablished his permanent home in Alpena county. He was here identi- fied with lumbering operations until 1883, when he purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of timber land, in Green township. where he reclaimed a farm from the primitive forest and developed one of the fine rural demesnes of the county. He erected excellent buildings on this farm and all of these, together with the season's erops, were destroyed at the time of the great forest fires which swept over and devastated this section in 1908. Since that time he has erected a large and well equipped barn on the farm and has rented the property to a desirable tenant.
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