USA > Michigan > A history of northern Michigan and its people, Volume II > Part 8
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JACOB H. MYERS .- One of those splendid estates which are at once the pride and strength of Northern Michigan is that of Jacob H. Myers,
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whose farm of one hundred and sixty acres, with its excellent buildings, broad fields and fruitful orchards, is situated near Levering. Mr. Myers is a native of Bellefonte, Center county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred September 29, 1861. He is the son of James and Mary Jane (Harris) Myers, both of whom were born in Pottsville, Pennsyl- vania, in 1838 and both of whom are living in honored and useful citizenship in the Keystone state. They were married in Pottsville and became the parents of a family of typical pioneer proportions, eleven sons and daughters being born into their home. Of these but the fol- lowing are living at the present time: the subject; Ida, wife of James J. Smith; and Minnie, wife of Charles H. Harphey. The father was a lumberman in his native state and came to Michigan in 1872, locating in Monroe township, Cheboygan county, where he became one of the pioneer farmers. He redeemed a farm from the wilderness and thus paved the way for latter day civilization and prosperity. He is at the present time and has been for many years justice of the peace. He is a stalwart supporter of Democratic principles and has ever given evi- dence of a very live brand of public spirit.
Jacob H. Myers was educated in the public schools of Pennsylvania and was a lad of about eleven years of age at the time of the exodus to Northern Michigan. It was his portion to live to the fullest the many interesting experiences of pioneer life and he took a strenuous part in the improvement of the land which his father had secured from the government. He learned the many secrets of seed time and harvest under the excellent tutelage of his father and at the age of seventeen years began working in the woods as a lumberman. His winters were passed in the lumber camps and his summers on the river drives, and, developed by the hard, but wholesome life, he grew in brain and brawn.
In 1894 Mr. Myers entered upon a new era in his life, and deter- mined that after all the life in which he had engaged while beneath the paternal roof was the one for him. He purchased eighty acres of land and started in to clear him a home out of the forest primeval and he has prospered exceedingly, being one of the successful agricultural men of his community. His holdings, to which he has added from time to time, now amount to one hundred and sixty acres, eighty acres of which are cleared. In addition to his standing as an able exponent of the great basic industry, Mr. Myers has been township treasurer for six years and he is a leader in Republican politics, to which he has given heart and hand since earliest voting days. His fraternal affilia- tions extend to the Modern Woodmen of America.
On August 29, 1883, Mr. Myers assumed the responsibilities of mar- ried life, Miss Addie Armentrout becoming his wife. She is a native of Ohio and is the daughter of Jerry and Mary Ann Armentrout, both of the Buckeye state, the father having been summoned to his eternal rest and the mother surviving, a venerable and much respected lady. They were the parents of seven children, the wife of the subject being the sixth in order of birth. Jerry Armentrout, who removed with his family from Ohio to Indiana, was a wagon maker and farmer by trade. In 1876 he made another change of residence and took up his abode in Michigan, locating in Hebron township, Cheboygan county, where he
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engaged in agriculture throughout the remainder of his active and useful life.
Mr. and Mrs. Myers have given five fine young citizens to the state, their sons and daughters being as follows: Grover C .; Maud, wife of Charles Strabich; Raymond; Gracie; and Clyde.
J. J. KAHN is one of the prosperous and substantial merchants at Mikado, Alcona county, Michigan, where he has been engaged in ex- tensive business operations since 1901. He carries a full line of gen- eral merchandise of the best assortment and caters to a large and rep- resentative patronage. Mr. Kahn was born in Russia, in 1870, and he is a son of Abraham and Sarah Kahn, both of whom were likewise born in Russia, whence they came to America in 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Abra- ham Kahn became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are liv- ing, in 1911, namely : J. J., S. B., Izadore, Philip, George, Dora, Rose, Grace, Bessie and Annie. The father was summoned to eternal rest on the 5th of September, 1910.
In 1890, when a young man of twenty years of age, J. J. Kahn immigrated to the United States, locating at Bay City, Michigan, where he made his headquarters while traveling for a mercantile concern in various parts of Michigan. He came to Mikado in 1900 and since 1901 has been engaged in the general merchandise business, as already noted. Mr. Kahn was reared in the Jewish faith and he received his early edu- cational training in his native land. Although he has devoted most of his time and attention to the details of his business, he was elected to the office of village councilman in 1907, continuing the able and popular incumbent of that position to the present time, in 1911. He is affiliated with various fraternal and social organizations of a representa- tive character and he is held in high esteem by his fellow citizens.
In the year 1896 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kahn to Miss Annie Loewenberg. Mr. and Mrs. Kahn have seven children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth: Sydney K., Iver S., Ellen K., Garrison M., Abraham, Esther and Ruth, all of whom are inmates of the parental home.
HENRY A. BLAKE .- Entering the Federal army almost at the dawn of his manhood for the preservation of the Union and suffering great hardships in Southern military prisons in consequence of having been captured by the enemy three months after his enlistment; inaugurat- ing new industries in this part of the country soon after the close of the war in which he engaged; and at all times vigorous, determined and resourceful in work for the benefit of the nation in general and the locality of his home in particular, Henry A. Blake of Cheboygan, has given Northern Michigan a fine example of elevated American man- hood devoted to good purposes during his residence of forty-three years among its people, as he has done through life, wherever he has been.
Mr. Blake is a native of Bethel, Vermont, where he was born on March 8, 1842, and a son of William and Nancy Blake, the former born in Vermont in 1800 and the latter in England. They were the parents of twelve children, four of whom are living, Lemon, Levi, El-
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len and Henry A. The father passed the whole of his life in his native state industriously engaged in farming. He was first a Whig and after- ward a Republican in politics, and attained local prominence in the councils of his party. His wife died in 1846 and his own life ended in 1874.
Henry A. Blake was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was but four years of age, and necessarily grew to manhood without the fostering care and judicious guidance a mother's considerate at- tention would have given him. He attended the public schools until he was old enough to learn a trade and then learned that of a machinist. By the time he completed his apprenticeship the Civil war was at its height and he shared the zeal and ardor of his section of the country in behalf of the Union. He soon made his patriotism practical by en- listing in Company I, Second New York Cavalry, on August 26, 1864, being enrolled in Albany. His regiment was soon in the midst of hostilities and its services were almost constantly required on either the skirmish line or a more ambitious field of conflict. Mr. Blake took part in all its engagements until he was made a prisoner of war at Newton, in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, on November 22, 1864.
He was first confined in Libby prison of odious memory, and then transferred to another human shamble located at Salisbury, North Carolina. In these prisons he suffered horrors beyond description, but happily his confinement lasted only about four months, as he was pa- roled in March, 1865. He received his discharge from the army at An- napolis, Maryland, on June 26, 1865, and returned to his former home in New England, where he remained but two years. The great West held out a beckoning hand to him, and in 1867 he came to Michigan, lo- cating in Cheboygan a year later.
His advent in this section was timely, as there was need here of a man of his caliber and attainments. He soon became busy in connec- tion with his trade, and in 1869 melted the first iron that ever was liquefied for use in the arts in this part of the state. Lumbering then formed the principal industry in these parts, and as he did not find the time yet ripe for the fashioning of iron into instruments of service, Mr. Blake turned his attention to operating a saw mill, which he continued until 1871. In that year he built the first machine shop in Cheboygan, and he has been conducting this enterprise ever since with steadily ex- panding trade, increasing operations and growing results in output and profits.
Mr. Blake has always contributed a good citizen's share to the prog- ress and development of the city and county of his home, and done a good citizen's part toward promoting the peace, comfort and general welfare of their people. He was a member of the first village board of Cheboygan and helped materially to lay the foundations of its municipal government, and in all its subsequent history he has been a potent force for good in connection with its public affairs and its intellectual and social life.
The fraternal activities of the community have interested him, too, and he has taken a leading part in them as a member of the Masonic order in lodge, chapter and templar Masonry, and also in connection
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with the Cheboygan Lodge of Elks, to which he has belonged many years. In addition, he pays his tribute to the memories of his military service by active and appreciative membership in Ruddock Post, No. 224, Grand Army of the Republic. In politics he is a Republican, firm in his devotion to his party and loyal in his support of its candidates and principles, but he has never sought or desired any of its honors or emoluments for himself.
Mr. Blake was married on November 22, 1867, to Miss Annie Allen, a native of Scotland. They have three children: Their daughter Jessie; their son William H., who is manager of the Cheboygan Telephone company ; and their other son, John A., who is a member of the firm of Henry A. Blake & Son, of which his father is the head. The firm manu- factures marine and stationary engines, iron and brass castings and steamboat and mill supplies, and carries on a general business in foundry and machine work. Its large and completely equipped plant works up enormous quantities of raw material and gives employment to a large number of workmen. The industry is one of the principal ones in this part of the state, and its products are held in the highest repute all over the country and in many foreign lands. Their superiority in ma- terial, workmanship and adaptability to the uses for which they are intended is mainly due to the skill and ability of Mr. Blake as a ma- chinist.
WILLIAM H. JOHNSON .- Since the decline of the great lumbering industry, which for many years constituted the chief source of pro- ductive enterprise in northern Michigan, its representative citizens have turned their energies into other channels of business and have showed both courage and appreciation in the development of other re- sources and in building up a substantial industrial and commercial com- munity. Among those who have thus materially assisted in the com- passing of this grateful result stands this well known citizen of Alpena, and as one of the pioneers and honored and influential citizens of north- ern Michigan he is specially entitled to recognition in this publication. Mr. Johnson was long and prominently identified with lumbering opera- tions, but he has shown the same broad spirit of enterprise in connec- tion with other lines of business, through which he has fostered an en- during material and civic prosperity in the city and county that have been his home for many years. Further interest attaches to his career by reason of the fact that he was one of the loyal sons of the republic who rendered gallant service in behalf of the Union during the climac- teric period of the Civil war.
William H. Johnson was a scion of one of the pioneer families of Wisconsin, where his parents, Phineas M. and Orra A. (Collins) John- son took up their abode in the late '30s, before the admission of the state to the Union. The father was a native of Connecticut and the mother of New York and they passed the closing years of their lives in Chicago. The father of Mr. Johnson devoted the major portion of his active career to lumbering and was a man of ability and sterling character. He died in Florida and his wife passed away in Chicago.
William H. Johnson was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, on the 10th of
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February, 1840, and after due preliminary discipline in the common schools he took a partial course in Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, where he remained a student for two years. At the inception of the war of the Rebellion he was a resident of Chicago, and as soon as circum- stances made it possible he tendered his service in defense of the Union. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Battery A, First Illinois Light Artillery, with which he saw long and arduous service and with which he participated in many of the important engagements and man- oeuvers marking the progress of the great conflict between the north and the south. He was with Sherman on the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea, and he took part in the battles of Atlanta and Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, and the innumerable other engage- ments in which the gallant command was involved. In the national capital he not only took part in the Grand Review of the victorious but weary and jaded troops but was also mustered out in that city. He received his honorable discharge at Washington on the 25th of May. 1865, and his record as a soldier of the Union will ever reflect honor upon his name.
After the close of the war Mr. Johnson maintained his residence at Chicago until the spring of 1867, when he came to Alpena, Michigan, and engaged in the lumber business, with which he continued to be ac- tively identified for fully forty years and in which his operations were of broad scope and importance during much of this time. From the time of establishing his home in Alpena Mr. Johnson showed a most commendable civic loyalty and progressiveness, and his aid and influ- ence have been freely given in the supporting of enterprises and meas- ures that have furthered the general prosperity of the community. His success in connection with business affairs has been worthily won and represents the direct result of his own efforts. In 1882 he became one of the organizers of the Alpena National Bank, and on the 9th of Jan- mary, 1883, one month after its incorporation, he became a member of its directorate. Later he became vice-president of the institution, and in 1899 he was elected president, an office of which he has since been incumbent. He has proved a most discriminating chief executive and it is largely due to his wise administrative policy that this has become one of the leading financial institutions of northern Michigan. The bank's original charter expired in 1902 and it then secured a new char- ter under the same title. It bases its operations upon a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and it is recognized as one of the solid and ably managed banking houses of the state. Mr. Johnson was one of the organizers of the Alpena Mutual Benefit Telephone Company, an independent corporation giving admirable service, and of the same he is treasurer. His liberality has also been shown in connection with the promotion of other important enterprises and his capitalistic invest- ments in his home city and county are large and important. He is a stockholder in a number of manufacturing concerns in Alpena, where he also owns a large amount of valuable realty, both improved and un- improved, besides which he is the holder of a large amount of excellent land in various parts of the county. His varied investments thus make him one of the largest taxpayers of the county, and he is giving his
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personal supervision to the development and improvement of his landed estate, thus contributing in large and generous degree to the development of the agricultural resources of a seetion that was form- erly valued only for its timber. He has ever been an aggressive and far-sighted business man and his mature judgment has made him a valued factor in connection with the manifold enterprises with which he has eoneerned himself, the while his counsel has been duly appre- ciated by his business associates as well as in connection with matters of publie import. He takes deep interest and pride in his home city and is one of its most honored and valued eitizens, his sterling ehar- aeter having gained and retained to him the confidenee and esteem of all classes.
Mr. Johnson is well fortified in his convietions and opinions as to matters of governmental poliey. He has never been ambitious for public office but during the earlier years of his residence in Alpena he was elected by the Democratic party to the office of county elerk, and served two terms. His continued interest in his old comrades of the Civil war is indicated by his membership in Horace S. Roberts Post, No. 139, Grand Army of the Republic, with which he has been identified from the time of its organization. In the Masonie fraternity his affiliations are here briefly noted : Alpena Lodge, No. 199, Free & Aeeepted Ma- sons; Thunder Bay Chapter, No. 74, Royal Areh Masons; Sahgonahkato Council, No. 58, Royal & Seleet Masters; Alpena Commandery, No. 34. Knights Templars; and Moslem Temple, Aneient Arabie Order of the Nobles of the Mystie Shrine, in the city of Detroit.
In the year 1873 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Johnson to Miss Mary G. Nason, who was born in Boston, September 14, 1851, and who is a daughter of William Nason, a resident of Alpena at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. William Nason were born in Augusta, Maine, from whence they moved to Boston and later to Chieago, where Mrs. Johnson spent most of her school days. They moved to Alpena in 1871.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have two daughters and one son,-Orra N .. Nason C. and Wilma. Orra N. is attending the University of Wiseon- sin and Nason C. is a student in the University of Michigan.
SYLVESTER VAUGHAN, who passed to the great beyond on the 12th of April, 1911, was long and sueeessfully identified with the lumber in- dustry in northern Michigan. Mr. Vaughan was born in Saginaw City, Michigan, in 1837, a son of Roderiek W. and Clarissa Vaughan, both of whom were natives of the state of New York, whence they came to the old Wolverine state in the early pioneer days. Settlement was first made at Detroit and thence they removed to Saginaw City, where the father was engaged in business. Mr. and Mrs. Roderick W. Vaughan became the parents of twelve children and of the number Sylvester, of this review was the last survivor. Four of his brothers were gallant soldiers in various of the struggles which have disturbed the peace of this country. Erastus was in the Michigan and Toledo disturbanee over the boundary line between Michigan and Ohio; George was a soldier in the Mexican war; and Levi and Conolas were participants
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in the struggles which marked the progress of the Civil war, Levi hav- ing sacrificed his life in the Union cause at the battle of Shiloh.
To the public schools of Saginaw City Sylvester Vaughan is in- debted for his early educational discipline and at the age of sixteen years he was elected marshal of that place. He continued to maintain his home in Saginaw City until 1862, in which year he came north in the interest of the Land Lumbering Company, for which concern he was prospecting timber in and about the vicinity of Iosco county. Sub- sequently he was engaged in fishing in the region of Saginaw City and in 1864 he was again in the employ of the Land Lumbering Company. His main work was that of estimating timber and exploring new timber lands. After three years passed in the service of the above company he began to work in a similar capacity for the Stone & Conkwright Company, with the interests of which concern he was identified for the ensuing ten years. In 1875 he became timber estimator for the firm of S. P. Bliss & Company, and six years later he began the timber bus- iness upon his own responsibility, having as a partner in his new ven- ture, John E. Potts. In conjunction with his lumber interests he also rafted logs and he has the reputation for being the first man to run logs out of the timber country in a boom, the logs being rafted to the lake where they were sent to the various points on the lakes east and south. His first consignment was in 1868 and he continued to engage in the rafting of logs up to the time that the Boom Company was or- ganized. In 1870 he purchased a tract of ninety-six acres of land, to which he later added a tract of twenty acres and upon this fine estate, a fine farm of one hundred and sixteen acres of most arable land in Iosco county, he erected substantial and elaborate buildings, and there he maintained his home. At various times he bought and sold lands and dealt in real estate to a considerable extent. He was eminently successful in all his business ventures and it is interesting to note here that he himself built the ladder by which he rose to affluence.
Among the various public offices of which he was incumbent may be mentioned those of supervisor, highway commissioner and deputy sheriff. He was a member of the board of supervisors for twelve years, was highway commisioner for eight years and for two years was deputy sheriff under Sheriff Quackenbush. In all the relations of life Mr. Vaughan so conducted himself as to command the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. His straightforward, honorable career is worthy of commendation and his examplary life should serve as lesson and incentive to the younger generation.
On the 5th of July, 1862, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Vaughan to Miss Laura A. Hubbell. To this union were born five children, two of whom are living, in 1911. Warren P. married Miss Mary A. Cartwright, in 1897, and they had four children, namely,- Winnie M., Charles H., Margaret E. (deceased) and Wilhelmina. Ed- ward M. was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Mccluskey, and they have two sons,-Mahlon S. and Kenneth B.
EMIL E. KIHNKE .- An essentially representative citizen and business man who has contributed in no small measure to the progress and de-
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velopment of this seetion of the fine old Wolverine state is Emil E. Kihnke, who was born at Manistee, Michigan, in the hotel which was opened by his father and which is now operated by him, the date of his nativity being January 18, 1880. He is a son of Andrew and Charlotte (Bethke) Kihnke, both of whom were born in Germany, whenee they came to America in the '60s, loeating at Manistee. The father first se- eured employment in the Michigan woods and in 1869 he opened an hotel on Lake street, Manistee, naming it the German Home. In 1871 the big fire of Manistee destroyed everything and in the following year Mr. Kihnke ereeted at the corner of Division and Clay streets a fine com- modious building and opened another hotel, naming this one the Central Hotel. It has a reputation for being one of the best hostleries in north- ern Michigan and Mr. Kihnke continued to oversee its management un- til his death, which ocenrred on the 4th of January, 1910. His wife survives him and is now residing at No. 41 Clay street.
Emil E. Kihnke was reared to maturity in the parental home and he attended the German and public schools of Manistee until he had passed through the eighth grade. Thereafter he attended a commercial school at Manistee for one term, at the expiration of which he began to assist his father in the management of the hotel, assuming the full responsi- bility thereof at the time of his parents' death. Aside from the hotel business he is deeply interested in various other enterprises of import- ant order. In February, 1905, he became one of the organizers of the Manistee Candy Company, this coneern becoming incorporated under the laws of the state in June, 1905. Of this company Mr. Kihnke was eleeted secretary and treasurer, continuing ineumbent of that offiee un- til 1908, in which year he bought out the other stockholders and changed the name of the factory to the Creseent Candy Company, under which title it has continued to do business to the present time. In 1906 he es- tablished the American Printing Company, which carries on mainly a jobbing and commercial line of work, making a specialty of the three- color process and high-class catalogue and book work. Mr. Kihnke is a man of most enterprising business methods and his fair and honorable dealings have won him the highest regard of his fellow men.
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