USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 38
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He was extensively interested in the mercantile business in Laurium. and Osceola, where the firm of J. Vivian, Jr. & Company yet conducts large stores; was one of the promoters of the Superior Savings Bank in Hancock, now the Superior National; a promoter and for years a director of the State Savings Bank at Laurium; a promoter of the old Peninsular Electric Light and Power Company of Houghton; and a director and promoter of the Lake Superior Soap Company. He was the senior member of the firm of Vivian and Prince, which for twenty years conducted a very extensive and successful business, manufacturing safety fuse for blasting purposes, and in every business in which he engaged he met with good fortune and prospered. As a business man he ranked with the ablest; as a citizen he was honorable, prompt and true to every engagement ; as a man he held the honor and esteem of all
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classes of people and as a husband and father he was a model worthy of imitation-unassuming in his manner, sincere in his friendships, stead- fast and unswerving in his loyalty to the right. Of the four sons and two daughters born to his marriage with Elizabeth Simmons, the sons alone survive : John C., a druggist in Laurium; Joseph H., formerly purchasing agent for the Boston and Montana Copper Company, with residence at Butte, Montana; Johnson, Jr., president of the State Sav- ings Bank at Laurium and the manager of the department store in that city ; and William J., a machinist at Houghton. The memory of John- son Vivian is cherished by his children and many friends.
GEORGE S. NORTH .- Throughout the Upper Peninsula the name of North is synomous with enterprise, ability, and prosperity, in mercan- tile affairs standing pre-eminent, George S. North, of Hancock, continu- ing the mercantile business established by his father, the late Hon. Seth D. North, the pioneer merchant of this part of Houghton county. George S. North, who has some of the best blood of New England cours- ing through his veins, was born, September 5, 1857, at Cromwell, Mid- dlesex county, Connecticut.
Born and brought up in Middletown, Connecticut, Hon. Seth D. North completed his education in his native town, and was afterwards engaged in building canal boats and locks for several years. Follow- ing the march of civilization westward in 1859, he came with his family to Michigan, locating in Ontonagon, where for awhile he was a clerk in the warehouse of Mercer & Willard, afterwards being similarly em- ployed for two years at the Minnesota Mine, in Rockland. Opening then a general store in Rockland, he remained there until 1866, when he settled in Hancock. He immediately established the Quincy store, a venture which proved successful. In 1879, in partnership with Charles Briggs, he purchased the Hecla branch of the Calumet & Hecla Store, at Calumet, becoming senior member of the firm of North & Briggs. Captain Harris was later admitted as a silent partner in the business, and a store was opened at Lake Linden. This triple partnership was subsequently dissolved, each partner taking one of the stores. The Quincy store was taken by Seth D. North, who continued
its management until his death, in 1893. He was a man of much enter- prise, and was one of the promoters and original proprietors of the min- eral and bath springs at Mount Clemens, and of the Egnaw and Auley hotels. One of the leading Republicans of this vicinity, he served two terms as representative to the State Legislature, and as state senator one term. Fraternally he was a member of Hancock Lodge, No. 35, F. & A. M. His wife, whose maiden name was Frances Smith, was born in Homer, Cortland county, New York, a daughter of Noah R. Smith. She survived him, passing away in 1894.
The only child of his parents, George S. North obtained the rudi- ments of his education in the public schools of Hancock, afterwards at- tending the academy at Homer, New York. Beginning his mercantile career as a clerk in his father's store, he subsequently succeeded to the ownership of the entire business, which he is carrying on with character- istic success. In 1895 Mr. North erected a commodious and substantial brick block on the site of the original store building, at the Quincy Location, and here operates one of the largest department stores in this part of Northern Michigan, his stock embracing almost everything in general use.
Mr. North married, in 1875, Emma C. Briggs, who was born in Nor- walk, Ohio, and to them three children have been born, namely : Fannie
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S., Helen G., and George K. Mr. North is a member of Quincy Lodge, No. 35, F. & A. M .; of Hancock Chapter, R. A. M .; and of Hancock Lodge, No. 381, B. P. O. E. He is a Republican in politics, and, with his family, attends the Congregational church.
HARRY C. McNAUGHTON .- The name MacNaughton, unlike that of many Highland clans, is of Pictish origin. The Picts were an ancient race in Scotland before the Scandinavian and other invasions, from whom some of the other clans derive their names. The seat of this clan was, from unrecorded history, in Argyleshire, having a grant as the re- sponsible feudal lords of the royal castles. The flower of the family was the azalea, and their plaid and war cry can be seen in any history of the Highland clans. As late as the middle of the eighteenth cen- tury they were still lords of the royal castles. After the fall of Louis- burg, in what was then Acadia, but is now Nova Scotia, one of the sons of this Scottish house established himself on a large tract on the Bay of Fundy, near the present town of Digby, where cattle were raised, and there introduced the art of tanning hides.
Michael McNaughton, one of his descendants, removed with his wife, Rebecca McNaughton, to Buffalo, New York, and there spent the re- mainder of their days, the wife, however, paying several visits to her old home.
William Wiswell McNaughton, their son, and the father of Harry C. McNaughton, was born, October 2, 1825, in Buffalo, New York. Fol- lowing in the footsteps of some of his ancestors, who had been engaged in marine trade, mostly between Halifax and the West Indies, he em- barked in seafaring pursuits when young, and at an early age was an expert master of salt water craft. In 1849 he was sailing vessels on the Great Lakes, from Buffalo to Chicago, and sailed on the vessel that car- ried into Chicago, for the old Chicago & Galena Railway Company, the first locomotive used in that city.
Captain William W. McNaughton married, in Chicago, in 1850, Mary Elizabeth Clarke, of London, England, who, on the death of her parents, had come to reside with an aunt in Chicago. Establishing his home in Buffalo, New York, he resided there until 1854, when he came to Sault Ste. Marie, being connected with the dredging of the channel through Lake George below the city. In 1855, with the Williams Com- pany, the Captain went to Portage Lake, and at Houghton, Michigan, in 1855, he was joined by his wife and three children, who came from Buffalo on the steamer "Illinois," which was the first steamer to pass through the locks at Sault Ste. Marie. In those days, it is said, all of the wood used for the tugs and dredges was cut from what is now the site of the Calumet and Hecla Mine.
The pioneers were ignorant of the great mineral wealth hidden be- neath the soil, the treasures lying unmolested for several years. While in the "Copper country" as it is now called, the Captain and his fam- ily resided at different places, including Houghton, Hancock, Lac La Belle, and L'Anse, where the birth of their daughter Mary occurred, she being, it is said, the first white child born in that place. In 1868. at the completion of the work at the Lake Portage canals, Captain Mc- Naughton and family returned to Sault Ste. Marie, which was then a village of eight hundred or nine hundred souls. Their first home was in Ridge street, near where the City Hall now stands, afterwards being in Portage avenue, on the present site of the Park Hotel, but after 1872 was on Ridge street, at the head of Ferris street.
During his active life, Captain McNaughton sailed many boats, and
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was awarded a testimonial for his bravery in going with the tug boat "Cushing." and rescuing men off the schconers Exile and others, wrecked in Whitefish Bay, in November, 1872. No better monument can be shown than the plain piece of paper, signed by the captains who had brought their vessels safe into port, showing the amounts each subscribed toward buying a gold watch as a testimonial of his brave conduct.
It is safe to say that no pioneer family of the Soo made the im- pression on its history that the family of Captain McNaughton, which was a large one, did. Gifted with the education and training of a wise and conservative mother and a just and honorable father, they filled with ability and rare facility the places they were called upon to fill. John McNaughton, the oldest son, who married Agatha Biddle, was sheriff of Chippewa county two terms, and at the time of his death was assistant superintendent of Saint Marys Falls Canal. Agnes McNaugh- ton married George Masters, of Cleveland, Ohio. Rebecca McNaughton became the wife of Joseph Ripley, who was assistant engineer and gen- eral superintendent of Saint Marys Falls Canal and Improvements, afterwards being a member of the Panama Canal Commission. Alice McNaughton, wife of Albert L. Ferguson, was noted for her benevo- lence and charities, being made the first vice president of the Sault Ste. Marie Hospital. Carrie McNaughton married Clarence M. Ayers, of Alabama, a civil engineer. Harry C. McNaughton, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, is a United States junior engineer at Sault Ste. Marie. George D. McNaughton, the youngest child, is a civil en- gineer in New York City.
Captain McNaughton retired from active pursuits about 1890, and ten years later, in May, 1900, he was left a widower by the death of his beloved wife. and he thereafter lived quietly with his only unmarried daughter, Miss Mary McNaughton, at the family residence. until his own death, May 4, 1907, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. Captain McNaughton established the first range lights on Saint Marys river, and they were operated under his management until taken over by the Government. A number of the Captain's grandchildren are now grown to manhood and womanhood, one of them, formerly Florence Ripley, being now the wife of Lieutenant Roy A. Hill, of the Seventh Infantry, United States Army.
LOUIS BELONGY .- Such success as has come to this well known and popular hotel man of Menominee has been the direct result of his own efforts, and he is now proprietor of the hotel, which he so conducts as to retain a large and appreciative patronage. The hotel is eligibly located at 603 State street.
The family name of Mr. Belongy is LaRose, but he was but cight years of age at the time of his father's death, and after his mother's mar- riage to L. Belongy. the latter treated his stepson with such kindness and consideration that the boy voluntarily assumed the name of Belongy. which he has since retained. The stepfather, who is now living retired in Menominee, was born in Canada and is a carpenter by trade. The sub- ject of this sketch was born in the province of Quebec, Canada. and is a scion of stanch French ancestry. The date of his nativity was Novem- ber 14, 1864. and he is a son of Joseph and Margaret (Young) LaRose. the former of whom was born in Quebec, in 1837, and died, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1872; and the latter was born in Ireland; she is now the wife of L. Belongy, of Menominee, and is nearly seventy years of age at the time of this writing. Of the children of her first marriage five are
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now living, and there are four living children of the second marriage. Joseph LaRose devoted the greater part of his active career to work in connection with the lumber industry, and he held responsible positions in this line after coming to Wisconsin and northern Michigan, where he con- tinued to be thus engaged until the time of his death.
Louis Belongy was afforded but meager educational advantages, as he attended school only a few years, principally in Brown county, Wisconsin. When but eleven years of age he began working in a saw mill at Depere, that state, and even before this, when a lad of eight years, he was em- ployed in chopping cordwood. After he had attained the age of fourteen years he found employment in a pail factory at Depere, where he was thus engaged for four years. He then came to Menominee, Michigan, in 1882, but less than a month later he returned to Wisconsin and, at West- boro, secured employment in a shingle mill. Later he was employed as assistant cook in a lumber camp on the Jump river, for a period of about six months, and upon his return to Westboro he took charge of John Duncan's boarding house. Thereafter he was employed as cook in a lumber camp near Tomahawk, Wisconsin, and finally he was given charge of a boarding car on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He held this position one season, and in the spring of 1890 he again came to Menominee ; he continued to be employed as a cook in logging camps and on lake vessels. In May, 1893, he became cook on the steam barge "Mary Mills," and he held this position during each season of navigation until the close of that of 1904, when he made permanent location in Menominee, where he has since been successfully established in the hotel business. He is a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Mystic Workers.
On the 20th of October, 1891, Mr. Belongy was united in marriage to Miss Lena Wagner, who was born in Wisconsin, of German parentage, and they have two children,-Dorothy and Louis, Jr.
PATRICK O'BRIEN .- As proprietor, editor and publisher of the Iron River Stambaugh Reporter, Patrick O'Brien, of Iron River, a wide- awake, talented journalist, exerts a wide and healthful influence throughout this section of the Upper Peninsula, being a stanch advo- cate of all measures and enterprises conducive to the public welfare. A son of the late Thomas O'Brien, he was born March 9, 1858, in Western Pennsylvania, of Irish ancestry.
Thomas O'Brien was born and bred in County Cork. Ireland, and as a young man emigrated to the United States, being, as far as known, the only member of his immediate family to come to America. He lived until after his marriage in Geneva, New York, from there going to Pennsylvania. In 1859 he moved with his family to Iowa, where, as a railroad contractor, he lived in several different places, finally becoming a pioneer settler of Colfax, Jasper county. In 1871 he came with his family to Michigan, making an overland journey with a team, camping and cooking by the wayside during the long journey of twenty-nine days. Buying a lot in the village of Brighton, Livingston county, he was there employed in railroad work until his death, in February, 1888. He married, in Geneva. New York, Bridget Devine, who was born in County Cavan, Ireland, and came to this country with her brother, Michael Devine, who subsequently settled in Living- ston county, Michigan. She died in 1884, leaving two children, Pat- rick and Thomas.
Gleaning his early education in the public schools of the various places in which he lived, Patrick O'Brien first began life as a wage-
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earner while yet in his "teens," working on a farm. In 1876 he spent five months as a railroad employe, but not liking the work gave it up, and entered the office of a local paper, where he learned to set type. The paper being sold at the end of fourteen months, he found employ- ment at Howell, Michigan, being for two years employed in the office of the Howell Republican. The following year Mr. O'Brien worked on the Williamson Enterprise, and while thus employed completed his apprenticeship. Going then to Black River Falls, Wisconsin, he be- came foreman in a newspaper office, and proved so capable that he was soon promoted to business manager and editor, a position that he held from 1880 until 1884. Selling out his stock then in the paper, Mr. O'Brien located in Ashland, Wisconsin, where for six months he was engaged in mercantile pursuits as a merchant tailor and a dealer in gentlemen's furnishing goods. Disposing then of his business, he was employed in the office of Lieutenant Governor S. S. Fifield until the summer of 1885, when he returned to Black River Falls, and took upon himself the vows and responsibilities of a married man. Settling then in Tomah, Wisconsin, Mr. O'Brien leased a newspaper, which he conducted for nearly a year. Again taking up his residence at Black River Falls, he, in company with C. M. Hobart, had charge of the Wisconisn Independent for a year and a half. Subsequently locating at Eagle River, Wisconsin, he established a weekly paper called the Vindicator, which he conducted for a year, when he sold out and removed to Bessemer, Michigan, where he became foreman in the office of one of the best known papers of the Upper Peninsula, The Pick and Axe, with which he was connected until December, 1887. Coming then to Iron River, Mr. O'Brien bought the Iron County Re- porter, now the Iron River Stambaugh Reporter, which he has con- ducted ably and profitably until the present time, since 1909 having been associated in its management with W. E. Campbell.
On July 15, 1885, at Black River Falls, the birthplace of the bride, Mr. O'Brien was united in marriage with Georgie Elliott. Her father, Amos Elliott, was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, and as a young man migrated to Illinois, and in Quincy, that state, was afterwards mar- ried. Removing to Wisconsin, he was for many years successfully en- gaged in logging and lumbering, his home being in Black River Falls until 1890, when he removed to Washburn, Wisconsin, where he is now living retired, a hale and hearty man of eighty-seven years. Mr. Elliott married Rachel Baker, who was born in Illinois, a daughter of George Baker, a native of Virginia, where as a young man he was a slave holder. Mr. Baker subsequently settled near Payson, Illinois, where he was extensively engaged in farming until his death, both he and his wife, Anna Baker, spending their last years on their well im- proved and valuable farming estate. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien are the parents of two children, Stella and Dorothy.
A stanch Republican in polities, Mr. O'Brien is often called upon by his fellow-townsmen to fill offices of importance. From 1890 until 1894 he was postmaster at Iron River; he has served as clerk of the township and of the village: has been president of the board of village trustees, and a member of the board of education ; and is now county agent of the state board of correction and charters. Fraternally Mr. O'Brien belongs to Iron River Lodge No. 442. I. O. O. F .; to Iron River Lodge No. 162. K. of P .; to Iron River Tent No. 336, K. O. T. M. M .; to Iron River Camp No. 3276, M. W. A .; to Iron River Lodge No. 1326, M. B. A .: to the National Protective Legion No. 422: to Iron River Aerie No. 1603, F. O. E. and to Iron Mountain Lodge No. 700. B. P. O. E.
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ROBERT G. FERGUSON .- He whose name initiates this sketch is one of the alert and progressive business men whose fine initiative power and administrative ability have come into most potent and effective play in connection with the industrial and commercial development of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, with whose civic and business interests he has been identified for nearly a quarter of a century. The success which he has achieved has not only been for his own advancement but has also con- tributed materially to the general welfare of his home city, where his course has been so guided and governed as to retain to him at all times the inviolable confidence and regard of all who know him. He is presi- dent of the Soo Hardware Company, wholesale and retail dealers in heavy and shelf hardware, iron, steel, miners' and lumbermen's supplies, stoves, ranges, paints, oils, glass, etc. This is one of the most extensive concerns in its department of enterprise in the Upper Peninsula and in addition to his association with the same Mr. Ferguson has other impor- tant interests of a capitalistic and commercial order, so that he is prop- erly to be noted as one of the veritable captains of industry in the fine section of country to which this publication is given.
Robert G. Ferguson was born at Brampton, province of Ontario, Can- ada, on the 22d of October, 1858, and is a son of Adam and Catherine (Golden) Ferguson, the former of whom was born at St. Thomas, On- tario, a representative of one of the staunch old families of Scotch-Irish lineage that early established residence in that province, and the latter of whom was likewise born in Ontario. About 1868 Adam Ferguson re- moved with his family to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he engaged in the merchandise business and where he remained until 1873, when he estab- lished his home in Bay City, Michigan, where he was engaged in the grocery business for a long period of years. He passed the closing years of his life in Sault Ste. Marie, and he lived retired from active business for a number of years prior to his demise, which occurred in 1905. His widow, now venerable in age, maintains her home with her children in Sault Ste. Marie. Of the children, the subject of this review is the eld- est; Albert L. who was born April 15, 1864, is vice-president of the Soo Hardware Company; William F., who died in 1906; and Adam E., who was born August 18, 1877, is secretary and treasurer.
Robert G. Ferguson gained his early education in the public schools of his native place and was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was afforded the ad- vantages of the Christian Brothers' College. After the removal of the family to Bay City, Michigan, he there gained excellent experience in connection with practical business affairs and finally he became an office executive and salesman in a wholesale hardware establishment in that city. Later he represented the house as a traveling salesman, and in the meanwhile he had gained intimate knowledge of the details of the bus- iness in which he was later destined to achieve so much of success and prestige in an independent way. In 1887 Mr. Ferguson established his home in Sault Ste. Marie, where he engaged in the retail hardware trade, under the firm of R. G. Ferguson & Company. The enterprise soon ex- panded its functions by the addition of a jobbing department, and from this modest inception has been built up the substantial and extensive wholesale and retail business now conducted by the Soo Hardware Com- pany. In 1893 the Ferguson Hardware Company was organized, as suc- cessor to the original firm, and its operations at the time of incorporation were based on a capital stock of thirty thousand dollars, all paid in. The original executive corps of this company was as here noted: Robert G. Ferguson, president; William H. Miller, vice-president; and Albert L.
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Ferguson, secretary and treasurer. In 1896 the business was reorganized under its present title, and the capital stock and surplus of the concern is now $188,000.00. Robert G. Ferguson is president of the company; Al- bert L. Ferguson, vice-president ; and Adam E. Ferguson, secretary and treasurer. The large and well appointed establishment of the company has the largest and most comprehensive stock in the line to be found in the Northern Peninsula, and besides its extensive retail trade, its whole- sale business extends throughout a radius of two hundred miles from Sault Ste. Marie, making it one of the important commercial concerns of this section of the state. The stock ineludes heavy and shelf hardware, stoves, ranges, tinware, mill and lumbermen's supplies, plumbing, steam and water heating supplies and accessories of all kinds, with well equipped departments for the handling of tin and sheet-iron work of all kinds, plumbing and the installation of heating apparatus of the best modern type. In the workshops employment is given to an average of ten men, and the total number of persons employed in the various depart- ments and as traveling representatives is about forty-five. The concern has a well established reputation for careful and honorable business methods, and this constitutes its best asset, the while the interested prin- cipals hold a secure place in the confidence and esteem of all with whom they have had dealings, as well as with the general public in their home city.
Robert G. Ferguson has not confined his efforts to the one line of enter- prise just noted, but has found scope for the exercise of his splendid energies along other channels of productive activity. He is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Sault Ste. Marie and also of the Central Savings Bank of this city. He is a stockholder and director of the Plummer-Ferguson Hardware Company, of Sault Ste. Marie, Canada, which likewise conducts a retail and jobbing business, and is a member of the firm of W. F. Ferguson and Company, conducting a pros- perous business in the handling of boots and shoes, men's furnishing goods, and lumbermen's clothing, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
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