USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 42
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In 1860 Mr. Ryan was elected sheriff of Houghton county, serving two years, but declined renomination and in 1862 embarked in business on his own account, in Hancock. He began with a capital of about one thousand dollars and paid such close attention to all the details of the enterprise that he prospered to an extent that warranted his branching out with another store at Calumet. In 1880 he organized the Lake Superior Native Copper Works, which engaged in smelting and rolling sheet copper, and in the same year also organized the Hancock Copper Mining Company, with a capital of $100,000, backed by eastern capi- talists. He operated the Hancock mine many years, but finally the low prices of the metal made it a losing venture and he turned his attention to other matters. He became President of the Hancock Copper Min- ing Company, vice-president of the Peninsula Electric Light & Power Company, of Houghton, of which he was the founder, and was also connected with the First National Bank of Calumet, of which he was also a founder. He was one of the most prosperous men in the county, and was identified with its best interests.
Mr. Ryan married, in 1860, Alice, daughter of Thomas Cuddihy, at Hancock, and they became parents of four sons and five daughters, namely : Mary, wife of John J. Rigney, of Chicago; Alice, Catherine and Agnes, who attended St. Mary's Academy at Notre Dame, Indi- ana; William, John, Gertrude, Thomas J., and Edward, Jr., who be- came associated with their father in business. Mr. Ryan was a member of St. Patrick's Benevolent Society and the A. O. H., and a devout Catholic. His presence has been sadly missed in many circles, where he had made his high character and worth appreciated.
ALMER D. STILES .- Prominent among the better known and es- teemed citizens of Iron Mountain is Almer D. Stiles, who has watched the development and growth of this city since its infancy, in its ad- vancement taking both pride and pleasure. A son of Charles S. Stiles, he was born, November 7, 1851, in Princeton township, Green Lake county, Wisconsin. His grandfather, David Stiles, was born in New England, of colonial ancestry. He migrated to New York state, settling at Ithaca, where he was accidentally killed by a premature explosion at a stone quarry. His widow, who came of Holland ancestry, survived him, married again, and spent the remainder of her years in Ithaca, New York.
Charles S. Stiles was born and reared in Ithaca, New York, and there learned the carpenter's trade. He subsequently built a boat, and afterwards operated it on the Erie Canal. In 1849, with his young wife, he started for the frontier, going by way of the Lakes to Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, thence by ox teams to what was then known as Treats Landing, but is now Princeton. Buying forty acres of tim- bered land, he made an opening in the forest, and in its midst built the log house in which his children were born. In 1853 he erected a frame house, and was there busily employed in farming until the fall of 1862, in the meantime having purchased another forty acres of land. In the
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fall of 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Nineteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, joined his regiment in Virginia, and was killed in the second engagement at Fair Oaks, in the fall of 1864. His wife, whose maiden name was Lucy J. Parsons, was born in Lysander, New York. She bore him two children, namely : Medora N., who married Welcome W. Whit- ing, and now resides in Virginia, Minnesota; and Almer D. The mother married for her second husband John W. Bland, a native of England, and continued her residence on the home farm.
Remaining with his mother until nineteen years of age, Almer D. Stiles obtained a good education in his early days, and began life as a teacher in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he taught two years. Going then to Lees Summit, Missouri, he made a business of selling fruit trees for two years, and then returned to Wausau, where he remained an- other two years, being employed first as a school teacher, and later as clerk in a meat market. Mr. Stiles then located at Millston, Wisconsin, where he worked in a saw mill two years, and in a lumber yard for eighteen months. Coming to Iron Mountain in March, 1882, he secured a situation at the Northwestern Railway depot as baggage master and clerk, and at the end of seven years was made station agent, a posi- tion that he filled acceptably six years. He was subsequently engaged in soliciting life and accident insurance until the fall of 1896, when he entered the office of the Evening Gazette as solicitor. Since the spring of 1903 Mr. Stiles has been associated with the Iron Mountain Press, making himself generally useful, not only as solicitor, but as a reporter for the paper.
Mr. Stiles married, in November, 1877, Anna Evans, who was born in Wilmington, Essex county, New York, a daughter of Oliver and Naney Evans. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stiles, namely : Charles Oliver, who married Mrs. Dollie Clements, now lives in St. Louis, Mo .; and William Bland, who married Anna Tremewan, and has one son, William Almer. Politically Mr. Stiles is a steadfast Republican.
CLAUDE DEXTER RILEY .- Sincere in his opinions, honest in his con- victions, and desirous of advancing the interests of the citizens, the town and the county, Claude Dexter Riley is a model journalist, and as editor and manager of the Ontonagon Herald exerts a good influence throughout the community. He was born, April 24, 1879, in Farming- ton, Oakland county, Michigan, where the birth of his father, Orrison Isaac Riley, occurred January 6, 1850.
His grandfather, John Riley, a native of Ireland, began a seafar- ing life when young, and while sailing the ocean in the merchan' ser- vice visited many of the important ports of the world. When about forty years old he retired from nautical pursuits, becoming a pioneer settler of Farmington, Michigan. Buying wild land, he engaged in general farming the remainder of his life, although for the last two years he was blind, his blindness having been caused by an accident. He married Ruth Marston, who survived him, passing away at the age of seventy-six years. She reared nine children, as follows: Henry, Joseph, Cass, Albert, Dexter, Orrison I., Ruth, Esther, and Jane.
A diligent scholar, with a natural love for books, Orrison I. Riley entered Hillsdale College, at Hillsdale, Michigan, when nine years old, and after his graduation from that institution learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, which he followed several years. Going then to Green- ville, Michigan, he was for a time engaged in market gardening, sub- sequently serving as a letter carrier in the Rural Delivery service until
Alais Dober
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his death, March 25, 1904. His wife, whose maiden name was Addie Jane Wilcox, was born in Farmington, Michigan, a daughter of John Wilcox, a native of England, who came to this country after his mar- riage, and spent his last days on a farm in Farmington. She still re- sides in Greenville. She reared five children, namely: Ruth; John; Claude Dexter, the subject of this brief sketch; Grace; and Mabel.
While yet a pupil in the public schools of Greenville, Claude D. Riley spent all of his leisure time in the office of the Daily Call, and soon became familiar with the art of printing. After leaving school, he devoted his entire time to his trade, remaining with the Call until 1900, when he went West, and followed his trade in the larger cities of various states. Returning to Greenville in 1905, he was superintendent in the office of the Call until 1909, when he accepted his present posi- tion as editor and manager of the Ontonagon Herald.
Mr. Riley married, June 16, 1906, Kathryn Louise Riddell, who was born in Greenville, Michigan, a daughter of John M. and Kathryn (Dixon) Riddell, natives of the province of Ontario, Canada. Mr. Riley is a member of Ontonagon Tent, K. O. T. M.
ALOIS DOBER .- Few citizens of Iron River enjoy greater honor and personal popularity among those with whom they are associated than does Alois Dober, and it would be difficult to find a man whose career affords a cleaner and more successful record of accomplishment, or one who has more stanchly met and conquered difficulties which might well have dislocated the arm of Hercules. Now one of the wealthy men of the Northern Peninsula, the owner of great mining interests in this state and of valuable properties in the state of Washington, it is even romantic to recall that he was once a humble young Swiss carpenter, one of whose rules of life was "to earn a little and to spend a little less. "
Alois Dober was born in Switzerland on the 1st day of November, 1844. The names of his parents were Antoine and Anna Dober and they were both natives of the country which gave birth to their son. They lived and died in Switzerland and gave to the republic four sons and two daughters; of the six, he whose name initiates this article was the only one who came to America. Alois recieved his education in the public schools of his native place, Küsnacht, Canton Schwytz, and came to the conclusion to form new ties in the year 1871. He had adopted the trade of a carpenter and had little fear of not being able to make his living in the new land, knowing that skill in his particular department passes current anywhere. He landed in New York, with many misgiv- ings and quite as many hopes and ambitions and entered upon a career straightway which was for some years to be varied in the extreme. His first year on American soil he spent in Port Huron, Michigan, or rather near that place and devoting his energies to work upon a farm and work in a sawmill. This was interrupted, however, by the fact that he was taken ill with malaria, and upon his recovery he went to Marquette, where for three months he was employed on the Marquette Railroad. He then took a step which was to lead to many good things, for he found work in the iron mines near Marquette, and there continued for nine years, learning the details of the great industry, which stands as one of the most important of the country, and storing up a fund of information which was to later stand him in good stead.
Leaving Marquette in the year 1875, on account of the work being slack in the mines, he went to Grand Island and secured a position as laborer in the woods. He next located at Negaunee and Ishpeming near
Vol. III-19
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Marquette, where he again worked in the mines, and from there he went to Florence, Wisconsin, where he again became identified with the min- ing industry. Returning to Iron River, he helped to clear the town site. It was at this juncture that he made the step upon which his fortunes were to depend. He pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land and in 1894 proved up on this. Quietly exploring his land he struck ore in seven or eight holes and he decided that Dame Fortune had smiled upon him. The old Mastodon Company took an option on this land, but not before Mr. Dober had had some exciting experiences. Previous to his making sure that his land was so valuable he had had a conviction that he could not rid himself of, that his homestead of hills and hollows contained iron ore and when all the steel and iron companies of the east were buying up all the ore and mineral rights in the Upper Penin- sula, and using every known method and means of persuasion to secure Mr. Dober's land also, he stood out firm and determined not to part with it for a song. He argued that if his property were so desirable to the millionaires of the east, it was also good for him, and he was not coerced into hasty measures. The result is that after long years of toil and hardship, he is independent, even wealthy, in a position to have all the comforts which means can secure. He came to America poor, not highly educated, a stranger in a strange land, whose very language he could not understand and he has come to be one of that land's most substantial citizens, and it is needless to add, one of the most loyal.
Mr. Dober's mines are operated by the Oliver Mining Company of the steel corporation and produce in the neighborhood of 100,000 tons of ore yearly, Mr. Dober receiving a royalty on this vast output.
Two years ago he bought a forty-acre tract in the heart of the Yakima valley in the state of Washington, and this is put out in all kinds of fruit, affording him not only a most delightful pastime, but a means of revenue as well. This he has developed from the pristine sage- brush state to one of the finest fruit farms in this famous valley.
Mr. Dober is a member of the Catholic church of Iron River, and his hand is given to all good causes which he believes will contribute to the happiness and well being of humanity. He is interested in the topics of the time and his political convictions are with the Republican party. He has scores of friends, those who know him best admiring him most deeply for his honest, unassuming goodness and his many gifts of mind and heart.
It was Mr. Dober who explored the Fogerty Mine and secured the first option on this valuable property, and he still has an interest in the lease. The Dober Mine is in section 1-42-35.
JEROME RAYOME .- Distinguished as one of the original settlers of Iron Mountain, Jerome Rayome has witnessed many wonderful transformations in the county, the pathless forests giving way before the axe of the pioneer, while thriving villages, and populous towns and cities have sprung up as if by magic in various parts of the Upper Peninsula. A native of Canada, he was born, October 14, 1844, in the county of Lotbiniere, province of Quebec, of French ancestry. His father, Joseph Rayome, Jr., and his grandfather, Joseph Rayome, Sr., were both life-long farmers of that province.
Joseph Rayome, Jr., who was of French ancestry, succeeded to the occupation in which he was reared, spending his seventy-four years of life on a farm. He married Catherine Ampleman, who was born in the province of Quebec, where her father, Charles Ampleman, born of German ancestors, spent his entire life, being employed in tilling the
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soil. She died at the age of sixty years. To her and her husband thir- teen children were born.
Leaving home on attaining his majority, Jerome Rayome migrated to Albany, New York, where he resided until 1871. The following seven years he worked at the carpenter's trade in Wisconsin, being in Chippewa Falls two years, and in Oconto five years. Coming to Michigan in 1879, Mr. Rayome located at Iron Mountain in the month of August, and at once began the building of a house, which was the third one completed within the present limits of the city. For about twelve years he was employed in the Chapin Mine, but since that time has followed his trade, erecting many dwellings and public buildings.
Mr. Rayome married, at the age of twenty years, Desanges Germain, who was born in Portneuf county, Quebec, a daughter of Charles and Rose (Mariot) Germain. Seven children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Rayome, namely : Laura, J. O., Mary, Lillian, Rose, Hilda, and Alfred.
JAMES MANN HARING .- Distinguished as one of the early settlers of Ontonagon, James Mann Haring is numbered among the active busi- ness men who have contributed largely toward the development of its industrial and mercantile interests, having served in various public po- sitions, and being now one of the substantial merchants of this place. He was born, February 19, 1833, in New York City, which was like- wise the birthplace of his father, Samuel Haring, Jr., and of his grand- father, Samuel Haring, Sr., who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The emigrant ancestor of the branch of the Haring family from which he is descended emigrated from Holland to this country, becoming a pioneer settler of Manhattan Island.
Reared and educated in New York City, Samuel Haring, Jr., went when a young man to Lewiston, New York, where he married. Return- ing then to New York City, he was there engaged in the grocery busi- ness until 1835, when, having a second attack of the "wanderlust," he came with his family to the territory of Michigan, locating in Detroit, where he opened the National Hotel, which he managed two years. He then went to Saginaw, making the removal with a prairie schooner, and fording the river at the present site of Flint. Opening the Webster House at Saginaw, he conducted it for two years, and then returned to Detroit and ran the American Hotel two years. About that time a panic was caused by the failure of several state banks, and he was out of business for a time. He then became assistant to Col. Brooks, col- lector of customs at Detroit, and was soon after appointed collector of customs at Mackinaw, where he remained until his death, in 1849. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha A. Mann, was born in Troy, New York, a daughter of James Mann, who was born in the Empire state, of English ancestry. After the death of her husband, she leased the property of the American Fur Company at Mackinac, and for sev- eral years conducted a summer hotel. Removing from there to Chicago, she kept a hotel for a while, and there spent her last days, dying in 1878. She reared nine children, namely : Helen, James M., Ledra W., Cortland D., Samuel K., Clinton L., Kate T., Emily S., and Blanche. Kate and Blanche lost their lives on the ill-fated steamer that was burned on Lake Michigan.
Fourteen years old when his father died, James Mann Haring sub- sequently went to New York City, where he clerked for his uncle two years. Returning home, he assisted his mother for a year, and then went to Sault Ste. Marie, where he was employed at the government
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land office, under Ebenezer Warner, the registrar, working at the same table with Edwin J. Hulburt, who later discovered the Calumet Mine. The greater part of all the land in the Upper Peninsula was then owned by the government, and for sale at $1.25 an acre. After clerking a short time, Mr. Haring, in company with George Cowle and Arthur McKercher, started for the mineral lands at the west end of the Lake, going a part of the way in a steamer, and chartering a prairie schooner for the remaining distance. He landed at the present site of Superior, on which stood a few log cabins, the only buildings in the vicinity. Col. Robinson, three Kimball brothers, Mark Ledbeater, Robert Reed, John Levick, George and Ben Donaldson, Charles Higgins, John Stewart, William Nettleton, and George R. Stunts, had preempted land, but there was not a white woman in the place. While Mr. Haring was stop- ping there Mr. Rice, a Duluth pioneer, came over in search of men to help raise his log house in Duluth, and Mr. Haring and others responded to his appeal, and assisted in raising the very first house erected on the present site of the city of Duluth. Being unsuccessful in prospecting for minerals, Mr. Haring and his partners returned to Sault Ste. Marie. A few weeks later Mr. Haring took passage on a steamer for a return visit, his point of destination being Ontonagon. As there were then no clocks at Ontonagon, the steamer was anchored in the lake, and he was sent ashore in a row boat. He clerked a few weeks in Ontonagon, which was then a small hamlet, afterwards being employed by Robert Livingston, superintendent of the Forest Mine, as clerk and time keeper for three years.
Mr. Haring afterwards had charge of the Minesota Mining Com- pany's store for two and one-half years, and then managed the S. A. Parker store a year, afterwards being in business for himself until the close of the war. Embarking then in the fur business, Mr. Haring had stations at several points, continuing his operations a number of years, after which he was station agent at Rockland for two and one-half years. He subsequently served two years as deputy county treasurer, and for eight years was county treasurer. Relinquishing that office, he has since been extensively and profitably employed in the grocery busi- ness, having a substantial trade. Mr. Haring married, in 1884, Phoebe Long, daughter of John Long.
CLAUD C. CABLE .-- One of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of the upper lake district and one who has passed the major portion of his life in this picturesque section is Claud C. Cable, a son of one of the sterling pioneer families of northern Michigan, and now proprietor of the Lake View Hotel, one of the popular hostelries pro- viding accommodations for the tourists who sojourn on Mackinac Island during the summer season. Mr. Cable was born on Beaver Island in the northern part of Lake Michigan on the 24th of February, 1849, the place of his nativity being in Mackinac county. He is a son of James F. and Harriet (Filkins) Cable, both of whom were born at Attica, Wyoming county, New York. The father died on the 13th of July, 1896, at the age of seventy-five years, and the mother, who was summoned to the life eternal on the 26th of September, 1909, was eighty-five years of age at the time of her death. Their marriage was solemnized at Batavia, New York, and they became the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Cora died in infancy; Maud is the wife of Edward Franks; Effie is the wife of Roger Whit- lock ; Jennie is unmarried; and Jessie is the wife of Major B. C. Marse of the United States army.
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James F. Cable came to Michigan when seventeen years of age, in company with his uncle, Alva Cable, who was a successful Indian trader in this section in the pioneer days. He first located at Presque Isle, and later on Beaver Island, where he continued in the employ of his uncle. Finally he returned to New York, where his marriage was solemnized in the year 1846 and shortly afterward he returned with his bride to Beaver Island, where he continued trading operations with the Indians until 1853, when he was driven from the island together with the few other white settlers by the Mormons, who were attempting to establish headquarters on the place. Mr. Cable then located in Clinton county, Illinois, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits for the ensuing four years, at the expiration of which, in 1857, he returned to Attica, New York. The northern lake district appealed to him too strongly to remain long in the east and he soon returned to Michigan and located on Mackinac Island, where he again engaged in trading with the In- dians for two years, at the expiration of which he once more established his home on Beaver Island, where he engaged in furnishing wood to the steamboats and also conducted a general merchandise business, be- sides which he still had a profitable enterprise in bartering with the Indians. After passing a period of thirteen years on Beaver Island he again returned to the state of New York, where he engaged in farming until 1871. In that year he established his home on Mackinac Island, where he purchased the historic old John Jacob Astor House, which he successfully conducted as a hotel until his death. Mr. Cable was one of the honored and influential citizens of the island, served as a member of the school board of the village of Mackinac Island and was also a mem- ber of the village council for a number of years. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and in politics was originally a Whig and later a Republican.
Claud C. Cable, the immediate subject of this review, received his early educational discipline on Beaver Island, in Winona, Minnesota, and in the city of Detroit, Michigan. He early began to assist his father in his business operations and became manager of the latter's store on Beaver Island. After the father secured the hotel on Mackinac Island, Mr. Cable was associated in the management of the same until 1895, when he purchased the Lake View Hotel, which popular place he has since conducted with much success, this being one of the first-class resort hotels of the beautiful island. Mr. Cable has shown a loyal interest in all that has touched the best interests of the island and has been in- fluential in public affairs of a local order. He was the last to serve as president of the village of Mackinac Island prior to its incorporation as a city and he has served as a member of the city council for six years. At the present time he is a valued member of the board of edu- cation of the city, an incumbency that he has retained for six years. In politics he is a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party.
In the year 1873 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cable to Miss Jennie Chatman, whose death occurred in the year 1888. Concerning their four children, the following brief record is given: Tina died at the age of twenty years and eight months; Bessie is unmarried and lives at home; Harry is engaged at the Astor House in Mackinac, and Gail is with his father in the summer. In 1897 Mr. Cable contracted a sec- ond marriage, being then united to Miss Mary Cook. They have one son, James L.
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