USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 55
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Not only may Mr. Osborn be compared to Colonel Roosevelt in the matter of being strenuous in all his work but this is significantly true of him in his recreation, in connection with which he may well be termed a huntsman naturalist, as is the former president. He strikes out boldly in defense of his principles and wants every man to have a "square deal." He is fortunate in the possession of strong physical powers, which have not been impaired by incorrect methods of living. He has made a special study of the geology of the Upper Peninsula and also of the ornithology of the entire state of Michigan. In the former connection he is to be credited with the discovery of one of the greatest of iron ranges of the Moose Mountain district in the dominion of Canada, into which section his geological work has been extended. He has an irrepressible love for nature and finds his greatest source of recreation in his investigation in the wilds. He is a member of the American Ornithologists' Union, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Michigan Academy of Science.
Mr. Osborn is an appreciative member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained to the thirty-second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, besides which he holds membership in the allied organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is identified with both the lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. Among other representative organizations in which he holds membership are Le Saut de Ste. Marie Club of Sault Ste. Marie, the Prismatic, the Detroit and University Clubs of Detroit, and the Milwaukee Press Club.
On the 7th of May, 1881, in the city of Milwaukee, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Osborn to Miss Lillian G. Jones, a daughter of the late Edward Jones, who was born in Wales and who became a success-
In Lawford
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ful citizen of the Wisconsin metropolis; he married Miss Louisa A. Ir- win, a native of Dublin, Ireland, and they are survived by three sons and four daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn are the parents of four children, Ethel L., George A., Chase Salmon, Jr., and Emily F. Mrs. Osborn is a gracious chatelaine of the attractive home in Sault Ste. Marie and is a popular factor in connection with the best social activities of the community. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn are members of the Presbyterian church of the Soo. Ethel L. and Emily F. were educated at Catharine Aiken School at Stamford, Connecticut. George A. is a graduate of the University of Michigan, Literary Department, and of Michigan College of Mines, mining engineer, Sault Ste. Marie; Chase S. Jr., is in a class of 1911, University of Michigan, Literary Department.
DR. JOSEPH D. CRAWFORD .- Among the able and honored represen- tatives of the dental profession of the Upper Peninsula is Dr. Craw- ford, who has been engaged in practice in Menominee for more than thirty years and who is the dean of his profession in this city. He has identified himself closely with a number of important business and industrial enterprises of Menominee and stands exemplar of that pro- gressiveness and public spirit that ever tend to conserve the advance- ment and material prosperity of the community. He is one of the best known and most popular citizens of this section of the Upper Peninsula and is well entitled to consideration in this historical work.
Dr. Crawford claims the fine old Keystone state of the Union as the place of his nativity, having been born in Herrick township, Brad- ford county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of June, 1848, and being a son of John S. and Clarissa (Camp) Crawford, the former of whom was born in Ireland, in 1816, and the latter of whom was born in Penn- sylvania, in 1822. Both of them died in the year 1893. They passed the major portion of their lives in Pennsylvania where their marriage was solemnized, and the closing years of their lives were passed in the home of their son, Dr. Joseph D. Crawford, in Menominee, where both of them died in April, 1893. They were devout members of the Presbyterian church and exemplified their faith in good works and kindly deeds. They became the parents of eight children, of whom six are living,-James C., is assistant actuary of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Dr. John M., of Cincinnati, Ohio, was former United States consul at St. Petersburg, Russia, during the administration of President Harrison; Dr. Joseph D., is the immediate subject of the sketch; Isaac S. is now a resident of Detroit, Michigan; Charles H., is a representative business man of Cincinnati, Ohio; Henry W., maintains his home in Cincinnati, Ohio; Maryette, became the wife of Ira W. Caswell and died in Pennsyl- vania; and Addie, who was seven years of age at the time of her death.
Dr. Joseph D. Crawford was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm and was afforded the advantages of the common schools of his native county. At the age of eighteen years he began teaching and he was for some time a successful and popular representative of the pedagogic profession. At the age of twenty-two years he began the study of dentistry in the office of the leading practitioner at Le Rays- ville, Pennsylvania, and after acquiring a thorough knowledge of all the details of both operative and laboratory dentistry, he entered into the active practice of his profession at Athens, Pennsylvania. Two years later, in April, 1873, he came to Menominee, Michigan, where he continued in the active and. successful practice of his profession until 1904, when he retired, owing to the demands placed upon his time and attention by his varied and extensive business interests.
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In the year 1883, Dr. Crawford effected the organization of the Crawford Manufacturing Company, which engaged in the manufact- ure of knock-down boxes or box-shooks and this concern now repre- sents one of the substantial manufacturing enterprises of the city of Menominee. Dr. Crawford is secretary, treasurer and general man- ager of the company and has always owned the controlling interest in the same. Since his retirement from the practice of his profession Dr. Crawford has given much of his time to real estate, in which he has purchased and sold properties and improved many of the same. He owns a half interest in a large ranch on Green river, about one hundred miles south of the Yellowstone National Park. He is the owner of valuable realty in Menominee and farming land in Menom- inee county. No citizen takes a more definite and helpful interest in all that pertains to the welfare of Menominee and he has contributed a generous quota to the civic and business upbuilding of the city.
On the 22nd of August, 1877, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Crawford to Miss Myra Sizer, who was born in Massachusetts. She was but two years of age when her parents, Osman and Mary (Field) Sizer, removed to Adrian, Michigan, where she was reared and edu- cated. Here her parents continued to reside until their death. Dr. and Mrs. Crawford had only one child, Erna Belle, who was born on the 12th of February, 1880, and who was summoned to the life eternal on the 21st of November, 1901.
In politics D'r. Crawford is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party but he has had naught of desire for the honors and emoluments of public office. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated with Menominee Lodge, No. 269, Free & Accepted Masons of which he is past master; Menominee Chapter, No. 107, Royal Arch Masons, of which he served as high priest for two years; and Menom- inee Commandery, No. 35, Knights Templars, in which he has also passed the official chairs, having been its commander for one year. He has received the degrees of Saladin Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the city of Grand Rapids. He accords a liberal support to the local Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Crawford is a devoted member. He and his wife have long been prominent in the best social activities of Menominee, where their circle of friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
GEORGE R. FOLEY .- An able, influential and prominent business man of Mohawk, Keweenaw county, George R. Foley is intimately associated with the advancement of the mercantile prosperity of this part of Mich- igan as superintendent of Colonel Peterman's store, the largest estab- lishment of its kind in the Upper Peninsula. A native-born citizen of this county, he was born June 22, 1876, at Eagle River, a son of John Foley. His grandfather Foley was a life-long resident of County Waterford, Ireland, but after his death the widow came to America and . spent her last days with a daughter at Duluth, Minnesota.
John Foley was born, reared and educated at Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland. Coming when a young man to the United States, he was for a while engaged in mining at Isle Royale, from there going to Delore. He afterwards worked at different mines in Keweenaw county, Michigan, continuing as a miner several years. Subsequently locating at Eagle Harbor, he started a store, beginning business on a small scale, as his trade and his means increased adding to his stock, until almost everything called for by man, woman or child, of that village, could be found in his establishment. Successful and popular,
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he was one of the leading merchants of that part of the county until his death, December 13, 1899. He married Mary Ann Rice, who was born in Ireland, a daughter of George E. and Mary Rice, natives of Ireland, and pioneer settlers of the Upper Peninsula. She survived him, and is still a resident of Eagle Harbor. To her and her husband twelve children were born as follows: Robert Emmet, Nettie, Catherine, Mollie, Helen, Anna, Elizabeth, Alice, George R., Francis, Michael J., and Lilla G.
After leaving the public schools of Eagle Harbor, George R. Foley continued his studies at Ferris Institute, in Big Rapids, Michigan. Then, entering his father's store, he obtained a practical insight into the details of mercantile affairs, and in 1901 entered the employ of Col. Peterman, of Mohawk, becoming a clerk in his store. Proving him- self in every way trustworthy and efficient, in that capacity, Mr. Foley, in 1904, was made superintendent of the store, which is the largest mercantile establishment in Keweenaw county, and in regard to its stock and its clerical service compares favorably with the best stores of the larger cities of Northern Michigan.
Mr. Foley married in 1907, Genevieve Ross, who was born of Scotch ancestors, at Battle Creek, Michigan, and they have one child, Mary Margaret Foley. Fraternally Mr. Foley is a member of Calumet Lodge, No. 1245, K. of C., and of Calumet Lodge, No. 404, B. P. O. E.
LAWRENCE MALONEY .- A leading merchant of Mass, Lawrence Ma- loney is one of its most prominent and influential citizens, and an im- portant factor in advancing its material prosperity. A son of Patrick Maloney, he was born November 1, 1860, in Watson township, Allegan county, of Irish ancestry, his grandparents having spent their entire lives in the Emerald Isle.
Patrick Maloney was born, reared and educated in Kings county, Ire- land, living there until after his marriage. In 1855 he came to America in search of a home, and located at Rochester, New York, where in 1856, he was joined by his wife and their two children, who had come, as he did, in a sailing vessel across the ocean, for thirteen weeks battling with the waves. He subsequently migrated to Michigan, locating in Watson township, Allegan county, in 1857, as pioneers. Making an opening in the tract of timber land which he purchased, he erected the log cabin in which his son Lawrence was born. Kalamazoo, thirty- three miles away, was for several years the nearest market and depot for supplies. Industrious and courageous, he toiled day after day fell- ing the giant progeny of the forest, and in due course of time had a well improved and productive farm, well supplied with farm buildings. Continuing his agricultural labors, he resided there until his death, in 1876, at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight years. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Kerwin, was born in Queens county, Ireland, and died in 1892, in Michigan, aged seventy-nine years. She reared five children, John, Edward, Patrick, Lawrence, and William, of whom the two older were born in Ireland.
As a boy and youth Lawrence Maloney attended the public schools when they were in session, at other times assisting in the care of the home farm. On the death of his father, he assumed the care of the homestead, living with his mother, and tenderly caring for her as long as she lived. Coming to the Northern Peninsula in 1889, Mr. Maloney was employed in a sawmill at Baraga until 1898, when he located in Ontonagon county. Much of the country roundabout was then in its virgin wildness, the present site of the village of Mass being then a
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wilderness, without a building of any description. He assisted in making the foundation for the very first building erected on the site, and is today carrying on business in that same building, which has been moved from its original location to its present one. The very first merchants to locate in Mass were Bergerson & McDonald, who opened a store here in 1899. In 1900 Mr. Maloney commenced his mercantile career as clerk for Martin & McGruen, with whom he was associated until 1906. In that year he bought out F. B. Stade, and has since been extensively engaged in mercantile business, carrying a complete assortment of dry goods, and ladies and gentlemen's furnishings, catering to the wants of his numerous patrons.
Mr. Maloney married in 1903, Isabella Contin, who was born in Rockland, Ontonagon county. Her father, Nelson Contin, was born in Quebec, of French ancestry, and was an early settler of Ontonagon county. Buying a homestead claim near Rockland, he occupied it a number of years, being engaged in tilling the soil, but his last days were spent in the village of Mass. . Mr. Contin married Sarah Maloy, who was born in Ireland and came to this country with her widowed mother. She is now living in Ontonagon. Mrs. Maloney died in Feb- ruary, 1908. Fraternally Mr. Maloney is a member of Hancock Council, K. of C .; of Mass Camp, M. W. A .; of Mass Camp, Royal Neighbors ; and of Greenland Court, Catholic Order of Foresters. Politically he casts his vote independent of party restrictions, and is now serving as supervisor of Greenland township, an office to which he was elected April 4, 1910.
GEORGE W. EARLE .- Few men rise to prominence in a chosen pro- fession, build up a large fortune in its practice, and then in middle life, after his habits and social prejudices are fully formed, enter upon an entirely new an unknown business and make a second grand suc- cess, yet that is what the subject of this article, George Washington Earle, has accomplished.
A review of his life is worthy the study of every American boy, for no better illustration of the truth of our boasted American privil- ege can be found. Every boy, regardless of his early environment, can climb to the top of the ladder.
Dr. George W. Earle was born in Truxton, Cortland county, New York, on the 9th day of October, 1849. His father, William R. Earle, was a native of the Empire state and a descendant of a long line of Earles, dating back long before the great American conflict for liberty.
Edward Earle, from whom the family descended, came to this country from England in the year 1635. Two years after this, in 1637, a deed is recorded in the old records of New York conveying to Edward Earle the island of Secaucus, containing two thousand acres more or less, for the sum of one thousand Dutch dollars. This island in the Hudson River became the home of the Earle family, and the residence erected by Edward on this estate in 1680 is still standing, and is in an execllent state of preservation, while another house built about the same time by this founder of the family in America re- mained until a year ago, when it was torn down by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to make way for the celebrated tunnel connecting New York with the state of New Jersey.
Edward Earle had but one son, who was the father of twelve chil- dren. James Earle, the grandfather of the Doctor, was born in the city of New York, in a house which occupied the site where now stands the New York Life Insurance building, one of the present day
WWW. Earle.
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monuments of American greatness. He was a merchant of prom- inence in the national metropolis for some years, but finally retired from mercantile business and removed to the central part of the state, where he passed the remainder of his life as a country gentleman. He reared a large family of children, of whom the sixth in order of birth was William R., father of the present George W. Earle, subject of this review.
William R. Earle married Maria Stewart, whose family was in direct line of descent from the house of Stewarts in Scotland from which sprang the Stewart kings of England. Hence, if we believed in the divine right of kings, we might attribute the wonderful success achieved by the Doctor to the royal blood in his veins, but as loyal Americans we cannot look to that as the source of his powers. Of the twelve children born to William R. Earle, ten attained to years of maturity, but only three are now living, Clarissa Earle Watson, widow of the late Silas B. Watson and residing in Chicago; William L. Earle, residing in Tully, Onondaga county, New York; and George W. Earle residing in Hermansville, Michigan. Four of. the sons of William R. Earle, and brothers of the Doctor, were soldiers in the Union army in the Civil war, all of whom have passed on to their reward.
William R. Earle became a contractor and builder, and in the pros- ecution of his extensive business was called much of the time from home. He came to Illinois in 1851, and took a contract for the con- struetion of a portion of the old Galena & Chicago Railroad, which made it necessary for him to establish headquarters at Huntley, Ill- inois, where he became prominently identified with the construction of this road, which was one of the first railroads built into Chicago, and which is now a part of the Chicago & Northwestern system.
On the establishment of his base of operations at Huntley in 1852 he brought with him two of his children, his son George, then but a child three years old, and his older sister, Clarissa, now Mrs. Watson. The child grew and waxed strong in the western air, and early de- veloped an independent spirit that led him from his father's roof to seek his fortune on his own account. When he was but ten years old he hired out on a farm near Clinton Junction, Wisconsin, for five dollars a month. He worked there eight months, and with the money purchased clothes and school books for the winter term of the district school. After paying for these articles he had left of his summer's earnings five dollars, which he has since kept as a souvenir, calling it the first five dollars he ever earned. In the winter of 1860-61 he worked for his board and attended the district school, which was taught by the man with whom he lived, Dr. Rollin S. Wooster. In the summer of 1863 Mr. Wooster moved from Wisconsin over the Mississippi River into Iowa, at that time an almost boundless prairie. He took with him all his stock which included several hundred head of sheep. This trip made in a prairie schooner by Mr. Wooster, ac- companied only by his nephew and young Earle, is remembered by the Doctor as the most enjoyable trip of his life, and many are the reminiscences told to those who know him best of this part of his early experience. Mr. Wooster settled in Buchanan county, Iowa, and there on the prairie farm, surrounded by nature in her most lavish charms, grew to youth the man of future wealth and influence.
He worked on the farm during the summer and fall months for wages, and attended the district school during the short winter term, and in this way by the same intensity of purpose which has character-
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ized every act of his life since he acquired an education which enabled him to teach a public school several terms with marked success. This was one time in his life when he feared to tell his age, knowing that the school board would think he was too young to teach. After the first term, however, his age was no longer questioned as one of his necessary qualifications, and he taught until he had saved money enough to start out on what he had decided as his real life work.
In 1868 he returned to New York, and after a short visit with his parents he secured employment in a sash and door factory, when by contracting to do piece work he made high wages, and by boarding himself saved money enough to carry him through a course in a med- ical college. Study and work with him were pursued together. The first three years in his medical course were put in working days and studying nights under the preceptorship of Dr. Silas S. Clark, of Mad- ison county, New York, till he was finally old enough to enter the Buffalo Medical College, from which he graduated in the class of 1872, carrying off first honors. His diploma was presented to him by ex- President Millard Fillmore and is still rolled in the same copy of the Buffalo daily newspaper, dated February 22, 1872.
Not the least remarkable of this part of his career is the fact that he had more money when he graduated than when he began the study of medicine. His theory that a man's expenses should be less than his earnings was his predominating characteristic even at this early stage of his life.
At the age of twenty-two when most young men are beginning to wonder what they are cut out for, the Doctor had obtained his degree, and was a full fledged M. D. He located in the beautiful little village of Tully, Onondaga county, New York, where he built up a large and successful practice, amassing a fortune of between one hundred and two hundred thousand dollars in the next seventeen years. One of the most popular men of the county, he was repeatedly re-elected to the highest office in the gift of his townspeople, and served several years as supervisor in a county board, which proudly boasted of hav- ing many brainy men.
In 1886 the Doctor discovered that the intense application with which he had devoted himself to his practice had begun to seriously affect his health. Hle now realized that he had reached his limit, and that he must have a radical change. Getting an old friend in the medical profession to take his practice for a time he went to Europe, where he spent some months in travel and rest. It was on this trip that he met and became acquainted with the future Mrs. Earle.
Returning to America, he took up the threads of his practice where he had dropped them, and continued for two years more, but finally de- cided to retire from the active practice of medicine until such time as his health should be fully restored.
He came to Michigan in the summer of 1889 to rest, but having become a stockholder in the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company, he was elected vice president only a few months before the crash of 1890, when through a combination of financial difficulties the company, to- gether with half a dozen others controlled by the late C. J. L. Meyer, was forced into the hands of a receiver.
As above stated, the Doctor had come to Michigan for rest, but here was a condition for which he was not prepared, and which would have discouraged any man with less iron in his determination. Seventeen years of continued and exclusive medical practice that had netted a fortune such as the Doctor had accumulated, was not well calculated to
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fit a man for a lumbering and manufacturing business. Under the most advantageous conditions the responsibility would have weighed heavily upon him, but under a bonded indebtedness of four hundred and forty- seven thousand dollars, and business in general at its lowest ebb since the year 1860, the outlook was anything but encouraging. Surrounded with such a gloomy prospect, the old managers of the company refused to undertake the reorganization of the business, preferring to let the plant drop into the hands of the bondholders. Not so, however, with the Doctor, he threw all the old time fire of his college days into the remoulding of trade conditions. He purchased the interest of all the old stockholders, who were only too anxious to sell, and began buying up the bonds.
The history of this bond deal marks one of the hardest fought battles of the Doctor's life, notwithstanding the debts had been contracted through no fault or management of his own, yet his being a stockholder and officer of the company at the time of the failure made him feel a personal obligation to pay the debts, and his fortune saved by a life of self sacrifice and hard drudging-as he himself once termed it-was thrown into the balance to float the wreck. As everything else which he had attempted in life had succeeded, so this was also successful, and to-day the Doctor is head and chief owner of the largest lumbering and manufacturing plant in the Upper Michigan.
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