USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 58
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Mr. Dysinger then sold sewing machines for the Singer Manufactur- ing Company, at the same time representing the Farrand & Voty Organ Company of Detroit, Michigan. Buying then a building at Lake Odessa, Mr. Dysinger embarked in the music business, selling sheet music, organs and pianos, and also handling White Sewing Machines, establish- ing a fine trade. Active and enterprising, he was a true Yankee in trading, exchanging merchandise oftentimes for horses, with which he stocked his farm, having at times very valuable ones in his possession. In 1897, through a fire caused by a spark from a passing engine, Mr. Dysinger was unfortunately burned out. The ensuing four years he travelled for the piano firm of Chase, Hackley & Co., of Muskegon, Michigan, in 1901 becoming traveling auditor for the company.
Locating soon after in Sault Ste. Marie, Mr. Dysinger was success- fully engaged in the candy and grocery business until 1906, when, his
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health failing, he traveled for a year or two. While in Sault Ste. Marie, he was one of the organizers of the Gold Mining Company at Goulais Bay, Ontario, the company which erected the first gold mill in Ontario.
After his return from the South, in 1907, Mr. Dysinger opened a store of general merchandise in Kinross, Chippewa county, and has since held a noteworthy place among its more active and esteemed citi- zens. Appointed postmaster at Kinross in 1907, he has served in this position since, and has also been supervisor during the time, having been elected in the spring of 1907, and reelected in 1909. Politically he is a stanch Republican, prominent in party organizations. For the past fifteen years he has been a member of Red Cross Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and is also a member of Kinross Lodge, Modern Brotherhood.
Mr. Dysinger is an extensive landholder, owning about three thous- and acres, and while in business at Lake Odessa became actively as- sociated with the Midland Land Company, which had headquarters at Rudyard, Chippewa county, and by extended advertising in Odessa and vicinity succeeded in placing upon the market four thousand acres of land. An expert in the ways of modern advertising, and skillful in the execution of his plans, Mr. Dysinger sent two excursions by rail from Grand Rapids to Mackinac, and one by water. He, with Hon. Chase S. Osborn, Otto Towle, and Jerry Lamson, were promoters of Rudyard and L'Anse, asking $500 from the county board to carry out their projects, and receiving it.
Mr. Dysinger, as above mentioned, is secretary of the Chippewa County Homes Advertising Committee, and is contributing his full share in the position towards advancing the material interests of this part of the state, bringing before the general public its unlimited agri- cultural and industrial advantages. In Chippewa county alone are thirty-five thousand arces of government land open to entry by home- steaders, the small sum of $16 securing title to one hundred and sixty acres of land well adapted for the production of hay, apples, and root crops of all kinds. As a dairy country Chippewa county is unexcelled, cheese manufactured in this county having won the first prize at the State Fair for the past two years. Both spring and fall wheat do well here, the soil being well adapted to all grains. A ready market for all produce is near, finding a ready sale in the city of Sault Ste. Marie, in the mining regions, and on the Great Lakes steamers. Unimproved farm lands can be bought for the nominal sum of $3 per acre, cleared farms bringing from $20 to $75 per acre. The summers of Northern Michigan are delightfully cool, and the winters are bracing. There is plenty of employment for all classes of people, the mills, mines, woods, docks, and farms furnishing work for all. No person in Chippewa county is better informed in regard to the country and its opportunities and ad- vantages than Mr. Dysinger, and no man more willing and able than he to discuss these, either personally or by letter.
Mr. Dysinger has been twice married. He married first, May 13, 1888, when but eighteen years of age, Stella Hamilton, who was born in Michigan just sixteen years before that date, a daughter of Edward and Kate (Bowers) Hamilton. She died in 1898. Three children were born of their union, namely : Grace, who died at the age of five years, three months and twenty-four days; Bessie died in infancy ; and Thelma. Mr. Dysinger married second, May 12, 1906, Samantha Overmyer, who was born in Monroe, Michigan, being the fourth child of Edward and Susan Overmyer. Her parents, who are of German parentage, are now living in Monroe, retired from active pursuits, having as agriculturists ac- quired a competency.
William Sond.
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CAPT. WILLIAM BOND .- The immense mining interests of the Upper Peninsula are placed in charge of men of ability, familiar with the different kind of work needed to produce the best results, and prom- inent among the men thus employed in the mines of the Upper Penin- sula is Capt. William Bond, who has served as captain of the West Vulcan Mine for upwards of twenty-two years, and who is now cap- tain also of the Briar Hill Mine. He was born, October 24, 1852, in Devonshire, England, the birthplace of his father, and the home of his ancestors.
William Bond, his father, was a natural mechanic, skillful in the use of tools, and he followed both the mason's and the carpenter's trade, being an expert workman. He spent his last years in Cornwall county, England, dying at the good old age of eighty-seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Grace Jones, was a native of Devon- shire, also, and she attained the venerable age of eighty-nine years. To her and her husband six children were born, as follows: Thomas, John, Elizabeth, Mary, William and Grace. Thomas died at sea while on his way to New Zealand, and Grace died in England. The other children came to America, John, who resembled his father, in that he was a natural mechanie, settling in Carbon county, Pennsylvania. Elizabeth married W. H. Hosking and Mary became the wife of J. B. Rogers, both, at present, being residents of Bingham Canon, Utah.
Beginning when young to work on a farm in Cornwall county, England, Captain William Bond remained thus employed until 1871, when he emigrated to this country, locating immediately in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. For a short time thereafter he was em- ployed in mining in Keweenaw county, after which he worked for six years in the Calumet & Hecla Mine at Calumet. Wishing further to advance his education, he then attended the Normal School at Valpa- raiso, Indiana, for two years, taking a business course. He subse- quently worked for a short time at the Ludington Mine on the Men- ominee Range and from there he went to Norway in 1882, there en- tering the employ of the Penn Iron Mining Company as time-keeper. Having retained that position for fifteen months he was advanced to that of night captain. September 1, 1884, he was transferred to Quinnesec, and remained there as captain until 1886. He then re- signed to go to Iron River where he had charge of the Ninamo Mine for fifteen months. In February, 1888, Captain Bond accepted the po- sition of captain of the West Vulcan Mine, and has since remained in the employ of the Penn Iron Mining Company in this capacity, his home being in Vulcan, Michigan.
Captain Bond married, December 31, 1884, Isabell Gray, who was born in Cornwall county, England, January 6, 1866, a daughter of William II. and Elizabeth Ann Gray, who emigrated from Cornwall, England, to the United States in 1875, settling first in Wisconsin, and going thence to Norway, Dickinson county, Michigan, where they are now living. Captain Bond's family consists of three children,-Ada Isabell, born December 3, 1885; Ewart W. J., born June 3, 1891, and Wesley Calvin, born October 29, 1894.
Captain Bond is a consistent Christian man and a valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having been treasurer and member of the official board and board of trustees for many years, and at present being superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school at Vul- can, Michigan. He is a strict Prohibitionist in politics, and his public office holding has consisted of two years service as township treasurer and membership on the local school board. Fraternally he belongs
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to Norway lodge, No. 362, F. & A. M. He is a man of financial ability and was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Norway. He was elected a director at its organization and has served as vice- president for the last two years.
J. C. KIRKPATRICK .- Few of the leading citizens of the Northern Peninsula can present a career of such rapid, yet substantial progress, as J. C. Kirkpatrick, of Escanaba. In his forty-ninth year he is presi- dent both of the National Pole Company and Pittsburg & Lake Superior Iron Company, as well as vice president of the Escanaba National Bank. He is shrewd, enterprising, energetic, sound and straightforward in his business methods, and enjoys personal qualities outside of his practical temperament which have earned him a wide popularity.
Born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, February 10, 1862, Mr. Kirk- patrick is a son of Joseph Kirkpatrick, who was a native of Ireland. The father came to America when fourteen years of age, spending a time in New York, and then locating in Pittsburg, where for a number of years he was engaged in wholesale grocery business on Liberty street. He afterwards embarked in the oil business, and finally in the iron trade at Pittsburg. In 1874 Joseph Kirkpatrick located in Palmer, Mar- quette county, Michigan, and engaged in business, becoming one of the most extensive iron dealers of the peninsula and founder of the Palmer Iron Company. He continued in active business until his death, in 1903, at the age of eighty-two years. He was well known throughout the section of his home, and broadly identified himself with its inter- ests. He married Isabella Martin, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, who came to America when a girl, and died at the age of seventy-eight. They had eleven children, of whom three sons and two daughters sur- vive.
J. C. Kirkpatrick was fourteen years of age when he came to the Northern Peninsula with his father, and received his education in the public schools of Pittsburg, and at Lake Forest University. He began his business career as a delivery boy in a store at Palmer, Michigan, in which his father was interested. He remained with this company until 1898, having been promoted until he finally became president of the company. He still holds his position, but in 1898 he came to Escanaba to look after the cedar interests of the company, which has since been taken over by the National Pole Company, a corporation having the same stockholders as the Pittsburg & Lake Superior Iron Company, and of which, as stated, he is now president.
Outside of his business interests, Mr. Kirkpatrick is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Northern Michigan Asylum at Newberry. In 1887 he married Matilda H., daughter of Benjamin Patterson, of Cleve- land, Ohio. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a member of the following clubs : Union League, Chicago Athletic and South Shore Country, all of Chi- cago, also Minneapolis Club of Minneapolis and Silver Bow Club of Butte, Mont.
HERBERT W. READE .- For more than twenty years Herbert W. Reade, of Escanaba, has been one of the strong factors in the business, financial, commercial and civic development of the Northern Peninsula, and all the sturdy and well-directed abilities of his life have been de- voted to the welfare of his native Michigan. For many years he has been specially engaged in the cedar pole business, being now vice presi- dent of the National Pole Company. Besides actively holding this posi- tion, Mr. Reade has many other interests, and is widely identified with
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Walter Mot Deanis
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the progress and development of the town and county. He is a director in the Escanaba National Bank, treasurer of the Escanaba Timber Land Company and holds other positions of business and financial trust. Mr. Reade also takes an active interest in public affairs, and in the success of the Republican party, having served as a member of the board of education six years (four of which he was president) and as road commissioner of Delta county. His identification with the fraternities is confined to his membership in the order of Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, in which he has attained the rank of Knight Templar and Shriner.
Mr. Reade was born in Romeo, Macomb county, Michigan, August 20, 1867, and is a son of Samuel A. and Helen (Sill) Reade. The father is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, who came to Michigan about 1854 and located at Romeo, which has since been his home. At that time he was but twenty-two years of age and a recent graduate of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. For the past thirty-nine years Samuel A. Reade has been cashier of the Citizens' National Bank, of Romeo, and is now an honored financial veteran of seventy-seven. He has always taken an active interest in the progress and growth of the town, and participated prominently in public affairs. His wife, who was a native of New York, died at the age of fifty-seven, the mother of five children, three of whom survive, namely: Richard S., who is a drygoods merchant at Romeo, and assistant cashier of the Citizens' Na- tional Bank; Herbert W .; and Harold H., the last named being in the employ of the National Pole Company, at Whitney, Michigan. The other two children died in infancy.
The boyhood of Herbert W. Reade was spent in his native town and there he received his education, graduating from the high school in 1886, at the age of nineteen years. He then entered the bank with his father, being thus employed for one year, when he removed to New- berry, Michigan. There he worked for a short time as bookkeeper in a general store, and in 1888 located at Whitney as superintendent of a charcoal manufacturing plant and general store, for the Pittsburg & Lake Superior Iron Company. A few years later the charcoal industry was abandoned by this company, which engaged in the cedar pole busi- ness, and Mr. Reade continued this line of employment until 1896. In that year the general office was established at Escanaba, with Mr. Reade as secretary and manager in charge of the cedar business, whose opera- tions embraced the entire Northern Peninsula. The company disposed of its cedar pole business in 1907, and a new corporation was formed of which Mr. Reade became the vice president, his present office. The stockholders of the new concern, known as the National Pole Company, were practically the same as held stock in the Pittsburg & Lake Su- perior Iron Company, and Mr. Reade therefore retains his office of sec- retary and treasurer of the last named organization. His wide experience in the timber industry, and his broad business judgment, in general, make him a dominant force in both companies, and a leading figure in the material progress of northern Michigan.
In 1891 Mr. Reade married Nellie B., daughter of Edward C. and Lucy D. (Doan) Newbury, of Romeo, Michigan, and three children have been born to them: Carleton W., Dorothy Doan and Helen Frances.
WALTER W. DENNIS .- It has been the good fortune of Mr. Dennis to attain definite success and prosperity through his identification with the agricultural industry in Chippewa county where he has a well improved farm of 320 acres in "Soo" township and where he is giv- ing special attention to the dairy business.
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Mr. Dennis is a native of the city of London, England, where he was born on August 30th, 1861. He is the son of James and Mary Ann (Harper) Dennis, the former of whom was born in Somersetshire, England, and the latter in Bristol, England. The parents are still living and of their eight children four survived. James Dennis was superintendent of flour mills in England until 1870 when he removed with his family to America and located in the state of Pennsylvania. In 1874 he came to Chippewa county, Michigan, and engaged in the farming industry in Sault Ste. Marie township. He was one of the stirring pioneers of this county and here he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1890 when he removed to the state of California, where he has since been engaged in mining and pros- pecting.
Walter W. Dennis gained his early educational training in the schools of London, England, and was twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to America. After he was established in Chip- pewa county, Michigan, he was variously employed until 1882 when he began the reclamation of a farm in Sault Ste. Marie township. He was employed in the lumber camp through the winter seasons for a term of about fifteen years, and in the meantime devoted the summer season to the work of his farm. He reclaimed his land for cultiva- tion and is now the owner of a well improved farm of 320 acres. He has erected a substantial brick residence and also a bank-barn sixty by eighty feet in dimensions. In connection with his dairy business he has the finest grade of stock and in this line of enterprise he con- ducts the most extensive portion of all who are engaged in the same business in Chippewa county. He has the best facilities, including milk house supplies with running water and ice coolers. He supplies the Pittsburg Steamship Company with about two hundred and thirty gallons of milk each day, besides which he has a large local patronage. In politics Mr. Dennis gives his support to the Republican party and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Pine Grove Grange No. 1290.
On the 12th of July, 1883, Mr. Dennis was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Ann Knowles who was born in the town of Huntington, England, and who is the daughter of Thomas and Sarah M. (Smith) Knowles, now residing in Chippewa county, Michigan, where they maintained their home since 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis have two children,-Frank and Ruth.
FRANCIS J. SULLIVAN .- A man of ability, possessing unquestioned business qualifications, Francis J. Sullivan, of Ironwood, is associated with the development of one of the chief industries of the Upper Penin- sula, being chief clerk of the Oliver Mining Company. A son of the late Engene Sullivan, he was born, October 17, 1878, in Rockland, On- tonagon county, Michigan, of Irish stock. His grandfather, Daniel Sullivan, a life-long resident of the Emerald Isle, married Johanna Sullivan, a native of county Cork, Ireland. She survived him, after his death coming to this country, and spending her last days in Ontona- gon county, Michigan, passing away in the eighty-third year of her age. She reared six children, as follows: Mary married a Mr. Harrington, and lived in South Carolina; Julia died in New Orleans, Lousiana; Johanna married a Mr. Holland, of New Orleans; Jeremiah settled in Rockland, Michigan ; Michael and Eugene.
Eugene Sullivan was born at Bere Haven, County Cork, Ireland, and there received a very good education. On leaving school he started
FIM WOON FARM RESIDENCE OF MR AND MRS WALTER W. DENNIS
.
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out to see the world, for a time following the sea. Landing at New Orleans on one of his ocean voyages, he was pleased with the city, and having bought a tract of land erected a house, and sent for his widowed mother, brothers and sisters to join him. He afterwards came to the Upper Peninsula, locating in Houghton county, where he commenced mining, being afterwards similarly employed in Rockland, at the Min- nesota Mine, until 1883. Removing then to Ontonagon, he was yard foreman for the Diamond Match Company for a while. In the mean- time he bought a tract of land in town, and having improved it, was there a resident until his death. He married, in Houghton, Michigan, Margaret Reagan, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, the birth- place of her parents, Murtimore and Katherine (Sullivan) Reagan, who emigrated to the United States with their family, and spent their remaining years in Fall River, Massachusetts, as did all of their eight children, Mary, Daniel, Helen, John, Murtimore, Julia, Margaret, and Honora, with the exception of Margaret, who married Eugene Sullivan, and died in Michigan. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Sullivan, namely: Mary E., wife of Frederick Banks, of Ashland, Wisconsin; Margaret H., of Ironwood; Jerry E., living in Missoula, Montana; Kathryn C., residing in Ironwood; Daniel J. died at the age of twenty-four years; George W. died when thirty years old; Eugene J., of Chisholm, Minnesota ; Murtimore C., died when nineteen years old; Josie B. died at the age of thirty-two years; and Francis J., the special subject of this brief sketch.
Having acquired a practical education in the public schools of On- tonagon and at the Bessemer High School, Francis J. Sullivan began while yet a young lad to hustle for himself, being variously employed. For a time he was "bell hop" at a hotel, afterwards being a newsboy, selling papers on the streets. The news dealer for whom he worked was agent for the Western Union Telegraph Company, and Francis took such good advantage of the offered opportunity that at the age of eigh- teen years he had mastered the art of telegraphy, and had secured a situation with the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company as operator at Pelican Lake, Wisconsin. He was subsequently operator at different places until he was made operator and ticket clerk at the Iron- wood station. Resigning that position in 1902, Mr. Sullivan became book-keeper at the office of the Oliver Mining Company, and on Feb- ruary 15, 1906, was promoted to his present responsible position as chief clerk of the company. He is a Republican in politics, and fra- ternally is a member of Ashland Lodge, B. P. O. E., and of the M. W. A.
ROBERT G. MARRINER, M. D .- For more than a quarter of a century Dr. Marriner has held precedence as one of the most able and popular physicians and surgeons in the Menominee Valley, and none could have shown more staunch devotion to the work of his honorable and exacting profession than has he. He is a man of fine intellectual and profes- sional attainments and his success in his chosen vocation has been the logical result of careful study, close application and exceptional zeal and devotion.
Dr. Robert G. Marriner has the distinction of being a native of the city of London, England, where he was born on the 5th of December, 1857, and he is a son of Goodwin Marriner and Susan (Scace) Mar- riner, the former of whom was born in Oxford, England, in 1828, and the latter of whom was born in the city of London, in 1834. The father died in the city of Chicago in 1870 and the mother passed away in the same city in the following year, their marriage having been solemnized
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in the city of London. Of their six children four are now living and the subject of this review was second in order of birth. Goodwin Mar- riner long held the office of official surveyor for the parish of Maryle- bone, city of London. Dr. Robert G. Marriner received his early educa- tional discipline in his native city and was ten years of age at the time of the family removal to the United States, in 1867. His parents located in the city of Chicago, Illinois, and there he completed his academic education, having been graduated in the high school when sixteen years of age. He was matriculated in the Rush Medical College in 1876 and was graduated from the Chicago Medical College as a member of the class of 1881, duly receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. This college is now the medical department of the Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois. After his graduation Dr. Marriner initiated the practice of his profession at Marinette, Wisconsin, where he remained until 1888, when he moved across the river to the city of Menominee, Michigan, where he has since continued in active and suc- cessful practice as a physician and surgeon and where his clientage has long been one of a thoroughly representative and appreciative order. A recent newspaper article has given the following admirable estimate of the life and labors of Dr. Marriner and the same is well worthy of re- production in this volume ..
"Dr. Marriner has ripe experience. He is by nature a scholarly and scientific man. He has been not only keenly alive to the fact that great advances have been made of late in medical science but also has been filled with the ambition to keep abreast of them. The new and valuable matter from both domestic and foreign journals is carefully studied by him and all the good extracted. While he is a public-spirited man and has started and helped many valuable improvements that have been carried out for the good of the public, he, however, never accepts any office or position that might divert his time from his professional duties. His professional work overshadows anything else. During his student days he was for three years assistant to Professor Moses Gunn, the fore- most surgeon of his day. He afterward served as first assistant of Pro- fessor A. Reeves Jackson, dean and founder of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the state of Illinois, now the medical department of the State University of Illinois, and then chief surgeon of the Women's Hospital of the State of Illinois. It was at that time and under such influence that he was first inspired for thoroughness, for accuracy, for careful investigation and research. He believes that the education upon which he is engaged is not simply a college course, not simply a medical course, but a life course for which the work of a few years under teach- ers is but a preparation. Nothing gives him more satisfaction than to relieve and cure the unfortunates who come under his care. For him no labor is too great. Self-sacrifice is his greatest pleasure. He is not selfishly actuated by financial remuneration, but is inspired by a spirit of philanthropy and by a generous desire to benefit mankind."
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