USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people; its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume III > Part 62
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For Right and Love and Truth are ever young, As in that olden day when light and time began And God from out of chaos light and order brought And in His likeness and His image made He man- When Time was young.
That God-made man, whose heart beats true to high ideals, Who labors to the end that light and truth shall still remain The guiding star of those who shape a nation's course Although his hair be tinged with grey, he has not lived in vain. He is not old.
And so I say to they who in derision call me old Because I labor for the right, seeking naught for self or you Except to keep, for aye, the rights that free men hold so dear And brave men died to gain and guard for me and you- Brave men of old.
"I am not old. 'Tis he, who, chosen from out the throng, a people's right to guard,
"Too lightly held the trust. 'Tis they who with hearts and faces cold
"Look calmly on and in blind fealty to a party name
"Approve the act by which a people's rights are lost and sold." 'Tis he and they are old. Not only old, but poor !
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"Tis they are old, not I. The strife of evil against God and good. Is old as Mother Earth, 'twas waged since time began ;
It lost to mankind Eden with its fruits and gardens fair.
It still is striving with the soul of man-
For wrong is old.
But God and truth are young. They will not pass away or die ;
And justice, too, will live beneath the flag brave hands to Heaven has flung
And while we strive for right and truth, though fools and puppets may deride,
Our Country and our hearts will still be young For these things grow not old.
"Tis wrong and sin grow old and die, while right and truth survive; Be patient then, though greed and lust of gold and puppets scoff And call me old, I wait with faith the coming day
When wrong and hate and fear shall die and cease throughout the Earth,
For hath He not said "These things shall pass away." And God and Right are young.
Mr. Riley married, December 25, 1878, Frances M. Edwards, of Salem, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and they have one child, Selden, now with the Mueller Furnace Company, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Selden Riley married Olivia Mugent and they have two children, Nor- rine and Frances Olivia. Mr. Riley still continues his studies, and though a self-educated man in every sense implied by the term, is known as one of the best classical scholars of the county. His home is and has been for years at 636 Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his family resides. On January 1, 1911, he accepted the position of counsel with the law firm of Ruben & Lehr, of Milwaukee, with which firm he is now connected, although still retaining his interest in the firm and business of Riley & Rice at Bessemer, Michigan.
JEREMIAHI LAWSON .- As one of the successful farmers and stock growers of Chippewa county and as a citizen who is held in high regard in the community, Mr. Lawson is well worthy of consideration in this publication. He is a member of the county board of supervisors and is one of the enterprising citizens of the Upper Peninsula, standing ex- emplar of the highest type of citizenship and taking a deep interest in all that touches the well-being of the community.
Mr. Lawson was born in county Sligo, Ireland, on the 20th of Jan- mary, 1866, and is a son of Robert and Ann (Irwin) Lawson, both of whom were likewise born in county Sligo, the former in 1815 and the latter in 1830. The father died in 1877 and the mother is still living there. They became the parents of thirteen children of whom the fol- lowing ten are living, namely : William, who still resides in Ireland ; John, who is a resident of Liverpool, England; Ann Marie, who is the wife of Philip Craven, and a resident of county Sligo, Ireland; Char- lotte, who is the wife of Daniel Smith of the same county; Jeremiah, the subject of this sketch; Susan, who is the wife of Adolph C. Siebert of Cleveland, Ohio; Rebecca, the wife of Joseph Crawford of Wyevale, Ontario, Canada; Amelia, who is the wife of Richard Goulden of Ratlı- scanlon, county Sligo, Ireland; and Irwin, who resides in the Emerald Isle. Robert Lawson was a prosperous farmer in his native county,
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where he continued to reside until his death and both he and his wife were members of the Church of England.
Jeremiah Lawson was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in his native county and his educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools, which he continued to attend until he was sixteen years of age. He then, in 1882, severed the ties that bound him to home and native land and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He located in Ontario, Canada, where he remained about one year, at the expiration of which he came to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and established his home in Donaldson, Dafter township, Chippewa county, where he was identified with the lumbering industry until 1890. In the meanwhile he had purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in the township mentioned and in 1893 he erected there his present attractive residence. As a farmer and stock grower he has shown much energy and discrimination and he has attained defi- nite success in connection with these lines of industry. He has re- claimed to cultivation sixty acres of his farm, which is devoted to diversified agriculture and the raising of high grade stock, including full-blooded Durham cattle and Leicestershire sheep. Mr. Lawson has served as a member of the school board of his district for the past fif- teen years and in April, 1907, he was elected supervisor of his township, of which office he has remained incumbent to the present time by suc- cessive re-elections. He is chairman of the finance committee of the Chippewa County Board and is also a member of the special committee appointed to submit to the people of Chippewa county the matter of establishing a county agricultural school. He is prominently identified with the Michigan State Grange as a member of its Executive Committee and as deputy in the same he has charge of the organization and super- vision of the Chippewa county Granges. He is affiliated with Bethel Lodge, No. 358, Free & Accepted Masons; Red Cross Lodge, No. 351, Knights of Pythias; Dubois Tent, No. 226, Knights of the Modern Mac- cabees; L. O. L .; and Royal Neighbors; and the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party.
On the 31st day of March, 1890, at Sault Ste. Marie, Mr. Lawson was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Mitchell, who was born in Simcoe county, Canada, on the 18th of March, 1870, and whose death occurred on the 10th of November, 1909. She was a daughter of Robert and Ann (Hawkins) Mitchell, the former of whom was born in the state of New York and the latter in Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson became the parents of five children, all of whom are living, namely: Lillian A., Robert, Margaret A., Irwin T. and Harold R. Lillian A. was graduated in the high school of Sault Ste. Marie and is now a successful and pop- ular teacher in the public schools of her native county.
FRANK D. MEAD .- A talented, able and skillful lawyer, Frank D. Mead of Escanaba, is an excellent representative of the legal fraternity of Delta county, and an eminently useful and valued citizen of his com- munity. A son of John C. Mead, he was born January 27, 1856, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a city rich in educational advantages.
Born in New York state in 1825, John C. Mead was but three years of age when his parents in 1828 migrated to the wilds of Michigan, settling in Washtenaw county. Reared to agricultural pursuits, he be- came a successful farmer and a man of influence. He married Caroline W. Day, who was born in New York, of Scotch ancestry, and they be- came the parents of three children, two sons and one daughter, F. D., the subject of this brief sketch, being the first-born.
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Brought up in Ann Arbor, F. D. Mead obtained his elementary education in the common schools, after which he entered the Literary Department of the University of Michigan, from which he was gradu- ated with the class of 1879. Immediately beginning the study of law in the office of Chandler & Grant, at Houghton, he was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1881, and the following six months was located at Negaunee, where he began the practice of his profession. Locating at Escanaba on December 17, 1881, Mr. Mead opened a law office in this city, and has here been in active practice since, having built up an ex- tensive and remunerative clientele. Thoroughly versed in the intricacies of the law, Mr. Mead has conducted and won many suits of importance, and now holds a position of prominence and influence among the lead- ing attorneys of the Northern Peninsula. He has been active in munici- pal affairs, from January, 1885, until January, 1891, serving as prose- cuting attorney. In 1898 he was elected a member of the Board of Education, and served three years. He is one of the foremost Republi- cans of this section of the state, ever alive to the interests of his party, and in 1907 and 1908 was a delegate to the Constitutional convention, representing the Thirty-first Senatorial District.
Mr. Mead married May 14, 1884, Sara F. Myrick, a daughter of Fred C. and Harriet A. Myrick, of Pontiac, Michigan, and of their union two children have been born, namely: Helen D., who died at the age of twenty-two years, and Myrick D.
JOHN FRANCIS COWLING .- Among the respected and well-to-do citi- zens of Iron Mountain is John F. Cowling, who is actively identified with the promotion of its business as a successful general merchant. A na- tive of England, he was born, March 31, 1869, in the parish of Saint Cleer, county Cornwall, a son of William Cowling. His grandfather, George Cowling, was a life-long farmer in Saint Neots parish, Cornwall county. He married Mary Doney, whose father, Samuel Doney, was likewise engaged in farming in that parish during his entire life.
William Cowling was born, March 25, 1842, in Saint Neots parish, and when a young lad went to the parish of Saint Cleer, in the same county, and there at the age of eleven years began work as a wage- earner in the mines, remaining thus employed until 1869. Bidding good- bye then to his wife and children he came to America, the land of much promise, locating first in New Jersey, where he worked for about eight months. He was subsequently engaged in mining at Tatesville, Bed- ford county, Pennsylvania, until 1871, when he migrated to the Pacific coast. He subsequently worked in different parts of California, in the gold and silver mines, for about eleven years, when he returned to Eng- land for his family. Coming back to this country with them, he worked for a short time in Amherst county, Virginia, and then located at Iron Mountain, where he has since continued his residence, having first been employed by the Menominee Mining Company, and continuing until the present time with its successor, the Oliver Mining Company. He married Anna Maria Carbis, who was born in Saint Cleer parish, Corn- wall county, England, a daughter of William and Maria Carbis, and to them five children have been born, as follows: William George, John Francis, Matilda J., Christina and Kate. He and his wife were reared in the Episcopalian faith.
As a boy John Francis Cowling attended the public schools of Saint Cleer, and after the family settled at Iron Mountain he continued his studies in the schools of this place for three years. At the age of fifteen ycars he began work at the mine, continuing thus employed until 1894,
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when he entered the employ of Wright Brothers, general merchants, for whom he clerked ten years. Having obtained a practical insight into the management of the business, Mr. Cowling then opened a general store, putting in a fine stock of goods, and has since built up a large and profitable patronage.
Mr. Cowling married, in July, 1889, Louisa Davey, who was born in Camborne, county Cornwall, England, a daughter of John and Jane Davey, and into their household two children have been born, Anna Maria and Frederick C. Fraternally Mr. Cowling is a member of Iron Mountain Lodge, No. 700, B. P. O. E .; and of Victoria Lodge, Order of Saint George.
HENRY TIDEMAN, secretary of the Menominee Electric Manufactur- ing Company and president of the Dudly Tool Company, was born in New South Wales, Australia, on the 27th of August, 1863. When but three years old was taken to Germany and reared to maturity by his influential relatives. He is a son of Dr. H. G. Tideman, a physician and surgeon of some distinction, who served in the United States army for seven years. He was for a number of years actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Menominee, Michigan, and Marinette, Wis- consin, where his death occurred on April 12, 1892.
Henry Tideman secured his educational discipline under the direc- tion of a private tutor, in the military academy, Blankenese and Pots- dam, and attended the University of Heidelberg, Berlin and Midweida, Saxony, Germany. In 1881 he first came to America. He worked in New York city, Buffalo and Detroit, and was employed principally as a designer and engineer. In 1882 he located in Menominee and organ- ized the Menominee Electric Manufacturing Company, of which he is secretary and general manager today.
In 1885, July 16th, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Henry Tide- man to Miss Evalyn Sieger, of Detroit, Michigan, where she was born and reared, being the daughter of John Sieger, a citizen of Detroit. Mr. and Mrs. Tideman have two children, William and Harold.
HON. NEWTON C. SPENCER .- A man of talent, culture, and pro- nounced ability, Hon. Newton C. Spencer, of Escanaba, has been ac- tively identified with the interests of the Northern Peninsula for the past fourteen years, and as one of its foremost lawyers is widely and favorably known throughout this section of the state. A son of the late John E. Spencer, he was born, June 16, 1868, in Ashland, Ashland county, Ohio, coming from honored New England ancestry. His grand- father, Elihu Spencer, was born in Connecticut, and as a boy migrated to the Western Reserve, his grandfather being one of the earlier set- tlers of the town of Spencer, Medina county, which was named in his honor.
John E. Spencer was born and reared in Oberlin, Ohio, receiving ex- cellent educational advantages. Becoming a furniture manufacturer and lumber dealer, he settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1872, and was there profitably engaged in business until his death, in 1879, at the age of forty-two years. He married Celestia A. Nuttall, who was born in North. Carolina, of French and English ancestry. She survived him, attain- ing the age of seventy-two years. Of the six children born of their union, but three are living, as follows: Mrs. Julia A. Keeler, of Har- vard, Illinois; James E., a civil engineer at Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Newton C.
The third son, and fourth child, of the parental household, Newton
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C. Speneer spent his boyhood days in the cities of Springfield and Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of fourteen years he moved with the fam- ily to Champaign county, Illinois, and after attending the public schools of Urbana for awhile entered the University of Illinois, where he continued his studies for two years. Entering then the law department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, he was there graduated in 1895, in the meantime paying his own expenses from the money which he had saved while teaching school, and working at other employ- ments, between the years of 1885 and 1893. For a few months after his graduation, Mr. Spencer was a resident of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, from there going, in the fall of 1895, to Menominee, Michigan. Locat- ing in Stephenson, Menominee county, in 1896, he was there actively engaged in the practice of law for ten years, and since 1906 has been similarly employed in Escanaba, where he now has a substantial pat- ronage. Very prominent in the Republican party, Mr. Spencer was elected to the State Legislature in 1900 and ably represented his dis- triet in that body for two years, and from 1899 until 1901 was circuit court commissioner.
Mr. Spencer has been twiee married. He married first, June 15, 1898, Emma Woessner, who died in 1904, leaving two children, Carman and Margaret. Mr. Speneer married second, June 16, 1907, Anna Home, and they have one child, a little daughter named Mae.
GEORGE H. HAGGERSON has been identified with industrial and busi- ness interests in the Upper Peninsula from his boyhood days and has not only gained a secure position as a substantial and essentially rep- resentative business man but has also been called upon to serve in various positions of public trust and responsibility. His advancement is the direct result of his own well directed efforts and he has so ordered his course as to merit and retain the unalloyed confidence and respect of his fellow-men. He is one of the popular and influential citizens of Menominee and he has been a resident of Menominee county for more than thirty years, within which he was long concerned with the great lumber industry. He is now engaged in the real-estate and abstract business in Menominee, is president of the Commercial Bank of this city and is secretary of the Peninsula Land Company.
George H. Haggerson was born at Geneva, Ontario county, New York, on the 29th of April, 1855, and is a son of George and Sarah (Bradford) Haggerson, the former of whom was born in England in 1827 and the latter of whom was a native of Ireland, where she was born in the year 1833. The parents passed the closing years of their lives in Oeonto county, Wisconsin, where the father died in 1872 and the mother in 1885. Of their seven children, five are now living, the subject of this sketch having been second in order of birth.
He whose name initiates this article was an infant at the time of the family removal from the old Empire state to Oconto, Wisconsin, in which city he was reared to maturity, there receiving his early educa- tional training in the public schools, in which he continued his studies until he was sixteen years of age. He then secured a position as bag- gageman in the employ of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Com- pany, by which, only five months later, he was advaneed to the office of station agent and telegraph operator at Powers and Spalding, Menom- inee county, Michigan. He had learned the art of telegraphy through study of the same while serving as baggageman. At Spalding he was also given charge of the office and general store of the Spaulding Lum- ber Company, one of the leading concerns then identified with the great
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lumber industry in this section of the state. The rapid increase in the business of the lumber company at Spalding finally led him to resign his position with the railroad company in order to devote his entire time and attention to the interests of the company previously men- tioned. The Spalding mills were located at Cedar river and had a daily capacity of 160,000 feet of lumber; at that time employment was given to a corps of fully six hundred men. Mr. Haggerson gained a secure hold on popular confidence and esteem of the community in which he thus maintained his home, as is evident when we revert to the fact that in 1876-7 he held the office of treasurer of Spalding township. Fur- ther evidence of public esteem was given in the latter year when he was elected supervisor of the township, an office of which he continued in- cumbent by successive elections for nearly a score of years, having retired therefrom in 1895. Incidental to his service in this office, he had the distinction of being chairman of the board of supervisors of Menom- inee county from 1890 to 1892, inclusive.
Mr. Haggerson continued his residence at Spalding until 1897 when, owing to the decline of the lumber business with which he was identi- fied, he removed to the city of Menominee, in whose business life he has since been a prominent and influential factor. He here conducts an extensive real-estate business, handling both city and farm proper- ties, and having a well arranged and comprehensive system of abstracts of title covering Menominee and neighboring counties. In 1905 he be- came one of the organizers and incorporators of the Commercial Bank of Menominee, of which he was elected president and of which he has since continued the able executive head. His discriminating and con- servative policy has done much to make this one of the substantial and influential institutions of the Upper Peninsula. As noted in the open- ing paragraph of this sketch, he is also secretary of the Peninsula Land Company, besides which he is secretary of the Upper Peninsula Tax Payers' Association and chairman of the Menominee Insurance Agents' Association, as he conducts a large general insurance business in con- nection with his real estate business.
Essentially loyal and public spirited as a citizen, Mr. Haggerson takes a deep interest in all that tends to conserve the civic and material prosperity of his home city and county, and in politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Democratic party. He is at present road com- missioner of the county and he has served with marked efficiency as mayor of Menominee, to which office he was first elected in 1904 and in the following year he was chosen as his own successor. In 1906 he was again called to this office of which he is incumbent at the present time. In a fraternal way Mr. Haggerson is identified with the Knights of the Maccabees and has attained to advanced degrees in the time-honored Masonic order in which his affiliations are here briefly noted. Menom- inee Lodge, No. 269, Free & Accepted Masons; Menominee Chapter, No. 107, Royal Arch Masons; Menominee Commandery, No. 35, Knights Templar; Ahmed Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Marquette, Michigan; Michigan Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, at Grand Rapids, in which he has attained the Thirty-second degree. He was one of the organizers of the Menominee Commercial Club and is an appreciative supporter of its high civic policies and ideals. He has been particularly active in the work of this organization and served as its president in 1906.
Mr. Haggerson has been twice married. On the 20th of May, 1876, he was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Peterson, who was born in Denmark in 1858 and who was a child at the time of the family immi-
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gration to America, being a daughter of Rasmus Peterson, who was a pioneer of northern Michigan. Mrs. Haggerson was summoned to the life eternal on the 3rd of October, 1891, and is survived by five children : Eva M., who remains at the paternal home; Elizabeth C., who is the wife of Frank E. Krapp of state of Washington; George W., who re- sides in Menominee and who married Miss May Robinson; Fred H., who likewise resides in Menominee and the maiden name of whose wife was Ethel Stephenson; Charles N., who remains at the paternal home. On the 29th of August, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hag- gerson to Miss Linna Bock, who was born in Calumetville, Wisconsin, and the only child of this union is Harriet D. The family are members of the Presbyterian church.
Reverting to the honored father of the subject of this review, it may be noted that he came from England to America in 1849, making the voyage on one of the old time sailing vessels. From New York city he went to Geneva, that state, where he maintained his home until 1855, when he removed with his family to Oconto, Wisconsin, where he es- tablished himself in the boot and shoe business. At the inception of the Civil War, in the spring of 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Sev- enteenth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, from which he was later trans- ferred to the First Illinois Light Artillery, with which gallant command he continued in active service until the close of the war, when he re- ceived his honorable discharge. He then returned to Oconto, where he continued actively engaged in the boot and shoe business until his death in 1872. He was a Democrat in politics, was a member of the Catholic church, as was also his wife, and he identified himself with the Grand Army of the Republic shortly after its organization.
JOHN QUARNSTROM .- As county clerk of Dickinson county John Quarnstrom, of Iron Mountain, is widely known, and, as may be seen by the official position to which he has been elected, is highly esteemed and respected, his ability and fidelity being appreciated. A native of Michi- gan, he was born, January 5, 1878, in Ishpeming, Marquette county, of Swedish ancestry.
Erick J. Quarnstrom, his father, was born and reared in central Sweden, where his parents spent their entire lives. In 1869, having pre- viously learned the trade of a stone mason, he emigrated to this country, locating at Ishpeming and later removed to Norway, Michigan, where he became head carpenter for the Menominee Mining Company. In 1892 he accepted the position of master mechanic at the Aragon Mine, in Norway, Dickinson county, and was there a resident until his death, in 1904. His widow, whose maiden name was Charlotte Anderson, is still a resident of that place. She has reared five children, as follows: Olga, Isadore, John, Edward and Ernest. Isadore met his death at the Hia- watha Mine, Iron River District, on June 22, 1908. He was master me- chanie for this mine. He married Agnes Johnson of Norway, Michigan, now a resident of Chicago, and they had one child, Vera.
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