USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 74
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Fay C. Wing, who is editor and proprietor of the Wayland Globe, came into possession of this paper on the 22d of January, 1906. He purchased the paper from its former proprietor, George A. Mosher, who established it and conducted it with marked ability from September 25, 1884, until January, 1906. The paper has from the beginning been classed among the best in the county and a liberal policy will be maintained by Mr. Wing, who is thoroughly conversant with the business and is recognized as a man of excellent business capacity and enterprise.
The Fennville Herald, an independent journal was established in 1892 by Mr. Charles E. Bassett, who is still its sole proprietor. The paper, being published in the center of a large commercial fruit district, and Mr. Bassett being secretary of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, much space is devoted to practical fruit culture. In the editing of the Herald Mr. Bassett is ably assisted by his wife, formerly Miss Carrie E. Kingsley, whom he married when he started the Herald-both ventures having been highly successful. They have one daughter, Marcia.
CHAPTER XII.
MEDICINE AND SURGERY. .
The history of Otsego and Gun Plains opens with the enterprise of two physicians, Dr. Samuel Foster and Dr. Cyrenius Thompson. They are deserving of mention among the founders if not the founders of the village of Otsego and the settlement of Gun Plains, and were active workers in the affairs of those places through their pioneer history. But neither of these men, though so prominent in other affairs, took an active part as medical practitioners in this county.
The first active physician was Dr. Linsford B. Coates, of Otsego, a man of unusual versatility and power. As a physician he rode the country for miles around, attending to the sick and distressed and from his saddle- bags furnishing medical relief to all who called him. Pioneer doctoring was a simple matter in comparison with modern practice. Yet it involved hard- ships on the practitioner that are almost inconceivable at this time. There were no well-made roads over which to find the way by horseback at night. The patients often lived twenty miles or more from the doctor's home, and there were no telephones to summon him to their aid. The physician's life was one of constant toil and anxiety, and yet in the case of Dr. Coates he was one of the most prominent men of affairs in the southeastern part of the county.
Successors of Dr. Coates in his part of the county were Erastus N. Upjohn, the first resident physician in Gun Plains excepting Dr. Thompson, and who practiced from 1840 to 1855 ; Dr. Charles W. Hawley, who prac- ticed for many years following 1850 in Gun Plains and vicinity and in 1875 took up his residence at Plainwell, and J. D. Peters, who began practicing in Otsego in 1860 and the following year located at Plainwell.
At Allegan the first physician was R. M. Bigelow, who was here from 1836 to 1847, but the one best remembered, both for his prominence in the profession and as a citizen, was Dr. Osman D. Goodrich, who came to the village in March, 1836, and lived here until his death in 1887. He was the last of the early physicians to pass away, and his career of fifty years ranked him among the foremost of the pioneers. His early practice, like that of Dr. Coates, took him all over the county, on most arduous horseback rides from one home to another, and his exertions finally broke his health so that he was compelled to return to the east, where he remained ten years. In the meantime he studied medicine in the homeopathic school and on his return became the first homœopath in this county.
543
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Another prominent physician of Allegan was Dr. H. S. Lay, who began practice in the village in 1849 and with brief exceptions practiced in the county over thirty years. A contemporary of his was Dr. Abram R. Calkins, who began his preparation for medicine with Dr. Coates at Otsego and after graduation from a medical college in New York located in Allegan during the forties. His was also a pioncer practice, and for thirty years he was one of the best known citizens of Allegan. He served as sur- geon in the Seventeenth Michigan Infantry during the war and took part in local politics and public affairs. He died in Allegan in 1873.
Other pioncer physicians of the county who deserve mention were Dr. C. C. White, of Martin, already mentioned as a pioneer and who, like Drs. Foster and Thompson, was more active in developing the country than as a physician, and Dr. Chauncey B. Goodrich, who practiced in the western part of the county from 1843 until his death in 1879, first at Saugatuck and then in Ganges.
The practicing physicians of Allegan county in 1880, with date of their location where known, were as follows :
ALLEGAN.
H. S. Lay, 1849.
E. Amsden, 1868.
H. F. Thomas, 1869.
IV. H. Bills, 1872. F. M. Calkins, 1874. Charles Russell, 1879.
O. D. Goodrich, 1836. F. R. Hynes, 1877. A. G. Weeks.
PLAINWELL.
F. E. Rosenkrans.
Milton Chase, 1867. John H. Fulton.
O. E. Yates. Benjamin Thompson. OTSEGO. S. W. Thompson, 1869. Gco. B. Nichols, 1858. Martin.
WAYLAND.
C. E. Davison, 1865. J. H. Turner, 1870.
DOUGLAS. A. H. Parks, 1879.
SAUGATUCK.
J. B. Cook, 1862.
HOPKINS.
J. H. Luddington. N. E. Leighton.
U. R. Fox. Lafayette Stuck.
SALEM.
C. C. Lindsley.
Dr. Palmer.
GANGES. E. E. Brunson, 1875.
DORR.
Theodore Cole, 1870. H. P. Evarts. J. H. Smith.
C. W. Hawley, 1853. J. D. Peters, 1860.
John Graves, 1862. James Ball, 1865.
H. H. Stimson, 1853.
545
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
CLYDE.
Drs. Andrews .and Meaghan.
By the provisions of a recent law the county clerk keeps a register of the licensed physicians in the county. According to this record (from which, however, some names are missing) the Allegan county physicians, with the date of registration of cach and residence, are as follows :
LIST OF PHYSICIANS.
Date of registration.
May 26, 1905 Albright, William S., Allegan.
May 15, 1905 Andruss, William H., Fennville.
May 26, 1905 Bills, W. H., Allegan.
May 15, 1905
Bachman, Gustave, Dorr.
June 10, 1905
Boss, Henry, Fillmore Centre.
May 15, 1905
Burroughs, Orrin F., Plainwell.
May 9, 1905
Bartholomew, Earl, Martin.
May 12, 1905
Clark, L. E., Otsego.
June 6. 1905
Chase, Milton. Otsego.
June 6, 1905
Crosby, John H., Otsego.
May 19, 1905
De Vries, Jegor, Overisel.
June 10, 1905
Fortnine, Herman A., Overisel.
May 12, 1905
Fisher, Peter H., Hamilton.
May 15, 1905
Hazlewood, Arthur, Plainwell.
May 18. 1905
Heasley, H. W., Salem.
April 21, 1905
Hanton, Edward O., Wayland.
May 12, 1905
Leighton, N. E., Hopkins Station.
May 9. 1905
Ladd, Lewis F .. Martin.
May 20, 1905 Mowers, John H., Fennville.
May 9. 1905
Nichols, George B., Martin.
May 26, 1905
Osmun, E. D., Allegan.
May 15. 1905 Onontyhio, Peter, Plainwell.
May II, 1905
Peppler, Julius F., Laketown.
May 26, 1905 Palmer, George C., Burnips Corners.
May 26, 1905 Rowe, W. E., Allegan.
May 5. 1905 Rigterink, George H., Hamilton.
May 26, 1905 Stuck, L. F., Allegan.
May 15, 1905
Stuck, Cicero M., Plainwell.
May 15. 1905
Shephard, Benjamin A., Plainwell.
May 15, 1905 Sessions, Edwin D., Fennville.
June 7, 1905 Stinson, H. H., Saugatuck.
May 26, 1905 Taylor, G. G., Allegan.
May 26, 1905 Thomas, Henry F., Allegan.
June 6, 1905 Thompson, S. W .. Otsego.
June 7, 1905 Trieber, L. P., Douglas.
Campbell, James D., Hopkins Station.
June 6, 1905
June 6, 1905
Chase, Sarah T., Otsego.
May 15, 1905
Dreyer, Adolph E., Moline.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
May 15, 1905 Turner, Horace J., Wayland.
June 6, 1905 Van Horn, Leander T., Otsego.
June 6, 1905 Van Horn, A. L., Otsego.
June 6, 1905 Woolsey, Frederick E., Plainwell.
May 12, 1905 Wicks, A. H., Hopkins Station.
June 6, 1905 Whitney, Howard E., Otsego.
June 7, 1905 Walker, R. J., Saugatuck.
CHAPTER XIII. COURTS AND LAWYERS.
Judge Philip Padgham, in his address at the laying of the corner- stone of the court house in 1889. described the judicial system of Michigan as it pertained to this county, and the following paragraphs are quoted from that address :
"Under the constitution of 1835 the judicial power was vested in the supreme court and such other courts as the legislature might from time to time establish. The judges of the supreme court were nominated and appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. The supreme court as thus constituted was composed of one chief justice and three associate justices. The court was held at different places in the state, as follows: Twice each year at Detroit. twice each year at the vil- lage of Ann Arbor, once each year at Kalamazoo, and once each year at Pontiac. When sitting at Kalamazoo it exercised appellate jurisdiction in all suits and cases originating in the counties of Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren. Kalamazoo, Calhoun and Allegan.
"Under this constitution also there was a separate court of chancery, and the powers of that court were vested in the chancellor. There were three chancery circuits in the state, the third circuit being composed of the counties of Branch, St. Joseph, Cass, Berrien, Van Buren, Kalamazoo, Cal- houn. Kent. Ionia and Allegan. The sittings of this court were held for the third circuit in Kalamazoo twice in each year.
"The state was further divided into four judicial circuits for the pur- pose of holding circuit courts. Allegan county was in the third circuit. These circuit courts were held in the several counties and were presided over by one of the judges of the supreme court and two associate judges resident in the county.
"By an act of the legislature approved April 2, 1848, the supreme court was made to consist of five judges, and it was by the same act made their duty to divide the state into five judicial circuits, the fifth circuit to be made up of counties in the Grand River section, thus bringing Allegan county into the fifth circuit.
"In the year 1851 the state, by an act of the legislature approved April 8 of that year, was again divided into eight judicial circuits, Allegan county remaining in the fifth circuit, which was composed of the counties of Cal- houn, Kalamazoo, Eaton, Van Buren and Allegan.
"Allegan remained in the fifth circuit from 1851 to 1858, when the state was divided into ten judicial circuits, Allegan county being set off
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
into the ninth circuit. This was composed of the following organized counties : Allegan, Ottawa, Newaygo, Oceana, Mason, Manistee, Manitou and Grand Traverse, and the unorganized counties of Emmet, Charlevoix, Antrim. Kalkaska, Wexford, Missaukee, Lake, Mecosta and Osceola. (Muskegon county was added to the ninth circuit in 1859.)
"By act of the legislature, approved February 15, 1867, the ninth cir- cuit was reorganized, being then composed of the counties of Allegan, Kalamazoo and Van Buren. These three counties formed the ninth judicial circuit until 1873, when Allegan was joined with Ottawa county and the two formed into one judicial circuit, designated as the twentieth judicial circuit, as which it remains to this time.
"The first session of the circuit court for Allegan county opened on November 7, 1836. Neither of the judges being present on that day, the sheriff adjourned the court until the next morning at ten o'clock, at which time Hon. Epaphroditus Ransom, circuit judge, and Elisha Ely and John Anderson, associate judges, were present. The court was opened in due form.
Since its organization in Allegan county the circuit court has been pre- sided over by the following named judges :
1836-48-Epaphroditus Ransom. 1849-51-Charles W. Whipple. 1852-56-Abner Pratt. 1858-69-F. J. Littlejohn. 1869-73-Charles R. Brown.1 1874-John W. Stone.2 1875-1892-Dan J. Arnold.3 1892 -- Hannibal Hart. 1893-1912 -- Philip Padgham.
The portraits of Judges Littlejohn and Arnold now adorn the circuit court room, the first having been donated by the artist, J. Krumbine, of Al- legan, and the latter by members of the bar.
An obsolete adjunct of the early judicial system were the associate judges. Judge Padgham thus describes them in the address already quoted : "The associate judges (or side judges as they were sometimes called) were two in number, and were residers of the county wherein they were elected. They were not required to be lawyers. They were undoubtedly elected to add dignity to the bench, which they very likely did, as they had plenty of time and leisure to do so. They knew no law and took no part in the judi-
cial proceedings. . The constitution of 1850 changed this matter in providing for the election of one circuit judge in each circuit, and since that time the kind and benevolent old faces of the associate judges were not seen occupying a place in the legal tribunals."
1 Appointed 1869, vice Judge Littlejohn resigned.
2 Resigned November, 1874, D. J. Arnold serving by appointment until November, 1875, when elected for full term.
3 Died April, 1892. Hannibal Hart appointed to serve till December 31, 1892.
549
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
ASSOCIATE JUDGES.
1836-Elisha Ely, John Anderson. 1841-John Anderson, John R. Kellogg. 1845-John Anderson. John R. Kellogg.
COUNTY COURTS.
The county court, of intermediate powers between the courts held by the justices of the peace and the circuit courts, was an institution of justice in Allegan county during the latter forties. The original county court was established in Michigan territory in 1815, but was abolished in the organ- ized counties of the territory in April. 1833. The institution was revived in 1846 and continued until its final abolition in the constitution of the state adopted in 1850. However, the schedule of the constitution provided for a continuance of the jurisdiction of the county court not later than January I. 1852, when the circuit court should assume all its unfinished business. The term of the county judge being fixed at four years, there were two sets of these judges elected in Allegan county, the first elected in November. 1846, and the second elected in November, 1850, and continuing until the final adjournment of their courts. Two judges were elected in each county, being known as "first" and "second" judges. The first session of the county court was held in Allegan. April 5. 1847. and adjourned sine die because it found no business before it.
COUNTY JUDGES.
1847-Henry H. Booth, first judge: Eber Sherwood, second judge. 1851-Abram I. Dedrick, first judge: Abram Hoag. second judge.
ALLEGAN COUNTY BAR.
The bar of Allegan county has a history extending over seventy years, dating back to November 8. 1836. when G. Y. Warner was admitted to practice. He took up his residence at Allegan before that date, since he was one of the bridegrooms in a double wedding in the village on Christmas day of 1835, that being the first wedding in the village. There was very little civil or criminal practice in those days, and lawyers who had no other pur- suit risked starvation in locating in a pioneer. community. At the first ses- sion of the circuit court, held in Allegan in November, 1836, the grand jury announced that no business was submitted to them, and civil case No. I. with Isaac Aldrich appellee and William Forbes appellant, was continued till the next term of court, after which the court adjourned sine die.
Practically the only business of this court aside from the formalities concerned the licensing of the first attorney. The record reads as follows : "George Y. Warner made application to the court to be admitted as an attorney and counselor at law, and having produced satisfactory evidence to the court that he had been regularly admitted as an attorney and coun- selor at law in the states of Tennessee, Georgia and Virginia, and has been in the practice of law in the said states during the period of two years
550
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
previous to his application for admission, that he is of good character and has sustained the character of an able and fair practitioner, and that he actually resides in this state, was admitted to an examination, and on such examination had, the said judges being of opinion that he is quali- fied and is of good moral character, it is ordered that he take and subscribe the oath of office, and that the clerk of this court record the admission of George Y. Warner. Whereupon the said George Y. Warner appeared in court and took and subscribed the oath prescribed by law."
The second resident lawyer was Hon. Flavius J. Littlejohn, whose prominent career in political, judicial and business life causes his name to be frequently mentioned in these pages. He was a resident here from 1836, but his early activity was directed more to official business and the affairs of the village than to legal practice.
Hovey K. Clark, who died at Detroit in July, 1889, aged seventy-seven years, and who was one of the most distinguished lawyers and political leaders of Michigan, practically began his career in Allegan. He was admitted to the bar here in 1837, when twenty-five years old, and was identified with the Boston and Allegan companies, being cashier of their Allegan Bank, an institution described on other pages. His name is signed in his official capacity to some of the bank notes issued by this concern.
Other early lawyers were DeWitt C. Chapin, at one time probate judge ; Theodore Chapin, Robert Goble, Gilbert Moyers and Henry C. Stoughton. men of more or less consequence in affairs as well as in the law. The last two were officers in the Civil war. In early days, much more than is the case now, lawyers from the older and more populous counties attended to the legal business of clients in Allegan county. The lawyers used to ride on horseback from one county to another on the large circuit, put up at the hotel and attend the session of court. They used to tell stories and have jolly social times, and circuit court sessions were more of an event than they are now. The peregrinations of the circuit court were accompanied by a large force of lawyers, and it thus happened that many lawyers from adjoin- ing counties became almost as well known professionally in this county as the few who had their residence here.
The late William B. Williams, whose carcer on the bench and in pub- lic affairs entitled him to a foremost place among Allegan county's citizens of the last century, began practice in Allegan in 1855, ranking second in seniority to Judge Littlejohn, and from 1880 until his death being the Nestor of the county bar. A contemporary of his was Elisha B. Bassett, who had been admitted to the bar in 1849, and was a figure in official and civic life at the middle of the century.
During the years following the location of Judge Williams at Allegan many well-known names were added to the county bar. The list of attor- neys of Allegan county since 1855, in order of their admission to the bar, have been :
Joseph Thew, 1857. Elisha Belcher. Geo. H. House, 1858. WV. C. Edsell, 1858. Silas Stafford, 1859. John N. York, 1859.
W. W. Warner, 1871. Bronson Shoonmaker, 1873. John H. Padgham, 1873.
W. A. Woodworth, 1874.
Lyman H. Babbitt, 1874. Ogden Tomlinson, 1874.
551
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
James F. Stuck, 1860.
Levi M. Comstock, 1860.
B. F. Travis, 1860. R. B. Coles, 1860.
F. S. Donaldson.
Henry C. Briggs, 1861.
T. Lee Potts, 1876.
B. D. Pritchard, 1861.
Hiram B. Hudson, 1876.
Francis X. Ward, 1861.
John E. Babbitt, 1876.
John W. Stone, 1862.
George F. Peck, 1877.
L. L. Crosby, 1862.
Frank B. Lay, 1878.
Alfred Wallin, 1863.
Dion H. Pope, 1879.
H. N. Averill, 1865.
C. T. Bennett.
C. L. Bailey.
Johnson Parsons, 1865. A. H. Chandler, 1866.
C. R. Brownell.
P. A. Latta, 1866.
WV. B. Garvin.
John P. Hoyt, 1867.
E. D. Barry.
J. B. Humphrey, 1868.
F. H. Williams.
Philip Padgham, 1868.
C. M. Humphrey.
Frank Bracelin, 1868.
R. M. Parlin.
E. B. Grover, 1868.
William Connell.
Albert H. Fenn, 1868.
E. O. Brien.
Jacob V. Rogers, 1868.
C. R. Wilkes.
E. D. Steele, 1868.
F. E. Fish.
Daniel Earle, 1870.
W. E. Ryan.
M. D. Wilbur, 1871.
Not more than a third of this entire list were active in the practice of the county.
The practicing attorneys of Allegan county, as shown by the court calendar for 1905, with their place of residence, are :
Philip Padgham, Circuit Judge, Charles Thew, Allegan. Allegan.
C. E. Hoffman, Allegan.
B. D. Pritchard, Allegan.
Lewis L. Thompson, Allegan.
H. H. Pope, Allegan.
Orien S. Cross, Allegan.
Ethol W. Stone, Allegan.
Fred I. Chichester, Allegan.
W. W. Warner, Allegan.
A. B. Tucker, Otsego.
C. R. Wilkes, Allegan. F. E. Fish, Allegan.
Grant N. Gilbert, Otsego.
F. H. Williams, Allegan.
E. J. Anderson, Plainwell.
Ira C. Montague, Allegan.
WV. A. Woodworth, Saugatuck.
M. B. Moore, Allegan.
Theodore Wade, Fennville.
A. S. Butler, Allegan.
William R. Gardner, Fennville.
W. H. Dorgan, Allegan.
David Stockdale, Wayland.
Perle L. Fouch, Allegan.
John B. Stockdale, Wayland.
Joseph Thew, father of the present attorney, held office of circuit court commissioner upwards of thirty years until his death. He was a legal student of wide learning and had a broad knowledge of public men and lawyers of national prominence.
W. C. Edsell was not an active lawyer, being prominent in banking and serving in the state senate.
J. M. Eaton, 1876. Richard L. Newnham, 1876. E. J. Anderson, 1876.
Ogden Tomlinson, Plainwell.
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HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
Silas Stafford was Philip Padgham's first partner, and was prosecut- ing attorney during the war.
James F. Stuck was a member of the firm of Pope and Stuck until he left for the west. He excelled in chancery practice.
Henry C. Briggs, once county clerk, went to Kalamazoo in the seven- ties, and is now referee in bankruptcy for this district.
General B. D. Pritchard, who was admitted in 1861 and became a partner of W. B. Williams soon after going to the war, has made a record in banking more than in the law, his career being described elsewhere.
John W. Stone, county clerk, prosecuting attorney and partner of Judge Arnold, was a leading lawyer and was circuit judge until he resigned and located in Grand Rapids. He served two terms in Congress, was then federal district attorney, and is now living in Marquette, Michigan, where he is circuit judge.
Johnson Parsons came here as a lawyer and after practicing a few years with success, died in Allegan.
J. B. Humphrey, of the firm of Humphrey and Williams, served as probate judge and then served as assistant state treasurer, after which he located at Ironwood, Michigan. He died at Holland.
Albert H. Fenn was a leading criminal lawyer of the county for some years. being eloquent as an advocate.
J. V. Rogers enjoyed an extensive practice in the county for some years.
Philip Padgham, who is now serving his third term as circuit judge. will at the close of his term have held the office longer than any previous incumbent. He has been in practice in the county since 1868.
W. W. Warner has been in practice since 1871 and has given particular attention to the pension business.
J. H. Padgham, a nephew of Judge Padgham, now in Idaho in prac- tice, was a partner of Judge Padgham twelve years.
Ogden Tomlinson is still in practice at Plainwell.
Richard L. Newnham held office as circuit court commissioner, was a leading citizen of Saugatuck, and finally removing to Grand Rapids, was superior court judge one term.
E. J. Anderson is one of the leading members of the bar, with good practice, and a resident of Plainwell throughout his career.
H. B. Hudson served as county clerk and prosecuting attorney.
F. H. Williams began practice with his father, and now is in his third term as probate judge.
C. M. Humphrey is a son of Judge Humphrey, and was a partner of Judge Padgham's until going to Ironwood, where he is now city attorney.
C. R. Wilkes, now leading lawyer with perhaps the largest practice in the county, has practiced in the county for over twenty-five years. He has held office as prosecuting attorney two terms.
F. E. Fish has enjoyed a large practice for a number of years, and was prosecuting attorney three terms during the local option regime.
H. H. Pope, of Pope and Stuck, Pope and Hart, and now head of the firm of Pope. Thew and Thompson, has enjoyed a good practice for a num- ber of years and is admittedly one of the thorough and able lawyers of the county.
CHAPTER XIV.
POLITICS IN ALLEGAN COUNTY.
When Allegan county became an independent political division there were two national parties in the field-the Democrats and the Whigs. To follow the lines of party sentiment as it was manifested in the selection of county officials would be an impossible task. Considerations of fitness for office and personal popularity have always broken partisan lines. Notwith- standing that party feeling was shown with more passion and more uncom- promisingly fifty and seventy years ago than now, population was less and people knew their neighbors perhaps better than they do now. So that while the party banner counted for more then than now, this fact was neutralized in local politics by personal considerations.
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