USA > Michigan > American Biographical History of Eminent and Self-made Men.: Michigan Volume > Part 12
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IELD, GEORGE L., Dentist, of Detroit, Mich- igan, is of English parentage, and was born in the year 1835. His father, Rev. George Field, pastor of the New Jerusalem Church, sometimes known as the Swedenborgian, removed from New York to Michigan, in 1838. In 1850 he removed with his Association, which is acknowledged to outrank all other family to St. Louis, Missouri, where Mr. George Field dental bodies in the world. He has also been elected was regularly apprenticed to learn the profession of dental surgery with Dr. C. W. Spalding, acknowledged to be the leading dentist of that city. After the close
an honorary member of several other dental societies,- having received the title of D. D. S. from the Ohio Dental College, of Cincinnati. In field sports, such as
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base-ball, shooting, fishing, and rowing, he has always | Presbyterian Church of Detroit since 1856. He was . taken a lively interest. Doctor Field was one of the commissioner to the General Assembly which met at originators of the Detroit and Lake St. Clair Fishing | Dayton, Ohio, in 1863; at New York, in 1869; and at and Shooting Club, and was elected Chairman of the Detroit, in 1873. He took a prominent part in the first Board of Directors, which position he held for four years. The club passed a series of resolutions, thank- ing him for services rendered; and directing that the said resolutions be engrossed, framed, and presented to Doctor Field ; and, also, that he be elected honorary life member of the club. Both of these honors were de- clined, however, as he did not wish any display in the way of engrossed resolutions, and preferred being an active member, if connected with the club in any way. In his political views, Doctor Field was formerly a Dem-
action that brought about the union of the old and new school Presbyterians,-having been a member of the Joint Committee on Reunion appointed by the assem- blies in 1866; and, also, of the Committee of Conference on the same subject appointed by the assemblies in 1869. He was on the Committee for the Reorganization of the Board of Domestic Missions; and, for many years, was receiving agent in Detroit for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He was President of the Wayne County Bible Society; and is ocrat; but of late years, he has become a member of Chairman of the Sabbath Committee in Detroit. In the Republican party. He is not a strong partisan, July, 1877, he was a delegate to the Presbyterian Alli- ance held at Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Farrand was an old-line Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he became a member of that body. however, never having voted a straight ticket. In 1861 he married Miss Sarah A. Folsom, daughter of Simeon Folsom, a prominent wool broker, of Detroit. Doctor Fields has one daughter, Jessie, who is fourteen years of age.
FIELD, HON. MOSES W., of Detroit, was born ARRAND, JACOB SHAW, Wholesale Drug- gist, of Detroit, was born in Mentz, Cayuga County, New York, May 7, 1815. He removed with his parents to Detroit, Michigan, in May, 1825; and, in the fall of the same year, to Ann Arbor. in Watertown, New York, February 10, 1828. He is the second son of William and Rebecca Field. His father, a man of high moral char- acter, was a farmer and shoe manufacturer. His mother was distinguished for the interest she took in the educa- He passed most of his boyhood on a farm; but, during | tion of her children. Upon the removal of the family a portion of the time, carried the mail on horseback to Cato, Cayuga County, Mr. Field was sent to the Victor Academy, from which he graduated with dis- tinction. To qualify himself for business life, he became clerk in his father's store, of which he soon received the entire charge. Not satisfied with the oppor- tunities afforded by a village, he started for the. then far West. Arriving at Detroit, Michigan, in June, 1844, he obtained employment in a large mercantile house, in which, after a few months, he was promoted; and finally became the head of the e.tablishment. During this time, he also engaged in farming, manu- facturing, and shipping, in each of which he was . pros- perous. Mr. Field has taken a prominent part in public affairs. In 1863 he wa; elec:e.l Alderman, which position he occupied two term :. In 1872 he was elected to the House of Representative,; and, from his seat there, made an able speech on the currency que+- tion. In this speech, he took the ground that panics are wholly unnecessary, and are the results of the per- nicious legislation of Congress in relation to the cur- rency and finances of the nation. In April, 1874, he made another speech upon the same subject, in reply to between Ann Arbor and Detroit, and spent one year in Lord & Denton's drug store, at Ann Arbor. February 5, 1830, he became clerk in the drug store of Rice & Bingham, in Detroit. In 1841 he was appointed Deputy Collector of the port of Detroit, - Colonel Edward Brooks being the Collector,-and held the office until 1845. Hle is President of the First National Bank, and of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company; Treasurer of the Detroit Gas-light Company; a Director of the Detroit Fire and Marine Insurance Company, and of the Wayne County Savings Bank ; a Trustee of Harper Hospital; a member of the Board of Water Commis- sioners of Detroit ; and a Trustee of the North-western Theological Seminary. For a number of years, he was a member of the Police Commissioners, being President of that body during the entire term of his service. He has served as a member of the Common Council for four years; and has been a member of the Detroit Board of Education for eight years. Hle is the senior partner in the firm of Farrand, Williams & Co., wholesale drug- gists, who occupy the largest building, for such purposes, in the United States, and carry on a very extensive busi- [ the arguments which had been presented by those in ness, amounting to upwards of one million dollars per favor of specie resumption; and, subsequently, made year. Mr. Farrand has been a ruling elder in the First | an elaborate speech on the tariff question, which was
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highly approved by the press. In 1876 Mr. Field was | an upholstery, furniture, and wooden-ware business in chiefly instrumental in organizing the third party, known Detroit, Michigan, which proved to be very prosperous. as the Independent Greenback party. He called for the National Convention at Indianapolis, Indiana, May 17, 1876, at which Peter Cooper was nominated for President of the United States. Mr. Field is an earnest advocate of a high protective tariff, and a sound paper currency, issued solely by the Government, in volume sufficient to meet the demands of trade. In early life he was a Whig ; he afterwards supported the Free-soil movement; and, in 1860, voted for Mr. Lincoln. He continued to act with the Republican party until that party abandoned its pledged financial principles of 1868. In the spring of 1873, Mr. Field withdrew from active commercial pursuits. He now resides on his farm, Linden Lawn, in the township of Hamtramck, a suburb of Detroit. In 1875 he gave fifty acres of land to. the city of Detroit, to be converted into a park. Linden Park affords an illustration of his liberality to his adopted city. In February, 1858, Mr. Field mar- ried Miss Mary Kercheval, daughter of Hon. Benjamin B. Kercheval, one of the pioneers of the State. He had a large trade throughout the West, and passed safely through the financial crisis of 1857, notwithstand- ing he suffered from many losses. Several years after, he sustained a loss of the entire manufactory by fire; but, being so firmly and advantageously established, he struggled on, and has been enabled to weather all these storms. His very large and increasing business em- braces the manufacturing of a large amount. of lumber, as well as the manufacture of almost every article in the wooden-ware line, of which large shipments are made all over the country. Although personally superintending every detail of his extensive manufactory, he has been called to official position, having held various city offices, and is now a member of the Board of Estimates. Since the fire above mentioned he has discontinued the manu- facture of furniture, and has greatly enlarged and increased his lumber and wooden-ware business, until to-day his goods find a market, not only all over the United States, but large shipments have been made to foreign countries. As may be readily inferred from this brief record, Mr. Frost is a man whose enterprise no difficulties can discourage. With a tenacity of purpose as rare as it is admirable, he seems to possess that pecu- liar faculty of molding circumstances to suit his ends, rather than being molded by them. His business is conducted with systematic exactness, and no man has ever known him to fail in fulfilling an obligation. Truly self-made in every sense of the term, he depreciates his own abilities, and is unassuming in his demeanor, as well as persevering in a course which he decides to be right. He was married, at Fitchburg, November 4, 1846, to Miss Annie Ashworth. She died May 26, 1874, leaving one child, a son, now living.
PROST, MILTON, Manufacturer, of Detroit, was born in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, April 30, 1823. His grandfather, a Colonel in the Revolution, was regularly admitted a mem- ber of the Washington Benevolent Society, instituted in the city of New York, on the 12th day of July, 1808. He was a very prominent man in his locality, and represented his district in the State Legislature at several different times. Mr. Frost's father was an officer in the War of 1812. He lived to the age of three score years and ten, and was a successful agriculturist and a very worthy citizen. Mr. Frost's early education was limited, and obtained under disadvantages; as he had the benefit of only the common schools, and, what were INNEY, JARED WARREN, Detroit, Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, was born at Detroit, Michigan, March 15, 1842. He is the oldest son of Seymour Finney and Mary A. Seger. He received a public school education, graduating from the Detroit High School in 1861, the valedictorian of his class. In the fall of 1261, he entered the classical course at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from that university in 1865. In 1866 he graduated from the Albany Law School, with the degree of LL. B. On leaving the law school, he went to New York City, entering the office of Stewart L. Woodford, where he remained until the fall of 1867. At this time, during a visit to his home, he was offered the position of Assist. termed in those days, in New England, academies. At the early age of seventeen years, he was apprenticed to a manufacturing firm, receiving, as compensation for his services, the meager sum of fifty dollars a year. This business was of a general nature, embracing wooden-ware as one of its branches, in which Mr. Frost was, in after life, so successful. At the age of twenty, he was admitted as a partner in the firm,-a great event in his early history. After a time, for a better and larger field for the increase of his business, Mr. Frost removed to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, at that time the terminus of the railroad. Here he engaged exten- sively in manufacturing and jobbing goods, in which he was very successful, and accumulated a large amount of property. During the years of 1855-56, he established | ant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of
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Michigan, which he accepted. Here he soon acquired | and a portion in Detroit. In the year 1838, his health a thorough knowledge of the intricate duties of the office, and has been retained through changes of admin- istration, having general charge and direction up to the present time. By reason of his early associations, -his father being a prominent abolitionist,-Mr. Finney grew up a Republican with strong party feelings. Soon after graduating from the law school, while in New York City, he was called upon to take part in the po- litical canvass of his party, and made several speeches, in connection with Horace Greeley. During the Presi- dential campaign of 1868, he was also engaged, by the State Central Committee of New York, to take part in the campaign in that State. His political services dur- ing the campaign of 1876, in his own State of Michi- gan, were arduous, and were recognized on all sides as contributing largely to the success of his party. In April, 1875, Mr. Finney married Miss Mabel Richards, eldest daughter of the eminent writer and scientist, Prof. William C. Richards, and of Cornelia H. B. Rich- ards, a writer of ability, belonging to a family of note in the literary world. Socially, Mr. Finney is a genial companion, with warm and active sympathies, and a fund of humor. As a speaker, he is forcible and origi- nal. His distinguishing trait is unquestionable integ- rity. This he inherits from his father, whose name in the municipal records of Detroit is a synonym for vigi- lance and incorruptibility. With Mr. Finney, rare single- ness and fidelity mark the performance of duties of his station and office. Devotion to principle is manifest in every action of his life, official, social, and domestic.
rendered it necessary to give up his trade, and he became a clerk in the old Franklin House, kept by J. C. Warren, formerly known as Mrs. McMellan's board- ing-house, on the corner of Bates and Larned streets. He remained there for three years, and next served as clerk, for a short time, in another hotel, on the corner of Bates street and Jefferson avenue. In 1842 he bought out the proprietor, and conducted the hotel for about a year. In 1843 he entered the grocery business, but this proved an unprofitable venture. He lost all the savings of the past six years, and was obliged to resume daily labor to support his family. In 1846 he rented the Franklin House, then a two-story frame build- ing, on the corner of Jefferson avenue and Bates street, with a barn in the rear, and kept the hotel five years. Here he accumulated some means; and, in 1850, bought the site of the present Finney House, on the corner of Gratiot street and Woodward avenue. He moved the several wooden buildings close to one another, and opened a hotel here in the spring of 1851. He also purchased a lot on the corner of Griswold and State streets, and erected a barn. Mr. Finney, before open- ing the hotel, determined to conduct it on strictly tem- perance principles. It was opened as Temperance Hotel, and is still conducted on the same plan. He met with success from the beginning. In 1854 he erected the present Finney House, without interfering with his hotel business. In 1857 he retired, after having paid all his debts, with a surplus on hand. Since then he has not engaged in any active business. Mr. Finney was form- erly an active and earnest Democrat. In 1852 he joined the Free-soil branch of that party, and worked earnestly to secure votes for John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, who was the Free-soil candidate for President in that year. Devoting the whole of the election day to work- ing at the polls of the Sixth Ward, he succeeded in |getting thirty-six votes cast for Mr. Hale in that ward. In 1854, when the Free-soilers nominated Kinsley S. Bingham for Governor, Mr. Finney, with others, used his influence to induce the Whigs, in their convention at Jackson, to accept Bingham as a candidate, and to unite both parties. This resulted in the formation of the Republican party. In voting and acting with the Free-soil party, Mr. Finney had expressed the sentiment that upon this free soil every man should be free. Agents of the underground railroad were then busily at work in stealthily transporting slaves from the South to Canada. The sentiments so openly expressed by Mr. Finney led him to be of service to these agents, and he was induced to give into the hands of one of them a key to his hotel barn. This barn became, for several years, the passenger depot of the under-ground railway, at the north end of the
INNEY, SEYMOUR, of Detroit, is a native of Orange County, New York, and was born dur- ing our last war with Great Britain. At the age of nine years, by the death of his mother, he was thrown upon his own resources. Ilis educational advantages were limited, consisting of a common-school education. At the age of sixteen years, he was bound out to learn the trade of a tailor. When twenty years of age, he came West with his father, who had lived in Yates County, New York, and who now settled upon a new farm in Redford, Wayne County, Michigan, about fifteen miles west of Detroit. Here his father resided until his death, in 1873, at the age of eighty-seven years. Seymour Finney arrived in the summer, in very delicate health; and remained until fall, when he re- turned to the State of New York. In the following summer, he returned to Michigan as his future home,- the climate proving more conducive to his health than that of New York. During the Patriot War, he spent line. Here, between one o'clock in the morning and a portion of his time in Canada, working at his trade; daybreak, might frequently be seen to arrive, a country-
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man's wagon, freighted with slaves on their way to free- dom. After hiding in the loft of the barn during the day, they would be safely piloted to the river, and thence across to the Canadian shore on the following night. During their stay in the barn, they were provided with food from the Finney House. On several occasions, the masters of the slaves who were secreted in the barn were stopping at the hotel with the hope of catching the fugitives before they reached the haven of freedom.| Mr. Finney has been, for many years, a member of the Baptist Church. In the fall of 1874, Mr. Finney was elected Alderman of the Fifth Ward of the city of De- troit, and was re-elected in 1876, serving two terms. He has, since his election, given up most of his time to the duties of the office. As chairman and member of the important Committee on Claims and Accounts, he de- voted a great deal of his time to the examination of claims, and rendered the city much good service. Being a strong temperance man, he has exerted his influence in behalf of the rigid enforcement of the law for closing saloons on Sunday; and, whenever that question has come before the Council, has cast his vote in its favor. He married, at Detroit, in 1839, Miss Mary A. Segar, a native of Steuben County, New York, who died in 1876. They have six children,-four sons and two daughters,-all of whom are living. The oldest son, Jared W. Finney, is Assistant United States District Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. One of the daughters has been, for several years, a teacher in the Cass Union School, of Detroit.
ARNSWORTH, JAMES H., Dentist, Detroit, was born in the city of New York in 1818. His parents, in the following year, removed to West- field, Chautauqua County, New York, where he was reared and received a common-school education. At the age of fifteen years, he left home for Cleveland, entering the office of Doctor Ware, of that city, with whom he studied dentistry for two years. He then opened an office in Cleveland, and commenced the practice of his profession, being at the time only seven- teen years old. After remaining in Cleveland two years, he removed, in the spring of 1837, to the city of Detroit, where he has since been engaged in the prac- tice of dentistry. He is the oldest practitioner in the State of Michigan, probably the oldest in the country, and has attained a wide eminence for skill in his pro- fession. He married, in 1841, Catherine Elizabeth Connor, daughter of James Erwin Connor, one of the early settlers of Detroit, and, in his time, a prominent and wealthy business man of that city. Of this union, twelve children have been born.
LANIGAN, GENERAL MARK, of Detroit, Michigan, was born in the County Antrim, Ireland, in 1825. His parents, who belonged to the sect of Presbyterians known as the Cove- nanters, emigrated to Canada in 1833, whence Mark Flanigan came to the United States in 1841, and settled in Detroit, Michigan, in 1845. Two years later, he married Miss Sarah P. Saunders. From this marriage have been born six children, four of whom are still liv- ing,-two boys and two girls. In 1847 he went into business for himself, in which he continued until the breaking out of the civil war. In 1858 Mr. Flanigan was elected a member of the Common Council. In 1860 he was nominated on the Republican ticket for Sheriff of Wayne County, and assisted in organizing Republican clubs in every ward and township in the county. He entered into the canvass with great energy ; and the whole Republican county ticket was elected for the first time since the organization of the party. Dur- ing his second year as Sheriff, on the call for additional troops, in 1862, to carry on the war, General H. A. Morrow, then Recorder of the city, and Mr. Flanigan volunteered their services, and organized the 24th Reg- iment of Michigan Volunteers; Mr. Flanigan being appointed Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment was raised in less than a month, and left for the front in August, 1862. It did gallant service in the Army of the Poto- mac; and belonged to the noted "Iron Brigade," which experienced some of the severest fighting of the war. It especially distinguished itself for bravery in the bat- tles of Fredericksburg, Fitzhugh Crossing, Chancellors- ville, and Gettysburg. Lieutenant-Colonel Flanigan participated in every important engagement, until, at the battle of Gettysburg, he received a wound which resulted in the loss of a leg. He obtained leave of absence; and, when the news was received that he was on his way home, the Common Council, in a series of resolutions thanking him for his gallant services to his country, voted him a public reception. He was met at the depot by a vast concourse of citizens, who prevailed upon him to ride in the procession. The ovation was the largest ever given in Detroit to a single individual. Major-General Doubleday, in his official report of the battle of Gettysburg, speaks of Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Flanigan as one of the bravest and most efficient officers in the service. He was brevetted Colonel, for gallantry at the battle of Fredericksburg, and Brigadier- General, for meritorious services in the campaign of Gettysburg. Being incapacitated for services in the field, he resigned his commission, and, in November, 1863, was appointed Provost-Marshal for the First District of Michigan. His duties were onerous and varied, the most important being to furnish the number of soldiers called for by the Secretary of War. The promptness J and energy with which all demands on his district were
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met, contributed largely to an early and lasting peace. | the knee; and, after about five years of hard work, his In 1866 he was appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue, by President Johnson, and held this position until the office was abolished, when he became Collector of Inter- nal Revenue. Since 1875 he has been engaged in busi- ness at Detroit, and in the management of his farm on Grand River avenue. General Flanigan has been a member of the Board of Education for eight years, and its President for one year. He was, for several years, Chairman of the Building Committee on that Board, and some of the finest school buildings in Detroit were erected during his term of service. In early years he was a Whig, but has been an active Republican since the formation of that party. Mr. Flanigan is entitled to the gratitude of his fellow-citizens for having first called their attention to the use of the cedar block pave- ments. Ile procured a patent on a combined cedar block and concrete pavement, in 1871. Since that time, nearly every city in which wooden pavements are used, has adopted cedar as the cheapest and most durable. In business and official life, he has been as energetic and faithful to every trust reposed in him, as he was the brave and gallant soldier during the war.
lameness increased to such a degree that he was obliged to give up business, sell out, place himself entirely under medical treatment, and devote his whole time and atten- tion to trying to save the limb. From 1855 to 1860, he was in the hands of the doctors most of the time, and, finally, despairing of ever being cured, he permitted them to amputate the leg. Now came the turning point in his life. There were manufacturers of crude artificial limbs in those days; and, after getting off his bed, he cast around to replace his lost limb with the next best thing to flesh and bone. He visited the most prominent manufacturing establishments where they were made; and, after examining the principles on which they were constructed, came to the conclusion that an article might be made lighter, and, at the same time, less complicated and more durable. The result was that he returned home without purchasing, and soon commenced to construct a limb on an entirely new principle, which was subsequently patented under the name of "Foster's Patent Union Limb." The principle and construction of the joints were very different from those then in use; but the work lacked the finish and artistic beauty that an experienced manufacturer would give to it. To acquire this skill, he then served an apprenticeship with one of the best manufacturers of that day. After learning all that could be learned there,
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