USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 2
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capacity of assemblyman, serving as chair- man of the committee on Private Corpora- tions, a position for which he was peculiarly fitted. He also acted on the committees on State Affairs and on State University. His term of service at Washington commenced with the LVIIth Congress, and he has been twice re-elected. His Democratic opponent for the LVIIIth Congress was David J. Er- win, Mr. Darragh taking his seat with 18,- 174 votes to his credit, as against 7,891 votes cast for Mr. Erwin. Mr. Darragh's course in Congress has been marked by the same industry and faithful care of his con- stituents' interests which characterized his incumbency of minor offices.
Mr. Darragh has attained eminence in the Masonic fraternity, having reached the thir- ty-second degree and the Shrine, after hav- ing been a member since 1866; he is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Grand Army of the Republic.
On June 8, 1875, Archibald B. Darragh was united in marriage to Miss Annie P. Culbertson, of Monongahela City, Pennsyl- vania, who was born May 14, 1848, daughter of Albert and Emily (Brown) Culbertson. She passed away September 8, 1905, and was interred in the St. Louis cemetery.
THE DARRAGH FAMILY, to which Hon. Archibald Bard Darragh belongs, is primarily of Scottish origin, the name being traced back clearly to one of the clans of Scotland, and it has been immortalized by Scott in one of his historical romances. For a number of generations past, however, its members have been of the race known as Scotch-Irish, and show all the distinguishing characteristics of that people. For sturdy physical, mental and moral make-up they have never been surpassed, and their in-
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fluence in the early settlement of Pennsyl- vania was ever favorable to the best inter- ests of the communities in which their lot was cast.
Thomas Darragh came to America from the North of Ireland in the year 1725 and settled in Horsham, now in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. After a few years he removed to Bedminster, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1750, leav- ing an estate consisting of 800 acres of land to his five sons and three daughters, namely : Robert, Thomas, Henry, William, James, Susannah, Agnes and Esther.
Henry Darragh, the third son of Thomas Darragh, was born in Bucks county, Penn- sylvania, in 1737, and married Ann Jamison. They were the great-grandparents of Hon. Archibald B. Darragh. They removed to New Britain, Bucks county, where he sub- sequently lived and died. They had a fam- ily of eight children, five sons and three daughters, viz .: Mary, James, William, Margaret, Ann, John, George W. and Henry. Henry Darragh served in the Con- tinental army, in which he was a captain. He died in 1782, at the age of forty-five years, from disease contracted in the mili- tary service, and was buried at Deep Run. His wife, who long survived him, reached the age of seventy-three, dying in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1814.
George W. Darrah (as he spelled it), fourth son of Henry and Ann (Jamison) Darragh, was born July 12, 1778, in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He was long a res- ident of Fulton county, Pennsylvania, in 1834 migrating westward to Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his days. Although past middle life at this time he was active and useful in the affairs of his adopted home, doing good service as an of-
ficer in the Second Regiment of Infantry, which was organized and called out by Gov- ernor Mason to resist the attempted juris- diction of Ohio over Michigan territory. He died March 6, 1839, in Monroe county, Michigan, aged sixty-one years. On Janu- ary 7, 1803, Mr. Darrah married Rebekah More, and they had the following named children : Lewis, Benjamin F., Mary A., George W., James, John and Martha.
Benjamin F. Darragh was born Febru- ary 22, 1808, in Fulton county, Pennsyl- vania, and on December 4, 1834, married Catherine Bard, who was born November 12, 1804, near Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Darragh passed away in April, 1863, and Mr. Darragh on December 13, 1892. Five children were born to this union, name- ly : Maria E., who married William S. Mc- Dowell; Archibald Bard, present represen- tative in Congress from the Eleventh Michi- gan District; James C .; and two sons who died in infancy.
Of the Bard family, Mr. Darragh's an- cestors in the maternal line, we have re- cords back to the first ancestor in this coun- try, John Bard, who came from Ireland in the latter part of the seventeenth century, settling in Maryland, whence his descend- ants have scattered all over the Union. From him Mr. Darragh traces his ancestry through William Bard and Archibald Bard to Rich- ard Bard, his great-grandfather, who mar- ried Catherine Poe December 22, 1756. He was born near Philadelphia December 26, 1726, and settled in that part of York coun- ty, Pennsylvania, which was afterward set off as Adams county. His experiences in that wild region during the period of the French and Indian war were harrowing in the extreme.
"In 1744 the war between England and
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France terminated the historic peace es- tablished by the Quakers between the col- onists and Indians, and Braddock's cam- paign, with its disastrous results, seemed to let loose upon the borders many of the pos- sibilities of savage warfare. Assaults on the frontier settlements were frequent and resulted in murder of the whites, or what was in most instances worse-capture. These hostilities grew less frequent as time pro- gressed, but did not wholly cease until 1759.
"In 1758 the Indians sent their maraud- ing parties into York county, and killed and abducted the frontiersmen and their fam- ilies. On the 13th of April, in that year, nineteen Delawares invested the home of Richard Bard. The inmates were Mr. Bard, his wife, Lieutenant Potter (brother of Gen- eral Potter), a babe of six months, and a bound boy. The Indians made an entry into the house and were repulsed. But they were too numerous to be successfully resist- ed, and capitulation was determined on by the whites. They surrendered on promise of their lives being spared. The house was rifled of all valuables and the other build- ings fired. Lieutenant Potter was murdered soon after they had taken up their line of march, and not long after the infant child shared the same fate. On the fifth day Mr. Bard resolved to escape, as the brutality of his captors and the hardships he encountered were fast disabling him and incapacitating him from travel. He was sent to a spring for water but a short time after his resolu- tion was formed and communicated to his wife; he took advantage of the opportunity his errand afforded to make his escape. The character of the wife may be inferred from the fact that she not only approved of his determination, but diverted the attention of
the Indians until her fleeing husband was be- yond the reach of their vengeance. Can the women of this period adequately picture to their understandings the qualities of a wo- man who could deliberately choose to be left to such chances as lay before Mrs. Bard, isolated and alone in the power of the most implacable of savages-the Delawares ?. This volume is honored in recording her name and perpetuating the fame of her act of self-sacrificing, womanly devotion. It is probable that her native strength of character and superiority inspired her savage captors with respect, for her life was spared and she was subjected to no indignities beyond the hardships of the march and its incidental pri- vations. She was formally adopted by the tribe, but refused to learn or use their lan- guage, as she would have been obliged, in that event, by their customs, to choose or ac- cept a husband. She was in captivity two years and five months, and was ransomed by the payment of $200 by her husband, who never ceased his efforts to find her after he attained his own freedom. The story of his escape would grace the pages of romance. His sufferings rivaled those of the Unionists who came out of the jaws of death in mak- ing their escape from the stockade prison at Andersonville. He subsisted on buds and raw rattlesnakes, and finally reached Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), where he began his search and negotiations for his wife. After their reunion, they settled in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where they reared their family."
The record of their experiences was writ- ten out in detail by their second son, Archi- bald, and compiled in a volume now in the possession of Mr. Archibald B. Darragh, "Mirror of Olden-Time Border Life." He
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also has the first volume of "Henry's Expo- sition," which contains explicit and full records of the births, deaths and marriages of the generation to which his grandfather, Archibald Bard, belonged. Richard Bard died February 22, 1799, his wife surviving until August 30, 18II.
Archibald Bard (2), son of Richard, was born June 27, 1765, near Greencastle, Penn- sylvania, and was a man of considerable prominence in his day. He was extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was prominent in public life, serving for a num- ber of years as judge of the county court of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. His bio- graphical writings and essays on religious topics brought him considerable renown in literary circles. On July 2, 1799, he mar- ried Elizabeth Beatty, who was born Janu- ary 17, 1774, and the following named chil- dren were born to them: Richard, Maria, William Beatty, Catherine (Mrs. Benjamin F. Darragh), Margaret, Elizabeth, Archi- bald, Eliza Jane and Martha Olivia. Mr. Bard died October 18, 1832, and Mrs. Bard in January, 1852.
G I EN. NATHAN CHURCH, ex-mem- ber of the banking firm of Church, Bills & Company, Ithaca, was born in Ionia coun- ty, Michigan, November 22, 1840. He is of English ancestry, and is the son of Lafay- ette and Sophronia (Benjamin) Church. His father was born in July, 1816, in Niag- ara county, New York, near the shore of Lake Ontario, and was the youngest of nine children, seven sons and two daughters.
Willard Church, the father of Lafayette, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, serv- ing under "Mad Anthony" Wayne, and was one of the few survivors of the hardships
endured by the prisoners of war on the prison ship "Jersey." He was a near relative of Col. Benjamin Church, famous in King Philip's war.
Lafayette Church (who has a more de- tailed sketch elsewhere) came to Michigan in 1836, and was one of the pioneers of Ionia county. In 1847 he removed to Wheat- land township, Hillsdale county, and in 1854 he made his final location in Arcada town- ship, Gratiot county, upon land purchased of the Government, being one of the earliest pioneers of the county. While engaged in agriculture he was ordained a minister of the Baptist Church. He was thus doubly occupied until the fall of 1862, when patri- otic impulses led him to offer his services to his country, receiving authority from the Governor of the State. With his son Nathan, he and Mr. Turck, of Alma, raised a com- pany of volunteers, and this was made Company D, Twenty-sixth Michigan Volun- teer Infantry, of which he was commissioned captain. On reaching Washington, the regi- ment was assigned to provost duty at Alex- andria, and it was thus engaged until the fol- lowing spring, when it was ordered to Suf- folk to aid in resisting the advance of Gen- eral Longstreet. Its services in the field from that time until the close of the war- notably from the Wilderness to Appomat- tox-made it one of the best known organi- zations in the service, particularly fa- mous as "skirmishers." Captain Church served with his company until April 2, 1864, when he was appointed Chaplain of the regi- ment, a position he held until the close of the war. Since his muster-out, he has led a quiet life at his home in Arcada township.
Nathan Church attended the common schools of Hillsdale and Gratiot counties,
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
until he was sixteen years old, when he en- tered Kalamazoo College. After a partial course of study in that institution, he became assistant in the office of his father (who had been elected County Treasurer), and for some time had entire charge of the business of that office. After three years with his father, he taught school for a time at Ithaca and St. Louis, one term in each village. He was also for a short time clerk in the store of John Jeffrey, one of the earliest in the county, in which was also located the postoffice.
It was, however, in the late Civil war that he found the opportunities for which he was most naturally fitted, and three months be- fore he was of age he was enrolled in the volunteer army. On August 12, 1861, he enlisted in Company C, Eighth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and when the organiza- tion of the company was perfected he was made sergeant. He served in that company until January 17, 1862, when, suffering from rheumatism, he was discharged for disability at Beaufort, South Carolina. The next summer, having partially recovered his health, he, his father and William S. Turck raised a company by their joint efforts, which was mustered in as Company D, Twenty- sixth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and of this company Nathan Church was made first lieutenant. Lieutenant Church's com- mission was dated September 1, 1862. On the arrival of the regiment at the seat of war it was assigned to provost duty at Alexan- dria, Virginia, and soon after Lieutenant Church was detailed as Aide-de-camp upon the staff of General Slough, Military Gov- ernor of Alexandria, which position he held until his regiment was ordered to Suffolk. On April 15, 1863, he was promoted to be adjutant of his regiment, and one year from
that date he was commissioned captain. He served with his regiment at the Siege of Suffolk, Virginia, in the Blackwater expedi- tions, the second campaign of the Peninsula. in 1863, and in the Second Army Corps- (Hancock's) through the memorable cam- paigns of 1864 and 1865.
In the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 12, 1864, his regiment was in the front line in the assault and was the first to reach the enemy's works, which were carried after a desperate hand-to-hand fight. Adjutant Church (not having yet been mustered in as Captain) was with two two or three non-commissioned officers the first to scale the works. His regiment lost about one-third of its men in this battle, seven of the nine color guards being killed or wounded. His conduct on this occa- sion attracted the attention of General Nel- son A. Miles, then commanding the First Brigade, First Division, Second Corps, who detailed him at once upon his staff. He served upon this gallant General's staff until the close of the war, except some portions of the time when in command of his regi- ment, holding successively the positions of Aide-de-camp, Brigade Inspector, Division Inspector, Engineer Officer First Division, and Adjutant General of the Military Dis- trict of Fortress Monroe. He was appointed to the rank of Major, September 12, 1864, having previously been brevetted as Major of United States Volunteers "for gallant services before Petersburg, Virginia ;" and Lieutenant-Colonel, March 7, 1865, for "conspicuous gallantry and meritorious ser- vices" in the campaign terminating in Lee's surrender at Appomattox. The Twenty- sixth regiment, under his command, oc- cupied intrenchments before Petersburg, and,
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
during the closing months of 1864 and the early part of 1865, was engaged in almost daily fighting, except while in winter quar- ters. His regiment was mustered out June 4. 1865, but he was retained in the service of the United States by special order of the War Department, and assigned to duty as Assistant Adjutant General of the Military District of Fortress Monroe. This position he held until November 7, 1865, when he was relieved at his own request.
A newspaper account by an eye-witness states that at Sailor's Creek, Colonel Church, mounted upon a white horse, led two regi- ments, his own and the One Hundred and Fortieth Pennsylvania Volunteers, in an assault upon intrenchments occupied by a superior force of the enemy, and that, being the only mounted 'officer, he reached 'the works several yards in advance of his men. The prisoners captured in the works out- numbered the attacking party. His gallant conduct in this affair elicited much comment. On the suggestion of General Miles, he was appointed a captain in the regular army at the close of the war, but this commission he declined.
Returning to the employments of peace, General Church formed a partnership with Wilbur Nelson, and the two opened a general merchandise store at Ithaca. This connection was prosperous and lasted un- til 1872, when, having become inter- ested in lumbering and real estate spec- ulations, he sold his interest in the store to Gilbert C. Smith. In 1866, soon after entering mercantile life, he founded the Gratiot Journal, of which for one year he was editor and joint proprietor with Daniel Taylor. The banking house of Church, Bills & Company, was founded in
1877, the first of the two firms doing a banking business at Ithaca.
General Church has been an earnest sup- porter of the various railroads projected for Gratiot county. He has devoted both time and money to bring Ithaca into communica- tion with the outer world. He held the posi- tion of postmaster at Ithaca for seven years, and county clerk two terms, or four years. He was largely instrumental in organizing the Gratiot County Agricultural Society, and was its first president.
On December 25, 1866, at Tecumseh, Lenawee county, General Church was united in marriage to Miss Mary H., daughter of Hon. Perley and Caroline (Brown) Bills. She was born May 17, 1848, in that village, and graduated at the State Normal School, Ypsilanti, in the class of 1866. To this mar- riage five children have been born: Carrie Helen, Mrs. E. C. Marsh, of New York City, whose husband is a magazine editor and a member of the publishing firm; Leroy B., who married Miss Malissa Davis; Clarence N. and Gaylord P., twins; and Edgar N. Gaylord P. died when about a year old.
General Church is politically a Repub- lican. His title as General is given him by reason of his having been appointed quar- termaster general on the staff of Governor Jerome, in 1881, which rank he held for two years.
A MMI WILLARD WRIGHT, one of the pioneer residents and business men of Alma, Gratiot county, Michigan, is the citizen to whom that place is indebted for the greater number of its attractions, material and otherwise. Beyond what he has accom- plished by personal effort and expenditure toward the expansion and beautifying of the
ight
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
town, and toward the enhancement of its growth as an educational center in this part of the State, he has done much by his in- fluence, which is considerable, for his busi- ness operations have made him known in more than one section of the United States. Though he has always been a man of un- usual activity he is still, at the age of eighty- three, physically and mentally alert, a fact undoubtedly due to his simple tastes and per- sonal habits. Having risen to his present position from the humblest beginnings, he is a self-made man, yet he possesses none of the boastful consciousness that often char- acterizes those of this class. All his enter- prises, whether those be considered which are calculated to advance his own interests, or those which have brought blessing and benefit to others, are on the most liberal scale. Yet he remains the plain, unassum- ing man he always has been, nothing in his bearing indicating pride of wealth or achievement.
Mr. Wright's sturdy constitution and uprightness of character are doubtless at- tributable to the hardy New England race from which he springs. He is a native of Grafton, Windham county, Vermont, born July 5, 1822, and his parents, Nathan and Mary (Lamson) Wright, were also born in the Green Mountain State, where Ammi W. Wright passed the years of his life pre- vious to 1850. Ammi W. Wright obtained his education in the common schools of his native State, and engaged in farming some years before migrating to the West. He came to Detroit, where he remained one year, learning all he could of the various industries then in the early stages of develop- ment in the new State. In 1851 he made his way to Saginaw, where he engaged in the
lumber business, which was then just enter- ing its era of prosperity in Michigan. He entered into partnership with Miller & Paine, under the firm name of Miller, Paine & Wright, this firm continuing six years, af- ter which he formed an association with J. H. Pearson, of Chicago, under the firm name of A. W. Wright & Co. This connection continued until January 1, 1883, when the firm became the A. W. Wright Lumber Com- pany, capitalized at $1,500,000. Meantime Mr. Wright had entered into many other business connections, among which may be mentioned his interests in the firms of Wright & Davis, who owned and operated a lumber mill on the Mackinaw division of the Michigan Central railroad; Wright & Ketchum, who owned a railroad utilized for the purpose of getting out logs for them- selves and others ; Wells, Stone & Co., deal- ers in lumbermen's supplies, and the Sagi- naw Manufacturing Company, whose var- ious avenues of business were almost un- limited in extent, and which was an incor- porated company with a paid-up capital of $150,000, Mr. Wright being its chief officer. He was also president of the First National Bank at Saginaw. In fact, his interests ex- panded steadily until he was regarded as one of the leading men in the Saginaw valley, both in the matter of wealth and influence. His business judgment was rarely at fault, and so perfect was his grasp of the pros- pects of those days that he rarely met with reverses-none, indeed, of any consequence.
In the management of his various inter- ests Mr. Wright frequently had occasion to visit Alma, and his faith in the future of the place was strong from the very be- ginning. The quiet atmosphere of the little town, as it was at that time, strongly
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attracted him when he decided to establish his home away from his disturbing sur- roundings in the larger city, and in 1886 he built the handsome residence near the center of Alma which he has ever since oc- cupied. Having acquired a fixed interest in the place, he immediately gave evidence of it in his efforts to improve and beautify his adopted town, making constant additions to his real estate investments and connect- ing himself with numerous business enter- prises which added to the importance of the growing city. He has been identified with everything conducive to its healthy development and progress. The Wright block, one of the first buildings of the kind to be erected, was followed by the "Wright House," begun in January, 1882-a hotel which would be a credit to a city of much larger size, being one of the finest houses in northern Michigan, and second in grade to none in the entire State. In 1887 he erected the beautiful Alma Springs Sani- tarium, having accommodations for three hundred people, and was interested in build- ing the Alma Roller Mills and the plant of the Electric Light and Power Company. Through his influence (he being president of the company) one of the largest beet sugar factories in Michigan was established at Alma in 1899, as well as the cold storage plant of the Central Michigan Produce Company and the plant of the Alma Manu- facuring Company, which was launched in 1903. Among his extensive real estate holdings in the town and surrounding coun- try are a dozen or more large farms within driving distance of Alma, in which he takes particular pride, all being models in their class. He has converted a ten-acre tract of land adjoining the sanitarium into
a delightful park, just as he improves all property which comes under his care. In addition to the interests mentioned Mr. Wright has been a member of the lumber firm of George D. Barton & Co., at Alma, and was largely interested in the banking house of W. S. Turck & Co., now the First State Bank, of which he is president.
Though Mr. Wright's interests in and around Alma are extensive, they by no means require or receive all his attention. He is justly regarded as one of the leading spirits in the development of the State, and his name is familiar in different sections of the Union. His manufacturing interests extend to nearly every portion of the coun- try. He has large holdings of business property in Kansas City, Missouri, exten- sive sheep ranches in Texas, and consider- able mining property in different localities. In Michigan he is particularly well known as president of the Cincinnati, Saginaw & Mackinaw railroad; he is a director of the Grand Trunk Western Railway Company and in the old Detroit National Bank, pres- ident of the Advance Thresher Company, of Battle Creek, Michigan, and of the Peer- less Portland Cement Company of Union City, Michigan, and still has large business interests in Saginaw.
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