USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 3
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Mr. Wright's public spirit has carried him beyond material interests and improve- ments and into the educational and religious life of the community, and though he does not pose as a philanthropist he may properly be ranked among benefactors of that na- ture. It was through his generosity that the Presbyterian Synod of Michigan was able to establish Alma College, he himself do- nating the site and main building besides contributing liberally to its endowment.
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He has given faithful service as trustee and has shown a continued interest in the wel- fare of the institution, the erection of a number of the handsome buildings that now surround the campus being largely the result of his benevolence. His charities and benefactions have also been liberally ex- tended to other worthy causes and institu- tions, religious and otherwise.
Mr. Wright has always been irreproach- ably honest in his dealings, and his unbroken career of success may be attributed prin- cipally to keen business instinct and his well known faculty of recognizing in his em- ployees fitness for any special work, and giving them the opportunity to apply it. A number of comfortable fortunes now enjoyed by others are due to association with him. Perhaps this ability to judge human nature has been as important a factor in the able management of his varied business ventures as any one trait which could be mentioned. His own executive powers are great, but without the same quality in those to whom he must intrust the details of his many in- terests some of them would have suffered but for his rare judgment of character. His business partners have been chosen with the same unerring judgment, amounting almost to intuition.
Mr. Wright has had a remarkable ca- reer, crowned with equally remarkable suc- cess. Though now a multi-millionaire, he was in humble circumstances when he ven- tured West, and his first work at lumbering yielded him only a scant living. His rise, however, was steady as well as rapid, and has brought blessing and benefit to many besides himself. In the town of his adop- tion he is universally regarded as a public benefactor, having participated in its growth
and the promotion of its welfare to an ex- tent unusual even for one of his position and influence. Alma was practically just emerging from the wilderness when he set- tled here, and the site of the "Wright House' was occupied by a small schoolhouse, which is still standing in Alma and used as a black- smith shop.
On March 6, 1848, Mr. Wright was married, in Rockingham, Vermont, to Miss Harriet Barton, a native of that State, born September 24, 1824, daughter of Jeremiah and Sarah (Willoughby) Barton, also na- tives of Vermont. Five children were born to this union, Sarah H., George N., Annie B., Caroline S. and Arthur P. Only one survives, Sarah H., now the wife of Dr. James Henry Lancashire, a prominent rest- dent of Alma-not a practitioner, but en- gaged in attending to his business interests. Dr. and Mrs. Lancashire have a family of .. four children, Harriet, Ammi, Helen and Leila. Mrs. Harriet (Barton) Wright passed away June 30, 1884, and on De- cember 21, 1885, Mr. Wright married Miss Anna Case, of Exeter, Canada.
Mr. Wright will ever live in the memory of the people of Alma, for whom he has done so much. He has hosts of friends wherever he goes, and his sound judgment and sterl- ing character have won him a place in the front rank of men of refinement and edu- cation. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and in politics he is a Republican.
W TILLIAM A. BAHLKE, attorney at Alma, Michigan, is prominent in many financial, industrial and public en- terprises which are a part of the life of that city, as well as in various departments of the local government. He was born on a farm
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near Pewamo, Michigan, July 4, 1861, and is, therefore, in the very prime of his career, and, in view of his marked abilities, has far greater honors in store for him.
Mr. Bahlke is of German parentage, the son of Anthony and Mary (Hundt) Bahlke, natives of Mecklenburg, Germany. In 1856, after their marriage there, the parents came to America and commenced their new life in Detroit, Michigan. After a residence of one and a half years in that city, during which period the husband was busy at his trade as a blacksmith, they removed to Lyons township, Ionia county, Michigan. Rightly concluding that in such a country his prospects would be improved by turning to agriculture, he finally abandoned his trade and devoted his undivided attention to farming. The results were so satisfactory that in 1893 he retired from active labors and removed to Pewamo. Mr. Bahlke is the youngest of a family of five children.
Until he reached the age of twenty-two years William A. Bahlke remained upon the family homestead. In the meantime he had not only mastered the practical details of hus- bandry but had perfected himself in the mod- ern science of it. At the age named he grad- uated from the Michigan Agricultural Col- lege with the idea of following agricultural pursuits along broad, modern lines. In 1883, however, he began teaching, and during the succeeding two years his inclination toward the law drew him more and more in that direction. Finally he assumed his legal studies with such earnestness and effective- ness that on February 20, 1886, he was ad- mitted to the bar at Ionia, Michigan. In the following month he located at Alma for the practice of his profession.
Mr. Bahlke has been signally successful
as a practitioner ; he has a fine practice and is regarded as one of the leading men in his profession. He is the owner of a fine farm and takes much interest in its management and improvement. It is natural, also, that a man of his education, abilities and general caliber should be in demand as a public functionary. For two years he served as president of Alma, was postmaster of Alma during President Cleveland's second term, and as a Democrat is prominent and influ- ential in the councils of his party. He was its nominee for Congress in the Eleventh District of Michigan in the election of 1904. He is the legal and executive head of the Alma State Savings Bank and is interested and an officer in the Union Telephone Com- pany, Alma Building and Loan Association, Alma Manufacturing Company (of which he is vice-president) and the Alma Sugar Com- pany and other corporations. He affiliates with the Presbyterian church. He is a hard worker, and he takes an active interest in everything that tends to build up and im- prove his home city and its local interests.
On October 7, 1891, Mr. Bahlke was united in marriage at St. Clair, Michigan, to Miss Mary C. Carpenter. His wife was born in Port Huron, Michigan, the daugh- ter of Leonard and Hannah Carpenter, both natives of Michigan. Mrs. Bahlke is an active and influential woman in church, edu- cational and literary work, and prominent in all social functions and highly esteemed. Mr. and Mrs. Bahlke have no children.
C OL. JOHN A. ELWELL. The in- spiration, the magnetic force, the mo- tive power of any successful enterprise or corporation, always rests primarily upon the enthusiastic faith and executive ability
Sono . Elwell
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
of some individual. St. Louis, Michigan, stands to-day in its progressive spirit and substantial prosperity a monument to the abiding faith and personality of Col. John A. Elwell, who, more than thirty years ago, relinquished a home in the eastern metropo- lis to cast his fortune with, and to bend his energies to the development of, what was then the little village of St. Louis, uninvit- ing in aspect, located in a sparsely settled region, almost without any of the evidences of civilization.
Colonel Elwell is a native of Sweden, born near the ancient city of Goteborg De- cember 13, 1832. His father was a gradu- ate of a Swedish university and an officer in the Swedish army, dying in 1869, aged six- ty-six years. Colonel Elwell's mother died in 1878, aged seventy-two years.
John A. Elwell passed his early boy- hood days with his parents in his native land, and attended the excellent schools of that country until he was fourteen, then graduating from the high school near Gote- borg. From the school room he passed into the office of a mercantile establishment, and at the end of a year his uncle, located in New York City, sent for him to come there. As an office boy he entered his uncle's establishment, which was devoted to a general shipping business, and from that position he gradually advanced un- til, at the end of seven years, he be- came junior member of the firm of Ryberg, Pentz & Company. This con- nection continued from 1857 to 1872, years of almost uninterrupted prosperity in which the firm became interested in a fine line of vessels. While he maintained an office in the Home Insurance building, in New York City, he had his residence in Elizabeth, New
Jersey. During the years he lived in that city he showed his public spirit on many occasions, often at a great personal sacri- fice. He was twice elected a member of the city council, where his sound business sense often proved of great public benefit.
In 1874, in company with his personal friend, Benjamin Richardson, a New York capitalist, Colonel Elwell became interested in the promising land around St. Louis, Michigan, and together they came West to look over the country. The date of his ar- rival in the then little unkempt village was a red letter day, but the people did not know it until later. It had long been (as it now is) the habit of eastern capitalists to lend their means to western enterprises, but to spend their profits in their own section. Not so with Colonel Elwell. He saw the pos- sibilities, he realized the need, and he cast his lot with the new town. He brought with him capital-and more, his trained business judgment-and he at once became the hub on which St. Louis's wheel of prosperity turned and he occupies the same position. to-day. Whether it meant the building of railroads or telegraph lines, schools or churches, street lighting or other public improvements, he was active and interested-giving finan- cial aid or security, advising, directing, working, he was always found in the front rank. His investments were successful for himself and for the town, and of his abund- ance he gave freely to those less fortunate and to charitable institutions.
When Colonel Elwell came West with Mr. Richardson it was at the solicitation of E. L. Craw, the promoter of the Chicago, Sag- inaw & Canada railroad. Before the end of 1875 certain of the eastern bondholders, who had pledged further financial contribu-
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
tions in aid of the completion of the railroad as then planned, failed to fulfill their obli- gations. Hence during the year 1876 steps were taken to have a receiver appointed, and at that time Colonel Elwell made applica- tion to the United States Circuit court at Grand Rapids, Michigan, "to lease the road;" to furnish all necessary rolling stock, engines, etc., at his own risk and expense, and to operate it (the railroad) as lessee, at a fixed rental. The application was granted, and he continued as its lessee and general manager until the property was sold, in 1883, to the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad Company, he having during that period built, at his own expense, extensions amounting to nearly twenty miles of road. During his occupancy and management of this little railroad line he established the United States mail service, the post offices at every station west of Alma to Lake View, and the American Express, appointing his station agents, as agents for the Express Company, for whom he stood as a surety. He built, also at his own expense, a telegraph line from St. Louis to Lake View, and had the railroad surveyed and partially graded for a further extension from Lake View to Howard City, there to connect with the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad from Sag- inaw to Grand Rapids. Though the latter was completed by the Colonel's successors, it had its inception in his marvelous compre- hension of the future of this region, and to him must be given the credit for the per- severance that furnished a through line from Saginaw to Grand Rapids. In the develop- ment of the town, no one has done more by erecting good and substantial dwellings, as is attested by his own late residence and that of his son-in-law, Dr. A. R. Wheeler.
Colonel Elwell aided in the establishment of the First National Bank, and was one of the largest stockholders and its first presi- dent, holding the latter position several years. He was twice elected president of the St. Louis board of trustees. Politically Colonel Elwell is independent. Originally he was a Gold Democrat, but lately, with few exceptions, has voted the Republican ticket. He is a communicant of the Episco- pal Church, and Emanuel parish finds in him a hearty and liberal supporter, who did much toward the erection of the beautiful church edifice. Besides the large amount of proper- ty he possesses, he is also a stockholder in the Chemical Company and the beet sugar factory.
For one who hears even the faintest call to duty, public or private, it could not be supposed that the great crisis of the Civil war should pass without Colonel Elwell tak- ing an active part in its operations. From his father he inherited a love of military af- fairs, as well as a personal bravery that has won high commendation from superior of- ficers. In 1855 he joined the Brooklyn City Guard, known as Company G, Thirteenth Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., one of the finest military organizations in that State, and of which company he is still a veteran member. From private to corporal, second sergeant, and orderly sergeant, his promotions were rapid, and on April 23, 1861, he was appoint- ed second lieutenant. His regiment was then at the front in active service. In the year 1862 he was elected first lieutenant, and dur- ing that year, together with several of the officers and men of the old Thirteenth, he organized the Twenty-third Regiment of the New York State troops; he was then raised to the rank of major, and before the end of
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
the year to that of lieutenant-colonel. Dur- ing the months of June and July, 1863, his regiment was ordered to Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, to aid in repelling Lee's invasion of Pennsylvania. Gen. Fitzhugh Lee had then advanced with his cavalry and artillery as far as Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and there burned the United States barracks, and his troopers had plundered and largely devast- ated the country in that vicinity. Colonel Elwell had at that time been placed in com- mand of the outposts and picket lines, with a detachment of three regiments-his own, the Fifty-third New York and the Fifty- sixth New York-at Oyster Point, distant about four miles from the temporary forti- fication at Harrisburg. On the 28th of June, 1863, he encountered the advance guard of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, commanded by General Jenkins, who, being supplied with artillery, commenced shelling the outposts and camp. Colonel Elwell's command was well posted. The skirmish continued during that day un- til evening, when the Confederates withdrew. Result-two dead and four wounded of the Confederates, and several prisoners taken; no casualties on the Union side. Thence the regiment proceeded under special orders, under command of Maj. Gen. "Baldy" Smith, toward Gettysburg. During that campaign, from constant exposure and lack of proper supplies from the quartermaster and com- missary departments, his health failed him, and he therefore tendered his resignation during the latter part of the year 1863, the field, staff and line officers of his regiment unanimously petitioning him to reconsider his action.
The handsomely embossed and framed set of complimentary resolutions embody- ing a unanimous request from the officers
of the regiment, soliciting Colonel Elwell at that time to continue his connections as the commander, reads as follows :
Twenty-third Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y. BROOKLYN, Dec'b. 17th, 1863.
LIEUT. COL. JOHN A. ELWELL,
Dear Sir :- The undersigned, officers of the Twenty-third Regiment, N. G., have learned with feeling of deep and sincere regret your contemplated retirement from the service and feel impelled, not alone by motives of strong personal attachment but also by deep regard entertained for the well being of their regiment, to urge upon you, in the most earnest manner, a further consideration of this pro- posed step.
The regiment has already lost too many of its older and most prominent officers, the men who united in its organization and to whose fidelity and care it owes to-day much of its peculiar character and distinction. The effect of these changes is not to be mistaken; officers and men alike perceive their discouraging influence and are alarmed at the pros- pect of further withdrawals, which seriously threaten the disintegration of the entire body.
You, dear sir, stand as the one connecting link to unite the future with the past. Among our of- ficers there is none in whom the regiment has been so accustomed to rely as in yourself, and no one more identified with its growth and reputation from the beginning; for these reasons especially it is felt that you should be urged to relinquish, for the pres- ent at least, your plan of retiring.
We cannot escape the conviction that you are not to be spared at this time, and that however urgent private claims may be, the claims of the regi- ment, for your continued services, have never been more pressing than at this very moment.
Be good enough, then, to receive the unanimous solicitation of your fellow officers to defer your resignation at least until the regiment becomes more fully consolidated, which course is the more strongly urged upon you in the persuasion that it is alike the desire of every member of the organization.
With expressions of the greatest personal regard, we remain, dear sir, Yours very truly, (Signed) JAMES H. FROTHINGHAM, Pres. and Capt.
385431
[Here follow the signatures of all the regimental officers-field, staff and the line.]
On April 8, 1857, in New York City, Col. John A. Elwell was united in marriage to Miss Catherine N. Jenkins, who was born in New York, daughter of Thomas and Eliz- abeth (Beekman) Jenkins, the former a contractor and builder of prominence there.
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
Mrs. Elwell died in St. Louis, Michigan, March 27, 1898, aged sixty-three years. To this union were born children as follows: (I) Elizabeth A. married W. W. Collin, a lumber merchant at Buffalo, New York; (2) Susan Anna died April 25, 1902; (3) Helen L. is the wife of Dr. A. R. Wheeler, a suc- cessful physician at St. Louis, mentioned elsewhere in this volume; (4) Amy E. mar- ried Dr. F. Edgar Farley, a professor in Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts.
Colonel Elwell is a Mason, his member- ship being in Montauk Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Brooklyn, New York. Although he has retired from active participation in many of the enterprises that formerly engaged his attention, he still retains a keen interest in all public matters. His health is not of the best, but loving children and many friends minister to him, and are helping him to bear bravely such afflictions as have come with the advancing years. His life has been spent for the public good, and every citizen of St. Louis wishes him many happy years in which to reap the utmost benefits of his wellspent life.
H ON. SILAS MOODY, ex-member of the Legislature, a substantial man and prominent farmer of Pine River township, Gratiot county, was born on a farm in Medina county, Ohio, May 30, 1839, son of Rev. William Moody.
Rev. William Moody was a preacher of the Christian Church and was also engaged in farming. He died at the residence of his son, in Pine River township, at the age of eighty-nine years. The mother of our sub- ject, whose maiden name was Maria Ross, died in Pine River township, when seventy- nine years old. This worthy couple had a
family of seven children, and of this family our subject was the eldest. He was reared in Medina county, Ohio, on his father's farm, and was educated in the common schools. He also attended the high school at Chat- ham, Ohio. Silas Moody was married in Medina county, Ohio, April 6, 1861, to Miss Ellen M. Clapp, a native of that county. Mr. Moody came to Gratiot county and set- tled on the farm where he now lives, in April, 1861, and here he has since been a resident. He has always followed farming, and in this occupation he has been very suc- cessful, and as a man of good judgment and large means, he is prominent in all public matters in his township, and may always be found casting his influence in the direction of progressive movements which promise to be of permanent benefit to his community. He has held the office of township clerk of Pine River township, and various other offi- ces. He was elected to the Legislature in the fall of 1892, serving for one term, during which time he served efficiently on the com- mittees on Religious and Benevolent Socie- ties, the Deaf and Dumb, and Prisons of Michigan. He has taken an active interest in church work, and for twenty-five years has been superintendent of the Sunday- school of the Disciples, or Christian, Church, in Pine River.
H TON. WILLIAM E. WINTON, of Ithaca, for many years an eminent legal practitioner of Gratiot county, retired from the practice of his profession in the early autumn of 1904, after a continuous service of forty-six years before the Bar and in various official positions connected with the county, of a legal, executive and judicial nature. He was born December 17, 1820,
AMENinton
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BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GRATIOT COUNTY.
son of William Winton, a native of Dun- ning, Perthshire, Scotland.
William Winton was born June 10, 1779, son of James and Ann Winton. Both his parents died about the year 1800, which strengthened his already formed desire to visit America and try his fortunes therein. On May 12, 1802, he therefore set sail from Greenock, on the ship "Draper" of New York, arriving at the metropolis on the 4th of July, and passing on west to Madison county, New York, where (at Chittenango) he met and married Desdemona Leach in 1817. Later he located on a homestead in the town of Sullivan, in that county, a few miles northeast of Syracuse, where his wife die 1 in April, 1823, leaving three sons : James, William E. and David L. James Winton married a second time, removed to Michigan in December, 1845, and died at Manchester, that State, on January 21, 1858.
William E. Winton attended the village school at Bridgeport, and spent his vacations at the Chittenango Sulphur Springs, on ac- count of ill health. When nineteen years of age he went to Albany on a sight-seeing tour, visiting the museum, theater and other places of amusement, and there, for the first time, he saw a steamboat, passing up the Hudson on its way to Troy. When sixteen years of age, in the winter of 1837, Mr. Win- ton came to Michigan with the family of Daniel Boutell, and, after a journey which consumed twenty-one days, they reached their destination-Section 30, in Town 4, north, range 5, east, afterward organ- ized as the township of Deerfield, Liv- ingston county. The journey was by no means devoid of blood-stirring adven- ture and narrow escapes from death.
The trip was overland via Syracuse, Rochester, the Ridge Road to Youngs- town (Niagara county), thence over the line to Canada, where the journey was continued along the Mountain road. After a rainy thaw the weather had become ex- tremely cold, and the covered wagon, drawn by two horses, advanced with difficulty over the icy thoroughfare. In it were Mr. and Mrs. Boutell, with their three children, in a back seat, their oldest son, John, in front with the driver, Mr. Winton. On the road at the rear of the prairie schooner, were six other emigrant teams and two loads of In- dians, who remained behind as Mr. Winton urged his horses up the glassy ascent of Bat- tle Hill. At this point the road ran along a mountain, the side next to the 200-foot preci- pice being edged and protected by a ridge of slightly elevated logs. All went well until the team reached the summit of the hill, when both horses fell, the wagon slipped back dragging them with it and young Win- ton leaped over the precipice, while the spec- tators at the foot of the hill remained spell- bound with horror. When he was able to regain his feet he looked up and found to his temporary relief that the wagon, with all its occupants, was hanging over the preci- pice, and, regaining the road, fearful every moment that the fallen horses would attempt to get upon their feet, discovered that the heavy vehicle was caught by one fore wheel between the ridge of logs and the road. Help from the spectators below arrived in time to avert a fatal accident. The party reached Windsor, opposite Detroit, after the ferry had made its last trip, and, in attempting to cross the river on some new ice formed near . Sandwich another narrow escape is to be re- corded-Mepra Boutell and Winton with
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