USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 45
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L EVI P. MORTON, the millionaire poli- tician, was born in Shoreham, Ver- mont, May 16, 1824, and his early educa- tion consisted of the rudiments which he obtained in the common school up to the age of fourteen, and after that time what knowledge he gained was wrested from the hard school of experience. He removed to
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Hanover, Vermont, then Concord, Vermont, and afterwards to Boston. He had worked in a store at Shoreham, his native village, and on going to Hanover he established a store and went into business for himself. In Boston he clerked in a dry goods store, and then opened a business of his own in the same line in New York. After a short career he failed, and was compelled to set- tle with his creditors at only fifty cents on the dollar. He began the struggle anew, and when the war began he established a banking house in New York, with Junius Morgan as a partner. Through his firm and connections the great government war loans were floated, and it resulted in im- mense profits to his house. When he was again thoroughly established he invited his former creditors to a banquet, and under each guest's plate was found a check cover- ing the amount of loss sustained respec- tively, with interest to date.
President Garfield appointed Mr. Mor- ton as minister to France, after he had de- clined the secretaryship of the navy, and in 1888 he was nominated as candidate for vice-president, with Harrison, and elected. In 1894 he was elected governor of New York over David B. Hill, and served one term.
C HARLES KENDALL ADAMS, one of the most talented and prominent educators this country has known, was born January 24, 1835, at Derby, Vermont. He received an elementary education in the common schools, and studied two terms in the Derby Academy. Mr. Adams moved with his parents to Iowa in 1856. He was very anxious to pursue a collegiate course, but this was impossible until he had attained the age of twenty-one. In the autumn of 1856 he began the study of Latin and Greek
at Denmark Academy, and in September, 1857, he was admitted to the University of Michigan. Mr. Adams was wholly depend- ent upon himself for the means of his edu- cation. During his third and fourth year he became deeply interested in historical studies, was assistant librarian of the uni- versity, and determined to pursue a post- graduate course. In 1864 he was appointed instructor of history and Latin and was ad- vanced to an assistant professorship in 1865, and in 1867, on the resignation of Professor White to accept the presidency of Cornell, he was appointed to fill the chair of profes- sor of history. This he accepted on con- dition of his being allowed to spend a year for special study in Germany, France and Italy. Mr. Adams returned in 1868, and assumed the duties of his professorship. He introduced the German system for the instruction of advanced history classes, and his lectures were largely attended. In 1885, on the resignation of President White at Cornell, he was elected his successor and held the office for seven years, and on Jan- uary 17, 1893, he was inaugurated presi- dent of the University of Wisconsin. Pres- ident Adams was prominently connected with numerous scientific and literary organ- izations and a frequent contributor to the historical and educational data in the peri- odicals and journals of the country. He was the author of the following: " Dem- ocracy and Monarchy in France," " Manual of Historical Literature," " A Plea for Sci- entific Agriculture," " Higher Education in Germany."
JOSEPH B. FORAKER, a prominent po- litical leader and ex-governor of Ohio, was born near Rainsboro, Highland county, Ohio, July 5, 1846. His parents operated a small farm, with a grist and sawmill, hav-
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ing emigrated hither from Virginia and Delaware on account of their distaste for slavery.
Joseph was reared upon a farm until 1862, when he enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Ohio Infantry. Later he was made ser- geant, and in 1864 commissioned first lieu- tenant. The next year he was brevetted captain. At the age of nineteen he was mustered out of the army after a brilliant service, part of the time being on the staff of General Slocum. He participated in the battles of Missionary Ridge, Lookout Mount- ain and Kenesaw Mountain and in Sher- man's march to the sea.
For two years subsequent to the war young Foraker was studying at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, but later went to Cornell University, at Unity, New York, from which he graduated July I, 1869. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1879 Mr. Foraker was elected judge of the superior court of Cincinnati and held the office for three years. In 1883 he was defeated in the contest for the gov- ernorship with Judge Hoadly. In 1885, however, being again nominated for the same office, he was elected and served two terms. In 1889, in running for governor again, this time against James E. Camp- bell, he was defeated. Two years later his career in the United States senate began. Mr. Foraker was always a prominent figure at all national meetings of the Republican Farty, and a strong power, politically, in his native state.
L YMAN ABBOTT, an eminent American preacher and writer on religious sub- jects, came of a noted New England family. His father, Rev. Jacob Abbott, was a prolific and popular writer, and his uncle, Rev. John S. C. Abbott, was a noted
preacher and author. Lyman Abbott was born December 18, 1835, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He graduated at the New York University, in 1853, studied law, and practiced for a time at the bar, after which he studied theology with his uncle, Rev. John S. C. Abbott, and in 1860 was settled in the ministry at Terre Haute, Indiana, re- maining there until after the close of the war. He then became connected with the Freedmen's Commission, continuing this until 1868, when he accepted the pastorate of the New England Congregational church, in New York City. A few years later he re- signed, to devote his time principally to lit- erary pursuits. For a number of years he edited for the American Tract Society, its "Illustrated Christian Weekly," also the New York "Christian Union." He pro- duced many works, which had a wide circu- lation, among which may be mentioned the following: "Jesus of Nazareth, His Life and Teachings," "Old Testament Shadows of New Testament Truths," "Morning and Evening Exercises, Selected from Writings of Henry Ward Beecher," "Laicus, or the Experiences of a Layman in a Country Parish," "Popular Religious Dictionary," and "Commentaries on Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Acts."
G EORGE WILLIAM CURTIS .- The well-known author, orator and journal- ist whose name heads this sketch, was born at Providence, Rhode Island, February 24, IS24. Having laid the foundation of a most excellent education in his native land, he went to Europe and studied at the Uni- versity of Berlin. He made an extensive tour throughout the Levant, from which he returned home in 1850. At that early age literature became his field of labor, and in 1851 he published his first important work,
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" Nile Notes of a Howadji." In 1852 two works issued from his facile pen, "The Howadji in Syria," and " Lotus-Eating." Later on he was the author of the well- known " Potiphar Papers," "Prue and I," and "Trumps." He greatly distinguished himself throughout this land as a lecturer on many subjects, and as an orator had but few peers. He was also well known as one of the most fluent speakers on the stump, making many political speeches in favor of the Republican party. In recognition of his valuable services, Mr. Curtis was ap- pointed by President Grant, chairman of the advisory board of the civil service. Al- though a life-long Republican, Mr. Curtis refused to support Blaine for the presidency in 1884, because of his ideas on civil ser- vice and other reforms. For his memorable and magnificent eulogy on Wendell Phillips, delivered in Boston, in 1884, that city pre- sented Mr. Curtis with a gold medal.
George W. Curtis, however, is best known to the reading public of the United States by his connection with the Harper Brothers, having been editor of the "Har- per's Weekly," and of the "Easy Chair," in " Harper's Monthly Magazine, " for many years, in fact retaining that position until the day of his death, which occurred August 31, 1892.
A NDREW JOHNSON, the seventeenth president of the United States, served from 1865 to 1869. He was born Decem- ber 8, 1808, at Raleigh, North Carolina, and was left an orphan at the age of four years. He never attended school, and was apprenticed to a tailor. While serving his apprenticeship he suddenly acquired a pas- sion for knowledge, and learned to read. From that time on he spent all his spare time in reading, and after working for two
years as a journeyman tailor at Lauren's Court House, South Carolina, he removed to Greenville, Tennessee, where he worked at his trade and was married. Under his wife's instruction he made rapid progress in his studies and manifested such an interest in local politics as to be elected as " work- ingmen's candidate " alderman in 1828, and in 1830 to the mayoralty, and was twice re-elected to each office. Mr. Johnson utilized this time in cultivating his talents as a public speaker, by taking part in a de- bating society. He was elected in 1835 to the lower house of the legislature, was re- elected in 1839 as a Democrat, and in ยท 184I was elected state senator. Mr. John- son was elected representative in congress in 1843 and was re-elected four times in succession until 1853, when he was the suc- cessful candidate for the gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. He was re-elected in 1855 and in 1857 he entered the United States senate. In 1860 he was supported by the Tennessee delegation to the Democratic convention for the presidential nomination, and lent his influence to the Breckinridge wing of the party. At the election of Lin- coln, which brought about the first attempt at secession in December, 1860, Mr. John- son took a firm attitude in the senate for the Union. He was the leader of the loy- alists in East Tennessee. By the course that Mr. Johnson pursued in this crisis he was brought prominently before the north- ern people, and when, in March, 1862, he was appointed military governor of Ten- nessee with the rank of brigadier-general, he increased his popularity by the vigorous manner in which he labored to restore order. In the campaign of 1864 he was elected vice-president on the ticket with President Lincoln, and upon the assassi- nation of the latter he succeeded to the
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presidency, April 15, 1865. He retained the cabinet of President Lincoln, and at first exhibited considerable severity towards the former Confederates, but he soon inau- gurated a policy of reconstruction, pro- claimed a general amnesty to the late Con- federates, and established provisional gov- ernments in the southern states. These states claimed representation in congress in the following December, and then arose the momentous question as to what should be the policy of the victorious Union against their late enemies. The Republican ma- jority in congress had an apprehension that the President would undo the results of the war, and consequently passed two bills over the executive veto, and the two highest branches of the government were in open antagonism. The cabinet was reconstructed in July, and Messrs. Randall, Stanbury and Browning superseded Messrs. Denison, Speed and Harlan. In August, 1867, Pres- ident Johnson removed the secretary of war and replaced him with General Grant, but when congress met in December it refused to ratify the removal of Stanton, who re- sumed the functions of his office. In 1868 the president again attempted to remove Stanton, who refused to vacate his post and was sustained by the senate. Presi- dent Johnson was accused by congress of high crimes and misdemeanors, but the trial resulted in his acquittal. Later he was Uni- ted States senator from Tennessee, and died July 31, 1875.
E DMUND RANDOLPH, first attorney- general of the United States, was born in Virginia, August 10, 1753. His father, John Randolph, was attorney-general of Virginia, and lived and died a royalist. Ed- mund was educated in the law, but joined the army as aide-de-camp to Washington
in 1775, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was elected to the Virginia convention in 1776, and attorney-general of the state the same year. In 1779 he was elected to the Continental congress, and served four years in that body. He was a member of the con- vention in 1787 that framed the constitu- tion. In that convention he proposed what was known as the " Virginia plan" of con- federation, but it was rejected. He advo- cated the ratification of the constitution in the Virginia convention, although he had re- fused to sign it. He became governor of Virginia in 1788, and the next year Wash- ington appointed him to the office of at- torney-general of the United States upon the organization of the government under the constitution. He was appointed secre- tary of state to succeed Jefferson during Washington's second term, but resigned a year later on account of differences in the cabinet concerning the policy pursued to- ward the new French republic. He died September 12, 1813.
W INFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK was born in Montgomery county, Penn- sylvania, February 14, 1824. He received his early education at the Norristown Academy, in his native county, and, in 1840, was appointed a cadet in the United States Military Academy, at West Point. He was graduated from the latter in 1844, and brev- etted as second lieutenant of infantry. In 1853 he was made first lieutenant, and two years later transferred to the quartermaster's department, with the rank of captain, and in 1863 promoted to the rank of major. He served on the frontier, and in the war with Mexico, displaying conspicuous gallantry dur- ing the latter. He also took a part in the Seminole war, and in the troubles in Kan- sas, in 1857, and in California, at the out-
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break of the Civil war, as chief quarter- master of the Southern district, he exerted a powerful influence. In 1861 he applied for active duty in the field, and was assigned to the department of Kentucky as chief quartermaster, but before entering upon that duty, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers. His subsequent history during the war was substantially that of the Army of the Potomac. He participated in the campaign, under McClellan, and led the gallant charge, which captured Fort Magru- der, won the day at the battle of Wil- liamsburg, and by services rendered at Savage's Station and other engagements, won several grades in the regular service, and was recommended by McClellan for major-general of volunteers. He was a con- spicuous figure at South Mountain and An- tietam. He was commissioned major-gen- eral of volunteers, November 29, 1862, and made commander of the First Division of the Second Corps, which he led at Fred- ricksburg and at Chancellorsville. He was appointed to the command of the Second Corps in June, 1863, and at the battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, of that year, took an important part. On his arrival on the field he found part of the forces then in retreat, but stayed the retrograde movement, checked the enemy, and on the following day commanded the left center, repulsed, on the third, the grand assault of General Lee's army, and was severely wounded. For his services on that field General Hancock received the thanks of congress. On recovering from his wound, he was detailed to go north to stimulate re- cruiting and fill up the diminished corps, and was the recipient of many public receptions and ovations. In March, 1864, he returned to his command, and in the Wilderness and at Spottsylvania led large bodies of men
successfully and conspicuously. From that on to the close of the campaign he was a prominent figure. In November, 1864, he was detailed to organize the First Veteran Reserve Corps, and at the close of hostilities was appointed to the command of the Mid- dle Military Division. In July, 1866, he was made major-general of the regular service. He was at the head of various military departments until 1872, when he was assigned to the command of the Depart- ment of the Atlantic, which post he held until his death. In 1869 he declined the nomination for governor of Pennsylvania. He was the nominee of the Democratic party for president, in 1880, and was de- feated by General Garfield, who had a popu- lar majority of seven thousand and eighteen and an electoral majority of fifty-nine. Gen- eral Hancock died February 9, 1886.
T THOMAS PAINE, the most noted polit- ical and deistical writer of the Revolu- tionary period, was born in England, Jan- uary 29, 1737, of Quaker parents. His edu- cation was obtained in the grammar schools of Thetford, his native town, and supple- mented by hard private study while working at his trade of stay-maker at London and other cities of England. He was for a time a dissenting preacher, although he did not relinquish his employment. He married a revenue official's daughter, and was employed in the revenue service for some time. He then became a grocer and during all this time he was reading and cultivating his literary tastes, and had developed a clear and forci- ble style of composition. He was chosen to represent the interests of the excisemen, and published a pamphlet that brought him considerable notice. He was soon after- ward introduced to Benjamin Franklin, and having been dismissed from the service on a
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charge of smuggling, his resentment led him to accept the advice of that statesman to come to America, in 1774. He became editor of the " Pennsylvania Magazine," and the next year published his "Serious Thoughts upon Slavery" in the "Penn- sylvania Journal." His greatest political work, however, was written at the sugges- tion of Dr. Rush, and entitled " Common Sense." It was the most popular pamphlet written during the period and he received two thousand five hundred dollars from the state of Pennsylvania in recognition of its value. His periodical, the " Crisis," began in 1776, and its distribution among the soldiers did a great deal to keep up the spirit of revolution. He was made secretary of the committee of foreign affairs, but was dis- missed for revealing diplomatic secrets in one of his controversies with Silas Deane. He was originator and promoter of a sub- scription to relieve the distress of the soldiers near the close of the war, and was sent to France with Henry Laurens to negotiate the treaty with France, and was granted three thousand dollars by congress for his services there, and an estate at New Rochelle, by the state of New York.
In 1787, after the close of the Revolu- tionary war, he went to France, and a few years later published his " Rights of Man," defending the French revolution, which gave him great popularity in France. He was made a citizen and elected to the na- tional convention at Calais. He favored banishment of the king to America, and opposed his execution. He was imprisoned for about ten months during 1794 by the Robespierre party, during which time he wrote the " Age of Reason," his great deis- tical work. He was in danger of the guillo- tine for several months. He took up his residence with the family of James Monroe,
then minister to France and was chosen again to the convention. He returned to the United States in 1802, and was cordially received throughout the coun- try except at Trenton, where he was insulted by Federalists. He retired to his estate at New Rochelle, and his death occurred June 8, 1809.
JOHN WILLIAM MACKAY was one of J America's noted men, both in the de- velopment of the western coast and the building of the Mackay and Bennett cable. He was born in 1831 at Dublin, Ireland; came to New York in 1840 and his boyhood days were spent in Park Row. He went to California some time after the argonauts of 1849 and took to the primitive methods of mining-lost and won and finally drifted into Nevada about 1860. The bonanza dis- coveries which were to have such a potent influence on the finance and statesmanship of the day came in 1872. Mr. Mackay founded the Nevada Bank in 1878. He is said to have taken one hundred and fifty million dollars in bullion out of the Big Bonanza mine. There were as- sociated with him in this enterprise James G. Fair, senator from Nevada; William O'Brien and James C. Flood. When vast wealth came to Mr. Mackay he be- lieved it his duty to do his country some service, and he agitated in his mind the building of an American steamship line, and while brooding over this his attention was called to the cable relations between. America and Europe. The financial man- agement of the cable was selfish and ex- travagant, and the capital was heavy with accretions of financial " water " and to pay even an apparent dividend upon the sums which represented the nominal value of the cables, it was necessary to hold the rates
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at an exorbitant figure. And, moreover, the cables were foreign; in one the influence of France being paramount and in the other that of England; and in the matter of intel- ligence, so necessary in case of war, we would be at the mercy of our enemies. This train of thought brought Mr. Mackay into re- lation with James Gordon Bennett, the pro- prietor of the "New York Herald." The result of their intercourse was that Mr. Mac- kay so far entered into the enthusiasm of Mr. Bennett over an independent cable, that he offered to assist the enterprise with five hundred thousand dollars. This was the inception of the Commercial Cable Com- pany, or of what has been known for years as the Mackay-Bennett cable.
E "LISHA GRAY, the great inventor and electrician, was born August 2, 1835, at Barnesville, Belmont county, Ohio. He was, as a child, greatly interested in the phenomena of nature, and read with avidity all the books he could obtain, relating to this subject. He was apprenticed to various trades during his boyhood, but his insatiable thirst for knowledge dominated his life and he found time to study at odd intervals. Supporting himself by working at his trade, he found time to pursue a course at Oberlin College, where he particularly devoted him- self to the study of physicial science. Mr. Gray secured his first patent for electrical or telegraph apparatus on October I, 1867. His attention was first attracted to tele- phonic transmission during this year and he saw in it a way of transmitting signals for telegraph purposes, and conceived the idea of electro-tones, tuned to different tones in the scale. He did not then realize the im- portance of his invention, his thoughts being employed on the capacity of the apparatus for transmitting musical tones through an
electric circuit, and it was not until 1874 that he was again called to consider the re- production of electrically-transmitted vibra- tions through the medium of animal tissue. He continued experimenting with various results, which finally culminated in his taking out a patent for his speaking tele- phone on February 14, 1876. He took out fifty additional patents in the course of eleven years, among which were, telegraph switch, telegraph repeater, telegraph annun- ciator and typewriting telegraph. From 1869 until 1873 he was employed in the manufacture of telegraph apparatus in Cleve- land and Chicago, and filled the office of electrician to the Western Electric Com- pany. He was awarded the degree of D. S., and in 1874 he went abroad to perfect himself in acoustics. Mr. Gray's latest in- vention was known as the telautograph or long distance writing machine. Mr. Gray wrote and published several works on scien- tific subjects, among which were: "Tele- graphy and Telephony," and " Experi- mental Research in Electro-Harmonic Tele- graphy and Telephony."
W HITELAW REID .- Among the many men who have adorned the field of journalism in the United States, few stand out with more prominence than the scholar, author and editor whose name heads this ar- ticle. Born at Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, October 27, 1837, he graduated at Miami University in 1856. For about a year he was superintendent of the graded schools of South Charleston, Ohio, after which he pur- chased the " Xenia News," which he edited for about two years. This paper was the first one outside of Illinois to advocate the nomination of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Reid having been a Republican since the birth of that party in 1856. After taking an active
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part in the campaign, in the winter of 1860- 61, he went to the state capital as corres- pondent of three daily papers. At the close of the session of the legislature he became city editor of the "Cincinnati Gazette," and at the breaking out of the war went to the front as a correspondent for that journal. For a time he served on the staff of General Morris in West Virginia, with the rank of captain. Shortly after he was on the staff of General Rosecrans, and, under the name of "Agate," wrote most graphic descrip- tions of the movements in the field, espe- cially that of the battle of Pittsburg Land- ing. In the spring of 1862 Mr. Reid went to Washington and was appointed librarian to the house of representatives, and acted as correspondent of the " Cincinnati Gazette." His description of the battle of Gettysburg, written on the field, gained him added reputation. In 1865 he accompanied Chief Justice Chase on a southern tour, and pub- lished " After the War; a Southern Tour." During the next two years he was engaged in cotton planting in Louisiana and Ala- bama, and published "Ohio in the War." In 1868 he returned to the " Cincinnati Ga- zette," becoming one of its leading editors. The same year he accepted the invitation of Horace Greeley and became one of the staff on the "New York Tribune." Upon the death of Mr. Greeley in 1872, Mr. Reid be- came editor and chief proprietor of that paper. In 1878 he was tendered the United States mission to Berlin, but declined. The offer was again made by the Garfield ad- ministration, but again he declined. In 1878 he was elected by the New York legis- lature regent of the university, to succeed General John A. Dix. Under the Harrison administration he served as United States minister to France, and in 1892 was the Republican nominee for the vice-presidency
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