USA > Michigan > Gratiot County > Biographical memoirs of Gratiot County, Michigan : compendium of biography of celebrated Americans > Part 50
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On his return home Mr. Brice entered the law department of the University of Michigan, and in 1866 was admitted to the bar in Cincinnati. In the winter of 1870- 7 I he went to Europe in the interests of the Lake Erie & Louisville Railroad and pro- cured a foreign loan. This road became the Lake Erie & Western, of which, in 1887; Mr. Brice became president. This was the first railroad in which he had a personal interest. The conception, build- ing and sale of the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad, known as the "Nickel Plate," was largely due to him. He was connected with many other railroads, among which may be mentioned the following: Chicago & Atlantic; Ohio Central; Rich- mond & Danville; Richmond & West Point
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Terminal; East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia; Memphis & Charleston; Mobile & Birmingham; Kentucky Central; Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, and the Marquette, Houghton & Ontonagon. In 1890 he was elected United States senator from Ohio. Notwithstanding his extensive business inter- ests, Senator Brice gave a considerable time to political matters, becoming one of the leaders of the Democratic party and one of the most widely known men in the country.
B ENJAMIN HARRISON, twenty-third president of the United States, was born August 20, 1833, at North Bend, Hamilton county, Ohio, in the house of his grandfather, General William Henry Har- rison, afterwards president of the United States. His great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, was a member of the Continental congress, signed the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and was three times elected gov- ernor of Virginia.
The subject of this sketch entered Farm- ers College at an early age, and two years later entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio. Upon graduation he entered the office of Stover & Gwyne, of Cincinnati, as a law student. He was admitted to the bar two years later, and having inherited about eight hundred dollars worth of property, he married the daughter of Doctor Scott, pres- ident of a female school at Oxford, Ohio, and selected Indianapolis, Indiana, to begin practice. In 1860 he was nominated by Che Republicans as candidate for state supreme court reporter, and did his first political speaking in that campaign. He was elected, and after two years in that position he organized the Seventieth Indi- ana Infantry, of which he was made colonel, and with his regiment joined General Sher-
man's army. For bravery displayed at Re- saca and Peach Tree Creek he was made a brigadier-general. In the meantime the office of supreme court reporter had been declared vacant, and another party elected to fill it. In the fall of 1864, having been nominated for that office, General Harrison obtained a thirty-day leave of absence, went to Indiana, canvassed the state and was. elected. As he was about to rejoin his command he was stricken down by an attack of fever. After his recovery he joined General Sherman's army and participated in the closing events of the war.
In 1868 General Harrison declined to be a candidate for the office of supreme court reporter, and returned to the practice of the law. His brilliant campaign for the office of governor of Indiana in 1876, brought him into public notice, although he was defeated. He took a prominent part in the presidential canvass of 1880; and was chosen United States senator from Indiana, serving six years. He then returned to the practice of his profession. In 1888 he was. selected by the Republican convention at. Chicago as candidate for the presidency, and after a heated campaign was elected over Cleveland. He was inaugurated March 4, 1889, and signed the Mckinley bill October 1, 1890, perhaps the most distinctive feature of. his administration. In 1892 he was again the nominee of the Republican party for president, but was defeated by Grover Cleveland, the Democratic candidate, and again resumed the practice of law in Indian- apolis.
JOHN
CRAIG HAVEMEYER, the celebrated merchant and sugar refiner. was born in New York City in 1833. His. father, William F. Havemeyer, and grand- father, William Havemeyer, were both sugar
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refiners. The latter named came from Buckeburg, Germany, in 1799, and settled in New York, establishing one of the first refineries in that city. William F. succeeded his father, and at an early age retired from business with a competency. He was three times mayor of his native city, New York.
John C. Havemeyer was educated in private schools, and was prepared for college at Columbia College grammar school. Owing to failing eyesight he was unable to finish his college course, and began his business career in a wholesale grocery store, where he remained two years. In 1854, after a year's travel abroad, he assumed the responsibility of the office work in the sugar refinery of Havemeyer & Molter, but two years later etablished a refinery of his own in Brooklyn. This afterwards developed into the immense business or Havemeyer & Elder The capital was furr.shed by his father, and, chafing under the anxiety caused by the use of borrowed money, he sold out his interest and returned to Havemeyer & Molter. This firm dissolving the next year, John C. declined an offer of partnership from the successors, not wishing to use borrowed money. For two years he remain- ed with the house, receiving a share of the profits as compensation. For some years thereafter he was engaged in the commission business, until failing health caused his retirement. In 1871, he again engaged in the sugar refining business at Greenport, Long Island, with his brother and another partner, under the firm name of Havemeyer Brothers & Co. Here he remained until 1880, when his health again declined. During the greater part of his life Mr. Havemeyer was identified with many benev- olent societies, including the New York Port Society, Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, American Bible Society,
New York Sabbath School Society and others. He was active in Young Men's Christian Association work in New York, and organized and was the first president of an affiliated society of thesame at Yonkers. He was director of several railroad corpo- rations and a trustee of the Continental Trust Company of New York.
W TALTER QUINTIN GRESHAM, an eminent American statesman and jurist, was born March 17, 1833, near Cory- don, Harrison county, Indiana. He ac- quired his education in the local schools of the county and at Bloomington Academy, although he did not graduate. After leav- ing college he read law with Judge Porter at Corydon, and just before the war he be- gan to take an interest in politics. Mr. Gresham was elected to the legislature .rom Harrison county as a Republican; previous to this the district had been represented by a Democrat. At the commencement of hostilities he was made lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-eighth Indiana Infantry, but served in that regiment only a short time, when he was appointed colonel of the Fifty- third Indiana, and served under General Grant at the siege of Vicksburg as brigadier- general. Later he was under Sherman in the famous "March to the Sea," and com- manded a division of Blair's corps at the siege of Atlanta where he was so badly wounded in the leg that he was compelled to return home. On his way home he was forced to stop at New Albany, where he re- mained a year before he was able to leave. He was brevetted major-general at the close of the war. While at New Albany, Mr. Gresham was appointed state agent, his duty being to pay the interest on the state debt in New York, and he ran twice for congress against ex-Speaker Kerr, but was
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defeated in both cases, although he greatly reduced the Democratic majority. He was held in high esteem by President Grant, who offered him the portfolio of the interior but Mr. Gresham declined, but accepted the appointment of United States judge for Indiana to succeed David McDonald. Judge Gresham served on the United States district court bench until 1883, when he was appointed postmaster-general by Presi- dent Arthur, but held that office only a few months when he was made secretary of the treasury. Near the end of President Arthur's term, Judge Gresham was ap- pointed judge of the United States circuit court of the district composed of Indiana, Illinois and contiguous states, which he held until 1893. Judge Gresham was one of the presidential possibilities in the National Re- publican convention in 1888, when General Harrison was nominated, and was also men- tioned for president in 1892. Later the People's party inade a strenuous effort to induce him to become their candidate for president, he refusing the offer, however, and a few weeks before the election he an- nounced that he would support Mr. Cleve- land, the Democratic nominee for president. Upon the election of Mr. Cleveland in the fall of 1892, Judge Gresham was made the secretary of state, and filled that position until his death on May 28, 1895, at Wash- ington, District of Columbia.
E LISHA B. ANDREWS, noted as an ed- ucator and college president, was born at Hinsdale, New Hampshire, January 10, 1844, his father and mother being Erastus and Elmira (Bartlett) Andrews. In 1861, he entered the service of the general gov- ernment as private and non-commissioned officer in the First Connecticut Heavy Ar- tillery, and in 1863 was promoted to the
rank of second lieutenant. Returning home he was prepared for college at Powers In- stitute and at the Wesleyan Academy, and entered Brown University. From here he was graduated in 1870. For the succeeding two years he was principal of the Connecti- cut Literary Institute at Suffield, Connecticut. Completing a course at the Newton Theo- logical Institute, he was ordained pastor of the First Baptist church at Beverly, Massa- chusetts, July 2, 1874. The following year he became president of the Denison University, at Granville, Ohio. In 1879 he accepted the professorship of homiletics, pastoral duties and church polity at Newton Theological Institute. In 1882 he was elected to the chair of history and political economy at Brown University. The Uni- versity of Nebraska honored him with an LL. D. in 1884, and the same year Colby University conferred the degree of D. D. In 1888 he became professor of political economy and public economy at Cornell University, but the next year returned to Brown University as its president. From the time of his inauguration the college work broadened in many ways. Many timely and generous donations from friends and alumni of the college were influenced by him, and large additions made to the same.
Professor Andrews published, in 1887, " Institutes of General History," and in 1888, " Institutes of Economics."
JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, the subject of the present biography, was, during his life, one of the most distinguished chemists and scientific writers in America. He was an Englishman by birth, born at Liverpool, May 5, 18II, and was reared in his native land, receiving an excellent education, graduating at the University of London. In 1833 he came to the United States, and
WINFIELD SCOTT.
(O.G.FARRAGUT.
S.F.B.MORSE
W.W. LONGFELLOW.
Win. CULLEN BRYANT.
WINFIELD S.HANCOCK
ULYSES S.GRANT.
D.D. PORTER.
ROBERT E.LEE.
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settled first in Pennsylvania. He graduated in medicine at the University of Philadel- phia, in 1836, and for three years following was professor of chemistry and physiology at Hampden-Sidney College. He then be- came professor of chemistry in the New York University, with which institution he was prominently connected for many years. It is stated on excellent authority that Pro- fessor Draper, in 1839, took the first photo- graphic picture ever taken from life. He was a great student, and carried on many important and intricate experiments along scientific lines. He discovered many of the fundamental facts of spectrum analysis, which he published. He published a number of works of great merit, many of which are recognized as authority upon the subjects of which they treat. Among his work were: " Human Physiology, Statistical and Dyna- mical of the Conditions and Cause of Life in Man," "History of Intellectual Develop- ment of Europe," "History of the Ameri- can Civil War," besides a number of works ·on chemistry, optics and mathematics. Pro- fessor Draper continued to hold a high place among the scientific scholars of America until his death, which occurred in January, 1882.
G EORGE W. PECK, ex-governor of the state of Wisconsin and a famous journalist and humorist, was born in Jeffer- son county, New York, September 28, 1840. When he was about three years of age his parents removed to Wisconsin, settling near Whitewater, where young Peck received his education at the public schools. At fifteen he entered the office of the "Whitewater Register," where he learned the printer's art. He helped start the "Jefferson County Republican" later on, but sold out his interest therein and set type in the office of 11
the "State Journal," at Madison. At the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry as a private, and after serving four years returned a second lieutenant. He then started the "Ripon Representative," which he sold not long after, and removing to New York, was on the staff of Mark Pomeroy's "Democrat." Going to La Crosse, later, he conducted the La Crosse branch paper, a half interest in which he bought in 1874. He next started "Peck's Sun," which four years later he removed to Milwaukee. While in La Crosse he was chief of police one year, and also chief clerk of the Democratic assembly in 1874. It was in 1878 that Mr. Peck took his paper to Milwaukee, and achieved his first permanent success, the circulation increasing to 80,000. For ten years he was regarded as one of the most original, versa- tile and entertaining writers in the country, and he has delineated every phase of country newspaper life, army life, domestic experience, travel and city adventure. Up to 1890 Mr. Peck took but little part in politics, but in that year was elected mayor of Milwaukee on the Democratic ticket. The following August he was elected gov- ernor of Wisconsin by a large majority, the "Bennett School Bill" figuring to a large extent in his favor.
Mr. Peck, besides many newspaper arti- cles in his peculiar vein and numerous lect- ures, bubbling over with fun, is known to fame by the following books: "Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa," and "The Grocery Man and Peck's Bad Boy."
C HARLES O'CONOR, who was for many years the acknowledged leader of the legal profession of New York City, was also conceded to be one of the greatest lawyers America has produced. He was
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born in New York City in 1804, his father being an educated Irish gentleman. Charles received a common-school education, and early took up the study of law, being ad- mitted to practice in 1824. His close ap- plication and untiring energy and industry soon placed him in the front rank of the profession, and within a few years he was handling many of the most important cases. One of the first great cases he had and which gained him a wide reputation, was that of " Jack, the Fugitive Slave," in 1835, in which his masterful argument before the supreme court attracted wide attention and com- ment. Charles O'Conor was a Democrat all his life. He did not aspire to office- holding, however, and never held any office except that of district attorney under Presi- dent Pierce's administration, which he only retained a short time. He took an active interest, however, in public questions, and was a member of the state (New York) con- stitutional convention in 1864. In 1868 he was nominated for the presidency by the " Extreme Democrats." His death occurred in May, 1884.
S IMON BOLIVAR BUCKNER, a noted American officer and major-general in the Confederate army, was born in Ken- tucky in 1823. He graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1844, served in the United States infantry and was later as- signed to commissary duty with the rank of captain. He served several years at fron- tier posts, and was assistant professor in the military academy in 1846. He was with General Scott in the Mexican war, and en- gaged in all the battles from Vera Cruz to the capture of the Mexican capital. He was wounded at Cherubusco and brevetted first lieutenant, and at Molino del Rey was brevetted captain. After the close of the
Mexican war he returned to West Point as assistant instructor, and was then assigned to commissary duty at New York. He re- signed in 1855 and became superintendent of construction of the Chicago custom house. He was made adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, of Illinois militia, and was colonel of Illinois volunteers raised for the Utah expedition, but was not mustered into service. In 1860 he removed to Kentucky, where he settled on a farm near Louisville and became inspector-general in command of the Kentucky Home Guards. At the opening of the Civil war he joined the Con- federate army, and was given command at Bowling Green, Kentucky, which he was compelled to abandon after the capture of Fort Henry. He then retired to Fort Don- elson, and was there captured with sixteen thousand men, and an immense store of pro- visions, by General Grant, in February, 1862. He was held as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren until August of that year. He commanded a division of Hardee's corps in Bragg's Army of the Tennessee, and was afterward assigned to the third division and participated in the battles of Chickamauga, and Murfreesboro. He was with Kirby Smith when that general surrendered his. army to General Canby in May, 1865. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the vice- presidency on the Gold Democratic ticket with Senator John M. Palmer in 1896.
S IMON KENTON, one of the famous pio- neers and scouts whose names fill the pages of the early history of our country, was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, April 3, 1755. In consequence of an affray, at the age of eighteen, young Kenton went to Kentucky, then the "Dark and Bloody Ground," and became associated with Dan- iel Boone and other pioneers of that region.
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For a short time he acted as a scout and spy for Lord Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia, but afterward taking the side of the struggling colonists, participated in the war for independence west of the Alle- ghanies. In 1784 he returned to Virginia, but did not remain there long, going back with his family to Kentucky. From that time until 1793 he participated in all the combats and battles of that time, and until "Mad Anthony" Wayne swept the Valley of the Ohio, and settled the suprem- acy of the whites in that region. Kenton laid claim to large tracts of land in the new country he had helped to open up, but through ignorance of law, and the growing value of the land, lost it all and was reduced to poverty. During the war with England in 1812-15, Kenton took part in the inva- sion of Canada with the Kentucky troops and participated in the battle of the Thames. He finally had land granted him by the legislature of Kentucky, and received a pen- sion from the United States government. He died in Logan county, Ohio, April 29, 1836.
E 'LIHU BENJAMIN WASHBURNE, an American statesman of eminence, was born in Livermore, Maine, September 23, 1816. He learned the trade of printer, but abandoned that calling at the age of eight- een and entered the Kent's Hill Academy at Reading, Maine, and then took up the study of law, reading in Hallowell, Boston, and at the Harvard Law School. He began prac- tice at Galena, Illinois, in 1840. He was elected to congress in 1852, and represented his district in that body continuously until March, 1869, and at the time of his retire- ment he had served a greater number of consecutive terms than any other member of the house. In 1873 President Grant ap-
pointed him secretary of state, which posi- tion he resigned to accept that of minister to France. During the Franco-Prussian war, including the siege of Paris and the reign of the Commune, Mr. Washburne re- mained at his post, protecting the lives and property of his countrymen, as well as that of other foreign residents in Paris, while the ministers of all other powers abandoned their posts at a time when they were most needed. As far as possible he extended protection to unfortunate German residents, who were the particular objects of hatred of the populace, and his firmness and the suc- cess which attended his efforts won the ad- miration of all Europe. Mr. Washburne died at Chicago, Illinois, October 22, 1887.
W ILLIAM CRAMP, one of the most extensive shipbuilders of this coun- try, was born in Kensington, then a suburb, now a part of Philadelphia, in 1806. He received a thorough English education, and when he left school was associated with Samuel Grice, one of the most eminent naval architects of his day. In 1830, hav- ing mastered all the details of shipbuilding, Mr. Cramp engaged in business on his own. account. By reason of ability and excel- lent work he prospered from the start, until now, in the hands of his sons, under the name of William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company, it has become the most complete shipbuilding plant and naval arsenal in the western hemisphere, and fully equal to any in the world. As Mr. Cramp's sons attained manhood they learned their- father's profession, and were admitted to a partnership. In 1872 the firm was incor- porated under the title given above. Until 1860 wood was used in building vessels, al- though pace was kept with all advances in the art of shipbuilding. At the opening of
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the war came an unexpected demand for war vessels, which they promptly met. The sea-going ironclad "New Ironsides " was built by them in 1862, followed by a num- ber of formidable ironclads and the cruiser "Chattanooga.". They subsequently built several war vessels for the Russian and other governments which added to their reputation. When the American steamship line was established in 1870, the Cramps were commissioned to build for it four first- class iron steamships, the "Pennsylvania," "Ohio," "Indiana " and " Illinois," which they turned out in rapid order, some of the finest specimens of the naval architecture of their day. William Cramp remained at the head of the great company he had founded until his death, which occurred January 6, 1879.
Charles H. Cramp, the successor of his father as head of the William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company, was born in Philadelphia May 9, 1829, and received an excellent education in his native city, which he sedulously sought to sup- plement by close study until he became an authority on general subjects and the best naval architect on the western hemis- phere. Many of the best vessels of our new navy were built by this immense con- cern.
W ASHINGTON ALLSTON, probably the greatest American painter, was born in South Carolina in 1779. He was .sent to school at the age of seven years at Newport, Rhode Island, where he met Ed- ward Malbone, two years his senior, and who later became a painter of note. The friendship that sprang up between them un- ·doubtedly influenced young Allston in the choice of a profession. He graduated from Harvard in 1800, and went to England the
following year, after pursuing his studies for a year under his friend Malbone at his home in South Carolina. He became a student at the Royal Academy where the great American, Benjamin West, presided, and who became his intimate friend. Allston later went to Paris, and then to Italy, where four years were spent, mostly at Rome. In 1809 he returned to America, but soon after returned to London, having married in the meantime a sister of Dr. Channing. In a short time his first great work appeared, "The Dead Man Restored to Life by the Bones of Elisha," which took the British Association prize and firmly established his reputation. Other paintings followed in quick succession, the greatest among which were "Uriel in the Center of the Sun," "Saint Peter Liberated by the Angel," and "Jacob's Dream," supplemented by many smaller pieces. Hard work, and grief at the death of his wife began to tell upon his health, and he left London in 1818 for America. The same year he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. During the next few years he painted "Jeremiah," "Witch of Endor," and "Beatrice." In 1830 Alls- ton married a daughter of Judge Dana, and went to Cambridge, which was his home until his death. Here he produced the "Vision of the Bloody Hand," "Rosalie," and many less noted pieces, and had given one week of labor to his unfinished master- piece, "Belshazzar's Feast," when death ended his career July 9, 1843.
J JOHN ROACH, ship builder and manu- facturer, whose career was a marvel of. industrial labor, and who impressed his in- dividuality and genius upon the times in which he lived more, perhaps, than any other manufacturer in America. He was born at Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ire-
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