USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 36
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William Alanson Howard, who uttered the foregoing just prior to his decease, was born on the 8th day of April, 1813, at Hinesburg, Chittenden county, Vermont. His father, Daniel Howard, was born at Bridgewater, Plymouth county, Massachusetts, and, on reaching his majority, emigrated to Springfield, Windsor county, Vermont, where he married Esther Spencer; from thence he removed to Hinesburg, the birthplace of the subject of this sketch. He was poor, as were a large majority of his neighbors, and could afford for his son William
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but few advantages, so that Mr. Howard's early life was one of con- tinuous struggle for existence. He, too weak physically to cope with the hardships of farm life, at the age of fourteen years, left Hinesburg, and took his way on foot to Albion, New York, and apprenticing himself to a cabinet-maker, made himself master of the trade, and by improving his leisure hours had acquired sufficient know- ledge of books to create an insatiable desire for an education, and when his five years' apprenticeship had expired, he went to Wyoming, New York, and entered the Academy at that place, where he remained three years, and then entered Middleburg College, in Vermont, from which he graduated in 1839. When it is considered that during the three years at Wyoming, and the four years at Middlebury, he was compelled to rely upon his own resources, which we know were meagre, and was weighed down by physical burdens in addition, we can imagine the trials and self-denials he encountered, and the strength of the will which overcame them. But the seven long years of bitter contest were ended, that for which he had so long sought was found, and he had secured the desire of his heart, an education. He taught school in Genessee county, N. Y., during the winter following his graduation, and in the spring was advised to try the climate of Michi- gan. Accepting the advice, he arrived at Detroit, April 12, 1840, his whole fortune being but seventy-two dollars. Soon after arrival, he accepted a mathematical tutorship in a branch of the Michigan Univer- sity, and then began reading law in the office of Witherell & Buel, employing his time when not engaged in teaching, to preparing for the bar, to which he was admitted in 1842 as a partner of A. W. Buel. From 1842 to 1854 he was engaged in the active practice of his pro- fession. September 20, 1854, the Whig Congressional Convention at Ann Arbor, nominated him for Congress; on the same day he received the endorsement of the Fusion Anti-Nebraska mass convention held at Detroit. In this contest David Stuart was his competitor, whom he defeated by a majority of 1154. In 1856 he was re-elected by a majority of 767 over the Hon. George V. N. Lothrop. In 1858 he was again a candidate against George B. Cooper, of Jackson, who received the certificate of election, but Mr. Howard contested his seat and was declared lawfully elected, thus entering Congress for the third time, May 15, 1860.
On the assembling of the Congress of 1856, it will be remembered there was a bitter contest for the Speakership. At the end of some weeks, Nathaniel P. Banks, Republican, was elected. It was during this period that Mr. Howard established his position, winning the con- fidence of his Republican colleagues, as well as the admiration of his political enemies. To the attempts to drive the Republicans from their position, he said : “We stand here : we will abate no jot of our princi- ple-we will appeal to the country, and if need be, will continue voting
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until the 4th of March, 1857. We have met our Democratic brethren in good faith. We have done our best to effect an organization. We have steadily voted against adjournment. We have made no motions to consume time. We have steadily measured our business. We shall go on without compromise until we are defeated or succeed." When the house was organized he was appointed the second member of the Committee of Ways and Means, the most important of the lower branch of Congress. The troubles in Kansas then occupied the public mind, and Congress, in response to the appeal of the people of that terri- tory, appointed a committee to go to Kansas and investigate, the com- mittee consisting of John Sherman, William A. Howard and Mordecai Oliver. One thousand two hundred pages of evidence was taken by this committee, exposing the frauds and atrocities perpetrated on the settlers in Kansas. The longest address delivered by Mr. Howard while in Congress was that on which he denounced the Kansas Le- compton Constitution, March 23, 1858, in the course of which he used the following: "It is a creature of usurpation, the child of illegal despotism, as destitute of all rightful authority in its origin as it is of popular favor in its maturity. Illegitimate in its origin, it is now in its development, by at least four-fifths of those who were expected to father it, loathed and feared, shunned and scorned." The events which followed this period have become a matter of history, of which the outrages in Kansas was the precurser of the Civil War in January, 1861. Mr. Howard was one of the committee of thirty-three appointed to devise a settlement of political difficulties-none were devised, except coercion. Mr. Howard's congressional life ended the 4th of March, 1861, and President Lincoln appointed him Postmaster at Detroit. He continued in this position nearly six years, when President Andrew Johnson, appointed the late Colonel Henry Barnes to succeed him.
In 1869, President Grant tendered him the mission to China, which he declined. The same year he became the Land Commissioner of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and removed from Detroit to Grand Rapids. He continued in this service until 1877, when he was appointed by President Hayes Governor of Dakota Territory.
The health of Mr. Howard was temporarily very much benefited by the climate of Dakota, but previous loss of vitality was not restored, and he was compelled to resign. On his return to Washington, stop- ing a short time at Detroit, it was evident to his many friends that he was rapidly passing away, and soon after reaching the former place, his earthly life terminated, and the following announcement was made on the wires: "April 10, 1880, Hon. William A. Howard, died at the National Hotel, in Washington, at 8: 40 o'clock."
Mr. Howard was married in 1841 to Ellen Lane, daughter of the late Venerable Matthew W. Burchard, whose biography will be found
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in this volume. She survived her husband. He also left four adult children, Mrs. Delia Howard O'Brien, of Grand Rapids; Mrs. Kate Howard Riddle, of Erie, Pa .; William S. Howard of Grand Rapids, and James B. Howard, graduate of the Boston Law School.
EDWARD CHOPE.
Bovier says: "The obligations of a workman are to perform the work he has undertaken, to do it in proper time, to do it well, to employ the things furnished him according to his contract."
The best evidence that the subject of this sketch has fully met his obligations as a workman, is furnished by the fact that for over fifty years his work has been in demand, and that through this demand he has accumulated a fair degree of wealth, enjoys the confidence of the public and the esteem and respect of the high and low, rich and poor, of the city and country in which he has so long resided.
Edward Chope was born in Devonshire, England, March 25th, 1815. In early life he was apprenticed, and learned the trade of a black- smith, so that his advantages for obtaining an education were limited.
He emigrated from England in 1835, and settled in Detroit in June, 1837.
The population of Detroit at that time was less than 6,000; to-day it numbers 250,000, greater than that of the entire State at the time of Mr. Chope's becoming a citizen, being but 212,000.
Mr. Chope married Miss Mary Ann Rang, of Washtenaw. They have had four children. His son, Charles H. Chope, served as a soldier during the rebellion. Entering the service of the United States July 24th, 1862, as sergeant in company G, Twenty-fourth Infantry, was promoted to lieutenant March 21st, 1865, and mustered out June 30th, 1865.
Mr. Chope is a man of enterprise, active in all movements looking to the improvement of his adopted city, and was an important factor in the establishment of the Public Boulevard, and also in other enter- prises which have promoted the healthy growth of the city. In his manner Mr. Chope is open, frank and genial, liberal in his charities and independent in expressing and maintaining his opinions. He is Repub- lican in politics, though never seeking office; has held several respon- sible positions, which he has filled with credit to himself and to the profit of the public.
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JOHN STEPHENS.
John Stephens was born October 7th, 1812, in the city of Dublin, Ireland. His mother dying when he was very young, his father emigrated with him and settled at Trafalgar, Ont. He was then eight years of age and was the eldest of four brothers. At the age of eighteen years, after acquiring a common school education, he com- menced business for himself at Delaware, near London, and prospered in all his ventures. He advocated Canadian independence. Failing to realize his hopes in this direction he sold out his business and, in 1838, came to Michigan and established a general store at Mt. Clemens, Macomb county, with branches at Utica and Romeo. He also engaged in milling, and ran a steamboat between Mt. Clemens and Detroit. In 1852 he sold his business in Macomb county and came to Detroit and, associating with him Moses W. Field, established the wholesale grocery house of Stephens & Field. The firm did an exten- sive business for a number of years, when on the retirement of Mr. Field, Mr. James Beatty became a partner, when the style changed to Stephens & Beatty. In 1864 Mr. Beatty retired and Mr. Stephens conducted the business alone until 1878, when he sold to Messrs. Beatty, Fitzsimons & Co., he having meanwhile established an office in New York. In 1878 he organized the wholesale grocery house of John Stephens & Sons in the John Strong block, corner of Shelby and Jefferson avenue. He subsequently removed to the old Board of Trade building on Woodbridge.
In August, 1877, Mrs. Stephens' death was a severe blow to him, and from that time he exhibited evidences of failing health.
Mr. Stephens took great interest in public affairs but would never consent to hold an office. In religion he was an Episcopalian. The larger portion of his life was devoted to business, and in his family he took great delight in spending his leisure time with them and in con- tributing to their happiness. He was, as a business man, recognized as the peer of any. He was a director of the first National Bank from its organization.
No finer tribute can be paid to his worth than is found in the fol- lowing expression, by the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Exchange, on the announcement of his death :
" WHEREAS, This Exchange has been called upon to suffer the loss of one of its oldest members, in the death of John Stephens, Esq.,
" Resolved, That we again recognize the removal from business life of one, who stood foremost in our mercantile ranks, we would put on record our high esteem for his long, earnest and honorable career as a merchant, and as one who has labored to make our city honorably known throughout the State.
·
.
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" Resolved, That as a mark of our esteem the members of this Exchange will attend in a body, the funeral of our deceased member."
Of the eleven children born to him and his wife eight survive him. John E. and George R. Stephens, Mrs. Geo. W. Lamson, Mrs. Col. J. Kemp Mizner, Mrs. Captain Allan Smith, Mrs. Lieutenant R. C. Van Vliet, Mrs. Robt. Little and Mrs. Rev. St. Clark.
JOHN R. GROUT.
The following is an extract from the Detroit Post and Tribune, January 4th, 1882:
John R. Grout, an old and esteemed citizen of Detroit, was born in the State of New York in 1896. After a preparatory course he entered and graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York, meanwhile teaching school during vacation to eke out the expenses of his education. Having made civil engineering a specialty, he came to Michigan soon after the present company had acquired the Michigan Central railway from the State, and was employed by it in the line of his profession. He drew the plans for the old Third street depot.
In 1845 he became interested in the Lake Superior mines, and was one of the original corporators of the copper mines of that section, and of the Detroit and Lake Superior Copper Company, and established the Detroit Smelting Works. He was also one of the founders of the Fort Wayne and Elmwood Street Railway Company; was a director in the American National Bank, and of the corporation known as Parke, Davis & Co. He died January 3d, 1882, leaving a widow, three daughters and one son.
ALFRED RUSSELL.
Londonderry, New Hampshire, was founded by emigrants from the north of Ireland. They were of Scotch descent, and held to the Presbyterian faith, and having been engaged in the manufacture of linen, they brought with them many implements and established linen manufactories in the new settlement. Among the most influential of these were the Russell family, from whom is descended the subject of this sketch. His great grandfather was Captain John Russell, who was killed at the siege of Fort William Henry, in 1757, being the second in generation from these colonists. The son of Captain John Russell Moore, Russell, the son (and grandfather of Alfred), was a prominent member of the Governor's Council in New Hampshire for many years.
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He established a mercantile business at Plymouth, N. H., in 1798, which is still carried on by his descendants on the same spot. He reached the age of ninety-six. William W., the son, and the father of Alfred, was born in Plymouth, N. H., in 1801. In 1826 he married Susan Carleton Webster, who was born at Salisbury, N. H., in 1804. Her near kins- man, Daniel Webster, was born at the same place. The Websters were originally from Ispwich, Eng., from which place they emigrated in 1630, and settled and founded the town of Ispwich, Mass.
Mr. Russell had three brothers, of whom two are living. William is in business at the old place. Frank graduated at the United States Military Academy, West Point, in 1868, and entered the army. George P. practised law in Detroit in the firm of Newbury, Pond & Russell, and died in 1867.
After a preparatory course Mr. Russell entered Dartmouth col- lege, from which he graduated in 1850. After spending two years at Harvard Law school he came west, and located in Detroit in 1852, where he has since resided in the practice of his profession.
Socially and intellectually, Mr. Russell is held in high esteem, not only by the citizens of his adopted State and city, but by the cultivated and refined of the States west and east, in all of which his acquaintance is extensive and his friends numerous and influential.
Mr. Russell, as a law practioner, is the peer of any in the United States Supreme Court, the District and the courts of the western States. In politics Mr. Russell is an ardent, active Republican. In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln, United States District Attorney, which position he held for eight years. It was in the dis- charge of the official duties as United States District Attorney that he acquired not only a national reputation as far as his relations with our government were concerned, but his construction of international law gained for him a recognition by the English, French and German courts. It was during the late civil war that Secretary of State Seward gave him special powers and duties to perform, which called for the exercise of, and demonstrated his ability to cope with and suc- cessfully establish, the principles which should govern the adjustment of questions between nations when another is involved in domestic difficulties.
At one period during the civil war, raids were made by southern refugees upon St. Albans, Vt., and at points on Lake Erie. They were organized in Canada by authority of Jacob Thompson, Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy. These bands destroyed much property, and the question was as to the responsibilities of the foreign government which permitted the formation of such organizations within its territory. Among others of the notable results achieved through the instrumentality of Mr. Russell was the expulsion of Confederate
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agents the extradition of some of the parties who sought to cap- ture the United States war steamer Michigan, and the establishment of the principle upon which the Alabama Claims for pecuniary damages were awarded by the Geneva Commissioners.
Mr. Russell, whether in or out of court, is the polite and courteous gentleman, and is regarded as one of the most scholarly and learned lawyers in the State, his fine social qualities having secured him hosts of friends outside of the legal fraternity.
He resigned the office of District Attorney in 1869, since which time he has closely confined himself to general practice. He was chosen to deliver the oration at the dedication of the City Hall, July 4th, 1871. Before that he was invited to deliver the Commencement ora- tion at the University during the presidency of Tappan. In 1878 he delivered the oration at the Commencement of Dartmouth college, subject: "Some Effects of the Growth of Cities upon our Political System."
CAPTAIN JOHN W. HALL.
The Phoenicians navigated to the extremity of the Western Ocean. Drusus, the father of the Emperor Claudius, was the first who navigated the Northern Ocean. The first ship, properly so called, of the British navy, was built by Henry VII. The navy of Hiram brought gold from the mines of his country to King Solomon. Noah was the first ship- wright and navigator that we have any account of. The foregoing indicates the life followed by the subject of this sketch.
Captain John Warner Hall was born at Fort Erie, Canada, December 8th, 1813. His father, Cyrenius Hall, was born at Windsor, New Hampshire, in 1788. He was an own cousin of the late Judge Salmon P. Chase, of the United States Supreme Court. When a young man he removed to Fort Erie where he met and married Miss Julia Warren in 1812. Cyrenius Hall died in February, 1860. Julia Warren, his wife, soon followed him.
Captain John W., the subject of this sketch, received from his parents a fair English education, but early in life chose the profession of navigation. At the age of nineteen years he shipped aboard the schooner Billow, and continued to follow the water until 1863, mean- while commanding a number of different vessels. In that year he accepted the position of marine inspector and reporter at the port of Detroit, which he now holds.
In May, 1843, he married Miss Jane Eakins, of Westminster, Canada. She died in January, 1853, leaving three children, only one of whom is now living. He married the second time, Miss Christiana
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Shaw, of Houghton, Canada. In 1839 he came to Michigan and settled in Detroit, which, excepting a short interval, has been his home port ever since.
Captain Hall is not only master of the science of navigation theo- retically and practically, but is recognized by vessel owners and masters as authority on all matters relating thereto. He also possesses a knowledge of the build and record of all vessels of the lake marine from the earliest period when these waters were first navigated by white men. He can also name their owners and masters.
Captain Hall is still a hale, vigorous man physically and mentally. He has written an article on the growth of the vessel interest on the lakes which is an exceedingly interesting paper. He has long been a member of this Society.
WILLIAM B. WESSON.
Among the first to purchase and sub-divide lands in and adjacent to Detroit, with a view to enlarge and improve its boundaries and add to its buildings and population, was the firm of Crane & Wesson. Although the Hon. William Hale had made some purchases, he had not put them on the market in the systematic manner which Messrs. Crane & Wesson practiced. This firm, after a purchase of vacant property, laid it out in lots and at once offered it for sale. Their terms were liberal and only small annual payments were required, but the purchaser was to improve and erect a building for occupancy. This plan secured for the city a fixed and substantial population, interested in its growth and to the poor man a home, and thus laid the foundation for him to acquire the independence of a freeholder.
William B. Wesson, the junior member of this firm, was born in the town of Hardwick, Worcester county, Massachusetts, March 20th, 1820. He received an academic education. At this academy he had, among other classmates, the late Anson Burlingame, who secured for the Japanese commercial relations with the United States, England and other European nations, and it was while thus engaged with Russia he died at St. Petersburgh. Dr. Desnoyers, an old resident of Detroit, was also one of his schoolfellows.
After completing his term he decided to come west, and having acquaintances in Detroit he fixed upon it as a point for beginning the business which he has so long successfully prosecuted. For a time he was associated with the Hon. William Hale, and subsequently with F. J. B. Crane. Their connection continued for a series of years and to-day one can find Crane & Wesson's sub-divisions recorded as being located
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on most of the streets in the city, as well as in all its suburbs. During the whole of his active life he has never lost sight of whatever would best assist the moral as well as material growth of Detroit, hence his sympathy and encouragement to all objects having in view the establishment of churches, schools and industrial enterprises.
In politics he has always acted with the Republicans but is not inclined to active participation as such, preferring to discharge his political obligations in a quiet manner. In 1872 he was elected State senator from the First District of Wayne county, and although suffer- ing from ill health he performed his senatorial duties with honor to himself and to the satisfaction of his constituency.
As a citizen, Mr. Wesson enjoys the confidence and respect of all, as a business man of integrity and sagacity. He is the president of the Wayne County Savings Bank and of the Trust Security and Safe Deposit Company, was the promoter of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern railroad, and of the Hamtramck street railway, also of the Detroit Medical College.
DR. JAMES A. BROWN.
Extract from the resolutions adopted by the medical fraternity of Detroit, on the announcement of the decease of Dr. James A. Brown :
" In public as well as in private life he fulfilled the duties imposed upon him, whether by the general government, the State, the city, or a friend, with strict integrity. He was ever the honest man. No shadow of wrong-doing to his fellow man ever tarnished his reputation."
Dr. Brown was born at Charlton, Saratoga county, N. Y., October 8, 1817. He graduated at Fairfield Academy, N. Y., and afterwards studied medicine at Geneva and Albany medical colleges, taking his degree of M. D. at Willoughby Medical College in 1842. He practised at Chagrin Falls, Ohio, until 1847, when he, with Dr. E. M. Clark, removed to Detroit. During the years 1858 and 1875, he was Vice- President of the State Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical Association, also of the Detroit Medical Library Association, of which he was the first President.
In 1862 he was appointed Medical Pension Examiner, and was President of the Board, and at different times a Trustee of the Kala- mazoo and Pontiac Insane Asylums, Surgeon of the Marine Hospital, Physician to the House of Correction, and a member of the Detroit Board of Education, and has held other important offices.
Dr. Brown endeared himself to his patients by his kind and sym- pathizing manner, as well as by his skill in treating their bodily ills, they considered him not only as their physician but as their friend. By
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his medical brethren he was held in high esteem, and was never known to speak ill of any one. He had many friends aside from his patients, and none approached him without being impressed with his large- heartedness and honesty. His practice extended over a period of forty years, during which he acquired a fair competency.
He died May 22, 1882, at his residence on Lafayette avenue, leav- ing a widow and one son, Dr. Frank W. Brown, who has a lucrative practice, and bids fair to become as successful a practitioner as his father.
THOMAS FRAZER.
During the "Pretender " troubles the Frazer brothers, Andrew and David, left their native country, Scotland, and settled on lands in Edenderry, located between the villages of Loughbrickland and Scarva, County Down, Ireland, from whom the above named, Thomas Frazer, is descended, and who was born there April 9th, 1814. When he was quite a youth Ireland was being surveyed by the British gov- ernment under the supervision of Col. Sir Thos. Colby, Royal Engi- neers, in which service Mr. Frazer was employed as a civil engineer nearly eight years, in the counties of Down, Armagh, Louth and Meath. On the 16th of June, 1835, he was married by the Rev. Elias Thackeray, of Dundalk, to Miss Sarah Wells, of Dublin, who was born September 30th, 1815. Soon after their marriage they determined to emigrate to the United States, and on March 2d, 1837, they sailed from Drogheda to Liverpool, and from thence on the 13th, and landed in New York on the 2d of May, and came direct to Michigan, and for the ensuing thirty years Mr. Frazer was connected with the surveying, civil engineering, construction and working of the Southern and Central railroads of Michigan.
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