USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 37
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By Mr. Frazer's marriage with Miss Wells there are living a daugh- ter, Mrs. Stanton, and a son, Robert E. Frazer. He was born at Adrian October 2d, 1840. His mother died in 1849. On September 2d, 1852, Mr. Frazer was married by the Rev. Mr. Hills to Miss Cecilia Clancy, of Detroit, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1823. By this marriage there are three children living, viz .: Georgiana (Mrs. Chas. L. Clark), Lucius W. and Allan Howard. Mr. Frazer has resided in Detroit since 1844.
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DR. JOSEPH BAGG.
The name of Bagg is so familiar that a reminiscence of Wayne county and of its early residents would be incomplete without mention of this distinguished family.
Dr. Joseph Bagg was the grandson of Joseph Bagg who, with his four brothers, served in the Continental army during the struggle for American Independence, and the son of Abner Bagg and Eunice Hall, of Lainsborough, Massachusetts. He was born at this place December 2d, 1797, and with his parents removed to Oneida county, New York. At the age of seventeen he left the homestead and entered, as a student, the office of Dr. Luther B. Guiteau, of Trenton, N. Y., a physician of eminence in that portion of the State. With him he remained two years and entered the Fairfield Medical college, Herkimer county, from which he graduated in 1821, and forming a partnership with Dr. Smith, of Ogdensburg, commenced the practice of medicine, which he continued with marked success until 1823, when he married Miss Eliza Shelden, of New Hartford, Oneida county, N. Y. She was the daughter of James Sheldon, one of the earliest ettlers of Oneida county, and a captain of a Grenadier company during the Revolutionary War and was the son of the Rev. Dr. Sheldon, a celebrated divine of Troy. Her mother, Mary (Cheesborough) Lord, was a native of Providence, R. I. After his marriage, Dr. Bagg removed and practiced at Oxboro and Watertown, N. Y., until 1836, when he decided to come west, locating first at Cleveland, Ohio, from thence to Oswego, New York, and in 1838 came to Detroit. The Doctor held many responsible public positions in the city and State, which he filled with honor to himself and usefulness to the State and its citizens. He was a man of noble and generous impulses, with a fund of wit and original thought, which made him an entertaining com- panion, esteemed and loved by all who knew him.
The Doctor and Mrs. Bagg had six children. Mrs. Chas. Good- hue, of Owosso; Mrs. Cordial Stow, of Lewis county, New York; B. Rush Bagg, well known as the terror to violaters of law, as police judge of Detroit; Mrs. Charles J. Halliday, of Detroit, and George C. Halliday, of Syracuse, New York, and Mrs. Dr. William Cox, of Detroit. Dr. Bagg died at Ypsilanti, Michigan, November 2d, 1864.
DON M. DICKINSON.
" Neither my paternal grandfather nor my paternal great-grandfather, nor my maternal grandfather or maternal great-grandfather were natives of any but American soil."-Don M. Dickinson.
From the foregoing we may infer that the title, " An American citizen," is considered, by the subject of this sketch, more honorable
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than any that can be conferred by foreign prince or potentate, and that he has no desire to go beyond the sea to establish his ancestry as honorable.
Don M. Dickinson is the fourth representative of Michigan to be selected by the President of the United States as one of his advisers, Cass, McClellan and Chandler being the only members of the cabinet ever before chosen from Michigan.
Don M. Dickinson was born January 17th, 1846, at Port Ontario, Oswego county, N. Y. Col. Asa Dickinson, his father, was a native of Massachusetts, as was also his grandfather before him. He was born at Great Barrington, Berkshire county. In 1820 Colonel Dickinson explored the shores of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan in a birch bark canoe, and at that early day was so impressed with the future of Michigan that he determined to make it his home. He, how- ever, did not remove with his family until 1848, when he settled in St, Clair county.
The mother of Don was the daughter of the Rev. Jesseriah Holmes, a distinguished New England divine. The family name of Dickinson appears in the history of this country and in connection with important events, as actors and participators from 1620 to the present period. .The first of the name settling in the province of Massachussetts, John Dickinson, was a member of the Continental Congress of 1774, presi- dent of the Executive Council and one of the founders of Dickinson College, Penn. Daniel S. Dickinson, a member of the United States Senate from New York, and Jonathan Dickinson, who as far back as 1719 was Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, were all in the direct line related to the ancestors of the subject of this sketch.
Don M. Dickinson was but two years of age when brought to Michigan by his parents in 1848, so that he may well claim that it is as dear to him, as the New England States were to his ancestors.
The early childhood of Mr. Dickinson was thus spent upon the banks of the St. Clair river, and it was there he made the acquaintance of Aunt Emily Ward, for whom he still cherishes an almost reverential love and respect. Aunt Emily, in referring to him, says: "Don was not much like other boys. He was kind and chivalrous in disposition and manner, he did not engage in boyish amusements with the same zest as others of his age, but was inclined to read books and acquire infor- mation from his elders. He always exhibited affection and respect for me, and readily accepted my suggestions and advice. There was another peculiarity which I observed in Don when a boy: He was extremely methodical and systematic in all that he undertook or did, and earnest in his efforts to accomplish it."
Coming from such a source this portraiture of the boy furnishes an index to the man and his characteristics, which those who know him
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will bear witness, that he has given evidence of possessing to-day, and as developing a high sense of honor, fidelity to friends, sagacious judg- ment, a profound knowledge of law, integrity of purpose and action, and a courage and ability to maintain and defend any principle he may advance or cause he may undertake.
In his boyhood he acquired his primary education at the schools of St. Clair, and after advancing through the public schools of Detroit, took a year's instructions under a private teacher and entered the law department of the University of Michigan. He graduated from it prior to reaching his majority, and while waiting to reach the age permitting his admission to the bar, he spent the interval in studying the management of cases and the philosophy and logic of law practically applied.
He was admitted to the bar in 1867, when just past his 21st year, and at once entered upon a successful and lucrative practice, his clients, then and now, being representatives of the most substantial interests in this and the eastern States. Among the important cases which have been conducted by him, or in which he participated, are the following in the Supreme Court of the United States:
I. The great Telephone case, making the leading argument for Drawbaugh, associated with Senator Edmunds. Don M. Dickinson's argument stenographically reported and printed in full in 126, United States Reports.
2. The Schott & Feibish cases, involving a conflict between the jurisdiction of Michigan State Courts and the Federal Courts. State jurisdiction was sustained by Supreme Court after seven years' contest in the courts.
3. Paris, Allen & Co., vs. Wheeler & Garfield, involving the old Michigan Prohibitory Law.
4. Pewabic Mining case, involving validity of Michigan's corpor- ation Reorganization Act, and reversing Mr. Justice Matthews on the liability of directors after dissolution.
5. L. M. Bates & Co., vs. Peoples' Savings Bank of Detroit.
6. Hammond & Co., vs. Hastings, sustaining the lien of Michi- gan corporations on the stock of their stockholders against pledges of such stock for loans in other States, reversing Judge Gresham.
Among those of note in the Federal and State Courts are:
I. Lake Superior Ship Canal Company.
2. Ward Will case, as counsel for Emily Ward.
3. Campau Will case.
4. Johnson Will case.
In fact all of the leading cases under the Bankruptcy Act of 1867,
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as well as in almost every important litigation for fifteen years, he has been engaged on one side or the other, besides others of less general importance. Successful in all above, except the Telephone case, in which the Court divided and decision given by a mere majority of one.
In 1872, Mr. Dickinson entered somewhat into politics. His party recognizing in him a rare talent for combining influences, and utilizing them in such a harmonious manner as to make them one in securing a successful result, prevailed upon him to accept the secretaryship of the Democratic State Central Committee.
The service he rendered his party in this capacity established him as the leader of the young Democracy of this State, and gave him a national reputation as a wise and sagacious politician. Subsequently he was chosen to represent Michigan as a member of the National Democratic Committee. In this latter position his activity, earnestness and the comprehensive executive ability displayed in the devising and execution of plans, the providing means and their employment to pro- mote a given end, secured for him the respect of political opponents, the confidence of his political friends, and in 1886, led to his appointment by President Cleveland, to the office of Postmaster-General. That this high honor conferred upon Mr. Dickinson was considered as compli- mentary and shared in by the people of his adopted State, is evidenced by the fact that many of its prominent citizens, irrespective of party affiliations, united in tendering him a banquet on the occasion of his acceptance, and when on the eve of entering upon the duties of his office.
Mr. Dickinson's administration of the affairs of the Postoffice Department, and the reforms instituted for its conduct, received the commendation of the intelligent of all political parties, and gained for him a reputation for official astuteness in its management; for while the power and influence it invested was used in the interests of his political affiliations, no violence to the principle of official integrity or personal honor were ever charged. He conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of the public, and retired with a degree of popularity seldom achieved by public officials.
At the close of his term of office he returned to Detroit and resumed the active practice of his profession.
In reviewing the history of Mr. Dickinson and bringing it down to the present period, we have simply detailed the most prominent inci- dents and circumstances connected with his boyhood, early manhood, and the influence they have had in shaping and placing him in the enviable position he occupies to-day before the present generation. The future will, perhaps, judge him by what he develops hereafter, based upon the personal traits of character as exhibited heretofore; and
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therefore as a guide, and with no fulsomeness, we make up what the physician terms a "diagnosis," to serve those who may come after us in their estimate of the man physically, morally and intellectually.
Physically, Mr. Dickinson approaches six feet in height, and is well proportioned, his carriage is erect, and step firm, indicating self- reliance, divested of haughtiness. Observed, as he walks upon the streets, he appears absorbed in thought, but when addressed, his whole attention is arrested, his full, round, and pleasant hazel eyes, concentrate and fix themselves as if to determine and divine the inmost thought of the one addressing him. The conformation of his face and head is of the Grecian type; his hair and beard are auburn; and the expression of his countenance beams with kindness, courtesy and benevolence.
In character, Mr. Dickinson is distinguished by many strong and prominent points. As stated, he is emphatically self-reliant, depending on his own resources in the accomplishment of his plans and purposes. The earnestness of his temperament is indicated in all that he undertakes. Whatever his hands find to do he does with all his might. Such is the enthusiasm of his nature, that he kindles a warm sympathy in his favor, and greatly aids in carrying forward what he deems his life's work. To selfishness, he is an entire stranger. His manner, while evincing cultivation, is gentle and courteous, offensive to none, but attractive to all. He is especially gracious to the worthy unfortunates; careful of their rights, and considerate of their feelings. The most noble of his qualities, however, are his attachments for his boyhood friends, and the associations connected therewith, of which the following telegram addressed to Aunt Emily Ward, on her 80th birthday, when he occu- pied the exalted position of Postmaster-General, is evidence :
WASHINGTON, March 16, 1885.
" EMILY WARD,-Among the thousands who congratulate you to-day, and who have been made better and happier by the event of eighty years ago, I ask to be counted as one of Aunt Emily's boys. Mrs. Dickinson joins me in congratulations and affectionate regards.
"DON M. DICKINSON."
(The above is quoted to show that he has not become unbalanced or infatuated because of his eminent success.) Mr. Dickinson is esteemed by his legal brethren, as is shown by the deference they give to his opinions, and the warm, personal friendship they manifest.
J. W. Donovan, a well-known law writer, in his work on Trial Practice, says : " Mr. Don M. Dickinson, by far the most distinguished young lawyer in the State, wins large cases by a kindly, affable manner, that makes him the warm friend of the court, jury and clients. As a sagacious, business lawyer, he has no superior."
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So far as our cognizance extends, his boyhood, early and later manhood, furnish an exemplification of what constitutes an American or Yankee citizen, imbued with the principles : "That all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
June 15, 1869, Mr. Dickinson married Miss Frances L. Platt, the daughter of Dr. Platt, of Grand Rapids, and a granddaughter of Dr. Brigham, of Ann Arbor, a well-known and justly distinguished physician and surgeon, who, as a contemporary with the compiler's father, and Valentine Mott, of the New York Hospital, in 1813, insti- tuted certain reforms in the treatment of contagious and inceptive dis- eases, and the abolishment of the application of hot iron to arrest hemorrhage in amputations, which have since become arbitrary.
ELISHA TAYLOR.
Elisha Taylor, of Detroit, Mich., was born May 14th, 1817, in Charlton, Saratoga county, New York.
His ancestor was the Norman Baron Taillefer, who accompanied William the Conqueror, in his invasion of England, and was slain in his presence in the van of his army at the battle of Hastings, on Saturday, October 14th, 1066. The family received from the Conqueror large landed estates in the county of Kent, England. Hanger Taylefer, his descendant, held lands in the tenure of Ospring, Kent county, A. D. 1256, and from him about one hundred years later we have John Taylor in the homestall in Schodochurst, Kent county, and from him the possession is perfectly traced through William, John William, John, John, John, Mathew, to Edward Taylor, of Brigg's House, York county, England, residing in London, who came over with his family in the year 1692 and settled in Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, and became a large landholder. John Taylor, of the fifth generation from and including the emigrant, removed from Freehold, New Jersey, to the new country in the State of New York, in 1774, and settled in Charlton, Saratoga county. He was a judge of the county court from 1808 to 1818 and died April 26th, 1829, at the home of his son, Hon. John W. Taylor, who was a member of Congress from Saratoga county, N. Y., twenty consecutive years, from 1813 to 1833, and twice speaker of the House of Representatives in the Congress of the United States.
Elisha Taylor, son of William and Lucy Taylor, and a grandson of said Judge John Taylor, was born May 14th, 1817, in Charlton, pre- pared for college at Hamilton Academy, Madison county, N. Y., entered Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., September, 1833,
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graduated in 1837, and was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the highest college honor. He became principal of a select school at Athens, Green county, N. Y., and continued there until May, 1838, when he came to Detroit, Mich., via Niagara Falls, by railroad, canal boat, stage and steamboat, arriving in Detroit, June 6th, 1838, and stopped at the Michigan Exchange Hotel, then kept by Mr. Dibble. The dining table was filled with young men. Though a stranger, yet a young man sent him a bottle of champaign for his own use, with his compliments, at his first dinner at the hotel. He had no acquaintances in Detroit. He had strong letters of recommendation from President Eliphalet Nott, D. D. and LL. D., Alonzo Potter, D. D., his uncle, Hon. John W. Taylor, and others, but refused to use any of them, determined to stand on his own bottom and work his way up. This was unwise. He purchased a pony and spent two months on horse- back traveling over the eastern half of the settled part of the lower peninsular of Michigan. In August he came to Detroit to stay and work and make his own way in the world. As he earned money, he paid for a farm at Grand Blanc, Genesee county, Mich., one-tenth of which he had inherited, and was a farmer a part of each year for twenty years, working with his own hands. He entered the office of P. Morey, Esq., the Attorney-General of Michigan, as student and clerk in August, 1838, and had plenty of hard work which was always finished satisfactorily. He was admitted as an attorney at law in May, 1839, and became a partner of the Attorney-General. While young he once said to a companion : " I never spend all I make and I have some- thing over every year, and I keep on hand one hundred dollars to 'run away with' if necessary."
Elisha Taylor was City Attorney of Detroit in 1843, member of the Board of Education, 1843-45; married Aurelia H. Penfield 1844, Master in Chancery, 1842-46; Register of United States Land Office at Detroit, 1846-49; Clerk of the Supreme Court of Michigan, 1848-49; Circuit Court Commissioner, Injunction Master, Judge at Chambers, 1846-50; Receiver of the United States Land Office, Detroit, 1853-57; United States agent for paying pensions, 1854-57; United States Depositary of Public Moneys collected in Michigan, Northern Ohio and Indiana, 1853-57; an elder in Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian church, Detroit, 1856-89; a commissioner from the Presbytery of Detroit, to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in the United States in 1886 at Harrisburg, and in 1884 at Saratoga Springs; presi- dent of the Presbyterian Alliance of Detroit in 1879 and 1885; presi- dent of the Detroit City Mission Board, 1866-67, organized by the churches and charitable societies for the moral and physical improve- ment of the poor and afflicted in Detroit.
Ill health compelled him, about 1851, to abandon active practice as
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a lawyer and for six months he went to his farm at Grand Blanc and worked daily on his farm in the field and with pluck and perseverence through tribulations, he recovered a good degree of physical health and strength which, with constant care, he has maintained.
Before the civil war of 1861-65 Mr. Taylor was a Democrat. He at all times sustained the United States government in the vigorous prosecution of the war, and in the darkest days, when the government declared that pecuniary aid from private citizens would be accepted, he, with his wife, deposited $8,000 with the United States Treasurer at New York, which was afterwards repaid with interest at 4 per cent. per annum.
The Detroit Free Press, in a sketch of the life of Mr. Taylor, published August 25th, 1889, closed with these words: " Dignified and of fine personal appearance, neat in attire and courteous in manner, his figure is one of the best known among the old citizens of Detroit. A man of strict integrity and exacting full faith and performance from others, he is fair minded and well entitled to the high position he occu- pies in this community."
His wife, Aurelia H. Penfield, daughter of Thomas and Aurelia H. Penfield, of Schoharie, N. Y., was born October Ist, 1821, was married to Elisha Taylor, September 3d, 1844, and came immediately to Detroit to reside. Three children were born to them. De Witt H. Taylor, Mary Amelia Taylor and Frank Augustus Taylor. The two latter died within two years after their birth.
Mrs. Taylor was an excellent wife and mother and they had a very happy married life together of forty-four years. She died in Detroit, November 22nd, 1888. The following editorial in a Detroit paper was published November 23d, 18SS, in memoriam of her:
"Mrs. Elisha Taylor, whose death occurred yesterday, came to Detroit a bride in 1844, a beautiful girl. She was refined, accom- plished, kind and considerate, and helpful to those she could benefit.
"Mrs. Taylor joined the First Presbyterian church when she came to Detroit and afterwards, in 1854, was one of the forty-six persons who organized the Jefferson Avenue Presbyterian church, and for thirty-six years she was a capable, faithful and efficient member in the church and Sunday school and Ladies' Society of that congregation.
" Her kindness and persistence in visiting families who were indif- ferent to church privileges, or who felt too poor to secure a pew in church, resulted in forming friendships which were helpful and bene- ficial. She was for twenty-five years an efficient worker and wise counselor in the Detroit Industrial School. She was conscientious, courageous and constant in all duties and obligations, and commanded the esteem and confidence of those who knew her well, and her kind-
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ness to those who endeavored to improve their condition was habitual and without ostentation. She was partially paralyzed in June, 1884, and has been an invalid since that time.
" Last summer she took an extensive tour in quest of health, and came home quite invigorated. This was to a large extent neutralized by the shock of finding, on her return home, her only brother dead. A slight cold she took on November 12th was followed by heart failure, and on November 22nd she died of blood poisoning. She passed away at her late home, on Alfred street, sincerely mourned by her many friends."
De Witt H. Taylor, the only surviving child, was educated in the Detroit Union and High schools, and at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1860 to 1871, and was then admitted to the bar as an attorney and counsellor at law. He was then engaged in successful mercantile business for three years and in 1874-75 he spent fifteen months in travels in Europe, Asia and Africa, and since then has been in active business in Detroit, a worthy, efficient and reliable man.
FUDGE HALMOR H. EMMONS.
We think it was Wheatley, who said that "Mental pleasures never clog; unlike those of the body's, they are increased by repetition, approved of by reflection, and strengthened by employment."
The life of the subject of this sketch, demonstrated the power of the mind over the body. His mental reflections rendered him oblivious to physical pain. Present him a question involving principles of law, ethics, or common sense, and the pleasure of solving them destroyed consciousness of bodily suffering.
Halmor Hull Emmons, was of English descent on the paternal side, and French Huguenot, on the maternal, was born at Keesville, in northern New York, in November, 1814, and was therefore not yet sixty-three years of age at the time of his death. His father was of the same profession in which the son attained such eminence, and was the editor of a rural newspaper, and he thus acquired the rudiments of an education which was of great service to him in after life. He worked three days a week in the office, and devoted the other three days to study, and, by rising at four or five o'clock in the morning, kept pace with the more fortunate pupils who spent the whole week in school.
Before he attained his majority, he entered the law office of Messrs. Stowe & Stetson, at Keesville, where he rapidly mastered the elemen- tary principles of the law, and, as an office lawyer, was noted for his ability in the preparation of briefs, particularly when the prospect of a
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warm contest incited him to great efforts. After a two years' stay in Keesville, he removed to Essex, N.Y., where he spent two years in the law office of Hon. Henry H. Ross, and then moved to Cleveland, and formed a professional connection in that city. His father had but a short time before moved to Detroit, and having been admitted to the bar in early life, in New York State, resumed the practice of the law in this city. He sent for young Halmor to come under the family roof- tree, and go into partnership with him, and the son obeyed his father's request, though with some reluctance, as his prospects in Ohio were already quite promising. The father and son were not long in practice before they were retained for the plaintiffs in the celebrated case of Fitch & Gilbert vs. Newberry Goodell (reported in Ist Douglas, Mich. Rep. I). The case created intense interest at the time, and was the theme of much newspaper controversy. The renown attending this case was followed by a rapid professional rise.
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