USA > Michigan > Hillsdale County > Compendium of history and biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan > Part 18
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Mr. Grosvenor was married on February 22, 1844, to Miss Sally Ann Champlin, a daughter of Hon. Elisha l'. Champlin, one of the first set- tlers in Lenawee county. They have one child, a daughter, who was married in 1873 to Charles E. White, of Jonesville, where they are living in a pleasant home enlivened by the presence of their two sons, Charles Grosvenor and Oliver S. White. Mrs. Grosvenor is a devout Presbyterian. Mr. Grosvenor being also a regular attend- ant of that church. For more than three score years this meritorious couple have walked life's troubled way together, sustaining and aiding each other, presenting a beautiful example of peaceful and happy domestic life.
From his advent into the county, Mr. Gros- venor has been active and conspicuous in public affairs and he has many times been called upon to do valuable work in public office. In the long 1 ccord of his public life no odium has ever been attached to his name, no selfish motives have been imputed to him, no charge of infidelity to a trust has ever been made against him, and he has had full credit for a wide knowledge of affairs, a clearness and correctness of judgment concerning them, a firm and unwavering adherence to his convictions about them and a high order of ca- pacity and executive ability in maintaining and establishing his views and securing desired re- sults. He was at an early day elected in turn to every important office in the township, being the first supervisor after Fayette township was organized, in this office following a term as su- pervisor before the new township was made. In 1858 he was elected to the State Senate ; in 1861 he was commissioned colonel on the staff of Gov- ernor Blair and also received an appointment on the military contract board, of which he was made president, and he afterward held the posi- tion of president of the state military board. In
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1862 he again became State Senator and he took an important part in the legislation of the ensu- ing sessions as the chairman of the committee on finance.
Mr. Grosvenor was elected lieutenant gover- nor in 1864 on the ticket with Governor Crapo, and, by virtue of this office, he was president of the Senate during the ensuing term and also of the state board of equalization in 1866. In the fall of 1868 he was elected state treasurer, and he discharged the duties of this office so well and displayed such a high order of capacity for them, that he was kept in the position by succes- sive reelections until 1871. In April of that year he was appointed a member of the board of state building commissioners, created for the purpose of erecting a new state capitol, his appointment being confirmed in a joint session of the two houses, of the Legislature without a dissenting vote. He became the vice-president of this board and its presiding officer in the absence of the governor. His work on this commission was of the most efficient and satisfactory character. The building itself, which seems to have met every requirement and satisfied every judicious critic, and with which no fault was found even by the carping or hypercritical, stands forth as the best evidence of the wisdom and skill which were invoked in its construction, and the business capacity which presided over every part of its creation from foundation to capstone. During the period of the commission's existence 147 meetings were held, of which 103 were regular and forty-four special, occupying in all 258 days. The commission never failed to have a quorum in attendance, and, in no case during the whole progress of the work, was any contractor or oth- er person, having a claim against the state on account of the construction of the capitol, obliged to wait,, even a day, by reason of failure of the board to meet and act upon the claim. The com- missioners not only saw that the work was well done, but, what is very unusual with a large structure, public or private, they kept the costs within the estimates and appropriations. In each one of five different funds there was a small bal- ance when the building was turned over to the
state. Out of the appropriations, aggregating $1,430,000, there was a total balance exceeding $4,000 thus remaining. The whole work of the commission was a notable instance of systematic and faithful attention to official duty. Since the papers relating to the capitol construction were sealed up and filed with the secretary of state in May, 1879. it has never been necessary to reopen them in order to settle any question or claim.
The state of Michigan is also greatly indebt- ed to Mr. Grosvenor for faithful and efficient service in behalf of her great university at Ann Arbor. In the spring of 1879 he was elected a regent of that institution, and in January, 1880 he took his seat. In this connection he soon had another opportunity to do the state good serv. ice. The Rose-Douglas controversy was then at its height and the quarrel was injuring the uni- versity, both in the Legislature and with the public. Mr. Grosvenor was earnestly importuned by both sides of the controversy to commit him- self to their views, but he could not be manip- ulated. He investigated for himself and con- cluded that the interest of the state would be best served by bringing the whole matter to a speedy termination. His old associate. Mr. Shearer, who had been elected as a regent at the same time, accepted his conclusions and the two carried through the board a resolution which stopped the wasteful expenditures for litigation and soon put the matter at rest. During the eight years of his tenure of this position he served as the chairman of the financial commit- tee, was a member of the executive committee for four years, while for six he was chairman of the medical committee. He served without com- pensation and his zeal was commensurate in ev- ery way with his disinterestedness and unselfish- ness. During the early history of Hillsdale Col lege he served for several years as a trustee of that institution.
In fraternal relations Mr. Grosvenor has been a member of the Masonic order since 1855, a pe- riod of nearly half-a-century, and he has always been ardent in devotion and faithful in service to the fraternity. He is also an Odd Fellow and was a charter member of the lodge of this or-
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der organized at Jonesville in 1840. Since the formation of the Republican party in 1854 hie has been a staunch and loyal member of that organization, before that time being a Whig in political faith. For nearly the entire duration of a human life, as fixed by the sacred writer, Mr. Grosvenor has lived and labored among his peo- ple. Among them all there is none but does hin reverence. If asked for an example of her best citizenship in every way, the state of Michigan can exultingly point to him.
HON. GUY C. CHESTER.
Hon. Guy C. Chester, judge of the First Ju- dicial Circuit. one of the youngest judges in the state, perhaps the youngest the circuit ever had, is a native of Camden. Hillsdale county, born on March 10, 1859. His parents were Frederick and Martha (Fowle) Chester, the former a native of New York and the latter of Hillsdale county. The father came to Hillsdale county in 1833. Their son, the Judge, received his early educa- tion in the public schools of his native place and completed his scholastic training at Hillsdale Col- lege, meanwhile working between times on the home farm, and at intervals teaching school. He took a business course at Toledo, Ohio, and then was a cultivator of the soil until 1884. In that year he entered the law office of E. L. Koon, Esq., as a student, and, after a due course of study, was admitted to practice in 1886. He remained in Mr. Koon's office and there began his practice. His rise in his profession was rapid and continu- ous. The first year after his admission to the bar he was elected circuit court commissioner for a term of two years, thereafter being reelected for a second term. Later he was made city attorney and served in that capacity for two terms. In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney for the county and was reelected at the end of his term. In 1897 he was appointed circuit judge to hold office until the next general election to fill the un- expired term of Hon. Victor H. Lane, and, in 1898, he was elected to this office for the unex- pired term of two years, and, at its close in 1900, he was chosen to the same office for a term of six years.
Judge Chester has always been an ardent Re- publican in politics, has rendered his party valu- able service on the hustings from time to time, and, at all times, he has had a potential voice in its councils. He was chairman of the county committee in 1896, the trying year of the silver issue, and, by his aggressiveness and his wisdom, his untiring zeal and his capacity as a tactician, his personal influence and his knowledge of men. he greatly aided in winning a signal victory for his cause. For years he has been a zealous and devoted Freemason, showing his interest in the fraternity by a constant attention to its welfare, by valuable service in behalf of its progress and by insisting on the maintenance of a high stand- ard of excellence in every phase of its life. In the lodge he has filled important offices, in the chapter he has well and wisely administered the functions of every leading position, in the com- mandery he has occupied the highest offices with credit to himself and benefit to the organization. He is also a noble of the Mystic Shrine, the re- nowned social body of this order. The only other fraternal order to which he belongs is that of the Knights of Pythias. In 1893 the Judge was united in marriage with Miss Martha Frank- hauser, a sister of W. H. Frankhauser, of whom a sketch appears in another part of this work. Judge Chester has two daughters, Dorothy and Helen.
PROF. CHARLES H. GURNEY.
Public education in America is the sheet anchor on which the Ship of State relies with con- fidence and hope. The Fathers of the Republic proclaimed it a necessary constituent of popular government. The experience of more than a hundred years has proven the wisdom of their contention. While they exhibited abundant so- licitude for the higher halls of learning, they much more insisted on schools for the masses, be- lieving that even the commonest sense of the plain people might not be safely relied upon for a wise exercise of citizenship without some training for its duties. Judicious attention to the natural evo- lutions in this department of the science of gov- ernment has brought about a close relationship
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and a mutual dependence between the higher and the common schools; and, among the best representatives and most careful conservators of this helpful union, is Prof. Charles H. Gurney, now the acting president of Hillsdale College. As an educator he is almost wholly a product of the public school system of this country, as a col- lege professor he is broad, progressive and wise, combining in his views and methods the most useful features of the two lines of pedagogical activity.
Professor Gurney was born at Stanfordville, Dutchess county, New York, on July 17, 1847, the son of Benjamin A. and Caroline E. (Hull) Gurney, who were also natives of that State. The father passed much of his life in the nursery busi- ness, but is now merchandising in llinois. His an- cesters were English Quakers, some of whom found a peaceful and profitable residence in this country about 1750. From that time the family has been prominent in commercial, industrial and social life wherever its members have lived in the United States. The Professor passed the first ten years of his life in his native place 'with- out incident worthy of note, or different from those in the lives of other country boys of that section, at the end of that period removing with the rest of the family to Henry county, Illinois, In that state he continued at the public schools the education he had begun in those of New York, remaining at home until 1868, when he came to Michigan and matriculated at Hillsdale College, from which alma mater he was gradu- ated in 1873, having in the meantime taught school and worked at various other occupations to earn the money necessary to complete his course. In 1874 he again began teaching, being employed at Salem, Nebraska, as principal of the schools for two years. He then removed to Iowa and became the principal of the Villisca schools.
Holding the position for four years, at the end of this time of service he took up his residence at Shenandoah, Iowa, there to serve as city super- intendent for eight years. 'His next place of use- fulness was Marengo, Iowa, where he rendered three years of excellent service as city superin- tendent. In 1891 he came to Hillsdale and ac-
cepted the position of principal of the normal de- partment of Hillsdale College, and also became alumni professor of belles-lettres. In the fall of 1901, he became the acting president of the col- lege, a position which he has held without inter- ruption since that date. During the many years of his service as school superintendent in various places he was almost continually employed in in- stitute work, laboring effectively in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, winning high commendation as a successful and popular insti- tute director. The Professor married on April 3, 1878, at Salem, Nebraska, with Miss Mary A. Rising, a native of Illinois. They have three chil- dren, daughters, May B., F. Ethel and Ruth R.
In educational circles throughout a wide ex- tent of country Professor Gurney is well and fa- vorably known as a far-seeing and highly pro- ductive pedagogical force, and, at the college over which he presides, he has given strong proofs of his executive ability, business capacity and accu- rate knowledge of human nature; while in the social circles of the city and county all of the members of the family are most highly esteemed for their culture, genial dispositions, agreeable manners and winning graces of every kind, ex- hibited in a social atmosphere wherein the stand- ard is elevated and the taste exacting.
DR. ALONZO CRESSY.
The community in which the late Dr. Alonzo Cressy so long lived and labored, felt when he died that a superior man had passed away. He was a native of Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, born on November 26, 1808. From his earliest years he evinced unusual mental activity, an insatiable thirst for knowledge. His oppor- tunities for education at the schools were, how- ever, limited, comprising only the facilities afford- ed by the unsettled frontier at that period of more than ordinary depression and poverty in our his- tory which succeeded the War of 1812. By great exertion on his part and well-chosen sacrifice on that of some of his family, he was able to supple- ment the meager instruction he had acquired by an attendance of two years at a select school in
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the town of Skaneateles; the rest of his mentar development and knowledge of mankind, low- ever, came through the hard discipline of the ex- acting but effective school of experience, which was so complete and thorough that, at the age of sixteen, he was able to begin the study of his pro- fession and to complete the usual preparatory reading and attend two full courses of lectures at the Fairfield Medical College by the time he was nineteen, then passing the required examina- tion for the degree of M. D. Under the rules of this institution his diploma was withheld until he was of full legal age, but, soon after leav- ing the college, he began practicing his profes- sion at Lima, N. Y., and. two years later, when he received his diploma, he married with a daugli- ter of Dr. Justin Smith, of that town. In 1831. before he was twenty-three, he left Lima and came to Clinton in Lenawee county, this state, and here began an active practice.
The next year, 1832, was memorable in west- ern history for the outbreak of the Black Hawk War and the prevalence of the cholera. Doc- tor Cressy, in the capacity of a medical practition- er, accompanied a detachment of troops in their march through the wilderness to Chicago, there to meet General Scott and assist in repelling an expected attack upon the Rock River settlements. Many of the troops suffered severely from the fa- tigue and exposure of the march, and six of their number died within six hours after their arrival at the cholera hospital in Chicago. The Doctor was appointed chief medical officer of the camp, and, in the cholera hospital, he had ample oppor- tunity to study the dread malady, which he did to such good purpose, that, in the autumn of the year, General Scott offered him a choice of po- sitions if he would remain with the troops, but he preferred to return to his family. In 1836 he was elected to the Territorial Legislature and was of great service to the people in securing proper legislation for the educational interests of the ter- ritory and through the passage of the law provid- ing for a geological survey, which was the means of bringing Michigan's great mineral resources to the notice of the world.
Doctor Cressy took up his residence at Hills-
dale in 1844, being then thirty-six years old. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate and, near the close of the ensuing session, in the absence of the lieutenant-governor, he was chosen to pre- side over the body. His most considerable and most appreciated service in his senatorial term was procuring the enactment of a law providing for the organization of a college at Hillsdale and for the completion of the temporarily abandoned building intended as its seat. This bill lie carried through the legislature in the face of strenuous opposition from the friends of the State Univer- sity, and thus secured the establishment here of the institution which has poured such widening streams of benefaction out among the people of this and surrounding counties. In carly and mid- (lle life Doctor Cressy was an anti-slavery Whig, remaining loyal to that party until the Republican organization rose Phoenix-like from its ashes, when he joined the new political entity to which, until his death, he gave earnest support.
When the long-impending cloud of sectional war broke in full fury on our unhappy country, lis son, Justin Smith Cressy, who had seen serv- ice in the Mexican War when a mere lad, enlisted in the Twenty-first Massachusetts Infantry, went to the front with General Burnside, was in the front rank of the unrolling columns in many bloody engagements, falling, badly wounded, at Chantilly, on September 1, 1862, not far from the spot on that disastrous battlefield which was hal- lowed by the expiring agonies of Gen. Phil Kear- ney. For two days and nights young Cressy lay tinattended within the enemy's lines, but at last he was relieved by the ministrations of a Confederate surgeon and was paroled on the next day. He was taken to the hospital on September 8, where. on October 2, he died. Before his death he had won the commission of lieutenant in General Reno's brigade. His colonel said of him: "He has proven himself intelligent, faithful and brave."
Doctor Cressy, from the time of his location at Hillsdale, was diligent and faithful in the prac- tice of his profession, going promptly and un- obtrusively where duty called him, everywhere inspiring hope by his presence, dispensing bless-
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ings by his sagacity and skill as a practitioner. On the morning of March 22, 1881, he received his summons to lay down his trust, and departed this life, leaving behind him his faithful wife, who had walked life's way through sunshine and through shadow with him for fifty-two years, and two married daughters, Mrs. R. G. Wilbur, of Hillsdale, and Mrs. J. B. Fuller, of San Francis- co, Calif. Doctor Cressy's daughter, Mary Irene, died on September 8, 1867, at an early age, just as life seemed brightest; of her, sweet remem- brances will live in many hearts until they cease to beat.
The interest of Doctor Cressy in public affairs, especially in everything involving the welfare and general progress of the community, was strong and abiding. He was twice president of the mu- nicipality of Hillsdale, dignifying this office and conducting its affairs with signal ability and con- scientious devotion to the public weal. His ex- tensive reading, his ripe scholarship and his vast fund of general information made him an indus- trious and also a valued contributor to the pub- lic journals of his time and section, and his ar- ticles were eagerly read and highly prized. In domestic life, in professional work, in social cir- cles and in political activities he was a model among men, and, to the end of his days, he was firmly fixed in the high and universal esteem of the people, being everywhere looked up to as one of the leading citizens of the county, one of the best and most useful of men.
PELEG ASH.
In many families for generations the element of tragedy is strong and ever present, destroying hope after hope and driving men and women to other resources and lines of activity with rapid succession. It was so in the case of Peleg Ash, one of the best-known farmers and most repre- sentative men of Jefferson township in Hillsdale county. 'He was born in Lenawee county, this state, on September 30, 1843, the son of John and Esther (Haviland) Ash. His father was a native of England and his mother of New York. His paternal grandfather was killed by fire-damp 8
in the coal mines of England, and the widow died when her children were quite young. When the father of Mr. Ash was fifteen, in company with a brother who was a year and somewhat more younger, he came to Quebec, and from there they made their way by work to Michigan, and here found employment as farm laborers on the home- stead of Peleg C. Haviland, a prosperous farmer of Lenawee county, whose daughter John Ash afterwards married. . He resided in that county until 1852, when he came to Hillsdale county and purchased the very farm of 100 acres on which his son, Peleg, now lives. There was a small log house on the land in which his family was sheltered, and he here set to work with diligence and assiduous labor to clear the land and make them a home. But in December of that same year. he died, leaving his widow with seven small children to rear and support in the almost un- broken wilderness. She was, however, a woman of resolute spirit and unfailing courage, and gave herself to the task before her with com- mendable cheerfulness and energy. In time she paid for the land and saw her children engaged in useful occupations, well established in public esteem and ranking among the useful and pro- ductive elements of society around her. Some time after the death of her first husband she mar- ried with Thomas Partridge, who died two years after the marriage, leaving one child, Thomas Partridge. And a few years later she married William Brant, who died soon after the wedding, leaving her a widow for the third time. In re- ligious belief she was a Quaker and strongly de- voted to the faith. Her death occurred on De- cember 5, 1902.
Peleg Ash grew to manhood on the family homestead, and aided in its cultivation. After reaching years of maturity, in association with his brother, John, he bought the interests of the other heirs, and these two still own the place, to which they have since added IOI acres by purchase, aggregating now 201 acres. Mr. Aslı married in 1863 Miss Ellen C. Decker, a daugh- ter of Hiram and Harriet (Loomis) Decker, early settlers in Jefferson township. Three children have blessed their union, John H., James L. and
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Alwillda B., wife of E. H. Raymond. In poli- tics Mr. Ash is a Republican, but not an active partisan. He belongs to the Masonic order, and both himself and wife are charter members of the local grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, No. 182, at Jefferson.
John W. Ash, a brother of Peleg, was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1845, and came to Hillsdale county with the other members of the family in 1852. He attained manhood on the farm under the same circumstances as dil his brother, and, as he did, aided in its clearing and in the carrying on of its operations under the direction of their mother. He was married in Hillsdale county, in 1869, to Miss Cordelia J. Decker, a sister of his brother's wife, and they also have three children, Harriet E., wife of W. M. Morgan; Lottie M., wife of B. L. Snyder ; William L. Originally Mr. Ash was a Whig in politics, but when the party was superseded by the Republican he joined the new organization and has ever since been a true and loyal adherent of its principles, giving to its candidates an caril- est support, but seeking none of its favors for himself. Both husband and wife are charter members of the Jefferson grange, and Mr. Aslı is an active working member of the Masonic fra- ternity. He has a one-half interest in the home farm, which he and his brother are carrying on jointly with success and a cumulative prosperity.
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