USA > Michigan > Bay County > History of Bay County, Michigan, and representative citizens > Part 59
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The parents of Mr. Timm came to America in 1871, joining him in Bay County. Both father and mother lived to a good old age,
FRANK C. MERRILL
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dying in their 84th and 82nd years respectively. Their declining years had been made comforta- ble by their children, seven of whom came to America ; one remained in Germany.
Our subject was the fourth member of the family and the second of the three sons. When he landed in America in 1866, he came directly to Bay City and secured work in the sawmills. He was an industrious employee of the mills and was careful in saving his money so that when he was ready to settle down to farming, he had accumulated enough capital to buy well- situated land. About 10 acres of the 40 of his first purchase had been cleared, but the rest was all covered with stumps and brush. To look over his well-cultivated fields one can scarcely realize that only 15 years have passed since all this property was wild and uncleared. Mr. Timm has made excellent improvements here, building a comfortable house and barns and setting out an orchard which has added materially to his income. A few words tell of all this, but it has taken many days of hard work to bring about the present condition of things and much credit is due Mr. Timm for what he has accomplished by his good manage- ment.
At Bay City on August 8, 1872, Mr. Timm was married to Josephine Cook, who was born September 15, 1852, in Delaware. She came to Bay City with her parents, Fred and Chris- tine Cook, when a child of three years. Her father was born in Germany and when 20 years old came to America and located in Delaware, where he married. He died at Bay City in 1902 and his wife died when Mrs. Timm was II years old. Their children were: Bertha, deceased at the age of 21 years; Charles, of Bay City; August, of Hampton township; Emma; Amelia and Ameil (twins) ; Birney ; Laura; Oscar; Esther; and four who died in infancy. Mr. Timm lost his first wife,
formerly Minnie Raut, and two children, when living in South Bay City.
In politics, Mr. Timm is a Republican and he takes much interest in township affairs. He is one of the leading trustees of the German Methodist Church at Bay City. As a citizen and as a neighbor, Mr. Timm is well-thought of by all who know him. He is spoken of as a man whose word is always as good as his bond, which is pretty high praise.
RANK C. MERRILL, postmaster at Bay City, Michigan, and a citizen of enterprise and public spirit, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was born in Bay County, Michigan, October 27, 1871, and is a son of H. P. Merrill.
The late H. P. Merrill was one of the most prominent citizens of Bay City, where his death took place in November, 1891, at the age of 50 years. He is survived by his widow and two children : Frank C. and Mrs. Carroll Win- diate, of Bay City. Mr. Merrill came to Bay City in 1870 and became a member of the wholesale grocery firm of Gustin, Merrill & Company, which was succeeded by Merrill & Fifield, with establishment located at the cor- ner of Fourth and Water streets. For years he was president of the first Chamber of Com- merce of Bay City and a director in the Sec- ond National Bank. His business energy was felt in all civic movements and he was justly considered a valued citizen. He served as an officer in the Civil War and the H. P. Merrill Post, G. A. R., was named in his honor. He was also an active member in the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and a Republican party leader.
Frank C. Merrill was reared at Bay City and attended the common and high schools
27
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here and subsequently spent one year at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, coming home before graduation on account of the death of his father. He is a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity. In 1892 he bought an interest in the Times-Press, and in 1901 he bought the paper outright and until March, 1903, continued the publication of the Times- Press, the Sunday Times and the Weekly Jour- nal. Upon his appointment by President Roosevelt as postmaster at Bay City, he sold his papers to the Detroit Evening News.
Mr. Merrill owns a very attractive home in Bay City. He married a daughter of C. J. Smith, one of the capitalists of West Bay City, a vesel owner and formerly county treasurer. They have one child. Mr. and Mrs. Merrill attend the Protestant Episcopal Church.
Mr. Merrill could scarcely be anything but an active Republican in politics, cradled as he was in that party. He has done yeoman serv- ice and is chairman of the Republican County Committee. For four years he served as presi- dent of the Agricultural Association and is now treasurer of this organization, one of large numbers and much importance in Bay County. His father was a Knight Templar Mason and he himself has taken the 32nd de- gree and is a Mystic Shriner. He belongs also to the Elks and is one of the few American members of the Arbeiter Society, of Bay City.
Mr. Merrill has always been interested in athletics and during his college life was cap- tain of his class baseball team, belonged to the University team and won honors for his alma mater in various contests. For two years he served as president of the Michigan State Trap Shooters League .. Mr. Merrill is a fair type of that class of able, educated young men whose achievements show that they have been trained in no narrow school. He is deservedly popular in Bay City, both as an individual liv-
ing up to the demands of civic life and as an official, serving his fellow-citizens with honesty and capacity.
A NDREW WEISS, one of the repre- sentative citizens of Frankenlust township, Bay County, Michigan, where he resides upon a fine farm of 160 acres situated in section 9, owns three other farms,-one being in section 5, Frankenlust township, the second in section 9, Williams township and the third in Saginaw County, all being 160 acres in extent, except the one in section 5, Frankenlust township, which consists of 140 acres. Mr. Weiss was born in Frankenlust township, October 23, 1863, and is a son of John George and Chris- tina (Feinauer) Weiss.
John George Weiss, father of our subject, was born in Germany in 1822, and came to Bay County in 1849, accompanied by his wife, and died here in 1893. He was possessed of very small means when he came to this country, but had sufficient to purchase from the govern- ment 56 acres of land in section 1, Franken- lust township, on which his son, John C. Weiss, now lives. This was the nucleus of a large estate of 296 acres which he accumulated dur- ing life and parceled out to his sons. He and his wife led the lives of pioneers, their home being a log cabin and their food being limited at first to the little they could raise and what they could secure in the way of wild growths in the forest. Mr. Weiss was incapacitated for a time with malarial fever, a disease which attacked many settlers in the early days, be- cause of the swampy, undrained character of this region. On many occasions, in the early years, he would carry quantities of farm pro- duce on his back from his farm to the river, there load the articles in his canoe, and then
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propel himself and cargo to Lower Saginaw (now Bay City), where he would barter the produce for groceries. He became prominent in all that concerned the township and assisted with influence and money in the building of the first schools and churches. For 18 years he was an elder in St. Paul's German Lutheran Church and he contributed liberally to the building of the new structure. Mr. Weiss led a sober, virtuous, useful life and when he passed away he was mourned by the whole neighborhood. He married a most excellent woman, Christina Feinauer, born January 30, 1829, who still survives and lives with her son, John C. Weiss, on the old homestead.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Weiss were : Anna Regina (Mrs. Kuch), of Frankenlust township; Mary Barbara (Mrs. Ittner), of Chesterfield, Virginia; John M., of Franken- lust township; Anna Margaret (Mrs. Herbol- sheimer ), of Frankenlust township; Barbara (Mrs. Knoer), of Saginaw County; Andrew, of this sketch; and John C., of Frankenlust township.
Andrew Weiss was educated in the local schools and as he was brought up on a farm his knowledge of agricultural affairs is solid and practical. He has always carried on farm- ing and stock-raising and now operates his whole estate of 620 acres with the exception of the farm in Williams township. Improve- ments in the way of houses and barns are on all the farms, his residence being a commodious dwelling with agreeable sorroundings. He raises thousands of bushels of grain on the home farm, has 85 head of stock and raises annually several head of draft horses of the Clydesdale brand. His large amount of land and his successful management of it makes him one of the leading farmers of the county.
On April 28, 1885. Mr. Weiss was married to Anna Elizabeth Kirchhoff, who was born
on the present home farm of our subject, Feb- ruary 6, 1863, and is a daughter of John Leon- ard and Mary Elizabeth (Fries) Kirchhoff, natives of Germany, who came to Bay County in 1853. The father died in 1886, aged 59 years, and the mother, now 81 years old, re- sides with Mr. and Mrs. Weiss. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Weiss, namely : Leonard M., Gottlieb M., Louisa, Ludwig, Anna Margaret; John George, Henry, Anna Elizabeth and Herman.
Mr. Weiss has long been one of the active Republicans of Frankenlust township and has served in a number of the more important local offices. He was a justice of the peace for eight years, for three years was school director, and at present is township assessor. He has been one of the most interested members of St. John's German Lutheran Church, has been its treasurer and has given liberally in support of its work. He is one of the men to whom his fellow-citizens refer with pride as being repre- sentative of the township's best, both as to capi- tal and as to character.
OSEPH E. KOHN, chemical and me- chanical engineer, a prominent citizen of Bay City, Michigan, general super- intendent of the Michigan Chemical Company's plant at Bay City, and the Owosso Sugar Company in Owosso and Lansing, Michigan, was born in 1860 in Bohemia, Aus- tria, and came to America in 1897.
Few men are better equipped in every way for their life work than is Joseph E. Kohn. In 1883 he graduated at the great technical college at Prague, in both mechanical and chemical engineering, retiring from that noted school with knowledge which enabled him to enter successfully into the sugar manufacturing busi-
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ness in Bohemia. After several years practice he was accepted as chemical assistant to Charles Steffen, the great inventor connected with the largest sugar manufacturing plant in Europe, which is situated in Moravia. After seven years of experience there, Mr. Kohn came to America, being sent to Omaha, to erect a sugar-house, by one of the largest European manufacturing concerns, but the enterprise failed on account of lack of funds of the Omaha people. There- fore Mr. Kohn accepted a position with the Kitby Manufacturing Company, at Cleveland, Ohio. There he designed and constructed the sugar-houses of Bay City and Alma, Michigan, with their complicated machinery. During the subsequent four years he traveled all over the United States and designed, during this period, sugar-houses, or technical parts, in Michigan, Louisiana, California and New York. In 1899 he came to Bay City as designer and con- structor and in 1901 he erected the Michigan Chemical Company's plant, after his own de- signs and with the utilization of the most mod- ern and approved methods of construction. Since then he has also erected a large molasses distillery for the General Distilling Company of Toronto, Canada, and has been interested in other enterprises.
Mr. Kohn was awarded his professional title of Doctor when he was graduated as a master in chemistry. Personally, he is a man of commanding presence, and a most conspicu- ous figure on horseback, his training in this line having been obtained during his one year of volunteer service in the best cavalry regi- ment in the Austrian Army. He belongs to numerous artistic and literary organizations, speaks almost all European languages and pos- sesses a notable collection of diplomas awarded him by many learned societies.
e HESTER A. KERN, a general mer- chant and well-known representative citizen of Auburn, Williams town- ship, Bay County, Michigan, was born October 4, 1870, in Williams township, and is a son of Anthony and Amelia (Wolfe) Kern.
Anthony Kern came to Bay County in 1869 from Roseville, Wayne County, Michigan, where he had been a carpenter and farmer. He bought a farm of 160 acres of wild land in Williams township, Bay County, which he cleared and improved and has since sold. He has been prominently identified with the town- ship's development. In politics he is a stanch Republican. He filled the office of justice of the peace for 16 years. He was one of the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church. On May 1, 1866, he was married at Roseville, Michigan, to Amelia Wolfe, who died May 25,. 1893, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Bay City. She was an admirable wife and mother and was esteemed by all who knew her. Four children were born to them, namely : Eva. F., who is the wife of T. C. Phillips, of South Bay City; Flora E., who is the wife of W. E. Cole, of Saginaw; Chester A., of this sketch; and Burton B., of West Bay City.
Our subject was educated in the schools of Williams township and Bay City. After com- pleting his education, he accepted a clerical position with R. E. Swart, of Auburn, and in 1896 he bought Mr. Swart out and has been conducting a first-class general store here ever since. He owns the whole business and has a handsome private residence and also owns a grain elevator, which he built in 1900. It is the only elevator in Williams township and has a capacity of 10,000 bushels.
Mr. Kern was married on April 8, 1896, in Williams township, to Clarissa K. Sauer,.
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who is a daughter of Martin and Jennie (Rogers) Sauer, and they have had two chil- dren, viz: Harold, who died at the age of 10 months; and Marion, a bright little girl of three years.
In politics, Mr. Kern is a Republican. He is a leading member of the School Board. Like his father, he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is also one of the trus- tees. His fraternal associations include the Gleaners; Auburn Lodge, No. 758, Independ- ent Order of Foresters; and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a lodge of the last named organization having been lately installed at Auburn.
D AVID WILCOX, a successful farmer and stock-raiser residing in section 21, Monitor township, Bay County, Michigan, where he has a valuable farm of 200 acres, was born in Exeter, Eng- land, in 1848, and is a son of Samuel Isaac and Elizabeth (Davey) Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox comes of Scotch and English stock. His ances- tors were people of education and refinement.
Samuel Isaac Wilcox, father of our sub- ject, left England for Canada in 1849, locating in the Province of Ontario. He was there located among uneducated people, and served as their letter writer and reader. He is now deceased, and is survived by his widow, aged 85 years, who resides on the old homestead. Their union was blessed by the following off- spring : Samuel J., who lives on the old home farm in Canada; David; George W., of Chi- cago: Joseph, a banker of Ontario; Frances, a wheatbuyer of Brandon, Manitoba ; Septimus, of Ontario; Antonius Pius, of Ontario; and Cranmer R., who is employed as foreman by Gasser & Company, of Duluth, Minnesota.
David Wilcox attended the common schools
of his vicinity in Ontario until he was 16 years of age and then took up the work of earning means for his support and advancement. He was engaged in cutting walnut timber in Upper Canada until 1865, then removed to Marine City, Michigan, and soon after located in Bay City. Here he was employed by Smith Brothers on their lumber property along the Rifle River, for three summers booming the logs cut during the winters. He then returned to Canada and remained with his parents for four years, at the end of which time he again came to Bay City, being then 23 years old. He served as foreman and superintendent for Whitman & Company, jobbers for Burrows & Rust, until 1876, and then was marshal of the village of Banks for three years. He next worked for the Keystone Lumber Company as head woodsman, later as superintendent of booms, continuing with that company for 12 years. In 1883 he purchased a farm of 160 acres in section 21, Monitor township, later adding to it a tract of 20 acres and another of 40 acres. He has disposed of 20 acres and still retains 200 acres, all under a high state of culti- vation. While working as boom superintend- ent he had all this land cleared on contract, and has since developed it along his ideas of what a good stock and dairy farm should be. He breeds horses and cattle in his own stud, and keeps 15 horses and 27 cows. He erected a comfortable home, a large barn and a silo, 17 by 32 feet, and has all the conveniences of a modern farmer. He is a man of industrious habits, frugal and enterprising, and the success he has achieved is due solely to his individual efforts.
In 1876. Mr. Wilcox was united in mar- riage with Mary Kerr, a daughter of John Kerr, a large contractor of Buffalo, New York, and they are parents of five children, as fol- low's : Gilbert C .; James W .; Samuel J .; Jen-
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nette W., who attends the Bay City High School; and Harrison Alger, who is named after President Harrison and Governor Alger. All of the children are living at home. Politi- cally, Mr. Wilcox has always been an enthusi- astic supporter of Republican principles. He served as supervisor and treasurer of Whitney township, Arenac County, and three terms as school director of Monitor township, Bay County. Fraternally, he is a Mason. Having come to this county at an early date, he well remembers many of the old landmarks and has witnessed a wonderful change in conditions. He has a recollection of the erection of the first brick building in Bay City, the Shearer House, in 1865, and the construction of the wooden bridge across the Saginaw River.
P ERRY PHELPS, deceased, who for many years engaged successfully in the hotel business at many points, was engaged at the time of his death in farming in section II of Monitor township, Bay County, Michigan, where he owned a val- uable farm of 130 acres. He was a man of high business principles, dealing openly and with fairness in all his transactions, and he en- joyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow- citizens to a marked degree. He was born in Wayne County, New York, October 16, 1843, and was a son of Joel and Sally ( Brock) Phelps, both natives of New York State.
At an early age, Perry Phelps accompanied his parents to Michigan and completed his edu- cational training in the schools of Oakland County. He then came to Bay County, locat- ing at South Bay City, then known as the village of Portsmouth and now a part of Bay City. When 20 years old, Mr. Phelps enlisted in Company L, Fourth Reg., Michigan Vol.
Cav., and saw two years of hard service in the Civil War. He was in the battle of Salina, participated in Wilson's raid (in which the raiding detachment of Federals got behind the Rebel lines) and for a long period was unable to communicate with his young wife. He was one of the detail that captured Jefferson Davis and in effecting the capture his horse was shot from under him and the bullet pierced the calf of his leg, leaving a mark which remained throughout his life. He guarded the ambu- lance as a member of the detail which took President Davis to Nashville, Tennessee. He was mustered out at Nashville, in May, 1865, and immediately thereafter returned home to his wife in Bay City. He engaged in the hotel business in West Bay City, conducting the Phelps House, opposite to the Michigan Cen- tral Railroad Depot. Selling this property, he subsequently engaged in the hotel business suc- cessively at Alger, West Branch, Otsego Lake and Greyling, then in 1895 returned to Bay County and located upon his farm in section II of Monitor township. He purchased this prop- erty in 1885, cleared it of its timber and com- pleted the fine home which was in course of construction at the time the property came under his control. He built two good barns and other substantial outbuildings, converting the place into one of the best improved prop- erties in Monitor township. He established a dairy, and supplied milk and produce to the people of the city until his death on December 2, 1903. His death was sadly mourned by his fellow-citizens as a loss to the community. The farm, which Mrs. Phelps still owns, is stocked with 25 head of cattle of standard breed and five horses, and is being conducted by her only son, Edward. Mr. Phelps was a Republican in politics, and served in the City Council of Bay City, and as township treasurer while at West Branch. He was a member of Wenona
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Lodge, No. 296, F. & A. M., of West Bay City, of which he was one of the oldest members at the time of his death. He also belonged to Greyling Post, G. A. R.
At South Bay City, in July, 1863, Perry Phelps was united in marriage with Sarah Tol- free, who was born in Ithaca, New York and is a daughter of Joshua and Melisa (Brock) Tolfree, her father coming from England and her mother from Pennsylvania. Her paternal grandfather was a mechanic and built the cars used by the New York Central Railroad when the road was first opened. Mrs. Phelps is a member of the Women's Relief Corps, serving as conductress at the present time, and a mem- ber of the Eastern Star. She is a woman of lovable traits and has a host of friends in this county.'
IRGIL L. TUPPER, A. M., M. D., one of the leading surgeons of Bay County, Michigan, standing at the head of his profession in this section of the State, was born in Pennsylvania March 14, 1869, and is a son of Benjamin and Selena (Bonnell) Tupper.
Dr. Tupper comes of a medical family, both grandfather and great-grandfather having been eminent in the profession of medicine, which his father also studied for some years. The last named became interested in the oil business and is now a resident of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, a man of prominence there. Both parents of Dr. Tupper were born in New York. They reared four children, one son,- Virgil L.,-and three daughters, viz : Florence, who is the wife of William Connor, of Plain- ville, New Jersey ; Laura O., a highly educated young lady, a graduate of the University of Michigan, who resides with her parents at Pittsburg; and Leah U., who is deceased.
In childhood, Virgil L. Tupper became a member of the household of his uncle, Dr. Horace Tupper, in order to enjoy better edu- cational opportunities than could be afforded him by his father, while the latter was engaged in his business in widely separated oil fields. Through his boyhood he attended the schools of Bay City and then spent some time at the old Washington and Jefferson College, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, after which he returned to Michigan and completed his literary course at Ann Arbor. Turning his attention to the science of medicine, he entered that grand old institution, the Jefferson Medi- cal College, at Philadelphia, where he was most creditably graduated with the class of 1896. In a competitive examination he won the cov- eted position of interne in the college hospital, and, after completing his term here, he entered St. Mary's Hospital, in the same city. He closed his work in Philadelphia by taking spe- cial surgical work in the clinic of the noted Dr. Baer. Aiming still higher, Dr. Tupper then entered the medical school of Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, where he took a spe- cial course, under the best conditions which the resources of that magnificent institution com- mand, in gynecology, surgery, children's dis- eases and medicine.
In March, 1898, Dr. Tupper settled at Bay City, where he was shortly afterward pros- trated with a serious attack of typhoid fever, superinduced, perhaps, by the close confinement of his hospital work, his enthusiasm possibly making him ignore precautions he would never permit his patients to forget. After three months of illness he recuperated and for years has been a type of manly strength and endur- ance. He is recognized as the leading surgeon of this section of the State and on many cases his dictum has been regarded as a court of last resort. Where his skill cannot help, hope is
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vain. Dr. Tupper controls the practice of his late venerated uncle, Dr. Horace Tupper, and has a larger personal practice than he can give attention to. For the past four years he has been most conveniently located on the south- west corner of Sixth and Adams streets in Bay City.
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