USA > Michigan > Mason County > History of Mason County, Michigan > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66
He was married at Dexter, Mich., June 22, 1863, to Miss Marie A. Warner, of Ann Arbor, a lady of thorough culture and refinement. Five children have been born to them, four sons and one daughter, named, respectively, Frank Warner, Charles Tripp, Max Hart, Frederick Richard, and Marie Louise.
At the Republican Congressional Convention in August, last, he was unanimously nominated as candidate for representative in Con- gress, and as the district is strongly Republican, his election is cer- tain to follow.
JOHN CANFIELD.
Mr. Canfield was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire Co., Mass., in 1830. In 1841 his father came West to Racine, Wis., and the following year he was joined by his family.
About 1848 his father began the erection of a sawmill, near the mouth of the Manistee River, on the site where the mill of Canfield & Wheeler now stands. During that year John "came here and remained a short time and went away. In 1849 he returned and entered upon the business career which he still continues so success- fully. He finished the mill his father had begun, and commenced the manufacture of lumber.
All the details of his busy business life are not necessary to the completion of this sketch. He has acquired large wealth, as many others have done and are still doing, but few men acquire a name that commands greater respect in the commercial world than that of John Canfield.
He has been interested with various parties in business. For some time the leading business was carried on under the firm name of Canfield Brothers. At present he is a member of the firm of Canfield & Wheeler, Wheeler, Magill & Co., besides carrying on vast business operations in which he is alone.
Mr. Canfield is a gentleman of quiet and reserved manner, and strenuously avoids anything like ostentation, but possesses clearness of perception and firmness of purpose to a remarkable degree. He is not easily daunted, and especially in the earlier days was a man whose nerve was known to be ample for all ordinary occasions.
The early days in Manistee were witnesses of rough life. There was no law and but few who desired it. Might made right, and the timid man had but a poor show of getting along. A crew of men at work in the woods for Mr. Canfield came down, and for some reason seized upon a pile of lumber and proposed to ship it. Mr. Canfield had been away, but arriving home just as the men were handling the lumber, heard of what was going on. He quietly took a revol- ver and marched down to where the seven men, and rough ones, too, were gathered upon the lumber. Addressing them, he said, " Now, boys, there isn't probably a man of you but what could whip me, but
you know I am a good shot, and just so sure as you don't get away from here, just so sure there will be seven dead men." They knew the man and they did not stop to argue the matter.
About 1851 the Indian lands were offered for sale, and Mr. Canfield bought a large tract east of his mill, and subsequently built the store and office building which he has since occupied. For sev- eral years the town was all in that vicinity, and Mr. Canfield was the leading spirit of this region. His counsels have always been sought in matters pertaining to the development of the place, and the wis- dom of his advice has been of great value in advancing the interests of the town and city.
In 1875 he built the palatial residence which has since been the family home, and which is one of the finest private residences in the state.
He was first married in 1854, at New Marlborough, Mass., to Miss Helen M. Beach. Four years afterward she died. In 1864 he was married at Joliet, Ill., to Miss Frances V. Wheeler, his pres- ent wife.
Mr. Canfield has been actively associated with the business in- terests of-Manistee longer than any other man, and still devotes himself to his vast business interests in the same quiet but effective way that has characterized his whole business life.
M. ENGELMANN.
The subject of this sketch has had a somewhat remarkable and a very successful career. He was born in Germany, in the year 1832. At about fifteen years of age he determined to see what he might be able to find upon the other side of the ocean, and in 1847 he came to America. In 1848 he reached Manistee, then for the most part a dense forest. He was but a lad, unused to the ways of the country to which he had come, a stranger in a strange land. He had no relative or friend to whom he could turn for counsel or aid. Success or failure were in store for him, but which he was to experience must be determined by himself alone. Few young men have grappled with the business of life under circumstances that af- forded fewer encouragements. Even the region of country to which he had come was a wilderness remote from any commercial center, and void of attraction.
He spent no time in contemplating the loneliness of his situa- tion, but sought something to do that would afford bim a livelihood. He first went to Stronachtown and hired out to the Stronachs, who were running a mill. He applied himself closely to his work, pay- ing but little attention to what was going on about him. In this way he worked and saved from his scanty earnings all that was not actually necessary to use for his living.
In 1857 he had come to be familiar with lumbering in all its branches and he began business in a small way for himself. As early as 1854 he owned an interest in a schooner, and from that time to the present has been more or less interested in vessel property. At one time he was extensively interested in a line of boats on the lake, and until the present season was the owner of the steamer "John A. Dix", running between Manistee and Milwaukee.
Since 1857 he has been engaged in lumbering and of late years on a very extensive scale. He is at present the senior member of the firm of Engelmann & Kitzinger, and is a member of the firm of S. Babcock & Co., besides having large individual interests in pine lands and lumber. He is largely interested in the First National Bank and has numerous other business and property interests.
Mr. Engelmann has always maintained a lively interest in the welfare and prosperity of Manistee, and has contributed in no small degree to the commercial importance which the city has attained. His liberality in all public matters has been pronounced, and the fruits of his enterprise are plainly visible.
The magnificent block which he has just finished, and which
Digitized by
.
HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
59
is described in another place, is perpetual testimony to his enter- prise and sagacity.
Mr. Engelmann is now holding the office of mayor of Manistee for the second time, and his record as a public officer is a most creditable one.
His family residence is a large and handsome structure, situated in the southern portion of the city.
Men like Mr. Engelmann who, alone in a strange country, have risen by their industry and sagacity from obscurity and poverty to prominence and wealth, furnish illustrations worthy of being preserved and profited by.
JOSEPH BAUR.
Mr. Baur is a pioneer business man of Manistee, and one of the most prominent representatives of its mercantile interests.
He was born in Germany in the year 1833, and came to this country in 1852. He stopped first in Chicago for a short time and then came to Manistee. After remaining a few months, he returned to Chicago. During the next year he was a portion of the time in Manistee, and for several months was in the South. In 1854 he came back and from that time until 1861 was most of the time in the employ of John Canfield.
April 24, 1861, he was married in Chicago to Miss Annie Hauser, and from that time until 1865 he was in the employ of Mr. Engelmann. He then went to Racine, Wis., and ran a hotel for about a year, at the end of which time he returned to Manistee again and built a store. He first opened a saloon, and afterwards a grocery store. He prospered in his business and in 1874 opened a hardware store.
In 1872 he built a large block on River Street for the use of his business, the whole of which is occupied with his stores. His hardware business is very extensive, and in addition to that he owns a grocery store, saloon, blacksmith shop, and is one of the directors of the First National Bank.
Mr. Baur held the office of county treasurer for years, and has been alderman of the city for four years. He has been a successful business man and ranks as one of the leading business men of the county.
JAMES DEMPSEY
belongs to the class of Manistee lumbermen who have worked their way along, keeping pace with the prosperity and growth of the place.
Mr. Dempsey was born in Ireland in 1832. When about eleven years of age he came to this country and remained in Pennsylvania until about twenty-two years of age. In August, 1854, he landed in Manistee. He knew nothing about lumbering, and his only capital consisted of ability and willingness to work. He went into the woods and remained there a year. For some time he worked for John Canfield. Then he took contracts and so worked his way along accumulating capital and experience and laying the foundation of a successful business career. In course of time the firm of Dempsey & Cartier was established, and this firm was succeeded by the Manistee Lumber Company, of which Mr. Dempsey is president.
He is also senior member of the firm of Dempsey, Simpson & Co., whose mill is on the east side of Lake Manistee. Mention of the mills is made elsewhere. He is proprietor of the Dempsey Tug Line which was started in 1880.
Mr. Dempsey was the second postmaster in Manistee and was succeeded by Dr. Ellis, in 1862. When he took the office there was only a weekly mail and the office was kept wherever the postmaster happened to be. Part of the time he kept the office in the Canfield store at the mouth of the river, and then it was kept at the Buswell house, where he boarded. He has been mayor of the city one term and made a most excellent public officer, but he has less ambition for
office than for business, and could not be induced to take the mayorship another term. Mr. Dempsey is a straightforward, sagacious business man, and is financially one of the strong men of Manistee.
LATHROP S. ELLIS, M. D.
The subject of this sketch is the pioneer physician of Manistee County. He was born in Norwich, Mass., in 1828. At the age of fourteen years his father offered him the choice of remaining at home and have such educational advantages as he could afford, or of taking his time and educate himself. He chose the latter and at- tended an academy at Worthington one term. He worked at farm- work during vacations for a time, then taught school, and in that way paid the expenses of attending school until about seventeen years of age, when an uncle at Meadville, Pa., rendered him pecun- iary aid. He graduated from Alleghany College, at Meadville, in 1851, and then attended the Berkshire Medical College, at Pittsfield, Mass., and also attended two courses at Woodstock, Vt. He graduated in medicine in 1852, and soon after began the practice of his profession at Meadville, Pa., and remained there two years. He then came to Chicago and continued his practice until 1860, when he came to Manistee, where he has since been in active prac- tice.
He was married at Meadville, Pa., October 13, 1858, to Sarah M. Harlon. They have six children. The two eldest daughters are married, one of whom lives in this city, and the other in Chicago.
Dr. Ellis was postmaster from 1862 to 1877, when he was suc- ceeded by Gen. Cutcheon.
He has been an active man, not only in his profession, but in all public matters. He has been especially prominent in religious and temperance work, and has been one of the leading members of the Congregational society since its organization.
. He has always been an eager and industrious student, and his investigations have taken a wide range. He has frequently lectured upon scientific subjects, and his writings upon these subjects have been quite voluminous, and in all instances clear and interesting.
His time and attention are chiefly devoted to his practice, although he has some other interests. He has a fine fruit farm on the lake shore, south of the city, which he carries on very success- fully.
RICHARD G. PETERS.
Manistee is noted for the number of its business men who have risen by their own unaided efforts from poverty and obscurity to wealth and prominence in the commercial world. The city is very largely made up of men who were poor boys and have fought their way over obstacles to success. These men to-day are strong, finan- cially, and they are also strong in character, and their names com- mand respect wherever they are known. Of this class the subject of this sketch is a prominent member.
He began at the foot of the ladder, and to-day is one of the boldest and most extensive operators in pine on this shore.
He was born in Delaware County, N. Y., July 2, 1882. He lived at home upon the farm, until eighteen years of age, when he started out into the world to delve for himself.
In the Spring of 1850 he started for Cincinnati, Ohio, and from that place he came to Michigan. He landed at Point Sable in 1858, and went to work for Charles Mears. He is naturally one of the ir- repressible kind of men, and his great energy and business ability very soon made themselves manifest.
From Point Sable he went to Ludington to take charge of lumbering interests for James Ludington.
In July, 1866, he came to Manistee and became a member of the lumber firm of M. S. Tyson & Co. From that time to the pres- ent he has been a bold and successful business man. His remark-
Digitized by
60
HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
able energy and great vital force have enabled him to execute the great purposes of a clear brain.
At the present time he is the proprietor of Eastlake, a neat little village on the east shore of Lake Michigan, where he has two mills, a salt block, store and boarding house. He is a member of the firm of Butters, Peters & Co., whose mill is at Tallman, and of the firm of Peters & Butters, at Ludington. He is interested in the ownership of about 800,000,000 feet of standing pine, 700,000,000 feet of which he owns individually. His own mills and those in which he is part owner cut 60,000,000 feet of lumber a season. He is president of the Manistee National Bank, and is also interested in a refrigerator manufactory at Michigan City, Ind.
He is perfectly familiar with all the minute details of his vast business, and knows personally all men in his employ. His manner is sharp and decisive, though always courteous and affable. He always interests himself in all local enterprises, and is ever ready to contribute liberally to anything of benefit to Manistee. No fitter monument of individual liberality could be erected than Union Hall, erected by him. This magnificent building is described elsewhere on these pages. He has held the office of mayor one term.
Mr. Peters was married April 6, 1858, at Oberlin, Ohio, to Miss Evaline N. Tibbets, of that place, and in his domestic relations he has been truly blessed. Mrs. Peters is one of the noble women of the land, whose whole life seems to be devoted to doing good and bringing comfort and happiness to others, and in this work she has the generous sympathy and co-operation of her husband. The family residence of Mr. Peters is a handsome and spacious structure, sur- rounded by beautiful grounds, a fine full page view of which is given in this work.
LOUIS SANDS.
In a local paper we find the following allusion to the subject of this sketch, which also describes some of his vast business opera- tions:
"Louis Sands, Esq., of our city, is not only a heavy lumberman, but a pretty solid man. He weighs 250 pounds, stands six feet, four inches, in his stockings, and came to Manistee a poor boy some thirty years since. Now he pays $4,652.15 city tax, and nearly as much in the county, which is a little more tax than any other man pays in the city.
"He has two first-class sawmills in the Third Ward that average about 100,000 feet each of lumber per day. He has recently built a two-story addition to his gang mill, 30x90 feet, and is putting in two of Davis' patent sorting machines, and two of Emery & Gar- land's trimmers, from Bay City. He has built an addition to the engine room at his red mill-put in five new boilers, and a new smoke stack and breeching. They are of Andrew Jack's best, made at the Manistee Boiler Works, where every mill man goes who wants good work. He has just erected
"THE LARGEST BURNER IN THE WORLD.
It is 120 feet in circumference, forty feet in diameter, and 100 feet high, bricked up forty-two feet high on the inside, and the walls and foundation required 400,000 brick in their construction. It has no equal as a burner in the world. He is also building
"2,200 FEET OF BOOMING
around his mills, which, with his old booms, will give him storage for 10,000,000 feet of logs.
"His pay roll at the mills in improving since the mills shut down is $4,200.
He shipped last year 43,000,000 of lumber and shingles, and cut about 36,000,000.
"HIS FLEET
consists of two large steam barges, and three vessels, as follows:
"The steam barge, 'R. G. Peters,' with a capacity of 400,000 feet of lumber; the steam barge 'Maggie Marshall,' 400,000; the schooner 'A. W. Lucky,' 850,000; 'Isabella Sands,' 250,000; 'Arendal,' 240,000.
"And when it is known that there are almost a score of other firms in Manistee that are doing nearly as well, some idea of the business of the city can be had.
"Mr. Sands has had no help from any source. He commenced work by the month, endured all the hardships of pioneer life, but labored on through poverty to wealth, until he is able to make the above showing.
"His opportunities were no better than those enjoyed by most young men, and his success is certainly very encouraging to all."
Mr. Sands was born in Sweden, July 6, 1826, and came to this country in 1854. He came almost directly to Manistee, and went to work in the woods. The following year he took contracts for log- ging, and thus began to work his way upward. He was even then a man of very large stature and great strength. It is related of him that at one time, while engaged in logging, one of his oxen was taken sick, and could not be worked. Mr. Sands was not a man to stop his work for any slight cause, and so making a yoke having a long arm at one end, he put his well ox into the bow while he grasped the arm and thus they rolled the logs, and kept the work moving.
Mr. Sands worked his way along until 1864, when he bought an interest in the sawmill of the firm of Green Bros. He remained a member of that firm for two years, and then went to logging. In 1869-'70 he built what is now the old Peters mill, at Eastlake, which he afterwards sold to Mr. R. G. Peters.
In 1878 he came into possession of the immense mill property known as the Tyson & Sweet property. These mills he still operates. He also owns two shingle mills in Manistee and vicinity. At the present time he owns pine lands in eight counties in the state, and also a large quantity of standing pine in Wisconsin. Mention is made elsewhere of his mill and vessel property.
Mr. Sands has been twice married; first, August 2, 1857, in Manistee, to Miss Caroline Richard. He was married the second time, September 28, 1865, in this city, to Miss Isabella Marshall. He has six children living. His family residence is one of the finest in the city. It is built of brick, of elegant and elaborate design, and furnished in a style of luxury in keeping with the wealth of its owner.
He is vice-president of the Manistee National Bank, and has various property interests outside of his mills and pine. He has two large farms under cultivation, and a store on River Street.
Mr. Sands is emphatically a shrewd business man, and gener- ally sees pretty correctly the end from the beginning in his under- takings. He is a man who makes no attempt at show, and is always genial and friendly to strangers or acquaintances who meet him.
He manages all his vast business operations alone. There are 500 men in his employ, logging operations going on, four mills run- ning, vessels carrying his lumber, and all the thousand details involved, but everything moves like clock-work, in obedience to a perfect system. Industry, integrity and business sagacity have brought to Mr. Sands the business prominence and wealth he has acquired. In this work will be found lithographic views of Mr. Sand's residence and sawmills, and also a very fine steel portrait of himself.
Digitized by
.
Luis; Sando.
Digitized by Google
Digitized by Google
61
HISTORY OF MANISTEE COUNTY.
A BRAVE CAPTAIN.
The man who endangers his own life to save the lives of others is a hero in the highest and best sense. Such service is deserving of recognition and admiration, and the name of whoever performs it is entitled to secure a place in the annals of his country. Any history of Manistee that did not make honorable mention of the name and heroic service of Capt. Charles Gnewuch would be sig- nally incomplete. His life has not been especially eventful except in the valorous service in which he has distinguished himself, (that of rescuing life from a watery grave).
Most of his life has been spent upon the water. In the Spring of 1860 he came to Manistee as captain of the tug "Boule." Subse- quently he became master of the tug "G. W. Tift," and managed it in the towing business at Manistee and Milwaukee until the time he became captain of the tug "Parsons" of the Canfield Tug Line. He managed her until the old tug "Williams" was put on the line. He then took charge of that, and when the new and powerful tug "Williams" was put on, took charge of her, and together they have been in places of safety and danger to the present time.
The captain has long been famous for his deeds of bravery, and in May, 1881, the United States Government bestowed upon him the highest honor awarded by our laws to deeds of valor in life- saving, viz., a handsome gold medal. The medal is round in shape, about two inches in diameter, and a quarter of an inch thick. Upon its face is a raised picture representing three men in a boat out upon the water in a fearful storm. The waves are dashing furiously about the frail boat, while the three inmates are throwing lines to struggling persons in the water. In the rear of this scene is an old wreck of a schooner being rapidly dashed in pieces, and from which it is supposed the people in the water have jumped to save them- selves, at the last moment. Around the rim of the face are the words, "Life-saving service of the first class. United States of America." Upon the opposite side of the medal is a picture of a woman standing by a shield, upon which are inscribed the words, "To Capt. Charles Gnewuch for signal heroism in saving life from shipwreck-1874-1880. Act of Congress June 20, 1874." Around the rim on this side are the words, " In testimony of heroic deeds in saving life from the perils of the sea." The medal is said to contain about $80 worth of gold.
Accompanying were eulogistic letters from Senator Ferry and Hon. William Windom, secretary of the treasury. The latter refers to various acts of heroism between the years 1874-1880, during which time Capt. Gnewuch saved from drowning in the water of Lake Michigan twenty-four persons, and in nearly every instance at the imminent peril of his life.
Prior to the passage of the law under which the medal was given, the captain had saved many lives. His valiant service in this direction dates as far back as 1858, to the time when he was a com- mon sailor, and from that time down to the present his career has been thickly marked with these incidents.
Capt. Gnewuch is a gentleman of extreme modesty, and never refers to what he has done unless pressed into a recital of some of his perilous adventures; but he is widely known, not only on account of his great nautical skill, but for his unassuming integrity and worth as a man. At the present time he owns an interest in the Canfield Tug Line, but he sticks as faithfully to his favorite tug as though she could not float without him.
HON. S. W. FOWLER.
The subject of this sketch was born April 5, 1829, in New Berlin, Chenango Co., N. Y. While yet an infant, his parents moved to Fly Creek, Otsego Co., N. Y., where his boyhood days were mostly passed. This, too, had been the home of his mother
and her parents from a very early day. His father, whose name he bore, was one of nine brothers, children of Rev. George Fowler, of Monticello, N. Y., who had been the only son of George Fowler, Sr., who came to America as a British officer under King George II.
The mother was gathered to her fathers in the old family burying- ground when Smith William, the youngest son, was eight years old, and from that time he had to depend upon his own exertions both for a living and for an education. When twelve years old he started on foot and alone to find a home in the far West, and in the first week in September, 1841, he landed in Detroit, then but a village, with only 25 cents and not a change of garments-hope, health, and vigor his only capital with which to begin life in the Peninsular State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.