History of Mason County, Michigan, Part 6

Author: H. R. Page & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 373

USA > Michigan > Mason County > History of Mason County, Michigan > Part 6

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).

" THE DETROIT, LANSING AND LAKE MICHIGAN RAILROAD.

"This road is an air line from Detroit to Ludington, and is com- pleted to Howard, a distance of 126 miles from Detroit, and eighty miles more will bring it to this point; thence steamers will ply to Sheboygan. The Pere Marquette Lumber Company have offered the free right-of-way through the long extent of their timber lands over which it must pass to reach this place, and to donate ample depot grounds at the harbor. Pentwater is the only place compet- ing for the lake shore terminus.

" Mr. Joy is coming here this month to examine the facilities, and has promised Mr. Filer to select the point that has the best harbor, which gives confidence to the people here that this place will win. And it certainly offers inducements, besides its fine harbor, in the pleasant featuresof the locality, its solid and dry soil, and the cer- tain prospect of extensive future business, the resources for which are being rapidly developed.

" THE CHICAGO .AND MICHIGAN LAKE SHORE ROAD

is completed to Whitehall, and its destination being Manistee, must necessarily pass through Ludington. Measures are now being taken to continue work on the line, and it is settled that it will be completed to this place during the next year. The Pere Marquette Lumber Company have stock in the road, and the president of this company (Mr. D. L. Filer) is one of its directors and a member of its executive committee.

Digitized by

Google

HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

" It will thus be seen that the prospects of future railroad com- munication for this place are all that can be desired, and will open a ready outlet to trade and travel and must make the advantages for manufacturing and other business at this point of great value.

" PERE MARQUETTE RIVER

is navigable for light draft boats to the distance of thirty miles or more. Owing to the great body and force of current, the stream is usually open during the Winter, and requires no freshet to move logs on the stream at any season of the year.

"There is an ocean of pine timber lands on the Pere Marquette River and its tributaries. It comprises at least 2,500,000,000 feet of timber. Of these pine timber lands, the Pere Marquette Co. owns about 25,000, and Capt. E. B. Ward owns over 65,000 acres of selected sections. A large portion of this timber lies within twenty-five miles of the mouth of the river, and the trees are in large clusters, which are easy of access. The logs average very large and smooth.

" PERE MARQUETTE LUMBER COMPANY'S MILL

is the original mill of James Ludington, refitted with improved machinery by this company. It uses a double gang, two double circulars, and other saws, with all the improved apparatus pertaining thereunto, and cuts 100,000 feet of lumber per day, employing fifty- five men. This mill is located nearest the harbor and has the very best possible facilities for handling and shipping lumber. The com- pany occupy the largest store building in the place, and sell annually goods to the amount of $150,000.

" THE WARD MILL.

"The well known Capt. E. B. Ward owns 65,000 acres of selected timber lands on the Pere Marquette River, and to enable him to make this timber available, purchased a mill site and adjac- ent land at this place, built a mill las season and installed his son, M. D. Ward, and J. B. Beane managers of the business.

" This mill is very complete in every particular, the machinery the best that is manufactured in the country, the engine being of 180 horse-power. It has a double gang, a double and single cir- cular saw, with all the modern appendages of a first-class mill. The gang is based on a hewn stone foundation, which secures the un- deviating motion to their action. The mill turns off 100,000 feet of lumber per day.

" Adjacent to the mill the proprietor owns forty acres of very eligibly situated land, purchased of ' the Company.' The mana- gers have commenced building a series of twenty-five cottage houses near the mill, for the use of the workmen employed by them.

There has also been recently purchased another mill site, near the other, upon which Mr. M. D. Ward has commenced the con- struction of a mill on his own account. This mill will operate a double gang of forty-two saws, a circular, together with the usual appendages, as well as a lath and shingle mill, with machinery of the latest improvements.

There is being put up a building in which Capt. Ward intends to place a library, newspapers and periodicals for the free use of the employes. Upon the completion of the second mill the entire pro- perty will have cost $225,000.

It is no small compliment to this place that a gentleman who is estimated to be worth at the least calculation $12,000,000, should select it as the point of his extensive lumber operations and place here a son.

"DANAHER AND MELENDY'S MILL.

"This mill is located near the head of the inner lake, has an

excellent site, and the advantage of being contiguous to the assorting boom at the outlet of the river. The site was purchased of the Pere Marquette Lumber Company, and the mill and buildings connected therewith were erected last year. This mill and all its surroundings are a model of order and neatness, and the conveniences for handling lumber are most perfect. There are employed fifty-five men, using two double rotary saws, with gang edgers, log turners and automatic rollers. There are also two lath saws and a sawdust-feeder. The boilers and engine rest on a stone foundation. The mill com- menced operations on June 1, 1870, and made 11,500,000 feet last year, and will make 16,000,000 this season, cutting 80,000 feet per day. Connected with the mill is a large warehouse for grain, and another for hay, (of which they use 250 tons) will be added this season. The boarding-house is a large three-story, handsomely- painted building, and there are numerous smaller houses adjacent, forming quite a settlement. The situation is very handsome. A bridge crosses the river at this point. This firm own timber land on the river. They also have a store at the village, and have sold of general merchandise to the amount of $172,000 the last thirteen months, employing four salesmen and a bookkeeper. Mr. George Stray is the head salesman. They are preparing to build a new store this Summer, of Milwaukee brick, and fire-proof, the size to be 28x100 feet, of two stories, and arranged and fitted up in the latest modern style. The members of the firm are P. M. Danaher, who is well known as connected with harbor improvements on Lake Michigan, and D. A. Melendy, for many years confidential clerk at this place of James Ludington, and was formerly a resident of Mil- waukee. The writer had the pleasure of riding behind a powerful blood horse brought by Mr. Melendy from Milwaukee, which is a very fine animal.

"PLANING AND FLOURING MILL.

"Messrs. Sibbin & Co. own and run the above, combined in one building, the main part of which is thirty by fifty feet, of three stories. This is used for a three run grist mill, which has three reels, improved blowers, coolers, and all the apparatus of a first-class mill. It has also storage for 10,000 bushels of grain. The planing and moulding department is thirty-two by fifty feet, with engine room twenty-four by forty-two feet, in which is an engine of sixty- five horse power. Mr. S. W. Wabruaschek, of the firm, manages the business here, and Mr. S. Sibbin runs a planing mill and sash factory belonging to the company at Manistee, which is the largest of the kind in that city.

"SHINGLE MILL.

"Messrs. Moulton & Flagg, who also operate two shingle mills at Pentwater, run a shingle mill at this place. The latter makes 70,000, and their mills at Pentwater 100,000 per day. Mr. Moul- ton attends to the business at Ludington and Mr. Flagg at Pent- water.

"FRUIT CULTURE.

"On the south side of the lake is a splendid territory overlooking both lakes, and on which the company has a farm of 120 acres under cultivation, and an orchard of all kinds of fruits, the trees of which, having been set out only a few years since by Mr. Ludington, have a healthy and thrifty growth. A large portion of those are peach trees, now overloaded with young fruit. There are, also, many other orchards, some of considerable age, that are bearing apples, pears, cherries, plums and peaches, in abundance, showing that the soil and climate of this locality has an adaptability to fruit culture equal to any other on this shore, while the smaller fruits are abundant in growth and rich in flavor."

Digitized by Google

E. a Faster

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

EARLY SETTLERS OF THE VILLAGE.

The following biographical sketches are of some of the earliest settlers in the village of Ludington:

HON. SHUBAEL F. WHITE was born at Marshall, Mich., January 17, 1841, of American parentage. The financial circum- stances of his father made it necessary for Shubael to begin the lesson of self-reliance at an early age, and to understand that the successes or failures of his life must be the fruits of his own unaided efforts. He had a natural taste for study and books, and managed in the course of time to enter college at Olivet, where he remained two years, and then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in the classical course in 1864. He worked his way through college by teaching, and earning what money he could during the vacations. In 1861 he enlisted, but was rejected on account of bronchial difficulty, but after leaving college in 1864, he again enlisted as private in the Twenty-Eighth Michigan, was soon promoted first lieutenant, then captain. He was in a number of battles, and remained in the service until August, 1866. During the last year of his service he was for a time in charge of a part of North Carolina during the reconstruction period, and was after- ward provost marshal of the District of North Carolina.

After leaving the service, he entered the Albany, N. Y., law school, where he graduated in 1867, and came to Ludington, being the first attorney to locate in the, then, village. At this time, and in this wild country, Mr. White entered upon his career as a lawyer and a public man. The lessons of self-reliance which he had learned at an early age, and his natural propensity to master what- ever he undertook, together with his correct habits of life and high sense of honor in all his relations, very soon secured for him the confidence and respect of the people among whom he had settled.

Shortly after coming here, in connection with Dr. Doty he erect- ed a frame building on Main Street, and opened a law office in the second story.

Having heard that it is not good for man "to live alone," he was married at Ann Arbor, to Miss Hattie Rogers, May 16, 1868.

By this time there had grown up a spirited strife between two factions in the county, the central features of which were the loca- tion of the county seat and the alleged monopoly of county affairs by Charles Mears. In the Fall of 1868, Mr. Harley, an employe of Mears, was nominated for prosecuting attorney, and Mr. White was nominated for the same office. The contest was a hot one, and Mr. White was elected. A public letter to the voters of the county, written by Mr. White, and published in the columns of the Record during that campaign, shows that same incisive and vigorous style of utterance, sharpness of intellect, and determined spirit, for which in later years he became noted. He held the office of prosecuting attorney during the years of 1869-'70, and then refused a re-nom- ination.

He was associated with Dr. Ewell from 1871 to 1873, with the late Judge Haight from 1874 to 1879, and since 1879 senior member of the well known law firm of White & McMahon. He has been moderator of the school board every year but one since 1867. In the Fall of 1872 he was elected circuit judge, but after remaining on the bench for two years, resigned, and resumed his practice at the bar. He had distinguished himself as a very successful trial lawyer before going upon the bench, and his record while upon the bench is no discredit to the fame he has achieved at the bar.

His practice has been, and still continues to be, extensive, in- volving many of the most important suits contested in the courts of the state, and many of them he has fought to a successful issue, single-handed and alone, against formidable opposition. In the noted ejectment suits of Roach vs. Andrews, and Roach vs. Butler, which were tried in the United States Circuit Court, in December,

1879, Mr. White defended his clients with such consummate skill and vigor, and achieved such an important triumph, that upon his return from the trial he was given an ovation by the citizens of Ludington, such as is rarely accorded to any man. As soon as the intelligence was received here that he had won the suit, immediate preparations were made for a grand reception, which concluded with a banquet at the Marshall House.

Judge White is a natural lawyer. He is a tireless worker, and his intellectual attainments are of a high order. His perceptions are quick and accurate, and he has a habit of leaping to conclusions by what seems more like intuition than a course of reasoning; but he rarely errs in his results. He is perhaps stronger before a court than with a jury, but very good with either. He is remarkably clear and concise in his statements, and possesses a very retentive memory. It was said of him, by Judge Withey, of the United States Court, that no lawyer had ever practiced before him who seemed to have the authorities so completely in his grasp.

He is a man of correct habits of life, and in all his domestic and social relations is genial and kind.

GEORGE W. CLAYTON was born in Monroe Co., N. Y., in 1842. Until seventeen years of age he remained at home, working on his father's farm during the Summer, and attending district school during the Winter. At the age of seventeen he left home and hired out to & farmer, working summers and attending school winters, for a time, until he concluded to try the West. He went to Berlin, Wis., and worked at making earthen ware until 1861, when he enlisted in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, and went to the front. In 1868 he was discharged for disability on account of sickness, and returned to Wisconsin. He worked in a printing office in Berlin until 1865, when he went to Milwaukee, where he worked at his trade until 1867. At that time James Ludington was building up the new village of Ludington, and wanted a newspaper started here. Mr. Clayton was recommended to him as a good man for the place, and Mr. Luding- ton arranged with him to come to Ludington. In the Summer of 1867, Mr. Clayton came here with his family and material, and began the publication of the Mason County Record, which he continued to publish until 1872, when he admitted a partner, and in 1875 retired altogether from the paper, as stated elsewhere. He was postmaster from May, 1869, to May, 1878. In the fire of 1881 he lost one brick and one frame building. Immediately after the fire he rebuilt an elegant block on the corner of Ludington Avenue and James Street, which he afterwards sold to Mrs. Catharine L. Cameron. In March, 1882, he started the Exchange and Loan Bank, as a private enterprise, and is working up a good business. The early files of the Record show Mr. Clayton to have been an ex- cellent printer, and an editor of more than average ability. As a local writer he was particularly apt, and although for a long time he was publishing a paper in the woods, he made the Record an in-' teresting and reliable journal, and his work had a great influence in building up the interests of the place. He is a public spirited and enterprising citizen, and a man whose honor and integrity are above doubt.

GEORGE E. TRIPP is one of the pioneers of Mason County. He was born at Watertown, N. Y., in 1829. At an early age he con- ceived a liking for sailing and adventure, and for several years fol- lowed boating on the Mississippi River. Tiring of that, he concluded to try his fortunes in the wilds of Northern Michigan. In the Fall of 1854 he came up the lake and stopped at Pere Marquette. There was nothing here at that time but the old sawmill, boarding- house and a few shanties. The first two years after coming here he was in the woods most of the time, hunting pine lands, and lumber- ing. In 1858 he was married to Miss Harriet A. Hutchinson, and they went to keeping house in a log house he had built, at what is

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

now Riverton. He was the first treasurer of the township. About " 1867, he engaged at butchering, and peddled meat from house to . house. After following this until 1867, he came to Ludington and opened a meat market, which he still continues. He has been a successful business man, and has acquired a competency. The present season he is building a substantial brick building on Lud- ington Avenue, which he will occupy with his market. Mr. Tripp has served as alderman three terms, first in 1873, and again in 1880 and 1881. He is a man of conservative notions and excellent judg- ment. He has always been ready to assist all worthy enterprises, and his reputation for integrity and fairness has never been called in question.

CAPT. GEORGE WEIMER is a native of Alsace, Germany, and came to this country with his parents in 1844. They first settled in Jackson, Ohio, where Mr. Weimer learned the boot and shoe trade. From Ohio he came to Ionia County, Mich., and in 1862 enlisted in Company I, Twenty-First Michigan Infantry, and served with his regiment until August, 1865, when he was discharged. He was in every skirmish and battle in which his regiment was engaged, and never lost a day during his entire term of service. He enlisted as a private and was promoted to captain during his term of service. In 1867, he came to Ludington and opened the first boot and shoe shop here. He remained in that business until 1873, when he entered upon the duties of county treasurer, to which office he had been elected at the previous Fall election. He held that office for two years, and was afterwards deputy sheriff. In 1877 he engaged in the boot and shoe business again, which he continued for three years. + He has been city marshal since 1880. Mr. Weimer has cleared two lots and built two dwelling houses and one store since 1869.

HORACE F. ALEXANDER is a native of Vermont, and came to Ludington in 1868. Before coming here he had been in business with a gentleman named Whittaker, and immediately after coming here they put up a frame building on the lot where Dr. Dundass' store now stands, and opened a drug and book store. The firm continued about a year and a half, when Mr. Whittaker went away, and Mr. Alexander continued the business alone. In the Summer of 1873, he erected the first brick building that was built in Luding- ton. It was a two-story store building, with solid brick walls and stone foundation, and stood on the corner of Loomis and Charles Streets. When completed, Mr. Alexander occupied it as a drug store. The telegraph office was established here that year, and he was placed in charge. He continued in the drug business until burned out in the fire of 1881. Since that time he has given most of his time to the telegraph and telephone business.

EDWARD A. FOSTER was born in Washington County, Me., in 1830. His parents, Edward and Fannie Foster, were of the genuine New England stock, and the home life of their children was sur- rounded by the most elevating and ennobling influences.

In 1840 his father and family removed to Milltown, N. B., on the St. Croix River, and again in 1844, across the river to Calais, Me. Until twenty-one years of age, Edward remained with his parents and attended school at the district school and academy.

In 1851, being twenty-one years of age, in company with his brother Luther, he went to Ridgeway, Pa., and engaged at lumbering. He remained there two years and then went to Washington Territory, where he continued lumbering for nearly three years, when he came East to Oshkosh, Wis. There he built a large mill and was in the lumber business. From Oshkosh he went to Muskegon, where he remained until 1869. He came to Ludington and was one of the charter members of the Pere Marquette Lumber Company, which was organized that year. For several years he gave his personal attention to the interests of the company, and has always been en- gaged in the lumber business. At the present time he is engaged

in the manufacture of shingles with his son, the firm being E. A. Foster & Co., but for some months he has been obliged to abstain from business cares on account of poor health.

Mr. Foster is a gentleman of quiet ways, but has always been a thorough and successful business man. He is a man of unques- tioned integrity, and one who makes strong friends, and few enemies.

DELOS L. FILER .-- Although the subject of this sketch has passed from earth, his memory is still cherished by the many who knew him while in life, and the impress of his character upon the scenes of his activity may be easily discerned. Mr. Filer was born in Herkimer County, N. Y., September 27, 1817, and was sixty-one years, nine months and twenty-nine days old at the time of his death. His early life was spent in his native county, and then came to Racine, Wis., where he accepted a position as bookkeeper at a salary of $600 per amum. This was in 1852. In 1888 he was married to Miss S. A. Paine, who died in June of the following year, leaving an infant daughter, known in after years as Mrs. John Value, who died with yellow fever in Florida, October 19, 1873. In March, 1840, Mr. Filer was married to Miss Juliette Golden, who died in 1864, leaving four children, E. G. and D. W. Filer, of Manistee, Mrs. A. G. Sexton, of Milwaukee, and Frank Filer, of Ludington. January 23, 1866, Mr. Filer was again married to Miss Mary M. Pierce, of Ludington, who is still living, and at present residing in Detroit. Of this union there were born one daughter, Miss Gracie Filer, and two sons, Ellihue and Alanson Filer.

From Racine Mr. Filer went to Manistee, and there began a successful career as a business man. After becoming extensively interested in business operations at Manistee, he came to Ludington, in 1869. Ludington was then just beginning to be known, and Mr. Filer's keen sagacity and great energy were valuable auxiliaries to the development of this locality. As late as 1856 he was a poor man with no resources but his salary. But he possessed abundant capital of mind that he at last found opportunity to operate, and it yielded him a handsome fortune. At the time of his death he was president of the Pere Marquette Lumber Company, and heavily interested in manufacturing interests at Manistee and Milwaukee. He was always actively interested in local enterprises, and his name is prominentiy associated with nearly every project for the advancement of Ludington's interests that came up during his residence here. He was president of the county agricultural society, and held the office of mayor of the city in 1876. He was strictly honorable in his business transactions, and his judgment upon business and public matters was unusually accurate. His advice was continually sought by others, and he rarely made a mistake when he gave an opinion. He gave liberally, when he thought the object was a worthy one. In the Spring of 1879 he went to Colorado, accompanied by his wife and daughter, in hopes of benefiting his health, which had been failing for some time. He returned home and entered again upon his business duties, but was soon taken worse, and was obliged to abandon all labor and anxiety. He continued to grow worse until Saturday, July 26, 1879, when he breathed his last. The cause of his death was cancer. The funeral services were held at the residence of the deceased the following Monday, and the remains taken by boat to Milwaukee for burial. The eulogies pronounced at the time of his death by the local press expressed great admiration of Mr. Filer as a business man and a citizen, and deplored the loss which this portion of the state had sustained in his death.

JAMES V. HENRY, lumber inspector, Ludington, is a native of Jackson, Mich. He enlisted in the service in August, 1861, as a private in the Ninth Michigan Infantry, and remained in the ser- vice until the close of the war in 1865. He was promoted to a first lieutenant during his term of service. In 1867 he came to Ludington, and for a time worked in the mills, and afterwards

Digitized by Google

Respectfully

Google

Digitized by

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF MASON COUNTY.

measured lumber by the month. In 1876 he began inspecting lumber, and has continued in that business to the present time. Mr. Henry is also interested in a woolen mill at. Richmond, Mich. At the first charter election in 1873, Mr. Henry was elected justice of the peace, and held the office one term. The particular official duties performed by him, to which he now refers with the greatest satisfaction, were in pronouncing the sentence of "husband and wife" upon two couples who have lived together in peace and har- mony to the present time. In the first ceremony, Mr. Henry's wife had to dictate what he should say, while he repeated after her, and gave official sanctity and authority to the declaration.

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.

History of Mason County, Michigan, Part 6

Author: H. R. Page & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 373

Author: H. R. Page & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 373