USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume II > Part 28
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Mr. Keegan's residence in Grand Rapids has been marked by recog- nition at various times by his fellow citizens with relation to the munic- ipal affairs of the city, notably as president of the board of public works, in which his services were so valuable as to receive general commendation. He still resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
JAMES VICTOR BARRY, the son of James Richard and Elizabeth (Cot- ter) Barry, was born in Monroe, Michigan, on September 21, 1861. He received his education in that place, being graduated from the Monroe high school in 1880. On the day following that of his graduation, he began work as a reporter on the Monroe Commercial, which work he combined with similar activity as a correspondent for various papers in other cities. A responsible official position came to him in an appoint- ment to act as deputy register of deeds in Monroe county, under Edward Roeder, register of deeds. In 1882, under the appointment of the Hon. Harry A. Conant of Monroe, he went to Lansing to undertake the duties of a clerk in the office of the secretary of state. Here he served consecu- tively as clerk, executive clerk and chief clerk of the department of state, until the autumn of 1890, when he resigned the last-named position in order to become assistant secretary of the Republican State Senate Committee.
Returning to Lansing after the elections of that year had closed, Mr. Barry became city editor of the Lansing Journal and in that capacity he continued for eight years. In addition to his work as city editor for his own paper, he at the same time engaged extensively in cor- responding for the newspapers of Detroit, Chicago and New York.
In January of 1901, James Barry was appointed by Governor Aaron T. Bliss to the position of commissioner of insurance of the state. His first incumbency of this office was due to a vacancy but on the expira- tion of that term he was again appointed by the state executive for a full term of two years, beginning July 1, 1901. His second reappoint- ment at the hands of Governor Bliss ensued two years later. Three subsequent reappointments by Governor Fred M. Warner paid tribute to Mr. Barry's ability and thoroughness in this position.
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When the leading casualty and accident insurance companies of the United States organized the Publicity Bureau to have general oversight of the workings of this business, it was natural that a man of Mr. Barry's experience, character and efficiency should be sought to fill the position of manager. He therefore resigned his Michigan commissionership of insurance in order to take charge of the bureau.
Within a few weeks after entering upon this work, Mr. Barry was tendered by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, the position of assistant secretary to the company. Inasmuch as it was recognized generally that the latter position offered greater opportunity, the governing board of the Publicity Bureau graciously released him from his obligations to that organization. He has since that time con- tinued in the service of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.
The family of Mr. James V. Barry consists of Mrs. Barry, nee Miss Gertrude Beamer, of Lansing, to whom he was married in 1887; and their two children, James Beamer and Louise Barry.
DAVID S. BARRY. On May 5, 1859, David S. Barry was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was one year old when he came with his parents to Monroe. Here he attended the public schools and in vacations em- . ployed his time in clerkships with leading merchants and business men. In 1871, on the recommendation of I. R. Grosvener, the representative from Monroe county, he was appointed messenger boy in the lower house of the Michigan legislature. In 1873, he was reappointed to the same position by Speaker Croswell. In October of the same year, on recommendation of Representative Edwin Willits of Monroe county, he received the appointment of messenger boy to Hon. Sullivan M. Cutch- eon, president of the constitutional convention. Two years later, having been recommended by Hon. I. P. Christiancy, United States senator from Michigan, he was made a page in the United States senate. In the meantime he continued his educational development along practical lines, taking advantages of the evening schools in Washington and mas- tering the useful and convenient knowledge of stenography, so necessary to a journalistic aspirant. In 1879 he was appointed clerk in the United States treasury, but his journalistic and literary ambitions were now being transmuted into opportunities of the latter sort and one year later he accepted the position of Washington correspondent for the Detroit Tribunc. His connection with this paper continued for seven years, during which time he also rendered special service to various Detroit and Chicago papers. His extensive work for the press has brought him into close touch with such men as Hon. W. R. Morrison of Illinois, Senator William A. Wallace of Pennsylvania, Senator Nel- son W. Aldrich of Rhode Island and Senator Omar D. Conger of Michigan.
In 1887 Mr. Barry entered the Washington office of the New York Sun. Two years later he was placed in charge of the Washington bureau of this paper, ably filling the position until he left it in order to accept the position of editor-in-chief of the Providence Journal. Mr. Barry was naturally rather proud of the connection, for President Vol. II-14
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Emeritus James B. Angell of the University of Michigan, had once filled the same editorial chair, as his first literary responsibility.
Mr. Barry became financially interested in the Providence Journal, but did not find the position of editor-in-chief so congenial as the life of a correspondent in the national capital. His characteristic keenness for news, his partiality for associating with men of national importance and his enjoyment of that storm center and social center of American life made it a logical sequence that he should about two years later find himself again in his familiar environment. The whirling events of Washington have since been his chief interest as the representative of his own paper, the Providence Journal, and also of the Evening Bulletin.
Mr. Barry has always enjoyed the implicit confidence of public men, because he possessed one of the chief assets of a newspaper man- that of being always absolutely loyal to all matters entrusted to him.
Mrs. Barry was formerly Miss Cora Bonney and her marriage to David Barry took place April 19, 1883. Their children are two sons and two daughters. One daughter is Mrs. Sevellon L. Brown, of Wash- ington, D. C .; the other is yet attending school. One son, James Richard Barry, who is the namesake of his grandfather, is an ensign in the United States navy; while his brother, David S. Barry, junior, is a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Hon. James V. Barry, assistant secretary of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York, and late commissioner of insurance in Michigan, is the only brother of the prominent newspaper man to whom this brief account is dedicated.
SAMUEL L. WALLACE. "Best blood on earth" an observant old clergyman used to say of the Scotch-Irish. Those who worthily com- bine the steadiness of the one and the keen intelligence of the other have done much toward contributing sterling qualities of character to the communities of the middle west. A family of such type is that of the Scotch-Irish Wallaces, related undoubtedly to the famous clan that is Scotland's historic pride, but of the branch that sought Ireland as its later home. From this branch sprang the ancestral line of Samuel L. Wallace, the estimable banker of Temperance. Both his father, Samuel Wallace, and his mother, who in her girlhood was Mary Boyle, were born in Ireland. They came as children to the United States and were married in 1840 at Fall River, Massachusetts. They made Michigan their home, locating first in Exeter township and later in Ash township, Monroe county. Here Samuel S. Wallace was born on November 25, 1860.
He was reared on his father's farm and educated in the district schools and the graded and high schools of Carleton, completing the courses there prescribed at that time. As a young man, he first turned his attention to farming, but his natural tendencies being of a some- what commercial nature, he presently became interested in fire insur- ance business. This work he began in 1897, at the same time, in conjunc- tion with Charles L. Edwards, undertaking the reorganization and publi- cation of the Carleton Times. With gratifying success they managed and
and Family
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published this weekly newspaper for about three years, at the end of which time they sold it to Mr. George Williams.
On January 1, 1898, Samuel Wallace was appointed postmaster of Carleton, serving in this responsible office for six years. In 1896 he was appointed by the board of supervisors as a member of the board of county canvassers, which office he held for four years. He resigned as postmaster of Carleton, when he removed to Temperance, his present home.
Meanwhile his banking interests had been developing. In 1900, he had become a partner in the bank of Carleton. The next year he helped to organize the Bank of Ida, and sold his interests in the bank of Carle- ton. In December of 1903, he founded the bank of Temperance and is now its cashier. Both of these banks with which Mr. Wallace is con- nected are private banks and both are doing a flourishing business. Not only in banking affairs, but in other enterprises as well, the subject of this sketch is active and successful. He organized and was made president of the Farmers' Independent Telephone Company and is secre- tary of the Toledo Beach Home Telephone Company. He owns an eighty- acre farm in Ash township and is interested widely in other real estate.
Mr. Wallace's public service, too, has continued to honor him since his removal to Temperance. He is assessor for the school district, and has served both as clerk and as treasurer of Bedford township.
Samuel Wallace's estimable wife, to whom he was wedded October 24, 1888, was formerly Miss Olive S. Mclaughlin, born on July 29, 1868, in Ash township, the birthplace also of her father. Mrs. Wallace's par- ents now reside in Carleton. The younger generation of the Wallace family of Temperance consists of three sons, Spalding N. and Loinal and Lee, born respectively in August, 1894 and 1896. They attended the Monroe high school and have been students at Hillsdale College.
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace are identified with the Baptist church of Tem- perance and are ever active and enthusiastic promoters of all that tends to further its welfare. Not only in financial support, but in such work as Sunday-school teaching both are of valued assistance.
Fraternally Samuel Wallace is a member of the Eutopia lodge, num- ber 398 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In political affilia- tion he is a Republican. He and his wife are in many ways most im- portant members of the community, their council and influence having that worth which is based on fair judgment and broad acquaintance with both material facts and the less tangible elements of character.
NORMAN J. LASKEY. In every large community the various lines of endeavor are represented, their importance being governed by the con- sequence of the locality and their success by the ability of their managers. Monroe county, Michigan, is a great farming community, and lands are still being opened and developed by agriculturists from this and other states; hence the business of Norman J. Laskey, purchaser and devel- oper of and dealer in farm lands, at Milan. Mr. Laskey spent many years in farming, and is an authority on soil, climatic and crop conditions, and his progressive and enterprising methods have caused him to become recognized as one of the leading business citizens of his
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native county. He was born in Bedford township, Monroe county, Michigan, March 4, 1866, and is a son of John Laskey, a native of Devonshire, England, and a member of an old and honored Devonshire family. John Laskey came to the United States with his parents and settled in Michigan, three miles north of Toledo, Ohio, being there married to Ann Quelch, who was born in Michigan of English parents. John Laskey engaged in farming and developed a good property in Bedford township, but eventually retired from active labor and removed to Temperance, where he spent his last days and died at the age of eighty-one years. His widow still survives and is seventy-five years of age, a well-known and highly esteemed woman and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. She and her husband had a family of seven children, namely : George, now deceased; Norman J .; Eaton; Melvin C .; Mrs. Melissa McClennan; Mrs. Minerva Dix, and Gertrude, the wife of the Rev. Galloway, a Baptist minister of Monroe county.
Norman J. Laskey was reared to agricultural pursuits, and obtained his education in the district schools of Bedford township, subsequently attending the high and normal schools, and engaging in teaching for three years. At the age of twenty-six years he was married to Miss Mabel Auten, a lady of refined tastes and of an old and honored family, daughter of John M. Auten, an early settler of Milan township. Follow- ing his marriage, Mr. Laskey spent five years in the dairy business near Toledo, Ohio, being very successful therein, but at the end of that period returned to agricultural pursuits, and settled on the old home- stead farm of John M. Auten, in Milan township, which he improved and made one of the best farms in the county. In the spring of 1912 he sold this property for $34,000, but still retains a fine tract of 110 acres, which is well equipped with all modern improvements. He now lives in a handsome residence in the village of Milan, where he is engaged in the business of buying and improving farms. He has made a decided success of his operations, and is recognized as a business man of ability and progressive spirit.
Mr. and Mrs. Laskey have had two sons: Grant, a graduate of the Milan high school, and now employed in the Milan bank; and Linn, who is still attending high school. Mr. Laskey is a Republican in his views, and has served seven years as a member of the county board of supervisors. He belongs to Milan lodge of Odd Fellows and to Milan blue lodge and Chapter of Masons, and to the Commandery and Shrine at Detroit, in all of which he is immensely popular. Mr. Laskey may well be ranked among those to whom the credit for the growth and development of Monroe county belongs, and also holds prestige as one who has aided his community while prospering in his personal affairs. He and his family have numerous friends in Milan, and although they have made their home in the village but a short time are already well known in social circles.
WILLIAM TRETZEL BRUCKNER is one of the young men of Monroe in whom that city takes especial pride. In what ever position he has been placed, he has met every requirement from the time when he was graduated from the Monroe high school, with honor, to the present
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time, when we find him near the head of one of the largest and strongest financial institutions of the United States, as vice-president of the Continental & Commercial National Bank of Chicago.
Mr. Bruckner was born in Monroe, August 4, 1869, his parents being George W. Bruckner, formerly a prominent hardware merchant in Monroe, and Ann Eliza Spaulding Bruckner, who was a daughter of D. O. Spaulding of Monroe, Michigan. William T. went to Chicago in 1890 and entered the employ of Wells & Nellegar Company, where he remained for a year and a half. The opportunity was offered at that time to enter the Commercial National Bank of Chicago, which he accepted, and in various capacities from a subordinate to one of its most trusted officials, he remained with this great bank. In 1910 a consolidation of this bank with the Continental National Bank, another of the great financial institutions of Chicago, was consummated and Mr. Bruckner was chosen one of the vice-presidents of the new bank, which was named the Continental & Commercial National Bank. His stand- ing in business circles in Chicago is very high, and the commissions of confidence and importance that are continually placed in his hands by the directors of the bank is eloquent expression of their estimation.
Mr. Bruckner is married; his wife was Miss Edith Alexander of Dayton, Ohio, having been married May 25, 1911, at Santa Barbara, California. They maintain their home at No. 5532 Everett avenue, Chicago.
In addition to the vice-presidency of the Continental and Commercial National Bank, Mr. Bruckner is also president of the Cicero State Bank of Hawthorne, Illinois, director of the Lake View Trust & Savings Bank and the Northwest State Bank of Chicago. He is a member of the Chicago Bankers Club, the South Shore Country Club, Hinsdale Golf Club, Chicago Athletic Association, the Theatre Club, Motoring Clubs and a member of the Art Institute.
Mr. Bruckner is a Republican in politics; though never active, he is loyal to his party's principles and a supporter of its candidates. He is a member of the Congregational church and a liberal contributor to its support.
The foregoing facts have been culled from "Who's Who in Finance" from "The Book of Chicagoans," and it is with a measure of pride that the publishers print the record of a most capable and trustworthy young man who is a product of Monroe, and who, it is fair to predict, has not yet reached the pinnacle of his success.
WILLIAM H. BRACKETT. A residence covering a period of more than forty years, during which time he has been intimately associated with the agricultural interests of Monroe county, and assisted materially in its development and growth, has given William H. Brackett, one of the leading farmers of Summerfield township, an important position among the old settlers of this part of the state, and he is everywhere recognized as a man of sterling integrity and true worth of character. Like many of his fellow-citizens in Monroe county, Mr. Brackett is a product of the East, having been born in Lynn, Massachusetts, April 14, 1840, a
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son of Edwin and Mary (Dodge) Brackett, and a grandson of Desiah Brackett, also a native of the Bay State.
William H. Brackett received his education in the schools of his native state, and as a young man went to Pittsford, Vermont, from whence he enlisted, August 2, 1862, in Company C, Tenth Regiment, Ver- mont Volunteer Infantry, serving with the Army of the Potomac until he received his honorable discharge and was mustered out of the service at the close of the Civil war, having gained an enviable reputation as a brave and faithful defender of his country's flag. He then returned to Vermont, where he was married shortly afterward, and took up the voca- tion of an agriculturist, but in 1870 came to Adrian, Michigan, and in the following year bought land in Summerfield township, Monroe county, where he has continued to reside to the present time. He is the owner of a finely-cultivated tract of 130 acres, carries on general farming, and has a good income, to which is added the pension given him by a grateful government in recognition of his faithful services during the dark days of the war between the states. In his political views he is a Republican, but public life has held out no attractions for him, he being content to devote his entire attention to cultivating his land and to play the part simply of a good and public-spirited citizen.
On February 13, 1867, Mr. Brackett was married to Miss Ellen Chittenden, who is a descendant of one of the oldest and most distin- guished families in the United States. The Chittenden family traces its ancestry directly back to William Chittenden, who was born near London, England, and left his native country May 20, 1639, arriving in America about July 10th, of the same year. His son, Thomas Chit- tenden, was born in England, and married Joannah Jordan, and among their children was Ebenezer Chittenden, who was born in 1699, and died in 1756. His son, Gov. Thomas Chittenden, was the first governor of Vermont, an office which he held from 1778 until within one year of his death, and Truman Chittenden, son of the governor, had a son Henry, who married Lydia Hallock. Among the children of this latter couple was Hiram B. Chittenden, who married Salome B. Andrews, they be- coming the parents of Ellen Chittenden, the wife of Mr. Brackett, who was born July 20, 1845, in London, Monroe county, Michigan. The family first settled in London in 1832, Henry Chittenden having mi- grated thence from Vermont, but about 1846, Mrs. Brackett was taken back to Pittsford, Vermont, where she grew to womanhood. Mrs. Brackett's father died January 31, 1900, and her mother, May 12, 1886, they having been the parents of two children: Ellen, and Charles, who was born September 11, 1849, and died March 22, 1899.
Mr. and Mrs. Brackett have two children: Mary E., a graduate of the State Normal school at Ypsilanti, who for some years was engaged in teaching; and Annie W., wife of Charles N. Wadsworth, of Summer- field township, and the mother of seven children.
GEORGE LANGDON has retired from active farming operations, but he was identified with that industry a sufficient number of years in Ida township to win recognition among the prominent farmers of the town- ship and county. He was born in Ida, on August 1, 1851, and is the
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son of Nathaniel and Mary A. (Knowles) Langdon, both natives of the state of New York. The father was born in Dutchess county, that state, on June 18, 1810, and the mother in Tioga county, on June 6, 1812. Their marriage occurred in Thompson county, New York, on September 15, 1835. The young couple migrated from New York state a few years after their marriage, making the trip overland in a lumber wagon ; they arrived in Frenchtown township in November, 1847, and remained there for one year, coming to Ida township in 1848, which place repre- sented his home and the scene of his farming activities until his death. He was one of the twelve men who organized the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Monroe and Wayne counties, and was a director of the company for many years. In 1849 he was elected to the office of supervisor of Ada township, and so well did he perform the duties of that office that he was returned at every successive election for a period of twenty-seven years. In 1864 he was elected to the state senate, serv- ing a two year term, and previous to his removal from his native town in New York, he served a term as deputy sheriff of Thompson county. He died in Ida township on August 1, 1889, and the wife and mother passed away some years prior to that event, her death occurring on November 24, 1882. Mr. Langdon was a Democrat and was ever promi- nent in the party, bearing his full share of the burdens, as well as some of the honors that came as a result of his activity in party matters. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They became the parents of five children, of whom two are living at this writ- ing (1912). Anna is the wife of Delos Miner, and they are residents of Jackson, Michigan. George, of this review, is the one remaining son.
Until he was about eighteen years old, George Langdon attended the district schools of his native town, after which he turned his attention to the farming industry and became one of the progressive and prosper- ous farmers of the township. In 1871, on the 23d day of December, he married Miss Abbie Hassinger, who was born in Union, Pennsylvania, on November 27, 1845. She came with her parents to Sandusky county, Ohio, as a child, and there she attended school, receiving a sufficient edu- cation to make it possible for her to engage in teaching, and she was thus employed for some little time, gaining much credit for the able work she performed in the line of her duties. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Langdon. Stephen H. was born May 8, 1873, and he is one of the most highly educated young men known to this section of the country. His graduation from the Monroe high school was followed by his graduation from the University of Michigan, the Union Seminary in New York City and Columbia University, from which latter he won a scholarship to Paris, France. He studied there for two years, receiv- ing credits to Leipzig, Germany, and is now engaged as a professor of Archaeology and Comparative Philology in Oxford University in Eng- land. He is a linguist of unusual order, speaking eighteen different languages fluently.
William, the other surviving child, was born on January 9, 1876. He married Esther Dentel, and they have one child, Katharine Abbie. They are residents of Toledo, Ohio.
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