History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 27

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882

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In the year 1835 he removed to Monroe city, Michigan, in which place he held the office of county commissioner, State senator, register of deeds, for many years the financial agent in

this city of the Michigan Southern Railway Company, and county treasurer for two terms. The latter office he held at the time of his death, and while in the discharge of the duties incident to it at the capital, he was summoned to exchange the fleeting pleasures of earth for the purer and more exalted joys of a higher and better state of existence, and on the morn- ing of the 16th of November, 1854, with abid- ing faith and unwavering confidence in his Redeemer, calmly and sweetly as an infant in its mother's arms, " He fell asleep in Jesus."

He became a member of the Presbyterian church in Ovid, N. Y., and continued to the day of his death an exemplary Christian, an upright and generous man and neighbor, with a heart in sympathy with the sick and afflicted, highly esteemed by all who knew him. His residence at the time of his death was the two - story brick building in the First ward, near the Waterloo Mills, recently destroyed by fire.

Previous to his escape and capture he fre- quently visited Bellsville, in Canada, and was devoted in his attentions to. Miss Margaret Davy (sister of the late Mrs. Daniel B. Miller, of Monroe, Michigan), whom he subsequently married. They had one son, the Hon. William Walton Murphy, and four daughters. The daughters before marriage spent a number of years in Germany, and returned to Monroe ac- complished German scholars.

The Hon. Nathaniel Howe, a lawyer of Mon- roe, married the eldest daughter. After her decease he married the second daughter, Ann Maria.

The third daughter married Edward P. Camp- bell, of Conneaut, Ohio, who subsequently re- moved to and still resides in Monroe. The fruits of this marriage are two daughters and three sons, now living: Caroline, who mar- ried Mr. James T. Eaglerfield, of Indianapolis, Indiana, both being graduates of the Michigan State University; and Lilla L. Campbell, who married Dr. Harry Downs, of Stilson, Kansas.

The fourth daughter, Sarah, married Dr. Luke H. Cooper, a practicing physician for a number of years in Monroc, who subsequently removed to and is now a practicing physician in West Bay City, Michigan.

I may mention here in connection with the biography of the Hon. Seba Murphy, that Ben Johnson, "the lake pirate," so called in early times, was one of the number of those

Gebackenphy

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BIOGRAPHIES OF PIONEERS, 1818-1837.

who assisted Mr. Murphy in his escape from Canada-an exceedingly courageous, energetic, brave and wealthy man. He was suspected by the British authorities, who confiscated all of his property, for which he ever after enter- tained bitter feelings of hatred and revenge toward the British Government. He subse- quently owned a number of the islands in the St. Lawrence River known as the Thousand Islands, and had frequent opportunities of grat- ifying his feelings of hatred and revenge, and probably proved as great an annoyance as any man on the St. Lawrence River to the British authorities. He in after years identified him- self with the Patriot cause, and was greatly dis- tinguished as one of the most fearless, daring and brave, feared by the Canadian authorities more than any one man enlisted or engaged in the Patriot War, generally accredited with having captured and burned the steamer "Sir Robert Peel."

The daughter of Ben Johnson inherited the courage of her father; was in full sympathy with his feelings of hatred and revenge. She was distinguished as an athlete; few excelled her in the management of a boat, in skating and swimming. Excursions from the main land to the islands, eight or ten miles, alone in her cedar boat, were frequently made. She was very efficient in secretly furnishing supplies during the Patriot War, and was known and styled on the St. Lawrence River as " Queen of the Thousand Islands." Her beautiful cedar boat, in which she performed so many acts of heroism, was finally presented by her to the companion of her youthful days, the Hon. Joseph M. Sterling, of the city of Monroe, who still has it in his possession, preserving it as a memento of the Queen of the Thousand Islands.

HON. WILLIAM WALTON MURPHY,

Son of Hon. Seba Murphy, was born at Ovid, New York, April 3, 1816. He came to Monroe with his father in 1835, entered the United States land office, and during his leisure hours studied law. He subsequently entered as a student the law office of Wing & McClelland, and was admitted to practice.

In 1840 he removed to Jonesville, where he became a leading lawyer and for some time the senior member of the law firm of Murphy &

Howe. Upon the return of Mr. Howe (his brother-in-law) to the East, Mr. Murphy formed a copartnership with the Hon. Witter J. Bax- ter. He was also a partner in the Jonesville banking house of E. O. Grosvenor & Company ; was for several years the editor and publisher of the Jonesville Telegraph.

In March, 1839, he went to the village of Branch, then the seat of justice for Branch county, and purchased of the executors of the estate of Levi Collier, the press which had been used in that place. This was the first printing press in Hillsdale county, and the first paper was issned April 13, 1839. Mr. Murphy repre- sented Hillsdale county in the State legislature before the removal of the capital from Detroit. In the winter of 1849 he was married to Ellen Beaumont, of Monroe, who still survives him.

In 1861 Mr. Murphy was appointed United States consul general at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, and served there as consul for eight years, performing his duties with signal ability and faithfulness. Private and public citizens united in showing their appreciation and esteem of one who was always their warmest friend in the days of their imperial prosperity, and sub- sequently in their provincial condition. He gained, by a peculiar frankness, a firm footing among the people, and inspired confidence in himself and in his country. Among the great financiers of the country he worked with all his power in support of the American cause ; and in the years 1861, 1862 and 1863, he was one of the chief supporters of our securities in this country, and therefore in the German and continental markets His successful, energetic efforts in counteracting the attempt to quarter troops upon American citizens in Germany is deserving of an extended notice, and will ever be remembered by American citizens at Frank- fort, as well as citizens of Frankfort, with gratitude.

Previous to 1866 Frankfort-on-the-Main was a free, republican city, and the seat of the old German Bund. When the rupture between Prussia and Austria occurred, her sympathies were with Austria and the confederate coali- tion, though she did not send any troops into the field, and was herself without the means of defense. From the first, Prussia looked upon her as a hotbed of Austrian sympathies, and on the 14th day of July the Prussian army was reported near by, and the remnant of the

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

old Bund and the confederate military commis- sion took their way to Augsburg. Two days after, General Von Falkenstein encamped near the city of Frankfort with a large army, and dissolving the city senate and burger repre- sentatives, took command of the city, which he treated as conquered, levying a war contribu- tion of six millions of gulden to be paid in twenty-four hours. This was done and Falk- enstein said that the citizens would now be no more molested and he left the city.

He had not been gone many hours, however, before General Manteuffel, to whom the main army had been transferred on the 20th of July, entered the city with twenty thousand troops, which he at once quartered upon the inhabitants, foreign and native, and then de- manded a second war contribution of twenty- five million gulden, to be paid within three days, or the city would be bombarded and sacked. The citizens were in a state of dumb consternation, and knew not where to get the money. A number of senators and representa- tives assembled to discuss the state of affairs, and a deputation was sent to General Man- teuffel to protest against these excessive meas- ures, but with no result. The citizens them- selves were subjected to continnal insult, and required by the soldiers to provide for exor. bitant wants. Some preferred to leave their houses altogether to the possession of the sol- diers. Protests were vain, and General Man- teuffel spread most fearful rumors of what he should do in case the money was not paid with- in the time specified.

About this time Consul-General William Walton Murphy appeared upon the scene. He was on business in Hamburg when he received the first news of the invasion of Frankfort, and at once endeavored to return to his post. But all the direct roads were interrupted ; he pro- cured a special passport and a vise from the Prussian minister at Hamburg, authorizing him to go through ; then proceeded on the Minden road to Cologne; then by a Holland boat to Mayence; from thence he. drove across the country, being challenged at every hundred yards, to Frankfort, where he found the condi - tion of things already described. His first atten- tion was to the troops already quartered upon American citizens. He at once informed Man- teuffel that the soldiers must be withdrawn from the Americans; issued a notice to all

citizens of the United States whose names were registered at the consulate, to call for their certificates of protection ; and as a correspon- dent of the Berne Bund said at the time, " made the Prussian government answerable for all and every injury done to an American citi- zen." But though this secured American citi- zens from the quartering of troops, their prop- erty was of course in danger of the threatened general bombardment

A deputation of citizens then had an inter- view with General Mantenffel at his hotel. He kept them waiting for three hours before he would see them, the meantime being used by some members of the deputation to drop into Consul-General Murphy's room in the hotel to ask his advice. Finally General Manteuffel ordered the deputation to appear, and replied to the complaints of the treatment of the city, that the money must be paid, if not the city would be sacked, and he should take the money wherever he could lay his hands on it. The deputation said, "Surely Prussian troops will not be allowed to plunder a German city." General Mantenffel replied : "For that job I have a regiment of Poles with me; I do not care if you do call me a second Duke of Alma." Affairs looked gloomy enough. General Man- teuffel had arranged his cannon in position for firing upon the Zeil, the principal street of the city, and said as he pointed to them : "These are my arguments to bring the money, and if not paid within the time specified, I shall ex- act it."

Fortunately for Frankfort, General Man- teuffel found in the American Consul-General Murphy a will prompt in action as his own. Mr. Murphy determined to exert what influ- ence he possessed in favor of the city, and tele- graphed to Governor Wright, then our minister in Berlin, the state of affairs and protested against the second war levy of twenty-five mil- lion gulden. Even this was no easy task. The city telegraph stations were all in the hands of the military, and none would transmit the mes- sage; he must therefore proceed some miles into another territory and send the message by way of Heidelberg Fortunately, too, Man- tenffel was shortly after called away by firing at Wurzburg, and sent a captain with a few regiments to enforce the demand. He was superseded in a day or so by General Roder, backed by a larger force, who, though not

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ASTOR, LENOX AND' TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

William H Boyd.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF PIONEERS, 1818-1837.

quite so brutal as Manteuffel, demanded the immediate payment of the twenty-five million gulden. The despair of the citizens was com- plete ; Burgomaster Feliner had hanged him- self for grief, and no man knew how long his home would be secure from bombardment and pillage.

It was justat this time that our Consul-Gen- eral Murphy's influence was efficient. On the 24th of July, he received a telegram from Gov- ernor Wright, in which he said he had called upon Von der Heydt, Prussian Minister of Finance and Foreign Affairs, who said that Bismarck was absent, but that he had heard nothing at all about the second war levy at Frankfort, which was perfectly unjustifiable, and he would see that the order was not carried into exceution ; and in faet it was immediately revoked, and the citizens of Frankfort were released from all further apprehension. The popular joy at this unlooked for turn of affairs was, as might have been expected, exceedingly great, and Consul-General Murphy was there- after regarded by the people as a true bene- factor, for to him alone do they give the credit of saving their valnable property from destruc- tion.

The most prominent citizens of Frankfort determined to show their esteem and apprecia- tion of Mr. Murphy's character and great services to their city by presenting him with magnificent silver goblets, valued at six hun- dred gulden, with numerous valuable testimo- nials, at the consulate rooms, where the pres- ents were deposited. Professor Hamburger, attended by a large concourse of citizens, in a neat address presented them to Consul-General Murphy.

The removal of the Consul-General Murphy from Frankfort-on-the-Main elieited from the burgers of Frankfort strong and hearty ex- pressions of their sympathy for our consular representative and regret at his departure. After his retirement from the consulship he remained in Germany as the trusted financial agent of several of the leading railway com- panies in the United States, in which he was instrumental in securing the investment of large amounts of foreign capital in American enterprises. It was through his influence that the first bonds of the United States were sold in Frankfort.

Mr. Murphy died at Hamburg, June 8, 1886.

He was a brother-in-law of the Hon. Witter J. Baxter, of Jonesville, Professor I. B. Sill, of Detroit, and Professor A. S. Welch, of the Iowa Agricultural College.

WILLIAM H. BOYD

Was born in Hartwick, Otsego county, New York, October 6, 1811. His father, William A. Boyd, was born November 10, 1785, in Rich- mond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, the son of John Boyd, who was born in Irene, Scotland, in 1739, and emigrated to this country in 1770. He was a descendant of the Earl of Richmond, educated in the University of Edinburgh, a lawyer by profession, and made a notary in 1761. On coming to this country was licensed by William Tryon, governor of the province of New York, in 1774. Married Christina Van- dusen, of Kinderhook, and related to the Van Buren family. He removed from Berkshire county to Philadelphia, where he died Septem- ber 18, 1798.

He left four sons, Robert, William A., John and James. John had a large family, whose descendants are scattered in Wisconsin, Vir- ginia, New Jersey, New York and Pennsyl- nia. John E. Boyd, one of the descendants, is connected with the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian church in New York City.

William A. Boyd, father of William H., re- ceived his early education in Philadelphia and Albany, and entered a wholesale dry goods store in Albany, where he was thoroughly trained in the business. He afterwards set- tled in Otsego county, and married Miss Rutha Seymour, who was born in Berlin, Connecticut, August 28, 1789. Her father and mother (the latter's maiden name was Hart) were of Puri- tan stock, and among the first settlers and honored names of Connecticut They possessed sterling Christian characters, and trained a family of noble Christian men and women, numbering among their descendants six who have been or now are ministers of the Gospel. William A. Boyd had three children, William H., Erasmus J. and Mariet.

Erasmus was educated at Hamilton College, New York, and at the theological seminary at New York. He entered the ministry, and was for years pastor of a church in Brooklyn, Michigan. He was principal of the Young

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Ladies' Seminary of Monroe from its origin for twenty-nine years. He married Sarah Clark, of Troy, New York ; had two daughters, who married and settled in the West.

Mariet married Charles P. Woodruff, of De- troit ; has three sons and three daughters.

William H. Boyd was educated at Ovid Academy, New York, where he pursued a course in the languages and mathematics pre- paratory for college, but not desiring a profes- sion he turned his attention to natural history and the sciences. He entered the Rensselaer Institute, then under the charge of the dis- tingnished Professor Amos Eaton, at Troy, New York, where he graduated in 1835. His class contained such scholars as Professor James Hall, of Albany, and Hon. S. Wells Williams, of Yale College, late of China, the last being his roommate for two years. At this institute students were required to lec- ture in the studies in the presence of the whole class and the professors. This exercise proved of great value to the students in after life.

From this institute Mr. Boyd returned to his home in Ovid, New York, and spent some two years with his father in the mercantile business, during which time he accumulated a valuable library of literary, historic and scien- tific works, which he diligently studied in his leisure hours. He entered heartily into Sun- day school work and the cause of temperance. In 1834 he was chosen superintendent of the Presbyterian church Sunday school, which office he held while he remained in Ovid, also acted as superintendent of a Sabbath school three miles outside of the village.

In the spring of 1836 he made choice of Mon- roe as his future residence and engaged a store building, returned to Ovid, from thence to New York, and purchased a stock of dry goods. With a capital of $200 purchased $3,000 on a credit of six months, and returned to Monroe in June and opened his stock in

trade. About the 1st of December he ad- ded a stock of groceries. His business in- creased and was continued in the stand, in the building now occupied by H. Duvall, on First street, for ten years, during which time he built a store at Hillsdale, and one at Jackson, continuing the three stores for twelve years. He changed into the hardware trade, which he continued seventeen years, and then took in

two partners, George W. Bruckner and Robert Powell, and after seven years sold out to them. From that time he devoted his time to other branches of trade, produce, wool, clover seed, etc. In 1868 his hardware store was burned, when he went to New York City and spent two years in the oil trade, opening an important business in native lubricating oils in Russia, Germany, France and England, which business has been carried on most successfully by his son and his associates to the present time. Returning from New York at the close of 1869, he entered into the produce trade, in which he has continued to the present time, making in June, 1886, over fifty years of continued business.

When he commenced business in 1836, he wrote a pledge which he first signed and re- quired all his clerks for the first ten years to sign, pledging total abstinence from intoxicat- ing drinks and saloons, and of the large num- ber connected with him in business, all with one exception of those now living have kept their pledge, and all with two exceptions have proved in after life to be men of sterling char- acter, and most of them leading business men in society where they resided ..

In the summer of 1836 he united with the First Presbyterian church of Monroe by letter from Ovid, and joining the Sabbath school as teacher, was at once made assistant superin- tendent, and continued assistant superinten- dent until January, 1843, when he was elected superintendent and held the office until July, 1878, some thirty-five years as superintendent, excepting two years when absent in New York -forty years superintendent and assist- ant superintendent of the same school. In the Sabbath school work he was active both at home and throughout the State, having aided in the formation of the State Sunday school Association, acted as one of its executive com- mittee, and twice elected president of the State convention, once at Grand Rapids and once at Flint; was a delegate to the national conven- tion in Indianapolis in 1872, and to the inter- national convention in Baltimore in 1875; was a member of the first State temperance con- vention at Marshall in the winter of 1838; has been a member of the Synod of Michigan re- peatedly, and of the General Assembly in Buffalo, New York and Cincinnati, and a life member of the American Sunday School Union, and its vice-president in 1876. He deliv-

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BIOGRAPHIES OF PIONEERS, 1818-1837.

ered an historical address on the work of Sun- day schools during the past century at the State convention in Owosso in 1876, which was an address of great merit and deemed worthy of publication by the convention.

In the presbytery of Monroe he has been efficient as an elder; delivered an historical narrative of its fifty years' work in 1844, which was published in pamphlet form. He fre- quently responded to calls to deliver Fourth of July and historical addresses, as well as patri- otic addresses.

He was the first to offer a premium of twenty- five dollars for the first man who would enlist as a volunteer in the first company formed in Monroe county at the opening of the war in 1861. On the call for the mass meeting in Jackson, July 6, 1854, participated in the or- ganization of the Republican party. He never manifested any desire for political preferment, but was ever an ardent and zealous Republican.

His efficiency in the Sabbath school work, where he labored for forty-two years, can be attested by hundreds of teachers and scholars. Through his agency every member of the Fourth and Seventh Michigan regiments was furnished with a copy of the New Testament, and by his efforts the Presbyterian chapel was erected, to which he was a very liberal con- tributor. Commencing as a Sabbath school teacher at the age of sixteen, he labored fifty- nine years (at this date sixty-one), for the youth of our land, giving a bright example of one who had never used intoxicating drinks or tobacco in any form, or uttered a profane word, or labored or traveled on the Sabbath.

He was active in every enterprise for the in- terests of Monroc, viz .: In building the plank road to Saline before the railroad was con- structed ; in building the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo railroad, and the Holly railroad, which was absorbed by the Flint and Pere Marquette ; was one of the originators of the Monroe Fe- male Seminary, and invested $3,000 for the brick addition, which proved a pecuniary loss ; was interested in the Union hotel, now known as the Hubble block ; also one of the organizers of the First National bank, of which he was a number of years president and vice-president ; and for many years, and at the present time, president of the Monroe Bible Society, being the oldest Bible society in the Northwest, organ- ized in 1821.

Mr. Boyd married in September, 1839, Miss Lucy Chapel, who lost her parents in early youth, and was adopted by Judge Wolcott Lawrence, an old and honored family of New England, who came to Michigan in 1817. Mr. Boyd had five children, three of whom died in childhood, leaving Irving P. Boyd, of New York, and Carrie L., residing at Monroe.

Mr. Boyd's character as a Christian gentle- man for fifty years in the same community was exemplary, and his aim and purpose was to so live as to honor his Maker, and to lead all under his influence to do the same. In all moral and religious work for the good of his fellow men he was active and ready, and was known throughout the county in all its towns, attending the Sabbath school work and other gatherings with a ready address on the Bible, temperance and Sabbath school work, with illustrations for almost any emergency, giving interest to his efforts.

I append a partial list of persons who have been clerks or partners in business during the fifty years of William H. Boyd, and their present residence as far as known. Those marked * denote time of five years or more :

Elisha Field, California.

*Oscar Stoddard, dead.

*Allen Hammond, Hillsdale.

James Skinner, unknown ..

E. A. Peltier, sr., Monroe, dead.

C. P. Woodruff, Detroit.

E A. Howes, dead.

Moses B. Savage, dead.

Andrew Hastings, Detroit.

Reece H. Griffith, Rushtill, Illinois.

Robert Mockridge, dead.

*William H. Beach, dead.

Hosmer Chapman, dead.

*William Thompson, Fenton, Michigan.

Montgomery Thompson, Chicago.

Henry C. Seymour, Ohio.

George Seymour, Lyme, Ohio.

Byron Hammond, Michigan.

W. Van Miller, Monroe.

Henry C. Clark, Michigan.

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 27

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York, Munsell & company Number of Pages: 882

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882