USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan > Part 63
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SKETCHES OF SOME OF THE LATER RESIDENTS.
had been his fellow clerk at Mr. Bulkley's for four years, was deemed sufficient to attend to the business, but it grew so rapidly that in less than two months he engaged the services of Mr. George J. Ohr, and two months later a third in the person of Miss Annie Baier, who remained with him until her marriage two years after, when her place was supplied by Miss Nula Nagel, who four years later married his head salesman, Mr. Schmidt, her place being taken in the store by Miss Rose Wallinger. Six months after Miss Baier's engagement with him, George C. Kirschner entered his employ, and in 1887 Willie Peppler began his clerkship. Mr. Lauer, while opposed to partnerships, be- lieved in giving his clerks an interest beyond their regular salary, and has adopted the plan of giving them a percentage of the profits as compensation for faithful service, by which means he holds them firmly to his interests, never having had occasion to discharge an employe.
Mr. Laner's proud and independent spirit, hatred of cant and humbug, with a genial, affable temperament, and his frankness, made many friends and keeps them, among whom was Matilda, the accomplished and beautiful daughter of George F. and Wilhelmina (Stoeck- ert) Finzel, to whom he was married January 3, 1882. "Her father has long been known as one of the most popular hardware merchants in Monroe. Mr. Lauer is justly proud of his two daughters, Nora, born October 4, 1882, and Bertha, born November, 1884.
In March, 1887, Mr. Lauer, not satisfied with his almost phenomenal success in building up a large mercantile business from the smallest be- ginning, started a branch store at Petersburgh, placing it in charge of his elder brother, Emanuel S. Lauer, which from its inception has proved an eminent success, has been well patronized and is highly complimented by the Petersburgh press and people in that section of the county. In speaking of it the Peters- burgh Journal says :
" This branch enables Mr. L. to buy more largely and gives him the advantages always possessed by large buyers, by which his cus- tomers are in turn benefited, as he can carry a much larger stock, of which he proposes always to have the best and choicest in the market."
We copy the following from the Petersburgh
Journal of August 29, 1889: " Ed. G. J. Lauer is in New York now, purchasing a mammoth stock of fall and winter goods for his two stores. The trip of Ed. G. J. Lauer to New York calls to mind some of the brilliant en- terprises he has undertaken and carried for- ward to a full success. Notably among these is his branch store in this village. Realizing that Petersburgh was about midway between Adrian and Monroe, and thinking to concen- trate the trade which before was divided among several small towns, he started a branch store here, and under the efficient management of his brother, E. S. Lauer, the object sought was accomplished and he has a large and inercas- ing trade. Men with push always find ' kickers,' and Mr. Lauer was no exception to the rule, for it was prescribed by that class that ' three months' would be the limit of his ability to make things work ; but he was a ' stayer' as well as a 'pusher,' and from February 14, 1887, his business has continued to increase."
While Mr. Lauer is of full German descent (for many years an active member of the Arbiter Unterstuetzungs Verein) he is thor- oughly American in his views and principles, and believes the same to be fully embodied in the doctrines of the Democratic party. He has not been what might be termed a politician, although taking an active interest in anything that may tend to advance the welfare of his native city, from 1885 to 1888 serving as a member of the board of education, and his popularity is shown by his having been in 1888 elected alderman for two years from the strong Republican ward (the second) in which he resides.
In every movement of public interest Mr. Lauer not only stands ready to take a leading part in advice and suggestions, but unlike many who pose before the public with empty words as an advocate of improvement, he makes it a rule to advocate no measure which he is not willing to support his argument by a generous contribution from his bank account. In fact, whenever any object which might tend, directly or indirectly, to advance the interests or promote the general prosperity of his native city is suggested or proposed, he is among the first to advocate and support it.
While Mr. Lauer is much sought after by the representatives of wholesale houses, he largely deals directly with trade centers, to do
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
which necessitates several trips to New York cach year, thus enabling him to take advan- tage of markets to which otherwise he would be a total stranger.
As an example of a self-made man, rising from the humblest walks in life by his own unaided energy and pushing qualities to the
enviable position of one of the representative business men of Southern Michigan, Mr. Laner's career shows in a most remarkable manner what can be accomplished by carnest applica- tion, integrity and honest dealing, and he well merits the verdict rendered by an appreciative public.
28 ED . G. J. LAUER .: 25}
THE NEWY : UBLIC LIBRARY
ASTORI LENOX .0 TILDEN FRU TATIONS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HISTORY OF STATE ADMINISTRATIONS.
THE connection of Governor Lewis Cass with the gubernatorial office ceased by his resignation in 1831. He was appointed Secre- tary of War by President Jackson and imme- diately entered upon the duties at Washing- ton. His administration as governor was one of decided success, and while it secured great results to the Territory, it bound him to the people by the strongest bonds of respect and love. Nor did his connection with them cease in after years. He represented the State in the Senate of the United States for two sue- cessive terms ; was Minister to France and Sec- retary of War under President Jackson, and Secretary of State under President Buchanan. His was a long life spent in public service, and he well deserved the rewards due to a faithful, honest and able public servant. The statue ordered by our legislature and placed in the capitol at Washington during this year among the statues of the most eminent men of other States of the Union, is a just tribute to his memory. Michigan honors herself in thus honoring her most illustrious statesman.
The next person appointed governor of the Territory was George B. Porter, of Pennsyl- vania. He was commissioned in August, 1831, but died after a short incumbency of the office.
He was succeeded in the performance of the executive duties by Stevens T. Mason, secre- tary of the Territory, who became acting gov- ernor on the death of Governor Porter. He continued to perform the duties of the office until September 8, 1835, when he was removed by President Jackson.
This period of the last four years of Territo- rial government is one of note in the history of Michigan. During the time population was rapidly pouring into the Territory and spread- ing itself widely through the interior, building up towns and villages and beautifying the country with cultivated farms. Near the close of this period was held the convention which
prepared a constitution for the future State, which was adopted by popular vote in Octo- ber, 1835.
In this year occurred the memorable contro- versy with Ohio in reference to the southern boundary line, a controversy which greatly excited the public mind on both sides of the line, and made conspicuous the governors both of Ohio and Michigan. The subject of the controversy was really very simple, but the prospective importance of Toledo and its posi- tion on navigable waters, prompted the almost frantic efforts of Ohio to secure it for that State. The disputed territory lay within the recognized limits of Monroe county, a county which was organized in 1817, and had con- tinued from the first to exercise uninterrupted jurisdiction over it in every respect as a part of its territory, until the adverse claims to possession were urged in 1835. Resistance to lawful authority assumed an alarming aspect, the particulars of which are fully given under the chapter entitled "The Toledo War."
The national authorities at Washington were alarmed with the threatened collision. The president referred the question of legal rights to the attorney-general, and that officer on the 21st of March, 1835, in an exhaustive and lucid opinion, concluded as a result " that the Terri- tory in dispute must be regarded as forming a part of the Territory of Michigan, and that it was the duty of the President so to regard it, and to protect and maintain it; that the act of the legislature of Ohio extending the jurisdic- tion of that State over it, was repugnant to the acts of Congress on the subject, and its enforce- ment would involve a most serious violation of the laws of the United States." He held also that the act of the legislative council of Michi- gan making it a criminal offense, punishable by fine and imprisonment, in any person who should exercise or attempt to exercise any official functions, or officiate in any office or
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
situation in the disputed territory, by virtue of any commission or authority not derived from the Territory or the United States Gov- ernment, was a valid law; and he strongly in- timated that if an armed force should invade the Territory for the purpose of establishing the jurisdiction of Ohio by force of arms, the authorities of Michigan might properly repel force with force, in defense of their rights, and if this did not avail, it might become the duty of the President to render more effective aid. A question of national importance arose, and greatly perplexed the authorities at the Fede- ral capital. A hostile collision was imminent. The President was anxious to avoid such a conflict and ardently desired an amicable arrangement of the matter ; and for that pur- pose appointed two commissioners, Hon. Rich- ard Rush and Hon. Benjamin C. Howard, to visit and intercede with the governors of Ohio and Michigan. They arrived in Ohio April 1, 1835, and for four or five weeks thereafter were engaged in efforts to effect their object, some- times in Ohio, sometimes in Michigan, often by personal interviews with the governors and sometimes by correspondence. But the effort was not a success, and on the 5th of May they returned to Washington.
During these negotiations Governor Mason stood firmly by the right of Michigan to the long conceded jurisdiction over the tract in dispute and to the enforcing of the laws of Michigan within it, and refused to give any sanction to the organizing of counties or town- ships or courts within it under Ohio authori- ties. They proposed to him to allow the juris- diction of Ohio to be extended, and that Michi- gan and Ohio should exercise concurrent juris- diction, and that the officers of both should to- gether exercise authority; but to this he re- fused his assent. They urged him to abandon all idea of force and withhold his assent to the exercise of it, but he considered it his duty to preserve the integrity of the Territory and to allow the executive officers to enforce the laws of Michigan within its borders, and if the cir- cumstances demanded it, he would refuse no aid which the executive might properly fur- nish.
This controversy gave great annoyance and trouble to Governor Mason. A young man nearly twenty-four years of age had to bear re- sponsibilities and perform official duties which
required the wisdom and experience of an older man. This controversy brought him into sharp collision with men in high official position and distinguished for long experience and eminent ability. His correspondence on the subject is marked by its directness, its clearness of statement, its cogency of argu- ment. His voluminous correspondence with the President, the Secretary of State, the Secre- tary of War, the Governor of Ohio, and with Messrs. Rush and Howard, the commissioners, and his messages to the legislative council, all evince ability of more than ordinary power, and a zeal in urging the claims and defending the rights of the Territory, whose chief execu- tive officer he was. With the Governor of Ohio he was, of course, brought into sharp collision. With the wishes of General Jackson, then Presi- dent, and whom above all men he admired, he could not comply ; and preferred to retire from his office rather than decline to do what he thought duty demanded of him.
But on the real question at issue, the ques- tion as to the true boundary line under the acts of Congress, and the legality of the proposed action of Ohio in extending her jurisdiction and establishing and maintaining her offices by force within the Territory, there is no evidence that General Jackson took any view different from that of Governor Mason; and it is certain that the attorney general, his legal adviser, was clear in his opinion that Michigan was right in her view on this point, and that the executive should maintain the established juris- diction, and that too by force, if invaded from abroad. And this, too, was the expressed view of at least some of the members of the cabinet.
But the President was anxious to avoid all trouble, and it was said that he was particu- larly anxious to pacify and conciliate the State of Ohio, whose large vote might be important in the presidential election which was near at hand. He was willing to avoid the threatened collision by allowing Ohio for the time being to establish her jurisdiction, and her newly appointed judges and other officers within the Territory ; and that the executive of Michigan should abstain from resistance in the meantime, and cease to perform what in the view of the governor was his sworn official duty. On this they disagreed, and Governor Mason was re- moved from office.
In this long and bitter controversy, Governor
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Mason at no time stood alone. The legislative council were always with him, and by their legislative acts they not only proclaimed their rights but provided sufficient means for secur- ing and defending them. The people were with him, and most heartily and zealously sup- ported him and his measures, and gloried in the chivalrons spirit with which he defended their canse.
On the 11th day of September, 1835, the troops having returned from Toledo to Monroe, they were received by Governor Mason, and the hearty acclamations with which his short address was received, gave ample evidence of the strong hold which he had upon the affec- tions of the people. But this was the last act of Governor Mason as Territorial governor. His removal from office followed almost imme- diately after. But on the first Monday of October succeeding-a short month after-he was elected governor of the State of Michigan under the constitution of 1835, by a vote of nearly eight thousand to about eight hundred given for the opposing candidate.
Governor Mason was succeeded in the office by John S. Horner, who was appointed secre- tary of the Territory by General Jackson. His official term was short and by no means a pleasant or an exultant one. He arrived in Michigan but ten days before the election was to take place under the State constitution of governor and other State officers, and snc- ceeded a man whose popularity was at that time unbounded, and whose praise was on the lips of all.
With the departure of Governor Horner and the cessation of the Territorial government, the State organization at once succeeded. The governor and members of the legislature elected in October under the constitution took the oath of office early in November, and put the State government in complete operation in all its departments. From this time until the passage of the final act of admission by Con- gress, January 26, 1837, Michigan was a State government fully organized, and its executive, judicial and legislative departments in com- plete operation, yet a State not admitted with- in the circle of the Union, nor was the Territo- rial government formally abrogated or an- nulled. The two jurisdictions stood face to face, but fortunately for all parties and for the public peace, no collision occurred, nor were
any of the troublesome questions which the anomalons condition suggests, ever mooted. In the performance of executive duties Gov- ernor Mason was assiduous and untiring. As a man he was genial, kind and companionable, and his personal popularity never ceased.
From the organization of the State, the genius of her people was exemplified by the enactment of laws for the building of four rail- roads, several of which under new names were destined to be eminently successful. For a history of the railroads of the State the reader is referred to chapter entitled Railroads.
Special attention was given during Governor Mason's administration to the cause of educa- tion. An act in March of 1837, for the organ- ization and support of the primary schools, ac- cording to an act of Congress setting apart for school purposes one thirty-sixth part of public lands in the State, and within the same month another important act, was passed which gave existence to the University of Michigan, which was located at Ann Arbor. For the history of the University the reader is referred to the chapter under that head.
Special attention was also given to the min- eral resources of the State. An appropriation of $30,000 was made for a geological survey, and the appointment of State geologist was conferred upon Dr. Douglass Houghton, who accomplished more than any other man to make known to the world the mineral resources of the State.
It was during his administration that inter- nal improvements of the State were projected, the State prison completed at Jackson, and the militia of the State organized. With the year 1839 terminated his administration, having had the honor of inaugurating a new State and proved himself to be not only a man of ability, but a true and valuable friend to Michigan. He emigrated to this Territory in 1831, when he was appointed its secretary in his nineteenth year, and after the expiration of his second term as governor entered upon practice as a member of the legal profession in the city of New York, but lived but about three years thereafter and died in New York City.
Governor William Woodbridge, the second governor of the State, commenced his term in Jannary, 1840, and ended with that year. He was a native of Connecticut, but removed carly to Ohio and entered in practice of law at Mari-
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
etta in 1806, and was afterwards a member both of the assembly and senate of that State. He came to Michigan in 1814 under an appoint- ment by President Madison as secretary of the Territory, and continued in the office of secre- tary until 1827. In the course of that period the secretary was often called upon to perform the duties of Governor Cass.
He was the first delegate to Congress from Michigan, a judge of the Supreme Court of the Territory, a member of the convention that drafted the State constitution in 1835. His long intimacy with Michigan and its varied in- terests, and the ability and integrity with which he had performed every official duty, gave him exceptional qualifications for the position of chief executive officer of the State, and his fellow citizens did not fail to appreciate these qualifications. In 1841, he was chosen by the legislature to the Senate of the United States. He was a man of extensive reading and much and varied learning, a modest and retiring man, yet genial and kind in his feel- ings. He died in October, 1861.
After Governor Woodbridge left the execu- tive chair, the then lieutenant governor, J. Wright Gordon, became the acting governor, and served as such for the balance of the term. The leading events of this joint administration were the completion of the railroad from Detroit to Ann Arbor, and the establishment of the branches of the State University at Detroit, Pontiac, Monroe, Niles, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Jackson, White Pigeon and Tecumseh. As a result of the distribution act of Congress, the State became possessed of five hundred thousand acres of public land, many portions of which were selected with great care and to become the foundation of an important revenue.
During Mr. Gordon's administration the Grand Lodge of Free Masons was reorganized with the constitutional number of lodges. Of the early organization of this Order we are not informed beyond the fact that the first Grand Lodge was organized at Detroit, June 24, 1826, was incorporated by the legislative council in 1827, and by a formal resolution adopted in 1829, Masonic labor was suspended. A gen- cral meeting of the Masons of the State was called for enquiry in 1840, and in 1841 the former Grand officers granted dispensations for several lodges. The first Grand Master
under the original organization was General Lewis Cass. The Grand Royal Arch Chapter was organized in 1848. The Grand Council of Royal and Selected Masons was organized in 1858, and the Grand Commandery Knights Templar was organized January 15, 1857.
John S. Barry, the third governor of the State, and successor of Governor Woodbridge, was a native of the State of Vermont. He re- sided at Constantine, and his occupation was that of a merchant. His first term commenced in January, 1842. He was again elected for the term commencing in January, 1844, and subsequently for the term beginning in Janu- ary, 1850. The repeated call to this high office by his fellow citizens shows clearly the high estimate in which he was held by the people, and their confidence in his integrity and capacity.
His first two terms embraced a time of great embarrassment in business affairs. He guarded the public treasury with watchful eye. The economy of his administration was pro- verbial, yet he did not hesitate to pledge his own personal responsibility, when the public interest required, for the payment of a public obligation.
In 1845 it became necessary for the State to purchase railroad iron to be used on the State railroad. The iron was contracted for in New York, but the vender was not satisfied with the responsibility of the State and would not de- liver the iron unless the governor would per- sonally guarantee the payment of the bonds. This he did, and the iron was delivered on the road. It was by law to be paid for out of the income of the road, but at the expiration of his term of office a considerable amount remained unsatisfied. He had expected it would be liquidated before his term expired, and if it had been, no man would ever have known from him of the responsibility he had voluntarily assumed. The debt was, however, paid in due time.
During his first term he had the satisfaction of seeing the University opened for the recep- tion of students, the Central and Southern railroads progressing rapidly, the former hav- ing been finished to Marshall, one hundred and ten miles, and the latter to Hillsdale, sixty- eight miles.
The fourth governor of the State was Al- pheus Felch, of Monroe, who entered upon the
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duties of the office in November, 1845, and continued therein until March 3, 1847, when he resigned to accept a seat in the United States Senate. He emigrated from Maine to Michi- gan, entered the legal profession and practiced, having Hon. Hiram Stone as a copartner. As carly as 1836 he became identified with public affairs, first as a member of the legislature, then as a bank commissioner, as auditor-gen- eral of Michigan, also a judge of the Supreme Court, and subsequent to his term in the United States Senate was appointed commissioner to settle the land claims.
The leading incident of his administration was the sale to private corporations of the two railroads belonging to the State. The Central was sold for $2,000,000, and the Southern $500,000. It was in 1846 that the University library was enriched with a choice collection of about five thousand volumes purchased in Europe. The reader is here referred to the " Bar of 1837," for life of Governor Felch.
Epaphroditus Ransom, fifth governor of the State, after serving as justice of the Supreme Court from 1843 was elected governor of the State in November, 1847, entered upon its duties January 1, 1848, and served ont his term January 1, 1850. He was a New England man, had served one term in the Michigan legislature, and was a regent of the Univer- sity. President Buchanan appointed him re- ceiver of the land office for one of the districts in the State of Kansas, and he there died before the expiration of his term.
It was during his administration as governor that bills were passed establishing the Asylum for the Insane at Flint, and the Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind at Kalamazoo, both of which institutions were liberally endowed with lands and each of them placed in charge of a board of five trustees. The capital under the act of 1847 having been removed from Detroit to Lansing, temporary buildings for the use of the legislature and State officers were occupied during his term.
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