USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan > Part 79
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September 8, 1863, he was married to Fannie C., daughter of Nelson L. and Jane (Ables) Reynolds, whose children are: Hal. M., born January 23, 1865, graduated from Michi-
gan College of Medicine and Surgery at Detroit, in 1889, and now practicing at Metamora, Ohio; Thaddeus, born September 28, 1868, who follows in the footsteps of his elder brother, and enters the same college as his brother leaves it; and Dayton, born May 2, 1877.
In 1876, Mr. Parker removed to Monroe, where he has since most of the time been actively engaged in the practice of his profes- sion, being for eight years the law partner of J. D. Ronan. In 1872 Mr. Parker was elected circuit court commissioner. He was elected on the Republican ticket in a strong Democratic city as mayor for two terms, the first being 1881 and the second in 1883. He was elected as representative from the First district of Monroe county to the State legisla- ture in a strong Democratie district in 1882 by a majority of 267, and in the legislature of 1883-4 was chairman of the Committee on Municipal Corporations, and member of the Committee on Elections. During the same time he was on the Republican State Central Committee as the representative from the Sec- ond Congressional District. In the winter of 1884.5 he went to Montana, and by appoint- ment of President Arthur, had charge of the Indian agency at Fort Peck. In April, 1886, he went into partnership with E. R. Gilday in the practice of law under the firm name of Parker & Gilday.
He is, with his wife, a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, and as an old soldier, an active member of the Joseph R. Smith Post, No. 76, G. A. R., at Monroe, of which he is past post commander, and in masonry claims mem- bership in Blanchard Lodge, No. 102, at Peters- burgh, and River Raisin Chapter, No. 22, R. A. M., at Monroe.
EDWIN R. GILDAY,
Son of William and Anna (Kareny) Gilday, was born in LaSalle, Monroe county, Michigan, October 24, 1848. Attended district school until 1865. In the fall of that year entered the Monroe Union School and graduated there- from July 2, 1869. In the summer of 1872 entered the law office of Joseph D. Ronan. In the fall of 1873 entered the law department of Michigan University and graduated therefrom with the class of 1875. In the fall of 1874 was
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
elected county clerk of Monroe county on the Democratic tieket, and re-elected in the fall of 1876. At the close of his term opened an office as attorney and counselor at law. At the spring election of 1879 was elected a member of the school board for the term of three years, and re-elected for same term in 1882. In 1880 was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and re-elected in 1882. In 1885 was elected mayor of the city of Monroe and re-elected in 1886. Since 1879 has been continuously in the practice of law.
CHARLES R. WING,
Son of Talcott and Elizabeth Johnson Wing, was born in Monroe, April 2, 1853. Prepared for college and graduated at the High School in Monroe. Entered the Michigan State Uni- versity and graduated therefrom with the class of 1874. Was admitted to the bar, and is practicing law in the city of Monroe.
CHARLES A. GOLDEN,
Son of Patrick and Mary Golden, was born in the city of Monroe, March 27, 1854; was grad- uated from St. Vincent's College, Westmore- land county, Pennsylvania, class of 1873; law department Michigan University, class of 1876 ; admitted to the bar at Monroe May 3,1876. Mar- ried to Frances L. Soleau, October 27,1880 ; have three children. Was the circuit court com- missioner Monroe county, 1876-78; city attor- ney, 1877-1885 ; supervisor fourth ward, 1881; prosecuting attorney, 1884-88 ; chief of fire de- partment, 1885-89; mayor and president board of education, 1889.
ALONZO B. BRAGDON.
While the Mayflower colony were strug- gling against hostile savages and want at Plymouth, Sir Ferdinando (or Fernando) Gorges, a Yorkshire nobleman, obtained a grant of land and sent a company of " knights, gentlemen and adventurers " to the new world. They landed north of the Merrimac River, in what is now York county, Maine, in 1623, and founded a settlement called Agamenticus. Gorges, with a liberality far in advance of the
age, some years afterward granted the settlers the right to elect twelve councilmen who should make laws for the colony, reserving to himself the right of approval before the laws became operative. This was one of the first, if not the first, representative government in America. Among the councilmen first elected, in 1640, was one Arthur Bragdon. His descendants settled in various places, as far east as Ells- worth, Maine, but the Indian massacre of 1698 left but five of the name living. The elder branch of the family was reduced to two brothers, Thomas, aged twenty-one, and Samuel, aged seventeen, at the opening of the Revolutionary War. Both entered the Amer- ican army, and were with Washington at Valley Forge. Thomas returned to Maine and died childless shortly afterward. Samuel con- tinued till the close of the war, and was among the company who carried the news of the sur- render of Cornwallis from Yorktown to New York. Two or three years afterward he mar- ried and settled in Maine. Here six sons were born to him, the eldest named Samuel after himself. The others were Theodore and Asa B., who became farmers (the latter still living in Oswego county, New York); George L. (who settled later in Ontario county, New York, and whose son Charles D. was till his death editor of Moore's Rural New Yorker, and another son, George C., is editor of the Rochester Times); Erastus E. E., pro- fessor of Greek and Latin at Fulton Col- lege; and Charles P., a Methodist preacher, one of the founders of Evanston, Illinois, Theological Seminary, and whose son, C. C., is principal of Lasell Seminary, Auburndale, Massachusetts.
The eldest son, Samuel, married in Maine and became the father of five sons and four daughters, the oldest being Asa B., born in Hallowell, Maine, in 1816. Of these children three sons and three daughters yet survive; one daughter dying shortly after her marriage, and two sons fill premature graves from wounds received in the War of the Rebellion. Asa B. removed with his father to Lockport, New York, in his boyhood. Here he married in 1842 Almira Barnes, a native of Canandaigua, New York. Four children were the result of this marriage: Adelaide A., born 1843; Emma S., born 1845; Alonzo Bartlett, born January 20, 1847, and Leroy P., born January 20, 1854.
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THE BAR OF MONROE.
The first two and last died in infancy. In 1850 Asa B. removed to Pennsylvania, where he resided for two years, going thence to New Lisbon, Ohio, where he remained till Septem- ber, 1856. Here, in 1854, Alonzo B. entered the intermediate department of the schools, having previously been taught at home. Re- moving to Hillsdale, Michigan, in 1856, he en - tered the high school. In December of the same year he removed to Hudson, Michigan. The village at that time afforded nothing better in the way of public education than a district school, divided into the infant room and the " big room." Being an apt scholar and learn- ing easily, he soon mastered what that school could impart. Fortunately, for several years select schools were established, furnishing a higher grade of education than the course in the district school; but unfortunately in those days of barter, store orders and wild-cat banks, financial reasons stood in the way of his avail- ing himself of these advantages. Determined to obtain an education, in which determination he was aided by his parents, so far as their means would permit, by odd jobs he managed to supplement his funds sufficiently to pur- chase necessary books and attend these schools. He became carrier boy of the Hudson Gazette, and after school hours was a " devil" and then a compositor, acquiring some knowledge of the " art preservative." In 1861 the first union school in the village was opened, and he com- menced attending it, being a classmate and in- timate friend of Will Carleton. While prepar- ing for college he taught Latin and the higher mathematics in this school. He was prepared for Oberlin College in 1864 and entered in the class of 1868. He taught again that winter, keeping up his class studies and resumed them in college in the early spring of 1865. He was called home by the illness of his mother before commencement, and his funds being exhausted he songht another school, intending to resume his studies in the fall. While looking for a school he was offered a position as book keeper by the firm of J. K. Boies & Co, and calculat- ing that he could earn enough in one year to maintain himself in college for two years, he accepted. He worked at the desk all day and attempted to keep up his studies at night, with the result of serious injury to his eyes. He intermitted the studies, and a generous inercase in pay induced him to remain another year.
Before this expired, however, his eyes were in such condition that it was only by the greatest care he was enabled to fill bis term. Re- linquishing his book-keeper's desk, he obtained a clerkship in the office of the Michigan South- ern and Northern Indiana Railroad, involving no evening work. Thanks to a vigorous con- stitution, in six months his eyes were entirely well. Some time before he had chosen the pro- fession of the law, and with restored eyes he entered upon its study. In 1868 he was offered and accepted the agency of the same company at Monroe, Michigan. Here, for a time, his studies were interrupted, but by systematizing his work, he again resumed them in 1869. They continued till the fall of 1870, when interrupted again by a long and serious illness. He was nearly prepared for admis- sion to the bar, when in 1871 the completion of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad gave him increased salary and sufficient help to render his position a desirable one. In 1873 he tendered his resignation, intending to com - plete his studies and enter the profession of his choice, but was induced to withdraw it. For some years he discontinued all study of the law and retained his position, traveling over the eastern and southern portion of the United States in his vacations. In 1882, be- coming dissatisfied with his occupation, he again resumed the study of the law under the friendly direction of Colonel Grosvenor. He was admitted to the bar January 2, 1884, and on the 17th of the same month entered Colo. nel Grosvenor's office, with whom he has since been associated.
He was married July 10, 1866, to Agnes H. Ross, daughter of Rev. Benjamin Ross, of South Bend, Indiana. Four children have been born to them : Florence A., 1869 ; Alonzo B., jr., 1872; Charles R., 1874 (died August 31, 1874) ; and Bessie M., 1876. Despite a laborious life, from his early youth he has been an omnivorous reader and a continual student. He has man- aged by utilizing the " unconsidered trifles " of time to do a great deal of reading and to ac- cumulate a large and well-selected library in which he takes great delight. He has contrib- uted in prose and rhyme to various period- icals and books, and was tendered an e litorial chair in Chicago, but declined. Since his ad- mission to the bar he has dabbled slightly in politics, and has held the office of circuit court
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
commissioner, deputy county clerk and city attorney.
HARRY A. LOCKWOOD
Was born in the village of Petersburgh, in Monroe county, August 28, 1861. His parents, Ezra L. Lockwood and Jennie Hall Lockwood, moved upon the farm still occupied by them in the township of Summerfield, in 1862. His boyhood was spent upon the farm and in at- tendance upon the public schools of the town- ship, and, having finished the course at the union school of Petersburg in 1878, he entered the Michigan State Normal School, from which he graduated with the class of '81. He then entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan and graduated with the class of 1883. Having been admitted to practice as an attorney at law in December, 1882, he came to Monroe immediately after finishing his course at the University, and began the practice of his profession and is still located in Monroe. He was married to Helen Stone, of Washing- ton, Michigan, Aug. 28, 1884.
HENRY SHAW NOBLE,
Son of Hon. David A. Noble, was born in Monroe, December 19, 1839. He was educated at the branch school of the University, and at the age of sixteen entered the University at Ann Arbor. He was married to Miss Delia S. Vrooman in 1857. Mr. Noble entered the mercantile business the same year, and dealt in general merchandise under the firm name of W. A. & H. S. Noble until 1861, when the firm was changed to Noble & Redfield, which continued until 1865. Mr. Noble was secretary of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe Railway during its construction. He was one of the originators of the organization of the Monroe Democrat ; is a stockholder and trustee of that corporation. Mr. Noble studied law with Willitts & Raleigh and was admitted to the bar in 1872. Was ap- pointed by President Cleveland postmaster of the city of Monroe and still holds the office.
THOMAS D. ADAMS,
Son of Dr. Ephraim Adams, of Monroe City, Michigan, and Mary Paddock Adams, of Water- town, Jefferson county, New York, was born March 25, 1842, in Frenchtown, Monroe county,
Michigan. The subject of this sketch was edu- cated in the common schools, and after arriv- ing at the age of twenty-one years, he worked on his father's farm until the fall of 1873, when Mr. Adams entered the law office of the late Judge Warner Wing & Son, Anderson Wing, and after a course of study and reading lasting nearly three years, he was admitted to the bar in the year 1876. Mr. Adams, while a student, received many valuable suggestions and advice while in Judge Wing's office, with the use of his fine library, at that time the best in Monroe county. Judge Wing was a fine lawyer, and his library was stored with fine books, and in his office a student had no reason to complain. Mr. Adams was married in the year 1879, to Marzette Bissonette, of Monroe, Michigan. By that lady he had five children, of whom four are now living: Thomas Darwin Adams, Warner Wing Adams, Ruth Mary Adams and Emma A. Adams. Mr. Adams has never been an aspirant for office, though he was elected township superintendent of schools several times. Is at the present time practicing law in Monroe City, Michigan.
JOHN W. BILLMIRE
Was born November 19, 1853, in Wurtemburg, Germany. When John W. was four years of age his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Monroe county, Michigan. Mr. B. received his education at the State Normal School, Ypsilanti, Michigan, and graduated from that institution in 1880. He graduated fram the Law Department of the Michigan University in 1883, and was admitted to the bar the same year. He is a Republican, and was elected county clerk for 1887-88 ; is now a member of the county board of school examin- ers. John W. resides at Monroe, Michigan, and is engaged in the practice of law.
JOHN P. JAMINET,
Born in Differdingen, Grand Duchy of Luxem- bourg, September 23, 1839, received his educa- tion in his native village and schools in France ; emigrated to the United States in 1857, and came to Monroe in 1860 ; was elected an alder- man of the first ward in 1872 and served two terms; elected as justice in 1879, and is serv- ing now his third term as such; admitted to the bar in 1883 and elected circuit court com- missioner in 1888.
THE NEW IT PUBLIC LIFRA: (
ASTOR, LENOX ANS TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
Eng." by J.L. Phillips, NY
Seward Maken
MUNSELL &CO NY.
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THE BAR OF MONROE.
JOHN DAVIS
Was born on Grosse Isle, in Monguagon town- ship, Wayne county, Michigan, January 21, 1828, and has always lived in this State; attended the Young Men's Academy in Monroe under Professor Stebbins, and took a commer- cial course under Professor Stevens. Eighteen years he taught St. Mary's School for Boys in Monroe, under Right Rev. Ed. Joos as director.
He has held the offices of township clerk and school inspector of Raisinville, and afterward city clerk, supervisor and justice of the peace in Monroe City for about twelve years, and was superintendent of the poor nine years; studied law in the office of Judge Morris ; was admitted to the bar May 15, 1880, and is now, in 1889, justice of the peace.
SETII C. RANDALL,
Son of George C. and Esther A. (McAllister) Randall, was born in Orleans county, New York, February 15, 1842. After receiving his education he came west. He served three years in the late war as a member of Company D, Twenty-second Regiment Michigan Volun- teer Infantry. His brother-in-law, Harrison D. Plank, was a member of the Eighteenth Regi- ment, and was lost off the Sultana. Mr. Ran- dall has held the office of town treasurer in Bloomfield, Oakland county, Michigan, and has been school superintendent at Dundee. Mr. Randall was married to Ellen M. Plank, daugh- ter of James and Sarah H. (Dubois) Plank, May 18, 1870. Their son Harrison was born Feb- ruary 17, 1871, and Don H., May 24, 1872, died October 18, 1872; has a successful practice, often advocating cases in the circuit court of Monroe county.
SEWARD BAKER,
. Representative from the Second District of Monroe county, was born in the township of Ash, this county, October 11, 1858. His father, Harrison Baker, was born in New York State, April 4, 1832, and was one of the pioneers of Ash township. The mother of the subject of this sketch, Minerva (Donaldson) Baker, was born in Swanton, Vermont, in November, 1837. She married in November, 1857, and was the mother of ten children, Seward being the eldest. Two of the children are deceased. Mr. Baker remained on the farm with his parents until he had attained the age of twenty-one, at- tending school during the winter months. He
entered the Northern Indiana Normal School and graduated in the teachers' department in 1882, and the same winter taught a select school in Canandaigua, Lenawee county. He was elected to the State legislature in 1885-6 and 1887-8 on the Democratic ticket. He entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan in October, 1885, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1886. Since that time he has practiced law in Carlton, and at present (1889) is prosecuting attorney of Monroe county, and has taken up his residence in the city of Monroe. His father was accidentally killed on his farm May 28, 1888. His mother still resides on the farm in Ash township.
B. J. CORBIN,
Son of Isaac and Martha C. Corbin, who emi- grated from Grand Isle county, Vermont, and settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan, died in 1871, and in 1883 his widow removed to Dundee, Monroe county, Michigan. The subject of this sketch was born in Grand Isle county, Ver- mont ; received his education at the high school and Michigan State University; was admitted to the bar at Ann Arbor in 1878, and is at present law partner of Seth C. Randall in practice in Dundee.
JOHN O. ZABEL,
Attorney and counselor, of Petersburgh, Mon- roe county, was born in Postenkill, New York, October 29, 1856. His parents moved from Postenkill to Dundee in 1860, and from thence to Summerfield, Monroe county, where they still reside.
John O., the subject of this sketch, worked on the farm summers and attended district schools in winter months; attended union school at Petersburgh, two winters ; entered law depart- ment of Michigan University October 1, 1877 ; graduated March 26, 1879, class of 1879; was admitted to the bar the same year; commenced practice at Petersburgh, where he is still located ; was married October 20, 1880, to Mate (Swick) Zabel; has two sons, aged seven and three. Mr. Zabel was president of the village for the years 1883, 1887 and 1888; attorney of the village for the years 1884 and 1889; is at present member of the school board; was chairman of the county committee of the Green- back party for six years, and candidate for attorney-general on the Union Labor ticket in 1888; received 4,667 votes, the second highest.
CHAPTER XXXV.
FISHERIES.
L ONG before the River Raisin massacre and for many years thereafter, while the country was yet inhabited by the aborigines, the waters of Lake Erie bounding the shores of this county were known to teem with the choicest varieties of fresh water fish. Among these were whitefish, lake herring, pickerel, black bass, pike, muskalunge and the sturgeon, which our great American poet immortalized in his legend of Hiawatha, together with many other varieties of lesser note. The whitefish and herring are strictly lake species, never venturing up the smaller streams or rivers.
Up to 1856 the appliances for fishing in this locality were very crude, consisting of a sweep or drag seine, often manufactured from elm bark, and calculated to capture a limited amount of fish for the immediate use of its owner. In the fall of 1856 a few enterprising men from Connecticut, Messrs. Chittenden, Dibble, Kirtland and Chapman, hearing of the abundance of fish in our waters, determined to try a new device known as a pound net, which was at that time attracting much attention in their State. They set two of those nets one mile north of Monroe light. Their first sea- son's fishing demonstrated the fact that our waters tcemed with thousands of white fish and herring. In the spring of 1857 Messrs. Chit- tenden & Co. moved their nets and boats to Brest, where they found a good harbor at the mouth of Stony Creek. Their spring catch was not as profitable as that of the previous fall, the fish taken consisting mostly of pickerel, mullet, perch and sturgeon, the latter at that time being considered fit only for Indians and half-breeds. But times have changed. The sturgeon has found favor with the white man, and is much sought after, not only for its flesh, but also for the roe of the female, from which caviar is made. It is now estimated that over $100,000 worth of caviar has been shipped to Europe from Monroe within the last 12 years.
In the fall of 1857 Chittenden & Co. again set their nets. Their catch of white fish during the season was truly astonishing, oftimes reaching from two thousand to four thousand fish at a single haul. This wonderful success was soon heralded along the shores of the Great Lakes, and inquiry came from all quarters for informa- tion as to the manner of constructing and operating pound nets. The stories concerning® these wonderful catches of fish at Monroe and vicinity as they spread abroad became quite fishy, and a few years later in Duluth, Minne- sota, fishermen were telling about the great hauls of fish at Monroe, often reaching thirty or forty thousand at one lift.
Among others, Mr. John P. Clark, a pioneer fish dealer and fisherman of Detroit, heard of the Monroe fisheries. He at once opened nego- tiations for the purpose of buying out the Con- necticut firm. The bargain was consummated a year later. Mr. Clark sent men and boats to Stony Point to carry on the business, and each succeeding year up to 1887. In 1860 Mr. Henry Paxton opened a small establishment at Otter Creek. His success soon enabled him to go into the business on an extensive scale. Mr. John Little, a Monroe citizen, also embarked in the business and commenced operations to the northward of Monroe light, but unfortunately was drowned before accomplishing much. Excitement incident to large catches of fish along the whole shore caused many to em- bark in the business, comparatively few of whom succeeded, success requiring experience and skill, together with courage and great en- durance.
In those early days there were no laws regu- lating riparian rights in the lakes, and fre- quently trouble arose among the different firms or parties engaged therein in regard to the possession and ownership of the fishing grounds, in one instance, at least, culminating in bloodshed. The parties to the affray were
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FISHERIES.
Messrs. Hedges and Kinney on one side, and one Snyder on the other. The disputed terri- tory was Gard Island, sitnated in the northerly arm of Maumee Bay. Snyder was shot and killed by an employe of Messrs. Hedges and Kinney. He was arrested, tried, and acquitted on a plea of self-defense.
As the fisheries became valuable, the home fishermen were constantly having trouble and disputes with fishermen from Ohio and other parts of the country as to the ownership and right of possession of the fishing grounds, and in 1869 the legislature enacted a statute giving the riparian owner the exclusive right of driv- ing pound stakes and fishing pound nets in front of his property on the Great Lakes in Michigan within one mile from low water mark. This statute greatly enhanced the value of property on the lake front, which up to that time was of little value, as most of it was swamp and marsh, but was quickly bought up by fishermen for the fishing right apporte- nant thereto.
Hedges & Kinney continued in the business until the death of Mr. Hedges. In settling his estate Mr. Kinney, in 1881, sold to J. N. Dewey & Co. what is known as the Point Mouille Fishery, and in 1887 Mr. Kinney closed out his interest in what is known as the Bay Point Fishery to Alex. St. John. The Messrs. Dewey Brothers, Joseph B. and Jesse N. Dewey, commenced fishing for John P. Clark at Stony Point in 1860, and after ac- quiring a valuable experience, in 1864 com- menced business for themselves in a small way, and by energy, economy and good business management have extended their business until at the present time they own or control about all the lake front and fishing grounds in Monroe county, and they and the parties inter- ested with them represent one of the largest fishing plants on the Great Lakes.
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