USA > Michigan > Montcalm County > History of Montcalm County, Michigan its people, industries and institutions...with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families Volume I > Part 44
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John Lewis came to Greenville in September, 1853, from Vermont. He had studied law with Judge Beckwith, of St. Albans, Vermont, who later removed to Chicago and became an eminent lawyer there. For a time Mr. Lewis was a member of the firm of Ellsworth, Lewis & Sapp. He served as prosecuting attorney from 1866 to 1868, as circuit court com- missioner from 1858 to 1860, as judge of the probate from 1884 to 1888, and during the later years of his life enjoyed an extensive practice, es- pecially in the higher state and federal courts. At the time of his death his law partner was William S. Whittlesey.
Milo Lewis, son of John Lewis, now occupies his father's old offices in Greenville, where he has carried on an extensive practice of his profession since the death of his father in 1895. Milo Lewis is an expert in probate law, to which he gives much of his attention. He graduated from the Uni- versity of Michigan, was admitted to practice in this county and has resided in Greenville practically his entire life. He occupies his father's homestead. Politically, he is a Democrat, conducted the office of probate judge during his father's incumbency, and was postmaster at Greenville during Cleveland's second administration. He is quiet and unassuming, but a clean and honor- able gentleman.
D. A. Elliott came to Greenville from Pontiac, Oakland county, where he had previously studied law and had been admitted to the bar. He lived for a time at Corunna, Livingston county, and settled in Greenville in 1867. where he remained until his death, in 1905. Elliott was a Democrat in poli- tics and served for a time as justice of the peace.
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Thomas F. Shields, who practiced law for a time at Stanton, was one of five brothers who were lawyers. Dennis E. practiced at Howell; Peter settled at San Antonio, Texas; John C. practiced at Lansing, and Terrance, at Stanton and Howell. Thomas F. removed from Stanton to San Antonio in the early eighties to join his brother Peter.
George H. Cagwin was active in the practice of law at Carson City for many years. He came to Michigan from New York state and in his early life had been a sailor on the lakes. Subsequently, he became a member of the firm of Blanchard, Bell & Cagwin, at Ionia, but the death of Bell and the retirement of Blanchard dissolved the firm and Cagwin returned to Car- son City, where he continued in the active practice so long as he was physi- cally able. He died at Carson City about 1896.
Harmon Smith, who was familiarly known as "Harm," was an eccentric character and a man of far more than average ability. His invitation to a troubled public was a sign over his office : "Harm Smith, His Law Office." He was the first lawyer to locate in Stanton, and is believed to have been a native of Barry county, Michigan. He served as prosecuting attorney of the county from 1876 to 1880 and as circuit court commissioner from 1866 to 1868 and from 1872 to 1874. After practicing at Stanton for many years he removed to a farm north of lonia where he lived until his death.
Lyman (. Moore, who served in the Civil War as a private in Company C, Third Michigan Cavalry, came to Stanton shortly after his discharge from the army, in 1865. For many years he took a prominent part in the courts of this judicial circuit and continued to reside at Stanton until his death, about twenty years ago. During the later years of his life he was thought to be lazy, but the public little knew the cause of his physical indifference or that a cancer was slowly sapping his life away. Moore was a splendid gentleman.
C. E. Elliot, who is now well advanced in years, is still living in Stanton, where he has been prominent for many years in an official way. He served for a time as justice of the peace and as circuit court commissioner, 1896-98 and from 1906 to the present time, having been elected the last time in 1914. Ile was admitted to practice January 16, 1882.
William A. Briggs. who for some years was a member of the firm of Smith & Briggs, of Stanton, served as circuit court commissioner from 1884 to 1890, from 1892 to 1896 and from 1902 to 1908. He also, for a great number of years, was one of the justices of the peace in Stanton. He came from Battle Creek to Stanton about 1878 where he lived until
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his death in 1911. He was a graduate of the law department of the Uni- versity of Michigan.
W. E. Hoyt, a native of Oakland county, came to Greenville in 1877, where he remained in practice until 1892, when he removed to Muskegon, Michigan, and entered practice there with Smith, Nims, Hoyt & Irwin. In 1880 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for some years.
Ephraim Follett, a soldier of the. Civil War, located in Sheridan in an early day and continued the practice of the law until his death, in 1911. He studied law in the office of Judge Benjamin F. Graves at Battle Creek. He lived to an advanced age.
George W. Stoneburner, a soldier of the Civil War, was admitted to practice in the county and settled in Stanton soon after the close of the war. He served as justice of the peace for many years.
James F. Covill, who was a major in the First Michigan Sharpshooters, was county superintendent of schools for a time after his return from the service. Ile settled and practiced law in Crystal about 1872. About 1874 he removed to Sheridan, where he continued practice and later died.
J. H. Tateum, a graduate of the University of Michigan, commenced practice in Greenville and was city attorney for a short time. when he removed to Grand Rapids and practiced for many years. For some years he acted as counsel for the Anti-Saloon League of Michigan. His death occurred about three years ago.
Charles W. Perry for many years lived and practiced in Howard City. although he gave most of his time to the brokerage business. He was cir- cuit court commissioner from 1882 to 1886 and from 1894 to 1896. He died about fifteen years ago.
Dexter T. Sapp, who studied law in Kalamazoo with Judge Joes L. Hawes and H. C. Severanse, and who was admitted to the practice of the law at Coldwater. Branch county, removed to Greenville in 1870 where he became associated with Daniel C. Moore. This partnership lasted but a brief period. In 1874 the firm of Ellsworth, Lewis & Sapp was organized, and continued business for a time, until Mr. Lewis retired, when the firm of Ellsworth & Sapp was formed and continued until Mr. Sapp removed to Denver, Colorado.
M. C. Palmer, who was born at Rome, New York, July 24, 1847. graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1872. and settled in Stanton in 1873. In 1876 he was married to Mary Turner. He was an able lawyer and a polished orator. For five years he was senior
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member of the firm of Palmer & Garbutt. In 1893 he removed to Vir- ginia, Minnesota, where he practiced for a time. He was elected register of deeds and removed to the county seat, Duluth, where he held the office for more than ten years, or until his death, October 2, 1912. His remains were brought to Stanton and interred in Forest Hill cemetery.
11. Irving Garbutt spent his early life in Lakeview, where he com- menced the practice of the law. In 1874 he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of the county and removed to Stanton, where he con- tinned practice until he removed to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where he still resides.
George S. Steere studied Jaw and was admitted to practice in Stanton in 1877. He was a very hard worker and became an able lawyer. In 1892 he moved to Chicago, where he became prominent as an attorney and where lie died in 1914. His son, Lloyd Steere, is a lawyer in Chicago. His wife and family dwell in Stanton.
Emery J. Blanding, who was admitted to the Montcalm county bar, lived and practiced his profession at Coral until his death in 1913.
William C. Steere was admitted to practice in the county in 1883. for a time practiced at Stanton, later became and now is official court stenog- rapher for this judicial circuit. with headquarters at Ionia, where he now resides.
Norris J. Brown, who practiced at Stanton for a number of years, was educated for the law in the office of Albert Williams, former attorney- general of Michigan, at the latter's office in lonia. Brown began the practice of law at Sheridan, but later moved to Stanton and in the fall of 1880 was elected prosecuting attorney, a position which he held four years. In 1888 he was elected a member of the Michigan state Legislature. Upon the expiration of his term he removed to Muskegon and engaged in business for two or three years. Afterwards he removed to Grand Rapids and about ten years ago established a gas plant at Mt. Pleasant, of which he is now in charge. He has not practiced law for many years.
George P. Stone, who was admitted to practice law in Montcalm county August 1, 1873, practiced at Carson City until 1887, when he removed to Ithaca, in Gratiot county. There he was elected circuit judge and after his retirement from the bench resumed the active practice at Ithaca, where he is now engaged.
Alva G. Smith, who was admitted to practice law in Montcalm county, March 19. 1890, later removed to Lake City, where he was elected prosecut-
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ing attorney and state senator. Subsequently, he removed to the West, but returned to his father's old homestead in Ionia county, near Portland, where he is now living.
Earl F. Phelps, who served as prosecuting attorney of Montcalm county from 1906 to 1908, lived at Howard City. After his re-election he resigned to go into partnership with M. L. Dunham at Grand Rapids. Phelps was appointed prosecuting attorney in Kent county and afterwards was elected. He retired from office January 1, 1915, and is now in the active practice. Ile was admitted to the Montcalm county bar in June, 1899.
Bert Hayes located in Sheridan about 1887 where he practiced until 1892, when he was elected prosecuting attorney, which office he held until January, 1897. Later he moved to Alma. and then to Grand Rapids, where he still is engaged in business.
William S. Whittlesey, who was born in New York in 1846, graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1869, first located in Big Rapids, and later at Edmore, from where he was elected county clerk of this county. This office he held for six years from January, 1889, to January, 1895. After completing his duties as clerk, he removed to Greenville and formed a partnership with John Lewis, under the firm name of Lewis & Whittlesey, which firm continued until the death of Mr. Lewis. In 1898 Mr. Whittlesey was elected prosecuting attorney, which office he held for two years, after which he opened an office in Chicago where he remained for some years. He then retired to a fruit farm near Benton Harbor, where he still resides.
I. A. Lyon, son of Aaron Lyon, one of the pioneers of the county, was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in his home village of Carson City. where he remained in active practice and built up a lucrative business, until foro, when he moved to Iron River, Michigan, to go into partnership with Judge Byers. Mr. Lyon is a conscientious, clean attorney and is meeting with success.
Other attorneys who were admitted to practice in the county in the early days, but who were not active in practice in the circuit court, with the year they located here. were: William Chapin, 1851: Alfred M. Chapin. 1854, a gifted young attorney who died within the year : Lucius Patterson. 1853: Milo Blair. 1854, who established the Greenville Reflector: John F. Loase, 1858; Dr. Seth Sprane, 1862; Charles B. Pratt, 1873; Frank L. Allen; Daniel C. Moore, 1874: George E. Backus, 1876; George Ellsworth, 1880; James E. Newton. 1882: Joseph P. McCarthy, 1889, who later became a Methodist minister. all of Greenville; Asa Morse, who was judge of pro-
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bate from 1877 to 1881; John C. Mattison; George A. Smith; Peleg S. Dodge, 1873, who founded the Stanton Clipper; Z. N. Garbutt, 1873; George McGarry, 1877; George W. Albrecht, 1881, of Stanton; A. P. Thomas, who was for a time prosecuting attorney, and A. E. Bolster, who later became a Free-Will Baptist minister; both located at Howard City; H. F. Perrinton, 1871, of Carson City; A. T. Call; C. R. Smith, 1875, at Lakeview; and William E. Rice, 1883, at Six Lakes.
Among the attorneys who have more recently been admitted and have ceased practicing or removed may be mentioned Charles S. Fuller, of Green- ville, and John S. Tenant and Sophus Johnson, who were both for a time associated with Judge Griswold. Mr. Tenant is now a salesman at Jackson and Mr. Johnson is associated with the Michigan Trust Company at Grand Rapids.
Judge Norris O. Griswold, of Greenville, is the Nestor of the Mont- calm county bar. He is the president of the Montcalm County Bar Associa- tion, and the only president that society has ever had. He was born in Ohio, came to Michigan in early life, attended the Greenville high school and later studied law in the office of Hon. C. C. Ellsworth, at Greenville, and was admitted to practice in 1872. IIe was judge of probate from 1881 to 1885, and has held numerous other minor offices. While he has practiced mostly in Greenville, yet he resided in Stanton while he was judge and later practiced there for a time. Returning to Greenville, he continued his prac- tice and later went into partnership with Hon. C. C. Ellsworth, with whom he remained, under the firm name of Ellsworth & Griswold, until the death of Mr. Ellsworth in 1899, since when he has practiced by himself. He is a leader in his city and is held in high esteem by his fellow townsmen.
Charles I .. Rarden, of Greenville, is one of the early attorneys of the county and is now senior member of the firm of Rarden & Rarden, the junior member being his son, Charles B. Rarden. Charles L. Rarden was born in Ohio in 1852 and two years later accompanied his parents to Mich- igan. TIe attended the Greenville high school, and the University of Mich- igan, from which he graduated in 1878, when he immediately commenced the practice of his profession. He has held various offices of trust and responsibility, was prosecuting attorney from 1885 to 1889, member of the state board of pardons, and was supervisor of the census of the eleventh Michigan district in 1890. He is an able lawyer, a Republican and a leader in politics in his community.
Charles B. Rarden, familiarly known as "Bret," is junior member of
(31)
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the firm of Rarden & Rarden. He secured his education at the Greenville high school and the University of Michigan. He is a promising young attoreny, was prosecuting attorney of the county from 1909 to 1913, and is a very pleasing and popular gentleman as well as a good lawyer. He is a Republican in politics and is active in the councils of the party.
Fred J. Cole, of Greenville, is a graduate of the Detroit College of Law, and has for many years been a justice of the peace in that city. Ile has never been in active practice, but is a popular official, well liked by all who know him.
Floyd E. Winter, of Greenville, is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a promising young attorney. He is the son of T. B. Winter, who is president of the Greenville Republican Club. For a time Mr. Winter practiced in Idaho, but, on account of ill health there, returned to Greenville where he has recently established himself and is building up a lucrative practice.
Hon. Edward J. Bowman, of Greenville, whose sketch appears else- where in this work, is a leader in his profession. He has held numerous positions of trust and responsibility, among which has been that of United States district attorney for this district. He is an active Republican, was one of the chief organizers and an early president of the Greenville Repub- lican Club. He is an estimable gentleman.
William A. Sweet, Jr., of Carson City, was admitted to practice in 1882. He is also a civil engineer, to which he has given most of his time. The practice of law has received but little attention from him in the past twenty-five years. He is now retired and is spending the declining years of his life in quiet.
Andrew B. Goodwin has practiced in Carson City for many years. IIe He is a Democrat and the present postmaster of that village. ITis sketch appears elsewhere in this work.
Salent F. Kennedy is the sole practitioner in the village of Lakeview, where he has been located for some thirty years. He is a brilliant mathema- tician. and has worked out a remarkable formula by which he has produced a fine series of tables for the assessment of taxes. His sketch appears else- where in this history.
J. Claude Youdan, of Howard City. was reared at Crystal, in this county, where he practiced for some years before he located in Howard City. His sketch appears elsewhere in this work. He was prosecuting attorney of the county in 1913 and 1914. He is an orator of no mean ability and spends much time on the lyceum and lecture platform.
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Otto J. Wolfe, for many years a practitioner of law at Howard City, where he hold sthe confidence of all the people, has never been active in court practice. As a counsellor he is much sought. His sketch appears in another portion of the work.
Frank A. Miller, of Stanton, was admitted to practice on October 4, 1880, and soon afterward was elected a justice of the peace, which office he held for four years. He was the son of Rev. C. C. Miller, a Baptist minister. He studied law in the office of Palmer & Garbutt, and held the office of circuit court commissioner from 1881 to 1885. In 1888 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county and served four years. In 1898 he was again elected prosecuting attorney and served eight years continuously. And again in 1914 he was elected to that office, which he now holds.
Lucian C. Palmer, one of the active attorneys at Stanton at the present time, was admitted to the Montcalm county bar on June 18, 1888, since when he has built up a lucrative practice in his profession in this and adjoin- ing counties of the state. Upon the resignation of Judge Edward P. Wal- lace, in 1890, Mr. Palmer was appointed judge of probate by the governor, which position he held until January 1, 1893.
John W. Dasef, editor of the historical portion of this work, resides in Stanton and was admitted to practice in 1902. His sketch appears in the biographical section.
By change in the state laws in 1895 it was provided that attorneys there- after should be admitted to practice in the state courts of Michigan by the supreme court on recommendation of the state board of law examiners, after rigid examination. Previous to that time admissions were made by the several circuit courts upon examination and recommendation of com- mittees of attorneys appointed by that court. Since that change in the law and the resulting more strenuous examinations, fewer admissions have been made of residents of the county, with the result that there are fewer attorneys in the county than formerly.
The resident attorneys of Montcalm county at the present time are as follows: J. C. Youdan, Howard City; Otto J. Wolfe, Howard City; N. O. Griswold, Greenville ; C. L. Rarden, Greenville; C. B. Rarden, Green- ville ; Milo Lewis, Greenville, E. J. Bowman, Greenville; F. J. Cole, Green- ville; F. E. Winter, Greenville; J. W. Dasef, Stanton; Frank A. Miller, Stanton; C. E. Elliott, Stanton; L. C. Palmer, Stanton; William A. Sweet, Jr., Carson City; A. B. Goodwin, Carson City; S. F. Kennedy, Lakeview.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
HISTORY OF STANTON.
Stanton, the county seat of Montcalm county, lies almost in the exact center of sixteen townships, which, together with four townships to the northwest, make up Montcalm county at the present time. Named for Edwin M. Stanton, President Lincoln's secretary of war, at the suggestion of Fred Hall, for whom the village was first named, Stanton has in the fifty-five years of its history passed through many epochal changes.
Established in the midst of the Michigan pine forests almost two full generations ago, Stanton has seen the mighty monarchs of the forest felled with all the zest of industry where nature is lavish with her wealth and when the thought of exploitation as a phase of industrial development was a word unknown to the workers who had before them only visions of quick and bounteous gain. The thud of the woodman's ax and the music of the whirling saw are heard no more. When the lumbering industry moved westward to more profitable fields, the country roundabout Stanton was left in pitiable desolation and waste, but not for long. In place of the wood- man, came presently, the man who is contented with the smaller, if more certain and more constant, gain.
The territory tributary to Stanton as a commercial center has been transformed from an ashen waste of stumps, underbrush and puny remind- ers of the great soaring pines that had so long been their company in the forest, to an agricultural country of green fields, growing crops and lowing herds. Montcalm county is still in its swaddling clothes, so far as agricul- tural development is concerned, but the farmers are alert, eager to develop the soil and are doing so. Stanton has touched elbows with the country to the north, south, east and west of it, in these various stages of growth and progress, and the history of the section is likewise the history of Stanton. Stanton was first incorporated as a village by the state Legislature in 1869, after the petition asking that the village be incorporated was filed with the board of supervisors. An exact copy of the original petition is given in full :
"Notice is hereby given that an application will be made to the board of supervisors of Montcalm county on the 16th of October, next, A. D.
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1867, for an order incorporating the territory hereinafter described as a village, to-wit: The west half of the southeast quarter, and southwest fractional quarter, in section number 31, town II north, range 6 west; also the cast half of the southeast quarter of section 36, in town 11 north, range 7 west; also the east half of the northwest quarter and northeast fractional quarter of section 1, in town 10 north, range 7 west, and the west fractional half of the northwest fractional quarter of section 6. town 16 north, range 6 west, in Montcalm county, state of Michigan. E. O. Shaw, J. D. Win- chell, J. W. Cadwell, A. Lyon, Andrew J. Corey, E. A. Moffat. E. M. Cheeney, David Hunt, I. Lucas, A. T. Ayres, J. A. Bradford, G. F. Case, G. C. Wallace, Levi Camburn, J. M. Zinkhan, C. A. Chrysler. Daniel Gage, W. G. Wilkinson, H. L. Parker, John Morse, Tra C. Horton. Marcus Gard- ner, F. M. Hinds, J. P. Beers, W. M. Armstrong, A. F. Lee, W. F. Turner, J. J. M. Newcomb, W. F. Jenkins, G. Gilbert, Daniel Smith, Harmon Smith, William Follett, Robert Wallace, A. Vinecore, Miles Dunham, S. Under- wood, Alvin Morse, Oscar Fenn, D. S. West, J. L. Moffatt, George B. Cos- ton and C. M. Conkling."
The above petition was a notice printed in the Montcalm Herald, which at that time was edited by Edwin V. Shaw. This petition was dated Sep- tember 23, 1867. The population at the time of the filing of this petition in that territory set forth by the said petition, according to the figures given by Levi Camburn, who was appointed to take the census, was 419.
INCORPORATED AS A CITY.
In 1875, the village of Stanton was reincorporated, and the people were content to live under the blessings of village government until 1881, when it was incorporated as a city. Ever since 1881 the affairs of Stanton have been administered under the city form of government. The population of Stanton is given as 1.012 by the 1910 census, but there have been times, during the lumber boom of the eighties and early nineties, when Stanton boasted of 2.500 people. The decline of the lumber industry took away many of these people, who were temporary residents, and only quite recently has the county seat begun to realize any appreciable effects from the solid and substantial progress of farming. It would appear that 1910 marked the low tide of population and that henceforth the county seat is to enjoy a normal, uninterrupted growth as a consequence of this splendid effort of the Montcalm county farmers.
Reverting to the earlier history of Stanton, it may be said that there
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was a strong desire on the part of the citizens of the county as early as 1856 to remove the county seat, then located at Greenville, to a more central location, one more accessible to all the people. As other centers of trade became more clearly defined and some of them, like Langston, Amsden and Sheridan, became places of considerable business importance, the contest for the county seat grew in proportions. Each locality had numerous and earnest advocates. To unite the various factions in view of the contending interests was earnestly sought by representative men of the county who were not directly interested in the growth and progress of the thrifty little village of Greenville.
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