History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 112

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan > Part 112

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The Brakeman Park Club, of St. Clair, was organized in August, 1880, for the purpose of leas- ing and owning suitable grounds in the Township of St. Clair for summer residences, recreation and amusement. The first officers of the club were, G. C. Meisel, President ; J. E. Miller, Vice Presi- dent; L. A. Sherman, Secretary, and H. G. Barnum, Treasurer. The capital stock was $800.

BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS.

The St. Clair Navigation Company was organized April 5, 1881, with a capital stock of $75,000. The principal shareholders were Myron Kenyon, H. K. McQueen, John E. Robertson, Robert H. Jenks and Bela W. Jenks.

The Lake Michigan Transportation Company was organized October 8, 1870, with a capital of $100,000, of which $70,000 were paid in at date of incorporation. The shareholders were B. F. Owen, Marine City, 800 shares of $25 each; Justin R. Whiting, St. Clair, 800 shares; T. C. Owen, St. Clair, 800 shares; O. W. Potter, Chicago, Ill., 800 shares; Ira H. Owen, Chicago, Ill., 800 shares.

The Nicoll Woolen Mill Company of St. Clair City was organized May 13, 1879, by John Nicoll, Mark Hopkins, Orrin K. Hopkins, John C. Clark and Thomas J. Nicoll, with a capital stock of $20,000.

The People's Trade Association of St. Clair was organized at St. Clair August 18, 1874, with Myron Kenyon, President; Josiah Smith, Vice President; Ed. T. Solis, Secretary; and Gabriel S. Holbert, Treasurer.

The Michigan Transportation Company, with office located at Star Island, was organized in March, 1875, with D. Gallagher, Robert Holland, Mary M. Gallagher, Henry Butteroni and D. C. Gallagher, incorporators.

The Conroy Patent Wheel and Carriage Manufacturing Company, of St. Clair City, was incor- porated and recorded March 4, 1872, with Diodorus Sheldon, John L. Agens, John E. Kitton, Charles H. Wescott, Bart W. Conroy, stockholders.

The St. Clair Spoke Works, established August 28, 1877, with Walter Ford, Joel B. Smith, Crocket McElroy, Mark Hopkins and Charles T. Moore, stockholders.

The Oakland Company was organized in 1881. References are made in other sections of this work to the industries of which Crocket McElroy and others are the heads.

THE OAKLAND HOUSE.

This house is the product of local enterprise. It was opened in 1881, with Andrew Maxwell, manager. He was succeeded by S. W. Delano. In May, 1882, Charles H. Southwick was ap- pointed Manager, with Oscar H. Morse, Secretary, and Walter Hopkins, Treasurer. The man- agement of the house during the summer of 1882 proved beyond doubt the success which at- tends ability in this industry. At times during the year, the guests numbered no less than 250, and yet there was no boisterous hurry evident; each department was carried on with singular precision. The employes are all thoroughly acquainted with first-class hotels, and under the direction of Mr. Southwick leave nothing undone to render the working of each department perfect in detail. Seymour A. Smith, favorably known in the hotel circles of Michigan, is clerk. The number of employes averages forty, ranging from fifty during the summer, to thirty. during the winter months. The house contains 100 bedrooms, furnished in black-walnut, and supplied with closets, electric bells and fire alarms. The hotel office, reading rooms and com- pany's office are all arranged with a view to convenience. The ladies' parlor is a large, ele- gantly furnished apartment. The large and small dining rooms are very fine halls, tasty in all their furnishings. The large reception room, now being fitted up, gives promise of forming the leading room of the hotel. The hallways, all broad, extend about 2,000 feet, and connect with the verandahs, which are over 1,000 feet in length. The entire building is heated by steam and lighted by gas. A hydraulic elevator, together with broad, easy stairways, lead to the upper floors. The house is telephonically connected with the principal cities of Michigan, and also with Toledo, Ohio. The laundry, south of the main building, is run by steam, the machinery is modern, and

665

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY,

the employes experienced. The new mineral well, bored to a depth of 1,100 feet, was completed in 1882. The pumping-house and tower form a neat addition to the building. The boiler and machinery houses form in themselves agreeable as well as instructive smoking or loafing rooms. The mineral springs and the atmospheric phenomena which mark their existence always form an interesting topic. These remarkable springs, although until within a few years comparatively un -. known to the outside world, have a reputation which antedates the present century, and have been used by the native population as a health resort for hundreds of years. To-day they are visited by thousands, who leave the beautiful resort convinced of their curative properties. The following is a comparative analysis of the water.

MINERAL SALTS.

St. Clair Mineral Springs. Grains Per Gallon.

Arkansas Hot Springs. Grains Per Gallon.

Nauheim, Hesse-Cassel. Grosse Sprudel. Grains Per Gallon.

Sodic chloride.

17653.230

.1339

1449.920

Sodic sulphate.

167.500

.0890

118.880

Calcic sulphate.

96.200

.7541

3.040

Calcic carbonate.

23.800

3.6098

131.040

Magnesic chloride.

991.290

.1870

20.800

Magnesic carbonate.

1.200

Magnesic bromate.

.560

Potassic chloride.

32.160

Potassie sulphate ..

.3608

4.000

Iron sulphide.

.996

.0968

Silica and alumina.

4.200

2.3122

4.480

Total Grains

19754.386

7.5436

1766.080

Hydric sulphate (gas).

52.073

56.16 cub. in.

The medicinal effect of the water seems to be laxative, diuretic and tonic. Physicians recom- mend its use for dyspepsia, rheumatism, faulty action of the liver and functional derangements of the kidneys and bowels. The water is very saline to the taste, but becomes grateful after frequent use. Its value in the bath is undoubted.

The bath house is just south of the hotel and connected with it. There are thirty-five rooms, each supplied with a large porcelain tub, fresh water, and hot and cold mineral water, electric bell and wardrobe. In the ladies' rooms there is a neatly furnished dressing room off each bath room, ladies' and gentlemen's waiting rooms, physician's office, and rooms for the attendants. Beyond the bath rooms is a suit of appartments called invalid's recreation rooms. The entire house is heated by steam, an equal temperature being observed throughout, so that there is every precaution taken to insure the comfort of visitors. The bath house and waiting rooms are in stained pine, elaborately finished, showing both architectural and mechanical taste in every point. This bath de- partment is next to the celebrated bath houses at Baden Baden. Below the principal bath rooms are turkish and plunge baths. There are 200 acres of land in connection with the hotel. Mr. Delano is manager of the extensive Oakland stables located west of the hotel. The hotel company have about ten cows, which supply the house with milk and butter. Every department of the hotel is supplied with the finest furniture, and each working department with the most approved machinery.

To the Hopkins family belongs the credit of erecting this immense hotel. In fact to them is due the revival of many if not all business interests of the city, the building of the Somerville School; even the two miles of cedar block pavement extending south from Somerville was proposed by them, and upward of half the cost paid by them in direct taxation. The entire sum expended on the property is not much under a quarter of a million. Improvements now being effected.

The accessibility is also a point strongly in its favor. It may be reached directly from Buffalo and the East via the Canada Southern R. R., the St. Clair branch of which terminates at Courtright on the opposite side of the river. Detroit is distant but forty-eight miles, and can be reached either by rail over the Michigan Midland and Grand Trunk Railroads-there being two trains each way daily-or by frequent steamers. Port Huron is distant twelve miles and is the center of an impor- tant railroad system. In addition to a number of daily boats to Port Huron and Detroit, there are

Calcic chloride.

817.170

Iron protocarbonate.

666

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

lines of steamers to all important points on the lakes by means of which and by the rail connections St. Clair is made very accessible from all parts of the country. For years it has been something of a pleasure resort, and those who have visited here during the summer have uniformly testified to the opportunities for enjoyment which it has afforded. With the additional advantages which a fine hotel and the society of a large number of health and pleasure seekers will furnish, it will read- ily be conceded that no place will possess greater attractions.

Who can grasp in a single thought the magnitude of this wondrous change ? Gray hairs ought not now to appear on the heads of those who were born when the city was born ; yet, in the few years which have sped rapidly since that time, there have been wrought great changes. Large saw-mills, with their noisy, insatiable machinery and hurrying attendants, and three lines of railroad have been erected on the homes of the beaver and muskrat. Paved streets, heavy blocks of stores and bursting warehouses have crushed out the myriads of wild flowers that made the river front a vast and variegated bouquet, and the black smoke from scores of chimneys has taken the place of their delicious fragrance ; hedges and lawns, fountains and miniature lakes, arbors and conservatories, have supplanted the long marsh and sand grass, in which quail, grouse and wild birds nested and reared their young undisturbed ; the river, whose clear waters flowed unruffled into the greater waters, is now turbid and crowded with rafts of logs and lumber; the solitude of the wilderness has been violated by the rush and scream of the locomotive; the delicious and soothing hum of birds and insects at eventide has been drowned by the tumultuous din of ringing bells, rattling mills, screeching whistles and the noisy tread of eager, hurrying people, who have never a thought of what incomparable changes have taken place under their feet, over their heads, and on every hand, or of the possible changes, no less complete and astonishing, in store for the future, in process of development through their every move and act. The panorama of history is an interesting one, but its pictures can be fully appreciated only by those who have seen them all. In fact, no one else can even comprehend them. No description of tongue or pen can fully impress upon the minds of the gay, richly-dressed throngs at a party to-day, that under the very floors where the figures of the "German " or the "Newport" are being followed, packs of hungry wolves fought with hideous snarl and howl over the carcass of one of their own number ; or that it was the place where the scarred and stoical savages gathered around the embers of the camp fire, in solemn discussion of the fate of a captive, debating how many moons should elapse before the prisoner in their midst, from some hostile tribe, should be burned at the stake ; or that it was the burial place for unnumbered generations of tribes now unnamed and extinct, or that, instead of the lively strains from a well-trained band, years before, the brave captives, with unruffled brow and steady, cheerful voice, stoically chanted a battle song amid the yell of the warriors and the hiss of the flames about him, appearing as though the boiling pitch poured upon his head, and the burn- ing splinters thrust into his searing flesh gave him the utmost pleasure. Yet all this may be true, for up to within less than a century the spot on which the city now stands had been for many centuries, perhaps, the favorite meeting-place of both friendly and hostile tribes.

The editor of the St. Clair Republican in his congratulatory address, April 5, 1882, gave expression to thoughts which must be considered both history and prophecy combined. In speak- ing of the enlargement of his journal, he shows very clearly the advance or progress of the city: " This change has resulted from a conviction that a larger and better paper will be more in harmony with the improved condition and requirements of the place, and especially when this is taken in connec- tion with the bright prospect which the future affords. There is probably nothing which more accurately indicates the condition of a place than the newspaper or newspapers which it supports. If a place is at a standstill, there is little chance for a newspaper to improve, while any material progress which takes place will either be reflected in the existing newspaper or it will have to give way to one of a more progressive character. The Republican, has, since it passed under its present management, been impressed with the belief that the long sleep in which St. Clair had been indulg- ing for nearly a quarter of a century was about to be broken, and that it was to enter upon a career as bright as its previous career had been dull and uneventful. Acting upon this belief, the Re- publican office has been equipped with presses, type and other facilities such as would be demanded by a smart and thriving city rather than a country town.

" At times the prosperity which we have anticipated has seemed slow in coming, but on the whole, we have not faltered, and there now seems little doubt that our expectations are soon to be realized. We need give but a few of the more apparent reasons for this faith. To begin with, there

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY. 667

is the confidence of the proprietors of the Mineral Springs, which has led them to contract for doubling the capacity of the Oakland and for putting up a bath house, which will almost be without a rival. Then there is Somerville School, which is receiving ecomiums on all hands, and which is fast assum- ing, if it has not already attained, the leading place among the educational institutions of the West. for the education and training of young women. Next consider the railroad prospects of the place. The extension of the Michigan Midland to Holly, we understand, has already been decided upon, and the delay is only to arrange certain preliminaries which, it is believed, will soon be arranged. There is also talk of a narrow gauge road from Detroit to Port Huron, and but recently a promi- nent railroad man visited this city to learn what encouragement could be given to a scheme which had already been organized. There is last of all the general awakening of the people here and a determination to so improve the city that it will be in a better condition to carry on the business that prosperity will bring. For these and other reasons, we have faith in St. Clair, and if such prosperity comes as we are looking for, of one thing we are certain, and that is that no place can be found with more varied attractions, and especially no place which can be made more beautiful when wealth supplements what nature has already done.

PERSONAL HISTORY.

The following biographical sketches contain much that is specially interesting. Each one of hese sketches is a lesson in itself, pointing the way to progress.

JOHN L. AGENS, merchant, St. Clair, was born in Newark, N. J., September 16, 1825, and is a son of John Agens, also a native of Newark. Our subject's grandfather, James Agens, came across the ocean during the Revolution with Lord Cornwallis, and soon afterward deserted and joined the American Army, and became one of the illustrious Washington body guards, which position he held to the close of the Revolution. Mr. Agens came to St. Clair on a visit, first in 1834; remained one year. He bought property here in 1848. After that he spent each summer in St. Clair. He established a business house here in 1855, and located here perma- nently in 1858. He was married in 1843, to Miss Hettie M. Eagles, by whom he has four children-Hattie, Carrie, Nettie and Alice. Mr. Agens' place of business is on the corner of Front and Thornapple streets, where he is doing a cash business of over $30,000 annually, and this business is constantly on the increase.

DAVID ANDERSON, farmer, Section 23, P. O. St. Clair, is a native of Scotland, and was born Novem- ber 10, 1810. IIe emigrated to this country in 1852, and came the same year to this county, working in a saw mill at St. Clair for several years. In 1858, he bought the land where he now lives, and cleared it and made his farm, and since then has lived on this place. In 1866, he married Miss Jane Campbell, a native of Scot- land. They have four children-William, David, Christina and Jemima Jane.

GEORGE HI. BAIRD, farmer, Section 35, P. O. St. Clair, is a son of William and Charlotte Baird. Will- iam came to this county from Scotland in the year 1829, and settled on Bell River, now East China. Char- lotte, whose maiden name was Earle, came from Vermont in the year 1836, and settled in the township of China, St. Clair County. They were married in the year 1840, moved to the township of St. Clair, and lived there six years; thence to Port Huron. They came on the place where they now live in 1856, cleared the land and made their farm, and lived there until his death in 1875. He left three children-Ellen, now Mrs. Henry Young, Port Huron; Lottie, now Mrs. James Havey, Port Huron; George, now living with his mother at home, and farms the homestead farm. He was born in the town of St. Clair, September 28, 1842; attended school and grew up in this county, and since reaching manhood has been engaged in farming.

WILLIAM BAIRD, attorney and collecting agent, Whiting's Block, was born in China Township, this county. January 20, 1840, and is a son of Henry Baird, deceased, a native of Scotland, who came to God- erich, Canada, in June, 1829, and to this county the following December. He walked from Port Huron to Andrew Westbrook's, one mile north of Marine City. His earthly possessions consisted of his clothes and a British sixpence, and his toes were protruding through his cowhide shoes. He worked for Mr. Westbrook for several years. He was industrious and economical, and at the time of his death had laid up a respectable fortune. He was the first Supervisor for East China Township. Our subject was educated in the common schools and in St. Clair. He attended the law department of the Michigan University of Ann Arbor, during the terms of 1873 and 1874. He returned in 1874, passed an examination in the February term of the Circuit Court at Port Huron, was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law March 4 of the same year. He has attended faithfully to business and built up a large practice. Mr. Baird was married May 14, 1867, to Miss Catharine Frank, of Marine City. They have five children-Frankie, Catharine, Henry, William and Iva. He was Circuit Court Commissioner for four years; is Vice President of the Marshall Mutual Aid Asso- ciation, and is holding his second term of City Attorney for St. Clair. He is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity of St. Clair, having united with them in Marine City in 1865.

COL. WILLIAM B. BARRON, pioneer merchant of St. Clair, Mich., was born in Bath, Grafton Co., N. H., April 26, 1810, and is the son of Timothy Barron, a well-to-do farmer, a native of the same county, and he the son of Jonathan Barron, a son of Timothy Barron, who was aide to Col. Russell, an officer of the British Army, under Gen. Hazen, and stationed at Haverhill, N. H., to hold the French and Indians in check from the North and Canada. At the breaking-out of the Revolution, he was commissioned Captain of a com-

668

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

pany of New Hampshire Militia, and was at the battle of Bennington, when Gen. Starke and his New Hamp- shire Militia did such effective work. Our subject is the oldest of seven children. Soon after he became of age he was commissioned a Captain in his native town of a company of New Hampshire Militia, and served in that capacity until he left the State. His summers were spent upon the farm and winters in teaching. He was noted as possessing a remarkable faculty for governing scholars, and under no condition would he ever use the rod. He had no faith that corporal punishment would stimulate the love of the scholar for the teach- er; that only acts of kindness would win their affections. He has been employed several winters to teach out school terms where teachers had been discharged, in New Hampshire, Vermont and Michigan. He married Sophie C. Morse, of Haverhill, N. H., May 5, 1831, and immediately emigrated to St. Clair, Mich., where he has resided ever since. Soon after his arrival at St. Clair, he, with others, commenced the building of a steam saw-mill, it being the third steam saw-mill built in the eastern part of the State. In April, 1837, he started out in the mercantile business, and, with the exception of a short time during the rebellion, has been engaged in that profession. In 1838, he was commissioned Colonel of the Fourth Regiment Michigan Militia by Steven T. Mason, Governor. In 1839, he called out the regiment, being the first regiment ever mustered in St. Clair County. Has held two city and county offices, and for ten years was Postmaster. He organized the First National Bank of St. Clair, and was elected its first President; held one-fourth of its stock, and was Director, until he sold his interest and retired. His first wife died in 1849, leaving one child-Charles B. He was married in 1850 to Eliza F. Tewksbury, of Bath, N. H. They had one daughter and one son-Will- iam M., now living, and partner in the business. In politics, he has always been a Democrat.

GEORGE A. BEACH, deceased, was a native of New York State, and was born in the city of Rochester ; he came to Detroit during boyhood, and came here in 1855, and settled on Pine River. On the 13th of May, 1860. he married Miss Rosetta McCurdy, a native of Canada ; soon after they were married they came on this place, cleared the land, made his farm and engaged in farming. He held school offices, and was identified with the interests of the town until his death, which occurred in 1876 ; he left three children, two daughters-Cora E. and Thirza J .; and one son-Bion E. Also left an estate of 120 acres well improved.

BENJAMIN F. BECKWITH, farmer, Section 26, P. O. St. Clair, is a native of New York State, and was born in Essex County October 31, 1840 ; his parents came to this county in 1855, when he was only fif- teen years old, and settled on the place where he now lives ; it was all covered with timber, and they cleared it and made the farm. Since reaching manhood, he has been engaged in farming the home place, and owns 104 acres. He has held the office of School Inspector. He was married January 15, 1868, to Miss Mary A. Stowell, a native of New York State ; they have six children-Frances, Fannie, Simon, George, Hettie, Ella. Mr. Beckwith's father died April 8, 1881 ; his wife survives and lives with her son.

CHARLES T. BECKWITH, farmer, Section 22, P. O. St. Clair, is a native of Addison County, Vt., and was born May 7, 1838 ; his parents removed to New York State in 1839 ; he lived there until seventeen years old, and came with his parents to St. Clair County ; they located in this town, and since reaching manhood he has been engaged in farming, and owns a farm of seventy acres. He was married November 16, 1861, to Miss Catharine Phillipps, a native of the town of China, and daughter of Charles W. and Elizabeth Phillipps, who are among the oldest settlers now living in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith have three children-Ame- lia A., now Mrs C. J. Ellsworth, living in this town ; Lizzie and Effie.

PETER BELL, farmer, Section 20, P. O. Rattle Run, is a native of Germany, and was born April 27, 1807 ; he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and came to Detroit, and came to St. Clair County ; he was one of the first Germans that came here, and is now the oldest German settler in this town. He only had 235 francs, and he bought and paid for forty acres of timber land, and eleared it and made a farm. Since then, he has cleared and made several farms. He owns 228 acres of land, the result of his industry and good management. In 1839, he married Miss Gertrude Radmacher, a native of Germany ; they have six children -Peter. Jr., Mary, Joseph, John, Clara, Augustine.

PETER BELL, JR., farmer, Section 27, P. O. St. Clair, is a son of Peter Bell, the oldest German settler in this town, and was born in the township of St. Clair December 16, 1843; he was brought up and attended school here, and since reaching manhood has been engaged in farming. He owns a steam threshing-machine, and since 1866 every fall for sixteen years, has engaged in threshing grain. He owns a good farm of 102 acres. He has held the office of Town Treasurer for the past two years. In 1870, he married Miss Gertrude Zimmer, of the town of St. Clair .; she is a native of Germany ; they have seven children-Annie B., Jose- phine. Lois, Ada, Laura, Tillie and Omar.

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History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan, Part 112

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A.T. Andreas & Co.
Number of Pages: 818