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 47

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 47

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William Luck, born at Albany, N. Y., April 17, 1797, died May 11, 1875. He came to Michigan in November, 1846. After looking around a little, he settled upon the farm on which he died, and which is situated about five miles northwest of St. Clair, in the town of the same name. Here on the high banks of Pine River he built his residence and commenced clearing his farm. This was then indeed a wild region. St. Clair City was but a small settlement and the farms surrounding it were but mere garden patches. The road from the village to Mr. Luck's farm was nothing but a lumber road, over which the boughs of the trees on either side met overhead, and entwining made an almost complete roof to this pioneer highway. Game in abundance, of nearly every description, roamed through the almost unbroken forests at will, but seldom startled by the sharp report of the hunter's or the Indian's rifle. In the winter season the echo of the lumberman's ax was heard within the present corporate limits of St. Clair City, and in the summer the hunter of pine traversed its immediate vicinity locating Government lands. But few sail vessels and still fewer steamers ruffled the waters of the beau- tiful St. Clair, and the chief source of travel and transportation was man's faithful servant- the horse. At that time the settler endured many privations, but for this he was compensated by the wild grandeur of the scenes which surrounded him. He enjoyed the rich beauties of nature before they were marred by the hand of the irreverent pioneer. It was indeed a roman- tic life, with charms that could not but be appreciated by the inhabitant of a palace. Grad- ually Mr. Luck subdued the giants of the forest and in a few years he had wrought him a very pleasant home in a comparative wilderness.

Many of the pioneers are under the impression that this old settler was an Englishman, as both he and his wife possessed the brogue of that nation.

Mrs. Mary K. Chamberlain, wife of E. C. Chamberlain, and cousin of Frederick L. Wells, died October 18, 1875, at Stanford, Dutchess Co., N. Y.

Capt. John Clark died February 3, 1876. He was born at Bath, Maine, July 29, 1797. At fifteen years of age he left school, became clerk in a store in Augusta, and at eighteen years was

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ordered to travel by his physician, his health being very poor. He accordingly made a trip to Europe; in returning he was shipwrecked, and reached Philadelphia after experiencing many hardships. In 1818, he married Miss Mary Sherbun.

He settled in Detroit in 1830, remained there three years, and then removed to Port Huron to take charge of Dr. Rice's steam mill on Black River. He next figured as Captain of the steamer Gen. Gratiot and sailed her a part of two seasons. He bought a large tract of land in China on the River St. Clair and permanently settled there in 1835, building a dock and store, and doing a general trading business, buying furs, etc. He was the first Senator elected from the Fifth Senatorial District of the newly admitted State of Michigan, in 1835, and has since served a number of times in the Legislature, holding the chairmanship of various impor- tant committees, always discharging his duties with credit to himself and his constituents. In 1856 he joined the Republican party and supported Fremont.

He was probably better versed in Masonry than any man in the State, and was the sup. posed oldest member of that order residing in Michigan. It is said that having taken all the degrees American Masonry could bestow he went to Europe and received two additional higher degrees. It is certain that he has held the third highest position in the General Grand Com- mandery of the United States, that of Vice Eminent Grand Captain General. The Commandery at St. Clair was named after him.

Mrs. Flora Stafford died at Point aux Trembles January 27, 1877. When about thirteen years old, her father brought her from Scotland in Lord Selkirk's colony to Canada. She was married three times respectively to Messrs. Skinner, Ainsworth and Stafford. She was married to her second husband, Captain Henry Ainsworth, then a Quartermaster in the American Army, in 1817, and spent the next two years at Green Bay, Wis., in the Government employ. Here Henry Ainsworth, Jr., was born. When an infant, he narrowly escaped death by the tusks of a wild boar, who caught him up one day when he happened to be playing outside of the blockhouse and was making for the woods. The unerring aim of an Indian, however, who happened to see the performance, brought the animal lifeless to the earth, and the child was saved. In 1821, Capt. Ainsworth purchased a farm and settled at Point aux Trembles. His house was one of the first preaching places for Methodist preachers on the River. He was a well-informed, energetic man. and had he lived, would have been a valuable acquisition to the community. He died in 1824. In a few years his wife married Mr. Stafford, but in about two years was left a widow again. She survived her last husband about forty years.

John Stillson, an old citizen of Port Huron, and well known throughout the lumbering regions of the State, died at the Dexter House, Gratiot Centre, March 14, 1877.

He married Miss Lucinda Tuttle, in Middleton, Me., from which place he went to Califor- nia in 1849, and was gone for three years. In 1853, he came to Michigan and resided in this city most of his time after. Lumbering and milling were his principal occupations, en- gaging in the latter at Brockway Centre and Wyandotte, and residing at each place a short time. His wife died in June, 1874, and in August, 1875, he married Lucy C. Cooper, sister of Isaac C. Cooper, of the Dexter House, at which place he made his home.

Marcus H. Miles died December 13, 1877. Few men have been so closely identified with the affairs of St. Clair County for the forty years preceding his death as the deceased. He was a native of New York. He arrived in this county from Skaneateles, N. Y., about 1836, coming first to Port Huron, and was in the employ of Edward Bancroft (father of Hon. W. L. Ban- croft), then in business at this point. He remained here but a short time, and early in the spring of 1837, removed to Newport (now Marine City), where he engaged in mercantile busi- ness with James Robinson. He remained in Newport about two years, and was known as an enterprising, stirring citizen. He was an earnest Whig in politics, and his political activity brought him into prominence in that party. which was in the majority at that end of the county, though parties were about evenly divided in the county, the north part of which was heavily Democratic. During the last days of his residence in Newport he was Postmaster, with S. A. Jones, now of this city, as Deputy. His excellent penmanship and clerical ability made him a suitable candidate for County Clerk and Register of Deeds, which two offices were then asso- ciated together, and he was nominated for the place in 1838, being elected over Horatio James

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(father of Amos James) by a vote of 405 to 370. He removed to St. Clair, the county seat, at the beginning of the year 1839, so that he might devote himself to his official duties. He was re-elected Clerk and Register in 1840, over Curtis Bellows. In 1842, he again ran for County Clerk, but was defeated by E. C. Bancroft, the county in that off year, on a light vote, giving a considerable Democratic majority. He was not candidate for the office in 1844, but entered the field again in 1846, and was defeated by a majority of three votes by Daniel Follensbee, the political complexion of the county having changed to Democratic by this time; Bingham's majority over Wisner for Congress in that year being 119. Two years later, however, Mr. Miles tested strength again with Mr. Follansbee, and carried the county by a vote of 771 to 764-a majority of seven. In 1850, he was again elected Clerk, this time over Smith Falken- bury, making four times that he was elected to that office, besides twice that he was an unsuc- cessful candidate.

His long service as Clerk so familiarized him with court practice that he was admitted to the bar in March, 1852, and began the practice of law. He did for some years a very con- siderable business in the way of conveyancing and collections, but did not seek prominence as a court advocate. In 1854, he was elected Circuit Court Commissioner over Cyrus Miles, and in 1856 Judge of Probate over Joseph P. Minne. In 1863, he entered the Eleventh Michigan Cavalry under Gen. Brown, as a Lieutenant. During nearly the entire time of his military service, he was on detached duty as Judge Advocate at headquarters, in the department of Ken- tucky, we believe, and gained a good reputation for efficient service in his responsible position.

The year following his return from the war, he was elected Representative from the First District, and made an efficient member in the House, serving on the Committees on State Affairs and Elections. So well did he satisfy his constituents that in the succeeding year he was elected, along with Judge Conger and Mr. Hazen, a member of the Constitutional Convention. There he served as Chairman of the Committee on Cities and Villages, and also as a member of the Committee on Counties.

In 1870, he was appointed Inspector of Customs and stationed at Toronto, where he served until the office was abolished two years ago. He proved in that position, as he had in the oth- ers he had held, an excellent officer. Collector Sanborn stated that he was one of the most faithful and efficient officers ever in the customs service. He was thoroughly familiar with his duties and performed them with the strictest fidelity and promptness. In this service, while in at- tending to some of the duties of the place, he met with quite a serious accident by the backing of an engine against a freight car in which he was at work. It was a severe shock to his sys- tem, and it is thought by some that it had a marked influence on his future health. Mr. Miles was married in 1841, to Miss Partridge, daughter of Asa Partridge, of St. Clair, and sister of Gen. B. F. Partridge, Commissioner of the State Land Office.

Allen Fish was born near Montreal, Canada, February 14. 1824; he died May 26, 1877. His parents were of New England birth, but removed to Canada at an early day. In the year 1836, the family came to Michigan and settled in Macomb County. In 1848, Mr. Fish removed to Port Huron, where his brother Allen had located some years before, and the two brothers entered into mercantile and lumbering business under the firm name of A. & H. Fish, which has been maintained to the present time, or nearly thirty years. Mr. Fish's greatest, prom- inence before the public has been as an active member of the Prohibition party. He was earnest and conscientious in his support of the principles of prohibition, never swerving from it, or proposing any compromise in the hope of political preferment. In 1870, he was the can- didate of the party for Governor, and again in 1872. He was active in the movement for the formation of the National Prohibition party at an early date. During the war, he acted with the Republican party.

Ralph Wadhams, whose prominent connection with public affairs at the time the State of Michigan was admitted into the Union, and earlier business interests, gave him a popularity and influence in those days which the present generation can scarcely appreciate. He was born at Goshen, Litchfield Co., Conn., in 1798, being at the time of his decease, April, 1877, in his seventy ninth year. His father is believed to have been of Dutch and his mother of English descent. When about seven years of age, his parents removed to Leicester, Livingston Co., N. Y.

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In that vicinity he obtained a good normal education, and being of a business turn of mind left his father's farm to enter the store of one Nicholas Ayrault, in that vicinity, where he served an apprenticeship which fitted him for the active business of life, which he entered on arriving at manhood.

In company with one Reese, he landed at Detroit in 1823, and for several years the tirm of Reese & Wadhams, general merchants, occupied the first brick store built in Detroit, on the · corner of Jefferson and Woodward avenues. Detroit, at that early day, had about 2,500 inhab- itants, and was the base of supplies for this portion of what is now the State.

Later, the firm became Howard & Wadhams, and a large tract of pine land, some 7,000 acres, was entered by them under the act of Congress by which it came into market, with funds furnished by the Trust Company of New York, who were secured by a mortgage. Through a subsequent assignment of Howard, Mr. Wadhams came into possession of the mortgage, and the Trust Company compromised by giving him the tract of land on Black River, which included his present estate. He also became interested in the lumbering operations that had been pre- viously carried on by Smart, Miller & Scott, at the site of what is now Clyde Mills, where a dam and saw-mill had been built, and also other buildings and improvements made.

For several years he conducted the lumbering operations on Black River, while engaged in general mercantile trade at Detroit, going back and forth frequently. The journey was then made on the ice in the winter, and by sail-boats during the season of navigation, there being no public highway to Detroit for some years after. At that time, too, Clyde Mills was considered the head of navigation on Black River.

It was not till 1829, or thereabouts, that he located permanently in this county. In 1830, he built the first grist-mill at his place, and for many years thereafter his business was extensive and required the services of a large number of men.

His political influence was considerable, being, in 1832, elected Supervisor for the town of Desmond, which then included the district from Macomb to Saginaw. He was delegate to the convention which framed the constitution under which Michigan was admitted to the Union. Capt. John Clark, of China, who died last year, was the other delegate from here. Under President Jackson, he was appointed Postmaster at Clyde Mills, which office he held thirty-six years, resigning in 1874.

In spite of his business tact and energy, he failed once, and when his lumber, cattle and other assets were sold, his father came to his rescue and bid them in for him, so that he was enabled to go on and accumulate an unincumbered estate to-day worth many thousands of dol- lars, and comprising, among other things, fifty head of fine blooded cattle. He met with many adverse circumstances, to which men of less energy would have succumbed. The expenses required annually to keep up the dam and bridge across the river, and the damages from floods and fire, requiring his mills to be rebuilt twice, were very heavy. But Mr. Wadhams was

respected by all who knew him and bore an unblemished reputation. He was a good account- ant, and had a very prompt business way which conduced to success.

When Dr. Nash used to preach in the schoolhouse at Clyde Mills, he was a regular attend- ant upon its services, but never made an open profession of religion.

Mrs. Lydia Rix, wife of Oel Rix, was born in Genesee County, N. Y., September 23, 1814; came to Michigan with her husband in 1835-36, and was one of the first white women seen in the neighborhood of Memphis. Her death took place February 2, 1877.

Newell Avery, of Port Huron, died March 13, 1877. Mr. Avery was born in Maine Octo- ber 12, 1817. His parents were poor, and he enjoyed no early advantages of education, some three months of instruction at an old-fashioned district school comprising all the privileges of this sort secured. At the age of fourteen, he hired out to labor in a saw-mill in the woods of Maine, agreeing to take whatever his employer-who seemed to doubt the capacity of the white- headed boy, who applied for work-should see fit to give. So diligent and " handy " had the new employe become, however, before the year was out, that he was getting nearly as large wages as any of the men around the mill. This was the beginning of a remarkable business career. All his earnings were carefully treasured up, all his opportunities diligently improved, so that he soon knew the business of lumbering as then carried on in Maine to its minutest details. Soon,

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with his present partner in this city, Simon J. Murphy, another poor, ambitious and hard- working young man, a small tract of pine land was bought with their joint savings, and then, with their stout arms and stouter hearts, the monarchs of the forest were felled and cut up into logs, and the product sold to the larger lumberinen. The work completed, the proceeds formed a capital for a larger investment, and thus the steady process of accumulation went on, and the two poor and friendless boys soon grew into a lumbering firm of acknowledged strength and success. A partnership was next formed with Col. Eddy, a well-known business man of Maine, and the new firm of Eddy, Avery & Co. was soon noted for its extended and fortunate transactions. The profits of their business were invested in large tracts of pine lands in Michigan at Government price, and as the forests melted away before their enterprise in the "down East " State, their acquisitions in this new Western commonwealth grew rapidly and apace. In 1851, Mr. Avery removed to this State, settling at Port Huron, and commenced the work of lumbering here, at first confining himself to the Black River in St. Clair County, but extending, as judicious man- agement dictated, until he had come to stand at the head of enterprises which had, in a single year, put into the rivers of Michigan nearly or quite one-tenth of the entire season's cut for the whole State. Large tracts of pine lands were located along all our great rivers except the Au Sable and the Manistee, his territory reaching as far north as the Cheboygan, and comprising many of the choicest portions of the Muskegon Valley on the west, the Saginaw region, of course, containing many thousands of acres of his property. In nothing was his practical wisdom more displayed than in his management of these vast interests. With rare sagacity, he would choose and associate with him men who could be relied upon to take the direction of active business operations in these different and widely separated localities, while he reserved to himself a gen- eral and supreme control-a control which no one of all his partners desired to lessen, so abso- lute was their confidence in his almost infallible business judgment, and his perfect justice and integrity. Thus it came to pass that he stood at the head of no less than thirteen large firms, embracing some twenty-six partners, located in Detroit, Port Huron, Bay City, East Saginaw, Alpena, Muskegon and Chicago. In 1867, Mr. Avery removed to Detroit, from which central point nearly all his large affairs have been since conducted.

David Mansfield died January 20, 1877, in his seventy-seventh year. He was among the first settlers of Memphis.

Henry Baird, whose death occurred January 20, 1877, was born in Rutherglen, Scotland, July 15, 1808. He came to this country with his father's family in the spring of 1829, accom- panied by others who located on the shore of Lake Huron, about twelve miles from Sarnia, and attempted to start a colony. The project proved a failure, however, and in the following year his father purchased a farm from Andrew Westbrook, on Belle River, in the township of East China, and made of it a permanent home. Henry was a blacksmith by trade, knowing nothing about farming, but to please his father, then well advanced in life, he resolved to give up his trade and devote his energies to cultivating the farm. His mother being dead, they kept bachelor's hall until February, 1838, when Henry married Elizabeth Schriner

Of the ten children, seven boys and three girls, born to them, only three survive. William, resident of St. Clair, and Charles F., of this city, both engaged in the practice of law; the younger, Robert B., is attending the Detroit Medical College. Of the others, three died in in- fancy; John, at the age of fourteen, fell from a wagon and broke his neck; Agnes died at the age of twenty-one; Henry was sacrificed on the altar of his country in the war for the Union; Theobald, who settled as a practicing physician and druggist at Marine. City, died July 30, 1872, at the age of thirty.

Arch. P. Phillips died in East China April 1, 1878. He was born January 12, 1810, in the village of Fort Edward, Argyle Township, Washington Co., N. Y. When he was ten years of age, his parents moved to St. Clair and settled near the present village of Marine City. Mr. Phillips did not come with his parents, but followed them two years later. His father, Charles, and mother, Derutia, with eight other white persons and one colored man, were gath- ered into a class by a Methodist Episcopal clergyman who traveled in Canada and the leader- ship of the class was given to J. K. Smith, father of Abram Smith, of Algonac.

John Beard, whose death occurred at his residence in Clyde, June 1, 1879, was born in the

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State of New York in the year 1811. His father was Ai Beard, who emigrated from Chenango County, N. Y., in the year 1830, and located at or near the present village of Ruby. His son John came with him, and James Beard, late a resident of Port Huron, came three years later. The present township of Clyde was at that time included in the township of Desmond. Ai Beard built the Beard Mill, which is still in operation, very soon after his arrival in Michigan. In 1839, his two sons, John and James, commenced lumbering on their own account, under the firm name of J. & J. Beard. John had really been a lumberman from the day of his arrival in the Territory, and continued in the business up to the day of his death, at which time he was, probably, the oldest lumberman in the State. When they first commenced business, the capital of the firm of J. & J. Beard consisted of a yoke of oxen, an old sled, a tea kettle, a frying pan, and an iron pot. They had no money, and did not own an acre of land. Their first venture was a contract to get out logs for a Mr. Cameron, of Canada.

In 1841, this energetic young business firm bought their father's half interest in the mill and lands adjoining for $10,000 on twenty years' time. Their operations rapidly extended thereafter, and they bought thousands of acres of land in the townships of Clyde, Grant, Burtch- ville, Kenockee and Greenwood, as well as in other sections of the State.

Ai Beard died at Port Huron in 1851, and was buried in the city cemetery. In 1856, the firm of J. & J. Beard was dissolved, John taking the Clyde Mill and lands, and James taking the Port Huron Mill and lands in other sections of the State From 1847 to 1853, James Beard resided in Detroit and managed a lumber yard for the firm. In the latter year, he removed to Port Huron, and ran the mill here, which, in the final division of the property, became his.

Since 1856, John Beard continued to reside at the old homestead in Clyde. He was en- gaged to some extent in farming operations, but never ceased to be a lumberman. He had sold thousands of acres of farming lands, but at the time of his death owned between three and four thousand acres of land, the value of his property being fully a quarter of a million of dollars.

Mr. Beard was married, in the year 1839, to Miss Hannah Fick, of Long Point, Ont. There was a bit of romance about his sojourn at that place and his marriage. It was during the Patriot war, and he had commenced the construction of a mill there, when his connection with the patriots " made it so warm for him " that he was obliged to leave, abandoning his work and property.

In politics, Mr. Beard, like his father, was always a Democrat. During the war, he was extreme in his views, and became somewhat obnoxious to his more patriotic neighbors. But in every other way he was an excellent citizen, a kind neighbor and friend, and a man of liberal views. On the temperance question, he stood as firm as a rock. He never drank liquor or used tobacco, and would not sell lots in the village of Ruby except with a proviso that no liquor should be sold on them; and although a strong Democrat, he was never a politician, and never held any elective office except Street Commissioner, or something of the sort. He was Post- master for a time during Buchanan's administration. He was not a member of any church and never belonged to any secret society, always refusing when solicited to join.

In the matter of local public improvements, Mr. Beard was always liberal and enterprising. He was the chief projector of the plank road from Port Huron to Brockway, and also the new road on the north side of Black River, now called the Stone road. Port Huron is indebted to these roads, and to Mr. Beard, for the large share of the trade and consequent prosperity they have brought it.

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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 47

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