USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 42
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On the 6th of December, 1895. Mr. Ter williger was united in marriage to Miss Dol- lie Dutton, of Cadillac, who was born in the city of Rochester, New York, being a daughter of Charles W. and Jennie Dutton. concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages of this volume.
In this connection it may be consistently noted that while residing in Antioch town- ship, this county, Albert E. Terwilliger, the father of the subject, was active and influ- ential in local affairs of a public nature, hav- ing held various township offices and having been prominently concerned in the organiza- tion of several school districts, while he held the confidence and good will of all who knew him, his removal from the community being mich regretted. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and is a zealous mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his wife, who was a woman of gentle and gracious character.
DONALD E. MCINTYRE.
In point of continuous residence the sub- ject of this sketch is one of the oldest mem- bers of the Cadillac bar and that he has achieved marked success in his profession is attested by the fact of his having been identi- fied with many of the most important cases in the circuit since his removal to Wexford county, over thirty years ago.
As the name indicates, the MeIntyre family is of Scotch origin, the subject's grandfather. Donald MeIntyre, Sr., having been born and reared in Scotland, in various parts of which country the name is still fa- miliar. Many years ago this ancestor came to the United States and settled in New York, where he married and raised a family. among his children being a son by the name of Donald, who became one of the leading lawyers and jurists of Fulton county. Don- ald Melntyre, Jr., practiced law for a num- ber of years in the city of Johnstown, also
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served as judge of his county, and achieved honorable distinction in his profession both as a jurist and practitioner. Some time in the early 'thirties he came to Michigan as representative of the Metropolitan Bank of New York for the purpose of investigating the currency of this state, and later located in Washtenaw county, where he engaged in the banking business. He organized the Me- chantes Bank at Ann Arbor and became one of its largest stockholders and for over fifty years conducted the institution, during which time he acquired worthy prestige az an able financier, not only locally but in busi- ness circles throughout the state. He was a careful and judicious business man of pro- gressive ideas, exerted potent influence in the general growth and development of Washtenaw county, and after the organiza- tion of the Republican party was elected upon that ticket to the general assembly, in which body he distinguished himself as a capable and popular legislator. In early life he was an old-line Whig, but when that his- toric party had accomplished its mission and ceased to exist he took an active and earnest part in the organization of its successor and ever afterwards remained a staunch and un- compromising Republican, becoming a party leader in the county of Washtenaw. For two terms he was a member of the board of regents of the Michigan University, and for a number of years served as treasurer of the board, in both of which capacities lic was instrumental in promoting the useful- ness of the university and giving it the com- manding prestige it today enjoys among the leading educational institutions of the United States. Donald McIntyre, Jr., was one of the notable men of his day and gen- eration in the county of Washtenaw, and as
already stated, his labor and influence were not circumscribed within local bounds, but bore in no small degree upon the history of the state at large. He lived a long and useful life, did his work faithfully and well and died at Ann Arbor in 1892, at the ripe old age of eighty-six years.
The maiden name of Mrs. Donald Mcln- tyre was Jane Eaker. She was a native of New York and died in the prime of life, leaving four children, namely : . Anna, Mat- tie \., Jennie MI. and Donald E.
Donald E. McIntyre, to a brief epitome of whose life and achievements the residue of this article is devoted, was born in Wash- tenaw county, Michigan, on the 14th day of June, 1852. His early life was spent in Ann Arbor, where he attended the public schools until completing the prescribed course, after which he entered the State Uni- versity with the object in view of preparing himself for the legal profession. In due time he was graduated from the literary de- partment of that institution, the thorough mental discipline thus received serving as a substantial basis for the severe profes- sional training to which he was afterwards subjected while fitting himself for his life work as a lawyer.
Mr. McIntyre prosecuted his legal stud- ies under especially favorable auspices, among his preceptors being Judge H. J. Beaks, who was long recognized as the lead- ing member of the Michigan bar and whose name and fame achieved almost national re- pute. In the university he also enjoyed the instruction of some of the ablest legal minds of the day and after his graduation, in 1871. he was well fortified to grapple with the diffi- culties which mark the beginning of nearly every young lawyer's career.
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Receiving his degree. Mr. McIntyre opened an office in Big Rapids, where he practiced one year with varied success, and at the expiration of that time selected what he supposed to be and what has since proved to be a more favorable field in the village of Clam Lake, at that time a small and to all appearances unimportant lumber town, but to the ambitious attorney an embryo city of @rtain growth and great possibilities. In fact the place in the early 'seventies could hardly be dignified by the term village, being merely a lumber camp with a few indifferent buildings on the principal street, but already. predictions were rife as to its future devel- opment and it was not long until the prophe- cies began to be fulfilled. With the growth and continual prosperity of the town came business of a legal character. in consequence of which the lawyer's services were much sought after and Mr. Melntyre in due time had no lack of well-paying clients. From that time to the present his professional career presents a series of successes, as he has kept in close touch with legal matters in this part of the state, his name appearing in connection with many of the most impor- tant cases at the Cadillac bar since this town became the seat of justice for the county of Wexford. By close application to business and commendable studiousness he gradually surmounted the obstacles in the path of pro- fessional men in new countries and won for himself an honorable reputation as a safe, reliable counsellor and successful practition- er, his principal object being to excel in his chosen calling and prove worthy of the con- fidence his clients reposed in his ability and judgment. His position as one of the ablest and best known lawyers of the Cadillac bar has been honorably earned, in addition to
which his reputation has extended to other parts of the state, he being frequently re- tained as counsel in important litigations in the courts of neighboring cities and counties. Mr. Melntyre has manifested a lively in- terest in the material prosperity of Cadillac, all enterprises with this object in view meet- ing with his hearty approval, active co- operation and, if necessary, his financial en- couragement. Since 1871 his career has been so closely interwoven with the development of the town that the history of the one is pretty much the history of both and he stands today. as he has stood in the past. one of the strong. resourceful men in a commitin- ity which has steadily forged to the front as an important commercial and industrial center, and which through such agencies as his has also become noted for the high standard of its social and moral life.
Politically Mr. Mcintyre wields an in- fluence for the Republican party, but he can hardly be called a politician in the sense the term is usually understood, having no aspira- tions for office and no desire whatever for public distinction. Like all intelligent citi- zens, however, he is well informed relative to the leading questions of the day and is by no means averse to expressing his opin- ions, consequently the people experience no difficulty in ascertaining his attitude towards measures and issues upon which men and parties differ. AAt the present time lie attends strictly to his duties as a lawyer and in addi- tion thereto does a large and lucrative in- surance business, representing a number of the largest companies in the United States. In all public and private charities his name and individual efforts have been ever promi- nent, possessing as he does large sympathies and an abounding faith in humanity which
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lends him to do many good deeds for his men of wide influence and unquestioned fellow men. In all the attributes of honor- | financial standing and the banking house of able manhood-honesty, uprightness of character and unimpeachable integrity-he stands a commendable example of intelli- gent American citizenship and as such his influence makes for the general welfare of the community in which the greater part of his life work has been spent.
The domestic life of Mr. McIntyre dates from 1885. in which year he was united in the bond of wedlock with Miss Sophia Mitchell, of New York, the accomplished daughter of the late George A. Mitchell, who for a number of years was one of the leading business men and representative citi- zens of Wexfrd county.
THE CADILLAC STATE BANK.
Scarcely any form of industrial enter- prise is more generally or more unostenta- tiously useful in a community than a bank or banking institution. It is at once a con- servator and a promoter-a storage bat - tery and a motive power-the depository and safe-guard of the bread-winner, the home- maker, the business man and the manufac- turer-the vital breath of trade, the inspira- tion of commerce, the strong sinew of pro- (luctive enterprise. The history of the strong and conservative banking institution whose title appears at the head of these paragraphs dates from the Ist day of December, 1883, on which date D. A. Blodgett, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and D. F. Diggins, of Cadillac, formed a private banking house under the name of D. A. Blodgett & Com- pany. Mr. Diggins assuming the active man- agement of the concern. Both partners were
D. A. Blodgett & Company soon commanded a large and profitable business. The busi- ness was conducted under the control of the gentlemen named until in June, 1892, when Mr. Diggins withdrew from the active man- agement of the business to enter the lumber firm of Blodgett, Cummer & Diggins, and upon his retirement Henry Knowlton was selected for the position of cashier. On the Ist day of November, 1895. the private organization was succeeded by the Cadillac State Bank, which was organized under the laws of the state of Michigan, with a paid-in capital of fifty thousand dollars. Upon or- ganization the following officers were chosen and have continued since to serve in their respective capacities : President. F. J. Cobbs ; vice-president, S. W. Kramer ; cash- ier, Henry Knowlton. The bank has con- ducted a regular banking and savings busi- ness, having by their efforts to accommo- date their patrons in the several commercial departments acquired a splendid reputation as a reliable and trustworthy financial agent. The following comparative statement of the condition of the bank shows a very satisfac- tory and substantial growth, the figures given being from the regular statements is- sued by the bank and taken at about equi- (listant periods since the bank's organization : Surplus, December 13. 1895, none; Sep- tember 20, 1898, $12.500.00 ; September 30, 1901. $25,000.00; September 15, 1902, $25,- 000.00. Undivided profits. December 13, 1895, $1,026.47: September 20, 1898. $2,252.03 : September 30, 1901, $16,283.36; September 15. 1902. $24.371.16. Deposits. December 13, 1895, $228.842.05; September 20. 1898, $103.347.32 ; September 30, 1901,
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$439.858.85: September 15, 1902, $658,- 440.89. The personnel of the present board of directors is as follows: F. J. Cobbs. S. W. Kramer. W. W. Mitchell, D. F. Dig- gins, Fred L. Reed and Joseph Murphy. It would be difficult to pick out in the city of Cadillac another body of men equal in num- ber better qualified to direct the affairs of a financial institution than the gentlemen just mentioned. All are successful and promi- nent business men, careful and conservative in their methods and their names would add strength to any commercial institution with which they might become connected. The banking company owns the building in which the bank is situated, it having been erected in 1901. It is a handsome and commodious structure, complete in all of its appointments and reflects credit upon the bank itself. The interior is finished with mosaic floors and mahogany woodwork throughout, the office fixtures also being of selected mahogany. The bank is equipped with a heavy steel burglar-proof vault and two well-arranged fire-proof vaults, in which to store the se- curities, money, books and supplies and such papers as may be confided to their trust.
The unqualified success of the Cadillac State Bank has been in the main largely due to the careful and judicious management of its officers. Each of them is thoroughly versed in his business and each of their finan- cial careers has been such as to gain the con- fidence of business men throughout the com- mumity.
WELLINGTON W. CUMMER.
Wellington W. Cummer, one of the men whose activities have had to do with the advancement of Cadillac as a municipality
and who has contributed generously to those things which were for the betterment of his home place, was born on a farm near Toron- to, Canada, on the 21st day of October, 1846. -fifty-seven years ago,-his parents be- ing Jacob and Mary Ann Cummer. His carly boyhood days until 1860, when the family removed from the farm to Newaygo village in Newaygo county, Michigan, were passed in the district schools near his father's home and. in Newaygo he continued his stud- ies in the village high school. This course was followed by further instruction in a grammar school in Waterdown, near Ham- ilton. Ontario, supplemented by a commer- cial course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College in Toronto, his graduation there- from taking place in 1864, at the age of eighteen years. Jacob Cummer was a flour- ing miller, as well as a farmer, in Canada, and he continued in milling for several years after coming to Michigan, in conjunction with timbering and lumbering. In these activities he was assisted by his son, Well- ington W. Cummer, whose business career began in Newaygo, the latter's aggressive qualities as a conservative man of commerce combining successfully with his father's years of experience. Saw and stave mills were operated by Jacob, assisted by Welling- ton W. Cummer, in Newaygo until 1863. when they removed to Croton. In this vil- lage they operated a flouring-mill and were dealers in camp supplies for five years. Ce- dar Springs, in Kent county, followed Cro- ton, and for two years the father and the son engaged in the buying and selling of lumber. It was in Morley, in Mecosta coun- ty, where the Cummers began their careers as lumbermen. Wellington W. Cummer and his uncle, J. Walter Cummer, built a mill
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in Morley and manufactured lumber for Ja- cob Cummmer & Son, a co-partnership com- posed of Jacob and Wellington W. Cum- mer, the latter firm owning the land, the stumpage and the lumber. These timbering and lumbering operations were, of course, in those days, exclusively in pine.
Cadillac became the home of the Cum- mers-Jacob and Wellington W .- in 1876, and it was in this city that they entered upon that career which has carried the name of Cummer, synonymous with honesty and in- tegrity, into nearly every civilized country in the world. In 1876 Wellington W. Cum- mer manufactured pine lumber for Jacob Cummer & Son. This partnership and agreement ended in 1892, when the firm's timber holdings were exhausted and Jacob Cummer retired from active participation in timbering and lumbering. During several of these years, too, Wellington W. Cummer was a member of the firin of Blodgett, Cum- mer & Diggins, Cummer & Diggins manu- facturing pine for Blodgett, Cummer & Dig- gins. Mr. Cummer also organized the Cum- mer I.umber Company in 1882. the members thereof being Wellington W. Cummer and Harvey J. Hollister, and James M. Barnett, of Grand Rapids, with office headquarters in Cadillac, and this firm, too, engaged in the manufacture of pine until 1893, when the corporation was dissolved. Cummer & Dig- gins ( Wellington W. Cummer and Delos F. Diggins) were succeeded by Cummer, Diggins & Company, the new partner being Wililam L. Saunders, and this firm is now operating in Cadillac in pine and hardwood. and is also manufacturing chemicals in one of the most complete chemical plants in the United States. Wellington W. Cummer or- ganized, in 1892, the year when he began his
larger operations in timber and lumber out- side of his home city, The Cummer Com- pany and succeeded Lakies & Collins in Nor- folk. Virginia, in the manufacture of short leaf pine. Wellington W. and Jacob Cum- mer, Edward C. Fosburgh, who was for several years identified with the Cummer in- terests in Cadillac. James M. Barnett, Ilar- vey J. Hollister and Mac George Bundy were the incorporators 'of The Cummer Company in Norfolk. This incorporation remained in existence for nine years-until 1902 -- and became one of the largest opera- tors in short leaf pine in the southern coun- try. It was succeeded in 1902 by the Fos- burgh Lumber Company, of which Mr. Fos- burgh is the president and the general man- ager. In 1896, seven years ago. Mr. Cum- mer, who in the meantime had become finan- cially interested in Florida timber, built two band ( single cutting ) saw-mills in the city of Jacksonville, the metropolis of the Flower state, and entered upon the manufacture of lumber under the firm name of the Cummer Lumber Company, the partners now being Jacob Cummer, Wellington W. Cummer, Arthur G. Cummer and Waldlo E. Cummer. Fire destroyed the Jacksonville plant in 1897, a saw-mill. a planing-mill, four large dry kilus, humber sheds, tramways, and six million feet of timber, ready for the mar. ket. being wiped out of existence by the flames. It is estimated that the value of the property destroyed was one hundred and six- ty-two thousand dollars, and on this prop- erty the insurance was one hundred and ten thousand dollars, a net loss of fifty-two thou- sand dollars. Rebuilding operations imine- diately followed the fire in 1897. E. P. Allis, of Milwaukee, who is now a member of the Allis-Chalmers Company, supplying all the
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machinery. Two (double-cutting) band mills are included in the rebuilt plant in Jacksonville, which now has a productive capacity of forty-two per cent. in excess of the plant destroyed by the fire, and it is probably one of the largest lumbering plants in the country south of the Mason and Dixon line.
Mr. Cummer's activities in the south have not been confined to the mammoth Jacksonville plant, but have permeated other lines of industrial affairs. He built the Jack- sonville & Southwestern Railway-out of Jacksonville-in 1899 for the carrying of logs and timber for the Cummer Lumber Company. This railway is eighty-eight miles in length. It was at first operated solely for the Cummer Lumber Company. but its value to the section of Florida through which its trains passed necessitated an equipment for a passenger business, and it is now operated for both freight and pas- sengers. C. W. Chase and associates, of Gainesville, Florida, became the owner of the Jacksonville & Southwestern Railway in 1903. only a few weeks ago.
Mr. Cummer is a member of The Cum- mer Company, organized in 1903 in Jackson- ville, Florida, the charter of the Norfolk Company being dissolved, and W. W. Cum- mer & Sons, organized in 1903, in Jackson- ville, Florida. Jacob Cummer and W. W. Cummer and the latter's two sons, Ar- thun G. and Waldo E. Cummer, are the members of The Cummer Company. and W. W. Cummer and his two sons are the partners in W. W. Cummer & Sons. Both of these firms are heavily inter- ested in southern timbers, The Cummer Company owning two hundred and twen- ty-five million feet of cypress and one
hundred million feet of pine, and W. W. Cummer & Sons owning one hundred and seventy-five million feet of cypress and ser- eral large tracts of pine, all in Florida. Mr. Cummer has, at various times, been finan- cially interested, too, in co-partnership with other capitalists in southern timbers in states other than Florida, but his operations are now almost entirely confined to the country tributary to the Jacksonville plant.
Mr. Cummer's interests in Cadillac in- chide his membership in the firm of Cummer, Diggins & Company, operating in hardwood and in chemicals, and his ownership of the Cummer Electric Light Company and the Cadillac Water Company plants, these two latter representing an investment approxi- mating two hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Cummer built the electric light plant in 1888 and succeeded H. N. Green in 1881 in the ownership of the water plant. Both of these plants are under the superintendency and management of George D. Westover, and both are modern and complete in equipment. Cummer, Diggins & Company own and oper- ate a saw-mill, a planing-mill and a chemical plant, and are large producers of hardwood lumber and flooring and chemicals.
Mr. Cummer was married, on the 11th day of October, 1872. to Miss Ada M. Ger- rish, the daughter of Nathaniel and Caro- line Gerrish. Mr. and Mrs. Cummer are the parents of one daughter, Mabel C. Cummer. and two sons, Arthur G. and Waldo E. Cunummer. Both of the sons are interested with their father in his various business en- terprises, and both are capable, successful and progressive young business men.
Although Mr. Cummer's life from boy- hood has been a busy one and his opera- tions have been large and have permeated
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nearly all sections of his adopted country. he has been liberal and generous in his con- tributions of time and money to public af- fairs and charitable and benevolent purposes. never forgetting that the highest type of citizenship is that which is mindful of home, friend, neighbor and country. Mr. Com- mer's public service as an official includes a term as mayor of Cadillac, several years as an alderman, eight years as a school in- spector, as a presidential elector in 1888 from the ninth congressional district, his vote being-cast for Benjamin Harrison, and six years-from 1895 to 1901-as a men- ber of the board of trustees for the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane, the latter appointment coming from Governor John T. Rich. In these positions Mr. Cummer served acceptably, honorably and satisfactorily, his business experiences and his interest in pub- lic affairs making him a valuable servant of the people. In political sympathies Mr. Cum- mer is a Republican, and the political party to which he owes allegiance has tound him a loyal, earnest and persistent worker in the ranks, helpful in counsel and generous and willing in effort. Jacksonville became the le- gal residence of Mr. Cummer and his family in 1902, the plants in that city, the Jackson- ville & Southwestern Railway and Mr. Cum- mer's timber interests not only requiring. but demanding. his personal attention and direction. In Jacksonville, Mr. Cummmer identified himself with public affairs and interested himself in benevolences and char- ities and all those things which contribute to the weal and welfare of a community. Mr. Cummer is the vice-president of the Jacksonville Board of Trade, an organiza- tion of three hundred leading business men. the strongest organization of its kind in all
the south, and the organization is now erect- ing a building for itself which is to cost fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Cummer was also selected, in 1903, for a membership on the board of trustees of the Jacksonville schools. a position of importance and influence in that its work prepares the boys and girls of today- the men and women of tomorrow -- for citizenship in the greatest republic under the shining sun. He is also a trustee of the Carnegie Library Association now erecting a fifty-thousand dollar building.
This, in brief, is the story of the life of a successful Cadillac business man, who, through all the changing years of turmoil and strife, the years of struggle in small things and the years of triumph in large things, has carried the family name in honor. has retained his self-respect, has forgotten not the duties devolving upon him as a citi- zen, as a husband and as a father. Such a life as this is an inspiration to the young men upon whose shoulders will fall the bur- ‹lens of tomorrow.
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