USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 47
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heartedness and eminent social qualities made him a friend to all with whom he had business or other relations. In his life he was the very embodiment of enterprise and enthusiastic optimism and in addition to pushing all his own undertakings to suc- cessful completion he gave a willing and hearty support to every movement having for its object the material or social advance- ment of the community. Personally he was of attractive appearance and pleasing ad- dress. a fine specimen of symmetrically de- veloped American manhood, and he moved among his fellows as one born to leadership and who always made his presence felt in whatever capacity his abilities were exer- cised. He loved to mingle with his fellow men, regardless of calling, and was ever the faithful friend and genial companion of all classes and conditions of people. His was a proud, liberal mind, optimistic in all the term implies, but exclusive in the sense that nothing savoring in the slightest degree of insincerity, hypocrisy or cant could for a moment find lodgement therein. He was truly a manly man, best liked by those who knew him most intimately, and, like a ray of sunshine, he often illuminated and made bright the pathway of those into whose lives fortune cast no glittering favors.
We close this brief review of Mr. Mitchell by quoting from the News and Ex- press the following appropriate reference to his life and character, published upon the receipt in Cadillac of the sad news of his death :
"In Cadillac there is sincere sorrow be- cause of the tragic ending of the life of Mr. Mitchell. During his twenty years of active participation in the affairs of the city. both as a business man and public official.
his ideals were high, his purposes honest and his plans were for the benefit of his fellow men. He labored zealously not only for himself and his family, but also for his employes, his neighbors and his friends. He gave of his wealth to the poor and the needy and was a willing helper in all public affairs. He listened not only to the recital of am- bitious plans of those in high places, but to the cry of the lowly, of the widow and the orphan and of those to whom sorrow, affliction and poverty had come he gave lieed. Unostentatious in his charities, un . assuming in his relations with men, Austin W. Mitchell made for himself an enduring place in the affairs of the people and in nearly every home in Cadillac the sadden- ing message from Honolulu carried with it a feeling of personal loss. Through the coming changing years, the memory of the man who sleeps beneath the turbulent waters of the Pacific will be revered by his neigh- bors and associates and his most enduring monument will be his good deeds."
JOSHUA M. WARDELL, M. D.
The popular physician and surgeon whose life story is brefly outlined in this re- view has attained an enviable position in the medical world. gaining the distinguished ruputation which comes as the legitimate reward of rigid mental discipline through professional training and skill and persist- ent, painstaking endeavor. Progressive in the broadest sense of the term and keeping in close touch with all matters relating to his chosen calling, his understanding, ad- vanced methods and efficient practice have
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brought him not only eminent professional success, but liberal financial remuneration as well. During a residence of over thirty years in the city of Cadillac he has witnessed the remarkable growth and development of Wexford county along all lines of industrial, commercial and professional activity and to the extent of his ability he has contributed to bring about the results that are now ob- tained. His character has ever been above reproach, his conduct in every relation of life has been that of the faithful healer, the upright man, the honorable citizen and to- clay there are few as well known and none stand higher than he in the confidence and esteem of the people. In point of residence and continuous service, he is the oldest phy- sician in Cadillac, as well as one of the most successful.
Dr. Wardell is a native of Ontario. Can- ada, and was born on a farm near St. Thomas, Elgin county, July 26, 1855. When seven years of age his parents, Edward and Melissa (McDween) Wardell, moved to the above village and there the future physician received his literary education, completing the high school course in 1867, immediately after which he made choice of medicine as his life work, and began his preliminary study of the same under the direction of his uncle, Dr. J. M. Penwarden, while clerking in the latter's drug store in St. Thomas. Dr. Penwarden was a physician of considerable note, who practiced for some years in part- nership with Dr. John Fulton, at that time professor of surgery in Trinity College, To- ronto, and dean of the faculty. While at- tending to his duties in the store young Wardell devoted all his leisure time to study and under the efficient instruction of his uncle he made rapid and substantial progress.
his advantages being far superior to those of the majority of students at the beginning of their career. After two years behind the counter his entire time was given to his medical reading, and at the end of one year of painstaking research he entered the med- ical department of Michigan University, where he remained until the fall of 1870, returning to Canada at the end of the session and again taking up his work with his form- er preceptor. He continued his studies at home and in Toronto until the fall of 1872. when he returned to Ann Arbor, and on the 26th day of the ensuing March was grad- uated at the early age of eighteen, being one of the youngest persons to receive the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Michigan.
On the 7th of September following his graduation Dr. Wardell opened an office in Cadillac and at once engaged actively in the practice of his profession, encountering at the outset many of the obstacles and em- barassments which usually beset the path- way of young physicians ambitious for pro- fessional honors. In due time, however, his abilities were recognized and he soon suc- ceeded in building up a lucrative practice which, taking a wide range and covering ev- ery branch of the profession, has steadily grown in magnitude to the present day. In 1876 he was appointed division surgeon of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, which position he still holds, and he also served four years as a member of the board of pension examiners at Reed City, Michigan, performing capable and satisfactory service in both capacities.
As a physician and surgeon Dr. Wardell has few equals and no superior in the Grand Traverse region. Ile is thoroughly in-
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formed in all branches of his profession, makes diagnosis readily, has had a long. varied and remarkably successful experience and the extensive practice he now commands affords the best evidence of the high esteem in which he is held by the public. In his pro- fessional duties and in social life he sustains an admirable character and in his business affairs have demonstrated shrewdness and capability, having by close attention to his chosen calling accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to place him in indepen- dent circumstances. In the language of an- other. "The Doctor is a broad-gauged. lib- eral-minded man, conversant with life in all its bearings and thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the present progressive age." "Since boyhood he has had to de- pend entirely upon his own exertions, but, with a determination to succeed, he worked earnestly and constantly and now, while yet in the prime of life, he can rest free from care and anxiety with the consciousness that his present prosperity is due to industry and ability."
Dr. Wardell is a close and diligent stu- dent, a critical reader of the world's best lit- erature and his acquaintance with the same is general and profound. For a number of years he has made a special study of Shakes- peare, and his deep research into the writings of that immortal genius has made him one of the best Shakespearian scholars in this country. He has examined critically every thing relating to the subject, is familiar with the ideas of Shakespearian scholars the world over and his own observations, opinions and conclusions have elicited the attention and praise of some of the best writers and critics of the day.
Fraternally the Doctor is a thirty-second-
degree Mason and his political views are in accord with the Republican party, of which he has for years been an earnest and en- thusiastic supporter. His domestic life dates from 1890, on July 21st of which year he was happily married to Miss Arista M. Montgomery, a native of Oberlin. Ohio. and a lady of refined tastes and liberal cul- ture, who has borne him two children, a son by the name of Montgomery Meaure, and a daughter. Margaret. The Doctor is pecul- iarly blessed in his domestic relations and in his beautiful home, one of the finest resi- dences in the city of Cadillac, finds in the bosom of his family or in the company of the wise and great of all ages through the medium of his well-stocked library the social relaxation and mental stimulus which only men of his tastes and inclinations fully appre- ciate. His life has been lived to useful ends and his high ideals, professional and other- wise, have made him in no small degree a leader of thought in the community. He maintains a lively interest in Cadillac, has taken an active part in promoting its ma- terial development, and, having faith in the city's future, is doing all within his power to make that future come up to his high ex- pectations.
DONALD DAVIDSON.
The man who has lived to the age of fifty-eight years, who has spent a part of the years of his maturity in two hemispheres and whose life from boyhood has been character- ized by hard work, has surely had sufficient experience to gratify the desire of the most ambitious seekers of adventure in the line of industry. Donald Davidson, the subject
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of this biography, who resides in Colfax township, was born, reared and received his education in Scotland. When old enough and possessed of the requisite strength he was put into the coal and iron mines of his native land, and for ten years followed that most exacting and tiresome calling, mining. Ambitious far beyond his fellow workmen, he determined that if the blessings of health and strength remained to him all the years of his life would not be spent benath the sur- face of the earth at the paltry wages accord- ed to miners in Great Britain and elsewhere. When he had been in the mines ten years and saved some money, he went to farming, and after pursuing that avocation a few years came to America to better his condition and that of his family.
Donald Davidson was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1843. His opportunities for re- ceiving an education were indeed limited, for he was placed to work in the mines quite early in life. From that time to the present hard work has been his portion, but he bore his part with all the stoicism of a philoso- pher and abided his time until an opportun- ity offered to better his condition. When about seventeen years of age Mr. Davidson was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Hepburne, in Scotland. the native place of both, and there they continued to reside for a number of years thereafter, he having quit the mines and devoted himself to farm- ing. Two children were born to them, Dav- id and Christena, and their coming inspired the father with renewed ambition. He knew what his life had been, replete with hard work and many privations, and he deter- mined that his children should never experi- ence such vicissitudes as had fallen to his lot. Accordingly, having accumulated suffi-
cient means for the purpose, he procured transportation and the family set out for America in March, 1873. After arriving in this country, they took up their abode in Virginia, but remained there only a few months, when they came to Michigan, locat- ed in Cadillac, then Clam Lake, where they lived for two years, he being employed by Green & Sheckston, lumber mills. From there they moved to Manton, where he was employed, and after two years of industry and the practice of most commendable econ- omy, he was enabled to purchase the land he now owns. There he then settled, but re- mained only one season, when he was in- duced by Charles Ford to move to Haring township and cultivate a well-improved farm which was owned there by him. The sub- ject remained on the Ford farm six years, and so successfully managed that piece of land that he was tendered the position of superintendent and manager of the county poor farm, which he accepted, but remained in charge only about fourteen months. He then returned to his own farm and has de- voted himself to its cultivation from that time to the present. He is the owner of forty acres of land, of which he has thirty- five acres under cultivation, and very pro- ductive. Both his children are comfortably settled in life. David, who is a farmer and resident of Colfax township, married Miss Lucinda McLean, and they have three chil- dren, Mildred, Vera and Verna, while Chris- tina is the wife of Perry Leach, and resides in Wexford county, he being engaged in lumbering, and they have one child, Zena. Mr. Davidson is, like most of his country- men, a person of the utmost candor and sincere frankness, a man who would en- counter much for his friends and whose
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memory is never so defective as to forget favors extended to him. Wexford county was greatly benefited by his coming and that of his excellent family. Mrs. Davidson is a devout member of the Free Methodist church in Colfax township, and is a teacher in the Sabbath school.
WILLIAM W. LOVELESS.
The life of a sailor on the Great Lakes is a laborious and hazardous one, and yet one that is not entirely devoid of fascination. Men who have sailed for a number of years find it exceedingly difficult to content then- selves on land and although their oppor- tunities for advancement upon the water are as nothing to what they might encounter on shore, their love for the fathomless lake or ocean often compels them to sacrifice every other consideration for its sake. The subject of this review. William W. Loveless. followed the life of a sailor a number of years in his early manhood, and like others, after having given it up, he often yearned for the old life upon the stormy wave. How- ever, he seems now to have thoroughly weaned himself from the enticing calling.
William W. Loveless, a resident of sec- tion 19, Haring township, was born in Essex county, Canada, of Canadian parents, April 22, 1837. He was reared and grew to man- hood in his native county, receiving a fair education in the common branches at the public schools. While yet a young man he became a sailor, on a ship engaged in the grain trade plying between Buffalo and Chicago, and for seven years devoted himself exclusively to that catiing. In 1863 he
took a position on a ship laden with copper ore and bound for Liverpool. The passage of the Atlantic was made by this staunch little craft in forty-eight days, the vessel be- ing propelled entirely by sail.
In Ogle county, Illinois, August 10, 1859. William W. Loveless was married to Rachael A. Winner, a native of Pennsyl- vania, born September 14. 1837. To this union ten children were born, viz. : Walter S., Wallace E. Williard W., Wilton W'., Wesley W .. Sarah E., William W. W., Vio- let, Daisy, and Evangeline, who died aged three years and seven months. Sarah E. (lied at the age of thirteen years. Violet is the wife of Ernest Schram and Daisy died in her twenty-fourth year. August 7, 1881, when forty-one years of age. Mrs. Loveless died at the family home in Haring township, whence they had removed three years pre- viously.
In the spring of 1878, desiring to better the fortunes of the family, William W. Love- less came to Wexford county and settled on a tract of land, part of section 19. Haring township. Here he erected a modest but comfortable residence, and after installing his family therein proceeded to hew a farm out of the dense woods. How well he has succeeded is clearly demonstrated by the tidy, well-kept little farm of forty-eight acres which year after year he has been cultivat- ing at a comfortable profit.
In Wexford county, on the 23d day of January, 1884. William W. Loveless again entered into a matrimonial alliance, his bride on this occasion being Mrs. Margaret Gib- son, widow of the late William Gibson. She is a native of Canada, born in Victoria coun- ty. Ontario, in October. 1837. Her maiden name was Margaret Shearer and she is a
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daughter of Robert and Janet Shearer, na- tives of Scotland. One child has been adopt- ed by the subject and his wife, an intelli- gent, winsome little girl named May.
In politics William W. Loveless is a Democrat and has always interested himself in the success of that party. He has served his township in various local offices. He has been a school director a number of years, township treasurer two years, justice of the peace four years, and township clerk one term. In all matters relating to the welfare of the township he has taken an active inter- est. He and wife are members of the Bap- tist church and always active in every spe- cies of religious work. He is a member of Cadillac Tent. No. 332, Knights of the Mac- abees, of the Loyal Orange lodge at his home in Canada and of the Patrons of Husbandry of Wexford county. He began life with little, and whatever he has accomplished is attributable entirely to his own exertions.
ANDREW HOLMBERG.
The substantial development and con- tinned progress of the states in the northern part of the Mississippi valley owe not a little of their growth to the efforts of the sons of Sweden who have sought homes here. To this class Andrew Holmberg is a representa- tive. He now lives on section 28, Clam Lake township, where he is engaged in general farming. ITe was born in Sweden on the 19th of April. 1848, and there spent the first twenty-four years of his life. In his youth he acquired a fair education and when quite young he learned the value of industry and perseverance as active factors in a business
career. These have ever been salient features in his work and have formed the foundation upon which he has builded his prosperity. In the spring of 1872, attracted by the op- portunities of the new world, he made ar- rangements for leaving his native country, and, bidding goodbye to his friends there, he sailed for the new world, landing first at Quebec, Canada. He did not tarry in the Dominion, however, but came at once to Michigan and has since been a resident of Wexford county. Here he was first em- ployed through one summer in the grading of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, and subsequently he was employed as .a section hand. For many years he was fore- man of a gang of men, working on the railroad, and continued his labors in that way until July, 1898, when he settled upon the farm which is now his home and which he had previously purchased. He has erected a nice residence here and in the rear stand a good barn and fair outbuildings, which in turn are surrounded by fields of waving grain. He owns altogether eighty acres of land, of which fifty acres is improved. Pre- vious to the purchase of his present property he was the owner of two other farms in Clam Lake township, but these he has sold.
On the 26th of May, 1873, in Big Rapids, Michigan, occurred the marriage of Mr. Holmberg and Miss Carrie Anderson, a most estimable lady, who has indeed been a faithful companion and helpmate to him on life's journey. She was born in Sweden, July 28, 1844, and in 1873 came to America. She has many excellent traits of character, including a kindly disposition and cordial manner, which have made her a favorite with many friends. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Holmberg has been blessed with five
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children, namely: Emily, who is the wife of Anton Iverson; Albert E., a salesman at Lake City, married Ida Whaley: Ellen .1. is at home : Anna C. is the wife of Emil Hec- tor; and Andrew M., who completes the family. The parents are active and devoted members of the Swedish Lutheran church, and their Christian faith is exemplified in their upright lives. Honored and respected by all, there are no people in the community who occupy a more enviable position in the regard of their friends, not only because of the success which they have won, but also because of the straightforward business 1 principles they have ever followed and the upright lives they have led. In the com- plex citizenship of America there is no ele- ment of more value than that furnished by Sweden, and Mr. Holmberg has ever sus- tained the reputation which his fellow coun- trymen bear for loyalty, fidelity and integ- rity.
REV. L. M. PRUD'HOMME.
The fame of this efficient and popular ecclesiastic, professionally and personnally. is widely extended, until today, in his thirty- fifth year, there are few priests in the diocese to which he belongs as well and favorably known. His labors in the city of Cadillac have greatly endeared him to his parishioners. and to the people, irrespective of church or creed, he stands not only a tower of mental and moral strength but a loving father and gentle spiritual guide, with the best interests of humanity ever at heart. Father Prud'- homme is a native of Canada, born June 22, 1860, in the city of Montreal. After completing the prescribed course of the
parochial schools he entered, in 1883. . \s- sumption College, near Montreal, where he pursued his studies for a period of six years, taking high rank as a student and making an extraordinary brilliant record in the classics. In 1889 Laval University con- ferred its highest honors upon him and he at once entered upon a course of philosophy which required two years to complete. With a mind thoroughly disciplined, he began, in September, 1891, his ecclesiastical training in the Grand Seminary of Montreal and three years later, on the 22d day of Decem- ber, 1894, was ordained a priest for the dio- cese of Grand Rapids by the Most Rev. E. C. Fabre, D. D.
Father Prud'homme's first active labors in the ministry were with St. Francis' Church, Traverse City, to which he was sent as assistant pastor by the Rt. Rev. H. J. Richter, D. D., bishop of Grand Rapids, im- mediately after his ordination. His work with that congregation proving satisfactory, he was soon promoted to a more responsible position, the pastorate of St. Ann's parish, Cadillac, to which he was transferred in August of the year 1895. Since taking charge of St. Ann's, the congregation has prospered greatly temporally and spiritually and, as already stated, the beloved pastor has found a permanent place in the hearts of his people, the order of reciprocal willingness and obligation being the unwritten law of the parish.
Father Prud'homme is an able preacher. a finished and erudite scholar and is held in high esteem by the bishop and clergy of his own diocese and throughout the state. In the city of Cadillac he is favorably regarded by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, for his many noble qualities of head and heart, be-
REV. L. M. PRUD'HOMME.
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ST. ANN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH.
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ing one of the most generous and manly of men, his untiring labors in the cause of Christianity endearing him to his own con- gregation and arousing in others an admira- tion seldom enjoyed by the Catholic clergy outside of the pale of the church. Broad minded, charitable and devout, he well de- serves the esteem in which he is held, as his life is a series of self sacrifices to the end that the kingdom of God may be exalted among men and souls won thereto. Al- though a young man, Father Prud'homme has already accomplished great good in the noble work to which his time and talent are being devoted and it is easy to predict for him a long and promising future in the Mas- ter's cause which.he so ably and worthily upholds.
Father Prud'homme enjoys the rare priv - ilege of having built within eight years three churches, namely, at Lake City, at a cost of three thousand dollars, at Frank- fort, at a cost of eight thousand dollars and at Cadillac. at a cost of fifteen thousand dol- lars. . \ fourth one will be built this summer at Jennings. . All these buildings are free from debt and are a credit and an ornament to their respective cities. The reverend pastor of St. Ann's has many good words for all his worthy assistants and for the citizens of Cadillac, irrespective of creed and nation- alty.
ST. ANN'S CHURCH.
Previous to the year 1880 the spiritual wants of the Catholics of Cadillac were at- tended by priests coming either from Tra- verse City or Big Rapids. In the course of 1880 the church which existed until 1903
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