History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 102

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Michigan > St Clair County > History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.. > Part 102

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A resolution offered by Townsend Lymburner was read by E. G. Stevenson, when John McGill moved, supported by Edgar White, that the resolution be received, adopted and spread upon the journal.

The village was established under authority given in the following resolution:

"WHEREAS, It appears from the report of the committee of this board and from an exami- nation of the papers connected with the application for the incorporation of the village of Ft. Gratiot, that all the requirements of law have been complied with, and it appearing to this board that the territory described in said petition and also hereinafter named, containing a population of 1,300 people.

"Therefore Resolved, by the Board of Supervisors of the county of St. Clair, and it is hereby ordered and declared by said Board, that the following territory to wit (described in the petition), be and the same is hereby incorporated and the same shall be an incorporated village under the name of the village of Ft. Gratiot, and it is further resolved and declared that Thomas Sontherland, Julius Granger and Walter T. Bushy, all electors and residents of such territory, are hereby appointed Inspectors of Election, to hold the first election in said village, and such election shall be held on the first Tuesday of March, A. D. 1881, at Eddison's Hall, in said township of Ft. Gratiot and within the village of Ft. Gratiot aforesaid."

The new village held its first charter election March 15, 1881. The regular ticket nomi- nated at the citizens' meeting and subsequently slightly changed by consent, was elected, with the exceptions of Francis P. Phoenix (Republican), in place of Richard Eades (Republican), for Treasurer, and J. A. McMartin (Democrat), for Clerk, instead of W. T. Busby (Republican). Phoenix's majority over Eades was eighty, and MeMartin's over Busby, sixty-eight.

The following are the names of the officers elected:

President-O'B. J. Atkinson, Democrat.

Trustees for two years -- Thomas Sutherland, Republican; Edward Hollis, Democrat; P. M. Edison. Democrat.

Trustees for one year John Waterworth, Democrat; Hiram Morse. Republican; S. W. Merritt, Republican.

Treasurer-F. P. Phoenix, Republican.

Clerk-Julius MeMartin, Democrat. Assessor -- Julius Granger, Democrat.

Street Commissioner-B. B. Dewey, Republican.

Constable -- John Clark, Republican.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

THE TWO ELECTRICIANS AND INVENTORS.

In a history of Fort Gratiot. the reader will very naturally look for the personal history of the two Edisons; one of whom lives to electrify the world, while the other died in an effort to wake up sleepy Europe. The biography of the Thomas A. Edison was prepared by George H. Bliss; that of the younger Edison is taken from a sketch of his life published immediately after his death.

THOMAS A. EDISON.

The personal history of this celebrated electrician is one full of instruction to all readers, and of special interest to the people of St. Clair County, among whom he lived. The sketch is taken from his biography by George H. Bliss. "His ancestry." says Mr. Bliss, "can be traced back 200 years, when they were extensive millers in Holland. In 1730, members of the family emigrated to this country. Thomas Edison was a prominent bank official on Manhattan Island during the Revolution. and his name appears on the Continental money. "The race is long. lived. Edison's great-grandfather lived to be one hundred and two and his grandfather one hundred and three years old. His father, Samnel Edison, is now living, aged seventy-four, and in perfect health. He stands six feet two inches, and in ISUS outjumped 250 men belonging

to a regiment stationed at Ft. Gratiot, Mich. He learned the tailor's trado, but subsequently entered commercial life, and engaged consecutively in the grain, commission. huuber, nursery and land business. He has always been in easy cirenmstances. Edison's mother. Mary Elliot Edison, was born in Massachusetts. She was finely educated, and for several years taught in a Canadian high school. She was an industrious, capable, literary and ambitions woman. She died in 1862 at sixty-seven years of age. Thomas Alva Edison was born February 11, 1847, at Milan, Erie Co., Ohio. This was then a thriving town of several thousand inhabit- ants. Located at the head of Milan Canal, four miles from Lake Erie, it was the center of the ship-building, wheat-shipping and stavo-making interests of that region. Exhaustion of the surrounding timber and the construction of the Lake Shore Railroad some distance south of the town, brought about deray. which compelled Edison's parents to remove to Port Huron when he was seven years old, which has since been their home. Edison never went to school over two months in his life. His mother taught him spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. She was a fine reader and often read aloud to the family. Edison acquired his love of reading from her, which was encouraged by his father, who paid him for each book mastered. At ten years old. he had read " The Penny Encyclopedia," Hume's History of England, History of the Reformation, Gibbon's Rome, Searl's History of the World, several works on chemistry. and other similar works. He read them all with the utmost fidelity, never skipping a word or a formula, although mathematics were and are especially repulsive to him. It is this habit of concentration which has led him to the accomplishment of many astonishing results. As a boy. he was always occupied, and amused himself making plank roads, digging caves and trying experiments, his mind being full of subjects. He was uneasy to get into business, and at twelve years of age his father secured him a place as train boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad. When the road was completed between Detroit and Port Huron, he acquired an exclusive news dealer's right, having as high as four assistants. During the four years he ran the road, his varnings averaged $1 a day, which was given to his mother. In commencing to visit Detroit, ho joined the library, and started to read it through. He began on the bottom shelf and read every book for fifteen feet, when the job was given up as hopeless, and thereafter congenial selections were made. Ho was an occasional reader of fietion and poetry. Victor Hugo is his favorite author. The Les Miserables, he read a dozen timos, and has reviewed it as often

since. The Toilers of the Sea he considers a grand book. His memory is so retentive that he can quote extensive extracts from many sources, and can usually refer direct to the book and page of his scientitie library for any fact or information needed for experiment or research. His mind is erammed with an immense mass of information. it being difficult to mention a subject about which he knows nothing. He has a partial knowledge of the French, German. Italian and Spanish languages. Attached to the mixed train upon which he sokl papers was a freight car having a room partitioned off for smoking purposes. As the car was without springs or ventilation. no one would ride in it. Edison obtained Tresenius' Quality

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

of Analysis.' bought some chemicals on the installment plan, induced the hands at the railroad shop to make him some retort stands in exchange for papers, and turned the smoking room in- to a laboratory. The Detroit Free Press, then owned by Wilbur F. Storey. came out in a new dress. Edison purchased 300 pounds of oldl type. and for six month published a weekly paper on the train called the Grand Trunk Herald. The price was 3 cents and the subscription list ran up to several hundred. It was printed on one side only. by hand. and was devoted to rail- road gossip. changes, accidents and information. George Stephenson, the English engineer, who built the tubular bridge at Montreal, when passing over the road found Edison at work, and ordered an extra edition for himself. The paper was afterward noticed by the London

Times. One day the water in Edison's phosphorous bottle evaporated, it fell on the floor and ignited the car. The conductor with difficulty extinguished the fire. threw the materials out of the car and gave Edison a thrashing. so that his newspaper and laboratory came to a sud- den end. He continued his experiments in the cellar at home. and carried his printer's mate- rial with him for several years.

While running into Detroit, he became acquainted with the telegraph operators, and in hanging about the office the idea suggested itself to telegraph the newspaper headings to the stations in advance of the train. The effect was to spread the information of the battles then taking place and greatly increase his sales. The success taught him the value of the telegraph, and he determined to learn the business. He purchased a work on the electric telegraph, and. in conjunction with James Ward, one of his assistants. they constructed a telegraph line be- tween their residences in Port Huron. They used common stovepipe wire insulated with bot. tles placed on nails driven into trees and crossed under an exposed road by means of a piece of abandoned eable. captured from the Detroit River. The first magnets used were made of wire wound with rags for insulation, and a piece of spring brass was used for a key. They were somewhat mixed as to the relative value of dynamic and static electricity for telegraph pur- poses. and the first attempt to generate a current was by means of a couple of cats rubbed vigorously at each end at an appointed time. This effort proved a failure, although they suc- ceeded in getting rid of the cats with lightning-like rapidity. Soon after this experiment. some old telegraph instruments and battery materials were purchased, and a successful short line was inaugurated. This was quite an achievement in those days. although now there are hundreds of such short lines throughout the country.

About two months afterward, as the railroad train was switching some cars on to the side track at Mt. Clemens station. the agent's little boy. two years old, crept upon the tract in front of the approaching ears. Edison, seeing the danger, sprang to the ground, seized the child and bravely saved his life. J. A. Mckenzie was the agent and operator, and in gratitude for the act, volunteered to assist Edison to learn telegraphy. Thereafter, on reaching the end of his route. Edison would go back by freight train to Mt. Clemens, and worked nights to perfeet himself in operating.

In five months he was sufficiently advanced to secure employment in the telegraph office at Port Huron. The office was in a jewelry store, and Edison had an opportunity to indulge his mechanical inclinations. He worked night and day to improve himself. but resigned in six months because compensation promised for extra work was withheld. His regular salary was $24 per month.

He next went to Stratford, Canada. as night operator. The operators were required to re- port. 'six' every half hour to the Circuit Manager. Edison indulged his ingenuity to a bad purpose by making a wheel with Morse characters cut in the circumference in such a way that when turned it would write the figure six and sign his office-call. This the watchman turned for him while Edison slept.

His stay at this point was brief. One night the dispatcher sent an order to hold a train. Edison repeated back the message before showing it to the conductor. When he ran out for the purpose, the train had pulled off from the side track and was gone. When the dispatcher was notified the opposing train was beyond reach. Fortunately the two trains met on a straight track and no accident occurred. The railroad superintendent sent for Edison and so frightened him with threats of imprisonment. that, without getting his wardrobe. he started

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

for home and was greatly delighted to reach his native land. He spent a few weeks at Port Huron in study, but operators were in demand and he obtained a situation at Adrian, Mich. Here he had a small shop and a few tools, where his spare time was used in repairing instru- ments and making such experiments as he had the means to accomplish. It was then a peculiar ity of the Morse telegraph system that only one message at a time could be sent on one wire. It is also a characterstic of young operators, that each considers himself the most important personage on the line, and that his business must go first. Being at safe distance, operators fling the most violent abuse at each other with impunity, and inpanwhile messages wait. Edison proved no exception to the rule. and on one occasion, when he had some message from the Su- perintendent insisted on taking the line from all comers. The Superintendent of telegraph lived in the same town and had an instrument in his house. Hearing the tossel on the wire. he rushed to his office, pounced upon Edison and discharge l him for violation of the rules.

His next situation was in night service at Ft. Wayne, and in two months he had improved so much as to secure a situation in Indianapolis. Here he invented his first successful auto- matic repeater. which is an arrangement for transferring the writing from one telegraph line to another without the medium of a sending or receiving operator. It was an important achieve- ment for so young and inexperienced an operator.

The ambition of all operators is to be able to take press reports.' Edison practiced nights incessantly to accomplish this end. He was finally given a trial. but finding himself making too many breaks or interrogations, he rigged two more recording registers, one to re- ceive and one to repeat the embossed writing at slower speed so it could be copied. When this was done. he told the sending operator to rush him,' which gave him a brief reputation, for the copy' was so slow in reaching the press it caused complaint. and he was suspended from the work.

At the end of six months. he was transferred to Cincinnati. Here he worked a day wire. but continued to practice nights and 'subbed' for the night men whenever he could get the priv- ilege.

He had been in Cincinnati three months when a delegation of Cleveland operators came down to organize a branch of the Telegraphers' Union, which resulted in the great strike a few years since. They struck the office in the evening, and the whole force. with one excep- tion. went off on a gigantic spree. Edison came round as usual to practice, and finding the office so nearly deserted took the press report to the best of his ability, and worked through the night. clearing up business. The following day he was rewarded by an increase of salary. from 866 to $105 per month. and was given the Louisville wire, one of the most desirable in the office. Bob Martin, one of the fastest senders in the country, worked the Louisville end. and from the experience here acquired, Edison dates his ability as a first-class operator.

Edison's utter negligence of dress and appearance. his willingness to work at all hours night or day, his insatiable thirst for reading, and his enthusiastic attempts to solve what ap- peared to his companions impossibilities, earned for him the name of 'luny' or crazy man, which clung to him a number of years. He retained, however, the personal good will of his associates.

In 1564. he went to Memphis and obtained a more remunerative salary. His associates were dissolute and imposed upon his good nature to such an extent that the work he did was enormous. Abstemious himself almost to stoicism. he freely loaned his money to his compan- ions or expended it in the purchase of books or apparatus. He made and put into operation his automatic repeater, so that Louisville and New Orleans could work direct. The idea of du- plex transmission had taken possession of him, and he was perpetually advocating and experi- menting to accomplish it. These efforts were looked upon with disfavor by the manage- ment, and in the changes resulting upon the transfer of the lines from the Government to the telegraph company he was dismissed.

Being without money, and having transportation to Decatur only. he walked to Nashville, where Billy Foley. an operator in the same predicament. was found, and they traveled together to Louisville Edison had only a linen suit, and on ariving at Louisville he found the weather extremely chilly. He hunted up a friend who loaned him money for his immediate need.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

Foley's reputation was too bad to obtain a situation himself. but he recommended Edison, who obtained work. For this service Edison supported Foley till he could get a job.

Edison describes the Louisville office at this time as the dirtiest and most free and easy in the business. The common disposition of tobacco-quids was to hurt them at the ceiling, where they stuck by the hundred. Rats in great numbers kept the operator in company at night. The discipline was lax in all things, except the quality and promptness of work. Edison was required to take reports on a line worked on the blind side of a repeater, where he had no chance to break. This requires skill, and he attained to a rare perfection by the most careful study of names, markets and general information. The line was old and in a poor condition. being subject to many interruptions and changes. To assist in his work, Edison was in the

habit of arranging three sets of instruments, each with a different adjustment, so that whether the circuit was strong or weak, or no matter how rapid the change, he was able to receive the signals accurately. He remained in Louisville for nearly two years, and then got the South American fever. In connection with Messrs. Keen and Warren, two of his associates, he saved money for the trip, and they started, intending to go via New Orleans. On arriving at the lat- ter place, the vessel upon which they were to ship had fortunately sailed. Edison fell in with a Spaniard who had traveled around the world. He told him of all the countries visited the United States was the best, having the most desirable government, institutions, climate and people. This wholesome advice shook Edison's determination in connection with his disappoint-

ment at delay, and he resolved to go home. He went to Port Huron via the Gulf and Atlantic

States. After remaining a few weeks, he again got work at Louisville, and returned there. He now began to save his earnings more than ever, and invested them in additions to his library, apparatus, printing office and shop. He started to publish a work on electricity with his own office, but the task proved too much for his facilities. He went into a most elaborate series of experiments, as was his custom when investigating any subject, to determine the most rapid and best-adapted style of penmanship for an operator's use. He finally fixed upon a slightly back- hand, with regular round characters, isolating the letters from each other, and without shad- ing. This beautiful penmanship he became able to produce at the speed of forty-five words per minute, which is the extreme limit of a Morse operator's ability to transmit.

Edison's description of the habits of his associate operators at this time is amusing in the extreme. Often when he went home from his work in the small hours of the morning, he would find three of the boys on his bed with their boots on, where they had crawled after an evening's dissipation. He would gently haul them out and deposit them on the floor, while he turned in to sleep. Meanwhile. the office was removed to a new building with improved fixt- ures, and the instruments were fastened to the tables. Orders were issned not to move the instruments. Edison, however, could not desist from taking three sets to connect up so as to get report correctly, for the line outside had not been improved. At one time he had every instrument in the office out and connected together to try an experiment.

Beneath the office was a bank, and in the back office an elegant carpet covered the floor. Over this was the battery room. and one night, in trying to abstract some sulphuric acid for ex- periments, he tipped over the whole carboy. The acid ran through the floor and ceiling, de-

stroying the carpet and doing other damage. This proved the climax of endurance, and Edi- son was discharged. He went immediately to Cincinnati and obtained work as report operator. This was the scene of some of his first achievements. He always had a hankering for machin- ery, and when on the Grand Trunk Railway frequented the machine shops and learned to run ar engine. On one occasion, when the engineer and fireman were exhausted from overwork and fell asleep, he ran a train nearly the entire trip. He unfortunately pumped the engine too full of water, so that it was thrown from the smoke-stack, and deluged the engine with filth, much to the discomtiture of the engineer, who had slept while Edison ran the train. In Cincinnati, on his first stay, he made an ingenious small steam engine, and arranged his first duplex instruments. The instruments were very crude, as he had so little to work with, but the drawings, which still exist, show conclusively that double transmission was possible at a much earher date than when out into practical use.

His second stay in Cincinnati was very unpopular on account of his continued experiments.

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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

He would get excused from duty and take a bee line to the Mechanics' Library, where his en- tire day and evening would be spent reading the most ponderous electrical and scientific works. He remained in Cincinnati only a short time, and returned home.

He had a warm personal friend, M. T. Adams, in the Boston office. An expert was needed to work a heavy New York wire. Several candidates had failed, as the New York end was worked by York and Erie operators, who, as a class, had the reputation of writing anything but the Morse alphabet. G. F. Milliken, the manager, offered the situation to Edison by tele- graph, and he accepted. He started via the Grand Trunk and the train was snowed in for two days near the bluffs of the St. Lawrence River by a violent storm. The passengers nearly perished with coll and hunger. When all resources for fuel and wood were exhausted, a dele- gation was sent out to hunt for relief. They were gone so long, another expedition was about starting in search of them. when they returned and reported a hotel not far distant, where cigars were 1 cent apiece, whisky 3 cents a glass and board 50 cents a dav. A shout of relief went up from the crowded cars, and they were soon comfortably housed till the storm was over. Edison finally reached Boston all right.

He arrived in Boston in 1868, and in the person of Mr. Milliken found the first superior officer who could appreciate his character. Mr. Milliken was an accomplished gentleman, a thorough master of his profession, and an inventor of merit. He made allowance for the gawky and hungry look of his subordinate, and in the secret excitement under which he seemed to labor recognized the fire of genius. Edison's stay in Boston was congenial. There is a vein of humor running through his character, and he played a practical joke on the cockroaches which infested the office in great numbers. He placed some narrow strips of tin- foil on the wall and connected them with the wires from a powerful battery. Then he placed food in an at- tractive manner to tempt them. When these clammy individuals passed from one foil to the other they completed the battery connection, and with a flash were cremated, to the deliglit of the spectators. Edison started a shop in Boston, and gave all his spare time to it. His ideas here began to assume practical shape. He invented a dial instrument for private line use, and put several into practical operation. He made a chemical-vote recording apparatus, but failed to get it adopted by a Massachusetts Legislature. He commeneed his experiments on vibratory telegraph apparatus, and made trial tests between Boston and Portland. He ma- tured his first private line printer, and put eight into practical operation. From lack of means to pay for quotations, his venture was not successful and he sold out. This patent subsequently came into the possession of the Golden Stock Telegraph Company, and was considered to have a base or foundation value upon which many subsequent improvements were built.

At one time he was invited to explain the operation of the telegraph to what he supposed was a girl's school. He forgot the appointment, and when found was putting up a line on a house top. He went directly from his work, and was mach abashed to find himself ushered into the presence of a room full of finely dressed young ladies. He was actually timid in ladies' presence, but his subject was understood, and the occasion passed pleasantly. He was introduced to a number of young ladies, who always recognized him on the street, much to the astonishment of his fellow-operators not in the secret. Edison is a strong believer in the Boston girl.

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 102

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Western historical company, Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas & co.
Number of Pages: 814