History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 111

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 111

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).

MINERAL SALTS.

st. Clair Arkansas Hot springs, Mineral Springs. Grains Per Gallon. . Grains Per Gallon.

Nauhein!, Hesse-Cassel. Grosse Sprudel. Grains Per Gallon.

Sodic chloride.

17653.930

.1339

1419,920

Sodic sulphate.

167.500

.0890

Calcio chloride

814.170

118.880

Calcio sulphate.

96.200

.7511

3.0-10

Calcio carbonate

23.800

3.6098

131.040

Magnesio chloride.

991.290

.1820

20,800

Magnesie carbonate

1.200

Magnesje bromate

,560

Potassio chloride.

32.160

Potassio sulphate.

.3608

Iron protocarbonate

.996

.0968

4,000

Iron sulphide.

4.200

2.3122

4. 180

Total Grains

19754.386

7.5436

1766.080

Hydrie sulphate (gas).

52.073

56. 16 cub. in.

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

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

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

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

Silica and alumina

666

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

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

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

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

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

667

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

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

PERSONAL HISTORY.

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

JOHN L. AGENS, merchant, St. Clair, was born in Newark, N. J .. September 16, 1825, and is a son of John Ageus, also a native of Newark. Our subject's grandfather, James Agens, came across the ocean during the Revolution with Lord Cornwallis, and soon afterward deserted and joined the American Army, and became one of the illustrious Washington body guards, which position he held to the close of the Revolution. Mr. Agens came to St. Clair on a visit, first in 1831; remained one year. Ile bought property here in 1848. After that he spent each summer in St. Clair. He established a business house here in 1855, and located here perma nently in 1858. He was married in 1813, to Miss Hettie M. Eagles, by whom he has four children-Hattie, Carrie, Nettie and Alice. Mr. Agens' place of business is on the corner of Front and Thornapple streets, where he is doing a cash business of over $30,000 annually, and this business is constantly on the increase.

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

GEORGE H. BAIRD, farmer, Section 35, P. O. St. Clair, is a son of William and Charlotte Baird. Will- iam came to this county from Scotland in the year 1829, and settled on Bell River, now East China. Char- lotte, whose maiden nanie was Earle, came from Vermont in the year 1836, and settled in the township of China, St. Clair County. They were married in the year 1840, moved to the township of St. Clair, and lived there six years; thence to Port Huron. They came on the place where they now live in 1856, cleared the land and made their farm, and lived there until his death in 1875. He left three children-Ellen, now Mrs. Heury Young, Port Huron; Lottie, now Mrs. James Havey, Port Huron: George, now living with his mother at home, and farms the homestead farm. He was born in the town of St. Clair, September 28, 181; attended school and grew up in this county, and since reaching manhood has been engaged in farming.

WILLIAM BAIRD, attorney and collecting agent, Whiting's Block, was born in China Township, this county, January 20, 1840, and is a son of Henry Baird, deceased, a native of Scotland, who came to God- erich. Canada, in June, 1829, and to this county the following December. He walked from Port Huron to Andrew Westbrook's, one mile north of Marine City. His earthly possessions consisted of his clothes and : British sixpence, and his toes were protruding through his cowhide shoes, He worked for Mr. Westbrook for several years. He was industrious and economical, and at the time of his death had laid up a respectable fortune. He was the first Supervisor for East China Township. Our subject was educated in the common schools and in St. Clair. He attended the law department of the Michigan University of Ann Arbor, during the terms of 1873 and 18744. He returned in 1874, passed an examination in the February term of the Circuit Court at Port Huron, was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law March 4 of the same year. He has attended faithfully to business and built up a large practice. Mr. Baird was married May H, 1867, to Miss Catharine Frank, of Marine City. They have tive children-Frankie, Catharine, Henry, William and Iva. He was Circuit Court Commissioner for four years: is Vice President of the Marshall Mutual Aid Asso- ciation, and is holding his second term of City Attorney for St. Clair, He is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity of St. Clair, having united with them in Marine City in 1865.

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

668

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY.

pany of New Hampshire Militia, and was at the battle of Bennington, when Gen. Starke and his New Hamp- shire Militia did such effective work. Our subject is the oldest of seven children. Soon after he became of age he was commissioned a Captain in his native town of a company of New Hampshire Militia, and served in that capacity until he left the State. Ilis summers were spent upon the farm and winters in teaching. He was noted as possessing a remarkable faculty for governing scholars, and under no condition would he ever use the rod. He had no faith that corporal punishment would stimulate the love of the scholar for the teach- er; that only acts of kindness would win their affections. He has been employed several winters to teach out school terms where teachers had been discharged, in New Hampshire, Vermont and Michigan. Ile married Sophie C. Morse, of Haverhill, N. 11., May 5, 1831. and immediately emigrated to St. Clair, Mich., where he has resided ever since. Soon after his arrival at St. Clair, he, with others, commenced the building of a steam saw-mill, it being the third steam saw-mill built in the eastern part of the State. In April. 1837. he started out in the mercantile business, and, with the exception of a short time during the rebellion, has been engaged in that profession. In 1838, he was commissioned Colonel of the Fourth Regiment Michigan Militia hy Steven T. Mason, Governor. In 1839, he called out the regiment, being the first regiment ever mustered in St. Clair County. Has held two city and county offices, and for ten years was Postmaster. He organized the First National Bank of St. Clair, and was elected its first President; held one-fourth of its stock, and was Director, until he sold his interest and retired. His first wife died in 1849, leaving one child-Charles B. lle was married in 1850 to Eliza F. Tewksbury. of Bath, N. H. They had one daughter and one son-Will- iam M., now living, and partner in the business. In politics, he has always been a Democrat.

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

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

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

PETER BELL, farmer, Section 20, P. O. Rattle Run, is a native of Germany, and was born April 2%. 1807 : he emigrated to the United States in 1842 and came to Detroit, and came to St. Clair County ; he was one of the first Germans that came here, and is now the oldest German settler in this town. He only had 235 francs, and he bought and paid for forty acres of timber land, and eleared it and made a farm. Since then, he has cleared and made several farms, He owns 228 acres of land, the result of his industry and good management. In 1839, he married Miss Gertrude Radmacher. a native of Germany ; they have six children -Peter, Ir., Mary, Joseph, John, Clara, Angustine.

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

JULIUS BELNAP, of the firm of Belnap & Phillips, brick manufacturers, was born in Jefferson County, N. Y., November 20, 1836, and is a son of Jesse Belnap (deceased), a native of Oneida County, N. Y. Our subject came to St. Clair in 1851, where he has since resided. He worked in the lumber woods, and at ron- ning logs for twenty years. In 18;1, he established a large brick yard in St. Clair, in company with Robert Scott and others, which has since become the property of himself and Edward Phillips. He was married in 1861 to Miss Adeline C. Scott, daughter of Robert Scott, of St. Clair ; they had three children, two of whom are living-Edna Marion and Nellie Maud.

FRED HI. BLOOD, real estate and insurance agent, United States Inspector and Deputy Custom Ilouse officer. St. Clair City, was born in the beautiful little city of Burlington, Vt .. March 10, 1825, and is a son of Nathan Blood, a native of New England, and a grandson of Nathaniel Blood, who came from England to America in an early day. Nathaniel Blood was a descendent of Col. Blood, who stole the King George's jew- elry. Our subject came with his father, his mother having died in 1832, to Medina, Ohio, in 1834. to live with his sister, Mrs. O. B. Reed, and to Newport, now Marine City, St. Clair Co., Mich., in 1836. IIe there worked at the house and ship joiner's trade during the summer seasons for several years, teaching school in the adjoining districts during the winters at $16 a month, and "boarded around." He then engaged in the mercantile business in Newport about six years. In the fall of 1854. he was elected to the ollice of Register of Deeds for St. Clair County, and the following December removed to St. Clair to take charge of the duties

669

HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY

of said office. This office he held until 1882. In 1866, he was again elected to the same office, and continued to hold it until 1821. He was Supervisor for six years, and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for two years, and Mayor of St. Clair City for four years. Mr. Blood deals extensively in real estate, and is a Notary Public and conveyancer. He was married in 1818 to Miss Electa M. Hunton, by whom he had four children. viz., Helen C., now Mrs. Holland, of East Saginaw ; Olive, deceased : Fred L., died in 1880, was a dentist in St. Clair ; and Jessie V., who disappeared suddenly one night in February, 1882. It is supposed that she was forcibly carried away. by a villainous party, to the far West. Mr. Blood is a Mason of the highest order, viz . a Sir Knight. Mrs. Blood is a consistent Christian, and a member of the M. E. Church.

CHARLES W. BLANCHARD, farmer, Section 23, P. O. St. Clair, is a son of Norman Blanchard and Hannah Hicks Blanchard. Ilis mother was born in the city of Detroit. Charles was born in Wayne Coun- ty February 22, 1840, and came here with his parents during boyhood, and has lived bere over a quarter of a century. Since reaching manhood has been engaged in farming, and owns a good farm of eighty arres. Ile has held the office of Town Clerk, and now is Justice of the Peace. In 1861, he married Miss Margaret Low, a native of this county : they have six children-Nina E., Francis J., Norman, Minnie, Alice and Gordon.

DR. ASA L. BLANCHARD, Medical Director at the St. Clair Mineral Springs, was born in Oakland County, Mich., October 14, 1847, and is a son of Worthy and Mary Blanchard, who were formerly citizens of New York State, and of French and English extraction respectively. At the age of sixteen the Doctor left his father's farm, and engaged in teaching district school and studying He attended the normal school at Ypsilanti and the agricultural college at Lansing. He began reading medicine in 1871, while teaching in the I'nion School at Mackinaw. He graduated from the medical department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor in the class of ISS. The Doctor relied wholly upon his own resources during his entire course of study, and his leisure time was taken up in active work carning funds with which to defray his expenses. His first practice was in Midland City. Midland Co., Mich., where he remained for two years, when he sold ont and came to visit friends in St. Clair. Soon after arriving here, business began to come to him, and he drenled to locate in St. Clair. Hopkins Brothers, in ISSI, proposed to engage him as Medical Director of the mineral springs, which he finally accepted in April, 1882, he retaining all his city practice as before, and ac- cordingly took up his quarters at the Oakland. The Doctor was married December 29, 1880, to Miss Julia Parsons, daughter of William Parsons, of China Township.

HENRY J. BRADBEER, proprietor of the City Hotel, was born in Cobourg, Ontario, August 2. 1834. ('ame to this county in 1865, and resided in Port Huron for fourteen years, where he was foreman in the paint shops of the Grand Trunk Railroad. In 1879. he went to Brockway, this county, and kept the Brock- way lonse until May, 1882, when he came to St. Clair and took charge of the City Hotel. This hotel con- tains thirty six rooms, and first class accommodations given: business is good and on the increase. Mr. Brad- beer was married November 5, 1862, to Miss Nellie Church, by whom he has five children-William, Duncan. Maud. Eava and Dollie.

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History of the St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources.., Part 111

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