USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > Illustrated history and biographical record of Lenawee County, Mich. > Part 39
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Residence of Edward Frensdorf, Hudson, Mich.
ABRAM LUYSTER, JR., was born at Warsaw, Rensselaer County, N. Y., October 18, 1854. His father, Abram Van Black Luyster, was born at Fishkill, Dutchess County, N. Y., February 14, 1812, and died at Port Ewen, Ulster County, N. Y., August 25, 1895. October 11, 1840, he married Miss Jane Osborn, who was born at Fishkill, July 25, 1826, and died at Prattville, Mich., February 25, 1885. They were the parents of six children, all born in Warsaw, N. Y., as follows: Clarissa Jane, nee Vine, born April 12, 1843, re- sides in Grand Rapids, Mich .; Charles E., born February 28, 1845,
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was a soldier in the great Rebellion, enlisted in the 16th New York Heavy Artillery, in February, 1862, was mustered out in April, 1865, and died at Eastmanville, Mich., February 16, 1867; Alice A., born November 15, 1848, died January 21, 1852; Henrietta, nee Ellsworth, born September 3, 1851, resides at Port Ewen, N. Y .; Abram, as
Mrs. Sarah Ellen Luyster.
Abram Luyster.
above; Polhemus, born January 26, 1858, and died October 13, 1862. Abram Luyster, subject of this sketch, came to Michigan and settled in Medina, this county, June 27, 1877. March 1, 1882, he married Sarah Ellen Sutton, born August 13, 1856. They removed to Pasa- dena, Cal., January 25, 1900, where they now reside.
STEPHEN W. CURTIS was born in Ira, Cayuga County, N. Y., March 17, 1831. His father, David Curtis, was born in Cam- bridge, Washington County, N. Y., February 9, 1802. He was reared a farmer and always followed it. When a young man he joined the State Militia and rose in rank to the office of Colonel. He remained in the militia until 1840, when he came to Michigan. Upon his departure for his new home in the then Western wilder- ness, he sold his uniform and military trappings for more than one hundred dollars. In the fall of 1840 he sold his farm in Otsego County, came to Michigan with his family, and settled on land on
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Section 11, in Hudson, this county, that he had purchased in 1833. He was an active, thoroughgoing man, and soon made a comfortable home. He died at his home in Hudson, May 15, 1877. David Curtis was a son of the Rev. Stephen Curtis, who was a native of New England, a Baptist minister, and first married Elizabeth Sawin.
Mrs. Charlotte Curtis.
David Curtis.
He was the father of eleven children, as follows: Benjamin, born April 17, 1800. David, born February 9, 1802; Stephen, born Febru- ary 22, 1804; Eliza, born July 4, 1806, married Peabody Cook; Syl- vester, born July 15, 1808; Delonson, born May 28, 1811; Leroy, born May 6, 1813; Ethan W., born August 18, 1815; George, born September 6, 1817; Anna Maria, born November 11, 1820; Leonard, born April 20, 1822; Solomon, born in 1825; Loomis, born in 1829. Rev. Stephen Curtis was married three times. For his second wife he married Edna Sawin, sister of Elizabeth. His third wife was Polly (Loomis) St. John, who died in 1858. He died in 1837. Polly Loomis became the mother of seven children by her first marriage to William St. John, as follows: Frederick, Samuel, John, Orton, Charlotte, Sophronia and Mary Ann. The ancestors of the Curtis and Loomis families were English and settled in New England. February 7, 1830, David Curtis married Miss Charlotte St. John, daughter of William and Polly (Loomis) St. John, and they became the parents of ten children, as follows: Stephen W., as above; David C., born in Ira, Cayuga County, N. Y., May 31, 1832 ; Charlotte E., born in the same place, October 12, 1833, married Dr. Newcomb, and resided in Oakville, Mich .; Mary Ann, born in Ot-
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ILLUSTRATED HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL
sego County, N. Y., May 20, 1835, married Wesley Terpening, and resides in Findlay, Ohio; David C., 2d, born same place, October 16, 1836; Eveline, born same place, July 10, 1838, married William Wirt, and resides in Wheatland, Hillsdale County ; Cornelia and Cor- delia, (twins) born same place, July 16, 1840. Cornelia married B. L. Phelps. She died March 10, 1896. Cordelia married Isaac Ben- edict, and resides in Culbertson, Neb .; Elizabeth, born same place, September 13, 1842, married Curtis Garrison, and resides in Hills-
Mrs. Martha J. Curtis.
O
Stephen W. Curtis.
dale; Julia, born in Hudson, Mich., March 22, 1844, married H. B. Mosher, and resides in Buda, Il1. Mrs. Charlotte (St. John) Curtis was born in Chagrin village, Ohio, October 17, 1807, and died in Hudson, this county, January 10, 1876. Stephen W. Curtis, the sub- ject of this sketch, was nine years old when he came to Michigan, and has resided in Hudson township, this county, ever since. He has always followed farming and handling and shipping stock. For thirty years he shipped stock to Buffalo and New York. His farm consists of two hundred acres, on Section 10, in Hudson town- ship, with good buildings and other improvements. He has always been an active citizen, and much interested in the prosperity and growth of county and state. He served for two years as President of the Lenawee and Hillsdale Farmers' Picnic at Devil's Lake. He has always been interested in politics, but never been an office- seeker. September 14, 1857, Stephen W. Curtis married Miss Jennette Ladd, daughter of John and Betsy Ladd, of Victor, Ontario
.
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
County, N. Y., and they had two children, as follows: Adeline, born in Hudson, September 9, 1861, married A. D. Rowley, and died November 29, 1896; George W., born same place, July 4, 1865. Mrs. Jennette (Ladd) Curtis was born in Victor, N. Y., in 1832, and died in Hudson, February 18, 1866. February 19, 1868, Mr. Curtis married Miss Martha J. Sutton, daughter of John D. and Abigail (Knapp) Sutton, of Medina, and they have had three children, as follows: William J., born December 13, 1869; Frederick L., born February 25, 1873, died December 30, 1873; John D., born October 26, 1874, married April 12, 1899, Miss Viola Seams, daughter of Andrew and Alice A. Seams, and they have two children, as follows : Mildred E., born August 22, 1901; Harland J., born October 5, 1903. Mrs. Martha J. (Sutton) Curtis was born in Medina, this county, October 13, 1843. She was the second daughter of John D. and Abigail (Knapp) Sutton, whose family record appears on another page in this volume. Mrs. Curtis was educated in the dis- trict schools of Medina, and at Oak Grove Academy, of Medina village. She became a successful teacher for several years, and taught school in Seneca and Hudson townships previous to her mar- riage. Mrs. Curtis has for many years been a correspondent for the Hudson Post, and furnishes all the news items of her locality. She has for many years been an ardent member of the Baptist church, and has exerted a strong and salutary influence among all friends and acquaintances.
THE LAMB WIRE FENCE COMPANY. Adrian has many prosperous enterprises and manufacturing institutions within its limits, and among the most important is the Lamb Wire Fence Com- pany. The plant of this institution is located in the eastern part of the city, near the Wabash and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroads. It is comparatively a new corporation, being organized in 1897. Henry C. Shattuck, John W. Allen, Charles G. Hart, Byron L. Shaw, Otis Clapp, and a few other gentlemen well known locally, were the organizers and orginal stockholders of the company. The patents and experimental machine were purchased from H. R. Lamb, who was at that time operating in Tecumseh. In 1898 the corpora- tion erected its first building in Adrian, which is now known as loom room No. 1. This building contained 11,000 feet of floor space, and the entire operations of the company during the year 1898 were carried on therein. In the meantime new machinery was developed and two additional looms added to the equipment. Commencing with 1899, as the business increased, additions were made to the plant from time to time, until the present great factory was com- pleted in 1903. This is without doubt the largest and most complete manufacturing plant in Southern Michigan, having an aggregate
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LAMB FENCE BEST ALONG THE PIKE
LAMB FENCE
THE BEST ALONG THE PIKE
BEST ALONG THE PIRE ITT
ROYCE LAMB WIRE FENCEG
The Plant of the Lamb Wire Fence Company, Adrian, Mich.
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
floor space of 131,800 square feet. The capital of the company has been increased from time to time until now (1904) it is $500,000, all of which is fully paid in cash. The capacity of the plant as it stands at this writing is one hundred miles of fencing per day. The product of this factory has met with a phenomenal demand, the farmers of the United States and in many foreign countries recog- nizing its merits and worth almost universally. The sales are enor- mous and the business is steadily increasing. This corporation is recognized as one of the greatest and most important enterprises in Lenawee County. The officers and directors of the corporation are as follows: President, Charles G. Hart; Vice President, James V. DeFoe; Secretary, Byron L. Shaw; Treasurer and Manager, Will- iam H. Burnham. Directors, Charles G. Hart, Byron L. Shaw, James V. DeFoe, A. D. Ellis, Frank W. Prentice, R. A. Watts, W. H. Burnham.
WILLIAM F. KING was born in Stirling, Scotland, September 11, 1832, being the son of Peter and Christian (Archibald) King, of Stirling. He resided there until his twenty-first year, came to America in 1856, and arrived in Adrian July 2, that year. He re- ceived a common school education, and at the age of fourteen he went to learn the watchmaker's trade with William Harvey, in Stir- ling, serving an apprenticeship of six years. After working there one year as a journeyman he went to Greenock, on the Clyde, and worked nearly three years. In the spring of 1856 his former associate in Scotland, James Thompson, wrote him to come to Adrian, where employment was awaiting him with the pioneer jew- eler, James J. Newell, and in the fall of 1861 he went into partner- ship with Mr. Newell. This firm existed until May, 1863, when Mr. King withdrew, subsequently forming a partnership with James Thompson in the watch and jewelry business. The firm of Thomp- son & King existed until December, 1871. In 1866 Thompson & King erected the fine brick store on the south side of Maumee street, in Adrian, now occupied by Wood, Crane & Wood. Mr. King erected a fine residence on Dennis street, and also the one he now oc- cupies on South Winter street. He has also done much besides to build up and beautify Adrian. In 1871 he opened a jewelry and book store, which he carried on until 1878, when he sold out his en- tire stock of books and stationery to W. B. Mumford, and since that time has paid his attention exclusively to the jewelry business. He is now the oldest jeweler in business in Lenawee County, his two sons being associated with him. Mr. King is a prominent Mason, and has held all the positions in the Subordinate Lodge, Chapter, Council and Commandery. In politics he is a conservative with Democratic proclivities. Theologically he is Presbyterian, having 30
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ILLUSTRATED HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL
William F. King.
been brought up in that church in Scotland, and socially Masonic. He has served as a trustee of the Presbyterian church in Adrian for over forty years. June 4, 1860, he married Miss Sarah M. Pegler, of Adrian, by whom he has had four children, as follows: S. Helen, born in Adrian, March 22, 1861, was educated in the public schools
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of Adrian, and graduated in music at Adrian College. She was twelve years at the State Industrial Home, and for six years assist- ant superintendent. She died October 27, 1903; Jessie Isabelle, born March 28, 1874, died January 11, 1895; William F., Jr., born in Adrian, November 10, 1864; Charles E., born in Adrian, March 9, 1871, married Miss Etta E. Mawdsley, December 25, 1900, has two children, as follows : Helen M., born October 22, 1901; Marjorie Isabella, born March 6, 1904. Mrs. Sarah M. King was born in Lon- don, Ontario, October 21, 1834. She came to Michigan and settled in Monroe with her parents when an infant. She afterwards moved to New Brunswick, N. J., with her parents. In 1849 her par- ents came back to Monroe where they died.
CHARLES HUMPHREY was born in Canandaigua, N. Y., October 31, 1834, and moved with his parents to Michigan, and set- tled in the woods in the township of Wheatland, Hillsdale County, in 1838, and was a brother of Gen. William Humphrey, whose record will be found in this volume. He received a good common school education, afterwards teaching school winters and working on his father's farm summers for several years. In 1858 he went to Caron- delet, Mo., where he engaged in teaching school until 1861, when he came to Adrian and engaged as clerk for C. B. Ackley, and remained there nearly one year, and May 13, 1862, purchased J. D. Baker's stock of books and stationery and built up a large and suc- cessful business, continuing until the autumn of 1889, when he dis- posed of all his interest to G. Roscoe Swift. Mr. Humphrey was the publisher of the first edition of "Tiffany's Justice Guide," and "Tiffany's Criminal Law," as revised by Judge Andrew Howell, having published four editions of the "Guide," and one of the "Criminal Law." In 1890 he purchased William Corbin's half in- terest in the Adrian Packing Company, and in January, 1895, dis- posed of said interest. He was elected Alderman of the Fourth ward in 1883, and served one term, during which he introduced and car- ried the resolution through the council to build the city hall, and also to establish the wood and hay market. In April, 1895, Mr. Hum- phrey was elected Justice of the Peace in Adrian, was re-elected in 1899 and in 1903, and is now serving his third term. He is a popular magistrate among the legal fraternity. October 9, 1863, he married Caroline Riehl, daughter of Nicholas and Amelia Riehl, of St. Louis, Mo., by whom he has had three children, as follows: Willis L., born June 4, 1865, and died Au- gust 15, 1873; John C., born December 13, 1872; Carolyn A., born November 17, 1874, a graduate of the Adrian public schools and the University of Michigan. She taught modern languages in the Nashville, Tenn., University four years, was teacher of lan-
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guages in the Saginaw High School, and is now (1904) a teacher of modern languages in Jackson, Mich., High School. Mrs. Caroline Humphrey was born in Carondelet township, St. Louis County, Mo., May 28, 1841. Her parents were natives of Alsace, then a province of France, and came to America and settled on a farm in Carondelet in 1836, where her father died in 1851. Her mother died in 1890.
CHANNING WHITNEY was born in Adrian, Michigan, De- cember 28, 1842. He was the son of Richard H. and Nancy (Flagg) Whitney, pioneers of Lenawee County, who came to Michigan from Massachusetts early in 1831, and settled in Adrian. His mother died when he was but nine years of age, and a year later his father found him a home with Joshua W. Thurber, of Madison township, where he spent five years of his life, learning the habits of industry and the secrets of gaining wealth from the products of the soil. The Lenawee County farmer had few luxuries in those days. The young Whitney was assigned a room close to the roof of the old log house, and on winter mornings would awake to find the blankets on his cot covered with snow which had sifted in between the logs during the night. About this time an event occurred which undoubtedly had an influence in determining his life work. On the occasion of a visit to Adrian the young farm apprentice was taken to the bank and while waiting for his employer's business to be transacted was greatly impressed with the sight of so much money changing hands, the heavy railings and ponderous safes and the serious dignity of the official in charge as he handled the funds and attended to the wants of his patrons. Subsequent visits to Adrian and to the bank in- creased his boyish interest, and day by day there grew in his mind the firm resolve that some day he would have a bank and his name in gilded letters over the door. This dream was later to be realized. At the end of his five years on the farm he found himself in the pos- session of about one hundred dollars, which his father invested for him, and he often stated that from that time there was not a day when it had not drawn interest, thus laying a foundation for a grow- ing fortune. He now attended school in Adrian until he was seven- teen years of age, when he engaged as clerk in Clark & Hall's dry goods store in Adrian, remaining there until 1860. In the spring of 1860 he entered the service of the Government in the Adrian post- office under the late Charles Redfield, P. M., remaining until the fall of 1864, when he went to Natchez, Miss., and entered the Com- missary Department of that post, Captain Edward L. Whitney, his brother, being Commissary at that time. In the spring of 1865 he returned to Adrian and again entered the postoffice. In the fall of
1
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Channing Whitney.
1865 he formed a partnership with the late S. A. Powers in the mer- chant tailoring business in Adrian, which partnership continued un- til after the death of his father, Richard H. Whitney, in 1867. His father left a large estate and he was entrusted with the administra- tion of the same, the work taking all of his time for something over a year. In the summer of 1869 he formed a co-partnership with the late J. E. Parker, of Washington, D. C., and engaged in the hard- ware business in Adrian, continuing the same until the spring of
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1874. All this time the thought of some time going into the bank- ing business had been growing upon him, and finally deciding that there was an opportunity for another bank in Adrian, he closed out his hardware store and in the spring of 1875 entered the Second Na- tional Bank of Toledo, Ohio, for the purpose of gaining some prac- tical knowledge of the banking business. He had always had a taste for book-keeping and the severe work in the city bank devel- oped him into a skilled accountant. He was urged to continue with
Interior of Channing Whitney & Co.'s Bank, No. 18 W. Maumee St , Adrian, Mich.
the Second National in Toledo, but as all his interests were in Adrian he decided to hold to his original intention and open his bank in his native city. In June, 1877, he opened the doors of his institu- tion to the public under the name of Whitney's Commercial Ex- change Bank; it was a private bank, he being the sole owner. It was located at No. 18 West Maumee street, the same building in which he had formerly worked as a boy in the postoffice, and a build- ing he had purchased the year before. The bank offered to pay 5 per cent. compound interest on deposits, the regular rates at that time; Chas. G. Wesley, now a prominent merchant, was the first book-keeper. The boyish dream of years before, never lost sight of, had been real- ized. The bank had the usual experience of new institutions, and at first business did not come rapidly, but the young banker kept stead- ily at it, gaining the confidence of the community step by step, un- til in September, 1878, Mr. William H. Stone, who was conducting a private bank across the street, died, his bank was closed, and almost
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the entire business of Mr. Stone came over to the Whitney bank. From that time on the bank was an assured success. A few years later Mr. Whitney took in Mr. F. J. Remington as a partner, and upon Mr. Remington's retirement the late Wm. S. Wilcox became associated with Mr. Whitney and the business ran as the Commercial Exchange Bank of Whitney & Wilcox, which solid institution, known to every farmer of Lenawee County, continued to be one of the city's leading banks until June, 1893, when Messrs. Whitney & Wilcox organized under the State law as the Adrian State Savings Bank. As an example of the careful and conservative manner in which Messrs. Whitney & Wilcox conducted their affairs, it was found that during all the years they had been in business, they had lived en- tirely out of their own outside personal incomes and the entire net profits of their bank had been allowed to accumulate year by year, forming a surplus fund for the protection of their depositors. Mr. Whitney was elected cashier of the newly organized Adrian State Savings Bank, and was its largest individual stockholder. In 1894 he retired from active management on account of poor health, and in order to give his personal attention to his large real estate holdings. Missing, however, the activities of business life, a year later he opened a private bank under the name of The Commercial Exchange Bank of Channing Whitney & Company, with a capital of $75,000, starting in handsomely equipped quarters at No. 18 West Maumee street, and having his son, Charles S. Whitney, associated with him. Mr. Whitney's honorable methods and wide acquaintance in the city and county secured at once for the new bank a generous share of the public patronage, and he was conducting the affairs of this in- stitution with his usual marked success when he was suddenly called to the "Great Beyond" on November 15, 1902, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His death came as a distinct shock to the business and social life of the city where he and his bank had so long been an im- portant factor. During his long and honorable business life he had been prominently connected as stockholder and officer of various local manufacturing and business enterprises. He was always a firm believer in the ultimate growth and future prosperity of his native town, and no subscription for factory, railroad, public building or improvement that had for its motive the betterment of Adrian was ever without his name on it for a generous amount. In politics he was a staunch Republican, and did all he could to advance the cause of that party and of sound money. Channing Whitney was of a genial, sunny disposition, always ready with a pleasant word of greeting, and while he was a great sufferer from a chronic malady during the last years of his life, it was his pride to conceal it as far as possible, and be at his desk at the bank even when in pain. As a banker he was careful and conservative, and often stated with satisfaction that in all the years he had been in business, through financial calm and storm, his bank had never failed to open its doors at nine o'clock, and every one of its many thousand depositors had
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ILLUSTRATED HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHICAL
always received every dollar of their money upon demand. While Mr. Whitney received a substantial share of his father's large estate, the habit, early acquired, of self-denial in personal expenditure, to- gether with careful and judicious investment of his profits in the banking business, increased his capital steadily, and at his death he left an estate valued at over $100,000, the bulk of which was invested in bank stock and productive real estate. Mr. Whitney had a warm and generous heart for the worthy poor and unfortunate, and many can today bear testimony to the help in time of need that he ex- tended to them. He loved his friends, and was ever ready to take up their battles and make their cause his own. Early in life he be- came a member of the First Baptist Church of Adrian, and was always a tireless worker in behalf of that denomination, serving as deacon, trustee and church treasurer for many years. He was prom- inently connected with Adrian Lodge, No. 8, of Odd Fellows, took a great interest in their work, and a day before his death had received official notification of his nomination for Grand Treasurer of Michi- gan Grand Lodge of that order. September 22, 1867, Mr. Whitney was married to Ellen M. Cornell, daughter of Asa and Fanny Cor- nell, of Adrian, and by whom he had one son, Charles Seward Whit-" ney, who was born March 21, 1870, and is now auditor and director of the Adrian State Savings Bank. Mrs. Ellen M. Whitney was born in Adrian, June 21, 1844, and now resides at the family home- stead, corner of South Main and South Winter.
I
Residence of Channing Whitney, No. 61 South Main St., Adrian, Mich.
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RECORD OF LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
THE ADRIAN TIMES AND EXPOSITOR is the oldest news- paper in Southern Michigan published continuously from the date of its establishment. Its history covers the whole period of the set- tlement, development and growth of Lenawee County. October 22, 1834, Rensselaer W. Ingalls brought to the raw little village of Adrian from New York a small printing outfit and began the publication of the Adrian Ga- zette and Lenawee County Re- publican, which appeared weekly for many years. Mr. Ingalls was an able and honor- able newspaper man, but his patronage was small, and paper supplies difficult to pro- cure. Were it not for the legal printing which was abundant, he could not have sustained his first venture into the west- ern newspaper field. To please all parties Mr. Ingalls de- clared his paper neutral, but soon discarded that false pre- tense, changed the name to The Adrian Watchtower, and advocated Jacksonian democ- racy, with marked ability and success. His first office was located near the Maumee street bridge. In 1849, fifteen years Rensselaer W. Ingalls, the Pioneer Printer of Lenawee County. after he founded the first pa- per in Lenawee County, Mr. Ingalls was appointed State printer under Governor Ransom's ad- ministration, and held the position four years. That office and his newspaper combined earned him a competence, and he erected the Watchtower building, a three-story block on East Maumee street, which was the home of that paper and its successor, the Adrian Times, until 1883, when the plant was moved to the Armory block, on South Winter street, which had just been completed by J. C. Rowley. R. W. Ingalls was proprietor and publisher of the Watch- tower, first as a weekly, and later a daily and weekly, until 1863, when he, after 30 years of successful newspaper work in Adrian, sold the whole property to Larwill, Applegate & Champion. Messrs. Larwill and Applegate had learned the printing business in Brook- lyn, N. Y., had been employed in Rome, N. Y., and came to Adrian in October, 1863, fully competent to carry on the venture they under- took. Dr. J. H. Champion had been connected with the Watchtower as an editorial writer for some years. Mr. Larwill sold his interest
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