USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 19
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Mr. Moore held the office of prosecuting attorney for Lapeer county from 1873 until 1877. In 1878 he was elected state senator. In 1880 he declined a renomination. In 1888 he was elected circuit judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, where he remained until 1896, when he was elected to the Su- preme Bench of Michigan, a position which he fills at the present writing. He married, December 3, 1872, Miss Ella L., daughter of Jasper Bentley.
120
MEN OF PROGRESS.
ELLIOT OLIVER GROSVENOR.
GROSVENOR, ELLIOT OLIVER, was born at Monroe, Michigan, October 26, 1863. County. He lived there and attended the public schools until 1878, when he entered the Michigan Military Academy from which he gradnated with the rank of senior captain, in 1881. He attended the University of Michi- gan for four years and graduated from the literary department, classical course, in June, 1885. He then took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1886, but has never practiced that profession, devoting his attention mainly to agriculture and particu- larly to dairy interests, in which he has been actively engaged since 1890.
In politics Mr. Grosvenor is a thorough Republican, and served as chairman of the Monroe County Republican committee from 1896 to 1900. In 1894-96 he held the office
of circuit court commissioner of Monroe
Governor Hazen S. Pingree appointed Mr. Grosvenor Dairy and Food Comissioner Jan- uary 26, 1897, and reappointed him for an- other term in February, 1899.
In 1886, Mr. Grosvenor married Miss Mary Hamilton, daughter of David P. Ham- ilton, of White Pigeon, Michigan. They have three children: Tra R., Ebenezer O., and Mary, aged respectively thirteen, ten and eight years.
Tra R. Grosvenor, Mr. Grosvenor's father, was one of the best known lawyers of South- ern Michigan, and died in 1899. His mother was Miss Sarah A. Wood, daughter of Joseph Wood, who was a Michigan pioneer and took a prominent part in Michigan territorial af- fairs.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHIES.
O'BRIEN, HON. MICHAEL. Hon. Michael O'Brien is a Canadian by birth but has lived in Michigan nearly all his life and since 1869 has been a resident of Alpena. Michigan. Ile was born on a farm near Belle- ville, Ontario, September 18, 1852, and se- cured a fair education in the parochial schools of Windsor, and at the old Detroit Business College. Ile learned the trade of shoemaker at Windsor, and in 1868, at the age of 16 started out as a journeyman shoemaker, work- ing first at Trenton, and then in Lexington. Michigan. Ilis father, Patrick O'Brien, for vears an attache of the Windsor postoffice. died March 14, 1869, leaving the mother with six children without any other means of sup- port than that furnished by the eldest boy, Michael. In July, 1869, Michael found work in Alpena, Michigan, with John W. Creigh- ton, and in 1872 brought his mother and the children to that city and supported the family with his earnings. In 1874 he started in the shoe business on his own account and was on the road to success when fire destroyed his store and stock in 1876. He was forced to go back to his bench and commence all over again.
In 1880 he was elected county clerk on the Democratic ticket, and returned to this office four times on the same ticket. While county clerk he took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1887.
In 1889 he purchased the law and abstract business of the late J. B. Newton, and entered into partnership with W. T. Sleator in the same month. In 1890 he was elected mayor of the city of Alpena and his administration was one of the best that city ever had. Dur- ing his term the beautiful C'entral High School of Alpena was built and paid for, at a cost of $40,000, and many other valuable improve- ments were made. He was re-elected Mayor in the spring of 1900.
Mr. O'Brien is a stockholder and a director in the Alpena Building & Loan Association, a director in the Alpena County Savings Bank, secretary and director of the Alpena Land Improvement Company, and a director
HON. MICHAEL O'BRIEN.
of the Alpena Business Men's Association. He has been prominently identified with many progressive associations, namely, the Alpena branch of the National Loan & Investment Company, of which he was secretary; presi- dent of the Citizens' Association and Law and Order League.
Beside attending to his present business of real estate and loans, and his profession as attorney-at-law, Mr. O'Brien finds time to de- vote to his political party. He has been the Democratic chairman of the judicial com- mittee of the Twenty-sixth District, and also a member of the Democratic congressional committee of the Tenth District. Fraternally he associates with the Catholic Mutual Bene- fit Association, Ancient Order of Hibernians, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, U. L. G., and C. T. A. S.
During his career in this state, for over a quarter of a century, Mr. O'Brien has seen Alpena grow from a small village to a mod- ern city. He is a member of the Catholic Church.
He married Mary A., daughter of Mark Coppinger, at Bay City, Michigan, November 28, 1882.
122
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HENRY EUGENE CHASE.
CHASE, HENRY EUGENE. Henry E. Chase, a direct descendant of the Aquilla Chase family of New England, was born in Calhoun county, Michigan, on the 25th day of August, 1863.
The basis of his future success was laid in the public schools of this state. Hle gradu- ated from the high school at Lawrence, Mich- igan, and for a short time taught school in Van Buren county.
Mr. Chase early formed the intention of taking up the law as a profession, and in 1886 went into the office of Hon. Fred A. May- uard, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where, after studying for two years, he was admitted. Soon after his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with Mr. Maynard, very pleas- ant and profitable business relations resulting therefrom, which continued until after Mr. Maynard assumed the office of attorney-gen- eral of Michigan.
In 1889 he was made deputy surveyor of
enstoms at Grand Rapids, which position he filled for four years.
In 1894 he was temporarily appointed to the office of deputy oil inspector at Grand Rapids, which he subsequently resigned.
January 1, 1895, Mr. Maynard appointed Mr. Chase assistant attorney-general, which position he held until the year 1897, when the Legislature created the office of deputy attorney-general. Mr. Chase was then ap- pointed deputy attorney-general and held the office until December 31, 1898, when Mr. Maynard's term of office as attorney-general expired.
January 1, 1899, he was re-appointed by Hon. Ilorace M. Oren as deputy attorney- general, which office he still holds.
During his tenure of office as deputy attor- ney-general, many important state eases have been under his supervision, the same receiv- ing careful and thorough attention.
123
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
DAVIS, HON. GEORGE BURLING- HAM. Hon. Geo. Burlingham Davis has and is still contributing his share toward the progress of Michigan, being aetively identified with some of the leading organizations of the state. He was born in Detroit, June 23, 1858, and educated in the public schools. ITis father, the late Dr. J. E. Davis, died in 1872, of a disease eontraeted while serving as sur- geon in the 27th Michigan Infantry. His grandfather was Judge Calvin Davis, of Ma- comb county, Mieh., and was a member of the Legislature in 1845, just fifty years before Mr. Davis represented the same county in the same body. At the age of 16 Mr. Davis became shipping clerk in the wholesale oil house of M. V. Bentley, at Grand Rapids. Previous to this he had earned his first dollar by driving piles under a bridge that had been raised by spring freshet. He remained as shipping elerk for one year, then joined his brother in the real estate and insurance business at Oxford, Mieh- igan. A year later he beeame eity salesman for Perrin & Bentley, wholesale oil dealers, in Detroit. For two years he was eity sales- man and traveling man for this firm, leaving them to travel for the musie firm of R. D. Bullock, Detroit. While in this business Mr. Davis traded a second-hand piano for some oak timber in Macomb county, which deal even- tually resulted in taking him into the manu- faeture of hardwood lumber. He went into this business when only 22 years old, in eom- pany with Henry Oellrich, of Detroit, Davis furnishing the musele and Oellrieh the cash. In four weeks the young firm found itself $600 out. Business picked up, however, until in two years Davis was able to buy out his partner. More bad luek eame along shortly after this, for during the logging season an epidemic started among his horses, quiekly kill- ing thirteen. He managed to pull through the season, though, and eventually establish him- self on a firm footing. He has an exeellent business in hardwood lumber now, at Utiea, Mieh. For fifteen years he has made a spe- cialty of piles, bridge, car and ship timber. His best and oldest patrons are the Michigan
HON. GEORGE BURLINGHAM DAVIS.
C'entral Railroad Company, the Detroit Ship- building Co. and the Michigan-Peninsular Car Co. In 1890 he organized the Utica Hoop & Lumber Co., at Utiea, Michigan. The scarcity of timber and the business depres- sion of '94 and '95 eaused the closing of this plant.
Ile also organized the Detroit Sand & Gravel Co., and bought one of the largest sand and gravel pits in the state, being arranged to load 40 cars a day. Mr. Davis is now its sole owner. In 1898 he organized the Detroit, Utica & Romeo Railway Co., with a capital- ization of $300,000, which is now building a street railway from Detroit to Romeo. Mr. Davis is president of the company and has an offiee in Detroit. He is also interested in hardwood lumber at Utica and other Michigan points. Mr. Davis is a Republican. He was elected representative from the Second Dis- triet of Macomb county in 1895-96, re-elected 1897-98, and eleeted state senator from the Twelfth Distriet in 1899-00. He married Miss Marion St. John, daughter of S. P. St. John, and has one child, Lucile, aged seven years.
124
MEN OF PROGRESS.
JUDGE CLAUDIU'S BUCHANAN GRANT.
GRANT, JUDGE CLAUDIUS BU- CHANAN. Judge Claudius Buchanan Grant was born in Lebanon, Maine, October 25, 1835. ITis parents were small farmers strng- gling for a livelihood on a stone-covered farm. As soon as old enough to work, his time was occupied from spring until fall in the usual farm work, picking stones, hoeing, haying, harvesting, ete. During the winters he attended the district school, and in his fifteenth year went to Lebanon Academy during spring and fall, where he commenced preparing for college. At the age of 17 he tanght a district school at $15 per month. After finishing that school he was offered an- other the same winter in an adjoining town- ship, the pupils of which had thrown the former teacher out of the window. Young Grant accepted. During the second week of school, arrangements were made to serve him as they had the former teacher. A fight oc- curred, in which young Grant whipped the bully of the school, and was thereafter the admiration of the scholars as well as the peo- ple of the district. Mr. Grant completed his preparation for college at Lebanon Academy
in the summer of 1855, and in October of that year entered the University of Michigan. After paying his tuition at this college he had just $60 left. Together with three others, he rented an attie over a shoe store, and went to housekeeping. During his freshman year he sawed wood for one Mr. Clark, who kept a bakery, and for each hour's work re- ceived a loaf of bread. He also worked for Prof. Winchel, setting out trees, which are still standing on the old Winchel place, north of the Campus. He graduated from the University in 1859, and for the next three years was principal of the Am Ar- bor High School. In 1861 he organized a military company and was elected captain. The company was assigned to the 20th Mich- igan Infantry. November 21, 1863, he was promoted to major; December 26, 1864, to lieutenant colonel, and on the same day was made colonel of the regiment. After Lee's surrender, Colonel Grant resigned from the Army, and returning to the University of Michigan commenced the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1866, and began his practice in partnership with Ex- Governor Alpheus Felch. In 1870 he was elected a member of the Legislature, and again in 1872. He was also elected regent of the University of Michigan in 1871, serv- ing as such eight years.
In 1873 he removed to Houghton, Mich- igan, where in 1876 he was elected prosecut- ing attorney. When the 35th Judicial Circuit was organized, in 1882, Mr. Grant was made cirenit judge, and he was re-elected to this office in 1887. He became a resident of Mar- quette in 1886. Judge Grant has always taken a prominent part in the Republican pol- itics of this state. In February, 1898, he was nominated for Justice of the Supreme Court and elected by a large majority.
June 13, 1863, Judge Grant married Miss ('aroline E., daughter of the late Governor Alpheus Felch. They have four daughters. three of whom are married. His daughter, Helen Grant Sparrow, has died since above sketch was written.
125
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CAMPBELL, HON. MILO DE WITT. It is a noteworthy fact that nearly all the men of progress in this state have started as school teachers and by that means have earned enough to further their own education. Milo De Witt Campbell is not an exception. His parents were poor, living upon their small farm near Quincy, Michigan. Here he was born October 25, 1851. In a limited way, his parents did all they couldl toward his edu- cation. All of his time not spent in the dis- triet school he worked out, on farms about the neighborhood and wherever he could find work. He was industrious, and the first book he ever bought was from money he earned cleaning out the stoned-up wells in the neigh- borhood, when he was 10 years old. When about 14 years of age, he attended school at Coldwater, working before and after school, Saturdays and during vacations to support himself, and boarding some of the time with an aunt. At 15 he obtained a certificate to teach, but could not find employment because of his youth. At 17 he began teaching in: district schools, and later at the village school in Gerard. He graduated from the high school at Coldwater, preparatory to the Uni- versity, and later at the State Normal School at Ypsilanti.
In 1873 he was nominated county superin- tendent of schools, although only just having passed the age of twenty-one. He was not a candidate for the place and was dumbfounded when he heard his name presented and con- firmed at the republican county convention, with several opposing candidates. The oppos- ing parties put up no candidate against him, and Mr. Campbell received all the votes. Ile resigned before the expiration of his term, and became a solicitor for a life in- surance company at a better salary. He afterwards entered the Normal School and immediately, npon finishing his course there, was employed by the same company at an in- creased salary. After a few months, how- ever, he began to study law with Loverige & Barlow, Coldwater. He was admitted to practice in January, 1877. After his admnis-
HON, MILO DE WITT CAMPBELL.
sion to the bar he located at Quincy. The first year he made $350, supporting himself and wife from the same and saving fifty dol- lars, which he put out at interest. Business soon began to knock at his door and increased rapidly until 1886, when he moved to Cold- water, the county seat. TIe still continnes the senior member of the firm of Campbell & Johnson, of that city, and has always had a large and lucrative practice.
In 1873 and 1874 he was commissioner of schools of Branch county. In 1885 and 1887 he was a member of the State Legislature. In the latter year he became private secretary to Gov. Inee and held the position until 1891. ITe has been president of the state board of inspectors, having in charge all the penal and reformatory institutions of the state; a men- ber of the railroad and street crossing board; insurance commissioner, and is now the presi- dent of the board of state tax commissioners. ITis home has always been in Branch county.
October 18th, 1876, Mr. Campbell married Marion, the daughter of Clark C. Sears, of Quincy, Michigan, for whom he had formed an attachment in childhood.
126
MEN OF PROGRESS.
ARTHUR ORRIN BEMENT.
BEMENT, ARTHUR ORRIN. One of the largest plants in the State of Michigan is that of E. Bement's Sons, at Lansing, Michigan, which in 1871 only employed a force of three men, and to-day engages an army of employees and turns ont yearly over a million dollars' worth of stoves and agricul- tural implements.
Arthur Orrin Bement, the president of the E. Bement's Sons, manufacturers of heating and cooking stoves, agricultural implements, cte., was born at Fostoria, Ohio, May 22, 1847. The boy was given the advantages of a good education in that city, and at the age of 14 he commenced to learn the trade of a moulder, earning $3 a week making plow points. At the end of five years he left this trade to take the position of cashier in the store of ex-Governor Charles Foster, of Fos- toria. When 18 years of age he became a teacher in the Norris district school, near Fos- toria, at a salary of $30 per month, and after the usual fight with the larger scholars neces- sary to establish his superiority over them, he managed to hold his position through the term.
Ho gave up teaching to help his father in the machine shop, as the factory at that time commenced the manufacture of plows, and he remained at this work until the spring of 1869, when, in company with his brother, he came to Michigan to work in the moulding shop of Nicholas & Shepherd, of Battle ('reek. After three months the brothers re- turned to Fostoria, and during the balance of the year worked in Maumee City and Toledo, Ohio. In September, 1869, father and son came to Michigan in search of a location in which to establish a plant. They first stopped at Grand Rapids, but the establishment for sale there being too large for their capital they went to St. Johns and Owosso, and finally located in Lansing. Here they rented a small foundry and started to manufacture plows and farm kettles. That same summer they purchased their present site. The father had about $4,000 in money, horses, wagons and past due notes, while A. O. Bement pos- sessed $500 in cash. With this small capital they started their now famous plant. Young Bement looked after the business interests and traveled around the state finding a mar- ket for the output of the foundry. In 1878 the business increased to such an extent that they were forced to increase their plant, and at the same time they commenced to manu- facture stoves. Since that time the plant lias had a yearly growth, and over 550 men find employment in it during the year.
Arthur Orrin Bement was elected mayor of Lansing in 1893 and re-elected the following term. He was a member of the Lansing water works board in 1886-SS. Mr. Bement married Miss Alice Jennison, daughter of Wm. F. Jennison, at Eagle, Michigan, Octo- ber 9, 1873. His first wife died in 1884 and in 1887 he married Miss Vina Lou Mosher, of Lansing, Michigan. His eldest son, Ed- ward Jennison Bement, is the travelling rep- resentative of the firm, and his two daughters, Dorothy and Rosalind, are living at home in Lansing. Mr. Bement has taken all the Ma- sonic degrees, including Knight Templar.
127
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
SAYRE, HON. IRA TERRY. In all his political life Hon. Ira Terry Sayre has never been defeated for any office. He was only 23 years of age when he first entered the po- litical field, as the township clerk of Flush- ing township, Michigan, a position he held for seven years. He was also treasurer of the school district for a period of six years. In 1890 he was elected president of the vil- lage of Flushing, and at the expiration of his term he declined re-election. From 1888 until 1892 he was justice of the peace in that village. In November, 1898, he was elected to the State Senate ou the Republican ticket by a majority of 2,572, and in his own town- ship, which polled 574 votes, he received a majority of 400.
Tra T. Sayre was born in Hector township, New York State, March 6, 1858. His par- ents moved to Michigan in 1864 and until he was eight years of age the boy's education was confined to the district schools, and the high school at Flushing until he reached the age of 20. The balance of his time was spent in helping his father on their farm, grubbing, splitting rails, burning timber and getting the farm into shape for tillage. He graduated from the Flushing high school and entered the Michigan Agricultural College. Here he managed to secure five hours' work per day, and by working Saturdays he made enough money to pay his way while in col- lege. During the vacation period he taught the district schools. He entered the law class of the University of Michigan in 1880, and re- mained until the next year, but did not grad- uate. He went to Lansing and took an ex- amination before the Supreme Court, where he was admitted to the bar June 12, 1881.
Ile commenced practice in Flushing, where he still resides. A chair, a few law books, a small table and a debt of $350 was the outfit with which he started his practice. He was hopeful and more so when on the first day that his sign was tacked up over the door he had a client. At the end of the month, when he footed up his books, he discovered that he had taken in as his month's work just $12.04.
HON. IRA TERRY SAYRE.
Ont of this he had to pay $3 a week board, $5 a month: office rent, besides postage and other incidentals. The following month busi- ness picked up to the extent of $4.70 above the previous one. He became despondent, and at one time he concluded that if receipts and expenses continued at the same ratio he would go back to teaching school. The third month he tried a case in court and business became very good after that.
He married Miss Julia E., daughter of Franklin A. Niles, of Flushing, Michigan, August 5, 1884, and three children have been the issue of that marriage: Helen Lorraine, aged eight years; Sidney Estelle and Frank Niles, twins, aged two years.
Mr. Sayre is a stockholder in the Union Trust & Savings Bank at Flint, Michigan, and the First State & Savings Bank, at Flush- ing, Michigan. He is a member of the various Masonic bodies, including the Commandery. Consistory and Shrine, and many other fra- ternal societies. For the last six years he has been one of the finance auditors of the Great Camp of the Knights of the Maccabees for Michigan.
128
MEN OF PROGRESS.
EDGAR SHAW WAGAR.
WAGAR, EDGAR SHAW. Edgar Shaw Wagar carned his own education, and with- ont any aid save that of his own determina- tion to succeed, backed by a fearlessness of hard work, forced his way to the front rank in the business world.
His parents located on a farm about three miles from Constantine, Michigan, in 1843, and it was here, on August 30, 1850, that he was born. When large enough to work he found plenty awaiting him on the little farm, and he divided his time between that occu- pation and attending the schools of the dis- triet until he was 17 years old. That sun- mer he was employed as a shoveller with a construction train during the building of what is now the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad, between Grand Rapids and Sparta. ITe earned the first money he ever had in his life loading sand on cars at $1.25 a day and boarded himself out of this stipend, saving enough to pay for his tuition in the Constan- tine high school until the following June, when he left school and worked with a threshing machine outfit around the county, returning to school when the threshing sea-
son closed. This was his hardest school year. He had very little money, and was compelled to live very elose during the term. He did his own cooking in a little back bedroom, eating his dinners very often in a frozen state. Saturdays he earned some money chopping four foot wood at 65 cents per cord.
The following sumner he secured a posi- tion as clerk in a grocery store at Cedar Springs, Michigan, at $5 per week. He re- mained in that business for eight years, and in the summer of 1878 decided to start in the hardware business, with which he had some experience, on his own account. At that time Echmore was just coming into ex- istenee as a prospective lumbering vil- lage, and he selected that place as the one in which to commence business. The town of Edmore was plotted in a dense pine forest and the main street was simply indicated by a marking of trees. He built a small store, and his first stock of goods did not make a good- sized load for a wheelbarrow. While in Cedar Springs he had met and married Miss Mary L. Pfeiffer, of that place, and she fol- lowed him on his pioncer venture to Ed- more. He met her at McBride, the termi- nus of the new railroad, and together they walked through the darkness and rain a dis- tance of four miles to their new home. The first two years the young couple spent in Ed- more were made up of struggles and priva- tions, with pressing indebtedness, but he worked so hard that the neighbors used to say "Ed Wagar has set down only once in four years." The business was a success.
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