USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 34
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With an education reaching to the acad- emie, Mr. Grosvenor began his active life as a clerk at the age of sixteen. Coming to Albion, Mich., in 1837, he was elerk for a brother there for some fifteen months, and then went to Monroe, where he was employed in the con- struction office of the then Michigan Southern Railroad, then owned by the state. He went to Jonesville in 1840 and was for four years clerk for Henry A. Delaran and Hon. Elisha P. Champlin, a pioneer of southern Michigan and a member of the Territorial Legislature, and a daughter of Mr. Champlin, Miss Sarah Ann, became Mrs. Grosvenor Feb. 22, 1844. The same year, on a capital of $1,100, the fruit of his savings, he became partner in a general store. He has been a banker since 1854 and is now president of the Grosvenor Savings Bank. He is a merchant miller and has large farming interests, and is a stock- holder in a number of business and financial concerns. He was an active promoter of the building of the Fort Wayne, Jackson & Sag- inaw Railroad, as he has been of other works of local and general character. He has filled the more important local offices in his village
EBENEZER OLIVER GROSVENOR.
and township and has been for thirty-three years a member of the village school board.
But it is in his service to the state that he is the more widely known. He was elected a member of the Sate Senate in 1858 and again in 1862. In April, 1861, on the outbreak of the civil war, he was appointed on the staff of Governor Blair, with the rank of Colonel and was president of the Military Contract Board, at that time a most important trust, and later was president of the State Military Board. In 1864 he was elected Lieutenant-Governor, and in 1866 State Treasurer and again in 1868. lle was appointed in 1871 a member of the Board of State Building Commissioners, hav- ing charge of the building of the new State Capitol, and as vice-president of the board dis- charged the duties of president. In 1879 he was elected a Regent of the University. In 1881 he was appointed a member of the com- mission to prepare a revision of the tax laws of the state. Mr. Grosvenor is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Michigan Club, also a member of the Masonie and Odd- fellows fraternities. Mr. and Mrs. Grosvenor celebrated their golden wedding Feb. 22nd, 1894. They have one married daughter, Har- riet C., wife of Charles E. White, an active business man of Jonesville.
242
MEN OF PROGRESS.
A. OREN WHEELER.
WHEELER A. OREN. "From newsboy to Senator" would aptly epitomize the history of the representative citizen whose name heads this sketch. Born at Mill River, Mass., in 1846. ill health prevented him from enjoying the advantages of the New England system of education until he was eight years old. Two years at school in his home town and a term at Joliet, Ill., to which place his parents re- moved when he was ten years of age, com- prised his early education. When thirteen years of age, he obtained a situation as news- boy on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, running between Chicago and Joliet. His train, reaching Chicago in the early morn- ing and not leaving until night, gave him the day in Chicago, which he improved by selling the Chicago dailies on the street. IIe followed railroading for five years, filling the positions of brakeman and baggageman, and only escaped being a conductor by reason of not be- ing old enough. E. D. Wheeler, a brother of 1. O., was living at Manistee, Mich., and in the fall of 1867 the latter obtained a thirty- days' leave of absence, for the purpose of pay- ing him a visit. He was winter-bound at Man- istee, there being no railway communication,
with a mail but once a week, and though home- siek enough to have taken wings if possible, he was compelled to remain. His homesickness, however, disappeared with the winter snows, and an eligible business offer in the spring. His energy and business aptness were recog- nized by John Canfield, a resident of Man- istee (his brother-in-law), who had decided to build and operate a line of tugs for local ser- vice. Mr. Wheeler was tendered and accepted the position of manager and the sum of $60,- 000 was placed at his disposal to build and equip the line. This fact itself is a striking commentary on the confidence that he enjoyed, and which could only have grown upon a well grounded character. The Canfield Tug Line subsequently built and operated several lum- ber barges in addition to their local service, Mr. Wheeler being identified with the man- agement until he became proprietor a few years since. His other responsible business connections are : President of the M. B. Wheeler Electric Co., of Grand Rapids; di- rector in the Manistee National Bank, and member of the Barnes & Co. Insurance Agency of Manistee. Up to four years ago he was identified with the lumbering interests of western Michigan, with the late John Canfield of Manistee.
Mr. Wheeler's parents were Abram Wheeler, a direct descendant of Benjamin Wheeler of Berkshire county, Mass., and Lucinda Canfield of New Marlborough, Mass. He was married in 1870 to Miss Ella M. Barnes, daughter of Russell Barnes of Man- istee. They have four children, Irma, wife of Rufus C. Thayer, of Colorado Springs, Colo .; Abram O. and Morton B., connected with the Wheeler Electric Co., of Grand Rap- ids, and Burr, yet a college student.
In politics Mr. Wheeler has always been a Republican. His official service has been as alderman of his city, two terms in the state Senate, 1891-2 and 1895-6, and U. S. Mar- shal of the Western District of Michigan, to which he was appointed by President MeKin- ley, Feb. 16, 1897, and which office he now holds. He became a member of the Masonic fraternity, when twenty-two years of age. There are few men in this favored land of op- portunities and possibilities who can show a better record than Mr. Wheeler.
243
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
BROWN, ADDISON MAKEPEACE. The line of Browns represented herein traces its descent from England, across the water to New England and from New England to Michigan. E. Lakin Brown was a name famil- iar in Michigan affairs forty years ago. Mr. Brown was a representative in the Legislature in 1841, a Senator in 1855 and again in 1879, and a Regent of the University from 1858 to 1864. He came from Plymouth, Vt., in 1831, settling in Schoolcraft, Michigan. Mr. Brown was twice married, first in 1837 to Amelia W. Scott, and again in 1852, to Miss Mary Ann Miles, of Hinesburg, Vt. To them were born three children, Edward Miles Brown, now pro- fessor of English Literature in the University of Cincinnati; George Lakin (deceased) and Addison Makepeace, born at Schoolcraft, Feb- ruary 15, 1859. Addison M. passed from the public schools of his native village to the State University, from which he graduated with the degree of A. B., in 1883. His father was an extensive agriculturist at Schoolcraft, owning a number of farms, and after leaving the Uni- versity the son assumed the management of these interests, which is still his occupation. At the age of forty-one, his life history is but just begun. He has served the people of his native village, however, both as trustee and president, three terms in the former and two terms in the last named position. His uni- versity training naturally inclined him toward educational work, and he has for some ten years held the position of director of the school board of the village. He was for several years secretary of the Kalamazoo County Pioneer Society and president of the Kalamazoo County Husbandmen's Club. He was called to a larger field in 1898 by his election to the State Senate from the Ninth Senatorial Dis- trict, composed of the counties of Calhoun and Kalamazoo. He was a nseful member of the Senate, being chairman of the Committee on the Agricultural College and a member of the
ADDISON MAKEPEACE BROWN.
University Committee. His record in the Sen- ate will commend him for further honors in the future.
Miss Mollie Earl, daughter of John Earl, of Schoolcraft, became Mrs. Brown, October 29th, 1895. They have four children.
Mr. Brown traces his lienage back on his father's side to John Brown of Hawkden, Suffolk County, England, born in 1631, from whom he is sixth in descent. John Brown married Esther Makepeace of Boston, Eng- land, the company coming in 1655 to Cam- bridge, Mass. Mr. Brown's suggestive middle name is therefore traceable back to a period when there was certainly a demand for peace- making in Europe and when it was quite the fashion to bestow upon or select names for persons representing some moral idea. The family tree also shows greater fruitfulness than we are accustomed to look for in modern families, the children in five of the families of Mr. Brown's ancestry ranging from eight to eleven in number. On his mother's side, Mr. Brown's ancestry runs back to John Miles, and his wife, Mary Ann Crane of New Milford, Conn., 1793. .
244
MEN OF PROGRESS.
GEORGE GARY COVELL.
COVELL, GEORGE GARY. The par- ents of Mr. Covell were Daniel II. and Caro- line (Dustin) Covell, who came to Michigan in 1837, settling in Lenawee county, near the Monroe county line, and near the village of Dundee, in Monroe county. The earlier Cov- ells came from England about the year 1722. George G. was born in Dundee October 16th, 1860. Ilis early education was received in the public schools at Dundee, from which he en- tered the law department of the University in the class of 1885, where he remained one year. He then entered the law office of Seth C. Ran- dall at Dundee and was admitted to the bar at Monroe May 27th, 1887, before Judge Jos- lin, then the presiding judge of the circuit comprising Monroc and Washtenaw counties. Opening an office at Dundee, he soon learned that there was no lawyer at Benzonia, then the county seat of Benzie county, to which place he removed in the summer of 1887. Ben- zonia was then in the northern wilds, having no connection by railroad with the outside world. It is said that fortune favors the brave, and if it required some fortitude to thus stick his stake in the wilderness, Mr. C. has been fairly well rewarded by the smiles of fortune.
Ile was elected prosecuting attorney of Ben- zie county in 1888 and was re-elected in 1890. During his two terms as prosecuting attorney he had three noted murder cases, and made a record as a young prosecutor. One of the three, and which gave him marked promi- nence, was the case of Wright, the millionaire lumberman, which was fought through the courts for several years, finally resulting in the conviction and sentence of Wright to the state prison at Jackson -- a life sentence. This case has been recalled to the public attention dur- ing the past year by an unsuccessful applica- tion to the pardon board for a commution of Wright's sentence. Mr. Covell resigned as prosecuting attorney before the end of his second term, and removed to Traverse City, where he resumed practice, which at once be- came successful and luerative, and to which the prestige which he had acquired in the ad- joining county no doubt largely contributed. He was twice elected to the lower house of the legislature, from the district comprising the counties of Grand Traverse, Benzie and Lee- lanaw, serving during the sessions of 1893 and 1895. He was elected to the State Senate in 1896 from the 27th district, of which Grand Traverse county forms a part, serving during the regular session of 1897, but did not serve at the special session of 1898, having been ap- pointed to the U. S. District Attorneyship for the Western District. While his personal business and address are at Traverse City, his official headquarters are at Grand Rapids, where the District Court is held.
Mr. Covell is a director in the Traverse City & Leelanaw Railroad Co., of which enterprise he was one of the originators and chief pro- moters. The road, which is now building, runs north from Traverse City into Leelanaw county, and will tap the famous fruit belt of northwestern Michigan, as well as open up an immense hardwood tract.
Miss Alice Kyle, daughter of Robert Kyle, of Corunna, became Mrs. Covell in 1885. They have one daughter, Beulah L.
Mr. Covell's society connections are Ma- sonic, including Traverse City Commandery Knights Templar, Saladin Temple (Mystic Shrine) of Grand Rapids, Oddfellows and Elks. He is a Republican in polities.
245
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
WARREN, HENRY MONTGOMERY. Many of the older citizens of Michigan will remember Joseph Warren, editor of the old Detroit Tribune, at the pivotal period, politic- ally speaking, of 1854. Mr. Warren has been credited with being the father of the Republican party. He was certainly one of the earliest promoters of the movement whiel culminated in its formation at Jackson, July 6th, 1854, and it has been said that the plan was first suggested by him, as it had the earnest support of the paper of which he was the edi- tor. He was, in his earlier life, a journalist at Bangor, Maine, but removed to Laneaster, Pa., in 1830. After a few years he went to Auburn, N. Y., and subsequently to Detroit, with the business connection above noted. Ilis connection with the Tribune ceased in 1865, and he was afterwards editor of the old Detroit Advertiser, before the consolidation of the two papers. After the Republicans came in possession of the national government in 1861, he was given a elerkship in the Pension Office at Washington, which he held until his death in 1886. He was the third in direet deseent from General Joseph Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill.
The record so far will read more like the biography of the father, Joseph Warren, than of the son, the doctor, whose name heads the sketch, but the latter will not envy the spaee thus given to his ancestry. Dr. Warren was born at Columbia, Pa., April 19th, 1840. When he was seven years of age the family removed to Auburn, N. Y., where he attended the public schools, his primary sehool training there and at Detroit, closing with his twelfth year. He then took a commercial course in a commercial college in Detroit, graduating therefrom in 1856. The ensuing four years were improved by commercial work and eler- ieal work in Detroit and Pittsburg, Pa., his aim being to save means that would proeure him a professional education. In 1860 he entered Hahnemann Medical College at Chi- eago, studying there for a year. He then en- tered the Western Medical College at Cleve- land, graduating therefrom in 1864. Going
HENRY MONTGOMERY WARREN.
direct to Jonesville, he entered upon a success- ful practice and has since resided there, except a couple of years passed at a water eure in Kalamazoo. Dr. Warren was president of the State Homeopathic Medical Society in 1886 and is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. He was township superinten- dent of schools in Jonesville for three years, during the time when the township superin- tendency was in vogue, and was chairman of the township Board of School Inspectors eight years, 1885-93. Among the historic names of Jonesville is that of Ransom Gardner, and it was to Miss Georgia S. Ilarris, an adopted daughter of Mr. Gardner, that Dr. Warren was married July 16th, 1863. Lilian E., wife of Fred Lewis of Vacaville, California, is a daughter, and Harry B., of Wabash, Ind., is a son. They also cherish an adopted son, Don, a school boy at Jonesville. The mother of Dr. Warren, whose maiden name was Anne E. Spear, daughter of Robert Spear, of Bangor, Maine, is still living, at the age of eighty-six, and finds a home with the doctor. The only business connection which the latter las, out- side of his profession, is that of a stockholder in the Omega Cement Company of Jonesville.
246
MEN OF PROGRESS.
GEORGE WILLARD.
WILLARD, GEORGE. For half a een- tury Mr. Willard has been a prominent figure in the activities of central-western Michigan. He is a direct descendant of Simon Willard, the pioneer settler of Concord, Mass., who came from England in 1634. His father was Allen Willard, a teacher, and a student at Dartmouth college, during its re-organization and struggles with opposing factions, pending the famous judicial decision. His mother was Eliza Barron, daughter of Nathan Barron, one of the early settlers of northern Vermont. Mr. Willard was born at Bolton, Vt., March 20, 1824. The family moved to Battle Creek township when the son was twelve years of age. He was at that age a proficient Latin and Greek student, the fruit of close application to his school studies and his father's instructions. He worked with his father in developing a new farm, and at the age of seventeen entered the Baptist College at Kalamazoo, remaining two years. For four years, 1844-43, he was prin- cipal snecessively of the Marshall Academy and the Coldwater public schools, two years in each. In 1848 he entered the Episcopal min- istry, and was pastor of churches respectively
at Coldwater, 1848-55, at Battle Creek, 1855-60, and at Kalamazoo, 1860-63. For two years, 1863-65, he was professor of Latin at Kalamazoo College. In 1856 he was elected a member of the State Board of Edu- cation. As a member of this board, he assisted in organizing and opening the State Agricul- tural College, then under its management. Ile was twice elected a Regent of the Univer- sity, first for the short term in 1863, and again for the full term of eight years in 1865. Was representative in the Legislature in 1867, and in the spring of that year was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867, and was delegate at large to the National Repub- liean convention in 1872. Ile was twice elected to Congress, 1872 and 1874, and took influential rank there. During the critical days following the presidential election in 1876, when the peace of the country trembled in the balance because of the elaims of the rival candidates, Hayes and Tilden, Mr. Wil- lard was a member of the Joint Commission, including the leading members of the two houses, of both parties, that framed the elee- toral bill, through which the imbroglio was happily adjusted. He was also a member of the joint silver commission. Mr. Willard was not in all things in sympathy with his party, on the currency question, and in 1878 he acted with the then greenback party, but has other- wise always been a Republican. He has also filled various local offices in Battle Creek.
In 1867 Mr. Willard purchased the Battle Creek Journal, then a weekly paper, from which the Daily Journal sprang in 1872. His newspaper connection has been continuous since 1867 up to the present time. His intel- lectual labors have by no means been purely local, he having contributed hundreds of articles to the press of the country, which have won for him a national reputation as a writer on national topies. The record of a life suel as Mr. Willard presents carries its own com- mentary.
Mr. Willard has been twice married. His first wife, Emily Harris, daughter of Rev. John Harris, died in 1885. In 1887 he mar- ried Mrs. Elizabeth A. Willard of Chicago. He has two daughters and a son by the first marriage, Fannie A., wife of Charles D. Brewer, and Lilla E., wife of E. W. Moore, both of Battle Creek, and George B., con- neeted with the Journal.
247
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
O'BRIEN, THOMAS J. A native of Jackson county, Michigan, born July 30th, 1842, Mr. O'Brien's name is suggestive of an ancestry representing the land of Burke, of Sheridan, of Emmet, and O'Connell. Mr. O'Brien's early years were spent on his father's farm in Jackson county, his early education being such as was afforded by the country school of the day. In his eighteenth year he entered the High School at Marshall, and during his course there read law in the office of Jolm C. Fitzgerald, with whom, on his ad- mission to the bar in 1864, he formed a co- partnership which continued ntil 1871. His law studies also embraced a course in the law department of the University. D. Darwin Hughes of Marshall was at that time the leader of the Bar of central Michigan, and many of the older residents of the state hold pleasurable recollections of his contributions to literature, especially his articles on the song birds and game birds of Michigan. Mr. Hughes was tendered and accepted the posi- tion of general counsel for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Co., a position involving not only the general duties of an attorney, but also the defence of the company's rights, which were more or less in controversy, to an exten- sive land grant. This work necessitated his removal to Grand Rapids. A man of Mr. Hughes' ability and experience could not well err in the choice of a partner and assistant, which he found in the person of Mr. O'Brien. The firm commanded a large practice outside of their special railway clientage, and because of this a third partner, Mr. M. J. Smiley, was admitted, the firm of Hughes, O'Brien & Smiley continuing until terminated by the death of Mr. Hughes in 1883. Upon Mr. Hughes' death, Mr. O'Brien was appointed to take his place as general counsel for the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Co., a place which he still holds.
A Republican in politics, Mr. O'Brien has preferred to be the lawyer rather than the poli- tician. Yet at the spring election in 1883, without any solicitation on his part, he was nominated by the Republican State Conven-
THOMAS J. O'BRIEN.
tion to fill a vacancy on the bench of the Su- preme Court. The Republican ticket failed at that election by a comparatively small mar- gin, although Mr. O'Brien's vote exceeded that of one or two others on the ticket. Mr. ()'Brien was a delegate at large to the Repub- lican National Convention in 1896, and was on the committee appointed to inform Mr. Mckinley of his nomination, which with the candidacy mentioned, comprehends his politi- cal action.
In the way of general business, Mr. O'Brien is president of the Antrim Tron Co. and of the Grand Rapids Law Library Association and is a director of the National City Bank and the Kent County Savings Bank of Grand Rapids, also of the Grand Rapids Gas Lighting Co., the Alabastine Co. and the Mackinae Hotel Co. He is an attendant upon the Episcopal Church and a member of the Peninsular, Country and Lakeside Clubs, and the Kent Golf Club. Mrs. O'Brien, to whom he was married September 4th, 1873, is a daughter of the late Wmn. A. Iloward, a name familiar in the political annals of Michigan forty years ago. Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien have a son and daughter, Howard, aged 24, and Catherine, aged 22, both living at home, and unmarried.
248
MEN OF PROGRESS.
ALFRED DAY RATHBONE.
RATHBONE, ALFRED DAY. Among the early settlers of the present city of Grand Rapids was Alfred Day Rathbone, who came from Cayuga county, N. Y., in 1836. He was a lawyer by profession and the first to locate in that part of the state. The name of Rathbone is intimately associated with the early history of Grand Rapids, and many citi- zens who have passed the half way house in the journey of life, will recall having found rest and refreshment at the Rathbone House, the leading hostelry of the city forty years ago. The push and energy of the early settler seem to have descended to the son, bearing the same name, and the subject of this sketch. Born at Grand Rapids June 14, 1842, his early education, up to the age of fourteen, was in the local schools. On the death of his father, in 1956, he became clerk in a general store, of which his uncle, Amos Rathbone, was proprietor. so continuing until he reached his majority in 1863. Hle then became a
partner in the business with his uncle, and purchased the famous gypsum quarries at Grand Rapids in 1864, for the purpose of burning the gypsum and putting it on the mar- ket as plaster, the two Rathbones, Amos and Alfred D., being partners. In 1882 the two Rathbones made a contract with the Alabas- tine Company to furnish them rock from their gypsum quarries for a term of five years. In 1886 the quarries passed into the hands of the company, pursuant to stipulation in the con- tract, and A. D. Rathbone was made secretary of the company. In 1882 the quarries were being worked by a force of from 75 to 150 men, which has been doubled under the new management. In 1897 Mr. Rathbone was made manager, secretary and treasurer of the consolidated interests, and still holds that posi- tion. The Alabastine Company was first or- ganized in 1880, and its varied products are now sold in every hardware, drug, paint, and wall paper store in the United States and other countries, giving employment the year round to twenty traveling salesmen, and to a work- ing force as above. As a judicious advertiser and general all round pusher, Mr. Rathbone certainly stands at the head.
Mr. Rathbone is the secretary, treasurer and manager of the Anti-Kalsomine Company and is president of the Aldine Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of patent grates and mantels. Is also a director in the Fourth Na- tional Bank of Grand Rapids and member of the discount committee. In politics, he ranks as a Democrat.
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