USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 35
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Miss Orcelia Adams, daughter of John L. Adams, a railroad contractor of Lynchburg, Va., became Mrs. Rathbone in 1867. They have one son, Alfred D., who is superintendent of the Wall Finish Mills of Grand Rapids, and confidential secretary of his father.
249
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CORLISS. HON JOILN B. Mr. Corliss is now serving his third term in Congress, having been first elected in 1894. He was born at Richford, Vermont, June 7th, 1851. George Corliss came to this country about 1760, and settled at Haverhill, Mass., and took an active part in the War of the Revolution. After the war, one of his grandsons settled in Richford, Vt., being among the first settlers at that point, and John B. comes of this sturdy stock. His higher education was received at the Ver- mont Methodist University, from which he graduated in 1871. He entered at once upon the study of law and after an elementary read- ing, he entered Columbian Law College at Washington, D. C., from which he graduated in 1875. In September of that year he came to Detroit, and entered upon the practice of his profession. His keen perceptive faculties, his tireless energy and his devotion to clients, soon won him position at the bar, and he soon became recognized as among the leading attor- neys of the city. During the first year of his professional career, Mr. Corliss sought a con- jugal partner in the person of Miss Elizabeth N. Danforth, of Windsor Co., Vt. Two sons and two daughters were the fruit of the union. They were left orphans by the death of their mother in 1886 and have since had only a father's care, Mr. Corliss never having re- married.
HON. JOHN B. CORLISS.
dispute following the election in 1892, deem- ing that the right of the matter lay with the Republican candidate, he espoused his cause, as well from the sense of right as because of its bearing upon his party's interests, and carried the contest to a successful termination, making his service gratuitous. He gave five months of his time to the duties of Corporation Counsel of Detroit, to which he was appointed by the Mayor, over the then incumbent, Judge Speed, Early in his career Mr. Corliss began to take an active interest in public affairs. There has been no political campaign since he came to Detroit in which his voice has not been heard on the stump and always in advocacy of that stalwart Republicanism which is his gospel. and expended some $2,000 in defense of his right while the same was in litigation, and when the decree of the Supreme Court went against him, he refunded to the city the salary that he had drawn, declining the offer of the common council to reimburse him. These In 1881 he was elected City Attorney of De- - facts are cited simply as showing the high sense of honor that governs his action.
troit, and re-elected in 1883. During his in- euumbeney of this office he prepared a com- plete revision of the city charter, which was passed by the Legislature in 1885, and is still the organic law of the city. Devotion to his trusts, to his elients and to any cause that he deems to be right, as well as devotion to his friendships and his affiliations, forms, it may be said, the more distinctive element of his character. When the county clerkship was in
Mr. Corliss is senior in the law firm of Cor- liss, Andrns & Leete, one of the leading law firms of Detroit, and has besides, outside bus- iness and corporate interests. He is a zealous worker in the Masonic fraternity and has held the position of Commander-in-chief of the Michigan Sovereign Consistory, and was one of the chief promoters of the Masonic Temple enterprise.
250
MEN OF PROGRESS.
PHILIP PADGHAM.
PADGHIAM, PHILIP. Judge Philip Padgham is the present presiding judge of the Twentieth Judicial District, composed of the counties of Allegan and Ottawa, his residence being at Allegan village. He was born in Kent county, England, in March, 1839, his parents being of the English farmer class. His early education was in a parish school for boys, between the ages of seven and twelve years. When he was twelve years of age his parents came to America, locating first at Framington, Ontario county, N. Y. As one of a family of eleven children, his work was of necessity con- tributed toward the family support, so that his educational advantages in his new home
to Michigan with a relative who was a farmer near Palmyra, Lenawee county. He soon found work as a farm hand, beginning at $6 per month, working at farm work during the summer and in the winters of 1856 and 1857 working in the lumber camps of Sanilae and St Clair counties. In the spring of 1857 he returned to Farmington, N. Y., where he at- tended the public schools for six months, fol- lowed by two terms at Macedon Academy at
Macedon, Wayne county, N. Y. Returning to Michigan in 1858 he secured a teacher's certificate and taught district schools sue- cessively at Blissfield in Lenawee county and near Centreville, in St. Joseph county. He then became a student in the Centreville High School under J. C. Barnard until the fall term in 1859. subsequently teaching for two win- ters at Burr Oak. In September, 1861 he was appointed assistant principal of the Centreville High School, which position he filled for three years, when he was promoted to the principal- ship and served in that capacity until 1868, a seven-years service in all. His life was not designed for an idle one and during his four years' principalship he read law as he had op- portunity and during vacations, was a syste- matie law student with a law firm at Centre- ville. He was admitted to the bar before Judge Nathaniel Bacon June 12, 1868, and went into active practice at Centreville, and in 1869 removed to Plainwell, Allegan county, where he was in practice four years. In 1873 he removed to Allegan and formed a law part- nership under the firm name of Arnold & Padgham, which continued about two years, Judge Arnold being appointed Circuit Judge. Mr. Padgham then formed a partnership with his nephew, J. H. Padgham, and the firm be- came Padgham & Padgham and lasted for about twelve years, when it was dissolved and Mr. Humphrey became one of the firm of Padgham & Humphrey, which was terminated in 1893, by Mr. Padgham's election as Cireuit Judge, to which he was re-elected in 1899 for the further term of six years.
Judge Padgham has seen other official ser-
were limited. At the age of fifteen he eame , vice. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1874 and served two terms, 1875-9, and was elected to a third term in 1878 but resigned in 1879 because of other legal business. He was president of the village of Allegan 1890-91 and served three years on the school board.
ITe is in polities a Republican and is a mem- ber of the Oddfellows Order and of the Knights of Pythias. Miss Eliza C. Landon, danghter of O. P. Landon, of Sturgis, Mich., became Mrs. Padgham June 9, 1861.
251
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
DUNCAN, MURRAY MORRIS. Mur- ray Morris Duncan was born May 10, 1858, in the city of Washington, District of Colum- bia. His father was Rev. Thomas Duncan, D. D., of Pennsylvania, and his great-grand- father was Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1842 to 1848. His mother was Maria L. Morris, daughter of Commodore Morris. C. S. Navy.
Murray M. Duncan attended private schools until he was 16 years of age, and then entered the Leheigh University at Bethlehem, Pa., from which he graduated as a mining engineer, in 1880. He was engaged as chem- ist, having taken a course in eclectic chemistry at the University, by the Cambria Iron Co., at Johnstown, Pa., and remained with this company for one year. The following year he engaged with the Roane Iron Co. at Chat- tanooga, Tenn., and stayed in that position for ten years. The first year he served as chemist and the next he was promoted to superintendent of the Open Hearth Steel Co.'s plant. For nine years he acted as man- ager for all the company's mines and fur- naces. He came to Michigan in 1892 to take charge of the Antrim Iron Co.'s plant at Man- celona, as manager. On Jan. 1, 1897, Mr. Duncan went to Ishpeming, Mich., as agent for the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Co., which is one of the largest iron ore producers on the Upper Peninsula, and operates the Cliffs Shaft, Cleveland Lake, Moro, Salisbury, Tilden, Volunteer and Imperial mincs. Over 1,500 men are on the pay roll of the company. Mr. Duncan has held the position of manager for this big company ever since, making his home at Marquette, Mich. He is a member of the Board of Public Works of Ishpeming and is a director in the Ishpeming National Bank of that place.
Mr. Duncan married in 1881 Miss Harriet
MURRAY MORRIS DUNCAN.
De Witt Coppee, the daughter of Dr. Henry Coppce, LL. D., formerly the president of the Lcheigh University, from which Mr. Dun- can graduated. He has three children, all of whom are now attending school. They are William Coppee, aged 14; Pauline Coppee, aged 12, and Helen Coppee, aged 10.
His long experience in the finer branches of mining, as an assayist, and his practical knowledge of the work necessary in develop- ing and securing the best results from mining property have placed Mr. Duncan in the front rank of his profession. This knowledge is coupled with a knowledge of men and he shows good executive ability in the handling of those in the employ of the company he represents. Mr. Duncan is a member of Marquette Commandery and a Shriner of Ah- med Temple, Marquette. He has a wide cir- cle of friends, and when at college he became a member of the Greek letter fraternity by joining the Phi Kappa Sigma Society of the Leheigh University.
252
MEN OF PROGRESS.
MARTIN HENDERSON QUICK.
QUICK, MARTIN HENDERSON. Lumbering was the first business in which Mr. Quick engaged, and he has worked at it all his life.
He was born at Cameron, N. Y., February 17, 1840. His father was Hiram Quick, a descendant of the Quick family, that came over from the Netherlands, contemporary with Heindriek Hudson, and settled in New Jersey. Being the oldest of a family of six- teen children, it became necessary for him to go to work very early in life. His education, which was obtained at the district school, was continually interrupted by work, but he at- tended until he was 18 years of age, when time permitted. At that age he commenced life as a lumberman, working with his father, who, during the falls and winters took con- tracts for lumbering and clearing up lands.
When he was 20 years old he took charge of a water sawmill at Cooper's Plains, N. Y., which his father was operating under con- tract. The next year he took the contract himself, and for two years cleared $1,000 a year, which gave him his start in life. He
then spent one summer prospecting in Illinois and lowa, and made a little money dealing in timothy seed, but in the fall of 1866 he re- turned east and entered the employ of Fox, Weston & Bronson, lumber manufacturers at Painted Post, N. Y., working as a millwright. He remained with this firm six years, and in 1872, together with his employers, became interested in the purchase of the property of the Chicago Lumbering Company at Manis- tique, Michigan, whither he removed to take charge of the manufacturing department of their extensive lumbering operations. In 1883 he aided in the organization of the Wes- ton Lumber Company, becoming a director and superintendent. About the same time he was made vice-president of the Chicago Lum- bering Company, and later on became general superintendent of both companies, all of which positions he still holds. The increase and success of the business of these companies may be seen from the ontput. In 1873, with one mill only, 6,000,000 feet of lumber was produced, while in 1898 their three mills cut nearly 75,000,000 feet.
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Mr. Quick is also interested in other enter- prises at Manistique, being a director in the Manistique Bank, director and treasurer of the White Marble Lime Company, director and auditor of the Manistique & Northwest- ern Railway Company, and president of the Manistique Telephone Company, all of which he aided in organizing.
On September 4, 1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Martha Jane Gifford, at Cooper's Plains, N. Y. They have two chil- dren, Alice (now Mrs. E. W. Miller), and Oren G. Quick.
In politics Mr. Quick is a Republican, and has several times served as supervisor and as president of the village of Manistique. He has been a member of the School Board twenty-six years, and moderator twenty-two years. He is a deacon and trustee of the First Baptist Church of Manistique, which he was instrumental in organizing.
253
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HARRIS, SAMUEL B. Near Camborne, in Cornwall, England, on December 18, 1834, Samuel B. Harris was born. That par- ticular section of England is noted for its many rich copper and tin mines, and most of the people of Cornwall have been brought up as miners, many of them entering the mines when they are mere children, and grow up learning every detail of the work almost as thoroughly as a mining engineer learns it in college.
Samuel B. Harris, agent and superintend- ent of the Quincy mine at Hancock, Michi- gan, comes from a family of miners. His father was engaged as such, and his grand- father, Benjamin Harris, was also a miner in the mines at Cornwall. As a boy he attended the national schools from his seventh until his eleventh year, and then he became an assistant to a mining surveyor and assayist at 40 shillings a month. Four years later he went into the mine to work, and remained at that . employment until he was 19 years of age, when he came to America and West, securing his first work in this country at Dodgeville, Wisconsin, in lead mines, working on specula- tion and being paid pro rata for what ores were uncovered. He earned his first money in America sinking a 100-foot shaft. The fol- lowing spring he attended a teacher's exam- ination and was granted a certificate, and until 1856 he taught a district school at $30 a month. After this he went back to his first employment as a miner at the Old Minnesota mine for two years, and then with a party of three went to the gold fields of Nova Scotia, which were then being opened and promised great fortunes to the adventurers. The prom- ises were never realized. Mr. Harris came back three months later with only a dollar in his pocket and went to work at the Phoenix mine. Returning to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, shortly afterward he became principal of the public schools of that city and after two years he secured a mining contract at Isle Royale mine and later with the Mesnard and Pontiac mines, where in 1864 he was made mine cap- tain of the underground work. He then ac-
SAMUEL B. HARRIS.
cepted a similar position with the Phoenix copper mine. The following two years he was agent for the Eagle Harbor property, having several mines under his management, and after that he resigned to accept the posi- tion of assistant mining captain on the Calu- met & ITecla mine. A year and a half later he was made captain of the Franklin mine, which he resigned in twelve months' time. Ile was then made agent for the Ontonagon group of mines, including the Ridge, Adven- ture and others, and he held this for thirteen years, resigning in 1883 to accept the super- intendency of the Quiney Mining Company's mines at Hancock.
Mr. Harris is a Republican and has held the office of supervisor of Quincy township, Ilonghton county, since 1884. He is the presi- dent of the First National Bank of Hancock; vice-president of the Northern Michigan Building & Loan Association, Houghton, and a director in the Peninsular Electric Light & Power Company of the same place.
Mr. Harris married Miss Mary Bennett in 1854 at Camborne, England. They have three children.
254
MEN OF PROGRESS.
CHARLES WESTLEY GALE,
GALE, CHARLES WESTLEY. Charles Westley Gale, of Owosso, Michigan, was born in the township of Bennington, Shiawassee county, Michigan, March 21, 1850. His father, Isaac Gale, came to Michigan from Canajahara county, New York state, in 1831, making the trip by way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, and thence by boat to Michigan, and to Washtenaw county by ox team. In 1840 the elder Gale removed to Bennington town- ship and purchased a tract of land of 415 acres, which he cleared up and which is now one of the finest farm in the county.
Charles W. Gale, when a boy, worked on the farm and attended district schools until he was 18 years of age, when he attended the Corunna High School, and when he gradu- ated from there his father gave him the use of twenty acres of new land and a team, and offered him a start in life for himself or the privilege of working as a farm hand. The former proposition being the most favorable, young Gale turned in on the new land and raised a good crop of about 600 bushels of wheat which netted him $2.10 per bushel.
With this he leased his father's farm and suc- cessfully operated it until 1882, when he re- moved to Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and em- barked in the hardware business with his brother under the firm name of Gale Brothers. The business thrived and at the expiration of four years sold it out to good advan- tage. Charles Gale then looked after his father's business, which required his full at- tention until the latter's death. In 1894 Mr. Gale moved to Owosso, Michigan, and made that his home. He is identified with many of its business and financial interests. He is vice-president and director of the Owosso Savings Bank, a director in the Estey Manu- facturing Company (furniture, etc.), a direc- tor in the Castree-Shaw Company and presi- dent of the Owosso Telephone Company. The latter company was organized by him in 1897 among the business men of Owosso, and Mr. Gale was elected president of the independent line. The company started with 153 sub- scribers and in 1899 had grown to an ex- change of 354 subscribers.
Mr. Gale was associated with his father during the early days of the Chicago & North- eastern railroad, now a part of the Chicago & Grand Trunk. His father was vice-president of the old road, and was associated with W. L. Bancroft in selling the bonds in the east and interesting eastern capitalists in the road. In conjunction with his father, C. W. Gale, se- cured the rights of way for this road between Lansing and Flint, and the father lived long enough to see a first-class road operating from their small beginning.
Mr. Gale is a liberal or "gold democrat" in his political faith, and a member of the board of public works in Owosso.
Mr. Gale married Miss Florence McKee, daughter of Robert McKee, at Laingsburg, Michigan, in 1870. He has two children: Mand A. Gale is in the literary department of the University of Michigan and Robert I. attending the high school at Owosso.
Mr. Gale is not associated with any frater- nal order. He is a representative capitalist and farmer of Owosso.
255
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
COUTANT, ARTHUR S. If there is any class of men to whom the term "Men of Progress" applies with especial appropriate- ness, it is the printers and editors. Guten- berg was essentially a man of progress when he put his types and his primitive press to work and started the intellectual world of Europe on a new career. Caxton, the earliest English printer, was a man of progress in his day. Dr. Franklin, one of the first to ply the art in America, was a man of progress. So was Horace Greeley and so was Thurlow Weed, both leaders of public opinion, through the press, fifty years ago. But omitting mere personal mention, the press of today is the great agent of progress, and the men who min- ister to the public, through the press, are cer- tainly men of progress. The influence of the press in any particular case is necessarily lim- ited by its field, but within the range of their circulation, few, if any, hold a higher rank than do The Enterprise and The Tribune, published in the little city of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, under the management of Mr. Ar- thur S. Coutant.
Mr. Coutant sprang from the Western Re- serve in the State of Ohio, having been born in Huron county, in 1854. At the age of nine years, with four younger children, he was left fatherless. His early life was a severe struggle and a succession of hard knocks, but he insisted upon securing a good education, and hard, persistent work has re- warded his efforts. He is one of the many Michigan men who have made their own way in the world and the influential position which he holds at home and in the State, tells better than words could how successful he has been. Mr. Coutant is a printer from the ground up. He came to Michigan in 1872 and served an apprenticeship to the art preservative in the office of the Greenville Independent. He then attended the public schools for five years, graduating therefrom with high honors, and is also an undergraduate of Oberlin College. In 1887 he purchased the Mount Pleasant Enterprise and five years later the Enterprise absorbed the Northwestern Tribune, pub- lished in the same city, both being Republi- can papers. A Republican in politics, he has always taken a lively interest in political affairs and has served four years as a member of the Republican State Central Committee, a member and secretary of the Congressional Committee of the Eleventh District, and has been a member of the Isabella County Repub- lican Committee for a number of years and
ARTHUR S. COUTANT.
has served as its chairman. In September, 1897, he was appointed postmaster at Mt. Pleasant by President MeKinley, and gives his personal attention to the management of the office, besides publishing both of the news- papers above mentioned, which will certainly entitle him to rank among the busy men of this busy age.
Mr. Coutant was one of the twelve citizens of Mt. Pleasant who staked their entire for- tunes and future upon the establishment of the Central Michigan Normal School at Mt. Pleasant, and was one of the foremost of the twelve to push to a successful issue the mak- ing of that fine school a state institution. He has for years taken an active interest in the Republican Newspaper Association of Michi- gan, of which he served two years as vice- president. ITis society connections are : Mem- ber of Presbyterian Church, Wabon Lodge, F. & A. M .: Mt. Pleasant Chapter, R. A. M .; Ithaca Council, R. & S. M .; Mt. Pleasant Chapter, O. E. S .; Mt. Pleasant Lodge, I. O. O. F .; Lipsico Council, Royal Arcanum; Mt. Pleasant Tent. K. O. T. M .; Slagle Trout Club, and member Executive Committee, Michigan Press Association.
Mr. Coutant was married in December, 1881, to Miss Anna M. Satterlee, of Green- ville, and to them two children have been born, a daughter and a son, aged respectively 12 and 10 years.
256
MEN OF PROGRESS.
FRANK M. STEWART.
STEWART, FRANK M. Frank M. Stewart, president of the First National Bank of Hillsdale, Michigan, a respected citizen of that city, and engaged in many important and flourishing business enter- prises there, was born Angust 20, 1852, in New Haven, Ohio. He is of Scotch-Irish descent. His father was Albert G. Stewart and his mother Elizabeth M. Johnson.
As a boy, Mr. Stewart received his educa- tion in various cities, attending school in New Haven, Ohio, first, and when he was eight years of age and his family moved to Buffalo, New York, he attended the public schools of that city until his fifteenth year. He worked for the first time on the Buffalo Commercial-Advertiser as a carrier, having a route which paid him about $1 a week and 42 subscribers to look after. When he was 15 he took one term during the evenings at Bryant & Stratton's business college in Buf- falo, and in the fall of that year his parents came to Michigan and took up their residence in Hillsdale.
Here his father began business as a pro- duce dealer, having already established a branch in Buffalo, and the boy resumed his
studies in the schools of that city until July 5, 1868, when he found work as a janitor and errand boy in the First National Bank, of which he is now the president. His sal- ary for the first year was $200, but he was promoted the next year to collection clerk and given an increase of salary. Hc worked hard and earnestly and the dircetors of the bank recognized his efforts by a steady ad- vancement of his position. He was made bookkeeper, teller, assistant cashier, cashier, and in January, 1881, was given his present position of president.
He was but a young man when this honor was accorded him, an honor that seldom comes to one so youthful and is generally re- served for gray hairs. He was considered at that time the youngest national bank presi- dent in the United States.
Mr. Stewart has always been a member of the Republican party. In 1898 he was the choice of the Republicans of Hillsdale county for Congress from the Third Congressional District. The convention had great difficulty in settling upon a candidate for this honor, and voted 333 times before a choice was made. This was a record-breaker at that time. The people of Hillsdale county did not change their vote, but supported Mr. Stewart to a man until the final ballot, when Mr. Washington Gardner was declared the choice of the convention. This convention will be long remembered by the people of Hillsdale county and those who participated in the exciting scenes that occurred during its session.
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