USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 46
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This same year he enlisted in Company M, First Michigan Engineers and Mechanics. and was sent to the front at once. He served
EBENEZER OMSTEAD BENNETT, M. D.
until the close of the war in 1865, during which time he participated in the battle of La Verne, Tennessee. After his discharge he returned to Michigan and entered Harper Hospital in Detroit, as elerk for Dr. Farrand, who had charge of the hospital at that time. Ile resigned the position in the fall and re- sumed teaching in the college at Logansport, Indiana. Later he came back to Michigan and taught in the public schools of Wayne. In 1876 he entered the University of Miehi- gan to study medicine, graduating from there in 1879. Two years later he was appointed house surgeon by the regents.
In May, 1881, he was tendered and ae- cepted the place as Medical Superintendent of the Wayne County Asylum, which posi- tion he has filled most successfully up to April, 1900, at which time he resigned to accept the position of surgeon for the Soldiers' Home in Grand Rapids.
October 28, 1863, he married Miss Jan- netta D. Felton, and two children have been the result of that marriage. His son, Dr. Joseph E. Bennett, is now practicing physi- cian, located in Wayne, and the daughter, Antoinette, is teaching at Harbor Springs, Michigan.
336
MEN OF PROGRESS.
CHARLES EDWIN THOMAS.
THOMAS, CHARLES EDWIN. Mr. Thomas' father, Thomas H. Thomas, a native of New York, was of Welsh stock, the latter's father and mother coming to this country in 1806. On his mother's side, he is of English and Irish descent.
Mr. Thomas was born in the village, now city, of Battle Creek, November 28, 1844, and has always resided there. With him, Battle Creek has grown to the enterprising and prosperous city it now is, and no one has taken more pride in its growth than he.
His father and mother came into the state in 1835, and his father, at the age of 20 and up to the time of his death, was a prominent con- tractor and builder, many of the early mills and the first bridges on the Michigan Central railroad having been constructed by him. At the age of 14, Charles E. Thomas became a member of the family of Dr. Edward Cox, one of the pioneer physicians of Michigan.
His edneation was at the public schools of Battle Creek, and afterwards at the law school at Ann Arbor. Entering the law department in the fall of 1864, he graduated therefrom
in the spring of 1868. At home he read law in the office of Judge Benjamin F. Graves and Myron H. Joy. On his return from Ann Arbor in 1868, he became a member of the law firm of Dibble, Brown & Thomas, which firm was succeeded by the firm of Brown & Thomas, Mr. Dibble going into railroading. By the death of Mr. Brown in 1887, the firm was succeeded by Mr. Thomas. Mr. Thomas is a Democrat in polities and has been many times chairman of the city and once of the county committee. Although his party has
been for the most time in the minority, he has been frequently elected to office. He was alderman of the city four times and secre- tary of the school board for eighteen years continuously. He was elected Circuit Court Commissioner of the county, being one of three others elected on the Democratie ticket for the first time in twenty-four years. In 1894 he was appointed postmaster by Presi- dent Cleveland. Under him the postoffice was raised from a second-class to a first-class office, and his management was praised by all the citizens of Battle Creek. While an alder- man, he was chairman of the ways and means committee, and as such had to meet the pay- ment of nearly $200,000 railroad aid bonds, and his report, after the Supreme Court de- cision, pointed out the way for their payment. While on the school board, the board paid off $81,000 of ten per cent. bonds, and built three school houses. The result of the wiping out of this bonded indebtedness is credited, to a great extent, to Mr. Thomas by his fellow members.
In 1874 Mr. Thomas was married to Isa- bella A. Adams. They have one daughter, Maud A. Thomas.
Mr. Thomas was one of the organizers of the Union School Furniture Company, and of the Advance Thresher Company. Of the latter company he is, and has been, its attor- ney and a director since its organization.
337
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
JOSEPH EDWARD SCALLON, M. D.
SCALLON, M. D., JOSEPH EDWARD. The family of Dr. Joseph Edward Scallon, of Hancock, Michigan, came to this country in 1810, from Ireland. His father, Edward Scallon, became engaged shortly afterward in the lumbering business in and around Joliette, Province of Quebec.
Joseph E. Scallon was born in Brooklyn, New York, February 25, 1853, and when his father removed to Joliette the boy was sent to the Classical College at that place until he was 18 years of age. In 1870 he joined the last detachment of volunteers who left Canada to join the Zouaves in the Pope's army. He pro- ceeded as far as France. The capture of Rome, September 20, 1870, by the forces of Victor Emmanuel prevented him from join- ing the regiment. He returned to Canada, finished his classical course of studies, entering Laval University at Quebec, studied medicine there for two years, changing to Victoria Col- lege of Medicine at Montreal, from which he graduated in 1874 and secured a license to practice. August 25, 1874, he came to Mich- igan and hung up his sign in Negaunee. His first month's practice amounted to $1.50, and as he only had $4.50 when he started, his ex- chequer was very low. The next month he took in 50 cents, and up to January 1, 1875, he had only received $19.60 for four months' work. There were a number of Frenchmen around Negaunce engaged in chopping wood for the mining camps, so the young doctor tramped the woods in snowshoes and organ- ized a co-operative association among them, by which, upon payment of 50 cents a month, they could have Dr. Scallon's attendance in case of sickness or accident. Part of the men paid for one month, and then all the mines closed down except one, and that company put their men under the charge of their own phy-
sician, and the co-operative association was no more. Then the smallpox broke out in Ne- gaunee, and Dr. Scallon was put in charge of the pest house, and after the epidemic had passed he received $150 in town orders for his services, which his landlady positively refused to accept in payment of his board. In just one year he had earned the munificent sum of $300, from the time he arrived in Negaunee, so with a sigh he packed up his worldly pos- sessions and moved to Hancock. Here he soon established a lucrative practice and has since built it up into one of the best in the county.
Dr. Srallon was formerly a Democrat, and was elected mayor of Hancock in 1890-'92. He also acted as chairman of the Democratic congressional and county committee. He became a Republican in 1896, on the money issue. He has been a member of the school board at Hancock for 15 years, and health officer for 22 years.
Dr. Scallon married, in 1877, Miss Bridget Finnegan, daughter of Michael Finnegan, who was one of the pioneers of the copper country, who went there in 1847. There are five children, three surviving, as a result of this union. Marguerette is studying at the Literary Department of the University of Michigan, and Mary, Anna and Bridget are attending the public schools of Hancock, Michigan, where their parents now reside.
Dr. Scallon is a Catholic. IIe was State secretary of the A. O. H. for six years, and State delegate for two years. He has been one of the national directors of the order, and the first president and organizer of that splen- did Catholic organization, which has such an extended membership in this State, the C. M. B. A. of Hancock. He is also a member of the A. O. U. W.
338
MEN OF PROGRESS.
AUSTIN WHITE ALVORD, M. D.
ALVORD, AUSTIN WHITE, M. D. Dr. Alvord's paternal ancestors came remotely from Somersetshire, England, settling in Massachusetts in 1630. His great-great-grand- father, Gad Alvord, served through the Revo- lutionary War as sergeant in a Massachusetts company. Ilis parents were Rev. Alanson and Adeline (Barrows) Alvord, of Chester, Mass., where Dr. Alvord was born Feb. 3rd, 1838. When he was 9 years old his parents removed to Concord, Morgan Co., Ill., his father being in the service of the home mis- sionary work of the Congregational Church. Two years later they removed to Downer's Grove, near Chicago, where they lived until the son was 14. With such preliminary edu- cation as he had received in his native place and in Illinois, he resolved to attend Oberlin College, in Ohio. Without a cent in his pocket he worked his way to Oberlin and also worked his way into the junior year. He paid $1.25 per week for his board, earning the money by sawing wood, but leaving Oberlin $40 in debt, passing from student to school teacher before he was 17, in which occupation he cancelled the debt which he had left behind. Ilis mother having died in Illinois, his father
removed to Grass Lake, Mich., and was here joined by the son, who found employment as a farm hand. In the fall of 1858 he entered the literary department, of the University, re- maining there some two years, during which time he read medicine under Prof. Corydon L. Ford, of the medical faculty, his ultimate aim being the medical profession. After leav- ing the University he taught school in Western New York, and in 1860-61 was principal of the High School at Owego. IIe had been en- gaged for a second year when the Civil War summoned the young men of the nation to its defense. Fifty-two young men of his school volunteered, and insisted that he take the command. He resigned the principalship for a captainey in a company which, in the pro- cess of organization, became Company HI, One Hundred and Ninth New York Volunteers. He served with the regiment until January, 1864, when he was made surgeon to the De- partment of the South, and was mustered out in October, 1864, on account of physical disa- bility. With restored health, Dr. Alvord re- turned to the medical lectures at the Univer- sity and was graduated in 1868. After grad- uation he practiced medicine at Clinton, Mich., until May, 1882, then removed to Bat- tle Creek. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Michigan State Medi- cal Society, Calhoun County Medical Society, Battle Creek Academy of Medicine, Ameri- can Public Health Association, American Academy of Political and Social Science, and is member and president of the Michigan State Medical Association. He is a member of the State Board of Registration (Medical Examining Board) since October, 1899, and has been a member of the Pension Examining Board since 1897. He is the present Health Officer of Battle Creek. He is a Knights Templar and member of Saladin Temple (Ma- sonic) of Grand Rapids, and member of the Maccabees, of the G. A. R. and the Loyal Legion.
Dr. Alvord has been twice married, first in 1861 to Miss Eliza M. Barnes, of Ann Arbor, who died in 1877, leaving two children, Grace, wife of T. J. Kelliher, and William Roy Alvord, the latter in the dental depart- ment of the University; second in 1878 to Miss Fannie R. Little, of Grinnell, Iowa. Their children are Lonise and Max Barrows Alvord.
339
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
LOCKERBY, WILLIAM H. On the pa- ternal side Mr. Lockerby is of Scotch descent, his father, John Lockerby, coming to Amer- ica from Aberdeen, Scotland, his mother's maiden name having been Flavia Hollenbeck. He was born at West Vienna, N. Y., Feb. 24, 1859, his parents coming to Michigan ten years later and settling on a farm near the village of Quincy, in Branch County. His early education was that afforded by a coun- try school, with a term at the graded schools at Quincy. Beginning at the age of 17, he taught district school five winters, first receiv- ing $20 per month, and working as a farm hand during the summer months. He had read some law, taken the census, bought and sold farm produce, and had saved about $600 up to 1883, when he decided to make the law his study and profession. Milo D. Campbell, then a young lawyer in Quincy, and at the present time president of the State Tax Com- mission, offered him a desk in his office, where he studied until December, 1884, when he was admitted to the bar before Judge R. R. Pealer, at Coldwater. He remained with Mr. Campbell until December, 1885, then opened an office at Bronson, but remained there a few weeks only, when he returned to Quincy and entered into partnership with Mr. Campbell, who kept an office at the county seat. After a year in this connection he opened an office by himself at Quincy, where he now is the senior member of the law firm of Lockerby & Lockerby, with a branch office at Reading, which was discontinued in 1899.
The Portland cement industry in Quincy owes its inception and successful develop- ment to the energy and perseverance of Mr. Lockerby. Becoming interested in the marl beds near Quincy, he interested some capital- ists of Sandusky, Ohio, in their proposed de- velopment, and secured options on all the nearby lands, but failed to secure enough financial means to make mnuch progress. Hle then interested some Chicago capitalists to the extent of putting down some test wells. He remitted his law practice for the summer and assisted in the prospecting and putting down of the wells through the chain of lakes ex- tending some six or seven miles ont from
WILLIAM H. LOCKERBY.
Quiney. The necessary financial means again ran short at this point, when he turned his attention to capitalists nearer home. In the fall of 1898 S. M. Wing, of Coldwater, to- gether with Detroit capitalists, took hold of the enterprise, and in January, 1899, the Michigan Portland Cement Company was or- ganized with a capital of $2,500,000. Two cement factories were built, one at Coldwater and one at Quiney, each of which turn out 1,500 barrels daily. Mr. Lockerby sold his options to the company, but remains their lo- cal attorney. Ile has other business interests, including that of vice-president and director of the Quincy Knitting Company.
Mr. Lockerby's official service has been quite extended and useful. He served as township clerk of Butler, was a member of the Branch County Board of School Examiners for five years, three years its secretary, and was secretary of the Quincy School Board three years. He was elected Circuit Court Commissioner for Branch County two terms, and in 1895 was appointed by Gov. Rich a member of the Railway and Street Crossing Board. being its secretary and serving until 1899. He is a member of the Masonic Fra- ternity and of the Knights Templar.
Miss Cora Gorball, daughter of Ezekiel Gorball, of Girard, Branch County, became Mrs. Lockerby Sept. 26th, 1882. They have two daughters, Metha and Marjorie.
340
MEN OF PROGRESS.
SAMUEL ANKER.
ANKER, SAMUEL. One of the leading business men of East Tawas, Michigan, the proprietor of the Anker Mercantile Company, of that place, also of the Holland Hotel, and the Anker Lumber Company, Samuel Anker at 47 years of age can look back now with pride to the time when a boy he worked for his board so that he might attend the little village school in Rochester, Michigan, where he was born December 25, 1852.
His father, Samuel Anker, Sr., was the son of Sir William Anker, of England. Up to his tenth year, the subject of this sketch attended the district schools near his home, and enjoyed one winter term at the village school. The first employment that brought him any financial remuneration was picking up shingles in a shingle mill, working under the machine, at 75 cents per diem, out of which his board and room cost him $3.50. The little money over and above his expenses served to keep him in shoes and other neces- sities. Ile was shortly afterwards appren- ticed to the machine trade, where he earned 50 cents a week and his board, and at the end of three years' hard work he was getting
as much as $9 per week. He then joined his father, who built the first mill at Alpena, Michigan, the J. K. Lockwood sawmill. At this time Alpena was almost a wilderness, in the heart of a big timber country. At the age of 23 young Anker was given full charge of the Whittemore sawmill at Tawas City, where he was retained in that capacity for five years. He then started in business for himself as a lumber jobber and for three years put in five to seven millions feet of timber for this mill. In 1873 the Whittemore mill failed and all Anker had to show for his work was a dne bill for $1,900, and a few very weary horses.
In 1874 he built a shingle mill on Tawas creek, which had a daily capacity of 40,000 shingles. He started this enterprise witli only $175 in cash, and $2,400 he borrowed at 10 per cent. to build the mill and equip it. In 1876 he loaded 320,000 shingles on the steamer Oconto, and the steamer promptly went ashore on the same night it sailed. This disheartened him in the shingle business, so he changed the character of his mill to a flour mill, having to mortgage the property to make the necessary alterations. Business was very bad, and the mortgagee came down upon him and closed him up. He then went into the woods as a blacksmith, working all that winter abont 40 miles from Au Sable, Michigan, and the following spring, coming down with the log drive, he found work in the machine shop of what is now the D. & M. railroad. The next year he worked in the salt block in East Tawas, and in 1886 started a meat market at that place. The following vear he went back into the shingle business, building a mill on Long lake, which has proven a financial success. In 1893, in com- pany with Temple Emery, he built the Hol- land Hotel, and when the Holland, Emery Company closed out their business in East Tawas, Mr. Anker bought it. He married Miss Rose Stickney at Saginaw, Michigan.
Mr. Anker is a Chapter Mason, a Pythian, and belongs to the I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Republican.
341
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
MITCHELL, SAMUEL. Samuel Mitchell has had to start in life twice in his career, and the position he occupies in the business world today has only been the result of hard work and unabated energy. His father and his father's father were farmers, but he was not content to follow in the furrow after the slow- moving plow, so he has diverged from their footsteps, and is today one of the wealthiest and most respected citizens of Negaunee.
He was born in Bridestowe, England, April 11, 1846, where, when of age, he attended the National school until he was 12 years of age, and then worked in a grocery store at about $1.00 a week. His next employment was in a bakery, where he received a sum equivalent to about $2.50 a week, until he was 15 years of age, when he was put to work in a copper mine at Travistock, England, at £2 a month.
When he was 18 years of age he came to America, and landed at Copper Harbor, Michigan, without money or friends. He worked in the Madison, Phoenix, Delaware, Resolute and Central mines and then with the Calunnet, where he helped to open and work the first pit on the now famous Calumet & Hecla mine. In the fall of 1867 he started for the iron country, where he found work in the old Washington mine, at Humboldt. There he remained for three years, and in 1870 went to Negaunee and took a contract from the late Edward Breitung to mine ore on the South Hematite range. In 1871 he mined the first ore taken from the South Jackson mine on contract, also continuing to mine ore for Ed- ward Breitung until the fall of 1871. In January, 1872, he took a contract to do min- ing work at part of the old Saginaw mine, hauling the ore with teams to the main line of the railroad. In April, 1872, he contracted with the Lake Superior Iron Co. to mine ore at Section 19 mine, better known as the New Burt, where he conducted operations until May 1, 1873. He then took the captaincy of the Saginaw mine, and in December of that year was made agent and general manager of the Saginaw Mining Co. In 1879 he leased and opened up for this company the Perkins mine on the Menominee range, and in 1883
SAMUEL MITCHELL.
commenced to explore the Negaunee mine, retaining the management of the company until its interests were sold to the American Steel & Wire Co. in March, 1900.
In 1876 he leased the Shenango mine and organized the Mitchell Mining Co., working the mine until 1882, when the property was sold to St. Clair Bros. In 1878 he leased the National mine from the Lake Superior Iron Co. and worked it until 1884. In the fall of 1885 Mr. Mitchell went into the Gogebic Range and bought a controlling interest in Montreal and Section 33 mines. He paid $30,000 for test pits on this property and sold the Montreal for $100,000 the next year, and later the Section 33 mine to good advantage.
Mr. Mitchell married in February, 1868, Miss Elizabeth Penglase, at Humbolt, Michi- gan. He has 11 children, two of whom, Samuel J. and Arthur G., are boys. Mr. Mitchell was a member of the school board in Negaunee for six years. He is president of the Jackson Tron Co., Negaunce; vice-presi- dent of the First National Bank of Negaunee, and director of the First National Bank of Escanaba; president of the Mitchell Steam- ship Co. line of ore carriers at Cleveland, Ohio; president of the Negaunee & Ishpeming Street Railway Co. and Electric Light Co. He belongs to the F. & A. M.
342
MEN OF PROGRESS.
LIEUT. WM. HENRY THIELMAN.
THIELMAN, LIEUT. WM. HENRY. William Henry Thielman, junior member of the firm of Armstrong-Thielman Lumber Company, operating in South Lake Linden, Calumet and Hancock, was born in Detroit, Michigan, July 12, 1866. Ilis father, Chris- topher Thielman, came to the copper country in 1858 and his grandfather was a native of France, who was killed while fighting under Napoleon against the Russian invasion.
The family moved to Rockland, Ontona- gon County, where the boy attended school during the winter, and from the time he was 7 years of age, worked around the mine during the summer, his first employment being picking out small pieces of copper ore from the rock pile. When young Thielman reached his 13th year he had to go to work in earnest and give up his schooling as his father, through an endorsement, had lost all his earnings. He drove a team, hanling wood to the mine until he was 15 years old and was then apprenticed to learn the car- penter trade. After working at this one summer he started out for himself, going to Duluth, where, unable to find work at his
trade, he went to work loading lumber on ves- sels until the following fall, when he started for the limber camps of Cloquet, Wisconsin, where he worked during the fall and winter. HTe drifted around considerably after that, in a spirit of adventure, going west to the Black Hills, and so on to the Pacific coast, prospect- ing for gold. He returned to the copper coun- try and for nearly three years worked as car- penter at the Copper Falls mine in Keewenaw County, after which he again went to Mon- tana, expecting to get large wages at his trade, but failing to realize his hopes, came back to Michigan and was engaged at the copper smelters at Lake Linden. For four years he conducted a contracting business at South Lake Linden under the firm name of Kimball and Thielman, and for three winters during this partnership he attended the Acad- emy of Architecture and Building at St. Louis, Missouri, and a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. One year he went to Dallas, Texas, to assist in starting a sash and blind factory. In 1891 he formed a partner- ship with Thomas W. Armstrong, under the firm name of the Armstrong-Thielman Lum- ber Company, having vards at South Lake Linden, Hancock and Cahmet.
When the Spanish-American war broke out in 1898, Mr. Thielman, as first lieutenant of Company D, Thirty-fourth Michigan Volun- teers, served through the war, seeing some of the hard fighting in which the famons Michi- gan regiment participated around Santiago. Previous to this Mr. Thielman was connected with the militia of this state by enlisting as a private in Company D, Fifth Infantry, Caln- met Light Gnard. In two years he rose from the ranks through the rank of corporal until he became second lieutenant. He served with this company during the miners' strikes at Tronwood and again at Ishpeming in 1896. Mr. Thielman belongs to Montrose Commandery, Knights Templar, of Calumet, and Ahmed Temple, of the Mystic Shrine, at Marquette. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias.
343
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HALL, ALBERT JAMES. If there is anything that the city of Mason is justly prond of it is her well conducted schools, and when- ever the question of new building and equip- ment for the betterment of the school has arisen Mr. Hall's voice has been raised in its favor. He has been a member of the school board for the past six years, for two years its president, and since then the treasurer. Mr. Hall is a Republican and takes an active inter- est in the primaries.
Albert James Hall was born in Mason, where he now lives, Feb. 8, 1862. His father, Robert Hall, was a cabinet maker and was the first undertaker in Mason. The elder Hall an- swered Lineoln's eall for 300,000 men and died in a southern hospital when Albert was two years of age. After the death of the father the mother kept the little family to- gether as best she could by manual labor, and when the boy was old enough to help he did all he eould with the other children toward the support of the family. From 9 until 13 years of age he sawed and split wood and did ehores for the neighbors, attending school in Mason, and working Saturdays and during vacations. When he was 13 years old he be- gan to work nights, mornings and Saturdays for N. A. Dunning, a grocer in his native town, and received $50 for the first year, at- tending public school in the meantime. His salary was doubled the next year, and after finishing school he continued in the employ of Mr. Dunning and remained with him ten years, and when, while in his employ, the young man attained his majority, his em- ployer gave him a one-quarter interest in the business as a birthday present. The firm gradually commenced to close out their groc- ery business and engaged in the drug busi- ness, continuing until 1885, when Mr. HIall sold out his interest on aceonnt of his failing health, and moved to a farm near Norfolk, Virginia, where he worked outdoors for nearly a year and regained his health and strength.
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