USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 48
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During the Fifty-fourth Congress he served as superintendent of the House document room at Washington and upon the organiza- tion of the Fifty-fifth Congress was promoted to the very responsible position of Reading Clerk in the National House of Representa- tives, to which position he was unanimously re-elected in 1899. In 1900 he was selected
DENNIS ELDRED ALWARD.
by the National Republican Committee as Reading Clerk of the Philadelphia Conven- tion which nominated MeKinley and Roose- velt. Mr. Alward's political work has not been confined to the secretary's chair and the reader's desk, but he has been a popular and effective speaker in the state campaigns for several years, and at Washington there is no more popular officer of either House than "Dennie" Alward.
Mr. Alward has been identified with the business and municipal interests of the city which is his home. He was clerk of the village and mayor of the young city. He was also a member of the local school board and secretary of the county board of school exam- iners. Ile is still a newspaper man and owns a large farm near Clare.
He is an enthusiastic Mason, an Oddfellow, a Knights of Pythias and holds membership also in the 1. O. U. W., Modern Woodmen and Loval Guard. In the first four orders named he has passed the chairs.
Miss Etta Stross, daughter of Peter Stross of Battle Creek, became Mrs. Alward Nov. 11th, 1879. Hazel E., born in 1890, is their only child.
352
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HON. FREDERICK OWEN CLARK.
CLARK, HON. FREDERICK OWEN. Frederick Owen Clark, a staid and respected resident of Marquette, and senior member of the law firm of Clark & Pearl of that city, was born at Girard, Erie County, Pennsyl- vania, December 18, 1843.
Ilis father, John B. Clark, was a tanner and dealer in leather, and evidently intended that his son should follow the same trade. Although the boy was sent to the schools of Girard and fitted for a course in Hamilton College, he spent two hours eael day in the tannery, and all day Saturday. He was a hard worker and devoted mueh time to his studies, the result being that when he be- came 18 years of age, his health, sapped by overstudy, commenced to fail him and instead of attending college he remained at home and read law. He decided to go North. selecting Northern Michigan as a health re- sort. In June, 1862, he left home and went to Marquette, where he sought em- ployment without success. His money grad- ually dwindled away, and when his eapital had been reduced to 50 cents he found work with a survey gang laying the state road to Escanaba.
The following years he was put on the regular survey corps as transit man, and the next year had charge of the engineer work and superintended the earthworks for the new iron ore docks. Then he took charge of the engineer work on one division of the road and taught school during the winters at Harvey, Michigan.
Mr. Clark remained with the C. & N. W. R. R. on construction work until 1865, and left to become general engineer for the Iron Cliff Company at Ishpeming, surveying, ete. He platted and laid out the present city of Negaunee, working at this line of work until 1869, when he resumed the study of law, and in 1871 he was admitted to practice before Judge Goodwin at Menominee, Michigan. Mr. Clark opened a law office at Escanaba and practiced there until July, 1876, when he re- moved to Marquette.
Frederick O. Clark married in 1877 Miss Ellen J., daughter of Hon. Amos Harlow, of Marquette. Two children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Clark. The name Alden is a family name, as Mr. Clark is a direct descend- ant on his mother's side of John Alden. His great grandmother was Sally Alden. Mr. Clark's great grandfather was Major Daniel ('lark of Revolutionary fame.
Mr. Clark was a member of the legisla- tive session of 1875-76, being nominated by the Republican party and endorsed by the Democrats. He received every vote east. He was the first elerk of Escanaba, Michigan, and president of Escanaba in 1871. He has held the following offices: Prosecuting attorney Delta County, 1873; mayor of Marquette, 1886-87; member of School Board, Mar- quette, ten years, and president of board two years; alderman, 1896-97-98; member of Upper Peninsula Prison Board, appointed by Governor Pingree for six years in 1896.
His other business interests are: President of the Marquette City & Presque Isle Elee- tric Railway, and stockholder and director in the Barassa Iron Mining Company of Ne- gaunee.
353
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HON. ROBERT BRADLEY WEBB.
WEBB, HON. ROBERT BRADLEY. Robert Bradley Webb started in life as a farmer's boy and by his own efforts has be- come identified with some of the largest min- ing properties on the Upper Peninsula, and one of the largest industries in Crystal Falls, where he now resides. Other honors have been won by him, for in 1896-'97 he was the mayor of the little city in which he lives.
He was born March 9, 1852, at Waukegan, Illinois. His father was Tra P. Webb, a farmer, and the Webb family came originally to the west from Utica, Herkimer County, New York State. Young Webb attended the district schools near his farm home, as usual with farmers' children working during the summer on the farm, and getting what school- ing he could during the winter.
When he was 16 years of age, the boy at- tended the High School at Waukegan for two terms, working during vacations in order to help toward paying for his own education. After leaving the High School he became a hotel clerk at Woodstock, Illinois, at a sal- ary of $15 per month, and at this employment he worked for one year, and the year follow- ing became manager of a railroad eating house at Howard Junction. After this he came to Michigan, and became a clerk in the general store operated by the Furnace Con- pany at Menominee, Michigan, where he re- ceived a salary of $75 a month. He saved his money and in two years started in the mercantile business on his own account in Hainesville, Illinois. Fire was responsible for the failure of this attempt, for a year later the store and stock were destroyed and
young Webb was left without a cent. He managed to pull himself together, and the next year he was established in the live stock busi- ness, and for two years he bought and ship- ped live stock for the Chicago market. He then accepted a position in the general store of I. R. Lyon at Waukegan, Illinois, where he worked for two years, and then became a traveling man, selling tobacco and spices for James G. Flint, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ilis territory was through Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan and for one year he engaged in this business. During his travels in this capacity he had an opportunity of studying the country, and obtaining a knowledge of the different industries then being developed. He then interested himself in some iron min- ing properties located in Wisconsin and some located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and in 1882 he purchased a hardware stock in Florence, Wisconsin, which he operated in connection with his mining operations. He closed out his interests in 1889 and removed to Minneapolis, where he entered the real estate field and brokerage business. He han- dled many big deals and bought prospective realty, and when in 1893 the boom broke he found himself owner of much real estate that was unsalable. In 1892 he had become inter- ested in the Crystal Falls Hardware Com- panv, and in 1894 he moved to Crystal Falls, Michigan. Mr. Webb gives most of his at- tention to managing the hardware company. Ile married in 1877 at Watertown, New York, Miss Estello J. Todd, and has five children. Mr. Webb is a member of Waukegan Com- mandery, No. 12, Knights Templar.
354
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HON. JAY ABEL HUBBELL.
HUBBELL, HON. JAY ABEL. Eight years in Congress has made the name of Jay Abel Hubbell a familiar one, not only in Michigan alone, but throughout the country. He is the so-called father of the Michigan College of Mines, located at Houghton, Michigan, and to his efforts in securing the appropriation and locating the college, Hough- ton is indebted for the presence of that struc- ture today.
He was born in Avon, Michigan, Septem- ber 15, 1829. His father, Samuel S. Hub- bell, was one of the earlier settlers of Oakland county, Michigan, locating there in 1820. The family originally came from Connecti- cut.
Young Hubbell attended the district schools near Avon, Mich., during the winter terms until he reached his eighteenth year, when he was sent to the Rochester Academy, at Rochester, Michigan, for two years, and later took two more years at the High School of Romeo.
In the fall of 1850 he found himself in a position financially to enter the literary de- partment of the University of Michigan, where he spent three years, graduating in
1853. He then went back to school teach- ing in order to finish paying for his education and in the meantime read law in the office of Judge Manning, of Pontiac, Mich. Getting a few dollars ahead he then entered as a stu- dent into the law office of Howard, Bishop & Holdbrook at Detroit, and in 1855 he was ad- mitted for practice by the Supreme Court. Having at last become an attorney, the young man then started for the Upper Peninsula and landed at Ontonagon, June 17, 1855, with as much as $3 capital to supplement his educa- tion and experience. He was even in debt to the captain of the steamer which brought him up from Sault Ste. Marie. Shortly after his arrival in his new field, he went into partner- ship with A. H. Hanscomb and for the next three years his practice was exceedingly lim- ited. In 1860 he moved to Houghton, Mich- igan, where he now resides, and soon estab- lished a paying practice. In 1857 he was elected district attorney for the Upper Penin- sula, being re-elected in 1859. In 1861, a year after his removal to Houghton, he was elected prosecuting attorney for Houghton county.
Mr. Hubbell was state commissioner to the Centennial exposition. He made his first ap- pearance in national politics as a member of the Forty-third Congress, and was re-elected to the succeeding four houses. He served on the committee on ways and means, and during the larger part of the time was chairman of the national Republican congressional com- mittee. He was a delegate from Houghton County and when he laid down the gavel of the temporary chairman, figured prominently in the delegation and on the floor. He was elected Circuit Judge of the twelfth judicial circuit, and retired January 1, 1900. Judge Hubbell married in 1861 Miss Florence Doo- little at Ontonagon, and has two children, Florence, the wife of Lessing Karger, of Houghton, and Blanche D., wife of Lieut. H. E. Smith, U. S. A. Judge Hubbell is a Mason, and a member of Montrose Commandery, K. T., of Calumet. He also belongs to Saladin Temple, A. A. O. S., and Grand Rapids Con- sistory.
355
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
BELL, GEORGE METHIAS. Dr. Bell represents both English and German blood. His father, Joseph Bell, came from England and settled in Halton County, Ontario, in 1836, where the son was born September 19th, 1848. His mother, Mary Green Teetzel, was of German descent. The family moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, in 1862. The father died in 1887 and the mother in 1896, at Benton Harbor, Dr. Bell's present residence. The son enjoyed ordinary school advantages both at Milton, Canada, and at St. Joseph. At the age of eighteen, a point at which young men eom- mence to feel the importance of a fixed pur- pose in life and if left to their own choice, usually choose well, by the law of natural seleetion, Dr. Bell found his inspiration to- ward the medical profession. He entered the drug store of Gates & Bell, in Benton Har- bor, where for four years he did the work of both clerk and student during the summer months, and pursued his studies in the medical department of the University during the win- ter, from which he graduated in 1870. He at once opened an office in Benton Harbor but took a winter course at the Chicago Medieal College, receiving its diploma in the spring of 1871. The ensuing three years were de- voted to his home practice, but with a view to the best preparation possible for his life work, he took a special course in anatomy and sur- gery at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, graduating therefrom under the distinguished surgeon, Dr. Hamilton, in 1875, and has sinee pursued his home practice unin- terruptedly. While Dr. Bell is not technically a specialist, he has vet developed a special apt- ness in the treatment of the diseases of ehil- dren. In his strietly professional work, he has been for fourteen years U. S. examining sur- geon for the pension distriet which embraces his home, has been health officer of Benton Harbor for years, is a surgeon for the Cincin- nati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company and is medical examiner for the Knights of Honor and the Home Forum.
As an all around, enterprising eitizen, Dr. Bell was one of the three who built the beau- tiful opera house (known as the Bell Opera
GEORGE METHIAS BELL.
House) at Benton Harbor, costing abont $30,000, with a seating capacity of 1,500, and which is strictly up to date in all its appoint- ments. He is senior member of the drug firmi of George M. Bell & Co., is a stockholder in the Wolverine Sugar Beet Company, a director and stockholder in the Benton Har- bor and St. Joseph Railway Company, and also of the West Michigan Nursery Company, all of Benton Harbor. Politically, Dr. Bell is an independent, reserving the right at all times to use his best judgment both as to men and measures, independently of party obliga- tion. His independence, however, has not excluded him wholly from the public service, he having served the city as an alderman. He is a member of the Berrien County Medical Society, of the International Association of Railway Surgeons, and of the Big Four Sur- geons Association. He is also a member of the Masonie fraternity, including the Knights Templar, of the Knights of Honor, the Macea- bees and the Home Forum. A conservative disposition and an affable temperament and manner, help to make up the worthy gentle- man in the person of Dr. Bell. Miss Anna Niehols, daughter of Mr. Edgar Nichols of Benton Harbor, became Mrs. Bell May 15, 1876. Their one son, John Bell Jr., was first sergeant in Company I, Thirty-third Miehi- gan Infantry, during the Spanish-American war, and saw service in Cuba.
356
MEN OF PROGRESS.
JULIUS SOLON BARBER.
BARBER, JULIES SOLON. A native of Vermont, born at Benson, April 6th, 1824, Mr. Barber came to Michigan with his parents in the fall of 1838. His father, Daniel Bar- ber, became a member of a company or colony of Congregationalists that purchased a large tract of land in Eaton county and loeated the hamlet of Vermontville, founding there a church and school. Ilis school training up to the time of his leaving Vermont (fourteen years of age) was limited. He attended the winter school in Vermontville until twenty years old, working on the farm during the summer. As a reminiscence. Mr. Barber re- lates having earned his first dollar, while in Vermont, reading the "Scottish Chiefs" ro- mance to some tailors while they stitched away on their board. In 1845 he walked from Ver- montville into Calhoun county, some forty miles, to work in the harvest field, and in 1846 walked to Bellevue on a like mission, walking home in each case. Ile taught a winter school, 1846-7, near Vermontville, at $12 per month and "board round." In the spring of 1847 with $150 saved he went to Whitehall, N. Y., and clerked in a store until the winter of 1849. He then joined a party of thirty-six
others in fitting out an expedition to go to California. In January, 1849, they signed artieles of agreement, each contributing the sum of $500 to a common fund. They bought a bark which they loaded with provisions and general supplies and sailed from New York by way of Cape Horn January 25th, 1849. U'pon reaching Sacramento they made a division of the cargo into two parts for 18 and 19 members of the party, respectively. Mr. Barber was one of the 19, and with one other had charge of the business interests at Saera- mento, the others going into the mines. The said business was thus continued until a flood overwhelmed the city. In 1854 he returned east, married and spent some time prospeeting in Wisconsin, finally settling down in Cold- water, Mich., in November, 1834, where his home has since been. Ile opened a general store there in 1855 and has been identified ahnost continuously with that line of business, and generally with the growth and prosperity of the town. During his early residenee in Coldwater, he read law for two years in the office of Charles Upson, with the objeet simply of better fitting himself for a business career.
Mr. Barber has been a prominent figure in political, business and social circles in Cold- water during the almost half century of his residence there. Ile represented his distriet in the State Legislature in 1867 and also in the Constitutional Convention of that year, was postmaster at Coldwater eight years, un- der Presidents Grant and Hayes, was Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Second Michigan District during President Grant's first term, and served two terms as alderman of the eity. He is at present a member of the mereantile firm of J. B. Branch & Co., of Coldwater, has been a stockholder and director in the South- ern Michigan National Bank sinee its organ- ization and is a stoekholder in two or three manufacturing enterprises in Coldwater. Dur- ing his residence in Whitehall, N. Y., and Sacramento, Cal., Mr. Barber formed an acquaintance with Mrs. Emeline Baker, who beeame Mrs. Barber in 1854. They have two daughters, Gertrude E., wife of Homer G. Barber, a merchant and banker of Vermont- ville, and Elena C., wife of Lester E. Rose, president of the Southern Michigan National Bank, Coldwater. Mr. Barber's hope for the welfare of the country is in its churches and schools.
357
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
MAIN, JOHN T. One of the best known physicians of Central Michigan is Dr. John T. Main, of Jackson, who bears the same name as the state from which he sprung, he having been born at Albion, Kennebec county, Maine, May 25th, 1831. The family were early settlers in that state. John Main, the first of the family in America, was born in England in 161S and settled at York (then called Agamentaens) in the present state of Maine, in 1640. Part of the family still re- sides upon the old homestead, which has been continuously occupied by them since 1640, without a single break, the present mansion being not more than one hundred feet from where the first house was built. Josiah Main, father of Dr. John T., was born on the old homestead in 1788. The mother of Dr. Main was Mary Marble, a native of New Hamp- shire, born in 1797, her father having been au old sea captain.
The father of Dr. Main was a farmer and to this occupation the son had his early train- ing. The father, however, had been a teacher in early life and the son by the law of heredity, manifested an aptness for study, which re- ceived due encouragement from the father. who became his teacher, adding his careful training to that of the public school, from which Dr. Main entered the Academy at China, Me. Dr. Main prosecuted his medical studies at the Medical College at Castleton. Vt., under Dr. Corydon L. Ford, who was afterwards called to the chair of anatomy at the University of Michigan. Dr. Ford was conceded to have been one of the best teachers in his special branch of medical science, that the world has ever known. Dr. Main also studied at Harvard, where he was a private tutor not connected with the faculty but un-
JOHN T. MAIN.
der them, and was for some years a private pupil of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes at Har- vard, giving special attention to the study of microscopy. Before studying medicine he had been a teacher and had worked as a civil en- gineer. Dr. Main rendered service to his state as a member of the House of Representatives early in the 1850 decade and again in the six- ties. He also served the country as assistant surgeon of the Second Maine Regiment during the Civil War. He is at present a member of the Board of Health of Jackson and a medical director in the city hospital. For its scientific value also, he is proscouting systematically his investigations in bacteriology. Dr. Main was married in 1858 at Thomaston. Me., to Miss Ferolin M. Williams, daughter of Peter Wil- liams of that place. Their only son, Fred- erick W., is associated in practice with his father at Jackson. Dr. Main is a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he was at one time quite active, and is also a member of the G. A. R.
358
MEN OF PROGRESS.
REUBEN HATCH.
HATCH, REUBEN. Among the men whom New England has furnished to the great North West, is Judge Reuben Hatch, who was born October 11th, 1847, in the town of Alstead, New Hampshire. His ancestors came to America from England in 1630 and settled in Massachusetts. Ilis father, also named Reuben, was a learned and able divine of the Congregational church, and during a long and useful life ministered to congrega- tions in Windom, Vt .; York, Ohio; Union City, Mich., and other places. Ile was mar- ried December 16th, 1846, at Hudson, Ohio, to Miss Ehnira Kilbourne, a native of Hud- son, by whom he had six children, of whom Reuben, Jr., was the eldest. After her death in 1858, he married Miss Marion J. Pierce, the fruit of this marriage being four children. Mr. Hatch has reached the ripe age of eighty- five years and makes his home in Oberlin, Ohio, where he and his estimable wife are widely and favorably known. He was one of the leading spirits and founders of Olivet College, Michigan, and also assisted in planting a similar institution at Benzonia, and notwithstanding his ad- vanced age, still takes an active interest in re-
ligious and educational work. Reuben Hateh, Jr., the leading facts in whose early life connect themselves with his father's his- tory, attended the schools in the different places where his father held pastorates and also received instruction in the higher branches of learning, under his parent's im- mediate tutelage. He began reading law at Traverse City, Mich., at the age of twenty and on May 12th, 1870, he was admitted to the bar. He established a successful practice at Traverse City, and in that brief time (1875) had attained a position that gave him the nom- ination for Circuit Judge, to which office he was elected at the April election, 1875. He continued on the bench during the regular term of six years, and upon his retirement therefrom resmed practice at Traverse City. In 1888 he removed to Grand Rapids, where he has since conducted a large and lucrative practice in the State and Federal Courts. For a short time he was associated in practice with Hon. Harry P. Jewell, and later formed a eo- partnership with Hugh E. Wilson, which still continues.
The professional career of Judge Hateh has been highly creditable and he holds a con- spienous place among the leading attorneys, in a city noted for the high order of its legal talent. The honorable distinetion acquired at the bar, was not dimmed by his judicial career. As a judge he presided with dignity and his impartiality in dispensing justiee made him popular with both lawyers and litigants. But few of his decisions were reversed by the Supreme Court, and in one ease that went to the Supreme Court of the United States, the decision of the Michigan Conrt was re- versed and Judge Hateh's ruling affirmed. Mr. Hateh was deputy collector of Internal Revenue at Traverse City at the age of 21, and was also township elerk of Traverse Township. He was treasurer of the building committee in charge of the construction and furnishing of the Northern Michigan Asylum at Traverse City, disbursing nearly $1,000,- 000 for that purpose. He is a member of both the National and State Bar Associations, and of the Hesperus Club of Grand Rapids. Politi- eally he is a Republican, and in religion, an attendant upon the Congregational church, of which his wife, formerly Mrs. Esther II. Sprague Day, to whom he was married in 1872, is a member.
359
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CURRY, SOLOMON S. Mr. Curry ranks as one of the pioneers of the Lake Superior re- gion. He was born in Canada, June 12th, 1840, and received his education there. In carly manhood he came to Upper Michigan and after a year spent in the copper country, he went to Marquette and entered the employ of the Sault Ste. Marie Canal Company. After a year or more in this service he engaged in mineral exploration, mining and contract- ing and has ever since been identified with the mining interests of the Upper Peninsula. He came to Marquette when the boundaries of the township were the same as those of the present county of Marquette, and when the city of that name was not yet in embryo. With the county now crowding +0,000 in pop- ulation, with sixteen organized townships and three cities with an aggregate of over 25,000 population, some idea may be formed of the growth of the community in which Mr. Curry has been an active member. He has been a prime factor in the development of the mining industry not only in Marquette but in other counties. Removing to Ironwood, in Gogebie county, his interests have centered in that locality. He has been for many years president of the Metropolitan Iron & Land Company, which operated the Norrie group of mines in the city of Ironwood, and it is owing to his efforts almost entirely, that thesc mines owe their present state of development, and have become the largest producers and shippers of iron ore of any mines in the world. The city of Fronwood, which has become one of the principal cities of the Upper Peninsula, owes its growth largely to his characteristic push, cuergy and enthusiasm. He is the earnest promoter of all enterprises that affect favorably the interests of the community in which he resides, as well as the advocate and promoter of all public and benevolent enter- prises that affect the people generally, as will be cheerfully testified to by the unanimous voice of his neighbors. Mr. Curry's work and influence are not confined to the Upper Penin- sula, but extend to other states, where his repu- tation as a mining expert is known and where
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