USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 52
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During his service in the lower house of Congress, Mr. Burrows was the acknowledged parliamentarian of the body and was fre- quently called temporarily to the chair, and twice elected speaker pro tem. His rank as a speaker, both on the stump and in the forum, is the distinguishing fact in his publie life. His party has no more effective advocate in its political campaigns and in behalf of its par- tisan measures in Congress. It seems hardly necessary to say that Mr. Burrows' polities is of the stalwart Republican order. His relig- ious connection is Congregational. In 1865 Mr. Burrows took a second wife in the person of Miss Francis S. Peek, daughter of Horace B. Peek, of Kalamazoo. No children have been born to this marriage.
384
MEN OF PROGRESS.
JAMES WEBB LONG.
LONG, JAMES WEBB. Major Long is at present inspector and store keeper at the U. S. Signal Service headquarters at Washing- ton, to which position he was appointed June 20th, 1898. If this position is a soft place, Major Long his certainly earned it by a varied and faithful service. The Longs were orig- inally of Scotch-Trish descent. The grand- father of Major Long, Hon. John Long, was a member of Congress during the Jacksonian Presidency, 1827-35. His father was a gradu- ate of the West Point Military Academy and was a lieutenant in the regular army. His mother, Phoebe Am Fiteh, was a descendant of the Fitch family of Connecticut. Major Long was born at Hillsborough, N. C., June 20th, 1840, and his early boyhood was passea at different points to which his father was assigned for duty. The father was stationed at Detroit in 1844 until his death in 1846, during which time the son attended school and later at Buffalo, N. Y., until 1853. He then returned to the home of his grandparents in North Carolina, when he graduated from the Ashboro Collegiate Institute in 1858. During his collegiate course he had experience in newspaper work and subsequently worked for
a year in a store. In 1859 he became eity editor of the Commereial Advertiser at Buf- falo and aceompanied the Prince of Wales party in their tour of the country. He was ap- pointed a second lieutenant in the army (regu- lar) August 5, 1861 and served during the Civil War, during the same time acting as cor- respondent of a Buffalo paper. He saw a varied military service. He was wounded three times at the battle of Gaines Mill, the most serious being a face wound, the effects of which incapacitated him for active service, although preferring this to detached service on which he was mostly engaged when able to do duty at all, up to the time of his resignation December 31st, 1870. During his service he rose to the rank of Major and was for a time in command of his regiment. In 1869 he was assigned to duty as Indian Agent at Detroit and in this capacity he perfected the selection of lands for the Indians of Michigan, thus throwing open to settlement and taxation vast tracts of land in Isabella, Oceana, Mason, Grand Traverse, Leelanaw and Chippewa counties.
After his retirement from the army, Major Long removed to Mount Pleasant, Mich., and engaged in the drug and newspaper business. He was for thirteen years publisher of the Mount Pleasant Times and also the Register at Farwell. His journalistic record has been recognized by his eleetion as vice-president of the West Michigan Press Association and service on its executive committee. He is a well known writer, as well as musieal com- poser. In 1885 he was assistant engrossing and enrolling clerk in the House of Repre- sentatives in Lansing.
In 1885 Major Long was appointed Adjutant of the Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids, by Governor Alger and removed to Grand Rapids, serving in that capacity until he retired in 1898, for politieal reasons. He is a charter member of G. A. R. Post No. 250, of Mount Pleasant and of the U. V. U. (Union Veterans' Union) No. 26, of Grand Rapids. He was department commander of the Michi- gan U. V. U., and first deputy national eom- mander of the same organization for one term. He was married in 1867 to Miss Annie Graves, a daughter of Judge Lorenzo Graves, of War- saw, Ky. They have one child living, a daughter, Miss Annie Fitch Long.
385
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
MORGANS, WILLIAM HI. One of Pon- tiae's most successful and enterprising business men and one that has the confidence of not only the people of the place where he and his estimable family for the past twenty years have lived, but in nearly every city of im- portance in the Union is the name of William HI. Morgans known and respected, both in a business and social way. His career has been one that anyone might feel proud of. Born of inventive ancestors, his mother's father being the inventor of the first scale beam ever used in New York City. "Will," as everyone calls him at home, was born in New York City Oct. 5, 1844, and begun his rudimental educa- tion, all he acquired, in public schools in New York City. His mechanical education he be- gan at the age of eleven years as an apprentice to a sail maker. Ilis loyalty to the Union took him away from his home at the age of sixteen, when he served in the First New York Inde- pendent Battalion, or better known as the "lost children." On his discharge he re- enlisted in the Eighth New York Cavalry. He belonged to the third division of the Army of the Potomac and took part in the siege of Yorktown and was in at the surrender. From there under Gen. Foster in Gen. Keys' corps he was active in the siege of Melburn, North Carolina; from there to Hilton Head, South Carolina, and joined Gen. Hunter the follow- ing summer ; under Gen. Gilmore participated in the siege and capture of Morris Island; the following winter, while holding rank of Sergeant was discharged and gained more lion- ors by the bravery he displayed at Kenasaw Mountain and Atlanta with Gen. Sherman on his marel to the sea; he was captured at Mill- edgeville, Georgia; was taken to Florence Prison, from there to Richmond, where he was paroled and was discharged in June '65. His public life has been commendable to the peo- ple who have supported him. He has repre- sented the first ward as alderman two terms,
WILLIAM H. MORGANS.
been member of the fire department as assist- ant chief so many years that no one can re- member. He has been one of the most efficient members of the board of public works. His business affairs have been conducted on the same lines. In 1880 he was made superin- tendent of the Medbury Gas Company and in 1896 was made, without any solicitation on his part, general manager, and he now by his efforts owns the same. He is a Republican in politics and his maiden order, Odd Fellows, followed with Masons and a member of the Oakland Chapter, No. 5, and Pontiac Com- mandery, No. 2. Is Major 4th Battalion of the Uniform Rank, K. of P .; is a Maccabee; Past Commander Dick Richardson Post, G. A. R .; has walked on the burning sands alongside of his brother Shriners, and is also a Knight of the Kohrassan; director State Home Acquatic Club and a member of the Episcopal church.
No person could be more devoted to his family and his wife, the daughter of James A. Cole, of Detroit, has been his helpmate and assisted him through all his business career. Four children have blessed their union, "Morgie" Morgan, Mrs. Ed. Morrill of Chi- cago, Florence E., his secretary, and Annie A.
386
MEN OF PROGRESS.
AMOS S. MUSSELMAN.
MUSSELMAN, AMOS S. Mr. Mussel- man is of that good, sturdy stock known as "Pennsylvania Dutch," whose ancestors fly- ing from religious persecution some two hun- dred years ago took refuge in the land of William Penn. ITis parents, upon their mar- riage, settled upon a farm eight miles from Gettysburg, Pa., where Amos S. was born Oct. 19th, 1857.
IIe attended common school until 15 years of age, then entered Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, where he pursued the classical course for three years. The death of his father compelled him to return home and assume management of the estate. After two years he resumed his studies at college. Ile had aspired to professional life, but the panic of 1873, sweeping away all his inheritance from the estate of his parents, which he had invested in an enterprise at York, Pa., his plans were perforce changed and he entered Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1875. Ile took the entire commercial course and was so proficient on graduating that he was engaged to teach in the banking and busi- ness departments of the institution. In October, 1876, he came to Grand Rapids and accepted a position with the firm of Graff & McSkimmin, jobbers of teas, coffees and spices, representing Mr. Peter Graff, whose
entire time was engrossed by his milling inter- ests. The firm subsequently purchased the wholesale grocery establishment of Samuel Fox & Co., and Mr. Musselman remained with the house until January, 1879, when he re- signed to take the position of bookkeeper with ITibbard & Graff, at that time the leading flour millers of the city. On the failure of this firm in February, 1881, Mr. Musselman decided to embark in the wholesale grocery business and in June of that year the firm of Fox, Mussel- man & Loveridge, composed of James Fox, Amos S. Musselman and L. L. Loveridge, opened for business. This co-partnership con- tinued for five years, when Mr. Musselman purchased the interests of his partners and formed a copartnership with Wmn. Widdicomb, under the style of Amos S. Musselman & Co. Three years later the firm name was changed to Musselinan & Widdicomb. In February, 1893, Mr. Widdicomb retired from the busi- ness and the firm was succeeded by a corpora- tion with a paid in capital stock of $70,000, of which Mr. Musselman was the president and general manager.
Mr. Musselman is president of the Grand Rapids Board of Trade, of which he was a charter member. His other connections in- clude banking, telephone and trust companies, manufacturing, membership in state and national wholesale grocers' associations, etc. He was president of the Lincoln Club for some time, president of the Kent County Sunday School Association and of the Grand Rapids Sunday School Union. As chairman of the committee on Statistics of the Board of Trade, he prepared the manufacturing statistics for the city for the general census of 1890. This duty was discharged so acceptably as to win for him the encomiums of the Census Depart- ment.
In religion Mr. Musselman is a Presbyter- ian and a member of the Westminster Pres- hyterian Church of Grand Rapids. For four years he was an elder and trustee in Immanuel Presbyterian Church, of which he was prac- tically the founder. He contributes one-tenth of his income to religious and charitable pur- poses. He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Peninsular and Kent County Golf Clubs.
Such is the career, briefly told, of a gentle- man whose qualities of mind and heart and whose judgment and perseverance have made him respected and successful to a degree which many an older man might envy.
387
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
DODDS, PETER FABIAN. If similar- ity of choice be deemed evidence, a tendency to the law as a profession would seem to run in the Dodds family, as Judge Dodds is one of four brothers to adopt the legal profession, the other three being F. II., in practice in Mount Pleasant; Wm. L., who died in 1894, and George E., a resident of Colorado. The parents, Jolin and Catherine (Hoy) Dodds, were emigrants from Ireland, first settling in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where Peter F. was born January 4th, 1849. Coming to Michigan in 1866, they located in Isabella county, the future judge being then seventeen years of age. Ilis education had been but primary, but when nineteen he began teach- ing a country school, being thus engaged most of the time until 1874, his actual service agre- gating 57 months. Being an earnest, ambiti- ous young man, his leisure hours were devoted to study so that he was enabled to enter the State Normal School as an advanced student, graduating therefrom with the full English course in 1874. Not satisfied with the pres- tige which the diploma from that institution gave, he pursued higher collegiate studies under the tutelage of the faculty of Olivet Col- lege. He was a member of its graduating class in 1882, receiving the degree of A. B., which was followed later by the degree of A. M. Ilis collegiate studies were pursued purely as a mental discipline, he having previously been admitted to the bar in active practice. His industry is shown by the fact that his legal studies were pursued concurrently with his educational work so that he was admitted to practice in Ithaca in 1875 and began his pro- fessional career under very favorable circum- stances. Hon. Isaac A. Fancher was a prac- ticing attorney at Mt. Pleasant and a leading member of the bar of Isabella county. He had been a member of the House of Representa- tives in 1873 and was elected to the State Sen- ate in 1875, serving with distinction in both bodies. Recognizing the ability of Mr. Dodds, he proposed a partnership. Such a proposal coming from a man of Mr. Fancher's standing was equally complimentary and advantageous
PETER FABIAN DODDS.
and was readily accepted. The connection brought Mr. Dodds into contact with a most desirable class of clients and at once gave him a standing before the public. On Mr. Fan- cher's removal to Detroit in 1880, F. H. Dodds took his place as a member of the firm. Though not an office seeker, Judge Dodds was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Isabella county in 1880, serving one term and making an enviable record, but declining re-election. In 1893 he was elected Judge of the Twenty- first Judicial Cirenit, taking his place on the bench on the first of January following. No better testimony could be given as to the ac- ceptable manner in which he discharged its duties than the fact of his re-election in 1899, for the further term of six years. He has been a member of the county board of School Ex- aminers and has always taken a lively interest in the education of the rising generation. He is a pleasant and social gentleman and is much regarded in Masonic circles, in which he is prominent. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and Royal Arcanum. Soon after his admission to the bar he was married (April 20, 1876), to Miss Minnie E. Bouton, daughter of Henry S. and Cornelia Bouton, formerly of Homer, Calhoun county. They have one son, Fabian Bouton Dodds.
388
MEN OF PROGRESS.
J. WIGHT GIDDINGS.
GIDDINGS, J. WIGHT. An ex-member of the Senate and ex-Lieutenant Governor of the State, Mr. Giddings at present fills the several roles of attorney-at-law, judge, and popular lecturer. He was born at Romeo, Sept. 27, 1858, and received his education there, up to the age of 17, when he took the freshman year at Oberlin College (Ohio), and in 1878 entered Amherst (Mass.) College for the classical course. Ile left college in his senior year, and in 1880 entered the legal de- partment of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Chicago. He went in as a student and read law, doing clerical work without sal- ary in consideration of the advantages which the situation offered. He continued in this connection until 1882, when he removed to Cadillac, his present residence, and bought the Cadillac News, a Republican weekly paper, of which he was editor and proprietor until 1887, when he sold out the plant. He continued his law studies and was admitted to practice in 1886 before Judge S. S. Fallass, judge of the Twenty-eighth judicial circuit. After retiring from his newspaper enterprise he began the practice of law in company with S. J. Wall, of Cadillac, and with him built up an extensive
practice in Northern Michigan. Two years later he was in partnership with E. E. Haskins, which continued until 1889, since which time he has been in practice alone. Mr. Giddings was elected a member of the State Seuate in 1886 and re-elected in 1888. In 1892 he was elected Lientenant-Governor of the State, be- ing second on the ticket with John T. Rich, who was then elected Governor for his first term. In 1896 he was elected Judge of the Recorder's Court of Cadillac for the term of six years. He has served on the Board of Edu- cation of Cadillac for seven years, and was chairman of the Republican State Convention in 1896.
Mr. Giddings is direct in descent from Rob- ert Giddings, who came from England in 1637 and settled at Ipswich, Mass. His father was M. A. Giddings, his grandfather bearing the same name with himself. His mother, Caroline Beekman, was of the Van Beekman family of New York City.
He is a member of the Uniformed Rank, Knights of Pythias, and was for a year Chau- cellor Commander of Cadillac Lodge, No. 46, of that order. He is also a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity of Amherst College. Miss Fidele Fitch, daughter of Hon. Ferris S. Fitch, of Ingham county, became Mrs. Giddings in 1883. Mr. Fitch was for many years a prominent Democratic politician in Central Michigan, was a member of the Legislature in 1853 and 1855, and was once a candidate for Governor.
Mr. Giddings has been on the lecture plat- form a number of seasons under the auspices of the Central Lyceum Bureau of Rochester, N. Y. Three of his subjects are "The Evolu- tion of the Demagogue," "Uncle Sam's Peo- ple," and "Cardinal and King," the latter giv- ing a picturesque view of the life and prom- inent figures of the sixteenth century. His lectures are commended by fully an hundred testimonials from men of prominence, and by the press, of which the following from the chairman of the lecture counnittee, New Ha- ven, Conn., is fairly representative: "Mr. Giddings returns to us this year in compliance with the unanimous desire of all who heard him last year. Scores of people, even in this much lectured city, declared it was the best lecture they ever heard."
389
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
FITZGERALD, JOHN C. Jeremiah FitzGerald, father of John C., was a native of New York, although the name suggests a Norman deseent. He served his country as a captain of volunteers in the war of 1812. The mother, Sylvia Strickland, was of Puritan stoek. His parents resided in Huron county, Ohio, at the time of the birth of John C., in the year 1835, and removed to Michigan in his early infaney, settling on a farm in Spring- port, Jackson county. The son's early experi- enees were those of most farmer boys at the time. Ilis labor was needed on the farm as soon as he was able to gather brush or ply the hoe, and the school facilities were meagre. These the young lad made the most of, study- ing his lessons by the light of the evening fire in winter. By perseverance and application he qualified himself for teaching and his first available resources were earned in that eall- ing. With means thus secured he was enabled to pursue a course of study at Albion College. The profession of the law had been the magnet that inspired his early efforts, and upon leav- ing college he became a student in the office of Austin Blair of Jackson, who had for some years been a leading member of the bar in Central Michigan. Mr. FitzGerald was admit- ted to the bar in Jackson in 1858 and prae- tieed there some two years, when he removed to Marshall, where he built up a large and lucrative practice. Ile was elected Proseent- ing Attorney of Calhoun county in 1860 and re-elected in 1862 and in 1868 was elected a member of the State Senate, serving during that term, but deelining a renomination. In 1873 he beeame a member of the law firm of Champlin, Butterfield & FitzGerald at Grand Rapids. His new location furnished a broader and more active field than the place he had left, and he at once took position among the leading members of the Grand Rapids bar, and has ever sinee retained the same. Upon the dissolution of the partnership above men- tioned, Mr. FitzGerald was alone in practice
JOHN C. FITZ GERALD.
until his son-in-law, Edmund D. Barry, be- came associated with him under the present firm name of FitzGerald & Barry. In 1884 Mr. FitzGerald was the Republican candidate for Congress in the fifth district, but was de- feated by Charles C. Comstock under the Democratic-Greenback combination of that year, which ent the usually decisive Republi- can majority in the state down to some 3,300 votes. Miss Addie F. Taylor, daughter of Reuben and Harriet Taylor, of Albion, be- came Mrs. FitzGerald in 1859. Their only offspring is Addie B., wife of Edmund D. Barry, above mentioned. The memoranda from which the brief sketch was written says that the subject of it "wants no flattery." The truth is not flattery and the simple record of a good man's life is the highest eulogy. The biographer is not interdicted from saying that according to the memoranda before him, the lady whom Mr. FitzGerald chose for his wife has contributed largely to his business and professional success and to the rounding out of a character which commands universal re- speet and esteem.
390
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HON. WILLIAM SUTHERLAND.
SUTHERLAND, HON. WILLIAM. HIon. William Sutherland, "the original Pin- gree man of Bay county, Michigan," was born on a farm in Kawkawlin, Bay county, March 8, 1863. He has lived there and been a farmer in that county all his life, and only in the past six years has he taken an active in- terest in politics. His education was acquired in the district schools of Kawkawlin, and later he attended the public school of Bay City. He comes from a family of Democrats, his father at one time being a candidate on the Demo- cratic ticket for the state senate. When young Sutherland was abont 13 years of age, though, circumstances changed at least one member of his family from the Democratic to the Repub- lican party, and that member was young Will- iam. He attended a Democratic campaign meeting at that age, and lined up with the other boys in the rear of the hall to listen to the eloquence of the various speakers. Grad- ually the room filled with the elder people, and the boys were forced back against the wall, and at last. as the crowd grew in size they crowded the youngsters out of the room altogether. Nettled at this, young Sutherland forswore all allegiance to the political creed
and politics of his parent and determined that when he became a voter he would become identified with the Republican party, which determination he has adhered to with rigid tenacity, his fidelity to the Republican party never having been questioned. He has worked for the party tooth and nail and has acted as Republican Senatorial Committeeman from the Twenty-fourth District for six years, and is at present chairman of the committee, and also chairman of the Township Committee of Monitor Township.
Mr. Sutherland still operates his farm, and deals in real estate. He has a keen eye for in- vestments, and for some years has been buy- ing and selling large tracts of timber in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, having had some experience as a lumberman in Upper Michigan when he was a young man and thus being acquainted with timber values.
Sutherland is a Scotch name, and one that has been prominent in the history of Scotland. The elder Sutherland came to this country from Scotland when he was a lad of nine, and located at Woodstock, Ontario, coming to Michigan in 1852 and settling in Kawkawlin. He was county commissioner of Bay county for five years and supervisor of Kawkawlin Township for eleven years, and for thirty-four years a school director in his county. The mother came from England when she was 12 years of age.
William Sutherland married Miss Ida Van Alstine, daughter of C. A. Van Alstine, at West Bay City, Michigan, August 28, 1885. Ile has four children, Mabel, aged 13 years; Ethel, aged 11 years; John, aged 9 years, and Taylor, aged 1 year.
Mr. Sutherland belongs to the Masonic Fra- ternity, the Elks, Foresters and Woodmen of the World. He was elected to House of 1889- 1900 by a vote of 2,764, against Jolin Washer, Democratic - People's - Union-Silver candidate, who received 2,468 votes. He is popular in Lansing, and recognized as an honest, plain-spoken man, anxious to further all measures for the benefit of the people of his district and state.
391
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
McMILLAN, JAMES. James McMillan, senior United States Senator from Michigan, was born of Scotch parents in Hamilton, Ontario, May 12, 1838. His father was a Presbyterian elder, and a man of thrift, enter- prise and intelligence. He gave his son a grammar school education, supplemented by an apprenticeship in a hardware store, and when 17 years old started him for Detroit, with letters of introduction to business men there. The gift of handling men was born in James McMillan; he has always been able to work with others to accomplish results in such a way as to have all those associated with him participate in the rewards. He has gonc through life helping others at the same time that he helped himself, and in hundreds of in- stances he has started young men in business or re-established men overtaken by misfor- tune. From clerk in a hardware store, he became purchasing agent for a railroad, theu he handled the work of extending the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad to Grand Haven, and in the sixties he began building freight cars. From small beginnings this grew to be the largest industry in Detroit; and to this interest Mr. McMillan added the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company, the Detroit Dry Dock Company, several lake transportation com- panies, the building of the international bridge at Sault Ste. Marie and the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway across the Upper Peninsula, and various other enterprises. En- grossing as was his business, he was never at a loss for time to devote to public interests; and his gifts to public and private charities have always been proportionate to his means. Ilis gifts to the State University, the Agricultural College, Albion College, and towards the establishment of Grace Hospital, have been notably large.
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