USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 53
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On the death of Zachariah Chandler, Mr. MeMillan was called to the leadership of the Republican party in Michigan. His has been a leadership maintained by the repeated choice or calls of his party, which has recognized in him a man easy to work with, and one who tolerates the largest possible right to indi- vidual opinion among those who are striving for a common object.
On entering the United States Senate in 1889, Mr. McMillan left to his capable sons the more active management of business af-
JAMES McMILLAN.
fairs, although never ceasing to take a keen personal interest in every branch of the ninerous activities with which his name was associated. Given to action rather than speech, and quick to see the salient points of every plan proposed, Senator McMillan has come to be one of the recognized powers of the Senate. This is shown by the fact that for the past six years he has served continuously on those caucus committees that have the adjust- ment of party matters. When he had been in the Senate but two years he was called to suc- cecd Senator Ingalls as chairman of the Com- mittee on the District of Columbia, and with that earnest devotion to duty that character- izes all of his relations in life, he has already accomplished many improvements for the National Capital and has laid the foundations for many others. The government of the District being wholly in the hands of Con- gress, the District Committee of the Senate is the busiest continuously of any of the commit- tees of that body. Less exacting as to time, but not as to the problems presented, are the Committees on Commerce, on Naval Affairs, and on Relations with Cuba, of which Senator McMillan also is a member.
In social life Senator and Mrs. McMillan occupy the position that cultivation, wealth and eminently social natures command. He was married in 1860 to Miss Mary Wetmore.
392
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HON. ARCHIBALD JAMES SCOTT.
SCOTT, ARCHIBALD J. Archibald J. Scott was born in Canada and came to the States in infancy, and was raised in Water- town, Wis. At an early age he enlisted in a Wisconsin regiment and served to the close of the war. In 1866 he went to Hancock, Mich., where for a year or two he found employment in the saw mills of the locality. In 1867 he obtained employment in a drug store, and for two years was employed in the business in Houghton and Marquette counties. In 1869 he opened a drug store on his own account in Hancock, and has built np what is probably the largest and most profitable drug business in the Upper Peninsula.
Mr. Scott, or Archie Scott, as he is fami- liarly called throughout the Upper Peninsula, has always taken great interest in municipal affairs, particularly in matters pertaining to
the fire department. The city of Hancock today has a fire department built up under his care, which in proportion to its size is second to none in tlre State. He is the chief of the department and has been for the past twenty- five years, and as long as he remains at the head of it, the people of Hancock feel that they will enjoy an immunity from disastrous fires or conflagrations. He has just resigned the presidency of the Upper Peninsula Fire- man's Association, which is one of the largest and most successful associations of its kind in the western States. IIe is also captain of the Hancock hose team, and although he has passed the half century post in life he is still sprinting with his hose team in the tourna- ments.
In politics Mr. Scott is a Democrat, and although living in a Republican township has for twenty consecutive years been elected supervisor over his Republican opponent, and was for years the only Democrat holding a seat on the board of supervisors in the Republi- can stronghold of Houghton county. Besides being supervisor of the township and chief of the fire department he is also serving his fourth term as mayor of the city. Mr. Scott is very popular with the masses, and in every undertaking pertaining to public affairs he can rely upon the support of the people by a large majority with a certainty that his op- ponents have learned not to combat him.
In 1880 Mr. Scott was married to Sallie I. Clause, of Philadelphia. Five children have been born to them, Archic J., Walter C., Flor- ence L., Lillian and Jean Stuart. The boys died in infancy.
393
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
ALLEN, CHARLES TRYON, The fam- ily of Allens of which Charles T. Allen is a representative were emigrants from Vermont to Saratoga county, New York (Winthrop Allen the head), His father, Ovid Allen, as- sisted in building the first salt sheds in Syra- ense. The family moved from Clyde, Wayne county, N. Y., to Coldwater, Mich., in May, 1853. His father soon after assumed charge of the bridge and warehouse construction for the Michigan Southern railroad, which posi- tion he held for several years,
Charles T. Allen was born in the town of Galen, Wayne county, N. Y., June 23, 1847. and came to Coldwater with his parents in 1855. At 12 years of age he earned his first dollar piling wood for the railroad company and shoveling wheat in an elevator. Mean- time he picked up the art of telegraphy and held positions during the civil war at Edger- ton, Ohio, South Bend, Ind., Goshen, Ind., White Pigeon, Mich., and Elkhart, Ind. He quit railroading in 1865. During the winter of 1866 and 1867 he tanght district school in No. 8, called Camfield Fesk's district, near Coldwater. He graduated in the scientific course from the Coldwater High School in 1867. Soon after he engaged with Lawyer Rose & Son, bankers, at Coldwater. After two years with the bank he left and took charge of his father's farm, three miles south- west of Coldwater, for one year. He was then invited to assist in starting the Southern Michigan National bank at Coldwater, as as- sistant cashier. He resigned this to take the cashiership of the Union City National Bank at Union City, Mich. This was in 1871. Hle held the position until 1883, and resigned to fill a similar position in the City Bank of Bat- tle Creek. He resigned this position after two years and made an extended trip through the west, obtaining valuable experiences. In 1887 he engaged in the manufacturing busi- ness, which he has since followed very success- fully.
In the spring of 1889 he bought out the controlling stock in the Battle Creek Machin- ery Company, which had been a losing con-
1
CHARLES TRYON ALLEN.
cern for many years, and brought it up to a dividend paying concern. It is here that Mr. Allen showed his mechanical inventiveness, having practically made the first successful steam pump, and is considered the pioneer of all the steam pumps made in Battle Creek at this date. Mr. Allen appears to have inher- ited a special gift for organization and sys- tem, his organization of the steam pump busi- ness of Battle Creek having given to that city a world-wide renown in that partienlar line. Ile still continues to manage his business, be- ing at this time engaged in promoting the in- terests of the Union Steam Pump Company as its manager.
The enterprises which he has handled have always been successful in the end, although far from it in the beginning, his factory being the only one in Battle Creek which turns its wheels daily, never shutting down during the panic of 1893.
Mr. Allen is a Republican in politics but has always avoided office. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias. In 1886 he married Miss Carrie F. Fray, and has one daughter, Beniti, who is in school.
394
MEN OF PROGRESS.
JAMES CHAMPION ESLOW.
ESLOW, JAMES CHAMPION. The name Eslow was originally and remotely Ger- man, but as the family became English the name in England was spelled Islow. The time of their emigration to America is not definitely known. Champion Eslow, father of James C., was a blacksmith by trade and re- moved from Palmyra, N. Y., to Homer, Mich., about 1835, where he plied the two vocations of blacksmith and farmer. Milton Barney, then driving a stage between Homer and Detroit, suggested to Mr. Eslow that there was some money in handling plows, receiving them in parts and putting them together for use. Barney got the stock for him on time, and the profits on the venture enabled him to buy enough timber in the rough to build a house. This timber he "scored and hewed" during leisure time in the fall of 1836, and in December of that year he hired six teams and moved his house, material and family to Al- bion, Ile there bought a lot, and within a week had his house up and occupied. He built a blacksmith's shop on the rear of his lot and set up business, which he continued until 18448, when he sunk his small means in a mercantile venture. In 1852, with the son as a partner, the firm of C. & J. C. Eslow be- gan the manufacture of wagons, etc., doing a successful business for 25 years. The father died January 19, 1880, the mother having died in August, 1871.
James Champion Eslow was born at Homer
June 14, 1836. ITis carly education was lim- ited, and was acquired up to the age of 20 during intervals of work at Albion schools, with some time at Albion College. In 1862, while still a partner with his father, he branched out alone in the oil business, and later severing his business relations with his father, he dealt in lumber by retail, and estab- lished a wholesale trade in oils, cheese and salt meats, and acquired considerable real estate interests. In 1867 he built a hotel which he managed for four years in connection with his other business. In 1879 and '80, by reason of failing health, which had been evident for some years, he passed some months at sani- tarimms at Dansville, N. Y., and at Battle Creek. In 1885 he retired from active busi- ness, confining himself to real estate and in- surance.
Mr. Eslow has been a Republican since, at the age of 18, he attended the first Republican convention "under the oaks" at Jackson, in 1854. He was a delegate to the state conven- tion in Detroit, which nominated Gen. Alger for governor in 1884, and attended the Repub- lican national convention at Minneapolis when Gen. Harrison was nominated for a second term in 1892. He is a director in the First National Bank of Albion, and is generally a real estate owner and capitalist, and is an ancient member of the Order of Oddfellows. Miss Lottie Pierce, daughter of William Pierce, of Burlington, near Albion, was a student at Albion College, from which she graduated June 13, 1860, and at 3 p. m. was married to J. C. Eslow. She became a mem- ber of the Alumni Association of the college, and on the evening of the same day became its president, remaining so until her death, August 27, 1871. Mr. Eslow has two sons -- William C., connected with his father in busi- ness at Albion, and J. Arthur, a resident of Charlevoix, who is a contractor and has been in government employ in connection with works on the great lakes.
Mr. Eslow is desirous of tracing his ancestry and would be glad to hear from anyone bear- ing the name of Eslow or Islow. His moth- er's ancestors bore the name of Myers, their history running back to 1770. One of them, James Myers, was a contractor on the Erie canal, and later lieutenant-governor and a judge in Ohio. Another, Samuel Myers, as a member of the common council of Chicago, was the first to suggest raising the grade of the city with a view to drainage, and was thought to be crazy, but his crazy idea is now the sal- vation of the city.
395
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
EVERARD, HERBERT HIENSON. Mr. Everard is a member of the firm of Ihling Bros. & Everard, wholesale stationers, blank book manufacturers and printers, of Kalama- zoo. He was born in that city December 6, 1858. His father, John H. Everard, died at Kalamazoo in November, 1897. His mother, Henrietta McBride, is still living. Ilis edu- cation was received in the public schools of Kalamazoo and in Kalamazoo College. While at school he felt an inspiration for the art and mystery of printing, procured an amateur outfit which he put up at home, mastered the primary art of handling the type without in- struction and published an amateur monthly paper, setting the type and doing the printing himself. He became so interested in his juvenile enterprise and in the craft which was a part of it, that he had little relish for study, and at the age of seventeen he left college and secured immediate employment in the of- fice of the Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph, where he remained a year and a half. In 1879, with his then knowledge of the business, he started in for himself under the name of H. H. Ever- ard & Co., doing a general job printing and stationery business up to 1887. At that time he combined his interests with those of Ihling Bros., under the firm name as above, so that he has been continuously in the line of busi- ness to which he first felt the spirit moving him for twenty-three out of his forty two years of life, which may be fairly termed a case of natural selection. While Mr. Everard is a busy man, he has always found time to devote to the welfare and advancement of the city's interests, has been active in promoting busi- ness industries and has assisted in organizing
HERBERT HENSON EVERARD.
many of these that have placed Kalamazoo in rank with other cities of the State as a manu- facturing and business center. He is a direc- tor in the Kalamazoo National Bank and in the Bryant Paper Company of Kalamazoo, and has interests in several other commercial and industrial enterprises. He served two years, 1890-92, as a member of the Kalamazoo City Council and was five years a member of the School Board and two years its president. He is a 32 degree member of the Masonic fra- ternity, a Knights Templar, a member of the order of Elks, and of the Knights of Pythias.
Miss Althea Vande Walker, daughter of John Vande Walker, of Kalamazoo, became Mrs. Everard May 18, 1880. They have six children, Ethel, Alice, Henrietta, Eleanor, Robert H., and Mary Ellen, the first being sixteen years of age and the last an infant of but a few months.
396
MEN OF PROGRESS.
JOHN M. C. SMITH.
SMITH, JOIIN M. C. Mr. Smith is a son of the Emerald Isle, having been born at Greencastle, County Londonderry, Ireland, February 6, 1853. His parents, Richard and Barbara MeMunn Smith, both of whom are still living, came to America when the son was two years old, locating in Plymouth, Ohio, where the early boyhood of the younger Smith was passed and where he enjoyed the usual school advantages. In 1867 the family re- moved to a farm in Benton township, Eaton county, Mich., where the son passed the suc- ceeding five years of his life at farm work, at- tending school at Potterville during the win- ters. The family then (1872) removed to Charlotte, where the younger Smith employed his time at mason work during the summer for several seasons, attending the High School during the winters. In 1877 he entered the literary department of the University at An Arbor, remaining there two years. He subse- quently studied law in the offices of Barbour & Rexford and C. J. O'Flyim at Detroit, and
was admitted to practice there in October, 1883, since which time he has been in active practice in Charlotte, his home town.
His efforts, however, have not been wholly confined to his legal practice, as lie has been an active promoter of all enterprises looking to the growth and advancement of the city of Charlotte, which in point of location is one of the most beautiful in central Michigan. He is president of the First National Bank of Charlotte, which was established in 1869 by Hon. E. S. Lacy, late Controller of the Cur- rency of the United States, and now president of the Bankers' National Bank of Chicago.
Mr. Smith has always been a Republican in politics, is a member of all the fraternal or- ders and was twice elected Eminent Comman- der of Charlotte Commandery of Knights Templar.
Miss Lena Parkhurst, daughter of Major John D. Parkhurst, of Charlotte, became Mrs. Smith in 1888. Their children are Lucile, aged ten years, and Wm. P., three years.
397
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HARISON, BEVERLY D., M. D. Born at Canton, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., Dr. Harison comes of sturdy old English and Colonial stock, being descended from Francis Harison, of Colonial days, who in turn was a son of Sir Richard Harison, of Hurst House, Hurst, Berkshire, England, and a member of the Privy Chamber in Ordinary to King Charles IT. Francis Harison came to New York in 1708, and from him the subject of this sketch is directly descended. His father's family, having removed to Canada, Dr. Hari- son was educated at Bishop's College School, Lennoxville, and at Trinity College School, Port Hope, the "Rugby" and "Eton" of Can- ada, and later at Trinity College, Toronto, and Toronto University, from the latter of which he graduated in medicine in 1882. He then became assistant to Dr. James Thorburn, of Toronto, and later to Dr. Chas. H. Bonnell, of Bobeaygeon, Ont., with whom he remained three years. From 1885 to 1888 he was sur- geon and physician to the Spanish River Lum- ber Company, at Spanish River, Ont., remov- ing to Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., in 1888, where he has since been in practice. While Dr. Harison has made an enviable record as a phy- sician, he has made a record with the several schools of practice in the State by his agency in procuring the passage of the Act by the Legislature designed to elevate the standard of the profession. Various efforts had been made at successive sessions of the Legislature to procure legislation on the subject, but with- out success. In 1899, however, the State Med- ical Society decided upon a further effort, and appointed a committee on medical legislation with Dr. Harison as chairman. He prepared the bill which was finally passed into law, after consultation with the representatives of the three schools, the regular, the homeopathic and the eclectic. The bill was known at the time as the Chandler Medical bill, from Rep- resentative Chandler, who introduced it in the House, but Dr. Harison gave it his per- sonal attention and paid all the expenses in connection with its passage. The law estab- lishes a State Board of Registration, before
BEVERLY D. HARISON, M. D.
which every person must pass an examination before being allowed to practice medicine in the State, the object being to weed out the large number of so-called quacks, and those imperfectly educated. The Board of State Registration having become a fact, the efforts of Dr. Harison received merited recognition by his appointment as member and secretary thereof; he is also member and president of the Board of Trustees of the Upper Peninsula Hospital for the Insane at Newberry. He is also vice-president and chairman of the execu- tive and member of the judiciary council of the Michigan State Medical Society, and is a member of the American Medical Association and ex-president of the Upper Peninsula Medical Society. He is health officer of the city of Sault Ste. Marie, is coroner of Chip- pewa county, and medical superintendent of the Sault Ste. Marie General Hospital, chief surgeon to the Michigan & Lake Superior Power Company, of Sault Ste. Marie, and local surgeon for several railroads, as well as consulting surgeon for many of the larger in- stitutions of the State. Dr. Harison was married in 1889 to a daughter of Hon. Justice Lister, of the Court of Appeals of Ontario. Dr. and Mrs. Harison have but one child, a daughter.
398
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HORATIO SAWYER EARLE.
EARLE, HORATIO SAWYER. Mr. Earle is a Detroiter but a native of Vermont, having been born at Mt. Holly, in that State, February 14, 1855. He is the youngest of a family of three sons and a daughter, offspring of Nelson C. and Eliza A. (Sawyer) Earle. IIe traces his genealogy back to the Earles in England, who were prominent among the agi- tators in demanding from Charles II. the "Subjects Writ of Right," second only to Magna Charta, leading to the permanent es- tablishment of the right to the writ of habeas corpus. He is eighth in descent from Ralph and Joan Earle, who landed near Providence, R. I., about 1636, after a two years' sojourn in Holland. Mr. Earle followed the farm until twenty-one years of age, his education having been that of the district school, with a course at Black River Academy, at Ludlow, Vt. Later he attended a night drafting school, which he alleges drafted him out of the harder lines of labor into comparatively easy life. He learned the trade of an iron moulder and had charge of foundries at Bradford, Vt., and Chicopee Falls, Mass. This practical knowledge, coupled with his knowledge of drafting, led him into a line of invention, and he has patents that are very productive. In 1886 he started out as a commercial traveler for a Massachusetts house. He came to De- troit in 1889 and has sold the entire product of an edge tool manufactory in the State of Maine, who manufacture goods invented and
patented by him, with large quantities of other lines of hardware, always working on com- mission. He has been in active business in Detroit, two years as head of the Earle & Scranton Company, Limited, and two years with the Earle Cycle Company, Limited, be- ing associated in these enterprises with other citizens. The first was a success and was sold ont to Port Huron parties. The other was a "gift enterprise," in that the money invested was given away. As the fruit of his various inventions and business enterprises he has ac- enmulated quite a little of this world's goods.
Mr. Earle sets not a little by his record in the moral realm. A few years ago he indited the motto : "A happy man is he that causes others to happy be," and then swore that sen- timent should govern his future acts toward his fellowmeu. He early came to disfavor severity in dealing with children, believing that their will power should be cultivated rather than broken, and that they should not be punished for little transgressions until they should promise never to do the like again or plead sorry. He is a member of the Metho- dist Church, but not of the ascetic order, but one that loves all Nature and can see the good- ness of the Creator iu all good things. He belongs to Ashlar Lodge (Masonic) of Detroit, Peninsular Chapter and Damascus Comman- dery K. T. Also to Michigan Lodge No. 1, I. O. O. F. He is Chief Consul of the Michi- gan Division League of American Wheelmen. Is a Republican in politics, although voting independently where the fitness of men is con- cerned. He has always been a student of economic subjects and has never lost his sym- pathy with the farmer and laborer, and this is one of the reasons that has led him to take hold during the past few years of the labor, highway and convict labor problems. He has been a leading promoter of the good roads movement in Michigan. In the several rela- tions of life he has always preferred to lead rather than to follow the lead of others. He is an attractive speaker and began speaking in lyceums when a boy of sixteen.
Mr. Earle has been twice married, Agnes L., daughter of Leonard H. and Jane Lincoln, of Plymouth, Vt., to whom he was married in 1874 (died 1878), was the mother of two chil- dren, Georgie Anna, died in infancy, and Romeo H., a student in the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery. His second mar- riage was in 1882 to Anna M., daughter of George A. and Eliza J. Keyes, of Chicopee Falls, Mass. Their one son, George L., is a student in the Detroit High School.
399
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
GLAVIN, HON. JOHN MAURICE. John Maurice Glavin, of New Buffalo, Mich., is a native of the County of Limerick, Ireland, where he was born March 25, 1833. He came to this country in 1848, making up his mind to leave Ireland while waiting in Dublin to bid one of his sisters and her family good-bye. At the last moment he declined to part with them, and came over on the same vessel. His first year in America was spent in Chicago, Ill., and later he went to Indiana to help in the construction of the Goshen Air Line Railroad. He came to Michigan and located as a citizen of Berrien county in 1857.
John M. Glavin, as a boy, was quiet and studious. His education was commenced in the common school near his native town, and in Dublin, and when he came to this country he took advantage of the fine educational op- portunities presented by American institutions and studied for a time in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Mathematies was his favorite study and he early acquired a pro- ficieney in that branch of learning.
This gave him a good understanding of the business in which he made such a success, that of a railroad contractor, for he was able to figure closely and see his way to a profitable ending of any undertaking in which he was about to embark.
He became a construction engineer, work- ing first on the Goshen Air Line and later on the Detroit & Milwaukee Railroad. He was for a time constructing engineer on what is now the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad, and later on the Port Huron & Northwestern Railroad, and then on the St. Joe Valley Rail- road. He held large contracts for the con- struetion of these roads. In 1870 Mr. Glavin went to Washington and with the help of Senator Chandler and Representative Stogh- ton, secured an appropriation of $60,000 for the construction of a harbor at New Buffalo. This was afterwards dropped from the ap- propriation list, but with a perseverance that has characterized his whole life, Mr. Glavin in 1880 again visited the national capitol and not only had the New Buffalo harbor appro-
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