USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 54
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HON. JOHN MAURICE GLAVIN.
priation added to the list again, but had $10,- 000 more tacked on to it. Mr. Glavin owns a beautiful farm near New Buffalo and gives most of his time in operating it. He raises a fine quality of fruit and general produec.
He was supervisor of Chiekaming township, Berrien county, from 1861 to 1865, and elected to the Legislature of 1866 by the largest majority ever given in his distriet. He was county surveyor of Berrien county, 1877- 1884; supervisor of New Buffalo, 1880, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1894, 1895 and 1896, dur- ing which latter term he was on the commit- tee of construction that built the Berrien County Court House at St. Joe.
Mr. Glavin married Miss Helen Scanlon, daughter of Dennis and Marguerite Scanlon, Sept. 5, 1856. Their children are Mary HI., Helen, Emma, Eva, John, Grace, Thomas and Frederick Glavin. John is chief elerk and cashier in the M. C. depot at South Bend, Ind.
On his mother's side Mr. Glavin traces his ancestry to the noted O'Keefe family, from which the mother of the great Irish liberator, Daniel O'Connor, sprang.
400
MEN OF PROGRESS.
DR. WILLIAM JAMES DUFF.
DUFF, DR. WILLIAM JAMES. Dr. William James Duff, a respected citizen of Port Huron, Michigan, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Angust 17, 1856. His public school education was received in that city, in Detroit and in Port Ilurou, Michigan, being later supplemented by a course in the Medical Department of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated.
Dr. Duff was president for two terms of the board of health in Port IInron and elected to the State Legislature on the Republican ticket, sessions of 1899-1900.
When the recent rupture with Spain oc- curred, Dr. Duff, who had for some time been a member of the Michigan National Guard, and at different times was first and second lieutenant and captain of Company F, Third Michigan N. G., enlisted as a private soldier in Co. F, Thirty-third Michigan Vol- unteer Infantry, when his company was mus- tered into the United States service.
Although he was ill most of the time that his regiment was in Cuba, he managed to keep out of the hospital and attend to his duties as a soldier, but the campaign in the alternate sun and rain of our new possessions cansed him to lose weight rapidly so that although he
weighed 176 pounds when he went away he came home weighing 101 pounds. He was confined to his bed from Sept. 4 to Nov. 28, after his return from Cuba, during which time he was elected to the legislature, thus escaping any severe campaign work in the political battlefield.
This was a pleasant relief, for his regiment (the Thirty-third Michigan) had seen active service in the heat of the Santiago campaign, and he was not in a talkative condition, and unfit for the warmth of a political fight. So popular was the candidate offered by the Re- publican party that the Democrats refused to put up any man against him, so every vote cast was for Dr. Duff.
While the regiment was in Cuba, all of the surgeons, through sickness and other causes, were detached from duty, leaving the regi- ment wholly without medical attendance, so in addition to his regular duties as a non-com- missioned officer, to which rank he had been promoted, Dr. Duff volunteered to care for the men, and won for himself the esteem and love of every man in the regiment.
The news of this reaching St. Clair county, in appreciation of his services the citizens pre- sented Dr. Duff with a diamond studded gold medal of appropriate emblematic character inscribed, "To Corporal William J. Duff, M. D., from the citizens of Port Huron, in appre- ciation of his professional devotion to the mem- bers of Co. F, 33rd Mich. Vol. Inf., during the Santiago campaign of 1898."
Dr. Duff married Mrs. Minnie Finney, daughter of Mr. Ross, of Hamilton, Ontario, at Sedalia, Missouri, June 1, 1899.
Dr. Duff was recommended by the brigade surgeon of his brigade to the United States medical department, on account of his dis- tinguished services, and could doubtless have a commission in the regular service if he were willing to accept it. He enjoys an extensive practice in Port Huron, is a member of the Congregational church of that city, belongs to the Masons, Elks and Maccabee lodges in Port Huron.
401
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
VAN RIPER, JACOB J. The little kingdom of Holland is the country that fur- nished the prefix Van to the family name, as other countries have their peculiar patrony- mic. Mr. Van Riper's paternal ancestry, therefore, is traced to Holland, a country to which the west is so largely indebted for its ideas of civil and religious liberty and its devo- tion to education. His ancestors, half a dozen generations back, were early settlers in New York while under the Dutch sovereignty and known as New Amsterdam. His father, John Van Riper, was born in New Jersey in 1811 and was the inventor of a power loom for weaving ingrain carpets His mother was Leah Zabriskie, of Paterson, N. J., her father having been a political refugee from Poland. Mr. Van Riper was born at Haverstraw, Rock- land county, N. Y., March 8, 1838. His early education was received in the public schools of New York City, being, however, of a catchy or broken character after his twelfth year. At this age he began to work in a car- pet factory at $4 per week, alternating his work with school attendance for four years. He then became clerk in a dry goods store in New York, during his school vacations, de- voting his evenings to study. In the fall of 1855 he became a student at Charlottsville In- stitute, at Charlottsville, N. Y., and in 1860 began reading Blackstone and decided to make law his profession. His father's family having removed to LaGrange, Cass county, Michigan, and his father having built a woolen mill there, desired the son's assistance. The latter therefore left school in 1857 and entered the mill as bookkeeper and general assistant, improving the two winters of 1858 and '59 by teaching. In the fall of 1860 he entered the Law Department of the University, remaining through the college year, and in 1861 was en- gaged in reading law in the office of James M. Spencer at Dowagiac. When the internal revenue system was organized as a necessity of the then existing war, Mr. Van Riper was ap- pointed deputy collector of the Fourth Michi- gan District, and held the position for five years, and was soon after appointed assistant assessor of internal revenue for the same dis- trict for the term of three years. He was ad-
JACOB J. VAN RIPER.
mitted to the bar before Judge Nathaniel Ba- con, at Cassopolis, in 1863, and opened an office at Dowagiac, but removed to Buchanan in 1870, and in 1887 removed to Niles. He was in active practice at his several places of residence from the time of his admission to the bar in 1863 until he assumed the duties of judge of probate of Berrien county, Janu- ary 1, 1893, a period of over thirty years. Since his election as judge of probate his prac- tice has been confined to the necessary atten- tion to the business of old clients.
Judge Van Riper was among the younger members of the Constitutional Convention of 1867 and was prosecuting attorney for Ber- rien connty two terms, 1877-80. In 1880 he was elected attorney-general of the state and re-elected in 1882. In 1880, also, he was appointed by Gov. Croswell a regent of the University, to fill a vacancy, serving in that office six years. He is a member of the State Association of Probate Judges, a member of the Masonic Fraternity of the Royal Arch De- gree and of the United Workmen. Mrs. Van Riper, to whom he was married in 1858, at Penn township, in Cass county, was formerly Miss Emma E. Bronner, daughter of Jacob Bronner, of York Mills, N. Y. Their chil- dren are : Lnella, wife of A. A. Worthington, an attorney at Buchanan; Cassius M., attorney and register of probate at St. Joseph, and Adah, at home.
402
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HON. LAWTON THIOMAS HEMANS.
NIEMANS, HON. LAWTON THOMAS. Hon. Lawton T. Hemans, mayor of Mason, Michigan, was first elected to that office in 1891, when he was the youngest mayor in the state. In 1892 he was again nominated to that office ; but in the fight for municipal own- ership of the electric lighting plant of the city he was defeated. In 1897 the young Democrat was elected an alderman for the second ward of his eity and in the spring of 1899 he was again elected mayor, in which position he is now serving. He is only 35 years of age, having been born on the 4th day of November, 1864, at the village of Colla- mer, Onondaga county, New York, where his father carried on the trade of a blacksmith. When he was 11 months old his family re- moved to the township of Oncida, Eaton county, this state, where the father took up the business of farming. Three years later the father resuming his trade, the family eame to the city of Mason; later moving to a large farm which the father had previously pur- chased, in the township of Onondaga, he soon learned to know the life of a farmer's son. Working on the farm during the busy plant-
ing and harvest season and attending the dis- triet school was the recurring routine until his sixteenth year, when he entered the publie schools at Eaton Rapids. Here his experience was the experience of the average farmer boy. Working for his board; walking the eight miles to his home of a Friday night to spend Saturday and Sunday with his parents and to luxuriate in the home cooking and then walk back again of a Sunday night or Monday morning. In June, 1884, he graduated from the High School and from thenee until the fall of 1887 his time was occupied as a teacher in the district schools of Aurelius township during the winter months and as a hand upon the farm during the summer. In 1886 he began to read law. Judge Huntington, of Mason, kindly gave him access to his library, from which he obtained books for perusal when not otherwise employed. In the fall of 1887 he entered the Law Department of the University of Michigan. At the close of his course there he was elected one of the Circuit Court commissioners of Ingham county and opened an office at Mason. In the spring of 1889 he formed a copartnership with John M. Corbin, of Eaton Rapids, and under the firm name of Corbin & Hemans this firm continued until the spring of 1890. Mr. Hemans then returned to Mason, where he purchased the library of Huntington & Henderson, which had been the leading legal firm of Mason, and has practiced his profession in that city ever since.
Mr. Hemans married Miss Minnie P. Hill, daughter of William J. Hill, at Onondaga, Michigan, in 1889. They have one son, Charles Sidney. Mr. Hlemans is a member of Lansing Lodge, B. P. O. E. John H. He- mans, the father of Lawton T., came to America in his childhood, from Banwell, Som- ersetshire, England. His wife's maiden name was Lovinia Sherwood.
Mayor Hemans has proven himself an ex- cellent executive and his terms in the office he now holds have been greatly beneficial to the city. He is young, energetie and a strong be- liever in progressiveness.
403
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
DONOVAN, JOHN. Mr. Donovan boasts an Irish parentage, his father, Patrick Dono- van, having come to America at the age of 19 from Cork, Ireland. His mother was Julia Seully, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The son was born at Ilamilton, Ontario, May 26, 1843, the parents removing to Youngstown, N. Y., during his infancy and settling in the village. Upon attaining school age, he attended the public schools until he was 15, when he was apprenticed to learn the trade of a general mason, to one John Carter, who agreed that he would make the better mason if he began at the bottom and learned everything, and to make his practice consistent with his teaching, young Donovan was instrueted in the art of carrying mortar and brick, breaking stone and mixing mortar, at a compensation of 17 eents per day. His father, who was a carpenter by trade, left the farm and resumed work at his trade. From 1860 to 1870 the elder Dono- van was employed on the government works at Fort Niagara, at Youngstown, N. Y., and was superintendent of general work, and from 1863 to 1865 the son was a sub-foreman, eom- pleting his trade there. Work was dull in 1865, and in October the younger Donovan eame to Michigan, locating first at Holly, where he worked that season, and then re- moved to Fenton. After the first two win- ters of his Michigan experiences he re- turned to Youngstown and became a teacher in the publie school there. He remained at Fenton until 1870, doing eon- tract work in that part of the state, and then moved to Flint, to become superintendent of the High School building. He continued his occupation of contractor and builder here until 1879, but diversified his labors by teaching three years, 1876-79, in the parochial school at Flint. In 1879 he removed to West Bay City and built the Lumberman's Bank build- ing, and a year later moved to Bay City, where he has since been an extensive eontraetor and builder, having built some of the more promi- nent blocks in that eity, the Crapo, Phoenix, Rose, Ridotto, and the St. James Chureh. Mr. Donovan is interested, as a stockholder,
JOHN DONOVAN.
in the Michigan Sugar Company of Bay City, and is a large holder of real estate and owner of several business blocks in the eity. He is a member of the Catholic Mutual Benevolent. Association, of the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians and of the Knights of Columbus. He eame to the Roman Catholic faith by inherit- ance and adheres to it from eonvietion. Miss Sarah Isham, of Kennedy, N. Y., beeame Mrs. Donovan on November 11, 1873. They have no children.
Mr. Donovan was elceted to the lower house of the legislature in 1894 and enjoyed the distinction of being the only Democrat in that body at the session of 1895. The vieissitudes of politics are illustrated by the fact that from having eontrolled the legislature in 1891, the Demoerats had but a single representative there, four years later. The novelty of the situation in which Mr. Donovan was placed gave him special prominenec, but no member of the body stood higher in the estimation of his associates than did he. While he had noth- ing to ask politically, his wish had only to be made known regarding any matter of legisla- tion to secure for it the most respectful and favorable consideration.
404
MEN OF PROGRESS.
ALFRED JAMES DOHERTY.
DOHERTY, ALFRED JAMES. There is a elear suggestion of a Celtie origin in the name that heads this sketch, and some experi- ences in the early life of Mr. Doherty show him possessed of a large percentage of the spirit of independence and self-reliance that is characteristie of the Irish people. His grandfather, John Doherty, was for years eap- tain of an ocean line steamer, and eame to America from the north of Ireland. His father, Michael Doherty, was associated with the Chesebrew-Bissell Company, lumber deal- ers on the East river, in New York City, where Alfred J. was born May 1, 1856, and where his early boyhood was passed, alternating the ordinary home duties with sehool attendanee. Later the family removed to Belfast, New York, where the father engaged in farming. Alfred J. there attended the Genesee Valley Seminary, from which he graduated in 1874. IIe started out for himself in 1876 and his star led him to Clare, Michigan, the possessor of a
capital of $10. He found work in a sawmill, where he worked in all departments, from piling lumber to scaling logs. In the fall of 1878 he became elerk in a dry goods store and a year later was granted a state teacher's eer- tificate, and in connection with Dennis E. Alward, had charge of the public schools of Clare during the then ensuing three years, and while teaching opened an insurance office. In 1881 he started a hardware store on a small scale and has conducted a prosperous business in that line ever since. In 1892 he became interested in the Clare Woodenware Com- pany, of which he was general manager. He has built several business bloeks and the new brick opera house at Clare, and owns a farm of 640 acres in Vernon township, near Clare, on which he spends his summers, and being a farmer as well as a man of affairs, he has held the position of president of the Farmer's In- stitute of Clare county. He is president of the Clare Electric Light Company and local manager for the Michigan Bell Telephone Company. His society connections are the Knights of Pythias and Elks.
In politics Mr. Doherty has always been a stanneh Republican, energetically furthering the interests of his party and never failing in liberal contributions of time and money to every campaign. As chairman of the Re- publiean committee of Clare county and in other positions of trust he has displayed abili- ties which, in his ease, as always, win sueeess.
In 1876 Mr. Doherty was married to Miss Aliee B. Gleason at Belfast, New York. Two sons, Floyd and Frank, are associated with their father in his business affairs, the daugh- ter Lida is a student at Albion College, and the youngest son, Fred, is a schoolboy at home.
405
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CHAMBERLAIN, WILLIAM. The Chamberlains were first represented in Amer- ica by Jacob Chamberlain, who was a resident of Roxbury, Massachusetts, about 1690. From him sprang Samuel, thence Moses, and again Moses, father of the present William Cham- berlain, the latter having been born at Pem- broke, N. H., Feb. 7th, 1834. The Chamber- lains after Jacob were residents successively of Roxbury, Chelsea and Hopkinton, Mass., and Loudon, N. H. The mother of Mr. Chamber- lain was Mary Foster, of Canterbury, N. Y., a direct descendant of Reginald Foster, who settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1636. Mr. Cham- berlain, with some early schooling at Concord and some experience in selling newspapers, came with his parents to New Buffalo, Mich- igan, when he was nine years of age. Two years later (1845), the parents purchased a traet of land of 800 aeres, in what is now the township of Three Oaks, in Berrien county. At the age of eleven, the son carried the mail on horseback from New Buffalo to Michigan City, and one year drove a horse on the tow- path. In 1847 a school was opened near the Chamberlain residence, which the son at- tended during the winter months. The family library was largely contained within the lids of the Bible, from which it was the son's duty and pleasure to read every morning. He was a good reader and became well posted in the sacred volume. From the age of eighteen until twenty-eight his vocation was that of farming. In 1864 he moved to the village of Three Oaks and became partner in a general store, handling also grain, wool, and general produce. The business firms were successively Chamberlain, MeKee & Co., Chamberlain d' Co., Chamberlain & Churchill, Chamberlain & Hatfield, and Chamberlain, Warren & Hat- field, banking also having been a feature of the business from 1864 to 1890.
Few men have filled so many official posi- tions and filled them so well as Mr. Chamber- lain has done. He has held every township office in his township, except Justice of the Peace and Treasurer. He was one of the County Superintendents of the Poor, 1861-80, and postmaster at Three Oaks, 1870-72. He
WILLIAM CHAMBERLAIN.
was elected to the lower house of the Legisla- ture in 1872 and again in 1874, and in 1876 and again in 1878 was elected to the Senate and was president pro tem of that body in 1879. In 1881 he was appointed a member of the commission to prepare a revision of the tax laws. Ile was a member of the Board of Control of the State Prison, 1885-91, and on April 6th, 1893 was appointed warden of the prison, and is known throughout the United States as the model executive officer of penal institutions. He is a member of the National Prison Congress and of the National Confer- ence of Corrections and Charities, was a mem- ber and president of the State Association of Superintendents of the Poor, was for twelve years a member of the executive committee of the State Agricultural Society and was for two years its president. Mr. Chamberlain has been a promoter of business enterprises at Three Oaks, especially the Warren Feather- bone Whip Co., and the Warren-Featherbone Corset Co. He is a member of and assisted in organizing the First Congregational Church at Three Oaks, and was superintendent of the first Sunday school in the village. He east his first vote for Governor Bingham in 1854 and has been a Republican ever since and is a member of the Michigan Club. Miss Caroline S. Chamberlain of Canterbury, N. H., became Mrs. Chamberlain in 1857. The family con- sists of four married daughters and two sons.
406
MEN OF PROGRESS.
C
WILLIAM FABIAN MCKNIGHT.
MeKNIGHT, WILLIAM FABIAN. One of the best known of the energetic attorneys of western Michigan, and one who has established himself in a very extensive practice, is Wm. F. MeKnight of Grand Rapids, whose voice has been heard in the court rooms, upon the stump and at numerous other gatherings in all parts of the state. Essentially a self made man, his career is one well worthy of emulation and because of his ability, energy and ambitious devotion to his profession, his subsequent career will be watched with a keen interest.
William F. MeKnight was born upon the old family homestead in Cascade township, in Kent county, on July 23, 1863. His early days were spent in hard work upon the farm and his evenings in study. His early educa- tion was obtained at the country schools and at the age of seventeen he was himself the holder of a teachers' certificate and a teacher in a country school. In the fall of 1880 he entered upon a four years' course in the college at Val- paraiso, Ind., from which he received a degree. During the last two years in College, his sum- mers were occupied with the country superin-
tendent of schools at Valparaiso in summer school work, holding teachers' reviews. In 1884-5 he was superintendent of schools at Kankakee, Ill., and during all this time he was fitting himself for the profession of law. Entering the law department of the University of Michigan he was graduated in '87, and after a short period in the office of Turner & Carroll in Grand Rapids, he opened an office for him- self. Six months later he entered into the firm of Godwin, Adsit & MeKnight, which con- tinued until the death of Mr. Godwin and the election of Mr. Adsit as circuit judge and of Mr. MeKnight as prosecuting attorney of Kent county. His next legal connection was with Thomas F. McGarry and Congressman M. H. Ford, under the firm name of MeGarry, MeKnight & Ford. Upon the death of Mr. Ford in '92, Judge Allen B. Morse, formerly chief justice of the Michigan supreme court and later United States consul at Glasgow, succeeded to the firm and remained until his departure for his foreign service. In '97 L. Frank MeKnight became his associate and this firm continued for three years, when James MeAllister entered the partnership under the firm name of MeKnight & MeAl- lister.
In politics Mr. MeKnight is well known to the Michigan Democracy, having been an hon- ored and active worker in party conventions and councils, county, state and national. He was permanent chairman of the state conven- tion in '92, and a delegate and active partici- pant in the national convention in Chicago in '96, which nominated Mr. Bryan for the presi- deney, and also witnessed his second nomina- tion at Kansas City. He has been repeatedly mentioned for higher political honors.
By years of tireless work, early and late, which a vigorous constitution and native en- ergy has enabled him to perform, and by a consequent success in his profession, Mr. Mc- Knight is now interested in a number of busi- ness enterprises in his home city. His social connections are high, and in addition to mem- bership in the clubs of Grand Rapids, he be- longs to a number of secret societies.
407
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CHANDLER, HION. WILLIAM. Hon. William Chandler, of Sault Ste. Marie, is a native of Michigan, having been born in Rai- sin, Lenawee county, April 27, 1846. ITis parents were Ilicksite Quakers, his father, Thomas Chandler, who came to this state in 182S, having been an Abolitionist and one of those kindly men who helped in the under- ground railroad system, by means of which many slaves were conducted to freedom. Young Chandler's early life was spent on a farm and his education was received at the Raisin Valley Seminary, a Quaker institution near his home. In 1862 he left home and went to Indianapolis to learn a trade, but be- fore he had served his apprenticeship he was in the wholesale paper business on his own account and as this business brought him in contact with the newspaper fraternity, the vear 1870 found him publishing a Republi- ean paper in Muncie, Indiana. He returned to Michigan in 1872 and became editor of the newly established Adrian Press, and when the paper became Democratic he joined the Ad- rian Times and remained with that paper until 1875, when he established the Cheboygan Tribune. In 1877 he was appointed by Gov. Croswell collector of tolls of the St. Mary's Falls Ship Canal, and in 1878 he established the Sault Ste. Marie News. When the canal passed into the control of the United States, in 1881, he was made superintendent, which position he held until 1885, when he resigned to give his entire attention to his various busi- ness enterprises.
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