USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 57
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423
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
WAIT, FRANK WADSWORTH. Mr. Wait is a native, and "to the manner born," having first seen the light at the village of Sturgis, December 22, 1858. His father, Jonathan G. Wait, was a man of marked per- sonality and came to Sturgis from Livingstone connty, New York, where he was a furni- ture manufacturer and railroad contrac- tor. He built the first furniture manufactur- ing plant in Sturgis. He was also a journalist in later life, having published the Sturgis Journal for about a dozen years (1858-1870). He was a member of the legislature (repre- sentative) in 1851, before the Republican party was formed, and was senator three terms (1863-7), during the war and recon- struetion days, and was a Republican of the Zach. Chandler type. He died in 1893. Mrs. Wait was, before her marriage, Susan S. Buck, daughter of George Buck, who built the first house in Sturgis, about the year 1828. She still lives in vigorous health, at the age of 78.
Frank W. Wait went from the local schools of Sturgis to Hillsdale College , where he closed his educational career in 1876. He then spent nine years as a traveling salesman in the western states, for the output of his father's furniture manufactory, for which he built up a good trade. In 1885 he succeeded his father in the business, which had a success- ful run until burned out in 1888, with a total loss. He rebuilt and replaced the plant in 1889 and continued the business until the fall of 1896, when he withdrew to devote his ener- gies to contracting and manufacturing hard- wood lumber, ties and timbers. He also owns and operates a general farm of some 700 acres near Sturgis, making the raising of pepper- mint, spearant and wormwood for their essen- tial oils a specialty. Also raising cattle, sheep and poultry of all kinds. He has always been a promoter of different manufacturing inter- ests in Sturgis.
While Mr. Wait does not mix business with politics, he seems to have a sufficiency of mo- tive power to push both along, though on dif- ferent tracks, and they both go, when he is the propelling force. And politics, in this con- nection, means not alone party politics, but a
FRANK WADSWORTH WAIT.
general interest in and attention to public affairs. Ilis Republicanism is no less pro- nounced than was that of his father, and he has attended every state convention of his party for the past twenty years. He was a delegate to the National Republican Conven- tion at St. Louis in 1876, and a member of the committee on permanent organization. He has been a member of the Republican state eentral committee for twelve years, and is the ranking member in point of length of service and has been on the executive commit- tee of the State League of Republican Clubs sinee the organization, and has been treasurer for the past six years. He is also a member of the Michigan Club. In 1889 he was ap- pointed by the attorney-general of the United States a special attorney for the Court of Claims, which holds its sessions in Washing- ton. He was appointed by Gov. Rich a mem- ber of the board of guardians of the Industrial School for Girls, at Adrian, in 1895, resign- ing in 1897, not being able to give it suffi- eient time. Mr. Wait is no less a society man than a politician, his connections being Ma- sonic, Oddfellows, Maccabees, United Work- men and Knights of Pythias. Mrs. Wait, before her marriage January 13, 1883, was Miss Ellen M. Fishback, daughter of Rev. A. J. Fishbaek. Two daughters comprise the family, Isabelle M. and Helen G. Wait.
424
MEN OF PROGRESS.
LYMAN HAKES MCCALL.
McCALL, LYMAN ILAKES. Mr. McCall is of Irish extraction, his father, Joseph G. Mc- Call, having been born in County Armagh, Ireland. The father came to America with his family when young, early in the 1840 de- cade, settling in the state of New York. He found in some portions of this state a condition of "landlordism" similar to that which existed in Ireland. Under the Dutch sovereignty, titles to immense areas of the soil had been ac- (mired from the Indians by the Holland Com- pany and some of the favored ones became possessed of large tracts which they held in perpetuity. These lands were not sold to the settlers but were leased for long terms at a rental which, in many cases, was little more than nominal. The settlers, however, in course of time, began to chafe under the ar- rangement, feeling that they had paid in rent much more than the original value of the land. Hence arose what was called the "anti-rent war" in some of the counties. It assumed menacing proportions at one time and became an element in New York politics. It involved
much of lawlessness and violence, as civil dis- turbances usually do, in which some barns were said to have been burned, from which the anti-renters and their partisans were character- ized by their opponents as "Barnburners," and this term was applied to those who represented the more popular or ultra democratical ele- ment in our polities, not alone in New York but elsewhere, especially in Michigan. The elder McCall through the association of ideas naturally enough sympathized with the anti- rent sentiment and was identified with it. The mother of onr Mr. McCall, whose maiden name was Caroline Hakes, was a New York lady. Joseph G. McCall died June 25, 1900. The mother is still living.
Lyman Hakes McCall was born in Delaware county, N. Y., August 31, 1860, where he lived with his parents until 1870, when the family moved to Petersburg, Va. The son attended the local schools in New York and subsequently at Petersburg. In 1878 he en- tered Olivet (Mich.) College, graduating there- from in 1880. Coming to Charlotte, his pres- ent residence, he studied law in the office of Edward A. Foote and was admitted to the bar before Judge F. A. Hooker in July, 1883. He became a partner with his former preceptor (Foote) which continned four years. He then became associated professionally with F. A. Dean, so eontinning until 1890, since which time he has been alone in practice.
In politics Mr. McCall has always been a staunch Republican. He was elected prose- enting attorney of Eaton county in 1892, serving one term, and has been city attorney of Charlotte several times. In 1898 he was elected a member of the Legislature and dnr- ing the session of 1899 was chairman of the Honse committee on private corporations and a member of the important committees on rail- roads and insurance. Miss Jennie M. Fouts, danghter of Dr. Jesse T. Fonts, became Mrs. McCall in November, 1885. They have two children, Harry T. and Hattie, aged respect- ively thirteen and eleven years.
425
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HANNAH, HON. PERRY. The name of Mr. Ilannah is synonymous with the Grand Traverse region and with Traverse City, where he resides. He was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, Sept. 22, 1824, the second son of Elihu L. and Anna (MeCan) Hannah, the father a native of Connecticut and the mother of Pennsylvania, both being remotely of Scotch descent. They were farm- ers, and on the death of the mother in 1827 the father came to Port Huron, and after- wards removed to St. Clair, where he died in 1862. The son remained in Pennsylvania until he was 13 years old, enjoying the school advantages there, when he joined his father in Michigan, assisting him in lumbering and rafting operations, in which he was engaged. From his eighteenth to his twenty-first year he was in the employ of John Wells, in the dry goods trade, at Port Huron. In 1846 he went to Chicago and was in the employ of lumber firms there for some four years, when through the aid of his then employer, Jacob Beidler, he became senior in the firm of Han- nah, Lay & Co., composed of himself, A. T. Lay and James Morgan, of which William Morgan, after a time, became a special part- ner. The firm of Hannah, Lay & Co. forms an inseparable part of northern Michigan. The firm built a mill and began manufactur- ing lumber in a small way at a point on Grand Traverse Bay that has since become Traverse City, in 1851. From their small beginnings, handling pine only, the capacity of the firm reached 20,000,000 feet annually, including both pine and hardwood, before the sale of the mills and timber lands to John Torrent, of Muskegon, in 1887. During the earlier years of their manufacturing, Mr. Hannah alternated with his partner, Mr. Lay, six months turn about, between Chicago and their mills, but in 1855 Mr. Hannah became per- manently a resident of Traverse City.
The beautiful town of Traverse City, with its nearly 10,000 of population, may be said to be almost an outgrowth of the firm of Han- nah, Lay & Co. The firm have other ex- tended commercial interests, aside from the Inmber manufacture, from which they have retired. They conduct a large mercantile
HON. PERRY HANNAH.
establishment, employing sixty men, with sales reaching nearly $500,000 annually. They have a large flouring mill with a capa- city of 150 barrels per day. They own the Chamber of Commerce Building in Chicago, valued at $3,000,000. Up to 1892, when the Traverse City State Bank was organized, the firm did the entire banking business of the locality.
Of Mr. Hannah's personal efforts in promot- ing the welfare of his town, his fellow citizens will bear testimony. Ile was president of the city council on its organization and for many years afterwards, and has been for nearly thirty years a member of its school board. Politically, Mr. Hannah is a Repub- lican. In 1857 he represented his county in the lower house of the legislature. In 1864 he was one of the electors who east the vote of the state for President Lineohi for his see- ond term. He is president of the Traverse City State Bank, of the Hannah & Lay Mer- cantile Company, of the Chamber of Com- meree Safety Vault Co. of Chicago, and a director in the Traverse City Railroad Com- pany.
Miss Annie Flin, of New York city, be- came Mrs. Hannah in 1852. She died in 1898, leaving two daughters and a son ; Hattie A., wife of J. F. Keeney, of Chicago; Julius T., cashier of the bank at Traverse City, and Claribel, at home.
426
MEN OF PROGRESS.
THOMAS BIRKETT.
BIRKETT, THOMAS. Mr. Birkett was born in the parish of Isel, Comberland county, England, January 10, 1833, where his parents, Thomas and Eleanor (McLean) Birkett resided. Ilis education was received at the parish school. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a miller. Five years later he came to America, first locating at Dresden, Yates county, N. Y., where he re- mained one year. In 1853 he came to Michi- gan, reaching the village of Dexter in August of that year, with less than five dollars in his pocket.
He obtained a situation as third miller in the Dover Mills (Dover is a hamlet five miles north of Dexter on the Huron river) then owned by D. D. Sloan & Co., shortly after- ward being made foreman. He bought Mr. Sloan's halfinterest in 1861-on the death of that gentleman-later buying the other half interest.
In 1867 he bought the Hudson Mills, sit- uated one mile farther down the river. He operated these mills until 1882, when he or- ganized the Birkett Manufacturing Co. for the purpose of manufacturing wood pulp,
selling the two mills to that company and re- tiring from the active management, but re- taining one-third of the stock.
In 1888 the Dexter Mills eame into his hands by assisting a friend. At the same time he bought the Peninsular mills, both of which he still owns, and more recently bought the Pinckney mills. In 1885 he built a pulp mill at Petoskey, Mich., on Bear Creek, one of the best water powers in the state, since changed to a woodenware manufactory.
In 1893 Mr. Birkett assisted in organizing the Dexter Savings Bank, capitalized at $20,000.00, of which he has been president since its organization. He is interested in pine lands in Alabama and Mississippi. He lives on a farm five miles north of Dexter, located on the banks of the Huron river and Portage lake. For many years a postoffice was kept at his place, known as "Birkett." He was postmaster for over twenty years, but now gets his mail at Dexter.
He has recently purchased the homestead of the late Judge S. W. Dexter, with its fine old mansion. Judge Dexter gave his name to the village, and his residence, standing on an eminence a little to the west, has been for years a prominent landmark.
Portage lake also suggests another reminis- cence. About sixty years ago one G. R. Lilli- bridge, who owned the land now comprising part of Mr. Birkett's farm, "discovered" a mineral spring, platted a "city" which he called "New Saratoga," which name can be found on some of the early maps of the state. A small one-story building which he called the "White Cottage" composed the "city." He was sixty years too soon, as the place is now getting to be quite a resort-and the visionary scheme of Lillibridge may some day become a reality.
May 1st, 1855, Mr. Birkett married Mrs. S. A. Grundon (nee Wood) daughter of James Wood, Manchester, England. Their only child, Eleanor J., is the wife of the Hon. H. W. Newkirk, present Judge of Probate of Washtenaw county. Mrs. Birkett died in 1892.
427
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
RAMSDELL, JONATHAN GANNETT. No name is better known in Michigan than is that which heads this sketch. Judge Rams- dell is of New England stock by his father, Gannett Ramsdell, and his mother, Anna Perin, both natives of Massachusetts. They settled in Plymouth, Michigan, in 1827, and the son, J. G., the third of four sons, was born there January 10, 1830. His early life was divided between work on the farm and at- tendance at school. He entered the village academy of Northville and the academy at Plymouth, from which he went to Albion College. On returning home he learned the trade of a moulder and finisher. He then took a course in a commercial college, and after graduating became bookkeeper for a Cincin- nati commission house, and later in banking houses in Detroit and Adrian. While at Ad- rian he commenced the study of law with the late Congressman, Hon. Fernando C. Bac- man. Close study and confinement, however, undermined his health, and he spent a winter in the lumber woods, cutting and skidding logs. In the spring he helped run the river and through the summer was tail sawyer. The next winter he acted as head sawyer, and in the following spring, having regained his health, resumed the study of law with Judge Longyear, of Lansing. In 1857 he was ad- mitted to the bar and was the same year ap- pointed circuit court commissioner for Ing- ham county, by Gov. Bingham. He was school inspector and chairman of the board in the township of Lansing, and was elected first city clerk, holding the office one month, when he resigned upon. his appointment as clerk of the Supreme Court at Lansing. This position he held until 1861, when he re- signed to enter the Agricultural College as special lecturer on commercial customs and commercial law and double entry bookkeep- ing. On the completion of that course he removed to Traverse City. Mr. Ramsdell had married February 3rd, 1861, Mrs. Clara A. Phillips, of Lansing, and in the fall of 1861 they came on horseback down the lake shore to Frankfort and across the trail (there were no roads in northern Michigan then) to what is now Traverse City, arriving there in October of that year. A tract of land was bought adjoining what is now the city of Traverse City, and which under Judge Rams- dell's cultivation has since developed into the famous Ramsdell fruit farm.
JONATHAN GANNETT RAMSDELL.
On the organization of the Thirteenth Judi- cial Circuit Mr. Ramsdell was elected Circuit Judge, and was re-elected at the next succeed- ing election. On the expiration of the second term he declined a renomination, and entered into practice. At the next judicial election he was again elected Circuit Judge and was again re-elected.
Judge Ramsdell has been president of the Grand Traverse Union Agricultural Society, of the State Pomological Society, and of the West Michigan Agricultural and Industrial Society, of which latter he was a director; commissioner for Michigan to the American Pomological Society at Chicago in 1875, and at Boston in 1879, and a member of the Colum- bian Fair Committee for Michigan Fruits. For many years he has been chairman of the executive committee of the State Grange. Hle was originally an Abolitionist and subse- quently a Republican, but became known as a Silver Republican in 1896, when he was the Democratic-Combination candidate for Congress in his district, and was chairman of the Michigan delegation to the Silver Repub- lican convention at Kansas City in 1900. Under the new order of things he is politically classified as a Democrat, and was nominated for Lieutenant Governor by the Democratic convention held in Detroit, July 25, 1900.
428
MEN OF PROGRESS.
HORACE TUPPER, M. D.
TUPPER, HORACE, M. D. Dr. Tupper came to his profession by inheritance, his father, Archilius Tupper, having been a phy- sician at Pine Plains, Columbia county, N. Y., near which place the son was born October 2, 1830. His mother, Leah Strever, was of the same locality (Columbia county). He studied with his father until twenty years old, when he went to Buffalo and entered Dr. Frank Hamilton's office as a student. He had full access to the "Sisters' General Hospital," re- maining there through the whole term of Prof. Hameton's charge of the surgical side of the hospital. He then entered the Ed- wards Street Female Hospital in Buffalo, where he combined study and practice for two years. When the War of the Rebellion broke out he attached himself to the Fourteenth
Regulars and was soon changed to the Sec- ond Brigade, Sixth Division, and was as- signed to service in the batteries of the Sixth Division, Army of the Tennessee, as surgeon, with the rank of major. He remained with his battery until reaching Corinth, Miss., and saw service at the battles of Pittsburg Land- ing, Farmington, Corinth, and a number of minor engagements. He became interested with Samuel Bolton in building a salt block in connection with a sawmill that they pur- chased. The plan of the salt block was to use exhanst steam from the mill. Also to use the slabs and sawdust to make live steam to keep up the required amount of heat to crystalize the salt. The plan proved successful and was quickly adopted by others, and is still used by the salt blocks in the valley.
The doctor soon found that he was the only surgeon in the locality, and his services were in great demand at the then village of Bay City and nearby points. In fact, he was the only surgeon in that part of the valley for fifteen years, and up to the present time he is very busy in his professional work. The doctor is a member of the G. A. R. and has been commander of H. P. Merrill Post of Bay City. Miss Elizabeth Trinder, an Eng- lish lady, daughter of Wm. Trinder, of Chad- wington, Oxfordshire, England, became Mrs. Tupper, at Buffalo, December 24, 1862. Their one son, Horace, Jr., is an attorney at Bay City.
In politics the doctor is a Republican, worked energetically for the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. He never could be in- duced to accept any political office.
429
HISTORICAL SKETCHIES.
DEMPSEY, JAMES. Mr. Dempsey was born in Roscommon county, Ireland, April 10, 1832. His father was a farmer who emi- grated to this country in 1847, settling at Scranton, Pa., where he died in 1857; his first wife, the mother of James, having died in Ireland. A young man of 22, James Dempsey went to Manistee in August, 1854, with no equipment but his own brain and brawn. The next winter he went to the woods in the logging camps of the Canfield Brothers, a year later taking charge of one of their camps, and during summer deliver- ing logs at the mill booms. Ile continued in their service until 1871. Tn 1869 he formed a partnership with A. E. Cartier and they together undertook the work of boom- ing and assorting the logs on the Manistee river, which at that time aggregated about 1,000,000 feet per year. In 1873 the firm of Dempsey & Cartier bought the Green & Milmoe property on Manistee lake and for ten years engaged in the manufacture of lumber, in 1883 incorporating the business under the name of the Manistee Lumber Com- pany, of which Mr. Dempsey was made presi- dent. Mr. Cartier and Win. Wente being the other two stockholders originally, although several other parties have since become inter- ested in the plant. The capital stock is $402,- 500, all of which is paid in. The concern has been very successful in all of its operations and has acquired valuable mill holdings and timber lands, making it one of the most sub- stantial institutions of this character in the state. This company has recently acquired the ownership of the Eureka mill and salt block. The two plants of the company cover about fifty acres of ground, and the company has a dockage on Manistee lake, of about a mile and a half, including slips. The capa- city of the company's dock is about 12,000,- 000 feet, the entire output of the mills being shipped by water. The Manistee mill has a capacity of 30,000,000 feet of lumber and 10,000,000 lath annually, and the Eureka mill a daily capacity of 120,000 feet of Inın- ber, 30,000 lath, 20,000 staves and 900 bar- rels of salt. One hundred men are employed in the Manistee plant and 180 in the Eureka. The timber lands of the company are situated in Kalkaska and Crawford counties and repre- sent about six years cut. The company has constructed a narrow guage railroad, incor-
JAMES DEMPSEY.
porated under the name of the Crawford & Manistee River Railroad, thirteen miles in length. While the foregoing statistics are not, strictly speaking, a part of Mr. Demp- sey's personal biography, they are insepar- able from it. In addition to his large hold- ings in Michigan, Mr. Dempsey owns about 10,000 acres of long leaf yellow pine timber in the Pearl River section of the Mississippi, also about 25,000 acres of timber lands in the state of Washington.
Politically, Mr. Dempsey is a Democrat of the gold standard faith. He was postmaster at Manistee under President Buchanan and under the first Cleveland regime, and served one term as mayor of the city of Manistee, but has generally declined public office. 11is religious connection is Roman Catholic. Miss Mary Mullen, daughter of Michael Mu !- len of Racine, Wis., became Mrs. Dempsey June 30, 1861. Twelve children have been the fruit of the union, eleven of whom are living. Lawrence T. and James W., super- intendent and cashier respectively of the Manistee Lumber Co .; John, civil engineer in the employ of the United States govern- ment in Central America; Louis, lumberman at Williams, Arizona; Frank, bookkeeper at the Manistee Lumber Co .; Nellie, wife of John F. Clancy, Racine, Wis .; Cecelia. wife of James W. Duncan, Milwaukee, Wis. ; Emma, Henrietta, Neal and Estelle, at home.
430
MEN OF PROGRESS.
ANTOINE E. CARTIER.
CARTIER, ANTOINE E. Mr. Cartier is at present a resident of Ludington. He is of French-Canadian origin, the name being prominent in political circles in the province of Quebec. He was born at Three Rivers, Canada, May 16, 1836. His parents, Johr, Baptiste and Rozelle (Counquene) Cartier, were farmers. He had school privileges ouly during winters by a walk of three miles from home, and at 12 years of age beeame a farmer boy at meagre wages. When 18 years old he took a contract getting out square timber on the Ottawa river, for the Quebec market. In the fall of 1854, giving his parents $50 of his small resources, reserving $75 for himself, he went to Chicago and the next year took a sailboat to Manistee. Ile here went to work in a sawmill operated by Joseph Smith, where he worked two years, taking Smith's note for his pay, and when Smith failed, his note failed with him. He then went to work for D. L. Filer, working in his mill during the summer and as foreman of logging camps in winter, being thus employed four years. In July, 1862, he struck out on his own ac- count, looking up and estimating standing
timber, and made $16,000 that year. In 1863, in connection with James Dempsey, he took a five-year contract sorting and deliver- ing the logs that came down the Manistee river, continuing in this work fifteen years and employing fifty men and two tugs, and while so engaged he organized the Manistee Tug Co. In 1877 Cartier and Dempsey took a five-year contract from the boom company at Ludington, and Mr. Cartier's removal to that place followed. In 1879 he bought Dempsey's interest at Ludington, and in con- nection with Frank Filer, started the Cartier < Filer Lumber Co., which was sold in 1882 to the present Butters & Peters Lumber Co. In 1882 Mr. Cartier purchased a one-third interest in the Goodsell & Allen Lumber Co., of Ludington, and the next year bought out his partners and organized the Cartier Lum- ber Co. The plant was burned in 1894 but rebuilt the same year. It employs 125 hands and turns out 15,000,000 to 18,000,000 feet of lumber per year.
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