USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 64
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Politically, Mr. Hummer is a Democrat, with a Populistic and Silver setting. He was elected Mayor of Holland in 1893 and again in 1894, and was a member of the school board 1890-93. In 1896 he was the candidate of his party for Congress, and ran 300 votes ahead of the national or Bryan ticket. IIe is a member of the Order of Elks, of the Knights of Pythias and Foresters. Mr. Hummer was married in 1885 to Miss Maggie Plugger, a beautiful and talented young lady of Hol- land, who, with three charming daughters, graces one of the most hospitable homes in the city.
177
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
BLACKER, ROBERT R. Mr. Blacker is the present secretary-treasurer and general manager of the State Lumber Company of Manistee. Ile is a native of Canada, having been born at Brantford, October 31, 1845, at which place his early education was received. While but a young man of nineteen years of age he left his home at Brantford, and came to Michigan, passing a couple of years at Buchanan, and later taking up his residence in Manistee, where for a number of years he followed the vocation of a lumber inspector, in this way becoming thoroughly acquainted with the details connected with the manufac- ture and sale of lumber. During his residence in Manistee he has been a prominent figure not only in affairs pertaining to the limber industry, but in political and social circles as well.
In 1875 Mr. Blacker associated himself with R. G. Peters in a business partnership which took the name of R. R. Blacker & Co., the purpose being the operation of a shingle mill which they had erected. Four years later Mr. Blacker formed a partnership with E. T. Davies and Patrick Noud, under the firm name of Davies, Blacker & Co., the first undertaking of which was the building and operation of a saw and shingle mill plant, to which in 1887 they added a salt block. The business of this company was carried on ńnin- terruptedly until the organization of the State Lumber Company, which took its place, and of which Mr. Blacker and Mr. Noud are the present owners.
Mr. Blacker has not only been engaged in lumber enterprises, but has found time to de- vote himself to business matters of a general character, and has given considerable atten- tion to politics. He is a member of the direc- torate of several local institutions, in all of which he takes an active interest. Among them are the Manistee, East Lake & Filer City Railway, the Manistee County Savings Bank, and the First National Bank of Mani-
ROBERT R. BLACKER.
stee, of which he was one of the organizers and a director, the A. H. Lyman Wholesale Drug Company, and the Manistee water works. In the spring of 1882 he was elected aklerman, and in November of the same year he was elected a member of the State Legislature. and re-elected in 1884, serving through the sessions of 1883 and 1885. Beginning with the year 1888 he held the office of Mayor of Manistee for four successive terms. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conven- tion of 1884, an alternate to the convention of 1892, and a delegate at large to the Chicago convention of 1896. He was appointed to the office of Secretary of State by Gov. Winans Dec. 24, 1891, upon the resignation of the then inembent, and administered the office with equal credit to himself and to his party umtil the close of the term. Dec. 31, 1892. Politically he has always been a Democrat.
Mr. Blacker has been twice married, but has no children. ITis first wife died in 1896. His second marriage was on Feb. 22, 1900, to Miss Nellie Canfield, daughter of the late John Canfield, of Manistee,
478
MEN OF PROGRESS.
AUGUST SPIES.
SPIES, AUGUST. The city of Menominee ing Company, of Marinette, Wisconsin, which is fortunate in numbering among its citizens eventually became a national bank, of which he was one of the directors. He helped organ- ize the First National Bank of Menominee, of which he is vice-president. He is president of the Marinette & Menominee Paper Com- pany, of the Menominee Electric Light, Rail- way & Power Company, and of the August Spies Lumber Company of Menominee, and a director of the Gruhl Sash & Door Man- facturing Company, of Milwaukee, Wis. Is also chairman of the board of trustees of the Menominee cemetery. Mr. Spies is a Repub- lican in polities, and was four years a mem- ber of the city council, and was for a num- ber of years a member of the local school board, and its treasurer. He built the first briek block in Menominee, and his was the first brick residence there. Mr. Spies' relig- ious connection is Presbyterian. Miss Ger- trude Prince, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt. became Mrs. Spies at Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1860. She came with her parents to Onon- daga county, New York, in 1850. Her educa- tion was received in her native country and in the high school at Horicon, Wis. Nine chil- dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Spies : Adella, wife of Hon. Frank W. Humphrey, a banker at Sharvano, Wis .; Charles A., real estate dealer, Menominee; Frank A., con- nected with his father's lumber interests ; Ame- lie, wife of David Bothwell, lumberman, of Menominee; Harriet, wife of Dr. Charles Ellwood, of Menominee; Alice, wife of Geo. Peaks, an attorney of Chicago; Elizabeth, Nel- lie and Arthur, at home. Mr. August Spies. Born in Hesse-Darmstadt. Germany, October 23, 1836, he came with parents to America in 1850, they settling in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, where they made for themselves a home and reared their family of eight children. The son, August. improved such educational advantages as were obtainable in his native place and in his western home, and at the age of thirteen en- tered upon work as a farm hand, and worked on a farm and in a nursery until he was twenty years old. He then rented a farm for two years, after which, with his savings, he bought 160 acres of land in Winnebago county, which by energy and industry he developed into a farm, on which he resided for eight years, ex- cept during one year of the time, which he passed at an advanced school at Appleton, Wis. When thirty years old he rented his fam and went to Menominee, where he has since resided. For twelve years after locating there he conducted a meat market and general supply store, during which opportunities for adding to his legitimate gains did not escape his clear business perceptions. He purchased traets of timber lands as occasion presented, a class of deal in which there is an ample. for- tune for the judicious operator, and thus be- came one of the humber magnates of the Up- per Peninsula. In 1880, in company with Henry Martin, the two built the lumber mill known as the Spies Mill, which Mr. Spies has operated alone for many years past. He was one of the organizers of the Stephenson Bank-
479
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
WHITE, WILLIAM H. William H. White was born at Owen Sound, Ont., April 12, 1859. Ilis father, William White, was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was a cattle buyer and shipper, and combined these interests with farming. His mother, Arabell Clement, was of Scotch-Irish descent. His education was received in the public schools near Owen Sound.
When 16 years of age, he became actively engaged in assisting in his father's business. When about 20 years old, he moved to Essex. Ont., and bought a small piece of timber land. Ile hunbered the timber to the adjoining mills. and some of the best was shipped to Liverpool. He accumulated a little out of this enterprise. and entered into a contract to get ont stave- bolts for William Edgar of Hamilton, Ont. Lack of snow and frequent rains made the work very expensive, as the product had to be delivered, and ended iu a loss.
He then engaged as woods foreman with John Miline in the winter of '79 and '80. In the spring he was made superintendent of one of his mills. He then became associated in the same capacity with John Monroe & Co., at Maid Stone, in the fall. In 1881 he was sent to South Arm, Mich., to take charge of the interests of the company. In the fall of 1882 the company failed. He was then employed by the assignee to help close up the company's affairs.
In 1883 Mr. White moved to Boyne City, which has since been his place of residence. He formed a co-partnership with R. E. New- ville. They rented a small mill and began the manufacture of broom handles. When they started in the stock was worth $14 per thousand, but when they got ready to market it had fallen to $S per thousand, making a loss of $2 per thousand handles. They went out of this business $800 in debt.
In the fall of 1884 Mr. White went to De- troit and secured a contract to supply hard- wood hunber, but had no money to start with. Finally made arrangements with C. J. Lloyd to furnish the capital at a royalty of $2.00 per thousand on all the lumber cut. He opened a mill and sawed six hundred thousand feet. Made enough to pay off the old debt and pay Lloyd in full except $85.00. Mr. Newville retired from the business. The next year's contract gave Mr. White a margin of $1,200. ITe then took a partner, Mr. R. R. Perkins. and this year realized a profit of $3,000, of which he received $1,500 on a cut of 2,700,000 feet. He then bought out Mr. Perkins and
WILLIAM H. WHITE.
the next year cleared $4,000. HIe then bought the old Sheboygan mills at Boyne City and secured a two years' contract with the Cheboy- gan Chair Co., of Sheboygan, Wis. In two years he was out of debt and had paid for the mill and timber.
Subsequently his three brothers, James, George and Thomas, associated with him un- der the present name of the firm. In 1900 they cut 40,000,000 feet.
In 1893 the B. C. & S. E. R. R. Co. was or- ganized and the railroad built from Boyne City to Boyne Falls, connecting with the G. R. & T. R. R. at Boyne Falls. It was opened for business on the 28th day of August. Mr. White owns and operates the above road, now about 40 miles long. He is also interested in mercantile and other manufacturing enter- prises, but mostly in lumbering.
Ile is third vice-president of the National Hardwood Association, elected at the national convention held in Cincinnati in May, 1900. Mr. White is a Republican in politics, but has never held office. He is a member of the Oddfellows order.
He was married in 1889 to Miss Abigal Wigle of Kingsville, Ont. She died in 1890, leaving two children. In 1899 he was married to Miss Mary Louis Reader of Lake City.
The railroad, humber and merchandising Imsiness of which he has charge is making a steady growth each year. His hardwood huum- ber interest is one of the largest in the state.
480
MEN OF PROGRESS.
GERRIT J. KOLLEN.
KOLLEN, GERRIT J. Dr. Kollen in a native of the Netherlands, having been born August 9, 1843. After the death of his father, his mother in 1851 moved to this coun- try, settling on a farm in Allegan county, this state, where she still lives at the advanced age of 97 years. The local schools and a course in the graded schools at Allegan pre- pared him for admission to Hope College at ITolland, which he entered in 1862, and from which he graduated in 1868. Like many another young man, his expenses were met by work during vacations, sometimes as farm- hand and at other times at mechanical labor. After leaving college he taught a publie school at Overisel, and was otherwise em- ployed in teaching. In 1871 he was tendered the position of assistant professor of mathe- maties at Hope College, which position he accepted and filled until 1878, when he was appointed professor of pure and applied math- ematics in the same institution. In 1885 he was made professor of political economy, and in 1893 was elected president of the college, which position he still holds. When Dr. Kollen became a student at Hope College, in 1862, the faculty consisted of one professor
and two assistants, while its catalogue con- tained the names of only about forty students. The college today has a faculty of thirteen professors and nearly two hundred students. Much of the prosperity of the college, espe- cially in a financial way, is due to the efforts of Dr. Kollen. In 1892 he went east and raised a fund of $40,000, with which the present beautiful library building was erected, and at the same time secured a valuable pri- vate library, consisting of 8,000 volumes. In 1897-8, on a further mission to the east, he secured the sum of $100,000 as an endow- ment fund for the college. His work in the college and otherwise in its behalf was recog- nized by the Board of Trustees of Rutgen College, New Brunswick, N. J .. by whom, in 1894, the honorary degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him.
Hope College is the educational center in Michigan of the Reformed Church in Amer- ica, sometimes called the Dutch Reformed Church. In its doctrine and polity it differs but little from that of the Presbyterian de- nomination. Dr. Kollen is an elder in the Reformed Church, and has held many im- portant representative positions in its coun- sels, especially as delegate at different times to the General Synods, and was a delegate from Michigan to the International Pan- Presbyterian Alliance, which met at Wash- ington in 1899.
Dr. Kollen does not confine his labors to educational and ecclesiastical matters, but in- terests himself as well in the current affairs of life. He was one of the sixteen citizens of Holland who organized the Holland Improve- ment Company, the purpose of which was to induce manufacturers to locate there. The influence of the movement is seen in the fact that the city of Holland now takes front rank as a manufacturing center in western Michi- gan. Dr. Kollen is a director in the State Bank of Holland, and has been for a number of years a member of the local School Board. Though a Republican in politics, he is not a politician. In 1879 Miss Mary W. Van Raalte, daughter of Rev. A. C. Van Raalte, the founder of the Holland colony of which the city of Holland is the center, became Mrs. Kollen. They have one daughter, Estelle Marie, a student at Hope College.
481
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
CHAMBERLAIN, GEORGE LAFAY- ETTE, M. D. Dr. Chamberlain is the pres- ent medical superintendent of the Upper Peninsula for the Insane, at Newberry. Ile comes to Michigan from Wisconsin, having been born at Eureka, Wis., July 14, 1869, where his father, John H. Chamberlain, was a furniture dealer. The Chamberlains mi- grated from Bangor, Maine, to Wisconsin. Ilis mother, Mary Loope, was of a family of professional men (physicians), so that he may be said to have inherited an aptness for the profession which he has chosen. Ile attended the public schools of Eureka until he was 14 years old, when he went to live with his grandfather, Dr. R. A. Loope, at Black Creek, Wis., where he combined medical reading with his ordinary school studies for two or three years, when he became elerk in a drug store, without salary, in order to learn phar- macy. At the age of 18 he started out for himself and went to Bessemer, Mich., with his uncle, Dr. G. L. Loope, and became a nurse in the Gogebie Hospital, earning $25 per month, including subsistence. The Go- gebie Hospital was owned by Dr. Loope at that time. In the fall of 1888 he entered as a student at Rush Medical College in Chi- cago, but on the ensuing vacation he returned to the hospital at Bessemer, as house physi- cian. Hle thus alternated his time between scientific study and hospital work, until he received his degree as Doctor of Medicine in March, 1891, his pay for hospital services partly covering his college expenses during the time. His scientific education had thus a completeness such as is best achieved by the concurrence of both theory and practice. During the summer of 1891 he relieved Dr. Powers, the physician at the Montreal Mine, near Hurley, Wis., during the latter's sum- mer vacation and then opened an office at the prospective mining town of Upson, Wis. After a practice there of eighteen months, the mines were abandoned and the inhabitants moved to other localities. Dr. Chamberlain then became a member of the staff at Gogebie
GEORGE LAFAYETTE CHAMBERLAIN, M. D.
Hospital at Bessemer, where he remained until the summer of 1893, when, owing to the depression in the iron industry and the closing of the mines, the entire medical staff was temporarily discharged. Early in the vear 1894 he opened an office at Tront Creek, Mich., a small hunbering town, where he continued in practice until June, 1895, when he went to Chicago and took a post-graduate course at Rush Medical College in pathology, surgery and nervous diseases. While there he was tendered and accepted the position of assistant medieal superintendent of the Upper Peninsula Hospital for the Insane at Newberry. Upon the resignation of the then medical superintendent, Dr. Samuel Bell, Dr. Chamberlain was appointed (April 1, 1899) to the position thus made vacant.
Dr. Chamberlain is a member of the Amer- ican Medical Association and of the State and Upper Peninsula Medical Societies. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, including the Knights Templar Commandery at Sault Ste. Marie, Ahmed Temple at Marquette, and the Consistory at Detroit, and is also a mem- ber of the order of Elks at Marquette. He is unmarried.
482
MEN OF PROGRESS.
DANIEL E. SOPER.
SOPER, DANIEL E. Mr. Soper is one of those who, beginning life in orphanage and poverty, has achieved business promi- mence and comparative independence by his own energy and industry. Born at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., June 3, 1843, his father died in January following, and the widowed mother was left with three children. When Daniel was six years old, his mother removed to Oneida county, N. Y., and placed him in the care of a farmer. In 1854 the mother brought her little family to Michigan and located in Lenawee county. Here Daniel obtained em- ployment in a woolen factory, where he worked twelve hours per day and attended a night school. When the war broke out he immediately announced his intention to enlist in the first Michigan regiment that was sent to the front, but yielded to the pleadings of his mother and returned to his work. Tle subsequently enlisted in the Fourth Regiment but being under age, his mother interposed her maternal authority and forbade his ac- ceptance by the mustering offieer. He then went to Hillsdale to commenee life for him- self, and arrived at that village the possessor of twenty-five cents. He worked in a dye
house until his cash capital had swelled to two dollars, when feeling that he was destined for commercial life rather than as a simple em- ploye, he acted upon the poet's suggestion that "there is a tide in the affairs of man, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." The war had created an eager demand for newspapers and young Soper, estimating the market and the probable returns, was the first of the genus that the then little town of Hills- dale had known. From a street vendor of news, his enterprise developed into a news depot, which proved profitable. In 1865 he married Mary A. Howell, a daughter of Hon. Wm. T. Howell, a pioneer of the state and a prominent Democratic politician of southern Michigan. Mr. Howell has been a member of both houses of the State Legislature, was president pro tem. of the Senate in 1845, and was one of the Presidential Electors who cast the vote of the state for Gen. Lewis Cass for the Presideney in 1848, but had taken up his residence in Newaygo. Mr. Soper sold out his news business in Hillsdale and also re- moved to Newaygo, where he engaged in the drug business, subsequently, abont 1876, en- gaging in the real estate and insurance busi- ness. Whether his marriage into a Demo- cratic family had anything to do in shaping his politics, is unessential, but he has always been a Democrat, having cast his first vote for George B. McClellan for President, in 1864. He was on the Democratic Electoral ticket in 1884 and was appointed postmaster at Newaygo by President Cleveland. He has served as a member of the village council of Newaygo and also as a member of the school board. At the Democratic State Convention held at Grand Rapids, Sept. 10, 1890, he was an aspirant for the nomination for Auditor-General, but gave way to George W. Stone, who received the nomination, and Mr. Soper was then given the nomination unanimously and by acclamation, for Secre- tary of State, and was elected with the rest of the Democratic ticket that year, headed by Gov. Winans, the only elean sweep the Demo- crats have made in the state since their defeat in 1854, scoring a plurality of between 3,000 and 4,000 votes over the Republicans.
483
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
HARVEY, DR. HARRIE TRALEE. The Harvey family are of English descent and trace their lineage to the celebrated sur- geon of that name, who, in the time of Charles I., discovered and demonstrated the fact of the circulation of the blood in the human system. The present Dr. Harvey was born at Holly, Michigan, February 4, 1867. His father, Charles David Harvey, died at Ann Arbor in 1882, his mother, Eliza L. Eisenbrey, being still living. The family re- moved to Ovid, Clinton county, where, at the age of nine years, he left school and went to work on a farm. He continued on the farm until 15 years of age, when he went to Battle Creek and obtained employment in the Sana- tarium. After a year of service there he went to Toledo and took up the study of den- tistry with Dr. L. T. Canfield, with whom he remained three years. He then took a two- vear course in the Philadelphia Dental Col- lege, going from there to Detroit, where he practiced for a year. In 1889 he went to Battle Creek, his present residenee, where he practiced his profession steadily and success- fully until January, 1900, since which time other business engagements (his connection with the Portland cement industry) have en- grossed most of his attention. Dr. Harvey has been devoted to his profession, and is the author of numerous papers on dental science and practice, eight of which he read before as many state dental soeieties in 1898. He was a delegate to the International Dental Con- gress held in connection with the Paris Expo- sition in August, 1890. He is a member of the National Dental Association and of the Michigan and South Western Michigan As- sociations and an ex-member of the board of directors of the latter, and an honorary mem- ber of the Northwestern Ohio Dental Asso- ciation, of Toledo. He was appointed by Gov. Pingree, April 1, 1899, a member of the State Board of Examiners in Dentistry, for three years, and is a member of the Board of Publie Works of Battle Creek, appointed in May, 1900, for five years. He was mar- ried in February, 1886, to Miss Annie Bell,
DR. HARRIE TRALEE HARVEY.
of Holly. They have one son, Raymond, aged 13 years. Dr. Harvey is secretary of the Monolith Portland Cement Co., Limited, organized in Jannary, 1900, of which he was one of the promoters, with offices in New York city, Chicago, Bristol, Ind., and Battle Creek, the duties of which position demand most of his time and energy. This company has a large tract of fine marl lands at Bristol, where they are building a plant for the manufacture of Portland cement, with a daily capacity of 3,000 barrels, working 340 days each year, which they expect to have in operation by April 1, 1901. The plant will have the latest equipment in every feature and will be run continuously, with no shutting down on ac- count of cold weather. It will be operated by electrical transmission generated from water-power, the company owning one of the largest dams in existence, being 660 feet long. Gen. James S. Clarkson, of New York, form- erly chairman of the National Republiean Committee and First Assistant Postmaster- General under President Harrison, is presi- dent of the company, with the following staff: Vice-president, L. C. McCoy, Battle Creek; M. Henry Lane, Kalamazoo; treas- urer, George B. Tompkins, Sturgis; secretary, Harrie T. Harvey; counsel, Burritt Hamil- ton ; manager, W. O. Palmer, the last three of Battle Creek.
484
MEN OF PROGRESS.
M. HENRY LANE.
LANE, M. HENRY, the president of the Michigan Buggy Co. at Kalamazoo, comes to his position by right of inheritance and suc- cession, through his early training. Ilis father was a wagonmaker at Genoa, Caynga county, and Trinnansburg, N. Y., and with the purpose that the son should be associated with him in the business, he insisted that he should learn the business in all of its branches. IIc therefore began at the bot- tom, working successively in the paint, black- smithing and wood shops, also accompanying his father in the buying and selecting of him- ber for the factory. In this last-named work the younger Lane manifested a special inter- est, and a marked aptness, which served him to good purpose at a later time. When 21 years of age, he struck out for himself, secur- ing first work as a farmhand. In 1872 he came to Michigan, working as a farmhand in Calhoun and Allegan counties, Having saved about $500, he returned home in 1875, but soon entered the employ of a large carriage and wagon manufacturing company at Tru- mansburg, N. Y. While thus employed he was offered and accepted a place on the road
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