USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 67
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Mr. Darragh's childhood years were passed on his father's farm and in attendance at the country school, and when 12 years of age he entered the public schools at Monroe, and was a schoolmate of the late Gen. George A. Cus- ter in a private academy at Monroe. Later he attended a private school managed by Levi T. Griffin, now of Detroit. He entered the Lit- crary Department of the University in 1857, graduating therefrom in 1868. During va- cations he worked as a farm hand in and about Monroe county, to help out his expenses. In 1859 went to Mississippi, where he taught school until May 16, 1861. The place then became a hot one for a northern man, and with the assistance of two southern college ehums,
Mr. Darragh made his way out of the county, to escape being forced into the Confederate service or suffering personal violence. In the fall of 1861 he again entered the University, and at the end of the college year in 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company H, 1Stlı Michigan Infantry, but was transferred Jan- uary 1, 1863, to Company D, 9th Michigan Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, having been mustered ont as Captain of Company D, August 9, 1865. He then went to Jackson and entered the law office of ex- Gov. Blair. Not relishing the law very much, he gave it up after six months' study and ac- cepted a position as teacher in the public schools at Jackson, and taught therein two years, when he was elected superintendent of schools of Jackson county, serving two years, 1867-S. Ile then pursued a further law read- ing with Enoch Banker, of Jackson, until February, 1870, when he went to St. Louis and opened a private bank, which was backed up by capitalists of St. Johns. He acted as cashier and manager of this bank for fourteen years, when in 1884 it was elosed ont and merged as the First National Bank of St. Louis, Mr. Darragh remaining as cashier. In 1894 this bank surrendered its charter and reorganized under the state law as the Gratiot County State Bank, of which Mr. Darragh is president.
Mr. Darragh is a Republican in polities, was treasurer of Gratiot county, 1872-74, and was a member of the State Central Committee, 1882-3, and representative in Legislature 1882-84, and has served as chairman of the Gratiot County Committee during several campaigns. Was president of the village of St. Louis 1879-81 and after it became a eity was its mayor 1893-4. He is at present a member of the Board of Control of the State Asylum for the Insane at Ionia. He was ap- pointed receiver of the Citizens' National Bank of Niles by the Controller of the Cur- rency, October 1, 1899. His society connec- tions are Masonic, including the Chapter De- grees, Oddfellows and Sigma Phi. Miss Annie P. Culbertson, daughter of Albert Cul- bertson, a paper manufacturer of Mononga- hela, Pa., became Mrs. Darragh, in 1865. They have no children.
501
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
SAVIERS, LEMUEL. General Saviers, now a capitalist and farmer at St. Louis, Gra- tiot county, won his title of colonel by service in the Civil War, and that of general by ap- pointment as brigadier general on the staff of Gov. C. M. Croswell, where he served for four years as quartermaster-general, 1877-81.
He was born in Antrim, Guernsey county, Ohio, December 12, 1840, and came with his parents to Tecumseh, Mich., in 1844. The son attended school winters until 14 years old, when he was apprenticed to J. & E. Rich- ardson, of Adrian, to learn the trade of a ear- penter and millwright, receiving five dollars per month and board the first year, from which he saved forty dollars.
He served his time and worked at his trade until twenty years of age, having been fore- man of a gang of carpenters when eighteen. Hle was a member of the Adrian Light Guard, an independent military company, at the time the Civil War broke out. He then enlisted as a private in Berdan's Sharp Shooters. Ile was appointed first sergeant of the company, was made sceond lieutenant Oet. 8th, 1861, captain Thirty-sixth Infantry Sept. 1st, 1862, major May 15th, 1863, lieutenant colonel March 30th, 1864, colonel September 12th, 1864, and was discharged for disability on account of wounds Sept. 27th, 1864.
General Saviers' military record is most ereditable, as is shown by the following quo- tation from a letter written by General John C. Caldwell, at that time division commander :
Washington, D. C., Oct. 18, 1864.
Col. L. Saviers (at that time Major), served in the First Division, 2nd Army Corps, while that Division was under my command. I always re- garded Col. Saviers as in every respect one of the best officers I had, and in the management of a skirmish line I have never seen his equal. Col. Saviers was always prompt, faithful and efficient in the discharge of his duties, and served most gallantly until severely wounded in the present campaign.
JOHN C. CALDWELL, Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols.
Somewhat anomalous is his record. Com- ing out of the service with the rank of colonel and having had command of regiments and brigades, he became a pupil in a local school with a class of young persons. Being unfitted at the time for active effort of any kind by reason of his wounds, he entered the Tecum- seh high school, and after graduating spent one year in teaching higher mathematics in the same school. In 1866 he married Miss Caro- line M. Bills, daughter of Hon. Perley Bills, of Tecumseh. In 1866-7 he was special agent
LEMUEL SAVIERS.
in connection with United States mail ser- vice, and was then appointed postmaster at Tecumseh, resigning that office in 1874, when on account of ill health, resulting from his wounds, he went to St. Louis, Mich., to avail himself of the curative properties of the waters there. As his health improved he became en- gaged in business at that place, investing in pine lands and the manufacture of humber. In 1875 he organized the Merchants' and Far- mers' Bank at St. Louis, which later became Harrington, Saviers & Co., and in 1892 be- came a state bank under the name of the Commercial Savings Bank, of which he is president. In 1888 he started the L. Saviers & Co. bank at Harrison, in Clare county, which is still doing business. Besides being a banker, General Saviers is an extensive far- mer, operating a model farm of four hundred aeres near St. Louis. In 1888 he, with others, built the Electric Light & Power Company plant at St. Louis, and later purchased the entire stock and managed the enterprise until 1899, when he sold the plant to the city. Gen- eral Saviers is a Republican in politics and a member of the order of Oddfellows. General and Mrs. Saviers have one daughter, Alice, wife of W. G. West, a druggist at St. Louis. The parents of General Saviers were Cyrus and Matilda (Dean) Saviers. His grand- father, General John Saviers, came to America with Lafayette and distinguished himself as an Indian fighter in the War of the Revolution.
502
MEN OF PROGRESS.
LOUIS E. ROWLEY.
ROWLEY, LOUIS E. Mr. Rowley is among the best known, as he is also one of the most popular and aggressive Democratic editor in Michigan. His parents, George and Kath- erine (Greene) Rowley, came from Monroe county, N. Y., in 1856, and settled in Orleans township, Ionia county, where the son was born May 17, 1858. Hle absorbed as much education as was possible, in a country district school, up to the age of 13, when he entered the office of the Ionia Sentinel as a printers' apprentice, and improved the opportunities of the situation for acquiring an advanced edu- cation, and has been learning ever since, be- cause the printing office and the newspaper contribute a school in which there is always something to learn. He was with the Sen- tinel six years, graduating from one braneh to another of the printers' art, until he was pre- pared to assume the duties of the editor's chair. There was one thing that he did not
learn with his early employers. Though pub- lishing a Republican paper, he did not learn their kind of polities but continued steadfastly in the Democratie faith. After working as a journeyman for a short time at South Bend, Ind., in the fall of 1877, he bought an interest in the Ionia Standard, the Democratic organ of that county, and became its editor. Ile continued in that eonneetion until 1883, when he disposed of his interests at Ionia and pur- chased the Lansing Journal. Under his man- agement the Journal has become one of the leading and influential Democratie papers of the state. A man who is true to his convie- tions will always command the respeet of those who may differ from him in opinion. Mr. Rowley did not approve of the financial plank in the Demoeratie platform of 1896, and ranged himself with that section of his party known as the Gold-Democrats. In the cam- paign of 1900, however, deeming the financial question (so far as it is an issue in the cam- paign) as subordinate to other paramount issues that have arisen, he is in accord with the great mass of his party.
Mr. Rowley has served his party and the people in the responsible position of Deputy Secretary of State, and Postmaster at Lansing, the latter under the second Cleveland adminis- tration. As Deputy Secretary of State he continued in his position under two chiefs, Hon. Daniel E. Soper and Hon. Robert R. Blacker, during the administration of Gov- ernor Winans, 1891-3. Mr. Rowley is a mem- ber of the Michigan Press Association, of the Order of Elks, and the Knights of Pythias. Miss Mary C. Clark, daughter of Edward Clark, of Ionia, beeame Mrs. Rowley in 1882. One son, Edward Clark Rowley is the fruit of the marriage.
503
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
BLISS, AARON T. The life of Col. Bliss is a story of success, won by indefatigable en- ergy, indomitable perseverance and honest, plain methods of business. Iu oue broad sweep of the imagination, which surveys only by fleeting glance the beginning of the strug- gle under most adverse circumstances and jumps over the loug interim of years, filled with hardships and privations, to the eontem- plation of the success which has rewarded heroic and unfaltering ambition, the real ehar- acter of men like Col. Bliss is most generally reviewed.
Aaron T. Bliss was born at Smithfield, Madison county, N. Y., May 22, 1837. His father, Lyman Bliss, was a native of the Em- pire State and of English ancestry. His mother was Anna M. Chaffee, a New Eug- land lady of culture and refinement. The early years of Col. Bliss were spent on his father's farm, his education being obtained in the district schools aud continued iu a select school in the same county. When 18 years of age he became clerk in a country store, in which occupation he continued until the breaking out of the Civil War, when he enlisted as a private in the Tenth New York Cavalry. After three years of eventful eam- paigning, he re-entered the service with the rank of captain. In June, 1864, his command was captured, and he was eonfined successively at Andersonville, Macon and Charleston. Being removed to Columbia, on November 29 he escaped in company with several comrades. After seventeen days of tramping through the swamps and forests, he reached the lines of Sherman's army near Savannah.
In 1865 Col. Bliss threw in his lot with the humbermen of Saginaw valley, prospered and laid the foundation of a large and sue- cessful business. His immense lumbering operations have been extended to other states, and the exhausted timber lands tributary to Saginaw are now being converted into produc- tive farms. His business at present centers in the Central Lumber Co., of which he is presi- dent, but he figures prominently in numerous manufacturing and banking interests, besides being a large holder of real estate.
The publie life of Col. Bliss has been an active one, in which he has demonstrated his fitness to deal with important affairs. He was alderman of the city of Saginaw four years, served ou the board of supervisors in Saginaw county, and in 1882 was elected to the State Senate. He served on the staff of Gov. Alger
AARON T. BLISS.
with the rank of colonel, and in 1888 was elected to the Fifty-first Congress. HIe se- cured for his district an Indian school, located in Isabella county, and a postoffice and gov- ernment building for Saginaw. He supported iu an able speech the MeKinley tariff bill in Congress, and his efforts in behalf of the old soldiers made happy a thousand or more vet- erans and their dependents in his district alone.
Col. Bliss has rendered valuable service to his city and state. He served eleven years on the school board of Saginaw, and for two years was president of the Saginaw Board of Trade. For five years he was treasurer of the Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids, after serv- ing as a member of the commission which located the institution. Col. Bliss was elected vice-president of the National League of Re- publican Clubs, and served one term as depart- ment commander of the Michigan G. A. R. Few men have given more to churches, schools, colleges and other noble charities in proportion to their wealth than he. Mrs. Bliss, to whom the Colonel credits much of his success in life, was formerly Miss Allaseba M. Phelps, of Solsville, N. Y., a lady of eul- ture and prominent in benevolent and Chris- tian agencies for the betterment of mankind.
At the present moment Col. Bliss is eon- spieuous in the publie eye because of his selee- tion as the Republican candidate for governor.
504
MEN OF PROGRESS.
WILL ANTONY CROSBY.
CROSBY, WILL ANTONY. Mr. Crosby, a practicing attorney at Battle Creek, is "na- tive and to the manor born," having first seen the light there June 11, 1864. His father, Peter Crosby, a native of Bath, Steuben county, New York, came to Battle Creek in 1841. His mother, Mary J. Webster, was born in Findlay, Ohio. (Her father was re- lated to Daniel Webster.) Both parents are still living. The son attended school in Battle Creek until 1879, when he left school and for several months taught school in Barry county. During the summer and fall of 1880 he worked in a broker's office in Detroit. He then took the Bryant and Stratton Business College eourse, returning to his studies in the fall of 1881, and graduating from the Battle Creek High School June 22, 1882. After this he took charge of the books of the Union Mutual Life Insurance Co., in which capacity he was engaged for several months. While in this service he commenced to read law and was admitted to the bar at Marshall June 22, 1885, before Judge F. A. Hooker. IIe located in Reed City and practiced his profes- sion there until March, 1890, when he was
forced by ill-health to abandon his profession and return to Battle Creek for treatment, at which place, upon his recovery, in the spring of 1894, he resumed the practice of his pro- fession.
Mr. Crosby is a natural born orator and has been successful, in a marked degree, in his professional work. His first prominent case was in defense of the alleged train wreckers at Battle Creek, who were charged with at- tempting to wreck trains on the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway during the Pullman strike period in 1894. IIe also represented the defense in the celebrated Sanderson trial, in which the defendant was charged with the crime of murder, in having administered pounded glass to her husband, the accused lady having been triumphantly acquitted.
Mr. Crosby was elected a member of the State Legislature in 1898 to represent the western district of Calhoun county, and served during the regular session of 1899 and special session which was called during the later days of that year and overlapped into the year 1900. In the memorable contest over the speakership of the House of Representatives at the opening of the session of 1899, Mr. Crosby bore a conspicuous part. The eandi- dates were John J. Carton, of Flint, and Edgar J. Adams, of Grand Rapids. Mr. Crosby made the nominating speech in favor of Mr. Carton, the vote on the first ballot being a tie, Mr. Adams winming, however, on the second trial. At the caucus of the Republi- can members of the two houses, at the same session, held for the purpose of nominating a United Staes Senator, Mr. Crosby made the principal nominating speech in favor of Sena- tor Burrows for re-election to that position. Mr. Crosby is the owner of 800 acres of coal lands in the Saginaw Valley, which he expects soon to develop. He also owns some 300 acres of marl land in the county of Calhoun. IIe is a member of the Order of Elks and of the Fellowcraft Club (social), of Detroit. He was married January 7, 1896, to Miss Helene Carson, at South Bend, Ind. They have no children.
505
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
WILSON, MATHEW. The subject of this sketch, is a native of the Emerald Isle, having been born in the County of Antrim, Ireland, on August 21, 1830. When but 17 years of age, in the year 1847, he emigrated to this country and located in Philadelphia, where for the first year he worked in a cotton fac- tory. From Philadelphia he removed to a farm in New Jersey and for the succeeding six years followed the occupation of a tiller of the soil. From there he went to Chicago, in 1854, and only a short time later removed to Racine, Wis. He remained in Wisconsin for about one year, working as a farm hand and later being employed by the manufacturing concern of J. I. Case & Co., of Racine, mann- facturers of farm implements. In the sin- mer of 1855 he left Racine and came to Mus- kegon, where he went to work in the sawmill owned and operated at that time by C. Davis & Co. For about six years he worked in dif- ferent sawmills during the summers and spent his winters in the logging camps. ITis first business enterprise was the establishment of a meat market in Muskegon in 1861 and this he operated until the spring of 1867, when he sold out to devote all of his time to the lum- bering business. He had started the erection of a sawmill in 1866 and in the spring of 1867 this mill was put in operation, running from that time on until 1891, when it burned. The loss of his mill did not seriously hinder his lumbering operations and he rented and oper- ated the C. J. Hamilton mill for the balance of the year. For the succeeding two years his lumber was manufactured at the mill of George J. Tillotson, and in 1894 he ceased his lumbering operations and retired from all active business life. In educational lines Mr. Wilson never had any great advantages, all the schooling that he ever had having been before he left the country of his birth. Poli- tically, he is a Democrat and has often been urged to accept offices at the hands of his party. In political matters, however, he has shown modesty, although he has held some offices. Before Muskegon was incorporated as a city he held the office of village treasurer
MATHEW WILSON.
and after it became a city he was three times elected eity treasurer. He also served on the Board of Public Works and on the Police Board. He has assisted in the beautification of the city he calls his home by the erection of four magnificent dwelling houses. Three of these handsome residences were built as homes for three of his children and the fourth as a home for himself. He was greatly as- sisted in this work by his late wife, who under- took the supervision of the erection of all four.
As stated previously, Mr. Wilson has re- tired from active business life, but he is still interested in many business enterprises. Ile is president of and a stockholder in the Union National Bank of Muskegon and a stockholder in the Alaska Refrigerator Company, Muske- gon Valley Furniture Company and Home Building & Loan Association, all of Muske- gon. He is also a stockholder in the Maxwell Lumber Company, of Michigan City, Ind. Socially, Mr. Wilson is a member of Muske- gon Lodge, No. 140, F. & A. M. He was married to Mary Louise Handy, daughter of Mrs. Eliza Handy, a native of New York state, at Muskegon, in 1863, and his wife died June 25, 1899. He has four children, all of whom reside in Muskegon. They are David A. Wilson, Mrs. Nellie L. McLaughlin, Will- iam H. Wilson and Alice L. Wilson, the latter being the only one still attending school.
506
MEN OF PROGRESS.
COL. OSCAR A JAANES.
JANES, COL. OSCAR A. Col. Janes is the present U'. S. Pension Agent at Detroit. He was born at Johnstown, Rock county, Wis., July 6, 1843, the son of John E., and Esther (Bagley) Janes. The family are de- scended from William Janes, who was a meni- ber of the colony headed by Rev. John Dav- enport, which came over from England in 1637, and founded the city of New Haven, Conn. Elijah Janes, the great-great-grand- father of Osear A., saw service in the Colonial wars and in the War of the Revolution.
Col. Janes received his early education in the public schools at Johnstown, and later attended the Milton (Wis.) Academy. In 1863 he entered Hillsdale College, Michigan, but soon enlisted as a private in the Fourth Michigan Infantry. He was wounded at the siege of Petersburg, resulting in the loss of his left arm and was mustered out of the service in 1864. Resuming his studies at Hillsdale College he was graduated therefrom in 1868, and began reading law with Judge C. J. Dickerson, of Hillsdale, was admitted to practice in 1871 and became partner with L. N. Keating, under the firm name of Keat- ing & Janes, the partnership terminating in 1873 by the removal of Mr. Keating to Mus- kegon. He has served the city and county of Hillsdale officially and with fidelity, in various positions. He was City Clerk 1871-76, City
Attorney 1872-76, Circuit Court Commis- sioner same term, Alderman 1876-78, Judge of Probate 1876-84, two terms. In 1894 he was elected to the State Senate from the Sixth District but failed of re-election in 1896 be- cause of a strong silver sentiment in a portion of the district. In the Senate he was the father of the bill compelling the display of the national flag from all school buildings and of that appropriating $10,000 for a statue of the late Gov. Blair. He was chairman of the Committee on Soldiers' Home and Constitu- tion, and member of the Judiciary and Min- ing School Committees. In 1884 Col. Janes was elected treasurer of Hillsdale College, serving as such four years. Since 1881 he has served as trustee of the College, and as auditor since 1894. In 1890 he formed a law partnership with H. G. Bailey under the firm name of Bailey & Janes, which continued until 1897. In 1885 he was appointed by Gov. Alger Paymaster-General of the Michi- gan National Guard, with rank of Colonel, serving the term of two years. On March 8, 1897, Col. Janes was appointed to his present position of U. S. Pension Agent. The ap- pointment was the first made by President MeKinley after the selection of his cabinet, and was confirmed by the Senate in the short term of five minutes. Col. Janes is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Oddfellows, Mac- cabees, G. A. R. (Detroit Post No. 384), Michigan Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, Detroit Lodge, Order of Elks, and U. S. Grant Command of Detroit, Union Veterans' Union, and Fellowcraft Club of Detroit. He has served as Commander of the Department of Michigan, G. A. R., as Inspector-General of the same order, as Department Commander of the Union Veterans' Union, as Grand Trus- tee of the Grand Lodge of Michigan (Pyth- ian), as Grand Master of the Michigan Grand Lodge (Oddfellows), and as their grand repre- sentative in the Sovereign Grand Lodge of the United States. lle was president of the Re- publican State Convention in 1896, which elected delegates to the Republican National Convention at St. Louis. Col. Janes has been twice married-first in 1873, to Miss Vinnie E. Hill, of Hillsdale, who died in 1875. In 1878 he marired as his second wife Miss Julia M. Mead, of Hillsdale. They have three children : Marie E., at Mary Nash Col- lege, Sherman, Texas, and Henry M. and John E., in school at home.
507
HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
ANDREW B. DOUGHERTY.
DOUGHERTY, ANDREW B., son of Archibald K. Dougherty, was born in St. Johns, New Brunswick, October 17, 1863. The family removed to Charlevoix, Mich., in 1868, and in 1878 to Elk Rapids. The son attended the primary and graded schools until 16 years of age, when he began business for himself. His first venture was in a small eigar and tobacco store, in which he was suc- cessful in a modest way, and to which he added a stoek of groceries. He had a preference for a professional over a commercial life, how- ever, and in 1884 he decided to make the law his pursuit, and with that end in view he entered upon the study in the office of Fitch R. Williams, where he read law until his ad- mission to the bar before Judge J. G. Rams- dell at Bellaire, in May, 1889. In the fall of the year he accepted, temporarily, a position in the Senate folding room at Washington, which he resigned in 1890 to aceept an ap- pointment as principal examiner of land elaims and eontests in the United States Land
Office at Washington. In Angust, 1891, he resigned this place and joined the new set- tlers on the Cherokee strip in Oklahoma Ter- ritory, locating in the town of Perry. He found a stoek of 300 lawyers already in this territory, and while he secured a full quota of the legal business, the dividend was small and after eleven months' struggle for existence and practice, in which he combined the work of a life insurance solieitor with law, he gave it up and returned to Elk Rapids. He opened an office and in the fall of 1894 was nomi- nated and elected Prosecuting Attorney of Antrim county, to which place he was twice re-elected, but resigned in March, 1900, to accept his present position of Deputy Col- lector of Internal Revenue for the Fourth Michigan district, comprising the northwest- ern portion of the Lower Peninsula. Mr. Dougherty is a Republican in polities, and has been a member of the State Central Commit- tee from the Eleventh Congressional distriet since 1896. He is a member of the Masonie fraternity and the Knights of Pythias.
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