Portrait and biographical album of Newaygo County, Michigan : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county also containing a complete history of the county, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 11

Author:
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Brothers
Number of Pages: 592


USA > Michigan > Newaygo County > Portrait and biographical album of Newaygo County, Michigan : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county also containing a complete history of the county, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 11


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by threats, and in a short letter to the people, after giving overwhelming reasons that no sensible man could dispute, showing the circumstances were not "extraordinary," he refused to call the extra session. This brought down the wrath of various parties upon his head, but they were soon forced to acknowledge the wisdom and the justice of his course. One of his greatest enemies said, after a long acquaintance : "though not always coinciding with his views I never doubted his honesty of purpose. He at all times sought to perform his duties in strict accordance, with the dictates of his conscience, and the behests of his oath." The following eulogium from a politcal op- ponent is just in its conception and creditable to its author: "Gov. Parsons was a politician of the Dem- ocratic school, a man of pure moral character, fixed and exemplary habits, and entirely blameless in every public and private relation of life. As a politician he was candid, frank and free from bitterness, as an ex- ecutive officer firm, constant and reliable." The highest commendations we can pay the deceased is to give his just record, -- that of being an honest man.


In the spring of 1854, during the administration of Governor Parsons, the Republican party, at least as a State organization, was first formed in the United States " under the oaks" at Jackson, by anti-slavery men of both the old parties. Great excitement pre- vailed at this time, occasioned by the settling of Kansas, and the issue thereby brought up, whether slavery should exist there. For the purpose of permit- ting slavery there, the " Missouri compromise " (which limited slavery to the south of 36° 30) was re- repealed, under the leadership of Stephen A, Douglas. This was repealed by a bill admitting Kansas and Nebraska into the Union, as Territories, and those who were opposed to this repeal measure were in short called " anti-Nebraska " men. The epithets, "Ne- braska" and " anti-Nebraska," were temporally em- ployed to designate the slavery and anti-slavery parties, pending the desolution of the old Democratic and Whig parties and the organization of the new Democratic and Republican parties of the present.


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GOVERNORS OF MICHIGAN. .


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KINSLEY S. BINGHAM.


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INSLEY S. BINGHAM, Governor of Michigan from 1855 to 1859, and United States Senator, was born in


Camillus, Onondaga County,


N. Y., Dec. 16, 1808. His


father was a farmer, and his own early life was consequently de-


notwithstanding the disadvan- voted to agricultural pursuits, but tages related to the acquisition of knowledge in the life of a farmer he managed to secure a good aca- demic education in his native State and studied law in the office of Gen. James R. Lawrence, now of Syracuse, N. Y. In the spring of 1833, he married an estimable lady who had recently arrived from Scot- land, and obeying the impulse of a naturally enterprising disposition, he emigrated to Michigan and purchased a new farm in company with his brother-in-law, Mr. Robert Worden, in Green Oak, Livingston County. Here, on the border of civilization, buried in the primeval for- est, our late student commenced the arduous task of preparing a future home, clearing and fencing, put- ting up buildings, etc., at such a rate that the land


chosen was soon reduced to a high state of cultivation.


Becoming deservedly prominent, Mr. Bingham was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace and Post- master under the Territorial government, and was the first Probate Judge in the county. In the year 1836, when Michigan became a State, he was elected to the first Legislature. He was four times re-elected, and Speaker of the House of Representatives three years. In 1846 he was elected on the Democratic ticket, Rep- resentative to Congress, and was the only practical farmer in that body. He was never forgetful of the interest of agriculture, and was in particular opposed to the introduction of "Wood's Patent Cast Iron Plow " which he completely prevented. He was re- elected to Congress in 1848, during which time he strongly opposed the extension of slavery in the territory of the United States and was committed to and voted for the Wilmot Proviso.


In 1854, at the first organization of the Republican party, in consequence of his record in Congress as a Free Soil Democrat, Mr. Bingham was nominated and elected Governor of the State, and re-elected in 1856. Still faithful to the memory of his own former occupation, he did not forget the farmers during his administration, and among other profits of his zeal in their behalf, he became mainly instrumental in the establishment of the Agricultural College at Lansing.


In 1859, Governor Bingham was elected Senator in Congress and took an active part in the stormy cam- paign in the election of Abraham Lincoln. He wit-


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138


KINSLEY S. BINGHAM.


nessed the commencement of the civil war while a member of the United States Senate. After a com- paratively short life of remarkable promise and pub- lic activity he was attacked with appoplexy and died suddenly at his residence, in Green Oak, Oct. 5, 186 1.


The most noticable event in Governor Bingham's first term was the completion of the ship canal, at the Falls of St. Mary. In 1852, Angust 26, an act of Congress was approved, granting to the State of Mich- igan seven hundred and fifty thousand acres of land for the purpose of constructing a ship canal between Lakes Huron and Superior. In 1853, the Legislature accepted the grant, and provided for the appointment of commissioners to select the donated lands, and to arrange for building the canal. A company of enter- prising men was formed, and a contract was entered into by which it was arranged that the canal should be finished in two years, and the work was pushed rapidly forward. Every article of consumption, ma- chinery, working implements and materials, timber for the gates, stones for the locks, as well as men and supplies, had to be transported to the site of the canal from Detroit, Cleveland, and other lake ports. The rapids which had to be surmounted have a fall of seventeen feet and are about one mile long. The length of the canal is less than one mile, its width one hundred feet, depth twelve feet and it has two locks of solid masonary. In May, 1855, the work was com- pleted, accepted by the commissioners, and formally delivered to the State authorities.


The disbursements on account of the construction of the canal and selecting the lands amounted to one million of dollars; while the lands which were as- signed to the company, and selected through the agency at the Sault, as well as certain lands in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, filled to an acre the Government grant. The opening of the canal was an important event in the history of the improvement of the State. It was a valuable link in the chain of lake commerce, and particularly important to the interests of the Upper Peninsula.


There were several educational, charitable and re- formatory institutions inaugurated and opened during Gov. Bingham's administrations. The Michigan Ag- ricultural College owes its establishment to a provision of the State Constitution of 1850. Article 13 says, " The Legislature shall, as soon as practicable, pro- vide for the establishment of an agricultural school." For the purpose of carying into practice this provision, legislation was commenced in 1855, and the act re- quired that the school should be within ten miles of Lansing, and that not more than $15 an acre should be paid for the farm and college grounds. The col- lege was opened to students in May, 1857, the first of existing argricultural colleges in the United States. Until the spring of 1861, it was under the control of the State Board of Education; since that time it has been under the management of the State Board


of Agriculture, which was created for that purpose.


In its essential features, of combining study and labor, and of uniting general and professional studies in its course, the college has remained virtually un- changed from the first. It has a steady growth in number of students, in means of illustration and . efficiency of instruction.


The Agricultural College is three miles east of Lansing, comprising several fine buildings ; and there are also very beautiful, substantial residences for the professors. There are also an extensive, well-filled green-house, a very large and well-equipped chemical laboratory, one of the most scientific apiaries in the United States, a general museum, a meseum of me- chanical inventions, another of vegetable products, extensive barns, piggeries, etc., etc., in fine trim for the purposes designed. The farm consists of 676 acres, of which about 300 are under cultivation in a systematic rotation of crops.


Adrian College was established by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1859, now under the control of the Methodist Church. The grounds contain about 20 acres. There are four buildings, capable of accom- modating about 225 students. Attendance in 1875 was 179; total number of graduates for previous year, I21 ; ten professors and teachers are employed. Ex- clusive of the endowment fund ($80,000), the assets of the institution, including grounds, buildings, furni- ture, apparatus, musical instruments, outlying lands, etc., amount to more than $137,000.


Hillsdale College was established in 1855 by the Free Baptists. The Michigan Central College, at Spring Arbor, was incorporated in 1845 It was kept in operation until it was merged into the present Hillsdale College. The site comprises 25 acres, beautifully situated on an eminence in the western part of the city of Hillsdale. The large and impos- ing building first erected was nearly destroyed by fire ill 1874, and in its place five buildings of a more modern style have been erected. They are of brick, three stories with basement, arranged on three sides of a quadrangle. The size is, respectively, 80 by 80, 48 by 72, 48 by 72, 80 by 60, 52 by 72, and they con- tain one-half more room than the original building.


The State Reform School. This was established at Lansing in 1855, in the northeastern portion of the city, as the House of Correction for Juvenile Of- fenders, having about it many of the features of a prison. In 1859 the name was changed to the State Reform School. The government and dicipline, have undergone many and radical changes, until all the prison features have been removed except those that remain in the walls of the original structure, and which remain only as monuments of instructive his- tory. No bolts, bars or guards are employed. The inmates are necessarily kept under the surveillance of officers, but the attempts at escape are much fewer than under the more rigid regime of former days.


Moses wissen


141


GOVERNORS OF MICHIGAN.


MOSES WISNER.


OSES WISNER, Governor of Michigan from 1859 to 1861, was born in Springport, Cayu- ga Co., N Y., June 3, 1815. His early education was only what could be obtained at a common school. Agricultural labor and frugality of his parents gave him a physical constitution of unus- ual strength and endurance, which was ever preserved by temperate hab- its. In 1837 he emigrated to Michi- gan and purchased a farm in Lapeer County It was new land and he at once set to work to clear it and plant crops. He labored diligently at his task for two years, when he gave up the idea of being a farmer, and removed to Pontiac, Oakland Co. Here he commenced the study of law in the office of his brother, George W. Wisner, and Rufus Hosmer. In 1841 he was admitted to the bar and established himself in his new vocation at the village of Lapeer. While there he was apppointed by Gov. Woodbridge Prosecuting Attorney for that county, in which capacity he acquitted himself well and gave promise of that eminence he afterward at- tained in the profession. He remained at Lapeer but a short time, removing to Pontiac, where he became a member of a firm and entered fully upon the practice.


In politics he was like his talented brother, a Whig of the Henry Clay stamp, but with a decided anti- slavery bias. His practice becoming extensive, he


took little part in politics until after the election of Mr. Pierce to the Presidency in 1852, when he took an active part against slavery. As a lawyer he was a man of great ability, but relied less upon mere book learning than upon his native good sense. Liberal and courteous, was he yet devoted to the interest of his client, and no facts escaped his attention or his memory which bore upon the case. He was no friend of trickery or artifice in conducting a case As an ad- vocate he had few equals. When fully aroused by the merits of his subject his eloquence was at once grace- ful and powerful. His fancies supplied the most original, the most pointed illustrations, and his logic became a battling giant under whose heavy blows the adversary shrank and withered. Nature had be- stowed upon him rare qualities, and his powers as a popular orator were of a high order.


On the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, repealing the Missouri compromise and opening the Territories to slavery, he was among the foremost in Michigan to denounce the shamful scheme. He actively participated in organizing and consolidating the elements opposed to it in that State, and was a member of the popular gathering at Jackson, in July, 1854, which was the first formal Republican Conven- tion held in the United States. At this meeting the name "Republican " was adopted as a designation of the new party consisting of Anti-slavery, Whigs, Liberty men, Free Soil Denocrats and all others op- posed to the extension of slavery and favorable to its expulsion from the Territories and the District of Columbia. At this convention Mr. W. was urged to accept the nomination for Attorney General of the


142


MOSES WISNER.


State, but declined. An entire State ticket was nom- inated and at the annual election in November was elected by an average majority of nearly 10,000. Mr. W. was enthusiastic in the cause and brought to its support all his personal influence and talents. In his views he was bold and radical. He believed from the beginning that the political power of the slave- holders would have to be overthrown before quiet could be secured to the country. In the Presidential canvass of 1856 he supported the Fremont, or Re- publican, ticket. At the session of the Legislature of 1857 he was a candidate for United States Senator, and as such received a very handsome support.


In 1858, he was nominated for Governor of the State by the Republican convention that met at De- troit, and at the subsequent November election was chosen by a very large majority. Before the day of the election he had addressed the people of almost every county and his majority was greater even than that of his popular predecessor, Hon. K. S. Bingham. He served as Governor two years, from Jan. 1, 1859, to Jan. 1, 1861. His first message to the Legislature was an able and statesman-like production, and was read with usual favor. It showed that he was awake to all the interests of the State and set forth an en- lightened State policy, that had its view of the rapid settlement of our uncultivated lands and the devel- opment of our immense agricultural and mineral re- sources. It was a document that reflected the highest credit upon the author.


His term having expired Jan. 1, 1861, he returned to his home in Pontiac, and to the practice of his profession. There were those in the State who counselled the sending of delegates to the peace con- ference at Washington, but Mr. W. was opposed to all such temporizing expedients. His counsel was to send no delegate, but to prepare to fight.


After Congress had met and passed the necessary legislation he resolved to take part in the war. In the spring and summer of 1862 he set to work to raise a regiment of infantry, chiefly in Oakland County, where he resided. His regiment, the 22d Michigan, was armed and equipped and ready to march in September, a regiment whose solid quali- ties were afterwards proven on many a bloody field. Col. W's. commission bore the date of Sept. 8, 1862. Before parting with his family he made his will. His regiment was sent to Kentucky and quartered at


Camp Wallace. He had at the breaking out of the war turned his attention to military studies and be- came proficient in the ordinary rules and discipline. His entire attention was now devoted to his duties. His treatment of his men was kind, though his disci- pline was rigid. He possessed in an eminent degree the spirit of command, and had he lived he would no doubt have distinguished himself as a good officer. He was impatient of delay and chafed at being kept in Kentucky where there was so little prospect of getting at the enemy. But life in camp, so different from the one he had been leading, and his incessant labors, coupled with that impatience which was so natural and so general among the vol- unteers in the early part of the war, soon made their influence felt upon his health. He was seized with typhoid fever and removed to a private house near Lexington. Every care which medical skill or the hand of friendship could bestow was rendered him. In the delirious wanderings of his mind he was dis- ciplining his men and urging them to be prepared for an encounter with the enemy, enlarging upon the jus- tice of their cause and the necessity of their crush- ing the Rebellion. But the source of his most poig- nant grief was the prospect of not being able to come to a hand-to-hand encounter with the "chivalry." He was proud of his regiment, and felt that if it could find the enemy it would cover itself with glory,-a distinction it afterward obtained, but not until Col. W. was no more. The malady baffled all medical treat- ment, and on the 5th day of Jan., 1863, he breathed his last. His remains were removed to Michigan and interred in the cemetery at Pontiac, where they rest by the side of the brave Gen. Richardson, who re- ceived his mortal wound at the battle of Antietam. Col. W. was no adventurer, although he was doubtless ambitious of military renown and would have striven for it with characteristic energy. He went to the war to defend and uphold the principles he had so much at heart. Few men were more familiar than he with the causes and the underlying principles that led to the contest. He left a wife, who was a daughter of Gen. C. C. Hascall, of Flint, and four children to mourn his loss. Toward them he ever showed the tenderest regard. Next to his duty their love and welfare engrossed his thoughts. He was kind, gen- erous and brave, and like thousands of others he sleeps the sleep of the martyr for his country.


Questi 6 Din


GOVERNORS OF MICHIGAN.


145


AUSTIN BLAIR.


A USTIN BLAIR, Governor of Michigan from Jan. 2, 1861, to Jan. 4, 1865, and kown as the War Governor, is and illustration of the benifi- cent influence of republican in- stitutions, having inherited neith- er fortune nor fame. He was born in a log cabin at Caroline, Tomp- kins Co., N. Y., Feb. 8, 1818. His ancestors came from Scot- land in the time of George I, and for many generations followed the pursuit of agriculture. His father, George Blair, settled in Tompkins County in 1809, and felled the trees and erected the first cabin in the county. The last 60 of the four- score years of his life were spent on that spot. He married Rhoda Beackman, who now sleeps with him in the soil of the old homestead. The first 17 years of Mr. Blair's life were spent there, rendering his father what aid he could upon the farm. He then spent a year and a half in Cazenovia Seminary pre- paring for college; entered Hamilton College, in Clinton, prosecuted his studies until the middle of the junior year, when, attracted by the fame of Dr. Nott, he changed to Union College, from which he graduated in the class of 1839. Upon leaving col- lege Mr. Blair read law two years in the office of Sweet & Davis, Oswego, N. Y., and was admitted to practice in 1841, and the same year moved to Michigan, locat-


ing in Jackson. During a temporary residence in Eaton Rapids, in 1842, he was elected Clerk of Eaton County. At the close of the official term he returned to Jackson, and as a Whig, zealously espoused the cause of Henry Clay in the campaign of 1844. He was chosen Representative to the Legislature in 1845, at which session, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, he rendered valuable service in the revision of the gen- eral statutes ; also made an able support in favor of abolishing the color distinction in relation to the elec- tive franchise, and at the same session was active in securing the abolition of capital punishment. In 1848 Mr. Blair refused longer to affiliate with the Whig party, because of its refusial to endorse in convention any anti-slavery sentiment. He joined the Free-soil movement, and was a delegate to their convention which nominated Van Buren for President that year. Upon the birth of the Republican party at Jackson, in 1854, by the coalition of the Whig and Free-soil elements, Mr. Blair was in full sympathy with the movement, and acted as a member of the Committee on Platform. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Jackson County in 1852 ; was chosen State Senator two years later, taking his seat with the incoming Re- publican administration of 1855, and holding the position of parliamentary leader in the Senate. He was a delegate to the National Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Mr. Blair was elected Governor of Michigan in 1860, and re- elected in 1862, faithfully and honorably discharging the arduous duties of the office during that most mo-


AUSTIN BLAIR.


146


mentous and stormy period of the Nation's life. Gov. Blair possessed a clear comprehension of the perilous situation from the inception of the Rebellion, and his inaugural address foreshadowed the prompt executive policy and the administrative ability which charac- terized his gubernatorial career.


Never perhaps in the history of a nation has a brighter example been laid down, or a greater sacri- fice been made, than that which distinguished Mich- igan during the civil war. All, from the "War Gov- ernor," down to the poorest citizen of the State, were animated with a patriotic ardor at once magnificiently sublime and wisely directed.


Very early in 1861 the coming struggle cast its shadow over the Nation. Governor Blair, in his mes- sage to the Legislature in January of that year, dwelt very forcibly upon the sad prospects of civil war; and as forcibly pledged the State to support the principles of the Republic. After a review of the conditions of the State, he passed on to a consideration of the relations between the free and slave States of the Republic, saying: " While we are citizens of the State of Michigan, and as such deeply devoted to her in- terests and honor, we have a still prouder title. We are also citizeas of the United States of America. By this title we are known among the nations of the earth. In remote quarters of the globe, where the names of the States are unknown, the flag of the great Republic, the banner of the stars and stripes, honor and protect her citizens. In whatever concerns the honor, the prosperity and the perpetuity of this great Govern- ment, we are deeply interested. The people of Mich- igan are loyal to that Government-faithful to its con- stitution and its laws. Under it they have had peace and prosperity; and under it they mean to abide to the end. Feeling a just pride in the glorious history of the past, they will not renounce the equally glo- rious hopes of the future. But they will rally around the standards of the Nation and defend its integrity and its constitution, with fidelity." The final para- graph being :


" I recommend you at an early day to make mani-


fest to the gentlemen who represent this State in the two Houses of Congress, and to the country, that Michigan is loyal to the Union, the Constitution, and the laws and will defend them to the uttermost; and to proffer to the President of the United States, the whole military power of the State for that purpose. Oh, for the firm, steady hand of a Washington, or a Jackson, to guide the ship of State in this perilous storm ! Let us hope that we will find him on the 4th of March. Meantime, let us abide in the faith of our fathers-'Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever.'"


How this stirring appeal was responded to by the people of Michigan will be seen by the statement that the State furnished 88, 11I men during the war. Money, men, clothing and food were freely and abun- dantly supplied by this State during all these years of darkness and blood shed. No State won a brighter record for her devotion to our country than the Pen- insula State, and to Gov. Blair, more than to any other individual is due the credit for its untiring zeal and labors in the Nation's behalf, and for the heroism manifested in its defense.


Gov. Blair was elected Representative to the Fortieth Congress, and twice re-elected, to the Forty- first and Forty-second Congress, from the Third Dis. trict of Michigan. While a member of that body he was a strong supporter of reconstruction measures, and sternly opposed every form of repudiation. His speech upon the national finances, delivered on the floor of the House March 21, 1868, was a clear and convincing argument. Since his retirement from Con- gress, Mr. Blair has been busily occupied with his ex- tensive law practice. Mr. Blair married Sarah L. Ford, of Seneca County N. Y., in February, 1849. Their family consists of 4 sons-George H., a law · partner of A. J. Gould ; Charles A., a law partner with hir father, and Fred. J. and Austin T. Blair, at home. Governor Blair's religion is of the broad type, and centers in the "Golden Rule." In 1883, Gov. Blair was nominated for Justice of the Supreme Court of the State by the Republican party, but was defeated.




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