USA > Michigan > St Clair County > St. Clair County, Michigan, its history and its people; a narrative account of its historical progress and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
780
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
recognized as one of the foremost schools of its kind in the state, its standard being fully as high, and its curriculum quite as wide in scope as any similar school. All of this is a direct result of the honest, consci- entious labors of Father Ternes among his people, who have responded to his ministrations in a manner which clearly evidences their high re- gard for him as their spiritual adviser.
REUBEN MILLS, a brother of the late Nelson and Barney Mills, holds a prominent place in the history of Marysville, both because of his sturdy and upright citizenship and his substantial connection with the lumber- ing interests of this part of the state. He was born in Wardsville, the Dominion of Canada, on April 11, 1839, the son of Barney and Margarette Ann ( Hamilton ) Mills. His father was a native son of Nova Scotia, the year of his birth being 1801. The elder Mr. Mills followed the calling of the farm throughout his entire life. He came to Canada in an early day, when he had reached his majority, and lived there for many years, till his family of thirteen children, seven boys and six girls, had grown to manhood and womanhood. The mother died when Reuben Mills, the immediate subject of this brief personal record, was nine years old, and some time afterward the father married again. The second wife bore him two children, and after her death in Canada he came to Marysville, where he passed away in 1871.
As a boy Reuben Mills attended the school in Wardsville, Canada, during the short winter season, and at the Mills school in Marysville after he had come to this place at the age of nineteen. From the age of nine until he was thirteen Reuben lived at home, and then went to work by the month on a neighboring farm. After six years he came to Michigan, and here for one year was engaged in farm work for his brother. He then started in the lumber business, and in a single sum- mer at running a shingle and lathe mill, and receiving pay by the thousand, he made the sum of four hundred dollars, a very remarkable amount for a boy of those days. Soon after this venture he found his way to the lumber woods, and there worked for some time, driving logs by way of Elk creek and Black river. Following that he worked in the Reeves, Williams and Mills saw mill, soon becoming foreman and an overseer of logging camps, a calling which he followed for thirty-five years. He invested in four hundred acres of farm land in Sanilac county, Michigan, and it has been so well improved under Mr. Mills' management that it is now practically all under cultivation.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Mills was united in marriage to Miss Corinthia Wright, of Marysville, Michigan. She died, leaving four children, Etta, Prudence Edith, Arlington and Herbert R. Etta be- came the wife of John A. Rowe, a Methodist Episcopal minister, now the pastor of a church at Napoelon, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Rowe have five children. Prudence Mills married Frank Geel, a farmer, and is now the mother of one child. Arlington Mills passed away in his twenty-first year, and his brother Herbert died at the age of seventeen.
Politically Mr. Mills is a thorough going Republican, and had the honor to start his allegiance to that party by casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln as president. He was a member of the school board of his district for forty years without a single break until his resignation on last July. Since his seventeenth year he has been a member of the
HAR. Huile
751
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Methodist Episcopal church, the greater part of the time being also an office-holder in the church.
In 1898 Mr. Mills was again married, his bride being Mrs. Addie MI. Davis, of Marysville. It is interesting to record that in the days when Mr. Mills was a sturdy driver of logs for his brother he once, during a summer in the early 'sixties, eleared five thousand dollars in a single season.
WILLIAM R. YCILL, M. D. The medical profession and the citizenship of Yale has no more capable and popular representative than Dr. Wil- liam R. Yuill, who has been identified with medical practice in this city for a quarter of a century. Through his ability and high personal in- tegrity he has long enjoyed the confidence of the community, and is one of the best known doctors of St. Clair county. Dr. Yuill has had an in- teresting career, and success came to him as a result of vigorous effort on his own part during his youth, combined with a very thorough prepara- ration for his profession. A native of Canada, he was born in Lanark county, Ontario, August 26, 1845, a son of Alexander and Ellen ( Aiken- head) Yuill. Both parents were natives of Scotland, whence they immi- grated in 1821 to Canada with their respective parents, both families coming in the same vessel and settling in Lanark county, in which county they were married and spent the rest of their lives. They were honored and respected old residents of that vicinity, made a comfortable home for themselves and their children, and were among the substantial, well-to- do farming citizens.
Dr. Yuill was next to the youngest of a family of fifteen children. and though he had the happy surroundings of a good home it behooved him early in life to start on an independent career. His early educa- tion was obtained in the district schools and the high school at Carle- ton Place, and he then prepared for teaching in the normal school at Toronto. For some years teaching was his principal ocenpation, and in this way he gained most of the funds for his professional career. In 1869 he entered the medical department of the Victoria University at York- ville (as Toronto was then called ). In 1870 he helped in the reorganiza- tion of the medical department of Trinity University at Toronto, and he attended there one session. This was followed by a general course in the noted medical school of McGill University at Montreal. Going thence to Detroit, he practiced there for a time, and then entered Bellevue Col- lege. He next went abroad and spent two years of observation and study in the leading medieal centers of Europe. On returning to America he entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, where he was graduated as an MI. D. in 1877.
Dr. Ynill began his practice in Zanesville. Indiana. then located, in the fall of 1880, at Ovid. Clinton county, Michigan, where he practiced several years, and in 1884 moved to Sanilac county, from whence he came to Yale in 1886. During his thirty-five years of active connection with the profession he has enjoyed a practice which has brought him a com- peteney and he has acquired interests in property and business, so that he is one of the substantial citizens of Yale. Ile is a member of the Ameri- can Medical Association and affiliated societies. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Masons and the Odd Fellows.
Early in his professional carcer. on September 21. 1878. Dr. Yuill
782
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
married Miss Maggie A. Morrison. Her death occurred March 3, 1881, and she left one child, William A., who is a successful young business man of Lansing, being proprietor of the Michigan Bridge & Pipe Com- pany of that city. On the 20th of October, 1905, Dr. Yuill married Mrs. Emma Pettit Kitchen, of Roseburg, Michigan.
BERNARD D. TOWNSEND followed the vocation and calling of his father from earliest manhood until the year 1908, when he permanently gave up sailing and embarked in the lumber business in Algonac, where he was born and reared and which place he has called home all his life. He has added real estate and loans to his lumber business, and is con- ducting a thriving trade in all branches in which he is interested. The descendant of one of the oldest and best families in the United States, a few words of the Townsend ancestry is not out of place in this neces- sarily brief review.
Born in Algonac, St. Clair county, Michigan, on September 13, 1860, Bernard D. Townsend is the son of Gilbert and Adelia (Robertson) Townsend. Gilbert of that name was a son of Sergeant John T. Town- send, a gallant soldier, and he came from Dutchess county, New York. The family is an old English one and four brothers Townsend accom- panied the exploring expedition of Henry Hudson from England in 1610, the trip bringing them into Oyster Bay, Long Island, and these brothers settled in New York, severing their connection with the com- pany of the great navigator. Gilbert Townsend is a direct descendant of one of the brothers. He passed his life as a captain of lake vessels and was well known among fresh-water craftsmen, having been engaged in the work for a matter of forty years. He died at the age of seventy- five, after a life of usefulness and good works. Among the. possessions of Bernard D. are a number of relics handed down from generation to generation, all of which are highly valned by him. He also owns a deed for the first Methodist church built in St. Clair county, recorded in the books of the register of deeds of that county under date of Jan- uary 14, 1836. The deed for the property which Mr. Townsend now owns is dated January 1, 1832, which marks approximately the date of Gilbert Townsend's settling in Algonac. The following children were born to Gilbert Townsend and his wife: Bernard D .; Charles O .; Nellie, the wife of Dr. Charles McKinnie, of Norfolk, Virginia; Harry Hoyt Townsend; Josie E., unmarried ; Marshall B., deceased, leaving a widow and three children.
Bernard D. as a lad was educated in the public schools of Algonac; he attended school until he was nineteen, when he took up sailing and made his first trip in 1875. He followed the lakes until 1908, becom- ing well known and commanding responsible positions. He gave up the life to engage in the lumber business, as mentioned in a previous para- graph, and since then has given his entire attention to that, together with a real estate and loan business which he conducts in conjunction with his lumbering business. Mr. Townsend is a member of Sam Ward Lodge, No. 62, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Sam Ward Chapter, R. A. M. He is a Republican in his political allegiance, al- though has never taken an active part in such matters.
Mr. Townsend has been twice married. His first wife was Anna Drezmal, of Chicago. She died, leaving no issue. In June, 1910, Mr.
783
ITISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
Townsend was united in marriage with Nellie Nugent, a native of Can- ada, but reared and educated in the United States. One child has been born of this latter union, Robertson G. Townsend, born March 24, 1911.
WILLIAM D. ADDISON. The marvelous growth and unparalleled de- velopment of the United States during the last half century would have been an utter impossibility had it not been for the accession to our eiti- zenship of so many of the most virile people of north Europe and the British Isles. Scotland's contribution of her most manly sons to our ranks has been a noble one and no class of people have received a more enthusiastic welcome than have these same sturdy Scotsmen, who came not only to reap financial profit by engaging in trade, but are foremost in taking active interest in upholding the laws and principles of this democratic Republic of their adoption, many of them becoming our most trustworthy and efficient officials in the communities in which they reside. Marine City numbers among its leading business men one eon- spicuous example of the class of citizens mentioned above, Mr. William D. Addison, who became a resident here in 1887.
Mr. Addison was born at Portsay, Scotland, in the year 1840. As a young man he was apprenticed to learn the harness and saddlery trade, serving in that capacity for six years, during that time mastering every detail in connection with the work and becoming most proficient in it. He entered business on an independent basis in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where for twenty-four years he conducted a harness and saddlery store. In 1886 he was unfortunate enough to be obliged to dispose of his business in order to meet a debt of honor which he con- tracted in becoming bondsman for a friend. Without a moment's thought of attempting to evade the debt he made the sacrifice but de- cided that it would be easier for him to recuperate his fortune in a new country and after selling out his Scotland interests he came to the United States, arriving in Marine City the following year, 1887. when he purchased his present harness business of David Mills and has ever since been its owner and eonduetor.
In fulfillment of his military duties in Scotland Mr. Addison was for fifteen years a member of the Seventh Aberdeenshire Volunteers. having been the first man to enlist from Huntly.
Sinee coming here Mr. Addison has taken a leading interest in pub- lie and political affairs, his affiliation being with the Republican party. He has been honored with official position for several years, having been elected a justice of the peace in 1900, serving. four years, and again receiving the office in 1910, which he now retains. He is well known to be a man of painstaking earnestness in the discharge of all his duties, and his decisions in cases that come before his court are universally pro- nouneed to be just, impartial and upright.
Mr. Addison was first married in 1864, to Miss Jessie Russell. of Huntly, Scotland, and two daughters were born to that union. They were Jammeia Christian and Jennette. The mother's demise occurred in 1876. Upon leaving Scotland for this side of the water Mr. Addi- son brought his two daughters with him to Canada, where he married his second wife, Miss Jessie Rose, of Canada. Subsequently the two dangh- ters were married to prosperous Canadian ranchmen of the Great North-
784
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
western section of the Dominion. An interesting feature concerning the marriage of the daughters was that they chose brothers for their husbands, Jammeia Christian becoming the wife of Wallace Boyington and Jennette the wife of Arthur Boyington.
Mr. and Mrs. Addison are numbered among Marine City's most valued members of the leading social and religious circles. Their hos- pitality is of the most generous and kindly character and they are held in the highest esteem by all with whom they come in contact.
FRANKLIN C. HART. To have witnessed the development of his home town continuously for more than the traditional three score and ten years has been the fortune of Franklin C. Hart, a member of the firm of Blood & Hart at Marine City. Marine City was known as Newport at the time of Mr. Hart's birth, in 1842, and for a long time thereafter. During the decades that have elapsed since then he has been at the forefront in every movement that augured well for the community, and has given of his strength and energy to shaping the destinies of the city.
His parents were eastern people. He remained with them until eighteen, when he decided that he was entitled to strike out for him- self, and he sailed on the lakes for two seasons. Then he followed var- ious lines of occupation until 1864, when he felt the call of the great Civil war and enlisted. The Engineers and Mechanics Corps demanded skilled men, and to this division of the service Mr. Hart was welcomed. Thence onward to the close of the war he was busily engaged in build- ing and repairing bridges. He was given honorable discharge at Nash- ville, Tennessee, in 1864.
Returning to his old home, he worked in the postoffice for one year. The firm of Blood & Hart was formed in 1866. At present it is engaged principally in general merchandising and as steamboat coalers. At that time, however, wood was chiefly used for fuel, and they sold as high as 17,000 cords during a season.
In 1867 he married Miss Mary C. Blood, who died in 1882. Seven years later he married Miss Florence Currie, of Algonac, Michigan. Her father was from New Brunswick, a hotel man who also possessed the business of a harness maker. To this second marriage two children were born-Russell A., who is attending law school at Detroit, and Harry B., who is taking a course preparatory to matriculating for his law studies.
His fellow citizens have frequently honored Mr. Hart in selecting him for posts of responsibility. He was the third president of the vil- lage of Newport, and later served the community as supervisor, treas- urer and constable. When the title of the town changed to Marine City Mr. Hart was still to be found at the forefront. He was a member of the council for six years, and of the school board for ten years. For three years he was president of the Marine Savings Bank.
His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal church. Socially he has taken much interest in Masonry, and holds membership in three branches of the York Rite, the lodge, chapter and council. His polities are Republican. Mr. Hart is entitled to be known as a self-made man, one of sterling worth and integrity, and one who has done much for his home city.
785
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
EUGENE II. MOAK. Among those whose names are indelibly asso- ciated with the progress of Port Huron since the commencement of its phenomenal growth in recent years is Eugene Il. Moak. The influence a man exerts in molding the character of the community is told not so much by the length of time he may have resided therein as by his own individuality and activity. Mr. Moak is a native of St. Clair county, Michigan, born January 1, 1867, a son of Charles J. and Alice MI. (Carpenter) Moak.
Eugene II. Moak received his education in the Port Huron schools. and his parents, who were excellent people belonging to an honored family of this section, reared him to habits of industry, economy and sobriety. As a mere lad he became an apprentice in the Upton Manu- facturing Company, at a salary of four dollars per week, and during the twenty-five and one-half years that followed he worked his way steadily upward, being promoted from time to time until he reached the position of mechanical superintendent, and during this time the name of the firm had been changed to the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Company. He resigned this position to become associated with the South Park Manufacturing Company, although he still owns stock in the other eoneern. It is probably as one of the developers of South Park that Mr. Moak is best known, and to him and his business associates must be given the credit for the opening up of this large traet of former wilderness to the city of Port Huron. In 1890 he first platted eighty acres in the Eleventh Ward, which he sold, and since that time has been engaged continually in land deals, selling, renting, building homes and factories, and encouraging the people who work in the latter to become residence owners rather than to spend a large part of their incomes in paying rent. He is still the owner of twelve acres of the old home- stead, and in partnership with his brother Edward L. has many other desirable pieces of property. They have sold every foot of ground in South Park, have built nine-tenths of the factories here, and have changed the wild. uncultivated stretch of land into a thriving residence and commercial center. In 1900 the Factory Land Company was or- ganized by W. L. Jenks, as chairman ; Edward L. Moak, as secretary ; and Eugene II. Moak, director, the first two holding office for ten years and then retiring. During this time they worked nights, their other duties taking their attention during the day times, and although their finaneial gain was slight, they achieved a great work, and South Park now stands as a monument to their progress and industry. It is stip- ulated that no saloons are to be located in this part of the city, and that each home should be worth at least $800 and should be situated a certain distance back from the newly laid out streets. On March 17. 1900. Eugene II. and Edward L. Moak offered some of their land along the St. Clair river, thus making possible the building of one of the prettiest parks in the state. Engene II. Moak is a very modest and re- tiring man, but is genial and affable in manner. He is a great reader, a close student, possesses an exeellent memory and is a skilled mechanic. Ile is treasurer of the South Park Society, the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of America, is a Republican in politics, and is relig- iously affiliated with the Baptist church, of which he is a trustee. Itis beautiful home is situated at No. 2760 Moak street. one of the pretty
786
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
thoroughfares of South Park, which was named in honor of a member of the family.
On December 25, 1895, Mr. Moak was married in Port Huron to Miss Minnie M. Humphries, who was born in Canada, daughter of David and Margaret Humphries. Mr. Humphries, who was born near Toronto, Canada, is a veteran of the Fenian Raid, and now is em- ployed by the Port Huron Engine and Thresher Company. He and his wife have five children, namely : @ William, who lives in Port Huron ; 3 Minnie, who married Mr. Moak; 3Edward, who lives in Milwaukee; Ernest, of Lansing, Michigan ; and Arthur, living in Port Huron. The three children of Mr. and Mrs. Moak were all born in the old family homestead at the corner of Thirty-second and Moak streets, which Mr. Moak purchased from his father's heirs. They are: Elmer D., Lil- lian M. and Eugene H., Jr. Mrs. Moak, like her husband, is well and favorably known in church circles, and both have hosts of friends who are gratified to hear to their business success and social prominence.
ALEXANDER T. YOUNG. The fertile fields of St. Clair county, Mich- igan, have been the scene of the success of a number of the north central states, many of whom, reared upon the farm, have left it to engage in other pursuits, only to eventually return and take up the work they had followed in early manhood. Prominent among this class may be mentioned Alexander T. Young, the owner of an excellent property located in East China township, whose success in his chosen work has marked him as one of his community's leading agriculturists. Mr. Young was born in the town of China, St. Clair county, Michigan, Sep- tember 26, 1841, and is a son of James R. and Margaret (Baird) Young, natives of Scotland.
James R. Young ran away from home when he was a lad of nine years, having decided that he would like to travel and see the world. Reaching the ocean, he became a stow-away in a vessel bound for Hong Kong, China, and when they had reached that port the youth was put to work assisting in loading the cargo of tea. The destination of the vessel was Boston, Massachusetts, where young James met a Ver- mont farmer, who took him home, educated him and made him skilled in practical agriculture. He remained with his benefactor until he was twenty years of age, at which time he went to Sackett's Harbor and enlisted in the Regular United States Army, and his regiment was sub- sequently sent to northern Michigan to make settlements with the trad- ers. After visiting Fort Gratiot, Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie, Mr. Young came to what is now China township, in about 1834, and located on a farm, on which he resided until his death in 1876. Of a sturdy, ad- venturous spirit, he was an ideal pioneer and one of those who did so much in the early days to lay the foundations of the prosperity that was to come later.
Alexander T. Young grew up on the home farm, and received his education in the country schools adjacent thereto, subsequently attending the Union school, St. Clair, and Dickenson's Institute at Romeo, Mich- igan. He then gave his attention to farming in the summers and teach- ing school in the winters for a period, in the meanwhile learning the photographic business, which he followed for a time at Clift Mine, Michigan. After spending another year in China, he engaged in the
2a.
787
HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY
lumbering and contracting business, erecting the first mill and house at Ausable and Oscoda, Ioseo county, and continued in that business for ten years, when he returned to East China and purchased the farm he now owns. IIe is carrying on extensive operations and has been uniformly successful in his work. Although his private interests have kept his time well occupied, he has managed to devote considerable at- tention to public matters in the different localities in which he has lived. Progressive in all things, and an able manager of his own affairs, Mr. Young has been his fellow-citizens' choice to serve in various offices. While at Oscoda he was school inspector and justice of the peace for ten years and county treasurer of Iosco county for two years. Upon his return to China he became justice of the peace, a position which he holds at the present time, and has served as health officer, town treas- urer, town clerk, a member of the town board for a number of years, a member of the board of town equalization and director and moderator of schools. He is a Mason in his fraternal connections, liberal in church matters and progressive in his political views.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.