Healy C. Akeley

Healy Cady Akeley, b.1836-d.1912

Healy was born in Stowe, Vermont on March 16 1836, the son of George and Eluta Akeley. His father was a lineal descendant of Hannah Dustin, made famous by her escape from captivity by the Indians in 1698. Healy was instructed in the ancient languages and mathematics at the Academy at Barrc, Vermont and studied law with the firm of Dillingham & Durant in Waterbury, Connecticut. He continued his studies at a Poughkeepsie, New York law school. After practicing law in Greensborough, Vermont, in 1858 Healy moved to Grand Haven where he helped develop the lumber and shipping industries. He was one of the major stockholders of the Grand Haven Lumber Company, Justice of the Peace, and Circuit Court Commissioner for two years. In 1862 he founded the newspaper Grand Haven Union, a voice of the Republican Party, which was edited by Lemoyne M. S. Smith until 1872. Healy enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry on October 23, 1863. He served primarily in Mississippi, and was promoted to First Lieutenant and Adjutant on November 30, 1864 and to Captain the following July 31. He was discharged on August 17, 1865.

After the war, Healy bought for $13,000 a considerable amount of land outside the original Grand Haven village limits for building sites. From 1866 to 1880 he was Customs Collector for the United States Government. In 1872 he shared a law office with a Mr. Stewart. The next year Healy was named a director of the First National Bank of Grand Haven.

In 1871 Healy erected a large two-story frame building at 200-202 Washington, which became known as the Akeley Block. The new structure housed several retail establishments over the years, including Slayton’s Dry Goods, Watson’s Dry Goods, Addison’s, Addison-Baltz, and Steketee’s. In 1872 Healy entered into partnership with Charles Boyden and formed the Boyden and Akeley Shingle Mill, for a time the world’s largest. He and Captain Thomas Kirby owned the Kirby & Akeley Shipbuilding Company. Their steam barges, including the H. C. Akeley built in 1881, transported goods to every corner of the Great Lakes. He was also a silent partner in the firm of Harris Brothers, merchants in Grand Haven. Healy was a civic leader, and from 1882 to 1884 served as Mayor of Grand Haven. In 1882 he contributed $20,000 to provide the Unitarian Church with its first permanent building on Washington, between Third and Fourth Streets. When the lumber trade along the Grand River began to decline in the late I 880s, Healy and his family left Grand Haven for Minneapolis, where he started the Akeley Lumber Company in partnership with Charles H. Hackley and Thomas Hume of Muskegon.

In 1871, Dr. Munroe graded the ridge on Washington and Fifth, put a wall around it, constructed a barn, and then sold the property to the Akeleys, who built a “beautiful residence.” In 1887, after the Akeleys had moved to Minneapolis, the philanthropist gave $5,000 in cash and their mansion and land on Washington Street, then valued at $47,000, to be used as the main building of the Akeley School for Girls. The home was named Blanche Hall, in memory of Akeley’s daughter. On September 12, 1888, Akeley Institute opened with 11 boarding pupils. Rev. James W. and Mrs. Wilkinson were in charge. The school flourished for years, and then closed in 1926. In politics Akeley was a Republican and a Mason.

Jacob Baar [Barr], b.1859-d.1949  

Jacob was born in Grand Haven in May 16, 1859 [1858] to Simon and Helena Yonker Baar. The third of their four children, Jacob grew up in Grand Haven. He was a clerk in George W. Miller’s hardware store for five years, and he was in the employ of George E. Hubbard, Grand Haven hardware dealer, until 1880, when he was elected to the office of Registrar of Deeds of Ottawa County for four years. After leaving the office Jacob embarked in the real estate business. In 1892 he advertised the availability of “Real Estate and Loans” from his office at 136 Washington, and added, “Desirable Property in farms and wild lands for sale or exchange.” Jacob was a member of the Reformed Church, for three terms was Director in his school district, and he was staunchly Democratic. He was Mayor of Grand Haven from 1898 to 1899 and Postmaster from 1894 to 1898. In 1900 Jacob settled in Chicago, where he was appointed American Consul to The Netherlands and arranged for The Netherlands exhibit at the World’s Fair [Century of Progress] in Chicago in 1932. He was employed by the Davis Scale Company in Chicago, where he lived with his daughter, Gertrude Evans.

Simon William Bosma (Boschma), b.1854-d.1943

Wedding picture, November 13, 1912 of Simon William Bosma (1854-1943) and Tryntja (Kate) Henkes Bosma (1873 - 1968).  

Sherman H. Boyce, b.1832-d.1904

Sherman was born in Duchess County , New York on February 19, 1832 , where his father, John M. Boyce, was born in 1780. His father was of English origin and a farmer. His mother, Hannah Schofield, was a native of Connecticut and daughter of Jacob Schofield. Sherman  was the third of seven children. The only one besides Sherman still living in 1893 was Harvey, who resided in Chenango, New York. Sherman came to Michigan with his sister, Mrs. Divine, when he was 11 years old. He made his home with her in Montcalm County until he was 20. In 1852 he moved to Grand Rapids and helped clear the land where Greenville now stands and resided there until the fall of 1866, when he came to Grand Haven. He became connected with the lumber industry when he joined Canton L. Storrs, and in 1871 he was named Director of the First National Bank of Grand Haven.

In 1872 Sherman became associated with Dr. Steven Munroe in the firm of Munroe, Boyce & Company in Spring Lake. He was a director and stockholder in the Grand Haven Furniture Company and the Globe Match Company. He was a member of the Democratic Party. In 1896 and 1897 he was Alderman on the Grand Haven City Council. Socially, Sherman was a member of Grand Rapids Lodge No. 34, F. and A. M., and reached the degree of Knight Templar. He was one of the organizers of the Grand Haven Street Railway Company in 1895.

Richard J. Connell, b.1835 – d.1923  

Richard was born in County Meath , Ireland on November 2, 1835 , the son of James and Mary Malone Connell [O’Connell]. In December, 1855 Richard was First Mate on the schooner Vermont , owned by Clark B Albee, when it wrecked on a sand bar off Port Sheldon during a terrible storm. Richard swam ashore from the foundering ship, was pulled from the surf by four Indians, assisted to safety by local resident Philip Dushane, and returned to rig the breeches buoy that allowed all 18 [17] of the crew to be saved, including Captain Robert Genie.

The first U.S. Life Saving Station was located near the north pier. When it began operations in 1871, Captain Connell was the first one to head the service and he remained as keeper until 1881. One of Richard’s early lifesaving endeavors happened when the ship Ironsides sank in a storm off Grand Haven harbor on September 15, 1873 , the day after it left Milwaukee with a load of wheat, flour, pork, and other items. The Captain, Harry Sweetman, and 22 others lost their lives. A newly-formed volunteer crew of lifesavers, organized by William R. Loutit and Connell, helped save about 20 passengers and crew, whose lifeboats managed to maneuver through the towering waves.

Richard’s busiest day was November 1, 1878 when a series of westerly gales pushed five vessels to shore within sight of Grand Haven. The most unfortunate of the five was the 0. C. Woodruff of Cleveland , which went to pieces off White Lake and three of the 10 crewmen were lost.

Dwight Cutler I, b.1830-d.1901

Dwight Cutler was born in Amherst, Massachusetts on November 14, 1830. He was one of eight children of Dr. Isaac G. Cutler and Nancy Hastings. His mother, the daughter of Elisha and Jerusha Billings Hastings, was born at Amherst, Massachusetts and baptized on October 14, 1798. She died January 28, 1849. She and Dr. Cutler were married December 24, 1807. Dr. Cutler was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, on November 18, 1782. He graduated from Williams College in the class of 1801, studied medicine and practiced in Amherst until his death on November 29, 1834. Dwight’s grandfather was born in Amherst, and his great-grandfather was a native of Wales. Dwight was educated at Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts and came to Grand Haven in 1847. He went to work for Gilbert & Company, forwarding and commission merchants with a warehouse and store on the northwest corner of Franklin and Harbor Streets. In 1853 Henry Martin of Grand Rapids purchased the Gilbert business and put Cutler in charge. After three years Cutler was able to buy out his employer and went into business for himself. During that time he bought a number of vessels both sail and steam. The Gilbert name remained for awhile, although it eventually became known as Cutler & Warts. In 1870 Dwight went into partnership with Hunter Savidge and together they bought the Hopkins Mill on Spring Lake. By 1874 Cutler and Savidge had half a million dollars capital with which they organized the lumber company bearing their names and which became the largest in West Michigan. They had lumberyards in Michigan City, Indianapolis, South Bend, and Detroit and employed over 500 men. When Savidge died in 1881, Dwight became President of the business, and his two sons, along with the two Savidge Sons, operated the business until it moved to Canada.

In 1871 Dwight erected the Cutler House, a five-story hotel on the southwest corner of Third and Washington Streets, opposite Sheldon’s resort, built in the Second Empire style at a cost of $200,000. After it was destroyed in the fire of 1889, Dwight built another, smaller hotel on the same site and called it the New Cutler House. Around 1893, Dwight bought the former World’s Sanitarium and Magnetic Mineral Springs and Laboratory, which previously was owned by his brother-in-law, Willard C. Sheldon. Across the Street from the Cutler House, the resort had been converted to a hotel shortly after the 1889 fire and renamed The Norris. It now earned a new name, the Cutler Annex.

Dwight served as Mayor of Grand Haven in 1869, 1870, 1890, and 1891. From 1871 until 1891 he served as the first President of the new First National Bank of Grand Haven, a bank he helped organize to replace the Ferry & Son bank. In 1886 he was one of 50 men to develop the Highland Park Association. In 1887, Dwight became a shareholder and Director of the newly formed Dake Engine Company. He was an Independent in politics and a member of the Unitarian Church. He also served as Trustee of Akeley Institute, he was a principal stockholder and Director of Challenge Corn Planter, and he was a Director of the Grand Rapids Fire Insurance Company.

On February 10 [16], 1858, in Grand Haven, Dwight married Frances E. Slayton, born October 12, 1831 at Stowe, Vermont, the sister of Caroline Fidelia, who married Ebenezer W. Barnes, onetime Postmaster of Grand Haven. Another sister was Mary Malvina, who married Willard. C. Sheldon of Grand Haven. Frances’s brothers were Decatur Slayton of Stowe, Vermont, and Osman Slayton, originally of Stowe and then of California. Frances died March 4, 1892 and was interred in the Cutler mausoleum at Lake Forest Cemetery. The Cutlers had six children, all born in Grand Haven: Millicent [Millison], who was born April 8, 1859; Esther Pomeroy, who was born on December 13, 1860, married John Newbury Bagley of Detroit on March Il, 1884, and had a son named John D. Bagley; Dwight II, who was born on December 2, 1862 and died in 1946; Frances, who was born on June 6, 1868 and died in 1941; Mrs. Francis B. Wallace of Detroit; Phillip, who died in 1956; Mary, who was born on June 11, 1874, on June 28, 1898 married Edward Lawyer Hardy [born about 1870] and moved to San Diego; and Charles, who died in an accident at the New Cutler House in 1892. The Cutlers had a stately residence at the southeast corner of Washington and Third Streets [300 Washington].

Martha Huntington Duncan, b,1852-d.1918 and Robert W. Duncan, b.1824-d.1903  

Born in West Rutland, Vermont on February 24, 1824, Robert Duncan came to the Grand Haven area with his parents in June, 1851and opened his law practice with an office over Henry Griffin’s store, on the northwest corner of First and Washington. Robert was representative to the Michigan Legislature in 1855; presided over the Board of County Supervisors in 1856; was Prosecuting Attorney and Circuit Court Commissioner in 1867: was Mayor of Grand Haven in 1868 and 1869: and was Grand Haven’s first City Attorney. Robert was one of the negotiators who helped bring the railroad to the south side of the river. He was a Democrat.  

In 1872, in Grand Rapids, Robert married 21-year old Martha Huntington, also of Vermont, sister of Pope C. Huntington, who lived from about 1835 to 1930, was a poet and, along with his wife, Jane, lived with the Duncans. Martha and Robert had no children. They built two houses across from Duncan Park at the bend on Lake Avenue where the street turns to the west. They lived in the house on the corner, and Martha enjoyed looking out into the Park while working in the kitchen.  

Pierre C. Duvernay I, b.1790—d.1862

A Frenchman and a fur trapper born in Lower Canada on July 6, 1790, Pierre Duvernay in 1834 accompanied Rev. Ferry on his long hike and canoe trip across the Michigan peninsula from Detroit to Grand Haven. Around 1812 he married Julia, daughter of an Indian Chief. She was born at Lac Du Flambeau, Wisconsin about 1797. With the other members of Ferry’s troupe the Duvernays arrived on the Grand River banks on November 2, 1834. Duvernay and his family were charter members of the Presbyterian Church in Grand Haven. Also listed as a charter member was Charles Duvernay, who was enumerated in the census for Ottawa County in 1860. In 1835 the Duvernavs built their home on Lot 55 on the south side of Franklin [30 Franklin], midway between Harbor and First Streets, where in 1837 Pierre sold Indian blankets, fabric, salt, whitefish, cranberries, and maple syrup products. They had many children, but those that survived them were named Francis, Pierre [Peter] II, and Louise [Loiza], who became the wife of Martin Ryerson of Muskegon on May 15, 1844 in Ottawa County and died in childbirth on March 14, 1855 at the age of 30. Pierre II was born about 1826. When he married Josette de Racier in Grand Haven on December 24, 1847, he was 21 and she was 18.

Galen Eastman, b. 1829 - d. 1899

Galen was the son of Dr. Timothy and Mary Jane Barker [Parker] Eastman. He was born in Canaa, Maine on July 8. 1829. Dr. Eastman and his family settled in Eastmanville in 1835, where he held the seat of County Judge for a long time. Galen had two brothers, George and Mason. Galen was a man of influence and was at the head of several large lumbering and mercantile institutions in Ottawa County for several years. He owned a sawmill in Grand Haven and was the originator of what afterwards became the Michigan Barge Company, whose boats carried off a large share of the lumber from the once extensive tracts of timbered land. During his later years he was in the hardware business in San Francisco.

In 1855 Galen and his brother Mason, with their father’s help, platted the Village of Eastmanville. In 1857 Galen bought the Grand River Times from James Barnes and brought it to Eastmanville from Grand Haven, with the idea that this community would become the county seat. When that expectation failed, publication ceased the same year it began and Barnes repurchased the paper from Galen, returned it to Grand Haven, and changed its name to the Grand Haven News, publishing the first issue on December 22. 1858. In 1860 Galen was in the lumbering business at Eastmanville. He owned land in the Grand Haven area, and in 1872 sold a large section to the City of Grand Haven for $1,000 as a site for Lake Forest Cemetery. Galen was a surveyor, judge, and representative to the legislature in 1850, and he was Postmaster of Eastmanville from October 20, 1864 to April 7, 1868 .

Timothy Eastman, b.1798-d.1868

Born in Kingston, New Hampshire on January 17, 1798 , Timothy Eastman in 1836 came from Maine to the Village of Scranton [Eastmanville], not long after Dr. George Scranton had arrived as the first settler the previous year. Timothy moved to Grand Haven, building a house on Lot 89 [southeast corner of Elliott and First Streets], and a frame building about halfway between First and Water [Harbor] Streets on the south side of Washington. In 1838 he was elected County Clerk, and he was an Associate Judge at the first session of the Circuit Court, held on May 28, 1839 . The post office was established at Polkton on May 28, 1846, and Timothy was named Postmaster, a position he held for a bit more than a year. In 1848 Timothy sold the house and land on Lot 70 in Grand Haven, on the west side of First and north of Clinton [121 South First]. The residence was remodeled and used as a school between 1851 and 1860, replacing the frame building on Second Street [ Lot 186]. He was elected to the County Board of Supervisors in 1852. On November 4, 1855, Timothy and his sons platted Eastmanville. In 1856 Timothy became a charter member and Secretary of the Ottawa County Agricultural Society. Trained in medicine in Boston, he was the county’s first physician, with an office on Harbor Drive near Franklin Street. He owned a sawmill at Eastmanville and later lived in Robinson Township.

Andrew Jackson Emlaw

Louisa Bentham Emlaw

Andrew Jackson Emlaw, b.1829-d.1914

Born in Alburgh Springs, Vermont on February 5, 1829, Andrew was the son of Michael and Wea