History of Eaton Rapids, (Eaton County) Michigan United States of America

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Biographies:

William L. Greenly, governor of Michigan, was born in Hamilton, N.Y., Sept. 18, 1813; son of Thomas and Nancy Greenly. He was prepared for college at Hamilton academy; was graduated at Union college in 1831, received his A.M. degree in 1834, and was admitted to the bar in Albany in the latter year. He practised law at Eaton, N.Y., until October, 1836, when he removed to Adrian, Mich. He was a state senator, 1839-40, and again 1842-43, being president pro tempore in 1840 and 1842. He was lieutenant-governor of the state in 1847, and on March 4, 1847, became acting governor upon the resignation of Alpheus Felch, elected U.S. senator, and he served as governor ex officio till Jan. 1, 1848. He was mayor of Adrian in 1858, justice of the peace for twelve years and a regent of the University of Michigan, 1846-48. He died at Eaton Rapids, Mich., in 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Melville Madison Bigelow, author, was born near Eaton Rapids, Mich., Aug. 2, 1846. He descended in the seventh generation from John Bigelow, or Bageley, who came from Wrentham, England, to Watertown, Mass., as early as 1636. He was graduated at the University of Michigan in 1866, and was lecturer on equity and insurance in that institution 1887-'88 and '89. He continued his studies at Harvard university, and obtained the degrees of A.M. and Ph.D. in 1879. He was for many years a lecturer in the law school of Boston university, of the University of Michigan and of the Northwestern university, Chicago. The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the Northwestern university in 1896. He devoted himself to literature, and is the author of several works on law, those best known being "Estoppel" (5th ed., 1891); "Elements of Torts" (6th ed., 1896), and "Fraud" (1892). Two of his works on the history of English law, "Placita Anglo Normannica" and "History of Procedure in England," were published in England and received there with marked favor. Another of Mr. Bigelow's books, "Elements of Torts" was adopted as a text-book at the University of Cambridge, England, and republished, with proper changes for the English student, by the Cambridge university press, the only honor of the kind as yet accorded to an American author. He is also author of "Rhymes of a Barrister," published in 1884; and he edited several editions of Story on "Equity Jurisprudence," Story on "Conflict of Laws," and Story on the "Constitution."

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor