History of Monroe, (Monroe County) Michigan United States of America

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Biographies:

Charles Lanman, author and artist, was born in Monroe, Mich., June 14, 1819; son of Charles James Lanman (1769-1870), receiver of public money for the district of Michigan; and grandson of James Lanman, U.S. senator front Connecticut. He attended the Plainfield academy, near Norwich, Conn., 1829-35. He was merchant's clerk in an East India house in New York city, 1835-45, and while thus engaged he commenced the study of art under Asber B. Durand. He returned to Monroe, Mich., and was editor of the Gazette, 1845; removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was editor of the Chronicle in 1846; and returning to New York, he was engaged as assistant editor of the Express. 1847-48. He visited Washington, D.C., in 1848 in the interest of that journal and became permauently identified as correspondent of the Natioal Intelligencer. He was librarian of the war department, 1849-50; and librarian of copyrights in the state department, 1850-51, resigning his official positions at Secretary Webster's request in 1851 to become his private secretary in the state department. He was examiner of depositories for the southern states, 1853-55; librarian and chief of the returns office of the department of the interior, 1855-57; librarian of the house of representatives in 1866; secretary of the Japanese legation, 1871-72, and assistant assessor of the District of Columbia in 1885. He was married in 1849 to Adeline Dodge. In 1846 he was elected an associate of the National Academy of Design. He was an extensive traveller, having visited every state east of the Rocky mountains on sketching trips, and was one of the first artists to produce upon canvas the beauties of many locations, then new to artists, especially in North Carolina and in the Saguenay region of Canada. Among his paintings are: Brookside and Homestead (1880); Home in the Woods (1881); Frontier Home (1884) and aview of Fujiyama, Japan, which he painted in two weeks, and which was purchased by the Japanese government. He was a frequent contributor to American and English publications, and is the author of : Essays for Summer Hours (1842); Letters from a Landscape Painter (1845); A Summer in the Wilderuess (1847); A Tour to the River Saguenay (1848); Letters from the Alleghany Mouutains (1849); Haw-ho-noo, or Records of a Tourist (1850); Private Life of Daniel Webster (1852); Adventures in the Wilds of America (1856); Dictionary of Congress (1858); Life of William Woodbridge (1867); Red Book of Michigan (1871); Resources of America, compiled for the Japanese government (1872); Biographical Annals of the Civil Gayeminent of the United States (1876, revised 1887); Life of Octavius Perinchief(1879); Curious Characters and Pleasant Places (1881); Leading Men of Japan (1883); Farthest North (1885); Haphazard Personalities (1886); Novelties of American Character; Evenings in my Library. He edited The Prison Life of Alfred Ely (1862); Sermons of the Rev. Octavius Perinchief (1869). He died in Washington, D.C., March 4, 1895.

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

Elisha Peyre Ferry, governor of Washington, was born in Monroe, Mich., Aug. 9, 1825. He attended the common schools, removed to Waukegan, Ill., in 1840; was admitted to the bar at Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1845 and practised at Waukegan. He was presidential elector in 1852 and 1856; mayor of Waukegan, 1859; member of the Illinois constitutional convention, 1861; state bank commissioner, 1861-63; a member of the staff of Governor Yates, 1861-63; and after the war was appointed one of the direct-tax commissioners for the state of Tennessee. In 1869 he removed to Washington Territory where he was surveyor general and in 1872 was appointed governor by President Grant, holding this office until 1880 when he removed to Seattle. In 1867 he gave up his law practice and became president of the Puget Sound national bank. On Oct. 1, 1889, he was elected governor of the state of Washington and served until 1893. He died in Seattle, Wash., Oct. 14, 1895.

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

Alfred Elliott Bates, soldier, was born in Monroe, Mich., July 14, 1840; son of Alfred G. Bates. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy and appointed 2d lieutenant in the 2d U.S. cavalry June 23, 1865; was promoted 1st lieutenant Oct. 19, 1865, and served on scouting and frontier duty in the department of Missouri and the Platte, 1865-'75. He was promoted captain Jan. 26, 1869; was an instructor in cavalry at the U.S. military academy, 1869-'73; a member of the board for compiling cavalry tactics, 1872-'73; and served on the Big Horn expedition August to October, 1874. He vacated his commission in the cavalry to become major in the department of the paymaster-general, March 3, 1875. He was married Dec. 1, 1875, to Caroline McCorkle of New York. He served as paymaster in the departments of Texas, Dakota, Washington, New York, and San Francisco; was promoted lieutenant-colonel in January, 1897; served as military attache at the Court of St. James, 1897-'99; and as brigadier general of volunteers, May to October (1898). He was promoted assistant pay-master-general with the rank of colonel, March 31, 1899; served as acting paymaster-general at Washington, D.C., in May, 1899, and was promoted paymaster-general with the rank of brigadier-general, July 12, 1899.

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

Ernest Ingersoll, naturalist, was born in Monroe, Mich., March 13, 1852; son of Timothy Dwight and Eliza (Parkinson) Ingersoll, and grandson of Theodore and Lydia (Brewer) Ingersoll, descendants of the early Ingersolls and Brewers of Massachusetts, who emigrated to the Western Reserve of Ohio from Lee, Mass., by way of Ogden, N.Y., about 1834. He was largely self-instructed in natural history by personal investigation, but acquired a partial collegiate education at Oberlin college, and was curator of the college museum during the latter part of the term of his attendance. He then became a special student at Harvard in the museum of comparative zoology, devoting his time largely to the study of birds. He spent the summer of 1873 with Louis Agassiz, at Penikese, and was naturalist and collector with Hayden in his geological and geographical survey in the western territories, 1873-79. While thus engaged he was correspondent for the New York Tribune, contributing scientific descriptive articles, in 1874, and during his second trip, in 1877, performing a similar service for the New York Herald. He was later a member of the U.S. fish commission and special agent for the tenth census in obtaining data as to the oyster industry of the United States, writing an elaborate report. In 1883 he visited California and the Puget Sound region in the interest of Harper's Magazine; in 1887 became editor of the publications of the Canadian Pacific railway, with Montreal, Canada, as his headquarters, and in 1899 began lecturing on natural history and travel. He is the author of a large number of magazine articles, and of: A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of American Birds (1879); Birds' Nesting (1881); Oyster Industries of the United States 1881); Friends Worth Knowing (1881); Knocking 'round the Rockies (1882); The Crest of the Continent (1883); Country Cousins (1884); The Ice Queen (1885); The Silver Caves (1886); Down East Latch-Strings (1887); A Week in New York (1892); Guide to Western Canada (1894); The Book of the Ocean (1898); Nature's Calendar (1900); besides numerous serial stories for the young, and guide-books for American cities and routes of travel.

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