strong right arm of his when wielded to defend the right and to uphold a true principle. His charity and power of forgiving were not less than his strength in the defense of right."

Formal expressions of sorrow were adopted by the various societies to which he belonged. "Individually," said one of these memorials, "we deeply feel the loss of an associate, tried and not found wanting, whom we have learned to regard not only with esteem, but with feelings of affection, and whose gentleness, strength, and other elements of high character, will long be held by us in deserved remembrance." Perhaps this brief and inadequate sketch of one of whom so much might be said, can be concluded in no more appropriate way than the reproduction of the following clear and just estimate of Dr. Gay's medical life and personal character, as voiced in a memorial prepared by the. Erie County Medical society, and entered on the records of that body:

Dr. Gay was not of the ordinary stamp of medical men. He had far more than the average culture of those aspiring to the honors of the profession, and

far higher ideas of the mission of medicine to mankind than is common with us. The ideal for which he earnestly strove was to achieve all that is possible as to the knowledge of disease and injuries, and then to bring to bear the best resources already known or possible to be known for their abatement or amelioration; this being the ultimate end of the healing art, so far as suffering humanity is concerned.

Our deceased friend could abide a severer test

the only test and adequate estimate and test of the

medical man, viz: that of his fellows and associates in the same field, and with whom he came in daily contact in professional work. Weighed in this balance-the only one which commanded his respect, or for which he cared-our departed friend was not found wanting. His exceptional ability as a surgeon was recognized far and near by his co-laborers, who could appreciate his merits. His delicate sense of honor toward his professional associates; his scrupulous regard for the feelings and interests of those who, in the vicissitudes and anxieties of professional life, came in contact with him, in consultation and otherwise, won their perpetual regard and esteem. extending over a third of a century, of the first lisp of dissent to this professional universal acclaim in his

We have yet to hear, after an association with him

behalf.

Your committee can but consider this as the only crucial test of the practitioner of medicine or surgery. Our deceased brother grandly stood this test, and upon this rock his fame rests secure. No roots nor seeds of bitterness or of unpleasantness can ever find place in our memories for him. We unfeignedly deplore his loss as a brother beloved and gone before to the reward of the just.

MICHIGAN is little less than a newer New England. Examine the list of its citizens, its successful men in political, professional or business life, and in a very large proportion of cases it will be found that their ancestry strikes that early and ascetic civilization of which

the foundations were laid upon the inhospitable coasts of his majesty's colony of Massachusetts Bay. The removal from New England to Michigan was not always direct. In very many cases it was intermittent and broken by a sojourn-sometimes of a few years, some

times of a generation-in the state of New York, before the final settlement between the lakes, and it is safe to assert that Michigan has no class of citizens more useful and successful than those whose westward journey was thus interrupted. The stern Puritanism of New England had its invaluable uses, and had its day. It injected into the moral fibre of the best American strain, a strong and permanent power of selfresistance and self-assertion; a sturdy independence and exact standard of action in affairs. It was, however, essentially narrow and concentrated, a growth of the day of small things and of stern struggles for small results-a reflex of the sterile soil and the daily dangers with which its founders were in combat. For the larger life and broader effort of the west, the Puritan spirit needed liberalizing, and this the environment of the state of New York effected. The persons who halted in the Empire state lost nothing that was valuable of the New England spirit, and gained just what was needed to set them down face to face with the great difficulties and greater opportunities of the new northwest, fully equipped for instant and successful work.

Dexter Mason Ferry belonged to one of the families which added the influence of New York to the traditions of New England. The name marks the family as originally French, but the removal to America was made from England, and probably after generations of English residence. The first of the family in New England seems to have been Charles Ferry, who swore allegi

ance at Springfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1678. His son, Charles Ferry, married a descendant of Richard Montague, whose family is justly proud of an undoubted descent, through noble channels, from royal sources. Dexter Mason,maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, represented for several terms the ultra-conservative district of Berkshire in the Massachusetts legislature, and was a cousin of the late Governor George N. Briggs of that

state.

The paternal grandparents of Dexter M. Ferry removed from Massachusetts to Lowville, Lewis county, New York, where his father, Joseph N. Ferry, was born and reared. The latter married Lucy D. Mason of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and lived at Lowville, pursuing his trade as a wagon-maker, until his death. It was at that place, on the eight day of August, 1833, that D. M. Ferry was born.

In 1836 his father died, and shortly after the family removed to the beautiful township of Penfield, in the garden of the Genesee, some eight miles from Rochester. There D. M. Ferry passed his boyhood, attended the country schools, and in 1849, at the age of sixteen years, permanently assumed his own independence, engaging to work for a neighboring farmer at the very moderate wages of ten dollars a month. This arrangement he continued during. two summers, attending the district schools in winter, and then, having advanced as far in his education as the teachers of his neighborhood could lead him, entered the service of a gen

tleman who resided near Rochester, his object being to secure the benefit of the higher schools of that city.

In 1852, having taken full advantage of his opportunities, he obtained, through the influence of his Rochester employer, a position in the wholesale and retail book and stationery house of S. D. Elwood & Co. in Detroit, where he was first errand boy, then salesman, and at last bookkeeper.

Mr. Ferry was content to be an employe only until he had gained experience and accumulated capital sufficient to warrant an independent venture. In 1856 he deemed himself justified in making the experiment, and was one of the organizers and junior partner of the firm of M. T. Gardner & Co. seedsmen. The partnership so formed continued only until 1865, when Mr. Gardner's interest in the business was purchased, and it was continued with Mr. Ferry at its head. The style of the firm, after several minor changes, became, in 1867, D. M. Ferry & Co., and has so continued. Mr. Ferry from the day of Mr. Gardner's retirement assumed direction and control of the business, placed it upon a sound financial basis, and is today the only person connected with it who had such connection in its earliest days of struggle and doubt.

The firm of D. M. Ferry & Co. was originally composed of D. M. Ferry, H. K. White, C. C. Bowen and A. E. F. White. From that time to this, through the existence of the establishment under the control of a firm and its later experience as a corporation, these gentlemen have been constantly associ

ated with its management, and side by side with Mr. Ferry have worked for its success. Under the incorporation every one of them has been constantly connected with the company as an executive officer and as director.

In 1879 the business had reached such dimensions that it was thought wise to incorporate it under the laws of the state, and a charter for thirty years was therefore obtained, under the official style of D. M. Ferry & Company, with a paid up capital of seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Detroit Seed company, a young concern, was then absorbed, and its principal owners have since been upon the directory of the company. From the time of the incorporation, as before, Mr. Ferry retained a principal interest, and has been the president and manager of the company.

This is the merest outline of the history of one of the largest and most suc cessful seed establishments in the world, but it gives no hint of the immense labor of mind and hand required to build so splendid a structure from the small beginnings of 1856; no hint of the ceaseless watchfulness, the tireless energy and the consummate business generalship, which has enabled one person in the thirty years from boyhood to maturity, to win and hold a place of unquestioned leadership in a field closely contested by so many able men.

Mr. Ferry's early experience as a worker on a farm, and the familiarity which he has constantly maintained with the details of the business, are among the secrets of his success. Another im