than one.

He has never sought to advance his own interests regardless of those about him or of the public at large, but the enterprises to which he has given his chief time have been such as to benefit all as well as the few. His heart has been in the good of the city from the first. He is personally very popular with all classes, and is one of the most approachable men living. Kind, helpful to others, generous in thought and deed, liberal in his views and considerate of the beliefs of others, he has won the affection and respect of all, and occupies an enviable position in more ways. He is a fine conversationalist and a ready and entertaining public speaker. He is by nature a statesman rather than a politician. Had he been the latter, many a high official position would have been open to his reach. He was prominently mentioned in connection with President Cleveland's cabinet, and his own indifference was the chief thing that stood in the way of his selection. His political beliefs are based on study and investigation, and in them he is deeply grounded as a matter of principle and faith. One of Mr. Barnes' strongest mental traits is such as can with profit be observed by all who desire to make a success of life: whatever he undertakes to do, he does with all his might. He lays out his plan, masters his forces to the work, and sees it through to the end. Nothing that he undertakes is too small to do well; and doing the commonplace things in this manner, it need not be said that the great ones find the same treatment at his hands.

WILLIAM L. WEBBER.

The larger part of that growth which has made Michigan the great and rich. commonwealth that it now is, has occurred within the lives of men who are now useful and conspicuous figures on the scene of action. In no better way can the lines of development through which the state has advanced be measured and understood than by following them along the lives of the men who found the two peninsulas but mere wildernesses of forest a half century ago, and have brought forth the hidden riches that are seen to-day. That Michigan had some copper and a great deal of pine, was known fifty years ago; that she had iron and salt, and a hundred other things she is now producing, was not known. The young men who took possession of her interests two decades ago or more, are the ones who have made her what she is, and it is but mete that to each should be awarded a proper share of the glory that belongs to all.

No consideration of the forces that have made the northern half of the lower peninsula what it is, could be possible without some reference to the gentleman whose name may be found above-William L. Webber of East Saginaw. He united his fortunes with those of that city and of the Saginaw valley over thirty years ago, and from that day to this has been a steady and consistent friend of every public improvement and every movement that had for its object the general good. Full of faith, energy and courage, moved

by a better impulse than self gain, and with a vision that could see far into the future, he has gone ahead as a living, moving force that found satisfaction only in beneficial results. Self has been a secondary consideration; and as he has advanced in other things, he has also gained in the confidence and good will of those about him. The outline of his life, as given below, will be found to possess more than a mere personal interest, as it throws light on the general advance of Michigan during the last forty years.

Mr. Webber was born in the town of Ogden, in Monroe county, New York, on July 19, 1825, the son of James S. and Phoebe (Smith) Webber. The father was of Maine birth and the mother of New York. In 1835 the elder Webber paid a visit to Michigan, and decided to make it his future home, removing his family to Hartland, Livingston county, in 1836, where a location was made on a farm that had previously been entered at Detroit. The boyhood of the subject of this sketch was passed as was that of most farm lads in those rugged pioneer days, when Michigan was much nearer the frontier than it is at present, and the advantages of the American youth were by no means what they are to-day. He had no lack of exercise, but aided in the clearing of the land and the redemption of the soil to the uses of civilization. Loving books and having a thirst for knowledge, he made excellent use of such educational advantages as came in his way. He attended winter school when possible, and pursued his

studies at home as opportunity offered. The philosophical and logical bent of his mind was thus early shown by his choice of studies-his preference being given to algebra, geometry and the nat ural sciences. In 1844 and 1845 he made practical use of the knowledge he had acquired by such closely-applied methods, and taught school in the neighborhood of his home. In the year last named the death of the mother caused a separation of the family, and the young man went forth to meet the world on his own responsibility. He decided upon the study of medicine, and entered the office of Foote & Mowry, at Milford, Oakland county, where he remained two years, gaining an insight into a science that has no doubt been of great value to him in the operations of later life, although he never gave himself to medical practice. He had by this time discovered the real ground upon which nature intended him to strive, and whereon he has won such success, and he determined to turn his attention to the law. But before giving himself fully thereto, he spent two years in teaching a select school at Milford, urged thereto, doubtless, by the simple fact that he was obliged to find his own means as he went along. He gave his leisure time to the study of his chosen profession, and in 1851 was admitted to practice. He opened an office in Milford, but soon discovered that only a meagre field of operations could be there afforded even to the best and the most successful. In casting about for a final location, he visited East Saginaw, and was so impressed

with its advantages and so won by the promise of its future that he decided to make it his home, and opened his law office there on March 15, 1853. He has since been a constant, valued and honored resident of the place.

Mr. Webber took a leading place in his profession almost from the start. He had not been in East Saginaw six months before he had all the business he could attend to. In connection with the practice of law he, like many others in a like beginning, became agent for several insurance companies. The legal business of the Saginaw valley in those days was confined to fewer hands, proportionately, than at present.. Judge M. S. Green, now of Bay City, Michigan, was then the circuit judge, and held court at the present county seat, Saginaw. Judge John Moore, and Judge Jabez G. Sutherland, author of 'Sutherland on Damages,' and Mr. Webber were the principle members of the Saginaw county bar. Moses Wisner of Pontiac, who afterwards became governor of the state, and William M. Fenton, at one time lieutenant-governor, also appeared at Saginaw to try cases before Judge Green. In those days they had two terms a year, of a week or ten days duration each. Court usually commenced at 8 A. M., an hour was given for dinner and another for supper, while the evening session ran to ten o'clock, or any point between there and midnight. All cases for the term were on call at twelve o'clock on the first day of the term. With this method of labor, and with the quality of the men who led in all the cases on trial, no wonder that those who sat on

the bench in those days can boast that they expedited business at a rate that would astonish and please the tax-payers and litigants of these days. The business of those pioneer days supplied a kind of adjudication somewhat its own

—as

as the questions involved the running of logs in streams, riparian rights, boom rights, etc. Nearly all the lumber was carried in sailing vessels with only a capacity of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty thousand feet each. There was no small amount of litigation touching lumber contracts, and matters connected therewith.

In June, 1857, Mr. Webber formed a copartnership with John J. Wheeler, for the practice of law, under the firm name of Webber & Wheeler. This continued to December 31, 1860. Irving M. Smith, who was a cousin of Mr. Webber's, went to Saginaw in 1862, and entered his office on a salary. In 1863 a copartnership was formed between the two.

Previous to that, however, Mr. Webber had been connected some six months, beginning in 1861, with Bradley M. Thompson and Chauncey H. Gage, under the firm name of Webber, Thompson & Gage. The firm of Webber & Smith came into being in July of 1863, which continued until 1869, when it was dissolved by the decision of the senior partner to retire from the general practice of law, and to enter upon the special line of labor in which he has won such success.

When the Flint & Pere Marquette railroad was begun in 1857, Mr. Webber acted as its solicitor, and on March 1, 1870, also entered upon the duties of

acre.

The total amount of these sales, including those of timber and village lots, was $4,041,839.24. During the fifteen years and three months of his service the collections on account of land, timber and lot sales were as follows: Of principal, $3,886,351.81; of interest, $553,690.79; making a total of $4,440,045.60. It was, as Mr. Webber's communication at the time well said, a "source of great satisfaction to all connected with the department, not only that the business has been done economically, but that it has been done in such a manner as not, in any way, to prejudice the company with the community, and that during the entire period there has not been one dollar lost to the department by peculation, or otherwise, so far as has yet been discovered."

Mr. Webber has been a director in the Flint & Pere Marquette since 1864, and has in many ways been of great use in making that railway line a source of benefit and growth to East Saginaw and the whole of northern Michigan.

From 1855 onward Mr. Webber acted as attorney and solicitor for Mr. Jesse Hoyt, the proprietor of the plat of East Saginaw, as long as he remained in active practice. After that he held the position as friendly advisor. Mr. Hoyt was a large shareholder in the Flint & Pere Marquette railroad, becoming its president in 1875, and continuing that position until his death in 1882. When the road was reorganized in 1879 and 1880, Mr. Webber was solicitor for the bondholders, and filed the bill, and procured the appointment of a receiver. The company, after reorganization, chose Mr. Hoyt as president and Mr. Webber as solicitor. When Mr. Hoyt made his will, in 1882, he named Mr. Webber as executor and trustee for all his property in the lower peninsula of Michigan-a possession that was appraised at between three and four million dollars. The confidence reposed in Mr. Webber by his friend and associate is shown by the largeness of the trust reposed in his hands; and the absolute belief held in his business ability and honesty, and the full extent of that confidence, with all that it implied, can be best understood from the fact Mr. Hoyt entrusted the care and disposition of this vast property absolutely to the discretion of Mr. Webber, and without bonds, vesting him fully with the title and authorizing him to continue all business enterprises until