John Munro Longyear

John Munro Longyear BIRTH 15 Apr 1850 Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan, USA DEATH 23 May 1922 (aged 72) Brookline, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA I'm posting his pic to this Google blog so he will enter the Google Images Search Engine for his descendants and for researchers ! “J. M. Longyear spent the greater part of his boyhood days in the city of his birth and acquired his early education in its public schools. He afterward attended Olivet College, also Georgetown College, of the District of Columbia. He was only fifteen years of age when he left school, broken down in health, so that he was unable to engage actively in any work for some years. The year 1872 was largely spent in the woods in the Lower Peninsula, and the outdoor life proved very beneficial, building up a vigorous constitution. The following year he located in Marquette, Michigan, and began examining lands and exploring, and few were the wild tracts in Michigan of which he knew nothing. He traveled all over the State, wherever business called him, examining lands both for himself and other people. In 1879 he purchased large tracts of both timber and mineral lands and has since been extensively engaged in dealing in wild land. He is an excellent judge of such property, and quickly and correctly estimates the benefit it will give, and in his dealings he has been extremely successful, attaining a prosperity that is far beyond expectations. A boy may sometimes dream of the time when he will be a wealthy man, but in the early days Mr. Longyear had no expectations of acquiring the thousands which he to-day possesses. He is now the owner of thousands of acres of valuable wild and mineral land, besides owning a vast amount of real estate in Marquette. …He is now a stockholder in the Lake Shore Iron Works, and its president; a director in the First National Bank of Marquette; a member of the Bice Manufacturing Company; a stockholder in various land companies, and many other enterprises which have been the means of building up the northern Peninsula, adding to the material welfare and promoting its upbuilding and advancement. He is also interested in the Marquette Opera House… In public office Mr. Longyear has proved his loyalty. He was elected Mayor of the city of Marquette in 1890, re-elected in 1891, and during his administration carried forward the work of improvement with rapid strides. He is a member of the Board of Control of the Michigan Mining School, and is a member of the Masonic fraternity. In 1879 Mr. Longyear was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary H. Beecher, and they have five children—Abby, Howard, Helen, Judith and Jack....” -- From “Memorial Record of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan,” published by The Lewis , Publishing Company of Chicago, 1895. -- POSTED TO FIND A GRAVE