History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1745

I4th of December, I894, his loved and devoted wife having been sum —
moned to eternal rest on the 20th of November, 1884. Both received
good educational advantages, as gauged by the standards of the locality
and period, and Mrs. Washburn had been a successful and popular
teacher prior to her marriage. Alanson Washburn was undeviating in his
allegiance to the Republican party, and as a representative of the same he
served one term in the legislature of Connecticut, though he never had
any ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He was a
son of Seth and Katherine Washburn, both of whom were born in New
England, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and his father likewise was engaged in the foundry business for many years.
Frederick A. Washburn availed himself of the advantages of the
public schools of Coventry, his native town, and after carrying forward
his studies in the high school for two terms he became associated with
his father's foundry business, in which connection he acquired both technical skill and practical knowledge of business methods and policies. At
the age of twenty-five he severed his association with the foundry and
entered the employ of the Belding Brothers Company. In I886, upon
the founding of the company's plant at Belding, Michigan, Mr. Washburn came to this city, where he has since maintained his home and where
he personally supervised the manufacture of the first spool of silk turned
out not only in the local factory but in the state of Michigan. He is
now general superintendent of the fine mills of the Belding Company,
and is known as a most able executive officer, as well as a business man
of much initiative and constructive ability.
Mr. Washburn has identified himself most fully and enthusiastically
with Belding and with the state of his adoption, and he has been influential in the Ionia county ranks of the Republican party, of whose principles he is a staunch advocate and supporter. He is at the present time
a member of the board of control of-the Michigan Asylum for the Insane
that is located in the city of Ionia, and he has held this office for six years.
He was presidential elector on the Republican ticket for Michigan in the
election of I908, and he has otherwise been zealous in the promotion of
the party cause. He was international silk juror at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in the city of St. Louis, in 1904, and in a similar
association he received a medal of honor at the great Paris Exposition of
900o. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.
At South Coventry, Tolland county, Connecticut, on the 29th of July,
T880, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Washburn to Miss Ella M.
Wood, and they have four children, whose names, with respective ages,
are here indicated: Carlton W., thirty-two years; Florence E., thirty
years; Harold 0., twenty-eight years; and Frederick S., twentyfour years. Both Carlton and Harold were graduated in the University
of Michigan; Florence completed a course in the Milwaukee-Downer
College, in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Frederick has been
graduated in the Ferris Institute, at Big Rapids, Michigan, and in the
Detroit Business College.
WILLIAM EDWARD WARE. One of the ablest and most successful
members of the Battle Creek bar, Mr. Ware may be said to have begun
his practical career as a hard-working and self-supporting student more
than forty years ago in a law office at Marshall. He was not sent to
college as the son of a prosperous father, but his education like everything
he has obtained, was the result of his determined purpose and industrous
labor. Mr. Ware has gained numerous important distinctions both at
the bar and in public affairs, is one of the best known men in Southern
Michigan, has been identified at different times with the bar and public
affairs of Coldwater, Jackson, Battle Creek and other places, and through