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

1750

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

husband she also saw the Clermont, the first American steamboat, on her
maiden trip, and witnessed the fear and anxiety of the people gathered on
the shore lest the boat would be blown up.
Soon after their marriage William Whiteley and wife removed from
Boston to Richmond, Virginia, later to Charlottesville, from there to
Palmyra, and in I844 settled in Newark, Ohio. A year or two later they
went to Wheeling, West Virginia, and were living there when General
Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States. Mrs. Whiteley often told of the overwhelming ovation he received when he entered
that city in a stage coach drawn by six horses. He went overland all the
way from Nashville to Washington. In 1848 Mr. and Mrs. Whiteley
returned to Ohio and located at Toledo, where the former was engaged
as a boot and shoe merchant. In I850 they came to Lansing, and he was
engaged in the boot and shoe business here until his death, on May 30,
I859. His removal from Ohio to Lansing was accomplished on a large
"prairie schooner," drawn by a span of the largest horses ever seen in
Lansing up to that time. It was a journey requiring twenty-eight days,
and the railroad era in Michigan had hardly begun. It was thus in the
pioneer days that Mrs. Elizabeth Whiteley came to Lansing, and in this
city she spent the remainder of her life, passing away June 15, I893, at
the venerable age of ninety-three. Her life's recollections will be intensely interesting to the children of later generations, and a publication
of the reminiscences she could add thereto would be priceless to history.
John Whiteley spent his early youth and manhood in the various localities above mentioned, and one of his early experiences in practical
affairs was in teaming along the old National road between Wheeling,
West Virginia, and Zanesville, Ohio, loading his wagon for one trip with
produce and returning with a varied assortment of merchandise. He
was still a young man when he came to Lansing, and for a time was engaged in the freighting business along the highway between Lansing and
Detroit. His work as an independent merchant began in I85I, with the
opening of a small stock of groceries, and having the qualities and the
enterprise of the born merchant he steadily increased his business and
prospered until he became one of the wealthy men of Lansing. Many*
incidents might be mentioned to indicate his thorough qualifications as a
business man, but one will suffice to illustrate the kindness which always
actuated him in his business as well as private affairs and his sturdy
loyalty to his country. During the second year of the Civil war the
county had issued vouchers to the wives and widows of soldiers who had
gone from Ingham county, these vouchers representing promises to pay
and designed to afford means of securing supplies from local merchants.
Other Lansing merchants refused to accept them, but Mr. Whiteley
readily exchanged all that were presented to him in payment of supplies,
and in the end never lost a dollar by the transaction. His prosperity was
won on the basis of straightforward business, never tinged with speculative methods, although he also exercised good judgment in his investments. During the early days he leased some ground in Lansing and
erected five stores on Washington avenue, but some time later a fire destroyed all of them without insurance. His rectitude was never questioned during all his career. John Whiteley was a man of energetic
character, marvellously clear business judgment and great determination,
and a business man to whom much of the city of Lansing's prosperity is
due. His friendship when secured never failed; he was charitable, benevolent and ever ready to assist the needy, and in his home was a kind and
indulgent husband and father. In religious views he was quite liberal, and
politically was a stanch Democrat. The later years of his life were spent
in semi-retirement from business affairs, and he traveled extensively,
usually spending his winters in the South.