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

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1561

tion in professional and civic affairs in the northeastern part of the
state.
Henry E. Naegely was born in East Saginaw, which is now a part
of the city of Saginaw, March I6, 1869. His father is Captain Henry
Naegely, who was born in the Canton of Zurich, in Switzerland, December 3, I838. Captain Naegely received a commercial education and
military training in the schools of Winterhur, and lived in his native land
until his departure for America in I860. His determination to come to
America and find a home in the western Republic was first formed at the
age of twenty years, and two years later he set out for the new world and
first settled in the state of Wisconsin. From that state in I86I he
enlisted in the Union army, and went to the defense of the integrity of his
adopted fatherland. Previous experience and military training fitted him
for command, and he was made an officer immediately on entering the
army, and by skill and bravery won promotion until at the close of the
war he held the rank of captain in commnad of a company. He also
served as acting assistant adjutant general on General Morrow's staff.
At the close of the war Captain Naegely located in Detroit, where he
engaged in the hotel business and later moved to East Saginaw. He
married Maggie Breen, who was born in Ireland in May, 1845, and possessed the finest qualities of mind and heart which are distinctive of the
people of her nation.
Henry E. Naegely was born in Saginaw, attended the public schools,
and in 1889 at the age of twenty entered the University of Michigan in
the literary department. Three years were devoted to a general academic
course, and then in 1892 he entered the law department. During his
first year in law school he was elected class president, and not for many
years had such an honor been conferred upon a student at the State University claiming Michigan as his home. On May 26, 1894, at Ann Arbor,
Mr. Naegely was admitted to the bar, and was graduated from law
school in June of the same year. Coming to Saginaw, he entered upon
active practice, and has since found all his time and energies absorbed by
a large and increasingly important general practice.
Mr. Naegely served as judge of the recorder's court of Saginaw from
1897 to 1899, was city attorney from 1899 up to'I905, and for two years
was assistant prosecuting attorney of Saginaw county. While city attorney many important cases arose demanding his official services. In
preparation for that office he had made a thorough study of municipal
corporation law, and in not a few cases was able to give a distinctively
valuable service to his community in representing the city and protecting
its rights. As a lawyer it may be said that Naegely's professional career
throughout has been marked by a close study and a thorough mastery of
every case in which he has been interested, and by his conscientious and
painstaking efforts in behalf of his clients he has won an honorable position at the local bar. His standing among the members of his fraternity
is well indicated by his election by the Saginaw County Bar Association
as president, for a period of two years, from 1906 to I9o8.
At Saginaw on November ii, I90I, Mr. Naegely married Miss
Katherine McCoy, a daughter of Timothy H. and Katherine (Fitzpatrick) McCoy. To this marriage have been born three children: Margaret,
born September I6, 1902; Marie, born July 15, I906; and Henry, born
March 17, I9IO. The family are all communicants of the Catholic
church, and Mr. Naegely has been active in the Order of Knights of
Columbus, since I899, having been Grand Knight of the Council and
prominent in the affairs of the Order in the State of Michigan. He is at
the present time an officer of the local lodge of Elks. The East Saginaw
Club has had his active membership since 1896. Politically, Mr.