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

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

1693

Mystic Shrine at Grand Rapids; and with his wife is affiliated with Beulah
Chapter, No. 63, 0. E. S., and with Queen Esther Shrine, No. I5, of the
White Shrine of Jerusalem. He has been identified with the Masonic
Order for upwards of thirty years, and among the important offices held
by him with length of service are the following: High Priest, four years,
I890-94; Worshipful Master, two terms, I889-90; Thrice Illustrious
Master, I895 to I905; Eminent Commander, 1898-99; and Prelate since
I908. Mr. Searle has been a trustee and steward of the Methodist Episcopal church for a quarter of a century, and in politics is a Republican.
Mr. Searle was married at Mason in Ingham county, April 14, i886,
to Miss Carrie Hawley, who was born at,Mason February 23, 1863, one
of the two children of Silas R. and Lodeska (Case) Hawley, her father
a native of New York and her mother of Ingham county, Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Searle are the parents of two children, Jessie L., born June
12, I888; and Granville O., born January 3, I890.
Granville O. Searle spent two years in the Petoskey high school and
one year in the Northern Illinois College of Ophthalmology, graduating
in the class of I9I3. He passed the examination of the State Board, and
has since been identified with his father, having active charge of the
Ophthalmic Department. He was married in June, I913, to Miss Etta
Delft of Petoskey, daughter of Eugene and Mary (Mathews) Dent,
natives of New York State. The son has taken the Chapter Degrees in
Masonry, belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and he
and his wife are members of the Episcopal church.
CHARLIE GAY. The veteran editor and founder of the Big Rapids
Pioneer, Charlie Gay, is not only one of the oldest active journalists in
Michigan, but one of the prominent citizens of the state, and probably
has been as influential in moulding public opinion and upholding the best
standards of civic morality and promoting business prosperity in Mecosta
county as any other one man.
Charlie Gay was born at Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, November 12, I837. The common and graded schools afforded him a substantial elementary education, but he left at the age of fifteen and began
a more practical career in a printing office at Warren, Ohio, where he
soon became proficient, not only as an old-style compositor, but in the
different details of newspaper management and editorial and news writing.
In I856, when less than twenty years of age, Charlie Gay came to Newaygo, Michigan, and spent six years in the office of the Newaygo
Republican. Settlement and development were proceeding rapidly in
western Michigan at that time, and in 1862, in view of the prospects of
Big Rapids, Mr. Gay took a survey of that field with the idea of establishing a county journal. On the I7th of April, I862, was issued the
initial number of the Mecosta county Pioneer. His newspaper was begun
at a momentous time, when the country was in the throes of the Civil war,
and when every business enterprise was more or less uncertain.
Mr. Gay started his paper, not as a rank partisan journal, but under
the sterling motto "The Union, the constitution, and the enforcement of
the laws," principles which he faithfully exemplified as long as those
ideals were the most vital in the existence of community or nation. He
also made himself and his paper a vigorous influence for the promotion
of local prosperity, and as advancement along every line, and an examination of early files of the Pioneer shows that the community had an exceptional record for moral cleanliness, and in this the journal was one of
the most valuable factors.
The Pioneer was the first paper published in Mecosta county, and
until August I, 1867, was issued in a folio of twelve columns. It was
Vol. III-31