Clark Earl Higbee, judge of the Kent county probate court for the past thirteen years, has distinguished his years of service on the bench by the sagacity of his decisions and the integrity that has marked his unbroken professional career in the law. The history of the family in America begins with the year 1648 when from Scotland came the Cranston family to settle in Rhode Island and the Higbee family to settle in Connecticut. Ella Cranston, the mother of Judge Higbee, was the daughter of Louis Cranston and married Dr. Louis Edward Higbee, who was born in Niagara county, New York, June 16, 1846, the son of Clark Higbee, grandfather of Judge Higbee. Dr. Higbee came to Michigan in 1854, settling near Williamston, Ingham county, where he reared a family of three children, Hal P., Clark E., and Ida Ruth. Clark Earl Higbee was born in Pottersville, Michigan, April 28, 1883, and there attended the public schools. He was graduated from the Nashville high school in 1901 and then matriculated at the University of Michigan to study law, graduating from that institution with the class of 1906. His first experience in the legal profession was as a law clerk with S. W. Barker, in whose office he worked for approximately a year. In 1907 he was appointed assistant city attorney of Grand Rapids, and his success in this position brought him to the favorable recognition of the members of his profession and the citizenry at large. Accordingly he was elected judge of the Kent county probate court in 1912 and that the people’s choice was good is shown in the fact that they have since retained him in that office. His practical sense in counsel influenced his choice as a director of the Industrial bank in 1918, a position which he still fills. Judge Higbee married Grace A. Baker, of Calhoun county, on April 15, 1909. Mrs. Higbee was born July 23, 1886, and graduated from the University of Michigan with the class of 1909. Judge and Mrs. Higbee are the parents of four children, Ellen McNeil, Doris Grace, Jane Earl, and Lewis Cranston Higbee.