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Compiled by John H. Wheeler Published in 1903 by B. F. Bowen Biography Page 87 - 88 |
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JOHN M. TERWILLIGER
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Newspapers are powerful agents in the development of every community, and upon their early establishment the rapid growth of an incipient municipality to a large extent depends, while at all stages of advancement they figure as the pulse indication of local thought and action. The thriving city of Cadillac is favored in having so ably edited and conducted a newspaper as is the Cadillac Globe, of which Messrs. John M. Terwilliger and Ralph W. Crawford are editors and publishers. Of this paper, Mr. Terwilliger was the founder, and he has been continuously identified with the same to the present time, being known as one of the alert and progressive young business men of the city, while he holds the unequivocal confidence and regard of the community. John M. Terwilliger is a native of the state of Michigan, having been born in Clayton, Lenawee county, on the 21st of February, 1870, and being a son of Albert E. and Polly (Forbes) Terwilliger, the former of whom was born in Rochester county, New York, and the latter in Lenawee county, Michigan. Albert E. Terwilliger was attending school at the breaking out of the Civil war, and then enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth New York Infantry, being later transferred to the Ninth New York Heavy Artillery. He served valiantly during the conflict and at its close went to Clayton, Michigan, where he resided until 1875, when he located at Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio. In 1880 he returned to Michigan and in 1883 he came to Wexford county and located in Antioch township, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he here continued until the death of his loved and devoted wife, on the 19th of June, 1889, at which time she was fifty-one years of age. In the autumn of that year he returned to Lenawee county, where he has since resided. Of this union were born two children, John M., the immediate subject of this review, and Fred E., who is a farmer in Lenawee county. When the subject was five years of age his parents removed to Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio, where he prosecuted his studies in the public schools until he had attained the age of ten years, when the family returned to Lenawee county, locating on a farm near Clayton, where they resided until their removal to Wexford county, John M. having in the meanwhile continued his studies in the public schools. At the age of sixteen years he began teaching in the district schools of Wexford county, successfully continuing his pedagogic efforts for a period of four years, after which he completed a business course in the Ferris Institute, at Big Rapids. Mr. Terwilliger's identification with the "art preservative of all arts" dates its inception back to the spring of 1892, when he came to Cadillac and accepted the position of solicitor and reporter on the Michigan State Democrat, retaining this incumbency until December of the following year, when he purchased the Fife Lake Monitor, which he continued to publish until July, 1898, when he disposed of the plant and business, having in the meanwhile also founded and conducted the Boardman River Current, which was published in connection with his other paper. On the 1st of September, 1898, he founded the Cadillac Globe, and in July of the following year Ralph W. Crawford, an able young newspaper man, became associated with him in the enterprise, purchasing a half interest, and since that time the business has been conducted under the firm name of Terwilliger & Crawford. The Globe is published on Thursday of each week, is a seven-column quarto, and is not only a worthy exponent of local interests but is a credit to the town and also to its publishers, the letter-press being excellent and the makeup always tasteful and effective, while its character and its circulation are such as to secure to it a representative advertising support, the business men of the city appreciating its value in this line. The plant of the firm is well equipped, and the facilities of the job department are maintained at the highest standard, so that attractive work is issued, and that with expedition and proper care to details. The political policy of the Globe is independent. Mr. Terwilliger is personally a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and takes an active interest in its cause. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, holding membership in Cadillac Lodge No. 46, while in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he affiliates with Arbutus Lodge No. 359, at Fife Lake. On the 6th of December, 1895, Mr. Terwilliger was united in marriage to Miss Dollie Dutton, of Cadillac, who was born in the city of Rochester, New York, being a daughter of Charles W. and Jennie Dutton, concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages of this volume. In this connection it may be consistently noted that while residing in Antioch township, this county, Albert E. Terwilliger, the father of the subject, was active and influential in local affairs of a public nature, having held various township offices and having been prominently concerned in the organization of several school districts, while he held the confidence and good will of all who knew him, his removal from the community being much regretted. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and is a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his wife, who was a woman of gentle and gracious character |