Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Portrait and Biographical Album of Huron County, Michigan Pub. Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1884 [273-276] ALEXANDER PIKE, merchant at Ubly, was born Dec. 3, 1834, in Kent County, Province of Ontario. He is a descendant of a military race. His grandfather, JONATHAN PIKE, came over from England as a commis- sioned officer under GENERAL WOLF, and obtained a grant of Crown lands for honorable service, in Ontario, on PIKE'S River, so named after himself, where ROBERT PIKE was born, and also a brother and two sisters. One of the sisters married COL. SURPLACE, and the other married a loyalist Kentuckian, by the name of J. B. WILLIAMS. The brother held a Captains commission in the regular army of England, and so also their father, ROBERT PIKE, was a commissioned officer in England's army, the latter, the father of Alexander, the subject of this sketch. After serving his country honorably, at the age of 53 years, he married MAGDALINE PELTIER, and immediately after settled in Ontario, on the bank of the river Thames, and be- came a farmer, in which occupation he was engaged until his death, at the ripe age of 92 years. The mother died at 52 years, beloved by all her children. She possessed a great degree of energy and perseverance, and was extremely religious. MR. PIKE obtained a good elementary education in the public schools of the Dominion, and when he was 15 years of age he set out to seek his fortune in the States. He landed at Detroit, and after remaining there a month seeking employment, and not finding it as readily as his boyish years anticipated, and his store of cash reduced to 25 cents, he had some misgivings as to the propriety of his remaining in the States, and was about retracing his steps to the Dominion, when, as he was walking on Woodbridge Street east, he saw a notice reading "Men wanted here for Lake Superior. Apply to C. C. TROWBRIDGE." MR. TROWBRIDGE was hiring men for the Collins Company. He applied, and was engaged to go to Marquette, on Lake Superior. At that time the present plucky little city contained one tavern, two little stores, a blacksmith shop and five or six log houses. He spent two years or thereabout in hard manual work, in the meantime informing his mind by reading the lives of great men, and also history, and with it trade and commerce, enlarging his ideas of the world in general very materially. He soon acquired suffi- cient capital to engage in buying produce and provisions in Detroit and other places, all of which he shipped by water to the towns on the shores of Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan. He continued this business three years, at a rate of profit which in that time netted $7,000. He passed the winters in the improvement of his education at commercial school. He went to Minnesota, landing at St. Paul, and went from there to Northfield, where he invested his capital first in a dry-goods and Yankee notion store. Not liking the business, he sold out to ECKLES, MCFEE & HUNT. He re-invested his capital in a hardware store, which he continued to prosecute six years. Finding that his health was being undermined by too close atten- tion to business and the extremely cold climate, he disposed of his interest at Northfield and bid a farewell to his many friends, among whom was a MR. HAYWOOD, afterward cashier of the Northfield Bank, and murdered by the YOUNGERS and JAMES brothers. MR. PIKE went thence to Knoxville, East Tennessee, for his health, when he became interested in speculations and continued his operations there until the secession of the South, when he returned to Chatham, Ont, where he embarked in a mercantile enterprise, which he managed until 1872. His health again failed, and he disposed of his mercantile house to STERLINE Bros., and remained idle some time. In 1873, his health having partially recovered, he again embark- ed in business. Owning a small steam barge, he bought lumber and cord-wood, and carried the same to Detroit, and disposed of his cargoes there. The business not proving a paying one, he disposed of it, and in 1874 came back to the land of the free and settled in Detroit, and engaged again in business in a small way, his capital having been reduced by sickness and misfortune. Courage never lacking, he managed his business in Detroit until 1878, when he went to Algonac, St. Clair Co., Mich., where he established mercantile relations, and operated successfully until July, 1882, the date of the removal of his commercial interests to Ubly. He has since continued to transact business at that point, with satisfac- tory results. He owns a store 22 x 50 feet in dimensions, with an addition of 18 x 22 feet, and carries a stock which averages $7,000 or $8,000. in value, and his yearly trade about $18,000; and he also has a small elevator, and buys grain and produce. His goods include all articles requisite to the demands of a country patronage. MR. PIKE is a Republican in politics, and a Universalist in religious belief. He was married Nov. 23, 1870, in Chatham, Ont., to MISS EMILY M. PECK, and they have been the parents of three children, born to them in the following order: ALBERT N., LAURENCE CARL and MAUD F. The third child is deceased. MRS. PIKE was born in Raleigh, Kent Co., Ont., Sept. 10, 1848. She is the daughter of R. N. and PHILLISS (DAUPHEN) PECK, natives of Ontario and respect- ively of English and French nationality. They are farmers, and re- side in Raleigh, aged 74 and 63 years, and had 11 children. MRS. PIKE was educated at the Ursuline Convent, called "the Pines," at Chatham, Ont., and is a strict Catholic in religious sentiment and belief. She possesses in a remarkable degree good sense and quick wit. On a preceding page will be found an excellent lithographic likeness of MR. PIKE, which the publishers are proud to add to the collection of portraits in this Album. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================