Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 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. =========================================================================== Memorial Record of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago - 1895 [454-456] CLAUDE W. CASE, secretary and manager of the Newberry Furnace Company, Newberry, Michigan, is at the head of one of the lead- ing enterprises of this section of the country, and we take pleasure in making personal mention of him in this work. Before proceeding to a sketch of his life, however, we present some facts touching on the large establishment with which he is connected. But few towns, if any, of the size of Newberry can boast of so complete a furnace as the one referred to in the above para- graph, the Newberry Furnace, which was established in the spring of 1882, with means furnished by the following gentlemen: FRANCIS PALMS, JOHN S. NEWBERRY, JAMES McMILLAN, and other Detroit capitalists, JAMES McMILLAN being its first president. Its capital stock was $400,000. Until 1888 it was known as the Vulcan Furnace Company, and that year it was succeeded by the Newberry Furnace Company. The capa- city of the plant is seventy-five gross tons of charcoal pig- iron per day, and the product is consumed by the carwheel and malleable-iron trades. From the time of its establishment the furnace was in practically continuous operation until the panic of 1893, when it was closed temporarily, opening in January, 1894, but again closing the following May, so to remain till the return of business confidence. MR. CASE entered the employ of Newberry & McMillan, Detroit, Michigan, as bookkeeper, on December 15, 1884. He continued as such until 1888, when he was elected secretary of the Newberry Furnace Company, and in 1890 became its manager also, and re- moved to Newberry in November of that year to take active charge of the business of the company. Its present corps of officers is as follows: JAMES McMILLAN, president; TRUMAN H. NEWBERRY, vice- president; WILLIAM C. McMILLAN, treasurer; and CLAUDE W. CASE, secretary and manager, MR. CASE being the only officer residing in Newberry. He is thoroughly acquainted with the business in its every detail, and in short is the right man in the right place. MR. CASE was born in Brighton, Livingston county, Michigan, September 3, 1861, son of the late SPAULDING M. CASE, who figured as one of the early pioneers of Brighton. SPAULDING M. CASE was born in the Empire State, in the year of 1815. While he received only a limited education, he possessed a shrewd busi- ness capacity and was for many years successfully engaged in merchandising at Brighton. His political views were those of the old Whig party, and he served as a member of the Michigan House in 1851. His death occurred in June, 1867. Little is known of his ancestors savethat his father was an Englishman. Our sub- ject's mother was SERENA, nee LAWSON, born in Connecticut in the year 1835. She was a daughter of JOHN LAWSON, at one time a resident of New York city and subsequently a pioneer farmer of Livingston county, Michigan. Only two children composed the family of SPAULDING M. and SERENA CASE, - CLAUDE W. and FRED S., the latter being paying teller in the People's Savings Bank in Detroit. The brother, FRED S. CASE, was born in Brighton, August 14, 1865. At the age of fourteen CLAUDE W. began clerking in a dry- goods store at Lansing. Later on he was engaged in bookkeeping and general office work for manufacturing establishments and jobbing houses, and in 1884 became connected with Newberry & McMillan at Detroit, coming from there to his present location in 1890, as already stated. Since becoming a resident of New- berry he has been closely identified with its best interests in various capacities aside from his immediate business. He has served as village President and member of the Board of Super- visors. He was largely instrumental in securing the location, at Newberry, of the Upper Peninsula Asylum for the Insane, and as a fitting recognition of his efforts in this direction GOVERNOR RICH appointed him Chairman of the Board of Building Commissioners, and the sagacity of the Governor's choice has been well exemplified in the ability and fidelity displayed by MR. CASE. As a further recognition of his valuable services, on April 17, 1895, GOVERNOR RICH appointed MR. CASE member of the regular Board of Trustees of the same institution for the long term of six years. MR. CASE is also secretary and treasurer of the Newberry Water & Light Company, organized here in 1895. He was married in Howell, Michigan, September 17, 1889, to LILLIE BELLE SPENCER, born at Fowlerville, Michigan, February 25, 1862, daughter of the late DR. HENRY N. SPENCER, who was a practitioner in Michigan for forty years, having come to this State from western New York, where he was born, in the year 1826. Her mother, nee ELECTA JANE BROWN, was born in Amherst Isle, Canada West, in the year 1829. Their children are MRS. GEORGE W. DENNIS, Detroit; REV. C. B. SPENCER and H. P. SPEN- CER, of Denver, Colorado; and MRS. CASE. Mr. and Mrs. CASE have two daughters: RUTH MARGARET, born November 30, 1890; and DOROTHY SERENA, born July 4, 1894. MR. CASE is a Steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church. ===========================================================================