Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2016 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. =========================================================================== A History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan and its People, Vol. III by Alvah L. Sawyer Lewis Pub. Co., Chicago - 1911 [1147-1149] J. CHARLES GUAY.- It is ever pleasing to note the salient points in the career of a man who has forged his way to the goal of success through his own energies and powers and who has accomplished this along normal and legitimate lines of endeavor. This is significantly true in the case of this well known and highly esteemed citizen of Menominee. He has been a resident of the Upper Peninsula for forty- two years, and thus may well be entitled one of its pioneer citizens, the while he has here found the opportunities through the medium of which he has accumulated a competency and become one of the sub- stantial citizens of Menominee county. JOSEPH CHARLES GUAY was born at St. Marris, near Three Rivers, province of Quebec, Canada, on the 6th of January, 1847, and is a son of JOSEPH and MATILDA (MARRIEAU) GUAY, both of whom were of French lineage. The father was born at Riviere du Loup, province of Quebec, Canada, in 1802, and died in 1863; the mother was born at St. Leon, that province, in 1804, and died in 1888. Of the ten children only two are now living, - MATILDA, who resides in Massachusetts, and J. CHARLES, who is the immediate subject of this sketch. JOSEPH GUAY learned the carpenter's trade in his youth, but the major portion of his life was devoted to agricultural pursuits. Both he and his wife continued to reside in the province of Quebec until their death and both were devout communicants of the Catholic church. After receiving rudimentary education in the parochial schools of his native place the subject of this sketch entered, at the age of twelve years, the Christian Brothers ' school in Three Rivers, Canada, where he was a student about two years. He then entered St. Joseph's College, in Three Rivers, where he completed his educational discipline under effective conditions. For some time he was employed as clerk in a general store in his home province and thereafter he assisted in the work and management of his father's farm until 1866, when, at the age of nineteen years, he came west. He remained in Chicago for a brief interval and then made his way to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was identified with lumbering operations for the ensuing eighteen months, working in the lumber woods during the winter and in a saw mill for the remainder of the time. He made his advent in Menominee, Michigan, on the 9th of June, 1868, and recalls this thriving city as having been a mere lumbering camp at that time. Here he was first employed in a saw mill and for nine winters thereafter he worked as cook in a lumber camp in the woods. During the intervening summers he conducted a boarding house for the employes in the saw mills at Menominee. In 1875 he made his first independent venture by opening a bakery in this city, but in the winter seasons he continued to be employed in the lumber camps, as a cook, until 1878. On the 2d of April, of that year, after disposing of his bakery, he removed to Stephenson, Menom- inee county, where he had charge of a boarding house for the employes of the shingle and saw mill of H. Bird, in whose employ he continued for three years. In the meanwhile he had purchased a tract of land near Stephenson and hired men to reclaim the same and initiate the work of cultivation. In 1881 he became clerk in a general store at Stephenson, Michigan, and he eventually became bookkeeper and general manager of the establishment, which was owned by FELIX BEAUDOIN for a portion of the time and later by the firm of ANDERSON & CHURCHILL. In 1883 he resigned his position with this firm and became bookkeeper for O. LETRO, but the following year he re-entered the employ of ANDERSON & CHURCHILL, at an increased salary, continuing thus engaged until July, 1885, when the plant was destroyed by fire. MR. GUAY now removed to his farm, and thereafter he continued to be engaged in agricultural pursuits and in contracting in connection with the real estate business until 1892, when he erected a comfortable dwelling in Stephenson and there took up his residence. In 1880 MR. GUAY was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and of this position he continued incumbent for many years. He served as clerk of Stephenson township for a period of six years, and in December, 1893, there came further evidence of his eligibility and of popular confidence and esteem, when he entered upon the duties of the office of postmaster at Stephenson, under the administration of President Cleveland. He retained this incumbency for four years, and in the fall of 1898 he was elected county clerk of Menominee county, in which responsible office he initiated his administration on the 1st of the following January. In this, as in all other positions of public trust to which he has been called, MR. GUAY showed not only marked administrative and executive ability but also the utmost fidelity and honor in the discharging of his assigned functions. At the time of his election he removed from Stephenson to Menominee, and he served two years as county clerk. In the autumn of 1904 there came to this able and honored citizen another call to public service, since he was then elected to the office of county treasurer. He gave a most careful administration of the fiscal affairs of the county and the popular estimate placed upon his services was shown by his re- election in 1906. He retired from office in the autumn of 1908 and then engaged in the insurance and real-estate business, in which he has since continued with ever increasing success. He is personally the owner of much valuable real estate in this county, including his fine farm of forty acres in Stephenson township. In politics MR. GUAY accords a staunch support to the cause of the Democratic party, and he has long been an influential figure in its councils in Menominee county. His aspirations have never been narrow in their bounds and have included a zealous desire to do well his part as a loyal citizen. He has thus given his support to all measures projected for the general welfare of the community. He and his wife are communicants of St. Anne's Catholic church, and he has been secretary and treasurer of this parish since 1901. On the 3d of July. 1873, was solemnized the marriage of MR. GUAY to MISS ELIZABETH McGUIRE. who was born at Hartford, Wisconsin, on the 27th of March, 1852, and who is a daughter of THOMAS and CATHERINE McGUIRE, both of whom were born and reared in Ireland, where their marriage was solemnized. Of their seven children four are now living, - CHARLES, THOMAS, DELIA and ELIZABETH. MR. and MRS. McGUIRE came to America soon after their marriage and took up their residence six miles distant from Hartford, Washington county, Wisconsin, where MR. McGUIRE became a prosperous farmer. He was a Democrat in politics and held various township offices, and both he and his wife were communicants of the Catholic church. They continued to reside in Washington county until their death and were numbered among the sterling pioneers of that section of the Badger state. MR. and MRS. GUAY became the parents of six children, all of whom are living except FLORENCE, the first-born, who died in infancy, and CHARLES J., who died in 1905, at the age of twenty-nine years, and who is survived by his wife and four children. LAURA is the wife of HUGH McGUIRE, of Menominee; EDWARD J. is bookkeeper for the firm of WIEDEMAN & LINDER, of Marinette, Wisconsin; HENRY T. is night telegraph operator at the Menominee station of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad; and ELIZABETH, who remains at the parental home, is a stenographer by vocation. ==========================================================================