| Locals
Glimpse
of the past gives insight into lives of area founding fathers
by Pam Christensen
Mehitable Everett said, “It often brightens the present to
look on the past.”
This quote has been taken to heart by Mrs. Everett’s great-grandson
Frank B. Stone, author of Philo Marshall Everett, Father of Michigan’s
Iron Industry and the Founder of the City of Marquette. Stone
himself has seen a lot of history in his ninety-five years.
Born in Houghton on December 8, 1913, Frank was a frequent visitor
to Marquette as a child. He talks about idyllic hours spent on
his grandparents’ porch at 411 East Ridge Street. His grandmother
Emma Everett Ball, wife of Dan H. Ball, and daughter of Philo
Marshall Everett, moved to Marquette with her parents in 1850.
She and Ball were married in 1863. He attended seminary at Albion
(Michigan) and later attended the University of Michigan. He interrupted
his law studies to move to Marquette and a ssume
the business duties of his deceased brother. He later practiced
law in addition to serving as register for the U.S. Land Office
and publisher of the local newspaper.
Longtime resident of Summit (New Jersey), Frank still tries to
visit the Upper Peninsula annually. His history is intertwined
with the history of Marquette, the Jackson Mine, Copper Country
and a variety of U.P. luminaries.
In addition to Philo and Mehitable Everett, Frank is the grandson
of Judge John W. Stone. Born in 1838 in Wadsworth (Ohio), Judge
Stone came to the U.P. in 1887 after serving as county clerk,
prosecuting attorney, circuit judge and two terms in the United
States House of Representatives. He came to the U.P. by virtue
of his appointment by President Arthur as U.S. District Attorney
for Western Michigan. During this period, he spent a great deal
of time in the Houghton area and decided to go into legal practice
there. He was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1909 and
served as a justice until his death, at the age of eighty-four,
in 1922. In 1904, Judge Stone presented the dedication address
for the Marquette County Courthouse. He also served on the board
of trustees of Peter White Public Library.
The Simon Stone Genealogy, Ancestry and Descendants of Deacon
Simon Stone of Watertown, Massachusetts 1320-1926 says of Judge
Stone, “The long extent of Mr. Stone’s elective public
service has few parallels in American history. During the sixty-two
year period of 1860 to 1922, he was in elective public office
for fifty-two years, of which thirty-three years were in service
on the bench.”
His son, Frank’s father, John Grover Stone also was an attorney,
graduating from the University of Michigan law school in 1894.
He was admitted to the Michigan Bar the same year and settled
in Houghton in 1901. Unlike his father, John G. Stone was not
compelled into a life of public service. His ultimate concern
was for the welfare of his family, and he felt this was best served
by practicing law in his own firm.
Frank was the youngest of five children. His siblings were Helen,
John, Everett and Mildred. Growing up in Houghton, and with ties
to Marquette, he always was interested in history. His grandmother
Ball told tales of the settlement of Marquette. She was eleven
when the Everett children moved to Marquette.
The stories that entertained Frank and his siblings were told
firsthand, not from a history book.
Frank attended Houghton High School, where he and Herman “Winks”
Gundlach were friends and sometimes competitors. One of the things
Frank looked forward to the most on his annual visits to the U.P.
was spending time with Winks.
“We were friends from the time we were boys in short pants,”
Frank said.
The friendship lasted until Winks’ death at the age of ninety-two.
“Frank has a lot of great stories about growing up in the
Copper Country,” said Erik Nordberg, archivist at Michigan
Technological University. “I remember him telling me that
he and Herman ‘Winks’ Gundlach both dated a girl named
Nancy Harkness when they were youngsters. Nancy went on to become
a pretty famous aviatrix, helping to form the volunteer group
of women flyers who ferried warplanes from factories to the East
Coast during World War II. Frank always thought that Winks had
somehow soured Nancy on him all those years ago—but always
told me that Nancy liked him better than Winks anyway.”
Whenever Frank recounts a Winks story, his eyes sparkle and his
affection for his life-long friend is apparent. Frank has never
adequately explained how their friendship survived while they
were in college. Frank was a Yale man and Winks was a football
standout at Harvard. Apparently, the fierce rivalry between Yale
and Harvard was not strong enough to break the bonds of boyhood
friendship.
The Portage Lake District Library in Houghton is located on the
former site of the Gundlach Construction Company founded by Winks’
father. A fire razed the building and the property was made available
to the City of Houghton for its new public library.
The building is spectacularly set along the Portage Canal and
is a tribute to Winks. Frank, a life long devotee of arts and
letters, is very proud of his gift to the facility in memory of
his friend.
Anyone who has spent time with Frank realizes he is a generous
man. His love of the U.P. is apparent in his gifts to the area.
In addition to the Portage Lake District Library, Frank has supported
the expansion of the Michigan Iron Industry Museum (MIIM) in Negaunee.
It seems only fitting that Frank takes an interest in the history
of the local iron industry since his great grandfather is the
man who started it all.
Several years ago, museum director Tom Friggens received a letter
from a woman who wanted to give four crystal goblets to the MIIM.
The goblets were given to Philo and Mehitable Everett as a wedding
gift. Friggens accepted the goblets on behalf of the museum, and
they are on display in the expanded exhibit area recently constructed
there. Family members are unsure of how the goblets ended up with
the donor, but they are pleased to know that these mementoes found
their way home to Marquette County.
It probably was destiny that Frank ended up attending the University
of Michigan Law School after graduating from Yale. He followed
in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, although his career
took a decidedly different course than theirs.
Frank graduated from Yale in 1935. He then attended the University
of Michigan Law School where he served as editor of the Michigan
Law Review from 1937 to 1938. He was admitted to the Michigan
Bar in Marquette, Michigan in 1939, the third generation of attorneys
with ties to the U.P.
He moved to New York and entered into practice with Chadbourne
and Parke. It was as a young attorney that one of the partners
came to him to ask whether he would be interested in meeting with
a new client. Apparently, the partner did not believe this new
client would pan out. Under the impression he would be assisting
an attorney with more experience, Frank was surprised to find
he was meeting with the client on his own. Thus was born Frank’s
legal specialty of aviation law. He worked with many of aviation’s
pioneers, and prepared many contracts for the U.S. government
during World War II. He was exempt from military service during
the war because his expertise was critical to the success of the
war effort.
Aviation was good to Frank and resulted in his living in Washington
D.C., Los Angeles, Paris, New York and London. Despite his role
as a pioneer in aviation law, Frank is modest about his experiences.
He would much rather discuss the achievements of his sons, Andy
and Bill or his grandchildren.
In an effort to share his knowledge of U.P. history and his family’s
role, Frank has organized several family reunions to bring his
children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to the U.P. During
these reunions, family members visit Marquette and Houghton where
they tour sites of significance to the family. Frank speaks often
of the Stone family’s summer home in Houghton.
This structure housed the Summer Place restaurant, a favorite
family destination until it was destroyed by fire several years
ago. Despite the fact that the structure no longer stands, the
memories of summers past still live in Frank’s memory.
Another landmark of importance to the family is the Jackson Mine
site in Negaunee. The original mine founded by Philo Marshall
Everett in 1847 had been classified as dangerous “caving
grounds” until recently. This historic area was off limits
to visitors, but has been reclaimed and celebrated by the City
of Negaunee in the Old Towne development project. Frank has visited
the area and watched as it has been developed from an area off
limits to visitors to an area that celebrates his family’s
and the area’s history. He was flattered that city councilman
Jim Thomas called him to ask permission to name one of the area’s
hiking trails the Philo Marshall Everett Trail. Frank is visibly
moved as he tours the Jackson Mine area each year. He is pleased
to see the developments taking place there, and can’t help
but feel it is time that Philo Marshall Everett has finally received
some of the recognition he is due.
Frank is an avid reader and collector of early Americana. He loves
to read and research the history of his family and Michigan. He
is an aficionado of maps and has amassed a significant personal
collection. Many of these maps are used to illustrate the Philo
Marshall Everett biography.
“Frank called me once to see if I had a copy of a mid-nineteenth
century map of the U.P. showing mining claims in the Marquette
iron range and up here in the Copper Country,” Nordberg said.
“Well, I got waylaid by a couple of other projects and didn’t
get right to the search for the map. On the second day after our
conversation, a mailing tube arrived in the mail with an oversized
color copy of the map. The attached note said ‘I figured
you could always use a second copy even if you already have one.’
That is Frank’s level of commitment to local history.”
What Frank has shared with all of us is his lifetime of research
into the life of his great-grandfather Philo Marshall Everett.
Those of us lucky enough to know Frank as a friend have learned
not only about history but how to live a life respectful of the
past—just as Mehitable Everett would have wanted us to.
Copies of Philo Marshall Everett: Father of Michigan’s Iron
Industry and the Founder of the City of Marquette are available
for purchase at the Michigan Iron Industry Museum, Marquette County
History Museum, Peter White Public Library and Snowbound Books.
Local libraries also have copies of the book available for loan.
—Pam Christensen
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