treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, suspended further hostilities. Commissioners were then appointed to settle a boundary line. between the British and French territories in North America. The Canadian government immediately proceeded to survey the

HON. FREDERICK L. WELLS.

FREDERICK L. WELLS, the present Senator in the State Legislature for the Twenty-second Senatorial District, was born in the town of Stanford, Duchess county, New York, on the 24th of March, 1833, and emigrated to Michigan in October, 1838, taking up his residence in the city of Port Huron, where he now resides. This trip, at that early time of railroads, consumed nearly a week, Mr. Wells traveling on the New York Central from Albany to Fonda, which at that time comprised the whole length of that road. From the latter place to Buffalo the passage was made on

projected line of demarcation, with a great display of military pomp, calculated to impress on the minds of the Indians the idea that France would assert her rights to the limits marked. Leaden plates, bearing the arms of France, were sunk at such distances upon this line as the Canadian Governor, in his liberality, pleased to assign to England, and the whole ceremony was conducted with much formality. Such an imprudent step seriously alarmed the Indians, and terminated in their active coöperation with the English, for the utter expulsion of the French from North America.

About this time a royal edict directed that no country houses should be built but on farms of one acre and a half in front and forty back. This law had the effect of confining the population along the banks of the river, and the whole shore, from Quebec to Montreal, was soon settled with cultivated farms. A favorable change took place, too, in the fur trade, and a more liberal and equitable system appears to have been adopted. A large annual fair was opened at Montreal, under judicious regulations, and became the general centre of the trade.

The Count de Galissoniere, a nobleman of great acquirements, succeeded M. de Beauharnois in 1747. He was superseded by the Sieur de la Jonquiere in 1749, who was superseded temporarily by the Baron de Longueuil, until the arrival of the Marquis du Quesne as Governor-General in 1752.

a canal boat, and at Buffalo he embarked on the steamboat " 'James Madison" for Port Huron, which boat was then considered first-class. Upon his arrival at Port Huron, he found that the Indians were more numerous than the whites; and in his younger day he has often seen the former participating in the "savage war dance" in the center of the city, where now lie Huron avenue and Military street. He soon formed an admiration for the beautiful forest scenes surrounding his new home, and from early boyhood took a great interest in the welfare of his town. By his rigid honesty, indomitable energy, and rare business qualifications, he soon rose to the front rank among his townsmen.

Although Mr. Wells has never sought political honors, still his townsmen have seen fit to acknowledge their appreciation of his abilities by electing him to a large number of important official positions. In 1855 he was elected to the office of Village Recorder, and again, in 1857, he

Du Quesne appears, more openly than any other governor, to have carried on the system of encroaching on the British Colonies. So far did he proceed that the fort at Pittsburg, bearing his name, was erected within the confines of Virginia.

The British immediately erected another in the immediate vicinity, which they quaintly termed Necessity. To this a garrison was dispatched, from Virginia, under the command of George Washington, whose name afterward became so illustrious, and who then held a lieutenant-colonel's commission in the British army. Washington, on his march to assume the command of Fort Necessity, was met by a party from Fort Du Quesne, under M. de Jumonville, who peremptorily forbade the English to proceed further. The mandate was answered by a burst of indignation and a volley of musketry, which killed Jumonville and several of his men. The French at Fort du Quesne, however, quickly commenced offensive hostilities, invested Necessity, and obliged Washington to capitulate.

A great alarm was now spread through the English settlements, and a plan of common defense was brought forward, in a convention held at Albany in July, 1754. At this meeting Benjamin Franklin proposed a general union of the colonies, to resist the French. Though not then acted upon, this document was the basis of the federal union subsequently formed for the overthrow of the British dominion in the United States.

was chosen for the same position. In 1859 he was elected City Clerk, and was reelected to the same office the two following years. He was Chief Engineer of the Fire Department during the year 1862, and in 1863 was chosen Mayor of the city. He has also held the office of Alderman for three terms of two years each, which makes him a city officer of thirteen years' standing. After a spirited contest, in 1870, Mr. Wells was elected to represent the Second District of St. Clair county in the State Legislature. He filled this position so well that the people of St. Clair county elected him to represent them as Senator in the Legislature of 1872-3. He was a member of the standing committees of the Senate— lumber interests, asylum for deaf, dumb and blind, and State capitol and public buildings, being chairman of the first mentioned-where he zealously looked after the interests of the State, performing a large amount of arduous labor.

England was at this time preparing for an open war with France, which the ambition of Frederick of Prussia, and the state of Europe, soon rendered general. A strong fleet with troops, was despatched from France to reinforce Quebec; an English fleet pursued it, but succeeded in capturing only two frigates, with the engineers and troops on board, on the banks of Newfoundland.

The Marquis de Quesne having resigned, was succeeded by the Sieur de Vaudreuil, the last French governor in Canada, in 1755. This administration was auspiciously opened by the defeat of the brave but rash General Braddock, in one of the defiles of the Alleghany Mountains. Braddock, unaccustomed to Indian warfare, neglected every precaution of scouts and outposts, and refused to make proper preparations for the meeting of the French and their Indian allies. When the British entered a gorge where retreat was impossible, they poured upon them, from their ambuscades, a deadly fire, under which numbers of the unfortunate soldiers fell. Braddock himself was killed, and the remainder of the army was saved only by the intrepidity of Colonel George Washington, who now, for the first time, distinguished himself, and won back the laurels he had lost at Fort Necessity.

These troops having afterward joined the provincial force under Generals Johnson, Lyman and Shirly, repulsed an attack made by the French under Baron Dieskau. After a battle of four hours' duration the French retreated to Crown Point, with a loss

Mr. Wells has also taken a great interest in Free Masonry, having received all the degrees to the "S. P. R. S.," thirty-second degree of the A. & A. Scottish rite. He has held many important offices in the lodge of which he is a member. He has been Worshipful Master of the Port Huron Lodge, No. 58, for five years; High Priest of Huron Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, for two years, and has held for the past year, and still holds, the office of Eminent Commander of the Port Huron Commandery of Knights Templar.

For the past nineteen years, and at present, he is extensively engaged in the manufacturing of lumber. He is also a partner in the banking house of John Johnston & Co., Port Huron.

In all the positions Mr. Wells has held he has performed his duties faithfully, and exhibited a large amount of business tact.

of one thousand men and the capture of their leader, who was severely wounded.

This success restored the drooping spirits of the British army, and these battles helped to train the colonists for those contests

HON. ELIHU L. CLARK.

ELIHU L. CLARK, President of the Lenawee County Savings Bank, was born in Wayne County, New York, on the 18th of July, 1811. Both of his grandfathers served in the Revolutionary War, the one on his father's side being one of Washington's Rangers, and the one on his mother's side being in active service at the battles of Monmouth, Princeton and a number of others.

Mr. Clark remained on the farm where he was born until he was nineteen years of age, when he went to the village of Palmyra, in the same county, and served as clerk in a dry goods store for one year. After