York, in 1819, where in 1834 both died within six weeks of each other.

Mr. Beaman, with a strong desire for an education, applied himself to study; taught school seven winters and three summers, and in the meantime fitted himself at the Malone Academy for college. In the spring of 1837 he entered the law office of Haight & Elwood, and afterwards read law in the office of Wm. S. Bishop, a prominent member of the New York City bar. In the fall of 1838 he emigrated to Michigan, and in 1839 was admitted to the bar of Lenawee county and commenced practicing at Manchester in that county. He remained there but a short time, when he removed to Adrian and became the law partner of Consider A. Stacy. Was appointed prosecuting attorney of Lenawee county by Governor John S. Barry in 1843; was twice re-appointed prosecuting attorney, holding that position six years. His practice increased, and he associated himself with Judge A. R. Tiffany; later became a law partner of the Hon. T. M. Cooley. The partnership soon included Robert R. Beecher, and the firm was known as Beaman, Beccher & Cooley. Mr. Beaman was appointed city attorney of Adrian.

In 1854 he took an active part in politics, and was prominent in forming and organizing the Republican party of Michigan. In the spring of 1856 was elected mayor of the city of Adrian, and in the fall of same year was elected judge of probate of Lenawee county and presidential elector of the State on the Republican ticket. In 1860 was chosen member of Congress, and afterwards by largo majorities was re-elected for four succeeding terms, thus serving in the House of Representatives of the United States ten years. Every measure of the administration of President Lincoln having reference to the vigorous prosecution of the war and the abolition of slavery, received his hearty support. On his return from Washington in 1871, he was soon after appointed judge of probate, to fill vacancy occasioned by the death of his former partner, Judge Beecher. To this office he was elected by the popular vote in 1872, and re-elected in 1876.

Judge Beaman was married at Lockport, New York, in 1841, to Miss Mary Goodrich. They had two children one son, who attained manhood, but died soon thereafter, the other a

married daughter, now residing in Adrian. He was always distinguished for a high sense of honor and rectitude of purpose.

HON. EDWIN WILLITTS

Was born in Otto, Cattaraugus county, New York, April 24, 1830. He removed with his parents to Michigan in September, 1838. He attended the public schools, and graduated from the Michigan University in June, 1855. In April of the following year he removed to Monroe and entered the law office of Isaac P. Christiancy. He was admitted to the bar in 1857, and carried on an active and successful practice. In 1869 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Monroe county, and held the office until 1873. In 1862 he was also elected a member of the State Board of Education, and was re-elected in 1866, serving in all twelve years. From 1855 to 1865 he was editor of the Monroe Commercial. In 1873 he was

chosen one of the board of commissioners to revise the constitution of the State. He was appointed postmaster of Monroe by President Lincoln in 1863, and was removed by President Johnson in October, 1866. He was elected to the Forty-Fifth Congress on the Republican ticket by more than two thousand majority over the Democrat, Greenback and Granger candidates, and again to the Forty-Sixth and Forty-Seventh Congresses. In 1883 he was appointed principal of the State Normal School, where he remained until his appointment to the presidency of the State Agricultural College in 1885.

As before stated, he was a member of the State Board of Education, and was admirably qualified by his tastes and his deep interest in the prosperity of our educational institutions, together with his culture and aptness in teaching, and being appreciated by his associates soon became a prominent member of the board. He radically changed the policy in the management of the Agricultural College, which resulted in the establishment of the State Board of Agriculture and the reorganization of the Agricultural College. To Mr. Willitts should be accorded the credit and honor of greatly adding to the prosperity of the college, and well was he entitled to the place accorded him when appointed at the head.

For many years Mr. Willitts was one of the prominent members of the Republican party in the State of Michigan, and has held many responsible positions in the party.

He resigned the position of president of the Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan, to the regret of the officers of that institution, to accept the presidency of the Stato Agricultural College, under whose management the college attained great popularity, which office he resigned in March, 1889, to accept the appointment of assistant secretary of agriculture by appointment of President Harrison, and now resides in Washington.

He married the daughter of Judge Ingersoll, of Dundee, Monroe county; has two children, one daughter (married) and one son, George Willitts, a lawyer of prominence in the city of Chicago.

NATHANIEL B. ELDREDGE,

Born at Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, March 28, 1813, has been a resident of Michigan forty-seven years. He received an academic education; studied and practiced medicine fifteen years; then studied and practiced law thirty years; and finally settled down to farming. While a resident of Lapeer county, he was elected engrossing and enrolling clerk of the State Senate in 1845; representative in the State Logislature in 1847; and judge of probate in 1852. Having entered the Union army June 18, 1861, he served as captain and major of the Seventh Regiment, and lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh Regiment, Michigan Infantry, in the War of the Rebellion. Having removed to Adrian, his present home, in 1865, he was elected sheriff of Lenawee county in 1874. In 1882 he was elected Representative to the Forty-Eighth Congress on the Union ticket, receiving 15,251 votes to 14,709 for John K. Boies, Republican, 1,238 for A. J. Baker, Greenback, and 387 for A. F. Dewey, Prohibi. tionist. He was re-elected in 1884 by 17,710

votes to 17,656 for Edward P. Allen, Republican, and 2,418 for Charles Mosher, Prohibitionist.

EDWARD PAYSON ALLEN,

Of Ypsilanti, was born in Sharon, Washtenaw county, Michigan, October 28, 1839; worked on a farm until twenty years old, attending school and teaching during the winter; graduated from the State Normal School in March, 1864; taught the Union School in Vassar, Michigan, for three months following, when he enlisted and helped to raise a company for the TwentyNinth Michigan Infantry; was commissioned first lieutenant in that regiment in the following September, and went with it southwest, where the regiment was engaged in active campaigning until the 1st of April; in September, 1865, was mustered out of the service with his regiment as captain; entered the law school at Ann Arbor, graduating in March, 1867; formed a partnership with Hon. S. M. Cutcheon; upon the removal of Mr. Cutcheon to Detroit, in 1875, he continued the practice alone at Ypsilanti; was elected alderman of Ypsilanti in 1872 and 1874 and mayor in 1880; was prosecuting attorney of Waslitenaw county in 1872; was elected to the lower house of the Legislature in 1876, serving as chairman of the Committee on Education; was again elected in 1878, at which time he was elected Speaker pro tem.; was appointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue in 1869; was United States Indian Agent for Michigan in August, 1882, which office he held until December, 1885; ran for Congress in 1884, and was defeated by Colonel Eldredge, Democrat, and was elected to the Fiftieth Congress as a Republican, and reelected to the Fifty-First Congress, receiving 19,660 votes to 18,096 votes for Willard Stearns, Democrat, 2,010 votes for C. M. Fellows, Prohibitionist, and 143 votes for John H. Hobart, Union Labor.

THE

HE reader who glances at Rominger's geological map of the lower peninsula of Michigan will be struck with the wide areas of similar formations which it portrays. Hang. ing like a soap bubble from a pipe, appear the coal measures, with the Saginaw Bay as a starting point. From Alabaster, on the north shore of the Bay, they sweep in a wide circle as far west as Grand Rapids; thence circle around to the southeast to a point slightly south of Jackson, thence trend around to the northeast again, striking Saginaw Bay on its south side, a little east of Caseville. On cach side of Saginaw Bay, skirting the northern edge and with a greater development in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, the carboniferous limestones appear, and in these lies the wealth of gypsum, which at one time formed an important part of the manufactures and shipments from the city of Monroe; the crude rock being brought from Alabaster by boat and prepared for shipment at mills located on the navigable waters of the river.

Sweeping entirely around the coal measures and the carboniferous limestones, extending from Lake Huron on the east to Lake Michigan on the west, and from Otsego county on the north to the State line on the south, appears the Helderberg group of limestones. In another concentric circle beyond this is a thin line of black shale, while between the shales and Lake Erie the Helderberg group is exposed. Monroe county is composed almost entirely of the Helderberg limestones, with a narrow band of shales extending diagonally across its northwest quarter, while the extreme northwest corner is again in the belt of Helderberg lime

stone.

The general configuration of the entire Lower Peninsula seems to show that at one time it was a lacustrine bed, a portion only of a large lake extending over areas of Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Over this at vary

ing ages in its geologic history swept detritus, and this was superposed upon the rock formation in varying depths, from a few feet in the southwestern corner of the State, where ledges of solid rock are sometimes found at six feet beneath the surface of the soil, to hundreds of feet further inland.

The comparatively undisturbed position of the various strata also indicates an absence of volcanic upheaval during the long ages which intervened between the time when the earth. "was without form and void," and the time when the "peninsulam amoenam" emerged and began to take on its abundant forest growth.

In the southern portion of the lower peninsula evidences of that period when the gradual drainage of the great area of water which covered it set in, are plainly manifest to the most casual observer. Fifty years ago streams which now, during the protracted heats of summer, are but little threads of water brawling over gravelly beds, were water-courses of respectable size. Their present condition may be attributed to the rapid denudations of the forest growth. But if one will follow the windings of any of these streams, taking his place of observation far enough inland to reach that point where the drift deposits are of considerable depth, on either side of the present channel bank, and at distances varying from a few rods to half a mile or more, he will discover a line of bluffs following the general course of the stream, and in some cases a hundred feet or more high. Though now either covered with trees or under cultivation, the sides of these bluffs yield sweet water fossiliferous stones and shells, plainly indicating their submergence at some time in the past; and undoubtedly at some former age these valleys were the beds of the present diminished streams and were full from bank to bank.

In Monroe county, as we approach the debouchure of these streams, the bluffs sink to