Reviewer: Sharon Brunner
Michael S. Nyquist’s Honorable Peter White of Marquette paints a detailed and well-researched account of Peter White’s life. White held many prestigious professional roles, including attorney and Michigan House Representative. He was referred to as Mr. Marquette. He served as a jack of multiple trades, intelligent and extremely capable. During his younger years, he was a postmaster, sailor, surveyor of the Great Lakes, and a store clerk. While a store clerk, he delivered mail to other locations in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). White became one of the nine men chosen by Robert J. Graveract to go to New Worcester to handle business, which was later called Marquette. The name was chosen to honor Father Jacques Marquette. The county and town of Marquette became dependent on White. When the Civil War broke out, he was asked to stay behind to serve as one of the town’s leaders.
Nyquist provided six single-spaced pages of a chronology of Peter White’s life. He served in so many roles that it is difficult to list them all. Two of the main themes are the filling of unmet needs in a community and dedication. It is not surprising that the library in Marquette was named after him. While he worked as a store clerk, he provided mail service for the Marquette community. He made the store owners promise to hold his job for him while he delivered the mail. As a County Clerk and Register, he found it difficult to conduct business transactions without working with a bank. He met that need by establishing the first bank in Marquette at age 22 in 1853. The bank was called the Firm of Peter White and Company and later became the First National Bank of Marquette in 1863. In 1859, he served as a notary public and became an attorney. In 1860, He served on the Circuit Court Commission. While he was a Marquette Agent for the Actna Insurance Company, the town of Marquette almost burned to the ground. His company paid $247,000 in insurance claims. As mentioned, he met Marquette’s needs on multiple occasions.
White believed prosperous connections were vital for his business endeavors. He learned French Patois and Chippewa. He met with some of the tribal leaders and people throughout his travels. The book goes back and forth on timelines, and I will do so in this review as well. In 1855, White became the president of the Forest Iron Company. His peer lawyer, Maynard, was the secretary and treasurer of said company. In 1857, he served on the Michigan House of Representatives and worked on land grant distribution. Following that role, he served on the U.S. Land Office for the U.P. He had connections with Edward Brietung, the owner of multiple mines. Circumstances became a little contentious when some of White’s associates broke away from his First National Bank and joined Edward Breitung and his Citizens’ Bank. White and Breitung bought as much pig iron as they could during the panic of 1873. They made a large profit when the market recovered. White earned $35,000 on these transactions, which is noted as the foundation of his personal fortune.
He married Ellen Sophia Hewitt on September 27, 1857, which gave him a connection to the Cleveland Iron Mining Company. The couple had six children, and they had the misfortune of losing four of their six children at young ages. White branched out when he became a school trustee in Marquette. In 1869, White became the director of the Champion Mine at Humboldt. The following year, he became the president of the Lake Superior Powder Company. He thought he would switch things up and become the president of the Argonaut Boat Club. He had his hands in many pots, stirring away. To sum things up, Peter White had been a trapper, hunter, mail carrier, sailor, machinist, farmer, bookkeeper, merchant, trapper, explorer, fisherman, and manufacturer of iron, lumber, leather, and powder while he served on many boards.
This book relates to my life in several ways. I have been known to do too much and take part in too many community and personal activities. I don’t know when White found time to sleep or have any social life. I am a very capable individual. The person who organizes the docents for the Water Street historical homes would like me to be a docent because I am knowledgeable about Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and the Johnstons. I was feeling a little stressed out and decided to track everything I was involved in and cross a few things off my list. And being a docent is something I definitely don’t have time to do. I wonder if White ever did that, cross things off his list. It seemed like he just kept adding things to his to-do list. Another thing I have in common is that I am a resident in the U.P. and have been all my life. I live in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. This book was definitely set in the U.P., especially Marquette. I learned a lot about White’s life by reading this book.
A book that came to mind while reading this book was “Peter White” by Herbert Brinks. It was part of the great men of Michigan series. Brinks used a variety of resources when he wrote his book: Peter White Papers; Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library; the State Archives; The Marquette County Society; the Relm Foundation of Ann Arbor; and additional resources. Nyquist made reference to Brinks’ book and he did not make an attempt at retracing the very extensive sources. He wanted to create a more reader friendly version. He explained that Peter White’s life did not follow a linear pattern of chronologic text but jumped from topic to topic. I learned a lot about Peter White’s life by reading this book.
Nyquist’s rendition of Peter White’s life leaned towards the realization of why he was referred to as Mr. Marquette. He was one of the first to live there, he spent the majority of his life in that location and managed to surmount a vast number of accomplishments. The purpose of his life journey appeared to be to form as many connections as possible and he seemed drawn to the banking and mining industries. He spent his life being of service to his community while trying to find ways to earn a substantial income. His connections to the banking and mining world may have been the reason he met an untimely death as defined in another Nyquist book. The author delineates an extremely interesting entrepreneur who forged his life into so many businesses and created a sense of safety and well-being for many of his constituents.
Title: Honorable Peter White of Marquette
Author: Michael S. Nyquist
