Elmer & Annie Sutton: Their Part in Sault Ste. Marie's History, by Nancy Steinhaus

Elmer Sutton, born in Orion Township, Oakland County, about ten miles north of Pontiac in March 1854 (The Evening News, February 12, 1934) - coincidentally, the same year Sault Ste. Marie was in the middle of historic construction of the shipping Canal and first lock (Newton, Story, 182) - made his way to the Sault in 1879, described by Newton as "a year of panicky conditions and country-wide depression" (Story, 182) to open his first law office (E.N., February 12, 1934).
Sutton, who was known by his initials, E. S. B., was only one of many individuals who came north about this time. Robert N. Adams, later first president of Central Savings Bank, also arrived in 1879, and Chase S. Osborn, Michigan's only governor from the Upper Peninsula, followed during the early 1880's (Story 165, 172, 182). The decision to come here may have been influenced by the indication of better times ahead for this area. In 1879, work was in progress on construction of a second lock, brought on by the increase in shipping over the past twenty years (canal tonnage went from 100,000 in 1855 to 700,000 in 1870) (Story 153).
Having established his law practice, Sutton quickly became involved in the affairs of the city. In 1881, he was elected judge of Probate, serving from 1881 through 1884 (E.N., February 12, 1934). This was the same election in which Judge Joseph Steere first became Circuit Court Judge (Story 156).
In 1881, also, Sutton married Annie A. Scranton, then a young girl of 19, on October 1. Born in Sault Ste. Marie on December 31, 1861, Annie was a life-long resident of the city and a member of one of its leading families (E.N., February 3, 1934). Her father, Myron W. Scranton, was a local businessman, office holder, and postmaster during the 1870's and 1880's (Bayliss 203, 284). Her grandfather was Peter B. Barbeau, who had first come to the Sault about 1826 as a representative of John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company (E.N., February 3, 1934). Barbeau was involved in many enterprises and held many public offices, including State Representative in 1842 and first president of the village of Sault Ste. Marie in 1879, to which position, according to Joseph Bayliss, he was elected unanimously (204). Both of these men were active in real estate ventures, and possibly because of his marital connections to them, E. S. B. Sutton also became involved with real estate dealings later in the decade. Before beginning his commercial activity, however, he continued as a public servant during the early years of the 1880's.
Following his term as Probate Judge, Sutton served as Prosecuting Attorney from 1885 through 1886, after which he returned to private practice (E.N., February 12, 1934). Two years later, in the Sault Ste. Marie City Directory of 1888, he is listed as a lawyer, insurance and real estate agent with offices located at 24 Water Street West. Whether by deliberate action or simple happenstance, Sutton's return to private practice and commercial activity coincided with anticipation by residents that Sault Ste. Marie was on the verge of a major boom. This expectation, as explained by Bayliss, was brought on by the fact that "by 1886 ... two projects [those of a railroad line to the area and a water power canal for the Sault] seemed certain" (190). Besides these two construction projects, appropriations for building the new Poe Lock were made on August 5, 1886, with active operations expected to begin shortly (work commenced on May 5, 1887) (Fowle 440).
The looked-for boom came in the early months of 1887 (Bayliss 190). The impact on the town was impressive, including the completion of the international railway bridge and establishment of three rail lines to the area, organization and planning of utilities (sewer system, electric lighting, water power, and gas system), and beginning preparations for an electric street railway system (Bayliss 190-192).
The boom hit the real estate market as hard as anything else. In a few weeks much property changed hands and "many new real estate additions were platted and the lots offered for sale" (Bayliss 192). Prices were greatly inflated; lots which had been offered for $25 before the boom now sold for $4,000 - $6,000 (Bayliss 191). E.S.B. Sutton, as a real estate agent and owner of a considerable amount of property accumulated over the previous five years, would seem to have been in a very favorable position to have benefited from the rise in real estate values. While he did sell some of his holdings during the early months of 1887 (there were 15 individual transactions through April including several private land claims made up of larger segments of property), further research is necessary to determine if Sutton profited greatly from the boom period. Whether he did or not, he continued actively buying and selling real estate throughout the remainder of his life to an extent which earned him a "set-aside" in the county grantee/grantor indexes (listed under the last name Sutton and separated from the regular chronological listings) (Chippewa County Grantee/Grantor indexes 147-152/129-136).
The real estate boom of 1887 was accompanied, not unexpectedly, by a building boom, also. Bayliss states that "at least a thousand new dwellings were built" that year (192). Included among the new buildings constructed in 1887 was the Sault Savings Bank building on the northeast corner of Ashmun and Portage (the present Traverse Bay Woolen store) (Sauer 67).
The economic growth of 1887 led to Sault Ste. Marie being incorporated as a city in that year (Story 169). Along with the increase in business and civic affairs which qualified the Sault to assume the status of a city, a need for a corresponding increase in the area's cultural life befitting the designation of "city" was acknowledged. One early means to satisfy this perceived need was the formation of the Le Sault de Sainte Marie Club in October, 1887. An article giving details about the newly formed organization was included in the October 27 edition of the Soo Democrat (reprinted in the Club's newsletter of December 31, 1935), The Club's structure, described by the Democrat, was to be, like that of similar organizations, "devoted to good fellowship, social enjoyment and above all to form a 'rendezvous' where the young men will find homelike surroundings and worthy companions." According to the report, the clubrooms were to be located on "the whole third floor of the new Savings Bank Building" with plans drawn up by "Mr. Gibbs, the architect of the bank building." Much detail was provided on how the clubrooms would be designed and decorated. The plans included a restaurant, smoking room, billiard room, reception room, and parlor, plus living quarters for staff. The rooms were to have "Brussels carpets" (except the smoking and billiard rooms) with walls to be "frescoed or papered." The clubrooms would be "heated by steam, lighted by electric light, and equipped with grates and mantles." In sum, the formation of the Le Sault de Sainte Marie Club and its thoroughly up-to-date clubrooms were seen, in the words of the Soo Democrat, as aiding the Sault in making "a stride towards metropolitanism."
The Le Sault de Sainte Marie Club, from its beginnings through its existence into the 1940's, claimed as members "most all of the business and professional men of the city." Governor Chase S. Osborn was a member, and several receptions in his honor were held in the clubrooms during his time in office. E.S.B. Sutton, an active member, was president of the organization in 1893 and 1894, and again in 1907 (information obtained from Club papers).
Sutton, remembered by a business associate as having a reputation of being a man who enjoyed socializing, helped organize a local unit of the Knights of Pythias in 1863 and was the first Chancellor Commander (E.N., February 12, 1934). He was also a Mason and belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution (E.N., February 12, 1934).
Although actively involved in various social organizations, Sutton is remembered by several of his Armory Street neighbors as being somewhat private and reclusive (obtained from private conversations).
Residing earlier at 131 Portage Avenue West (City Directory 1888), Sutton and his wife Annie moved in 1890 to 306 Armory Place (at that time called Fort Street) and lived there until their deaths in 1934. This section of the city was first platted and sold by lots following the boom of 1887 (information obtained from the property's abstract). When the Suttons bought their lot in 1889 and built there, theirs was only the second house on the block. Within a decade much of the block had been sold, including the north side of Armory Place which previously had been a part of Fort Brady. By 1915, all the residential buildings now standing between Bingham Street and the present St. Mary's playground and the E.U.P.I.S.D. offices had been erected with the exception of the building at 314 Armory (Sanborn 12). The Suttons' neighbors included the A.J. VanDusens, the Clarks (he was a vicepresident at Central Savings Bank), Judge Charles Chapman, the Frank Warners (he was a lawyer), the Eddys (he was a local businessman), and Mrs. Edna Taylor. While not perceived as unfriendly, the Suttons are remembered as being rather private. Perhaps the fact that the couple had no children might explain some of their isolation from their neighbors (although their next-door neighbors, Judge Chapman and his wife, were also childless and are remembered as quite friendly).
Besides moving his residence in 1890, Sutton also relocated his business quarters about the same time from where he had been at 24 Water West in 1888 to a suite of offices in the Sault National Bank Building. The first National Bank building had been destroyed in the fire of August 9, 1886, which had "consumed nearly all the buildings on the south side of Water Street and a number of others on Portage," as Newton explains (Story 168). The bank relocated temporarily in "the former office of Attorney H. K. Oren" (Story 168) (who, incidentally, had recently moved his office to the second floor of the new Sault Savings Bank Building) (Sauer 67) while a new bank building was under construction. It was this new building in which Sutton rented office space (Gity Directory 1893). Unfortunately, a second major fire almost exactly ten years after the first (on August 27, 1896) again destroyed much of the Water Street business district including the new Sault National Bank Building (Story 174). A newspaper article of September 3, 1896, lists the Sault National Bank as sustaining the second biggest loss at $55,000 (R. D. Perry, owner of the Perry Hotel and two other buildings, all of which burned, suffered the greatest loss at $60,000). E.S.B. Sutton was also included in the list of those whose property was destroyed in the fire; damages to his office suite amounted to $3,000.
This second fire that devastated the Sault Ste. Marie business district caused many businesses to relocate to Portage Avenue and Ashmun Street (Story 168, 174), which thus became the new center for business activity. Sutton, forced to move along with the others, reestablished his offices in the Price-Harrison building on Ashmun Street (since torn down, this building, later called simply the Price building, was located where the empty lot north of Barishes now stands) (City Directory 1915, 1930). Here he maintained his private law practice until his death, while continuing, also, to involve himself in other financial enterprises. Near the time of his death, for example, he was acting as a representative for The Credit Clearing House (City Directory 1930). Notable among his various business affairs is the formation of the Chippewa County Savings Bank. In 1902, Sutton, along with Mr. J. L. Lipsett and others, organized the bank and "opened for business in the Brown Block on South Ashmun Street" (Story 172). Two years later, on June 29, 1904, the bank merged with the Central Savings Bank, which also had received its charter in 1902. The combined bank took the Central Savings Bank name and location (the 6-story building still standing on the corner of Ashmun and Spruce Streets); Mr. Lipsett became president of the new institution (Bayliss 206, Story 172).
E.S.B. Sutton, who came to the Sault in 1879 and married Annie Scranton, a member of one of the area's leading families, in 1881, remained active in business affairs until 1934, the year of his death. The circumstances surrounding his death and that of Annie, who died just eight days earlier, were such that the local paper carried the story as front-page news over the course of a week. According to the published news reports, on Friday, February 2, 1934, shortly after 9:00 a.m., Mrs. Sutton was attempting to light a small gas heater in the second floor bathroom when her clothes caught on fire. She ran to her husband's bedroom to get his help (Sutton had been confined to bed, critically ill with a "heart ailment"-bronchitis is the cause of death listed on the official burial record--for the previous two months). He jumped up to try to smother the flames with a blanket but collapsed on the floor from a heart attack. Recovering a short time later, he managed to extinguish the fire and to call a doctor. Mrs. Sutton was transported to the hospital for treatment; but due to the severity of the burns (only her face and head were unharmed), she died twelve hours later at 9:40 p.m.
Mr. Sutton never recovered from the heart attack he had at the time of the fire. He died at home the following Saturday, February 10. The over-sized, frontpage headline read, "Judge Sutton Passes Away, Burial Tuesday--Former Probate Judge and Prosecutor Practiced Law Here 55 Years--Bar Meeting Postponed." Both members of St. James Episcopal Church, funeral services for Annie and E.S.B. Sutton were held there, followed by burial at Riverside Cemetery in the spring,(E.N., February 2-February 10, 1934).
The foregoing, in an admittedly telescoped fashion, gives an overview of E.S.B.'s and Annie Sutton's involvement in the life of Sault Ste. Marie during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and first third of this century. More could be learned and written about this couple and their relatives, Peter Barbeau and Myron W. Scranton, since Bayliss Public Library has a fairly large collection of both Barbeau's and Scranton's papers available to researchers in the Judge J. H. Steere Room. By knowing more about the individual lives of those who participated in the public life of a community, the history of that community is made more real and immediate to those who come later. Hopefully, in chronicling the affairs of the Suttons, I have helped add to the reality of Sault Ste. Marie's past.
References
Primary Sources:
Chippewa Abstract and Title Company. Abstract for 306 Armory Place, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Contains all pertinent information on the property relative to ownership plus names and dates that would be useful for further research on the house.
Chippewa County, Michigan. Probate Court. Probated Estate of Annie A. Sutton. No. 2355. Includes a list of surviving heirs and an inventory of household furniture and belongings which will be useful for any future renovation/restoration plans.
Chippewa County, Michigan. Probate Court. Probated Estate of Elmer S. B. Sutton. No. 2364.
Chippewa County, Michigan. Register of Deeds. Grantor/Grantee indexes. 129-136/147-152. Sutton had enough transactions to warrant a "set-aside" under his last name.
Conversations with former business associate of Elmer Sutton. This person prefers anonymity; his memories of E.S.B. Sutton are based on a business acquaintance-ship only.
Conversations with former residents of Armory Place and/or relatives of former residents. Of the five individuals interviewed, all shared similar memories of the Suttons as described in the paper.
Le Sault de Sainte Marie Club. Papers collected at Bayliss Public Library, Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Papers include monthly reports, newsletters, scrapbook, and papers relative to the dissolution of the Club dating from 1887 through the 1940's.
R. L. Polk and Company. Sault Ste. Marie City Directory. annual editions. Detroit: R. L. Polk & Co., 1888-1934. These volumes provided information directly related to E.S.B. and Annie Sutton, for both their business and personal lives.
Sanborn Map Company. Insurance Maps of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. New York: Sanborn Map Co., 1915. Gives details of city residences including information on construction materials of individual buildings, porches, and other structures located on particular properties. Names buildings (e.g., the "Brown Block") and tells what businesses are located in them.
Sauer, William C., C. E. Illustrated Atlas of the Twin Cities: Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Ontario. Detroit: Wm. C. Sauer, C. E., 1888. Includes pictures of some city landmarks, including the 1887 Sault Savings Bank Building. Gives a short history of the Sault and biographical sketches of some citizens.
The Sault News Printing Company. The Evening News. Sault Ste. Marie: The Sault News Printing Co., February 3-12, 1934. Provides news stories and obituary type information on Annie and E.S.B. Sutton regarding the circumstances of their deaths.
Secondary Sources:
Bayliss, Joseph E. and Estelle L. in collaboration with Milo M. Quaife. River of Destiny: The Saint Mary's. Detroit: Wayne UP, 1955. Contains personal experiences and memories of authors combined with researched material. Provided leads for possible future research.
Daughters of the American Revolution. Chippewa County Marriages, 1824-1870. Compiled by the Daughters of the American Revolution, n.d. Individual entries include names, ages, and addresses of marrying couple plus wedding date and presiding minister or official. Unclear whether source is a comprehensive or a partial listing of all marriages in the county between 1824-1870.
Fowle, Otto. Sault Ste. Marie and Its Great Waterway. New York: Putnam's-Knickerbocker Press, 1925. Contains excerpts of correspondence of Sault residents, including letters to and from Peter Barbeau. Includes biographical sketches of several prominent Sault Ste. Marie citizens.
Fuller, George N., ed. Vols. 1 and 2 of Michigan: A Centennial History of the State and Its People. 5 vols. Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1935. Provided background, information on the economic, financial, legislative, and social conditions and affairs of Michigan during the period under study.
Newton, Stanley. Mackinac Island and Sault Ste. Marie. Sault Ste. Marie: Sault News Printing Co., 1909. Most of the information pertaining to Sault Ste. Marie was included in The Story of Sault Ste. Marie.
The Story of Sault Ste. Marie. 1923; Grand Rapids: Blackletter Press, 1975. Provides much detail about the history of the Sault; however, sources are not cited and organization of events is haphazard. This work provided much of the background history of the Sault and also some information directly related to the Suttons for this current paper.