Description: From statehood to the rise of corporations, Pioneers, Reformers, & Millionaires by Elizabeth A. Homer is an epic story of two generations of western New Yorkers who settled along mid-Michigan’s Grand River.
In Part I, Marian and James Turner form an influential group of pioneers who build a capital city in the primal forest in seven months and remain friends for life and into the next generation. They are among the progressive Whigs and Democrats who founded the Republican Party to end slavery. They advance controversial and humanitarian ideas. Marian’s family scrapbook is a source of many of the stories in this history of heroes and villains and great political battles.
In Part II, the second generation includes James Munroe Turner who was a folk hero to much of the state. He is a farmer, railroad builder, manufacturer, miner and lumberman in the Upper Peninsula, millionaire, and reformer. The second generation is bent on holding the Republican Party to its original ideals. A clash between Turner, Vanderbilt, and the Grand Trunk Railroad has far-reaching effects. At the end of the 19th century they grapple with monumental societal problems, ones that dog us today.
Author: Elizabeth A. Homer
Publishing Info: 2014 softcover, self-published. 6 x 8.75”, 415 pages.
Condition: Ex-library copy with usual stamps and markings; spine enforced with clear tape. Very good condition.