COL. JOSEPH FISK, Allegan Village, Allegan Co., Michigan

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History of Allegan and Barry Counties, Michigan, with Illustrations and 
Biographical Sketches of their Prominent Men and Pioneers.
Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co.  1880.  Press of J. B. Lippincott & 
Co., Philadelphia.

Among the truly representative men of Allegan County, few if any have 
been more intimately associated with its material development than Col. 
Joseph Fisk, the well-known contractor and builder, who has witnessed 
the transition of a small hamlet into one of the important towns in 
this part of the State, of a thin settlement into a busy and prosperous 
community, of a semi-wilderness into a fertile and highly productive 
region, and in his own person has typified so admirably the agencies 
which wrought many of these changes, that no history of Allegan would 
be complete without some sketch of his life, labors, and character.  
Col. Fisk was born in Charlemont, Franklin Co., Mass., May 22, 1810.  
His early life, like that of most of our successful business men, was
one of close application, self-reliance, and self-denial.  He acquired 
the trade of a carpenter and joiner, and obtained a liberal 
common-school education.  In 1834 he emigrated to Michigan with his 
family, and settled in Marengo, Calhoun Co., where he remained until 
March 7, 1835, when he came to Allegan and purchased the first lot 
after the village was laid out and lots offered for sale.  The colonel 
entered into the development of the little hamlet with the same energy 
and enterprise that has characterized his subsequent operations.  Soon 
after his arrival he contracted for the erection of ten or twelve 
dwellings for the Boston company; he employed a large force of men, and 
for many years was engaged in the erection of buildings.  In 1852 he 
took the contract for the construction of the Chicago breakwater, which 
he executed successfully, and which still stands as a monument to his 
mechanical skill, and which gave him a prominent position among the 
large and successful contractors of the West.  His career as a railroad 
contractor dates back to 1853, at which time he took a contract for 
building the Eel River road in Indiana, of about one hundred miles in 
length.  In 1854 and 1855 he was connected with the construction of the 
Dubuque and Pacific in Iowa; he also built a pile bridge across the bay 
at Milwaukee, Wis., a double track a mile and a quarter in distance; 
also a structure of about the same length across Mud Lake on the 
Watertown road.  From 1857 to 1863 he was engaged in Missouri; he built 
the southwest branch of the St. Louis and Pacific, and was also engaged 
on the main line, and constructed twenty-five miles on the Iron 
Mountain road.  Immediately after the close of the war he was 
associated with Messrs. Champlin & Smith in the construction of the 
North Missouri road to the Iowa State line; also the branch to Kansas 
City, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles.  In 1867 he built the 
road from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids, a distance of fifty-seven miles.  
In 1868 he built the road from Allegan to Muskegon, and in 1871 the 
Allegan branch of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad; this road, 
twelve miles in length, he constructed in ninety days.  The last 
contract of any note was for the building the Lansing division of the 
Lake-Shore and Michigan Southern.  The aggregate number of miles built 
exceeds one thousand.  In all these enterprises, involving large 
expenditures and heavy responsibilities, and frequently attended with 
great risk, h4e has been eminently successful.  Honesty and a firm 
desire to succeed have been the essential media of his success.  In all 
his transactions he has evinced excellent judgement, and sterling 
honesty has been the basis of all his operations.  This is high 
testimony, but it is only the reflex of the prominent traits of Col. 
Fisk's character, and what to the strange reader may seem to be the 
language of eulogy will be readily recognized by all who know him as a 
mere plain, uncolored statement of the salient points in his character 
and the features in his career.
  He has figured quite conspicuously in State and county politics; was 
the first registrar of Allegan County, and subsequently was elected 
sheriff; for many years held the office of magistrate for Allegan 
township.  But political life to him was devoid of charms; he had no 
desire for political preferment, and when he accepted a nomination it 
was more from a desire to advance the interests of Allegan than for his 
own aggrandizement.
  Col. Fisk never enjoyed the advantages of a finished education; but, 
being endowed with a large amount of common sense, industry, 
perseverance, and ambition, he has succeeded in building a reputation 
as widespread as it is enviable.  Indeed,, it may be truly said of him 
that his entire career is one worthy the emulation of the young, and a 
fitting example for all sorts and conditions of business men to follow.
  Col. Fisk's biography would not be complete without special mention 
of his esitmable wife, who shared the privations of the early days, and 
whose portrait, so full of character, may be seen on this page.  She is 
a woman of rare personal excellence, a faithful, true, and patient 
wife, a careful and affectionate mother, of pleasant manners, and 
beloved and respected by all who know her.  She is one the original 
members of the First Baptist Church of Allegan, and closely identified 
with its various religious and charitable enterprises.  She has been 
the mother of six children, three of whom are living, --Julia A., now 
Mrs. James A. Lee; Charles W., now residing in Texas; and George D., 
connected with the Grand Haven railroad.