Biography--Clare City, Clare Co  
Alfred R. Canfield 

Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan  October 2002  
wilkinschw@aol.com 


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ALFRED R. CANFIELD, Biography / Clare County, Michigan 
 
Biographical History of Northern Michigan, B.F. Bowen & Company, 1905. 
 
ALFRED R. CANFIELD 
 
The thriving little city of Clare, in the county of the same name, is fortunate in the 
personnel of those who constitute its quota of business men, for it is a well-
estabished fact that a community is measured by the character of its 
representative citizens.  The newspapers of a community, too, are usually just 
indices of its commercial and civic status, and thus too much importance can not 
be attached to them and their mission.  The subject of this review is the able and 
popular editor and publisher of the Clare Courier, one of the well conducted and 
flourishing weekly papers of this section of the state, and on this score, as well as 
by reason of his prominence in the community, it is most compatible that a sketch 
of his career be entered in this volume. 
 
Mr. CANFIELD is a native son of the Wolverine state, having been born in 
Portland township, Ionia county, Michigan, on the 26th of August, 1867, and 
being a son of J.H. and HELEN A. (READ) CANFIELD, who still reside in that 
county, his father being incumbent of the office of judge of probate.  Our subject 
passed his boyhood days in Ionia county and was accorded the advantages of its 
excellent public schools, while he began an apprenticeship at the printer's trade 
in his youth, so that he is familiar with the mysteries and intricacies of the "art 
preservative of all arts" and thus well equipped for the successful management of 
his newspaper enterprise.  Mr. CANFIELD continued to reside in Ionia county 
until 1883, when he came to Clare county, first locating in Harrison, where he 
remained until 1895.  Within a year after taking up his residence in Harrison he 
became the owner of the Clare County Cleaver, which he conducted until the 
spring of 1895, when he disposed of the paper and plant and came to Clare, 
where he established the Clare Courier, whose publication he hs since 
successfully continued, making it one of the best country newspapers in the 
northern part of the state and one which wields unmistakable influence in public 
affairs of a local nature, while it stands as a faithful exponent of the interests of 
the community in which it is published.  The office is well equipped in all 
departments and the paper now has a bona fide circulation of eight hundred 
copies.  It is Democratic in its political policy and its editorial utterances are 
vigorous and timely.  While a resident of Harrison Mr. CANFIELD held the office 
of postmaster about three years, during the second administration of President 
Cleveland, resigning the position at the time of his removal to Clare.  He is well 
known throughout the county and has a host of friends in both business an social 
circles.  He has been an active worker in the ranks of the Democratic party and is 
at the present time a member of the state central committee of the same.  He 
maintains a lively interest in all that touches the welfare and advancement of his 
home town and county, and is at the time of this writing president of the board of 
education of Clare.  Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. 
 
At Harrison, this county, on the 15th of August, 1888, Mr. CANFIELD was united 
in marriage to Miss MINNIE BOGUE, who was born in Pennsylvania, and they 
have two children, DON W. and MARY HELEN. 
 
 
Submitted for use by USGENWEB Clare County, Michigan  October 2002  
wilkinschw@aol.com