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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer 

				HON. OSMOND TOWER*
			  MRS. MARTHA (GALLAGHER) TOWER


	Hon. Osmond Tower, of Ionia, Mich., late United States marshal of the Western District of
this State, was born at Cummington, Hampshire Co., Mass., Feb. 16, 1811.  He is the sixth in 
direct descent from John Tower, who in 1639 emigrated from Hingham, England, to Hingham, New 
England.  The names in the genealogical record are John, born March 14, 1609; Benjamin, born, 
Nov. 5, 1654; Thomas, born June 27, 1693; Nathaniel, born March 13, 1719; Nathaniel, born Oct. 
14, 1744; Nathaniel Dec. 6, 1772; and Osmond, the subject of this sketch, born Feb. 16, 1811.
	His father moved in 1780 from Hingham to Cummington, Mass., where Osmond was born.  
Osmond was educated in the common schools and academies of his native town until, early realizing
the unprofitable results of the toil and labor incident to a farmer's life in that sterile region,
he decided to leave home and try his fortunes in the West.  With this end in view, in order to 
obtain the necessary funds he went to work at the carpenter and joiner's trade for ten dollars a 
month, and taught school in the winter at eleven dollars a month, until at the age of twenty
-three he had accumulated a fortune of one hundred and seventy dollars.  To most young men of the
present day this sum would barely suffice to purchase a respectable outfit of clothing; but to 
Osmond, taught lessons of frugality and economy on the rocky soil of a Massachusetts farm, it 
seemed not only enough to pay his own way to the golden regions of the West, but sufficient for 
two.
	Accordingly he offered to share his fortune with Miss Martha Gallagher, of Albany Co., 
N. Y., provided she would accompany him as his wife.  This offer was accepted, and on the 1st of 
September, 1834, they were married in Watervliet, Albany Co., N. Y., at the residence of her 
guardian and friend, Dr. James Wade, a brother of Hon. B. F. Wade, of Ohio.  Dr. Wade had adopted
her on the death of her mother, soon after her arrival in this country from her native land, 
Ireland.  shortly after the ceremony the young couple started on their long and tedious journey 
to the West, which was rendered still more painful and difficult by an accident with which Mrs. 
Tower met in jumping from a wagon soon after their departure.  This so disabled her that she 
could not walk for six months, and compelled the young husband often to carry her in his strong 
arms.
	They arrived at Detroit in November, and, finding that navigation had closed, concluded 
not to go farther that winter.  Mr. Tower worked at his trade until that failed, on account of 
the coldness of the weather, when they moved to Farmington and engaged board at one dollar and a 
half a week for both.  When spring opened Mr. Tower returned to Detroit and worked at his former 
occupation there until fall, when, hearing glowing accounts of the Grand River valley, he hired a
horse and rode from Detroit to Ionia.  He was obliged to swim his horse across Grand River three 
times, twice at Lyons and once at Thornapple.  The village of Ionia then consisted of two log 
houses.  Proceeding to the land-office at Kalamazoo, Mr. Tower located one hundred and twenty 
acres of land near Ionia, and returned to Detroit <I>via</I> Marshall, Jackson, and Ann Arbor.
	In the following spring, with his wife, he started for Ionia, and arrived there on the 
25th of March, 1836, with seventy-five cents in his pocket and a debt of one dollar and a half 
for board and lodging first night to a Mr. Dexter.  He immediately secured work at his trade on 
the first school-house built in the Grand River valley, and in a little time was able to build a 
house for himself.  This he afterwards sold and immediately built another, in which he lived 
thirty-four years, erecting in 1870 the magnificent residence in which he now lives, a view of 
which is shown elsewhere in this work.  The lot contains about three acres, in the centre of the 
city, adjoining on the south the public square, and bounded on the east by Union Street and on 
the north by Hight Street.  The house is on an elevation of seventy feet above the public square 
and Washington Street.  Soon after coming to Ionia he spent some time on the land he had located 
in 1835, clearing and improving it.  While thus engaged he shot and killed a large bear within a 
few feet of his door.  He continued in the business of house-building at Ionia until 1844, when 
he engaged in the manufacture and sale of fanning-mills, which he carried on for twenty years.
	During this time, however, and since, he has been occupied in several lines of business.  
He was for seven years a member of the drygoods-house of J. S. Cooper & Co.; for six years the 
senior member of the firm of Tower & Chubb, in the foundry business; for several years the senior
member of the hardware firm of O. & O. S. Tower; and for six years the financial member of the 
firm of Baker & Tower, engaged in the manufacture and sale of hot-air furnaces.  He has taken 
from the wilderness and cleared up nine farms in Ionia County, having done his full share to make
the wilderness blossom.
	In the spring of 1850, enticed by the prospects which influenced so many about that time,
Mr. Tower left Ionia overland for California, where, after a journey of great hardship and 
privations, her arrived July 28th, exactly four months after he started.  He remained there only 
till February of the next year, when he returned home by way of Panama and New York.  He reached 
Ionia the last of April, 1851, having realized little beyond that dearly-bought experience which 
in those days fell to the lot of hundreds of others.
	While giving the closest attention to his business, Mr. Tower has also been called to 
take an active part in local and State politics, and has ever proved an able and faithful public 
servant.  He was a Whig, in opposition to Andrew Jackson, and attended the first meeting held in 
Detroit (then the Territory of Michigan), in 1835, to form a Whig party.  In 1838 he received the 
Whig nomination for first sheriff of Ionia County, but declined to become a candidate.  In 1840 
he was elected county clerk on the Whig ticket and was defeated for the same office in 1842 with 
the balance of the ticket.  In 1852 was a candidate on the same ticket for county treasurer, and 
although he ran several hundred ahead of the Presidential ticket, was defeated by a small 
majority.  He has held the office of supervisor of Ionia several times, elected on the Whig and 
Republican ticket.  In 1858 he was chosen to represent his district in the State Senate, and was 
re-elected in 1860.
	He has been identified with all the local enterprises that tended to benefit the city of 
Ionia.  At the organization of the Ionia and Lansing Railroad Company he was one of the Principal 
stockholders, a director, and first treasurer of the company.  When the Ionia and Stanton 
Railroad Company was organized he was one of the principal stockholders and a director and first 
president.  these two companies were afterward consolidated, and became a part of the Ionia, 
Lansing and Northern Railroad.
	In March, 1863, he was appointed by President Lincoln first United States marshal of the 
Western District of Michigan, and held that office about three years.  The circumstances 
attendant upon his removal by President Johnson gained for Mr. Tower a far more than local 
reputation as a man of powerful will and strond, decided character.  A copy of the famous 
"Randall Circular," issued in 1866, was handed to him while confined to his bed by sickness.  He 
read the document, and, calling for paper and pencil, immediately wrote and sent to press for 
publication one of the most caustic and defiant replies that appeared during that exciting 
campaign.  In order to illustrate Mr. Tower's character we give the concluding portion of the 
letter, taken from the New York <I>Tribune</I>, without comment.  The New York <I>Tribune</I> 
headed the article:  "Another Official who can Live without Official Bread and Butter."

	"As long as the Republican party is true to its principles I shall give it my influence, 
whether in office or out, and therefore shall not join any new party, or cross between treason 
and loyalty, to be controlled by traitors and their sympathizers.  At the Baltimore Convention, 
being a delegate, I voted for Hannibal Hamlin, and at the election I spent all the time and money 
I was able to elect Lincoln and Johnson.  I have favored all measures to suppress the Rebellion 
and preserve the Union; had three sons in the army, and paid my share of taxes and bounties.  By 
virtue of New England energy and economy I have been able to eat my own bread and butter and have
some left not obtained through any office.  If my actions and my sentiments, as above set forth, 
are not consistent with holding a Government office, I am ready to vacate any time my successor 
may be appointed, with only one request, which is that as there are several sudden converts to 
this new organization, made so by the promise of my office, it shall be filled by an original, 
consistent Copperhead.  I can in a measure respect a straightforward rebel or Copperhead, but can
do no other than abominate a political <I>Judas</I> bartering away his faith and covering 
himself with dishonor for an office.


						"I am, respectfully,
							"OSMOND TOWER,
				"<I>United States Marshal Western District Michigan.</I>"

	Mr. Tower is now, and has been for about twelve years, president of the board of 
education of the city of Ionia, and has been officially connected with the public schools most 
of the time for over forty years.  When the "Home Mutual Fire Insurance Company for Ionia, 
Montcalm, and Clinton Counties" was organized, Mr. Tower was elected director and president of 
the company, which office he now holds.  The company has been very successful, and is now among 
the solid fire insurance companies of the State.
	His family consisted of four sons, three of them living; the eldest, George W., died in 
February, 1880.  Two of his sons were captains in the celebrated Sixth Michigan Cavalry, and one 
a private in Sherman's army in its "March to the Sea."  The younger son, then thirteen years old, 
wished to enlist as drummer, but while learning to drum the war ended.
	Mr. Tower has to a great extent retired from active business, and with his estimable wife
 quietly enjoys the fruits of their early struggles.  A man of powerful will, strong prejudices, 
and positive character, usually acting from impulse, he has made many warm friends as well as 
bitter enemies.  But even his enemies acknowledge that generally his impulses are good, his 
judgment correct, and his integrity unquestioned.  He is a willing and generous friend, and a 
liberal contributor to all benevolent objects.  He is possessed of strong religious convictions, 
being a Universalist in sentiment, and his moral character is above reproach.



* From "Eminent Men of Michigan."

This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881. Pages 160-162.