Mecosta County MI Archives Biographies.....Stearns, George F. January 9, 1832 - 
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Jan Cortez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00020.html#0004939 April 17, 2009, 4:14 pm

Author: Chapman Brothers

GEORGE F. STEARNS, President of the Northern National Bank, Big Rapids, was 
born at Ellisburg, Jefferson 

Co., N.Y., Jan. 9, 1832.  The banking house with which he has been connected 
from its organization was 

opened for the transaction of business June 5, 1871.  The institution is the 
result of a project which was 

carefully considered and made feasible by the combined energy, deliberation 
and capital of T C Platt, John 

F. Brown and G. F. Stearns.  It was organized with Mr. Stearns in the capacity 
of chief official, J.F. 

Brown as Vice President, and Chas. P. Gifford as Cashier.  They embarked on 
the sea of finance with a 

capital of $75,000, which was increased in 1874 to $90,000 and in 1883 to 
$150,000.  On the death of Mr. 

Brown, C. H. Wagener was elected to the vacant Vice Presidency and in 1875 
L.S. Baker became Cashier.

The "Northern National" is one of the most solid institutions in the country, 
having a deserved repute of 

carrying on its financial transactions on a system and basis of impregnable 
security, and hence is justly 

regarded as incomparably stable as a business house and a model in its methods 
and purposes.  It has a  

firm grasp upon the confidence of those with whom it has intimate financial 
relations, and the catalogue of 

its patrons and correlatios include a host of the most substantial names in 
Northern Michigan.

Mr. Stearns is the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Martin) Stearns, whose record 
is a part of that of Big 

Rapids, both from the period of their settlement here and their relations to 
the social and business growth 

of the place.  Daniel Stearns settled here in 1859, having previously 
purchased a low, two-story frame 

building, with a lean-to, where is now the southeast corner of Maple Street 
and Michigan Avenue.  This 

building, styled the "Mecosta," was utilized many years as a hotel, to which 
purpose it was first devoted 

by Capt. Daniel Stearns.  It has been raised twelve feet, remodeled, and still 
looms up a tangible reminder 

of the day of "first things" at Big Rapids.

The business record of Mr. Stearns is one continuous course of energy, 
sagacity, shrewdness, prudence, tact 

and ability.  He has all the restless activity tenacity of purpose and 
intuitive comprehension of human 

nature which constitute a born financier.  His leading traits of character 
have been conspicuoius from his 

outset in life, and, to his undying credit be it put on record, that, with all 
his keeness and powers of 

finesse in business, not one imputation of improbity or dishonor rests against 
him.  He walks among his 

fellow men in all the uprightness of moral rectitude, and wields an influence 
in his sphere second to none. 

 He is always acutely alive to the possibilities of a business transaction, 
but he never swerves from the 

promptings of his innate manliness and his sense of obligation to society.

His entire life has been devoted to effort.  His first speculative enterprise 
occurred when he was about 

twelve years old.  He had received a package of fire-crackers for 
the "Fourth," but instead of having a 

grand private glorification, he found a swarm of young patriots who paid him a 
cent each for his stock of 

small explosives.  No employment, so it afforded an opportunity to be doing 
something, was beneath his 

honest endeavors.  He did whatever the contingency demanded and performed 
every duty becomingly.  At the 

age of 12 he was employed in a general country store, remaining about a year; 
and on his parents' removal 

to Mannsville in his native county, he accompanied them, and did all the 
manner of odd jobs in and around 

his father's hotel.  Two years later he went to Adams, Jefferson Co., and 
engaged as a clerk in a store, 

where he operated two years.  He went thence to Rome, N.Y., and filled a 
position in an extensive dry-goos 

establishment.  In September, 1854, he came to Detroit with a friend, Wm. 
Chittenden, then holding a 

clerk's position in a dry goods establishment, and now proprietor of the 
Russell House in that city.  He 

borrowed money of his friend to make the trip to Detroit, ad made all his 
associations in first-class 

places, wisely judging that his best testimonial was the appearance and habits 
of a gentleman.

With but nominal delay he obtained a clerkship in the commercial house of 
Holmes & Co., where his friend 

was a salesman.  He remained there two years.  Meanwhile his father had moved 
to Newaygo and built the 

Brooks Hotel, whither Mr. Stearns proceeded and officiated one year as clerk.  
His next move was to the 

city of St. Louis, where he operated as a clerk in a dry-goods house two 
months, going thence to Chicago, 

where he was similarily engaged a short time.  He soon left the Garden City, 
went to Detroit and secured a 

situation in the mercantile establishment of Farrell Brothers.  In September, 
1860, he came to Big Rapids 

with a stock of dry goods, etc., suitable for the demands of a country trade, 
and opened the second store 

in the embryo city.  His father was established in the "Mecosta," and, desides 
his duties in the store, he 

assisted in every possible way at home, where the hotel was always overflowing 
with cutom.  By degrees he 

managed to convert his original stock of goods, valued at $500, into a stock 
of much wider scope, and 

trafficked in furs and all other articles that cme in his way with any 
reasonable outlook for speculation 

therein.  His business grew onerous, the sale of his closing year aggregating 
$100,000.  He had overworked 

and was compelled by impaired health to sell out.  He devoted his attention 
and energies to speculation in 

real estate and furs until 1871, when the Northern National Bank was put in 
successful operation.

Mr. Stearns has dealt extensively in real estate, and now owns several 
thousand acres of of pine and 

farming lands, together with 160 acres within the city limits, divided into 
small tracts, each containing a 

few acres.  His residence at No. 220 State Street is one of the most 
substantial and best arranged 

dwelling-houses in the city.  The grounds are 100 feet front by 700 feet deep, 
finely graded and laid out, 

and sheltered by trees.  The work has been done chiefly by Mr. Stearns' own 
hands, and in its 

unostentatious simplicity is revealed the character of its owner.  Mr. Stearns 
has also extensive lumber 

interets, being a member of the firm of Baker & Stearns, who handle annually a 
large amount of mill 

products.  He is also manager of the sales of the large tracts of land in 
Mecosta and other counties, 

belonging to the Warren estate.

Mr. Stearns was married at Detroit, June 4, 1861, to Harriet S., daughter of 
John Vernor; she was born at 

Albany, N.Y.  Mr. and Mrs. Stearns have had two children:  Carrie E., born 
March 27, 1869, and died Dec. 6, 

1881.  Charles F., a book-keeper in the Northern National Bank, was born June 
3, 1865.

Mr. Stearns is a member of the Masonic Order and belongs to the Knights of 
Pythias.  He is a Democrat in 

political sentiment, and in the spring of 1869 he was elected Mayor of Big 
Rapids, and re-elected in 1871 

and 1881, running largely ahead of his ticket.

Additional Comments:
1883 Portrait & Bio Album of Mecosta Co.

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