*****Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. This message MUST appear on all copied files. Commercial copying MUST have permission. ***** Submitted by Cheryl Van Wormer. JAMES L. AND MATILDA (GUTICK) WICKES. JAMES L. WICKES. Among the stockmen of this State and particularly of the Central portion, Mr. Wickes is widely known as a member of the firm of J. L. Wickes & Co., breeders of Galloway cattle, Percheron horses and Rambouillet sheep. The address of the firm is Colby and they have one thousand five hundred acres of land which has been specially prepared for the purpose to which it is put and is one of the finest stock farms. Mr. Wickes is the son of James H. and Maria (Tuthill) Wickes and was born in New York in 1828. His parents were natives of the same State as himself, and his father was a cabinetmaker and later a farmer. He of whom we write was educated at Eddytown (N. Y.) Seminary, and when ready to take up a man's duties gave his attention to farming. After a time he came to this State and engaged in the lumber business in Saginaw, where he had a successful trade. Thence he went into the interior of the State and dealt extensively in lumber and also put up some of the largest mills in Michigan. After a varied experience he came Stanton, Montcalm County, in 1881 and formed the firm which has been already mentioned. Mr. Wickes was married in New York to Miss Matilda Gutick and has one son, George Willard, an enterprising and prosperous young business man located in San Francisco. Mr. Wickes is a stalwart republican. He is an official member of the Congregational Church and active in all work projected by that society. A man of more than ordinary intelligence, whose varied experiences have added to the keenness of his perception, he is a pleasant companion, and his character is such as to entitles him to the respect of his fellow-citizens, and at this writing he is serving the people of the City of Stanton as Mayor. This biography is taken from "PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICH." Chapman Brothers. Chicago, Illinois. 1891. Page 238.