The opening of Preface
It has been too long a custom to regard as proper subjects for biographical literature only persons who have figured in political life. In preparing the present work, any man or woman who has, in any conspicuous way, contributed to the moral, intellectual, industrial or political growth of the country, has been deemed a suitable person for these pages. To the heroism and uncomplaining industry of the men who hewed out homes in the wilderness, and little by little overcame the obstacles of nature, are we indebted now for our thriving cities, and for our wide stretches of cultivated lands; and to omit a record of their labors, and select only for permanent record the deeds of those who came upon the scenes when the rugged work was done, would be singularly unjust. We have had, and still have amongst us, men of great genius in engineering skill, and in mechanical contrivance; and it was fitting that a brief record of their lives, and what they accomplished for the community, should be handed down in the history of our common country.