By Staff
Part of a continuing series on Niles' historic Silverbrook Cemetery, provided by Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery, a group working to preserve and restore the cemetery.
By Friends of Silverbrook
The Niles Republican published a poetic obituary following Col. James Lewis Glen's death in the early morning hours of New Year's Day 1876.
Drawing on William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act V, Scene V, the author of the piece wrote: "What has been so often said of others may be truly said of him, 'His life was gentle and elements so mixed in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all the world: This was a Man!' "
This was the man whose engineering accomplishments include the original Niles water-power and gas works buildings, the substructure of the bridge, Trinity Episcopal Church and Silverbrook Cemetery where he now rests.
A native of Holmesburg, Penn., where he was born May 29, 1814, his youth and early manhood were spent in Philadelphia where it was said he acquired "the social tastes and polite habits then characteristic of that city."
Glen had a natural aptitude for his chosen profession of civil engineering which he practiced in public works until his emigration west to Niles in 1834. He purchased the property which was later known as Lardner's Mill and soon after bought a farm "on the south side of Beardsley Prairie (Edwardsburg) and went there to live for many years and was a practical and successful farmer."
Although he lived in Cass County, Niles was his market town, where he attended Trinity Church and had many friends.
However, it was in Cass County that he was elected as Sheriff and then was a Representative in the State Legislature. His position took him to Detroit where he made many influential contacts and he became regarded as a prominent man in the State. While he might have achieved any position he desired, he lacked any real political aspirations.
His gravestone bears only his given names and yet his obituary and listings in two histories of Trinity Episcopal Church – one by the Rev. R. McMurdy and another by Blanche Millard Parkin – refer to his title of Colonel. No military service being evident begs the question of where the title came from.
A possible explanation could be that some people known as "colonels" are actually recipients of honorary colonel ranks from a state governor and are not military officers.
Famous honorary colonels include Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC fame, a Kentucky colonel; Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, who received the honor from a Louisiana governor; Edward M. House, known as "Colonel House," a Texas honorary colonel and adviser to President Woodrow Wilson.
We do know that Glen was offered several executive appointments, declining more than he accepted. His obituary suggests that "he was especially in favor with Govs. Felch and Barry, and it was their custom to tender him whatever position at their disposal he might desire; but he shrunk from the cares and responsibilities of public life, for he was one of that almost extinct class of men who regard an official station as a sacred trust."
In 1847, Glen was appointed a Commissioner to plan and survey the City of Lansing, the newly located Capital and was to erect a State house in time for the ensuing session of the Legislature giving him a timeline of only eight months in a nearly inaccessible wilderness. The accomplishment of the task on time and with an "executive energy and economy that was truly surprising" attracted the attention of the legislative bodies.
Among other impressive monuments to Glen's engineering skill were the first Sault St. Mary canal with its wooden locks and Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor.
Perhaps his personal impressiveness outweighed even these. As the prose which summarized his life at his death suggested: "However, it was not in things like these that the greatness of the man consisted – it was in the life he led, in the splendor of his daily walk and conversation. He moved about among us a grand majestic man, almost exempt from human infirmities."
It was erysipelas to which Glen succumbed seemingly without much warning. This was an acute streptococcus bacterial infection of the dermis which results in inflammation and characteristically extends into underlying fat tissue that also caused the deaths of John Stuart Mills, political philosopher and author of On Liberty and that of 15th century poet John Dryden.
He was said to be suffering from despondency and grief following the death of his long-time friend and companion Mr. Paine and had been planning to attend the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia that summer.
Persuaded he had but a short time to live the Republican obituary said "he exhibited no discomposure, but with his habitual serenity entered upon the arrangement of his affairs in his usual careful and methodical way. This completed, he renewed his covenant with God, and prepared to meet his fate with the calmness and courage of Israel's warrior king."
A grand and eloquent tribute for a man who spent his life avoiding the spotlight choosing instead to let his work define him.
For more information on Friends of Silverbrook with regards to memberships and work days to help restore and catalog the monuments contact: Friends of Silverbrook Cemetery c/o 508 E. Main St. Niles MI 49120, Tim and Candace Skalla at 684-2455, wskalla@sbcglobal.net or contact Ginny Tyler at 445-0997, SPHINX1974@aol.com.