JOHN AMESSE

JOHN AMESSE, the popular and obliging postmaster of Lake Linden, Houghton County, Michigan, and an honored survivor of the Civil War, was born in 1844 in Canada, and is a son of Joseph and Julia (Vinette) Amesse, both of whom were also natives of Canada. Joseph Amesse was a farmer. Both he and his wife were devoted members of the Catholic Church. They reared a family of io children, six of these still surviving, as follows: Onezine, a resident of Ontonagon, Michigan; John, of this sketch; Leander, of Baraga, Baraga County, Michigan; and Zephyr, Odile and Napoleon, residents of Canada. John Amesse removed from Canada to the United States in 1863 and located in Michigan. In 1864 he enlisted for service in the Civil War, at Flint, Michigan, in the 10th Reg., Michigan Vol. Inf., and served until August 1, 1865. He did not escape the dangers of war, receiving a painful wound from a bullet, during the battle before Nashville, and being sent to the military hospital at Jeffersonville, Indiana. Mr. Amesse was a loyal and faithful soldier. He was appointed postmaster of Lake Linden by President Harrison, later by' President McKinley, and is serving his fifth term, under President Roosevelt.

In 1868 Mr. Amesse married Nancy Parks, a native of Canada, and four children have been born to them, as follows: Edward, who is the overseer of the boiler house at the Calumet & Hecla mine; John W., who has been three years in the United States service and is now quarantine officer and surgeon in the Marine Hospital at Manila, Philippine Islands; Henry, who is an assistant in the machine works of the Tamarack mill at South Lake Linden; and Adele, who is the accommodating assistant postmaster. Mr. Amesse is a Mason, an Odd Fellow and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. The family is connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Source: Biographical Record, Houghton, Baraga and Marquette Counties.  Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1903.