JOHN GERALD REAL
JOHN GERALD REAL, county treasurer of Baraga County,
Michigan, and a leading citizen of L'Anse, was born in Houghton County, Michigan, October
28, 1865, and is a son of Garrett and Margaret (Mehony) Real, both of whom were born in
Ireland. The family came to Michigan in 1865 and located in Baraga County in 187I, when
the railroad was in course of construction. The father died in 189J, but the mother still resides in
Baraga.
Our subject is the oldest of a family of five children, all of whom are
living. He was educated in the public schools at L'Anse and took a
commercial course at the Bryant & Stratton's Business College at
Detroit, Michigan, completing the same prior to his 14th year, and
accepting then a clerical
position in a drug store at L'Anse. He was an ambitious youth, and in
addition to attending to his duties at the store learned telegraphing.
Four years
later his fidelity and industry were rewarded by being appointed
manager of
a branch store at Baraga, for D. J. Norton, this being the first drug
business
established in that place. In 1890 Mr. Real embarked in a drug business
for himself at Baraga, which he successfully conducted until the fall
of 1898,
when, turning his drug business over to his brother, he made a visit to
the
Klondike gold fields. Mr. Real remained two years prospecting in
Alaska,
but returned to Baraga after a severe attack of typhoid fever at Nome.
He
resumed the drug business for a time and then spent a season in
prospecting
through Baraga County, many making friends in every section. In the
fall of 1902 he was nominated and later elected to the office of county
treasurer, an
office he most efficiently fills. For one year he was game warden of Ontonagon County and has been tendered
many offices of responsibility by his Democratic friends.
Source: Biographical Record, Houghton,
Baraga and Marquette Counties. Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1903. |