THOMAS WHITTLE

Captain THOMAS WHITTLE, chief mining captain of the Quincy Mining Company, located in Houghton, Houghton County, Michigan, in August, 1877, since which time he has been identified with this section of the State. Captain Whittle was born January 1, 1845, near Truro, in Cornwall, England, and was reared in the Cornwall mines as he began work in them at an extremely early age. The exigencies and surroundings of his youthful life made it impossible for him to obtain any educational advantages, but with indomitable energy and resolution he supplied all deficiencies later in life and stands to-day on the same plane as do many others with shadows of collegiate walls behind them. In the early "seventies" Captain Whittle went to South America, where he first engaged in copper mining in the upper mining district near the seaport of Chanaral, Chile. There he spent five years and then came to the Lake Superior copper mining regions, settling at Houghton. His first work was with the Quincy Mining Company in 1877. It was in 1880 that he accepted the position of assistant mining captain under Capt. John Cliff, and when he went to the Pewabic Mining Company in 1882 it was as chief mining captain. The Pewabic mine is now called the North Quincy, it having been purchased some 10 years ago by the Quincy Mining Company. His connection with the Huron mine lasted five years, from 1885 to 1889, his association with Capt. Johnson Vivian continuing seven years. In 1889 he was requested to accept his present position. At that time the Quincy mine was only about one-eighth its present size or capacity, the output having been increased, during our subject's connection, from 400 to 3,200 tons per month. Stamp mills and new smelters have been erected, also new shaft houses, and the mine has been enlarged fully eight times its old size. Captain Whittle is now operating five shafts, the deepest being down some 5,000 feet.

In 1866 Captain Whittle married a lady from his native locality, and their seven children still survive, two of them being married. The record is as follows: William H., cashier of the Mass City Bank in Ontonagon County, Michigan; Bessie, wife of John F. Ryan of Hancock, Michigan; Alice, wife of John C. Jeffrey, teller in the Superior Savings Bank of Hancock, Michigan; and Lavina (Vinnie), Belle, Albert Melvin and Lina May, who are at home. The family residence is on Quincy Hill. Politically Captain Whittle is a stanch Republican, and he has most acceptably served as justice of the peace, as school inspector and in other township offices. Fraternally he is a charter member of Quincy Lodge, No. 172, Ancient Order of United Workmen, which has a membership of 200 with a ladies' auxiliary. For the past 35 years he has been a member of the Methodist Church, and has served repeatedly on its official board. Captain Whittle is a notable example of a successful, self-made man.

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