For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 164
MICHAEL E. WILLHITE, for the past three years assistant chief of police of Muscatine, has made a practical demonstration of the old saying " where there is a will there is a way," as he has reached his present responsible position through difficulties that would have defeated an individual of less resolute will. At nine years of age he began making his own way, thus early developing self-reliance, which has been a leading characteristic of his life.He was born in Mercer county, Illinois, January 29, 1858, and is a son of John H. and Sarah J. ( Paugh ) Willhite, the former of whom was a native of Indiana, and the latter of Pennsylvania. The father was for a number of years a river man on the Ohio river. Later he became a resident of Mercer county, Illinois, where he acquired an eighty acre farm. After some years he sold his place and removed to Rock Island but subsequently returned to Indiana, where he died about 1870 at the age of seventy-three or seventy-four years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was a sturdy, reliable man of the pioneer type. His wife survived him and departed this life in Muscatine at the age of fifty-six years. She was an Episcopalian. The maternal grandfather was Michael Paugh, a native of Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Paugh and they became pioneers of Mercer county, Illinois, dying there when well advanced in life. There were four children in their family, Sarah, Mary, William and Ann, the youngest of whom married Richard Farwell. Four children also brightened the home of John H. and Sarah J. Willhite: Elizabeth, who married Charles Bryant and is now deceased; Michael E. our subject; Sarah, the wife of Edward Berricks, of Omaha, Nebraska; and President H., of South Muscatine, Iowa.
Michael E. Willhite was reared under the parental roof until he was nine years of age and then, on account of poverty of the family, he began to carve out his own career, working at such jobs as he could find until he was fourteen years of age, when, conditions having improved, he returned home and moved with his parents to Muscatine. He had limited opportunity for securing an education in the district schools but he has always been a close observer and has largely made up for this deficiency. He began in Muscatine by carrying water at the Musser sawmill and cleaning up the mill, thus making himseld generally useful, and as time passed he was promoted and became a sawyer, continuing in that capacity for eleven years with the Hershey Lumber Company. At the end of this time he went to Winona, Minnesota, but in the fall of the same year returned to Muscatine and worked at carpentering. Later he became a member of the police force and performed his duties so acceptably that since 1907 he has served as assistant chief in the department. He lives at No. 1102 Baker avenue, where he owns a comfortable residence.
In 1888 Mr. Willhite was united in marriage to Miss Phoebe A. Wright, a daughter of Reynolds and Ruhamy ( Brials ) Wright, and four children have been born to them, Ethel, Sylvia, Irvin and Vera, the eldest Ethel, being called away at the age of two years. Mr. Willhite is a valued member of the Improved Order of Red Men and also of the Modern Brotherhood of America. Politically he is in sympathy with the democratic party but is not an eager partisan, as he is a man who concentrates his attention on his daily duties and has little time for side issues. He is recognized as a conscientious and wide-awake official, whose aim is to advance to the extent of his ability the best interests of the city.
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