Legislator Details
Portrait of Joseph Moss Gaige scanned from Men of Progress p.288.
Vital Records Information:
Marital Information:
married Mary Ella Jones, daughter of M.V.K. Jones, 9/20/1869 in Ann Arbor, MI
Number of Children: 0
Background
Education:
attended Cooperstown Seminary, NY and Oneida Conference Seminary, Cazemoria, NY; graduated from University of Michigan Law School, 1869
Biographical Sketch:
Son of Henry W. and Harriet E. (Cornell) Gaige. In 1866, he was sent west to join Truman Moss, his uncle, a lumberman, of Croswell, MI. He expected to take a position in the office, but his uncle put him in charge of the docks at Lexington, MI. The following winter his uncle secured him a position in the law offices of Walker & Kent, in Detroit; and later helped him get into the Law School at University of Michigan. He was admitted to the bar on 10/7/1869. He moved to Detroit, to opened a successful vessel and ship brokerage business, selling out the next winter to join his uncle in the lumbering business in Croswell. About the first of that year he was made junior partner in the firm, which then became Moss, Mills & Gaige. After the firm dissolved due to Mr. Moss's death in 1883, Mr. Gaige then started a private banking institution at Croswell, the Sanilac County Bank, selling it in 1885 to become the manager of the Truman Moss estate, until the estate was settled in 1895. He incorporated and organized the State Bank of Croswell and was elected president. He was also president of the State Bank at Carsonville, MI, the State Bank of Deckerville, MI, and one of the heaviest stockholders and vice-president of the Croswell Milling Company in Croswell. He was a large stockholder in the Sanilac Jeffersonian. He was a Mason.
Notable Facts:
He platted the town of Sandusky, Sanilac County, Mich., now known as Sanilac Center.