Jacob Sammons, a cooper from Mackinac Island, was Cheboygan’s first permanent white settler in 1844. He wanted to be near the raw materials needed to make sturdy wooden barrel staves and a river for shipping them.

At first, the settlement grew slowly, until logging boomed and huge sawmills graced the river’s banks. The Great Lakes passenger steamship lines soon came calling, making it easier than ever for settlers and business interests to get to the region.

At first, the city of Duncan dominated, but as business in the greater Cheboygan area became more prominent, the county seat was shifted to Cheboygan in 1870.

Cheboygan was officially incorporated as a village the following year. Logging was booming and economic growth came easy.

Soon, there were more than 8,400 residents in the county, including lumber barons, loggers, mill workers, farmers, industrialists, businessmen, entrepreneurs and civic-minded leaders.

Among the earliest pioneers to seek good fortune in Cheboygan were George Plumer Humphrey (1842-1924), who arrived in 1870, and his younger brother, attorney Watts Sherman Humphrey (1844-1916), who arrived in 1869. The brothers were born and raised in New York. Both served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Both subsequently graduated from the University of Michigan.

Soon after, city boosters built a fabulous city hall and Opera House that attracted performing artists from around the world. It opened in 1877 (yes, it is the same Opera House and city hall we celebrate today!).

George married Margaret T. Redmond of Wexford County, Ireland in Mackinac County Sept. 15, 1873. They had five children, Sarah, Wattie, Laura, Georgie and Carrie.

Highly respected in the community, President Chester Arthur appointed George local postmaster in 1882. Over the next 50 years, George won election as county surveyor, city treasurer, mayor, third ward supervisor and Justice of the Peace.

Meanwhile, George’s younger brother, Watts Sherman Humphrey, also dove into efforts to improve Cheboygan and attract more families. Watts was elected county treasurer in 1880 and won a seat on the village council less than two years later.

Tragically, Watts married three times and was widowed twice. He married Emma Cordelia Fisher (1851-1883) in Lansing in 1870. They had three children in Cheboygan: Mina, Arthur and Effie.

He next married Melvina W. Smart in Cheboygan in 1884. She died three years later. They had no children.

His last marriage was Jan. 3, 1888, to Caroline Mary Magoffin (1861-1946) of Chicago. A native of Portage City, WI, Caroline graduated from Canada’s Helmuth College before attending the University of Michigan. Goffin, would become the most accomplished.

Caroline and Watts lived briefly in Cheboygan, where their first child, George Magoffin Humphrey, was born in 1890.

Soon after, in 1891, they moved to Saginaw where Watts joined his father’s law firm, quickly making partner. In Saginaw, they would have three more children, Gladys, Winnifred and Watts S. Humphrey, Jr.

Their first-born, George Magoffin, would become the most accomplished of the many accomplished Humphreys.

George M. aimed high.

In 1913 he married Pamela Stark of Saginaw. Four years later, they moved from Saginaw to Cleveland so he could accept the position of general counsel for the industrial steel giant, M.A. Hanna. He stayed there for 35 years. By 1929, he was the company’s president.

After World War II, President Harry S. Truman asked him to take the lead for the U.S. working with Allied countries to disassemble the Nazi war machine in Europe. He accepted. As a result, he strengthened his international reputation and knowledge.

Following the election of President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower in 1952, Ike asked Humphrey to serve in his administration as secretary of the treasury.

President Eisenhower charged him with spearheading the administration’s campaign to find savings in the federal budget, reduce the size of government, fight inflation and boost the economy.

Humphrey served as treasury secretary from Jan. 21, 1953, to July 29, 1957. Over that time, his signature appeared on approximately 4.5 billion bills circulating around the world.

Ike also entrusted him with the task of implementing a 1955 law adding the motto “In God We Trust” to our currency.

In 1957, Humphrey resigned and moved back to Cleveland. He died in Cleveland in 1970.

Not a bad life for a boy from Cheboygan.