Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1901 — DEATH CLAIMS EDWIN F. UHL. [ARTICLE]

DEATH CLAIMS EDWIN F. UHL.

Former Ambassador Finally Succumbs in a Long and Gallant S trnggle. Edwin F. Uhl died at his country home, Waldheim, near Grand Rapids, Mich., at 12:20 Friday afternoon. Around his bedside were gathered members of his family and family physicians, who watched the end of what had been a long and gallant struggle. For more than a year Mr. Uhl had been failing, and nothing but his splendid constintution so long deferred the end. Edwin F. Uhl, assistant Secretary of State during the second Cleveland administration and later United States ambassador at Berlin, was born in Rush, N. Y., Aug. 14, 1841. His parents removed to Michigan two years later and located on a farm near Ypsilanti, where Mr. Uhl was brought up. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1862, studied law and began its practice in Ypsilanti and after a term as prosecuting attorney of Washtenaw County he removed in 1876 to Grand Rapids. Almost immediately Mr. Uhl took a foremost position in the Kent County bar and among his clients were railroads, large corporations and estates. Always a Democrat, he was twice elected Mayor of Grand Rapids and repeatedly declined places on the Democratic ticket for Governor and Congress. In 1893 Mr. Uhl accepted the appointment as assistant Secretary of State and was very close to the administration in several important international transactions. He continued in Washington two years and then went to Berlin as United States ambassador to remain until the close of the administration. He returned to Grand Rapids after his retirement from office, but being out of sympathy with the dominant Democracy he took no active part in politics.